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With 32 fresh cases, Pulse Polio comes a cropper
UPA-Left meeting to focus on fiscal reforms
Mulayam dares Oppn to oust his
government
Speaker not to miss pre-winter session engagements
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Police Commissioner shifted for PM’s security lapse
CRPF chief stresses on ‘cool’ force
Satellite models to protect coastline from oil spill
Another feather in IAF’s cap
Bomb hoax on Punjab Mail
Mild quake hits Mizoram
Teenager sings for 61 hours
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With 32 fresh cases, Pulse Polio comes a cropper
New Delhi, November 11 “The situation is not so good. We never had so many cases. In the past week, we have received 32 fresh cases of polio in the country”, an official of the National Polio Programme said today. “Around 87 districts in the country are affected”, the official said. After a gap of four years, a polio case has been reported in Assam. “For the first time in four years a polio case has been reported in Assam. Apart from Assam, the maximum polio cases were reported from Uttar Pradesh where 25 children have been affected due to the paralytic disease”, he said. Three cases of polio were reported from Uttaranchal in the past one week. One case each was registered in Bihar, Gujarat and Haryana. With 25 fresh cases in UP, the number of those afflicted this year has touched 438. Delhi has five polio cases this year, the official said. Last year 66 polio cases were reported in the country. The last time polio had come back to haunt the country was in 2002 when 1600 children were reported to have been struck by the disease.
— PTI
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UPA-Left meeting to focus on fiscal reforms
New Delhi, November 11 Party sources said there were differences within the Left parties on the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) Bill with the CPM in favour of investing a small portion of fund in government securities with assured returns. However, the CPI and the trade unions were totally opposed to investment of pension fund in stock market. Finance Minister P. Chidambaram has asked the Left leaders if they were opposed to investment of 5 per cent of pension fund in stock market. The government had failed to pass the Bill due to a stiff opposition from the Left parties. The Left parties have said they would not allow the government to shift from the defined benefit to the defined contribution system. However, the Centre is looking at implementing the new pension system through an executive order, the sources added. The meeting would also make an attempt to reach a consensus with the Left on the proposed amendment to the Banking Regulation Act by bringing in line the shareholding pattern of the foreign stakeholders with the voting rights, which at present are capped at 10 per cent. It would also take up the contentious issues of hiking the foreign direct investment (FDI) level in the insurance sector and consolidation in the banking industry. The draft Bill on the amendment of the Insurance Act, seeking to hike the FDI limit to 49 per cent from the current 26 per cent, would also come up for discussion as the government is eager to table it in winter session. Among other issues to be discussed are the death sentence awarded to former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, modifications in the policy governing special economic zones (SEZs) and a nine-point note presented by the Communists on the government's second anniversary in May, sources added.
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Mulayam dares Oppn to oust his
government
Lucknow, November 11 “If there had been any truth in your allegations we would have done better,” pointed out Mr Yadav while reacting to an objection raised by the Opposition parties during question hour in the Vidhan Sabha. The immediate provocation was the Opposition objecting to the his statement that the Congress and BJP had turned Raj Bhavan into their party offices by rushing there at the slightest excuse. When UPCC leader in the House Pramod Tiwari and Congress MLA Jagdambika Pal objected to the dragging of the office of the Governor into this, a visibly fuming Chief Minister challenged them to get his government dismissed. “Even if I leave I will have an important place in the history of Uttar Pradesh,” declared Mr Yadav, citing his schemes like unemployment allowance, Kanya Vidhyadhan and his efforts to make Uttar Pradesh into “Uttam Pradesh”. What started as an intervention while answering a question posed by BJP MLA Laxmikant Bajpai on the Dadri land deal for the Reliance power project turned into a attack on the Opposition, mainly the Congress. Accusing the party of starting a misinformation campaign on the power project, the Chief Minister claimed that every inch of the 21,000 acres had been acquired only after the farmers agreed to sign on the dotted line after being offered thrice the price. “Those villages that had a problem have been left out,” he revealed. Answering the BJP MLA’s question, Energy Minister Shivpal Yadav read out parts of the MoU signed between the state government and Reliance Energy Generation Limited on June 16, 2004. According to the agreement the state government was to bear 60 per cent and Reliance 40 per cent of the expenses incurred on the private land acquired. Commercial production of energy was to start within seven years of the signing of the agreement.
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Speaker not to miss pre-winter session engagements
New Delhi, November 11 The Speaker has invited all political parties for discussions on the session-eve, beginning with a breakfast meeting with NDA leaders on November 18. He will host a dinner for Congress leaders, including UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the following day. On November 20, Mr Chatterjee will have breakfast with the Left parties and those supporting the UPA from outside like the Samajwadi Party, the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Rashtriya Lok Dal. The Telugu Desam Party has also been invited with this grouping. On the same day, the Speaker will have dinner with the UPA partners. Sources in the Speaker’s office said he would also be hosting the usual pre-session all-party formal lunch. Mr Chatterjee, it was stated, had earlier thought of giving thse meetings a miss as the session was abruptly advanced by five days and he was finding it difficult to reschedule his prior commitments.
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Police Commissioner shifted for PM’s security lapse
Thiruvananthapuram, November 11 After a meeting with state Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan told reporters here that Inspector General (Security) P Chandrasekharan and Thiruvananthapuram City Police Commissioner Manoj Abraham would be tranferred and posted as the IG (Vigilance) and the Crime Branch Superintendent, respectively. While Mr S M Vijayanand, IG, Vigilance, would be the new IG of Security, Mr K Padmakumar, currently holding the post of DIG (Central range), would be the new Thiruvananthapuram City Police Commissioner. Justifying the removal of Mr Abraham from the City Police Commissioner's post, Mr Achuthanandan said the government wanted a police officer of the DIG rank as the City Police Commissioner. Earlier, Mr Balachandran, a Sub-Inspector with the AR camp was placed under suspension and a departmental inquiry has been ordered into the deviation of the pilot vehicle of the PM's motorcade. The Chief Minister said the government would take all precautionary measures so that such security lapses did not happen in future. The initial probe by ADGP (Intelligence) had found that "human error" led to the route deviation of the pilot vehicle driven by a private taxi driver. The ADGP's report had held that it was a common practice to hire taxis and drivers during VVIP visits and a communication slip-up between the pilot officer and the driver caused the route deviation when the Prime Minister's motorcade was on its way from the airport to Raj Bhavan. However, the Chief Minister, who apparently thought a further inquiry was required into the matter, asked the Chief Secretary to have a thorough look into the incident and also recommend steps for making foolproof security arrangements in future. — PTI
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CRPF chief stresses on ‘cool’ force
New Delhi, November 11 Addressing the passing-out parade of directly appointed gazetted officers at Kadarpur near Gurgaon, the CRPF chief said, “Your main goal in service will have to be to ensure that the jawans under you are given a just treatment; they are cared for; and that a healthy feeling of camaraderie is maintained at the unit level.” On the occasion of the passing-out parade, Mr Sinha gave out awards to the best cadets. Sanjeev Kumar Singh, all-round best trainee, was presented with the Sword of Honour and Home Minister’s cup.
— TNS
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Satellite models to protect coastline from oil spill
New Delhi, November 11 The Earth Sciences Ministry will build 20 such models for 20 high-risk coastal areas, like the coral and mangrove-rich Gulf of Kutch, and the beaches of Goa and Mumbai in the next two years. The models will be eventually developed for 42 locations, Earth Sciences Minister Kapil Sibal said today. The models would help the coast guard and other agencies to combat oil spills with handy data, predicting the spill route and damage potential. In the past three decades, India has witnessed oil spill ranging from 1,000 tonnes to 40,000 tonnes. The west coast and Nicobar are believed to be the high-risk areas. Our country has a coastline of 5,509 km besides 2,000 km in its islands. Several archaeological sites are also located in the coastal areas.
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Another feather in IAF’s cap
New Delhi, November 11 An MI-17 helicopter of the IAF landed in pitch darkness at a helipad in thick jungles to evacuate the personnel. It was piloted by Wing Commander S. Kundu who evacuated the personnel to Dibrugarh military hospital, an IAF spokesman, Wing Commander Mahesh Upasani, said here. The joint convoy of the CRPF and the Assam police was ambushed at 5.30 pm yesterday, he said. This is for the first time that IAF helicopter pilots have carried out such an operation after addition of night vision capability in Russian-acquired MI-17 helicopters.
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Bomb hoax on Punjab Mail
Bhopal, November 11 However, no explosive was found after a thorough search, Railway sources said. The train from Ferozepore was stopped and thoroughly searched by bomb disposal squad and Railway Protection Force personnel at Bina after all passengers disembarked, they said. However, no explosive device was found except an unclaimed wall clock from S-7 coach, they said, adding that it was a normal and harmless clock being examined by the bomb disposal squad which had been sent from here soon after the phone call was received at Bina railway station enquiry counter.
— PTI
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Mild quake hits Mizoram
Aizawl, November 11 Quoting the Seismological Observatory reading here, Dr Lallenmawia said the epicentre of the quake was latitude degree 24.57 and longitude degree 94.5 (at the Indo-Myanmar border area). Residents of Aizawl said the earthquake of moderate intensity was felt in their homes for a few seconds at around 6.55 pm yesterday. No casualty was reported from anywhere in the state. Geologists said the density of Mizoram soil is very thin, which helped reduce the impact of earthquakes. "Earthquake of high intensity for a longer period of time can be extremely disastrous in view of the soil condition and also violation of building norms, especially in the capital Aizawl city," Dr Lallemnawia said.
— PTI
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Teenager sings for 61 hours
Indore, November 11
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Nod sought to end own life Militants held at airport Hunt on for ‘rapist’ SDM Tributes to Maulana Azad 
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