Saturday, August 4, 2012

UNGA adopts resolution on Syria

August 4, 2012

The UN General Assembly overwhelmingly adopted a Saudi-drafted resolution on Syria that expressed “grave concern” at the escalating violence in the country but India was among the 31 nations that abstained.The 193-member General Assembly passed the resolution that denounced Syria’s crackdown on its people and demanded that the country lockdown it’s chemical and biological weapons.
The resolution also deplored “the failure of the Security Council to agree on measures to ensure the compliance of Syrian authorities with its decisions”.
The resolution got 133 votes in favour, while 12 countries voted against and 31 countries, including India abstained.An earlier draft of the resolution had provisions that demanded regime change, called on President Bashar Al-Assad to resign and asked countries to place sanctions against the country for the violence and killing.
India was not in favour of these provisions and a senior member of Indian delegation had said that officials “worked over time” to get these demands dropped from the resolution.
Others countries like Brazil, Russia, China and South Africa too were not in support of the provisions demanding regime change and sanctions.The Indian Ambassador to the UN Hardeep Singh Puri had also held several rounds of discussion with his Saudi and Qatari counterparts over the provisions of regime change and sanctions in the resolution. Unlike a UN Security Council resolution, the General Assembly resolution is not legally binding. It is only moral and symbolic in nature.The resolution strongly condemns “the continued widespread and systematic gross violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms by the Syrian authorities and pro-governmental militias”.
Addressing the 193-member General Assembly before the vote on the resolution, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said the violence and acts of brutality being reported in Syrian cities may constitute “crimes against humanity or war crimes”.
He said despite repeated verbal acceptances of the international envoy six-point plan endorsed by the UN Security Council, the Syrian government and the opposition continue to rely on weapons and not diplomacy, believing that they would win through violence.
The Syrian crisis has escalated in the last 17 months when the uprising against President Bashar Al-Assad’s regime began.
More than 10,000 people have been killed and thousands others displaced by the fighting between government and rebel forces.Efforts to restore peace and stability in the troubled nation were dealt a huge blow when the UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan announced that he was resigning from his post, six months after his efforts to end the violence and find a political solution to the Syrian crisis yielded no results.
Ban said the violence and bloodshed in Syria was “avoidable” if the Syrian government had from the beginning of the uprising not responded to peaceful demonstrations with brutal force, including mass round-ups and torture.He said observers had predicted at the start of the conflict that unchecked spread of violence in Syria would lead to a rise of radicalisation, extremism and terrorism.
“The next step was also forewarned: a proxy war, with regional and international players arming one side or the other.”“Now, we face the grim possibility of long-term civil war destroying Syria’s rich tapestry of interwoven communities. This would have tragic implications for Syria’s people and could affect stability across the region. We must not let this prediction come true,” Ban said.
He said mediation to solve the Syrian crisis can only succeed if there is a commitment to solving conflict through dialogue and real leverage to back it up.Annan too had blamed a divided international community and UN Security Council for lack of action to stop the violence.

Launch of AACCI project on "Prevention of Violence and Aggression in children and Youth”

Launch of AACCI project on “Prevention of Violence and Aggression in children and Youth”

August 4, 2012

National consultative meeting and Launch of AACCI project
on “Prevention of Violence and Aggression in children and Youth” Saturday, 4th August 2012 IIC, New Delhi:
In view of the escalating violence in many cities of India which involves children and youth in schools, out of school and at home in various aspects AACCI- Association of Adolescent and child care in India felt a need to plan some interventions and decide to spearhead a project that will get together a variety of stake holders to plan practical interventions which are doable at various levels. We at AACCI felt that there is a need for a group of experts, NGO’s and stake holders to come together and brain storm to come out with recommendations for prevention of this escalating violence and aggression and plan intervention strategies at various levels- school. College, community, parents and last but not the least Media .This consultative meeting was planned This project is the brain child of Dr Swati Y Bhave Executive Director AACCI. This is being co-hosted by Dr Anuradha Khairnar and ISHP Indian Society of health care professionals AACCI is a group of doctors from various specialties and mental health professionals who have come together for holistic care of children and adolescents.
Children in schools and youth in college can only be reached through the two main pillars of their wellbeing –parents at home and teachers in schools .With this in mind AACCI has also included in our group parents and teachers Since 2008 AACCI has been doing various programs on parenting, Life skill education, tobacco control, gender issues, healthy life style, anger management and coping with emotions prevention of obesity and other life style disorders in various cities and states in the country. You can visit our website www.aacci.in for more details about us and our activities .Many of The AACCI research and other publications and yearly reports are on the website   In the morning Presentations on the subject will be made by renowned psychiatrists: Dr Shekhar Seshadri from NIMHANS, Bangalore, Nimesh Desai IHBAS, New Delhi and Dr Jitendra Nagpal, Expressions India New Delhi The participants are experts in psychology, doctors from various specialties- paediatricians, psychiatrists, adolescent specialists, family physicians, principals, teachers, counselors, legal experts, media experts, social scientists, educationist and parents and representatives from various NGOS. Group discussions will be held under various themes: interventions at parental, school, college, community levels, legal aspects, special situations like rural, tribal and urban slums and specially challenged children.
In addition to the above experts The groups will be led by experts: Dr Jai Shastri Psychiatrist and Dr Anuradha Sovani from Mumbai University, Prof Katy Gandevia from TISS, Dr Jay Shastri a child psychiatrist from Mumbai ,Dr Radhakrishnan from RGNIYD, Dr UNB Rao from UVCT Trust, Seema Khanna Media expert from ASWHD , Dr Farookh Buchia from CASP ,Mumbai Dr Sangeeta Yadav Prof of Pediatrics from MAMC New Delhi, Padmashree Pukhraj Bafna from Chhattisgarh, Adolescent experts like Drs Ashok Gupta from Jaipur, Paula Goel from Mumbai, Anjali Saxena and TS Jain from New Delhi. AACCI has got many partners A multicentre research is planned by AACCI which will be coordinated by Dr Surekha Joshi research coordinator AACCI and analysis will be done by TISS Mumbai.
The results of the discussions will be complied in the form of recommendations and action plan that will be carried out by committed people across the country. The report will also be published   Sunday, 5th August 2012 Orientation to master trainers module developed by AACCI for creating awareness and capacity building of teachers , students and children to prevent and ability to cope up with violence. This has been developed by Dr Swati Bhave and Divya Santhanan. AACCI faculty lead by Dr Swati Y Bhave and Anuradha Sovani will explain the way to use this module so that principals and teachers can conduct the program at their schools. We have 25 principals and teachers from various parts of the country .
An unusual part of this consultative meeting is that 18 students from X-XII std will also be part of this meeting and give inputs. As a pilot launch AACCI trained a whole school over 7800 students, 25 teachers and 50 parents whose children had problems in the month of July in a elite south Mumbai School – Activity school .The principal Perin bagli will make a presentation at the meet to share her experience    People who will give bytes to the press Dr Swati Bhave , Paediatrician and teen expert Executive director AACCI Dr Anuradha Sovani psychologist , Advisor AACCI Dr Jay Shastri psychiatrist ,Mumbai DR Shekhar Sheshadri psychiatrist NIMHANS Dr Nimesh Desai psychiatrist IHBAS Dr Katy Gandevia social worker TISS . Mumbai Dr Farookh Buchia conselor CASP Dr UNB Rao ,IPS, UVCT Perin Bagli Principal Activity School

Olympics: US gold rush sinks China

August 04, 2012 - Geo news

LONDON: China slipped to second place in the London Olympics medals count Friday as wins in badminton and trampolining were outdone by an American gold rush in the pool.
The six-day leaders, who also ruled the roost at Beijing 2008, were just one gold behind the United States -- 20 to 21 -- but with athletics, a rich mine for American medals, only just under way.
World champions Japan humbled Brazil 2-0 to reach the women's football semi-finals, easing the delegation's disquiet at being knocked off top spot in the judo competition for the first time since Seoul 1988.
China will look to their divers, badminton players and table tennis stars to maintain their flow of medals.
On Friday, world champions Zhang Nan and Zhao Yunlei, who are romantically involved, won the badminton mixed doubles 21-11, 21-17 against team-mates Xu Chen and Ma Jin.
It began what China hope will be a sweep of all five badminton titles -- a bid which was rocked when top seeds Yu Yang and Wang Xiaoli were among eight players kicked out of the women's doubles for playing to lose.
Men's champion Lin Dan set up a dream final with great rival Lee Chong Wei, who is recovering fast from a serious ankle injury, in what will help organisers move on from the 'throwing' scandal.
Malaysia's Lee downed fourth seed Chen Long 21-13, 21-14, and Lin beat South Korea's Lee Hyun-Il 21-12, 21-10 to set up a rematch of the 2008 final -- and last year's gripping world title match, won by Lin at Wembley Arena.
"I was not the favourite to win this match," said top seed Lee, who has battled back to fitness with intense rehab and stem-cell treatment.
"This is not Lee Chong Wei at his best. But I was determined to prove a lot of people wrong."
China stayed on course for the unprecedented feat of winning all eight diving titles when Wu Minxia, seeking a record-equalling sixth Olympic medal, led the preliminary round of the women's 3m springboard.
Dong Dong won the men's trampoline, usurping the title of Chinese team-mate Lu Chunlong, who is also world champion in the discipline and took bronze.
South Korea claimed the Olympic Games men's team sabre fencing gold, beating Romania 45-26 in the final, while Oh Jin-Hyek extended their dominance in the archery events by winning the men's individual competition.
South Korea, who set a modest target of 10 titles for the Games, already have nine which puts them third on the medals table, ahead of hosts Great Britain.
But Japan were left to contemplate a medal-less showing for their male judokas which means that, for the first time in 24 years, they cannot finish as the competition's most successful nation.
Japan have just one judo gold so far, through women's under-57kg world champion Kaori Matsumoto. Japan are currently 13th on the medals table, with North Korea eighth.
"It is my responsibility. Technically we were good but mentally and in terms of power we were weak," said men's coach Shinichi Shinohara.
"I don't think the rest of the world has got better but mentally athletes from the other countries are stronger."
On Saturday, the last evening of pool action, China can bet the house on a gold medal for world champion and world record-holder Sun Yang in the 1500m. Sun, with the 400m title in the bag, topped qualifying with 14min 43.25sec.
It will help counter a flood of US titles in the pool including wins for Michael Phelps, Missy Franklin, and 15-year-old Katie Ledecky on Friday.

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IAC:Anna Hazare ends fast at Jantar Mantar

Anna Hazare ends fast at Jantar Mantar - To start work on creating political alternative

Anna Hazare, Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia and Gopal Rai today ended their fast after Team Anna resolved to come up with a political alternative for the country. They broke the fast at the hands of Retd Gen V K Singh in the evening at 6.30 pm along with 350 anshankaris who were sitting on fast for the past 10 days.

It was declared that the andolan would take place simultaneously on the roads and the Parliament.

Gen Singh told the crowds that what was happening today in the name of policies was undemocratic and to prevent that there has to be a political alternative.

“In 1975 Jay Prakash Narayan said that corruption is at the base of all problems. The statement is as relevant today as it was back then. Whenever you oppose bad governance, you are alleged to be wrong. You will also face the same. You, the people, have to be vigilant to prevent that from happening,” he said.

“In Army we learn two major things, one that we respect all religions and second that there is no difference between any caste and creed. And this is what makes the Army successful. People will try to divide you on name of caste, creed, etc. You should not fall prey to them. Think of yourself as an Army man and you will always get success,” he added.

Arvind Kejriwal thanked the people on fast, the doctors, the naturopaths, the volunteers, the media and Nitin Dawar.

“We thought that a massive public movement will force the govt. to pass a strong Janlokpal, but that did not happen despite the support of millions of people. We introspected and found that it is due to tainted ministers in the cabinet that they are not passing the Janlokpal.”

“Today the third phase of this movement has started. Now this fight is moving from Janlokpal to overall systemic change.”

“This movement is moving from the roads to the Parliament, but that does not mean that the on road movement will stop. The movement will now be on roads as well as inside the Parliament,” he said.

“I challenge the Congress that if in the next one and a half years they pass Janlokpal, laws for right to recall, right to reject and gram sabhas, then we will withdraw our decision of getting into politics.”

He told the crowd that their aim was decentralization of power. The party that is going to be launched will be entirely run by people. He said that all decisions right from selection of candidates to funding and expenditure would be put in the public domain. They would challenge other parties to do the same. Kejriwal also said that the movement needed an army of volunteers. Those who had suggestions can email it to indiaagainstcorruption.2010@gmail.com or write to A-119, Kaushambi, Ghaziabad.

He also called on people who feel suffocated in their parties like Cong and BJP to join their movement.

Anna Hazare said that whenever he has sat on a fast he has always chosen to break his fast at the hands of someone clean. This time as well he was happy to break his fast at the hands of Gen VK Singh. He also announced that he would not participate in any elections.

He said, “What are we asking for? For last one and a half years we have been fighting for a strong Lokpal. I believe that a strong Lokpal can root out corruption to great extent, at least 60-65%. But our demand was not accepted. They ditched us again and again. Now we need to decentralize power… I am not doing this for myself at the age of 75. I am doing this for the people,” he added.

“If the political parties are afraid of us then they should pass Janlokpal, decentralize power, pass right to reject and right to recall as Arvind said. We are not interested in power but we want a better India,” he said.

In his address, Manish Sisodia said during the 10 days of anshan he realised that there is no place for democracy in the current system. We are left with just 2 options. Either sit on anshan for years which will have little impact on Govt or start a political revolution. Therefore, we are left with no option."

Gopal Rai said, "when we attained our independence in 1947, there was a hope that the new Govt would end the corrupt systems that was created by the British. Unfortunately that did not happen. The only difference was that the British were replaced by Indians. The system however did not change."

Yogendra Yadav said, "the path that has been chosen is a very tough one. But it is the right path."

The total donation collected during the last 10 days was Rs. 39,52,783. The details of the same are available on our website www.indiaagainstcorruption.org.

"भारत में उदारीकरण" 11 अगस्त को शाम 5 .30 बजे

समाजवादी जन परिषद

दिल्ली प्रदेश इकाई

निमंत्रण पत्र

दिनांक 03 . 08 . 12

साथियो,

उदारीकरण के 20 साल पूरे हो चुके हैं. इस अवसर पर इसे लागू करनेवाले इसकी उपलब्धियों का बखान करते नहीं थक रहे. लेकिन अनेक विश्लेषकों का मानना है क़ि इसके नकारात्मक पहलू ही अधिक रहे हैं. . इस मुद्दे पर विचार के लिए हमने गाँधी शांति प्रतिष्ठान के साथ मिलकर एक श्रंखला क़ि शुरुआत की है. ताकि इसके सभी पहलुओं पर गौर किया जा सके. इस कड़ी में दूसरी विचार गोष्ठी में आप सदर आमंत्रित हैं.

11 अगस्त को शाम 5 .30 बजे

से गाँधी पीस फौन्डेसन,

दीनदयाल उपाध्याय मार्ग, नई दिल्ली में एक संगोष्ठी का आयोजन किया है.

संगोष्ठी में वक्ता होंगे जाने-माने अर्थशास्त्री प्रो. अमित कुमार भादुरी और

संगोष्ठी का विषय है

"भारत में उदारीकरण"

इस संगोष्ठी में आप सादर आमंत्रित हैं.

सुरेन्द्र कुमार अतुल कुमार

सचिव, GPF महामंत्री, सजप

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