By IANS,
Thiruvananthapuram : The Kerala government will set up an Islamic bank in the state, Finance Minister Thomas Isaac told the assembly Wednesday.
The share capital of the proposed bank has been fixed at Rs.1,000 crore, Isaac said, adding that an advisory committee would be set up shortly to work out the details.
"Non-resident Malayalees and Kerala-based businessmen like E.M. Najeeb are involved in the project," he said.
Later, Najeeb told IANS the core committee that has been set up has held three meetings following a feasibility study conducted by a consultant.
"The study has found that a bank under the Sharia rules of Islamic banking is feasible and viable here. By next year this would be a reality," said Najeeb, who is part of the core committee.
"The company would be registered by next month. Once the company is formed, we will move for clearance from the Reserve Bank of India," he added.
"The bank will not receive or pay interest and have Sharia compliant products. The profits made out of investments will be distributed among shareholders. A Sharia board will decide on what sort of investments will be made."
Muslims constitute the second largest community in Kerala, accounting for close to 24 percent of the 3.2-crore population.
According to a study done by the Centre for Development Studies, 48 percent of 18.5 lakh non-resident Malayalees are Muslims.
Of the total remittances of Rs.24,525 crore (about $49 million) to the state in 2007, Muslims remitted Rs.12,158 crore (Rs.24.3 million), the study found.
Wednesday, September 09, 2009
Ishrat killing: Central government stands by terror link affidavit
By IANS,
New Delhi : The home ministry Wednesday said it stood by its affidavit on the controversial killing of Mumbai girl Ishrat Jahan and three others in an alleged fake shootout five years ago after the Gujarat police claimed they were terrorists.
"We stand by our affidavit (claiming the four were terrorists)... we are not backtracking," Home Secretary G.K. Pillai told reporters.
"Even if they were terrorists, we cannot kill them in cold blood," he added.
Pillai was replying to a question about the home ministry's viewpoint following a magisterial inquiry in Gujarat that said the four were not terrorists and had been killed by police officials in cold blood.
Ishrat, a college student, and her friends Pranesh Pillai alias Javed Shaikh, Amjad Ali Rana and Zeeshan Johar were shot dead by the Ahmedabad police's Crime Branch on the outskirts of the Gujarat city June 15, 2004. Police said they were Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorists and were conspiring to kill Chief Minister Narendra Modi.
The home ministry had filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court, maintaining that the four had links with the LeT.
Ahmedabad's metropolitan magistrate S.P. Tamang's probe report released Monday asserted there was no shootout between the four and police. The report said the four were students and had been kidnapped from Mumbai June 12, 2004, and killed two days later.
Under pressure after the probe report, the Modi government has cited the home ministry affidavit and insisted that the four were terrorists.
New Delhi : The home ministry Wednesday said it stood by its affidavit on the controversial killing of Mumbai girl Ishrat Jahan and three others in an alleged fake shootout five years ago after the Gujarat police claimed they were terrorists.
"We stand by our affidavit (claiming the four were terrorists)... we are not backtracking," Home Secretary G.K. Pillai told reporters.
"Even if they were terrorists, we cannot kill them in cold blood," he added.
Pillai was replying to a question about the home ministry's viewpoint following a magisterial inquiry in Gujarat that said the four were not terrorists and had been killed by police officials in cold blood.
Ishrat, a college student, and her friends Pranesh Pillai alias Javed Shaikh, Amjad Ali Rana and Zeeshan Johar were shot dead by the Ahmedabad police's Crime Branch on the outskirts of the Gujarat city June 15, 2004. Police said they were Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorists and were conspiring to kill Chief Minister Narendra Modi.
The home ministry had filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court, maintaining that the four had links with the LeT.
Ahmedabad's metropolitan magistrate S.P. Tamang's probe report released Monday asserted there was no shootout between the four and police. The report said the four were students and had been kidnapped from Mumbai June 12, 2004, and killed two days later.
Under pressure after the probe report, the Modi government has cited the home ministry affidavit and insisted that the four were terrorists.
Merajur Rahman Baruah wins National Award for documentary ‘Shifting Prophecy’
By TwoCircles.net news desk
New Delhi: Delhi based independent documentary filmmaker Merajur Rahman Baruah won the 55th National Award for his documentary film ‘Shifting Prophecy.” The film was awarded Rajat Kamal for the 55th National Award in the Best Film on Social Issue category.
Mr. Baruah is an accomplished documentary filmmaker with several documentaries and awards to his credit. He won the Best Director Award at Hyderabad International Film Festival in 2008 for the same film.
“Sifting Prophecy” is about the struggles of Muslim women in Tamil Nadu. The film is woven around Sharifa Khanam who is trying to build a mosque for Muslim women.
Synopsis of the film:
The film explores the emergence of a rural Muslim women movement in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. The essence of their staggering struggle engaging with the question of gender violence, linking with the issues of poverty, survival, and women’s rights thus locating Muslim women’s concerns within a larger civic and political discourse. The film delves in to the prophecy of Ms Sharifa Khanam and thousands of other village women, who believe in freedom, justice humanity and democratic principles. And they now want to control their own affairs, hence constructing the world’s first women’s mosque and also formed the first women Jamat ever to counter against the gender biases, blatant discrimination in the name of religious and patriarchal social order
About the Director:
Merajur Rahman Baruah has completed Master Degree in Sociology and dip in Mass communication from Mass Communication Research Centre, Jamia Millia Islamia and also done Film Appreciation course from Film and Television Institute of India (FTII). For last ten years he has been involved in making documentaries and television program in various capacities on plethora of issues ranging from Art and Sculptures, sexuality, conflict & mental health issues on human rights, communalism and environmental issues of concern. Pageant in Painted Scenes, Breaking Silence, Song of the Sanctuary, Beyond the Zero Line and Shifting Prophecy are some of the documentaries he has already made so far. He has received the Commonwealth vision award 2006 as commanded for his film “Beyond the Zero Line” from the Royal Commonwealth Society United Kingdom in 2006. And best director’s award at the Hyderabad International Film Festival 08 for his film “Shifting Prophecy” And Rajat Kamal for best film on social issue in the recently held 55th National Award 09 for Shifting Prophecy.
Get the movie here: http://www.synclinefilmstore.com/movies/movie_detail/250
New Delhi: Delhi based independent documentary filmmaker Merajur Rahman Baruah won the 55th National Award for his documentary film ‘Shifting Prophecy.” The film was awarded Rajat Kamal for the 55th National Award in the Best Film on Social Issue category.
Mr. Baruah is an accomplished documentary filmmaker with several documentaries and awards to his credit. He won the Best Director Award at Hyderabad International Film Festival in 2008 for the same film.
“Sifting Prophecy” is about the struggles of Muslim women in Tamil Nadu. The film is woven around Sharifa Khanam who is trying to build a mosque for Muslim women.
Synopsis of the film:
The film explores the emergence of a rural Muslim women movement in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. The essence of their staggering struggle engaging with the question of gender violence, linking with the issues of poverty, survival, and women’s rights thus locating Muslim women’s concerns within a larger civic and political discourse. The film delves in to the prophecy of Ms Sharifa Khanam and thousands of other village women, who believe in freedom, justice humanity and democratic principles. And they now want to control their own affairs, hence constructing the world’s first women’s mosque and also formed the first women Jamat ever to counter against the gender biases, blatant discrimination in the name of religious and patriarchal social order
About the Director:
Merajur Rahman Baruah has completed Master Degree in Sociology and dip in Mass communication from Mass Communication Research Centre, Jamia Millia Islamia and also done Film Appreciation course from Film and Television Institute of India (FTII). For last ten years he has been involved in making documentaries and television program in various capacities on plethora of issues ranging from Art and Sculptures, sexuality, conflict & mental health issues on human rights, communalism and environmental issues of concern. Pageant in Painted Scenes, Breaking Silence, Song of the Sanctuary, Beyond the Zero Line and Shifting Prophecy are some of the documentaries he has already made so far. He has received the Commonwealth vision award 2006 as commanded for his film “Beyond the Zero Line” from the Royal Commonwealth Society United Kingdom in 2006. And best director’s award at the Hyderabad International Film Festival 08 for his film “Shifting Prophecy” And Rajat Kamal for best film on social issue in the recently held 55th National Award 09 for Shifting Prophecy.
Get the movie here: http://www.synclinefilmstore.com/movies/movie_detail/250
Tuesday, September 08, 2009
Democracy but not BJP
By Zohra Javed, TwoCircles.net
Suddenly everyone from Khushwant Singh to Vir Sanghvi, while claiming to be "no friends of the BJP" want it back in the political ring, fighting fit. Reason? India is a democracy and we need a strong opposition in a democratic set-up. The third front was a bubble that has burst long ago. Communists on their own had already proved that they really don't matter anyway.
So it is now a political party bathed in the blood of innocents that must come forward to play "the meaningful opposition" in our so called secular democratic system.
Yes it is very true that a robust democracy must have a robust opposition. But do we need a party like the BJP? Advani is now being made out a symbol of integrity and emotional honesty perhaps conveniently forgetting his bloody Rath Yatra, his unconditional support to Modi after the carnage in Gujarat, his now-out-in-the-open lie on Kandhar, his alleged praise for Jinnah and much more.
Nothing succeeds like success and nothing is more devastating than a humiliating defeat. The Lok Sabha election results have suffocated the dreams of many who now sit in the opposition benches. Let us not forget that when Congress was doing badly, many of its so called loyalists had left "the sinking ship" to join SP and BSP. Here the difference is that BJP is on a suicidal spree, kicking out stalwarts and loyal party members. The party must have its reasons for that. After all it is not a political novice. And indeed after an unsuccessful dribble with minority appeasement of sorts it has reverted to its parent the RSS.
It is therefore very surprising to note the likes of Khushwant Singh and Vir Sanghvi wanting BJP to become a "strong democratic opposition" in Parliament. This is the time when a Third Front, the rise of which has been thwarted as many times as it raised its head, can be yet again be encouraged to return. Media can play a constructive role in bringing about this much needed change so as to keep the arrogance and misuse of power by the two major parties, the BJP and the Congress in check. But that initiative is sadly missing.
While reminding the political fraternity of their responsibilities and the importance of a healthy opposition in a democracy, and tying to "reform" the BJP, the consortium of esteemed journalists in the country have perhaps forgotten their own duties.
This cannot be just an oversight.
Also I wish to know if in the opinion of the respected Sanghvis and their likes the minorities have rested in peace far too long?
Suddenly everyone from Khushwant Singh to Vir Sanghvi, while claiming to be "no friends of the BJP" want it back in the political ring, fighting fit. Reason? India is a democracy and we need a strong opposition in a democratic set-up. The third front was a bubble that has burst long ago. Communists on their own had already proved that they really don't matter anyway.
So it is now a political party bathed in the blood of innocents that must come forward to play "the meaningful opposition" in our so called secular democratic system.
Yes it is very true that a robust democracy must have a robust opposition. But do we need a party like the BJP? Advani is now being made out a symbol of integrity and emotional honesty perhaps conveniently forgetting his bloody Rath Yatra, his unconditional support to Modi after the carnage in Gujarat, his now-out-in-the-open lie on Kandhar, his alleged praise for Jinnah and much more.
Nothing succeeds like success and nothing is more devastating than a humiliating defeat. The Lok Sabha election results have suffocated the dreams of many who now sit in the opposition benches. Let us not forget that when Congress was doing badly, many of its so called loyalists had left "the sinking ship" to join SP and BSP. Here the difference is that BJP is on a suicidal spree, kicking out stalwarts and loyal party members. The party must have its reasons for that. After all it is not a political novice. And indeed after an unsuccessful dribble with minority appeasement of sorts it has reverted to its parent the RSS.
It is therefore very surprising to note the likes of Khushwant Singh and Vir Sanghvi wanting BJP to become a "strong democratic opposition" in Parliament. This is the time when a Third Front, the rise of which has been thwarted as many times as it raised its head, can be yet again be encouraged to return. Media can play a constructive role in bringing about this much needed change so as to keep the arrogance and misuse of power by the two major parties, the BJP and the Congress in check. But that initiative is sadly missing.
While reminding the political fraternity of their responsibilities and the importance of a healthy opposition in a democracy, and tying to "reform" the BJP, the consortium of esteemed journalists in the country have perhaps forgotten their own duties.
This cannot be just an oversight.
Also I wish to know if in the opinion of the respected Sanghvis and their likes the minorities have rested in peace far too long?
Apology demanded from Centre for filing affidavit against Ishrat Jahan
By TwoCircles.net Staff Reporter,
New Delhi: Eminent human rights activist and Member of the National Integration Council Shabnam Hashmi today wrote to Prme Minister Dr Manmohan Singh urging him to ask the Union Ministry of Home Affairs to tender an apology for filing affidavit against Mumbai college girl Ishrat Jahan who was killed in a fake encounter in Gujarat in June 2004.
In an open letter to the PM, Hashmi said: “My request to you is that if your government has any political will then please ask your home ministry to tender a public apology for filing the affidavit against the innocent girl who was so brutally murdered. It requires some courage and conviction.”
“The affidavit filed by the Home Ministry is a proof of the fact that in Ishrat Jahan’s fake encounter case UPA has connived with the Gujarat government in a blatantly communal manner”, Shabnam wrote in the letter.
Ishrat Jahan was killed with three others in Ahmedabad. A magisterial probe yesterday concluded that the encounter was staged by Gujarat top police officers to secure promotions.
The Ministry of Home Affairs in an affidavit to the Gujarat High Court stated that Ishrat, Javed and two others Jisan Johar and Amjad Ali Rana were all operatives of Pakistan-based terror group Lashkar-e-Toiba. The Union government had also said that no proposal for CBI investigation was under consideration of the Centre nor did it consider the present case fit for CBI probe.
The family of 19-year-old Ishrat Jahan had approached the High Court demanding CBI probe in the case. They continued saying their girl was innocent and was killed in fake encounter.
Shabnam has also questioned the reason behind filing of the affidavit by the Central Government. “It seems it was to dissuade the Court from appointing a strong SIT and give a message that even the Central Government had approved the act of fake encounter. But for the magisterial enquiry the Central Home Ministry had left no stone unturned to prove that Ishrat deserved to be killed,” she wrote in the letter.
Ahmedabad metropolitan magistrate, S.P. Tamang, in his 252-page, hand-written report ruled that the June 2004 killing of Ishrat Jahan and three others was a case of “fake encounter.” Tamang has named the then “encounter specialist” of the Gujarat police, D.G. Vanzara, among others, accused in the “cold-blooded murder” of the teenaged girl and the three others. Vanzara is already in jail for the Sohrabuddin fake encounter.
New Delhi: Eminent human rights activist and Member of the National Integration Council Shabnam Hashmi today wrote to Prme Minister Dr Manmohan Singh urging him to ask the Union Ministry of Home Affairs to tender an apology for filing affidavit against Mumbai college girl Ishrat Jahan who was killed in a fake encounter in Gujarat in June 2004.
In an open letter to the PM, Hashmi said: “My request to you is that if your government has any political will then please ask your home ministry to tender a public apology for filing the affidavit against the innocent girl who was so brutally murdered. It requires some courage and conviction.”
“The affidavit filed by the Home Ministry is a proof of the fact that in Ishrat Jahan’s fake encounter case UPA has connived with the Gujarat government in a blatantly communal manner”, Shabnam wrote in the letter.
Ishrat Jahan was killed with three others in Ahmedabad. A magisterial probe yesterday concluded that the encounter was staged by Gujarat top police officers to secure promotions.
The Ministry of Home Affairs in an affidavit to the Gujarat High Court stated that Ishrat, Javed and two others Jisan Johar and Amjad Ali Rana were all operatives of Pakistan-based terror group Lashkar-e-Toiba. The Union government had also said that no proposal for CBI investigation was under consideration of the Centre nor did it consider the present case fit for CBI probe.
The family of 19-year-old Ishrat Jahan had approached the High Court demanding CBI probe in the case. They continued saying their girl was innocent and was killed in fake encounter.
Shabnam has also questioned the reason behind filing of the affidavit by the Central Government. “It seems it was to dissuade the Court from appointing a strong SIT and give a message that even the Central Government had approved the act of fake encounter. But for the magisterial enquiry the Central Home Ministry had left no stone unturned to prove that Ishrat deserved to be killed,” she wrote in the letter.
Ahmedabad metropolitan magistrate, S.P. Tamang, in his 252-page, hand-written report ruled that the June 2004 killing of Ishrat Jahan and three others was a case of “fake encounter.” Tamang has named the then “encounter specialist” of the Gujarat police, D.G. Vanzara, among others, accused in the “cold-blooded murder” of the teenaged girl and the three others. Vanzara is already in jail for the Sohrabuddin fake encounter.
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