| Text of prime minister’s departure statement - Nov 7, 2004 18:40 IST |
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I leave today on a visit to The Hague to participate in the 5th India-EU summit hosted by Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende of the Netherlands.
Europe is an important political and strategic factor on the international scene. Recently the EU increased its membership from 15 to 25 states, erasing the vertical fault-line that divided the European continent for over half a century. EU is emerging as a politically influential, economically powerful and demographically diverse regional entity in the world.
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| Khandwa (Madhya Pradesh)Man ostracised for being bit by snake - Nov 7, 2004 18:39 IST |
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Basant Rao, a farmer from the Raj Gond tribal community of Sudamapuri village here, was bit by a snake a few days ago. He went to the district hospital for treatment, but instead of healing, the wound became gangrenous.
Soon after, the village council met to excommunicate Basant and his family - in accordance with an age-old tradition that calls for ostracising people who are bit by animals or reptiles.
The council told Basant he could escape the punishment if his elder brother, Anik Rao, would pay a fine of Rs.50 ($1) and get his head tonsured.
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| Ambala doctors threaten to stop emergency services - Nov 7, 2004 18:38 IST |
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The main grouse of the doctors here is insecurity following some incidents in the past fortnight.
On the night of Oct 29, a masked man armed with a dagger entered the residence of leading surgeon N.P. Singh. He stood by the side of the bed of the doctor -- who was fast asleep -- and woke him up to demand money.
I was shocked to see this man standing with the dagger. My whole family was awake at that time but were in other rooms, Singh said.
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| Boxing coach gives variety of reasons for Olympic losses - Nov 7, 2004 18:36 IST |
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Four Indian boxers -- Akhil Kumar (51 kg), Diwakar Prasad (51 kg), Vijender (64 kg) and Jitender Kumar (81 kg) -- took part in the Aug 13-29 games, but none could progress beyond the second round.
Writing about the overall performance of the boxers, national coach G.S. Sandhu said the draw was one of the main reasons for the boxers’ flop show.
We were unlucky in the draw as none of our boxers received a bye, Sandhu said in his report, attached to chef-de-mission Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi’s main report submitted to the Indian Olympic Association.
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| ICAR, partners share prestigious King Baudouin Award - Nov 7, 2004 18:34 IST |
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The institutions have won the award, named after a Belgian king and one of the highest scientific honours in the world for over two decades, for promoting environment-friendly practices that have benefited thousands of farmers.
The institutions are part of the Rice-Wheat Consortium for the Indo-Gangetic Plains (RWC) set up in 1994 to address sustainability concerns arising from intensive farming of rice and wheat in the four South Asian countries irrigated by the Indo-Gangetic river systems.
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| Bollywood’s bright Diwali bonanza - Nov 7, 2004 18:33 IST |
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Pre-Diwali season being dismal as usual, the industry is hoping to see a big explosion in the coming week.
Naturally, no film can get bigger than Veer-Zaara, Yash Chopra’s first directorial venture in six years. Already, the film’s advance booking queues are longer than those of any other Shah Rukh Khan starrer.
With the successful Kal Ho Na Ho pair of Khan and Preity Zinta, and the late Madan Mohan’s sublime musical score, Veer-Zaara is likely to be the blockbuster of the year.
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| ’Dreams’ may not revive Dhanush’s dream run - Nov 7, 2004 18:31 IST |
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After the debacle of Dhanush’s two recent films, Puthukottayilirunthu Saravanan and Sullan, audiences are not expecting much from Dreams.
Raja began filming Dreams soon after the success of Dhanush’s debut in Thulluvatho Ilamai. Filming was abandoned when the family decided the teenager should first perform in his brother Sevaraghavan’s Kaadal Kondein, a film that became a landmark in Tamil cinema.
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| Shatrughan Sinha upset with BJP - Nov 7, 2004 18:30 IST |
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BJP has been using me for years, but is not ready to give me a chance to lead, Sinha said here.
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| Kerala ready for record-breaking tourist season - Nov 7, 2004 18:25 IST |
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Initial booking reports reveal this season is going to be better than last year, Tourism Minister K.C. Venugopal told IANS.
We also expect it to be an extended season this year. Both the government and the industry are geared up.
K.C. Chandrahasan of Kerala Travels Interserve, a leading tour operator that has handled names like the Kennedys, Paul McCartney and prince of Saudi Arabia, said his bookings showed this season may register as much as a 50 percent increase.
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| Priyanka unfazed by gossip - Nov 7, 2004 12:26 IST |
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We are very good friends and our relationship has not been affected by those reports. I’m least affected by gossip because I know that it’s false, the actress told IANS.
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| ’Page 3’ music: cascading kaleidoscope of colour - Nov 7, 2004 12:25 IST |
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The bewitching appeal of showbiz. The illusion of success shattered by the grim reality under the sheen of pleasure... These flow out in a cascading kaleidoscope of colour and emotions in Shamir Tandon’s soundtrack for Madhur Bhandarkar’s new avant-garde take on the sham of the show world, Page 3.
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| I’ll try to bring ULFA to negotiating table: mediator - Nov 7, 2004 12:23 IST |
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She also says that New Delhi usually wakes up only when the guns boom in the northeast and the situation slips out of hand - a general grouse of the people in this insurgency-ravaged region.
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| Migratory birds eating away fish stock - Nov 7, 2004 12:22 IST |
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The Pong wetland, about 330 km from here, attracts thousands of birds from as far as Europe, Siberia, Central Asia and China every winter.
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| Finding a colonial past in Mumbai’s urban jungle - Nov 7, 2004 12:14 IST |
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The small region, just 50 km north of India’s commercial capital of Mumbai, is today a mix of historic ruins and urban congestion. But this centuries-old entrepot’s place in history has been forgotten.
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| Indian scientists make wonder lipstick, medicinal beer - Nov 7, 2004 12:13 IST |
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Keeping it company could be a beer that would protect the liver, yet giving the kind of kick that the ordinary lager gives its drinkers.
The National Botanical Research Institute (NBRI) here developed these and many other products applying India’s traditional herbal cure wisdom to modern pharmacology as part of a special drive of its ethno-pharmacology division, says P. Pushpangadan, its director.
There are other products like a herbal soft drink and compact herbal nutritional foods, Pushpangadan told IANS.
The totally herbal lipstick has its basis in aromas that penetrate the skin and allow subdermal absorption of chemical elements, says Pushpangadan.
Lips are most sensitive to subdermal absorption and could, therefore, be used as the best medium to stimulate the human brain, he said.
Pushpangadan, who believes the 21st century will be the age of ayurveda, said his scientists are currently researching several other herbs and plants that find a mention in ancient works like the Vedas and the Bhrigu Samhita.
The scriptures were translated for the researchers, he said.
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| Grand old Russian seeks to popularise Hindi - Nov 7, 2004 12:12 IST |
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Eminent Indologist Evgeny Petrovich Chelyshev, who became the first Russian to receive the Sahitya Akademi fellowship, India’s top literary honour, last week, said he is on a mission to spread Indian culture, specially the Hindi language, back home.
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| Narasimha Rao deposes in corruption case - Nov 7, 2004 12:6 IST |
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Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Reena Singh, the court commissioner in the case, recorded Rao’s statement at his 9, Moti Lal Nehru Marg residence. The deposition lasted for an hour.
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| NDFB threatens to call off Assam ceasefire - Nov 7, 2004 12:1 IST |
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The government has failed to honour its commitment to the ceasefire offered by us with Indian occupational forces killing several of our cadres in recent days, D.R. Nabla, chairman of the outlawed National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB), said in a statement.
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| Canadian children’s series come to India - Nov 7, 2004 11:58 IST |
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The books, written by Trina Wiebe, would be published in India by Tara-India Research Press and would cost Rs.95 each.
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| Wealth creation and nation building - Nov 7, 2004 11:54 IST |
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Mukesh Ambani, chairman and managing director of India’s biggest private sector enterprise feels so, but N.K. Singh, former member of the country’s Planning Commission, says this is a debate that has long proved to be inconclusive.
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