News on Agra & Current Affairs

Vijay Upadhyay Agra.          The joint Indo-Russian airborne exercises -- INDRA-2005 -- began at the Malpura dropping zone of Kheria Airforce base in Agra early morning on Friday.    India's 50th Independent Paratrooper brigade led Lt General S Pattabhiraman, the Deputy Chief of Indian Army and the 76th Russian Airborne division led by Col Gen Alexander Kalmakov, Chief, Russian Airborne Division began exercise began at 8.30 am on Friday. The two chiefs made the first jump along with a dozen other paratroopers of both sides.    Later, talking to media persons, Lt General Pattabhiraman informed that this exercise is a precursor to the intense land-based exercise that will start at the Mahajan field firing ranges at Suratgarh in Rajasthan two days later.    The aim of this exercise is to ensure that in case of a situation which demands mutual cooperation between the troops of the two countries against urban terrorism, both are familiar with each other's weapons, equipment, strate

VIJAY UPADHYAY AGRA.          These days, the Silver traders in Agra are in a fix over security in their trade. In the daytime, they are being waylaid by robbers and during nights, they fall prey to the police, in the name of checking.      In the past two months, about half dozen jewelers have been robbed of atleast 100 kg. silver jewelry in Agra and Firozabad, out of whom, two have fallen prey to greedy policemen who had snatched several kilograms of jewelry from the jewelers in the name of checking, after which, four policemen, including Devendra Bhushan, a deputy superintendent of police in Firozabad, have been charged of robbery. These incidents have created panic among the Agra jewelers who have now begun demanding for security in the silver markets, not only from the bandits, but the police as well      In the past two days alone, there have been three incidents of roadside robberies in Agra, with two involving the robbery of almost 50 kg. silver jewelry from jewelers, but the A

VIJAY UPADHYAY Agra.          In the last two years more than 700 unidentified bodies have been discovered in Agra. Worse, the Agra police has been disposing of these bodies in whatever manner possible, without getting them first identified. In the past one year, more than 300 bodies were cremated without ascertaining the identity.    Sources said wherever a body is found in the town there is a procedure to be followed. And, the first of these is its identification which is preceded by publication of photograph and description in local newspapers. These photographs are also to be matched with those of missing persons. However, this procedure is hardly followed and the bodies are cremated immediately after postmortem. Speaking to The Pioneer Ashok Goyal, secretary of Agra Kshetra Bajaja Committee, an NGO engaged in the cremation of Hindus in Agra since the last 125 years, said there have been several instances where bodies have been cremated by the police without following the stipulat

VIJAY UPADHYAY AGRA.          Despite being India’s prime tourism destination, Agra has always suffered the disadvantage of not being on the international air-trail, which has resulted in the downfall of the tourism business in the city of Taj.      But this year is bound to bring a windfall for the tourism trade in the town, with international charters beginning to land in Agra directly from the United Kingdom after a long period of six years. The first such charter landed on the Agra airport on Tuesday morning, carrying 189 tourists who shall be staying in Agra for one full week, making day excursions to various tourism destinations near Agra like Fatehpur Sikri, Jaipur, Bharatpur, Gwalior & Delhi, returning back to Agra for the night stay.      The tourists arriving in Agra were welcomed and garlanded at Hotel Taj Khema of UP Tourism Department this morning by folk artists at the beat of traditional drums and other musical instruments with the UP tourism hosting a breakfast in t

Vijay Upadhyay Etah.           The flurry of obscene multimedia messages that has hit the country's metros in the last one year is now showing up in small towns as well.    One such incident came to light in Etah on Friday, where a girl committed suicide after being raped along with her school friend, by three acquaintances. The three also made video clippings of both the girls while they were being gang-raped, after inviting them to a "birthday party". The Etah Police has registered a case against the three youngsters almost a week after the incident and is now searching for the video clip that was reportedly prepared by the rapists during the act, to use it as evidence against the youth. Speaking to The Pioneer , Inspector Ashok Kumar Shukla, police station in-charge, Kasganj Kotwali, said that Upasna, the daughter of a local trader Pradeep Kumar Maheshwari, had been invited by her family acquaintance Shashikant to join a birthday party of his friend Neeraj on Septemb

Vijay Upadhyay Agra.          Several crores worth woolen garments were destroyed in Agra when a transport company godown caught fire on Thursday. According to the Chief Fire Officer of Agra, the fire began at 2:30 pm, when some garments which were being unloaded from a truck, caught fire from the power lines near the godown. The crew in order to curb the damage, tried to separate the burning garments from the rest of the stuff, but the fire managed to spread and soon engulfed the ground floor of the three-storey godown. The basement and the first floor were saved by fire tenders who were called from the Air Force, Central Ordinance Depot and Mathura refinery, and from the nearby towns of Firozabad, Tundla besides Agra. The fire continued at full intensity until early evening and according to the fire department; it could be the entire night before the fire is brought under control. They added that the fire had spread to almost 1,000 square yards of the godown's ground floor. A

Vijay Upadhyay AGRA. Last thursday, Lord Ram came close to returning to Ayodhya without marrying Sita. The reason? Well, Sita maiyya's father Janak resigned and threatened to pack off Ram as single as he had come to his court, if traffic arrangements outside his "palace" were not managed properly by the district administration! And this was not all. 'King Janak' even called a Press conference to declare that he would not be receiving the baraat with such poor traffic arrangements and encroachments outside his "palace". It was only after the Agra DM promised to get the baraat route cleared of encroachments within an hour, that 'Janak' agreed to allow his 'daughter Sita' to wed Ram. The historical Ram baraat, which began almost 100 years back, is celebrated with great festivity in Agra every year, assuming dimensions of the largest religious procession in north India. A separate area of the town is selected to become Janakpuri, the mytho