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India
January 28-February 3, 2012
TheSouthAsianTimes.info
ISRO row: ex-chief, govt locked in battle Bangalore/New Delhi: In an unprecedented action in the annals of Indian space odyssey, the central government blacklisted top scientist G. Madhavan Nair from official jobs following the controversial deal with Devas Multimedia but the former space agency head hit back, blaming his successor K. Radhakrishnan for the action. The government's action and the blistering attack of Nair, the man who led the successful launch of India's first Lunar probe in 2008, on Radhakrishnan sent shockwaves among the scientists and staff at the Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) in Bangalore and other centers. Along with Nair, three other scientists --
The government has blacklisted Madhavan Nair from official jobs following the controversial deal with Devas Multimedia.
Congress slams Hazare for justifying slapping New Delhi: The Congress hit out at Anna Hazare for justifying slapping as a means of expressing anguish against corruption and said the whole country would like to be educated on "this new definition of the Gandhian path". Reacting to Hazare's remark that an individual is left with no option but to slap when his power of tolerance of corruption runs out, Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said that it was not appropriate for the social activst to say so."We would all like to understand this new approach to the
Gandhian way which talks of fast and sacrifice and also about slapping other people," Singhvi said. Hazare had told reporters Tuesday after seeing a movie on the theme of corruption that slapping appeared to be an option for a person who had run out of tolerance in fighting graft.Hazare had also sparked a row in November last year by his remarks seemingly approving the action of a youth who had slapped Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar. The social activist had later condemned the incident.
former scientific secretary A. Bhaskarnarayana, former satellite center director K.N. Shankara and former Antrix executive director K.R. Sridharamurthi -have also been barred from holding any government position or being on official committees over the deal ISRO's commercial arm Antrix signed with Devas for allotting the scarce S-band spectrum (air waves). The deal, signed during Nair's stewardship of ISRO, was cancelled in February last year on the ground that it would have caused the government loss of billions of rupees. Besides blaming Radhakrishnan, who succeeded him as ISRO head in 2009,
Nair said ISRO had "gone to the dogs" and asked the government whether he was "worse than a terrorist" for blacklisting him. The government's move came in for sharp attack from the BJP also which wanted Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to take action against the then minister of state in his office, Prithviraj Chavan, now Maharashtra chief minister, as the space department was handled by him. Atomic Energy and Space Science have always been under the direct charge of prime ministers. ISRO, however, chose to keep mum and declined to comment on Nair's outburst.
Fresh setback for Modi, probe in fake shootouts
New Delhi: In yet another setback to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, the Supreme Court directed a panel headed by former apex court judge M.B. Shah to probe 15 cases of alleged staged shootout killings in the state 2003-06. An apex court bench of Justice Aftab Alam and Justice C.K. Prasad said that it was open to the monitoring authority headed by Justice (retd) Shah to constitute its own investigating team of police officers either from the existing special task force (STF) or other officers from within and outside the state.
The court said the monitoring authority would steer clear of the cases that were already under investigation on the direction of the apex court or the Gujarat High Court. This included the staged shootout cases of alleged gangster Sohrabuddin Sheikh and alleged terrorist Ishrat Jahan and three others. The apex court is already hearing a CBI plea seeking investigation into the alleged staged shootout killing of Tulsiram Prajapati, an aide of Sohrabuddin Sheikh, saying his case was part of a chain.
Rich fare attracts 70,000 to Jaipur litfest By Prakash Bhandari/SATimes Jaipur: The annual Jaipur Literature Festival (JLF) has undoubtedly become Asia’s biggest literary festival. This year, with Oprah Winfrey, Deepak Chopra, Ben Okri, Jamaica Kincaid, Lionel Shriver and Richard Dawkins in its lineup, over 70,000 people, including hordes of students from all over north India, turned up at the venue Diggi Palace. The Jaipur festival aims to provide a platform for Indian writing, in English as well as in other official Indian languages, including Hindi and Bengali. An appearance by Salman Rushdie in 2007 was a turning point, attracting global attention - and no incidnet. He was followed by Tina Brown, Vikram Seth, Martin Amis and Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk. This year, Oprah Winfrey had most mass appeal and she was on stage with India’s top TV presenter Barkha Dutt. Oprah showed up in light mustardyellow kurta and a floral churidar with a pink dupatta, creating a rapport. She praised the Indian chaos and calm. In Agra, she said, she was amused to see a cart being pulled by an ass, reminding her how after fulfilling her mission to get Barack Obama elected President, she stuck a picture on her pinboard of a Rajasthani woman riding a camel with the caption: "Come to India". “The festival has become a hotbed
dangerous about books. Festival co-producer William Dalrymple talked about the wonderful heritage of arts still alive in Rajasthan, citing the performance of
Oprah Winfrey was interviewed by Barkha Dutt
Fatima Bhutto moderated a session on ‘Writing and Resistance’.
of activity, with publishers scouting for talent and writers for book deals. Even Indian publishers have begun rushing books to capitalize on the event,” said Mita Kapur, an author. “JLF has had a ripple effect, with similar events springing up all over South Asia,” said Pakistani writer Ameena Saiyid. “There is everything for everyone at the festival. There is a star-studded lineup and we also showcase homegrown talent,” said co-producer of the festival Namita Gokhale. The session 'The Magic of Reality' had Lalla Ward in conversation with Richard Dawkins, a self-proclaimed atheist and science writer. Dawkins spoke passionately about the importance of science and how it can teach us to look at the world ‘in unfamiliar ways.’ The session 'Adaptations', chaired by Girish Karnad, had Lionel Shriver, Vishal Bhardwaj, Richard Flanagan and Tom Stoppard discuss adaptation of books into theatre and movies. Novelist Flanagan said it took three years for him to write the
screenplay for ‘The Sound of One Hand Clapping’, and when he couldn’t sell it, turned it into a novel instead, a very different process. Indian screenwriter and director Vishal Bhardwaj talked of his, Maqbool being based on Macbeth. The session 'Nothing to Declare: Straight Lines and History' had Fakrul Alam, Mohammed Hanif, Rabi Thapa and Siddhartha Gigoo talk about interpretation of the word ‘border’. Poet and novelist Siddhartha Gigoo spoke about his experience of Kashmir, talking of the migration within the country itself. The session ‘The Good Muslim’ had Tahmima Anam read passages from her novel, The Good Muslim, which portrays post-1990s Bangladesh. The session ‘Writing and Resistance’, moderated by Fatima Bhutto, had Raja Shehadeh, ThantMyint-U and Iftikhar Gilani explore writing contributing to resistance. Bhutto questioned whether books themselves were inherently dangerous. Iftikar Gilani responded that there was nothing
epic stories such as Pabuji The Camel Herder, a sacred and healing performance event which can start at sunset and end at dawn, taking place over eight days.
Rushdie fiasco cloud over freedom of expression in India
Jaipur: The organizers of Jaipur Literature Festival (JLF) were disappointed when because of pressure from Muslim clerics Salman Ruhdie was neither allowed to come to the festival nor to speak via video conferencing. The alleged death threat to the controversial author of The Satanic Verses forced him to cancel his visit. “It is tragic. What is hurting is the protestors are trying to snatch from the authors their right to speech. This is happening in a country which claims to be the world’s largest democracy," said William Dalrymple, an author and co-organizer of the JLF. Rushdie is unpopular with the Muslims because of his 1988 novel The Satanic Verses which was banned in India. He lived for long years in police protection when Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran issued a fatwa against him. The strong stand against Rushdie by the Muslim organizations in India this time became a
Salman Rushdie free speech controversy. The cancellation of his trip to Jaipur and videoconferencing drew criticism from authors and writers from all over the world for rising censorship and limits on freedom of expression in India. Four authors including Amitava Kumar and Hari Kunzru, who dared to read a few paragraphs from the banned Satanic Verses were forced to leave the festival as they were likely to be arrested for reading the banned book. The Congress government in Rajasthan did not rise to the defense of Rushdie because of the Assembly election in Uttar Pradesh where a large number of electorate are Muslims.