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Live India channel banned for airing alleged fake sting
New India, Sep 20(PTI) Live India news channel has been banned by the government after it came under the scanner for its alleged 'fake' sting operation implicating a school teacher in a sex racket in the Capital.
The ban, effective from today, prohibits transmission and re-transmission of 'Live India' (the new name for Janmat TV), on all platforms throughout the country till October 20.
The Information and Broadcasting ministry invoked Sub-section 2(iv) of Section 20 of Cable Television Networks Regulation Act, 1995, which says the government can ban a channel in the interest of "public order, decency or morality." An official statement here said the government took action on "the satellite channel namely 'Janmat' (assumed name Live India)" which telecast an "admittedly doctored" sting operation on Uma Khurana, a Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya teache, in Darya Ganj.
"The telecast of said sting operation was defamatory, deliberate, false and contained suggestive innuendos and half-truths; incited violence and contained content against maintenance of law and order," the statement said.
"It criticised, maligned and slandered an individual in person and it denigrated children and was irresponsibly aired by the channel without exercise of due diligence in preliminary verification of the facts of the case," it said. PTI
Karunanidhi rejects demand for withdrawal of remarks
Chennai, Sep 19 (PTI) DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi, who is under attack from the BJP and Sangh Parivar outfits for his remarks against Lord Ram and Ram Setu, today rejected the demand for withdrawal of his remarks.
"I have not said anything more than Valmiki, who authored Ramayana," he asked while replying to questions from reporters at the DMK headquarters here.
He challenged BJP leader L K Advani, who asked for the withdrawal of his remarks against Lord Ram, to discuss Ramayana with him in the same platform.
"Is Advani ready to discuss Ramayana with me in the same platform after going through Valmiki Ramayana fully?" he asked.
Asked whether he would accept implementing the project without disturbing Ram Setu, he said the intention of the project was not to destroy the Ram Setu.
"I only want the project to be implemented at the earliest as it would reduce the shipping expenses and develop trade. The project has been put on hold for the past one hundred years", he said.
Centre to set up committee to look into CAS issue
New Delhi, Sep 20 (PTI) Taking note of the problems being faced in the implementation of the Conditional Access System (CAS) in the country, the Centre has decided to set up a committee to look into the factors hindering its smooth rollout.
"We have seen that in some CAS areas the quality is good while in others it is not so good," P R Dasmunsi, Minister of Information and Broadcasting said after a State Information Ministers Conference (SIMCON) which concluded yesterday.
CAS was implemented on December 31, 2006, as per the Delhi High Court's directive. It was introduced in some parts of the three metros of Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata and in the entire Chennai metropolitan area as per the Madras High Court's verdict.
Meanwhile, a consumer organisation has slammed CAS, saying "shoddy" implementation has led to its "near failure" in South Delhi where it has been in force.
The survey conducted by Consumer Voice claimed as many as 70 per cent of the consumers "prefer to go back" to the earlier system than opt for CAS. PTI
Yuvraj Singh to concentrate on improving his bowling: Yograj
Chandigarh, Sep 20 (PTI) After his blitzkrieg against England in the Twenty20 World Cup match in Durban, Yuvraj Singh now also wants to concentrate on his bowling.
"I called him up early this morning and congratulated him for his heroic innings. Apart from wanting to continue his fine touch which he has rediscovered now, Yuvraj is also keen to improve his bowling," Yuvraj's father and former cricketer Yograj Singh told PTI here.
He said once Yuvraj returned to Chandigarh, he will work towards improving his bowling.
"We have decided that we will work together on his bowling. He has got a good height and there is no reason why India should not get a genuine left-arm bowler as well," he said.
He said that 25-year-old Yuvraj had been "feeling down a bit" after being hit for five sixes in a row by Dimitri Mascarenhas in the sixth ODI against England earlier this month at The Oval.
Just before last night's Super Eights match, the left-handed batsman had called up his father and expressed his desire to play a big innings.
"He telephoned me and said 'Dad, I have been getting out to wrong shots'. He also said that he was not feeling good about being hit for five sixes.
"He said he wanted to win for the country and play a big innings," said Yograj, who himself once donned the India cap. PTI
I need to get better to be Team India regular: Ishant Sharma
Sheelpa Kothari
Dharamsala, Sep 20 (PTI) Just two appearances with the Indian team has made paceman Ishant Sharma wise enough to understand the rigours of international cricket and the teenager is ready to wait to be "best prepared" for a long career at the highest level.
The 19-year-old Delhi bowler, who has played one Test against Bangladesh in Dhaka and a one-dayer against South Africa at Belfast, Ireland, said he has realised that it was important to be consistently successful to be in the Indian team.
"It's not easy to take wickets in international cricket. I need more preparation to play regularly and be successful at that level," Sharma told PTI.
"Since fast bowlers peak after 23 so I will be best prepared by that time. At the moment, I want to give my 100 per cent to wherever I play. After all, it's all about performance. Whoever performs will be in the team," he said.
Sharma, who is playing for India A against their South African counterparts here, said the realisation came after he became friends with fellow paceman S Sreesanth.
"Sreesanth became a good friend of mine during my stay with the Indian team. He said don't be in a hurry. Give some time to yourself." Zaheer Khan also helped him improve his bowling during the England tour.
"I have changed my grip when Zaheer (Khan) showed me how I should hold the ball. Earlier, I used to hold the ball a bit tightly but now I bowl to get good length edges. I also bowl slower variations now," he said. PTI
J-K all set to host National Wrestling Championship
Srinagar, Sep 20 (PTI) Jammu and Kashmir is all set to host the National Wrestling Championship for the first time tomorrow.
Nearly 600 wrestlers from across the country are expected to take part in the three-day championship, which is scheduled to be held at the Sher-e-Kashmir indoor stadium.
"The organisers are expecting around 600 wrestlers, both male and female, from different states to participate in championship", Minister of State for Sports Babu Singh told PTI.
"It is a matter of pride for Jammu and Kashmir, as the 26th national junior boys wrestling championship and ninth women's National Wrestling Championship is being held in the state for the first time," he said.
Twenty six state teams and two sports boards, Service Sports Control Board and Railway Sports Control Board, are expected to participate in the three-day event which would be officiated by 200 officials including technical staff, judges and referees from different states.
The minister said holding the championship in the state would go a long way in promoting the traditional sport of the country here which had fallen out of popularity over the past few years.
"Although wrestling was not very popular sport among the youth of the valley, the association expects to generate lot of support for the game", Director General of Police Kuldeep Khuda, who is also the President of Jammu and Kashmir Wrestling Association, said.
"We are hopeful that some youth will take up the sport after the championship is held in the valley," he added. PTI
Refining capacity to be raised by 92 million tons:Deora
Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 20 (PTI) The government would augment the country's oil refining capacity by 92 million tons from the present 149 million tons in the 11th plan through installation of four grass-root refineries, Petroleum Minister Murli Deora said here today.
The four refineries would come up at Bina (BPCL), Paradip (IOCL) Bhatinda (HPCL) and Jamnagar (Reliance and Essar), Deora said at the 14th Refinery Technology Meet at Kovalam near here today.
The present refining capacity of 149 million tons per annum was much higher than the present consumption of 120 million, he said.
Though the country's energy sector faced several daunting challenges, including the rise in crude oil prices, the government had ensured that additional cost was not passed on to the common man by bearing 85 per cent of increased cost burden, he said.
Though India has crude oil reserves to meet less than 25 per cent of the requirement, the country was surplus in refining capacity.
Alongwith rise in demand for energy and rapid growth in petroleum consumption, environmental concerns had also increased, he said.
The focus of the three-day meet, being attended by technical and managerial experts of the oil sector, was "Energy and Environment Challenges for the Hydrocarbon Sector".
The meet was organised by the Centre for High Technology and Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL). PTI
India to become third largest economy by 2035
Varanasi, Sep 20 (PTI) India would become the third largest economy in the world by 2035 if it continues to grow at the current rate of over nine per cent, Member of the Economic Advisory Council G K Chadha said here today.
"Sustained nine per cent growth of Indian Economy will make India the third largest economic power of the world in the next quarter of a century," Chadha said at a seminar in Banaras Hindu University (BHU).
Chadha, who was also the ex- Vice-Chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru University, said that the present growth rate of the Indian economy is satisfactory and if it is sustained, the country will emerge as an economic super power very soon.
The country's GDP grew by 9.4 per cent in 2006-07 fiscal and in the first quarter of the current financial year, it clocked 9.3 per cent growth.
"By 2025, world will be a bi-polar society wherein China will be the most influential country and by 2035, India would become the third largest economy, making the world tri-polar," he said.
He stressed the need for an inclusive growth, wherein the government needed to focus on the poor and downtrodden.
"It is a matter of concern that 24 crore people still live below the poverty line in our country," he said. PTI
Beijing registers 50 per cent jump in HIV/AIDS cases
Beijing, Sep 20 (PTI) Beijing registered 563 new cases of HIV/AIDS in the first half of this year, up 50 per cent from the same period last year, mostly through needle sharing and sex, a health official said here today.
Among the new cases were 11 foreigners, 120 Beijing residents and 432 migrant Chinese from outside the city, head of the disease control and prevention section of the Municipal Health Bureau, Zhao Tao said.
The Chinese capital city had registered 4,253 HIV/AIDS cases since 1985 by June, including 164 foreigners and 885 Beijing residents.
Needle sharing by drug takers and sex were the main transmission routes of the disease, accounting for 68.1 per cent of the infections, he said. PTI
Oppn to resign if Musharraf seeks re-election in uniform
K J M Varma
Islamabad, Sep 20 (PTI) Opposition lawmakers in Pakistan today threatened to resign en masse if President Pervez Musharraf seeks a second term in uniform, even as an influential minister said the General could consider imposing emergency if all avenues for re-election are blocked.
As the Election Commission announced October 6 as the date for presidential polls, opposition leaders, including from former premier Benazir Bhutto's PPP, said they would close ranks and quit the national and provincial assemblies, the electoral college of the polls, to deprive Musharraf's election of any credibility.
A strong reaction came from PPP of Bhutto, with whom Musharraf held talks during the past few months to work out a political rapprochement.
PPP spokesman Faratullah Babar said "We have already made it clear. If he submits his nomination without removing his uniform, then we will consider resigning from assemblies along with other opposition parties" he said.
He said the much-expected quid pro quo political deal between Bhutto and Musharraf has not materialised. "As of now there is progress on the deal and no agreement has been reached," he said amid reports that Musharraf's emissaries began talks with Bhutto in Dubai today.
Babar said there are still a week left for Musharraf to file his nomination and a compromise could still be worked out. But the General has to meet the party's demands, including removal of the rule barring Bhutto and former premier Nawaz Sharif from becoming Prime Minister for the third time, he said. PTI
RTI, going rural
Bedika
New Delhi, Sep 20 (PTI) Having woven many a success story in cities, the Right to Information Act (RTI), which completes two years of coming in the statute books in October is reaching the rural areas too with villages using its provisions to redress their grievances.
Sidhakahna Jot Keshav village in Bahraich district of Uttar Pradesh is one such example. Five inspired residents of the village filed RTI applications and questioned the district administration about the conditions of the village roads and drains. They also raised questions as why there were no allotments under the 'Indira Awaas Yojna'.
The administration immediately acted and the construction of the roads and drains began in the village. Since then, 32 villagers have been allotted the houses under the 'Indira Awaas Yojna' and the administration has displayed a list on the village wall, containing the names of the villagers eligible for the allotments under the scheme.
RTI activist and Magsaysay award winner Arvind Kejriwal says that the RTI is the way to empowering villages, "The very movement started from the rural Rajasthan. RTI is like a life line to the rural India. The Act has shown a great potential to transform the life of rural society." He however admits that there are some hurdles, "The true potential of RTI is still to be explored, specially in the rural India where villagers find it very cumbersome to file RTI applications. The procedure should be simplified and made people friendly." Kejriwal cites the example of Bihar, "Bihar has set a great example by creating a dedicated phone line for RTI. Where RTI can be filed through a phone call. Even an illiterate villager can file his RTI application by a call." PTI
Tapping homegrown herbs, Unani is becoming popular in Kashmir
A M Sofi
Srinagar, Sep 19 (PTI) Despite medical science scaling new heights, the Unani system of medicine is trying to carve a niche for itself in Jammu and Kashmir. With its unique type of curing, the Unani is fast becoming a popular system of medicine here.
In Kashmir this system of medicine is seen as alternative to the allopathic system and people are preferring this system in order to get rid of the diseases which the allopathic system has so far not been able to diagnose.
A diabetic for the last ten years, Fazi of Chadoora village of Budgam district and teenage girl Saima who had a white scar on her face, are all praise to the system that they say worked well for them.
The Patients Regional Research Institute of Unani Medicine (PRIUM) here provides free consultation to patients in the valley. People from different parts of Kashmir flock in thousands for check up. "We attend at least 500 patients daily in our Out Patients Departement (OPD), said doctor Rafiq at PRIUM.
He said the PRIUM was established in 1979 in order to cater the needs of the people of the valley and tap the traditional herbs available in abundance in the valley.
We have many indigenous herbs available in the valley which are very rare. For instance, Sussures Lappa and Aciontum, Rafiq said.
He said presently PRIUM is having four separate units which include survey of medicinal plants, drug standardisation, mobile clinical research and clinical research. All of these units are working seperately in order to explore every possibility to get a breakthrough in their research work. And that the people of the valley get benefited. PTI
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