Dalits stage protest in Madurai against police firing

Hundreds of angry Dalits gathered at the Government Rajaji Hospital here on Sunday and raised slogans against the State government and the police for the firing on Dalits at Paramakudi in which five persons were killed.

Chaos prevailed at the hospital as the protesters raised slogans after six Dalit youths — Siva, 19, Paramasivam, 20, Senthil Murugan, 23, Chaturagiri, 22, Yaesu, 22, and Yogesh, 27, — who were injured in the Paramakudi firing and also at Chintamani in Madurai were brought to the GRH for further treatment. 

Paramasivam had suffered a bullet injury on his head and is in a serious condition, according to hospital sources. Two Dalits — Jayaprakash, 19, and Balakrishnan 19, — belonging to Pattam in Sivaganga district, were seriously injured in the police firing at Chintamani on the outskirts of Madurai. 

Eyewitnesses said that they were travelling in an SUV sitting on top of the vehicle and when police intervened to stop them, they shouted against the police who shot at them. Puthiya Tamilagam founder president and MLA K. Krishnasamy visited the hospital and met the injured youth. 

Condemning the police firing as unwarranted, Dr. Krishnasamy demanded a thorough judicial enquiry and also said the firing could have been easily avoided by police. He said that he would raise the issue in the Assembly. “I have been visiting Paramakudi for the last 22 years to pay respects to Immanuel Sekaran, but this time I was not able to go there as police prevented me at Parthibanallur and asked me not to visit the village as the situation was tense,” he said. 

John Pandian's arrest was made following the violation of the ban order imposed by the Ramnathapuram Collector. It was a preventive arrest only, police sources said.

 

Actor Kanthimathi dead

Actor Kanthimathi, an artist known for her powerful performances in Tamil films, passed away here on Friday after a prolonged illness. She was 65.

Irrespective of the character she portrayed, Kanthimathi's performance bore a stamp of authenticity. Her performance in director Bharathiraja ‘Padhinaru Vayathinile', as Mayil's (actor Sreedevi's role) mother is a classic example of how she could essay any role in a convincing manner, paying particular attention to dialogue delivery and body language. 

Director Bharathiraja attributes her skill to her theatre background and devotion to acting. “She has performed as a child artist and even as a heroine in a couple of films, but somehow was not very active after that… at the time I was writing ‘Padhinaru Vayathinile', I was looking for someone who could speak the ‘vattara vazhakku' (local dialect) well, and I could not think of anyone else,” he says. 

A native of Manamadurai, she started acting when she was 11 and has acted in nearly 500 films. Her role in films such as ‘Mann Vasanai', ‘Karagattakkaran', ‘Muthu' won acclaim. She received the Kalaimamani Award from the State government.

Day, site chosen carefully by bombers?

New Delhi, Sep 7 (IANS) The day - Wednesday - and the site - Delhi High Court - were chosen purposefully by the bombers for maximum casualties, it would seem. It is the day of the week that is fixed for filing public interest litigations, and Gate No. 5 is the place where the litigants crowd to enter the court premises.

If the blast had taken place on any other day of the week, the casualties would certainly have been lower, said lawyers.

Wednesday is especially kept for taking up or filing public interest litigations before the bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra.

The day was fixed for hearing PILs to make it convenient for both petitioners and respondents. Earlier, varying days were given for the hearings which caused a lot of chaos, a lawyer said. 

'Around 300 people were waiting outside Gate No 5 of the court when the blast took place. On regular days the number used to be half,' said an advocate Ashok Kumar.

The blast that took place at 10.13 a.m. killed 11 people and left 76 injured.

At the site, where the blast was marked by a crater, Bhagwan Das, an eyewitness, recounted his 'close encounter' with a moment of terror that left him numbed. 'I saw some people losing their hands and legs. Their bodies drenched in blood. God, it was terrible,' Das told IANS, himself in a state of shock.

A low-intensity blast had hit the high court in May this year.

 

Feasting the traditional way

I didn't know that it's called Sambharam . Buttermilk has always been just morru at home. So now this fancy new name intimidates me a little, and I realise that I don't know my own food as well as I thought I did. 

Authentic

The Onam Ela Sadya at Enté Keralam is the back-to-basics version of vegetarian Malayali cuisine. Without the bells and whistles and abundant greasiness of coconut oil our food is known for, the sadya's simplicity can be refreshing.

The spread is light and healthy and well-worth it if you can't, or don't know how, to dish up all 28 components on your own. 

The sadya here is specially prepared by Unnikrishnan Namboodiri. A priest-chef-ayurvedic doctor, he visits Chennai every year to fire up the vats for the festival.

My ela (the serving leaf) comes on a plate. The first course is rice and lentils, and we follow that up with generous servings of sambhar , pulissery and rasam .

The vegetables border the plate in the time-honoured order of eating. Beginning with the eruseri and kaalan (a yam and yogurt preparation), we move on to the avial (mixed vegetables), kichadi pachadi , and end with thoran (vegetable garnished with grated coconut).

Rajiv Assassination convict Nalini shifted to Vellore Prison

Nalini, the life convict in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, was shifted from a Chennai jail to the high security Vellore Prison on Wednesday where her husband and death row convict in the same case, Murugan, is lodged.

Nalini, who was shifted to the Puzhal prison here last year following her complaint of harassment by authorities, was moved back to the Vellore Prison this morning, police said. 

Nalini was among the four convicts awarded death sentence in the former Prime Minister’s assassination case but it was commuted to life. The other two death row convicts are Santhan and Perarivalan. 

Typhoon Talas hits Japan Shikoku island

Slow-moving Typhoon Talas has made landfall in southern Japan, dumping heavy rain across a wide swath of the country. Public broadcaster NHK says one person has died and three others are missing. 

The Japan Meteorological Agency said Saturday that the centre of the typhoon, the 12th of the season, had reached the island of Shikoku and was moving north at less than 10 km per hour. Because of the storm’s slow speed, the agency warned of heavy rain and strong winds centered in south-central Japan that could lead to flooding and landslides. Kyodo News said 2,200 people were evacuated in 12 prefectures. 

NHK and Kyodo said a 75-year-old woman died when she was swept away in a swollen river in Tokushima prefecture, but authorities could not immediately confirm that.

After Irene: When will the power come back on?

Cold showers. Meals in the dark. Refrigerators full of spoiled food. No TV. No Internet. Up and down the East Coast, patience is wearing thin among the nearly 1 million people still waiting for the electricity to come back on after Hurricane Irene knocked out the power last weekend.

 With the waters receding across much of the flood-stricken region, homeowners are mucking out their basements and dragging soggy furniture to the curb. But the wait for power drags on, with an estimated 895,000 homes and businesses still without electricity, down from a peak of 9.6 million. 

And criticism of the utility companies is mounting. In Rhode Island, a state senator is calling for an investigation, and Massachusetts’ attorney general is demanding information from utilities on how they are dealing with the crisis, including how many crews are in the field and their response time.

The industry has defended its efforts, noting it warned the public that a storm like Irene was bound to cause prolonged outages and pointing out that flooding and toppled trees caused severe damage to utility poles, substations and other equipment. Irene has been blamed for at least 46 deaths in 13 states. With the streets drying out in hard-hit New Jersey, some towns faced new problems, namely trash bins overflowing with waterlogged debris. In Vermont, with roads slowly reopening, the National Guard’s airlift of food, water and other supplies to once cut-off towns was winding down.

The White House declared a major disaster in Vermont, clearing the way for federal aid for repairs. The declaration, signed by President Barack Obama, makes individual assistance available for homeowners. Politicians have been inundated with complaints from people who say it is taking too long. Rhode Island state Sen. John J. Tassoni Jr. on Thursday called on the state Public Utilities Commission to investigate National Grid.

William Bryan, deputy assistant secretary of at the U.S. Energy Department, said it typically takes at least few days to restore power after a storm like Irene, and National Grid has done a great job. They ought to be commended for that. You are well ahead of the curve for restoration. Along the East Coast, deep exhaustion set in as work turned from pumping polluted floodwaters out of homes to keeping an eye out for looters, scavengers or more welcome visitors such as FEMA representatives and insurance adjusters.