Govt. approves development programme for minority concentration districts

By Khabrein.info Correspondent,

March 29: The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs today gave its approval for introducing a new Centrally Sponsored Scheme namely ‘Multi-sectoral Development Programme’ for minority concentration districts, with 100% central assistance, during the XIth Five Year Plan with an estimated expenditure of Rs.3780.00 crore.

The programme aims at improving the socio-economic parameters and basic amenities in these districts for improving the quality of life of the people and reducing imbalances in line with priority attached to inclusive growth. Absolutely critical infrastructure linkages like connecting roads, basic health infrastructure, ICDS centres, skill development and marketing facilities required for improving living conditions and economic opportunities and catalyzing the growth process would also be eligible for inclusion in the plan.

The focus on this programme will be on rural and semi-rural areas of the identified 90 minority concentration districts. Financial assistance would made available to these districts to address the ‘development deficits’ that were either not met fully by existing schemes / programmes or catered to by any scheme / programme of the State or Central Government. The programme will be implemented by the Panchayati raj institutions / line departments / agencies / Scheduled Area councils in accordance with the implementation mechanism in practice in the State/UT.
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IIM-A hikes fee 150 %, making it impossible for poor to enroll

By Khabrein.info Correspondent,
New Delhi, March 29: Indian Institute of Management – Ahmadabad (IIM-A) has decided to hike the fee for its post graduate courses making it impossible for poor students to enroll in one of the most prestigious institutes in the country. The 150 percent hike in the fee is not only atrocious but it also effectively closes the door for poor students to dream of getting admission in it
The institute has increased the fee for two-year post-graduate programme in business management from existing Rs.450,000 to Rs.1.15 million from the next academic session beginning this year.
The decision to hike the fee was taken at an IIM-A board meeting here in New Delhi. The government opposed the move saying this would result in the other IIMs also increasing the fees.
IIM-A has increased the fee for the first year from Rs 2.20 lakh to Rs 5.50 lakh and the second year fee has been hiked to Rs 6 lakh instead of Rs 2.40 lakh that students pay now.

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Bedevilled World by Prof. Azharul Islam released

By Khabrein.info Correspondent,
New Delhi,March 29: Global Media Publications, a leading New Delhi-based publishing house Saturday released an important book on America’s war on terror titled, Bedevilled World. The book discusses as to how America has tried to defame Islam in the garb of terrorism and has used it as a pretext to target Muslim nations in Asia and Africa.
The author Prof. Azharul Islam, a former Vice Chancellor of the International Islamic University, Rajshahi, Bangladesh says that Islam has been accused for every evil, every incident of terrorism, every action of some splinter groups in remote corners of the world. Islam has been portrayed as a savage religion, bent upon destroying world.
He says that this unjust portrayal of Islam (a Divine Religion) is in sharp contrast to Christian groups responsible for atrocities or terrorist attacks throughout the century up to the present time. For these Christianity is hardly named or blamed in world media. Basque separatists, IRA, Ku Klux Klan, other terrorists groups or individuals including Oklahoma city bomber 27-year old Timothy James McVeigh (168 were killed on 19 April, 1995) in countries like Britain, Germany, Lebanaon, North or South America or elsewhere in the world are never called Christian terrorists and Christianity is never blamed for their actions. President Bush’s so-called multi-billion dollar ‘war on terror’ in the last few years has failed to contain terrorism.
The author suggests that the so-called ‘war on terror’ should have been fought alongside the ‘war on global injustice’. Something about redressing global injustice, Muslim plight, bigotry, attack on Islam should be addressed genuinely. One should clearly understand that ‘fault’ does not entirely rest on a group or a smaller country but on the most powerful nation and the colonial powers for their imperialistic behaviour. A manifesto that seeks to enforce ‘Western hegemony and cultural imperialism’ through an archaic policy of ‘divide and rule’ is probably hard to win friends, though it is sure to create more enemies.
The author says that the world has a good example in Bangladesh where the government has fought openly against terrorist activities of some fringe Muslim organizations. He says that the Bangladeshi government was able to destroy terrorist infrastructure in the country due to some wonderful actions taken by it and by taking the general population in confidence against the terrorist elements.
Name of the Book: Bedevilled WorldBy Prof. Azharul Islam, ISBN: 8188869260Date of Publication: March 2008326 pages, tables, figuresPrice: Rs 845 (India), US$ 45 (Elsewhere)Published by : Global Media Publications

Order the Book: http://www.gmpublications.com/product_info.php?products_id=25640
Global Media Publications J-51-A, 1st Floor, AFE,Jamia Nagar, Okhla, New Delhi-110025 IndiaTel: 91-11-55666830, 9818327757 E-mail: info@gmpublications.com

Muslim ulama oppose new gender sensitive nikahnama

By Rakesh Mohan Chaturvedi
Lucknow, March : Clerics are refusing to accept the new nikahnama, a marriage document prepared by a Muslim women's organisation, which it claims is free from any gender bias.
The All India Muslim Women Personal Law Board (AIMWPLB) has prepared the new nikahnama, inviting sharp reaction from clerics.
Sunni cleric Khalid Rashid Firangi Mahali dismissed it as a "publicity stunt".
"Two years ago the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) came out with a nikahnama and all sections approved it. Even the women representatives agreed. So what was the need for another code?" Rashid said.
But AIMWPLB president Shaista Ambar, who prepared the new marriage document, is undeterred.

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Gujarat riots: SC says religious fanaticism worse than terrorism

By Khabrein.info Correspondent,
New Delhi, March 26: Indian Supreme Court (SC) in a landmark observation regarding Gujarat riots said today that religious fanaticism is worse than terrorism. The Supreme Court is the only institution that has consistently stood up to support the Gujarat riot victims. The riot, one of the worst in India’s post-independent history is a blot on India’s face. More than two thousand people mostly Muslims were slaughtered in riots that had apparent backing of the state government.
The apex court today also ordered Gujarat’s Modi government to set up a special investigation team (SIT) within 10 days to probe 10 14 most important cases of communal riots in the state six years ago.
A three-member Supreme Court bench consisting of Justices Arjit Pasayat, P. Sathasivam and Aftab Alam said the team would submit its probe report to the court in a sealed cover within three months and it would act further on the court's order.

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SC orders 10 Gujarat riot cases to be probed again

By Our Correspondent, http://www.khabrein.info/
New Delhi, March 25: Supreme Court has once again cast suspicion on the handling of Gujarat riot cases by the Modi government in the state. SC today ordered 10 Gujarat riot cases to be probed again by a former CBI director. Gujarat riots of the year 2002 were worst riots in the history of post independent India. More than two thousand people, mostly Muslims, were slaughtered across the state. State government has been accused of complicity in the riots that has divided this western Indian state on religious lines like never before.

SC today constituted a special team headed by former Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) director R.K Raghavan to probe 10 crucial cases of 2002 communal carnage in Gujarat.

Supreme Court bench of Justices Arijit Pasayat, P. Sathasivam and Aftab Alam took the decision while hearing a bunch of petitions seeking either a probe into these cases by the CBI or transfer of their trial outside the state.

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AP, Assam and Bengal: Muslim enrolment at primary level 100 %

By Husna Anjum
(Khabrein.info Special)
New Delhi: A survey by National University of Educational Planning and Administration (NUEPA) has made the startling finding that the primary enrolment among Muslims is still a lot lower than the national level. Muslims who make around 14 percent of the national population, their ratio in primary school was a meager 9.4 percent, while in pre-primary level it was just about 7.5 percent.
Though it was not at all amazing after recent surveys including the Sachar Committee report, all showing that Muslims were the most backward community when it comes to education.
What is good about the recent survey is that it shows that Muslims are doing a lot better in states where the over all development level is good and also in state out of BIMARU hold that include UP, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. The enrolment of Muslims in primary level in Andhra Pradesh is better than the overall enrollment in the state. The same is true about Muslims enrollment in a not well off state of West Bengal.
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Muslim Woman married to sister’s husband to get maintenance

By khabreininfo Correspondent,
New Delhi, March 23: In a ruling of far reaching consequences, the Indian Supreme Court said that a Muslim woman married to her sister’s husband should get maintenance from her husband.
Under Islamic law a man cannot marry two sisters at the same time. The husband can marry the sister of her wife only when the two have been separated or after the death of the first sister.
Two-member bench of the apex court of Justice Altamas Kabir and Justice J.M. Panchal while ruling on a plea of maintenance by Bismillah Begum said that she would be given maintenance by her husband. The woman who hails from Karnataka state had said that she married Chand Patel, the husband of her elder sister Mashaq Begum in 1992. The two fell apart in 2001 after the birth of their daughter.
Her husband on the other hand denied that he ever married. He also said that even if he married her "it was void from the word go and never valid as per the Muslim personal law, which forbids marriage with the wife's sister during the latter's life or continuation of her marriage".
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Muslims in Indian Economy - 2: Shahnaz Hussain: the woman who rules Indian beauty market

By Azera Rahman
She is a name to reckon with when it comes to herbal beauty care. But when Shahnaz Hussain is not immersed in her world of ayurveda, she does a whole lot of other things, for instance, snipping her Louis Vuitton bags to make pockets on her coat or designing six-foot-tall wooden dolls!
As you walk into Hussain's luxurious south Delhi home, a big Christmas tree complete with all the decorations welcomes you at the door. But instead of the usual green, this Christmas tree is in white - she had it specially ordered from London.
There's just one term to explain Hussain's home, 'interesting'. The drawing room, for example, is done up in pristine white and is filled with crystals, various sized flower vases, decorative items, soft toys, clocks, photographs and artefacts.
'The drawing room should be in subtle colour so that it's soothing to the visitors. Bright colours add too much weight on the mood of the guests. And these decorative pieces have been picked up on various trips to different countries at different times,' Hussain, donning a flaming red overcoat, thick gold anklets and red high heeled shoes, told IANS.

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Taslima Nasreen bids adieu to India

By Khabrein.info Correspondent,

New Delhi, March 19: Taslima Nasreen has finally bid adieu to India. On Wednesday Taslima, the author of several defamatory books including Dwikhandita, left India for London from where she reportedly left for a destination she did not disclose.

Taslima left for London from New Delhi on a British Airways flight. She had bitterly criticized the Indian government before she left the country.

In an interview to a leading Indian daily she said that “Fundamentalists do not torture you to death. They just finish you off. But the Indian Government slowly pushed me towards death. My terrible experience has shattered all notions about a secular and democratic India,”

She went on to add, “For 20 years, I have been hitting out against fundamentalism. There has been no physical attack on me. But India, when it failed to break me psychologically, destroyed me physically by denying treatment to an ill person”. Taslima has threatened to reveal all about the deplorable treatment given to her by Indian government. She said that she expose the Indian government which was out to kill her.

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