UNESCO project to preserve heritage of Parsis Monday, October 22, 2001
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
AHMEDABAD: The UNESCO-funded PARZOR project aimed at preserving the heritage of Parsis in India has begun recording the community's demographic and medical profile in Gujarat.
The nationwide project aimed at 'Preservation of Parsi-Zoroastrian Heritage -- Campaigns and international conventions' in the country was flagged off in 1999 has special importance for
Gujarat due to the minuscule presence of the community in the state.
Alarmed with the steep decline in their population which is reducing at a rate 10 per cent in every decade, UNESCO founded the project under its worldwide programme to check the loss of culture and heritage of such diminishing communities.
It began with an exhibition of photographs at Hutheesing Visual Arts Centre shot all over the country wherever the community resides.
Parsis in India, a micro-minority, represents 0.01 per cent of India's population is currently facing a grim challenge to stop the 10 per cent decline in their population after every 10 decades.
The highest figure touched by Parsis was in 1941 when they swelled close 1.15 lakh but the figure remained unstable in the successive years.
"In Ahmedabad alone there are not more than 2,000 Parsis which is negligible in comparison with the Gujarat's population," says Delnaz Dalal, UNESCO's project co-ordinator for Ahmedabad.
"The project has a futuristic approach to realise that they are not preserving the past but a future for the Parsis," she added.
According to her, the basic reasons for the dwindling population of Parsis in the country was late marriages, outside-community marriages and indifference of the younger generation towards their culture and traditions.
"During sampling and data collection, I have come across existence of several customs and rituals associated with our community which I was not aware of earlier," says Monaz Vakil, a volunteer engaged with the UNESCO project.
The Parsis are the descendants of refugees from Persia who landed at the western coast through the sea route in the early 10th century. The community always remained at the forefront of the freedom movement, education, industrialisation, trade and commerce.
News Source : The Times of India [India's best Newspaper]
Two held in attempt to steal jeep Monday, October 22, 2001
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
GANDHINAGAR: Two persons among three were arrested by Mehsana police on Saturday after they tried to steal a jeep they hired in Vijapur.
The accused, two from Madhya Pradesh and one from Uttar Pradesh, who had hired the jeep on the pretext of transportation also injured a scooterist coming from the opposite direction while trying to escape the police in hot pursuit.
The accused were held after the jeep turned turtle in the wild goose chase that ensued between the police and the accused. The police also seized a country-made revolver and four live cartridges from the accused.
According to police, the accused drove away the jeep after forcibly throwing out its driver, Ismail Hussain, between Vasai and Gojaraia.
The district police swung into action after being alerted by the driver and intercepted the jeep near Libodara.
The arrested duo have been identified as Suresh alias Kaliyo Bushhilal Singh and Rajput Ramvir Singh Vijay Singh, both residents of Bhind in Madhya Pradesh. The third accused -- Amit Pandit, a resident of Etawah, managed to escape. The accused, who were injured, were admitted to Mehsana Civil Hospital and cases have been registered against them.
News Source : The Times of India [India's best Newspaper]
Rioting incident at garba venue alleged Monday, October 22, 2001
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
AHMEDABAD: Garbas have not been without their share of problems this year. On Saturday night, a group of boys from the Gujarat University hostels reportedly ran riot at the university grounds where SOI Entertainment was hosting its garba.
Janak Suryakant Jhaveri from SOI Entertainment lodged a complaint at the Navrangpura police station against Indravijaysinh Ghanshyamsinh Gohil and 40 other boys, accusing them of having fought over entry passes.
The group was reportedly armed with sticks, and are learnt to have resorted to stone-throwing and damaging cars parked on the grounds. The complaint states that the group damaged the pandal and decamped with some Rs 20,000.
Earlier, when Navratri began, there was a rumour about someone having fired from a private firearm at a garba in Bhat village. The Gandhinagar district police, however, said such an incident had not happened.
News Source : The Times of India [India's best Newspaper]
Banaskantha :: Disproportionate assets case against asst engineer Monday, October 22, 2001
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
AHMEDABAD: The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) has booked a case of disproportionate assets against additional assistant engineer (civil) Digvijaysinh alias Digubha Himmatsinh Jadeja posted at Banaskantha. Jadeja has been charged with accumulating movable and immovable properties worth Rs 8.92 lakh, which was way off his official income.
Jadeja worked at the office of the deputy executive engineer of the Public Welfare Department in Tharad area of Deesa taluka and has settled in Bhavnagar. He faces charges of adopting corrupt practices and purchasing properties in the name of his wife and other members of his family in a fraudulent manner, which was found out during investigations by the assistant director of ACB, Junagadh. A case was filed against Jadeja on October 19 under the Prevention of Corruption Act. On Saturday, ACB sleuths conducted raids on three of his premises at Bhavnagar.
Raids were conducted on 'Ketu Nivas' on Satyanarayan Road, shops in the Madhav Darshan Complex on Radha Mandir Chowk and Hastagiri flats. The raiding teams found evidence of Jadeja owning these properties on his own name and under names of his family members. Further investigations are being carried out by officials of ACB, Junagadh.
News Source : The Times of India [India's best Newspaper]
Kidnap was stage-managed to dodge financiers Monday, October 22, 2001
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
SURAT: Sources in the city police said Surat TV Channel promoter Nikhil Madrasi confessed before the Kolkata police on Saturday that he was not abducted and that the whole incident was stage-managed to fool the financiers, who wanted their investments back from the channel.
According to additional commissioner of police Mohan Jha, Nikhil will be lodged in Kolkata's Burra Bazar police station till the investigations are over.
One of the channel's key promoters, Nikhil Madrasi, was reportedly abducted on Monday with the kidnappers' demand being the channel's closure.
The channel is said to be under heavy financial debt and Nikhil was the key person who had managed the channel's affairs, including sourcing money of about Rs 4 crore from over 130 financiers, 18 cable operators and two co-operative banks.
News Source : The Times of India [India's best Newspaper]
