Malayalam writer Sukumar Azhikode dead

Malayalam writer Sukumar Azhikode died at a private hospital here Tuesday morning, family sources said. He was 85.

After being detected with bone cancer, Azhikode was admitted to hospital Dec 7 last year and his condition deteriorated in the past few days. The end came at 6.33 a.m.

Family sources said his body would be taken to his home here and then moved to the Sahitya Academy hall where it will be kept till 4 p.m.

His body will then be taken to his home town in Azhikode in Kannur district and the funeral will take place Wednesday afternoon at the Payamabalam beach. Azhikode was a bachelor and he retired as pro-vice chancellor of Calicut University in 1986.

A multi-faceted personality, Azhikode won 12 awards, including the Sahitya Akademi Award. Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy visited ailing Azhikode two days back. Soon after he fell ill, Chandy had announced that the state government would foot the writer's medical bill.

Azhikode's most famous work is "Tatvamasi" (1984, Malayalam), an authoritative book on Indian philosophy, Vedas and Upanishads. This work won him 12 awards including the Sahitya Akademi Award, Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award, Vayalar Award and Rajaji Award.

In January 2007, the writer refused to accept the Padma Shri, stating that such honours are against the constitution. "The constitution says everyone should be treated as equal. Giving such honours at different levels, the state discriminates between people. I see the Padma Shri conferred on me as an opportunity to expose this discrimination," he had said.

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Nigeria Bomb Blast : Multiple bomb blasts hit northern Nigerian city

Police in the restive city of Kano in northern Nigeria say at least six people have been killed in a series of bomb attacks, some targeting police stations and local government buildings. The authorities have imposed a curfew across the city.

REUTERS – At least six people were killed in a string of bomb blasts on Friday in Nigeria’s second city Kano and the authorities imposed a curfew across the city, which has been plagued by an insurgency led by the Islamist sect Boko Haram.

Smoke billowed from the police headquarters for the north in Kano after one blast blew out its windows, collapsed its roof and triggered a blaze that firefighters struggled to control.

A Reuters reporter counted three bodies at the scene and three more at the local passport office, which was surrounded by flaming debris.

Some residents ran around shouting and screaming following the attacks. There were at least four other explosions across the city in quick succession.

“I was on the roadside and I just heard a ‘Boom!’. As I came back, I saw the building of the police zonal headquarters crashing down and I ran for my life,” said local man Andrew Samuel.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the apparently coordinated attacks, which prompted the government to announce a dusk-to-dawn curfew.

Kano, like other northern cities in Nigeria, has been plagued by an insurgency led by Islamist sect Boko Haram, blamed for scores of bombings and shootings against mostly government targets that are growing in scale and sophistication.

Witnesses said the bomber of the police headquarters, which covers most of northern Nigeria, pulled up at the building on a motorbike then got off and ran at it holding a bag.

“We tried to stop him but he ran in forcefully with his bag. All of a sudden there was a blast. You can see for yourself the building is damaged,” said a policeman at the scene.

Police said a second blast had hit Kano’s passport office and another hit Zaria Road police station in the city.
“The ground was shaking with the explosion. We saw flames and smoke at the police station,” said witness Umaru Ibrahim.

A source at the State Security Service said another bomber had tried to attack there but was gunned down before he could detonate his bomb.

Police and military roadblocks were erected in the city within minutes.

“We are trying to reach the scenes of these heavy blasts. Many of the roads are blocked now by security agents,” said Abubaker Jibril, head of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) for Kano, told Reuters.

A bomb attack on a Catholic church just outside the capital Abuja on Christmas Day, claimed by Boko Haram, killed 37 people and wounded 57.

Last August a suicide bomber blew up the U.N. Nigeria headquarters in Abuja, killing at least 24 people.

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AADHAR UIDAI Targets 200 Million Enrolments Soon

The state-run Unique Identity Authority of India (UIDAI) is racing against time to enroll a whopping 200 million people in the next two months to make its Aadhar numbers the world’s largest biometric identification system, its chief said Friday.

“We will be approaching the 200-million mark by March as we enrolling over a million people daily in several states across the country,” UIDAI chairman Nandan N. Nilekani told reporters here.

The authority has already enrolled about 120 million citizens by this week.

To achieve the ambitious target in a record time, the authority has roped in 95,924 operators and about 20,000 agencies.

“Our database will be bigger than that of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the US visa entry system, which are currently the largest biometric databases the world over,” UIDAI technology head Srikanth. Nadhamuni said.

According to a study of the database of 84 million conducted by the authority to check fake enrollments, the failure rate was a mere 0.14 percent due to duplication and overlapping.

“Of the total enrollments till date, over 99 percent of them can be uniquely identified by the biometric system and the remaining would be enrolled again by de-duplication and manual inspection,” Nadhamuni said.

The authority is exploring innovative applications for the identification scheme so that a citizen can access his entitlements even after relocating from one place to another either within the state or anywhere in the country.
Playing down the differences between the Planning Commission and the union home ministry over the duplication of collecting biometric data, Nilekani said the issue was before the union cabinet, which would meet soon to resolve them.

The parliamentary standing committee on UIDAI also raised objections to the Aadhaar numbers, fearing that the project would cost the exchequer a fortune and sought a review of the principles on which the project was conceived.

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TNPSC New Chairman | aFormer DGP Nataraj appointed TNPSC Chairman

Former DGP R Nataraj was today appointed Chairman of the Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission (TNPSC), which was in the news recently following allegations of irregularities in the recruitment. He replaces R Sellamuthu, appointed by the previous DMK regime, who had resigned recently in the wake of alleged irregularities in recruitment by the TNPSC, the nodal agency for all government departments. The appointment was made by Governor K Rosaiah and Natraj would hold office till he attains the age of 62 years, an official release said.

Nataraj had earlier served in positions including Chennai Police Commissioner and head of state Fire and Rescue Services. Interestingly, he had met Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Thursday to hand over a sum of Rs 10,000 towards the Thane Cyclone relief. He had courted controversy when the Election Commission ordered his transfer as Chennai Police Commissioner when he reportedly praised Jayalalithaa in the then poll-bound Tamil Nadu in 2006. Nataraj had recently lost a legal battle challenging the appointment of Latika Saran, IPS, as the head of the state police during the previous DMK regime. Sellamuthu and members of the panel had faced Vigilance action as sleuths had raided their office and residential premises in connection with allegations of irregularities in recruitment.

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Rahman defends 'Hosanna' against objection

A.R. Rahman is caught up in a controversy following objections from a Christian group over the use of the word "Hosanna" in a song from "Ekk Deewana Tha". The Oscar-winning music composer says he didn't intend to hurt anyone's sentiments.

According to reports, Joseph Dias, general secretary of Mumbai-based Christian Secular Forum (CSF), has raised objections on the use of the word "Hosanna" in the song, claiming that the word is a sacred term used in prayers by Christians and Jews.

But Rahman feels there's nothing wrong with its usage.

"As with any film project I work on, I had spent several months researching before composing and writing all the songs for 'Ekk Dewaana Tha' and had consulted friends who are Christian in particular about the use of the word 'Hosanna' in this song," Rahman said in a statement.

The Tamil version of "Hosanna" had featured in "Vinnaithandi Varuvaayaa", which released in 2010.
"The song was a sensation when it was released in the south. It went on to win all possible music awards and was well received by all communities! Therefore I am deeply concerned about the sentiments of all those who appear to be hurt by this song," he added.

Lyricist Javed Akhtar also finds nothing wrong with the song.

"When we write lyrics with great composers such as Rahman, who is one of the most respectable human beings I have had the pleasure of working with, the intention is never to insult any religion, why would we," Akhtar asked.

A spokesperson for Fox Star Studios says a written reply was sent to Dias Friday.

"Our organisation, our music partners Sony Music Entertainment, our producers and all of us are responsible organisations and our view is that more often than not creativity, freedom of speech and expression in art form are stifled by some people who have their own agendas. We have replied to Mr. Jospeh Dias today by letter," the spokesperson said.

The film, directed by Gautham Menon, will hit the screens Feb 17. It stars Pratiek and Amy Jackson.

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Election Manifesto : Mulayam promises youth laptops; announces sops for Muslims, farmers

Once opposed to English and computers, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav has now realised the need to tap the youth voters in Uttar Pradesh, promising them laptops and tablets in his party’s election manifesto released here Friday.

Apart from promising sops like higher job quotas to Muslims, he also assured release of Muslim youth hauled up for suspected terrorism. He has also assured implementation of recommendations of the Sachchar Committee and Rangnath Misra Commission for the community's benefit.

Mulayam Singh also declared that he would set up a high-level commission of inquiry to go into the alleged "financial irregularities" committed by the Mayawati government.
"All class 12 passed students will be given laptops while those clearing their class 10 will get tablets if our party comes to power in Uttar Pradesh," Mulayam said at a press conference while releasing the manifesto at the party headquarters here.
He not only offered free education in schools, but even professional education -- engineering and medicine -- without any fees to students with annual family income of less than Rs.5 lakh.
“While books would be given free to all students up to class 8, girls will be entitled to completely free education right up the BA level," he added.
Mulayam Singh also kept the Muslim community in his focus.
"We will give higher reservation to Muslims in all government jobs so that it is proportionate to their population," he said, while adding: "There was need to use the same yardstick for the Muslim quota as it was applied in case of Dalits."
He also assued that if his party were to come to power, he would also ensure release of all such youth, who were put behind bars on the mere suspicion of involvement in terrorist acts.
He has also promised free power supply to weavers, who are mostly Muslims.
"We will provide assured power supply for 22 hours in all urban and 20 hours in rural areas of the state," declared the Samajwadi Party chief, while also promising free power for irrigation purposes.”
The Samajwadi Party also proposes to completely do away with acquisition of cultivable land.
"Only non-cultivable land would be acquired for public purposes and that too, by paying the farmer six times of the official circle rate of land," Mulayam Singh said.
"The government will not have any role to play in acquisition of land for development by private players," he added.

The Samajwadi Party also announced soft loans to farmers at an interest rate of 4 percent and a ban on auction of farmers’ land in case of default.
"Besides, we will also provide 50 percent of premium towards crop insurance and also pension to all farmers above the age of 65 years," he added.

Among his other promises were "two saris to all women living below the poverty line, replacement of cycle rickshaws by motorised ones, free treatment to all in government hospitals and free shops to all cobblers".

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Facebook, Google move court; Delhi Police issued notice

The Delhi High Court Wednesday issued notice to Delhi Police on a petition filed against summons issued by a trial court to 21 websites, including Facebook, Google, Yahoo and YouTube, for allegedly hosting obscene and derogatory content.

Challenging a trial court order that issued summons to the websites, Facebook and Google had Wednesday approached the high court.

Justice Suresh Kait also issued notice to Vinay Rai who had filed the petition in the trial court against the websites alleging they were hosting obscene and derogatory content.

The matter will come up Thursday for further hearing.

The magistrate of the trial court had observed that the material submitted by the complainant contained obscene pictures and derogatory articles pertaining to various Hindu gods, Prophet Muhammad and Jesus Christ.

The trial court had also directed the central government to take immediate appropriate steps on the objectionable content of the sites and file its report by Jan 13.

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