Indian authorities come to rescue 150 Indians stranded at China airport

NEW DELHI, July 14 (Agencies): Coming to the rescue of its 150 medical students stranded in China, India is working out arrangements to facilitate their travel home besides taking up the matter with Chinese authorities.

Indian Embassy in Beijing is also trying to contact the travel agent Mohd Jabbar Mian of Bangladesh to sort out the matter.

"It is unfortunate that this has happened," Indian Ambassador to China Nirupama Rao told reporters about the students getting stranded after the travel agent allegedly issued fake air tickets to them.

She said the Embassy's Consular officer is in touch with the affected students and is making queries about the travel agent who issued the tickets.

"We were able to contact the agent on Saturday and he said he was trying to sort out the matter.

Subsequently, it has been difficult to contact him," said Rao, who met Joint Secretary in MEA Vijay Gokhale here.

The Embassy is in touch with Air India in Shanghai and is trying to work out some arrangement, she said, adding something would be worked out but ruled out giving free tickets to the affected students.

She said the Embassy has informed the Chinese authorities and law enforcement agencies are helping in dealing with the situation.

One of the affected students has already filed a case with Beijing police against the agent.

The alleged fraud came to light after two air carriers.

Emirates and Malaysia Airlines - refused to accept the e-tickets issued to the students when they went to board the flights between June 29 and July 11.

The affected students belong to various universities like Nanjing, Suzhou and Chong Qing, which are hundreds of kilometres away from each other.

All of them were given tickets by Mian, who operated through the student network over internet.

There are about 7,000 Indian medical students in China and the affected youth were returning home for vacations after examinations.

Tirumala Tirupati campaign aims Dalits, Tribals TIRUPATI,July 14 (Agencies): As it marks its platinum jubilee, the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) is intensifying its "socio-spiritual" campaign that aims at reaching out to Dalits, backward communities and tribals, bringing the message of Vedic religion to them.

The TTD, the managing body of the Lord Venkateswara hill shrine here, says the programme, which has three wings - 'Dalita Govindam', 'Matsya Govindam' and 'Girijan Govindam' - is part of a "social revolution" that will help eradicate social evils and strengthen the Hindu religious structure.

As part of Dalita Govindam, the idols of the Lord and other deities are taken to Dalit colonies and prayers and spiritual discourses are held there, TTD Board Chairman B Karunakar Reddy says.

Matsya Govindam involves training of fisher folk in Hindu rituals while Girijan Govindam is an endeavour to bring tribals to the Hindu religious mainstream through propagation of Vedic religion and improvement of infrastructure in their areas.

The "socio-spiritual programme" has been undertaken as the TTD has an important role in bringing "social change" and "Hindu awakening," Reddy says.

However, the Dalit project, which is seen by some as an attempt to woo the backward castes amid reports of conversion to Christianity in Tirupati and nearby areas, is in the midst of a controversy for several months now.

Dalit organisations have been alleging that the TTD is "insulting" and "discriminating" against the community by not placing the idols taken to Dalit areas inside the sanctum sanctorum of the main temple of Lord Balaji.

Lok Sabha speaker: No decision yet on quitting KOLKATA, July 14 (Agencies): Notwithstanding party pressure, Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee on Sunday night said that he has not taken a decision yet whether to quit the Constitutional post.

"I have not taken a decision.

When I decide I will certainly let you know.

I request the media not to enter into speculation about the Speaker's post," he said when asked for his comments after his meeting with CPI(M) patriarch Jyoti Basu in the city today.

During the meeting, Basu is understood to have counselled 79-year-old parliamentarian to toe the party line to present a united face on the issue which implies that he quit the post.

Chatterjee, however, described his meeting with Basu as personal when he discussed family matters.

He dismissed the reports suggesting that he would vote for the government during the confidence vote on July 22 as "a figment of imagination".

Chatterjee has come under pressure from his party CPI(M) to quit the post ever since the Left parties withdrew their support to the government last week.

Basu is believed to have been requested by the party to persuade Chatterjee, who is apparently not too keen on stepping down.