Security beefed up in Varanasi ahead of New Year Eve

Security beefed up in Varanasi ahead of New Year Eve

By Girish Kumar Dubey
Varanasi, Dec.30 : Uttar Pradesh Police has beefed up security
measures ahead of New Year Eve in Varanasi as policemen and commandos
were patrolling public places and along the banks of the River Ganga.

On December 8, a bomb blast rocked the Dashashwamedh Ghat on the
riverbanks of Ganga near the Vishwanath temple.

A two-year-old girl was killed and about 37 people including foreign
tourists injured in the blast and the ensuing stampede.

Keeping this tragic incident in view, the top brass of the police has
deployed ample number of personnel to carry out preventive security
checks at vantage locations.

"For December 31, we have deployed police force in special places that
cover public places. Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) personnel and
Commandos have been roped in to cover areas such as Ghats, railway
stations and bus stands," said Prem Prakash, Deputy Inspector General
of Police, Varanasi Range.

Residents said the security force has definitely been increased ahead
of New Year Eve and termed it as an apt step.

"The presence of police force has definitely increased and otherwise
there were not many security personnel along the banks of the river.
And before the bomb blast one could hardly see any policemen here,"
said Rohit, a resident.

The militant outfit Indian Mujahideen (IM) claimed responsibility for
the blast by sending e-mails to media houses.(ANI)

Ashes of euthanised UK temple cow immersed in Ganges

Ashes of euthanised UK temple cow immersed in Ganges
Thu, 02/14/2008 - 00:39                                        .By Girish Kumar Dubey
 

Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh), Feb. 13 : The ashes of Gangotri, the euthanised sacred cow of the Bhaktivedanta Manor Temple in the United Kingdom, were immersed in the River Ganges on Wednesday.

Gangotri was given a lethal injection last December after doctors of the Royal Society for Prevention Cruelty To Animals (RSPCA) declared it to be sick.

The priests of Bhaktivedanta Manor, a large temple run by the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISCKON) in a London suburb alleged that the cow was administered the injection when the prayers were going on.

The temple had taken the cow in after it was hit in an accident. RSPCA officials said that it was in dire condition and suffering from bedsores and had to be put down.

"How does it fee if someone is killing in your home. Your mother's interest is my best interest. She has bedsores and we understand she should be relieved of the pain; therefore, I want to give her the deadly injection and to give her that without even taking your permission. That's how we felt. And that was just devastating," said Gauri Das, the president, of the Hari Krishna Temple in the United Kingdom.

"(We have) written to Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister of Britain. We have also written to David Cameron, the leader of the Conservative Party and the Leader of the Opposition in the British Parliament, and to Nick Clegg, the leader of the Liberal Democrats in the UK. The response, I have to say, so far has not been so good," said Raj Joshi, Chairperson, Society Of Black Lawyers, UK.

This is the second instance of such killing in UK in last nine months.

Earlier, despite waging a long legal battle and a vigorous campaign Shambo, the bovine which tested positive of TB was killed in the same manner.

After the Court of Appeal's decision Shambo was slaughtered on July 26, 2007 after a court upheld it was a TB positive animal and should be killed before it posed a risk to public health.

Cows are sacred to Hindus. The priests of the Skanda Vale temple near Carmarthen where Shambo was kept even constructed a shrine to the bull within the temple. (ANI)

Varanasi carpet industry hopes for budget sops

                                                                                                           By Girish Kumar Dubey

Monday, June 29, 2009 2:50:33 PM by ANI ( Leave a comment )

Varanasi, June 29 (ANI): Carpet traders and weavers in Uttar Pradesh are hoping that the forthcoming annual budget will offer some sops to them.

Traders and weavers in the state's Bhadohi district, which is famous for hand knit carpets and hand tufted carpets, said they wanted the government to help them regain markets lost due to recession.

In the wake of the global economic slowdown, the small exporters are being wiped out while large exporters are striving to survive.

"As far as carpet industry is concerned it does most of the business with America and Europe and the recession has badly affected the trade. So, our demand is that the government should give us grants to look for more markets abroad," said Ashok Kapoor, a carpet exporter.

The traders also said that government should reconsider taxes levied on them.

"The labour cost has increased 25-30 percent. In this scenario how are we going to compete in the market? Government wants us not to add the local taxes it levies on us on the export rates but if the taxes are levied to us then we will carry that forward as our cost," said Anurag Chandra, a carpet exporter.

Varanasi is famous for its hand woven carpets the world over.

The carpet industry, being highly labour intensive and decentralized, is an important source of employment and a foreign exchange earner.

According to the estimates, there are 1215 carpet manufacturing units in India, out of which 190 are in the organized sector and the rest are in small-scale industry sector. (ANI)

Moral crisis responsible for global economic woes: Dalai Lama

Moral crisis responsible for global economic woes: Dalai Lama

Wednesday, January 14, 2009 4:46:02 PM by ANI ( Leave a comment )
By Girish Kumar Dubey

Varanasi, Jan.14 (ANI): Exiled Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama has
said that a moral crisis in the world is to blame for the global
economic woes.

Selfishness and a lack of spirituality and culture in the world were
key causes for the current crisis in the world''s financial markets,
he told Buddhist students in Varanasi.
The 73-year-old Nobel peace prize winner said people had forgotten how
their own fortunes and those of others were connected.

"People have become selfish and materialistic, which has led to the
economic slowdown," said the Dalai Lama at a gathering of 20,000
students at the Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies.

He said the solution was in recognising our interdependence, valuing
education and protecting the natural environment.

He said that people needed to be less interested in consumerism, less
selfish and to understand that if we want to survive and be happy,
everyone must survive together. (ANI)

Security beefed up in Varanasi ahead of New Year Eve

Security beefed up in Varanasi ahead of New Year Eve
By Girish Kumar Dubey
Varanasi, Dec.30 : Uttar Pradesh Police has beefed up security
measures ahead of New Year Eve in Varanasi as policemen and commandos
were patrolling public places and along the banks of the River Ganga.

On December 8, a bomb blast rocked the Dashashwamedh Ghat on the
riverbanks of Ganga near the Vishwanath temple.

A two-year-old girl was killed and about 37 people including foreign
tourists injured in the blast and the ensuing stampede.

Keeping this tragic incident in view, the top brass of the police has
deployed ample number of personnel to carry out preventive security
checks at vantage locations.

"For December 31, we have deployed police force in special places that
cover public places. Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) personnel and
Commandos have been roped in to cover areas such as Ghats, railway
stations and bus stands," said Prem Prakash, Deputy Inspector General
of Police, Varanasi Range.

Residents said the security force has definitely been increased ahead
of New Year Eve and termed it as an apt step.

"The presence of police force has definitely increased and otherwise
there were not many security personnel along the banks of the river.
And before the bomb blast one could hardly see any policemen here,"
said Rohit, a resident.

The militant outfit Indian Mujahideen (IM) claimed responsibility for
the blast by sending e-mails to media houses. By Girish Dubey (ANI)