Kevin Rudd appoints record number of women in cabinet

Melbourne: Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on Monday unveiled his new cabinet, including a record number of six women, along with the first ever Muslim in the country's parliament.

Governor-General Quentin Bryce swore in the ministers this afternoon before a first cabinet meeting in Canberra.

Rudd named six women to his cabinet, the largest number in Australian parliamentary history.

Days after he dramatically ousted the country's first woman premier Julia Gillard, the 55-year-old Rudd named 11 women ministers out of the 30 all up on the frontbench - and six in cabinet.

In another first, 43-year-old Ed Husic was elevated to a senior role and named parliament secretary to the Prime Minister as he become the first ever Muslim to be sworn on to a federal government frontbench.

Rudd staged a remarkable comeback by winning a caucus vote by 57 to 45 last week, three years after Gillard toppled him in a similar showdown to become the first woman premier.

Rudd said he wanted the "best players on the field" and his new ministry has been chosen on merit and it outpoints the opposition on quality and experience, local media reported.

He pledged to work for a "stronger, fairer Australia... and never ever, ever allow the fair-go to be thrown out the backdoor."

The women ministers include newcomers Jacinta Collins as minister of Mental Health and Ageing, Tasmanian MP Julie Collins as minister for housing, Homelessnes and status of Women and Catherine King as minister for Regional Australia.

Following the appointment of the women, Rudd today said women in his ministry were there based on their talents, not their gender.

"I'm a guy who believes in meritocracy, and when you find people of merit, they should be promoted," he said.

Some of his key supporters Joel Fitzgibbon and Kim Carr have returned as Agriculture Minister and Industry and Innovation Minister respectively whereas some supporters of Gillard continue to remain in Cabinet with different roles.

The 20-member cabinet includes finance minister Penny Wong, health minister Tanya Plibersek and families minister Jenny Macklin.

Meanwhile, a new poll, the first since Rudd's return as Prime Minister, has ranked him in a significant lead as the country's preferred leader.

Galaxy poll published in News Limited papers says 51 per cent of respondents believe Rudd would make the best prime minister, compared to 34 per cent for rival Tony Abbott.

Fifteen per cent of those surveyed were uncommitted.

Rudd's position shows an 18 per cent jump from Gillard's position in March. Rudd has said he was heartened by the boost Labor has received. In a statement, he said it was encouraging to see voters already responding to his brand of "positive, policy-driven" politics.

However, the poll shows the opposition Coalition still leads Labor 51 per cent to 49 per cent, on a two-party preferred basis.

PTI

MP announces Rs 5 lakh for kids orphaned in Uttarakhand tragedy

Bhopal: Amid an emotional reunion of stranded pilgrims with their families, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Monday described the tragedy in rain-ravaged Uttarakhand as "terrible" and announced a relief of Rs five lakh to the children, who lost their parents in it.

"I have never seen a disaster of such a magnitude. It was terrible, much bigger than the Bhopal gas tragedy," Chouhan, who arrived at the airport along with 167 stranded pilgrims in a special plane, told reporters.

After landing, the Chief Minister along with his wife Sadhna, welcomed all the stranded pilgrims by offering them garlands and directed officials to ensure proper arrangements for their onward journey to their respective towns/villages by bus.


The state government will provide an assistance of Rs five lakh to those children who have lost both their parents, Chouhan said while narrating the horrific tale of Snehlata from Gwalior, who lost her mother and father in the tragedy.

"Snehlata's story is very heart rending. She was constantly crying for her parents who were missing since the tragedy struck the hill state," Chouhan said.

"The state government will not only take care of Snehlata and her sister Ayushi for their entire life, but also look after other such children," he said.

Besides, the state government will also provide an immediate assistance of Rs 50,000 to the families of those missing and another Rs 1.5 lakh after a week if they were not found, by relaxing the mandatory seven-year period for providing relief in such cases.

A total of 741 are still missing from the state and of them, the government has a list of 593 pilgrims along with their photographs, Chouhan said, adding that efforts were on to identify the remaining missing persons.

The state has so far evacuated 1,301 pilgrims by special planes. One more flight will arrive tomorrow and another day after with stranded persons, he said. The Chief Minister said that besides the pilgrims from MP, the state's rescue teams have also rescued 1,810 pilgrims belonging to other states without any discrimination.

The state government's choppers rescued 292 pilgrims of Madhya Pradesh and 247 of other states, Chouhan said while praising the efforts of the two pilots, who, despite not having much experience of flying in difficult terrains, did a commendable job.

Chouhan said the rescue team has so far evacuated 5,330 stranded pilgrims and has made arrangements for food and other facilities for over 7,200 people in the relief camp, set up at Gayatri Pariwar's premises in the hill state.

"There were many pilgrims who insisted on camping in relief camps in the hope that their missing relatives would soon join them and therefore we allowed them to remain there for some more time," he said.

The CM has urged his Uttarakhand counterpart to continue the relief and rescue operation till all the missing pilgrims are found.

The state government has also decided to adopt a village in Uttarakhand for rehabilitation, but the decision on which village would be adopted will be taken later on in consultation with the Uttarakhand government, he said.

In view of the magnitude of the tragedy, Chouhan has urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to declare it as a national calamity so that entire nation can pool resources for rebuilding the hill state, he said.

On queries regarding rebuilding of Kedarnath temple and allegations of negligence, the Chief Minister said this was not the time for doing politics on the issue.

However, he said that the Uttarakhand government should have remained more alert when it was warned about heavy rains by experts.

PTI 

Goa to ban Plaster of Paris Ganesh idols again

Panaji: The Goa government proposes to impose a ban on Ganesh idols made of Plaster of Paris (PoP) which, after immersion, end up polluting the water source, state Environment Minister Alina Saldanha said on Monday.

The state has imposed a ban on PoP idols earlier too, though such idols continue to have a market as they are relatively cheaper and have a good finish.

Saldanha, speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a government function in the capital, said: "PoP does cause a lot of pollution. The decision (to ban PoP idols) will be taken soon, much before Ganesh Chaturthi, so that people have enough time on their hands to get the right idols."


The PoP idols, often containing gypsum, sulphur, phosphorus and magnesium as well as lead paints, disintegrate slowly and, in the process, poison the waters of lakes, ponds and rivers, as well as choking the beds of water bodies.

Last year, after the state government banned the idols, it also started selling eco-friendly Ganesh idols through its handicrafts corporation.

Ganesh Chaturthi, which is scheduled for September 09 this year, is one of Goa's most popular religious festivals.

IANS 

India's first midnight satellite launch set for Monday

CHENNAI: The countdown for the Monday midnight launch of an Indian navigation satellite is progressing smoothly with the liquid fuel filling for the fourth stage engine getting completed, an official said on Sunday.

"Yesterday (Saturday) evening, the filling of the liquid fuel in the fourth stage was completed and the fuel for the second stage will be filled during the countdown. In addition, pressurisation of the stages with gases will also be done," a senior official at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said.

The 64.5 hour countdown began at 7:11am Saturday.

The 44-metre-tall Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle-XL (PSLV-XL) weighing 320 tonnes at lift-off is a four-stage rocket powered by solid and liquid propellants alternatively.

The solid fuel hydroxyl-terminated-poly-butadiene comes readily cast while the liquid fuel - unsymmetrical dimethyl-hydrazine-hydrate and 25 percent of nitrogen tetroxide for second stage and mono-methyl-hydrazine and mixed oxide nitrogen for fourth stage - are filled during the countdown.

The PSLV will blast off into the dark skies from Sriharikota, around 80 km from here, Monday night around 11.41pm carrying India's first navigational satellite the 1,425 kg IRNSS (Indian Regional Navigational Satellite System)-1A.

"We have had late evening and early morning launches. But this is the first time ISRO is launching a rocket around midnight," the ISRO official said.

The official said the launch time has been fixed taking into account the orbit and inclination at which the satellite will be injected into the space.

According to him, the weather at Sriharikota is fine and it may not pose any hindrance for the rocket launch.

He said ISRO chairman K Radhakrishnan is expected to have a brief meeting with the media at the rocket port post-launch which will be around 12.45am on Tuesday.

Around 20 minutes into the launch, the rocket PSLV-XL will eject the navigational satellite at an altitude of 501 km.

The satellite is intended to provide terrestrial, aerial and marine navigation services and help in disaster and fleet management.

The satellite with a life span of around 10 years is one of the seven satellites constituting the IRNSS space segment -- a regional navigational system developed by India designed to provide accurate position information service to users within the country and up to 1,500 km from the nation's boundary line, ISRO said.

The IRNSS will provide two types of services - standard positioning service and restricted service. The former is provided to all users and the later is an encrypted service for authorised users.

ISRO had planned to launch IRNSS-1A last month. But it had to put it off after finding a problem in one of the electro-hydraulic control actuators in the second stage engine.

The rocket was fully assembled with the satellite when the problem was detected during checks.

The second stage had to be dismantled to replace the actuator which is an assembly of several components. It weighs around 20 kg.

Following the Monday launch of the navigational satellite, ISRO is planning to launch its communication satellite G-Sat 14 using a heavier rocket - Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) - powered by a domestic cryogenic engine some time in August this year.

Preparatory work for the G-Sat 14 launch is going ahead at the rocket launch pad in Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh, around 80 km from here.

It will be followed by the mission to Mars later this year. The launch of one more remote sensing satellite is also being planned before the end of the year.

Nawaz Sharif to send Pak power minister to India to tackle energy crisis

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has directed his water and power minister to India to address the severe energy crisis facing the country.

"We are facing acute electricity shortage and any assistance in the power sector will help us in addressing the problem," Sharif said while speaking to members of the Pak-India Joint Business Council at the Prime Minister's Office yesterday.

Sharif told the meeting that he had directed Khawaja Muhammad Asif, minister for water and power, to visit India and explore potential areas of cooperation between the two countries, the official APP news agency reported.

Earlier, Asif had said that the energy crisis in Pakistan will take at least two years to be resolved.

Asif said that due to shortage of power the country had sustained a huge loss of Rs 1,000 billion in the last five years. Pakistan is currently facing a power deficit of 4,000-5,000 megawatts per day.

Earlier this month, Pakistan had sought 500 MW of electricity from India by laying a transmission line from Punjab into Lahore. The proposal to buy power was made when an expert group visited Pakistan to discuss energy cooperation.

India is willing to help and is exploring the points which can be used to hook-up to the grid in Pakistan through a high-voltage direct current (HVDC) line, government sources in New Delhi has said.

Sharif has earlier said that tackling the energy crisis will be among the top priorities of his government. 

Taj Mahal ranked third among top landmarks in the world

NEW YORK: Travellers from across the globe have ranked India's Taj Mahal among the top three landmarks in the world, a leading travel website has announced.

According to TripAdvisor's 2013 Travellers Choice Attractions Awards, Taj Mahal was ranked third in the list of Top 25 landmarks.

The top two places were taken by Machu Picchu in Peru and Angkor Wat in Cambodia respectively.

"The winners of Travelers' Choice Attractions awards were determined based on the quality and quantity of traveler reviews of attractions," said a company statement.

Taj Mahal, listed among the new seven wonders of the world, is renowned the world over for its architecture and aesthetic beauty.

Built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his late wife Mumtaz Mahal, the white marble mausoleum in the northern Indian city of Agra is also a symbol of enduring love.

In 1983, it became a Unesco World Heritage Site. The Taj Mahal attracts 2-4 million visitors annually, with more than 200,000 from overseas.

It shares the latest honour alongside Petra World Heritage Site in Jordan and Bayon Temple in Cambodia, which are ranked fourth and fifth respectively in the list of 25 top landmarks in the world.

3,000-year-old rock art found in Chhattisgarh

BILASPUR: Five unique rock art, apparently dating back to about 3,000 years, was discovered from the dense forests of Suarlot hills in Korba district of Chhattisgarh.

The rock art, found by archaeologist Hari Singh Chhatri in the dense forests, show the concepts in the form of geometrical drawing. These drawings in red ochre are of humans, mermaids, animals including goat, and a geometrical pattern which resembles a 'viman' or an aeroplane.

"The rock art is still safe as it is located in dense forests. I have found pictures of a male and a female with a specific difference in their height. This could be of Lord Ram and Sita," archaeologist Hari Singh Chhatri told TOI.

"There was a place called 'Kharoud', which is also known as Khar Dusan (demon) Nagri. It is just 34km from Korba. And, the famous Shivrinarayan is just 3km from Kharoud," he said adding that these places could have links with the places where Lord Ram visited during his exile.

Rock Art Society of India secretary G L Badham said, "It is an excellent discovery. Of course, the period of Ramayana had connection with Chhattisgarh forests for which there are evidences. These rock art are one of them".

"Since it is for the first time that the concept of 'viman' is being suggested, the Rock Art Society proposes to carry out an extensive work. We had found some rock art in neighbouring Raigarh district. But, the present design is surely different from the one found in Raigarh and can be called a 'viman' till it is confirmed," he added.