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Author archives: zafar

Delhi Police usually busts informers or surrendered militants: JTSA

New Delhi – In context of Liaqat Shah’s arrest, claiming that he was conspiring to carry out attacks in the national capital, the Jamia Teachers’ Solidarity Association (JTSA) on Saturday said that “Many of these prize catches of the Delhi Special Cell happened to be either police or IB informers, surrendered militants, or men with whom one agency or the other had a score to settle.” After arresting Liaqat Shah […]

In Kerala this summer, earn cash for electricity save

State-run Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB), reeling under monthly losses of over Rs. 200 crore, has come out with a unique scheme for domestic consumers which allows them to earn cash back for power saved. While the state requires, on an average, around 58 million units daily, the generation from the state mainly through hydel generation and other sources comes to only half its requirement. The rest of the power […]

‘I was discriminated against because I am Muslim

In 2008, a youth was arrested from my neighbourhood in Hubli for alleged links with the Student Islamic Movement of India. He was studying to be a doctor and had no history of indiscipline or run-ins with the law. His family was traumatised, and still is, for he continues to languish in jail. If that could happen to a young, educated Muslim like him, it could happen to me, too, […]

Schoolboy donates savings for drought relief

In a touching gesture, an eight-year-old schoolboy donated his savings from pocket money and birthday party for the cause of drought-hit people in Maharashtra in Mumbai on Tuesday, an official said. Kanishka R. Dongre, a class two student of Carmel School in Badlapur town of Thane district, specially went to meet Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan in the legislative assembly and handed over Rs.5,000 for the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund. “He […]

Is Narendra Modi another Sanjay Gandhi?

‘To Sanjay Gandhi, the means were not as important as the end…’ ‘The appeal that someone like Narendra Modi holds is precisely this — that he gets things done. Don’t ask too many questions about how he gets it done though…’ ‘But that’s exactly what is dangerous because that is how authoritarianism comes in. It always comes in with public consent.’ Vinod Mehta, editor extraordinaire, speaks to Rediff.com‘s Saisuresh Sivaswamy in […]

Budget is the economy’s face, Bollywood is a mirror that reflects it

If you saw Guru Dutt sulk in Pyaasa (The Thirsty, 1957) on the arrogance of the rich, you can blame it on the Nehruvian economic model that focused on industrialization with the Second Five-Year Plan that began in 1956. In the same year, we had a more optimistic  Naya Daur (New Age),in which Dilip Kumar plays a tongawalla who takes on the threats posed by the arrival of the bus. The […]

U.S. downplays Hagel’s remarks, backs India’s role in Afghanistan

After Chuck Hagel’s controversial remarks on India’s role in Afghanistan, a top U.S. official has strongly backed New Delhi’s investment program and said they have a holistic view of the war-torn region. Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Robert Blake on Wednesday at a Congressional hearing said,” India has taken a very kind of holistic view of what needs to be done there, and they have a […]

Over 3 lakh schools started under RTE: Economic Survey

NEW DELHI: A total of 3,34,340 new primary and upper primary schools have been opened under the Right to Education (RTE) till September 2012, since the enforcement of the RTE April 1, 2010, the Economic Survey, released Wednesday, said. Over 2,80,000 new school buildings have been constructed, and over 12,46,000 teachers have been appointed under the scheme in that time, the survey said. Talking about the Mid-Day Meal Scheme, the […]

In Chhattisgarh, a primitive tribe in trouble

In Pic :Hut of Primitive Tribes crushed by administration, hundreds homeless. Administration argues pulling down their huts will ensure ‘safety of wildlife’ A day after the Union government announced a Rs.100-crore grant for Chukutiya Bhunjia of Orissa, a primitive tribe which lives on the eastern border of Chhattisgarh, 30 huts of the Baigas, another primitive tribe, were razed to the ground by government officials in the western part of the […]