News on Agra & Current Affairs

VISHAL SHARMA AGRA , 29 JAN. Every year there are a number of cases of frauds committed against foreign tourists by Indian nationals, but this is probably the first time when a defrauded tourist has been adamantly camping in India for almost a year to recover the money and get the culprits punished for their deeds. This interesting case of fraud surfaced last December in Agra when Elisabeth Kaulfuss, a resident of Koeln in Germany, complained before the Taj Ganj police in Agra that Raju Gupta, a local guide, had fraudulently obtained Rs. 1,43,000 from her in May 2004, in the name of constructing his house and was now refusing to return the money. Following her complaint, when the police intervened, Raju agreed to return Rs. 55 thousand as the first installment and promised before the police to return the rest of the money along with Rs. 10 thousand as interest before Christmas, though he again turned away from his word, after which, Elisabeth again returned to Agra on Friday and t

Vijay Upadhyay Etah. Promise to shed the pursuit of crime and who knows, you may become a policeman! The Etah police seems to have adapted this ideologue to reform criminals. During the Republic Day parade held in Etah on Wednesday, criminals were pledged by the police to "protect" the civilians in the presence of Samajwadi Party leader Prof Ram Gopal Yadav. This new "para-police force" will soon be provided with Suraksha Prahri identity-cards by the Etah police. The Republic Day Parade presented unlimited temptations to onlookers in Etah. Besides policemen, the National Flag was saluted by a contingent of armed civilians firing blanks from their guns. A large number of "Gandhi-cap" adorned history - sheeter criminals were also awarded with the honourary portfolio of "Suraksha Prahri" after the flag hoisting. Notably, this interesting parade also included over 200 policemen marching smartly ahead of the contingent of the armed civilians, who

VISHAL SHARMA AGRA , 26 JAN. In order to take the advantage of large number of foreign and Indian tourists coming to Agra, Madhya Pradesh Tourism Development Corpor ati on (MPTDC) is now making seductive “commission” offers to Agra based tour operators to divert this huge influx of tourists towards MP. Besides being home to the world famous Mughal wonder Taj Mahal, Agra also enjoys the advantage of being the located at the borders of four states – Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan & Madhya Pradesh and all these states direct their tourist traffic towards Agra but now, the tides are reversing. Targeting the tourists coming to Agra, Ashwini Lohani, Managing Director, MPTDC announced two special tour packages for domestic tourists in Agra on the Republic Day eve, through a multimedia presentation at Hotel Clarks Shiraz, which was also attended by over 25 tour operators of Agra, including Travel Corporation of India, Touraids & Travel Bureau. Selling these packages to the tour operator

VISHAL SHARMA AGRA, 20 JAN. Tired of biting your nails for the website to load on your screen or the download to complete? At least four major broadband players are gearing up to your rescue but wait; it’s not a time to celebrate yet! Despite the presence of big names like Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), Reliance, Airtel & Satyam in the fray, Agra residents may have to wait a bit longer as the portals to this broadband revolution are not expected to open before March this year. According to the definitions set by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), any internet service that offers bandwidth in multiples of 128 kbps can be termed as a broadband service and judging by these standards, only Reliance, which has already launched its broadband services in Agra, riding the advantage of Wireless-in-Local-Loop (WLL) technology, can be termed as a broadband service provider. The company is offering broadband internet through its mobile handsets and Fixed Wirel

VIJAY UPADHYAY FIROZABAD, 24 JAN. Army jawans on Sunday morning got into a quarrel with fellow passengers and threw them out of the compartment directly on the path of an oncoming train. Five persons were killed and one was critically injured when they were run over by the speeding train after being thrown out of stationary Farakka Express near Shikohabad railway station in Uttar Pradesh. The Railway Police has arrested four Army men in this connection. The incident on the Delhi-Kanpur section occurred when some passengers entered a compartment of the Delhi-bound Farakka Express occupied by troops belonging to Rajputana Rifles, the police said. This led to a scuffle with the jawans, protesting the intrusion saying it was a compartment for Army personnel. Talking to The Pioneer, Superintendent of Police, Railways-Agra, Raj Bahadur said that five people who were travelling in the general compartment of Farakka Express had a quarrel with some Army personnel who were travelling in th

AGRA, 22 JAN. The lenient view adopted by the Supreme Court on the alleged security lapses during the moonlit viewing of the Taj Mahal during the past two months has made the Agra tourism industry "feel good" after a long time. For the first time in the experimental three-month night viewing of the Taj Mahal, will be able to view the Taj Mahal for the entire duration of five nights, unhampered by fog as the Meteorological Department has predicted that though the skies shall remain overcast, the visibility shall remain sufficient to provide a clear view of the monument. Meanwhile, Ricardo Lagos, the president of Chile, is expected to visit the Taj Mahal on Saturday, though in the daytime. Talking to The Pioneer, Ashok Jain, chairman of Touraids (India), an Agra based travel agency said that the Supreme Court's decision has come as a respite for the tourist trade of Agra as most travel agencies had already planned their year-long itinerary with the night opening

VISHAL SHARMA When it comes to tourism, Agra holds the status of India’s tourism capital, being the home of the Taj Mahal. A town devoid of major industries, tourism serves as the staple business for Agra, generating revenue of over 1000 crores per year. Though this revenue has seen an upward trend lately due to the Taj’s night opening on an experimental basis, this figure could increase dramatically if the Taj’s moonlit-viewing becomes a permanent feature of Agra. When the yearly handicrafts sales in Agra account for over 300 crores, the hospitality industry is earning merely in the vicinity 100 crores, a pittance in comparison to the huge number of tourists arriving in Agra. Tourism sources have long blamed the low night-stay rate of tourists behind this insignificant turnover of the hotel industry of the town as most of the tourists arriving in Agra prefer to treat it as a day-trip, not staying overnight due to the lack of night-time attractions. Ever since the Taj Mahal was shu

VIJAY UPADHYAY Over 90 dancers and 50 musicians are expected to perform at the inaugural ceremony of the annual "Taj Mahotsava" to be held between February 18 and 27, 2005. Dubbed "Ismail Durbar Nite", this mega-concert is being seen as the most expensive and grand concert to be held in Agra at the 350th anniversary celebrations of the Taj Mahal. But, the tourism industry is also apprehensive of the SC's review of Taj's night opening to be held on Thursday. If the Taj is again shut down by the court in view of the alleged security lapses, the tourism industry could lose a great deal of money. Besides Devdas fame music composer Ismail Durbar, several other Bollywood and pop celebrities are expected to perform, which would feature a song composed especially to commemorate the Taj Mahal's 350th year. Talking to UNN , DK Burman, Joint Director, UP Tourism, Agra said, though the venue of the concert is still to be decided, the tourism department is conte

VISHAL SHARMA AGRA, 18 JAN. The "Pravasi Bhartiya Divas" may have passed, but the UP government's offer of "greener pastures back home", extended to the Non - Resident Indians (NRIs), still stands. Proudly flaunting the elite of Indian corporate world it has roped in the UP Development Council as the only example of Public-Private Partnership in the country, the UP government has assured the Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) that they could confidently invest in Uttar Pradesh as it has developed one of the most investor-friendly policy frameworks in the country. Contrary to the times when only a select few southern states in the country had monopoly over the Information Technology boom, the current data indicates that the IT revolution is slowly inching home towards UP. With the setting up of special NRI friendly economic-zones in the state metros like Kanpur, Ghaziabad, Noida & Agra, the state is surging ahead towards becoming an NRI-heaven, providing a congenia

VISHAL SHARMA AGRA, 17 JAN. Dakshinanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam Ltd.(DVVNL), one of the four power majors of UP, is now gearing up to take up its business “professionally” through better utilization of existing resources and employing improved technology. On Saturday, the company launched its official websiteand at the same time, introduced an 82.5 crore Power Augmentation project to revamp the power distribution in Agra town. Engaged in the business of distribution and supply of electricity under Agra, Jhansi and Kanpur Zone after being formed out of UP Power Corporation Limited just over a year back, the company has decided to bring about a level of transparency in its management and modus operandi by bringing most of its business ‘online’. On Saturday, DVVNL launched its official website “www.dvvnl.com” to facilitate its powerconsumers by making almost all information on DVVNL easily available. Addressing the assembly of “Commercially importantcustomers” at hotel Holid

VIJAY UPADHYAY INDIA(AGRA) 13 JAN. In view of the upcoming WTO summit in Hong Kong this December and to discuss the recommendations made by the G-20 nations in the Doha Declaration, this international bloc of developing and emerging market economies, informally named the G-20 and led by India, shall be holding its seventh summit in Agra this February. The summit, to be held on the February 19 and 20 shall decide the role to be played by developing nations like India, Brazil, China and South Africa in the upcoming WTO summit. The coordinating members of the G-90 and G-33 groupings of developing nations have also been invited to attend the summit to establish a strong lobby of developing countries against the autocratic attitude of the developed countries. The G-90 comprises Africa, Caribbean and the Pacific nations, the African Union and Least Developed Countries, while the G-33 comprises developing countries seeking safeguard mechanisms for certain products that are vital to their

VISHAL SHARMA INDIA (AGRA), 12 Jan. All over the world, Books are regarded as the very source of culture and civilization and in the world book publishing market, India holds a special place, being the only country in the world to publish books in 24 languages, churning out over 70 thousand new titles every year. To celebrate the distinction held by India in the world publishing community and the 350th anniversary of the Taj Mahal, Agra shall be hosting "Taj Book Fair" from 14th January to 23rd January. The Book Fair shall be opened by the UP Development Council Chairman Amar Singh and the Agra Member of Parliament Raj Babbar. Talking to the mediapersons on Tuesday, the Agra district magistrate Nitishwar Kumar said that Indian books are respected worldwide for their content and the quality of production, besides being pocket friendly. To establish a long and fruitful association between publishers, booksellers and the readers of Agra, the "Pustak Mela Samiti"

Vijay Upadhyay INDIA (ETAH) 11 JAN. What is the maximum punishment for stealing a fruit from an orchard? Most of us would say "One tight slap" but in Etah this crime could attract a death penalty. On Sunday, this horrifying truth came to the fore when the badly decomposed body of a nine-year-old boy was discovered in a fruit orchard of village Nagla Mudiya, about 70 kms from the district headquarters. The boy had been "hanged till death". His crime: stealing one guava from the an orchard laden with the fruit. According to police sources, Jaswant, son of Amarpal Singh, a resident of Nagla Mudiya village in Etah, was returning from the fields on the evening of December 29 when he ventured into the orchard of Shamshad and Sadhu to pick a fruit to eat. Angered by Jaswant's "unauthorised" entry into the orchard, the two caught and strangled him to death with a rope, hiding the body. Some villagers who did witness the scuffle preferred to remain silent

VISHAL SHARMA INDIA (AGRA), 9 Jan. Agra may possess wide acclaim in the world as the “Tourism Capital of India” but this town holds yet another distinction that most people would not be aware of – its large population of 37 lacs is held captive by barely over 2800 criminals, placing about 1250 people under the thumb of just one criminal. Each time the police manages to hunt down one of these “crooks”, there are several others to take up his place. According to the current statistics available with the local police, there are 2825 “active” criminals conducting their crimes in Agra and this number was showing no signs of receding despite the presence of over 3200 police personnel in the town. Now, in his efforts to bring about a change in the concept of crime-control in Agra, the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Rajiv Krishna has brought in a novel concept of putting the “marked” criminals under 24-hour vigilance of the corresponding “beat constable” under the code-name “Opera

VISHAL SHARMA INDIA (AGRA), 8 Jan. A stream of vintage cars running on the Agra-Delhi highway may seem a little odd to the commuters, but this eye-stopper spectacle was there for the onlookers on Saturday as they travelled on this one of the most busy highways of India. Saturday saw the city of Taj became the host of an exciting array of classic "vintage" cars, that arrived as a part of a Vintage Car Rally organized by the UP government in Delhi. Flagged off by the UP Tourism minister Kawkab Hamid from the hotel Le Meridian in Delhi early Saturday morning, the rally reached Agra in the afternoon, after traveling a distance of 200 kms. Addressing a large gathering of vintage car lovers, Madhukar Jaitley, the convener of Heritage Motoring Club of India said that this was the first time that a vintage car rally had been held in Agra and it shall be remembered for a very long time for being held in the 350th year of the Taj Mahal. The rally, with almost 70 cars and motorcycles

VISHAL SHARMA AGRA, 04 Jan. "No matter which party or coalition forms the government in the center, the dream of a developed country cannot be realized by ignoring the development of Uttar Pradesh", warned the UP Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav on Tuesday. Mulayam Singh had arrived in Agra to inaugurate the newly constructed building of the Trade Tax department in Jaipur House with the cost of 2.5 crores. Trying to make the impression of a "Trader-friendly" government on the small & middle level traders of the state, the Chief Minister said that he does not believe in the publicity of the work he's doing for the state's development as the state can only be said to be developed, if the traders and the common man feel that way. Accordingly, he announced several concessions in the trade tax structure to be introduced soon He said that the economy of the state runs on the trade tax paid in by its traders and this government has always thought about

VIJAY UPADHYAY AGRA, 3 JAN. In its efforts to make the whole country united in this hour of grief for the people affected by the Tsunami hitting the South - Eastern coast of India, the Dr. B.R. Ambedkar University Agra shall present a demand draft of 25 lac rupees to the UP Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav on his Agra visit on Tuesday, to be then deposited in the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund. Talking to UNN , the university Vice-Chancellor Prof. A. S. Kukla said that the employees and teachers of the University and its affiliated colleges & institutes have decided to donate their one day's salary to the welfare and rehabilitation of the people affected by the Tsunami, through a "Fund" established by the University in the name of "Dr. B.R. Ambedkar University Disaster Relief Fund". He said that the students have not been asked to contribute for the cause, though he urged them to invidually make a donation to the Prime Minister's fund, i

VIJAY UPADHYAY INDIA (AGRA), 1 JAN. Love may be blind, but in the conservative society of India with its strong filial ties, when it comes to choosing between love and the family; most people still choose the family. A similar incident that took place in Agra recently is boggling the minds of the Agra police which is helplessly watching the story unfold before its very eyes but is unable to decide on the course of action to be taken on the issue. A Hindu girl, who even adapted Islam to marry her beloved, is now being disowned by her lawfully wedded husband of four months despite being pregnant with his baby. Still, when the police is ready to file sexual harassment charges against the husband, Deepmala, who has now changed her name to Farah after adapting Islam, is not willing to do so, claiming that if Danish, her husband wishes to re-marry, he is free to do so and she would continue to live with of without him as his second wife for the sake of her unborn child. Talking to UNN , t