Andhranews

Hyderabad, Sept. 11: The Movement Against Uranium Project has demanded that the State government conduct a fresh public hearing on the proposed uranium mining project at Pulivendula in Kadapa district, since the one held on Sunday was “totally manipulated and one-sided.” Speaking to this correspondent, MAUP activist and advocate Jayasri, who attended the public hearing at Tummalapalle village, said public opinion was bulldozed by the local Congress leaders, including Kadapa MP Y.S. Vivekananda Reddy, brother of Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy.

“Villagers who are going to be affected were not allowed to present their version. Whereas the outsiders who purchased lands at Thummalapalle village at cheaper rates could get a chance to speak in favour of the project. And when environmentalists and NGO representatives, who did extensive study on the project, got a chance to speak, they were booed by Vivekananda Reddy’s men, who used foul language. As a result, we boycotted the public hearing,” she said.

Jayasri said as per the IAEA norms, there should not be any human habitation within a radius of 1.5 km. The farmers, therefore, would be losing their precious horticultural lands. “They are getting Rs 60,000 to Rs 1 lakh every year on their produce. But the revenue authorities are offering them a meagre compensation of Rs 1 lakh to Rs 1.35 lakh per acre. And they will also be losing their houses and lands,” she said.

The villagers of Mabbuchintapalle gheraoed collector M.T. Krishna Babu and the Kadapa MP, as they were going back. “We demanded that the collector conduct a hearing again, but there was no response,” she added. Meanwhile at Vizag, the Chief Minister said that protests by people’s organisations and NGOs were flawed. He said that the Rs 1,200-crore project would be bring in economic development. “It (the mining project) is in my constituency and I know what is good for my people,” he said.

On people’s protests over the location of alumina project in Visakhapatnam, the Chief Minister said not a single tribal family was being displaced due to the alumina mining. “About 600 families living in five hamlets in one kilometre radius of the mining area were being given a good compensation. They will lead a better life after they were displaced from the agency tracts,” he added.

Regarding Peddagedda protests, Dr Rajasekhar Reddy said five more villages were being given compenstion under humanitarian grounds and there was no reason for the poitical parties to raise a hue and cry to stall the projects. The Chief Minister said that the land acquisition process would be streamlined in any part of the State and without prior of approval of the Cabinet not an inch of land would be taken. He said land acquisition process would be transparent and local authorities would be involved to conduct public meetings in the areas wher land is proposed to be acquired for the developmental activities.

Dr Rajasekhar Reddy was answering to the questions raised on how some GO were being issued for land acqusition and the political leaders buying off the lands misleading the farmers. The GOs were being withdrawn after the land was sold by the farmers. “Hereafter care would be taken to curb such activities,’’ he said.

Hyderabad, Sept. 11: Sports minister M. Satyanarayana Rao launched a stinging attack on TRS president K. Chandrasekhar Rao who attacked him at a party meeting at Siddipet on Friday.
Mr Satyanarayana Rao, who is related to the TRS chief, called him “a baccha (child), cheat and boozer.”

Separately, Madiga activists staged a demonstration in the city to protest Mr Chandrasekhar Rao’s comments against dalit leader Kadiam Srihari of the Telugu Desam. The irrepressible Mr Satyanarayana Rao was in full flow, delivering punchy oneliners in Telangana dialect at a hurriedly convened press meet. Mr Chandrasekhar Rao had taunted the minister that he had lost his deposit in the 1999 Assembly elections and won in 2004 thanks to the TRS.

Accepting Mr Chandrasekhar Rao’s challenge to Congress legislators to quit their posts, Mr Satyanarayana Rao said he would quit but Mr Chandrasekhar Rao should quit as MP and contest against him. “If I lose I will take political sanyas and if he loses he should quit politics retire to his palatial house,” the minister said.

He alleged that Mr Chandrasekhar Rao had approached him when he was PCC chief with a proposal to merge the TRS with Congress. He did not say why it did not materialise or who stalled the proposal. “Mr Chandrasekhar Rao is my close relative, married to my maternal uncle’s daughter. I refrained talking against him but since he made nasty comments, I am forced to bare this fellow. He was a baccha (child) who was a suckling when I was active in the Telangana movement.

He took up the Telangana cause after he was denied a Cabinet berth in TD government. He is a cheat, a boozer, led a cosy life as minister for two years in Delhi, and made crores in the name of Telangana.” He alleged that the TRS president was arrested in a cheating case for reportedly taking huge amounts from people promising the jobs in Dubai. “He pleaded with me to save him and my wife was also a witness,” the minister said, adding, “I spoke to (then Union minister of State for home) P. Venkatsubbaiah and ensured his release on condition that he pay back the money he took from the people.”

On another occasion, “he sought reinstatement of a bus conductor in Karimnagar following a threat from Maoists. The conductor bashed up a depot manager who pulled him up for wrongdoing and was sacked. Mr Chandrasekhar Rao told me that Naxals had threatened to kill him if he did not help in reinstatement of the conductor. I requested (then RTC managing director) H.J. Dora and ensured that the conductor got back his job after tendering an apology.”

Expressing shock at Mr Vidyasagar Rao, a TRS activist comparing Mr Chandrasekhar Rao with Mahatma Gandhi, the minister said, “Mahatma Gandhi went to jail fighting for freedom, this fellow (Mr Chandrasekhar Rao) went to jail in a cheating case.” He said that Mr Chandrasekhar Rao was a “paper tiger” who had sought his support in the 2004 elections. “His contribution as MP is nil. He now threatens to gherao us. The fellow is forgetting his past.”

He said he had recommended that the Congress give 25 Assembly and 2 Lok Sabha seats for the TRS in the 2004 elections. “I don’t what know prompted (then State Congress president) D. Srinivas to support KCR. He could have threatened to defeat him. Mr Chandrasekhar Rao had put up Mr Mrutyunjaya Rao (now in Congress) against me paying Rs 20 lakh and also a TRS candidate against Mr Mohd Ali Shabbir. I had a tough time but eventually we won.”

Hyderabad, Sept 11: A contract employee died of septicemia recently after being given a Tetanus shot in the dispensary at the State Secretariat. The condition of M. Hariprasad, who was working as a driver in the Secretariat, worsened allegedly because of the neglect of doctors in the government area hospital in Vanasth-alipuram, where he was admitted in a serious condition. It is said that Hariprasad was suffering from diabetes and this led to the infection.

Inquiries by this correspondent revealed that attempts are now being made to cover up the negligence of the doctors. “They never did anything to help him during the four days in the hospital,” alleged his wife Anuradha. “Instead they snapped at me when I requested their help.” It all started when Hariprasad suffered a minor injury on his arm, after which he took a tetanus toxoid (TT) injection from the Secretariat dispensary on August 14.

He came back to the dispensary on August 19 for an additional dose of pain killers. His health soon started deteriorating and accumulation of abscess was noticed. On August 30 he was admitted in the Vanasthalipuram hospital. Dr Ch. Jayakumari, superintendent of Secretariat dispensary, said that there was no possibility of Hariprasad developing infection bec-ause of the Tetanus shot.

“Several other persons were administered TT from vials belonging to the same batch and none of them complained of infection,” she said. It was at Vanasthalipuram hospital that Hariprasad was diagnosed as a diabetic patient. Ms Anuradha alleged that the doctors of the hospital behaved in an utterly callous manner. “When he was shivering with fever, there was no one to treat him,” she said. “On the third day, a doctor casually told me that there were no chances of his survival”.

Medical records at the hospital make it clear that no attempts were made to remove the abscess because of which infection spread to other parts of the body. Having no other option, Anuradha shifted Haripr-asad to Kamineni Hospital on September 2. From there, he was taken to Osmania Hospital. “Doctors at Osmania did their best, but it was of no use,” she said. “We lost him.”

OGH Superintendent Dr Girish Narayan told this correspondent that Haripra-sad was suffering from septicemia shock and low blood pressure when he was brought in. “He was in a critical condition,” said Dr Narayan. Meanwhile, Minorities Welfare principal secretary Chaya Ratan brought the incident to the notice of health secretary Dr M. Sambasiva Rao and urged him to find out whether the TT administered at the Secretariat dispensary had caused the infection.

Dr Rao directed the AP Vaidya Vidhan Parishad to inquire into the incident and also asked the AP Drug Control Administration to collect samples of the vaccines to verify its purity. Dr Anjaneyulu, joint commissioner of the Parishad, said that doctors at Vanasthalipuram did not dry out the abscess since Hariprasad had high levels of diabetes. Anuradha, who has two children, is now seeking help from the government. She met Mr Chaya Ratan on Monday and the latter assured her that all possible help would be extended to her family.

Hyderabad, Sept. 11: AP State AIDS Control Society (APSACS), has come out with a new scheme to enhance the life span of the AIDS patients by providing them expensive drugs at free of cost. Each patient is being given nearly Rs. 8,000 to Rs. 10,000 worth of life-saving drugs every year. According to officials, HIV replication and immune deterioration could be delayed with the drugs and the quality of life improved.

To supply these medicines, the government established nine additional anti-retroviral therapy (ART) centres last week. Besides three existing centres in Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam and Guntur, the new centres have been opened in Secunderabad, Tirupati,Vijayawada, Kakinada, Anantapur, Kadapa, Ongole, Karimnagar and Warangal. Two senior medical officers, lab technician, pharmacist, counsellor were posted in each centre.

The patients, whose blood tests reveal CD4 count and less than 200 cells have to enrol their names in anti-retroviral therapy centres which will distribute the medicines on monthly basis. APSACS was confined to conducting AIDS awareness campaign and HIV tests for the last 10 years. With the support of National AIDS Control Society, it is now able to help the real sufferers with life-saving drugs.

APSACS project director G. Ashok Kumar said that free medicines will increase the life of span of the patients by at least six to seven years. Mr Kumar added that through anti-retroviral therapy centres the exact number of the AIDS affected persons could also be enumerated by the State government. So far it has the figures of only HIV patients estimated to be around 14 lakhs in the State. To get the accurate figures of HIV patients APSACS has also increased the Integrated Counselling and Testing Centres (ICTCs) to 580 from existing 263. The society plans to form 20,000 ‘Red Ribbon clubs’ for taking up the message.

Hyderabad, Sept. 11: The State Transport Authority has decided to take stringent action against transport companies which carry illegal goods and explosives. The move comes in the wake of the police seizing huge quantities of explosives meant for Maoists from the godowns of Kranti Transport Company.

“We will take action against the company if it is guilty,” said STA commissioner Ajay Mishra.
Henceforth, vehicles carrying illegal goods will be seized and if necessary, the licence of the transport company will be cancelled. STA officials said that liquor, forest goods and marijuana were also being transported into the State. Though occasional raids are conducted by the commercial taxes, excise, forest and police departments, the menace continues since concerted action is absent.

The central department of explosives is also gearing up its act. “As per rules, unauthorised transport of explosives is a crime,” said V.B. Minj, the deputy controller of explosives. Transport companies have also become wary after the latest episode. Managements of transport companies, however, argue that it would not be possible to check all items carried in their vehicles.

“Some times we transport heavy engineering and hardware items,” said an official of Kranti Transport. “After transportation, they may be reassembled. We cannot be held responsible for that,” he added. In all, 10 major transport companies and about 100 minor transport companies operate from Andhra Pradesh.

They are supposed to transport goods only after verifying the bills. They also have to insist on full address and undertaking from people who are sending the consignment. To safeguard their reputation, some companies are framing new guidelines for internal circulation. “Employees have been asked to verify the antecedents of people who want to book goods for transport,” said P. Ramesh Kumar, president of Hyderabad Goods Transport Association. “This may prevent illegal transportation to an extent,” he added.

Hyderabad, Sept. 11: Five persons committed suicide at various places in and around the city.
Balaswamy, 35, an auto-rickshaw driver and resident of Mansurabad was found hanging at his residence on Sunday night. Preliminary investigations revealed that Balaswamy had incurred debts and was not in a position to repay. That could have been the reason for him to end his life, police said.

Car driver Shekhar, 22, succumbed to burns he sustained during a suicide attempt at Gurramguda near Vanasthalipuram. Ac-cording to the police, Shekhar set himself on September 9. He was shifted to a hospital where he died. No reasons were given for the suicide. In Gowthamnagar’s Balanagar, G. Suresh, 32, a petty scrap merchant committed suicide by hanging himself at his residence. Police said that Suresh had incurred losses in his business and was depressed and could have ended his life because of that.

Jangaiah, 38, a watchman and resident of Kummarwadi under Rajendranagar police station limits, succumbed to burns at Osmania general hospital on Sunday night. Jangaiah doused himself with kerosene and set himself ablaze at home on Sunday morning. K. Mallamma, 35, wife of Balaiah of Yelimineedu ended her life by consuming poison. No reasons were given for the suicides.

Hyderabad, Sept. 11: A high dropout rate is hindering government efforts to enroll child labourers in schools. The dropout rate is as high as 30 per cent in some areas, according to Mohammed Raheemuddin of the MV Foundation. Improper regulation, inadequate infrastructure and wrong attitude of teachers are blamed for the dropout rates.

Non-governmental organisations and government officials are now trying to stem this trend.
Mr Philips Isidore, director of Divyadisha, said that earlier, child labourers were directly put in regular schools and they used to run away, unable to cope. “Now, the situation is different,” he said. “They are put in transit homes run by NGOs. Being under constant supervision, the child does not feel the need to run away. We also take parents into confidence.”

Later on, based on the child's responses, he or she is admitted into a regular school. However, since constant monitoring is impossible in regular schools, children continue to drop out.
“Managements are to blame for this,” said Mr Raheemuddin. “If the child is unable to wear a proper uniform, they ask him to stay away. Such rebuffs act as triggers.”

NGOs are maintaining a social network with police and panchayat authorities to prevent this. To curb the menace of child labour, the government has also included children working in restaurants and houses among child labourers. If a child is found working in a hotel or a house, the employer can face up to two years of imprisonment and a fine of Rs 25,000.

Non-government organisations have been joining hands with the police to rescue child labourers. So far, 46 such raids have taken place in the twin cities and cases have been booked against the employers.

Hyderabad, Sept. 11: Two persons allegedly involved in the theft of cellphones and electronic gadgets from a shop in Jeedimetla were arrested by the police. They had stolen the goods worth about Rs Rs 50,000 from the shop about a fortnight back, police said.

Jeedimetla police sources said that Lingaiah, 38, and Raju, 32, residents of Suraram, had stolen the cellphones and electronic items from Rajasthani Cell Phone shop. A case was registered with Jeedimetla police.

The two were apprehended by the local police when they were moving in suspicious circumstances in Sangareddy. During questioning by the police, Lingaiah and Raju allegedly confessed to have committed the theft at Jeedimetla. They were handed over to the Jeedimetla police.

Hyderabad, Sept. 11: Three youth who allegedly gangraped a 17-year-old girl at Krishna Nagar in Jeedimetla were arrested by the Jeedimetla police on Sunday evening. They have been identified as Lokesh, 26, Srikant, 20 and Moiz, 20. Chronicle is not identifying the victim to protect her privacy.

According to Jeedimetla police, the 17-year-old girl lodged a complaint on Saturday that she was raped by the three youth while she was on her way to call on her boyfriend who was undergoing treatment at a private hospital. Based on the description of the youth given by the girl, the police picked up the three youth and interrogated them. The girl was sent for medical examination.
During interrogation, the youth admitted to having raped the girl.

The three youth are local residents of Krishna Nagar. They were friends with a youth, Yadagiri, with whom the girl was reportedly in love. However, parents of both families were not in favour of their marriage. According to the police, Yadagiri was hospitalised a couple of days back with some illness.

On learning about this, the girl was on her way to see him when the youth forcibly took her to an isolated place and assaulted her. According to the police, as the youth were local residents they were aware that the girl had started from her house and lay waiting for her. The arrested youth have been remanded to judicial custody.

New Delhi, Sept. 11: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will meet Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf on the sidelines of the Nonaligned Movement summit in Havana to discuss terrorism and the peace process only to find that on both counts the general has the full support of the United States with President George W. Bush and vice-president Dick Cheney.

President Musharraf, it is learnt, will reiterate his offer to India to work together to counter terrorism through the sharing of intelligence and even joint operations. He has managed to use his clout with Washington to bring the visibly reluctant Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai on board to the point where he has changed track and instead of accusing Pakistan of encouraging the Taliban, has announced his intention to work with President Musharraf to fight terrorism. In Islamabad, President Musharraf has been able to get sufficient support for his proposal to work with India to counter terrorism.

“Why did you reject the proposal” was the refrain in sharp contradiction to the Indian view that he should not have made any such offer in the wake of the Mumbai blasts if he wanted the peace process to continue. President Musharraf, under domestic fire at home for Baluchistan, has won loud applause from both the US top leaders who have been particularly supportive of his Afghanistan policy where he has virtually re-established the early return of the Taliban.

He has been able to persuade the Americans to discard the Northern Alliance altogether and support him in striking a quick deal with the Pakistani Taliban under which the Army releases the prisoners, reduces its presence in the border areas, hands back the weapons, removes checkpoints while the militants stop all attacks on the Pakistani Army, agree not to cross into Afghanistan to attack the forces there, and stop infiltration.

The deal has come under strong criticism in the western media but US President George W. Bush and vice-president Dick Cheney have come out in full support of President Musharraf. “I do not see it that way,” President Bush said to the charge that the deal would give safe haven to the militants. Vice-president Cheney has now come on board on Monday with a strong assertion describing President Musharraf as a “man who has demonstrated great courage under very difficult political circumstances and has been a great ally for the United States”. He told a US television channel, “The fact is we’ve captured and killed more Al Qaeda in Pakistan than any place else in the world in the last five years.”

India’s charge against Pakistan for fostering cross-border terrorism has elicited little to no support in Washington. Caught in a tough war, President Bush and his administration have taken a clear decision to support President Musharraf in return for his help in locating Al Qaeda’s Osama bin Laden and other key leaders. Interestingly, Pakistan has made it very clear that the hunt for Bin Laden will be intensified and that Islamabad was prepared to work with Kabul to counter terrorism as effectively as possible. President Musharraf’s official insistence that the ISI and the Pakistan Army are not involved in “any kind of interference in Afghanistan” has not been countered by the Americans.

Instead, President Karzai has now announced that he and President Musharraf will work together to counter terrorism. The assessment in Islamabad is that President Musharraf has projected the deal to Washington as being essential for keeping the Army together. It is no secret that the Army suffered 800, or more casualties, in the operations in North Waziristan. The high number of casualties could not have endeared the general to the Army and the deal has been effected to one, give the Army that is his real constituency more breathing space and two, convince it that its interests were being looked after by President Musharraf. Islamabad sources said that the deal was “really for the military” and the Americans had decided that this was a strategy they had no option other than to support.

New Delhi, Sept. 11: From the number of books in your child’s school library to the academic qualification of teachers, the ministry of human resources development is all set to make the report card of nearly 1.4 million schools available at the click of the mouse very soon. An ambitious project of the ministry that aims at assessing the quality of schools in the country, the school report card website, www.schoolreportcards.in,will also highlight their strong and weak points.

Aimed at making important information available to students, parents and interested community members, the ministry is hoping that the reports will be used by schools in promoting a constructive conversation with parents. The report is based on the information provided by schools on various issues, such as enrolment of students, faculty strength, basic facilities such as drinking water and toilets, examination results, incentives, children with disability, number of classrooms, academic inspections and medical check-up among other things.

Some of the other things that have been taken into consideration include the enrolment of SC/ST and OBC students in schools, status of school buildings as well as grade-wise repeaters. Along with the report card, the ministry will also be putting out a two-page descriptive report on the website. The National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA) has already provided the data of over 600 districts through its reports on elementary education for the year 2005.

An attempt to remove the time lag in the availability of educational statistics, the NIEPA had set up district information system for education (DISE) in 581 districts across 29 states and Union Territories to collect data and maintain profile of more than 1.4 million schools involved in elementary education. All recognised schools imparting elementary education are meant to be covered under DISE.

Srinagar , Sept. 11: An irate mob on Monday ransacked a Christian missionary school in Jammu and Kashmir’s southern town of Pulwama and made repeated attempts to torch it over an alleged sacrilegious act by one of its staff. Reports received here said that the police used bamboo sticks and fired teargas canisters into the angry crowd to prevent the school from being burnt down. District authorities later ordered the closure of the Good Shepherd School for five days and ordered an inquiry into the incident.

According to the police and residents, a group of the school teachers are on strike for the past few days following a dispute with the management over their salary and other perks. On Monday morning, they put up a poster listing their demands. The poster contained the sentence “In the name of Allah”. A nun, associated with the school management, removed the poster, tore it off and then put it in the dustbin, witnesses said. Her act evoked the protests as the word spread that a Christian nun tore the name of Allah.

The nun pleaded innocence saying that while tearing the poster off it she did not realise that the word “Allah” was written on it. District magistrate Meraj Ahmed Kakroo said that he had spoken to Father Jim Joseph, the head of the school, who told him that its teachers were on strike for some time and despite his assurances, were refusing to report to duty.

He alleged that on being threatened of suspension, the striking teachers had spread the rumour that a school nun had committed sacrilege. The district magistrate, besides issuing orders for holding inquiry into the incident by the area additional district commissioner Sajjad Ahmed Khan, had also asked the police to take stern action against those who attacked the school.

New Delhi, Sept. 11: A major reshuffle in the ministry of external affairs is expected after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh arr-ives home from his nine-day tour to Brazil and Cuba on September 18. Sources said some or all of secretary-rank officials posted at the headquarters and ambassadors who have been superseded by foreign secretary-designate Shiv Shankar Menon will have to be rehabilitated suitably before Mr Menon takes over on October 1.

That is not all the changes the ministry will have to contend with. Appointing a new envoy to succeed Mr Menon in Islamabad will also trigger off a chain reaction with a few ambassadors posted in the countries in India’s immediate neighbourhood is certain to be shifted to more challenging assignments.

The exercise has been made complicated by the fact that prime postings have over the years come to be reserved for political appointees, thus blocking the chances of senior diplomats to be relocated or accommodated at Indian missions abroad. London, Washington and Moscow are a case in point. The sources said the appointment and subsequent extension of the tenures of Mr Ronen Sen in Washington, Mr Kamlesh Sharma in London and Mr Kanwal Sibal in Moscow has narrowed the scope of manoeuvrability for the government.

New Delhi, Sept. 11: The refusal of Alitalia to take on board waste-picker Santraj Maurya has evoked strong reactions from the blog world even as the airline defended its decision in a letter written to Chintan, the NGO with which Mr Maurya was employed.

The airline has admitted it had set up an internal investigation into the episode after it was first reported by this newspaper on September 4. Attributing the entire episode to a “misunderstanding caused by the short time available to the sponsor to plan and organise the travel of Mr Maurya”, the Alitalia district manager for North India, Mr Tommaso Fumelli, has said in his letter that “the passenger was denied boarding because of his inability to manage such a complicated trip organised at the very last minute by a third party”.

There has been a strong reaction from the blog world against the incident with bloggers criticising the airline for its shoddy handling of the incident. Mr Maurya was on his way to Brazil to attend a conference of waste-pickers and had a valid passport and business class ticket. But he was denied the chance to fly because he did not fit the profile of an international traveller.

Bhopal, Sept. 11: In a collective upsurge against the administrative laxity, thousands of tribals belonging to the Bhil community, went on a rampage in Konyakalan village of Guna district on Sunday, killing a police inspector, and two others in protest against the police’s failure to arrest the rapists of a woman belonging to their community.

The tribal woman was waylaid and gang-raped by four people on August 20 while returning on foot from her “sasural” in the company of her brother-in-law. The latter was tied to a tree as she was raped by turn. Konyakalan is a remote village on the MP-Rajasthan border with virtually no means of communication. Guna ADM Upendranath Sharma said that almost the entire district administration (the collector and SP included) had been camping at Konyakalan since Sunday.

Though things were under control, the rapists were still at large. He admitted that an incident of this magnitude could not have occurred without the overall laxity of the district authorities of which he was a part. The Bhils, he informed, had called for a “mahapanchayat” in the village on Sunday, in which nearly 5,000 adivasis turned up to register their protest. Such was the wrath against the police that the meeting took a violent turn. A decision was taken to storm the village dominated by the Meena community, to which the rapists were suspected to have belonged.

Challenged by the police to stay put, they did not think twice before attacking and killing the inspector of the local Chachora PS. Another set of angry tribals from Budhni, assembly constituency of chief minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan, broke the security cordon near the chief minister’s residence in the state capital, in protest against the razing of their homes.

The protests compelled the CM to come out and assure them of protection. The protests were organised by backers of the Uma Bharti-led Bhartiya Janshakti party. Political factors were behind it. Those in the know said the sadhvi was upping the ante in preparation for the upcoming Vidisha LS bypoll this November.

Malegaon, Sept. 11: The people of Malegaon will never forget September 8, 2006, not only because of the blasts and resulting damage to many lives, but also because of the financial loss faced by some who otherwise do good business on the one day of Shab-e-Baraat. These people manage to earn thousands of rupees on Shab-e-Baraat. They come from Mumbai, Dhule, Nashik, Aurangabad and even from states like Tamil Nadu.

Hussain Shiekh, who usually works in the powerlooms in Malegaon, said, “I have my job at a powerloom, but on Shab-e-Baraat, lakhs come to Bada Kabristan and offer prayers on that particular night. This day is considered as one of the festivals in the city.” Mr Sheikh added, “Every year, I open a kebab counter outside Bada Kabristan and earn at least Rs 800-1,000 on that one night. But this year, due to the bomb blasts, I did not open the counter.”

Like Mr Sheikh, there are many others who earn quick money on Shab-e-Baraat. Mr Sheikh’s daily wages in a powerloom do not fetch him more than Rs 100 per day after a shift of 12 hours, so Shab-e-Baraat was like a big business day for him. It is not only people from Malegaon who have lost money but also the 10,000 fakirs who come here from various parts of the country to beg for alms.

Hamish Khatun, a fakir from Malegaon, said, “Every year, at least 10,000 fakirs come here to beg for alms. Some fakirs come here with their families so that the income earned is much higher. Sometimes, we earn more then we earn in other days of the year. I have been coming here for the past four years with my three-year-old daughter and we earn around Rs 3,000 on that particular night.”

Speaking about the loss, Akhtar Khan said, “Like every year, I had put up a barfi stall outside the Bada Kabristan. This year I incurred huge losses because I had brought hundreds of litres of milk to make the barfi but due to the bomb blast everything went waste.”

Lucknow, Sept. 11: The “saas-bahu” spat, breaking relationships, marital tensions, family conspiracies, adultery and high-voltage emotions that are served by Indian television serials every day are emerging as a major cause of suicide by middle-class women who form the largest audience segment for these soaps.

A report prepared after the recently-concluded National Continued Medical Education (CME) session of the Indian Psychiatry Society here states that the visual impact of the protagonists attempting suicide and the subsequent glorification of their death on the small screen was actually encouraging women to take the drastic step of ending their own lives.

Dr Lakshmi Vijayakumar of the International Association for Suicide Prevention said during the session: “In view of the increase in number of female suicides caused by film and television dramas, we have even spoken to some film and serial producers and urged them to prevent promotion of suicide in the stories, and they have understood our point of view.”

She further pointed out that the awareness of the impact of TV serials and films in the southern states had already led to corrective measures and a reduction in the number of suicide cases.
“However, there is a need for a proper study on suicide attempts by females across the country in order to find a lasting solution,” she said.

She said that scriptwriters were using the suicide motif as the easiest way to end social problems. Citing examples from popular TV soaps, the psychiatrists said that the number of suicides in the country had gone up after the death of a particular protagonist was shown in the serial.