Public warned of rising fraud - Oman Daily Observer
Public warned of rising fraud - Oman Daily Observer
Public warned of rising fraud - Oman Daily Observer
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WEDNESDAY, APRIL 10, 2013<br />
INDIA<br />
11<br />
Modi accuses UPA <strong>of</strong> bias<br />
against non-Cong states<br />
A security guard tries to prevent protesters from entering the <strong>of</strong>ice <strong>of</strong> Dow Chemical International Private Ltd<br />
in Mumbai. Three thousand seven hundred people died immediately in the world's worst industrial disaster<br />
in 1984 when gas leaked from a pesticides plant owned by the US multinational Union Carbide in Bhopal. For<br />
decades, survivors have been ighting to have the site cleaned up, but they say the efforts were slowed when<br />
Michigan-based Dow Chemical took over Union Carbide in 2001. — AFP<br />
KOLKATA Gujarat Chief Minister<br />
yesterday accused the UPA government<br />
<strong>of</strong> discriminating against non-<br />
Congress ruled states.<br />
"Defying the constitution, the UPA<br />
government has been constantly discriminating<br />
between states ruled by<br />
the parties in the UPA coalition and<br />
those run by non-UPA parties," Modi<br />
said here.<br />
"The need is to raise voices against<br />
this discrimination," he told a meeting<br />
<strong>of</strong> entrepreneurs.<br />
Modi said such discrimination was<br />
shattering the dreams <strong>of</strong> many states<br />
including West Bengal.<br />
"People have elected them but that<br />
does not mean they have the power<br />
to discriminate."<br />
To buttress his point, Modi referred<br />
to the relations between the<br />
NDA government <strong>of</strong> Atal Bihari Vajpayee<br />
and the Left Front government<br />
in West Bengal between 1998 and<br />
2004.<br />
"Here we had a Communist government.<br />
In Delhi, we had the Vajpayee<br />
government. Ideologically, there<br />
can be no meeting ground between<br />
us and the Communists.<br />
"But during those years there was<br />
no complaint <strong>of</strong> discrimination from<br />
Bengal," he said at a meeting organised<br />
by the MCC Chamber <strong>of</strong> Commerce<br />
and Industry, Indian Chamber<br />
<strong>of</strong> Commerce and Bharat Chamber <strong>of</strong><br />
Commerce.<br />
He said this bias by the central<br />
government was threatening national<br />
integrity.<br />
"When states do well, the (central)<br />
government comes forward to take<br />
credit. But if anything goes wrong, the<br />
onus is on the state government.<br />
"They must learn to take the entire<br />
country along."<br />
Earlier, Modi yesterday started<br />
his trip here by visiting the Dakshineswar<br />
Kali Temple and Belur Math<br />
and exhorted the youth to make India<br />
the world leader by taking inspiration<br />
from the ideals <strong>of</strong> Swami<br />
Vivekananda.<br />
"I have full conidence that our<br />
youths will make India proud by making<br />
it "jagatguru" by following the ideals<br />
<strong>of</strong> Swami Vivekananda," Modi told<br />
journalists after paying a visit to the<br />
Belur Math in neighbouring Howrah<br />
district.<br />
Modi, who visited the Belur Math<br />
— global headquarters <strong>of</strong> the Ramakrishna<br />
Math and Ramakrishna Mission<br />
— for the irst time after becoming<br />
chief minister, said he visited it<br />
quite <strong>of</strong>ten as a teenager.<br />
"I used to visit the Math founded<br />
by Swami Vivekananda frequently<br />
during my teenage (years) and I had<br />
received a lot <strong>of</strong> love and affection<br />
from Swami Athwasthananda," he<br />
added.<br />
Earlier, in a series <strong>of</strong> tweets, Modi<br />
described his experiences at the two<br />
holy places.<br />
"Blessed with the darshan <strong>of</strong> Maa<br />
Kali at Dakhineshwar. I apologised to<br />
her for coming after a long time," he<br />
said on Twitter.<br />
"Got the opportunity to visit Ganga<br />
Maa where Swami Vivekananda used<br />
to take bath. Experienced an inner joy<br />
being there," he said.<br />
At Belur Math, Modi meditated for<br />
some time.<br />
"On my request, the organisers<br />
let me spend some time alone in the<br />
room where Swami Vivekananda<br />
meditated. The experience was beyond<br />
words," he said. — IANS<br />
Mamata gheraoed, Bengal<br />
minister manhandled in Delhi<br />
NEW DELHI — West Bengal chief<br />
minister Mamata Banerjee and her<br />
inance minister Amit Mitra were<br />
today the target <strong>of</strong> the ire <strong>of</strong> CPM<br />
and its students' wing activists<br />
with protesters manhandling the<br />
minister outside the Planning Commission<br />
here.<br />
A group <strong>of</strong> about 150 protesters<br />
from CPM and SFI ambushed the<br />
chief minister and other ministers<br />
including Mitra when they arrived<br />
at the Planing Commission complex<br />
around 3.45 pm for annual<br />
state plan discussion.<br />
Banerjee, who was advised by<br />
police not to get down from her car<br />
and drive inside, however, chose to<br />
walk through the slogan-shouting<br />
and placard-wielding crowd into<br />
the building.<br />
While the chief minister was immediately<br />
shielded by policemen, it<br />
was left to Mitra's lot to face the anger<br />
<strong>of</strong> the activists who were protesting<br />
the death <strong>of</strong> a SFI member<br />
Sudipto Ghosh in police custody in<br />
Kolkata last week.<br />
As SFI and CPM members<br />
chanted "Mamata Banerjee hai hai<br />
(Mamata down down), TMC hai<br />
hai, Hatyari Mamata sharm karo<br />
(have shame, killer Mamata)", an<br />
agitated chief minister walked into<br />
the building shouting that "this is<br />
uncivilised behaviour".<br />
The 65-year-old inance minister<br />
was pushed and jostled around<br />
as he tried to enter the Yojna Bhawan<br />
building. A woman protester<br />
thumped him twice on his chest<br />
and his kurta was torn in the melee.<br />
An angry Banerjee later vented<br />
her anger at minister <strong>of</strong> state for<br />
planning Rajiv Shukla and deputy<br />
chairman <strong>of</strong> Planning Commission<br />
Montek Singh Ahluwalia.<br />
"You have created a new precedent<br />
here. My minister was assaulted.<br />
This is scandalous. There<br />
were 20 hooligans. Can you stop<br />
development <strong>of</strong> this state like this...<br />
Delhi is not safe," she told them.<br />
Court notice to NDMC<br />
on Taj Mahal hotel lease<br />
NEW DELHI The Delhi High Court yesterday issued notice to the New Delhi<br />
Municipal Council (NDMC) on a plea <strong>of</strong> Tata Group's Indian Hotels Company<br />
(IHC) against the civic agency's proposal to auction the lease <strong>of</strong> a plot<br />
on which Taj Mahal Hotel is built in the heart <strong>of</strong> the city.<br />
Justice M L Mehta sought a response from the NDMC which owns the plot<br />
on Mansingh Road in central Delhi and said he would consider the company's<br />
plea seeking an interim stay on the auction on the next date <strong>of</strong> hearing.<br />
"Issue notice to the NDMC and reply to be iled within two weeks. If there<br />
is any threat <strong>of</strong> coercive step against it, the plaintiff (IHC) is at liberty to approach<br />
the court," Justice Mehta said.<br />
The 33-year lease <strong>of</strong> IHC ended in October 2011 and was extended by a<br />
year by revising the revenue-share licence fee. In September 2012, the NDMC<br />
once again granted a one-year extension to the company.<br />
The civil suit iled by IHC sought the court to restrain the NDMC from "interfering<br />
with the possession, right to operate, run and maintain the hotel<br />
premises". The NDMC would hold a meeting today to decide on the proposal<br />
for auctioning the property lease.<br />
Senior advocate V P Singh, appearing for the NDMC, told the court that the<br />
land had to be put up for auction after the lease period got over. — IANS<br />
Drones deployed to protect rhinos at reserve<br />
NEW DELHI Aerial surveillance<br />
drones are being lown at an Indian<br />
nature reserve to protect rare rhinoceros<br />
from increasing attacks by<br />
poachers, <strong>of</strong>icials said yesterday.<br />
The unmanned aerial vehicle,<br />
equipped with powerful cameras,<br />
was operated for the irst time at<br />
the Kaziranga National Park in the<br />
north-eastern state <strong>of</strong> Asom on<br />
Monday.<br />
The drones will keep vigil and<br />
help forest guards monitor movements<br />
<strong>of</strong> poachers across the 430-<br />
square kilometre reserve, Asom<br />
Forest and Environment Minister<br />
Rockybul Hussain said.<br />
"These lights will continue till<br />
tomorrow and regular operations<br />
will begin once we get clearance<br />
from the Defence Ministry," Hussain<br />
said.<br />
"Besides this, we are going to<br />
introduce the electronic eye, a new<br />
surveillance system on the lines <strong>of</strong><br />
closed-circuit cameras, to guard<br />
Kaziranga," he said by phone from<br />
state capital Guwahati.<br />
Hussain said forest guards would<br />
also be armed with automatic weapons<br />
to counter gangs <strong>of</strong> poachers in<br />
Asom, home to more than 75 per<br />
cent <strong>of</strong> the world's population <strong>of</strong><br />
2,400 one-horned rhinos.<br />
"Poaching is a very serious problem<br />
and the rhino is always under<br />
a major threat," said Suresh Chand,<br />
Asom's chief conservator <strong>of</strong> forests.<br />
Chand said poachers had killed 16<br />
rhinos this year, compared to last<br />
year's total <strong>of</strong> 22 killings.<br />
Poachers kill rhinos for their<br />
horns, which many believe have aphrodisiac<br />
qualities, and are used in<br />
traditional medicines in Asia. — dpa<br />
Forestry <strong>of</strong>icials hold up unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) during a<br />
demonstration to the media at the Kaziranga National Park. — AFP<br />
Tripura remains<br />
on top in providing<br />
rural jobs<br />
AGARTALA Left-ruled Tripura<br />
provided 86.27 days <strong>of</strong> work under<br />
the central government's lagship<br />
rural jobs scheme in iscal 2012-13,<br />
the highest in the country, a minister<br />
said here yesterday.<br />
Quoting the performance report<br />
<strong>of</strong> the union rural development<br />
ministry, state Rural Development<br />
Minister Jitendra Chaudhury told<br />
reporters that Tripura has been<br />
providing the highest average employment<br />
for the past four years under<br />
Mahatma Gandhi National Rural<br />
Employment Guarantee Act<br />
The MGNREGA mandates 100<br />
days <strong>of</strong> employment in a inancial<br />
year to one member <strong>of</strong> each rural<br />
household.<br />
According to the rural development<br />
ministry's performance report,<br />
the national average <strong>of</strong> jobs<br />
created in the last iscal was 39 days<br />
and 42 days in 2011-12.<br />
"Tripura retained the top position<br />
since 2009-10 iscal in terms<br />
<strong>of</strong> person-days generation. In the<br />
2012-13 inancial year Tripura provided<br />
86.27 person-days, highest in<br />
the country, followed by Mizoram<br />
(69.25 person-days), Tamil Nadu<br />
(51.26) and Andhra Pradesh<br />
(49.61)," Chaudhury said citing the<br />
central government report.<br />
The minister said that Tripura<br />
could improve further in terms <strong>of</strong><br />
creation <strong>of</strong> person-days <strong>of</strong> work if<br />
there were no administrative problems<br />
in view <strong>of</strong> the February 14 assembly<br />
polls. He said Tripura has<br />
also in the leading position in the<br />
country in participation <strong>of</strong> women<br />
and tribals in MGNREGA with percentages<br />
<strong>of</strong> 41 per cent and 43 per<br />
cent respectively.<br />
Kerala releases e-books on millennia-old Indian system <strong>of</strong> medicine<br />
By Ashraf Padanna<br />
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM —<br />
Ayurveda is taking the digital route<br />
to reach out to a global audience<br />
with Kerala Tourism launching two<br />
e-books on the millennia-old Indian<br />
system <strong>of</strong> medicine.<br />
This is a irst electronic publication<br />
<strong>of</strong> its kind by a tourism board <strong>of</strong><br />
a state in the country. The e-books<br />
will be available at online stores for<br />
purchase for easy reading on e-book<br />
readers, mobile phones or computer<br />
screens.<br />
A P Anil Kumar, the southern<br />
state's tourism minister, released the<br />
e-books on Ayurveda, besides one on<br />
the socio-cultural history <strong>of</strong> Kerala<br />
and another on yoga and healthy living,<br />
at a function held here yesterday.<br />
The event also witnessed the<br />
launch <strong>of</strong> a 15-minute ilm on Kerala's<br />
Western Ghats, besides two brochures<br />
on the excavation site <strong>of</strong> the ancient<br />
port <strong>of</strong> Muziris near Kochi and the<br />
key festivals and events <strong>of</strong> the state in<br />
2013.<br />
Kerala Tourism is a pioneer in using<br />
digital tools for promoting the<br />
destination. The digitisation <strong>of</strong> four<br />
c<strong>of</strong>fee table books was sponsored by<br />
Kerala Tourism.<br />
The e-books on Ayurveda are the<br />
award-winning c<strong>of</strong>fee table books<br />
Panchakarma: Ayurveda’s Mantra<br />
<strong>of</strong> Rejuvenation and Ayurveda: The<br />
Mantra <strong>of</strong> Niramaya.<br />
The irst one explains panchakarma<br />
as a holistic rejuvenation therapy<br />
combining ive therapeutic actions to<br />
detoxify the body and revitalise the<br />
body system while the other is an introduction<br />
to the medicine system using<br />
texts from ancient scripts to modern<br />
research papers.<br />
The other e-books are Kerala:<br />
A Poem in Green and Gold, a veritable<br />
storehouse <strong>of</strong> information on Kerala<br />
by K Jayakumar, the former Chief Secretary<br />
who played a pivotal role in<br />
creating the tourism brand, and YogaSutra:<br />
The Art and Science <strong>of</strong> Living.<br />
“The e-books on Ayurveda are<br />
aimed at people around the world,<br />
to help them learn about the age-old<br />
system <strong>of</strong> medicine so that they can<br />
come to Kerala and experience its<br />
health beneits,” said Kumar.<br />
Panchakarma: Ayurveda’s Mantra<br />
<strong>of</strong> Rejuvenation had won the Paciic<br />
Asia Travel Association (PATA) Gold<br />
award in 2006 for promoting Kerala<br />
as a destination for Ayurvedic rejuvenation<br />
while the other one had won<br />
the National Tourism Award in 2003-<br />
04 for The Best <strong>Public</strong>ation in English.<br />
Those buying the Ayurveda e-<br />
books will get free e-brochure on<br />
Kerala Tourism. At the end <strong>of</strong> each<br />
chapter <strong>of</strong> the e-books, a link to the<br />
website <strong>of</strong> Kerala Tourism (www.<br />
keralatourism.org) provides instant<br />
reference for the readers about Kerala<br />
as a top tourism destination in the<br />
world.<br />
Titled The Call <strong>of</strong> the Wild, the 15-<br />
minute ilm on Kerala's Western Ghats<br />
cover seven major locations and the<br />
northern and southern bordering<br />
points <strong>of</strong> the Ghats in the state.<br />
Declared a World Heritage Site by<br />
Unesco, the Western Ghats is one <strong>of</strong><br />
the world's biodiversity hotspots. The<br />
seven major locations appearing in the<br />
ilm are Eravikulam National Park, Silent<br />
Valley National Park, Mathikettan<br />
Shola, Pampadum Shola National Park,<br />
Anamudi Shola National Park, Myristica<br />
swamps and the Palakkad pass.<br />
The Tourism Minister also launched<br />
two brochures, titled Muziris and Celebrations.<br />
It is for the irst time that a<br />
brochure is being produced on Muziris,<br />
covering the entire excavation<br />
project to unearth the remains <strong>of</strong> the<br />
ancient port city that had trade relations<br />
with Rome before vanishing from<br />
the maritime map.<br />
The Celebrations brochure covers<br />
the key festivals and events in<br />
Kerala that are a huge draw among<br />
the tourists, especially from abroad,<br />
during 2013. This is the second time<br />
that Kerala Tourism is bringing out a<br />
brochure on the state's festivals and<br />
events.<br />
The irst Celebrations brochure was<br />
published in 2012.<br />
Both the Muziris and Celebrations<br />
brochures will also be distributed at<br />
tourism fairs and roadshows internationally<br />
and nationally.<br />
“Using modern technological tools<br />
is important in today's digital age to<br />
reach a wider audience who are eager<br />
to travel,” said Kerala Tourism Director<br />
Rani George. “The e-books, ilm on<br />
Western Ghats and the new brochures<br />
on Muziris and Kerala's festivals contain<br />
vital information suited to a wider<br />
section <strong>of</strong> people, both at home and<br />
abroad, and the young as well as the<br />
elderly.”<br />
The Kerala Tourism is also planning<br />
to hold International Conference<br />
On Travel Technology India 2013<br />
from June 7 to 9 at The Leela Hotel,<br />
Kovalam, to promote tourism through<br />
social media in view <strong>of</strong> the growing<br />
impact <strong>of</strong> the web space on tourism<br />
marketing,<br />
The conference aims at preparing<br />
the travel and tourism partners in India<br />
and neighbouring countries to use<br />
the resources available online to drive<br />
business, get inputs in adapting to the<br />
changing technology and acquiring<br />
skills to beat the competition.<br />
Eminent speakers from around the<br />
world will discuss a range <strong>of</strong> subjects<br />
including how travellers use social media<br />
and how travel business need to<br />
respond, the impact <strong>of</strong> social media on<br />
consumer behaviour, effective use <strong>of</strong><br />
the blog space, challenges <strong>of</strong> tourism<br />
marketing on social media and how<br />
travel pr<strong>of</strong>essionals can leverage networking<br />
on LinkedIn.<br />
Around 300 delegates, mostly tour<br />
operators from different parts <strong>of</strong> India,<br />
have already registered for ICTT 2013,<br />
the <strong>of</strong>icials said.