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Pesticides in soft drinks: NGO raps govt for inaction
AP Govt to move SC on quota for Muslims
Punjab differs with Centre on workers’ Bill
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Conflicting views on India signing Hague convention on child custody
President asks Godhra panel to contact Centre
Cong-Trinamool alliance won’t affect CPM: Biswas
SC rejects Salem’s
plea on interrogation Shahabuddin wants to read books by Vivekananda
Shahabuddin’s bail plea rejected
Kalam to visit Chandigarh today
PM in TN today
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Pesticides in soft drinks: NGO raps govt for inaction
New Delhi, December 9 The action taken report (ATR) submitted in Parliament by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare earlier this week made it clear that “no action” had been taken on the recommendations of the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on the issue, a CSE press note stated. “The ATR proves that almost two years after the JPC submitted its path-breaking report, none of its key recommendations have been translated into any concrete steps or action,” it said. Based on laboratory tests, the CSE had reported in 2003 that soft drinks and beverages contained residues of toxic pesticides and insecticides. In a 300-page report in February last year, a 15-member Joint Parliamentary Committee headed by Sharad Pawar had upheld the CSE’s findings. Laboratory tests of samples collected from 12 soft drink brands showed the presence of organochlorine and organophosphorous pesticide residues, the JPC had said. The CSE’s laboratory tests on Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Diet Pepsi, Mirinda orange, Mirinda lemon, Blue Pepsi, 7-Up, Coca-Cola, Fanta, Limca, Sprite and Thums Up had shown that the beverages had high presence of lindane, which experts say attacks the central nervous system and the immune system. The samples had also tested positive for malathion, the DDT, and chlorpyrifos. The CSE pointed out that the JPC’s key recommendation that “stringent” standards be fixed for carbonated beverages had not been implemented. On the issue of pesticide residues in sweetened aerated water, the ATR notes that the matter had been “referred to the National Level Expert Group to guide Pesticide Residues Sub-Committee of CCFS (Central Committee for Food Standards) for detailed examination and recommendations which is awaited”.
— UNI |
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AP Govt to move SC on quota for Muslims
Hyderabad, December 9 Making this announcement in the state Assembly today, Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy said his government was committed to providing reservation to Muslims despite the legal setback. The Congress Government’s move for quota for Muslims was struck down twice by the High Court, first in August last year when the government order was declared null and void and again last month when the ordinance was declared unconstitutional and arbitrary. Rebutting the Opposition's charge that the government was merely interested in garnering mileage and was insincere about the issue, Mr Reddy said leading legal luminaries would be hired to argue the government’s case in the apex court. Pointing out that High Court had set aside the ordinance on technical grounds, Mr Reddy said his government would engage constitutional expert Fali S Nariman and other leading advocates to fight the case in Supreme Court. The main Opposition TDP, led by former Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, staged a walkout after accusing the Congress government of “hoodwinking Muslims only to garner political mileage”. The BJP also walked out of the House protesting the policy of religion-based reservations.
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Punjab differs with Centre on workers’ Bill
New Delhi, December 9 Addressing the 40th session of Indian Labour Conference, he said the definition of unorganised sector workers as given in Section 2(O) of the Bill might create some practical problems during implementation. He said factories and industrial establishments, including contractors’ establishments, employ casual workers for a few days and as per the provisions of the Provident Fund Act, 1952, their PF was deducted. Majority of them were migratory workers. Therefore, any casual worker would move in and out of the definition of unorganised sector worker time and again. This would create difficulty in implementing social security schemes for the unorganised sector workers. Referring to Section 21 (b) (ii) regarding contribution of employees, it is stated that state government may not be in a position to levy cess or tax or fee for this purpose and the Centre would be in a better position to do so. He said, “This provision should be deleted, so that the specified authority under the provision of the Bill does not make recommendations that cannot be implemented.” In a straight message that the state government does not agree with the draft presented by the Centre, he said the Punjab Government favoured the Unorganised Sector Workers’ Social Security Bill, 2005, in place of it. |
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Conflicting views on India signing Hague New Delhi, December 9 While former Attorney-General Soli J Sorabjee advocated to tread a middle path by incorporating the finer points of The Hague
convention, 1980, in the country’s laws, which lacked the true definition of the “custody” of the child in matrimonial disputes, Law Commission Chairman M J Rao said if India has to become a signatory of it, the customary laws and cultural and family values of the country should be taken into consideration. Delhi High Court Judge Vikramjit Sen, considered to be an expert in family law matters, though was in favour of signing The Hague convention but cautioned that changes in the law on the issue should not merely be made just to suit the provisions of the convention as the issue has to be assessed by keeping the interest of the child in mind. He said the country should not be “unwilling” to the change and development of the law when a large number of Indians were migrating to foreign countries for jobs. “We ought to look into the effects of not signing the convention. What will be the remedy in the absence of not signing the treaty,” he asked. They were speaking at a seminar on “India’s role in combating inter-country parental child removal”, organised here on the initiatives of Chandigarh-based lawyers - Ranjit Malhotra and Anil Malhotra - who had been dealing with cases pertaining to child custody in matrimonial disputes between parents living abroad and problems being faced in implementing the orders of foreign courts in India and our courts abroad. While the Malhotra brothers, who cited dozens of cases in which enforcing the orders of foreign courts in India had virtually become difficult and emphasised the need for the country to sign The Hague convention, advocate Minakshi Arora had some reservation about it. She said the convention had a most important lacunae that it provided for transfer of the child to a state which had the closest contact with either of the parents within a year of the filing of the case after a summary hearing, which might not be in the “best interest of the child”. She further said in most of the matrimonial disputes between Indian spouses living in foreign countries, the wife was always in a disadvantageous position if she was not a working woman. She had no other option but to come back to her parents in India with her child if wronged by the husband. In such a situation, if the transfer of the child was ordered on summary hearing, it might harm his interest. Anil Malhotra said the main problem arose when the child was brought to India from a foreign country, he has to be made a subject matter of the laws of that country fore reasons that one of the parents was living there and had filed the case there. “India for not being signatory to The Hague convention is put to a disadvantageous position when the matter is before a foreign court for it being a non-convention country because the foreign courts refuse to recognise the verdicts of Indian courts due to this reason,” he said adding a time had come when the country should look forward to a broader collaboration among nations to combat the
inter-country parental child removal problem.
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President asks Godhra panel to contact Centre
Ahmedabad, December 9 It has also asked the commission to correspond directly with the Centre on the issue. In a letter dated December 7, Secretary to the President P.M. Nair said the President’s Secretariat had referred the matter to Central Government, which “through its ministry concerned, would present its point of view on the issue”. He said, therefore, all further correspondence in that regard might be carried on by the commission directly with the Centre. These were under “specific orders” of the President, he added. The two-member inquiry commission probing the Godhra carnage and the riots that followed had on November 21 written to the President’s office seeking a clarification on its stand on sending those letters. — UNI
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Cong-Trinamool alliance won’t affect CPM: Biswas
Kolkata, December 9 “We know that the Congress has been a political force in Bengal against us but we do not care a fig for it,” he said. However, he made it clear that the CPM support to the Congress at the Centre would continue till the present political situation was not changed. Mr Biswas was reacting to the on-going attempt by some senior Congress leaders to join Ms Mamata Banerjee’s newly formed democratic front and fight against the CPM and other Left parties in the forthcoming Assembly elections. The front chairman, Mr Biman Bose, however, warned the Congress against making any electoral alliance or seat adjustment with the Trinamool Congress against them. He alleged Ms Mamata Banerjee was trying to regain her lost political strength in the state by making electoral understanding with the Congress, but he was confident her attempt would fail.
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Sanjay Dutt, Salem appear in court
Mumbai, December 9 Produced along side them was gangster Abu Salem against whom charges in the bomb blasts case were read out. However, Salem has not been formally charged. The court will hear the case on December 20. Sanjay Dutt is accused of keeping two AK-56 rifles supplied by Salem. The court had summoned all the blast accused to appear for amending charges filed against Salem. |
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SC rejects Salem’s
plea on interrogation New Delhi, December 9 The TADA court had restricted the number of officers during interrogation to two by an order passed on November 11, which was challenged by the Mumbai Police in the high court. Salem’s counsel Imtiaz Ahmed, who moved a Special Leave Petition (SLP) against the high court order overruling the lower court order, made a special mention of the matter before a Bench of Mr Justice K G Balakrishnan and Mr Justice P.P. Naolekar with a request for early hearing. But the Bench declined to issue any direction on the SLP and told his counsel that it would be taken up in a routine manner on January 2.7 The TADA court had restricted the presence of interrogating officers to two at the time of Salem’s questioning on November 29 after Salem complained that presence of so many officers put him under psychological pressure and make him restless. He also had alleged that he was being tortured by the police.
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Shahabuddin wants to read books by Vivekananda Patna, December 9 At an interactive session at the ongoing 22nd Patna Book Fair, social analysts suggested that books written by Swami Vivekananda could be good to deal with stress management in the fast moving world. Shahabuddin too, seems to be under stress, though may be of a different nature. From his king like lifestyle evenwithin jails like Siwan, this time no special facility has been provided to him . The jail authorities in Bhagalpur dismissed the allegation by Mrs Rabri Devi that “animal like treatment” was being meted out to him. He has been lodged in a separate ward of the prison and not a cell as alleged. The other facilities are also at par with the jail manual applicable to him, sources said. During his days in the Siwan jail, it has been learnt that even the jail super vacated his room to facilitate Md. Shahabuddin to organise his “Aam Darber”. Once when he fell ill, an entire ward of Siwan Jail hospital was reportedly converted into a room with an air conditoner fitted in. It is further alleged that he was even seen roaming outside the jail at the dead of the night in his car, to be back in the jail in the morning. Only time perhaps will tell whether it is the making of another “Balmiki” from “dacoit Ratnakar” with Md. Shahabuddin`s desiring to read books by Swami
Vivekanada.
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Shahabuddin’s bail plea rejected
Siwan (Bihar), December 9 Additional District and Sessions Judge B.N. Mishra turned down the bail plea of Shahabuddin in the case under the Arms Act, lodged with the Hussainganj police station. Government advocate objected the bail plea and said there was sufficient evidence against the accused in the case. The judge dismissed the application after hearing the two sides.
— PTI |
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Kalam to visit Chandigarh today
New Delhi, December 9 During the visit, the President will attend the golden jubilee celebrations of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. Dr Kalam will also have a brief meeting with the Chief Justice and Judges of the high court. The President will visit the village adoption programme project at Gheri Buttar village near Bathinda. |
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PM in TN today
New Delhi, December 9 PMO sources said apart from Chennai, the Prime Minister was also to likely visit Nagapattinam and Cuddalore. The Centre has announced an interim relief of Rs 500 crore for the state. |
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