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VOL: 03 I ISSUE NO: 26 I REG NO:ANDENG/2011/38184 I 01 FEBRUARY 2014 I SATURDAY I Rs. 2.00 I DAILY I PORT BLAIR I www.andamansheekha.com

Have we learnt anything from our past mistakes??

Is ‘under pressure’Administration pressing anunfit vessel for Ross Trip?

Port Blair, Jan 31: IsAdministration gearing upfor another embarrassment?M.V. Lawrence is being madeready for its service to RossIsland from 3rd February. Thisboat with a capacity of 100people was doing ferryservice for the last three yearsin Kamorta. As its bottomplates developed some holes,it was towed back to PortBlair a month ago.

Around 20 daysback one day docking of thevessel was done for dabblingto seal the hole temporarily.Originally the whole bottomplate had to be gauged andreplaced with a new one.Even painting and bottomcleaning was not done beforeundocking, till the last reportobtained by AndamanSheekha.

Now it has beenlearnt that M.V. Lawrencewill be in the service of thetourists from Monday toRoss Island. In order to meetthe deadline of Lt. Governor,fire line repairing andinstallation of Life jacket isbeing done. Paining is doneto give it a facelift.

Is the intention hereis to only please the higherofficials rather thanconcentrating on the safetyand security of passengers

Bureau ReportSheekha News Service

and crew members? GeneralPublic would like to knowthat has this vessel beeninducted into the fleetwithout proper IRS Survey?

In the presentscenario, it will be better ifIRS Surveyor goes throughall the mandatory guidelinesbefore giving a surveycertificate. Thickness of thebottom plate needs to begauged and the work doneto seal the holes needs to beevaluated with a great senseof responsibility to avertanother mishap.

When contacted theSecretary of ShippingServices, Mrs. Puniya S.Srivastava assuredAndaman Sheekha that novessel will be pressed intoservice if it is unfit.

“It is one of the boatsthat we have identified butDSS will ensure that it is fitcondition before it is operatedand a safety audit in any casewill be done. He must havetaken some action to repair it,”the secretary told AndamanSheekha.

However, theSecretary advised AndamanSheekha to cross check thefacts with the officers ofDirectorate of ShippingServices so that the newsdoesn’t cause unnecessarypanic.

But as a tradition theDirection is never available togive a quote to media and inall cases Andaman Sheekhais always diverted towardsthe Dy. Director, Mr. Veraiah,

A Note from the Editor’s Desk

M.V. Lawrence:Sensationalization

is not the ideaReaders must note that thenews regarding M.V.Lawrence is being carriedby Andaman Sheekha forthe information of GeneralPublic and also Lt.Governor, Chief Secretaryand other senior officers.The idea is to keep ourreaders up-to-date withright information and not totrigger panic.

As Lt. Governor, inhis speech during themeeting to mourn death oftourists, had said and wequote “this tragedy shouldnot have happened andperhaps could have beenprevented, if everyindividual, whether in

Govt. or private serviceshad done their jobproperly.”

Hence as aresponsible media unit,Andaman Sheekha feelsthat this piece ofinformation must reach topublic and also to seniorofficers of A & NAdministration, so thatthere remains not eventiniest piece of doubt aboutsafety of public at sea.Andaman Sheekha is alsosure that as a knee jerkreaction, a ‘Rejoinder’ willsurely published inGovernment Daily butnothing of that sort willdilute the truth.

(See page 2)

Bishnu writes to LG onunemployment issue

Port Blair, Jan 31: TheMember of Parliament, Mr.Bishnu Pada Ray in a letterwritten to the Lt. Governor,A&N Islands has raised theproblem of unemployedyouth of these islands. Hehas urged for restrictingentry of non-locals in govt.jobs of A&N Administration,issuing of inner line permit,constitution of Staff SelectionCommittee/Board and grantof allowances tounemployed.

The MP has alsosuggested various measures

for 100% job reservation forthe local educated youth ofA&N Islands. These includegetting regulation underarticle 240, bringing Actsthrough Parliament etc. forthe purpose, acommunication from MPBhawan said.    

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'Delhi air pollution higherthan Beijing' report denied

The head of an environmentmeasurement index has de-nied media reports suggest-ing it found air quality in theIndian capital, Delhi, to beworse than the China’s capi-tal, Beijing.

The EnvironmentalPreference Index did notrank cities as it did not havecomparative data, Dr AngelHsu said.

But it ranked coun-tries and India was 174 outof 178 countries for air qual-ity. China was at 176.

The EPI is preparedby researchers at Yale andColumbia universities.

However, an overallpollution rating, which in-cludes factors such ashealth impact and water andsanitation, put India at 155 -China was ranked higher at118.

No accurate data“The EPI does not

rank cities, nor do the datain the EPI provide any in-formation on city-level per-formance,” said Dr Hsu ofthe Yale Center for Environ-mental Law and Policy whois also the project director ofthe index.

He said a lack ofaccurate data from Indiawas a problem.

“Beijing reports[pollution] data on an hourlybasis over a publicly acces-sible platform. Delhi’s re-porting is not as consistentor transparent, making di-rect comparison impossible.Delhi may or may not havedirtier air than Beijing, but itis clearly behind in how itmakes air quality informa-tion available to its citizens,”Dr Hsu added.

Dr Gufran Beig,chief scientist at India’s Sys-tem of Air Quality WeatherForecasting and Research,has also refuted the reportsaying that the average con-

centration of smaller dustparticles (PM2.5) - that pen-etrate deep into the lung -was 210 microgram per cu-bic metre (m/cum) in Delhithis month.

This, he told theBBC, is not even half ofBeijing’s PM2.5 level re-corded this year.

But the Centre forScience and Environment(CSE), a Delhi-based thinktank, has pointed out that theaverage daily PM2.5 levelsin Beijing during 2013largely remained below 250m/cum and their winterpeaks did not cross the 400m/cum mark till December.

In comparison,Delhi recorded an averagePM2.5 level of 240 m/cumsince November 2013 butthe peaks have hit as highas 575 m/cum this winter,the CSE said.

The permissible limitof PM2.5 is 60 m/cum.

Dr SarathGuttikunda, director ofDelhi-based Urban Emis-sions Info, refused to bedrawn into this numbergame.

“Our pollution levelsdo not need to get worsethan Beijing’s for us to wakeup and take action. Delhi’sair is bad, very bad, and it’sgetting worse by the year,”he warns.

Winter smogs arecommon in Delhi, but thisyear’s haze has been some-times severe, disrupting airand railway traffic.

Rising pollution hasbeen blamed mainly on ahuge increase in the numberof vehicles in the city, par-ticularly diesel-driven cars.

Delhi’s governmentintroduced greener fuels forpublic transport in 2000 tocontrol air pollution butthe levels have continuedto rise.

Andhra Pradesh: BTech studentjumps to death from college building

Machilipatnam: An engi-neering student from the In-dian Institute of InformationTechnology (IIIT) on Fridayallegedly committed suicidefrom his college building inKrishna district of AndhraPradesh, police said.

Naveen Kumar(20), who was pursuing his

BTech at the premier insti-tute, leaped to death from thesecond floor of the building onFriday morning.

He was apparentlyupset and depressed over hisill-health since a year, theysaid. The final year studentsuccumbed at theVijayawada Government

General Hospital while un-dergoing treatment.

He hailed fromUppalavarigudem village ofLingampalem Mandal inWest Godavari district, policesaid. Nuzvid Town police hasregistered a case and furtherinvestigations are beingcarried out.

who is kind enough toprovide us all requiredinformation, most of the time.

In this case whenAndaman Sheekha tried themobile number of DeputyDirector, several times, thenumber was engaged in three

Is ‘under pressure...occasions and aftersometimes the number wasswitched off.

Hence his commentsare not available in thisregards.

As the matter isalmost out that Andaman

Sheekha is coming out with anews tomorrow regardingM.V Lawrence, it is expectedthat overnight the decision ofdocking the vessel andrepairing it completely, willbe taken. In any case it will begood for public.

Nominations invited forNational Award for ChildWelfare; last date Feb 28

Port Blair Jan 31: TheDirectorate of SocialWelfare has invitednominations fromindividuals and institutionsfor the National Award forChild Welfare for the year2013 & 2014 which hasbeen instituted by theGovernment of India,Ministry of Women &Child Development to giverecognition to individualsand Institutions who havemade outstandingcontribution towardsChild Welfare.

The NationalAward for Child Welfarewill be given to threeindividuals and fiveinstitutions who haveworked for the welfare ofchildren for some years.Paid Officers of theInstitutions are not eligiblefor the award. The awardcaries a cash prize of Rs 3Lakhs and a citation to each

institution and Rs 1 Lakhand a citation to eachindividual. The nominations ofsuitable individuals andinstitutions for the year2013 and 2014 must reach theDirectorate of SocialWelfare at Goalghar by Feb28, 2014. The same shall bescrutinized by the selectioncommittee constituted at theUT level which willthereafter recommend thenames of the selectedindividuals and institutionto the National LevelCommittee. The format forsubmission or applicationcan be obtained from theoffice of Director SocialWelfare at Goalghar. The criteria forselection of institutions isthat it should not be entirelyGovt. funded. It could beGovt. aided or otherwise.The institution should havebeen in the field of Child

Welfare for some years andshould have, to theirrecord, a goodperformance in the field.The branches of theinstitutions workingindependently will alsoqualify for selection of theAward. The selection of theaward will be made solelyon the basis of quality ofperformance and thenumber of children servedby the institution. The criteria forselection of individual arethat they should haveworked for the cause ofchildren for some years.Paid officers of theinstitution are not eligiblefor the selection.

The sole basis of theselection will be the qualityof work performed by theindividual for the cause ofchildren and its significancefor the cause, acommunication said.

(From page 1)

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Port Blair, Jan 31: Port Blair,Jan 31 A felicitation functionwas held in the auditorium ofGovernment Girls’ Schoolhere today for the school chil-dren who presented a brilliantcultural programme to thePresident of India during hisvisit to the Islands. The FirstLady of these Islands, Smt.Suneeti Singh graced the oc-casion as the chief guest andgave away the appreciationcertificates to these schoolchildren.

Addressing the gath-ering, Smt. Suneeti Singh con-gratulated the teachers andthe students for putting up agreat show during the ‘civicreception’ held in honour ofthe President of India. Smt.Singh described teachers as

First Lady gives awayappreciation certificates

to cultural contingent

the backbone of schools with-out whom, she said impartinggood education to the stu-dents is not possible. Theyare the ones, who not onlyimpart education but also

shape the career of the stu-dents, she said and urged thestudents to make it a habit toseek blessings of their parentsand teachers as this will al-

Port Blair, Jan 31: In the re-cent meeting with the UnionHome Minister ShushilKumar Shinde at New Delhi,PCC President Kuldeep RaiSharma has also appraisedhim of the issues related to theDirector of Transport, ANAdministration for favourableconsideration and early ap-proval.

Kuldeep, submittingvarious correspondences onthe issue, stated that the A &N Administration has alreadysubmitted the proposal to theMinistry of Road Transportand Highways for creation of638 posts of various catego-

Kuldeep highlights issues relatedto DoT infront of Home Minister

ries keepingplan provi-sion andstated thatearly cre-ation ofthese postswill provideregular em-ployment tothe presentlye n g a g e dworkers ondaily wagesin the Di-rectorate ofTrans por tand will also improve the ef-ficiency of the Directorate in

operation and maintenance of

Port Blair, Jan 31: IndianNavy LCU L 33, the oldestamphibious warship ofAndaman and Nicobar Com-mand is tentatively scheduledto be decommissioned in midApril 14. The ship was com-missioned into the IndianNavy on 01 Dec 1980 at Goaby Rear Admiral Subir Paul,VrC, and has been part of allmajor operations in this FarEastern Sea board during her33 long years of service to thenation.

One of the first fewindigenously designed ships,commissioned into the IndianNavy, it was manufactured byGoa Shipyard Limited, Vasco-da-Gama. The ship is the onlyunit in Andaman and NicobarCommand to receive theUnit Citation from the Chiefof Naval Staff in 1999 andCINCAN’s Citation in 2013.

The ship also partici-pated in relief operations inSri Lanka during the Tsunamiof 2004, and was com-mended by then President ofSri Lanka, Her ExcellencyChandrika Bandaranaike

IN LCU L 33, the OldestAmphibious Warship Of ANC to bedecommissioned in mid April 2014

Kumaratunga, for her role inhumanitarian services follow-ing the Tsunami disaster.

The ship played a vi-tal role in the rescue ofstranded tourist from Neil Is-land during the recent ‘Cy-clone Leher ’. The shipbattled rough seas and recov-ered 97 tourists from Neil Is-land. The ship has also beeninvolved with the training ofthe marine police at Diglipur,Rangat, Mayabander and HutBay.

The ship sailed for thelast time on 24 Jan 14, and hastraversed a distance of1,15,500 NM at sea. In herlast Operational Cycle, theship has carried out all tasksset forth by the Command andhas been at sea for around 205days.

The present and lastCommanding Officer, Lt CdrRajesh Shivadas had this tosay about the grand old lady“After the glorious of 33years in the service of hernation, IN LCU L 33 is readyto serve the nation in differ-ent way.”

CARI’s training programme oncommercial flowers under TSP at Car Nicobar

Port Blair, Jan 31: CentralAgricultural Research Insti-tute (CARI) conducted thetraining programme on scien-tific cultivation of flowercrops to the tribal farmers ofCar Nicobar under the TSPcomponent of CARI in col-laboration with KVK,Nicobar during 28th to 29thJanuary 2014.

`The first trainingprogramme was organized inthe village Kakana on28.01.2014 which was at-tended by 31 tribal farmerswhich consisted of 15 maleand 16 female farmers. Thesecond training programmewas conducted in the villagePerka on 29.01.2014. About

33 tribal farmers (18 maleand 15 female farmers) of thevillage attended theprogramme. The two daystraining programme was co-ordinated by the course direc-tor Dr. V. Baskaran, SeniorScientist, Division of Horticul-ture and Forestry under the

guidance and supervision ofDr. S. Dam Roy, Director,CARI, Port Blair and Nodalofficer, TSP along with Dr. D.R. Singh, Head, Division ofHorticulture and Forestry,CARI, Port Blair and Dr.Nagesh Ram, Programme co-

(See page 6)

(See page 5)

(See page 5)

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01.02.2014 Daily Issue::26

EDITORIAL.....The Way We Treat Our Women

The Delhi law minister’s ig-norance of the law is per-haps not his only weakness.The zealous politician’s fa-miliarity with Indian tradi-tion also seems perfunctory.Why else would he be soangry at alleged prostitutes?For his sake, let’s revisit an-cient contexts when prosti-tutes were not just commer-cial sex workers but treatedas revered members of so-ciety. Many of them werelearned women who coulddiscourse with their com-panions and guests withgreat facility and also en-gage in metaphysical dis-cussions. A courtesan whowas also a prostitute wasmuch sought after as onewho could relieve you ofburdens and refresh and re-juvenate you so that youcould carry out your dutiesas householder and citizenin a more enlightenedmanner.Interestingly, theword ‘harlot’ in earliertimes referred to a man whoentertained others and hadno fixed occupation; he was,perhaps, a vagabond, anidler and a beggar. And thenit came to mean “malelecher”, a licentious mangiven to sexual excesses.Over time, the word came tobe associated only with awoman who gave of herselffor a consideration.I q b a lSingh’s book, “GautamaBuddha,’ conjures vivid pic-tures of harlots who ser-viced the needs of thosefilled with desire for plea-sure. “The harlot was morethan mere woman; she wasa force of nature – irresist-ible, and beyond good andevil.” The author points outthat seekers and initiates,the laity, were not unaf-fected by venal love thatflourished unchecked. Buteven at that libertine age,harlots drew the ire ofpriests. “In vain did they in-voke the wrath of gods andturn upon her the battery oftheir characteristicabuse...in vain did the mor-alists, realising that theywere doomed to have alonely journey along thestraight and narrow path,

inveigh against the deprav-ity of the age.”

Yet the “vogue of ve-nal love f lourished un-checked. Beyond good andevil, beyond the reach ofthe splenetic breath ofpriestly and prophetic cen-sure, the scarlet woman re-mained unmoved on herthrone of glory.” When shesaw the upholders of moral-ity trying to reduce her toashes with their f iercelooks, she, who was herselfof the nature of the flame,smiled a meaningful smile– a smile of understandingand pity, of forgiveness andpromise. Beaten and in de-spair, some priests “foundthemselves knocking at herdoor, if not exactly in sack-cloth, at least their remorse-ful eyes averted and down-cast – the eternal preroga-tive of the penitent.” Andshe took in these prodigalchildren....

The label of ‘prosti-tute’ did not deter JesusChrist from washing thefeet of Mary Magdalenewho sought him out for sal-vation and who was subse-quently purged of “sevensins”. She came to be ven-erated and exalted later,and is second only in stat-ure to Mother Mary. ThatChrist thought it his privi-lege to wash a so-calledharlot’s feet speaks volumesof the respect he had forwomen even if they werethought to be harlots. Werethey not also individualsand that too who served theneeds of others selflessly?The story of Amrapali inBuddhist lore is wellknown. She was a royalcourtesan, one who dancedfor the pleasure of the kingand his court. She was alsofree to choose her lovers forshe was declared the mostbeautiful and desirablewoman and was accordedall respect and lived in com-fort . Yet , one fine day,Amrapali decides to re-nounce everything and be-comes a Buddhist nun. Andthe Buddha does not stopher on account of her ante-cedents.

Nine Sri Lankan fishermen arrestedoff Chennai coast for illegal entry

Chennai: Nine Sri Lankan fishermenhave been arrested by the IndianCoast Guard for illegally fishing inIndian waters.In a sea-air co-ordinated operation, Coast Guard ar-rested the fishermen, who were fish-ing in two boats some 38 nautical milesoff Chennai coast on January 29, anofficial release said.Coast Guard's sur-

veillance aircraft Dornier located thefishermen and ICGS Rajkamal per-sonnel arrested them and seized theboats. They have been handed overto Tamil Nadu Police.The Coast Guardhas arrested 308 Lankan fishermenand 59 boats for illegally entering andfishing in India's Exclusive EconomicZone (EEZ) in the last one year alone.

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(From page 3)Kuldeep highlights.....Bus Services throughout the islands.

On the issue of grant ofGrade Pay of Rs.1900/- in the PayBand of Rs.5200-20200/- to the BusConductors and Grade Pay ofRs.2400/- to the Checking Inspectorof Directorate of Transport, Kuldeephas stated of the disparity in scale ofpay of Bus Conductors and Check-ing Inspector of the Transport Depart-ment of AN Islands when comparedto their counterpart of other UnionTerritories like Delhi, Goa, Daman andPondicherry. The Bus Conductorsand Checking Inspector serving un-der the AN Administration are draw-ing the pay in the Pay Band ofRs.5200-20200/- with a Grade Payof Rs.1800/- and Rs.2000/- respec-tively, where as the Bus Conductorsof Delhi, Goa, Daman andPondicherry are drawing the pay inthe pay Band of Rs.5200-20200/-with a Grade pay of Rs.1900/- and

Checkin Inspectors with a Grade Payof Rs.2400/-.Kuldeep then stated thatthe AN Administration has taken upthe issue of up-gradation of pay scaleof the Bus Conductors and CheckingInspector of Motor Transport Depart-ment of ANI with Ministry of HomeAffairs vide letter No.MT/54-4/ESTT/Vol/-11/1194 dated the 24thNovember, 2011. The Ministry of RoadTransport and Highways though hasissued No objection to the proposal butvide their OM No. RT-13015/2/2012-T(Part.I), dated 28Oct./7th November2013 has intimated, that the Ministryof Home Affairs being the nodal min-istry in respect of the UT Administra-tion of A&N Islands, the proposal ofAndaman & Nicobar Administrationneed to be forwarded by the Ministryof Home Affairs to the Departmentof Expenditure for their approval;which is still awaited by the A&N Ad-ministration.

ordinator, KVK, CARI.The differenttopics covered under the trainingprogramme were scope and impor-tance of flower crops in Andaman andNicobar Islands, commercial cultiva-tion of flower crops like tuberose, jas-mine, anthurium, orchids, cost eco-nomics of cultivation of different flow-ers, nursery management and pro-tected cultivation of flower crops likegerbera. The other resource personsduring the training programme were Dr.Nagesh Ram, programme coordinator,KVK, Mr. S. K. Pandey, SMS(Agronomy), Mr. T. Ravi Kumar, SMS

(Fisheries sciences), Mr. V.K. Singh,SMS (Horticulture), Zachariah George,SMS (Animal Sciences), Mr. AjayPandey, SMS, (Seed science and Tech-nology). The village head man of therespectively graced the occasion aschief guest of the training programme.The trainees were much interested incultivation of flowers and showed keeninitiative to grow flowers at Car Nicobarfor economic returns and to meet theirsocial and aesthetic requirements. Theprogramme ended with vote of thanksproposed by Mr. V. K. Singh, SMS(Horticulture).

CARI’s training...... (From page 3)

IP/2304/14

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ways bring them good fortuneand motivate them to do wellin their careers ahead, shesaid.

The First Lady alsoappreciated the culturalprogramme, especially the cre-ative music and creative sing-ing presented by the studentsduring the Republic Day func-tion-2014. Amazed by the sim-plicity, honesty and god fear-ing character among the stu-dents in these Islands, she saidit is this character and naturethat will make them good citi-

zens of the country. She alsoencouraged the girl students tojoin the Armed Forces for adistinguished career and servethe motherland in true spirit.She also visited the Craft &Art Gallery and evinced keeninterest on the exhibits dis-played there. The First Ladyalso interacted with KumariSumi Oommen, a visually chal-lenged student of Girls’ School,who presented an impressivepatriotic song. Welcoming thechief guest and others presenton the occasion, the Secretary

(Education), Shri DN Singhshowered all praise on theteachers and officials, espe-cially the two Deputy Direc-tors - Smt. Leela Vargheseand Shashi Kumar - for theirtireless effort in making thecultural programme a grandsuccess during the President’svisit. He also presented a me-mento to the First Lady on theoccasion. The function con-cluded with the vote of thanksproposed by the Deputy Di-rector (Education), ShriDharmendra Kumar.

First Lady...... (From Page 3)

Second Supermoonof 2014 to be visiblesoon. Check Dates

Bangalore, Jan 29: The worldis going to see the Supermoonin upcoming days. The sec-ond of the five supermoons of2014 would be visible on Fri-day, an organisation workingfor popularising astronomysaid on Tuesday. Space Foun-dation said the firstsupermoon of 2014 appearedon January 1 - making Janu-ary the single calendar monthwith two supermoons untilJanuary 2018. Friday'ssupermoon would be visiblearound 3.30pm. The remain-ing three supermoons will bevisible on July 12, August 10and September 9. The one in

August would be closest toEarth. "A supermoon is whenthe moon makes its closestapproach to Earth in its orbitthan usual. It appears asmuch as 14% bigger and 30%brighter," said Space Founda-tion president CB Devgun.According to the organisation,the term supermoon camefrom astrologer Richard Nolleover 30 years ago in 1979.During the phenomenon, theEarth, moon and sun are allin a line, with the moon in itsnearest approach to earth.Prior to 1979, supermoonswere called perigee full moonor perigee new moon.

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WWW.ANDAMANSHEEKHA.COM

Regional Office of ANSCBinaugurated at Rangat

Gurudas BiswasPort Blair, Jan 31: State Co-operative Bank Ltd hasopened its Regional office forNorth & Middle Andaman atRangat at 1.00 pm on 31/1/2014. The building of theRegional office of Co-operative Bank for North andMiddle Andaman has beeninaugurated by Mr.N.K.Sharma, I.A.S., Secretary,Cooperation cum Registrar ofCo-operative Society, A& NAdministration in presence ofMr. Bhagat Singh, Chairman,ANSCB. Other dignitaries

R.Meneka, AssistantCommissioner Rangat,Dy.S.P. Rangat, and villagersof Rangat were also presenton the occasion.

The official of theBank has declared that theRegional office of the StateCooperative Bank will workdaily from 8.00 am to 6.30pmregularly. This unit hasfacilitated with ATMprivileges too.

The Director of theBank has also assured to thepeople that very soon theState Cooperative Bank will

launch door to door servicefor the Senior Citizen andspecially-abled people of theregion to give away theirallowances.

Besides this thewhen our correspondentasked the MD aboutimprovement of theBillyground Branch?

The MD replied thatthe most important task offunctioning the Regionaloffice has done and now verysoon the building ofBillyground Branch will startfunctioning.

Announcement of Haj1435 (H) - 2014

Port Blair, Jan 31: The HajCommittee of India, Mumbaihas announced Haj 1435 (H)– 2004. The bonafideresidents of A&N Islandsdesirous of performing Hajduring the year 2014 arerequested to submit the Hajapplication form complete inall respect to the State HajCommittee latest by March15, 2014.

The prescribedapplication form and otherdetails can be had from theOffice of the Chairman, StateHaj Committee, functioningin the second floor of theDirectorate of Social Welfarebuilding at Goalghar duringoffice hours from Feb 1, 2014on all working days between9 am to 1 pm.

In a press releasereceived here , the A&NIsland State Haj Committeehas clarified that a person

can perform Haj through HajCommittee of India only‘once in a life time’.

If anyone gets aconfirmed seat by giving falseinformation it shall becancelled at any stage, evenat the time of boarding theflights. The entire amountdeposited by such Repeatersshall also be forfeited;applicants must have a validIndian InternationalPassport issued on or beforeMarch 15, 2014 and validlyatleast upto March 31, 2015;the application must givedetails of their account in abank having IFS Code; onlyphysically and mentally fitapplicants are permitted toapply and applicants mustsubmit a self-attested solemndeclaration of plain paper inthe format given in theinstruction booklet, thecommunication added.

Bishnu takes up new work under MPLAD at Hut Bay

Port Blair, Jan 31: On thedemand of the GeneralPublic o f VK PurPanchayat, Hut Bay, Mr.Bishnu Pada Ray, Memberof Parliament has decided

to undertake the work ofConstruction of CommunityHal l, Ravind ra Nagarunder V. K. Pur Panchayat,Hut Bay, Little Andaman,under the MPLAD Scheme

for the development of thearea and la id t hefoundation st one in asimple function organizedby the general public of thearea on 30/01/2014.

Address: Roy Villa, INS Utkrosh Road, New Pahargaon, Garacharma Post Office- 744105, South Andaman. Ph: 09932082892. andaman.shikha@gmail.com, editor@andamansheekha.com

City Office: Andaman Sheekha, D & K City Building, Ground Floor, RGT Road, Port Blair. A & N Islands.

Edited, Published, Printed and Owned by Shri Sanjib Kumar Roy and Published from Roy Villa, INS Utkrosh Road, New Pahargaon,Garacharma Post Office- 744105,South Andaman, A & N Islands. Printed at Royal Printers, Bargat Line, South Andaman. Editor: Shri Sanjib Kumar Roy.

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SC satisfied with policehandling of Kejriwal’s dharna

The Supreme Court on Fridayexpressed satisfaction withthe response of the Delhi Po-lice and its handling of thetwo-day dharna by Delhichief minister Arvind KejriwalJan 20-21.

Accepting the re-sponse of Delhi Police, anapex court bench of justicesRM Lodha and Shiva KirtiSingh said, “They have actedreasonably fast, and did notremain simply dormant.”

“Having regard tothe statement made by theDCP headquarters with re-gard to the action taken oncethe dharna started on Janu-

ary 20, 2014, at 12.00am, weare satisfied that no furtherorder needs to be passed inthe present petition and thesame is disposed of,” thecourt said, while acceptingthe response from Delhi Po-lice to the queries the courtposed in the last hearing.

Kejriwal sat in pro-test demanding the suspensionof four police officers whohad refused to act on the or-ders of his ministers. The is-sue of full statehood for Delhiand control of Delhi Police bythe state rather than the cen-tral government also came upduring the dharna.

Normal life affected inKashmir due to strike by Hurriyat

SRINAGAR: Normal life inKashmir was partially af-fected due to a strike calledby moderate faction ofHurriyat Conference to pro-test the Army’s decision toclose the Pathribal fake en-counter case.

Shops, offices andbusiness establishments inthe commercial hub of LalChowk and surrounding ar-eas remained closed due tothe str ike called by theHur r iya t faction led byMirwaiz Umar Farooq.

Work in courts wasalso affected as Kashmir

High Court Bar Associa-t ion has suppor ted thestr ike call of Hurr iyat .However, life was unaf-fected in civil lines andother areas of the city.

The s tr ike ca llevoked minimal response inother districts of the valley.

Transport services,though thin, were plying onall routes across the valley.

Hurr iyat Confer-ence had called for theshutdown to protest the clo-sure of the Pathribal fakeencounter case relating tothe killing of five innocent

persons who were la terdubbed as foreign militantsin March 2000.

After lengthy legalprocess to determinewhether the five army per-sonnel accused in the caseshould be tried in view ofthe immunity under AFSPA,the Army opted for generalcourt martial.

The Army recentlyclosed the case for lack ofevidence, a decision that ledto widespread condemna-tion from both the main-st ream and separa tistcamps in the valley.

Web portal on Gandhi’s life launchedNEW DELHI: A first of itskind web portal, “ MahatmaGandhi for children”, waslaunched on Friday eveningas a tribute to the Father ofthe Nation on his 66th deathanniversary.

The portal waslaunched by the advisor to thePrime Minister on public in-formation infrastructure andinnovations and chairman ofthe National InnovationCouncil Sam Pitroda duringa Twitter conference, says apress release.

The por tal -“Search for Gandhi” - tar-gets children from the ageof 6 to 15 years and is avail-able in English as well asHindi.

The portal br ingsGandhi’s life story to edu-cate and inspire childrenthrough audios and videos

by cr e-a t i v e l yintegrat-ing facts,g a m e sand quiz-zes. Afreedomfighter, av i s i o n -ary anda leader,Gandhi’slife isfilled with lessons that areimperative even in today’sscenario, it said.

Games and quizzeshave been designed to drivethe visitors to know moreabout Gandhi and how theycould put his message topractice in their own lives.

Unlike text books,the portal provides an inter-active, innovative and tech-

nology driven platform. TheTwitter conference sawhundreds of tweets comingin from several countriesaround the world, that wereanswered by Sam Pitroda -@pitrodasam andJahanvi P rasad -@jprasada, Founder, Youth4 Gandhi Foundation. Theportal is available atwww.searchforgandhi.in.

Marriage to minor girl not legally valid: HCMADURAI: Holding thattheir marriage was not legallyvalid, the Madras high courton Friday rejected the plea ofa 17-year-old girl to go withher husband. Hearing a Ha-beas Corpus petition by oneA Ganesh, husband of theminor girl, a divison bench ofjustice S Tamilvanan and jus-tice V S Ravi of Maduraibench said that the marriagebetween the couple was notlegally valid. The court di-rected police to lodge the girlin a women's home till April

15 this year, when she be-comes major, and produceher before the court the nextday for passing final orders.

The court could notpermit her to go with the pe-titioner as it would be againstlaw.

The court said thatthe Delhi high court ordercited by the petitioner's coun-sel, permitting a minor girl togo alongwith her lover, wasnot a reasoned decision andit was a judgement passedwithout reference to statu-

tory provisions. The Justicessaid a marriage involving aminor girl would be a nullityin the eye of law and therewas no necessity even to ob-tain a divorce decree withregard to such a marriage.

They opted for theClass 10th certificate of thegirl to determine her agethough the petitioner pro-duced a doctor's opinion toprove that she was major.

"Only school certifi-cate will prevail," the courtsaid.

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