New Delhi April 22: Even as the veiled women fundamentalists of a religious seminary in Islamabad are threatening video shop owners and setting a deadline for the introduction of Shariah laws in Pakistan, their Hindu counterparts in India have also become active, underlining a retrogressive tendency towards the Talibanization of the entire subcontinent.

What has angered the Hindu groups are some of the recent marriages between Hindu girls and Muslim boys. The extent of the concern among these outfits can be gauged from the fact that their chief patron, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), even brought out a compact disc depicting the supposedly baneful effects of such cross-community weddings.

Although the BJP had to withdraw the CD when the Election Commission accused it of spreading communal hatred to garner votes during the Uttar Pradesh elections, at least one saffron commentator referred to the underlying concerns expressed in the CD even as he acknowledged its crudity.

One of marriages that drew the ire of the Hindutva groups followed the elopement of a Sindhi girl of Bhopal with a Muslim boy. It led to the 'kidnapping' of the boy's brother by the police, evidently to put pressure on the groom. But when the Mumbai High Court intervened, the 'abducted' person was released.

The police were also ordered by the court to provide protection to the bride and the groom. But by then a Hindu "Kanya Suraksha Samity" (Committee to Protect the Daughters of Hindus) had been formed with the BJP's blessings.

Since Bhopal is in the BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh, incidents like the abduction of the groom's brother, which was officially denied by the police till the man's presence in custody was filmed on a mobile phone, and the formation of the vigilante committee could take place seemingly with the tacit consent of the authorities.

But what these incidents indicate is that secular India is becoming susceptible to the kind of regressive attitudes which are associated with countries like Saudi Arabia, where there is not only a General Presidency for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, but also a so-called religious police or Muttawwa, which roams the streets looking for and punishing violations of strict Islamic laws on the segregation of the sexes. Afghanistan under the Taliban, too, had a Ministry for Fostering Virtue and Preventing Vice.

If the saffron brotherhood has set up similar organisations in India to watch over unmarried Hindu girls, the reason is the same extremist mindset based on a warped interpretation of the mutual exclusivity of religious communities, driven by an intense animosity towards the other sects.

Since this attitude has the Sangh Parivar's covert support, evident from the Vishwa Hindu Parishad's wish that the 'evil' of Muslim conspiracies shown in the banned CD should be widely disseminated, instances of attacks on Hindu-Muslim couples are likely to increase.

When the views of one such couple from Surat in Gujarat were aired over Rupert Murdoch's Star News television channel in Mumbai, the studio was attacked by a group, which called itself the Hindu Rashtriya Sena. By then, the boy and the girl had left the building and gone to the police on the advice of the television authorities since the girl was a minor.

The new outfit has obviously modelled itself on the better known Shiv Sena, which has earned a name for itself because of its acts of hooliganism such as digging up the cricket pitches meant for India-Pakistan games or targeting couples on the occasion of Valentine's day for acting in contravention of the Sena's definition of Indian culture.

The attack on the Star News office was followed by the burning of the effigies of film stars Richard Gere and Shilpa Shetty after the Hollywood hero kissed the recent winner of the Big Brother reality show in Britain at an AIDS awareness function.

Again, the intolerance displayed by the Hindu groups (a lawyer has filed a petition in a Jaipur court against the two 'offenders' for hurting Hindu cultural sentiments) recalled the anger vented against a woman minister in Pakistan for embracing a male companion after a paragliding show in Europe.

There is little doubt that the BJP's relentless anti-Muslim, and also anti-Christian, campaign has bred an atmosphere of intolerance in India, which frequently erupts into violence directed against individuals with the police looking on as spectators, mainly in the BJP-ruled states.

While in the case of Christians, the focus of the Hindu extremists is usually on preventing suspected conversions, which led to the murderous assault on the missionary Graham Staines and his two sons in Orissa a few years ago, the propaganda against Muslims concentrates on their alleged links with terrorism, their preference for cow slaughter, and their suspected high rates of population growth, which threatens, according to the saffron outfits, to reduce Hindus to a minority in their 'only' country.

All these allegations, coupled with the charge that the Muslims are not sufficiently patriotic since they refuse to sing the Indian national song "Vande Mataram" (Hail to the Mother), as it includes references to Hindu idols, are continuously voiced by the BJP and other saffron groups, provoking a sense of animus against the minorities.

Amulya Ganguli is a political analyst

Bhopal's Hour Of Marital Crisis

* The city came close to a riot last fortnight over a Muslim boy marrying a Sindhi-Hindu girl.
* The Bajrang Dal has formed a Hindu Kanya Suraksha Committee.
* The Sindhi panchayat wanted their girls to stop using mobiles or riding two-wheelers and to abandon the city's fashion of covering their heads and faces Islamic style.
* The state CID keeps tabs on all Hindu-Muslim marriages.
* According to one list distributed by the Bajrang Dal, 341 such marriages have taken place between 1997-2004.
* Families of Muslim boys who run away with Hindu girls are harassed by the police.
* The Muslim community has responded to the latest uproar with a dignified silence.

Are Hindu-Muslim marriages made in heaven too? Perhaps, but if you happen to be in Bhopal, capital city of Madhya Pradesh, that saccharine-sweet cliche is swiftly turned sour by a vicious form of saffron vigilantism. Hindutva's brigadiers unleash mayhem on the streets each time such a marriage takes place, the state cid keeps a list of such couples, and the parivar's propaganda machine spews uninterrupted venom about predatory Muslim men luring innocent Hindu maidens.

Over the last one month, the state home department has recorded six inter-religious marriages in Madhya Pradesh, three each in Indore and Bhopal. But while the Indore marriages provoked no stir, Bhopal came close to a riot on April 14 over the issue. Of the three Bhopal couples, one Neetu and Rehan quietly returned to their respective homes after they were tracked down. Since they claimed they had got married already, their families are now believed to be thrashing out the details. One couple is yet to be traced.

It is, however, the elopement of Priyanka Wadhwani, a girl from a wealthy Sindhi family, and Umar, also from a leading Muslim family in Bhopal, that triggered the biggest storm in the city. Incensed, the Sindhi community convened a panchayat. Much deliberation later, the elders concluded that it was mobile phones and two-wheelers that were leading their daughters astray and perhaps a curb was required on these. A "distinctly Islamic" influence was also discerned in the practice of Bhopal girls covering their heads while riding. "They say they do it to protect themselves from heat and dust," said Madhu Chandwani, general secretary of the Sindhi panchayat. "But it's clearly a fashion picked up from some Muslim girls. We Sindhis left Pakistan to protect our daughters, and here in India they are moving around with their heads covered."

The girls, however, did not take kindly to the panchayat's diktat and took out a procession. Sindhis in Indore too expressed reservations. Confronted with all the opposition, the panchayat backtracked and said these were just views and not a firman on the community.

As for Priyanka and Umar, they are in hiding in Mumbai and are said to have contacted activist Teesta Setalvad. Umar's family thinks it would be foolish for them to return as Umar could be attacked or even thrown into jail in bjp-ruled Madhya Pradesh. Never mind if the court has ordered that the couple be given protection.

Priyanka and Umar's troubles have been compounded by the fact that Priyanka's family has close links with the parivar. Outlook met her uncle Lajpat Rai Wadhwani in the company of known parivar activist Bhagwandas Sabnani, who is also said to be a close aide of Uma Bharati. Uncle Wadhwani was categorical that "Priyanka is dead for us". More vocal was Sabnani who was not only instrumental in organising the panchayat but was also behind the creation of the Hindu Kanya Suraksha Samiti, another parivar front organisation that will largely be run by the Bajrang Dal.

Love doesn't enter into the picture for Sabnani; it's all part of a larger conspiracy to convert Hindus to Islam. He outlines the diabolical design Muslim boys perpetrate: wear tilaks to disguise themselves as Hindus and hang around girls colleges; threaten and force the girl to run away with them and then abandon them since they can marry many times.

Bhopal girls cover their heads against the dust, but for Sindhis it’s Islamic

That both Umar and Rehan have converted to Hinduism is not enough to wash their sins. "It's meaningless," says Sabnani. "Done under pressure." With the families of both boys under attack in Bhopal, the Hindu conversion could indeed have been a tactical move. For Sabnani, there is no doubt: "In no time, they will reconvert." The most sensible thing for the couple to have done was to marry under the Special Marriages Act, but it's a long bureaucratic process that requires a month's notice during which anyone can object to the proposed marriage.

Incidentally, of Umar's eight brothers, the eldest too is married to a Hindu, Aparajita Sharma, daughter of a police DG and an IAS officer herself. Reports in the media said the second daughter-in-law too was a Hindu but she is in fact Muslim, and goes by the name of Zeba. The rest of the brothers are unmarried. When Umar disappeared with Priyanka, it was Zeba's husband and Umar's brother who was picked up by the police and questioned repeatedly for five days.

All their connections and wealth can't stop Umar's family from feeling nervous, enough for them to refuse being photographed or be directly quoted. They say people who tried to help them were asked to lay off by the highest authorities in the state. The police would land up at their house at odd hours and without warrants. Umar's conversion is hardly an issue for them. As a family member says, "He is a 22-year-old child. We are worried only about his security and health." Currently the family has round-the-clock police protection.

Hardly surprising, as many think that the state government would have allowed a riot had the regime in Delhi been friendly. But as Sajid Ali, a senior lawyer and Congressman, says, "We recently complained to the minority commission in Delhi how there have been 112 incidents of communal tension since the BJP came to power." Ultimately, the BJP dispensation decided to back off and told its Bajrang Dal/VHP cadres not to agitate further. Even the devout doubted the intentions of the agitators. The general secretary of the All India Sindhi Sadhu Samaj, Mahant Baba Ramdas Udaseen, told Outlook: "Social outrage is not surprising in such cases. But these days such issues are also highlighted for the political agenda of dividing communities."

And no one did it better than the parivar outfits in Bhopal. They made political capital out of the state's practice of tabulating such marriages, something it has no business doing. The Bajrang Dal went to town distributing an 'official' list of 341 Hindu-Muslim marriages in Bhopal between 1997 and 2004. Hardly an alarming figure but enough to reinforce parivar lore of venal Muslim characters pursuing innocent Hindu damsels. Some years ago, VHP leader Acharya Giriraj Kishore had gone on record to tell this correspondent: "There is a physical reason Muslims can seduce Hindu girls. They give them more sharirik anand (physical pleasure) because they have a surgery, Hindus don't." In Kishore's view, circumcision is the Muslim's secret weapon. In the face of such seductive logic, can reason have a chance?

People sitting at roadside tea stalls are an intellectually stimulating sight in Bhopal. But patiabazi, as the Bhopalis refer to the evening get-together, is waning in the walled city. In the days of nawabi rule, patias were the hotspots of discussion of topics as varied as politics, hockey and culture. Patia is slang for the rectangular slab of stone (4x2ft) placed in front of tea shops. During the day, shopkeepers used the patia to display products and seat customers; at night it served as a meeting place. People like late President Dr Shanker Dayal Sharma, former MP K.N. Pradhan and hockey player Aslam Sher Khan would gather at Najja Dada ka patia to discuss politics. "These patias were intellectual diet for Bhopal’s residents," says an old Bhopali. "After dinner, people spent hours discussing the freedom movement and Bhopal's welfare. Sometimes the patias turned into mushairas, where poets recited their poems." The debates were so lively that the erstwhile nawabs used to post his men at the patias to know the current hot topic. The nawab had an intelligence officer posted at Najja Dada ka patia to know if there was any conspiracy against him. Patia of Ibhrahimpura was a famous one for discussions on politics and hockey while Maktaba Sharkia patia was known for talks on art, culture and literature. "Hockey players even discussed the team members and the next day’s strategy," says Riaz Sheriff, a resident of Bhopal. The patia culture was so famous that novelist Koser Chandpuri wrote an article titled Bhopal ke Patiey, which was published by the journal of Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. It has a bit of filmi glamour as well: Riaz Sheriff says the term ‘surma Bhopali’, popularised by comedian Jagdeep, evolved from a discussion at a patia. This tradition of batolebaji is still continued in the old city area. A true bhopali will do a ratjaga (sleepless night) without a blink for a good session of Patiya. Specially in summers, Bhopalis will go to sleep at 3 o'clock in the morning, till which time they would sit in front of closed shops and talk and talk and talk. You can see all street and roads awake till 3 am. Men, women, girls, boys all are sitting and talking. Even the chaats, pakauda and ice cream sellers do a brisk business. Bhopali family like to visit film in night show and it is not unusual to purchase vegetables at 11 pm. Do not assume that this is a feature for the males, the ladies are equally actiove in these ratjagas and patiyas.

Visit Bhopal-e's blogspot

HUNDREDS OF tribals fighting for ‘Jal, Jangal and Zameen’, today passed a unique resolution to declare Bhopal a national park and be included in Project Tiger. They even described Shyamla Hills surrounding Chief Minister’s residence a better place for tigers.

The local tribals and those who came from Maharashtra and Gujarat were protesting their displacement in the name of national parks and sanctuaries here on Tuesday.

They passed the resolution to declare Shyamla Hills area a national park in presence of educationist and scientist Dr Anil Sadgopal, Lok Shangharsh Morcha Maharashtra leaders Yamunabai and Pratibha Shinde and a social leader from Delhi Ambreesh Rai.

Tribal leader Tara Barkare said the government would feel the pain only when displacement by demolishing buildings and vacating farmhouses takes place in Bhopal.

New Delhi, November. 23 (PTI): Bhopal's heritage architecture has largely been given a miss as it does not conform to any genre - but therein lies the beauty of the designs influenced by the French, Mughal, Persian, Arabic, British, Afghan and closer home Rajasthani and Gond styles.

An Indo-French venture, 'The Bhopal Workshop', launched about three years ago is trying to preserve and resurrect the living architectural heritage of the City of Begums, who ruled Bhopal for four generations in a row.

A photo exhibition showcasing the strides taken in preserving these architectural gems was opened at India International Centre annexe here on Tuesday evening.

Prof Savita Raje, the Indian partner for this project, told PTI, "we are trying to showcase the architectural and urban heritage of the historical city as a significant part of the Indian cultural heritage."

Palace complexes designed during the reign of the Begums are unique borrowing extensively from various architectural genres - nowhere in the world would a palace have Rajasthani "jharokhas", Persian natural cooling systems, French facades, Mughal courtyards with natural lighting and labour rooms for women.

Raje says, "the goodness of the designs reflects on the people of Bhopal. Their energy efficient behaviour, good health and the community feeling generated by these time-tested buildings and spaces needs to be propagated."

What really makes this project distinct is it is trying to preserve not just the buildings, but also the culture of the people.

[Shame about the Gas Tragedy, let's have some cricket, seems to be the summary of this bizarre piece, Ed]

Bhopal is a city that has contrasting shades. On the one hand, one can find tree lined avenues and greenery and on the other one can feel that the gas tragedy of 1984 still haunts and lingers. One can find that there are people who haven't recovered from the toxic gas that leaked in 1984. Coming back to the present, one can also find that the city is developing well and the benefits of economic liberalisation can be seen.

But, one can see that Bhopal hasn't hosted many international events in sports and as a result Bhopal hasn't hosted many prominent international players in disciplines as tennis, badminton, golf. Providing infrastructure for these events would give Bhopal a much-needed facelift and then Bhopal can then be on its way to become a truly international city.

Bhopal conjures up an image of being a city that can be renovated, beautified and developed in many ways. The impression one gets of the city is that it is neither ill planned nor exquisitely planned. But, having said so, Bhopal has developed into a fine city and stands on the threshold of modernity. Bhopal has a distinct charm, the charm of well laid out parks and gardens and flowers in full bloom. A visitor to Bhopal can be taken by surprise by lovely roads and tree lined avenues. But, some pockets of Bhopal are still congested. Scruffy and scuzzy by-lanes and streets should be renovated and spruced up. Bhopal has makings of a beautiful and a clean city. Therefore, we must try to focus whether air pollution in the city is under control. Alcohol fuels, hydrogen fuels and City diesel should be used as alternate fuels. This would help reduce our dependence on petrol which is fast depleting. Also, vehicles with low fuel consumption should be introduced in the city.

Frequent tree plantation drives have changed the landscape of Bhopal and Bhopal now appears more verdant and green. Suburbs of Bhopal should be developed adequately to give fillip to tourism industry.

Bhopal has never hosted an international Test match or a one-day international in cricket and as a result people have to be satisfy their thirst by watching cricket on Television and moreover Bhopal does not get to watch top national and international cricketers in action, this leaves a big vacuum for cricket lovers. Hence, Bhopal should make efforts to find a place on the international cricket map as well. This would promote a vibrant sporting culture in the city.

A long standing problem is of garbage which lies scattered at various places in the city. Big garbage-bins should be placed at various places to get over this problem. Also, another long standing problem is that roads are in not in the best of condition at various places in the city and since roads are an important index of development, roads need to be laid at various places to ensure a smooth flow of traffic.

In Madhya Pradesh, many of the states MLA's believe that the State Assembly building, one of the major landmarks of Bhopal, is cursed and they are blaming the negative energy as per the ancient Indian science of 'Vastu' for their problems. Designed by architect Charles Correa, the building is blamed my many, who work their, for their problems. People are also of the opinion that there is definitely something wrong about it.

Moreover, the MLA's blame it on ancient Indian science of 'Vastu' and claim that there is negative energy around the building. Their opinions and belief have further strengthened and gained ground since around 16 MLAs have died since the Assembly was shifted to the new building in 1996.

Elaborating the reason behind the negative opinion associated with the building, Kailash Vijayvergiya, Minister of PWD, Power and IT said:"Every year, we end up bidding goodbye to at least one MLA. The history of this Assembly building is not good. One of the world's worst industrial disasters, the Bhopal Gas Tragedy, took place in 1984, when the construction of the Assembly started. In 1996, when we shifted to this Assembly, Madhya Pradesh was bifurcated into two states."

However, the moot question is are the MLAs just being plain superstitious. However, Vastu experts do not agree and believe that the Assembly building violates the basic rules of Vastu science and does attract the negative energy of the earth. Pankaj Agarwal, Vastu expert explains the reasons and attribute it to cetrain flaws:"The Assembly has road on one side, the main entry is from South-West direction. In addition, the Assembly is in circular shape, which according to Vastu science is not considered good. The earth emits negative energy and the building is full of Electro Magnetic field."

With Vastu experts blaming the Assembly building for the political problems of Madhya Pradesh, for the Chief Minister, Shivraj Chouhan, who has had a tough time since he came to power, it might just pay to turn to Vastu.

The indolence enforced at the Lazies’ was both delightful and exacting, says Jane Rankin-Reid of a uniquely eccentric writers’ club

Without doubt, I’m one of India’s most indolent tourists. On a recent visit to Bhopal, with rain deluging sightseeing plans, I happily spent almost every waking hour in an old socialist café, the Indian Coffee House, in the middle of the city, listening to stories of Bhopal life beyond the dark legacy of the gas tragedy. In the 25-odd years since the Union Carbide leak, Madhya Pradesh’s state capital has seen waves of ambitious development, while thousands of Bhopali residents still suffer from the excruciating after-effects of noxious asphyxiants and contaminated groundwater. But, even as the battle for fair and equitable restitution continues, Bhopal’s proud 20th century cultural heritage is in danger of being drowned in the drama of the fatal catastrophe that has reshaped the city’s identity in international imagination.

As rains lashed the café windows with the fury of a spoilt child, my Bhopali companions warmed to a subject close to their hearts. Writer Nasir Kamaal’s beautifully-phrased weekly columns, “Bhopal Then and Now”, ran for almost a decade and they’re a rich resource of wacky literary nuggets about the city’s glorious days as the heartland of the great Indian ghazal. According to Kamaal, the legendary Lazies’ Club, the Daairat-ul-Kuhala, began in the late 1920s, partly in response to global strife which its founding members believed was happening because the world was in “too much of a hurry”. Bhopal’s extensive community of writers and poets responded to mounting external turmoil by elevating laziness to a socially desirable art form.

Widely recognised as a mid-century home to the elegant, heart-wrenching Urdu ghazal traditions, Bhopal’s literary legacy is inextricably coupled with the uniquely Indian phenomena of creative lethargy. Few of the poets, singers and ghazal lovers who flocked to the city for great evenings of poetry and song could escape the infamous Lazies’ Club which often hosted recitals by the famous Urdu poet, Jigar Moradabadi, who eventually became the Lazies’ president Joining the Lazies cost a pillow but membership rules were excruciatingly demanding. The club’s etiquette ranked members’ status by whether they were quite literally lying down, sprawled, seated or bolt upright. Anyone left standing paid for drinks and, after an evening of fetching and carrying for more senior idlers, newcomers learned never to stand on ceremony again. Traditionally members slumped to the floor immediately upon arrival. Word games and Hindi-Urdu alliterations were commonplace, as were bizarre clubbable ranks and titles. Such were the deliberate degrees of decadence at the Lazies’, that Moradabadi called it his second home on his frequent extended visits to the city — and he wrote more there than anywhere else in his extensive career. Bhopalis adored the wandering poet to the point of near extinction: a goon kidnapped him one afternoon for a private recital. He was also just as popular with the freedom fighters at the local Anjuman Khuddam-e-Waton office. Moradabadi’s extensive drinking habits were tolerated too, which was fortunate given his profession and the Lazies’ membership rules.

There are a few mosques here the devout love to give a miss when the muezzin gives a call for prayer - they are believed to be haunted!

One such mosque is aptly called the 'Djinnaton wali masjid' (mosque of the djinns). Ashu Mian used to lead the prayers in this nearly 200-year-old mosque for decades till he passed away a year ago.

His wife Shahnaz Apa is still full of anecdotes about Ashu Mian's encounters with the djinns.

Shahnaz Apa recalls how he had to pray for years to rid the mosque from the wrath of the djinns. The djinns showed up as snakes in this mosque and also in their house, which is adjacent to the shrine.

'Ashu Mian would pray all night. The djinns eventually stopped harassing us,' his wife told IANS.

'Like humans, there are good and bad djinns. While the good ones are helpful, the bad ones often harass people.'

The entire Ginnauri area, where the mosque is situated, as well as the oldest girls' college (for a year it's been a boys' college) behind the mosque, is said to be haunted.

The stretch, which faces the Lower Lake on one side, wears a deserted look. Government buildings built decades ago are still largely unoccupied.

No classes are held in the block of the college, which falls in the haunted territory.

'There's a tree on the campus beyond which girls were not encouraged to go. Many girls who ventured into the haunted territory fainted,' says Fatima, a former student of the college, who is now a grandmother.

There was talk of demolishing the mosque about a decade ago because the government thought it was an encroachment. But Ashu Mian proved in court that it was an old construction.

As for the college management's allegation that the boys offered their 'namaz' in the mosque to get a good glimpse of the girls, Ashu Mian did not worry. Forget boys, even men did not have the courage to offer 'namaz' in this small mosque.

Old Bhopal seems to be dotted with such spooky mosques.

One of them is Heera Masjid, located in a French-designed old palace called Shaukat Mahal. Built in 1890, it is a beauty made of white marble.

'Only the very gutsy step into this mosque,' says Syed Jamal, a lecturer in mass communications in this Madhya Pradesh capital.

Triq Mirza, a resident of the palace, joked: 'Half of the palace is entangled in a legal wrangle, and the other half is haunted.

'They say there is a treasure hidden in a portion of the palace, adjacent to the mosque. One of the inheritors of the palace died digging up for the treasure. He would see blood splashed on the walls and the spirits haunted him till the day he died.

'Very few people offer 'namaz' in this mosque. It is believed that djinns like to pray here,' he says.

Asked if he offers 'namaz' here, he laughs, 'No. I don't want to upset the djinns.'

Another haunted mosque - Masjid Maji Kurud Sahab - sits on the banks of the Upper Lake.

Even during the holy month of Ramadan, very few have the courage to go for the 'iftar' (breaking of the fast) or for the 'taravih' (special Ramadan prayers) here.

Giving it company, on its right, is the Masjid Maji Kalan Sahab, built in 1740, another mosque humans avoid.

See also this old bhopal.net story, "Plans to turn the Union Carbide site into an amusement park"

The Rs 60-crore plan of the Essel Group company Pan India Paryatan Ltd (PIPL) to set up an entertainment park in Bhopal is still on. The Madhya Pradesh government is likely to hold a meeting in this regard to decide on allocating land to the company.

The company had last year expressed dissatisfaction at the land allotment procedure of the state government and had said it would pull out the project from the state.

The state government had allocated 50 acres opposite to the National Judicial Academy in the Bhadbhada locality. However, due to bureaucratic hurdles, the allocation could not materialise.

“A meeting was scheduled on September 7 this year but it was postponed due to unavoidable circumstances. The meeting has been rescheduled and will take place soon,” a government source told Business Standard, adding, “Certain demands of the company regarding land rates will be discussed.”

The company has deposited 10 per cent of the amount for land acquisition.

The proposed amusement park will have all facilities that the group’s Mumbai park has. Work on the project was expected to begin in 2006. However, a senior government official had objected to allotting land to the company.

The Essel group had also proposed to set up 25 multiplexes all over the state (at least in 20 districts) with an investment of Rs 200 crore. However, the plan is yet to come out of the drawing board.

The group planned to set up three-screen multiplexes but the multiplex policy, notified on June 22 last year, restricted multiplex developers to two-screen only.

PIPL started its amusement park business in Mumbai, where it set up Esselworld in 1989, the city's first amusement park. Later, it created Water Kingdom in 1998.

Bhopal has an amusement-cum-water park created by a local company few years back.

DEEPAK Maru, 12, was playing with his friends near his house in Manoharpur (Mayurbhanj, Orissa) on the Jharkhand-Orissa border when he and four of his friends were abducted and taken to Delhi by a man who identified himself as Raju. Deepak was then placed by Raju to work as domestic help for an old couple in Bhopal. Raju instructed the couple not to pay Deepak any money, and that Raju himself would return to collect the earnings. The couple ill-treated the boy and worked him hard. A neighbouring shopkeeper heard of Deepak’s woes and rang the Bhopal Childline at 1098.

A Childline team came to collect the boy and produced him at the nearest police station. Then negotiations with the couple started. The process took over 20 days, and the boy declined the Rs 18,000 that the couple offered him, insisting that he just wanted to go home. Finally, a police team, along with a Childline worker, took the boy back to Manoharpur and the cash was handed over to the boy’s mother, who had filed a missing person’s report with the local police station.

But not every child is fortunate enough to find his or her way back. Archana Sahay, Director of the Bhopal chapter of Childline - an initiative of the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment to help child victims of abuse and exploitation - says that, until now, there has been no law under which Deepak could find redress.

Childline is a countrywide partnership platform bringing together the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of India, UNICEF, the Department of Telecommunications, street and community youth, non-governmental organisations, academic institutions, the corporate sector and concerned individuals.

A phone number - 1908 - has been dedicated as India’s first 24-hour toll-free emergency phone service for children in need of aid. When they get calls on 1908, Childline volunteers immediately set out to get possession of the child, either with help from the police or without. Once they have possession, the volunteers report at the nearest police station with the child. Besides responding to the emergency needs of children, Childline also links them to services for their long-term care and rehabilitation.

Childline could not initiate proceedings against Deepak’s tormentors. Although Raju, the trafficker, could have been booked under anti-trafficking laws (specifically Section 363 of the Indian Penal Code), the police did not manage to trace him.

Volunteers at Childline cite numerous other cases. In September 2006, an eight-year-old girl was rescued from a government employee’s house. She had been trafficked from Rampur, Uttar Pradesh. A case was registered at the police station against the employers, but went scot-free. In another case in 2004, a complaint was registered against Mini Daniel, principal of a higher secondary school, at the Aishbagh police station. She had seriously beaten and injured her 11-year-old domestic help. “In so many cases, we have wanted to take action against the employers of children in houses and dhabas, but there was nothing we could do. Even the police said there was nothing they could do because of the prevailing law,” Sahay says.

The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act 1986 prevents child labour (children under the age of 14) in factories, mines and hazardous employment, and regulates the working conditions of children in other employment. In 1993, the government also prohibited employment of children in occupations and processes like abattoirs and slaughterhouses, printing, cashew nut descaling and processing, and soldering.

However, a fresh amendment - due to come into force on October 10, 2006 - breaks new ground. The Union Ministry of Labour and Employment has declared child labour at homes, restaurants, dhabas, hotels, resorts and tea stalls as illegal, and people who engage children in such labour will face punishment. (The punishment prescribed is three months’ imprisonment that could be extended up to one year, and a fine of Rs 10,000, which could be extended up to Rs 20,000; for a second offence, the punishment doubles.) All places of entertainment have also been brought under the purview of the law. Finally, the ubiquitous ‘child servant’ stands a chance of rescue.

“Once child labour itself is a punishable offence, even those who break the law would be careful not to indulge in cruelty at the very least,” Sahay hopes.

This amendment will also strengthen Childline’s efforts, she says. In Madhya Pradesh alone, Childline receives 50 to 100 cases per month of exploitation of child labour in homes. “Child labour at home and hotels is so rampant that we receive phone calls from across the state to rescue children. The incidents of mental, physical and sexual exploitation that we come across would send a shiver up anyone’s spine,” says Sahay.

UNICEF views the new amendment to the Child Labour Act as an important step towards protecting the fundamental rights of children in the country. “This piece of legislation is necessary - but not adequate - to ensure that these children grow up under parental care, go to school, do not go hungry, are protected from abuse and discrimination, and are able to play and enjoy their childhood and exercise their other rights,” says Anil Gulati, UNICEF’s Communications Officer for Madhya Pradesh.

Ironically, while the Child Labour Act now defines child labour in broader terms, the Labour Department - which is responsible for implementing the Act - faces a staff crunch. The headquarters of the department, situated at Indore, has only 200 inspectors looking after 686,294 industries, including 56 hazardous industries. The department will have to rely on NGOs to identify children engaged in prohibited forms of child labour.

“The task ahead is enormous. Indian society, civil society organisations, government and media now have a greater responsibility to work towards the rehabilitation of such children after they are rescued,” says Gulati. Women Feature Service

Madhya Pradesh police chief Swaraj Puri was Friday removed from his post after being charged with fraud, cheating and misusing his office.

The government took the step after the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the state police registered a case against Puri accusing him of fraudulently getting his son admitted to an engineering college in Indore under the NRI quota.

A court here had Sep 15 directed the EOW to probe the matter, submit a report Sep 27 and complete investigation within a month. The EOW found that Puri had furnished false information in obtaining admission for his son in 2001.

When contacted, Puri retorted: "The matter is already in the court."

EOW Director General Anand Rao Panwar will replace Puri as the new police chief.

Sources within the financial world say that more than 18 foreign banks, encouraged by India's economic liberalisation, have applied for licenses to open branches in Bhopal and other cities.

The big attraction, according to banking expert JN Kapoor, is the greatly increased buying power of Madhya Pradesh citizens.

Foreign banks are not bound by the same rules as their Indian counterparts, which are obliged by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to offer banking services in rural areas whenever they open a branch in a new city. Foreign banks are under no such compulsion.

Bhopal - In a scene straight out of a Hindi movie, a 14-year-old boy who had disappeared six months ago made a dramatic appearance in a Madhya Pradesh court where his parents were being tried for his murder.

Gabbar went missing Feb 10 from Hoshangabad district. On March 20, the police found a body, took it to be Gabbar’s and promptly arrested his parents - Ramesh Yadav and Neelu - on charges of murdering him even as they pleaded innocence.

Gabbar, who mysteriously reappeared Thursday, was taken to the district court where the hearing over his ‘murder’ was scheduled Friday.

Lawyer Ramraj Singh Thakur, the distraught parents’ lawyer, asked the court to free them because the boy was alive.

Thakur explained to IANS what had happened: ‘Gabbar used to sell peanuts on trains. One day he took a train to Jalgaon in Maharashtra where he was arrested and handed over to a remand home.

‘Since he belonged to Madhya Pradesh he was sent to a juvenile home in Bhopal. The juvenile home officials took several weeks to inform his family,’ the lawyer said.

On receipt of the startling information, the boy’s uncle, Punamchand, and elder brother Kallu rushed to Bhopal and brought him back - just in time.

But the police still have their doubts.

‘The case is pending in court. We are trying to verify if the boy is indeed Gabbar,’ Hoshangabad additional superintendent of police A.K. Pande told IANS.

Bhopal, Aug 25 (IANS) Four poachers have been arrested here and a tiger and panther skin seized from them, a senior official said.

The arrests followed a tip off to wildlife department officials that some people were trying to strike a deal to sell the animal skins to traders in Maharashtra, said H.S. Pabla, additional principal chief conservator of forests.

'The officials laid a trap by posing as traders and struck a deal with three poachers,' he said.

Pabla said once the deal was struck, the poachers brought the skins and were caught.

'Further investigations revealed that all three - Durgesh, Kamlesh and Nandlal - belonged to Betul district. A person, Jawan Singh, who is also involved in the trade, was arrested from Dadukheda village in Betul district,' Pabla said.

A case has been registered against the four under various sections of the wildlife act. The four confessed to have sold the skins of many big cats in the past to traders in Maharashtra's Dharmi area.

In 1994, a resident of Betul district had admitted to killing 30 big cats - tigers and panthers - in a span of two years. The police also recovered trapping equipment like iron snares and electric wires from his possession.

The remains of 28 tigers were recovered from 12 districts of the state between 1998 and 2004, though, as one official said: 'The latest figures are yet to be compiled.'

Madhya Pradesh has 712 tigers, spread across nine national parks and 25 wildlife sanctuaries.

'It is home to the largest tiger population in the country but it is also a poachers' paradise,' said an official of the Wildlife Protection Society of India.