More plagiarism, now from Goa

IN Media Practice | 10/12/2005
If biggies like the Times of India and Hindu have plagiarisers on their staff, the regional media is not lagging behind. HERALD, says a reader, lifts edits from others.

Samples of inspired edits---inspired by The Tribune, The Hindustan Times, Times Online, Denver Post, etc. etc.  

India Watches  (HERALD EDIT )

If people think that the Battle of Bihar is won and over with they are mistaken. The battle for the NDA, namely Nitish Kumar, has just begun and he knows he has got a monumental task ahead of him. The writ of Lalu Prasad and his wife Rabri Devi still run large and fifteen years of mismanagement is difficult to erase. And it is not surprising that Bihar will always be at the bottom of any list of rankings.

A state where social justice has been preached from the house-tops day in and day out for 15 years, it has the lowest literacy and highest poverty levels. The task before him can be gauged from the fact that just to catch up with the rest of the country in terms of growth rate, an investment of Rs 38,500 crore per year would be required for the next 15 years.

Bihar is just too poor to raise the money. Bihar has got its problem because with the creation of Jharkhand,it has lost much of its mineral resources. It has huge untapped hydro potential, which only helps inundatevast tracts of arable land from time to time.

On the plus side, the state has immense agricultural potential because of the plentiful supply of water and the high fertility of land. It can meet the growing demand for organic food within and without the country. Casteism has always been a bane of the state. If Bihar has to rise, casteism has to be forgotten. Nitish has won the hearts of the people but can he do the impossible. India is watching.

Rebuilding Bihar  (TRIBUNE - Original)

The task ahead for Nitish Kumar

FOR Mr Nitish Kumar, the real battle began when he took over as Chief Minister on Thursday. Appleby might have at one time described Bihar as ?the best administrated state? but it has for a long time been a basket case. Fifteen years of ?rule? by Mr Lalu Prasad Yadav and his wife, Mrs Rabri Devi, has made the condition of the state worse. Take any indices of development, Bihar will always be at the rock bottom.

A state where social justice has been preached from the house-tops day in and day out for 15 years, it has the lowest literacy and highest poverty levels. The task before him can be gauged from the   fact that just to catch up with the rest of the country in terms of growth rate, an investment of Rs 38,500 crore per year would be required for the next 15 years.

Bihar is too pauperised to find resources for such investments. Mr Kumar has promised that providing ?good governance? will be his first and foremost task. The state is woefully short of infrastructure, be it roads or electricity. And with the creation of Jharkhand, it has lost much of its mineral resources. It has huge untapped hydro potential, which only helps inundate vast tracts of arable land from time to time.

On the plus side, the state has immense agricultural potential because of the plentiful supply of water and the high fertility of land.  It can meet the growing demand for organic food within and without the country. More important than all this is the availability of a large resource of qualified people, who completed their higher education outside of the state. Together, this constitutes a great asset the Chief Minister can bank upon as he begins the task of reconstruction. Casteism has always been a bane of the state.

The just-concluded elections show that the people have risen above their caste considerations to vote for  evelopment. In the past, no government could  afford to overlook the caste factor while taking decisions, which in its wake promoted corruption. There is no need for Mr Kumar to be stymied by the caste factor. His announcement about his  determination to restore the rule of law is bound to be lapped up by all the law-abiding citizens. The NDA leader has all the goodwill of the people to set Bihar in order. The whole of India waits with bated breath to see how Mr Nitish Kumar lives up to the challenges facing him.

(HERALD)

Help or no help

It is believed that Taliban remnants, who represent the anti-India forces in Afghanistan, are behind the incident which occurred between Kandahar and Herat. Earlier they had kidnapped a few Indian engineers who were later released besides nationals of certain other countries, in the provinces known as the Taliban strongholds. The Taliban and their sympathisers continue to remain a potent threat to stability. Their latest victim belongs to the 300-strong Indian workforce busy constructing a major road for linking the Kandahar-Herat highway to Iran.

Such reconstruction projects will get unnecessarily delayed in the absence of an effective security cover to those engaged in the task.

 (TRIBUNE)

Tackle the Taliban

 Indians in Afghanistan need effective security. It is believed that Taliban remnants, who represent the anti-India forces in Afghanistan, are behind the incident which occurred between Kandahar and Herat. Earlier they had kidnapped a few Indian engineers (later on released), besides nationals of certain other countries, in the  provinces known as the Taliban strongholds. The Taliban and their sympathisers continue to remain a potent threat to stability. Their latest victim, B. R. Kutty, the driver of the Indian Border Roads Organisation, belongs to the 300-strong Indian workforce busy constructing a major road for linking the Kandahar-Herat highway to Iran Reconstruction projects will get unnecessarily delayed in the absence of an effective security cover to those engaged in the task.


No mercy (HERALD)

With the Supreme Court awarding the maximum possible sentence of life imprisonment to a father for sexually exploiting his own 12-year-old daughter at the servant quarters of Himachal Pradesh Raj Bhavan in Shimla, if a father rapes his own daughter, it will be a ?graver offence?, destroying the very noble concept of the family itself. A father is considered the guardian, protector and custodian of his children. How can a daughter lead a peaceful life in the family if she does not get protection from her own father?------------ insensitivity of both the Sessions Court and the Himachal Pradesh High Court while dealing with the case. The Sessions Court had sentenced Asha Ram of Dumhar village in Solan district to five years of rigorous imprisonment. But the High Court acquitted him of the charge. The Supreme Court reversed the High Court ruling calling it ?perverse and against all cannons of justice?. It allowed the state government`s appeal seeking severest possible punishment to Asha Ram.---------------by both the Sessions Court and the Himachal Pradesh High Court while dealing with the case. The Sessions Court had sentenced Asha Ram of Dumhar village in Solan district to five years of rigorous imprisonment. But the High Court acquitted him of the charge. The Supreme Court reversed the High Court ruling calling it ?perverse and against all cannons of justice?. It allowed the state government`s appeal seeking severest possible punishment to Asha Ram. The Supreme Court`s observations in this case and subsequent reversal of the High Court judgement should act as a corrective measure for all the courts to act tough in future while dealing with rape cases. Rapists deserve no mercy.----------

 

 No mercy for rapists (TRIBUNE)

SC is for severest punishment

 ----THE Supreme Court ruling awarding the maximum possible sentence of life imprisonment to a father for sexually exploiting his own 12-year-old daughter at the servant quarters of Himachal Pradesh Raj Bhavan in Shimla--- 

---- if a father rapes his own daughter, it will be a?graver offence?, destroying the very noble concept of the family itself. A father is considered the guardian, protector and custodian of his children. How can a daughter lead a peaceful life in the family if she does not get protection from her own father?--------- insensitivity of both the Sessions Court and the

Himachal Pradesh High Court while dealing with the case. The Sessions Court had sentenced Asha Ram of

Dumhar village in Solan district to five years of  rigorous imprisonment. But the High Court acquitted him of the charge. The Supreme Court reversed the High Court ruling calling it ?perverse and against all cannons of justice?. It allowed the state  government`s appeal seeking severest possible punishment to Asha Ram.----------- The Supreme Court`s observations in this case and subsequent reversal of the High Court judgement should act as a corrective measure for all the courts to act tough in future while dealing with rape cases. Rapists deserve no mercy.-----

 

(HERALD)

Cleaning NPA`s

 ---The Union Government`s recent decision to allow 49 per cent foreign direct investment in asset reconstruction companies will help banks clean up their balance sheets and get rid of bad loans or what they call non-performing assets (NPAs). The Indian banking industry is reported to be saddled with NPAs amounting to Rs 1 lakh crore. Asset reconstruction companies pick up bad loans of   financial institutions and banks at a discount, securitise them and then sell them off as junk bonds. The Finance Ministry was keen on a 74 per cent cap on FDI in this sector, but the RBI favoured a 49 per cent ceiling. The foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have been barred from equity participation in companies buying NPAs, though their entry would have broadened the market for bonds.---

 ----but lack of clear guidelines and policy had deterred them---. ???Companies like CDC of the UK, Goldman Sachs and Pricewaterhouse are also ready with their projects to enter this business????. ----Although by taking such baby steps, the government wants to send the message that the reforms are on track, it will have to move faster to cash in on

global interest in the Indian growth story. China still attracts 10 times more foreign direct investment than India and if the trend is to be reversed, the government will have to aggressively open more sectors to FDI, especially those where the Left opposition is not stiff.-----

 

(TRIBUNE)

Rebuilding assets

 A belated but positive decision on FDI ---THE Union Government`s recent decision to allow 49 per cent foreign direct investment in asset  reconstruction companies will help banks clean up their balance sheets and get rid of bad loans or what they call non-performing assets (NPAs). The Indian banking industry is reported to be saddled with NPAs amounting to Rs 1 lakh crore. Asset reconstruction companies pick up bad loans of financial institutions and banks at a discount, securitise them and then sell them off as junk bonds. The Finance Ministry was keen on a 74 per cent cap on FDI in this sector, but the RBI favoured a 49 per cent ceiling. The foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have been barred from equity participation in companies buying NPAs, though their entry would have broadened the market for bonds.---

---the asset reconstruction sector in India, but lack of clear guidelines and policy had deterred them.------Although by taking such baby steps, the government wants to send the message that the reforms are on track, it will have to move faster to cash in on global interest in the Indian growth story. China still attracts 10 times more foreign direct investment

than India and if the trend is to be reversed, the government will have to aggressively open more sectors to FDI, especially those where the Left opposition is not stiff.----


 -----------------------------------------------------------------

(HERALD)

Help them

 ---Nearly 13 million African children have been orphaned by AIDS. More than 300 million Africans lack safe drinking water. Most Africans live on less than $1 a day. The 1994 Rwandan genocide killed 1 million people in just months but ignited a decade-long war that engulfed nine nations and left hundreds of thousands of people trapped in squalid refugee camps. Most African governments are corrupt, with leaders embezzling foreign aid and national revenues.

Confronting Africa`s entrenched woes is like standing at the base of a gigantic wall: one hardly knows how to surmount or dismantle it.----------where an experimental children`s center provides basics that the government ignores, such as food, basic schooling and a place to sleep. The center sprang from conversations between the village`s children and Oregon-based Africa Bridge, Denver-based Lundy Foundation and Denver businessman Vic Dukay. In Rwanda, Longmont-based Engineers Without Borders helps bring small-scale electricity to rural communities. In Malawi, villagers are getting clean drinking water thanks to Water for People, a program of US based American Waterworks Association.-----

 

(DENVERPOST)

Aid efforts bear fruit in Africa

 ---------Nearly 13 million African children have been orphaned by AIDS. More than 300 million Africans lack

safe drinking water. Most Africans live on less than $1 a day. The 1994 Rwandan genocide killed 1 million

people in just months but ignited a decade-long war that engulfed nine nations and left hundreds of thousands of people trapped in squalid refugee camps.---------Most African governments are corrupt, with leaders embezzling foreign aid and national revenues.Confronting Africa`s entrenched woes is like standing at the base of a gigantic wall: one hardly knows how to surmount or dismantle it.------------------------In Tanzania, an experimental children`s center provides basics that the government ignores, such as food, basic schooling and a place to sleep.The center sprang from conversations between the village`s children and Oregon-based Africa Bridge, Denver-based Lundy Foundation and Denver businessman Vic Dukay.---------In Rwanda, Longmont-based Engineers Without Borders helps bring small-scale electricity to rural communities.----In Malawi, villagers are getting clean drinking water thanks to Water for People, a program of the Denver-based American Waterworks association.---------

 -----------------------------------------------------------------

HERALD)

Death of the old 

----His victory showed the increasingly apparent weakness of the Shiv Sena as a political party under the single leadership of an ageing dictatorial senapati. His distancing from active politics in the form of his announcement that he would now be a party `advisor` is as much about age catching up with him as it is about the leader realising that being too close to an ailing and squabbling party could affect his personal standing.---

 (HINDUSTAN TIMES)

 ---It also points to the increasingly apparent weakness of the Shiv Sena as a political party under the single leadership of an ageing dictatorial senapati. ----????That Bal Thackeray is no longer either beacon or lightning rod is apparent. ?????--- His distancing from active politics in the form of his announcement that he would now be a party `advisor` is as much about age catching up with him as it is about the leader realising that being too close to an ailing and squabbling party could affect his personal standing.---


 HERALD)

Mother of all battles

 Ariel Sharon`s biggest recent battles have been fought behind his back, against rebels who were never going to endorse his strategies for the pursuit of peace with a future Palestinian state-------Mr Sharon, once a believer in Eretz Israel who exhorted settlers to head for ?every hilltop? in the West Bank, has abolished some of those same settlements and is now dedicated to the pursuit of peace and Palestinian statehood----

  

(TIMESONLINE)

Calculated risk  

Sharon has once again challenged preconceptions ---Mr Sharon`s biggest recent battles have been fought behind his back, against rebels who were never going to endorse his strategies for the pursuit of peace with a future Palestinian state.------Mr Sharon, once a believer in Eretz Israel who exhorted settlers to head for ?every hilltop? in the West Bank, has abolished some of those same settlements and is now dedicated to the pursuit of peace and Palestinian statehood---


 

 

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