Photo of the week

A picture is worth a thousand words!

(photo sourced from the internet, would be glad to publish photographers name, if a valid claim is made)

Harmony, Peace as catalysts of growth

14.03.2010: News roundup

Everyone should co-operate in the state effort of maintaining law and order

Bantwal, Mar 15: “Everyone should co-operate in the state effort of maintaining law and order”, said state home minister Dr V S Acharya. He was speaking at the Salafi Sammelan, held at Nandavar, near here, on Sunday March 14.

“The state can surge in development activities when peace reigns. There is no distinction of minorities and majority in democratic governance. India was the abode of diverse cultures and religions since ancient times. All religions in the world propagate brotherhood and co-existence”, said Dr Acharya. He commended the efforts of Salafi Movement that emphasizes peace, harmony and education of women. Dr Acharya also released the book ‘Mokshada Marga’ and launched the www.salafimovement.com on the same occasion.

SKSM central committee president Ahmed Ansar inaugurated the programme. Sammelan welcome committee president Basheer Ahmed presided over the programme.Ummer Sharief, Ahmed S M, and Akmal Jawhar, also spoke on the occasion.

MLA Yogish Bhat, Sushma Janardhan, G Anand, Chandrahas Ucchil, Mangalore City Corporation chief whip Ranganath Kini, welcome committee chief convener Sarafuddin, community leaders Nazeer Ahmed, Abubaker K, G Abdul Razak Goltamajal, U N Abdul Razak, Mohammed Iliyas, Riyaz Ahmed, and Mohammed Gulam were present on the dais.

Ismail Shafi welcomed the gathering while V K Hidayatulla proposed the vote of thanks.

Udupi: Cow Slaughter Ban – No Confrontation, but Constitutional Obligation

Udupi, Mar 14: State home minister, Dr V S Acharya, said that the state government has been planning to enact anti cow slaughter ban as per the constitutional obligation, and not to appease or anger any groups. He was speaking after inaugurating the newly formed Udupi District Meat Sellers Association here on Saturday March 13.

The state government, which withdrew the ammendment bill it had introduced in the assembly to the existing Anti Cow Slaughter Act, had later introduced the Karnataka Prevention of Slaughter and Preservation of Cattle Bill in its place. Acharya said that as per the wishes of Dr Ambedkar, slaughter of cows and other bovine animals has been banned in the constitution.

“To honour the wishes of the majority of people, and as per the election manifesto to which the BJP had committed itself before the last election, and taking into consideration certain legal points which were upheld by the High Courts and the Supreme Court in such cases in North India in the past, this bill has been introduced,” he explained. He insisted that the main aim of the government is to ensure that law and order prevails in the state. “We neither want to appease certain sections, nor antagonize others,” he asserted.

He promised that the government will, within the available legal parameters, extend all possible help to the newly set up meat sellers association. “If necessary, the municipality will hold talks with the Association,” he added. In his address, MP D V Sadanand Gowda said that the non-vegetarians always wish that good quality meat is available. He asked the government to provide basic facilities to the meat sellers and to remove legal hurdles faced by lacs of people who eke out a living through animal husbandry.

MLAs, Lalaji Mendon, Gopal Bhandary, district BJP president, Udaykumar Shetty, Udupi Urban Development Authority chairman, B Sudhakar Shetty, Gujjady Prabhakar Nayak, entrepreneur, Pramod Madhwaraj, youth Congress secretary, Amrit Shenoy, municipal councillor, Geeta Ravi Shet, advocate Mattar Ratnakar Hegde etc., were present. (Both reports from Daijiworld)

Celebrate: do not cross the limits of decency

Karnataka chief minister B S Yeddyurappa and home minister Dr V S Acharya have directed the police to sternly deal with anybody attempting to break the law."We will maintain tight vigilance. Nobody will be allowed to cross the limits,’’ Dr Acharya said making it clear that, ``it applies to lovers observing V-Day or the opponents as well as those attempting to indulge in moral policing.’’

Bangalore: The State Government has directed the police to step up vigil at all sensitive places in the State to foil the threats to disrupt Valentine’s Day celebrations. Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa chaired a meeting with Home Minister V.S. Acharya and senior police officers on Friday and discussed the steps to be taken to maintain law and order on Valentine’s Day. Dr. Acharya warned those opposed to Valentine’s Day celebrations against fomenting trouble and said firm action would be taken against those who took the law into their own hands.

However, Dr. Acharya cautioned people against crossing the limits. “We will maintain vigil all over the State. Those celebrating Valentine’s Day should not cross the limits. Same rule applies to moral policing too.”

Bangalore Police Commissioner Shankar Bidri said a “highly structured security” system had been adopted across Bangalore to prevent untoward incidents on Valentine’s Day.He said that the police had started taking people into preventive custody. “The public can celebrate Valentine’s Day. In case they are prevented from celebrating, they can lodge a complaint at any police station. We will initiate stringent action against trouble-makers,” Mr. Bidri told presspersons. He said two activists of the Youth Congress had been arrested in connection with the blackening of Mr. Muthalik’s face. The arrested are general secretary of the Youth Congress Srinivas, and Manjunath.

“We are also questioning three Youth Congress activists for allegedly assisting the arrested,” Mr. Bidari said. He also suspected the role of a few political leaders in the incident.Mr. Bidari said that the attack was pre-planned. The department was planning to book a case against a local television channel for not informing the police about the attack on Mr. Muthalik despite being in the know.

Quote of the week

"The Justice B K Somashekhar Commission, also clarified that the contents of the report were not disclosed to anybody and only salient features of the report which were found already in the public domain."

Read full text here

Cartoon of the day

by Prakash Shetty (from media mirchi)

When the national media houses are busy crying hoarse (with 6 column coverage on front page- thus adding fuel to the fire) on an attack on a church grotto in village near Udupi...

here is a response reproduced from Daijiworld.

Gladson from Brahmavar writes...Gone are the days when devotees interceded saints to protect them from dangers! Now the Saints seem to be asking people to protect them! Why blame BJP, Congress or anyone when we have failed to restrict our own black sheep? Though the prevailing situation makes us easy to find fault with political parties and their chelas, let us not forget that we have enough people within our community who know how and when to take advantage of the situation. An incident that took place some months ago near Mangalore is a nice example. We can brush it off saying it is just a stray incident. But bottomline is that our clergy and laity leaders who feel comfortable hanging on to each other's garbs, often give enough reasons for at least a handful of people to have grouse. Leaving aside this, why can't we spend some money to provide the church premises with ample security? We spend crores on marble floors and sandlewood doors and a few lac on presbyteries. But fail to secure the building or appoint on security guard. While the critics can always argue as what one security guard can offer, let us not forget that his presence can make a lot of difference. We have locked up God within the church in such a manner that it becomes extremely difficult for Him to come out or shout for help when He is attacked!! Sad that when we enjoy a secure sleep inside our houses, our God has been exposed to attacks. He sent His Son 2000 years to rescue us but we don't have one security guard to protect Him now!

Self Restraint by the media: need of the hour

An ill timed statement about law and order- falsely attributed to the Governor, Legislative session in progress ...timing is just right for the miscreants to play havoc!

What is needed at present is the self restraint by the media, not to blow these incidents out of proportion.

Condemning the incident, home minister V S Acharya alleged that some anti-social elements were trying to create disharmony. He gave an assurance that churches in the state would be protected. Acharya said he had deputed a team of senior officials to get an on-the-spot assessment of the incident, and instructed the police to speed up the investigation.

Unanswered questions:

1. Why there was no security guard on duty? (the security guard has been away on leave 3 days ago!)

2. Why did the Congress brigade visit the place at 11am, much before the Church authorities lodged the complaint regarding the attack? (whether the Cong brigade was there to verify the job done by the hired miscreants?)

The debate...

1. Is it the job of the police to guard places of worship?

2. To Blame the police for the vices of the society, is similar to blaming the doctor for ill health!

3. Will the attacks on the church lead to polarization of the Majority communities?

ಕೊಳಂಬೆ ಶಾಂತಿ ನಗರ ಮದೀನ ಮಸೀದಿಯಲ್ಲೊಂದು ಆತ್ಮೀಯ ಸಮ್ಮಾನ

ಉಡುಪಿ: ರಾಜ್ಯ ಗೃಹ ಸಚಿವ ವಿ.ಎಸ್. ಆಚಾರ್ಯ ಅವರನ್ನು ಬೈಲೂರು ಕೊಳಂಬೆ ಮದೀನ ಮಸೀದಿಯ ವತಿಯಿಂದ ಶನಿವಾರ ಸನ್ಮಾನಿಸಲಾಯಿತು. ಮಸೀದಿಯ ಅಧ್ಯಕ್ಷ ಅಬ್ದುಲ್ ಗಫೂರ್ ಅವರು ಸಚಿವರನ್ನುಶಾಲು ಹೊದಿಸಿ ಸ್ಮರಣಿಕೆ ನೀಡಿ ಅಭಿನಂದಿಸಿದರು. ಸಮಾರಂಭದ ಅಧ್ಯಕ್ಷತೆಯನ್ನು ಉಡುಪಿ ಜಿಲ್ಲಾ ವಕ್ಫ್ ಸಲಹಾ ಮಂಡಳಿಯ ಅಧ್ಯಕ್ಷ ಹಾಜಿ ಟಿ. ಎಸ್. ಬುಡಾನ್ ಭಾಷಾ ವಹಿಸಿದ್ದರು. ಮುಖ್ಯ ಅತಿಥಿಗಳಾಗಿ ಉಡುಪಿ ನಗರಾಭಿವೃದ್ಧಿ ಪ್ರಾಧಿಕಾರದ ಅಧ್ಯಕ್ಷ ಸುಧಾಕರ ಶೆಟ್ಟಿ, ಪೌರಾಯುಕ್ತ, ಗೋಕುಲದಾಸ್ ನಾಯಕ್, ಉಡುಪಿ ಜಾಮೀಯ ಮಸೀದಿಯ ಅಡಳಿತಾಧಿಕಾರಿ ಮುಹಮ್ಮದ್ ಸಲೀಂ, ಬಿಜೆಪಿ ಅಲ್ಪಸಂಖ್ಯಾತ ರಾಜ್ಯ ಸಮಿತಿ ಸದಸ್ಯ ಕರಾಮತ್ ಅಲಿ, ಬಿಜೆಪಿ ರೈತ ಮೋರ್ಚಾದ ಜಿಲ್ಲಾಧ್ಯಕ್ಷ ವಿಶ್ವನಾಥ ಮಾಡ, ನಗರಸಭಾ ಸದಸ್ಯ ನಿತ್ಯಾನಂದ ಒಳಕಾಡು ಉಪಸ್ತಿತರಿದ್ದರು. ಮಸೀದಿಯ ಮೌಲಾನ ಶೌಕತ್ ಅಲಿ ರಝ್ವಿ ಕುರಾನ್ ಪಠಿಸಿದರು. ಉಸ್ಮಾನ್ ಅಲಿ ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮ ನಿರೂಪಿಸಿದರು

(ವರದಿ ವಾರ್ತಾ ಭಾರತಿ/ ಗಲ್ಫ್ಕನ್ನಡಿಗ+ ಚಿತ್ರ: ಜನಾರ್ದನ್ ಕೊದವೂರ್)