BJP gives Taslima support

NEW DELHI, Nov 25 (Agencies): The BJP on Saturday came out in full support of controversial Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen condemning the CPI(M) and West Bengal government for their attitude in the matter of Taslima.

"The Taslima affair has exposed the CPI(M)'s so-called secularism.

First they failed to protect her, then reduced her security in the face of threat from Muslim groups and finally forcefully evicted her from Kolkata and sent her to Jaipur," BJP national spokesperson Prakash Javadekar told mediapersons, after he visited Taslima at the Rajasthan House here, where she has been put up as a guest of the state government.

"She is happy and doing her regular work," Mr Javedekar said.

"Taslima was forced to leave Kolkata and when she expressed desire to go back to Kolkatta, the West Bengal government refused to accept her back," he revealed.

Centre brings policy to protect agricultural lands NEW DELHI, Nov 25 (Agencies): In the backdrop of controversies over setting up of SEZs, the central government has unveiled a new policy which provides for discouraging acquisition of agricultural land for non-farming purposes and setting up a commission to look into resettlement aspects.

The National Rehabilitation and Resettlement Policy, 2007 also entails setting up of a committee to review and monitor the progress of implementation of rehabilitation and resettlement schemes across the country.

"Acquisition of agricultural land for non-agricultural use in a project may be kept to the minimum; multi-cropped land may be avoided to the extent possible for such purposes, and acquisition of irrigated land, if unavoidable, may be kept to the minimum," the policy states.

"Waste land, degraded land or un-irrigated land should be the option for acquisition," it says.

This assumes significance as acquisition of farming land for SEZs has triggered violent protests, including that in Nandigram in West Bengal.

Nandigram has been on the boil as local people have been opposing the acquisition of farm land for a SEZ proposed to be set up by Indonesia's Salem Group.

The new policy envisages setting up a Rehabilitation Commission at the national level to look into the settlement issues of the families displaced from their land following its acquisition for projects.

Bhagat Singh's nephew demands UPSC apology CHANDIGARH, Nov 25 (Agencies): A relative of Bhagat Singh, a well-known revolutionary of the Indian independence movement, has demanded an unqualified apology from the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) for terming the freedom fighter as a 'terrorist' in a question in the main paper for the civil services conducted recently.

Abhey Singh Sandhu, nephew of Bhagat Singh, termed the omission on part of the UPSC as 'tragic'.

'On one hand, the nation is celebrating the birth centenary of the great martyr and he is being projected as a terrorist in the same year in the UPSC question paper.

Pre-fixing the word terrorist with the word revolutionary is insignificant,' Sandhu pointed out in a letter written to the UPSC chairman.

'In terms of logic, the martyr is placed in the genus 'terrorist', albeit of the 'revolutionary' species,' the letter pointed out.

Sandhu quoted a judgment of the Lahore High Court given April 8, 1929 saying, 'Bhagat Singh is a sincere revolutionary and I have no doubt'.

He regretted that an institution like the UPSC, which had the facility to hire the best historians and experts dealing with the subject, would defame Bhagat Singh in such a manner.

He said the word terrorism in present circumstances denotes senseless indiscriminate killing of anyone, including women and children.

He sought a suitable screening mechanism to be instituted to pre-screen the question papers in case of sensitive subjects like Indian history and also screening of school textbooks to weed out such expressions used against great freedom fighters.

Student organizations in Punjab University had last month threatened to launch a countrywide agitation if the UPSC did not apologize for describing Bhagat Singh as a 'terrorist' in its question paper.

Modi too 'arrogant' for hometown but has full support VADNAGAR, Nov 25 (Gujarat): As sisters-in-law Vinodaben and Hiraben wash clothes, another sister-in-law waters the tulsi plant.

Family friend Vijaybhai Modi is a former electricity line man.

Cousin Chandrakant Modi is a shopkeeper.

He says Narendrabhai (Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has always played by his own rules.

"He's a man good man and follows the right path," says Chandrakant Modi.

The tiny historic town of Vadnagar in north Gujarat is Narendra Modi's birthplace.

This is his first home.

He swam in the Sharmistha tank every morning before cycling into Bhagwatacharya Narayancharya High School.

But he always dreamt of being far bigger than his family and friends.

"He was always very ambitious," says his friend Ishwarbhai Patel.

Modi does no favours for his family and they lead a poor lower middle class life.

When he was Chief Minister he cancelled his brother Prahlad Modi's ration shop license and his youngest brother Pankajbhai said in an interview, "I once got a job that took me to a far off place.

I asked Narendrabhai for help but he refused, telling me never to call him in these matters.

My daughter is a B.Ed and unemployed.

Is any Chief Minister's niece unemployed in India? But whether or not he wins the Assembly elections this time around, Vadnagar is certainly rooting for him.

Why just Chief Minister, they would like him to be Prime Minister.

But some believe Modi's too arrogant to care about his family.

"He has strong self belief and a charged personality.

There was megalomania like Indira Gandhi that can be seen," says Praveen Sheth, Narendra Modi's teacher.

In Vadnagar, his friends and family are proud of Narendrabhai.

Deve Gowda has his son, the Nehru-Gandhis have their dynasty, the pilots and Scindias maintain their bloodlines in politics.

But Narendra Modi has never had much time for his neglected family.