INDIA: Army Only for Specific Operations in Violence-Stricken Assam

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /> <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><br /> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">GUWAHATI (ASSAM, INDIA) (NNN-PTI) -- Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi on Wednesday said the Indian army will be used in the state only for specific operations to seize illegal arms and restore peace.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Army, which was being used to assist the civil administration in violence-hit districts, will be used in seizing illegal arms from the violence-hit districts initially.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">They have been already put into action in Chirang and Bongaigaon districts and soon will conduct similar operations in the other districts, he said.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">"The army is out and is helping us. It has been given full powers to seize illegal arms and ammunition and I believe we will get results very soon," Gogoi said.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The army, already engaged in counter-insurgency operations in the entire state, was requisitioned by the state government from July 25 to specifically assist the civil administration in quelling violence in lower Assam.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Meanwhile, the chief minister has called a meeting of senior officials at the state secretariat today to review the prevailing law and order situation in the affected districts.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">A team of Youth Congress members was scheduled to visit Kokrajhar district on Wednesday on the directives of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Tension prevails in the affected districts following widespread violence in different parts of the state during Tuesday's bandh called by the All Assam Minority Students' Union (AAMSU) with security forces maintaining a strict vigil, official sources said.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Night curfew was continuing in Kokrajhar, Chirang and Dhubri districts, they said. -- NNN-PTI<o:p></o:p></span></div></div>

INDIA: Army Only for Specific Operations in Violence-Stricken Assam

GUWAHATI (ASSAM, INDIA) (NNN-PTI) -- Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi on Wednesday said the Indian army will be used in the state only for...

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INDIA: Former Minister among 32 Convicted in Gujarat Riots

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /> <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><br /> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">AHMEDABAD (NNN-AGENCIES) -- A special court in Ahmedabad on Wednesday convicted 32 people, including a former BJP minister Maya Kodnani and Bajrang Dal leader Babu Bajrangi, in the Naroda Patia case, the biggest massacre of the post-Godhra riots. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The cases were filed under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including of murder and conspiracy. The maximum punishment is death, said a lawyer. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The court acquitted 29 people. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">On February 28, 2002, 97 persons were killed in Naroda. As many as 94 bodies were found, of which 84 were identified. Three people are still missing. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The court had earlier kept the judgment for pronouncement on June 30, but was deferred till August 29. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The city crime branch nabbed 47 people and filed four charge sheets, but after the Supreme Court transferred the investigation to the special investigation team (SIT), 24 other accused were arrested including Kodnani. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In all, eight charge sheets were filed in this case. The trial began in 2009 and lasted for more than two years. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Special prosecutors Akhil Desai and Gaurang Vyas examined 327 witnesses and in all more than 500 documentary evidences were produced before the court. Those who deposed before the court were 173 relatives of victims who were eyewitnesses, 41 panch witnesses, 17 officials, 42 doctors, 44 cops, one forensic experts and nine others. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">"More than 90 people lost their lives, mostly children and ladies, all of them were defenceless," public prosecutor Akhil Desai said, adding that he would push for the death penalty when sentences are handed down on Friday. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">"If some of the accused are lucky enough to escape the death penalty, I will ask for life imprisonment, not for 14 years but for the rest of their lives," he told reporters. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Kodnani, who served as child and human development minister under Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi until her arrest in 2009, broke down in tears as the guilty verdict was pronounced, as did relatives waiting outside the court. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The violence was triggered by the deaths of nearly 60 Hindu pilgrims in a February 2002 train fire that was initially blamed on a mob of Muslims. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Hindus hungry for revenge rampaged through Muslim neighbourhoods across Gujarat in an orgy of violence that marked some of India's worst religious riots since independence from Britain in 1947. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Human rights groups say more than 2,000 people, mainly Muslims, were hacked, beaten or burned to death, while government figures put the death toll at about 1,000. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Last year, a court in Gujarat found 31 Muslims guilty of murder and conspiracy charges for causing the train fire, but a national enquiry in 2005 concluded that the blaze was an accident and cast doubt on much of the police evidence. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Wednesday's verdicts came after final arguments in April following a trial that saw 327 witnesses called to give evidence. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">More than 100 others have been convicted for killing Muslims during the riots. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In 2008, the Supreme Court ordered the re-investigation of nine of the most sensitive incidents during the riots, including the initial train fire and the violence in Naroda Patiya. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Bajrangi, in an interview taped by news magazine Tehelka, confessed to helping orchestrate the killing in Naroda Patiya where homes were set on fire and some Muslims were set ablaze while hiding in a pit. -- NNN-AGENCIES<o:p></o:p></span></div></div>

INDIA: Former Minister among 32 Convicted in Gujarat Riots

AHMEDABAD (NNN-AGENCIES) -- A special court in Ahmedabad on Wednesday convicted 32 people, including a former BJP minister Maya Kodnani an...

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US Reassures India About Protecting Sikh Community

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /> <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">India's foreign minister says he has received U.S. assurances of the Indian community's safety, following the killing of six worshippers at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">S.M. Krishna told reporters in New Delhi on Tuesday that he urged the full protection of all places of worship in the United States during a phone conversation with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton late Monday.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The foreign minister said Clinton, who is on a visit to South Africa, assured him that the Indian community's interests are "going to be quite safe under the present administration."  Krishna said the secretary of state was "as disturbed as any one of us is in India."<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Authorities say a gunman Sunday killed five men and one woman at the temple near the city of Milwaukee, before he was shot dead by police.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Officials have identified the gunman as 40-year-old Wade Michael Page. They say he served in the U.S. Army for about six years in the 1990s before being discharged for misconduct.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">U.S. officials say they are investigating possible ties between Page and white supremacist groups and that the shooting is being probed as an act of domestic terrorism.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">A U.S. group that monitors extremists - the Southern Poverty Law Center - says Page was a member of a white supremacist band called End Apathy.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Sikhs, who wear turbans and beards, have been mistaken in the United States for Muslims and sometimes targeted for hate crimes, including a Sikh who was killed in the state of Arizona four days after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">President Barack Obama said "soul searching" is needed about how to reduce violence in America. He said Americans would "recoil" in shock if it turned out the shooter was motivated by ethnic hatred.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The president ordered flags at federal buildings to be flown at half-staff through Friday.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, himself a Sikh, said he was shocked and saddened by the assault, calling it a "dastardly attack."  India is home to a majority of the world's Sikhs.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Investigators said three others were hospitalized in critical condition, including a policeman who was shot eight or nine times before a second policeman killed Page.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Sikhism is a monotheistic religion founded more than 500 years ago in the Punjab district of what is now India and Pakistan.  <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Authorities say the worldwide population of Sikhs is 20 million, with 400,000 to 1 million Sikhs in the U.S. ---VOA News<o:p></o:p></span></div></div>

US Reassures India About Protecting Sikh Community

India's foreign minister says he has received U.S. assurances of the Indian community's safety, following the killing of six worsh...

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Indian Sikhs Shocked About US Shooting

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /> <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">By Anjana Pasricha<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">MUMBAI — India’s Sikh community has expressed shock and called for more security at Sikh temples in the United States, following the killing of seven people by a gunman in Wisconsin.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">From religious and political leaders in the Sikh community to Sikh protestors, expressions of dismay and anger poured in as news of the shooting reached India.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who is also a Sikh, said in a statement that it was particularly painful that this “senseless act of violence should be targeted at a place of religious worship." Singh said he hopes American authorities will work to prevent the recurrence of such acts.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In the northern Punjab state - the only Indian state where Sikhs are a majority - religious leaders called for greater attention to the security of devotees.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Avtak Singh Makkar, who heads the main religious body of the Sikh community, the Sikh Shiromani Gurudwara Prabhandak Committee, says the incident has hurt the feelings of the community around the world.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“I appeal to the American government that legal action should be taken up immediately and ensure the safety of people from Sikh community," he pleaded. "They should take adequate measures to ensure security at such religious places.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Dozens of slogan shouting protesters marched in the streets of Jammu in northern Indian, carrying banners calling for banning open sales of weapons in the United States.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Sikh political leaders called for an investigation to find out what led to the shooting.  Indian Junior Foreign Minister Preneet Kaur, also a Sikh, is calling for justice.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“American President Obama has reached out and he has deplored the incident and said that Sikhs are an integral part of the multi-ethnic community that is in America and I would urge that they take fast and prompt action," he said. "We are waiting for the details and my heart goes out and my sympathies to all those who have lost their dear ones.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Sikhs make up less than two percent of India’s population and are one of the country’s most prosperous communities. ---VOA News<o:p></o:p></span></div></div>

Indian Sikhs Shocked About US Shooting

By Anjana Pasricha MUMBAI — India’s Sikh community has expressed shock and called for more security at Sikh temples in the United States,...

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INDIA: Displaced Persons in Assam Expected to Return to their Villages in Next Few Days: Home Minister

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi-F5i_DiKZFAYJhxZhbgO88jnq19NcS3RlcxyQmPpOJhLfSGCxFHbXBeNa7FpjqACg-gJckGFoSLtK5AgfTr25YHnl9FYejz0_kEgw_jmaXnEuMBk1J414WdLvl8mB4vpuk32xcOLKm4/s1600/l2012073141549.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="446" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi-F5i_DiKZFAYJhxZhbgO88jnq19NcS3RlcxyQmPpOJhLfSGCxFHbXBeNa7FpjqACg-gJckGFoSLtK5AgfTr25YHnl9FYejz0_kEgw_jmaXnEuMBk1J414WdLvl8mB4vpuk32xcOLKm4/s640/l2012073141549.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">The Union Home Minister, P. Chidambaram addressing a press conference after visiting Kokrajhar during his visit to Assam on July 30, 2012. The Chief Minister of Assam, Tarun Gogoi is also seen. Photo © PIB<o:p></o:p></span></div></td></tr> </tbody></table><br /> <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">NEW DELHI (PIB) --- Ministry of Home Affairs has sent 65 additional companies of Central Armed Police Forces to Assam to restore normalcy in the State.  Presenting the Ministry’s Report Card for the month of July in New Delhi today, the Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram said that plans have been drawn up to establish police pickets in sensitive villages in Assam.  He further said that the displaced persons are expected to return to their villages in the next few days.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The Minister said that “on July 30-31, 2012, I visited Assam to review the security situation and the relief provided to persons displaced in the recent ethnic conflict. It is deeply regrettable that 56 persons lost their lives and more than 4 lakh persons have been displaced. They are currently sheltered in 278 camps set up by the Government. The Ministry of Home Affairs has provided additional 65 companies of CAPFs to Assam. The immediate tasks are relief, rehabilitation and providing security. Plans have been drawn up to establish police pickets in sensitive villages. The displaced persons are anxious to return and are expected to return to their villages in the next few days. Government of India has offered full cooperation and support to the State government.”<o:p></o:p></span></div></div>

INDIA: Displaced Persons in Assam Expected to Return to their Villages in Next Few Days: Home Minister

The Union Home Minister, P. Chidambaram addressing a press conference after visiting Kokrajhar during his visit to Assam on July 30, 2012....

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Rohingya Muslims' Massacre "Blot On Face of Humanity" - India's Scholar

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /> <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">NEW DELHI, India (NNN-Bernama) -- Massacre of Rohingya Muslims of Arakan region in Myanmar is "a blot on the face of humanity", IRNA news agency reported General Secretary of Majlis Ulema-e-Hind, Maulana Syed Kalbe Jawwad Naqvi as saying here. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">"Thousands of innocent people including women and children were butchered and millions displaced. This constitute not only human rights violations, but are crimes against humanity, IRNA quoted Jawwad, who is also an eminent Indian Shi'a Scholar, as saying in an exclusive interview with the news agency. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And yet the international bodies, who call themselves "champions of humanity”, are watching as mute spectator. It is most regrettable," he said. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Strongly condemning the barbaric attack on the Muslims in Myanmar, Jawwad urged the world community not only to condemn it in the strongest words but play a positive and constructive role for the human rights of minority Muslims there. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">"The pain and suffering the recent incidents have caused to a large number of people have saddened not only the Muslims but all peace loving people around the globe. The ethnic conflict which occurred is unacceptable and must come to a stop," said Jawwad, who is also the Friday Prayer Leader of historic Asafi Mosque at Lucknow. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">He urged India's Government to take a stand on the matter and called on the Muslim world to "break their silence" and protest against the killings.--NNN-BERNAMA <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br /> </div></div>

Rohingya Muslims' Massacre "Blot On Face of Humanity" - India's Scholar

NEW DELHI, India (NNN-Bernama) -- Massacre of Rohingya Muslims of Arakan region in Myanmar is "a blot on the face of humanity", ...

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India: Thousands Flee Ethnic Clashes in Northeastern State of Assam

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /> <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Thousands of people are pouring into relief camps in northeastern India, where ethnic clashes have killed at least 41 people in the last week</span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-hansi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"><span dir="RTL"></span>. </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Security forces continue to patrol the worst violence-hit areas of Assam state, where members of the Bodo tribe and Muslim settlers have been fighting for several days</span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-hansi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"><span dir="RTL"></span>.</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Troops have "shoot-on-sight" orders and a curfew is in place to quell further rioting.  The unrest near the Bhutanese border erupted last week after a series of attacks involving Bodos and Bengali Muslim settlers inflamed longtime tensions between the two groups</span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-hansi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"><span dir="RTL"></span>.</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Authorities say some 200,000 people have fled the violence.  Assam's Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi visited affected areas on Thursday.  Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was also due in Assam on Saturday</span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-hansi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"><span dir="RTL"></span>.</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Animosity and accusations of land-stealing have long simmered in the region between members of the ethnic-Bodo community and the thousands of mostly Bengali Muslim settlers, many of whom came from the former East Pakistan before it became Bangladesh in 1971. --- VOA News<o:p></o:p></span></div></div>

India: Thousands Flee Ethnic Clashes in Northeastern State of Assam

Thousands of people are pouring into relief camps in northeastern India, where ethnic clashes have killed at least 41 people in the last w...

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Fresh Clashes between Ethnic Groups Rock Lower Assam

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /> <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">KOKRAJHAR (NNN-PTI) -- Fresh clashes between minority immigrants and Bodo tribals and cases of arson were reported from lower Assam Wednesday even as shoot-at-sight orders remained in force in Kokrajhar district which bore the brunt of the violence</span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span dir="RTL"></span>.</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Official sources said there were reports of stray clashes and arson in remote villages of Chirang district where night curfew continued. Night curfew is also on in neighbouring Dhubri district</span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span dir="RTL"></span>.</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Assam remained cut off from the rest of the country by rail as train services remained suspended all over the state with hundreds of Assam-bound passengers being stranded in Coochbehar in West Bengal on the border with Assam and other places</span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span dir="RTL"></span>.</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">There were reports of food and drinking water shortage among the passengers leading to protests by them. The official death toll stood at 32, but Chirang Deputy Commissioner Upendra Nath Bora said there were unconfirmed reports of recovery of three more bodies</span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span dir="RTL"></span>.</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Over one lakh people have been rendered homeless and 125 relief camps have been set up in the affected district of Kokrajhar, Chirang and Dhubri. Sources said that 18 columns of the Army's 21 mountain division were on their way to the troubled districts</span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span dir="RTL"></span>.</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">An all-party delegation of the Assam Assembly is scheduled to visit the troubled areas Wednesday</span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span dir="RTL"></span>.</span><span dir="LTR"></span><span lang="AR-SA" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span dir="LTR"></span> </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">--NNN-PTI<o:p></o:p></span></div></div>

Fresh Clashes between Ethnic Groups Rock Lower Assam

KOKRAJHAR (NNN-PTI) -- Fresh clashes between minority immigrants and Bodo tribals and cases of arson were reported from lower Assam Wedne...

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India: Minister of Minority Affairs Highlights the Basic Thread of Unity and Harmony that Beads together the Policies and Schemes for Minorities in India

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /> <div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 18px;"><b>Salman Khurshid</b> </span><b><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Meets Media Delegation from Gulf Countries and Wana<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /> </span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGVOPuJYYnH8c0dWOHZEakYj3E3fdg9LhG66KI3VGPquzEtoHr0FnR0XWI1oMt8hj7GGBz1t-b3n2f9JhNlz1jGNOxhoKsCeQ-tPa3LtlXveKBkF7j91c0mlwRxVvFdlmwtBIiOuTDErY/s1600/l2012070441233.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="420" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGVOPuJYYnH8c0dWOHZEakYj3E3fdg9LhG66KI3VGPquzEtoHr0FnR0XWI1oMt8hj7GGBz1t-b3n2f9JhNlz1jGNOxhoKsCeQ-tPa3LtlXveKBkF7j91c0mlwRxVvFdlmwtBIiOuTDErY/s640/l2012070441233.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The Union Minister for Law and Justice and Minority Affairs,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Salman Khurshid meeting a delegation of media persons from<o:p></o:p></span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> WANA (West Asia & North Africa) and Gulf countries, in<o:p></o:p></span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">New Delhi on July 04, 2012. Photo © PIB</span></div></td></tr> </tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">NEW DELHI (PIB) --- Salman Khurshid, Minister of Minority Affairs, has said that the basic idea of unity and harmony percolates to all the policies and schemes that are meant for the development and welfare of Minorities in India. And these policies, he said, have not only seen the Minorities in good stead in this country which has the second highest population of Muslims in the world, but has seen them rise to the highest offices of the State. In an interaction with a Media delegation from the Gulf countries and WANA (West Asia and North Africa) here today,  Khurshid presented various facets of the policies and schemes for the overall development and welfare of the Minorities that are part of Government of India’s basic policy ‘mantra’ of inclusive growth of all sections of society.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The Media delegation, which consisted of journalists also from Egypt and Tunisia – the countries that have undergone massive politico-social changes in recent times – asked questions on a wide spectrum of issues concerning Minorities and the inter-relationship between the Majority and the Minority communities in a secular, democratic India. They also wanted to know the complexities of dealing with situations when in such a pluralistic society there may be a strife between the communities.  Khurshid informed the delegation that though there are instances when there is a communal clash, but all such instances are dealt with utmost conviction of national unity and harmony and the nation as a whole always decries such happenings and stands against them. He said that India has been lucky to have such visionary leaders and statesmen as Mahatma Gandhi and Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru, who steered this nation on a path of progress that ensures equality, development and justice to all sections of society, including the Minorities - to the extent that Indian Constitution has specific safeguards and Fundamental Rights granted to the Minoriteis. In this context Salman Khurshid gave details of various schemes and programmes being implemented by his Ministry of Minority Affairs for the welfare and inclusive growth of the Minorities.</span></div></div></div>

India: Minister of Minority Affairs Highlights the Basic Thread of Unity and Harmony that Beads together the Policies and Schemes for Minorities in India

Salman Khurshid   Meets Media Delegation from Gulf Countries and Wana The Union Minister for Law and Justice and Minority Affairs, Salma...

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US Lawmaker Defends Hearings on American Muslims

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /> <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">By Cindy Saine<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">CAPITOL HILL - A senior U.S. lawmaker held the fifth in a series of congressional hearings Wednesday on alleged radicalization within the American Muslim community.  The House of Representatives Committee on Homeland Security focused on the response from the U.S. Muslim community to the hearings, which have generated a great deal of controversy and media attention.  <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Committee Chairman Peter King opened the hearing by defending the basic premise of examining the extent of radicalization of America's Muslim community.  The New York Republican said the issue is of serious concern to many senior national security officials in the Obama administration, and that the hearings should have garnered bipartisan support.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">"Yet, from the moment I announced the hearings, I was attacked by politically correct special interests and their unthinking allies in the media led by The New York Times [newspaper]," he said. "More than 1,000 protesters came out in the rain to rally against me in Times Square [in New York City] the Sunday before the first hearing."<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">King's invited witnesses included several representatives from the U.S. Muslim community, including physician Zuhdi Jasser, founder of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy.  Dr. Jasser spoke out strongly in support of the hearings, saying it is crucial to differentiate Islam from the extremist political ideology of Islamism, which he says is trying to hijack his religion.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">"Since your hearings began, so many Muslims told us that they were tired of having their identities stolen by two groups:  one is the radicals that commit acts of terrorism, and the other are the grievance groups, whose denials, lawsuits and cries of bigotry have actually caused more negativity toward Islam and Muslims than bridge-building," he said.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Other witnesses from the nation's Muslim community agreed, saying that an open discussion of the problem of radicalization does not infringe on their civil liberties or imply that they believe that all Muslim Americans are violent extremists.  All of the witnesses and lawmakers at the hearing agreed that the overwhelming majority of U.S. Americans are peaceful and law-abiding citizens.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">But some Democratic lawmakers said they believe the focus of the hearings should be broader, and that they worried about the perceptions created by focusing on a particular religious group.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">"I hope that the hearings did not perpetuate the notion that the United States is at war with Islam," said ranking Democratic committee member Bennie Thompson of Mississippi. "Such a notion would only help the recruitment efforts of al-Qaida and similar groups."<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Committee Democrats invited Faiza Patel to testify before the panel.  Patel, co-director of the Liberty and National Security Program at New York University’s Brennan Center for Justice, said it is wrong to focus on the U.S. Muslim community because they have been very cooperative with law enforcement officials in counterterrorism efforts.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">"Polling by the Pew Research Center shows that vast majorities of American Muslims have consistently held the view that suicide bombing and other forms of violence against civilians are never justified," Patel said.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Previous committee hearings addressed issues such as the threat of radicalization of American Muslims in U.S. prisons, recruitment by the al-Shabab extremist group and the threat posed to U.S. military communities.  Chairman Peter King did not say whether he plans to hold more hearings. ---VOA News<o:p></o:p></span></div></div>

US Lawmaker Defends Hearings on American Muslims

By Cindy Saine CAPITOL HILL - A senior U.S. lawmaker held the fifth in a series of congressional hearings Wednesday on alleged radicalizat...

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INDIA: SC Refuses Expresses Displeasure Over Minority Sub Quota

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;"></span><br /> <div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"></span><br /> <div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">NEW DELHI (NNN-PTI): The Supreme Court has expressed its displeasure and pulled up the government for its casual handling of the "complex" and "sensitive" issue of 4.5 percent sub-quota for minorities within the 27 percent reservation for OBCs in central educational institutions like IITs.</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> <div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><br /> </div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">Refusing to stay the Andhra Pradesh High Court order, which had quashed the central government notification for 4.5 percent sub-quota for minorities, a bench of justices K S Radhakrishnan and J S Khehar said it was "unhappy" that the Centre filed an appeal without any supporting documents.</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><br /> </div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">Without issuing any notice, the bench asked Attorney General G E Vahanvati to submit it the supporting documents for carving out 4.5 percent sub quota from the existing 27 percent reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBCs).</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><br /> </div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">The bench posted the matter for hearing on Wednesday saying "we must have some documents before us".</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><br /> </div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">Attorney General Vahanvati submitted that some protection should be granted as the counselling for IITs was on and 325 candidates have qualified for it under the 4.5 percent sub quota and their career and future could be jeopardised if they are not allowed to appear for the counselling.</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><br /> </div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">The bench, however, said before it passed any order, the Centre will have to place before it some documents.</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><br /> </div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">During the brief hearing, the bench wanted to know from the law officer as to what was the basis and how did the government determine 4.5 percent sub-quota for minorities and carved it out of the 27 percent quota for OBCs.</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><br /> </div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">When the Attorney General sought to point out errors in the high court order, the bench said it was natural for the high court to ask questions on which the Centre was complaining.</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><br /> </div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">"Without placing documents how can you find fault with the high court (order)," the bench said.  -NNN-PTI</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div></span></div></div></div>

INDIA: SC Refuses Expresses Displeasure Over Minority Sub Quota

NEW DELHI (NNN-PTI): The Supreme Court has expressed its displeasure and pulled up the government for its casual handling of the "com...

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India: Supreme Court Orders End to Hajj Subsidies

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /> <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><b><br /> </b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><b><span style="font-size: xx-small;">By Kurt Achin from New Delhi</span></b><span style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">India's Supreme Court has ordered the government to do away with a program that subsidizes Muslims in their most sacred journey. Still, many of the country's Muslims are fine with the decision. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">In this week's ruling, India's highest court said the subsidy for the Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca known as the Hajj "is best done away with." If all the facts were known, the ruling continues, many Muslims "would not be very comfortable that their Hajj is funded to a substantial extent by the government.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">Islam calls upon all of its followers to make a journey to the Saudi Arabian city and the birthplace of the Prophet Muhammad at least once in their lives, if they can afford it. Indigent Muslims are excused from the duty.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">Indian history is punctuated with episodes of tensions between majority Hindus and minority Muslims. Still, many Muslim leaders say they are fine with the court's decision to scrap the Hajj subsidy.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">Zafarul Islam Khan, the president of All India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat (an umbrella body of Indian Muslim organizations), sees the subsidy as an indirect way for India's government to fund its cash-starved national airline.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">"Muslims in general are not in favor of the Hajj subsidy," said Khan. "We consider the subsidy as a subsidy to Air India and not to the Muslim community."<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">The practice of providing subsidies to Muslims began in 1973, when India's government abolished sea travel as an means of making the Hajj. At that time, the government began making up the difference between sea and air fares.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">Khan says the decision was politically motivated from the very start.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">"Actually we didn't demand subsidy any day but the government insisted on this just to show to normal and ordinary voters, Muslim voters, that they are doing a favor," said Khan. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">An estimated 100,000 Indian Muslim pilgrims a year benefit from subsidized travel. Arman Khalid Hashmi went on the Hajj in 2011, and feels that a journey without government help would still be perfectly consistent with Islam.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">"As a Muslim, it should be our money invested in Hajj," said Arman. "So if it is done away, it doesn't matter for us."<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">For many Indians, the strongest argument for ending the Hajj subsidy is that the country's constitution defines India as a secular republic -- with no special favoritism for any one religious faith group. The Supreme Court says the subsidy should be eliminated within ten years. ---VOA News<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">Neha Sethi contributed to this report.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div>

India: Supreme Court Orders End to Hajj Subsidies

By Kurt Achin from New Delhi India's Supreme Court has ordered the government to do away with a program that subsidizes Muslims in th...

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Upgradation of Technical and Entrepreneurial Skills of Minorities

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /> <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><br /> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">New Delhi (PIB) ---National Minorities Development and Finance Corporation (NMDFC) implements the scheme of Vocational Training for upgradation of technical and entrepreneurial skills of people belonging to minority communities living below double the poverty line, in various professional trades. This scheme is implemented by the NMDFC through its State Channelising Agencies (SCAs) and training is imparted through Government owned/ recognized institutions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>85% of the training cost is provided by NMDFC as grant and remaining 15% of the cost is borne by the SCAs. Giving this information in written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha, Vincent H. Pala, Minister of State for Minority Affairs, also gave the details of developmental activities taken up by NMDFC during the last two years; which are as follows:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div align="center"> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoNormalTable" style="border-collapse: collapse; margin-left: 41.4pt; width: 585px;"><tbody> <tr style="height: 13.0pt; mso-yfti-firstrow: yes; mso-yfti-irow: 0;"> <td rowspan="3" style="border: solid black 1.0pt; height: 13.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 56.15pt;" valign="top" width="75"> <div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Year</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td> <td colspan="6" style="border-left: none; border: solid black 1.0pt; height: 13.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 382.75pt;" valign="top" width="510"> <div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Developmental Activities</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td> </tr> <tr style="height: 14.35pt; mso-yfti-irow: 1;"> <td colspan="2" style="border-bottom: solid black 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 14.35pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 121.5pt;" valign="top" width="162"> <div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Loans</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td> <td colspan="2" style="border-bottom: solid black 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid black 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 14.35pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 1.75in;" valign="top" width="168"> <div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Vocational Training</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td> <td colspan="2" style="border-bottom: solid black 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid black 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 14.35pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 135.25pt;" valign="top" width="180"> <div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Marketing Assistance</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td> </tr> <tr style="height: 29.65pt; mso-yfti-irow: 2;"> <td style="border-bottom: solid black 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 29.65pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 67.5pt;" valign="top" width="90"> <div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Amount Disbursed</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">(Rs. in</span><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">crore</span><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">)</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td> <td style="border-bottom: solid black 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 29.65pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: .75in;" valign="top" width="72"> <div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">No. of </span><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Beneficiaries</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td> <td style="border-bottom: solid black 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 29.65pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: .75in;" valign="top" width="72"> <div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">No. of</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Beneficiaries</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td> <td style="border-bottom: solid black 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid black 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 29.65pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 1.0in;" valign="top" width="96"> <div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Expenditure</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><br /> </div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">(Rs. in</span><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">crore</span><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">)</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td> <td style="border-bottom: solid black 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 29.65pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 57.25pt;" valign="top" width="76"> <div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">No. of </span><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Beneficiaries</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td> <td style="border-bottom: solid black 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid black 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 29.65pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 78.0pt;" valign="top" width="104"> <div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Expenditure</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><br /> </div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">(Rs. in</span><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">crore</span><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">)</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td> </tr> <tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 3;"> <td style="border-top: none; border: solid black 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 56.15pt;" valign="top" width="75"> <div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">2010-11</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td> <td style="border-bottom: solid black 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 67.5pt;" valign="top" width="90"> <div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">233.26</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td> <td style="border-bottom: solid black 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: .75in;" valign="top" width="72"> <div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">1,58,510</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td> <td style="border-bottom: solid black 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: .75in;" valign="top" width="72"> <div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">1746</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td> <td style="border-bottom: solid black 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid black 1.0pt; border-top: none; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 1.0in;" valign="top" width="96"> <div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">0.37</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td> <td style="border-bottom: solid black 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 57.25pt;" valign="top" width="76"> <div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">932</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td> <td style="border-bottom: solid black 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid black 1.0pt; border-top: none; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 78.0pt;" valign="top" width="104"> <div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">0.045</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td> </tr> <tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 4; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes;"> <td style="border-top: none; border: solid black 1.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 56.15pt;" valign="top" width="75"> <div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">2011-12</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td> <td style="border-bottom: solid black 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 67.5pt;" valign="top" width="90"> <div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">271.37</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td> <td style="border-bottom: solid black 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: .75in;" valign="top" width="72"> <div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">1,05,874</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td> <td style="border-bottom: solid black 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: .75in;" valign="top" width="72"> <div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">559</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td> <td style="border-bottom: solid black 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid black 1.0pt; border-top: none; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 1.0in;" valign="top" width="96"> <div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">0.63</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td> <td style="border-bottom: solid black 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 57.25pt;" valign="top" width="76"> <div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">3,813</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td> <td style="border-bottom: solid black 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid black 1.0pt; border-top: none; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 78.0pt;" valign="top" width="104"> <div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">0.15</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td> </tr> </tbody></table></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 112.5pt; margin-right: -2.3pt; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: -76.5pt;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div></div>

Upgradation of Technical and Entrepreneurial Skills of Minorities

New Delhi (PIB) ---National Minorities Development and Finance Corporation (NMDFC) implements the scheme of Vocational Training for upgrad...

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India: College Bans Burqa in Class

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /> <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">MANGALORE, India (NNN-Bernama) -- A local college has banned girl students from wearing burqa in classes and while writing exams, but allowed them to wear the outfit in its campus, according to Press Trust of India (PTI) reported.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">A decision, that said may trigger a controversy, made by the management of St. Aloysius College, an autonomous educational institution, to ban burqa from this academic year.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">"The wearing of burqa is banned only while attending classes and writing exams. However, students can wear it in the campus," Principal Fr Walter Andrade told Press Trust of India.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Defending the decision, he said, "We want to maintain the sanctity of exams and also discipline in classrooms."<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">An official of the college, however, refused to comment on whether the ban clause has been inserted in the prospectus to be given to students at the time of seeking admission.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">"There is a difference between a scarf and burqa," the official said. --NNN-BERNAMA<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div></div>

India: College Bans Burqa in Class

MANGALORE, India (NNN-Bernama) -- A local college has banned girl students from wearing burqa in classes and while writing exams, but allo...

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UN Rights Experts Urge Pakistan to End Sectarian Violence, Protect Minorities

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ4Wu8AGHQAKC1vwbt1vMc-Vbe0OLBLSYTI_o5RAMjoooOthc7afzg8k-wNyZXMuDfKaDlglWjCjchzupun1RnEPZlZGU_Ppk8-USqBDi_38Ww0Jh9hpjQu93kD_RL_mOg6t_4_lWgIeA/s1600/02-22-2012-ritaizsak.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ4Wu8AGHQAKC1vwbt1vMc-Vbe0OLBLSYTI_o5RAMjoooOthc7afzg8k-wNyZXMuDfKaDlglWjCjchzupun1RnEPZlZGU_Ppk8-USqBDi_38Ww0Jh9hpjQu93kD_RL_mOg6t_4_lWgIeA/s1600/02-22-2012-ritaizsak.jpg" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">Independent Expert on Minority Issues Rita Izsak. Photo: OHCHR</span> </td></tr> </tbody></table><br /> <div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">A group of independent United Nations human rights experts today urged the Government of Pakistan to take decisive measures to end sectarian violence and protect religious minorities after a second incident of targeted killings in two weeks.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">At least 18 Shia Muslims were killed on Tuesday after they were ordered off a bus in the northern district of Kohistan, the three experts said in a joint press release.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span dir="LTR"></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span dir="LTR"></span>“These killings are extremely shocking and constitute acts that require the strongest response,” said Rita Izsák, the Independent Expert on minority issues. “They have sadly become a recurrent practice in Pakistan, and we urge the Pakistan Government to identify and prosecute the perpetrators and do everything possible to establish strengthened security measures.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The experts expressed their condolences to the families of those killed and to all the people of Pakistan who suffer from such acts of terror.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span dir="LTR"></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span dir="LTR"></span>“These targeted killings once more display the appalling degree of religious hatred in a country where there seems to be a failure to protect the security of religious minorities,” said Heiner Bielefeldt, the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Christof Heyns, the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, stressed that the Government has an obligation to take all necessary measures to protect the right to life. “Failure to take appropriate steps to prevent, investigate and punish for such acts is a violation of Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,” he said.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The three welcomed the condemnation expressed by Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span dir="LTR"></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span dir="LTR"></span>“Such serious incidents demand, and communities have the right to expect, the most rigorous response possible from the Government,” they said. They urged the Government to step up security in the face of the “clear and present threat faced by certain groups on the basis of their religion.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">In a previous incident on 17 February more than 30 people were killed or wounded when a suicide bomber detonated an explosive close to a mosque in a mainly Shia neighbourhood in the Kurram tribal region.---UN News<o:p></o:p></span></div></div>

UN Rights Experts Urge Pakistan to End Sectarian Violence, Protect Minorities

Independent Expert on Minority Issues Rita Izsak. Photo: OHCHR A group of independent United Nations human rights experts today urged ...

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