World / Social Life
Tipsters urged to text police
03.07.2008 05:32
usatoday.com
Police in the 1970s urged citizens to "drop a dime" in a pay phone to report crimes anonymously. Now in an increasing number ...
USA
Social Life
Tipsters urged to text police
03.07.2008 05:32
usatoday.com
Police in the 1970s urged citizens to "drop a dime" in a pay phone to report crimes anonymously. Now in an increasing number ...
USA
Social Life
Oft-Criticized US Embassy Prepares to Open on July 4
03.07.2008 05:28
dw-world.de
China's may have the better view, and Finland's the better architecture, but America's is the biggest. DW-WORLD.DE sent Jefferson Chase to check out the much-maligned new US embassy in Berlin.
Germany
Social Life
Oft-Criticized US Embassy Prepares to Open on July 4
03.07.2008 05:28
dw-world.de
China's may have the better view, and Finland's the better architecture, but America's is the biggest. DW-WORLD.DE sent Jefferson Chase to check out the much-maligned new US embassy in Berlin.
Germany
Social Life
Germany's Election Year Budget Draft Light on Spending Cuts
03.07.2008 05:28
dw-world.de
After weeks of internal debate, the German government agreed on a draft 2009 budget on Wednesday, July 12. The government expects to spend 288.4 billion euros ($456 billion) next year, a 5 billion euro increase.
Germany
Social Life
Germany's Election Year Budget Draft Light on Spending Cuts
03.07.2008 05:28
dw-world.de
After weeks of internal debate, the German government agreed on a draft 2009 budget on Wednesday, July 12. The government expects to spend 288.4 billion euros ($456 billion) next year, a 5 billion euro increase.
Germany
Social Life
BJP calls for nationwide strike today over Amarnath Shrine land row
03.07.2008 05:28
b4uindia.com
The BJP has called for a nationwide shutdown today to protest against the revocation of order of transferring land to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board. Calling the revocation of land to Amarnath Shrine Board as a 'non-secular' move, BJP president Rajnath Singh had urged the State Government to re-allot the land to Shrine Board. After hue and cry and nearly two weeks of the row over the 40-acre land allotted to the Amarnath shrine, the Jammu and Kashmir Government had two days ago revoked the allotted land and had passed on the land to the State Tourism Department. Blaming both the Congress and the UPA Government for the revocation move, he said that the BJP will also take out protest rallies in all the major centers of the country from July 4-11. (ANI)
India
Social Life
Crucial UNPA meet today over Indo-US nuclear deal
03.07.2008 05:28
b4uindia.com
Leaders of the United National Progressive Alliance (UNPA) will meet here today to decide the future of the third front, and also which way the Samajwadi Party (SP) would go in the event of voting in the Parliament over the Indo-US nuclear deal. National Security Adviser MK Narayanan had met SP leader Amar Singh yesterday to brief him on the technicalities of the Indo-US nuclear deal. Singh said that a final decision (about the future of the third front) would be taken only after today’s UNPA meet. He said that BJP leader Jaswant Singh, who called on him yesterday, suggested that the Left parties, SP and BSP should along with BJP form a block and vote against the Government on the deal. He quoted the BJP leader as saying that the line of Left parties and the BJP was one and the same, but, he added, the SP's line was different as it felt that communalism was a bigger danger. The standoff over the nuclear deal between the Congress-led UPA government and the Left parties continues amid speculations that the UPA Government might go in for voting over the nuclear deal in the parliament. The developments over the past few days have given enough hints that the UPA is on the lookout for a replacement of its Left allies, who have been threatening to withdraw support if it moves ahead with the deal. The Communists are opposing the deal, saying it "compromises India's sovereignty and security" and have threatened to withdraw vital support from the ruling coalition if the government moved ahead with it. (ANI)
India
Social Life
BJP calls for nationwide strike today over Amarnath Shrine land row
03.07.2008 05:28
b4uindia.com
The BJP has called for a nationwide shutdown today to protest against the revocation of order of transferring land to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board. Calling the revocation of land to Amarnath Shrine Board as a 'non-secular' move, BJP president Rajnath Singh had urged the State Government to re-allot the land to Shrine Board. After hue and cry and nearly two weeks of the row over the 40-acre land allotted to the Amarnath shrine, the Jammu and Kashmir Government had two days ago revoked the allotted land and had passed on the land to the State Tourism Department. Blaming both the Congress and the UPA Government for the revocation move, he said that the BJP will also take out protest rallies in all the major centers of the country from July 4-11. (ANI)
India
Social Life
Arjun Singh to inaugurate HUNUR project today
03.07.2008 05:28
b4uindia.com
Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh will today inaugurate a new project ‘HUNUR’ for providing vocational training to Muslim girls in Bihar. HUNUR is a collaborative project of the Union Human Resource Development Ministry and the Government of Bihar. Under it, the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) will provide free skill training to about 12,000 girls studying in different schools in Bihar. The seven courses, which have prepared for the training, include gram sakhi, jute production, cutting and tailoring, early childhood care and education, basic technology and beauty culture. This scheme will be implemented through Maktabs, Madarsas and Darul-uloom, Under this scheme, NIOS has made provisions for providing concessions related to infrastructure, fee as well as number of students at study centres. The most significant aspect of this scheme is the provision of relaxation of norms for accreditation for traditional educationally backward institutions especially Madarsas and Maktabs. It is envisaged that the skill training of the girls will help them in their future areas of work. NIOS will provide them free course material under this programme. The scheme for providing free education to Scheduled Castes (SC)/Scheduled Tribes (ST) learners through NIOS will also be inaugurated. NIOS as per government policy has been giving fee concession to SC/ST learners. Now, the Government of Bihar has taken the decision to give total freeship to SC/ST learners of Bihar, both girls and boys. The funds of Government of India (Under SSA through NGEPEL), Government of Bihar, Bihar Education Project will be utilized for this purpose. This initiative will vastly improve their access to school level education being provided by NIOS and will open the path for all other governments also to take up this initiative with NIOS. The Minister will also inaugurate the extended facility for on line admissions are being conducted through the Ni-on project of NIOS from this academic session. Students from far-flung areas of the country will be able to have greater education access through this scheme. It is hoped that these programmes will help the traditional backward communities to take benefit of the programmes of NIOS. The ceremony will be presided over by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. Several dignitaries including M.A.A. Fatmi, Minister of State (SEL), Hari Narayan Singh, Education Minister Government of Bihar as well as representatives from grass root level organizations such as Imarat-e-Sharia and Rahmani Foundation are expected to participate. (ANI)
India
Social Life
Crucial UNPA meet today over Indo-US nuclear deal
03.07.2008 05:28
b4uindia.com
Leaders of the United National Progressive Alliance (UNPA) will meet here today to decide the future of the third front, and also which way the Samajwadi Party (SP) would go in the event of voting in the Parliament over the Indo-US nuclear deal. National Security Adviser MK Narayanan had met SP leader Amar Singh yesterday to brief him on the technicalities of the Indo-US nuclear deal. Singh said that a final decision (about the future of the third front) would be taken only after today’s UNPA meet. He said that BJP leader Jaswant Singh, who called on him yesterday, suggested that the Left parties, SP and BSP should along with BJP form a block and vote against the Government on the deal. He quoted the BJP leader as saying that the line of Left parties and the BJP was one and the same, but, he added, the SP's line was different as it felt that communalism was a bigger danger. The standoff over the nuclear deal between the Congress-led UPA government and the Left parties continues amid speculations that the UPA Government might go in for voting over the nuclear deal in the parliament. The developments over the past few days have given enough hints that the UPA is on the lookout for a replacement of its Left allies, who have been threatening to withdraw support if it moves ahead with the deal. The Communists are opposing the deal, saying it "compromises India's sovereignty and security" and have threatened to withdraw vital support from the ruling coalition if the government moved ahead with it. (ANI)
India
Social Life
INTACH to sign MoU with Delhi Government to develop a World Heritage City
03.07.2008 05:28
b4uindia.com
Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH), a nationwide non-profit organization founded to protect the common national heritage, will sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Delhi Government’s tourism department on Thursday. “The MoU is a very significant step in the beginning of a partnership with the Delhi Government in the field of heritage. The first step is that we will be working towards the long term plan for getting Delhi declared as the World Heritage City,” said S.K.Misra, Chairman of the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage. He elaborated that the process involves a lot of exercise in various areas like Research. And, when it finally reaches the UNESCO to decide, it is to be shown what is being done. “On the ground, we have this project for getting the areas from Humanyun’s Tomb to Red Fort and area from Nizamuddin to Safdarjung and Qutub Minar all around to develop it as Heritage Tourism Circuit where it is properly designed in an integrated manner i.e the signages, furniture, billboard, small restaurants and also heritage buses. Presently, Delhi is not seen as a heritage city but as a taking off point for other cities,” Misra said. INTACH has been privileged to be offered to sign a MoU with Prince Charles by mid-July in London to work on certain projects to be carried out in India. “Yes, Prince Charles has invited me to London. He wants to collaborate with INTACH on certain projects in India, where he will try to arrange for funds from the corporate and others. They have seen what INTACH has done and capable of. And, they feel that it will be beneficial for both the sides to join hands. So I’m going to sign MoU with Charles when I will be there during July 14 to 17. I will be having meeting with him and visiting various institutes run by him,” Misra informed. According to Professor A. G. Krishna Menon, Convenor of the INTACH Delhi chapter, making Delhi city a Heritage city is a established protocol of UNESCO. “We have to make an application and show decisions what is the reason we want to make a World Heritage City. But significance to make a city a world heritage has to be defined and we will be defining that,” Prof. Menon said. ”Instead of saying there are certain monuments here or there in the city, we have to show how it is important for us. That’s why this development of heritage route is an important element. By connecting certain monuments by designing a road from Red Fort to Humanyun’s Tomb and Safdarjung to Qutab Minar, we want to make people to recognize that they are going around a heritage area,” he said. “We have approached the Delhi Government with the idea what we would like to do. The first thing we did was to list them. We persuaded the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) to make it a part of the Master Plan. Now we have approached the Delhi Govt. saying it should be made real and it is possible if the environment is designed accordingly,” Prof. Menon said. He elaborated that basically, it is urban design, landscape design, lighting, furniture design, landscape design, lighting and furniture design. “All this is existing in the city but it if you orient it in a particular way, it will be recognized even by the citizens. It is regretful most of the people in Delhi don’t recognize that they are living in a heritage city.” He also talked about the big misconception that conservation of heritage is anti-development. “We believe that these are two sides of the same coin, not against each other. Heritage can be development focused and vice versa. So with these projects we are trying to show by developing these projects, we are going to make a more beautiful city, we make it a more usable city and in this process we will make monuments more accessible in the city,” said Prof. Krishna Menon. The INTACH, which was founded by former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1984, is contributing to that endeavour by working to protect the common national heritage. INTACH has been organized into 140 Chapters nation-wide with members who have over the years responded to threats to their local heritage in dramatic, imaginative and committed ways. It addresses issues of local importance and alert their members to local conservation needs. (ANI)
India
Social Life
Arjun Singh to inaugurate HUNUR project today
03.07.2008 05:28
b4uindia.com
Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh will today inaugurate a new project ‘HUNUR’ for providing vocational training to Muslim girls in Bihar. HUNUR is a collaborative project of the Union Human Resource Development Ministry and the Government of Bihar. Under it, the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) will provide free skill training to about 12,000 girls studying in different schools in Bihar. The seven courses, which have prepared for the training, include gram sakhi, jute production, cutting and tailoring, early childhood care and education, basic technology and beauty culture. This scheme will be implemented through Maktabs, Madarsas and Darul-uloom, Under this scheme, NIOS has made provisions for providing concessions related to infrastructure, fee as well as number of students at study centres. The most significant aspect of this scheme is the provision of relaxation of norms for accreditation for traditional educationally backward institutions especially Madarsas and Maktabs. It is envisaged that the skill training of the girls will help them in their future areas of work. NIOS will provide them free course material under this programme. The scheme for providing free education to Scheduled Castes (SC)/Scheduled Tribes (ST) learners through NIOS will also be inaugurated. NIOS as per government policy has been giving fee concession to SC/ST learners. Now, the Government of Bihar has taken the decision to give total freeship to SC/ST learners of Bihar, both girls and boys. The funds of Government of India (Under SSA through NGEPEL), Government of Bihar, Bihar Education Project will be utilized for this purpose. This initiative will vastly improve their access to school level education being provided by NIOS and will open the path for all other governments also to take up this initiative with NIOS. The Minister will also inaugurate the extended facility for on line admissions are being conducted through the Ni-on project of NIOS from this academic session. Students from far-flung areas of the country will be able to have greater education access through this scheme. It is hoped that these programmes will help the traditional backward communities to take benefit of the programmes of NIOS. The ceremony will be presided over by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. Several dignitaries including M.A.A. Fatmi, Minister of State (SEL), Hari Narayan Singh, Education Minister Government of Bihar as well as representatives from grass root level organizations such as Imarat-e-Sharia and Rahmani Foundation are expected to participate. (ANI)
India
Social Life
INTACH to sign MoU with Delhi Government to develop a World Heritage City
03.07.2008 05:27
b4uindia.com
Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH), a nationwide non-profit organization founded to protect the common national heritage, will sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Delhi Government’s tourism department on Thursday. “The MoU is a very significant step in the beginning of a partnership with the Delhi Government in the field of heritage. The first step is that we will be working towards the long term plan for getting Delhi declared as the World Heritage City,” said S.K.Misra, Chairman of the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage. He elaborated that the process involves a lot of exercise in various areas like Research. And, when it finally reaches the UNESCO to decide, it is to be shown what is being done. “On the ground, we have this project for getting the areas from Humanyun’s Tomb to Red Fort and area from Nizamuddin to Safdarjung and Qutub Minar all around to develop it as Heritage Tourism Circuit where it is properly designed in an integrated manner i.e the signages, furniture, billboard, small restaurants and also heritage buses. Presently, Delhi is not seen as a heritage city but as a taking off point for other cities,” Misra said. INTACH has been privileged to be offered to sign a MoU with Prince Charles by mid-July in London to work on certain projects to be carried out in India. “Yes, Prince Charles has invited me to London. He wants to collaborate with INTACH on certain projects in India, where he will try to arrange for funds from the corporate and others. They have seen what INTACH has done and capable of. And, they feel that it will be beneficial for both the sides to join hands. So I’m going to sign MoU with Charles when I will be there during July 14 to 17. I will be having meeting with him and visiting various institutes run by him,” Misra informed. According to Professor A. G. Krishna Menon, Convenor of the INTACH Delhi chapter, making Delhi city a Heritage city is a established protocol of UNESCO. “We have to make an application and show decisions what is the reason we want to make a World Heritage City. But significance to make a city a world heritage has to be defined and we will be defining that,” Prof. Menon said. ”Instead of saying there are certain monuments here or there in the city, we have to show how it is important for us. That’s why this development of heritage route is an important element. By connecting certain monuments by designing a road from Red Fort to Humanyun’s Tomb and Safdarjung to Qutab Minar, we want to make people to recognize that they are going around a heritage area,” he said. “We have approached the Delhi Government with the idea what we would like to do. The first thing we did was to list them. We persuaded the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) to make it a part of the Master Plan. Now we have approached the Delhi Govt. saying it should be made real and it is possible if the environment is designed accordingly,” Prof. Menon said. He elaborated that basically, it is urban design, landscape design, lighting, furniture design, landscape design, lighting and furniture design. “All this is existing in the city but it if you orient it in a particular way, it will be recognized even by the citizens. It is regretful most of the people in Delhi don’t recognize that they are living in a heritage city.” He also talked about the big misconception that conservation of heritage is anti-development. “We believe that these are two sides of the same coin, not against each other. Heritage can be development focused and vice versa. So with these projects we are trying to show by developing these projects, we are going to make a more beautiful city, we make it a more usable city and in this process we will make monuments more accessible in the city,” said Prof. Krishna Menon. The INTACH, which was founded by former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1984, is contributing to that endeavour by working to protect the common national heritage. INTACH has been organized into 140 Chapters nation-wide with members who have over the years responded to threats to their local heritage in dramatic, imaginative and committed ways. It addresses issues of local importance and alert their members to local conservation needs. (ANI)
India
Social Life
Narayanan briefs Amar Singh on nuclear deal
03.07.2008 05:27
b4uindia.com
National Security Adviser M. K. Narayanan met Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh here today and briefed him on the technicalities of the Indo-US nuclear deal. Addressing the reporters, Singh said that a final decision would be taken only after the United National Progressive Alliance (UNPA) meet on July 3. He added, "More than the deal, we are worried about intentions of communal forces of turning UP into a laboratory of Hindu extremism." "Keeping in the mind the sensitivities in view of the fact that Agra, Mathura, Kashi are in UP and the statement by a fundamentalist leader of the BJP that UP will become the next Gujarat, we do not want innocent Muslims to be killed like in Gujarat post Godhra," he added. He said BJP leader Jaswant Singh came and met him today and suggested that the Left parties, SP and BSP should along with BJP form a block and vote against the Government on the deal. He also quoted the BJP leader as saying that the line of Left parties and the BJP was one and the same, but he added that the SP's line was different as it felt that communalism was a bigger danger. (ANI)
India
Social Life
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