Sex scandal rocks Indian hockey; coach resigns

Independent Media

Rattled by allegations of sexual harassment, Indian women's hockey coach M.K. Kaushik on Wednesday withdrew from the team's upcoming tours even as Hockey India sacked the videographer Basavraj whose photographs with a prostitute plunged the game into a moral crisis.

Kaushik has withdrawn himself from the Asian Champions Trophy in Korea from July 27 pending an inquiry into the sex scandal by a four-member panel comprising Rajiv Mehta (chairman), former players Zafar Iqbal and Ajit Pal Singh and Sudharsan Pathak.
"I must talk to the coach and the girl who has made the allegations of sexual harassment separately. Kaushik has withdrawn his name because he wants his name to be cleared," HI president Vidya Stokes said.
"In the meanwhile, the assistant coach will travel with the team. Hopefully, everything would be sorted out by today," she said.
"We will have to look for a new coach and that would be done after consulting the Sports Authority of India," added HI's Secretary General Narinder Batra.
HI will also form a five-member committee as per Supreme Court guidelines on sexual harassment cases.
"As per the guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court, we will have a panel in which at least half or more than half the members would be women. This would be done by tomorrow and hopefully it would give its recommendations before next month's World Cup in Argentina so that we can either have a new coach or reinstate Kaushik if he is found innocent," Batra said.
Batra said he received an anonymous mail on last Friday, in which allegations had been levelled against Basavraj for having been involved with prostitutes during the tours of Canada and China.
He said five photographs of the videographer with the prostitutes had also been mailed to him. Batra said the Sport Ministry has been apprised of the complaints.
"The inquiry committee was constituted soon after I got a mail from the hockey team. After a meeting on July 19, it was decided that the videographer should be suspended and the rest of staff against whom the allegations have been made should be issued notices," he said.
"The videographer is basically a SAI employee and it is upto them now, how they want to act against him. On our part we have sacked him," Batra said.
Asked what punishment HI would hand out to the coaching staff if found guilty, Batra said, "The best we can do is impose life bans but if we can take up the matter with the police and take it to the logical conclusion, we can do that as well."
Kaushik will attend the probe panel's meeting this afternoon.
Meanwhile, the defunct Indian Hockey Federation chief K.P.S. Gill said HI was trying to hush up the matter.
"There should be a proper police inquiry into it. The Supreme Court has stated that whenever a lady makes a sexual harassment allegations, her complaint should be taken on face value," he said.
"This inquiry is an eyewash. It should be handed over to the police. I know these people, at the end of the inquiry they will come out and say, nothing happened," he alleged

Jagan's yatra : Worng Calculations by the state Congress intelligence

Independent Media

Hyderabad:  The Congress may not approve of his 'odarpu yatra', but thousands of people poured into the streets of Srikakulam to welcome Jaganmohan Reddy, as he arrived there on his father's birth anniversary.


"My father did not leave me orphaned. He left me with this huge family, the people of Andhra Pradesh,'' said Jagan.  The crowd roared back with approval.
 

On record, Jagan and the Congress have stopped short of acknowledging the tour as an open act of defiance. But the revolt has been public - and with considerable impact, at least in this part of northcoastal Andhra Pradesh, where Jagan's father, YSR, had ended his 1400-kilometre padyatra in 2003, that catapulted him to the chief minister's chair a year later.


Earlier this week, the party objected again when Jagan said his road show would continue on his father's birth anniversary. Party spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi warned Jagan "not to cross the Lakshman Rekha."


The Congress' stand, as defined reportedly by Sonia Gandhi, was that she was not against the `odarpu yatra' but suggested that the families of those who committed suicide following YSR's death should be assembled at one place and offered financial help whereas Jagan said he was going to tour to console families and not to distribute money. That his mother had pointed out to Sonia Gandhi that she had not summoned them to Delhi to console the family after YSR's death, she had come down herself to Hyderabad.

So, undeterred, Jagan continued with his plans for a three-day journey to Srikakulam and other northcoastal districts.
Jagan has described the tour as a series of condolence calls on families whose members died allegedly from the shock of hearing about YSR's death in a helicopter crash in September last year. But the Congress party has asked him twice now to call off the journey. In late May, the tour provoked violence when Jagan tried to enter the politically-volatile region of Telangana, which is upset that politicians like Jagan are not actively supporting its demand for a separate state. The riot and Jagan's arrest in Nalgonda district Mahbubnagar was followed by a quick journey to Delhi where Jagan met with Sonia Gandhi. 

He was asked to stop the tour. in the form form Victory Yatra huge Band wagon, insted with small number like Raul Gandhi, as suggested by AP CM Raosiah who isnot memebr of Legislative Assembley, Who is Counsel Member, siting Mrs sonia Gandhi Experince in Antapur with victims of the farmer suicides in AP orggansied by Slain ed leader Dr,YSR in 2000-2001 At antapur, which is not acceptable to Younf leader as he is already chlaked out tour plan and it as his 4 leg of th e odarpu yatra, I think Congress leadership should not go with State party information all alone

MBA-village sarpanch :she just loves it

After MBA, she just loves being village sarpanch

2010-03-11

Jaipur: She has studied in top Indian institutes and even has a business management degree. But instead of choosing a corporate career, Chavvi Rajawat has become a village council head in Rajasthan and "is loving it". "My desire to serve my village was the reason I fought the recent local elections," said Chavvi, who was elected a month ago as sarpanch in Soda, a small village of Tonk district 60 km from state capital Jaipur. "My grandfather Brigadier Raghubir Singh was elected sarpanch from Soda for a record three consecutive times and it was his wish that I follow in his footsteps," Chavvi said. IOC president raves about athletes' village A former student of Rishi Valley, Bangalore and Delhi's Lady Shri Ram College, Chavvi has a business management degree from Pune. But she does not miss the fast life of the city. "It is only a month since I became a sarpanch. But I am loving it. I do not have any complaints about being out of city or corporate life and devoting my time to my village," said Chavvi. "For me rural life is not new. I am quite used to it. I grew up playing with kids of farmers". Dressed in jeans and T-shirt, and fondly called "baisa" - a term of respect in the local lingo - she spends hours daily with the villagers trying to sort out their problems. "The villagers here have high hopes from me and I will not let them down," she said. "I want to see this village on a fast development track. I know water is a big problem here as it has got high fluoride content. I will try my best to solve this issue," she added. She said her other priorities are to provide electricity and get proper roads built in Soda.  Freedom fighter in Bihar leads a desolate life  "I want villagers to work for the development of the village and not to spend time looking for help from others. Villagers have got used to things not working - I have already told them about this. I have to change that. I go on surprise visits and I am very happy that now even women are taking active part in the activities," said Chavvi. "Besides spending time in village, I also help my family in running and managing a hotel we have in Jaipur," she said. Rajawat also runs E-quest, a riding academy in Jaipur. A woman of Soda village said, "Baisa spends time with us. She takes care of us and tries to sort out our problems. She helps us in taking right decisions." But Chavvi says this is how far she wants to go in politics. "I do not want to get further involved, in any capacity in politics. I just wanted to help my villagers and I feel this is the best way to make a difference," she said.