Quote: “The Security Council regards this as a dispute. It is not a dispute for territory. There is only one problem before you ... that problem is the problem of aggression.”

His campaign to encourage people to plant trees effectively addresses two burning issues of the world: global warming and shrinking job opportunities.

Evidence of Mr Raju’s success could clearly be seen on 30 August, when he organised 300,000 villagers from over 7,500 villages in northern Bihar to engage in a mass tree planting ceremony.

One such official is V.K. Sibal, the Director General Hydrocarbons, who is ‘suspected’ to have extended special favours to RIL, as he increased the capital expenditure plan for KG Basin from $2.4 billion to $8.8 billion in 2006, without taking permission from Comptroller and Accountant General (CAG); though he asserts that he took permission but CAG denies it and until now Mr. Sibal has failed in proving his point, though he wants us to take his words as the proof enough.

In Corporate world there are no free lunches, but Mr. Sibal wants us not to believe in the rule and see the philanthropy of the RIL behind the arrangement for his daughters to have luxuriant stay in Reliance Guest Houses.

Sonia Sibal, the elder daughter, stayed at a VIP guesthouse of RIL — Dalal House — from July to November 2005. What an apt name for the house!
Priya Sibal, another daughter also enjoyed a stay in the guesthouse for a month before shifting to another guesthouse of the company.

Continuing the patronage, Priya moved out of RIL’s guesthouse and shifted to a spacious 3BHK flat in Avalon at Hiranandani Gardens, Powai which was indirectly owned by RIL, and run by its officials. They also personally ensured that all kinds of amenities befitting a daughter of Mr. Sibal are given and arranged.

But stay in guest house doesn’t justify the work done by the Mr. Sibal, and maybe that is why the company also arranged for a
Maybe all this wasn’t enough for the great service done by Mr. Sibal to the company and Priya was moved from Avalon after 18 months of stay to another flat in Oshimara, Andheri West, purchased at a cost of Rs 1.7 crore.

Though Mr. Sibal maintains that he didn’t favour RIL in exchange.

The Pioneer Newspaper sought VK Sibal’s response with regard to the allegations. This is his response:

“My daughter, Priya was staying in various locations in Mumbai since the year 2001. She was staying in a private accommodation in Kalina, Mumbai, in the year 2005. However, during the floods in Mumbai, the area she was staying got flooded due to which she went missing for 2 days and had to shift to an apartment located on higher grounds for a few days as a stop-gap emergency measure.

My daughter Sonia was studying in the Institute of Hotel Management, Aurangabad, during the period 2004-07 and was staying in a hostel.

My daughter Priya had a lease agreement with the party for the flat in Hiranandani referred by you for which advance was also paid. An amount of Rs 3 lakh and utility charges of Rs 3,000 per month was paid. She stayed off and on with her friend in the same accommodation.

Necessary documentary evidence in support of this is available with us. Notwithstanding the fact that this is a bona fide arrangement, it is surprising that you should allege that favours have been taken from RIL. If these allegations were true, there would not have been any need to pay the advance or the utility charges to the owner. Contrary to your allegation that favors were taken from RIL, a penalty was imposed on RIL during the period October-November 2006 amounting to approximately Rs 89 crore against unfinished work programme in their petroleum exploration acreages, details of which are available with us.

I do not understand as to why you should link purely official responsibilities with bona fide personal dealings. I am sure that you can understand the hidden agenda of the people behind these allegations and propaganda.

The story has been circulated among the media surreptitiously by vested interests. It is surprising that a well-known newspaper should fall prey to the machinations of a vested interest. Despite the above clarifications, if you still want to publish the story, it will be even more obvious that a section of the media has been pressurised or influenced by an interested party.”

Newslink :Pioneer

In today’s age where a student can get any information they need, just a click away, it is unimaginable that anybody will still have problem in research in areas dealing with sexuality. But sadly that is what is happening in Panjab university where in English department a row has kicked up after a student proposed title of the research study as “Transgressive depiction of sexuality onscreen, a study of selected films of Catherine Breillat and Pedro Almo Dovar.”

Those who are unaware about the Catherine Breillat, she is a famous French novelist and filmmaker whose films, like her novels, have focused on sexuality and violence, and not in some euphemised manner but in hard terms. Similar is Pedro Almo Dovar, who is an award-winning Spanish director, whose films have been equally controversial for his picking up issues like homosexuality, violence, sexual identities, etc.

The Research Degree Committee tried to objectively discuss the issue, but having such topics is not easily digestible to every member, especially when one has been bought up with the notion that sex is immoral and anything discussing or relating with it is too (though it makes everything immoral and consequently moral, but that is another issue).

Few of the teachers though supported the idea, but their voice has only stopped the topic being scrapped. Still other members have to give their support, answering their mentor role, before the student can start working on the topic; though all have said, directly or indirectly, that they will be more than happy if the student changes the topic.

In all this student should be praised who found a genuine topic which justifies having research done on it and which won’t be available to be copied from internet or previous scholars, as is the present norms in the circle.

World Environment Day (WED) was established by the UN General Assembly in 1972 to mark the opening of the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment.

Commemorated yearly on 5 June, WED is one of the principal vehicles through which the United Nations stimulates worldwide awareness of the environment and enhances political attention and action. The day’s agenda is to:

Give a human face to environmental issues;

Empower people to become active agents of sustainable and equitable development;

Promote an understanding that communities are pivotal to changing attitudes towards environmental issues;

Advocate partnership which will ensure all nations and peoples enjoy a safer and more prosperous future.

The theme for WED 2009 is ‘Your Planet Needs You-UNite to Combat Climate Change’. It reflects the urgency for nations to agree on a new deal at the crucial climate convention meeting in Copenhagen some 180 days later in the year, and the links with overcoming poverty and improved management of forests.

We all know that it is the last chance to do something before it is too late. So unlike our other choices, we should stop seeing it as such; and without wasting any more time should start contributing in any and every way possible to do so.