IN TODAY'S PAPER

Picture of the week

The sprawling new Mall at MG Marg in Gangtok is now a major tourist attraction.
Pic - Shivadeep Rai

BJP openly backs Samiti, Advani to speak at rally

New Delhi: Vowing to intensify the agitation over the land transfer issue, BJP leaders LK Advani and Rajnath Singh will address a mass rally in Jammu on August 25. The rally is being planned by the Shri Amarnath Sangharsh Samiti. The move is seen as open endorsement of the stir by the BJP, which had till now sought to distance itself from what it described as a “nationalist upsurge” of the people of Jammu. So far, local lawyers and businessmen, backed by RSS-affiliated units, have been spearheading the 58-day agitation.
Leaders like Advani, Rajnath, MM Joshi, Jaswant Singh, Venkaiah Naidu, Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj met on Monday and decided on a series of agitations to keep the issue alive and turn the heat on the UPA. Jaitley briefed them on the situation. Later, the BJP national office bearers passed a resolution that “the massive and peaceful peoples’ protest, which is continuing in the Jammu region, is not only unique but unparalleled in the history of democractic movements in the country”.
Spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said: “People from every segment of society, including those from every community and faith, came out with the Indian flag to protest against this meek surrender (by the UPA) before patently anti-India demands.”
The party will reiterate that the issue is “neither Hindu versus Muslim nor Jammu versus the Kashmir Valley. It is essentially nationalist versus separatist.” The BJP leaders condemned the hoisting of the Pakistani flag at places in Kashmir on Independence Day and the statements from Pakistan. They said “the nationalist elements in the Kashmir valley (read Farooq and Omar Abdullahs) must rise to the occasion and firmly speak against the voice of secession, which is only being encouraged from across the border.” (Media Watch)

PM promises to protect Majuli from floods in Brahmaputra

Nagaon: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday assured a delegation of Sattradhikars (heads of Vaishnavite monasteries) of Majuli that his government would leave no stone unturned in protecting the erosion-affected island from the fury of the Brahmaputra. He said the government would make every effort to get Majuli recognised as a World Heritage Site.
Dr. Singh gave these assurances to 24 Sattradhikars who called on him at Jorhat town and submitted a memorandum calling for a “sincere initiative” from the government to provide both physical and cultural protection to Majuli. However, the Majuli units of the All-Assam Students’ Union (AASU) and the Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chatra Parishad (AJYCP) observed a “betrayal day” to protest against the non-inclusion of Majuli in the itinerary of Dr. Singh.
Earlier, at the foundation laying function of the Jorhat Medical College, Dr. Singh said he was worried about the recurrence of floods in Assam and the damage they caused. He said his government had taken major initiatives to address this problem; during the 11th Plan, 75 schemes at an estimated cost of Rs. 430 crore had been sanctioned for flood control in the State.
Dr. Singh said he hoped to be back in the northeast soon in connection with the inauguration of the Kumarghat-Agartala railway line which, he said, was a major initiative taken by his government as a national project.

Nepal President visits flood-affected areas

Kathmandu: Nepal President Ram Baran Yadav visited the flood-affected areas of eastern Terai today and said the government is planning to provide separate settlements to the people displaced by the Saptakoshi River.
This is Dr Yadav’s first visit outside the capital after being elected to the presidency last month.
Heads of the regional security bodies informed him about the problems arisen after the Saptakoshi river breached embankments that displaced nearly 50,000 people in Sunsari district in eastern Terai.
Dr Yadav flew to Nepal Army Eastern Headquarters at around 1000 hrs (local time) and inspected the inundated areas where at least four villages are still under water.
The president will also meet the displaced families, local political leaders and the security personnel during the visit, it is said.
Dr Yadav is accompanied by President’s office secretary Ram Hari Aryal, Prime Minister’s office secretary Dipendra Bikram Thapa and spokesperson of Home Ministry Mod Raj Dotel.
Prime Minister Prachanda had visited the area last week. The government has provided Rs 20 million for the victims and various organisations are collecting donations for the relief. (Agencies)

Strong earthquake jolts southern Tibet

Beijing: A magnitude-6.8 earthquake that shook on Monday the mountainous Zhongba County in Xigaze prefecture, close to India in southern Tibet, caused cracks in some buildings, latest reports said.
However, there were no immediate reports of casualties, state-run Xinhua news agency said. The quake hit the region 6.52 pm IST, according to a National Earthquake Network press release. Zhongba County in the west of Xigaze has a population of 18,000. A county government worker said the temblor was strongly felt in some townships and cracks had appeared in some buildings. Earlier, the death toll in the strong quake that jolted southwest China’s Yunnan Province last week has risen to five, the local government said.
One person in Yingjiang County died of heart attack while being evacuated and another died of serious injuries in hospital, the Yunnan Civil Affairs Department said, giving no other details. Yingjiang was hit by a magnitude-5 tremor on Wednesday, followed by quakes with magnitudes 4.9 and 5.9 on Thursday.
Twenty-nine people were seriously injured in the tremors that destroyed 31,000 residential buildings and damaged 130,000 others, forcing the evacuation of 1.25 lakh people in Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture and Baoshan City. (Agencies)

Imphal : A month-long Shumang Leela workshop jointly organised by the All Manipur State Shumang Leela Council and the Theatre Centre Manipur in Imphal, attracted young artists from all over the state.
Shumang Leela, the traditional courtyard theatre of Manipur, is a play where traditionally men enacted various roles of women. But in the workshop around 85 young artistes participated, which included women making a deviation from the tradition. Courtyard theatre provides a platform to a lot of talented youngsters to earn while they learn which is not the case with the traditional theatre.
The workshop aims to preserve the Moirang Parva (an oldest form of Shumang Leela), which is also recognised as the origin of Shumang Leela movement in the state.
“Our aim and objective of organising this workshop is to preserve, promote and propagate this kind of traditional theatre form,” said Naba Wareppa, project director of the workshop.
(Media Watch)

Don’t feel complacent with Beijing show: P T Usha

Kozhikode : India should explore the available talent at the junior level if it has to put up a better performance in the 2012 London Olympics, former sprint ace P T Usha said today.
“While all of us are quite proud to see our contingent returning with three medals, I do not think that we can feel complacent about out performance,” she told the media.
When a country like Jamaica with a population of 28 lakh can come out with such a good show, why not India, she asked.
India has abudant junior talent in many disciplines including athletics but it was for the authorities concerned to spot them soon if India should put up a better show in London, she said.
About Tinta Luka, a product of her own athletics school here, Usha said she would prove her mettle at the next Olympics. Eighteen-year-old Luka is being prepared by Usha for the next Olympics in the 800 m event after her sterling performance in the recently-concluded World junior athletics event.
On Usain Bolt, the ‘Payyoli Express’ said he proved what one can do if trained properly. “Jamaica provides training from the primary school level and particularly concentrates on athletics,” she said.
Applauding China’s 100-medal achievement, the former ace sprinter, who missed an Olympic bronze by a whisker in 1984 in Los Angeles, said China has been working for this for the past 18 years ever since it hosted the Asiad in Beijing. “We have to start working on a warfooting if we have to give a better performance in London and that is possible provided the right application is there,” she said. (Agencies)

Chennai: A 17-member Indian contingent will participate in the Asian Karate Federation’s junior and cadet championships, to be held at Kota Kinabalu in Malaysia from August 25 to 31.
R. Thiagarajan, All India Karate Federation president, is the chef-de-mission of the team. P.R. Ramesh is the chief delegate, Vispy Kapadia the chief coach, and Kanagaraj the manager.
The team:
Kata: Boys: 16-17: Ramesh Vignesh; 18-20: Aniket Gupta; Team: Gunasekaran Sabari Karthik, Vishnu Vardhan and Darshan Dayanand.
Girls: 16-17: I.K. Heena; 18-20: Valena Valentina. Team: Divya Gupta, Nisha Gurung and Sushmita Rawat.
Kumite: Boys: 16-17: Karthik Soundra Kumar (50-55kg) and Arnav Kavadia (70-75kg); 18-20: Harsh Pandya (50-55kg), Gunasekaran Sabari Karthik (55-60kg), Darshan Dayanand (60-65kg), Vicky Yadav (65-70kg), Arshad Amin (70-75kg), Basant Sharma (75-80kg) and Nobin Jomoh (+80kg).
Girls: 18-20: Valena Valentina. (Agencies)

New Delhi : Leading amateurs of the country will vie for honours in the LG Northern India Open amateur golf tournament beginning at the Delhi Golf Club course from Tuesday.
Gagan Verma, Saurabh Bahuguna, defending champion Abhishek Jha, Vikram Rana and Manav Das are among the top 20 players from the Order of Merit confirming their participation.
This is the fifth leg of the LG amateur golf tour that comprises 13 events spread over 11 cities.
The field consists of 80 players comprising 40 from the Order of Merit and the rest from the qualifying round where 123 aspirants were in contention.
(Agencies)

New Delhi : Information and Broadcasting Minister Priyaranjan Dasmunsi on Monday released two books on martyrs Khudiram Bose and Rajguru here.
The book on Khudiram Bose titled, “Martyr Extraordinaire - Khudiram Bose” has been written by Hitendra Patel, a faculty member of Santiniketan University. The book on Rajguru, which is in Hindi, titled, “Ajeya Krantikari Rajguru” has been written by a lawyer Anil Verma.
Grand nephew of Khudiram Bose, Debasis Roy and grand nephew of Rajguru, Satyasheel Rajguru were also present on the occasion.
The books have been published by the ministry’s publication wing Publications Division. (Agencies)