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SC notice to govt on PIL for probe against Mahajan
Rajnath takes over as BJP President
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Mass
grave: FIR against 11
Shiv Sena workers quit, join Raj Thackeray group
Alliance Air officer
shifted over exodus
UPA govt dilly-dallying on dialogue, says Lone
Govt not serious on resolving Kashmir issue: Hurriyat
6 killed in Orissa clash
Karnataka CM’s house gets another bomb threat
Two suspected terrorists held
SC notice to Centre on population policy
PM to open Indian Science Congress today
Turbulent times ahead for Nepal
8 killed in police-tribesmen clash
Six killed in police-tribal clash in Orissa
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SC notice to govt on PIL for probe against Mahajan
New Delhi, January 2 The PIL alleged that Mr Mahajan allowed RIC to convert its WLL service into full-fledged mobile service in violation of licence fee rules and in turn, the company allotted one crore shares to three front companies, in which Mr Mahajan was a beneficiary, at Re 1 per share, while its worth was Rs 55 per share. It further alleged that the deal between Reliance and Mr Mahajan was “inter alia” to bail out an entertainment company — Integrated Production Pvt Ltd (IPPL) — owned by his wife and son from a case in which the Delhi High Court had ordered the firm to pay Rs 5 crore to Prasar Bharti in lieu of a sponsored music TV serial — “Track- Dhina-Din” — because it had failed to make the payment to the public broadcaster as per the contract. After brief arguments by counsel for Citizen Forum Against Corruption (CFAC), which filed the PIL, a Bench of Chief Justice Y.K. Sabharwal, Mr Justice C.K. Thakker and Mr Justice R.V. Raveendran issued notices to the government, the CVC and the CBI, to which the petitioner had forwarded a complaint for probe. Petitioner’s counsel Prashant Bhushan said the complaint was routed through the Prime Minister for “initiating investigation against persons concerned and take consequent action.” The RIC, in its press note of February 15, 2005, had stated that it had allotted one crore shares to Mr Ashish Deora, the director of IOL Broadband company, through three front companies, at Re 1 on September 16, 2002, the PIL said, adding, “Within three weeks of the allotment, the shares were priced at Rs 55 per share to Reliance Industries.” Quoting various media reports on the issue during the relevant period, the PIL said the RIC was allowed to roll out its wireless in local loop (WLL) service on February 26, 2002, with full-fledged mobile switching centres, totally ignoring the V5.2 restrictions, imposed by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) as the government’s policy was that limited mobility and cellular mobility be kept as “separate and distinct” services. “The circumstances surrounding the allotment of these shares does raise a strong suspicion that the real beneficiary was Mr Mahajan. Since such facts, if found true, will amount to a serious offence under the Prevention of Corruption Act, a criminal investigation into the matter is pertinent,” the PIL said. Reacting to reports on issuing of notices by the apex court on the PIL, Mr Mahajan emphatically denied of taking any decision in the WLL matter in favour of the RIC or any company. “At this juncture, I wish to state unequivocally and emphatically that I have not taken any decision which has favoured any particular company during my tenure as Minister for Communications and Information Technology. All files are open with the department,” a statement issued by the BJP on behalf of Mr Mahajan said. |
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Rajnath takes over as BJP President
New Delhi, January 2 Addressing his first press conference after assuming charge, Mr Singh, declared that the party's plans and programmes would be decided collectively and listed strengthening of the NDA and maintaining the party's image among his priorities. He trained his guns on the ruling UPA at the Centre and charged the government of being a flop on all fronts. A beaming Mr Singh, who handled the questions with ease, looked confident and made it clear that pressures and pulls would not work but partymen would have to restrengthen themselves at the grass-root level. At a brief ceremony at the party headquarters amid bursting of crackers, recital of shehnai and beating of drums by hundreds of party workers, the former Chief Minister was garlanded and presented with a shawl by Mr Advani, who resigned under the RSS pressure in Mumbai on Saturday. Mr Advani expressed confidence that the party would reach new heights under Mr Singh's leadership and make it an "effective instrument" for the country's progress. Praising Mr Advani for serving the party with honour even in adverse circumstances and successfully taking everyone along, former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee said the party chief's job was a crown of thorns. Lauding Mr Singh as a "dynamic leader", Mr Vajpayee said the party would not flee from challenges. "Our four priorities would be to keep the party's image intact, widen its base, strengthen NDA and aggressively oppose the anti-people policies of the UPA government", Mr Singh said. A Physics teacher by profession before coming to politics, Mr Singh, also hinted at a reshuffle to ensure that the new team was fully geared to take up any challenges. He said the party's new office-bearers and executive would be announced in the next 8-10 days. Senior party leaders, including
Mr Jaswant Singh, Mr M Venkaiah Naidu, Mr Pramod Mahajan, Mr Arun Jaitley besides Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh and Jharkhand Chief Minister Arjun Munda, were present on the occasion. Senior party leaders from Mr Singh's home state Mr Lalji Tandon and Mr Kalraj Mishra were also present but his arch rival and party's national vice-president Kalyan Singh was conspicuous by his absence though his aides maintained that he was indisposed. Earlier, the new BJP chief said Mr Advani's slogan of “Suraj (good governance), Shuchita (probity) and Suraksha (security)” would be his beacon lights. Integral humanism and cultural nationalism would be the basis of all party programmes, he said. "The honour of Bharat Mata, janata and anndata, including farmers and activists, would be my priority. It would also be our endeavour to preserve dignity and decorum of democracy," he said, adding, "There will be no compromise on conduct, indiscipline and corruption...we are determined to keep intact our distinct identity in both thought and conduct." Asked about the possibility of expelled leader Uma Bharti's return to the party fold, he said, "It was a decision taken by the Parliamentary Board and we have not received any representation from her." Ridiculing the Congress slogan "Congress ke hath, aam admi ke saath (Congress hand is for the common people)", the BJP chief said it had turned out to be "Congress ke haath, aam admi par aghat (Congress hand is harming the common people)". Hitting out at the UPA's "anti-farmer" policies and its alleged failure on the economic and security fronts, he said the party would aggressively oppose it. |
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Mass grave: FIR against 11
Ahmedabad, January 2 As per the complaint lodged by the sanitary inspector of the Lunavada municipality, Subash Pandya, the accused had dug up the grave near Panam river without seeking official permission of the state government. The accused, including the field co-ordinator of the NGO, Citizens for Justice and Peace, Rais Pathan, have been charged with “tampering of evidence” by illegaly exhuming the bodies, police sources said. Relatives of riot victims and villagers from riot-affected Pandarwada and Lunavada villages have also been named as the co-accused in this case where some of the accused had dug up as many as eight skeletons from the grave and claimed it to belong to their kin killed during post-Godhra riots in Gujarat in 2002. The state government had earlier stated that all the bodies present in the grave were accounted for and had been buried by the local municipality after following due legal procedures, including a post-mortem. Interestingly, the same NGO, Citizens for Justice and Peace, is one of the petitioners in the Gujarat High Court asking for CBI help in determining the identities of bodies found in the grave by sending samples to the forensic science laboratory in Hyderabad. The court had rejected the Gujarat government’s plea to prevent CBI intervention in the case and directed the agency to supervise the work of collection of samples from the grave to be sent for DNA testing to FSL, Hyderabad. — PTI
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Shiv Sena workers quit, join Raj Thackeray group
Mumbai, January 2 Raj struck a major blow on New Year day when he got 2,662 activists of the party to break away and join his yet-to-be-launched outfit. Led by municipal
cooperator Dilip Lande, a corporator in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation for the last 10 years from Kurla in central Mumbai, the Shiv Sainiks resigned en masse at a function on last evening. “We were feeling suffocated in the Shiv Sena. Another 3,500 Shiv Sainiks from Kurla would join us shortly,” Mr Lande said. Anger ran high against Uddhav Thackeray, who was accused of staying aloof from the rank and file of the party. The outgoing workers said they were always neglected by the party. Across Mumbai, heads of the Shiv Sena’s branches had put in their papers to join Raj. Several of these shakha pramukhs simply sent in the keys to the party headquarters and walked off. Raj would kick off a yatra across the state in the next few weeks. He said he was aiming to woo youth and disgruntled cadres from other parties to his outfit. Uddhav decided to crack a whip on party workers who had been seen with Raj. Uddhav confidante Vijay Loke had asked several corporators and MLAs of the Shiv Sena to quit their posts before sharing public platforms with Raj. |
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Alliance Air officer
shifted over exodus
New Delhi, January 2 Sources in Indian said Executive Director (Operations) of Alliance Air Mehboob Bhatt had been moved to Kolkata as result of this. Indian was bringing in another officer to handle the situation after nearly half of the Alliance Air pilots, both commanders and co-pilots, put in their papers nearing the termination of their contract with the airline. Alliance Air had witnessed “mass resignations” of pilots in the past 18 months, with 58 commanders and co-pilots quitting, bringing their numbers down from 94 to 36. Of the existing 36 pilots, 15 more had submitted their resignations and the remaining ones were also understood to be putting in their papers. As a result of the resignations, the situation had turned critical in Alliance Air, with it spending more time on ground rather than in the air. The authorities at Indian found that despite the agreement with the Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA) for allowing the junior level pilots to move into Indian laterally to allow them to retain their jobs, there was delay and confusion in its implementation leading to transfer of Mr Bhatt. He had been moved as the General Manager (Eastern Region), with also the responsibility of being the examiner for the pilots training for A-319 aircraft, soon to be brought into Indian. The airline had made Kolkata its base for stationing the A-319s. Indian was due to get five A-319s on lease in this year, with another 19 purchased outright to be inducted over the next year or so. Although the pilots had resigned, they had not yet been relieved from duty due to the six-month notice period under the rules set by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). The notice period of these pilots was likely to be completed by March and if there were no further resignations, Alliance Air would be left with only a handful of commanders or none at all. Officials at Indian said as per plans which had been chalked out to retain the pilots in Alliance Air, they would have been given lateral entry into Indian, with the provision to allow them to fly A-319s. They had not been allowed to fly abroad, but domestically, they would have “co-existed” with Indian’s pilots. The same had been denied by Indian’s pilots, who said the entry of Alliance Air pilots into the airline could not be permitted as they were on contract there. They could not be regularised with Indian as these would create major hierarchy problems. On the other hand, it was precisely the contractual nature of the job which was forcing the pilots to quit. The pilots and engineers were quitting Alliance Air jobs due to its non-permanent nature as they were employed on contract, besides getting higher emoluments in private airlines. |
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UPA govt dilly-dallying on dialogue, says Lone
New Delhi, January 2 Senior APHC leader Bilal Lone told The Tribune that the conglomerate was not satisfied with the pace of talks with the Centre and there had been “no improvement in ground situation” in the state in the past few months. “There are fits and starts in the dialogue process. It lacks consistency,” he said. Mr Lone, part of the
Mirwaiz-led delegation going to Pakistan to express solidarity with the victims of the October 8 earthquake, said the APHC wanted the Kashmir issue to be solved once and for all. “India, Pakistan and Kashmiris should sit together to discuss and resolve the issue,” he said. Mr Lone said the Hurriyat Conference was “not impatient” for dialogue with the Centre. He said it was the APHC which had advocated path of dialogue even in the face of strong opposition from hardliners in the valley. “We favour talks for a way out and not a sellout,” he said. The APHC leader said there were expectations about improvement in the ground situation following the first round of talks with the UPA government in September last year, but these had not been met. Asked if there were plans to meet militant leadership in PoK, Mr Lone said, “Whosoever meets us, we will talk.” Besides the Mirwaiz and Mr Lone, former APHC chief Abdul Ghani Bhat was part of the three-member APHC delegation, visiting Pakistan and PoK, mainly to express solidarity with the families of victims of the earthquake. During the visit, the delegation was expected to meet Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf. The recent proposal of “self-rule,” informally floated by Pakistan, was expected to be discussed during the meeting. The Hurriyat leaders had earlier gone to Pakistan in June when they had crossed from PoK, where they had gone via the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad road. |
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Govt not serious on resolving Kashmir issue: Hurriyat
New Delhi, January 2 “The UPA is missing seriousness in resolving the Kashmir issue. It is almost four months since the talks with the Centre were held, but none of the issues raised at that meeting had borne any results,” said Hurriyat Chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, who left for a week-long visit of Pakistan this evening. The Mirwaiz is leading a three-member delegation, comprising senior amalgam leaders Abdul Ghani Bhat and Bilal Lone, which will also visit Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. During the week-long visit, the delegation will hold talks with the Pakistani leadership, including Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri, to discuss all the “latest ideas” on Kashmir.
— UNI |
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Karnataka CM’s house gets another bomb threat
Bangalore, January 2 The call originated from his native village in Gulbarga district, according to police sources. The Chief Minister directed the police to investigate the threat. Asked about the terrorist threat to Mangalore as reported in a section of the Press, Mr Dharam Singh said the administration had identified Mangalore as sensitive and all necessary security measures had been adopted. Meanwhile, the Chief Minister today anticipated a breakthrough in the Indian Institute of Science
(IISc) attack case with some arrests expected within a couple of days. “In a day or two, arrests will be made...there will be a positive result,” he told newspersons here. The police was interrogating a number of people on the terrorist attack, now confirmed to be a
Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operation. Police teams were in Hyderabad, pursuing various leads. Meanwhile, Prof Pankaj Gupta of New Delhi was discharged from the M S Ramaiah Hospital this morning. Another injured, Prof Soni Arora had returned to Lucknow after treatment, while Prof Vijay Chandru of the IISc and Lab Assistant Patellapa were still being treated.
— UNI |
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Two suspected terrorists held
Hyderabad, January 2 In the October incident, a suicide bomber, believed to be a Bangladeshi terrorist, entered the Task Force headquarters of the city police at
Begumpet, bang opposite the Chief Minister’s official residence, and exploded a powerful bomb, killing himself and a security guard, and injuring many other. Following further disclosures by the suspects Shakeel and Haji, the police recovered a bag containing three bombs at Jaheerabad in the neighbouring Medak district. One of the bombs was remotely connected to a cell phone, the police said. All three bombs were later defused. According to the investigating officers, the suspects had planned to target the DGP’s office, the Commissioner’s office and the Hitec City, the software hub of the city. The accused were remanded in judicial custody till January 16. |
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SC notice to Centre on population policy
New Delhi, January 2 Taking cognisance of a public interest litigation (PIL) stating that the NPP, formulated by the Centre in 2000, setting out short and long term objectives to contain growing population in different stages had even failed to take off, a Bench of Mr Justice K.G. Balakrishnan and Mr Justice P.P. Naolekar issued notices to the Union Government and all states, seeking their replies. The PIL, filed by an NGO, Azadi Bachao Andolan, stated that as per the NPP, a National Commission on Population was set up in May 2000 but the panel had held its first meeting only in last July after a gap of five years. Such an approach of the government towards an issue of such a national importance “has a serious impact on the immediate, medium and long term objectives set out in the NPP,” the PIL said. Seeking to create state and union territory commissions as well as co-ordination cells for implementing the NPP in letter and spirit, the PIL said if the policy was not implemented, the country’s population by 2010 would be 116 crore instead of estimated 110 crore. The overgrowth by 6 crore in the next decade, would be mainly due to the non-implementation of the NPP as per the guidelines laid down by the Union Government, the petitioner NGO said. The petitioner sought appropriate direction from the court to the Union and the state governments to formulate necessary measures to achieve aims and objectives set out in the NPP to bring down the population growth within manageable limit in the next three decades. |
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PM to open Indian Science Congress today
Hyderabad, January 2 Hosted by the Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University (ANGRAU) at Rajendra Nagar from January 3 to 7, the congress will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who is arriving here tonight. The Hyderabad edition will be a special occasion for the scientific community, as the first recipient of the recently instituted India Science Award, which carries a Rs 25 lakh cash prize, will be announced and presented by Dr Manmohan Singh, Vice-Chancellor of ANGRAU Dr S. Raghu Vardhan Reddy told reporters here today. The India Science Award will be an annual feature and will be awarded every year henceforth on the first day of the Indian Science Congress. As many as 6,000 delegates, six World Food Prize winners and Dr Jacques Diouf, Director-General, Food and Agriculture Organisation of United Nations, will take part in the deliberations, while about 1,000 papers are expected to be presented. Besides special lectures by eminent scientists such as C.N.R. Rao, R.A. Mashelkar, M.S. Swaminathan, P.N. Bhargava, Ulrich Kopke and David Hekkel, the congress will have nine plenary sessions, eight panels and 14 concurrent sectional sessions on various disciplines of science on all four days. The focal theme of the Congress “Integrated Rural Development: Science and Technology” will be inaugurated by President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam on January 5. The President will also launch “National Virtual Congress of Farmers” and interact with the farmers across the country. An interface between Nobel laureates, World Food Prize awardees and young scientists will be held under the chairmanship of Dr V.S. Rama Murthy, Secretary, Department of Science and Technology. A Children’s Science Congress is also being held at the venue, in which 700 schoolchildren from across the country will participate. |
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Turbulent times ahead for Nepal
New Delhi, January 2 The withdrawal of ceasefire by Nepal Maoists has grim implications for India as well because of the Maoists’ nexus with Indian Naxal groups, besides the fact that India and Nepal share a 1751-km-long border which is open. The Indian concern was reflected in the reaction of the official spokesperson, who in response to a question on the withdrawal of ceasefire, said: “This is an unfortunate decision. We have consistently called upon the Maoists to abandon the path of violence and terror, accept the discipline of multi-party democracy, and work for a political settlement that contributes to the political stability and economic prosperity of Nepal.” Nepal watchers here believe that the Himalayan kingdom was going to witness yet another bloody phase of violence and it was a matter of time when India and western countries revised their travel advisories and warned their citizens against travelling to Kathmandu. The seven-party alliance of political parties has also prepared an elaborate programme to hold mass rallies and street demonstrations to demand speedy return to democracy after the royal take over of governance on February 1 last. Their first joint mass meeting is scheduled to be held in Janakpur on January 12, followed by another such meeting in Kathmandu on January 20. On January 26, the alliance’s district-level movement coordination committee will launch active protest programmes in the districts to boycott municipal polls scheduled for February 8. The Nepali Congress is yet to announce its programme in detail. Peaceful protests and agitations by political parties have been gathering momentum in Nepal since Divali. The CPN-UML alliance has already held well-attended public meetings in Butwal, Doti, Chitwan, Nepalganj, Baglung, Parsa (Birganj) and Kanchapur. These are over and above public meetings held by CPN-UML last month in places like Pokhra (attended by 8,000 people), Janakpur and Kathmandu (20,000 people each) and by Nepali Congress in Bharatpur (15,000 people) and Biratnagar (25,000 people). The first joint agitation of the seven-party alliance was also organised in Kathmandu on December 15 with participation of about twelve to fifteen thousand people. |
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8 killed in police-tribesmen clash
Kalinga Nagar (Orissa), January 2 Unconfirmed reports, however, put the death toll at 12 amidst reports that villagers had been squatting on the Daitari-Paradip Expressway with four bodies which they had taken away after the incident. This, however, could not be confirmed officially. About 1,000 persons, mostly tribesmen, belonging to Chandia, Champakoila and Gobarghati villages near the upcoming industrial hub attacked the police protesting the earth work started by Tata Steel. The situation aggravated when the crowd attacked a police havildar, identified as G.P. Mohanty, hacking him to death. Director-General of Police Suchit Das said the police then opened fire in which five persons were killed on the spot. One of the injured died on his way to hospital at Cuttack while another person succumbed to injuries in the hospital late this evening. Curfew was imposed in the Kalinga Nagar area following the violence. — PTI
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Six killed in police-tribal clash in Orissa
Bhubaneswar, January 2 A crowd of about 1,000 persons, mostly tribals, had gathered at the site of a proposed steel project objecting to the construction of the company’s boundary wall when the incident occurred. As the crowd turned violent and attacked the police with stones and arrows, the latter resorted to lathi charge, fired tear gas shells and then fired in the air. When it failed to deter the mob, the police opened fire killing five persons on the spot. The tribals attacked a havildar with an axe killing him instantaneously, the police said.
— PTI |
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Shahabuddin
charged with sedition
Siwan, January 2
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Srinivasan new Petroleum Secy
New Delhi, January 2 |
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