The Hindu – Narayanasamy blames Tamil Nadu government for fishermen’s plight

Puducherry, 1 January 2013. Union Minister of State V. Narayanasamy today blamed the Tamil Nadu government for its “inaction” to facilitate a dialogue between Indian fishermen and their counterparts in Sri Lanka.

Though the External Affairs Ministry Secretary had written twice to the Tamil Nadu government recently for a dialogue to ensure protection of fishermen, the State government had not shown any response to the Centre’s initiative, Minister of State in the PMO Narayanasamy said.

Only through an agreement between the leaders of Tamil Nadu fishermen outfits and their counterparts in the Island Republic could the present hardships being faced by fishermen of Puducherry and Tamil Nadu be brought to an end, he told reporters in Puducherry.

Emphasising the need to demarcate the zones within which the fishermen of the State and Sri Lanka could carry on their avocation, the Secretary to the External Affairs Ministry had written twice to the Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary for the dialogue. “No response has, however, been shown by the Tamil Nadu government so far to these communications,” he said.

Replying to a question on the UPA’s Prime Ministerial candidate, Mr. Narayanasamy said as far as Congress was concerned, party leader Sonia Gandhi was the ultimate authority to decide on the matter, though there were several persons eligible to become the Prime Minister.

“Let us not indulge in any discussion now,” he said.

Mr. Narayanasamy claimed that the UPA had never shown political considerations between Congress ruled and non-Congress ruled States in allocation of funds for the implementation of the centrally sponsored schemes.

He said Uttar Pradesh was earmarked Rs. 3,500 crore for implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee programme. Tamil Nadu came next in the allocation of funds as it had been earmarked Rs. 3000 crore for the scheme.

“The Centre holds the scales even and funds are earmarked as per provisions in the Constitution, decisions taken at the National Development Council and in keeping with the approval of the Planning Commission,” he said.

Mr. Narayanasamy said a team of officials of the Comptroller and Auditor General would visit Puducherry soon to ascertain the reasons for “diversion” of funds from one department to another.

“Such diversion of funds cannot be done without prior approval of the Planning Commission but this is taking place in Puducherry as a routine affair”, he alleged. (PTI)

http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/tamil-nadu/narayanasamy-blames-tn-govt-for-fishermens-plight/article4261812.ece

Visit to the UK : Bristol & Gloucester 27/09 till 02/10 2012

01 October 2013
Gloucester Cathedral Close

Cathedral Close

Cathedral Close

Cathedral Close

Cathedral Close

Cathedral Close

To see more UK general pictures :

http://www.flickr.com/photos/12445197@N05/sets/72157627296796095/

More Bristol & Gloucester pictures to follow
Harjinder Singh
Man in Blue

The Tribune – Icy winds lash North, but respite could be round the corner

Tribune News Service & PTI

New Delhi, January 1. North India continues to reel under an intense cold wave, but the good news is that some respite may be round the corner.

While the cold wave will continue to rage on for the next 48 hours at least, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) today assured that minimum temperatures would not dip any further. Relief could be expected around January 3 when a fresh Western Disturbance (WD) will hit the region.

Dense fog played spoilsport for fliers in New Delhi on New Year day as it disrupted operations at Indira Gandhi International airport, affecting over 100 flights. About 60 flights were delayed, 38 cancelled – either due to poor weather at destination or due to operational reasons, while four international flights had to be diverted to Jaipur and Mumbai after visibility dropped to less 50 metres, an airport official said.

According to Met department, the airport may witness dense fog tomorrow morning too. All the four diverted aircraft were of Air India and coming from Muscat, Bahrain, Dubai and Frankfurt.

Fog or dense fog conditions will occur over Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, north Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, north Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal and Assam during the next three days.

The New Year saw the cold wave intensifying further in several parts of the country. Delhi and plains of Punjab and Haryana shivered as the mercury plunged. In the plains, the lowest minimum temperature of 0.7°C was recorded at Narnaul in Haryana and Churu in Rajasthan. But the good news is that the Western Disturbance — expected on January 3 — will increase the minimum temperature and provide noticeable relief to the region where the cold wave toll is rising by the day.

While the WD, as the name suggests, is a weather phenomenon associated with clouds and rains, in winters, these also affect night temperatures. Bringing winter rain and snow to the northwestern parts, WDs are also usually associated with cloudy skies and higher night temperatures. The clouds provide a cover to the skies and do not allow heat to escape, thus improving the minimum temperatures.

As these brings rainfall, WDs are also very important from the rabi point of view.

Meanwhile, fog and dense fog were observed over some parts of Haryana, Delhi and west Uttar Pradesh. Cities where visibility has been reported less than 50m are Ambala, Delhi, Bhiwani, Agra, Shahjahanpur, Hardoi, Barabanki and Gorakhpur.

Cold wave conditions prevailed over isolated pockets of west Uttar Pradesh while minimum temperatures remained 2 – 3°C below normal in NW.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2013/20130102/main4.htm

BBC News – Pakistan: Seven charity workers shot dead

Tuesday, 1 January 2013. Seven charity workers, six of them women, have been shot dead in north-west Pakistan, police say.

The women, some of them teachers, were attacked near a children’s community centre. A male colleague died with them. All were Pakistani citizens.

Their vehicle came under gunfire near the centre run by Pakistani charity Ujala, or Light.

Militants targeting a vaccination programme are suspected. No group has said it carried out the attack.

The incident happened in the Swabi district close to a road connecting Peshawar to the eastern city of Lahore.

The centre was part school and part clinic, specialising in maternal health.

“Four men came on two motorbikes. They attacked their van. They opened fire to the right and left of the van and fled on their motorbikes,” Swabi district police chief Abdul Rashid Khan said, according to AFP.

He added that the driver of the vehicle had also been injured in the attack, which took place near a motorway junction.

The BBC’s Aleem Maqbool, in Islamabad, says that, according to police, this is the first such attack on NGO workers in the area.

Our correspondent says that those running the centre said they suspect its vaccination programme was the reason it was attacked.

Of the seven people who were killed, two were health workers and five were teachers.

Last month, in a series of attacks, gunmen killed nine health workers taking part in a national polio vaccination drive.

While the Pakistani Taliban have denied carrying out the killings, they have long denounced the vaccination drive as a Western plot either to gather intelligence or to sterilise Muslim children.

The killings prompted the UN children’s agency and the World Health Organisation to suspend work on polio campaigns in the country.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-20880948

Not quite the Guru’s Hukam, but quite a bit of good sensible advice for 2013

From:
scsh2004@yahoo.co.uk
Tuesday, 1 Jan 2013

How to live in 2013

HEALTH

Drink plenty of water.

Live with the 3 E’s:
Energy, Enthusiasm & Empathy.

Make time to pray.

Play more games!

Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day.

Sleep for 7 hours.

Take a 10-30 minutes walk daily.

PERSONALITY

Don’t overdo it. Know your limits.

Don’t take yourself so seriously. No one else does.

Don’t waste your precious energy on gossip.

Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.

Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. Don’t hate others.

Make peace with your past so it won’t spoil the present.

No one is in charge of your happiness except you.

Smile and laugh more.

You don’t have to win every argument.

SOCIETY

Call your family often.

Each day give something good to others.

Forgive everyone for everything.

Spend time with people over the age of 70 & under the age of 6.

Try to make at least three people smile each day.

What other people think of you is none of your business.

LIFE

Do the right thing!

GOD heals everything.

However good or bad a situation is, it will change.

No matter how you feel, Get up, Dress up and Show up. The best is yet to come.

When awake in the morning thank GOD for it.

Be happy.

Happy New Year

Amrik singh and family
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone
Reply to :
scsh2004@yahoo.co.uk

Maninblue1947 weblog 2008 – 2012

I started this weblog or blog in June 2008 and I think it has slowly developed into something that has a substantial following, which recently is also becoming more diverse, with more people who are not of Panjabi Sikh background regularly visiting it.

The statistics

The average number of visitors per day from 2008 until the just ended year 2012 :

2008 – 35 per day;  2009 – 157 per day; 2010 – 220 per day; 2011 – 299 per day; 2012 – 355 per day

Thanks to all who think my ‘news clippings’, pictorials and columns are interesting.

In 2012, due to too many preoccupations, I have badly neglected the writing of my Man in Blue columns, but I hope that in 2013, when I will return to the UK, I will find time and inspiration to write my columns more regularly.

I hope for all that humanity will stop the scandalous waste of the resources that God has given us.

For the Sikhs, for all spiritual people in the world, I hope that we move away from ‘Me – Me – Me – Me’ to ‘Us – Us – Us – Us’.

Mrs Thatcher was wrong, a person outside community is only a half person. Modern man is part of many communities, many circles.

In these communities we should all make contributions for the Welfare of All.

Real happiness comes from sharing, real happiness is not in ‘More – More – More’, real happiness is not in ‘Me – Me – Me’.

The very best to you all, have a very good, active, positive 2013.

Vahiguru ji ka Khalsa
The Khalsa belongs to God

Vahiguru ji ki Fateh
The Victory belongs to God

Harjinder Singh – Man in Blue

The Tribune – Khalistani module busted, 5 arrested

Tribune News service

Bathinda, December 31. Within a few hours of the DGP Sumedh Saini confirming inputs regarding Khalistan activists trying to regroup in the state, the police in Mansa today smashed a module of five such activists who had allegedly pasted threatening and seditious posters in five towns of the district.

The police swung into action on the basis of intelligence inputs and nabbed the kingpin of the module, Sukhcharan Singh, a registered medical practitioner, and four others. These posters have created panic in the area.

Sukhcharan was practicing in Cheema Mandi village of Sangrur. They are being interrogated by a special team that has been set up by Senior Superintendent of Police Narendera Bhargava.

They have been booked under the Prevention of Unlawful Activities Act and Section 153 and 295(a) of the IPC in Bhikhi and Budladha police stations.

Bhargava said the Khalistani posters were found pasted in the wee hours in Budladha, Bhikhi, Gurnekalan and two other places in the morning. Reacting to the situation, he immediately set up a special team under the SP (Detective) that raided several places and nabbed the members of the module that was established about a month ago.

Three members of the module belong to Mansa and one each from Haryana and Sangrur. They have been identified as Sukhdeep Singh, Johny, Manjeet Singh and Harpreet Singh. Bhargava said that the module was operating from a religious place in Cheema Mandi village where they were meeting regularly.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2013/20130101/punjab.htm#18

The Tribune – ‘Cheated’ by husband, woman sets herself on fire

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, December 31. A 24- year- old woman sets herself on fire after her husband allegedly refused to live with her as she belongs to a lower cast.

The woman who sustained 20 per cent burn injuries is undergoing treatment at the local Civil Hospital.

The police has registered a case against the man, identified as Lovely Kumar of New Company Bagh Colony on the Tibba road, and started investigations.

Victim’s mother said her daughter fell in love with the man and married him after eloping with him. Later, with the consent of both the families, the couple solemnised their marriage in the court.

It was found that Lovely agreed for a court marriage to avoid legal proceeding against him. Victim’s mother said when her daughter told her husband to arrange a formal wedding, he declined and refused to take her from her paternal house.

Lovely said he could not take her home since she belonged to a lower class. Feeling cheated, the woman allegedly set herself on fire at her house last evening after pouring kerosene on her body. Her condition is stated to be out of danger.

She was rushed to the local Civil Hospital. The police has registered a case under Section 417 of the IPC and article 3 of the SC, ST Act against Lovely.

Police Commissioner Ishwar Singh said: “Atrocities on women of any type will not be tolerated and strict action will be taken against those involved in committing such crimes”.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2013/20130101/punjab.htm#19

The Asian Age – In new year, hope for a new world

New York, 1 Jan 2013. The first truly Earth-like alien planet is likely to be spotted next year, scientists claim, saying the epic discovery would cause humanity to reassess its place in the universe.

Astronomers may have found a number of exoplanets over the last few years that share one or two key traits with our planet — such as size or inferred surface temperature — they have yet to bag a bona fide “alien Earth”. However, scientists say that should change in 2013, Space.com reported. “I’m very positive that the first Earth twin will be discovered next year,” said Abel Mendez, who runs the Planetary Habitability Laboratory at the University of Puerto Rico at Arecibo.

Astronomers discovered the first exoplanet orbiting a Sun-like star in 1995. Since then, they have spotted more than 800 worlds beyond our own solar system, and many more candidates await confirmation by follow-up observations.

Nasa’s prolific Kepler Space Telescope, for instance, has flagged more than 2,300 potential planets since its March 2009 launch. Only 100 or so have been confirmed to date, but mission scientists estimate that at least 80 per cent will end up being the real deal.

“The first planet with a measured size, orbit and incident stellar flux that is suitable for life is likely to be announced in 2013,” said Geoff Marcy, a veteran planet hunter at the University of California, Berkeley, and a member of the Kepler team. Mendez and Marcy both think this watershed find will be made by the Kepler Space Telescope. (PTI)

http://www.asianage.com/india/new-year-hope-new-world-281

Visit to the UK : Bristol & Gloucester 27/09 till 02/10 2012

1 October 2012
Javinder Singh & Harjinder Singh
Visit to Gloucester

Bristol Parkway Station
The man on the left helped me retrieve my luggage which due to my stupidity travelled to Newport on 27 September !
Picture by Javinder Singh

DMU 158 to Great Malvern

Gloucester Station Hotel

Not mock Tudor, this is the real thing !

Entrance to the Cathedral Close

To see more UK Trains, Underground and Buses pictures :

http://www.flickr.com/photos/12445197@N05/sets/72157611244941713/

To see more UK general pictures :

http://www.flickr.com/photos/12445197@N05/sets/72157627296796095/

More Bristol & Gloucester pictures to follow
Harjinder Singh
Man in Blue