A 12-year-old girl accused of stealing a bowl of wheat was brutally killed by a couple in Uttar Pradesh, the police said today.

The couple, Mahapeeri and Dheer Singh, allegedly killed Soni in Godhna village of Muzaffarnagar district, 350 km from here, after they found a bowl of wheat missing from their kitchen.

“On the pretext of offering sweets to Soni, the couple residing in the same village on Friday took her to their house where they thrashed the girl and banged her head repeatedly against the wall,” police inspector Aman Singh told here on phone.

After beating the girl, the couple left her in the fields and escaped. Locals spotted Soni and rushed her to the hospital where she died Saturday morning.

A case has been registered against the couple at the Purkaji police station by the girl’s father Rajbeer alias Godhu.

“Soni’s postmortem report reveals she died of head injuries,” said Singh. The accused are absconding.

Source: tribuneindia.com

Overcoming family and social pressures, a teenaged daughter got her widowed mother, in her mid-30s, married to a close relative, winning accolades from social activists in West Bengal.

Deepa Varma, the widow, married her brother-in-law Shambhunath at the Kalighat temple here Sunday.

Deepa's daughter Shilpa, 17, took the initiative and arranged her mother's marriage with Shambhu. She triumphed over the social and family pressures, by speaking to her family and making them accept the otherwise unconventional match.

Deepa's husband and Shambhu's elder brother, Pradip, died three years ago.

Social activists in West Bengal are seeing in the marriage a new trend of permissiveness.

'It's an exceptional case when a daughter has understood the psyche of her widowed mother and allowed her a second marriage with her own uncle... The girl has shown her big-heartedness and it is just an effect of her liberal thinking,' writer and socio-cultural activist Miratun Nahar told IANS.

Former state Women's Commission member Nahar said: 'It shows that the girl respects her mother's freedom as an individual and she has given some importance to her (mother's) feelings.'

Indo Asian News Service

Right now, India is the richest country in the world! Wondering how?
It's really amazing.

It's due to Mr. G Vaidyaraj, who donated all his wealth, about which
he actually did not know.

He is a descendent of Raja Krishnadev Raya from Mysore district.

For the last 300 years or so, three stones were worshipped in his
house.But nobody tried to see what it was, except this person, who is
a
lawyer by profession. One day, when there was nobody in his house, he
took the stone out to see what it was that they worship.
Due to the dust deposited on it, from many many years, it looked only
like a simple stone.
But when he touched it, some portion of the stone was cleansed.
And he saw a bright ray of light.
He saw something which attracted his attention. And he was amazed
when he cleaned all of them.The whole room was filled with light.
He discovered they were diamonds of about 4600 carats each.

He informed the Govt. of India and the news is censored with its
security.
It's now deposited in a Swiss Bank.
The cost of single diamond exceeds the GDP of USA + UK.
India can buy virtually 7 developing nations.
Even World Bank does not have enough money to buy it.
One diamond costs thrice the debt of World Bank over India.
One such diamond can buy 10 Bill Gates to you.
And the World Bank has proposed the Indian Govt. that it can pay
India in Installment if it wishes to do so.

India's GDP is 34.25 billion dollars.

Bill Gates property is 95 billion dollars approximate so that is the
way 'nature changes'.

Our Prime Minister has refused to sell it.

He said it will be sold or mortgaged for credit when we need it.
Otherwise right now we have no problems.

You can go through Times of India with a small column on it a week
ago.

Star TV presented a 115 min documentary on it about 15 days ago.

The Hindu with its half page article in it.

After that it was censored as classified.

Another good news is that in the Desert of Thar a deposit of Oil and
Natural gas have been found. This stores what Kuwait has in its
stomach.

India can go with this ONGC energy reserve with another 30 years.
And moreover it can export it to other counties.
It's incredible!! But true.

An Indian boy in his 12th standard has disproved Einstein's 'Theory
of Relativity'.
Shocked? Read on...

Sudarshan Reddy has theoretically proven the existence of a sub-
atomic particle, which can travel at speed greater than that of
light, thereby challenging one of the fundamental postulates of the
'Theory of Relativity'.

In his recent research paper submitted to the Institute of Advanced
Physics (IAP) at Trieste (Italy), Sudarshan has proved the existence
of a class of sub-atomic particles called leptons', which can travel
faster than light.
The international physics community is shocked by this discovery.

Dr.Massimo Martelli, President of the IAP has this to say about the
paper submitted by Sudarshan. 'After long, careful and critical
analysis, I can confidently say that Sudarshan's re search papers
show tremendous leap in our understanding of physics. His
investigation
mounts up on 'leptons'. His work builds substantially on the work of
Einstein and others in the field of relativity.'
When physicists from Princeton University tried to measure
Sudarshan's IQ with an IQ-meter (at the American Embassy in Delhi),
the meter broke down.
Sudarshan, incidentally, is the brother of Madhu Reddy, the Indian
whiz kid who developed an operating system superior to Microsoft
Windows.
We should all be very proud of these boys.

This is famous Indian drama- when it comes to poors, value of life,law and democracy changes. Same is scene with Mumbai attacks- had it not been elite killings, perhaps this attack would have been gone as many others in past BUT once again, India and we Indians had proved that we are great in making THINGS happen and how well we care for human values, justice and moral rights. This is story of a pseudo democratic republic.

The Punjab government today chose to reinstate the principal as well as the suspended staff of the Rajindra Hospital and Government Medical College, Patiala.

Dr Jaswinderpal Kaur Shergill, principal of the Government Medical College, to which the Rajindra hospital is attached, was suspended following the death of five infants in the neonatology wing of the hospital last week. The government had also taken action against junior resident Neha Sharma, staff nurse Reeta Singh and safai sewak Satya.

However, Dr Shergill, after being reinstated, will join as head of the Surgery Department. This was to ensure a free and fair probe, a spokesperson for the government said here today.

Though the Chief Minister was quick to declare after Tikshan Sud’s resignation was forwarded to him by BJP Punjab in charge Balbir Punj that action would be taken only after a judicial inquiry into the case, the same yardstick apparently was not applied to the staff of the medical college and hospital.

However, an agitation by the Rajindra Hospital Nurses’ Association, which was supported by contractual employees as well as medical teachers, forced the government to withdraw the suspension of the employees.

Association president Jeewanpreet Kaur claimed senior SAD leader and party candidate for the Patiala Lok Sabha seat Prem Singh Chandumajra’s intervention led to the withdrawal of the suspensions.

The State Medical and Dental Teachers Association welcomed the withdrawal of the suspensions. Association’s leaders Dr KD Singh, Dr AS Sidhu and Dr Sachin Walia also demanded the officials concerned of the PWD (Buildings and Roads) responsible for electrical maintenance be placed under direct supervision of the principal of the medical college. It also called for filling of posts in the state medical colleges to meet shortage of staff.

Meanwhile, the judicial probe into the nursery fire got under way with Justice KC Gupta, who is conducting the inquiry, visiting the neonatology wing. Justice Gupta will record the evidence and statements of employees of the Paediatric Department.

Meanwhile, the government widened the scope of inquiry to cover dereliction of duty on the part of agencies responsible for administration, maintenance and upkeep of electrical as well as other medical infrastructure in the hospital.

The Chief Minister said the strictest possible action would be taken against those found guilty of negligence. The government would not even hesitate to launch criminal proceedings against those found guilty, he added.

SOURCE

CPI-M candidate Pema Ram’s wife sweeping the floor in front of their hut. Photo: Jupinderjit Singh — Tribune photo

Mundwana (Rajasthan), December 12
Look at the picture at right. It’s a mud house with a thatched roof. The lady of the house is just one among millions in the country who collect dry grass to cook food — if they can manage it — and trek long distances for drinking water.

Chanda Devi’s chores are set to change: she should now be able to enjoy what has been a luxury so far — a mobile phone, a proper chair to sit on and a comfortable bed to sleep in. And, may be, a fridge too.

She deserves the change.

Totally marginalised — and having to somehow educate her two school-going children — she was the foot soldier who worked day and night to ensure that her husband won the elections in Rajasthan to become an MLA.

Forty-year-old Comrade Pema Ram of the CPI-M is a rare entrant among the 200 chosen representatives of the public in the 13th Vidhan Sabha of the state. Over 60 of these are listed crorepatis and most are nothing less than lakhpatis.

CPM is delighted that Pema Ram has emerged as the true embodiment of the party’s mantra: of producing leaders from among the truly underpriviledged.

“Yes, I belong to the below-poverty line category. There is no material comfort in my house. I and my family never felt the need for it, though. I may be poor and I am used to sleeping on hungry stomach, but the blood in my veins is strong enough to take on those who oppress the poor. Public cause has been the driving force all my life,” a proud Pema told The Tribune.

Pema's victory from Dhaund constituency where he defeated Parsram Modria, working president of the state Congress, has been a landmark for the Communists: three legislators in the House. Since 1964, when CPI took root in the state, there has never been more than one.

Senior CPI leader Asa Ram has been the lone Communist MLA so far. This time, he set a record by being elected for the fourth time running from Dantaramgara defeating Narayan Singh, a formidable candidate from the Congress.

Pawan Duggal is the other young CPI leader who has won. He suffered police torture for leading an agitation for water in Ganganagar belt of the state. He got in by over 21,000 votes from Annopgarh-Gharsana.

“Ek se Anek was our election slogan. We have proved it. We predicted we would have more MLAs this time,’’ CPI state secretary Basudev said.

“The CPI is the only party in the state which has improved its tally threefold. Neither the Congress nor the BJP can boast of such an achievement,” he chuckled.

The party is now confident it can field candidates for three Lok Sabha seats in the parliamentary elections next year — from Bikaner, Sikar and Ganganagar.

Source: http://www.tribuneindia.com/2008/20081213/main8.htm

Origional work: Jupinderjit Singh

With sex, gayness and lesbianism coming out of the closet, condoms seem to be no longer a taboo in our so-called conservative society. Backed by a strong campaign for use of condoms not only for family planning but for the safe sex too (remember the condom ring-tone advertisement), the sale of this product has increased manifold in the recent past. And what is heartening is that it’s not only the people from the higher strata of the society who are using the product for safe sex. The figures collected by the State AIDS Control Society (SACS) of higher sale of relatively cheaper brands of condoms from vending machines and also the increased distribution of free condoms by various NGOs under centrally sponsored schemes by National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) indicate that the efforts of the government for promoting both safe sex and family planning seem to be percolating to the poor sections of the society too. Over 20,000 condoms, manufactured by Hindustan Latex Limited priced at Rs 5-15 for a pack of three of different brands, were sold in less than four months between August and November from 22 vending machines. However, as many as 4,96,500 condoms were distributed free of cost through the organisation in a period of eight months as compared to 4,32,700 in 2007-08. “In the feedback, we found most people did not hesitate to pick condom. The change in risk behaviour, they said, could bring down the incidence of various sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV,” he further said. Surveillance studies done by the SACS showed that the highest mode of transmission up to 15 per cent in the city was through the unsafe sex. With over 548 persons tested positive, at least thousands more were unaware of their status. To bring down the prevalence rate, SACS would push to triple condoms’ sale this year, he added. While female condoms are not yet popular as a pack of three condoms costs about Rs 100 as compared to male condoms that are available even free, officials of the SACS said the price clearly was a hindrance in the way of its wider acceptability. “We have sent request to NACO to subsidise their rates.”

BY Anuja Jaiswal in: http://www.tribuneindia.com/2008/20081202/cth1.htm#12