Kiran Bedi, DGP, bureau of police R&D, raised concern over the cases of domestic violence while elaborating on the work done in the field of violence against women, trafficking and prostitution. The survey showed that women are at the greatest risk of violence from men they know. In Australia, Canada, Israel, South Africa and the United States, 40 to 70 per cent of women murder victims were killed by their partners. Addressing the Congress of 60 nations, president of A.I.W.C. Manorama Bawa said the International Congress aims to minimise the vulnerability of women to all sorts of threats, violations, and discrimination.
India second in atrocities on women
Domestic violence tops among the atrocities subjected on women across the world. The rate of violence in India is a high 19 per cent, coming after Zambia, which is leading in the world and reports a 48 per cent violence rate, according to a survey released on the second day of the 34th Triennial Congress of International Alliance of Women, hosted by the All India Women's Conference (A.I.W.C.), in association with the International Alliance of Women (I.A.W.) on Tuesday.
Shortage of docs: Minister
There is a big shortage of doctors both in India and abroad, said Oscar Fernandes, Union minister of state for labour and employment on Sunday.
At the valedictory function of a seminar on ‘Current advances in life sciences' at the SRM dental college hospital, Mr Fenandes said when the ministry had to recruit eighty specialist doctors for the ESI hospitals, there were only eight qualified doctors for the job. "We had to start recruiting all over again. The situation is no different in other countries. I am told that with the people living longer in European countries like Germany and Portugal, more doctors are needed for treating people," he said. The minister told students that 37 percent of the doctors, practicing in the United States, were from India. There is also a great need for nurses from India. US officials estimate they would need around one million nurses to take care of their ageing population.
Fr Xavier Arulraj, chairman of Tamil Nadu Economic Minorities Development Corporation Limited, announced that as many as 399 Christians and 366 Muslims, entering professional courses would receive their scholarships this year. He also said next year there were plans to introduce educational loans at a low interest rate of 3 per cent for poor students from minority communities.
State ready to face monsoon: Stalin
Local administration minister M. K. Stalin on Sunday reviewed the arrangements for monsoon relief by the city corporation. He also inspected the community halls in Perambur and Gopalapuram that are kept ready to accommodate public in case of water inundation. The minister also took a stock on the noon meal centres that are kept ready by the corporation in low-lying areas.
"Community halls, government schools and noon meal centres are kept ready to accommodate people in case of necessity. Currently the situation is normal and there is no need for any evacuation," Mr Stalin told reporters during his inspection. The chief minister has instructed government machinery to be alert in the wake of downpour. Following the instruction, state ministers have camped in several districts to ensure early monsoon relief measures. Corporations and local bodies across the state have been told to be alert, Mr Stalin said. Pointing out that the corporation has taken several preliminary arrangements to tackle monsoon, he hoped there would no be major water inundation in the city.
Till now 139 storm water works measuring about 55 kilometres have been completed at a cost of Rs 22 crores. Further 151 storm water drain works to a distance of 35 km at a cost of Rs 25 crores are underway, Mr Stalin said.
In a span of one hour the corporation would provide food to 6,000 evacuated people and two noon meal centres are kept ready for the purpose. Captain canal, Kodungayur canal and Mambalam canal have already been desilted. Currently desiltation of Virugambakkam canal and Otteri Nullah is underway, Mr Stalin added.
Mayor M. Subramanian, corporation commissioner Rajesh Lakhoni, Perambur MLA S. K. Mahendran accompanied Stalin during his visit. Meanwhile a government press release said Mr. Stalin conducted a review meting at the secretariat on the monsoon arrangements made by the local bodies and village panchayats across the state.
The corporation authorities are also monitoring parts of Velachery, Perambur and Pulianthope where water inundation is common during monsoon. On Saturday the corporation commissioner Rakesh Lakhoni held a high level meeting among the corporation officers of all ten zones.
Rs 65 lakh seized from kidney scam doctor
Investigators from the income tax department have so far seized cash and jewels worth more than Rs 65 lakh from the house and lockers of Dr. P. Ravichandran arrested in connection with the kidney scandal and the lockers of his family members.
"Apart from Rs 23 lakh we recovered from the doctor's house in Mugalivakkam, Rs. 26 lakh in currency was seized from the bank locker of his wife. Jewels worth nearly Rs 16 lakh were also recovered from her locker," a senior IT official told this newspaper on Sunday. The investigators had found the cash bundles stuffed in the lofts when they raided doctor's house immediately after he was arrested by Mumbai police. A kidney donor had complained to the Mumbai police that the doctor had cheated him by not paying the promised amount of Rs. 4 lakh for his kidney. IT officials have been questioning the family members of Dr. Ravichandran for the last couple of days. "We questioned his wife also. We are sure that he had conducted scores of kidney transplants charging something between Rs 10 lakh and 15 lakh per operation. We are trying to find out where he had parked his funds," the official noted.
The IT sleuths who now have a clear picture about the doctor's modus operandi feel that the doctor could have lot of benami investments. The Mumbai police had picked up the doctor's brother- in- law along with another surgeon for further enquiries.
The arrested doctor was functioning from St Thomas hospital in St. Thomas Mount and Bharati Rajaa Hospital in T Nagar. Following the arrest, the government had cancelled the kidney transplant licences given to these hospitals.
According to IT official, Dr. Ravichandran had one guest house and many rented bungalows in Nandambakkam for lodging the kidney patients arriving from foreign countries. "He kept a doctor in one of these guest house just to look after residential patients," the officer noted. "He had a nine member team to take care of the surgeries. As soon as the kidney is removed from the donor's body, it will be replanted into the patient's body. The surgeries are usually conducted early in the morning,' he added. It may be recalled that scores of kidney patients who were staying in the guest houses in Nandambakkam had vanished within two days of the news of the arrest of the doctor.
Nehru's policies caused Kashmir problem
Accusing successive Congress governments of "inept handling" of internal security, senior BJP leader L.K. Advani on Sunday said the "faulty" policies of former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru are responsible for the Kashmir problem.
"The issue of integration of states after Independence was handled cleverly by Sardar VallabhBhai Patel but Nehru, who took charge of handling the Jammu and Kashmir issue, failed in his endeavour and referred the matter to the UN," he said addressing a function organised to release a special internal security edition of RSS monthly Rastradharma here.
Mr Advani alleged that the Congress mishandling of internal security led to the border dispute with China and "India had to face the defeat" in the 1962 Chinese aggression. He also attacked the Congres for "failing miserably" in dealing with terrorism and the Naxalite problem and was going in for a nuclear deal with the US due to which the country would lose its nuclear autonomy.
Claiming that the Bharatiya Jan Sangh was the first party that demanded conducting tests in its convention at Varanasi in 1966, Mr Advani said after the first nuclear test in Pokhran 1974, the Congress "could not muster the courage to conduct further tests". He said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had in the Rajya Sabha opposed the Pokhran nuclear tests conducted by the NDA regime in 1998.
4 Indians abducted from Nigeria oil rig
In yet another case of those infamous Nigerian abductions for ransom, three young technicians from a village in south Tamil Nadu and one from Thane in Maharashtra were picked up along with two Polish crew by armed militants from an offshore rig off Port Harcourt in the oil-rich African country on Friday, according to information reaching here.
"The Nigerian militants boarded the oil rig, Floating Production Storage & Offloading (FPSO) of Mystras at 6 am local time (1100 IST) and took away the six men, including two Polish nationals. They are demanding US$ 50 million. We are very worried," said Jaipal Sudarshan, brother of abducted Ajith Kamaraj