Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site sbcs.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!bonnie!akgua!gatech!seismo!lll-crg!ucdavis!ucbvax!decvax!linus!philabs!sbcs!mohan From: mohan@sbcs.UUCP (Chilukuri K. Mohan) Newsgroups: net.nlang.india Subject: India news bulletin Message-ID: <29@sbcs.UUCP> Date: Wed, 27-Nov-85 17:04:04 EST Article-I.D.: sbcs.29 Posted: Wed Nov 27 17:04:04 1985 Date-Received: Tue, 3-Dec-85 08:27:31 EST Distribution: net Organization: Computer Science Dept, SUNY@Stony Brook Lines: 171 {News bulletin circulated by KAPUR%ge-crd.arpa@CSNET-RELAY on iitnet.} 11/23/85 Floods in Tamil Nadu I. The city of Madras and its surrounding villages were hit by torrential rains last week. Over 250 people are feared dead. Heavy rains have been lashing Tamil Nadu for last 15 days and Madras is flooded. At least 300,000 people were reportedly stranded. Rail, road, air and shipping services were cut off. No cargo was handled at Madras port. Most roads into the Madras city of 4.5 million people were impassable. Governors Moved Around II. Punjab's governor Arjun Singh has been inducted into the central cabinet as the commerce minister. Singh is reportedly rewarded for his role in negotiating the Punjab accord. Singh is replaced by Dr. Shankar Dayal Sharma, Governor of Andhra Pradesh. Kumudben Joshi, a former central deputy minister, will be the new governor of Andhra. Former Maharashtra chief minister Vasantdada Patil has been appointed the governor of Rajasthan. The Lieutnant Governor of Delhi Madan Mohan Krishan Wali was replaced by a retired Air vice marshal Harkishan Lal Kapur. Police Kills 58 People in Bihar III. Police sources claimed to have killed 58 people in the Bhojpur region in Bihar on Nov. 14. No police casuality was reported in what the police described as a major pitched battle between the police and the guerrillas belonging to a Naxalite group. No further details are yet available. There have been reports of clashes between the landlords and landless peasants demanding higher wages in this region. According to local civil liberties organizations, activists of landless peasant associations are frequently targets of attacks by landlords and their sena, and the police; these attacks have been justified by the police as an attempt to wipe out Naxalite guerrials. Nelson Mandela's Daughter Critizes West for its soft attitude towards Pretoria IV. Nelson Mandela's daughter Zenani Dlamini appealed to the Western world to take the same steps as India was taking to support the freedom struggle of the South African people against the Apartheid regime. Dlamini was in India to attend a nonaligned youth conference. She criticized the attitude of the United States and Britain in not allowing the United Nations Security Council to impose mandatory sanctions against the racist regime. Dlamini said the Nonaligned movement was playing a positive, constructive and dynamic role to ensure the black majority in South Africa was judged by the content of its character and not the color of its skin. Air India crash Inquiry V. A Canadian government pathologist testified to one man commission headed by Judge BN Kirpal that the autopsies on nearly half the bodies recovered from the Air India jet that crashed off the Irish coast, indicate that the plane disintegrated in the flight. Dr. IH Hill also said that the examinations failed to indicate what caused the Boeing 747 to break apart on June 23, killing all 329 people aboard. Earlier, another investigator had testified that the examination of the wreckage lifted from the seabed does not support the theory of bomb explosion. But according to Indian director of air safety, Hoshiar Singh Khola, an explosion occcured on the plane. He submitted his report containing this conclusion to Judge BN Kirpal. According to Khola, he based his findings on analysis of the cockpit voice recorder and tapes from the air-control tower at Shannon, Ireland. "There were neither warning nor any emergency declared until the time flight recorders stopped functioning." Mr. Khola said in his 78-page report, "circumstantial evidence strongly suggests a sudden and unexpected disaster occurred in flight." It was based on Khola's understanding and speculation that the government officials had declared as early as July that the explosion was caused by a bomb in the cargo area; this was when following detailed investigation of the debris, western experts had strongly started doubting the theory of bomb explosion causing the crash. When questioned by Indian and Candian lawyers, Khola however testified there was no evidence of an explosion or fire in the plane's cockpit or passanger cabin. He also added that his examination of victims' clothes did not show any explosive fractures or any sign of burning. VI. Meanwhile, two Canadians of Indian origin who were arrested by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police on Nov. 6 in the Vancouver area for alleged possession of explosives were set free on bail by a Provincial court Judge. The Judge released Talvinder Singh Parmarm, leader of Babbar Khalsa group and wanted in India for alleged murder, and Inderjit Singh Reyat on their own recognizance. RCMP Superitendent had told the press earlier that the two were arrested because of their suspected role in the Air-India jet crash case and the explostion at the Narita airport from a baggage in the Canadian Pacific flight. However, the Judge said, "I think what I am being asked to do here is to infer that there is probably some connection with certain aviation bombings and this case. I certainly cannot make that inference." VII. An independent team of doctors, scientists and trade unionists have strongly criticized official relief measures for the victims of the poison gas leak from a Union Carbide plant in Bhopal last December. The team visited hospitals and badly affected areas of the city and said on Nov. 15, that victims of the disaster badly need better medical care. The PTI quoted the All India Committee on Bhopal Gas Tragedy as accusing local authorities of attempting to "hoodwink the people with exaggerated claims of relief and rehabilitation." According to the committee, "the state government's relief measures have been utterly inadequate, exposing its callous apathy toward such intensely suffering people." Commitee Organizers PK Ganguly told reporters that people affected by the gas still complained of breathing problems, burning eyes, blurred vision, and general weakness. Many are permanently maimed and unable to work. Over 2500 people were killed as a result of the leak, over 50,000 seriously injured and 200,000 affected. Sources: the New York Times, Albany Times-Union, India Abroad, India Now. -------- *** REPLACE THIS LINE WITH YOUR MESSAGE ***