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April 30, 2006

Summer's going to be hotter

CNN-IBN

New Delhi: It’s only April, and the summers have just set in but heat is already burning down in North India. And the temperature is expected to rise further in the next few days.

The Northern India is reeling under intense heat and the temperatures continue to soar. But Ahmedabad, Patna, Bhopal and Chandigarh are the worst hit areas.

The maximum temperature across north India is 40.C but according to the met department the worst is yet to come.

"We are expecting the temperatures to rise here further in the next few days," says a Met official in Ahmedabad.

And to makes things worse, there’s acute power and water crisis across the Northern region. People in Bhopal have to wait for weeks for adequate water supply.

In Chandigarh, residents have been asked not to water their lawns or wash cars during peak morning hours by the city administration.

And in the capital, the tourism industry has been hit hard. There aren’t many takers for Delhi’s delights as the temperature soars. "Delhi is not only hot but it’s very humid too and that makes the suffering worst," says Nicola, an Italian tourist.

As the weather-man predicts higher temperatures in the coming days, a scorching summer awaits India.

(With inputs from Piyush Pushpak in Patna, Arunima in Delhi and Hemendra Sharma in Bhopal.)

Posted by bhola at 09:33 PM | Comments (0)

April 27, 2006

Madhya Pradesh bans diclofenac over vulture deaths

VULTURE AUGMENTATION SCHEME FOR BHOPAL

Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh has banned the use of diclofenac, a drug used by vets, on the advice of the central government which says the medicine was responsible for a 95 percent decline in the population of vultures in the country.

"The vultures are indispensable natural scavengers responsible for the disposal of wild and domestic carcasses, thus preventing the outbreak of epidemics. But when they themselves feed on animals which die after consuming diclofenac, they themselves die," said Rajesh Rajoura, commissioner, state veterinary services.

Under such circumstances, it is advisable to use better alternatives like meloxicam and ketoprofen for treating ailing animals, he said. The union environment and forests ministry recommended the ban.

The Asia Conference, held in 2004 February at Kathmandu, too had expressed concern over the decline in the number of vultures. Stressing that diclofenac posed a major danger to the environment in Asia, the conference felt that there should be urgency in banning the drug.

The central government has selected a forest sanctuary at Bhopal under its vulture augmentation scheme, which would be executed by the Van Vihar (forest department), Bhopal.

"Besides, the Ratapani, Singhori and Narsingharh sanctuaries, where 170 vultures have been found, would also be made better places for the birds," he said.

Posted by bhola at 03:08 PM | Comments (0)

ISRO to draw up Bhopal development plan

By Indo Asian News Service

Bhopal, April 27 (IANS) The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will use remote sensing technology to draw up a new development plan for Madhya Pradesh's capital.

'Keeping in view the next 20 years, Bhopal's development plan 2006 would be reframed by ISRO,' said an official of the state's housing and environment department.

'Town and country planning, Bhopal, has already signed an agreement with ISRO,' the official said.

'The space organisation would make available by the end of this year the necessary maps and particulars of the new development plan through the remote sensing technique.

'By the adoption of the remote sensing technique in chalking out the development plan, it would be easier to ensure environmental protection and provision of better basic amenities to the citizens.'

This technique will help ensure the optimum and systematic use of the land available in Bhopal and its periphery, he added.

On the necessity of redrawing the earlier plan, the official said: 'Urbanisation of Bhopal has been much faster, as compared to other cities. So it was necessary to reassess the previous development plan in the wake of the new requirements.'

Posted by bhola at 09:02 AM | Comments (0)

April 18, 2006

Conversion: two Christian Eves held

TIMES OF INDIA

BHOPAL: Two Christian women accused of trying to convert people to their religion have been arrested in Jabalpur district of Madhya Pradesh, the police said on Sunday.

Officials said the women, Mariamma Mathew, 36, and B. Godwil, 65, were arrested on Friday after found distributing pamphlets telling people how they could overcome the problems by following the Bible.

Several other "objectionable" pamphlets were also seized from them, an official said.

"According to the Madhya Pradesh Religious Freedom Act, anybody campaigning about his or her religion or organising religious functions needs to seek permission from the district collector. However, the offenders had not sought any permission," Jabalpur's superintendent of police D. Srinivas Rao said.

The police acted on a tip-off from a youth who had received a pamphlet and approached them. The Madhya Pradesh Christian Association condemned the police action.

Anil Martin, general secretary of the body, said: "Christians in this state have been under pressure for long and such atrocities on them have increased under the BJP rule."

Christian activists said this was not an "isolated case of arrests" on the charge of forcible conversions. Since the BJP came to power some two and a half years ago, several such arrests, including that of a priest in the tribal dominated Jhabua district and a pastor in Indore town, have been made.

In state capital Bhopal, Christians were beaten up for allegedly holding a meeting to convert some children brought from outside the city, the activists said.

The Narendra Prasad Committee, set up by the state government to look into charges of conversions, said in its recent report that the Christian population in Jhabua district alone had gone up by 80 percent in the past two decades.

Indira Iyengar, president of the Madhya Pradesh Christian Association, has said the Christian community was being implicated in false cases.

Referring to the arrests in Jabalpur, Iyengar questioned how the two women were apprehended when senior police officials had said they were yet to ascertain whether there was anything objectionable in the pamphlets distributed by them.

Posted by bhola at 02:46 AM | Comments (0)

April 09, 2006

Bhopal professors with a taste for adventure

Abhilash Khandekar - DNA India
Sunday, April 02, 2006 21:16 IST

BHOPAL: They are a family of academicians who have combined academics and adventure. At the Mishras' house at Government Professors' Colony in central Bhopal, dinner table talk centres on subjects like oceanography, eco-systems, ozone layer depletion, and Antarctica.

Both Vinay and Vivek Mishra, brothers in their 40s, have gone on scientific expeditions to Antarctica and are probably the only siblings from the country to have accomplished such a feat.

Vivek, 43, is a microbiologist who teaches at Saifia College, while Vinay, 41, is a professor of psychology at Bhopal University. Vivek returned to India last fortnight after completing the Silver Jubilee Indian Expedition to Antarctica, which comprised 23 winter members and 27 summer members drawn from 24 research institutes in the country. Vinay had gone to the continent in 2000 as part of the Millennium 2000 Antarctic Expedition.

"It's an out-of-the world experience. But I had to go through the gruelling process of fitness test before actually experiencing the most frigid of weathers on earth," says a jubilant Vivek. "When Vinay had gone there, we were all anxious for his safety. His exhilarating experience motivated me to go there too."

Tens of Indians have been to Antarctica, the fifth largest continent on earth, but probably no two brothers from the same family to carry out research projects. Last fortnight when he arrived in India after being part of the tough three-month Antarctic expedition, Vivek made Bhopal proud by followed in the footsteps of his younger brother who had scaled the icy continent six years before him.

"It's an out-of-the world experience. But I had to go through the gruelling process of fitness test before actually experiencing the most frigid of weathers on earth," tells a jubilant Vivek to DNA. "When Vinay had gone there as part of the Millennium 2000 Antarctic Expedition, we were all anxious for his safety. His exhilarating experience motivated me to go there too."

Vivek did "microbiological analysis on the lake samples in and around Matri," the Indian station on Antarctica. Vinay, when he went there, had studied "psychological stress and coping behaviour in Antarctica." Vivek's findings will be submitted to the National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research (NCAOR).

When Vinay had gone to Antarctica, communication with the rest of the world was difficult. In fact, Vinay's group set up e-mail facilities there. That is why it was easy for Vivek to communicate with his family back home this time around.

The brothers say being in Antarctica is an awesome experience. "The icy world there makes you repeatedly ask 'who am I,' 'what's my role in this world' and so on. The vast carpet of snow, the lack of habitation and the resultant loneliness makes you rediscover yourself and changes your attitude towards life completely," says Vivek.

"The trip to Antarctica brings you closer to God," says Vinay. Vivek nods in approval.

Posted by bhola at 02:16 PM | Comments (0)

Quintuplets born in Bhopal, four dead

Bhopal: In probably the first case of its kind in Madhya pradesh, a woman gave birth to quintuplets, four of whom died within six hours.

The four boys and one girl were born at a local nursing home here late Thursday. The surviving girl is in a critical situation, doctors said.

"This is the first such case in Bhopal, may be in Madhya Pradesh. While two children were delivered in a normal manner after two hours of labour, for the other three a caesarean section had to be performed," said Motwani Das, director of the New Aks Hospital where the babies were born.

However, the 26-year-old mother was out of danger and could also conceive later. Her first child, who was just two-years-old, died of pneumonia and she had taken treatment to conceive again.

"As the children were born three months premature, their chances of survival were remote. Prematurely born children suffer degeneration of brain cells, underdeveloped kidneys, insufficient lung capacity and a weak heart," Das explained.

The children weighed only 400 grams as against a normal two to three kg, but were otherwise normal, he added.

Posted by bhola at 12:45 PM | Comments (0)

April 03, 2006

Cong stirs trouble for Chouhan

Statesman News Service

BHOPAL, April 2. —– The Congress Party has decided to make Madhya Pradesh chief minister Mr Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s entry into the state Assembly as difficult as possible.

Mr Chouhan, who became the chief minister of the state on 29 November last year, will be contesting from the Budni Assembly constituency in Sehore district on 24 April to become a legislator. Both, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Mr Chouhan are confident of victory. The chief minister will be filing his nomination on Tuesday. The Congress, which is the main Opposition party in the state, has not yet declared its candidate but according to sources in the party, it is gearing up to give a tough fight to Mr Chouhan.

“The process of selecting a candidate will begin tomorrow. The national general secretary of the Congress Mr Narayam Sami, who is also in-charge of the affairs of the party in Madhya Pradesh, will be reaching here tomorrow for a day’s visit. He will be meeting several leaders from Budni,” Congress party’s spokesperson Mr Manak Agarwal told the Statesman.

A section of the Congress leaders in Madhya Pradesh feels that former chief minister Mr Digvijay Singh should contest against Mr Chouhan so that the latter gets a taste of his own medicine. In the Assembly election held in 2003, Mr Chouhan, on being asking by the BJP had contested against Mr Singh from Raghaogarh constituency. Mr Singh hails from Raghaogarh and Mr Chouhan had given him a tough fight. But Mr Singh has decided to keep himself away from the state Assembly election and wants Mr Raj Kumar Patel to contest against Mr Chauhan.

Mr Patel, who has been the Congress candidate from Budni during several past elections, had unsuccessfully contested against Mr Rajendra Singh Rajput of the BJP in the Assembly elections held in 2003. Mr Rajput has resigned from his seat to make way for Mr Chouhan.
Confident of Mr Singh’s support, Mr Patel had approached expelled leader from the BJP, Ms Uma Bharti, for support. But Ms Bharti refused to support saying that she would not support a Congress candidate.
The same section of the leaders that want Mr Singh to contest against Mr Chouhan are against Mr Patel’s candidature. “Raj Kumar Patel will prove a very weak candidate against Mr Chouhan,” said a senior Congress leader of the state on condition of anonymity. “Rarely has a chief minister lost an election. Moreover, Mr Chouhan has already announced a lot of sops for Budni. Also, he has a strong caste following in the constituency. So we want to pit a stalwart against him,” he said.

Another name that has a strong backing of the Congress leaders is that of Mr Pratapbhanu Sharma, a former parliamentarian. A formidable leader of the Congress, Mr Sharma, earlier represented Vidisha constituency in the Parliament. In order to make things difficult for Mr Chouhan, the Congress has already sought the disqualification of Mr Chouhan from the president of India for holding office of profit. Leader of Opposition in Madhya Pradesh, Jamuna Devi, recently gave a memorandum to President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam requesting disqualification of the chief minister, who is still a parliamentarian. In the memorandum, Jamuna Devi told the President that the chief minister also occupied the post of ex-officio chairman of Madhyam – a multi-purpose organisation involved in advertising, film production and publication.

Posted by bhola at 01:53 PM | Comments (0)