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| Mar 04, 2007 |
In Orissa town of Puri consuming Bhang is a ritual
Puri: If you remember the original `Don' with the `Big B' and its sequel with Shah Rukh Khan as the lead, perhaps the Bhang scene would give you much food for thought - with its typical local flavour and rustic Indian touch. But unlike the Banarasi connection, in Orissa, the temple town Puri can boast of a similar tradition of
Bhang consumption and the servitors' communities are beginning the day with it early on bed a la morning tea.
`We, the servitors cannot stay without Bhang. I drink thrice a day since my childhood, ' says Nolia, a guide of Jagannath Temple. He says he takes 100 grams at a time and spends up to Rs 100 a day and without the stuff he even cannot dream about a sound sleep.
`Bhang is sacred and thought to be the daily diet of Lord Shiva. Consuming on daily basis is a tradition for many in this pilgrim city. It never causes harm to consumers like alcohol and other narcotics,' reveals Gedu, a vendor near the temple.
According to Kankada Nana (70), a priest of Lokanath Temple, he used to collect packets of Bhang and preserves like paddy till the year-end. But with the price hike, its short supply has created problems.
This is quite same with a lawyer of the local court. 'By consuming Bhang, I feel relaxed from the entire day's worries. This is digestive and keeps stomach free from all disorders,' he says quoting a Sanskrit Shloka.
Consumption of Bhang is like a daily ritual here for most of the `Puriwallahs'. The habit is hoped to have been running with the rise of Akhra culture. During the rule of King Ramachandra Dev, Akhra had played a major role for the security of Jagannath Temple and mutts from Islamic attack. Bhang was used in all Akhras for uniting youngsters in order to practice physical exercise and martial art when they took an oath for protecting temples and other monuments.
The Bhang paste is prepared by manual rock grinder and is drunk by `Aakhra-wallahs' after offering the first drink to their presiding deities.
According to elders, in the past the temple servitors had a habit to go for toilets in-groups on the outskirts of the town after consuming Bhang.
A report says that Puri consumes five quintals of these narcotics per day and around 75,000 are habituated with this. Roadside outlets are selling drinks laced with bhang although local Excise Department limits its permission to eight shops.
For some, Bhang has acquired a status of a cottage industry as it has provided unemployed youths a source of income through cold drink shops that also sell bhang laced drinks.
Usually visitors having curiosity for Bhang tradition of Puri fall prey to the 'green fanta' or Bhang laced cold drink bottles refilled and freezed up for daily sale in the town. Allegations are rife that sedative drugs are mixed in these drinks.
Localites never opt for 'green fanta'. They prefer to venture out to small kiosks where Bhang paste is prepared on spot, along with availability of sweetened herbal drinks to mix with the Bhang paste for consumption.
According to Sibu Das, a connoisseur of Bhang from Puri, one can easily sense effect of Original Bhang and adulterated one. Original Bhang takes a person to 'highs' slowly with a cooling effect, which makes it popular during summer. But Bhang adulterated with sedative tablets provides quick kick.
`Bhang is part of our cultural tradition. It is known as 'Siddhi' and 'Vijaya' in Sanskrit as it helps in transcending conscious mind due to its calming effect on the central nervous system. This calming effect opens up the mind to new avenues of creativity. Several writers and cultural personalities of Puri surely enjoy Bhang. But it should be
taken in small doses so that one enjoys its joyous mental effects rather than Bhang ruling over the mind,' Sibu adds.
But locals fear that this `tradition' is getting eroded and devalued with the steady rise of drugs and alcohols among the Gen-X. They say that the alcohol shops are increasing every year in the city resulting in social disorders and anarchies while Bhang never caused such problems.
According to Ayurvedic practitioner Bhaskar Mishra, Bhang is also required in preparation of many herbal medicines. `Consuming it in small quantity is good, but overdose is injurious,' he said.
http://www.kalingatimes.com/orissa_news/news/20070303_In_Orissa_town_of_Puri_
consuming_Bhang_is_a_ritual.htm
Lok Sabha MP among six killed in Jharkhand Naxalite attack
JAMSHEDPUR: Naxals on Sunday shot dead General Secretary of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and Lok Sabha MP Sunil Mahato in an attack that also killed two of his bodyguards and a party colleague during a football match organized to mark the Holi festival at a place about 40 km from here on Sunday.
Jharkhand Home Secretary Sudhir Tripathi said in Ranchi that a group of Maoists opened gunfire from close at 38-year-old Mahato, who represented Jamshedpur constituency and was the chief guest at the match at Bakuria in East Singhbhum district.
The lawmaker was killed on the spot, he added.
East Singhbhum Superintendent of Police Pankaj Darad said seven bullets were pumped into the body of Mahato.
He said the attack also left two of the lawmaker's bodyguards and Ghatsila block secretary of JMM Prabhakar Mahato dead.
Raju Giri, general secretary of JMM's central committee, said two other bodyguards of the MP had been taken away by the Naxalites.
Eyewitnesses said 15 ultras, armed with sophisticated weapons, shot at Mahato and his bodyguards when he was watching the football match.
A commotion broke out after the firing and the ultras escaped taking advantage of that.
Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee expressed shock at the killing of Mahato and conveyed his condolences to the bereaved family.
Mahto, one of the four JMM members in the Lok Sabha, was a first timer in the Lower House. He has been associated with the party for over two decades.
He is survived by wife and two daughters.
"The career of an upcoming political leader has been cut short by the frustrated elements. But the perpetrators will not succeed in their violence," JMM general secretary Prashant Mandal said.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Lok_Sabha_MP_among_six_killed_in_Jharkhand
_Naxalite_attack/articleshow/1722771.cms
They go to work in metros, never return
RANCHI, March 2: The Nithari killings have opened a can of worms. Every state is now looking for its missing children. The Jharkhand police too, is fumbling for answers to the rise in incidence of missing children. This, in fact is a queer phenomenon to have gripped this part of the erstwhile state of Bihar (now Jharkhand) since the early 1990s. Till now, the state police passed it of as trafficking of girls and refused to see more into it.
• Poonam, the 10-year-old daughter of Bigna Oraon of Bakhar village (Jharkhand) is missing since 15 February, 2004. Though he lodged a complaint with the local police immediately, his daughter is still untraceable.
• Jabar Munda's 14-year-old daughter, Gangi Purtilodged went missing on August 23, 2003. Though the Akri police station (Jharkhand) registered an FIR, there has been no headway in the case.
• Fifteen-year-old Sarsawati, daughter of Ramnagina Hembrom of Kisku village (Lohardaga district in Jharkhand) did not return from school on May 14,2003. Even though the father promptly filed a complaint, he is yet to hear from the police.
• Ashok Soy's, 16-year-old daughter Rukmini Tirkey went missing from near the well where she had gone to fill water on February 12,2002. Even after five years, the Chakardharpur police station (West Singhbhum district in Jharkhand) has made no headway in the case.
Majority of people here, particularly the Adivasis have very poor living conditions. Sending their children to work as domestic help in metros bought them quick money. Earlier, where they barely managed to make Rs 500-600 per month by doing odd jobs particularly working as part-time labourers, their children were employed for more than double of what they bought home. "This new-form of employment thrown up by metros has led to the rise of missing children," said RC Kaithal, Additional Director General of Police while speaking to the indian Express. Though on January 25 this year he had directed the superintendents of police to furnish him with data on missing children in Jharkhand, he is yet to hear from them.
Compilation of the complaints have, however, helped the police zero in on the fact that most of the missing girls were in the age group of 8 to 15 and they were either illiterate or school dropouts, employed by agencies to work as domestic help.
Our investigations revealed that Poonam was sent to New Delhi along with two other girls — Sangeeta and Ashok, by Sony, a resident of Piskanagri village (Ranchi district). She liasoned with a domestic help placement agency in the national capital. Though Sangeeta and Ashok returned home a few months later, Poonam is still untraceable. "We lost touch with her," said Sangeeita when we contacted her. Though we could not contact Sony, she has apparently told the missing girl's parents that the New Delhi place ment agency was unreachable on the numbers with her.
Suresh Tiwari,a lecturer at Sanjay Gandhi College has written in his thesis on "Trafficking of Adivasi Girls in Jharkhand" — "Most agencies lured the parents by promising them a party of their children's wages. But in quite a few cases they failed to keep track of the girls, resulting in the rise of missing children."
It's not that all employers are insensitive. 16-year-old Salkhi's employers in the posh Bengali Market area of New Delhi lodged a case of missing at the local Tilak Nagar police station. The police advertised for her in the missing columns of local Hindi dailies in Ranchi as well as New Delhi. SH Lakra, the Additional Superintendent of Police (CBI), who was also working on this case along with the local police said: "She was friendly with a boy but there are are other suspects as well." The Delhi Police is yet to make a breakthrough.
http://www.indianexpress.com/story/24711.html
Experts express regret at tribals' exploitation
THE SOCIAL structure in tribal India is experiencing emergence of a 'tribal elite'. This is mainly on account of improving literacy, reservations in government services and exposure of tribal people to mainstream society. But, sadly, the tragedy is that this 'elite tribal people' are distancing themselves from the larger tribal masses and is only caring for their kith and kin, regretted Professor Sachchidananda, an eminent anthropologist while speaking at a function here at Lucknow University (LU) today.
He lamented that the 'elite tribal' class refused to take up the leadership task, which actually restrained the development of the tribal people. "If the Indian tribals were to develop, it is imperative that the educated among the tribal people should come forward and provide a leadership else unscrupulous elements would continue to exploit them for their own vested interests," said the anthropologist. Prof Sachchidananda emphasised that unless tribal people got leadership opportunities, they would continue to face problems.
Speaking at the diamond jubilee conference on 'Tradition and modernity: Development and change among tribal in India' jointly organised by the Ethnographic and Folk Culture Society, Lucknow and Sociology Department, LU, the professor said another social change was the demand of tribal women for a share in the property of their fathers. In Jharkhand, girls are not entitled to any share in the property of their father. He said, "After Independence tribals had been politicised through the democratic process. The tribal leaders should come to the forefront and work for the betterment of the masses".
http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/5922_1936171,0015002500000005.htm
Goons 'ready for hire' for UP polls
Kushinagar, UP: As Uttar Pradesh gears up for the Assembly elections next month, not just political parties, even organised gangs are gearing up for the big political event. Guns and goons are ready for hire, to be deployed during the elections in the garb of private security.
In eastern UP, river Narayani is an undeclared dividing line, with the police on one side and over a dozen organised gangs on the other. There are armed gangs that roam freely along the region bordering Bihar and Nepal.
It was only after a long walk, a boat ride and driving for several kilometres that a CNN-IBN managed to track one of these professional gangs down. They call themselves the Jungle Party.
The 200 members of the Jungle Party operate in the areas bordering Nepal, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. But with the polls drawing near, it's not just robbery and kidnapping that will keep them busy.
"Neta logo se baat karte hai. Un logo se aapna baat-seet chalti rahti hai, Woh log sunab ke dauran hum logo se madad mangte hai (Political leaders contact us and we are constantly in touch. During elections, they seek our help,)" one of the gangsters confessed to CNN-IBN.
The gangs roam freely in the forests. And during every election, they get into the act of booth-capturing and intimidating voters to tilt the balance in the favour of their mentors. Gangs like these thrive under full political patronage and with the Nepal border close by, they have a safe haven to escape to when the security agencies go after them.
Villagers in these area have to fend for themselves. They have come together to form village samitis. But they can't hope to match the arms and ammunition of the Jungle Party.
" Woh log dabao dete hai ki vote phalanoo ko dijiyega or kisiko nahi. Agar vote nahi dena hai toh marna hai ( They come and tell us to vote for a particular party and none else. If we do not vote, they threaten to kill)," Ramesh Kumar, a resident of Khadda village in eastern UP, says,
These gangs can effectively determine the fate of candidates in the UP districts bordering Nepal and Bihar. Police sources say the gangs even have access to sophisticated weapons provided by Nepali Maoists.
"The main reason for this is that there is a lot of poverty in this area. There is a lot of illiteracy," S K Bhagat, SSP Gorakhpur, states.
The local intelligence unit has submitted several reports on the Jungle Party. But the administration is yet to formulate an action plan to control these private armies.
http://www.ibnlive.com/news/politics/03_2007/guns-and-goons-ready-for-hire-for-up-assembly-polls-35094.html
Urbanisation triggers langur invasion in south Bengal
If Kolkata and its vicinities are an area of surging humanity, they are also a happy hunting ground for langurs (long-tailed monkeys) these days -- courtesy the rapid urbanisation and rampant deforestation of rural areas.
With the increasing number of shopping malls, restaurants and housing projects coming up, Kolkata and its outskirts are becoming a hunting ground for langurs as they come out in search of food, posing a serious threat to humans.
'Human settlements are slowly devouring far flung areas and more and more trees are being cut. The langurs which inhabit rural areas are forced to venture into human settlements due to the loss of habitation and destruction of food sources,' said Col. Shakti Ranjan Banerjee, director, World Wildlife Federation (WWF), West Bengal.
'Langurs are creating problems in Kolkata, Howrah, South 24-Parganas, Hooghly, Birbhum, Burdwan and Nadia districts,' said Banerjee.
Experts say the situation is getting out of control, especially as there's no comprehensive study available on the population of langurs in south Bengal.
'Neither the state forest department nor any other organisation has the exact figures of the langur population in south Bengal, so nobody can take any action to control the menace,' Banerjee claimed.
Banarjee earlier said the langurs were used to getting their food from agricultural land but the excessive use of pesticides and fertiliser prevented them from surviving on agricultural crops.
To control the menace, WWF had sent a proposal for an extensive study on the langur population to the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests through the state forest department.
'We had asked for a fund of Rs. 650,000 from the union ministry for conducting a study but nothing has happened in the past one year,' Banerjee said.
'To find out the reasons behind this human-langur conflict we need to conduct the survey in three stages -- assessment, analysis and management. There's no base-line data available with us.
'There could be other reasons behind this langur invasion too. For instance, if a langur gets separated from its mother or from the group, it can turn violent and cause immense trouble to the people,' he said.
Sangita Mitra, senior project officer, WWF, added: 'Artificial feeding (people feeding animals) is another bad practice that lures langurs into human settlements. Sometimes they go on a rampage if they don't get food in the locality.'
According to her, the population of langurs in south Bengal increased after 1976 when langurs were banned for laboratory tests and research purposes. Mitra is doing research on south Bengal's langur population.
'But before knowing the exact number of langurs we cannot sterilise the male members of the group,' explained Mitra.
V.K. Yadav, chief conservator of wildlife in West Bengal, however, felt that the incidents of langur invasion are sporadic. 'But whenever we are informed about any such incident we immediately rush to the spot and try to capture the animal,' he said.
A langur injured 12 people at Sankrail, about 20 km from Kolkata, in early February.
Police had to be deployed and the entire locality wore a deserted look till the forest department captured the simian.
http://www.indiaenews.com/india/20070304/41879.htm
Statutory provisions for SC, ST remain elusive
The Minister for Welfare of Backward Classes and Plains Tribes (WBPT) Pramila Rani Brahma told the State Assembly yesterday that the Constitutional and statutory privileges still remained elusive for the State's Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs). She called upon the MLAs belonging to these categories of people to come forward to facilitate proper implementation of the schemes meant for the welfare of these sections of the people.
However, the State Government is considering the issue of granting allotment of land to the landless people of these categories. Meanwhile, the Chief Minister has agreed to the suggestion for settling Government land with the genuine occupants concerned provided they belong to these categories of people, she said.
She also told the House that there were 17,404 backlogs against the reserved posts for the SCs and STs in the State Government offices. Earlier, the figure was 18,404. Last year, 1,000 of the backlogs were filled up. The State Government is considering filling up of 5,000 of the backlogs this time.
The Minister's statement came in response to a call attention motion moved by Asom Gana Parishad's (AGP) Hiren Das.
The State Government also changed the policy for implementation of the welfare schemes meant for the SCs and STs this time with the provision of paying money to the beneficiaries instead of materials. The money is paid to the beneficiaries through cheques, the Minister said.
The Government is also strictly monitoring the procedures for issuing certificates adopted by the non-Government bodies like the Anuchuchita Jati Parishad so as to check issuance of fake certificates by these bodies. A Cabinet memorandum is also being prepared for the purpose, said the Minister.
She regretted that due the lack of consciousness among the leaders of the SC and ST people, due facilities to these categories of people could not be provided. The call of the hour is that the leaders of these categories of people should come forward to make their communities aware.
The unemployeds of these communities are being trained for skill development and schemes for the purpose are prepared. Meanwhile, the State Government is making arrangements to pay salaries to the employees of the Welfare Corporations meant for the SCs, STs and Other Backward Classes, she said.
http://www.assamtribune.com/scripts/details.asp?id=mar0207/at05
Essar wins licence for Bailadila iron ore deposits
India's leading steel-maker Essar Steel has won the prospecting licence for Chhattisgarh's Bailadila deposits, which has one of the world's finest quality iron ore stocks. This happened after a state-run firm's lease expired unutilised.
The central government has approved the Chhattisgarh government's proposal to award the prospecting license to Essar Steel for a 2,285-hectare stretch in Dantewada district, officials said.
For three decades, the prospecting license for the iron ore reserves was kept reserved for the state-run National Mineral Development Corp (NMDC), which lost the lease in February because it had not begun excavations.
India's largest iron ore producer and exporter in public sector NMDC had got the mining lease right of an area of 3,308.04 hectares in Bailadila deposit no 3 on Feb 3, 1977 for a period of three decades. Its lease expired on Feb 8, 2007. Surprisingly, the NMDC did not excavate a single kilogram of iron ore,' a senior industry department official told IANS.
'NMDC was stunned when it was formally informed that its mining lease has automatically lapsed under the Mining and Mineral Act. It was not renewed because NMDC failed to undertake any mining activity,' the official added.
The hilly region of Bailadila, located in Dantewada district, has large reserves of high quality iron ore stocks, divided into 14 deposits. NMDC has been excavating mines in three bigger deposits for domestic supplies as well as for exports to China and Japan. 'NMDC's loss is Essar Steel's gain,' the official said.
Essar Steel will use the Bailadila iron ore to feed its Rs.70 billion greenfield integrated steel plant to be set up in two phases in Dantewada district with a capacity of 3.2 million tonne per annum.
http://www.indiaprwire.com/businessnews/20070304/19747.htm
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| Hot issues of Today |
- Mar 03, 2007
- Mar 02, 2007
- Mar 01, 2007
- Feb 28, 2007
- Feb 27, 2007
- Feb 26, 2007
- Feb 25, 2007
- Feb 24, 2007
- Feb 23, 2007
- Feb 22, 2007
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