Jaspal Rana joins Congress

Dehradun, January 10
BJP leader and ace shooter Jaspal Rana, who is a close relative of senior party leader Rajnath Singh, joined the Congress here today.

Birender Singh, general secretary and in-charge of Congress affairs in Uttarakhand, and party MP from Tehri Garhwal Vijay Bahuguna made this announcement at a press conference here.

Rana, an Arjuna awardee, had fought the 2009 parliamentary elections on the BJP ticket from the Tehri Garhwal seat but lost to Vijay Bahuguna. Rana’s sister is married to Rajnath Singh’s son. Rana’s father Narayan Singh Rana was a minister in the interim government of Uttarakhand in 2002.

Rana told mediapersons that he had been impressed by the appeal of Rahul Gandhi, who had motivated scores of youth across the country to join the Congress. “I have not joined the Congress to fight elections and will work as a common worker of the party. I have not taken this decision in haste but after due deliberation. I have been talking about joining the Congress for the past one year,” he said.

Rana criticised the BJP and said it did not use his services in the last three years. “I wasted three precious years as the party did not gave me any work nor invited me to any of its functions or programmes,” he added.

Asked what prevented him from gong to Tehri after his defeat in the elections and working for the common people, Rana said he was no ordinary man and the party deliberately ignored him.

He thanked Congress president Sonia Gandhi for accepting him as a member of the party.

PM to address meetings in Rudrapur, Rishikesh on Jan 20

Dehradun, January 10
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is expected to address election meetings during Uttarakhand Assembly polls at Rudrapur in Udham Singh Nagar district and Rishikesh in Dehradun district on January 20.

Vijay Bahuguna, Tehri Garhwal Cong MP, announced here today that the Prime Minister’s visit would depend on the security clearance by the Special Protection Group (SPG). Congress president Sonia Gandhi will also be visiting Tehri Garhwal and Roorkee on January 17. Gandhi could not visit Uttarakhand on two earlier occasions. She could not make it to attend the laying of foundation stone of Rishikesh-Karanprayag railway line at Gauchar in Chamoli district on November 9, 2011. Later, she also could attend the party’s rally at Haldwani in the last week of December.

Rahul Gandhi, party general secretary, would also be visiting Uttarakhand on January 23 and 24, attending at least six meetings at Uttarkashi, Srinagar, Garhwal, Pithoragarh and Almora.

A large number of Central Congress leaders, including Congress chief ministers would also be attending at least 65 public meetings throughout the length and breadth of the state during the next fortnight. 

Passport office dismisses forgery charges against Kumble

Bangalore, January 10
The claim of the former husband of cricketer Anil Kumble’s wife Kumar V Jahgirdar that the leg-spinner had forged his signatures on Jahgirdar’s minor daughter Aaruni’s passport renewal application form was today dismissed by the regional passport office in Bangalore.

The Karnataka High Court had, on Friday, served a notice on the Bangalore police commissioner for not registering an FIR against Anil Kumble in the impersonation and forgery case.

Justice S Abdul Naseer directed the police commissioner to explain by next week why an FIR should not be registered against Kumble, who had been accused of forging the signature of petitioner Kumar V Jahgirdar in an application for renewing the passport of the latter’s minor daughter Aaruni Kumar Jahgirdar in April 2011.

Kumble married Jahgirdar’s wife Chetana Ramtheertha in 1999 after Kumar and Chetana legally separated. The Supreme Court upheld the family court’s ruling granting joint custody of Aaruni to Kumar and Chetana while maintaining Kumar’s right over the 17-year-old daughter as her natural father and legal guardian.

Jahgirdar came to know that his ex-wife had applied for renewal of Aaruni’s passport (which expired in 2009). As per rules, a declaration has to be made by the father in the case of a minor for passport renewal. According to Jahgirdar, in Aaruni’s application, while his name was mentioned as her father, Kumble had impersonated him and signed the document.

Jahgirdar filed a complaint with the Bharatinagar police on December 26 and then brought the issue to the notice of the city police commissioner on December 29. The police did nothing, thus prompting Jahgirdar to knock at the door of the court.

A senior official at the passport office here said, “Kumble did not impersonate anyone. He gave his own signature in Aaruni’s application renewal form.” 

Bihar hamlet decks up to welcome its daughter — Trinidad PM

Patna, January 10
Bhelupur, a non-descript, dark hamlet in Bihar’s Buxar district, is euphoric these days. And why wouldn’t it be. The occasion is grand and the stakes, high. Bhelpur, the native village of Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago Kamla Persad Bissessar, is trying its every bit to roll out the red carpet for the VVIP who would be visiting the place tomorrow.

Ever since the villagers got to know about her visit, they have gone into overdrive, making arrangements for the special occasion.

Preparations are on to make special ‘Litti-Chokha’, ‘Chura-Dahi’ and ‘Lai-Tilkut’ — all ethnic Bihari cuisine — which would be offered to the visiting dignitary.

“The district administration is getting two helipads made at the village where the Indian Air Force choppers carrying Persad and her entourage will land. The government is also providing security to the VVIP during her two-hour stay at the village. The rest of the things are being taken care of by the villagers themselves,” circle officer of Itarhi block, Bharat Bhushan, under whose jurisdiction the village comes, told The Tribune.

The villager doesn’t have any power and its residents were hopeful of getting electricity connections but that didn’t happen. However, the villagers are not complaining and have put their heart and soul into renovating the lanes through which the delegation will pass.

As the Trinidad PM does not know Hindi or Bhojpuri, the dialect spoken by the people of her ancestral land, she will be accompanied by a team of expert interpreters and translators.

Ramlakhan Mishra, the eldest member of her ancestral family in the village, said the villagers had collected money to present her a silver crown. Persad, who is in India in connection with Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, which concluded yesterday at Jaipur, would also be asked to plant five variety of trees on her ancestral land.

The villagers also plan to present her a chunk of soil from the village that she would carry back home.

The Trinidad PM had commissioned her country’s top genealogist to trace her roots and it took him years of hard work to zero down on the humble family of Ram Lakhan Mishra’s descendents here.

According to genealogist’s findings, it was Ram Lakhan Mishra who left Bhelupur to board the ship named ‘Volga’ from Calcutta port (now Kolkata) on July 18, 1889 as a Girmitiya labourer to work in the Caribbeans. Of the 555 passengers on board, 18 died during the three-month long journey. Mishra survived the trip and landed on the island on October 21, 1889 and made it his home. He was unmarried when he reached Trinidad and Tobago, then a British colony.

Subsequently, after he settled there, he married a local girl. His son named Chauranji Persad got married to Sumitra Persad and gave birth to Lilraj Persad who became owner of an oil company there and his daughter Kamla was sworn in as the first women PM of Trinidad &Tobago on May 26, 2010. She was the Attorney Journal of her country before being elected to Parliament from Siparia in 1991. 

I don’t need a visa to visit India, claims Rushdie

Chandigarh, January 10
In the poll season, even a Booker of Bookers award winning author can be used as fodder for political gains. Or, at least an attempt can be made to do so.

It is a different matter that most of those demanding cancellation of Salman Rushdie’s visa for his India visit to participate in the Jaipur Literature Festival (JLF) may have never read ‘ The Satanic Verses’, the book that has been the cause of over two-decade long controversy, re-ignited this time for a myopic political game.

In 1989, when Ayatollah Khomeini, an Iranian leader, had issued a fatwa ( death sentence) on Rushdie over his controversial book ‘The Satanic Verses’, it was told, even he had not read the book. The fatwa was withdrawn by the government of Iran in 1998, which should have made the issue a forgotten history.

But, in the obscure political landscape of UP, where 17 per cent Muslims form a big vote bank, Deoband chief, Maulana Mufti Abul Qasim Nomani’s demand that Rushdie should be denied visa, received an apt response from the author, who never disappoints his detractors. The writer tweeted, “my Indian visit, for the record, I don’t need a visa.”

The Deoband chief said he had written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi to cancel Rushdie’s visa, adding a threat, “In case of no response from the UPA government, the Darul-Uloom Deoband will take appropriate action.” Whatever the appropriate action may be, the producer of JLF, Sanjoy Roy, remained unfazed. He said, “Salman Rushdie has attended several literary events and forums in India in recent years. The JLF provides a space for free speech in India's best democratic traditions, we are a plural society, and it is imperative that we continue to allow avenues for unfettered literary expression.”

Sanjoy has reasons to be confident. He has witnessed the popularity Rushdie enjoys across lines. If only the protesters knew, the same Rushdie had kept his audience glued over couple of hours in the open lawns of Diggi Palace in 2007, where the JLF is organised every year.

Though the protests are also a sad reminder of the fate of Harud, the first ever literature festival planned for Kashmir Valley in September 2011, which had to be cancelled because rumours were spread that Rushdie was going to be a guest.

Rushdie is scheduled to address a literary session, “Midnight`s Children” named after his landmark Man Booker Prize winning 1981 novel, anchored by noted writer Hari Kunzru on Jan 21, he will also participate in a group discussion, “Inglish, Amlish, Hinglish: The Chutneyfication of English”, featuring Rita Kothari, Tarun Tejpal and Ira Pande on Jan 23 at Diggi Palace, Jaipur. 

The recent row

* Deoband chief Maulana Mufti Abul Qasim Nomani on Monday demanded that controversial author Salman Rushdie should be denied visa to visit India for the Jaipur litfest

* The Deoband chief said he had written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi to cancel Rushdie's visa. He had warned that in case of no response from the UPA government, the Darul-Uloom Deoband will take appropriate action

Govt unlikely to stop Salman

NEW DELHI: Controversial author Salman Rushdie is unlikely to be stopped by the government from travelling to India as he holds a Person of Indian Origin (PIO) card that entitles him to visit the country without visa. "He had travelled to India in the past using PIO card. We have never stopped him. We have no intention to stop any PIO card holder to travel to his or her home country in future either," a source said. 

IT’S SHIVERING COLD IN THE NORTH

IT’S SHIVERING COLD IN THE NORTH
	Gulmarg -16.2°C Biting cold prevailed in the Kashmir Valley with the mercury plunging to -16.2°C in Gulmarg while Srinagar shivered at -2.8°C. Manali -7°C It was a chilly Tuesday in Himachal with Manali shivering at -7°C while Shimla and Solan recorded a low of -2.1°C and -2.5°C, respectively. Amritsar -2°C The cold wave continued to sweep parts of Punjab and neighbouring Haryana as Amritsar recorded this year's lowest minimum so far at -2°C
A child gazes from his window with icicles hanging from the roof of a house in Shimla on Tuesday. Photo: Amit Kanwar

Edmonton region housing starts fall 6% in 2011

Houses at Mosaic Ridge in the early morning light in Edmonton.

EDMONTON - A modest jump in activity last month capped a slight decrease in the year for Edmonton housing starts, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. said Tuesday.

Total starts in the capital and surrounding suburbs numbered 691 for the last month of 2011, up from 558 in December 2010. But the calendar year 2011 saw a six per cent decrease in total starts in the Edmonton area, from 9,959 units in 2010 to 9,332 units in 2011.

Richard Goatcher, CMHC’s senior market analyst for Edmonton, linked the modest decline to existing housing levels.

“Adequate new and resale inventories constrained new single-detached production throughout much of 2011,” he said. Single-detached starts accounted for more than half of all starts in Edmonton in 2010 and 2011.

Calgary recorded a small year-over-year increase in starts, according to CMHC. Total housing starts in 2011 came in at 9,292 units, 30 more than 2010. Canmore, Grande Prairie and Wetaskiwin saw growth in total housing starts for 2011, while Medicine Hat, Camrose and Red Deer’s numbers declined.

December 2011 also came in with 47 per cent more total starts across Alberta’s seven largest population centres than the same month in 2010, led by a 91 per cent increase in multi-family starts.

Multi-family housing projects often lend themselves to volatile monthly statistics due to the large numbers of units involved in a single project. Still, Goatcher noted that multi-family starts rose 11 per cent from 2010 to 2011.

“Multi-family production in 2011 represented the best performance for the industry since 2007.”

Hollywood stars align against new project

With Keystone stalled, U.S. allies join Canadian environmentalists

Fresh off its win helping delay the Key-stone XL oil pipeline in the United States, the Natural Resources Defense Council is directing its star-studded cast against the $5.5-billion Northern Gateway pipeline.

The U.S.-based environmental group, which raised $94 million in 2010, will bring its expertise and 1.3 million members to a formidable array of largely B.C.-based environmental groups campaigning to stop the controversial project.

It will also bring a new element - celebrity power. The defence council counts among its directors actors Robert Redford and Leonardo DiCaprio. Its senior lawyer is Robert Kennedy Jr.

Redford has already written publicly about his concerns regarding Gateway. When the defence council wanted to educate its members about the project, actor Kevin Bacon narrated a short video about it.

Susan Casey-Lefkowitz, international pro-gram director of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), said the group has entered the Northern Gateway campaign because delaying the Keystone XL project planned to deliver oil-sands oil into the U.S. market means there will be even more pressure on the Northern Gate-way pipeline to proceed. U.S. President Barack Obama postponed a decision on the $7-billion Keystone XL pipeline until 2013, pending further environmental review.

Casey-Lefkowitz said the Northern Gateway pipeline and tankers threaten a beautiful landscape, the spirit bear (rare white black bear) and the greatest fishing rivers in the world.

"These are all things of global interest," said Casey-Lefkowitz, who is based in Washington, D.C. "We are bringing an international com-munity that cares very much about the B.C. coast."

The NRDC is no stranger to environmental battles in B.C., having pushed to protect areas along the central and north coast now known as the Great Bear Rain Forest.

In November, the NRDC partnered with the Calgary-based Pembina Institute and B.C.-based Living Oceans Society to release a report that argues bitumen from the oilsands is more corrosive and heavier than conventional oil, making a pipeline failure or tanker leak more likely. Calgary-based Enbridge Inc. has said it will build and operate the Northern Gateway pipe-line to the highest safety standards.

The NRDC's members have also sent 60,000 emails opposing the project to B.C. Premier Christy Clark, and another 40,000 to Enbridge president and chief executive Patrick Daniel.

The mostly B.C.-based environmental groups have already been fighting the proposed En-bridge pipeline for years.

There are about a dozen such groups, including the Dog-wood Initiative, ForestEthics (with offices in B.C. and the U.S.), West Coast Environ-mental Law, the Raincoast Conservation Foundation, the SkeenaWild Conservation Trust and the T. Buck Suzuki Environmental Foundation.

All have similar concerns: the risk and the potential catastrophic effects of a pipeline or tanker spill on the environment and communities, and the expansion of the Alberta oilsands and in-creases in greenhouse gas emissions.

The Victoria-based Dogwood Initiative has an active campaign to halt the project. Recently it ran a campaign that helped sign up 1,600 people to testify at the National Energy Board's regulatory hearings that begin Tuesday in Kitimat, B.C.

In Alberta, the environmental opposition against the pipeline does not have as many voices as it does in British Columbia.

And groups like Greenpeace, the Sierra Club and the Pembina Institute have focused their opposition on the oilsands.

The Pembina Institute, which advocates transitioning away from a fossil-fuel economy, has called for a halt in developing Northern Gateway until the upstream effects of the oilsands are addressed.

While Pembina is concerned about the risks of the Northern Gateway pipeline and tanker spills, its main concerns are over oilsands tailings seepage, industrial air emissions, greenhouse gas emissions and reclamation of wetlands.

"Our perspective is that oilsands development could proceed responsibly if it was being developed in accordance with science-based environ-mental limits," said Jennifer Grant, director of Pembina's oilsands program.

"(But) limits on oilsands development are not being addressed," she said.

The fight against the Northern Gateway project is also being carried out by a coterie of recently created, locally based groups in northern B.C.

Those include the Sea to Sands Conservation Alliance in Prince George, the Douglas Channel Watch in Kitimat, Lakes District Clean Waters Coalition in Burns Lake and the Fort St. James Sustainability Group.

Some of the homegrown groups, which operate on shoestring budgets, are using social media to get their message out. The Sea to Sands Conservation Alliance has more than 900 members on its Facebook site. The Douglas Channel Watch has more than 550 fans.

Margaret Stenson, a representative of the Douglas Channel Watch, said the group started after like-minded friends starting talking to each other. Now, about a dozen to 20 people attend its meetings, which have increased in frequency to once or twice a week in preparation for the regulatory hearings.

"I think we have a lot of support, but there are a lot of people who haven't found out that much about the Northern Gateway project," Stenson said.

"You think they would. Our Douglas Channel is so important to us. And the Kitimat River is our drinking water, and this pipeline goes about 70 kilometres, I believe, along the river."

First Nation elder urges others to reject Northern Gateway

As public hearings began Tuesday into Enbridge Inc.’s Northern Gateway project, First Nations groups came together to speak against the building of the twin pipelines.

The federal review of the Enbridge project is meant to determine if the B.C.-to-Alberta pipelines are environmentally sound, has economic merit and are in Canada’s public interest.

Ken Hall, an elder with the Haisla Nation, spoke eloquently about his family’s total dependence on seafood when he was growing up. Yet, over time, Mr. Hall has seen fish and wildlife stocks depleted to the extent that he now concerned for his people’s future.

Mr. Hall fears the worse should anything go wrong with Enbridge’s proposed pipelines.

“One spill from them will wipe out everything,” he cautioned. “We’ll have no more. And it’s not going to be us who are damaged. It will be our grandchildren.”

The public hearings into the proposed $5.5-billion pipeline is expected to run 18 months and feature of thousands of people.

The heated public debate is focused on the risks and rewards of the 1,172-kilometre pipeline and associated tanker traffic on the B.C. coast. An eastbound pipeline would carry imported natural gas condensate to Alberta, which is used to thin heavier petroleum products.

The small community of Kitimat would be the terminus of the pipelines where super tankers will be loaded with oil destined for Asia, opening up new markets for bitumen from Alberta’s oil sands.

An oil spill in Douglas Channel or the Kitimat River would have profound effects on the community of 9,200, effecting the town’s water supply, salmon and marine environment.

Mr. Hall also spoke about his community’s eight-year fight against a logging company in Kitlope, B.C.

“It’s going to be terrible — terrifying — if everything disappears on us in this community.”
Clifford Smith, another elder with the Haisla Nation, echoed Mr. Hall’s words as he acknowledged the many First Nations bands who plan to attend the hearings.

“Let’s take that strength and stand together and say no to Enbridge,” he said.