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Trinamool quits UPA, Congress reaches out to Mamata

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata

Banerjee recently withdrew her Trinamool Congress party’s support to the UPA government, but both she and the Congress indicated a last minute compromise may still be possible.

Banerjee announced the unexpected decision after a three-hour meeting of party leaders in Kolkata, four days after the central government unleashed a wave of reforms aimed at kickstarting a stagnant economy.

Adding to the central government’s woes, ally DMK announced that it would join a nationwide strike soon against FDI in retail and the hike in diesel prices.

At her aggressive best, Banerjee told the media that Trinamool’s six ministers -- one cabinet and five ministers of state -- would submit their resignations to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh soon.

“We can’t be a party to anti-people decisions. We had expected the government would roll back their decisions. But they have decided against it.

“So we ... are withdrawing our support from UPA-2,” she said, speaking mainly in Bengali.

“This government has lost its credibility,” she added.

However, Banerjee gave a lifeline to UPA, saying she would reconsider withdrawal of support if the government took back its decision to allow foreign direct investment (FDI) in multi-brand retail, cut the hiked diesel prices by Rs.3, and raised the number of subsidised cooking gas cylinders each household can get in a year to 12.

It was the most serious hiccup yet in the

Trinamool’s three-year-relationship with the government that had seen Banerjee stepping down as the railway minister to form the government in West Bengal, and forcing her successor Dinesh Trivedi to quit last year for hiking fares.

Simultaneously, the Congress said that it still viewed the Trinamool as a valuable ally.

“Till a final decision is taken, we consider the Trinamool a valuable ally,” Congress general secretary Janardan Dwivedi said.

The Trinamool, with 19 members in the 545-seat Lok Sabha, was the second largest constituent in the multi-party UPA.

This would make the UPA more dependent on the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party, which extend outside legislative support to the UPA regime.

Within minutes, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) asked the government to prove its majority in the Lok Sabha.

Marxist leader Sitaram Yechury suggested that Banerjee could still go back on her decision, and was supported by Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Lalu Prasad.

At her press conference, Banerjee lashed out at the Congress, saying the FDI decision was unveiled to divert attention from the coal blocks allocation controversy involving the government.

She accused the Congress of acting unilaterally, without giving respect to its allies. “We cannot tolerate this.”

“If FDI is allowed in retail market, where will the retailers go? There will be a disaster,” she said.

Banerjee said she spoke to UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi four days back, requesting her to persuade the government to roll back the decisions on FDI, diesel and cooking gas cylinders.

“But nothing of that sort happened.”

The Trinamool chief demanded to know why the government was not bringing back the huge volumes of black money allegedly stashed by Indians in foreign banks.

“Somebody has to bell the cat,” she said, explaining her decision.

A day after the government announced its economic decisions, Banerjee had declared that her party would take “hard decisions” if these were not taken back. Her 72-hour deadline ended on September 17.

The Trinamool-UPA break-up comes just before a nationwide strike called by all opposition parties against the economic decisions.

Telangana issue again rocks Andhra assembly

The Telangana issue rocked the Andhra Pradesh state assembly once again with Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) stalling the proceedings and demanding a resolution for carving out a separate state.

Speaker N. Manohar adjourned the house for half-an-hour amid noisy scenes and heated arguments among members. He later held a meeting with floor leaders of all parties but it failed to end the deadlock as TRS, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and CPI insisted on a resolution on Telangana while main opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) wanted debate on electricity shortage and ‘tainted’ ministers.

As soon as the house met for the day in Hyderabad, the speaker announced that he was rejecting adjournment motions moved by TDP, TRS and other parties on various issues. The TRS members rushed to the speaker’s podium and insisted that the resolution on Telangana be taken up immediately.

In an attempt to find a solution, the speaker sought the views of various parties on the issue. TRS floor leader E. Rajender demanded that the assembly immediately pass a resolution urging the centre to take immediate steps for formation of separate Telangana state.

When Lok Satta leader Jaiprakash Narayan told the house that IBM employees had left Hyderabad for Bangalore due to the protests over Telangana, TRS member Harish Rao raised an objection. There was heated argument between the two.

Two ministers Danam Nagender and Mukesh Goud disrupted the proceedings when independent member N. Janardhan Reddy was speaking in favour of a separate state.

Amid the din, the speaker adjourned the house and called all floor leaders for a meeting in his chamber. However, the meeting failed to find a solution.

The first day of the monsoon session had also witnessed uproar over Telangana. The TDP and other opposition parties are already agitated over the government convening only a five-day session. They feel the duration is not adequate to discuss people’s problems.

‘Chewing betel leaf may help fight cancer’

Chewing paan or betel leaf could help fight a form of bone marrow cancer, a group of Indian researchers say.

A molecule derived from betel leaf may be beneficial to patients suffering from a cancer in which the bone marrow makes too many white blood cells and the body refuses to respond to common drugs, said a study by scientists in Kolkata and Mumbai.

An alcoholic extract of the betel leaves helps patients suffering from chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) - the most common form of leukaemia in adults in India - holding out hope of improved treatment.

The research was carried out by the Indian Institute of Chemical Biology (IICB), the Institute of Haematology and Transfusion Medicine, Kolkata, and Piramal Life Sciences, Mumbai.

“We have conducted a study and seen that the compound hydroxychavicol (HCH) is the major component of the alcoholic extract of the betel leaves and it might contribute, at least in part, to the observed anti-CML activity of the leaf extract,” said Santu Bandyopadhyay of the department of Cancer Biology and Inflammatory Disorders at IICB, an institute under the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research. The research was based on a 2011 report in journal Frontiers in Bioscience (Elite Edition).

According to the study published this year in the Cancer Science journal - the official journal of the Japanese Cancer Association, HCH and its analogues not only induced killing of the cancerous CML cells but also led to the death of the drug-resistant cancer cells with minimal harm to normal human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC).

PBMC are blood cells that are an important component of the immune system.

CML is principally an adult disease with a yearly incidence of one in 100,000 in India.

Men are affected more often than women. The slow-progressing blood and bone marrow disease usually occurs during or after the middle age, and rarely occurs in children. The leukaemia cells can build up in the blood and bone marrow. So there is less room for healthy white blood cells, red blood cells and platelets. When this happens, infection, anaemia or easy bleeding may occur.

So far, the drug imatinib has been used successfully to treat CML, but mutations have made the leukaemic cells unresponsive to the medicine.

None of the available approved drugs has been effective in dodging the responsible mutation - called T315I.

According to the report in Frontiers in Bioscience (Elite Edition), the alcoholic extract of paan leaves causes the imatinibresistant cells to undergo a self-destructive process called apoptosis.

The extract also shows activity against T315I mutation, the report said.

India’s spirituality attracts youth diaspora

Over 35 overseas youth of Indian origin are on a three-week visit to India to know about their parents’ and grandparents’ homeland, and spirituality of India has been the greatest attraction for them.

It is this “balance in materialistic pursuits and search for inner happiness” that they will take back to their present country and share it with their other diaspora friends and relatives.

The 36 youth, in the age group of 1826, are from Fiji, South Africa, Suriname, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Israel, Slovak Republic, Trinidad and Tobago, Mauritius, Iran and New Zealand and have been in India since Aug 25.

They are here under the 21st Know India Programme (KIP) of the ministry of overseas Indian affairs (MOIA). The last KIP was held in April-May.

“India’s spirituality is what caught our attention the most. We got to visit a lot of temples and religious shrines from all religions and I could understand the unity in diversity that is talked about in India,” said Sameer Chand, an analyst at the Reserve Bank of Fiji, at the valedictory event of KIP held at MOIA at Akbar Bhavan in New Delhi.

“I will take this spirituality home and share it with all my family and friends in Fiji,” Chand, 24, said.

His view was seconded by Adi Nissim from Israel, who participated in KIP along with her twin sister Shay Lee Nissim.

“I really loved the spirituality that is part of the Indian society and culture. Every individual here seemed spiritually inclined,” Adi, 23, said.

Shay Lee quickly added: “Israel is completely westernised and people there are after material prosperity. Here in India, even if people want to earn money, they maintain a balance between materialist pursuits and search for inner happiness. The smile on their faces says it all.”

Chand and Nissim are part of the 15 male and 21 female visitors from 11 countries participating in KIP held three times annually.

His views were echoed by other youngsters, who said this visit to India was a dream come true for them, having heard several stories about their ancestors’ homeland from their parents and grand parents.

The KIP participants also got an opportunity to meet Minister of Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi, who asked all of them to come visit India again after they have made their respective careers and also to pass on their knowledge of India gained from the visit to their friends and relatives, as also their next generation.

“But, as you are all now citizens of the countries you live in, your first loyalty is to that country and hence do your nations proud. Your origin will still remain Indian and your success will be India’s success,” said Ravi.

He also apprised the participants about the Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) scheme and encouraged them to take advantage of it.

“The KIP programme is for youth of Indian origin from around the world to see India, know India and mingle with families in India and reinvent the idea of India and Indian culture,” Ravi told the group at a reception hosted for them.

The programme for the overseas youth took them to Tamil Nadu where they experienced the culture of south India, and visited key temples in Chennai, Kanchipuram, Mahabalipuram, Pondicherry, Kumbakonam, Tanjore, Chettinad, and Madurai.

During the stay in Delhi, the group was also exposed to India’s progress in economic, industrial, education, science and technology, administration, communication and information technology fields, apart from culture, through interactions with personalities in these sectors including the capital’s Lieutenant Governor Tejendra Khanna and Chief Election Commissioner V.S. Sampath.

They also visited Doordarshan, Indian Council of Cultural Relations, Indian Institute of Public Administration and Jawaharlal Nehru University.

Indian American director’s thriller wins another US award

9 Eleven, a Bollywood-style thriller by Indian

American director Manan Singh Katohara, has won the Best Narrative Feature Award at the 2012 Third World Independent Film Festival (TWIFF).

The San Francisco festival celebrates established and emerging filmmakers from third world countries and filmmakers from developed countries whose topics deal with issues of the developing world.

The film, which earlier won the Best Feature and Best Director awards at the 2012 World Music & Independent Film Festival (WMIFF) in Washington, is set for its West coast premiere soon.

Written and directed by Katohora, who also won the 2012 Rising Star Award for the film at Canada International Film Festival, the fast paced thriller with undertones of terrorism, poses the question how does one survive collectively in meeting the growing phenomenon of terrorism head on.

It portrays the life of 11 people terrorised to the core by an unknown entity in an unfamiliar place. Each individual is petrified and is hesitant to talk or take each other into confidence for one simple reason: The fear of the unknown!

Earlier 9 Eleven won the Best Feature Film award at the Peoples Film Festival (TPFF) in New York showcasing extraordinary films using different media formats.

Silicon India has listed it as one of the 10 outstanding movies by Indian American filmmakers.

Designers capture Lord Ganesha’s spirit with jewellery, clothes

For the auspicious occasion of Ganesh Chaturthi, apparel and accessory designer brands have launched exclusive Ganesha collections in an attempt to capture the festive spirit.

From traditional outfits preserving the cultural essence and mood of the season to jewellery inspired by Lord Ganesha, there are varied options for all the fashionistas who want to spruce up in traditional wear.

Designer Indira Ghosh Baikerikar has launched her latest line of traditional outfits, in which she has used Rangoli colours in a creative fusion. Her designs include lot of batik crack prints on pure silk with metal disc work on the neckline, and she has teamed such kurtas with net leggings and beautiful dupattas. Colours like cream, red and orange rule her palette.

“The theme of the collection is ruled by crack prints and stripes, giving it a very edgy texture. The main inspiration is creative use of Rangoli colours for retaining essence of Ganapati festival. The collection is meant for all the ladies who are looking out for something exclusive and timeless. Fabrics used are rich in quality, giving it femininely royal look,” said Baikerikar. The collection is priced at Rs.10,000 and above.

Another Mumbai-based accessory designer, Sannam Chopra has created simple pendant necklaces with Ganesha motifs.

“The whole idea behind bringing this accessory line is to provide the youth a piece of jewellery that can be worn every day and doesn’t cost a fortune - a neck-piece which is affordable and yet has a stylish look. Drawing the attention to detailing of the designs, it will come across as very young and vibrant,” said Chopra.

The designer says the collection is meant for all the youngsters who want to add ethnicity to their personality, and is priced at Rs. 1,200 and above.

“The accessories are very fresh and quirky. They are mainly designed for youngsters between the age group of 15 to 25 years. The simple and elegant looking crystals accentuated on Lord Ganesha-inspired metal pendant preserves the festive mood and youth factor at the same time,” she said.

Apala Innovative Jewelry, AS Motiwala Fine Jewellery and Mahesh Notandass are also some of the jewellery brands which have also paid tribute to Lord Ganesha through their collections.

Dwyer and Sardar will be face of Hockey India League

Australia captain Jamie Dwyer and India star centre-half Sardar Singh were unveiled as the brand ambassadors of the Hockey India League that is scheduled to start Jan 5.

In New Delhi, Hockey India secretarygeneral and the league’s chairman Narinder Batra said he was excited to have two of the best players of the world as the face of the six team league.

“It is an immense honour for Hockey India League to have players of the calibre of Jamie Dwyer and Sardar Singh as Brand Ambassadors. We are moving full speed towards establishing Hockey India League as the world’s biggest hockey league,” said Batra.

The enormous interest among players, both at home and overseas, should give everyone a fair idea about the quality of contests that we will see in the Hockey India League. The League will help players across the world and raise the standard of our game,” he added.

Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Rajeev Shukla, who is on the advisory council of the league, said it was significant that the International Hockey Federation (FIH) has created a window for the league.

“It is our collective responsibility to ensure hockey regains space in the collective consciousness of the nation,” he said.

The 33-year-old Dwyer said it was a privilege for him to be a part of the league.

“I have always enjoyed playing in India and have looked to make hockey an attractive proposition for the youngsters,” he said.

“Hockey India League is an excellent step in that direction not only for the Indian players but also for those from elsewhere. More importantly, the widely-broadcast League will give our sport a wonderful profile and I am delighted to be a part,” he said.

Sardar said he felt humble at being given the enormous responsibility of being a brand ambassador.

“From the Indian players’ perspective, I can say that on the one hand the League promises to ensure financial security while on the other, many young Indian players will get great exposure playing with and against some of the world’s best hockey players,” he said. “It will give them a platform to make a claim for the Indian team while increasing their confidence.”

Sahara India, Jaypee Group, Patel-Uniexcel Group and Wave Group have already taken up the Lucknow, Punjab, Ranchi and Delhi franchises of the league. The names of the other two franchisees will be made known well before next month’s players auction.

IANS