London Olympic Bronze Medal winner

The President felicitates Smt. Mary Kom 

The President, Shri Pranab Mukherjee felicitates Smt. Mary Kom, the London Olympic Bronze Medal winner in Women’s Flyweight Boxing, at a function, in New Delhi on August 18, 2012.

(PIB photo) 18-August-2012

the Parsi New Year Starts

PM greets the Nation on the occasion of Navroz 

The Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, has greeted the nation on the joyous occasion of Navroz, the Parsi New Year which is being celebrated on August 18 this year.
In his message, the Prime Minister said that Navroz symbolizes new beginnings and is seen as harbinger of peace and prosperity. The festival reminds us of the rich diversity and inclusiveness of our culture.
The Prime Minister extended his best wishes to the Parsi community for their success, prosperity and well-being, he added.  (PIB) 17-August-2012 20:32 IST
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राष्‍ट्रपति ने दी पारसी नववर्ष के अवसर पर अपनी शुभकामनाएं

कहा:पारसी इस देश का एक छोटा लेकिन महत्‍वपूर्ण समुदाय 

राष्‍ट्रपति श्री प्रणब मुखर्जी ने कल मनाये जाने वाले पारसी नववर्ष के अवसर पर अपनी शुभकामनाएं दी हैं।अपने संदेश में राष्‍ट्रपति ने कहा कि वे नवरोज के शुभ अवसर पर अपने सभी पारसी भाईयों और बहनों को शुभकामनाएं देते हैं। उन्‍होंने कहा कि पारसी इस देश का एक छोटा लेकिन महत्‍वपूर्ण समुदाय है जिसके सदस्‍यों ने भारत की समृद्धि और कल्‍याण के लिए अभूतपूर्व योगदान दिया है। नवरोज उत्‍सव हमारी सम्मिलित संस्‍कृति का प्रतीक है। उन्‍होंने नववर्ष के इस उत्‍सव पर देश के सभी लोगों को अपनी शुभकामनाएं देते हुए साम्‍प्रदायिक सौहार्द, एकता और सदभावना के प्रति अपनी वचनबद्धता निभाने पर जोर दिया। (PIB)17-अगस्त-2012 20:18 IST

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Hunger strike on Independenceday

150 political prisoners went on hunger strike  

Mumbai-based activist Arun Ferreira kept a prison diary during his incarceration in Nagpur Central Jail.  Above cartoon is from the diary. 

Aug 16, 2012 -Mumbai: The government of Maharashtra has recently imposed a fascist, anti-strike law covering public, semi-government and private sectors with a motive to gag workers and employees fighting for their own rights. To protest and urge the government to quash this high-handed, fascist law,  more than 150 the political prisoners in various Maharashtra  Jails  observed a one day hunger strike , according to Adv Surendra Gadling, who has been fighting for various political priosners in the state including Arun Ferriera.
The power echelons of the state seem to be striking contradictory notes while hailing stalwarts of social equality- Mahatma Phule, Shahu Maharaj and Dr. Ambedkar on one hand and openly guarding capitalist and foreign interests on the other by forcing anti-strike laws like the ESMA to render strikes and public protests futile. The audacity of power and selfish motives have clearly made them forget that Dr. Ambedkar himself had pitched a fight against the anti-strike laws imposed by the British raj.
The financial policies of the government have only resulted in social disparity, exploitation and injustice, pushing the majority of our population below the poverty line, while a handful of billionaires are only getting richer. Privatisation of government ventures and services has paved way for the contract culture, only to compound the workers' helplessness by such tyrannical laws, a recent and a blazing example is the gagging of workers' unrest in Maruti's Manesar plant.
The brown sahibs are repackaging the archaic anti-labour laws in a new avatar and forcing the workers into slavery.  The political prisoners urge everyone to rise for our own liberties and interests against these middlemen of the western, capitalist MNCs and laws tailor-made to fit their interests.
Related articles. (Courtesy:Kracktivist)
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The Ministry of Sports felicitated heroes

Heroes of London Olympics 2012

Presents Special Cash Awards to Medal Winners 

The Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports felicitated heroes of London Olympics 2012 at a function organized at Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium here today. Six medal winners namely, Mr Sushil Kumar, Mr Vijay Kumar, Mr Gagan Narang, Ms Saina Nehwal, Ms M C Mary Kom and Mr Yogeshwar Dutt  along with their parents and 47 Athletes  and 17 Indian and foreign Coaches who participated at recently concluded London Olympics 2012 were  the special guests at today’s function. Shri Ajay Maken, Minister of State (I/C) for Youth Affairs & Sports presided over the felicitation ceremony, which was attended by  representatives of Indian Olympics Association, National Sports Federations, officials of the Sports Ministry and Sports Authority of India ( SAI). More than 2000 young sports persons of  “COME & PLAY SCHEME” of  SAI and children from several schools added colours to the ceremony.
           At the function, six young talented sports persons of “Come & Play Scheme” presented cheques of Special Cash Awards to each of medal winners of London Olympics, 2012. The Cheques of cash award of Rs. 30 Lakh each to two Silver medal winners, namely, Mr Sushil Kumar and Mr Vijay Kumar and of Rs. 20 Lakh each to four Bronze Medal winners, namely, Mr Gagan Narang, Ms Saina Nehwal, Ms M C Mary Kom and Mr Yogeshwar Dutt were given away under the “Scheme of Special Award to Medal winners in international Sports events” of the Sports Ministry.
           After the felicitation function, six medal winners along with rest of members of Indian contingent to London Olympics  and more than 2000 young sports persons of “Come & Play Scheme” and school children marched to Amar Jawan Jyoti at India Gate  and paid the floral tributes to the martyrs.
           While speaking earlier at felicitation ceremony , Shri Ajay Maken, lauded the athletes and their coaches for their extra ordinary performance at London Olympics. Keeping in view, best results achieved under “OPEX London 2012” ,Shri Makan announced that a programme on similar lines “OPEX Olympics -2020” would be launched  with a target to get 25 Medals.  As a part of the programme, all athletes would be provided international and domestic exposure, foreign coaching and other infrastructural facilities, he added.
Brief Achievements of Medal Winners at London Olympics are as follows:-
a) SUSHIL KUMAR
India's star grappler Sushil Kumar won the men's 66kg freestyle category silver in the London Olympics.
Sushil thrashed Akzhurek Tanatarov of Kazakhastan 9-6 in the semifinals to become first India wrestler to reach the final of Olympic.  After taking 3-0 lead in the first round, Sushil was down by his opponent in the second round. However, the Indian wrestler fought back to score 6 points in the final round, finishing with the score of 9-6 at London's Riverbank Arena.  Sushil had earlier defeated Ikhtiyor Navruzov of Uzbekistan in his quarterfinal bout.  Sushil Kumar won his opening bout against Ramazan Sahin of Turkey, who had won the gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
(b) VIJAY KUMAR
Army sharp shooter Vijay Kumar fought a nerve-wracking battle with five other top marksmen to clinch the silver medal in the men's 25m Rapid Fire Pistol event at the Olympic Games.
Vijay Kumar beat back the challenge of world champion Alexei Klimov of Russia, Chinese duo of Ding Feng and Zhang Jian and German Christian Reitz in the 40-shot final to finish runner-up in a thrilling finale behind Cuba's Leuris Pupo who shot his way to the gold with a world record equalling score of 34.
The 26-year-old Army subedar from Himachal Pradesh found the target 30 times out of 40 attempts in the series comprising eight rounds of five shots each.
(c)  GAGAN NARANG
Opening the medals account for India, Gagan Narang won the country its first medal in the London Olympics 2012. Narang bagged a bronze medal in the 10m air rifle event.
Narang has won numerous medals in the ISSF World Cups, World Championship, Commonwealth Games and the ASIAD, besides creating a new world record in 2008.
(d) SAINA NEHWAL
    Saina Nehwal gave India its maiden medal in Olympic Games badminton .
    Her opponent  folded up with a dodgy knee after leading 21-18, 1-0, but Saina was on the threshold of entering the zone from where she might have dominated this bronze playoff, getting her tiring opponent to play long rallies, even as she stumbled, slipped and asked for water breaks.
(e) MARY KOM
India's star woman boxer MC Mary Kom, fivetime world champion ensured a piece of history for herself and the country by fetching a bronze in the flyweight 51kg category.


"Magnificent Mary", from Manipur,   was the lone Indian in fray when women's boxing made


its Olympic debut in the London Games.
(f) YOGESHWAR  DUTT
Yogeshwar Dutt put up a brilliant display of powerpacked freestyle wrestling in the Olympic Games and won a bronze medal.
The 29-year-old experienced grappler from Sonepat in Haryana showed tremendous fighting spirit and exhibited excellent technique against three very strong rivals in the repechage rounds to clinch India's fifth medal of the Games.(PIB)                                     16-August-2012 17:57 IST

Bio-Diversity of Western Ghats

Global importance for the conservation of biological diversity

                             Courtesy photo

The Western Ghats are internationally recognized as a region of immense global importance for the conservation of biological diversity, besides having areas of high geological, cultural and aesthetic values. The ecosystems of the Western Ghats include the tropical wet evergreen forests, the montane evergreen forests, moist deciduous forests, etc. There are over 4,000 species of angiosperms (1500 endemic), 332 species of butterflies (37 endemic), 288 species of fishes (116 endemic), 156 species of amphibians (94 endemic), 225 species of Reptiles (97 endemic), 508 species of birds (19 endemic) and 137 species of mammals (14 endemic) reported from Western Ghats.

The Government of India has taken several steps to conserve the rich biodiversity of the Western Ghats. A large number of protected areas comprising national parks, wildlife sanctuaries, tiger reserves and elephant reserves have been established to provide stringent protection to both flora and fauna. Nearly 10% of the total area of Western Ghats is currently covered under the Protected Area category. The largest Protected Area in Western Ghats is the Bandipur National Park in Karnataka. The Silent Valley National Park in Kerala and the Kudremukh National Park in Karnataka are among the important tracts of virgin tropical evergreen forests in India, serving as the home to a healthy population of the globally threatened fauna.

The Western Ghats are important from the standpoint of biodiversity conservation. For the purpose of ensuring protection of biodiversity of Western Ghats, there are some restrictions for setting up of industries in certain ecologically significant areas of Western Ghats, for example, there is a moratorium upto 31st December 2012 for consideration of projects from Sindhudurg and Ratnagiri areas of Maharashtra, and for consideration of mining projects in Goa. There is also a ban on consideration of mining projects in some districts of Karnataka in compliance of Supreme Court Orders dated 29 July, 2011 and 26 August, 2011.

The above information was laid in the Parliament by Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Environment and Forests Shrimati Jayanthi Natarajan.  (PIB photo) 16-August-2012 16:14 IST

Kumari Selja lighting the lamp

Housing and Urban Development

The Union Minister for Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation and Culture, Kumari Selja lighting the lamp to inaugurate the Meeting of the Expert Group on Urban and Rural Planning and Management of Asia Pacific Ministerial Conference on Housing and Urban Development (APMCHUD), in New Delhi on August 16, 2012.       (PIB photo)                                                            16-August-2012