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Flood situation remains grim
Halt or face mid-term polls: Basu
Cong softens, says Left consent a must
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Bijal Joshi Gangrape
Nishant flight-tested
Talwar put to lie-detection test again
Attacks on Indian cabbies
Shelters designed to check N-damage
Hydel Projects on Ganga
Claim to patent AIDS drug rejected
High-powered Indian team in Colombo
A titan among scribes
Ambubachi Mela
Drug peddling on the rise in U’khand
13 die as bus falls into gorge
SP leader shot
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Flood situation remains grim
Kolkata/Guwahati, June 20 The situation in West Bengal’s West and East Midnapore districts remained grim with the death toll mounting to 25 as nearly 22 lakh people were hit. With rivers in the two districts receding with discharge from Subarnarekha and other reservoirs reduced, four Army teams were engaged in rescue operations in the worst-hit areas as IAF helicopters made sorties to air-drop food packets, water pouches and medicines. Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, who held a review meeting at Kolaghat in East Midnapore district, described the situation as “very bad”. The West Bengal government was also making special arrangements to bring back over 5,000 tourists stranded in Puri following disruption in train services. A woman was killed and three others were injured in a landslide triggered by heavy overnight rains in Guwahati even as worst-hit Lakhimpur district, where 22 persons had died, continued to reel under floodwaters. The continuous showers submerged most areas of the city with four to five feet high water entering houses, while the two main arterial roads -- GNB Road and G S Road -- were under knee to waist deep water. Meanwhile, the Orissa government has sought more choppers from the defence ministry to step up relief operation in inaccessible areas. As the government intensified efforts to improve relief operation with the help of two choppers, the death toll due to the floods mounted to five. The water level receded in major rivers, including Jalaka, Subarnarekha, Budhabalang and Baitarani, following decline in rainfall, enabling the administration to accelerate relief and rescue operation in worst-hit Balasore, Mayurbhanj, Bhadrak and Jajpur districts. However, marooned residents of several inaccessible villages in Balasore district, besides people in several villages of Mayurbhanj continued to wait for food packets and other essentials. On the other hand, Union information and broadcasting minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi said the West Bengal government had failed to adopt adequate measures despite being warned of the depression over the coastal area by the Met office. — PTI
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Halt or face mid-term polls: Basu
Kolkata, June 20 Talking to the mediapersons here today, Basu said they were now unanimous on the decision of withdrawing the support from the Manmohan Singh government, as they would not like to be the party in selling out country’s sovereignty to the Bush administration. Basu said he did not know if at this stage the Prime Minister would abandon the decision of signing the nuclear agreement as demanded by them. But their decision of withdrawal of support had now been finalised. He said they would better go to the polls instead of allowing the government to sign the deal against the country’s interest. The UPA-Left coordination committee will be meeting in New Delhi on June 25 when the Prime Minister will communicate to them the government’s final stand on the Indo-US deal. “If the government falls, the onus would be on the Prime Minister and not on the Left parties. We sincerely want the present government to complete its term. But it seems that this is not possible and the midterm elections look inevitable,” he remarked. The CPM leader said party general secretary Prakash Karat during his meeting with the Prime Minister and Pranab Mukherjee made it quite clear that there was no option to them at this stage but to agree with other Left parties.
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Cong softens, says Left consent a must
New Delhi, June 20 Realising that the soaring inflation has rendered the government vulnerable, the Left parties further hardened their position today, indicating for the first time they would not hesitate to vote against the government if it went ahead with the deal. At the same time, the Congress stuck a more conciliatory tone saying it was their responsibility to convince the Left parties as they could not dump the communists after having taken their support for four years. “The Left parties agreed to support this government even though the Congress is their main political adversary in Kerala, West Bengal and Tripura. How can we just dump them after four years,” remarked a senior Congress leader. Speaking in the same vein, party spokesperson Shakeel Ahmed remarked that they had come so far with the consent of the Left and they would take them into confidence and narrow down their differences with them. Besides inflation, the Congress climbdown can also be attributed to the reluctance on part of the UPA allies to sacrifice the government for the nuke deal. Allies like the RJD, DMK and NCP told external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee yesterday that they were not in favour of early polls, which could be necessitated if the Left parties withdrew support. After his meeting with Prakash Karat this morning, NCP chief and agriculture minister Sharad Pawar reiterated that the idea was to find a middle path on the deal and that the Left parties’ views should be taken into consideration. UPA sources said the government had moved fast on this issue a week ago after they got an indication from West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya and CPM patriach Jyoti Basu that the Left might allow them to seal the India-specific agreement with the IAEA at the June 18 meeting of the UPA-Left joint panel. However, this proved to be a “false hope” as the pre-meeting deliberations with CPM leader Prakash Karat revealed there was no change in their stand. All eyes are now on Congress president Sonia Gandhi, who will have to take a political call on whether they should push ahead with the deal even if it means loosing the support of the Left parties. She will have to ensure that she does not let down Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who is personally very keen on moving ahead on the deal. In fact, UPA sources said the Prime Minister was quite upset that the allies and his own party had not backed him fully on this issue.
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Bijal Joshi Gangrape
Ahmedabad, June 20 Sajal Jain, the victim's boyfriend, along with Chandan Jaiswal, Mandan Jaiswal, Sugam, alias Monty Jaiswal, and Dharmendra Jain raped her in a hotel room in the Shahibaug area of Ahmedabad during the New Year party on the night of December 31, 2003. In jampacked courtroom, judge Yagnik awarded life sentence to the five accused for raping 24-year-old Bijal Joshi while she set the seven other accused free, giving them benefit of doubt. The court also slapped a fine of Rs 60,000 each on the accused. The court has acquitted seven persons namely Harishankar Jaiswal, Shreya Jaiswal, Seema Jaiswal, Ashok Patel, Pannalal Jaiswal, Anand Jaiswal and medical officer Y Jadav, who were arrested on the charges of assisting in destroying the evidence in the case, by giving them benefit of doubt. — UNI
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Nishant flight-tested
New Delhi, June 20 The state-of-the-art UAV is developed by Aeronautical Development Establishment, Bangalore, jointly with Defence Electronics Application Laboratory, Dehra Dun, Research and Development (Engineers), Pune, and Aerial Delivery Research and Development Establishment, Agra, a defence ministry press note here said. Nishant is one of the few UAVs in the world in its weight class capable of catapult launch and can be recovered by using parachute, thus eliminating the need for runway as in the case of conventional take off and landing with wheels. Nishant has completed the development phase and user trials. The present flight tests are pre confirmatory trials before its induction into services. The flight test was witnessed by user representatives in the presence of senior scientists of the DRDO.
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Talwar put to lie-detection test again
New Delhi, June 20 In another development today, the CBI was seen searching the clothes of Krishna that he was wearing on the morning of May 16 when Aarushi’s body was found. By the footage provided by the news channels, the CBI had been able to identify the clothes, but could not found them.
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Attacks on Indian cabbies
New Delhi, June 20 In recent months, India cabbies, mostly students, have been targeted in Melbourne, Adelaide and other Australian cities, causing widespread concerns in India. In the wake of these attacks, many Indians have returned home, losing their source of livelihood. The Indian authorities have taken up the issue with Australia at different levels but the attacks still continue. Foreign Ministry officials confirmed that various problems being faced by the strong Indian community in Australia would come up for discussions at the meetings Mukherjee will have with Australian leaders. The visit, at the invitation of Australia foreign minister Stephen Smith, is to attend the second Foreign Ministers’ Framework Dialogue between the two countries. The last meeting of the forum was held in 2005. Asked if nuclear cooperation would figure during Mukherjee’s talks, the External Affairs Ministry spokesman said energy security certainly was an area which would be taken up by the two sides. Australia, a uranium-rich country, is also a member of the Nuclear Suppliers’ Group (NSG). Mukherjee, who is the government’s main negotiator with the Left parties on the controversial Indo-US nuclear deal, is expected to convey to the Australian authorities India’s commitment to “universal and non-discriminatory” disarmament. Meanwhile, the foreign minister today briefed members of the Parliamentary Standing Committee for his ministry about India’s relations with Latin American countries. In this context, he spoke about the recent visit of President Pratibha Devisingh Patil to the region.
Oz no to India on uranium
The Australian foreign minister Stephen Smith caused disappointment in Indian official circles on the eve of Pranab Mukherjee’s visit by ruling out any change in the country’s stand of not selling uranium to India even as he strongly backed New Delhi’s claim for a permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council.
While acknowledging that India had a strong record on non-proliferation, Smith said his government’s policy of not supplying uranium to countries which are not part of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) was ‘long standing and well known’.
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Shelters designed to check N-damage
Roorkee, June 20 Scientists at the CBRI have designed nuclear shelter with livable conditions that can satisfactorily resist a nuclear blast and its wind affect besides stand firm to counter the radiation of nuclear explosion. The nuclear shelters have been developed in two different forms to cater the need of populace as per the requirement. While the ‘type-A’, nuclear shelter is designed to fulfil the requirement of the community, the ‘type-B’ shelter caters the need for a small family. “The community nuclear shelter that has a capacity to accommodate 52 persons can be erected in any open area, be it urban or rural area. The shelter can be easily maintained by concerned agencies during the contingency period by regularly running activities such as vaccination, training and entertainment programs,” says Atul Agarwal, official at CBRI. The family shelter has been conceived on the concept on ‘do it yourself’, which is useful for small families during nuclear attack, he adds. The CBRI scientists Dr Navjeev Saxena, Dr S.K. Negi and Ashok Kumar involved in the designing this shelter believe that the technological attainment of nuclear shelters would not only prepare the country to deal with nuclear hazard, but would also discourage the enemy countries from launching a nuclear attack.
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Hydel Projects on Ganga
Dehra Dun, June 20 While Agarwal refused to end his fast and decided to target the Union government, the Uttarakhand Congress leaders alleged that the 'Sangh Parivar' has hijacked his agitation for their petty political interests. Interestingly, the state government has promised to support him in his fight against the Centre. Earlier, the state cabinet reversed its own decision taken four days ago on the advice of the top BJP leadership and decided to put on hold two of its projects on the Bhagirathi, upstream of Uttarkashi, last evening. Agarwal welcomed the decision but refused to end his fast. "Now, I will fight against the closure of the 600 MW Lohari Nagpala project being undertaken by the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), a central government undertaking," he said. The two projects that have been put on hold include the 480 MW Pala Maneri and 300 MW Bhaironghati phase I & II projects. These projects were to be built by the state government. Already work on the 480MW Pala Maneri project had started. Now, it is the turn of the Congress leaders to come out screaming following the decision of Agarwal to agitate against union government. "The agitation by Agarwal has been hijacked by 'Sangh Parivar' who wanted to rake up the issue before Lok Sabha polls to embarrass the Congress," said Suryakant Dhasmana, a senior Congress leader. "The sewage of all ashrams run by 'Sangh Parivar' swamis pollutes the Ganga. They have no credentials to talk about the Ganga. Where were they when Tehri dam came up?" alleged Kishore Upadhaya, Congress legislator from Tehri.
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Claim to patent AIDS drug rejected
New Delhi, June 20 The decision comes close on the heels of UN General Assembly’s high-level meeting on AIDS, where experts admitted to the challenges of achieving universal access to HIV/AIDS care, support and treatment by 2010. The meeting held on June 10 and 11 in New York, highlighted how universal access could not be seen in isolation, and required well-strengthened healthcare delivery system. Such system was presently at skeleton level in most of the developing countries having most of the HIV/AIDS case burden, the meeting concluded. The challenge of treatment is evident in the fact that for every two persons put on anti-retroviral therapy (ART), there are five new infections that are contracted. The UN meet called upon member nations to have trained healthcare manpower to fit in the existing huge gap and play their effective role for universal access target by 2010. “This is a very big task to be achieved within two years,” the experts stated. At present, three million people are put on ART worldwide and by 2010, it is expected that 13 million people will need it. More resource allocation for strengthening of healthcare delivery system by national government is immediately needed to fit into the goal.
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High-powered Indian team in Colombo
New Delhi, June 20 Officials said the tour was “preparatory” for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to the island nation in August for the SAARC Summit. However, none was ready to buy the argument as the visit came just four days after the visit of Sri Lankan foreign minister Rohitha Bogollogama to New Delhi. The Indian delegation is scheduled to meet President Mahinda Rajapaksa and other key government officials. Sources said the increasing fighting between Sri Lankan troops and the LTTE could be high on the agenda of the Indian delegation’s talks with its Sri Lankan interlocutors. The Sri Lankan foreign minister, during his visit to New Delhi, had played down the issue of arms purchases to tackle LTTE violence. Asked if India was feeling jittery over Sri Lanka’s defence relationship with China and Pakistan, he said “India is a big country…it does not get jittery about such issues.’’ |
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A titan among scribes
Kolkata, June 20 Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee, union information minister Priya Ranjan DasMunshi, Mamata Banerjee and various other political leaders condoled his death. Wreaths were placed on his body on behalf of the Governor, Chief Minister, union ministers, Calcutta Press Club, Calcutta journalist associations and various other organisations. Special wreath was also laid on the body on behalf of H.K. Dua, editor-in-chief, The Tribune, who was a close friend of Sengupta. Sengupta began his career as a reporter in Ananda Bazar Patrika in early sixties. He soon became popular among the journalist fraternity both for his column and reporting. During the emergency, he was arrested by the Siddhartha Ray government and was detained for nine months in Bankura and Purulia. But he did not make any compromise against his conscience. He was bold enough to meet all odds and challenges in his long journalist career of five decades. He wrote several books on politics and his experiences in the jail during the emergency. In 1984, he started his own paper, Bartaman, with the help of a handful of young men and women and a few retired journalists in Kolkata. And within a short span of time, Bartaman became a popular Bengali newspaper, both in the urban and the rural areas in south Bengal. Bartaman is now the largest Bengali daily next to Ananda Bazar Patrika. Meanwhile, the Editors Guild of India deeply mourned the demise of Sengupta in a press statement issued by its president Alok Mehta and secretary-general K. Sachidananda. They said Sengupta was a giant among contemporary India editors and had been part of the renaissance of Indian journalism after the dark years of emergency. He contributed to the evolution of the civil society in the country through his writings and journalistic leadership.
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Ambubachi
Mela
Guwahati, June 20 Temple management committee president Nabakanta Sharma informed that about three lakh devotees had already arrived for the event. The mela gets underway tomorrow. Sharma said the number of pilgrims was likely to soar till June 22 when the temple door would be closed on the occasion of “Ambubachi” to be reopened in the morning of June 25. Meanwhile, the Assam police and the CRPF have posted large number of its personnel at all vantage points in Neelachal Hills to prevent any terrorist or unwanted elements making abortive bid to disrupt the annual religious fair. The temple committee on its own has deployed a force of 300-odd volunteers to help pilgrims and maintain discipline in and around temple. "We have drawn up an elaborate plan to maintain adequate security so that pilgrims are well protected in an around the temple during the fair. There will be adequate deployment of forces,” said additional superintendent of police (city) Debojit Deuri. Metal detectors have been installed at various entry points to temple premises.
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Drug peddling on the rise in U’khand
Dehra Dun, June 20 According to sources, such a drastic increase in the inflow of narcotics in Uttarakhand can be attributed to 240-km long porous border with Nepal, which is a safe passage for the drug traffickers. Inquiries conducted by The Tribune revealed that during the past two years, the smuggling of drugs of almost all types, including smack, opium, charas and hashish, had witnessed a steep increase in the state. According to sources in the Narcotics Cell, apart from Nepal, drug peddlers from several districts of western UP were currently active in the region.
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13 die as bus falls into gorge
Dehra Dun, June 20 According to Nainital SSP G.S. Martolia, the bus going to the hill resort of Ranikhet from Haldwani via Bhawali skidded off the road and fell into the nullah. Eleven passengers were killed on the spot while two died in the Haldwani hospital. The dead include nine men, three women and a child.
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SP leader shot
Bhadoi, June 20 Yadav, a resident of Girgharpur colony, was proceeding towards Gyanpur when three motorcyclists shot at him. He died on the spot, police said. Personal enmity emerged as the reason behind the SP leader’s murder, the police added.
— UNI |
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IIT Roorkee to hold course for teachers Five more jailed in fodder scam 14 children die of
unknown fever Award for Incredible
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Rs 21.75 salary 
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