The Centre today told the Supreme Court that the city of Agra in Uttar Pradesh ds not qualify to be declared a world heritage city.

Solicitor General G E Vahanvati today told the court that in view of its unplanned growth, Agra did not qualify for the status of world heritage city and it also did not fulfill the conditions laid down by the world heritage Committee.

Bench comprising Justices S B Sinha, S H Kapadia and D K Jain directed the authorities including the Commissioner of Agra division, Vice Chairman of Agra Development Authority and senior officials of Archeological Survey of India (ASI) and Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) to hold a meeting on September 2 to discuss the issue of allotment of land for barricading the area around Taj Mahal and also to shift the facilitation centre and the ticketing counter beyond 500 m of the monument.

The court also directed the authorities to place the details of discussion before this court so that appropriate directions may be issued for regulating the entry of visitors as well as to set a time frame for visiting the historical monument. There are about 225 heritage structures in Agra.

NEW DELHI: The 16th century city of Agra may have three world heritage sites, Taj Mahal, Agra Fort and Fatehpur Sikri, besides numerous other monuments, but it is not a fit case for being declared a world heritage city, the government informed the Supreme Court on Monday.

Responding to a query from a Bench comprising Justices S B Sinha, S H Kapadia and D K Jain, Solicitor General G E Vahanvati said the Centre as well as the Archeological Survey of India (ASI) had examined the matter threadbare following the December 20, 1996, directive from the court in this regard.

Referring to an affidavit filed by the ASI on April 4, 1997, Vahanvati said what comes in the way of the Indian government recommending the 16th century city to the World Heritage Committee for declaring it as a world heritage city is its haphazard growth, teeming population and presence of polluting industries.

NEW DELHI : The Centre has told the Supreme Court that the haphazard and unplanned growth in Agra coupled with polluting industries makes the city of the Taj Mahal unfit to be declared as a heritage city.

Despite historical monuments like Fatehpuri Sikri, Agra Fort, Taj Mahal and numerous historical sites, the city cannot be brought under the scope of a heritage city, Solicitor General G E Vahanvati told a bench comprising Justice S B Sinha, Justice S H Kapadia and Justice D K Jain.

Apprising the court of the centres view on the issue, the solicitor general said that apart from these mediaeval sites there was nothing outstanding in the city to declare it a heritage city.

Vahanvati said the Centre and the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) had examined the courts concern following its December 20, 1996 order of developing Agra as heritage city.

The Uttar Pradesh government had also taken the stand that Agra lacks the criteria. The court wanted to know whether it was not possible to cover part of the city to declare it as a heritage city.

Agra : American Express will help set up tourist centres with a 24x7 helpline for thousands of visitors who throng Agra.

The project is a joint venture between the Uttar Pradesh Tourism and Agra Tourism Guild and will be supported by American Express. Debashish Bhaumick, president of the guild, told a press conference Saturday that the centre was likely to come up in two months.

The guild, which completes 25 years in September, will also bring out a special publication called Agra Calling which will contain all the relevant information about Agra.

Joint director of Uttar Pradesh Tourism D.K. Burman told IANS, The new facilities centre will help tourists get correct information about the city and its various monuments.

Agra - American Express will help set up tourist centres with a 24×7 helpline for thousands of visitors who throng Agra.

The project is a joint venture between the Uttar Pradesh Tourism and Agra Tourism Guild and will be supported by American Express. Debashish Bhaumick, president of the guild, told a press conference Saturday that the centre was likely to come up in two months.

The guild, which completes 25 years in September, will also bring out a special publication called Agra Calling which will contain all the relevant information about Agra.

Joint director of Uttar Pradesh Tourism D.K. Burman told IANS, The new facilities centre will help tourists get correct information about the city and its various monuments.

It is the most urgent and desirable project that will give a big boost to tourism and if successful the Agra model may be replicated in other parts of the country, Burman added.

New Delhi : The central government Monday informed the Supreme Court that the World Heritage Committee could not declare the Taj Mahal city of Agra as a heritage city as it did not qualify for it, thanks to its unplanned growth.

Solicitor General G.E. Vahanvati made this submission before a bench comprising judges S.B. Sinha, S.H. Kapadia and D.K. Jain.

On Aug 7, the bench had asked the solicitor general whether the government could comply with an order passed by the apex court in December 1996 directing it to declare Agra as a heritage city in two months.

The bench had also asked him to find out whether the government could comply with the parameters laid down by the UNESCO for declaring Agra as a heritage city.

The judges were of the view that once Agra was declared a heritage city, international funds would be available for the protection of not only the monument but also for the overall development of the city.

The unabashed and blatant use of unfair means, both during examinations and in marking, is a shocking reminder of the fact that our educational and examination system has decayed. Recently, the police found an evaluation centre in a house in Agra, where minors and some youth were checking answer sheets of professional courses, including BBA, BCA, BPT, law from various institutes affiliated to the Chaudhary Charan Singh University, Meerut.

While some of those checking the answer sheets were class V and VI students, some others were graduates. None were either qualified or competent to check the answer sheets. The bogus evaluators were being paid up to Rs 4 for each answer sheet.

According to the investigation reports, the criterion for allotting scores was the length of the answers, as well as the quality and dimension of the diagrams. Marks were also awarded as per the negotiations or the considerations paid for.

It appears the Registrar of the Chaudhary Charan Singh University was involved in the racket along with his son, who has since been arrested. The investigators recovered about 10,000 answer sheets from the house, while more were found dumped elsewhere in Agra. About 2,000 answer sheets of professional courses were discovered from a field near Agra.

Agra : More and more girls, some still infants, are being groomed to become prostitutes in the Taj Mahal city of Agra. But the police are determined to end it all.

The innocent girls, brought here from other parts of northern India, are being allegedly injected hormones to induce puberty. Some are being registered in schools with names of strangers as their mothers.

Agra Police freed about 20 girls, aged between 2 and 15, following half a dozen raids this month at the Basai red light zone, barely a stones throw from the majestic Taj, one of the worlds leading tourist attractions.

Only recently three girls were rescued from the house of a middleman engaged in women trafficking. Police say they were to be sold to contacts in Mumbai.

In another raid, three girls, including a two-year-old, were freed. Five women and nine men were held on charges of trapping them in the flesh trade.

The police also rescued several girls from areas such as Mal ka Bazar, Kashmiri Bazar, Seo ka Bazar, Sir ki Mandi and Sikandra.

What do you need for a road trip, apart from a certain amount of bravery and a touch of madness? A car, of course. Over the last few years, a whole slew of new cars have arrived in our country - big, small, exciting, dull - and Ive been lucky enough to drive a few of them during my jaunts (twelve, to be precise). I enjoy driving, so as far as Im concerned almost any car will do, but I do have a few favourites.

My first ever trip was in a Tangerine Mist Siena 1.2, after which I drove a succession of Fiats. I loved them all, particularly the Palio (despite several, er, quirks, which shall remain unnamed). It was just the right size, rode beautifully and had enough handling prowess to be fun around bends.

Contrary to most rumours, it didnt guzzle gas either - I never got less than 12 kpl in any of them. I havent driven a Fiat in a while (how I wish theyd given me the stonking 1.6 GTX), but whenever I do I feel immediately at home. Next in line is the old City 1.5, in which I did a Delhi-Agra run in two hours flat. Man, that thing went like a fox with a hundred hounds behind it, and it handled too.

Agra: More and more girls, some still infants, are being forced to become prostitutes in Agra, the city of the Taj Mahal.

The innocent girls, brought from other parts of northern India, are being allegedly injected with hormones to precipitate puberty. Hormone injections can lead to many health problems including cervical cancer, said Netra Pal Singh, counsellor at the All India Womens Conference.

The Agra police are determined to end it all and the senior superintendent of police, Dinesh Juneja, has launched an all-out war against prostitution in the city.

The police have been conducting raids and have rescued about 20 girls between 2 and 15 years of age this month from the Basai red light zone.

Another three were rescued from the house of a middleman engaged in women trafficking recently. Police say the girls were to be sold to some clients in Mumbai.

In another raid, three girls, including a two-year-old, were rescued and five women and nine men were held on charges of trapping them in the flesh trade.

In a recent interview to the Indian media, General Pervez Musharraf says all the right things, in the right vein, with sincerity but ensures that the skeletons of the 2001 Agra Summit tumble out.

In one of his most candid and forthright confessions, the Pakistan President blames Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President LK Advani for the failure of the July 14-16 summit.

I personally suspect it was Advani (then Home Minister) Sahib. That is my guess because he was quite hawkish in those days, the General tells jurist AG Noorani.

Mr Prime Minister, today both you and I have been humiliated. Because I feel that what we agreed on, somebody above us, who had the veto power, rejects it. I dont know who it is… Musharraf had told Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 2001.

NEW DELHI : Unlisted Bharat Hotels Ltd. will spend 1.5 billion rupees ($32.3 million) to set up a luxury hotel in the tourist hot-spot desert state of Rajasthan, a top company official said on Tuesday.

The proposed 200-room hotel will be situated on 12,000 square metres of land in the state capital Jaipur, and is expected to be up and running in 18 months, Lalit Suri, chairman of Bharat Hotels, said on the sidelines of a tourism industry conference.

Everyone who comes to Rajasthan goes through Jaipur, and there just arent enough hotels, he said. Rajasthan has not been fully exploited.

The 1.5-billion-rupee investment includes the acquisition price of the land.

Bharat Hotels bought the plot for the hotel on Friday from the Rajasthan government at the reserve price of 260 million rupees – which under a new government policy to attract hoteliers in the room-starved state was pegged at half the current commercial land rate.

Agra: A Muslim youth ended his eight-day fast to protest a fatwa (religious ruling) against the singing of Indias national song Vande Mataram in schools.

The fatwa was issued by Sunni Ulema Board president Maulana Syed Shah Badruddin Qadri in Hyderabad.

The Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) had issued a directive to states for recitation of Vande Mataram during a celebration on September 7 to mark the national songs centenary.

HRD Minister Arjun Singh later clarified that the singing of the national song was voluntary in nature.

Gulchaman Sherwani went on fast under the Bharat Mata statue in front of the Agra Civil Court.

Lucknow, India – Soldiers with automatic weapons were on 24-hour guard at the Taj Mahal after officials received a letter threatening to blow up the monument, officials said Friday.

Authorities were investigating a letter received Thursday – purportedly sent by an al-Qaida backer – that said the terrorist group planned blasts at the 17th century monument, which drew nearly 2.5 million tourists last year.

The state government has asked the federal civil aviation authorities and Indias air force to declare a no-fly zone within a 2.5-mile radius of the Taj Mahal, said N.C. Bajpei, Uttar Pradeshs highest official.

The majestic domed monument was built by Emperor Shah Jehan in the mid-1600s for his favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal. It houses their graves and a mosque.

Taj Mahal Threat Update - A possible al-Qaeda threat to the Taj Majal may not be credible, authorities are now declaring. The Press Trust of India reported over the weekend that a letter written in Hindi warned that the 17th century monument in Agra would be blown up.

Officials are suspect of the validity of the threat was as it is the letter was the third such message about the Taj Mahal received this year and appeared to have been written by the same person who penned the others, PTI said.

Fingerprints on all three letters matched, police said.

Jim Roberts reported earlier that the threat against the Taj Mahal forced police in northern India to heighten security around the Taj Mahal.

Agra said this week that 7200 weaners were sold in the first week of its annual weaner auctions breaking a record ever set by a public livestock sale in the country. The auction, which reveals significant price increase over last years, obtained a total of N$21.3 million in one week, the auctioneer said in a statement.

Brahman and Brahman cross breeds of exceptional quality were part of the weaners that came under the hammer during the current series of weaner auctions presented by Agra.

It is anticipated that a total of 12000 weaners will be sold during this years series of weaner auctions, which is slightly more than the 11229 weaners sold last year. The weaners auctions started during mid July and will end on 24 August. During last Fridays auction in Gobabis, where 1800 calves were sold, prices jumped to up to N$16.35 per kg for tollies. At preceding auctions held in Outjo, Otjiwarongo, Rehoboth and Grootfontein, weaner calves came under the hammer for up to N$15.50 per kg.

New Delhi : Authorities tightened security at the Taj Mahal, Indias famous monument to love, after top officials decided current arrangements were inadequate to thwart a terror strike, a report said.

More bunkers have been set up in Agra on the roads leading to the Taj after a security review Thursday and police units have been deployed on the side of the monument next to the Yamuna river, a news agency reported on Friday.

Officials also want a no fly zone to be declared around the monument but so far defence authorities in New Delhi have not acted on the recommendation, the report said.

The preparations appear not to be related to the terror warning issued by the United States embassy to its citizens in the run up to Independence Day celebrations on August 15.

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Mathura (Uttar Pradesh) - Thousands of people, including foreign tourists, were Wednesday celebrating Janmashtami, the birth anniversary of Lord Krishna, in his home ground where Hinduisms most popular god was said to have been born.

Temples in Mathura, Vrindavan and Agra, known as the brajbhoomi, were decked up with flowers and devotees flocked to them from across the country.

Mathura, which is known as Krishnas Janmbhoomi (birthplace), had the most number of people queuing up to seek a glimpse of the idol of Krishna, also known as the blue-god who is part of the Hindu Trinity. Pilgrims started arriving in huge numbers Monday itself, taking advantage of the extended weekend owing to Indias Independence Day Tuesday.

The river Yamuna looked pristine, flowing right up to the brim of the vast banks.

New Delhi : Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has blamed then home minister L K Advani for the failure of his summit with then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in July 2001.

I personally suspect it was Advani sahib. That is my guess because he was quite hawkish in those days, he said in an interview to A G Norrani in Frontline magazine.

The Pakistani leader said he had told Vajpayee that he would only enhance his popularity if the proposed joint declaration was signed between India and Pakistan.

General Musharraf said Agra was a great opportunity for the two countries. I would say it was a pity that we lost so much time. Agra was a great opportunity: it was the greatest opportunity. We could have made wonderful breakthroughs. I really dont know why we failed.

He said he still could not make out what was the pressure on Vajpayee for backing out on what had been decided by the two leaders.