India: atomic plants with US cooperation to come up in Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh

By NNN-PTI,

New Delhi: Two atomic plants will be set up in collaboration with the US in Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh as part of civilian nuclear cooperation between the two countries.

Three other nuclear reactors -- two in collaboration with Russia and one with France -- would also be set up in the country, government said here Friday night.

The Government of India has designated Chhayamithi Virdi (Gujarat) and Kovvada (Andhra Pradesh) for setting up Light Water Reactor (LWR) based nuclear power plants in collaboration with the US, the External Affairs Ministry said.

A site has been allocated in Jaitapur (Maharashtra) for setting up of such a reactor in collaboration with France, it said.

For the reactors to be set up in collaboration with Russia, one site each has been earmarked in Kudankulam (Tamil Nadu) and Haripur (West Bengal), it said.

Prevent use of media to impose certain ideologies

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 16, (KUNA): Kuwait has stressed that the freedom of expression contributed in developing the performance of its diverse media bodies and placed them among the leading states in the area of freedom of speech and expression. This came in a speech delivered by the permanent representative of the Kuwait to the United Nations Naif Al-Otaibi at the meeting of the Special Political and Decolonization Committee of the 64th session of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly Thursday evening. Al-Otaibi said that what Kuwait enjoys of democracy and freedom of expression and opinion, in addition to provisions of the Kuwaiti Constitution in supporting and promoting the freedoms of media and press, have contributed to the effective functioning of the state’s audio-visual media institutions and made it into the ranks of the leading countries in the field of freedom of speech and image as certified by m He said that Kuwait was ready to join international efforts to achieve more press and media freedoms, adding that the Gulf state cooperated with the United any of states and non-governmental organizations. Nations (UN) and its agencies in achieving developmental goals. He praised the UN’s media affairs department in increasing the awareness of the people of the world. The world is witnessing rapid changes and developments in many scientific, literary and cultural fields, pointing out that such rapid technological process in the information and communications has contributed in simplifying free exchange of information among peoples of the world. Al-Otaibi said it was important to spread information justly in all countries and to prevent using media in imposing certain ideologies or cultures.

It is also significant to use all six official languages of the UN, including Arabic on an equal manner in all activities of the media affairs department. He urged for closing the gap of communication and information technology between the developing and developed countries. In addition, he urged the department to assist developing countries in improving their media corporations, training manpower and disseminating of information. He stressed it was important to ensure the protection of journalists and reporters. Al-Otaibi hailed the role of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in cooperating with news agencies and radio channels in developing countries and in spreading awareness in the world on the Palestinian cause and the Israeli crimes against the Palestinian people.

Another writ filed against Nitish; this time to seek CBI probe in murder case

Patna, (BiharTimes): Two days after a petition was filed against Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar in a local court another criminal writ petition was filed on Wednesday in the Patna High Court seeking a CBI probe against him. It accused him of allegedly trying to tamper with the evidence in the murder of a Congress worker near a booth in the parliamentary election in November 1991. Nitish Kumar was the candidate of t he then Janata Dal from Barh seat.

The petitioners, Shail Devi and Radheshyam Singh, mother and brother of Congress activist Sitaram Singh, who was killed at a polling booth at Pandarak in Patna district on November 17, 1991, alleged that Nitish was trying to influence witnesses and tampering with the evidence in the case.

According to their counsel Vinu Kumar his clients sought an enquiry by the CBI as fair trial of the case would not be possible in Bihar. The petition is yet to be admitted. A Barh court had on August 31 last summoned Nitish for appearing before it on September 10 after taking cognisance of a complaint, in which a man, Ramanand Singh had deposed as a key witness.

The chief minister had challenged the summon in the Patna High Court, which stayed all proceedings against him in the Barh court till it disposed his petition.

It needs to be recalled that only on Monday a petition seeking prosecution of Nitish and two others for allegedly abducting two witnesses, who deposed against him in that murder case was filed in a local court.

The Chief Judicial Magistrate S P Singh, before whom the petition was filed, transferred the case to the First Class Judicial Magistrate Narad Pandey for recording statement of witnesses.

Manoj Kumar, an aide of former MP Arun Kumar, filed the petition in the court of CJM alleging that police at the behest of Nitish Kumar, Advocate General P K Sahi and Senior Superintendent of Police (Patna) Vinit Vinayak raided the house of the ex-MP on September 9, 2009. They had "taken away" two witnesses, Ramanand Singh and Akhileshwar Prasad Singh, who had deposed in a case against Nitish Kumar in a court.

Urdu to be taught in all schools: Nitish

Patna,(BiharTimes): Chief minister Nitish Kumar said that the state government will be appointing Urdu teachers in every state-run school to enable the students learn the languageAddressing a seminar on Urdu language and National Unity organised by the Cabinet Secretariat (Raj Bhasha) department here on Thursday he, however, said special preference would be given to those Urdu teachers who are well-versed in other subjects as well.

BSEB launches anytime payment scheme

Patna,(BiharTimes): The Bihar State Electricity Board on Tuesday launched anytime payment scheme in the state capital. The scheme was inaugurated by the energy minister, Ramashray Prasad Singh.

The introduction of the ATM-type vending machine will help consumers pay the monthly bill anytime by cash or cheque. Initially the facility would be extended at the Gandhi Maidan electricity supply sub-division office, the New Capital Area (Mangles Road), Pataliputra, Dak Bungalow and the Gardanibagh electricity supply division offices of the Patna Electric Supply Undertaking.

It will later be extended to Kankarbagh, Danapur and Patna City division offices, the Gulzarbagh Circle, and the electric supply sub-division office of the PESU at Machwatoli.

The consumer will not have to stand in queue any more and make payment of their bills anytime they want. Besides, those who do not have their electricity bill, but remember consumer number can also make the payment. In such cases though the machine will not generate the bill, it will instantly generate a receipt on receiving payment.

The BSEB has entered into an agreement with the Canbank Computer Services Ltd, a subsidiary of Canara Bank and will have to pay the firm Rs 3.50 per bill. Each vending machine costs about Rs four lakh.

No question of PG courses, MCI threatens to derecognize two medical colleges

Patna, (Bihar Times): In a major embarrassment to the Bihar government the Medical Council of India not only turned down the state’s plea to open Post Graduate courses in Sri Krishna Medical College and Hospital in Muzaffarpur and Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College in Bhagalpur but also threatened to cancel their recognition as they seriously lack the required facilities. The executive committee of the MCI based its decision on the inspection report. MCI inspectors visited both these colleges in August last.

There were 40 per cent shortage of faculty members in the SKMCH and 37 per cent in the JLNMCH. Besides, the two colleges lack other facilities.

Not to speak of giving a nod to open the Post Graduate courses the colleges are not even sufficient for running the MBBS classes. What is more no effort has been made to fill up these vacancies.

However, media reports said that there is some hope of the Nalanda Medical College and Hospital, Patna, getting the nod for opening the PG classes in near future.

Central team to finalize CUB site

Patna, (BiharTimes): The Site Inspection Committee of the ministry of human resources development will shortly pay a visit to the state to finalise the site for the Central University of Bihar (CUB). The Bihar government has selected Motihari, but the central team will have a final say According to sources the assurance on site inspection came after the CUB Vice Chancellor, Janak Pandey, raised the matter at a meeting of all 15 Vice Chancellors with HRD minister, Kapil Sibal,in New Delhi on Tuesday.

Pandey told the meeting that delay in finalising the site for the CUB was coming in the way of its development. All the VCs presented their development plan and courses offered at the meeting.

Pandey mooted a proposal for a combined entrance test for all the new central universities. Sibal, according to reports, agreed to the proposal. This combined exam would be extended to other universities too. The exam will start from next year.

Pandey proposed setting up of School of Social Sciences and Policies, School of Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Sciences and the School of Earth, Biological and Environmental Sciences.

There was a proposal to start a five-year integrated course for those having completed their Plus-II. After three-year graduation there would be an option to exit while the rest, based on their performance, may continue for Master Degree.

India: Muslim convention report: “When will we become full citizens?”

By Kulsum Mustafa

Lucknow, (Two Circles): Several State Conveners of Bhartiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (BMMA) while describing the hurdles that came their way when they had to procure development sector data from government officials said the Right to Information (RTI) Act came to their rescue in face of official apathy. “RTI has worked where everything failed,” said Ms Safiya Akhtar. Heading the Bhopal unit in Madhya Pradesh she was one of the over 1000 women from 15 states of India who participated in the third annual convention of the forum in the state capital on Sunday afternoon.

Almost all BMMA members said in their address that they had to run from pillar to post to get basic information on education, health and bank schemes. They said they had to encounter indifference, disinterest and many times inhospitable environment when they asked for “exclusive data on Muslims from hospitals, educational institutions and banks. Under the circumstances, when the state machinery failed to co-operate they said the only option left to them was to go for RTI query.

All the participants at the convention asked the government just one question in one voice, “When will we become full citizens?” They wanted to know why development is far away from the Muslim community even after 62 years of India’s Independence. They shared their experience of how Muslims are purposely as an ‘underserved community.” In most of the states the community members live in ghettos. Poverty, illiteracy, backwardness are their true companions.

BMMA is not a registered body but a mass movement of Muslim women. It has over 20,000 members and units spread over 15 states across India. BMMA aims at building up a women-lead people’s movement. BMMA demands social, economic, political, civil, legal and religious rights besides safety and security. BMMA works in solidarity with other secular organizations. While 70 per cent of its members are women, the rest 30 per cent comprise men, and those non-Muslim who support the cause and the mission.

At the day long deliberations of the forum guest speakers included renowned Shia cleric and vice-president of the All India Muslim Personal law Board, Dr Syed Kalbe Sadiq, Ms Sehba Farooqui of AIDWA and Dr Sabira Habib. BMMA state unit heads of many states presented the work reports. The focus of all presentations remained Sachar committee report.

The convention in its resolution called for full and comprehensive implementation of the committee recommendations.

“Give legal teeth to the report and implement the suggestions, we have had enough of deliberations,” said Ms Farooqui. She said that the fact that the report has been placed in public domain is in itself a historical move. She said it is a shame that over 13 crore Muslims have just been left to their fate in a democracy till Saccher showed the woeful picture to the countrymen.

Ms Farooqui said that despite an attempt to exclude the community from development the Muslims must ensure that they remain part of the mainstream and do not attempt to become an island- isolated and distanced.

“If we have the right to vote we also have the right to facilities. Nobody can take away these rights, they are ours by virtue of being Indian,” said Shabina who had come from Varanasi.

Naaz Raza, UP convener said that they have met all sections of people and urged early implementation of the recommendations.

“BMMA members held a meeting with Rahul Gandhi and urged him to monitor schemes for minorities on the pattern of NREGA,” said Naaz.

According to Nishat Hussain, BMMA convener from Rajasthan, Muslim welfare schemes need to be fully publicized so that the community gets a benefit of these schemes meant for them.

“Community ignorance and official apathy is taking a big toll on the development of the Muslims,” she said adding that while the earlier BJP government in Rajasthan did push back the Muslims, the situation has not improved in the last one year that Congress is back in the political saddle.

Rashida from Gujarat said the state of affairs in Gujarat for Muslims are not hidden from the world. “We are a state where rape cases of Muslim women are very high, illegally detention of our men; charges of us being anti-national are common. But we are learning to fight back, find a path of progress, no matter how narrow,” she said

In her address Ms Naish Hasan, founder member of BMMA said that while they all know that discrimination is there against Muslims in general and against Muslim women in particular it is important that we make strategic moves to fight it.

“We have to fight the battle with a political understanding,” she advised urging women to come forward and unitedly stand up against discrimination and injustice.

She said the Sacchar Report is not an eye-opener for the community but for the society. “We were aware of our plight, it is now all in the open and a slur on secularism and 62 year old democracy,” she said,

The convention highlight was the BMMA six point resolutions. It includes six simple demands and urges the government to ensure the minority gets these. They are equal rights as Indian citizens, right to education, right to jobs, right to personal safety and security, right to proper health care, immediate harassment from the police.

US spreads cultural footprint to win over young Afghans

GARDEZ, Afghanistan, Oct 17, 2009 (AFP) - Syed looked around at the books and computers in the new Lincoln Centre in Gardez and pushed up the sleeves of the oversized suit jacket hanging over his traditional Afghan shalwar kameez.

'We don't have enough books to study at my school,' the 15-year-old told AFP. 'The facilities are very basic. This is very good for us. We can come here and learn new things about the world and America.'

With six computers and three varnished pine bookshelves filled with children's books and reference works, magazines, CD-ROMs and DVDs, this one-room facility feels like a small-town public library in the West.

X-Men graphic novels and Maurice Sendak's children's classic 'Where The Wild Things Are' sit alongside hardback tomes on Islam and art in the United States, news magazines and audio biographies of President Barack Obama in Pashto.

But this centre -- the eighth to open in Afghanistan -- is part of a wider 'soft power' plan to win the hearts and minds of young Afghans, and a key tool for the US in the fight against the Taliban.

Ten more centres are planned for Afghanistan -- a huge cultural footprint in a small, conservative country where guarding against Western influences has played a big role in its troubled recent history.

Opening the centre last week, the US embassy's head of development and economic affairs, E. Anthony Wayne, told tribal elders and politicians that he learnt about the world as a child in free public libraries like this one.

'We hope that this centre will allow us to build bridges of understanding between the young people of both countries,' said Wayne, a career diplomat and former US ambassador to Argentina.

Syed and his friends seem sold on the idea, hoping to learn English here and -- unlike Western children their own age, for whom being online is part of daily life -- use the Internet for the first time.

In a country where 80 percent of the population is illiterate, boosting education is one of the main aims of the US-led Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) in Paktya province, of which Gardez is the capital.

The southern province, near the mountainous border with Pakistan, was once a Taliban stronghold. The hardline Islamists dictated what was taught and banned young girls and women teachers from schools.

But the boys and girls who demand pens and paper from foreign troops and aid workers on the dusty streets of Gardez could soon be enrolled in a new school, which has been built with 1.3 million dollars in US help.

The Centre for Educational Excellence, which has computer laboratories, carpentry, tailoring and welding workshops, as well as classrooms, will teach up to 1,000 students, boys and girls, aged six to 22 from around Paktya.

The US contribution to projects like this is a drop in the ocean compared with the cost of the fleet of giant US Army armoured vehicles and helicopters that brought the diplomatic party to Gardez.

The Lincoln Centres cost 2,000 dollars a month to run, a US State Department official in Kabul said.

But Wayne indicated they were important in the wider fight against extremism.

'It's through such education that we will be able to defeat extremists who distort religion for their own purposes,' the ambassador told local leaders and pupils at an opening ceremony in the heat of the midday sun.

'It's already serving as a model for schools outside Gardez. It's the first to provide a well-rounded curriculum, including religious education, not only to boys in the region, but also to young girls.'

Suleiman Khil, a 58-year-old elder from Janikhil district, has the harsh experience of Afghanistan's recent past etched on his deeply-lined face.

'This is exactly what people want,' he told AFP through his bushy salt-and-pepper beard.

'Previously, our people were going to Pakistan and were taught about religion in the wrong way. It was brainwashing.

'We want our children to stay and study here and learn about religion and other modern studies.'

Staff Sergeant Quitze 'Kitty' Garcia, based in Gardez, said the US presence didn't mean the spread of US culture was their goal.

'The extremists don't really want (the people) to have any Western influence. They want to isolate them. But our mission is not to Westernise them or get them to love 'Friends' or Pepsi,' she said.

Khil said he respected the differences in culture, adding: 'If Americans build any kind of institution that supports education and our people here, our relations will be stronger and we will be closer to them.'

Muslim organisations in Southeast Asia call for Asean overhaul its security-related policies

Bangkok Thailand: More than 30 Muslim NGO activists and representatives from Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines and Cambodia today gathered in the capital of Thailand to discuss the impact and implications of three conflict-torn regions in Southeast Asia and called for ASEAN and ASEAN member governments to undertake new and renewed efforts to tackle the conflicts.

The two-day gathering entitled Peoples Call for Justice and Peace, organised by the Council of Muslim Organizations of Thailand and the Nusantara Initiatives for Justice and Peace (NADI) and held at the Islamic Centre, Bangkok, focused on the military campaigns, their impact, and the human rights situation of:

The Rohingyas in Arakan, Myanmar

The Muslims of Yala, Narathiwat, Patani and Satun, and

The Bangsamoro of Mindanao, Philippines.

In all of these three conflict zones, millions have been killed, displaced and made refugees either in their own countries or other countries in which they have sought asylum, and/or made to suffer a host of human rights violations for several decades. Generations of Rohingyas, Moros and South Thai Malays are growing up in an environment of violence, deprivation and tragedy.

With the launch of the 'War on Terror', these conflicts have been presented and received as part and parcel of the efforts against terrorism and hardline Islamism. As many speakers in the conference noted, however, the decades-long history and contemporary dynamics of all three conflict areas stem from particular, local grievances that have concrete, social, economic, political and civic dimensions and manifestations.

The three conflicts, involving the issue of the right of self-determination to indigenous communities, have been going on for many years without any resolution and produced serious violation of human rights, socio-economic underdevelopment; waste of valuable and limited resources on trying to find a military solution to the conflict; dislocation, poverty and hardship for millions of people, Penang-based Citizens International's executive director Mohideen Abdul Kader said in his presentation.

Mohideen also pointed out that unless the conflicts are tackled and redressed effectively and justly, the worsening and spread of their impacts could spill over national borders.

They have also created tension between neighboring states which could seriously affect the evolution of the proposed ASEAN Community... The member states, where the conflicts exist, must be made to realise that there can be no peace, security and development without resolving the just claims of those whose right to self-determination has been denied for decades, Mohideen noted.

Along these lines, the non-interference principle adopted by ASEAN states is long overdue for a overhaul in favour of more effective and relevant policy options while still respecting ASEAN members' national sovereignty, said Mohideen.

For these and other reasons, the groups called for ASEAN governments to engage with the governments of Myanmar, Thailand and Philippines in putting the point across that the security and situation within their strife-stricken jurisdictions impacts upon the security and situation of the region as a whole.

We must civilianise the situation, not militarise as has currently been opted, foremost human rights education and legal expert Dr Vitit Mantraporn said in his remarks, in which he spoke at length also on human rights in the context of security concerns in South Thailand.

The conference issued 'The Bangkok Declaration', which they will submit to the governments of Thailand and other ASEAN member states, that calls on them for them to eschew military options for the resolution of conflict in favour of peaceful and holistic strategies of dispute settlement, socio-economic development and political empowerment.

The other demands issued by the conference that the groups directed to the governments of ASEAN include:

to guarantee the people's legitimate rights to justice and peace, to live in dignity, to the fulfillment of basic needs and to the equitable distribution of national resources;

promote engagement and consultation between States and their peoples and the need to live up to our collective responsibilities for the resolution of conflicts and disputes;

intensify regional and international cooperation for the promotion, sharing and implementation of policies and best practices to ensure fairness and justice and for the safeguarding of the interests, livelihood, and general wellbeing of the people; resolve immediately the plight of the Rohingyas, the South Thailand unrest and the Bangsamoro struggle through mutual consultation and collective effort between all ASEAN governments based on the justice and legitimate rights of the people; work with the UN, the international community and civil society groups in protecting, assisting and according the rights of all peoples displaced from their homes by conflict or persecution to justice and fair treatment as expected by the States' own citizens and on principles of universal humanitarian grounds until such times as these same States can guarantee such displaced persons safe return to their homelands and dignified lives therein.ratify the 1951 Convention Related to the Status of Refugees, its 1967 Protocol, the 1954 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons, the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness and the 1990 International Convention for the Protection of the Right of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families; form nation-wide truth and reconciliation commission in the countries of Myanmar, Thailand and Philippines to rebuild justice and trust among all communities and institutions by addressing and tackling past human rights violation, reviewing all national security cases.

The Muslim News