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Met Dept predicts normal winter
Coastguard to set up five major stations
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Raped by rioters and harassed by police
Abu Salem kicks off poll campaign
Dengue shows signs of abatement
SAD (A) mercy
petition to Kalam
Revoke Afzal’s death sentence: CPI (Maoist)
Narayanan has damaged
case against Pak: BJP
Army steps up intelligence in North-East
Left flays restructured anti-poverty plan
Submarine cable to link India, W. Europe
Modi not helping
riot-hit: NCM
Shivanand Tiwary deserts Lalu
Anger over HC curbs
on ‘chaath puja’
Mid-day meal scheme
Delhi to celebrate Id today
Four killed in clash
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Met Dept predicts normal winter
New Delhi, October 23 IMD Director-General B. Lal assured The Tribune today that “winters will be normal and spread over between the winter months of December and February as usual”. Speaking on the sidelines of a press conference called by Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal to introduce the forthcoming international workshops on agro-meteorological risk management in the Capital, he said the present sudden change in weather was due to a western disturbance over Northwest India Temperatures have dipped sharply in large parts of North India after rains and snowfall in Himachal, Jammu and Kashmir and Uttranchal. In fact, Bheeshan Kundi village, near Hardwar in Uttranchal, experienced particularly heavy hailstorm on Sunday, which locals claimed resembled snowfall. Dr Lal, however, dismissed these claims as mere claims, stressing that “ there were always certain criteria for snowfall.” He said sudden change in weather was due to a western disturbance over Northwest India. Moreover, low temperatures during this time of the year were not unusual and such events have occurred in the past as well. While this may continue for a couple of more days, Dr Lal added “the temperatures were expected to rise thereafter”. Meanwhile, the IMD is planning to extend its agro-meteorological advisories, dedicated specifically to the needs of the farming community in the country, to every nook and corner of the 600 districts in the country by 2008. For this, it is planning certain organisational and structural changes and integration between related department so that dissemination of agro-met advisories to real-end users-farmers - can be achieved 100 per cent. The IMD will also set up a call centre where farmers can directly call and inquire about weather conditions in their specific areas. At present, advisories to farmers and state agricultural officials are being provided for about 125 centres across the country. Uncertainty over weather and climate is one of the major factors for risk in agriculture. It is not just the occurrence of extreme climactic events such as drought, floods, cyclonic storms, heat waves and strong winds, anomalous climatic conditions persisting over long periods can also lead to loss in productivity. The forthcoming 14th session of the Commission for Agricultural Meteorology in the Capital will be preceded by an international workshop on “Coping with Agrometeorological Risks and Uncertainties- Challenges and Opportunities” during which recommendations will be drafted for more and sustained agricultural production. This includes identification and assessment of components of farmers’ coping strategies with risks in different regions of the world and several other agro-meteorological -related issues. The Commission will later review ongoing activities and establish priorities and strategies. All crucial aspects of agricultural metrology will be discussed during the meeting in order to provide better Met facilities to farmers.
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Coastguard to set up five major stations
New Delhi, October 23 Coastguard Director-General Vice-Admiral R F Contractor said here today that the force, which guards the country’s coastline, also plans to set up three marine coastal security units off the Arabian coast with the help of the Union Home Ministry on a fast-track basis to check smuggling of arms and explosive material by terrorist groups operating from Pakistani soil. At the start of the Coast Guard Commanders’ Conference here Admiral Contractor also made a presentation to Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee. He said that the three new marine police stations were being planned to be set up at Vereval, Dahanu and Murud Janjira in Guajart. “These stations would be set up on fast track in coordination with the Home Ministry in view of the prevailing security situation”, Admiral Contractor said. Defence Secretary Shekar Dutt and senior Defence and Home Ministry officials also attended the commanders’ conference. It discussed in detail new steps to guard against terrorists using the country’s long western coastline to smuggle arms and explosives. The Director-General said three major Coast Guard stations had come up at Jakhau, Pondicherry and Beypore and fourth at Kakinada would be commissioned next month.
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Raped by rioters and harassed by police
Mau, October 23 The rape survivor is incidentally describing the behaviour of two women police personnel posted at the family’s rented one room shelter in the congested Raghunathpura locality. The two women police finally showed up for the first time on October 16, the day the case was handed over to the CBI. This came following the Allahabad High Court order of September 21 directing the SP Mau to “take steps for the protection of the two applicants and their family members until the proceedings terminate.” The family was so traumatised by the behavior of the women police that they considered contacting their lawyer requesting for the withdrawal of police protection. The teenaged daughter refusing to ignore the gang rape of her and her mother on the afternoon of October 15, 2006, decided to secretly write a letter narrating the entire incident to a member of the Markazi Relief Committee, a peoples’ peace initiative for supervising relief, rehabilitation, legal and medical assistance during and after the riots. Talking to The Tribune, she said most of the 15 men named in the FIR were familiar faces, as she had seen them around her house in Rahzania or while going to school in Munshipura. This is the same locality where the most influential BJP aspirant for the Chairman’s post, Triveni Prasad, lives. Her mother says, “We were poor but could still manage as my husband worked on the loom and I on the sewing machine. Now my family’s income has been halved to Rs 70 a day. My husband has still not recovered from his injuries suffered during the riots." While the daughter has managed to get her statement recorded, the police are still dodging around to record her mother’s statement. SP Ashutosh Kumar said over the phone that the mother was refusing to get her statement recorded because of community pressure. The husband Mohammad Muslim, a weaver, still cannot go back to work. Eight steel bolts had to be inserted inside him to join the bone fractured by the frenzied mob raining hockey sticks. All he received as compensation from the state government was Rs 18,000 for his house, loom and sewing machine that were looted and set ablaze by the rioters. However, the Markazi Relief Committee came to his assistance. They footed his medical bill of Rs 20,000. The committee also replaced his loom and his wife’s sewing machine. The wife is now single-handedly working to feed a family of seven, including five children, four of them school-going. After repeatedly refusing to lodge the daughter's complaint, the then SP Sujit Pandey finally accepted her FIR more than a month after the incident took place. While the case being shifted to the CBI has brought this family some hope of justice but with increasing chances of Triveni Prasad becoming the city’s next Chairman fills them with dread.
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Abu Salem kicks off poll campaign
Azamgarh (UP), October 23 The posters carried Urdu slogans, which said, "I have the heart of a lion and can change the course of a storm if you (people) extend me support." However, the posters did not mention the printers' or publishers' names, police sources here said today. The posters, which virtually announced his candidature, were pasted in the night, making it difficult to identify the people behind the act, district police chief Naveen Arora told PTI. The sub-divisional magistrate and circle officer of the town were investigating the matter, Arora said. Abu Salem, a former close aide of absconding don Dawood Ibrahim, was extradited from Portugal last November and has been booked in eight cases, including the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case. His counsel Ashok Sarogi had declared that Salem would contest the upcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections from Mubarakpur as an independent candidate. Salem's nephew Nafees told PTI that his uncle would receive good support from the area if he contests the elections. A native of Sari Mir area of the district, Salem migrated to Mumbai in the early 1990s.
— PTI
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Dengue shows signs of abatement
New Delhi, October 23 However, the change in weather is not the reason for the decline as temperatures from 16°C to 30°C are congenial for the mosquito which transmits dengue and chikungunya, officials said. The last week of September and first week of October is the right time when the intensity of the transmission is maximum, but with increase in vector control activities like fogging, there has been a decline in mosquito breeding, vector and larval density leading to a decline in dengue cases. However, many people may already have been infected with the dengue virus and which may be in the incubation period, which may vary from two to 15 days depending on the immune power and nutrition status of the person. A total of 7488 cases of dengue were reported in the country this year. As many as 173 new cases were reported during the past 24 hours from Punjab, 73 in Haryana, 71 in Rajasthan, 53 in Delhi and NCR and 12 from Chandigarh. During the past 24 hours, two people have died, one in Delhi and the other in Rajasthan, said officials of the National Vector-Borne Disease Control Programme. A total number of 2104 cases of dengue have been reported from Delhi, NCR and other neighbouring states. Of these, 1337 cases have been reported from Delhi while 767 from NCR and other states which include 234 from Haryana, 420 from Uttar Pradesh, 16 from Rajasthan and 97 from other states. In Delhi alone, more than 30 new cases of dengue have been reported during the past 24 hours.
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SAD (A) mercy
petition to Kalam
New Delhi, October 23 SAD (A) in a petition, by senior vice-president Daljit Singh, general secretary and spokesman Jagmohan Singh and general secretary Surinder Pal Singh, has opposed the capital punishment and urged the President to get all aspects of it examined by Parliament. “We are conscious of your humane nature and your strong advice given last year to the government to examine all aspects of capital punishment in Parliament, which unfortunately the government has not done,” said the petition, furnishing status of the entire 16 convicts, lodged in Amritsar, Ferozepore and Patiala jails. Piara Singh, Sarbjit Singh (convicted in 1996), Gurdev Singh, Satnam Singh (2001), Gurdev Singh and Judge Singh (2005) are lodged in Amritsar jail, while Baldev Singh, Major Singh (2004), Gurcharan Singh, Vikram Singh, Amrit Singh (2005) and Harbans Kaur (2006) are in Ferozepore jail. Swaran Singh (2000), Kulwinder Singh, Des Raj and Ujjagar Singh (all convicted in 2005) are lodged in Patiala jail.
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Revoke Afzal’s death sentence: CPI (Maoist)
New Delhi, October 23 “The execution of Afzal would further complicate the Kashmir problem, besides casting aspersions on the secular character of the Indian State,” alleged party spokesperson Azad, in a statement here. “As Kashmir bleeds in agony, the State (India) has decided to add salt to the festering wound by conspiring to send Afzal to the gallows,” he added. “We ask the government not only to repeal the death sentence to Afzal but also to withdraw all security forces who are creating insecurity in Kashmir and also punish all officials responsible for committing atrocities on the people of Kashmir,” the statement said.
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Narayanan has damaged
case against Pak: BJP
New Delhi, October 23 Party spokesman Ravi Shankar Prasad said that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh should restrain the National Security Adviser from issuing embarrassing statements about the security forces and the police by proclaiming that India had ‘good’ but not clinching evidence about the ISI’s involvement in the 11/7 Mumbai blasts. Mr Prasad said that by publicly proclaiming that India did not have ‘clinching evidence’ of the ISI’s involvement, the NSA had allowed elbowroom to Pakistan to deny a role in fomenting trouble in India. How fair was it for Mr Narayanan to publicly berate the efforts of the Mumbai Police, which had done a good job in cracking the case. “Now Pakistan can insist on a joint investigation through the joint anti-terrorism mechanism, floated by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf at Havana which itself was embarrassing because it said Pakistan, a perpetrator of terror was a ‘victim’ of terror,” Mr Prasad said. The spokesman said it is high time that the PM should ask NSA not to make national security a ‘comic affair’ with his flip-flop statements, particularly relating to Pakistan and its role in cross border terrorism. Mr Prasad also recalled that Mr Narayanan had created ‘confusion’ last time when he had made claims about Indian atomic energy installations being under threat of terrorist attack. He had also claimed that Lashkar-e-Toiba and Al Qaeda elements had infiltrated into Indian Army. “How far was it fair for Mr Narayanan to create doubts about the credentials of the armed forces and create panic? “ the BJP Spokesman asked.
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Army steps up intelligence in North-East
Kolkata, October 23 He admitted that the ISI activities in West Bengal and some other states in the North-East, particularly in the Indo-Bangladesh and Indo-Nepal areas, had of late increased at an alarming rate, becoming a cause for concern not only for the respective state governments but also the Army. Accordingly, a special drive had been launched to double-check the credentials and other particulars of Army personnel holding some sensitive posts in the military services. Mr Das said they were already in touch with the BSF and the district police in all border districts of West Bengal, Assam, Tripura, Sikkim, Mizoram, Manipur and Nagaland, where different terrorists outfits had been operating in a large way with the help and assistance of the ISI. Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has also expressed concern at the disclosure of Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee that the ISI had infiltrated into the Army. Mr Bhattacharjee has already written to the Prime minister requesting him to negotiate with Bangladesh Government for immediately dismantling of all terrorist camps inside that country operating under the aegis of the ISI. The Chief Minister said they had specific information that over 100 terrorists camps were operating in Bangladesh under the assistance of the ISI. The Bangladesh Government was told to take appropriate steps for dismantling these camps but to no avail.
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Left flays restructured anti-poverty plan
New Delhi, October 23 “It is flawed because the government still refuses to address the structural basis of poverty. In the previous 20-point programme there was a direction on the enforcement of land reforms. In the current programme this has been dropped,” CPM Politburo member Sitaram Yechury said in an editorial in the latest issue of ‘People’s Democracy’. Criticising the programme, CPI general secretary A.B. Bardhan said the programme included only bombastic terminology while claiming to support farmers, housing for all, food security, development of backward areas and e-governance. “The programme does not offer anything concrete to alter the present disastrous economic course. It is simply an amalgamation of various poverty alleviation programmes that may provide some relief but cannot eradicate poverty and the burgeoning unemployment,” said Mr Bardhan. The UPA government has decided to launch a revamped ‘Garibi Hatao’ programme from April 1 next year. The Union Cabinet has restructured the 20-point programme, which was last updated in 1986. Mr Yechury stressed that the basic issue of land reforms could not be evaded while addressing rural poverty. He said: “Outside the three Left-ruled states, the agenda of land reforms has been more or less abandoned. The only exception has been the commitments made by the DMK government in Tamil Nadu to distribute two acres of wasteland to each landless family”. Pointing out that India held the “dubious record” of having the largest absolute number of poor people in any country in the world, he said statistics showed India had 300 million people as poverty-stricken by the international standard of earning less than one US dollar a day. On the other hand, the economic reforms of the government had resulted in the rich becoming super-rich with the collective net worth of 40 richest Indians going up from $ 61 billion to $ 106 billion. “This enormous concentration of wealth is obscene in a country with abysmal mass poverty”. Observing that the new programme was a “faint signal” that the Congress was aware of the situation, Mr Yechury said so long as the UPA government did not stop the conscious promotion of big business interests the goal of poverty eradication would only remain a pious wish.
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Submarine cable to link India, W. Europe
New Delhi, October 23 The Memorandum of Understanding has been signed among international telecom service providers — Etisalat, Saudi Telecom, Telecom Egypt, Telecom Italia Sparkle and VSNL, a company statement said here today. The cable will connect the major countries in the region including India, UAE, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Italy and France, it said. The contracts would be awarded by the end of the year and is expected to be operational by mid 2008. It will leverage the strength of these major carriers and provide interconnection facilities with several existing and emerging systems in the regions. The network after commissioning would provide high-speed connectivity to the Asian, Middle East, North & East Africa and Western Europe regions, and meet their exponentially growing bandwidth requirements, the statement added. The cable system will be built using DWDM (Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing) technology, with a proposed design capacity of at least 2.56 Terabits per second (Tbps), it said.
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Modi not helping
riot-hit: NCM
New Delhi, October 23 The NCM has found that the government has not been able to create a conducive atmosphere to help them leave camps and return home. An NCM team that visited Gujarat last week to investigate a complaint regarding the condition of more than 5,000 riot-hit families in make-shift camps noted that the state government has made no attempts to facilitate their safe return to their homes. Also, the NCM rejected the state government’s “view” that the riot-affected people were voluntarily living in rehabilitation camps. “In view of the overwhelming evidence to the contrary, the commission finds this viewpoint untenable and evasive of a government’s basic responsibility,” the NCM said after the visit to Gujarat of its vice-chairman Michael Pinto and members Dileep Padagaonkar and Zoya Hasan.
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Shivanand Tiwary deserts Lalu
Patna, October 23 Mr Tiwary, who was associated with the RJD for the past eight years, charged the RJD supremo with establishing “family raj” in the party by depriving genuine leaders and workers. The disgruntled RJD leader wondered way Mr Lalu had ignored his suggestion to introspect the party`s humiliating defeat in the October-November Assembly polls. Mr Tiwary said the RJD boss also ignored his suggestions to elect a minority MLA (Abdul Bari Siddqi) as leader of the Opposition in the Assembly in place of Rabri Devi, besides removing his
disreputed brothers-in-laws, Sadhu and Subhas Yadav, from the party. Mr Tiwary regretted the lowering of the party`s image by family members of Lalu Prasad with Rabri Devi showing “chappal” (slipper) to the ruling party MLAs in the Assembly, and his brother-in-law Sadhu Yadav exchanging blows in Parliament. Of late Mr Tiwary had also praised Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for
reserving 50 per cent seats for woman at the just concluded statewide panchayat polls, and 17 per cent for the extreme backward castes
(EBCs).
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Anger over HC curbs
on ‘chaath puja’
Mumbai, October 23 Acting on a petition by local residents, the Bombay High Court last week asked the organizers not to violate restrictions on use of loudspeakers late into the night though they were allowed to put up pandals on the beach on October 28 and 29 when the puja is to be held. The court also ordered the organizers not to turn the “chaath puja” into a political event. Organized by journalist-turned-politician Sanjay Nirupam’s Bihar Jharkhand UP Janhit Trust, the puja has been a forum first for the Shiv Sena and later for the Congress party when the man switched his political affiliations. Residents living in the posh Juhu area under the banner of the Save Juhu Beach association filed a public interest litigation petition against the jamboree since the peace and tranquility of the neighbourhood is disturbed during the event. Over the years, Nirupam had used the “chaath puja” to mobilise Hindi-speaking people in Mumbai who account for nearly 30 per cent of the population. After losing his Lok Sabha seat to the late Sunil Dutt in 2004, Nirupam has been banking on the “chaath puja” to resurrect his political career after joining the Congress. “We will surely appeal before the Supreme Court since loudspeakers are necessary to locate children lost on the beach,” insists Nirupam who is now a spokesman for the Congress. Though sidelined in the Congress at the moment, Nirupam has been banking on the “chaath puja” to mobilize the North Indian vote for the forthcoming Mumbai civic polls next year.
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Mid-day meal scheme
New Delhi, October 23 They will also have to furnish the number of children given mid-day meals, daily menu, and the roster of community members involved in the programme. The ministry has asked state governments to fix monthly targets for the inspection of mid-day meals.
— TNS
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Kalam greets people on Id
New Delhi, October 23 “On the auspicious occasion of Id-ul-Fitr, I extend my best wishes to all my people in India and abroad,” the President said in his message. May this year’s Id-ul-Fitr celebrations strengthen mutual goodwill and inspire each one of us to follow the path of love and compassion,” Dr Kalam added.
— TNS
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