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China may consider alternative Kailash Mansarover route: India

     New Delhi: Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao's first visit to India last month was significant not only for political and economic reasons, but also from the point of view of promoting religious tourism. During his April 9-11 visit, Dr Manmohan Singh raised the issue of China seriously considering a proposal to open an alternative route to Kailash Mansarovar through Ladakh to make travel shorter and more convenient. The Chinese side is believed to have responded positively to the suggestion, saying it would help Hindu pilgrims from India. Singh is said to have raised the issue after PMO and South Block officials conducted a computerised draw for the selection of this year's yatris. The computer-generated, gender-balanced random selection process was carried out for a total of 704 slots across 16 batches for the yatra scheduled to begin on May 29. The Yatra, which resumed in 1981 along the traditional route across the Lipulekh Pass in Uttaranchal, is conducted under a bilateral arrangement with China by the External Affairs Ministry in coordination various Central and State Government agencies. The Yatra is undertaken each year from around June to September. The arrangements on the Chinese side are made by the authorities of the Tibet Autonomous region.

15 Meningococcemia deaths in Delhi  (Go To Top)

     New Delhi: Even as Central and Delhi state governments gear up to control the spread of Meningococcemia, the deadly bacterial infection has claimed 15 lives in the national capital so far. A total of 111 cases of the disease have been reported. The bacterial infection affects brain and blood system in a body. People have been advised to take preventive measures and the National Institute of Communicable diseases has also undertaken an awareness campaign.

Muslim women group comes out with its own 'nikahnama' (Go To Top)

     Mumbai: A Muslim women's association, Women Research and Action Group, has criticised the nikahnama or marriage code recently unveiled by the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB), and said that they had come out with a version of their own, which would give the much-needed equality to Muslim women. "I do not want to talk about the changes. There is no point giving any suggestions to modify this nikahnama. We have already come out with our own nikahnama where safeguards for women are being incorporated," said Noorjehan Safia Niaz, Co-director of the group. Niaz said that the women-oriented code would allow wife to divorce her husband giving a sense of equality to women. "There are a couple of things through which we are trying to safeguard the interests of the people. One is Talak-e-Tafreez -- the husband has the right to divorce his wife even she can divorce him when she wants to. So it is this sense of equality and justice that Talak-e-Tafreez gives to the woman. It is the sense of equality. This element we have brought into our nikahnama and we are hopeful that the board's nikahnama would also incorporate it but unfortunately they have not done it," she said. The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) on May 1 had unveiled a new model marriage code, bringing in the much- needed transparency and flexibility in divorce laws. Muslim community has been seized with the controversy over triple Talaq or divorce, a provision under which men could divorce their wives by simply saying the word "talaq", or divorce, three times. A model Nikahnama proposes that the husband and wife have to convince elders from their families or the qazi, the Islamic religious judge, of the need to end the marriage. Even though the new provisions come as a breather for women, the model marriage code is not compulsory. Liberal Muslims have been locked in a bitter dispute with the AIMPLB over the controversial marriage system they say should be completely scrapped, and have called for reforms allowing women greater say and equal rights in matters of matrimony, property and family disputes. Though the board has sway over the country's Muslims, it has no super authority over them.

CPI(M) faces dilemma over stand regarding World Bank (Go To Top)
by Gautam Ghosh

     Kolkata: The recent change of guard in the CPI(M) with the elevation of politburo member Prakash Karat to the post of general secretary does not seem to have resolved the inner- party debate on the party's stand vis-a-vis the World Bank. Senior party leaders, who used to regard the World Bank as "an agency of imperialist powers" even in the eighties and nineties, are still hesitant to give it a completely clean chit for the role it has been playing in the changed global economy. There are, however, others including hardcore CITU functionaries, who appear determined to "stall the World Bank's move to get a foothold " in the CPI(M) strongholds like West Bengal,Tripura and Kerala. The party has, therefore, decided to discuss the touchy issue threadbare before finalising its stand. The CPI(M) politburo is likely to take up a relevant party document along with a number of amendments at its next meeting in Delhi on May 15. The CPI(M)'s reservation about the World Bank and its policy dates back to the late sixties when its student and youth wings used to organise protest demonstrations against the Bank's visiting officials. The party used to regard the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and similar other agencies as "imperialist instruments to exploit the toiling masses in the developing and under-developed countries in the name of helping their economy." Even a few months back former West Bengal chief minister and veteran politburo member Jyoti Basu described deputy chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalliah as "a World Bank man" when the latter tried to induct representatives of the World Bank and some other foreign agencies as advisors to the Planning Commission. Under concerted pressure from the CPI(M) and other left parties Singh had to give up his plan.

     A subtle change in the CPI(M)'s attitude, however, was discernible when the cash-starved Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government started seeking the World Bank's help to implement some of its projects. The party document concedes that the "World Bank and similar other agencies have come forward to help the state governments overcome their financial crises with offer of loans on easy terms." The document also finds nothing wrong in the Left Front government's decision to seek loans for the Asian Development Bank and the Japan Bank for International Development. According to informed sources, Bhattacharjee wanted the party to accept the document without delay. However, it is yet to be formally adopted as a number of amendments have been submitted. Robin Deb and Debashis Chakraborty from West Bengal, Kerala's T.S. Thomas Isaac, Goa's B.P. Perera and Andhra Pradesh's S.D. Sharma and V. Srinivas Rao have submitted the amendments seeking a clarification on the party's stand regarding the World Bank and its terms and conditions for offering loans. A change in the CPI(M)'s attitude towards the World Bank can also be gauged from a recent article in the "People's Democracy" written by politburo member Sitaram Yechuri underscoring the need for accepting World Bank loans. The CITU, CPI(M)'s labour arm, however, remains sceptical about the Bank's role in India and has called for adequate safeguards before opening the country's economy to its "encroachment." "We have seen how the World Bank loans destroyed the economic foundation of many Third World countries and must be extra- cautious about its motives," said a CITU state secretariat member. While the CPI(M) is still in a dilemma over the question of accepting World Bank aid, the CPI has taken a serious view of the UPA government's decision to seek foreign direct investment in the banking and insurance sectors. CPI general secretary A.B. Bardhan, in an article to be published in "New Age," has warned the Centre against "making light of the left parties' support." Bardhan says the left parties will have to re-think their support to the UPA government if it "continues to ignore our views on the crucial economic issues."

Bhupathi-Woodbridge lose (Go To Top)

     New Delhi: Indian ace Tennis player Mahesh Bhupathi's hopes dashed when he and Todd Woodbridge lost out in the semifinals of the 2.08 million Euro ATP Tennis Masters in Rome, Italy on Saturday. They lost out to the French duo Michael Llodra and Fabrice Santoro on the red clay of the Foro Italico courts. Bhupathi, 30, and Woodbridge, 34, are yet to win a title this season since their triumph in Sydney in January, their first tournament together. In fact, the duo that combine 23 Grand Slam crowns between them are yet to reach a final on the tour. Reaching the semifinals in Dubai is their next best effort.

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