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Sonal Mansingh in the eye of a storm

     New Delhi: The gloves are finally off in the slugfest between the famous Odissi danseuse Sonal Mansingh, Chairperson, Sangeet Natak Akademy, and members of the board and governing council. Only two days after the resignation of three of the five Government appointees on the board namely Vice Chairman KN Panikkar, Carnatic Musician Balamurali Krishna and Savitri Heisnam almost 60 artistes have signed a memorandum which will be presented to the President, pleading for his urgent action to "remove the present chairperson from her position without any further delay." The signatories include luminaries from the dance, theatre and music world like Raja and Radha Reddy, M.K. Raina, Nadira Babbar, G S Chenny, Mohan Maharishi, Kamal Tiwari, N K Sharma, Dolly Ahluwalia, who resigned from their posts. Annoyed with Ms. Mansingh, Panikkar said in his resignation letter, "Since Mr. Balamurali Krishna is not prepared to withdraw his resignation, my conscience does not permit me to continue as Vice Chairman as both of us are targeted by Ms. Mansingh." About two months ago Mr. Panikkar had written letter of protest listing number of allegations against the Chairperson. "After raising these allegations I cannot remain on the post until she resigns," said Panikkar.

     On the contrary, Ms. Mansingh said, "I did not have any idea that Mr. Panikkar would resign from his post. Actually it had surprised me. He was with us throughout the meeting. We transacted a lot of business and even issued a joint statement articulating the Board's decision to ask M. Balamurli Krishna, to withdraw his resignation from the general council." The members are planning to hold a public rally to force Mansingh's resignation. They will also demand that the President should dissolve the board and council and appoint a new chairperson. The list of complaints against her runs into six pages, beginning with her "undemocratic, unconstitutional, unethical, unwarranted and unbecoming performance" as chairperson. Her "autocratic behaviour", states the letter, began right from the day she was appointed in 2003. Examples cited are her refusal to call meetings of the then General Council of Executive Board, which expired four months later in April 2004. "Arbitrary and Unilaterally" (without the consent of the bodies, a constitutional requirement) bringing to an end the Golden Jubliee programme in January 2004 which should have been closed only by December 2004. She has also produced CDs for the Akademi for her "own self promotion". The allegations made against Ms. Mansingh give a political colour to the controversy. She is accused of campaigning for Gujarat CM Narendra Modi in 2003 and recommending Modi's mother for a Padma Shri in January 2004 for her work in women's development and campaigning for former Prime Minister Vajpayee in a signed advertisement, which is against the rule of Natak Akademi. She added, "I have not broken any rules nor I have indulged in nepotism, favouritism or self promotion. A campaign had begun the last 14-15 months but I had not spoken out. However, it seems my silence has been misconstrued and I have a lot to say." She even denies that she went to Gujarat for campaigning in favour of Mr. Modi. The Sangeet Natak Akademi is waiting for the decision of Reddy and the President.

Andhra police raid Maoist hideouts (Go To Top)

     Hyderabad: The Andhra Pradesh Director General of Police, Swaranjit Sen has said that the Maoists were taking advantage of the peace talks and were recruiting more cadres and got more arms and ammunition. The Andhra Police raided 18 hideouts of Maoists and recovered a huge cache of arms and ammunition from the hideouts. The raids were carried out in Anantpur, Kurnool and Prakasam districts over the past one and half month. "To meet the Maoist problem it has to be a joint effort, and joint effort always pays very good dividends. These recovery of these weapons have been possible just because of the joint efforts from the side of the district authorities of Anantpur, Kurnool and Prakasam districts" said Swaranjit Sen, Director General of Police, Andhra Pradesh. The seized cache includes 200 kilograms of gelatin sticks, 585 rounds of 12 bore pistol, 398 rounds of .303 rifle, 190 rounds of 8mm pistol, 50 rounds of AK-47, six live claymore mines, 45 empty claymore mines, 231 claymore mine shells, 15 live grenades and 20 kgs of gun powder along with several rocket launchers. "Our intention will be to make a dent into this destructive industry that the Maoists have formed and hopefully in the near future we will have more success," Sen told reporters in Hyderabad. Earlier this month, the Maoist leaders had walked out of the peace talks, blaming local police for mounting violence since a truce collapsed more than three months ago. Peace talks between the Maoists and the Andhra Pradesh state government collapsed in January after 12 Maoists were killed in clashes with police. The Maoists had since set fresh conditions for talks including an end to all police action against them and the suspension of four district police chiefs. Maoist leaders said the state government had gone back on its commitment to resolve the more than three-decade-old revolt through negotiations. Violence has escalated in Andhra Pradesh since the ceasefire collapsed and more than 110 people, including 53 Maoists have been killed in gun battles and attacks by the guerrillas.

'Anil Ambani wants SEBI to review IPCL resignation' (Go To Top)

     Mumbai: Anil Ambani has reportedly asked SEBI and the stock exchange authorities to investigate his resignation from Indian Petrochemicals Limited (IPCL) and also review the board's governance structure. He has also asked the authorities to check whether all disclosure norms under the listing agreement of the company were followed. The move coincides with the IPCL's public statement that the younger Ambani, vice chairman of the corporate behemoth, had effectively ceased to be vice chairman of IPCL since January 20. Anil, who is locked in a bitter ownership row with elder brother and chairman Mukesh Ambani, had in his resignation letter accused another IPCL director Anand Jain of hatching a "conspiracy to divide" the brothers. Anil claimed that Jain, who is considered close to Mukesh, was playing a "negative role" in Ambani family affairs and was responsible for the trouble between the two brothers. Reliance acquired the government's 26 percent stake in IPCL, country's second largest petrochemicals company, in 2002 as part of the disinvestments process.

Rajinder Singh Jr appointed new Indian hockey coach (Go To Top)

     New Delhi: The Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) today announced Rajinder Singh (Junior) as the new coach of the national squad for the Azlan Shah Cup hockey tournament that begins at the end of May. Singh, 46, replaces German Gerhard Rach who was asked to quit after the team's debacle at last year's Athens Olympics in August. "The appointment is for the Azlan Shah Cup. But we will assess his performance there and take a further decision," IHF Media Advisor Anupam Ghulati said. Rajinder, who is the coach of top institutional side Punjab and Sind Bank since its formation 17 years back, played for India in the 1982 Delhi Asiad and also in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. The IHF also announced that Narinder Pal Singh would be the assistant coach of the squad. The new appointments were announced on the eve of the month long camp for the 34-probables, who have been selected for the Azlan Shah Cup. Gulati said the Indian squad for the Malaysian trip would be announced a few days before the team's departure for the tournament beginning on May 26.

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