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Centre sounds Gujarat on Shabri Kumbh Mela
SC stays HC order
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NCP, Shiv Sena mull pact
Kashmiri Samaj to set up reconstruction fund
Pranab defends Centre’s stand on Iran
SP on verge of
collapse: Khurshid
Ordnance factories bag order for 30,000 carbines
BJP: anti-party activities not to be tolerated
Bihar cops expecting wonders from cellphone
Shabana campaigns against female foeticide
1 Anne Marg set for makeover
Minister accused of
sati glorification
CRPF to fight alcoholism
Water-testing kits for panchayats
India among 4 polio-endemic countries
Bypass surgery for Rs 10!
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Centre sounds Gujarat on Shabri Kumbh Mela
New Delhi, February 5 The three-day mela, beginning on February 11, is being organised by the Vanvasi Kalyan Parishad, affiliated to the RSS, at Shabri Dham near Jarsol village. RSS Chief K.S. Sudarshan and other top leaders of the Sangh and other Hindu religious leaders like Murari Bapu and Bapu Aasaram are scheduled to address the gathering during the mela. In a letter to the Gujarat Chief Secretary, Union Home Secretary V.K. Duggal asked the state government to make extensive police arrangements on the route leading to the mela site from bordering states/districts so as to check any untoward incident. Mr Duggal also asked the state government to ensure that adequate security arrangements were made in the villages where people of minority community lived or where their religious and educational institutions were located. On his part, he assured that every effort would be made to provide additional Central para-military forces, if required by the state. The Home Secretary’s letter comes a day after the Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil reviewed the situation, ahead of the proposed mela, with top officials here. The Home Secretary has made it clear that the permission for holding the Mela should be given by the District Magistrate with conditions that participants in the Mela should not indulge in provocative speeches, sloganeering or carry provocative placards and posters. With Intelligence agencies anticipating a participation of about 1.5 lakh people in the mela, Special Secretary (Internal Security) in the Ministry of Home Affairs A.K. Mitra had written separately to the Gujarat Director General of Police suggesting various security measures that should be taken in the run up to the mela, sources said. Mr Mitra, who had recently visited Ahmedabad and Dangs district, held detailed discussions with state government officials on the issue. It was agreed during Mitra’s visit that about 400 Rapid Action Force (RAF) personnel, presently available at Ahmedabad, would be deployed at the mela to provide a sense of security to the minority community. Dangs district had been witness to communal violence in 1998 when groups of people, belonging to the majority and minority communities, clashed with each other over conversion. Since then, there had been simmering tension in the district, which has about 10 per cent minority population. |
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SC stays HC order
New Delhi, February 5 A Bench of Chief Justice Y.K. Sabharwal, Mr Justice C.K. Thakker and Mr Justice R.V. Raveendran stayed the high court order after a fresh evaluation done by a law professor of Delhi University reduced the marks of Mukesh Thakur, far below to that he had secured originally in the HPPSC exams, which he had challenged in the high court on the ground that his civil law paper was not properly evaluated. Thakur’s marks had been reduced to 82 out of 200 now, while he has secured 89 marks in the HPPSC’s exams when it had declared the result. He had failed by one mark and moved the high court. The law professor of the HP University had awarded him 119 marks on re-evaluation ordered by the high court. Aggrieved by the high court order, the HPPSC moved a special leave petition (SLP) in the apex court raising an important question of law whether courts could “interfere” in the examination process of public service commissions and would it not set a bad precedent and affect the credibility of these constitutional bodies. Agreeing with the contention of HPPSC counsel Gopal Subramaniam and Anil Nag, the apex court admitted the SLP, saying that the issue needed to be examined. The Delhi University law professor, who had fresh evaluation of Thakur’s paper, had submitted his report in a “sealed cover” to the court on Monday, which was opened during the hearing. The court said, so far as the candidate in question was concerned, “nothing can be done” after the fresh evaluation as his marks were further reduced to 82 from 89. After the HP University professor had increased the marks of Thakur to 119, the high court had directed the HPPSC to have his interview and give him appointment as Judicial Officer if he got through it. |
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NCP, Shiv Sena mull pact
Mumbai, February 5 Spin doctors of the Shiv Sena and the NCP let it be known that Thackeray lieutenant Manohar Joshi and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister R. R. Patil had an hour-long meeting on Friday to discuss the modalities of an alliance. The meeting came days after the Shiv Sena's Member of the Rajya Sabha Pritish Nandy hit out at the Bharatiya Janata Party for betraying Bal Thackeray. In an article appearing in a local newspaper here, Nandy hit out at the Congress and the BJP for using Rane to demolish the NCP and the Shiv Sena, respectively. Nandy alleged that BJP leaders Gopinath Munde and Nitin Gadkari were secretly supporting defectors to the Congress backed by Rane in order to reduce the Shiv Sena's tally in the Maharashtra legislature. At present the BJP with 54 MLAs is just three legislators behind the Shiv Sena. With another five MLAs from the Sena poised to cross over to the Congress party, its just a matter of time before the BJP emerges as the main opposition party in the state. On the other hand, Rane has helped the Congress party take on the NCP challenge. All the Shiv Sena MLAs loyal to Rane who quit the Assembly to contest as Congress party candidates have won thereby giving the latter 72 MLAs in the house. The NCP, which was till recently the single largest party in the house, has 71 MLAs. By-polls in two seats scheduled for later this month are also likely to go in favour of the Congress party. Observers say the Shiv Sena and the NCP are now worried at the prospects of Rane replacing Vilasrao Deshmukh as Chief Minister of Maharashtra. Deshmukh who was brought in to checkmate Pawar went onto build a working relationship with him. His opponents, including Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee Chief Prabha Rau, are backing Rane as the leader who could take on Pawar in his own turf. Rane has had two meetings with Mrs Gandhi this week thereby giving rise to speculation that a leadership change in the state is imminent. Rane's supporters here say that their leader in a bid for the top job has promised Mrs Gandhi that he could checkmate Pawar in Maharashtra. Should Rane take over as Chief Minister, the Shiv Sena could lose more of its leaders to the Congress. On the other hand, the NCP is worried about Rane cutting into the Maratha vote, its core constituency. So far, only Sharad Pawar was seen as a powerful Maratha leader. However, the emergence of Rane at the head of a resurgent Congress is causing sections of the community to move away from Pawar, according to observers. Though they trade barbs at each other in public, Pawar and Thackeray enjoy a close personal relationship that go back decades. Supporters of an alliance between the two insist that the NCP with just seven MPs remains a bit player in the UPA government at the Centre. On the other hand, letting Rane grow in stature could severely damage its prospects in the near term. |
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Kashmiri Samaj to set up reconstruction fund
New Delhi, February 5 The AIKS today held a conclave of corporate leaders from the community where participants decided to set up a task force to deal with unemployment and take steps to move the migrant community towards greater economic self-reliance. Corporate leaders said when the community returns to the state, it should not go as only employees but employers. They said efforts by the Pandits to boost industrial development of Jammu and Kashmir would become a good confidence-building measure for the return of the community to the state at an appropriate time. Addressing the conclave, former Karnataka minister R.V. Deshpande laid stress on providing training opportunities to the youth from the community for jobs in the corporate world. Mr Deshpande, who is chairman of RUDICITI, an institute imparting technical education to the rural youth, announced reservation of seats for Kashmiri Pandit students in various vocational streams at the institute. Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah cautioned against designs of those elements who continue to disrupt peace and progress in the state. He said assured power supply was one of the biggest bottlenecks in the industrial growth in the state and the Centre had not done enough to improve power situation. President of the samaj M.K. Kaw urged corporate heads to come forward with their ideas and schemes for self-reliance of the community. The samaj announced an annual award for the best entrepreneur from the community. |
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Pranab defends Centre’s stand on Iran
Kolkata, January 5 Talking to mediapersons here, Mr Mukherjee said he did not feel there was any reason for India to oppose the resolution of the non-aligned countries on Iran’s nuclear issue. And there could also be no justification for it to openly support Iran or oppose the resolution only to please the Left, he said. The Defence Minister claimed that there was nothing objectionable in the resolution either by way of sanctioning or imposing economic blockades by the non-aligned countries against Iran. And now when even Russia and China which opposed the last September resolution, had finally endorsed the present resolution against Iran, how could India take a different stand? he asked. Mr Mukherjee, who is also the WBPCC president, was busy throughout the day in the city holding meetings with party leaders and finalising the poll strategy against the CPM and other Left parties for the coming Assembly elections. He said the party would not be soft by any means towards the Left simply because it was supporting the UPA at the Centre. He reiterated that their main enemy was the CPM and hence, they would leave no stone unturned to defeat it. He said he had once again requested Ms Mamata Banerjee to leave the BJP and jointly fight with them against the CPM and they would be ready to accept her as their Chief Minister. However, she wanted some time think about it. PTI adds: Notwithstanding their criticism of the UPA for voting in the IAEA and its move to “privatise” airports, the Left parties would not launch any immediate agitation against the Manmohan Singh government, chairman of West Bengal’s ruling Left Front Biman Bose said on Sunday. “As of now, there are no plans for any agitation. But we will raise our voice both within and outside Parliament about how the UPA was deviating from the common minimum programme,” Mr Bose told mediapersons here. |
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SP on verge of
collapse: Khurshid
Lucknow, February 5 Speaking to mediapersons, Khurshid said if a senior party leader and MP felt suffocated enough to break his silence and declare in public his anguish regarding the course that the party was taking, the fate of an ordinary worker could well be imagined. “Where is the need for the Congress to point out the inadequacies of the Samajwadi Party when their own people are doing the job rather ably,” quipped Khurshid. Speaking to The Tribune actor-turned politician Raj Babbar said till now the party has not questioned him regarding his statement in which he criticised the party from straying from the true socialist path. “We will cross the bridge when we come to it,” he said in response to what he will do when confronted by the party bosses to explain his public outcry. He, however, ruled out quitting the party. Speaking at a public function at Agra, Babbar had clearly hinted at SP General Secretary Amar Singh and his high profile friends when he had mentioned a ‘caucus’ within the party that was trying to destroy the essence of the SP’s socialist message. |
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Ordnance factories bag order for 30,000 carbines
New Delhi, February 5 Ordnance factory officials from the unit at Tiruchchirappalli, while at the recently concluded Defexpo 2006, said besides the 5.56-mm indigenously developed carbine the OFB had also developed a wide array of small arms, including a “bunker buster” rifle that will soon be tested by the Army. The officials said the 5.56-mm indigenously developed carbine had been approved by the Home Ministry following extensive tests. The order for the 30,000 carbines would be executed by the ordnance factories at Tiruchchirappalli and Kanpur and the Rifle Factory Ishapore. The carbines would be used by paramilitary forces like the Border Security Force (BSF) and Seema Sashastra Bal (SSB). The carbine is based on the basic design of the INSAS group of small arms developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). While the Army has accepted the INSAS assault rifle, it had sought certain changes in the design of the carbine. The officials said the factory at Tiruchchirappalli had also developed a multi-calibre anti-material rifle named Vidhwansak, a multi-barrel grenade launcher and a multi-barrel shell launcher that were awaiting trials by the Army and paramilitary forces. The development of the anti-material or “bunker buster” rifle by the state-run factory comes at a time when the Indian Government has scrapped all defence deals with South Africa’s Denel, which had previously supplied similar weapons to the Indian Army. Denel was black-listed by the government following allegations that it had paid kickbacks to secure a deal for anti-material rifles, which are primarily deployed in frontier areas to knock out bunkers, security towers and radars of enemy forces. The development of Vidhwansak was completed in November 2005 and the rifle had been offered to the Army, BSF and National Security Guards.
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BJP: anti-party activities not to be tolerated
New Delhi, February 5 "Any kind of indiscipline and anti-party activities on the part of cadre will not be tolerated," BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar told mediapersons here.
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Bihar cops expecting wonders from cellphone
Patna, February 5 With more than 70 abduction-related cases reported in a little more than two months putting the policemen on the backfoot under the new dispensation, there seems to be finally a good news for them. It is the new camera cellphone reportedly devised by Nokia that can help nab kidnappers by sending emergency
alerts, complete with pictures, sound and GPS location even if it is off. Sources disclosed that the top brass of the Bihar police were now
enquiring about the features of the newly devised cellphone. Referring to the initial reports, sources said, “Known as online edition of new
scientist, a recessed panic button in the new phone triggers a pre-recorded emergency message when
pressed. The phone camera then takes and sends a series of time-stamped snapshots or video clips to a service centre or trusted friend along with any sound picked up by the microphone. If the cellphone has a GPS receiver then it also stamps the message along with the location”. Sources further claimed that if reception is lost, in case the abductor drove into an underground car park, the phone stored images and audio in memory and automatically
transmitted the same as soon as signal is regained. It was learnt that although the patent applied by the company recently tactfully did not mention all features in it, the phone sounded like an excellent covert
surveillance tool. Apart from the new mobile phone, the policemen here are also in receipt of the
information of a new computer chip devised by a Kolkata-based organisation which could be inserted into the body of school-children to monitor their movements on screen from house or any location. A senior official said,” The chip was already experimented in a Kolkata school and the report was good “. However, the cost of inserting the chip would reportedly vary between Rs 2 lakh to Rs 7.5 lakh, with an yearly maintenance cost of Rs 30,000 to update the data bank. With a hi-tech Chief Minister in the form of Mr Nitish Kumar, who now plans to set-up the first software park in the state, the policemen too now look forward to hi-tech computer devices and new generation mobiles to combat the growing
menace of abductions which are already proving to be a nightmare for them.
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Shabana campaigns against female foeticide
Mumbai, February 5 “Statistics have belied the notion that education leads to awareness. We see that in supposedly affluent areas such as South Delhi and South Mumbai, the female-sex ratio has dropped significantly. In an upmarket area like Colaba in South Mumbai, the ratio of girls to every 1,000 boys born has dropped from 913 to 830,” she told reporters at a press conference yesterday. Azmi was speaking at the launch of the “Beti” awareness campaign against female foeticide, supported by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). Stressing the need for strict implementation of laws, she said if the licence of doctors who indulged in sex determination were revoked, it would prove a serious deterrent, thus preventing such instances. Speaking on the occasion, former Miss World Diana Hayden said it was necessary to educate people on the harms of a skewed sex-ratio, and said the onus was on the women to take a stand against female foeticide. “Beti” has been launched by president of the Indian Television Academy Anu Ranjan and is supported by the
UNFP. — PTI
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1 Anne Marg set for makeover
Patna, February 5 The official bungalow of the Chief Minister will undergo a sea change within a week's time as decks are now clear for Nitish Kumar to shift to 1 Anne Marg after Lalu Prasad finally vacated the bungalow on Friday, more than two months after the NDA took charge in Bihar. A
visibly relaxed Nitish Kumar remarked, "I am relieved now. No longer I will get trapped in traffic jam." Even Lalu Prasad admitted before moving out of 1 Anne Marg that Nitish Kumar never pressurised him to vacate the building. In a far cry from the pets of the Lalu-Rabri duo, Nitish said he would set up a state-of-the-art computer centre at his official residence as he received information about developments very late while functioning from the state guest house which did not have computers. A senior official of the building department said, " 1 Anne Marg residence will be converted into a hi-tech bungalow equipped with gadgets which will enable the Chief Minister to access vital data on development projects and keep in touch with field officers through tele-conferencing." It will take a week's time to renovate the bungalow. |
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Minister accused of
sati glorification
Jaipur, February 5 The
court took cognizance of a petition filed by Ms Kavita Srivastava on
behalf of the People’s Union of Civil Liberties (PUCL) for the
violation of the provisions of the Sati Prevention Act. It was alleged
in the petition that the book titled ‘Rajasthan ke Lok Devi-Devta’
written by folk-lorist, Mr Mahendra Bhanawat and published by the State
Devasthan Department glorified the committing of sati through a number
of stories incorporated in the anthology. |
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CRPF to fight alcoholism
New Delhi, February 5 The CRPF has tied up with an NGO, the Society for Promotion of Youth and Masses (SPYM) and the United Nations Office (UNODC) on Drug and Crime to launch a long-term alcoholism and drug de-addiction programme. As a first step, it has decided to send 10 of its chronic patients in Delhi for a five-week de-addiction programme run by the SPYM from Monday next. The CRPF has also decided that alcoholism and drug abuse policy of the UN will be studied to formulate a holistic drug and substance abuse policy for the force. The proposed force level policy will include all issues pertaining to leave, medication, structure of intervention for recognition of problem among jawans, role of family members, role of the CRPF Wife Welfare Association etc, a CRPF spokesperson told The Tribune here today. A questionnaire prepared by the UNODC will also be circulated amongst all the force personnel through the administration branch of the CRPF, to be answered anonymously, to unearth the extent of the problem of alcoholism prevalent in the force. As per the current figures, the CRPF has identified 496 chronic cases of alcoholism across different sectors. |
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Water-testing kits for panchayats
New Delhi, February 5 The Rural Development Ministry proposes to release Rs 58.74 crore in the next two months to the states for procuring 50,000 field -testing kits and providing grassroots training on the use of these kits. Ministry officials said five persons from each panchayat will be given training in the use of field- testing kit. The testing facility in the panchayats will be backed by more sophisticated water quality laboratories in the districts and at the state level. According to water quality survey 2000, nearly 2.16 lakh rural habitations in the country were affected with different quality problems. Of these 31,306 habitations were affected with excess flouride, 23,495 habitations by excess salinity, 5,029 by excess arsenic, 1.18 lakh habitations by excess iron, 13,958 by excess nitrate and 25,092 habitations by multiple problems. The Rajiv Gandhi National Drinking Water Mission has sanctioned 459 district- level water quality testing laboratories of which 284 laboratories have already been built. In addition, 148 district- level laboratories have been established by the state governments. The Ministry has decided to set up water quality testing laboratories in all districts of the country. Ministry officials said the programme to give field -testing kits is aimed at creating awareness in the rural areas about water quality and problems resulting from contamination. The Ministry has set a target to tackle water quality problems in the country by 2008-2009. The Bharat Nirman targets have also to be achieved the same year. |
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India among 4 polio-endemic countries
New Delhi, February 5 The UN report says this is the first time in three years that the number of polio-endemic countries have fallen, leaving Nigeria, India, Pakistan and Afghanistan as the only remaining countries yet to stop indigenous polio transmission. The report also adds that despite the fact that polio is still endemic in India and Pakistan, the number of cases in both countries in the last quarter of 2005 have fallen by more than half compared to the previous year due to effective immunisation strategies and the use of monovalent vaccines. |
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Bypass surgery for Rs 10!
Jaipur, February 5 Conceived on the Tamil Nadu pattern, the proposed programme will enable a person living in the rural area to be free from the anxiety of his treatment once he decides to pay a premium of Rs. 10 per month or Rs. 120 per annum. After the payment of the premium, the incumbent will be issued a medical card which will entitle him to get free treatment for any disease ranging from common cold to cancer or from viral fever to cardiovascular disorders warranting even bypass surgery. |
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