News on Agra & Current Affairs

AGRA.               It could serve as a well-placed slap in the face of the the groups of so-called women's rights activists who all too recently celebrated International Women’s Day, fervently praising the contribution made by women to the society and vowing to prevent violence against the feminine gender comfortably ensconced in luxurious clubs and hotels.    While the world was busy celebrating women’s day, a young girl was murdered in cold-blood, torched to death by her in-laws in Kayamganj town of Farrukhabad district of Uttar Pradesh, alongwith a 6-month fetus inside her, just three years after marriage.    Two weeks have passed since the grisly murder but the local police appears to be in no hurry to catch the absconding in-laws who doused the girl in kerosene and left her to burn and die on the street, making good their escape while the locals awaited for the police to arrive. Meanwhile, the victim’s mother Archana Sharma has suffered from a strok

Vijay Upadhyay    Agra. It may come as a pleasant surprise for history-lovers who have been worried over the undue "protective" attitude adopted by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) towards the Taj Mahal and other historical monuments of Agra.   Less than a year after theoretically agreeing to the prospects of cordoning off sections of the Taj, to prevent tourists from entering these areas, the ASI has surprisingly rejected the CISF proposal to close the entrance to the fake graves of Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal inside the main dome of the monument, though the real graves shall remain out of bounds for common tourists. But realising the increased security threat to the monument in view of the terrorist attacks in Mumbai, the ASI has permitted the CISF to increase its personnel strength inside the monument by 96, making the total CISF personnel strength posted at the Taj cross the 200 mark. Also, the police and other security agencies' presence in

Vijay Upadhyay | Agra Over the past five years, Keetham forest, located at the outskirts of Agra, has begun attracting international attention for being the biggest secure home for Indian sloth bears, who have been rescued by the wildlife authorities from the captivity of bear-dancing tribes.  But as the number of rescued bears is growing, the risk of these precious endangered animals falling in the hands of poachers is also rising at a dangerous pace. The bear sanctuary at Keetham, which also holds the distinction of being the world's biggest sloth bear sanctuary, is becoming crowded with sloth bears, who, being territorial in nature, could slip out of the sanctuary limits and come under the danger of falling in the hands of poachers.  Although a UK-based NGO, currently running the bear sanctuary, is doing its best to protect these animals, wildlife authorities of Uttar Pradesh have come up with an innovative idea of containing the bears and other wild animals inside the forest by

Vishal Sharma / Agra December 29, 2008, 0:00 IST Govardhan Udyog plans to use cowdung to produce particle board. Faced with the task of developing environment-friendly technology for industry due to guidelines issued by the Supreme Court, entrepreneurs in Agra are realising the cost-effective potential of such technologies and innovations. Govardhan Udyog is one such unit which plans to use a non-conventional raw material, cowdung, to produce particle board and pharmaceutical products. The unit was inaugurated this week on the Agra-Delhi national highway near the Mathura refinery, about 55 km from Agra. Company sources said the basic raw material used in the manufacture of particle board will be cow dung. This will perhaps make it the first particle board manufacturing facility using cowdung as the raw material. Govardhan Udyog Managing Director SK Mittal said particle boards were emerging as a viable alternative in designing office furniture and automation products in the country as c

  Vijay Upadhyay | Agra The residents of Kamlanagar and nearby posh colonies of Agra are undergoing a weird experience these days. No matter how much they offer, housewives living in these colonies are unable to find a kaamwali bai (domestic help), thanks to a social reform movement initiated by Dalit leaders prohibiting women in their community from working as domestic helps in residential colonies. According to Dalit leader Kartar Singh Bhartiya, it was often found that young girls and women, who went out to work as domestic helps in colonies, faced social and sexual harassment. While these women staked their honour to bring food for their kids, male members in their families whiled away their time with most of them becoming alcoholics. Most of the time, they beat up their women leading to serious domestic and social problems.   As a way out, the Jatav community leaders of Nagla Thipuri area of the town have asked Dalit families not to send their women to work as domest

Vishal Sharma / Agra September 15, 2008 The unorganised sector is unable to compete on account of the 8% duty; the price difference between branded and unbranded pumps declines and sales drop Agra’s unorganised mechanical pump manufacturing sector is paying 8 per cent excise duty on every pumpset it manufactures. The duty, in force since January 1, 2007, has affected the margins of small units, which are finding it difficult to compete with players in the organised sector. Players in the organised sector are exempt from the tax till a turnover of Rs 1.5 crore. Sanjeev Mittal, managing director, Atul Pumps Pvt Ltd, said the excise policy was different for Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS)-certified units, which were exempt from excise duty till a turnover of Rs 1.5 crore. Non BIS-certified units were liable to pay 8 per cent excise duty on every pumpset produced. According to him, this was a quality control measure adopted by the government to introduce standardisation in the pumpset ind

Vis hal Sharma / New Delhi/ Agra September 08, 2008 Six production units of the Rs 125-crore disposable medical and surgical devices major Romsons Group began production after remaining under lockout for nearly three weeks due to worker unrest. The workers finally managed to extract an assurance from the company management that it will refrain from any action against them. According to sources in the Romsons Group, the workers had gone on a strike about three weeks back against the management’s decision of firing a few company employees for indiscipline. All the group factories in Agra had been under lockout after the strike. The management had been holding discussions with a delegation of workers led by representatives from the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (Citu). An accord was reached between the two parties with certain terms and conditions, which included the reinstatement of all six employees fired from the company following a three month suspension with a full-pay. The company