DDA Housing Scheme Results
It's the day Delhi has been waiting for with fingers crossed. Nearly 5,000 new DDA flats will be allotted on Tuesday through a computer lottery.
One of the applicants Ritesh Jain, an entrepreneur, knows the odds are tough. There are 113 people who've applied for the DDA flat he wants.
"It's all about luck. It would be one of the happiest moments in my life if I get a flat," he said.
The 5,000 DDA flats range from Rs 7 to 77 lakhs. They've been built in some of Delhi's most-wanted colonies like Dwarka, Rohini and Vasant Kunj.
The fact that they're 50 per cent cheaper than market rates for these areas makes them priceless. And to avoid any controversy, the lottery is being supervised by IIT teachers.
"It's 100 per cent transparent. The draw is totally computerized; all the application numbers and flat numbers have been fed and both the list would be randomised by the computer. The cut off will be drawn by the judges and the computer will declare all the results," said Neemo Dhar, Director, PRO, Delhi Development Authority.
Anybody who is allotted a house will get a cheaper home loan from a government bank. Loans for upto Rs 20 lakhs have fallen by two per cent.
And half of the new DDA flats cost Rs 20 lakhs or less both the houses Ritesh has applied for fall into this category.
"I have just heard the news about the new home loan rates. I'll be very lucky to get loans at cheap rates," Ritesh said.
The lucky winners will get the keys to their new houses in two months. Those who didn't make it will be refunded the registration fee of Rs 1.5 lakhs by the end of December.
The DDA draw comes at a time when the government has announced capping of interest rates on home loans to their lowest levels in many years. But with one in every 110 applicants standing a chance, this indeed is a once in a lifetime opportunity for the lucky few.
India's Parvathy Omanakuttan was adjudged the first runner-up at the Miss World pageant here Saturday evening, with the crown going to Miss Russia.
Parvathy impressed the jury with her looks and quick wit and was one the five finalists out of the 109 contestants at the Sandton Convention Center. However, she was finally beaten by Miss Russia.
Miss Trinidad and Tobago was named the second runner-up. The others in contention in the final five were Miss South Africa and Miss Angola.
India had high hopes on 21-year-old Parvathy to win the crown that last came to the country in 2000.
India boasts of Miss Worlds like Reita Faria (1966), Aishwarya Rai Bachchan (1994), Diana Hayden (1997), Yukta Mookhey (1999) and Priyanka Chopra (2000).
Noted Indian music director A.R. Rahman has won a Golden Globe nomination for Best Original Score for his music in British director Danny Boyle's uplifting underdog tale "Slumdog Millionaire".
The film has also earned three other nominations for Best Picture-Drama, Best Director for Boyle and Best Screenplay for Simon Beaufoy for the 2008 Golden Globe Awards given by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.
The film tells the heart warming story of an 18-year-old orphan from the slums of Mumbai who goes on to win a staggering Rs.20 million ($420,000) on India's "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?" game show.
Earlier this week, "Slumdog Millionaire" won two awards from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association - Best Director for Boyle and Best Music for Rahman. It also won the runner-up prize for Best Cinematography for Anthony Dod Mantle.
The film, set and shot in Mumbai, has also won the Best Cinematography prize from The New York Film Critics' Circle and earned six Critics Choice Award nominations for Picture, Director (Boyle), Writer (Simon Beaufoy), Young Actor (Dev Patel), Composer (Rahman), and Song ("Jai Ho").
Currently playing in several major cities, "Slumdog Millionaire" will open in 87 additional theaters across North America Friday and bring its total theatre count to 165.
New markets where the film will debut this weekend include New Jersey, Connecticut, Ohio, Houston, Austin, Miami-Ft. Lauderdale, Orlando, Ann Arbor, Milwaukee, Charlotte, Raleigh-Durham, St. Louis, Kansas City, Louisville, New Orleans, Portland, Honolulu and Sacramento.
When author Gregory David Roberts wrote an open letter to all his readers asking them not to lose faith in India and Mumbai following the 26/11 attacks, he immediately found adherents in people like Anne Fox, a British tourist.
Braving a fear psychosis Fox took a corner table at the famous Leopold Café - the place Roberts had immortalised in his book "Shantaram" - ordered a beer and got up only after she finished reading it.
One of the city's oldest Irani-run cafes owned by Farzad and Farhang Jehani, Leopold was set up way back in 1871. Aptly wearing the tagline 'Getting better with age', it's a huge hit with foreign backpackers.
Situated on the Colaba Causeway in south Mumbai, Leo's (as the cafe is popularly known) offers you more than one reason to hop in. It has 333 items on its food menu ranging from the humble fish and chips to the royal biryani. But loyal Leodians swear by its chicken tikka masala and beef chilly and fried rice.
Serving hefty portions at reasonable price, what also sets the cafe apart is its ambience. Nothing too fancy for your eyes, but a quaint French cafe look with ever amiable waiters ready to serve you make most prefer it to its nearby look alike Cafe Mondegar.
Rudely interrupting its warm ambience, on the night of Nov 26 terrorists targetted Leo's as their first spot to launch their brazen attacks that claimed at least 179 lives. Seven people, including two tourists and two of the café's waiters, were among those killed.
Two weeks later, tourists like Fox have started trickling in again for what seems to be their favourite pass time at Leo's- read Shantaram.
"It's fascinating to read a book based in a particular place and then relate every little detail mentioned in it to the surroundings here," Fox told IANS, as she turned a page of the thick book.
A 2003 novel by Roberts, "Shantaram" is about an Australian bank robber and heroin addict who escapes from jail and flees to Bombay, as Mumbai was formerly called.
Of all the very typical "Bombay" things and places mentioned in the book is the Leopold Café.
Little wonder that one corner of the manager's counter is stacked with the grey and red covered "Shantaram". And it most definitely is the most read book in the café - especially amongst tourists.
Sitting lazily on her chair, Fox said that she was holidaying at the sun-kissed beaches of Goa when terrorists struck Mumbai. In spite of the outrage, Fox said she decided to continue her journey to Mumbai as per her long-drawn travel itinerary in India and despite her family and friends advising her against it.
"I have been in India for a month now and all this while I have been in Goa. When I heard about the attacks here, my parents back home wanted me to cut short the visit, but I just decided to carry on. It would have been such a waste of a trip had I gone back without visiting all these places," Fox maintained.
She, incidentally, was not the only one sitting in the café with a copy of "Shantaram".
Arthur Davis, a Canadian, sat with his girlfriend close by. Among their cloth shoulder bags and other things lying on their table was a copy of the book.
"This is not the first time that I have come to India and to Leo's. Now, the bullet marks on the ceiling of this place is unnerving.
"Yet seeing the crowd and the smiling faces of the waiters here gives you the confidence and hope to return. There is hardly any place today which has not been a victim to terror and, therefore, running away from India after these attacks is never an option," Davis told IANS.
But ask one of the waiters and he admits that after the Nov 26 attack the number of foreigners thronging the place has come down.
"The number of people coming to Leo's after the attack has not been affected; in fact it has increased. But the number of foreigners among them has come down. Otherwise, at any given time, the lower section of the cafe is generally filled with foreigners," said Avik, one of the waiters.
Nevertheless, this pub-restaurant - with its typical 1980s look and now bullet-riddled window panes - continues to serve loyal customers defiant in the face of depredations it had to endure.
(Azera Rahman can be contacted at azera.p@ians.in)
The Pakistan-based Jamat-ud-Dawah (JuD), which has been branded a terrorist group by the UN, is writing to the global body to clarify that it has no links with terrorism and the Pakistani government began investigations against it only on the basis of "Indian propaganda", its chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed said.
Acceding to Indian and US requests in the aftermath of the Nov 26 Mumbai terror attacks, the UN Security Council Wednesday declared JuD, the front for the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), a terrorist group. Four top LeT leaders, including Saeed, have also been branded global terrorists.
However, BBC Urdu website quoted Saeed as saying in an interview that he never headed the LeT. He added that although he was once arrested by the government, he was let off after JuD proved that he had nothing to do with the LeT.
The other LeT leaders whom the UN Security Council Sanctions Committee has branded global terrorists are Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, Haji Muhammad Ashraf and Mahmood Muhammad Ahmed.
While insisting that none of the "LeT office holders are members of JuD", Saeed said: "India has failed to provide any evidence of LeT involvement in the Mumbai attacks."
Asked about LeT offices and camps in Pakistan, Saeed said all LeT offices were closed in 2002 after the ban on the organisation.
"Presently, there are no offices or camps (of LeT) in Pakistan," he said.
He said India was pressurising Pakistan through propaganda, adding: "The Pakistani government should investigate the allegations and clear the situation. LeT has already denied all the allegations."
Saeed said that previously India was accusing LeT of the Mumbai attacks but this week its envoy in the UN demanded restrictions on JuD. He demanded that Indian authorities provide evidence of the involvement of either of the two groups in the Mumbai attacks, which left over 170 people dead.
Declaring that the JuD will challenge the sanctions imposed on it in all forums, Saeed said his group will write to the UN explaining that it has no involvement in any terrorist activity.
When asked what he would do if India presented any evidence against JuD, Saeed said in that case his group will abide by the decision of the government of Pakistan.
He said all JuD offices in Pakistani Kashmir and other parts of the country were working as usual and the recent raids in Kashmir were on LeT.
"Pakistan army and security agencies are conducting these raids and they are in a better position to tell you against whom they are taking these actions," he added.
When asked about media reports that one of the Mumbai attackers had visited the JuD office in Muridke, Saeed said he had never met him.
"I have seen a media report that I met him for the first time in Dubai whereas I have never been to Dubai," he added.
Indo-Asian News Service
Acceding to Indian and US requests in the aftermath of the Mumbai terror attacks, the UN Security Council has branded Pakistan-based Jamat-ud-Dawah, the front for banned Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), a terrorist group and four top LeT leaders as global terrorists.
The LeT leaders who were Wednesday declared terrorists by the Security Council are Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, Haji Muhammad Ashraf, and Mohmoud Mohammad Ahmed Bahaziq. Except for the last one, all are Pakistani nationals.
India says Saeed, the LeT head, is the mastermind of the Nov 26 Mumbai terror attacks that killed at least 179 people, including several foreigners. While Lakhvi is the chief of operations of LeT, Ashraf is the chief of finances of the terrorist organisatiation, which was declared a terrorist organisation by the UN in 2002.
India-born Saudi national Bahaziq raised money for the LeT in Saudi Arabia. Frontal organisations of the banned Al Rashid and Al Akhtar trusts, which raised funds for LeT, have also been included in the Security Council's terror list.
India had requested the UN to ban the Jamat-ud-Dawah and Saeed, while the request for rest of the terrorists and organisations came from the US.
With this, the onus is now on Islamabad to take immediate action against those included in the list by the UN Security Council's Al Qaeda and Taliban Sanctions Committee.
Richard Barrett, coordinator for Al Qaeda Taliban Monitoring Team, told IANS that the sanctions come into effect immediately. With this, Pakistan is expected to take action against them immediately, which include freezing of their assets, a ban on their foreign travel and arms embargo.
Since all the members of the Al Qaeda and Taliban Sanctions Committee have veto power, the decision was taken by consensus. All the 15 members of the Security Council are the members of this sub-committee.
In the three previous attempts to include the Jamat-ud-Dawah in the list, China had opposed the request. But not this time, given the concrete supportive documents provided by India and the US about the group's role in the Mumbai terror attacks.
At a Security Council meeting convened Tuesday to debate terrorism, Indian Minister of State for External Affairs E. Ahamed said: "The Jamat-ud-Dawah and other such organisations need to be proscribed internationally and effective sanctions imposed against them."
Soon thereafter, the Pakistani Ambassador to the UN Abdullah Hussain Haroon told the Security Council that his country would take action against the Jamat-ud-Dawah, including freezing its assets if it was designated a terrorist organisation.
"The government of Pakistan has already initiated investigations on its own pertaining to the allegations of involvement of persons and entities in the Mumbai attacks," he said.
"After the designation by the Indian government of the Jamat-ud-Dawah under 1267, the (Pakistani) government upon receiving this instruction shall proscribe the JuD and take under consequential action as required including the freezing of assets," Haroon added.
Indo-Asian News Service
By Kriti Gupta
Whoever voluntarily has carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal, shall be punished with imprisonment for life, or with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine.”
Section 377, Indian Penal Code
The acts “against the order of nature” according to this definition are anal sex and masturbation. While this law applies to everyone; in practice, it generally implies homosexuality. This renders homosexuals vulnerable and is often used as means for blackmail and extortion. Though efforts are underway to change this law, the case is still pending in the Supreme Court.
This poses a problem as India has a thriving underground gay community. Kinsey Study, the most comprehensive research about sexual orientation, states that ten per cent of men and seven per cent of women between the ages of 16-55 are predominantly homosexual. This community has become more and more vocal, in the recent years. A phenomenon clearly exhibited by the recent gay pride parades held all over the country (like Delhi, Mumbai, and so on)
Jonathan Luther, a 20 something active homosexual man living in Delhi believes that India is suffering from a colonial hangover. “The Britishers introduced this law into the Indian Constitution. India itself has a history of accepting homosexuality. We need to get over this colonial hangover. Bharat chhodo 377!”
While discovering his alternate sexuality, Jonathan had a hard time. Continued on Page 4
“Being a Christian, I had major religious guilt. Christianity had been fed to me ever since I was a little boy. I had to go through five years of misery and torture. Then one day I realized – you cannot turn to God for everything. God is a construct that humanity needs to survive. To explain things that cannot be explained. Back then, I used to cry myself to sleep every night. Now, I have come to terms with who I am.” This is evident, as he is the only person who did not request a name change for this article.
Suhail Agarwal* has a different perspective.
As a Hindu, he did not face the religious guilt that Jonathan had to go through. In fact, he has not been subject to negative reactions from his friends and family. Despite that, he still prefers to stay in the closet. He believes that homosexuality is not a badge to be worn on your shoulder. “If straight guys don’t go around proclaiming that they are heterosexual, why should I have to do it?”
His take on Section 377 is that people need to be sensitized about the issue. Gay bashing still carries on in various parts of the country and vigilantes need to be suppressed. The police needs to be made aware of the problem. While attempting to explain 377, he said, “It kept going back and forth between the High court and Supreme Court. But I’m guessing as everything with the Indian law, the case is still pending.” He further added that if it were to become legal, at least it would no longer be a crime thereby reducing the stigma attached to it.
While on the one hand, Facebook type networking sites like www.guys4men.com ,a rage in India. On the other, there is still an alarmingly large number of cases reported where people kill themselves because they are forced to marry people of the opposite sex. In a study conducted recently, it was found that 45 gay couples committed suicide between 2001-2006. NAZ Foundation Co-ordinator Anuradha Mukherjee says that the figures are higher in reality, “It is hard to estimate the actual figure as families prefer saying that the girl committed suicide due to harassment rather than homosexuality.”
“Repealing 377 would make it easier for homosexuals in the lower classes to assert themselves. People in higher classes are insulated to a large degree. Parents bashing and friends ostracizing is a more prominent phenomenon with the lower classes,” remarks Jonathan. Suhail agrees, “There aren’t enough resources available with the poor to find out or even understand what they are going through.”
Rohit Kakkar*, a typical straight guy, comments on the community and his views on the same – “The class differences causes disparity in every field. So, to single out homosexuality is not justified. While I do not understand it, I know it happens. The best thing to do is to accept it and try and integrate it with society. There should be no judgement on you based on who you like.”
Perhaps the biggest challenge the Indian community faces today is to integrate homosexuality into the Indian society and culture. Hetero-normativity as a social construct is a farce that needs to be shattered. When asked about why he hasn’t come out to his parents, Suhail narrates the time his mother (who has a vague idea about his sexual orientation) said to him warningly, “Different people are not accepted in society. So you should think before you go down an unlikely path.”
Revoking Section 377 would be a step towards that.
* Names have been changed on request.
Every momentous event nowadays is tracked by live blogs, posts and messages.
There are minute-to-minute updates as events unfold, from the earthquake in China, to the cyclone in Burma. The terror attack in Mumbai was no different, as eyewitnesses and citizen journalists communicated with millions around the world.
But is all of that good, does it help? Is it reliable or can it also be abused?
For media commentators, two events have really led to the coming of age of live blogs. Firstly, the recent election in the US, which saw a massive number of news websites and individual bloggers cover the events minute by minute all over the globe. They were not only from the US, but also from the UK and around the Arab world.
The terror attacks in Mumbai has cemented the position of micro-blogging and live blogging as an invaluable medium to share information.
The first tweets about the attacks appeared early, and subsequently gave a tremendous amount of information, about a highly complex and rapidly changing series of events. But there are questions about verification and clarity.
According to the British Broadcasting Corporation's tech blogger Rory Cellan Jones, a story that kept popping up was of the Indian government trying to ban twitter, because it was aiding the attackers.
However, there was no confirmation of the ban from any government source.
Jones also says that the story appeared on the BBC's own Mumbai live event page. The event page had pulled together all kinds of sources, official and unofficial, to give readers a picture of the developing story. The pages are designed to allow readers to keep up with all the latest information circulating about the story in real time. So, to some extent it's up to the reader to decide how much credence to give them.
Thus, it may be prudent to treat everything one hears on a social network with a degree of skepticism. It throws open the discussion on the relevance of the mainstream media. There, some say that, because of the volume of information on those networks and the number of users, the mainstream media is increasingly irrelevant.
Sites claim to have full stories out before the television networks got out of bed. But the fact is that, while thousands post on twitter, and it may have alerted many people to the attacks, as time went on, the posts made the story more confusing.
Finally during the Mumbai attacks, many people had to switch back to the TV and newspapers to get a full sense of the story.
So, what twitter has done is to provide instant information to millions. No one doubts the fact that it's one of the best things to have happened to the internet. But as Cellan Jones says, that what it doesn't do is, tell us what is true, and what isn't. That makes the work of mainstream media outlets and professional reporters all the more relevant.