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Assembly Polls
Mamata starts poll drive, slams CPM
Assembly Elections
Poll Time |
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Attacks on North Indians
Bal Thackeray dares govt to arrest him
Govt fears come true; forces recover RDX from ULFA
AGP meets Prez, seeks CM’s dismissal
Complete trial of prisoners under J&K Safety Act in a year: SC
Malegaon Blasts
Chandrayaan’s lunar orbit reduced
Army to be present during tests on Col Purohit
SC asks CBI not to arrest Todi till Nov 17
Burning of paddy stubble toxic for environment
German mom on withdrawal of case Member of Abhinav Bharat held
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Assembly Polls
Bhopal, November 10 The Congress is yet to get its act together on the campaign front. “The details are being worked out”, a PCC spokesperson said when asked about the party’s campaign plan. Among the Central leaders those who will campaign for the BJP in the state are Rajnath Singh, Murli Manohar Joshi, Venkaih Naidu, Sushma Swaraj, Kalraj Mishra, Rajiv Pratap Rudy and Anant Kumar. Significantly, the name of L.K. Advani does not figure in the list of campaigners. BSP chief Mayawati will be addressing rallies in Indore, Ujjain and other places in the state. Meanwhile, chief minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan has said the state’s polity continues to be polarised between his party and the Congress. He dismissed as “inconsequential” the impact of SP, BSP and Um Bharati’s Bharatiya Janashakti party on the poll outcome. “The number of seats of none of them will exceed single digit”, he told reporters at the BJP office.
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Mamata starts poll drive, slams CPM
Kolkata, November 10 Mamata said the election dates would be announced soon and, accordingly, asked the all anti-Left secular parties to get themselves prepared for taking on the CPM. She alleged that the CPM had failed miserably on all fronts during their last 33 years of rule. Mamata said sitting MLA Subhendu Adhikery would be the TC candidate from the Haldia Lok Sabha seat. But for Nandigram Assembly seat, she asked the local people to choose a candidate from any of the affected families of the March 14, 2006, massacre. Today, the TC, SUCI and several other parties supporting the farmer’s agitation at Nandigram were observing the ‘black day’, protesting against the killing of innocent people on the same day last year when six farmers, belonging to the Krishi Bachaao Committee, were killed. Yesterday the CPM had also organised a rally at Nandigram where the state transport minister Subhas Chakraborty and the CPM MP from Haldia Lakshan Seth expressed confidence of defeating the opposition.
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Assembly Elections
Jaipur, November 10 The list elicited strong protests with a local TV channel claiming ex-vice-president Bhairon Singh Shekhawat having expressed displeasure over choice of certain candidates and ignoring others. Shekhawat has not denied the report. After a two-day long deliberation over the selection of candidates, the BJP finalised the name of 95 while the remaining 105 candidates are likely to be announced by November 13. Led by Chief Minister Vasundhra Raje, the BJP has sought to give good representation to the women by putting forward 15 female candidates. BJP spokesperson Arun Chaurvedi said today more women candidates would be named in the next list. While the national BJP leaders had firmly claimed there was no anti-incumbency factor against the BJP, political observers feel by naming 29 new candidates and not giving tickets to 12 sitting MLAs, the BJP definitely has the incumbency factor in mind. There is an uproar in the party cadre over the selection of five candidates who had rejoined the party recently after quitting it earlier. These leaders include Shailendra Joshi, Vijay Bansal, Abhishek Matoria and Jagdish Saptram. CM Vasundhra Raje would contest from Jhalraptan seat. Meanwhile, the Congress party has alleged one of the BJP candidates Pura Ram Chowdhry, who will contest from Bheenmal seat, was linked to the 1993 Mumbai blast case. He alleged he was facing a case under the COFEPOSA lodged against him by the Mumbai police. Congress spokesman Satyendra Raghav distributed documents and press cuttings regarding the case, creating quite a flutter here. He alleged the BJP had not been able to disassociate itself from the involvement of a Sadhvi in a recent blast case and now the party has given ticket to a tainted leader, whose innocence has not been proved so far. BJP spokesperson Arun Chaturvedi said he would only respond after going through the documents. He stressed the selection committee had not passed any candidate without confirming his background.
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Poll Time
Chhattisgarh on Monday witnessed politics of a different kind — the rice politics. The ruling BJP played another trump card to woo the poor in the state by promising to distribute rice at Rs 1 per kg if it were voted back to power.
In its election manifesto, released barely three days before the Phase-I of the poll, the BJP promised free salt and rice at the rate of Rs 1 per kg to the 32 lakh BPL families in the state. The remaining poor will get rice at the rate of Rs 2 per kg. The ruling party’s latest poll sop is Rs 1 less than the rice at Rs 2 per kg promised by the Congress for the BPL families in its manifesto and two rupees less than what the BJP itself has been giving. This one-upmanship to woo voters is definitely going to put a pressure of another couple of hundred crores on the state exchequer. Senior BJP leaders admit that distributing rice at Rs 3 per kg costs the state exchequer around Rs 850 crore annually. Distributing rice at Re 1 per kg to poor families will cost around Rs 1,100 crore, which incidentally will be more than the cost of this poll promise if the Congress comes to power. But in the race to woo the poor for votes, a couple of hundred crores here or there is hardly the issue for any of the two parties at this point of time. The bag-full of populistic poll sops offered by the ruling BJP include additional Rs 270 per quintal bonus for paddy over and above the MSP offered by the Centre, free power and interest-free loans for farmers and also metro rail for the state. Interestingly, sources say the BJP, in order to successfully play its rice trump card, deliberately delayed the release of the manifesto after it became clear that the Congress too was getting ready to play the rice politics to sway the poor in the state. For Chief Minister Raman Singh the inclusion of Rs 2-per-kg offer of rice by the Congress in its manifesto is a compliment to the BJP. He says it is an open acknowledgement by the opposition that the BJP’s rice scheme has been well received by the people. He also doesn't think that Rs 1 per kg rice will either affect the budget or end up becoming another one of those crippling policies. “It is a small attempt by the BJP to share the people’s problem, especially since we cannot do anything to control price rise and inflation, which should be the Center’s effort,” he adds.
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Stalwarts descend on poll turf With the polling day for the Phase-I getting nearer, the Congress on Monday brought in one of its biggest star attractions — Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi — to campaign for the party. Though it is another matter that Gandhi’s speech lasted for barely about six minutes at the tribal heartland of Jagdalpur and around five minutes in Bhilai. To woo back the tribals back into the Congress fold at Jagdalpur, Gandhi talked of personal attachment of the Nehru-Gandhi family with tribals and criticised the ruling BJP for following anti-tribal policies. Both the Congress as well as the BJP are stepping up on their election campaigns. Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi was in the state on Sunday to exhort the electorate to vote for his party. BSP supremo Mayawati was also here yesterday to campaign for her party. Today can be expected to be a happening day as far as election campaign of the ruling BJP is concerned. Wednesday is the last day for campaigning in the Phase-I and the BJP has lined up stalwarts L.K. Advani and Rajnath Singh and star campaigners Navjot Singh Sidhu and Hema Malini to woo the electorate.
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Attacks on North Indians
Patna, November 10 He also offered to join him by quitting the UPA government as well as the Lok Sabha for the sake of Bihar’s pride. However, Lalu charged Nitish with breaking the unity of all the political parties from Bihar on this issue and said the JD (U) had also deceived its ally - the BJP in this matter. “I have come to know that the BJP is very sore with them for taking an unilateral decision to quit from the Lok Sabha,” Lalu said. Taking a dig on NDA convenor and JD (U) MP George Fernandes, Lalu said George may not have been aware of the fact that they were making him sign a resignation letter. According to Lalu, the resignation of five JD (U) MPs from the Loksabha was just a political stunt to reap electoral dividends and it had nothing to do with Bihar’s honour or safety and security of Hindi speaking people in Maharashtra. He also pooh-poohed the JD (U) and its leader Nitish for not mentioning the name of Bal Thackeray and Raj Thackeray or their respective outfits, the Shiv Sena and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, in the memorandum given by all-party delegation to the Prime Minister and said the proximity between the BJP and Shiv Sena was an open secret. Daring Nitish to break his ties with “communal forces”, Lalu urged him to consider his proposal by sinking all political differences and pave the way for an intensive national movement to protect the honour and self-respect of all migrant Biharis. “The migrant people of Bihar working or studying across the country are looking forward to us with the hope that we would take some effective steps to ensure the safety and security of their lives and property,” Lalu has mentioned in his letter to Nitish.
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Bal Thackeray dares govt to arrest him
Mumbai, November 10 In a write-up in the party mouthpiece
Saamna, Thackeray hit out at Congress party member of Parliament Gurudas Kamat for demanding his arrest. Kamat had demanded Thackeray’s arrest for his open support to the Sadhvi at a function in the city recently. “Whenever Congressmen think of appeasing Muslims, they have visions of arresting me,” the editorial under Thackeray’s byline stated. “You want to strengthen your Muslim votebank by arresting me for condemning the Sadhvi's arrest,” Thackeray stated. Lest the government actually go out and carry out Kamat’s demands, Thackeray warned that the riots that erupted in the city nearly 40 years ago during the only time he was arrested would be replicated if the government dared to jail him. The then fledgling Shiv Sena exhibited its muscle in the 1960s after then Chief Minister V.P. Naik arrested Thackeray for provoking violence in the city. The authorities actually got Thackeray to appeal for peace to calm the rioters.
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Govt fears come true; forces recover RDX from ULFA
Guwahati, November 10 The security forces and the police have recovered the deadly RDX explosives from militants of the banned ULFA at least in two separate operations, besides defusing a bomb packed with RDX explosive under a bridge near the Assam-Nagaland boundary. This vindicates the apprehension raised by the Assam government that terrorists had the RDX. Acting on a tip-off police apprehended three ULFA cadres, including a women cadre, along with 9 kg of deadly RDX explosives near Kaliabhomora bridge while they were on way to north Assam’s Army township at Tezpur town on Friday last. Superintendent of police (SP) of Sonitpur district S. Kumar informed that the ULFA ultras had procured the explosives through Karbi Longri North Cachar Hills Liberation Front (KLNLF) based in Karbi Anglong hill district, which militants use as a transit route to go to Bangladesh. In a separate operation, an Army patrol party detected a 2 kg bomb packed with the RDX explosives and suspected to be planted by ULFA militants under a concrete bridge on Sonari-Sapekhati Road in Sivasagar district on Friday morning. The security forces also arrested a ULFA cadre, identified as Parikshit Gogoi, along with 1.2 kg of RDX explosives that was brought to the state through Nagaland. He was arrested in Sivasagar district that has vital installations of the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGCL). Security sources informed that the ULFA could only procure RDX explosives with the help of sources active in a foreign country, indicating towards
Bangladesh.
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AGP meets Prez, seeks CM’s dismissal
Guwahati, November 10 Meanwhile, Gogoi today chaired a crucial meeting of the strategy group of the counter-insurgency Unified Command in the state capital at Dispur here to work out fresh strategy to tackle the changing tactics used by terror groups in the state.
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Complete trial of prisoners under J&K Safety Act in a year: SC
New Delhi, November 10 Issuing the directive on a petition filed by Panther’s Party chief Bhim Singh, a bench comprising Justices B.N. Agrawal and G.S. Singhvi ruled that the trial be held in the same state where they were in jail. The court ordered the transfer of the case records of these prisoners to the concerned courts within a month. There are over 30 such prisoners and many of them are facing serious charges of anti-national and terrorist activities. Bhim Singh, who also heads the State Legal Aid Committee, has challenged the detention of more than 100 persons by the Jammu and Kashmir government several years ago, contending that no person, irrespective of his nationality, could be kept in jail under the PSA for more than two years. According to the petition, the detainees have not been subjected to trial for more than 10 years in violation of Article 21 of the Constitution. Punjab clarification: The Punjab government filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court, clarifying that under a Punjab and Haryana High Court amendment no suit shall abate even if the defendant dies. The judgment would be pronounced notwithstanding the death and shall have the same force and effect as if it had been pronounced before the death took place. Further, if a decree has been passed against a deceased defendant a person claiming to be legal representative may apply for setting aside the decree qua him and if its proved that he was not aware of the suit. A larger Bench of the apex court would go into the issue later.
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Malegaon Blasts
New Delhi, November 10 Congress spokesperson Jayanthi Natarajan, at a press briefing here, accused Modi and his government of not cooperating with the anti-terror squad (ATS) investigating the Malegaon blasts. She said the state police was preventing the ATS from picking up certain persons wanted for interrogation in connection with the blasts. “It is absolutely shocking and condemnable that the Modi government should be non-cooperative and actually put obstacles in the path of the ATS. This clearly exposes the double standards and hypocrisy of the BJP and proves the total lack of commitment of the party, specifically Modi, in fighting terrorism,” Natarajan added. The Congress spokesperson also expressed shock over the alleged attack by a BJP minister in Madhya Pradesh on the Ujjain returning officer. “This is a disturbing trend and we fear that the ruling party in the state may misuse its power and create more violence during the election process. We, therefore, condemn the attack and call upon the Election Commission to take the most stringent action against the minister concerned,” she added. Meanwhile, senior Congress leader Margarat Alva’s charge that party tickets were sold during the Karnataka Assembly elections has put the Congress leadership on the defencive, though its spokesperson ruled out any probe into the allegation. Congress general secretary Alva has created a stir in the party with some leaders privately sympathising with her, though they feel she should not have publicly aired
her views and rather taken up the matter with the high command. Natarajan did reject Alva’s allegation and ruled out any probe into it but ducked uncomfortable questions on whether any action was proposed to be taken against the senior party leader. “There are no disciplinary proceedings (against Alva). May be, the institutional mechanism in the party will take a view on it,” Natarajan added.
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Chandrayaan’s lunar orbit reduced
Bangalore, November 10 Following the manouvre, the nearest point of the spacecraft’s orbit (periselene) from the moon’s surface has got reduced from 504 km to 200 km. The farthest point (aposelene) has remained unchanged at 7,502 km. In its present elliptical orbit, Chandrayaan-1 takes about ten and a half hours to circle the moon once. The health of the spacecraft is being monitored from the Spacecraft Control Centre of the ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) in Bangalore with support from Indian Deep Space Network antennas at Byalalu. Further orbit reduction manoeuvres are slated to take place in the coming days to take the satellite to its final operational orbit of 100 km height from the lunar surface.
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Army to be present during tests on Col Purohit
Mumbai, November 10 The army officer has been taken to Bangalore where the tests are to be conducted on him to determine his role in the Malegaon blasts. On a request by the Army, the anti-terrorist squad of the Maharashtra police has decided to subject the officer to the tests at the Air Force Command Hospital in Bangalore. Lt Col Purohit was a member of the military intelligence and had been tasked to keep an eye on Islamic terrorists and jehadi outfits infiltrating the armed forces. He was also said to be learning Arabic as part of his job. Investigators are probing whether the Colonel made use of his army contacts and resources, including funds for his activities. Earlier, Army officials were present when the Colonel was questioned by investigators shortly before his arrest. They were also present during the narco-analysis tests conducted on Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur based on which a decision was taken to arrest the Army officer. The investigators will also question Colonel Purohit about his possible involvement in a series of bomb blasts in Marathwada four years ago. The blasts were carried out near mosques in Parbhani, Jalna and Purna in Marathwada.
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SC asks CBI not to arrest Todi till Nov 17
New Delhi, November 10 The court would hear Todi's petition challenging issuance of a non-bailable warrant by the trial court on November 17. Todi has been charged with abetting the suicide of his son-in-law, Rehman. The apex court had stayed the trial till the Calcutta High Court decided a petition filed by Todi challenging CBI's move to chargesheet him in the case.
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Burning of paddy stubble toxic for environment
New Delhi, November 10 Apart from this, heat from burning the stubble penetrates into soil up to one centimetre, elevating temperatures as high as 33.8 to 42.2° C, executive director of the Centre for Sustainable Agriculture G.V. Ramanjaneyulu says. To top it all despite a ban the practice (of burning the paddy and wheat straw) is increasing by the year. If this is not scary enough in this era of global warming and climate change, consider what he has to say about economics of this senseless burning of fertiliser-rich paddy straw. “In Punjab alone, 19.6 million tonnes of wheat and paddy straw is burnt every year, which is equal to 38.5 lakh tonnes of organic carbon, 59,000 tonnes of nitrogen, 2,000 tonnes of phosphorous, 34,000 tonnes of potassium every year.” During May and October every year, acres and acres of wheat and paddy straw are burnt, leaving air polluted with smoke and particulate matter. But burning paddy and wheat stubble is not just hazardous for environment, it makes very poor economic sense as well. Ramanjaneyulu explains that the government spends huge amounts on fertiliser subsidy (around Rs 1,19,000 crore during 2008 in India), a sizeable amount of which would be saved if only farmers indulged in more eco-friendly technique, like incorporating the stalk into the soil. The government should come up with a plan and put in resources to support farmers who adopt straw mulching and incorporation and abstain from burning, he suggests. He adds instead of providing subsidy on fertilisers that ends up lining the pockets of fertiliser industry, the government should instead provide incentives to farmers, who practise eco-friendly way of dealing with wheat and paddy straw. “As far as Punjab alone is concerned, if incorporated into soil the stubble can serve as fertiliser, saving the state government 20 to 30 per cent of fertiliser subsidy. In addition, it can be used as fodder for animals and the animal waste can be used as fertiliser. By allowing the burning of the stalk, the government, in a way, is burning hard cash in form of subsidy,” he adds. Kheti Virasat Mission executive director Umendra Dutt, who has been spreading the message of organic farming and the concept of incorporating leftover straw into the soil in Punjab, says the straw burning not just causes air pollution, animals and birds also perish in the process. “Trees, flora and fauna, micro organisms and even birds and animals suffer when farmers burn wheat and paddy stalks to save a few hundred rupees and time. This dangerous practice will play havoc in the coming years and these shortsighted misadventures are going to extract a huge price in terms of money, environmental health, ecosystem and natural resources,” Dutt adds.
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German mom on withdrawal of case
Panaji, November 10 “Since the day I have filed the complaint on October 14, life has become hell for both me and my daughter. There are allegations and counter allegations in the media and we have now realised that we have been trapped in a situation (that is) not in our interest. We are also scared of being Scarlett-II,” reads the letter written and submitted by the German mother last afternoon. The letter had sought to withdraw her complaint against Rohit, son of Goa education minister Atanasio Monserratte. The mother had complained that Rohit had raped her daughter. The police had booked Rohit based on the complaint. He was arrested almost a month after the complaint was filed. Scarlette, mentioned in the letter, is a British teenager who was found dead on Goa’s popular Anjuna Beach on February 18. In the letter, the German mother has claimed that they were in a state of shock and depression and were scared of proceeding with the case, especially after the murderous attack on her counsel Aires Rodrigues, on the night before she was to formally register her complaint before a senior police officer. “We have learnt the bitter truth, that making genuine complaints against the rich and mighty is entirely counter productive. We are constantly hounded, our names sullied, campaigns organised against us and all sorts of motives attributed to us,” the letter reads. She claimed that the victim is being treated like accused in the entire case. “We are unable to lead normal life and even our lives are at stake. We are crushed under the weight of the rich and mighty and are strangers unable to beat the system,” the mother stated.
— PTI
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Mumbai, November 10 The police here today said Sudhakar Chaturvedi was arrested on November 4 from the Dadar railway station by the sleuths of the Matunga police station for possessing one pistol and three live catridges. During interrogation, he admitted that he was an active member of ‘Abhinav Bharat’, a radical Hindu outfit. Some members of this organisation, including Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, serving Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Shrikant Purohit and others were arrested for their alleged involvement in the Malegaon blast on September 29, in which six persons were killed and several others injured. — UNI
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10 held for electrocuting tiger Salman’s plea for film dues 5 students hurt in blast Ahmedabad blasts: Key accused held in MP
2 die in militant attack
Todi’s arrest put on hold
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