Home Min attends WBC to 'prove a point'

Union Home Minister P Chidambaram attends the World Badminton Championships in Hyderabad as ordinary spectator to prove point. Sources said that the minister took the step to send out a message to the participants. It is also said that the home minister paid money to buy a ticket from the window.


Sources also said that the Home Minister fefused government transport and security cover. It is also said that the minister sat in spectators gallery like ordinary citizen.

The Home Minister's symbolic initiative came after some players pulled out citing security threat. A prominent terrorist organisation has threatened to target the Championship.

Naked girls plough fields in India for rain

PATNA, India：Farmers in an eastern Indian state have asked their unmarried daughters to plough parched fields naked in a bid to embarrass the weather gods to bring some badly needed monsoon rain, officials said on Thursday.

Witnesses said the naked girls in Bihar state ploughed the fields and chanted ancient hymns after sunset to invoke the gods. They said elderly village women helped the girls drag the ploughs.


"They (villagers) believe their acts would get the weather gods badly embarrassed, who in turn would ensure bumper crops by sending rains," Upendra Kumar, a village council official, said from Bihar's remote Banke Bazaar town
"This is the most trusted social custom in the area and the villagers have vowed to continue this practice until it rains very heavily."

India this year suffered its worst start to the vital monsoon rains in eight decades, causing drought in some states.

Historic first: 400 Indian soldiers march in Paris

New Delhi: A 400-strong Indian military detachment took part in the Bastille Day parade in France on Tuesday.

Drawn from the Army, Navy and the Air Force, the contingent paraded to the sound of Indian martial music played by a 90-member band.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who was in Italy for the G8 Summit, was invited to attend the July 14 French national holiday event as guest of honour by Sarkozy, who attended India's Republic Day celebrations in January 2008.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s office said, "India has a primary role on the international scene and we support India's candidacy to become a UN Security Council permanent member.”

Inviting Indian soldiers to take part in the Bastille Day march for the first time shows that France wants to emphasise its close relations with India

The parade, one of Paris's biggest annual events, lets France show off its military might. The show ends with parachutists being dropped onto the Champs Elysee.


The parade is held each year on July 14, the anniversary of the storming of the Bastille Jail in Paris by revolutionaries on July 14, 1789.

It was the symbolic starting point of the movement that led to the first French republic.

The Bastille Day celebrations have been held under heightened security since an attempted attack on former president Jacques Chirac in 2002.

What’s on the agenda
Nuclear cooperation will be high on the two PMs agenda.

India hopes to get a reassurance on nuclear cooperation, which is critical after a G8 move to limit the transfer of nuclear enrichment and reprocessing technology.

If the G8 move wins the approval of the Nuclear Suppliers Group, transfer of such technologies will be restricted to NPT members alone and India is not an NPT member.

What to expect

The two leaders hope their defence and nuclear ties pick up pace.

The PM wants Sarkozy to help deal with those new restrictions on nuclear technology put up by the G8.

France, a key supplier for the Indian military, wants to build on that status. France is interested in selling 197 helicopters to the Indian military. Euro-copter is regarded as a frontrunner for the contract.

France is looking beyond the Scorpene contract. They are looking at a second line of submarines for the Indian Navy.

French firm Dassault Aviation is in the race for a mammoth contract to supply 126 fighters to India

Gay sex decriminalised in India

A court in the Indian capital, Delhi, has ruled that homosexual intercourse between consenting adults is not a criminal act.

The ruling overturns a 148-year-old colonial law which describes a same-sex relationship as an "unnatural offence".
Homosexual acts were punishable by a 10-year prison sentence.
Many people in India regard same-sex relationships as illegitimate. Rights groups have long argued that the law contravened human rights.

Delhi's High Court ruled that the law outlawing homosexual acts was discriminatory and a "violation of fundamental rights".

The court said that a statute in Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, which defines homosexual acts as "carnal intercourse against the order of nature" and made them illegal, was an "antithesis of the right to equality".
'India's Stonewall'
The ruling is historic in a country where homosexuals face discrimination and persecution on a daily basis but it is likely to be challenged, says the BBC's Soutik Biswas in Delhi.

Activists welcome 'historic' ruling

It also promises to change the discourse on sexuality in a largely conservative country, where even talking about sex is largely taboo, our correspondent says.
Gay rights activists all over the country welcomed the ruling and said it was "India's Stonewall".
New York's Stonewall riot in 1969 is credited with launching the gay rights movement.
"It [the ruling] is India's Stonewall. We are elated. I think what now happens is that a lot of our fundamental rights and civic rights which were denied to us can now be reclaimed by us," activist and lawyer Aditya Bandopadhyay told the BBC.
"It is a fabulously written judgement, and it restores our faith in the judiciary," he said.
Leading gay rights activist and the editor of India's first gay magazine Ashok Row Kavi welcomed the judgement but said the stigma against homosexuals will persist.

TEXT OF COURT JUDGEMENT Delhi High Court judgement overturning Section 377 of India's Penal Code Download the reader here

"The social stigma will remain. It is [still] a long struggle. But the ruling will help in HIV prevention. Gay men can now visit doctors and talk about their problems. It will help in preventing harassment at police stations," Mr Kavi told the BBC.
But the decision was greeted with unease by other groups.
Father Dominic Emanuel of India's Catholic Bishop Council said the church did not "approve" of homosexual behaviour.
"Our stand has always been very clear. The church has no serious objection to decriminalising homosexuality between consenting adults, the church has never considered homosexuals as criminals," said Father Emanuel.
"But the church does not approve of this behaviour. It doesn't consider it natural, ethical, or moral," he said.
The head cleric of Jama Masjid, India's largest mosque, criticised the ruling.
"This is absolutely wrong. We will not accept any such law," Ahmed Bukhari told the AFP news agency.
In 2004, the Indian government opposed a legal petition that sought to legalise homosexuality - a petition the high court in Delhi dismissed.
But rights groups and the Indian government's HIV/Aids control body have demanded that homosexuality be legalised.
The National Aids Control Organisation (Naco) has said that infected people were being driven underground and efforts to curb the virus were being hampered.
According to one estimate, more than 8% of homosexual men in India were infected with HIV, compared to fewer than 1% in the general population.

Nilekani made govt programme chief, gets Cabinet rank

Nandan Nilekani resigned as Co-Chairman of Infosys Technologies and its board on Thursday, following his appointment as Chairman of an IT-driven Government program for providing unique identification numbers to citizens of the country.

"The Board of Directors at Infosys has already accepted Nilekani's resignation. The resignation would be effective from July 9, 2009," said the company.

Nilekani will take charge as Chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India with the rank of Cabinet Minister.

As co-founder of India's second-largest software exporting firm, Nilekani served as director on the Infosys board since its inception in 1981.

Between March 2002 and June 2007, he served as the company's chief executive officer and managing director.

He was later re-designated as Co-Chairman of the Board of Directors.

"We are glad that an extraordinary individual like Nandan has got an opportunity to add value to India through this position. As a company that has always put the interest of society ahead of itself, Infosys will accept his absence with a sense of duty to a larger cause," Infosys Chairman and Mentor N R Narayana Murthy said.

Nilekani, born in Sirsi in Uttara Kannada in northern Karnataka, did his early education in Bangalore and Dharwad before moving to Mumbai to study Electrical Engineering in IIT, Bombay.

The PMO said the functioning of the authority and activities to be performed by the UIA would serve multiple objectives.

The authority shall have the responsibility to lay down plans and policies to implement the unique identification scheme in the country.

It shall own and operate the unique identification number database and be responsible for its updation and maintenance on an ongoing basis.

Sonia said the Authority shall have responsibility to lay down plans and policies to implement the Unique Identification Scheme (UID), shall own and operate the Unique Identification number database and be responsible for its updation and maintenance on an ongoing basis," Soni said.

The Authority will identify the targeted groups for various flagship programmes, she added.

The flagship schemes of the UPA include the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan, National Rural Health Mission and Bharat Nirman.

The unique identification number would ensure that any lacuna in these schemes is removed so that the benefits do not reach those they are not meant for.

The Government had earmarked Rs 100 crore in the interim Budget presented by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in Parliament on February 16 to kickstart its ambitious Unique Identification Project.

The government has been working on improving arrangements to ensure that development deliverables reach the intended beneficiaries, Mukherjee had said.

In order to do so efficiently, effectively and economically, a comprehensive system of unique identity had been worked out, he had added.

The Government also plans to set up state units of UIDAI, headed by state UID Commissioners. Earlier, an Empowered Group of Ministers had approved setting up UIDAI with an initial core team in November 2008.

Research team traces origin of life to India

Washington, June 23: Complex life forms may have evolved on the earth 400 million years earlier than previously thought, a new study of fossils found in India has suggested.
An international team, led by Birger Rasmussen of the Curtin University of Technology, conducted the study in India which it claims opens a whole new window to the beginning of life on our planet.
“New sampling of the Vindhyan basin in India has confirmed the presence of fossils older than has been previously accepted. These fossils, which are more than 1.6 billion years old, are likely to be more than a billion years older than what was previously accepted for fossils found in this region.
“They are also between 400 and 600 million years older than any multi-cellular life found anywhere on the planet,” Prof. Rasmussen said.
According to the researchers, the reason for the differences in the result from this test compared to earlier research was that the team used the world’s best practices to get the job done right.
“This was the first independent test done in the region. In previous reports material separation may have contaminated by other rock samples.
“The team that I worked with wanted to avoid prospects of contamination, so we made sure the fossils were separated from the surrounding rocks in labs that we were certain could do the job correctly.
“The age of the fossils was determined using lead dating of the phosphorate in the fossils. This is deposited with the organic material that becomes fossilised when it is buried in the sea floor, billions of years ago. This form of testing is generally very accurate when we are looking at a time scale of over a billion years,” Prof. Rasmussen said.

Pak jets pound Taliban strongholds in Waziristan

Islamabad: Pakistani fighter jets pounded Taliban strongholds in the volatile South Waziristan tribal region on Friday as the death toll from the series of US drone attacks in the region rose to 13.

The warplanes hit targets in preparation for a full scale military operation which Defence Minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar said would take off as soon as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan chief Baitullah Mehsud was spotted.

"We are looking for him... once we know where he is, then we will not miss him because we have the F-16s. They are very precise, they have laser-guided bombs and they can work better than a drone," he claimed.

The jets struck Taliban hideouts at Sarwakai, Madiyan and Barwang in South Waziristan Agency near the border with Afghanistan during early morning strikes, reports said.

"Warplanes targetted the places where Mehsud's militants are active and we have unconfirmed reports of casualties," TV channels quoted military officials as saying.

"Eye witnesses were quoted as saying that Taliban dug out upto 13 bodies from the rubble, some of them, badly mutilated," local officials said. Upto three drones fired four missiles on a training school run by Taliban commander Malang Wazir in raids on Thursday.

There were also reports of air strikes on militant positions at Landikotal in the troubled Khyber Agency

Ground forces targeted and destroyed several militant hideouts at Nawagai in Bajaur tribal region. Dozens of militants have been killed in recent operations by security forces in Bajaur.

Mukhtar told Dawn News channel that the "government has taken the principled stand that if Baitullah Mehsud hits us in some place in Pakistan, we will hit him... wherever he is hiding".

Though he described the threat posed by Mehsud as "not very serious", Mukhtar said the local Taliban chief was "creating chaos in this country by sending suicide bombers".

In reply to a question, he said the government did not have any information that Mehsud was "an agent of the Indians or the Americans".

"He is one of the miscreants as far as we know. He is fighting against the interests of Pakistan. So we have to watch our interests. This is our war," Mukhtar said.

He said Mehsud was getting financial support from the "drug trade" and "people from all over the world" who were sending him money thinking he was fighting against the US.

Taliban commanders from Waziristan who have broken away from Mehsud have claimed in recent days that he is being backed by India and the US.

Referring to the military offensive against Taliban in the northwestern Swat valley and nearby areas, Mukhtar said the operation in this region "has practically ended" and people displaced by the fighting would be allowed to return to their homes from June 20.

The return of the displaced people would be completed within 90 days, he added.

Meanwhile, militants on Friday blew up two schools in Bajaur Agency. No loss of life was reported in the two attacks. The number of schools destroyed by the Taliban in the semi-autonomous tribal region has now gone up to 49.

Source :PTI 

Buckle up as Indians are coming, Obama tells US

US President Barack Obama has exhorted his countrymen to buckle up as the Indians and Chinese are catching them fast, as Americans have now settled into mediocrity.
"Our kids are falling behind when it comes to science. We have kind of settled into mediocrity when we compare ourselves to other advanced countries and wealthy countries," Obama said in a town hall speech on health care in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
"That's a problem because the reason that America over the last 100 years has consistently been the wealthiest nation is because we've also been the most educated nation," he said.
"It used to be by a pretty sizable factor we had the highest high school graduation rates, we had the highest college graduation rates, we had the highest number of PhDs, the highest number of engineers and scientists," Obama said.
The President said though the Americans used to be "head and shoulders above" the people of other countries, especially in the field of education, they were fast loosing that position.
"So even with the good schools, we have got to pick up the pace, because the world has gotten competitive. The Chinese, the Indians, they are coming at us and they're coming at us hard, and they're hungry, and they're really buckling down," Obama said.

Source: NDTV