CHENNAI: Developmental goals can be achieved only when people with disabilities enjoy fundamental rights and freedom as other do, said Governor Surjit Singh Barnala here on Saturday. He distributed artificial limbs and supplements to beneficiaries at the valedictory function of the seventh artificial limb camp organised by Adinath Jain Trust in Choolai.

Special features were in place for the disabled in public buildings and public transport systems in advanced countries. But in India such efforts were in the initial stages, he said. An inclusive society could show its understanding for the physically challenged by effecting these changes in rural areas, where a majority of people with disability lived.

To D.R. Mehta, he said: You have made a name for yourself by designing the Jaipur foot. He lauded the Trust and its volunteers for instilling confidence and hope in people.

The City Palace in Jaipur was drenched in red, the shade of Teej, on Friday. But ask the Rajputs in the Pink City and they will tell you that it is also the colour of war. A small-scale battle has been sounded here against the most famous face of Jaipur royalty - Maharani Gayatri Devi, the third wife of Maharaja Man Singh II.

To royal watchers, however, the battle is more than a saas-bahu saga. They see this as a proxy battle between Gayatri Devi and her stepson, Brigadier Bhawani Singh, Man Singhs son from his first wife, and point out that there is no love lost between the two.

First the background: Priyanandana, former wife of Gayatri Devis late son Jagat alleged that her children Devraj Singh and Lalitya Kumari were being robbed of their rights to Jai Mahal Palace. She and her children have gone to the Company Law Board seeking relief.

Another royal row is in the making between the government of Rajasthan and the former royal family of Jaipur over traditional Teej celebrations in Jaipur.

If there is no resolution, from next year there may just be an end to Jaipurs famous royal Teej, where the idol of goddess Parwati is taken out in a grand procession through the city.

Before the start of the procession the idol of the goddess is traditionally worshipped at the City Palace even today by the former royal family of Jaipur in the womens quarters or the zenanna.

But with the government of Rajasthan now all set to acquire the zenanna, the royal family is upset and says if the government acquires their property they will not take out the Teej procession from next year, something that could bring to an end Jaipurs famous Royal Teej.

JAIPUR: Scions of one of the most familiar faces of erstwhile Indian royalty, Gayatri Devi, have taken up cudgels against their grandmother, demanding their share of the estimated Rs 1,000-crore family wealth.

Devraj Singh (25) and Lalitya Kumari (27), children of Gayatri Devis only son late Jagat Singh, have dragged her to the Company Law Board. They are demanding that a heritage hotel at Jaipur - Hotel Jai Mahal Palace - which is leased to the Taj Group of Hotels be given to them.

Garment and Textile Expo Jaipur 2006, organised between July, 22-23 reported the business of Rs100 crore with buyers coming in large numbers.

Jaipur expo tried to target new markets like Australia, Israel, Turkey, Middle East, Taiwan and Korea and the responses were encouraging.

A grand fashion show was organised to showcase upcoming trends by the leading exporters of Rajasthan.

Vivek Khandelwal, Executive Council Member of the Garment Exporters Association of Rajasthan (GEAR) informed that products worth 500 crore were on display by seventy seven participants, mostly belonging to Jaipur.

Khandelwal went on to add that Rajasthans garment industry was developing fast with ladies garments made of cotton, accessories and home furnishing, knitted and woven garments, made-ups as their main export item.

In our comment in these columns on Tuesday on 15 years of reforms, we had pointed to inertia and lack of leadership in decision-making, especially in administrative systems, as restrictive factors. A case in point is the news report on the state medical department in Rajasthan having decided on a detailed audit to find why the maternal mortality rate (MMR) is so high. This is bizarre. In India, a woman dies every five minutes from a pregnancy-related cause; the country contributes a fifth of global maternal and child deaths. And Rajasthan has been close to the top of this melancholy list for decades. The subject has been analysed exhaustively, repeatedly: there is, after all, little left to be known on what to do to prevent such deaths. The MMR variation in India itself is huge, with Kerala and Punjab at one end and others like UP and MP at the other; Rajasthan comes somewhere near the UP end. What is it that Jaipurs medical department expects to unearth now?

Given that lack of education, access to skilled healthcare and lack of nutrition are key factors in reforming this state of affairs, what the state machinery should be focussing on is clear. The state health minister has said the idea is to form district-level panels, including NGOs, media and panchayat representatives, to study the problem to ensure complete and transparent information. His department says district officials routinely cloak MMR figures for fear of adverse action for failing to prevent such deaths. Why not have a monthly report from panchayat panels on the functioning of primary health centres? And on the formally ongoing programme to train midwives to perform clean deliveries?

All the competing teams in the ICC Champions Trophy, to be hosted by India between October 7 and November 5, have been asked to finalise their 30-member probables list for the tournament and submit the same to the ICC latest by August 8.

The first list of 30 probables needs to be sent to the International Cricket Council on or before August 8. The final 14-member list has to decided not later than September 7 as per the directive from the ICC, a Cricket Board source said today.

The ten-team tournament, with four of these playing the preliminaries to decide the two teams entering the tournament proper, would be held in four centres - Mumbai (Cricket Club of Indias Brabourne Stadium), Ahmedabad, Jaipur and Mohali.

The preliminaries - featuring teams ranked between 7 and 10 on the ICCs table as on April 1 this year - are to be held between October 7 and 14.

MUMBAI : Spot and retail prices of essential commodities such as wheat, sugar and pulses have started easing following the governments decision to facilitate imports and ban exports, an official release said on Tuesday.

Spot wheat prices fell 4.8%, while retail prices declined 9% between February 1 and July 20 after the government announced its decision to import 5,00,000 tonne of wheat on February 2, the release said. Spot prices of wheat in Delhi were at Rs 922 per 100 kilogram on February 1, which fell to Rs 881 as of July 20.

PSL, a key enabler for infrastructure and construction projects, engaged in a diverse range of pipe coatings and pipe manufacturing, today has been awarded the most awaited Dhabol - Panvel pipeline project from GAIL worth Rs. 218 crores and has also received a major order for the Bisalpur - Jaipur Water Pipeline Project from L&T/ECC, Chennai for the supply of coated pipes worth Rs. 270 crores.

PSL will supply GAIL with 551kms, 30 inch diameter continuous pipeline system from Dahej to Dhabhol. This pipeline system will enable high pressure gas flow from LNG Petronet plant at Dahej to the newly commissioned Ratnagiri Power unit at Dhabhol. PSL thereby has effectively secured all of GAILs large diameter gas pipeline tenders. Below is the list of orders awarded to PSL by GAIL

Simplex Infrastructures Ltd, one of Indias leading infrastructure companies, has bagged two projects worth Rs 110.37 crore from the Airports Authority of India for the construction of new airport terminal buildings at Jaipur International Airport (worth Rs 63.73 crore) and Maharana Pratap Airport, Udaipur (worth Rs 46.64 crore).

The Udaipur airport has been projected to be completed by the end of this year, while the Jaipur airport would take 18 months to complete.

Simplex Infrastructures Director Amitabh Das Mundhra said: These two are very significant projects for Simplex in consolidating the diversification plans. We are looking at increasing our order book position, which currently stands at Rs 4,700 crore, not just quantitatively but qualitatively. These airport projects will provide us with valuable experience, which will further help us to secure other airport projects in future.

The scope of work for Simplex will include the construction of the terminal buildings at both the airports, including a sub-station at the Udaipur airport.