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Karnataka fined for obstructing highway project
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Sonia Gandhi faces 20 Independents Khurana quits BJP
Fill vacancies in varsities, Centre tells states
Sexual exploitation case: DGP recommends action against IPS officer
Manmohan’s Germany visit from tomorrow
Navika of TOI gets Prem Bhatia award
Exemption for M.Phil, Ph.D holders mooted
Malhotra’s 2nd biography on Indira released
PM’s Germany visit from tomorrow
IIMs fix 50 pc in bachelor’s exam as eligibility
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Karnataka fined for obstructing highway project
New Delhi, April 20 Disposing of a bunch of petitions by various stakeholders in the mega project, conceived in 1997 by the then Congress government, headed by Mr S.M. Krishna, the apex court directed that the state of Karnataka would pay Rs 5 lakh to the construction company Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise (NICE) within four weeks. The Congress-JD(S) coalition government, under “pressure” from former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda, had filed an appeal in the Supreme Court against the state high court order, refusing to stop the project. A Bench of Ms Justice Ruma Pal, Mr Justice B.N. Srikrishna and Mr Justice Dalveer Bhandari rejecting the state government’s appeal, said it found “no merit to interfere in the high court order of May last year. The court was of the view that the appeals by Karnataka Government and two MLAs, were filed on “frivolous” grounds and with “mala fide” intention. “There is no merit in the appeals… they had come up with frivolous arguments against the project,” the court observed. JD(S) MLA J.C. Madhuswamy and CPI MLA Rama Reddy, who had filed the petitions in the high court for stopping the project and return of the land acquired from the farmers already been compensated, were fined Rs 50,000 as cost of litigation for filing “frivolous” petitions. This amount would go to the Supreme Court legal aid. After the coalition came to power, the state government, under alleged “pressure” from Mr Gowda, had changed its stand on the acquisition of land and stated that NICE had acquired more than required land. The project envisaged construction of fast-track express highway between Bangalore and Mysore and developing of six townships alongside on periphery of the state capital to ease pressure on the IT city. |
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Sonia for Left’s ouster
Kolkata, April 20 She appealed to the people to dislodge the party and give an opportunity to the Congress to run the government in the state. She elaborated with statistics how the Left government had mishandled the labour situation which led to the closure of over 60,000 industries during the past few years. She alleged that crores of rupees which the centre had sanctioned to the state for development had been misused by the government. Meanwhile, the CPI(M) general secretary, Mr Prakash Karat, today addressed six meetings where he urged the people to re-elect the CPI(M)-led government for another term so that the present pace of development could continue. He said they still considered Congress to be a party of petty bourgeois and capitalists and the CPI(M) differed with regard to the Congress' economic and social reform programme. However, it had the support of the CPI(M) at the Centre since they did not want a BJP and the RSS government. In Bengal, Kerala, Tripura and other states, the CPI(M) would continue to oppose the Congress. Mr Sitaram Yechuri and Mrs Brinda Karat, both Rajya Sabha MPs from Bengal, are campaigning in favour of party candidates. Jaya Bachchan addressed three election meetings in Howrah today in favour of the Samajwadi party candidates. The SP general secretary, Mr Amar Singh, also addressed the rallies. |
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Khurana quits BJP
New Delhi, April 20 The 70-year-old leader, who was associated with the party for over five decades since the day of the Jan Sangh, told a news conference here that he was upset with senior party leader L.K. Advani, the architect of the Ayodhya movement, for not building a Ram temple in Ayodhya while being in power for six years. Also, he claimed, he had some “shocking” information about the 1999 hijack of an Indian Airlines aircraft to Kandahar, but did not disclose what it was.
— PTI
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Sonia Gandhi faces 20 Independents
Rae Bareli, April 20 |
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Sonia, Manmohan differ on Left
New Delhi, April 20 In his election speeches in Kerala over the last two days, the Prime Minister has highlighted the achievements of the Congress-led UDF while seeking a second term for the Oomen Chandy Government but has refrained From attacking the Left front, its chief political opponent. In fact, Dr. Singh even went as far as to describe the Congress’s rival as a “valued ally”. In sharp contrast, the Congress president today lambasted the Left Front government in West Bengal during her whirlwind tour of the poll-bound state. While seeking an end of its 29-year-old misrule,, Ms Sonia Gandhi went into attack mode as she chronicled the government’s failures. At the same time, Ms Gandhi was hard put to explain the relationship between the Left parties and the Congress at the Centre. Striking a defensive note, she contended that the Congress-led UPA Government had accepted outside support of the Left parties to serve the nation and not to grab power. For the rest, both the PM and Ms Gandhi dwelt at length on the UPA government’s development agenda The contrasting speeches made by these two leaders has only served to underline the dilemma faced by the Congress, which is fighting the Marxists in the two states of Kerala and West Bengal while the two are allies at the Centre. In fact, the Congress-led UPA is critically dependent on the outside support of the Left parties. Consequently, the Congress is unable to launch an all-out campaign against the Left parties. At the same time, it cannot appear to be soft on them for fear of sending a wrong signal to its cadres, who are battling the Left in their respective states. Since the Congress is in power in Kerala, it is
comparatively easier for the Congress to campaign here as it can always fall back on highlighting its government’s achievements.
However, in West Bengal, it has little choice but to attack the incumbent government, especially since it has been in the saddle for close to three decades. |
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Fill vacancies in varsities, Centre tells states
New Delhi, April 20 In a letter issued to Chief Secretaries of states and Administrators of Union Territories, Education Secretary Sudeep Banerjee has suggested the filling of vacancies “preferably before the next academic session beginning in July-August this year”. The Centre’s directive follows the revelation that universities and colleges, in the absence of regular staff, are relying on ad hoc appointments, which in turn is adversely affecting the quality of research and teaching. Expressing concern over the absence of regular teachers, the ministry has noted that “good universities and colleges are irreversibly sliding back into mediocrity and worse”. Cautioning against the problem of absence of regular teachers, the letter further says: “One extreme way of tackling this problem would be to stop further assistance to these universities and colleges which do not have regular teachers as per the norms. And even more drastic step would be that of derecognising such institutions. This is an avoidable situation both because it would unnecessarily inconvenience the students and cause dislocation of their studies.” Offering suggestions to counter the problem of vacant posts, the letter has put forth the proposal of “re-employing superannuated teachers up to the age of 65 years”. Alternatively, an independent scheme could be developed to use the services of retired teachers, the letter added. The ministry intends to convene a meeting of Secretaries of state governments, in-charge of higher education, to review the progress regarding this in the next few weeks. Meanwhile, the
University Grants Commission (UGC), which had in December indicated that universities and colleges that failed to fill 70-80 per cent of their total faculty positions may lose out on grants and support offered by the commission and the accreditation from the National Assessment and Accreditation Council, has supported the move of framing a separate scheme for re-employment of superannuated teachers to meet the
crisis. “There could be a separate scheme for the re-employment of retired teachers who could be allowed to teach for as long as they want in return for some honorarium, while the younger ones can fill their regular posts,” said UGC Chairman Sukhdeo Thorat. |
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Sexual exploitation case: DGP recommends action against IPS officer
Patna, April 20 Talking to the media here today Mr Sinha said that even though he recommended departmental proceedings against Mr Das for breaking his promise to marry Shabnam Sinha after having sexual relationship with her for past few years, he ruled out the question of constituting a rape case against him. “The question of framing charges of rape against Mr Das did not arise as the sexual intimacy between them was based on mutual consent. Both of them were adults,” Mr Sinha said. Vaishali SP Preeta Verma, who was initially entrusted to inquire into the issue, had also submitted her report to IG (HQ), Anil Sinha after interrogating Shabnam Sinha who had charged Mr Das with sexually exploiting her for past eight years and then turning down her plea for marriage. The 1994 batch IPS officer of Bihar cadre, Amitabh Das, was presently posted as commandant of Bihar Military Police battalion at Jamui. Shabnam Sinha had written two letters to Mr Nitish Kumar in January and March this year following which he ordered an inquiry by SP Preeta verma into the allegations. Meanwhile, Das has denied the allegation and said the woman was being used as “a pawn by the Ranvir Sena”. He also filed a petition in Patna High Court yesterday seeking security as he apprehended threat to his life from Ranvir Sena. |
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Manmohan’s Germany visit from tomorrow
New Delhi, April 20 While the Prime Minister would try to convince the German leadership that the Indo-US accord was aimed at meeting India’s crucial energy needs and would not promote proliferation, he would also discuss ways with the two leaders to move towards the country’s energy security in a meaningful way. Germany, a member of the 45-strong NSG, has not opposed the accord on cooperation in the civilian nuclear energy field, but has expressed reservations about it. Berlin says the deal could make it difficult to pressure Iran to stop its nuclear programme. Briefing newspersons today, Secretary (West) in the Ministry of External Affairs Shashi Tripathi said India and Germany would sign three MoUs. These would be on railways, medical research and the Bureau of Indian Standards and its German counterpart. The reason for Dr Singh’s visit to Germany is that India is the partner country at the Hannover Trade Fair this year which will be inaugurated on Sunday by the Prime Minister and the German Chancellor. From Germany, the Prime Minister will leave for Uzbekistan on April 25. |
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Navika of TOI gets Prem Bhatia award
New Delhi, April 20 The award for the best environment journalism has gone to Atul Chandrakant Deulgaokar, a freelance journalist of Latur. Two other awards in the form of scholarships have been given to Uma Maheshwari of Hyderabad and Radheyshyam Jhadav of Pune. They will conduct research on the theme of “taming rivers, drowning hopes” and on “role of mass media in evolving a sustainable rural development paradigm”. All awards will be presented at a function at the India International Centre on May 8, that will be presided over by Mr K. Subramaniam, Chairman, Task Force on Global Strategy Development. On this occasion Mr K.S. Bajpai, Chairman, Delhi Policy Group, former Ambassador to Pakistan, China and USA will deliver the Prem Bhatia Memorial Lecture. |
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Exemption for M.Phil, Ph.D holders mooted
New Delhi, April 20 With the committee appointed to review the NET conducted by the University Grants Commission (UGC), still unable to reach a consensus on whether the exam needs to be dispensed with altogether, it has nonetheless offered suggestion to modify the same. Sources said the committee headed by a Planning Commission Member, Prof Bhalchandra Mungekar in its interim report to the Centre, has suggested that candidates who have an M. Phil or a Ph.D. degree should be given more weightage and considered for the teaching posts in colleges and universities. Refusing to comment on the suggestion put forth, Dr Mungekar said the committee, which has been constituted by the Human Resource Development Ministry, is yet to reach a consensus on whether the examination will be scrapped. “We have submitted the report and there will be more discussions on it,” Dr Mungekar said. Sources, however, pointed out that the committee had suggested that those candidates who have an M. Phil degree and are teaching at the undergraduate level and those who have a Ph.D. degree and are teaching at the postgraduate level should be exempted from taking the NET. The committee has also noted that the rest of the pre conditions including 55 per cent minimum marks at the postgraduate level are to remain the same. |
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Malhotra’s 2nd biography on Indira released
New Delhi, April 20 Malhotra’s biography on Indira Gandhi was released by the late Prime Minister’s first Press Adviser and former Editor of Indian Express, B.G Verghese, at India International Centre Annexe here this evening. The 194-page biography has been published by the National Book Trust that had so far not chosen Indira Gandhi despite publishing 30 national biographies of leaders. The biographer told TNS that the book records public assessment of the leader more than two decades after her demise. “Passage of times does bring down passions. The poison that the Emergency injected in the polity has taken a hell lot of a time to go.” Malhotra said two other factors that had changed public estimation of the late leader were her stature compared to other Prime Ministers who came after her and the kind of things that happened in the country without formal declaration of the Emergency. |
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PM’s Germany visit from tomorrow
New Delhi, April 20 While the Prime Minister would try to convince the German leadership that the Indo-US accord was aimed at meeting India’s crucial energy needs and would not promote proliferation, he would also discuss ways with the two leaders to move towards the country’s energy security in a meaningful way. Briefing newspersons today, Secretary (West) in the Ministry of External Affairs Shashi Tripathi said India and Germany would sign three MoUs. These would be on railways, medical research and the Bureau of Indian Standards and its German counterpart. From Germany, the Prime Minister will leave for Uzbekistan on April 25. |
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IIMs fix 50 pc in bachelor’s exam as eligibility
Bangalore, April 20 “It was a joint decision taken by the IIMs in view of the difficulty in handling the increasing number of applicants. We wanted to introduce the screening at the CAT level itself,” IIM Bangalore Director, Prof G. Prakash Apte, told PTI today.
— PTI |
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Guwahati, April 20
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