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India
celebrates Ganesh Chaturthi, birthday of Hindu elephant
God
Pune
(Maharashtra): Hindus across western India on Wednesday
thronged temples and took out colourful processions to celebrate
Ganesh Chaturthi, the birthday of the elephant-headed god,
Lord Ganesha. Ganesh Chaturthi is celebrated for 10 days.
In Pune, devotees worshipped Ganesha idols in a huge procession
marked in honour of the pot-bellied God. "More and more
people should get involved in the festival. It's a colourful
festival and we all do it because we have faith in Ganesha,"
said Ramnath, a devotee. For years, Ganesh Chaturthi was
a personal or private affair, celebrated within homes. But
at the turn of the century, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, a fighter
for freedom from British rule, converted it into a public
event, using it as a platform for political propaganda and
unity. Unlike other deities where any changes shown in its
image could be considered sacrilegious, the Ganesha can
be depicted in any way -- dancing, standing on top of the
world or lying down. Legend has it that Hindu Goddess Parvati,
consort of Shiva, one of the three most powerful Gods in
the Hindu pantheon, had created Ganesha from a perfumed
putty-like substance, which she used to remove dirt from
her body. Shiva flew into rage on seeing the boy near the
bath and beheaded him. Later, on realisation of his mistake
Shiva brought him back to life by slaying an elephant and
giving him the animal's head. Thus was created Ganesha who
is worshipped at the beginning of every auspicious occasion
to ward off obstacles.
Manmohan-Blair
summit shifted from Shimla to Udaipur (Go
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by Ashok Dixit/Sutirtha Sanyal
New
Delhi: In a sudden development, Prime Minister's Manmohan
Singh and Tony Blair have shifted the venue of their bilateral
summit meetings from the 'British Raj Summer Capital' Shimla
to the 'City of Lakes', Udaipur. Informed sources said that
inclement weather conditions had necessitated a change of
venue for the meeting. Blair was scheduled to meet Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh for a one-on-one during his three-hour-long
stay in the Himachal Pradesh capital and at Wildflower Hall
in Mashobra, the one-time residence of Lord Kitchner of
Khartoum, the former British Army commander-in-chief in
India. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was also scheduled
to host a luncheon meeting for the Blairs at Mashobra, which
is about 12 Kms uphill from Shimla. Blair, accompanied by
his wife Cherie Blair, was to land at the Kalyani Helipad
and drive down to the Wildflower Hall, where he and Singh
were to hold bilateral discussions. The route between the
Kaliyani helipad and the Oberoi-owned Wildflower Hall Hotel
had been repaired and whitewashed to welcome the British
guest. Security forces had also been put on high alert and
the entire forest area between Kalyani and Chhrabra was
secured and sanitized for the short visit. Reports said
that now, with the shifting of the venue to Udaipur, security
forces have sanitized the city and made elaborate security
arrangements for the two dignitaries to hold their discussions.
India
gets Rs 349 cr concession on IA-Airbus aircraft deal (Go
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by Gyanendra Kumar Keshri
New
Delhi: Civil Aviation Minister, Prafful Patel said here
on Wednesday that India has extracted Rs 349 crore net discount
on the Indian Airlines-Airbus aircraft deal which was announced
this afternoon by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. "We have
signed the contract to buy 43 Airbus aircraft for Rs 9,
890 crore (2.25 billion dollars) as against the original
estimated cost of Rs 10, 237 crore (2.33 billion dollars)
making a net saving of Rs 349 crore (75.8 million dollars)
or 3.4 percent," said Patel. He said that Airbus has offered
to set up an ultra-modern training centre for training pilots
in the country with an investment of 75 million dollars.
"This will help in training pilots which are in shortage
in the country," said Patel. The French company has also
offered to set up spare parts manufacturing units in India,
he said. On the timeframe for buying the aircraft, Patel
said, "the government has given the green signal and now
it is up to Indian Airlines to take the decision." However,
he said that delivery might begin by mid 2006. The Indian
Airlines board had agreed on the acquisition of 20 Airbus
A-319s, 19 A-321s and four A-320s more than two years ago
but a final decision had been delayed by required clearances
from several layers of the government because of the order's
size. The Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) headed by
the Finance Minister P Chidambaram had given green signal
to the acquisition deal yesterday. "The new aircrafts will
broadly replace the ageing fleet of Indian Airlines and
also add some new fleet so as the public sector air career
can compete in the market," said Patel.
Blair
calls on Kalam, visits orphanage (Go
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New
Delhi: British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Wednesday
called on President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam after the conclusion
of sixth India-EU Business summit in New Delhi. Blair along
with his wife Cherie also visited an orphanage run by a
non-government organization 'Salaam Balak Trust', for children
made vulnerable by HIV/AIDS in New Delhi. There are around
50 children in the centre, majority of them the children
of daily wage labourers and others who were street children.
The Blair couple was entertained by a brief skit performance
of the children many of them who have now started going
to schools and given up begging. Cherie Blair said proper
care could bring out the true potential of the children.
"To see the potential of these children and to realize that
without the help here that potential would all be wasted.
They can do all sorts of things one of them even being a
photographer of Times of India that's a great thing," Cherie
told reporters. With close to 5.1 million people living
with the HIV or AIDS, India has the world's second largest
national total after South Africa and experts say the number
could quadruple by 2010. In 2004, the World Bank warned
the disease would become the single-largest cause of death
in the world's second most populous country unless there
was a change in treatment policy and progress made on prevention.
Blair, who holds the rotating presidency of the EU, will
be holding meetings with Indian leaders on trade, politics
and climate change. Blair is also due to meet Sonia Gandhi,
chief of ruling Congress party later in the evening. Britain
is the third-largest investor in India. Trade between the
two countries is nearly 10 billion dollars a year. The EU
as a bloc is India's largest export destination, accounting
for nearly a quarter of all Indian exports.
Left
organisations protest Tony Blair's visit (Go
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New
Delhi: The Left organisations of the country, including
SFI, AIDWA, DYFI, AITUC and AISF, today held a demonstration
to protest against British Prime Minister Tony Blairs visit
to India. The members of several Left organisations termed
him as an "architect of systematic reign of terror", and
held him responsible for the death of thousands of people
in Iraq and "raking up hysteria" against erstwhile regime
and "unjust aggression" there. A statement released by the
demonstrating organisations said: "Blair is responsible
for the death of thousands of innocent children, women and
men in Iraq and elsewhere. He is the architect of systematic
reign of terror, which is being unleashed in Britain today
against Muslims, Asians, Africans and other sections of
the working people." The British Prime Minister is in the
country on a three-day visit for bilateral meetings in Delhi
and Shimla.
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References: India, India News,
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Mussoorie, Haridwar, Hardwar, Rishikesh, Nainital, Delhi,
Goa, Kovalam, Darjeeling, Bodh Gaya, Kancheepuram, Kanchipuram,
Thekkady, Badrinath, Amar Nath,Vaishno Devi, Tirupati, Sabarimala,
Guruvayoor, Kanyakumari, Kodaikanal, Ooty, Chennai,
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