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Patil gets Home in Chavan govt
CLP meeting on December 11
Race for CM post hots up
Women, Muslims double their tally this time
Worst-ever performance by Congress in MP
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Left: PM’s fiscal booster weak Women emerge big winners in Chhattisgarh UP’s human rights record worst: Report More armed forces posts soon
Family planning scene dismal in UP, Bihar, Jharkhand
Death of asthmatic in dusty room is custodial death: SC
PIL for removal of vital images from Google Earth
PM hints at cabinet expansion
Delhi: Aerostat radar to detect ‘rogue’ aircrafts
Calls made to PCR are public documents: CIC
Farmers to discuss performance of UPA govt
Demand apology from Lankan army chief: Vaiko to PM
India flays Lankan army chief’s remark
Lanka regrets army chief’s remarks
Batla House Encounter
Maha govt set for own stimulus package
Archaeologist held on graft charge
CM post: Chauhan, Singh to be sworn in on Dec 12
5 of endangered Onge tribe die
Subdued Id celebrations in Bollywood
Big B, Shahrukh earn livelihood as labourers!
Islam strictly ‘against’ terrorism
Burney to visit India today
2 B’deshis held with fake currency
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Patil gets Home in Chavan govt
Mumbai, December 9 Among the major surprises was the allocation of the home ministry to senior Nationalist Congress Party leader Jayant Patil. It was widely expected that Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal would be given this portfolio even though he had told reporters at the time of his appointment that he did not want this portfolio “since it has the potential to damage one’s reputation”. Bhujbal, who held the home ministry during his stint as Deputy Chief Minister, was dropped from the cabinet in 2003 after his links with fake stamp paper forger Abdul Karim Telgi came to light. He will hold the Public Works Department portfolio under Ashok Chavan. Jayant Patil, who was appointed home minister, earlier held the finance portfolio in the Vilasrao Deshmukh government. Dilip Walse-Patil will be the new finance minister. He held
the power portfolio under Deshmukh. The revenue portfolio held by dissident leader Narayan Rane has been given to Balasaheb Thorat of the Congress party. Vimal Mundada of the NCP who was health minister earlier gets the PWD (public enterprise) ministry. Rajendra Shingne will be the new health minister. Other ministers include: Ramesh Bang in charge of food and civil supplies, Rajesh Tope - minister of higher and technical education, Nawab Malik - labour minister. Chavan kicked off his first day as Chief Minister by visiting J.J. Hospital where some of the victims of the Mumbai terror attacks have been admitted.
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CLP meeting on December 11 New Delhi/Jaipur, December 9 Jat leaders, union cabinet minister Sis Ram Ola and Barmer-based leader Sona Ram, have thrown in their hat in the ring. Apparently Mahipal Maderna, a Jat, is also pressing his claims for the Chief Minister’s job. Also doing the rounds is the name of Ram Narayan Meena besides two very surprising additions to the list — National Women’s Commission’s chairperson Girija Vyas and Bhanwar Jitendra Singh, the scion of Alwar royal family. With the Congress ready to form the government with the support of Independents, the high command now has to decide on who the leader of the Congress Legislative Party (CLP). The picture is expected to become clear on December 11, when a CLP meeting has been scheduled. Screening committee members Digvijay Singh, Madhusudan Mistry and Birender Singh will be present at the CLP as party observers and report the proceedings to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, who will then make a choice. Gehlot could have been an automatic choice after the defeat of PCC president C.P Joshi. But even with Joshi out of the race, Gehlot still needs the backing of the high command, which would now have to be extra cautious on the issue of leadership as any wrong move could prove to be disastrous in a state that witnessed elections fought on caste lines. The bad news for Gehlot is that the Jats have a major presence in the state and they have voted heavily for the Congress in this election. Since Jats are a big group the community, expect their own Chief Minister, likewise the Meena community. Jat leader Col retd. Sona Ram has openly demanded the seat. He said it was time the state had a Jat leader as the CM. Sis Ram Ohla, another strong candidate has reportedly rushed to Delhi to meet Sonia for pushing his name for the post. Meanwhile, Joshi, who seemed out of the race after he lost elections by the thinnest possible margin of one vote to BJP candidate from Nathdwara segment, today did not mince words about his ambitions. “There have been precedents in the state when a non-MLA has been chosen as the CM. Even Gehlot was not a MLA when he became the CM,” he said, while maintaining the Congress legislature party would chose its leader as per the tradition of the party. Joshi also sought to take the credit of the party's victory, “I have lost a battle but won a war,” he said. On being asked whether he considered himself a CM candidate, Joshi said in his opinion each Congress worker and leader was worth becoming the CM. However, senior Congress leaders strike down his claim, saying that a person who has lost in the elections can have no valid claim over the top post. “What kind of a message will it send down in the party,” they say. In all, it means that the choice is going to be a tough one for Sonia Gandhi who will now have to make a decision based on caste equations as also keeping an eye on the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls. Political observers say if the Congress had emerged with a clear majority, the party’s problems would have substantially lessened. Now that they need the support of five MLAs, the party will have to be extra careful on whom it chooses.
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Race for CM post hots up
Jaipur, December 9 Ashok Gehlot, considered a front-runner for the post is facing major challenge from state party president Dr C.P. Joshi and senior leaders Sis Ram Ohla, Col retd. Sona Ram. Till last evening, Gehlot seemed the winner with party president Sonia Gandhi calling him up for the party's performance in the state. But by today noon, many claimants emerged. And most surprising was the state president Dr C.P. Joshi. He seemed out of the race after he lost elections by the thinnest possible margin of one vote to BJP candidate from Nathdwara segment. But today he did not mince words about his ambitions. “There have been precedents in the state when a non-MLA has been chosen as the CM. Even Gehlot was not a MLA when he became the CM,” he said, while maintaining the Congress legislature party would chose its leader as per the tradition of the party. Joshi also sought to take the credit of the party's victory, “I have lost a battle but won a war,” he said. On being asked whether he considered himself a CM candidate, Joshi said in his opinion each Congress worker and leader was worth becoming the CM. Other than him, MP Girija Vyas has also reportedly staked claim for the top post. At the same, Jat leader Col retd. Sona Ram has openly demanded the seat. He said it was time the state had a Jat leader as the CM. Sis Ram Ohla, another strong candidate has reportedly rushed to Delhi to meet Sonia for pushing his name for the post. With the Lok Sabha elections not far away, the party leadership has a tedious task at hand to ensure that there are no disgruntled faces in the party.
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Women, Muslims double their tally this time
Jaipur, December 9 Former Chief Minister of the state, Vasundhra Raje, may not have got majority in the elections despite playing the woman card, still the state electorate have chosen more women candidates this time, breaking the two-decade old record. The number of women MLAs has more than doubled in the 13th Assembly elections. As many as 28 women leaders, with 13 each from the Congress and the BJP and two Independents, gained entry into the Vidhan Sabha. Before this, the highest number of women MLAs figured in the 8th Vidhan Sabha. There were 17 women chosen for the Assembly then. Even though voters did not choose Sumitra Singh, the Speaker of the 12th Vidhan Sabha and BJP candidates could not gain much from the persona of first woman Chief Minister of the state, Vasundhra Raje, their role in upliftment of women cannot be belied. The case of the state could be discussed as the best example for those supporting 33 per cent reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies. The women candidates include from royals to commoners and first timers. If there was former CM Vasundhra Raje, there were first timers like Anju Devi Dhanka, a tribal from Bassi constituency. Muslims candidates, too, fared better in the state, making its own statement about the secular fabric of the society. Twelve Muslim leaders got representation in the state assembly against seven leaders elected in the last Vidhan Sabha elections. The Congress had fielded 15 Muslim candidates out of which 10 won. The BJP put up four candidates out of which only two could win the elections.
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Worst-ever performance by Congress in MP
Bhopal, December 9 The Congress had to remain content with only 70 seats, less than half the 143 constituencies annexed by the BJP. This, when it had registered scintillating victories in a series of Lok Sabha and Assembly bypolls in the year and a half just preceding the elections. However, in the Assembly polls, the Congress failed to encash the anti-incumbency sentiment primarily because its top leaders squabbled like schoolgoing children for the chief ministership that was not to be. All party satraps confined themselves to their zone of influence- Jyotiraditya Scindia to Gwalior, Kamalnath to Chinndwara and Arjun Singh and his son Ajay Singh to Vindhya Pradesh. Beyond addressing a couple of corner meetings at Bhopal, former Chief Minister Digvijay Singh chose to remain aloof from campaigning. Instead of binding the state Congress into one unit, as was his mandate, Suresh Pachauri, who was named the PCC chief in February, only deepened the fractures in the party. While he concentrated on cornering as many tickets for his loyalists as possible, Pachauri who has never won a direct election could neither unite nor devise an effective winning strategy. The Congress depended too much on Uma Bharati’s capacity to damage the BJP poll prospects, particularly on her home turf of Bundelkhand region. Bharati not only failed to do that but also she could not win even herself. On the other hand, the Congress suffered due to the presence of the BSP in the electoral arena. The ruling BJP launched a well-orchestrated campaign centred on Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan. His development initiatives and his down-to-earth image paid rich dividends to the party. Of course, the BJP also played its ‘Hindutva’ card. A senior minister visited the Indore residence of a prime accused in the Malegaon bomb blasts, declared him to be innocent and promised every possible help to his family. The national leadership too harped on the “Hindu terrorism” issue as the campaigning reached its peak. And taking a leaf out of Narendra Modi’s book on how to win elections, the BJP dropped as many as 60 of its 171 sitting MLAs. Despite this, five of its senior ministers lost the polls. As Shivraj Singh Chauhan prepares to take over as the Chief Minister for a second term-something no other non-Congress Chief Minister has done so far-the Congress leadership can only rue an opportunity lost.
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Left: PM’s fiscal booster weak New Delhi, December 9 By stating this, the Left has indicated that it will try to corner the Congress-led UPA government on economic issues, especially the slowdown and Centre’s response to it, during the 14-day special session. “The package, apart from being announced late, is grossly inadequate,” said the CPM today, demanding a better public expenditure programme aimed at generating employment and enhancing income of working people. The party explained its observation saying the increase in plan expenditure was very meager - Rs 20000 crore, which was less than 0.5 per cent of India’s GDP. “What we require is enhancement in income of working class through increased public investment in agriculture, expansion of NREGA, higher allocations for health and education, infrastructure like rural roads, housing for the middle and lower income groups and universalisation of the PDS,” the CPM said, adding most of these measures had been ignored by the government. Elaborating on its dismissal of the PM’s economic package to help boost the economy, the CPM said the government has primarily relied on tax cuts, like the 4 per cent cut in the CENVAT rate, to stimulate the economy. “The earlier tax sops for the civil aviation sector has shown that the private corporate sector is not keen on reducing retail prices following such indirect tax concessions. In the absence of price cuts by industry, tax concessions would only bolster corporate profits and fail to stimulate demand in the real economy,” said
the party. It further claimed that the meagre interest subsidy and tax concessions to the export-oriented sectors would not tackle the problem of layoffs. “Moreover, the elimination of export duty on iron ore is a totally retrograde step, which is not in the country’s interest,” the CPM claims.
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Women emerge big winners in Chhattisgarh
Raipur, December 9 The election not only saw the highest turnout of women voters, around 67 per cent, but also witnessed a record number, 11 of them, emerging victorious out of the 92 who were in the fray. While six women from the BJP made it to the Assembly, five from the Congress also tasted victory. The BJP had filed nomination for nine women candidates out of the total 90 seats the party contested while the Congress had given tickets to 10 women in its fight for 87 seats. In the outgoing Assembly, the BJP had four women MLAs while the Congress and the BSP had one each. During the 2003 election, the BJP had given tickets to eight women candidate out of which four made it. On the other hand, six Congress women had contested but none of them won. It was in 2006 that Renu Jogi, wife of former chief minister Ajit Jogi, bagged an Assembly seat as a Congress MLA after contesting the bye-election from Kota following the death of senior Congress leader Rajendra Prasad Shukla. Among the prominent women leaders who have made it to the state’s third Assembly includes Renu Jogi, BJP national secretary Saroj Pandey, Renuka Singh and Lata Usendi. Pandey, who contested the Assembly election for the first time and is the mayor of Durg, is likely to be rewarded with a ministerial berth in the new government poised to be formed under Raman Singh by Friday.
— PTI
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UP’s human rights record worst: Report Guwahati, December 9 The report, which was released here today by the ACHR, also stated that armed opposition groups (insurgent groups) in Assam were ‘the worst violator of international humanitarian laws including targeted killings of at least 49 Bihari labourers and killings of many politicians during the year 2007.’ The report states that out of the total 301 recorded complaints of encounter killings in the country, 201 took place in UP during last year. The state also recorded 241 cases of death in judicial custody and maximum number of custodial rape (two) in the year 2006-07. As per the report, UP also reported highest number crimes against the Scheduled Caste during the year 2007. It recorded 6,118 cases of crimes against SC out of the total 30,031 cases reported from all parts of the country. It was in Madhya Pradesh where highest number of 1,501 crimes out of total 5,532 crimes against the Scheduled Tribes were reported in 2007. Releasing the report, the ACHR director Suhas Chakma said armed opposition groups in Assam including the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), Dima Halam Daogah (Jewel Garlosa) or Black Widow, Muslim United Liberation Tigers Front of Assam, Harkat-ul-Mujahideen and a few others were responsible for worst cases of violation of international humanitarian law including violation of right to life, torture and abduction. The report underlines that human rights violations by the state, combined with the failure of state institutions to address violations, are fuelling internal conflict. The report exposes the very low level of state and non-state monitoring of human rights violation in the country which can be attributed to a mixture of state inaction and in some cases deliberate policy. Referring to the Mumbai terror attacks, the ACHR report states those who have exposed atrocious failures in intelligence gathering and/or failure to act on intelligence. It states that ‘presently 21 states - 13 naxals infested, seven north eastern states and Jammu and Kashmir - are afflicted by conflicts and human rights violations by the state agencies. The report has marked Orissa as ‘most insecure state’ for the Christians and condemns the ‘political repression’ as most serious in West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura.
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More armed forces posts soon New Delhi, December 9 The instructions are to give a break down of the number of posts cleared by the Cabinet while accepting the second part of the Ajai Vikram Singh Committee (AVSC) report. For the forces, the sweetest part is that some promotions will be carried out within this year. Promotions and vacancies in the forces are assessed as per a calendar year. The forces were waiting for the instructions. In the absence of these, the posts would have then been released next year. The Union Cabinet had accepted the A.V. Singh committee’s second phase in the first week of October. The new posts are for the ranks of Lt-Gen, Maj-Gen, Brigadier and Colonel and their equivalents in the Navy and the Air Force. The posts will be released in a staggered manner. In case of the Army and the Indian Air force, the posts will be released over a period of five years starting this year while for the Navy it will be ten years. The following number of additional posts will be released: Army - Lt-Gen 20, Maj-Gen 75, Brigadier 222 and Colonel 784; in the IAF - Air Marshall 6, AVM 21, Air Comdr 51, Grp Capt 285; in the Navy - Vice-Admiral 4, Rear-Admiral 14 and Commodore/Captain 324. It is not that the release of the posts will be equally spread across in these years. The posts will be added as per need of each force in a particular year. The new posts will change the structure and profile of the Indian armed forces by cutting away at the “flab” in the middle-level that is at the ranks of Lt-Col and Major or equal ranks in the Navy and Air force. The total number of sanctioned posts in the forces remain the same, it is just that there will more openings at the top-level while posts at the middle-level will be rationalised. The MoD has also issued instructions for the reduction in the regular cadre and corresponding increase in the support cadre consisting of short service commissioned officers and re-employed officers (for Army). Now SSC will comprise about 60 percent of all ranks at the lower level that is Lieutenant, Captain, Major and Lt-Col. At present they occupy 40 percent of these ranks.
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Family planning scene dismal in UP, Bihar, Jharkhand
New Delhi, December 9 In rest of India too the increase in the use of modern methods of family planning has been marginal as compared to the last survey in 2004. By that standard, the goal of population stabilisation remains far from achievable. On most other health indicators, southern states have fared better than their northern counterparts. Conducted in 27 states on a huge sample, the DLHS has revealed that in Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh, only 20 per cent of the total births in three years preceding the survey have been institutional. In the latest survey, women, who had given birth during the three years preceding the survey, were asked if they had delivered in a health facility or at home under the supervision of a trained health personnel. In Kerala, Pondicherry, Goa and Tamil Nadu, more than 90 per cent of births had taken place in safe environment at institutions conducted by health professionals, but the situation in Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh was dismal. On the front of child immunisation, Uttar Pradesh is among the worst faring states, with full immunisation coverage touching just 30 per cent. The ongoing universal immunisation programme has, however, has done well in Goa, where the coverage has been 93 per cent. The full immunisation coverage of children is fairly good --- 80 per cent in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Punjab and Pondicherry. As regards to antenatal care, which refers to pregnancy-related healthcare provided by a doctor, an ANM or any health professional to women, the southern states have done remarkably well. The percentage of women who availed of any service ranges from 55 per cent in Meghalaya to almost complete coverage in Tamil Nadu, Goa and Kerala. The District-Level Household and Facility Survey 3 is the third in the series of district-level surveys conducted by the health ministry. The last DLHS was carried out in 1998 and 2002. Like the previous two surveys, the International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS), Mumbai, is the nodal agency for DLHS-3 --- the largest demographic and health survey, with a sample size of seven lakh households, covering all districts of the country.
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Death of asthmatic in dusty room is custodial death: SC
New Delhi, December 9 A Bench of Justices Altamas Kabir and Markandeya Katju made the observation while rejecting the plea of five police officers of the Madhya Pradesh Lok Ayukta in a case relating to the death of one R.K. Jain, deputy commissioner, commercial taxes, Bhopal. The accused had contended that they could at best be prosecuted under Section 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt) for which the maximum punishment is one year and a fine of Rs 1,000. On the other hand, custodial death, an offence under culpable homicide not amounting to murder (304 part 11), attracts a maximum sentence of 10 years, besides fine. The Madhya Pradesh High Court had quashed the charge against the accused officers and instead directed framing of charge under the minor offence of Section 323 of the IPC. The victim’s wife, Indu, challenged this ruling in the apex court. On july 14, 2004, Jain was picked up for questioning by the investigating wing of the Lok Ayukta after he allegedly accepted Rs 2,000 as a bribe from a tax consultant. He was found dead the next day. A postmortem showed that he died due to asphyxiation caused due to detention for a long time in a room filled with cobwebs and dust.
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PIL for removal of vital images from Google Earth
Mumbai, December 9 The petition filed by Mumbai-based lawyer Amit Karkhanis has demanded removal of images of the country from Google Earth. “In the alternative, I have demanded that at least the images of vital installations in the country be blocked,” said Karkhanis. “The petition is filed against the backdrop of terror attacks in Mumbai,” he said. “Even images of nuclear plants and defence establishments are available on this site. It is a security hazard,” he added. The petition is likely to come up for hearing on December 18. Google Earth, a subsidiary of popular search web site Google, is a US-based company. It has been made a party, along with ministries of defence, science and technology and information technology. Google Earth provides satellite images of any location on the globe through its website.
— PTI
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PM hints at cabinet expansion
New Delhi, December 9 The ensuing parliament was also discussed at the meeting that lasted over an hour, while the corridors of power remained rife with talk that new ministers might be inducted. Ever since finance minister P. Chidambaram was moved in as the home minister, the finance ministry is being looked after by the Prime Minister. There has been talk that the Prime Minister wants a full-fledged person at the helm of finance, with names of economist C. Rangarajan, former Karnataka Chief Minister S.M Krishna and deputy chairman of planning commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia doing the rounds as “the possible faces for the finance portfolio”. The Prime Minister already has too much at hand, including information and broadcasting, coal, environment, forests and now finance.
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Delhi: Aerostat radar to detect ‘rogue’ aircrafts New Delhi, December 9 The decision to install
Aerostat’ radar in Delhi comes close on the heels of defence minister A.K Antony saying that the country needs to guard against aerial threats. “We are planning to deploy a dedicated Aerostat radar here to secure the capital from threats from low-flying aircraft,” said IAF sources. These radars would be integrated with units of surface-to-air missiles (SAM) based in the capital. After the recent terror strikes in Mumbai, intelligence agencies had warned about a WTC-type terror strikes at important locations across the country. Antony had chaired a high-level meeting of the tri-services chiefs and his ministry officials to discuss means to counter any such aerial threat, after terrorists’ breached coastal security in Mumbai recently. In response to the intelligence warnings, IAF chief Air Chief Marshal Fali Homi Major had recently said, “We are prepared to tackle any such threat.” The deployment of an Aerostat here is one of the steps taken by the IAF to strengthen the aerial security of the capital, sources said.
— PTI
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Calls made to PCR are public documents: CIC
New Delhi, December 9 “Records of calls received in PCR are, in fact, public documents. Their disclosure is incumbent unless that have been made in confidence in which case such a condition will require to be recorded,” chief information commissioner Wajahat Habibullah said. “Unless it is clearly established that such a disclosure would impede the process of investigation or prosecution and not simply that the record will be used in defence by an accused,” he said. The case relates to one Ram Lal who sought details of a call made to the police control room on January 19 and 20, 2007 from the Model Town police station. A similar application was moved by one Asha Devi seeking same call details. The Delhi police refused to give information saying that it “could not be acceded to under section 8 (1) (h) of the RTI Act.” Not satisfied with the reply, Asha filed an appeal claiming that the calls were made by her and it was her right to know what she informed police. “There is nothing secret or any such thing which relates to you or any investigation or any third party related matter,” she pleaded. The Delhi police again rejected the appeal saying that it would impede the prosecution of an accused. Asha reached the CIC with a prayer to direct the officer concern to provide the required information and take action against the official responsible for it. The Delhi police, in its reply to the Commission, submitted that the brother of the appellant was among top ten criminals of north west district and was arrested by the Adarsh Nagar police station. “It is their tactics to call PCR falsely, mentioning the name of some police stations, so that the police refrain from having surveillance on his activities and to use such calls to take benefit during the trial of case,” the police submitted. However, the commission asked as to “how providing a record of calls received in PCR could impede the process, either of investigation or of prosecution, which would qualify the information for exemption from disclosure (under the RTI Act)”. — PTI
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Farmers to discuss performance of UPA govt
New Delhi, December 9 For starters, the farmers, meeting under the Consortium of Indian Farmers’ Associations (CIFA), want ban on the export of food grain to go. They say that lifting the ban will not hurt the food security of the country as the government has enough stocks to take care of its PDS and buffer stock obligations. “The year 2009 will be the year of farmers’ judgement. Based on issues discussed, we expect farmers to take informed decision for the 2009 general elections,” CIFA secretary-general P. Chengal Reddy says. According to Reddy, at present a good market is available in African countries and if the government allows the export of foodgrain, it will serve a dual benefit-of farmers gaining monetary gains and foodgrain reaching those who really need it instead of rotting in godowns in India. “India has enough foodgrain to take care of its food security,” said Reddy. The CIFA conclave will also take up issues of sugarcane farmers in a major way. Reddy said on one-hand arrears were not being paid to farmers and on the other hand they were also not getting good price for their produce. “The MSP, interest on arrears, decreasing productivity, non-availability of high yielding varieties, increasing cost of cultivation and more than Rs 6,000 crore arrears are some of the issues of sugarcane farmers in India,” Reddy added. He said according to the Sugarcane Control Act 1966, the MSP for sugarcane should be considered along with the cost of cultivation, interest of consumers and price of sugar. However, recommendations of various committees on the MSP had not been accepted and implemented. According to the Sugarcane control Act, the payment of the sugarcane grower had to be made in 14 days, but most of sugar factories were violating this, he said. Reddy further said the multi-crore loan waiver scheme, which the UPA government had propagated as the biggest benefit to farmers in its regime, had not benefited farmers in the true sense. According to him, what the farmers really want at the end of the season is profit, which has not happened with the majority of them. The reason, he said, was that the government had not been able to come up with adequate investment in infrastructure.
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Demand apology from Lankan army chief: Vaiko to PM
Chennai, December 9 In a letter to the Prime Minister the MDMK
leader said the Indian government should demand an unconditional apology from Fonseka and seek an explanation from the Sri Lankan president
Mahinda Rajapaksa. “If the Sri Lankan government does not oblige, the Indian government should take effective diplomatic measures to send back the Sri Lanka high commissioner from India,” he said. In an interview to Sunday Observer, the army chief said “The Congress-led Indian government would not listen to the political jokers in Tamil Nadu and insist Colombo to go for a ceasefire with the Tamil Tiger rebels.” “Never before in the history of India, any army general of a foreign country dared to make such criticism of Indian political leaders,” Vaiko said. He further said “In a democracy, the army
generals do not make any such criticism about the leaders of a foreign country. This is an unprecedented humiliation to the Indian government and Indian people by the chief of Sri Lankan army.” Vaiko expressed hope that the Indian government would take up this issue seriously with the Sri Lankan government, condemning the statement of Sarath Fonseka.
— UNI
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India flays Lankan army chief’s remark
New Delhi, December 9 India’s high commissioner to Sri Lanka Alok Prasad took up the matter “strongly” with Lanka’s defence secretary Gotabaya
Rajapaksa, who promised to look into the matter, external affairs ministry spokesman Vishnu Prakash said in response to a question on media reports pertaining to Fonseka’s comments in an interview where he referred to some politicians of Tamil Nadu as “political jokers.” “The defence secretary of Sri Lanka promised to look into the matter and conveyed regrets should any such comment have been made,” Prakash said. Fonseka had said the Indian government would never influence Sri Lanka to restore the ceasefire with the LTTE and it would not listen to the “political jokers” of Tamil Nadu whose “survival depends on the LTTE.”
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Lanka regrets army chief’s remarks New Delhi, December 9 “Our high commissioner to Colombo took up the issue strongly with the Sri Lankan defence secretary,” external affairs ministry spokesman Vishnu Prakash told mediapersons. The defence secretary is Gothabaya
Rajapaksa, a brother of President Mahinda Rajapaksa. The spokesman was responding to a question on remarks by Fonseka dubbing Tamil Nadu politicians as “jokers” for seeking a ceasefire between the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE. “The defence secretary promised to look into the matter and conveyed regrets should any such comment have been made,” Prakash added. “If the LTTE is wiped out, those political jokers like
Nadumaran, Vaiko and whoever who is sympathising with the LTTE will most probably lose their income from the LTTE,” the army chief said in an interview published in The Sunday Observer in Colombo. Lanka army chief Fonseka also alleged the politicians were “bribed” by the LTTE to make allegations that Tamil civilians were being killed by the army in Sri Lanka. The army chief’s comments elicited strong condemnation from political parties in Tamil Nadu, which demanded that the central government extract an apology from Sri Lanka. “Leaders criticising one another in Tamil Nadu is different but we cannot accept someone from outside the country saying such things about our leaders,” said Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi. External affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee is likely to go to Colombo this month to reinforce India’s message that a military offensive against
the Tamil Tigers should not affect Tamil civilians in that country. —
IANS
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Be careful while making allegations: SC to petitioner
Legal Correspondent
New Delhi, December 9 “Do you say police shot themselves,” a Bench comprising Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan and Justice P. Sathasivam asked the petitioner, who claimed that he was running an NGO and a security agency and was a witness to the encounter. “We feel you have been set up by someone…Police is monitoring you…We can have your antecedents verified,” the CJI told the petitioner yesterday, dismissing his PIL. If he had information about the encounter, he could assist those investigating the incident, Justice Sathasivam said. The NGO, Real Cause, run by the petitioner had just three persons - president, secretary and member - the Judges noted, wondering how it could contribute to health and education. Refusing to talk to reporters, the petitioner, who pleaded his case personally, made a hurried exit from the court.
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Maha govt set for own stimulus package
Mumbai, December 9 According to sources here, the Congress party leadership is keen on state governments enacting their own packages to boost economic activity and the lead in this regard may be taken by states where the party is in power. Maharashtra, which is reeling under poor sentiments from the Mumbai terror attacks, is likely to be among the first states to prepare a stimulus package. Sources say, among the proposals on the anvil is a slight reduction in sales tax on petrol and diesel. Earlier, the Vilasrao Deshmukh government had slashed the sales tax on petrol and diesel by two per cent and LPG by four per cent in June in order to reduce the impact of rising prices of these commodities on the common man. New finance minister Dilip Walse-Patil is also likely to tweak the tax structure in the state during the forthcoming winter session of the Maharashtra assembly, according to sources. Maharashtra earns around Rs 5,500 crore by way of sales tax on motor spirits. The state charges 28 per cent sales tax on petrol and diesel, one of the highest in the country. Other states, including neighboring Gujarat, charge far lower rates, state government officials admit. Maharashtra is also pushing for blending of ethanol with petrol and diesel so that the final cost to consumer can be brought down further.
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Archaeologist held on graft charge
Patna, December 9 The accused has been sent to a 14-day judicial remand after being produced in the court of special CBI judge here. Mishra, a superintending archaeologist of eastern circle, was nabbed by a team of CBI while allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 90,000 from a contractor at his office chamber. The probe agency also arrested clerk of the ASI office Rajesh Kumar who was acting as a conduit for accepting the money. After a search operation, the CBI has also recovered an amount of Rs 2.50 lakh in cash from the office drawer of Mishra and another Rs 50,000 from his house located on the ASI premises. Sources in the CBI revealed that the investigating agency had laid a trap to nab Mishra and his conduit following a complaint lodged by the contractor working for the ASI projects in Bihar. The contractor had charged Mishra with demanding 10 per cent cut from him for clearing his bills amounting to Rs 8.50 lakh for the work already completed. A preliminary inquiry of the complaint by the CBI revealed that the charge was true. After registering a case against him, the investigating agency laid a trap and the currency notes to be given to Mishra as bribe were smeared with chemicals and the serial numbers of all notes were listed before hand. As soon as the clerk allegedly accepted the money from the contractor and handed it over to Mishra in the latter’s office chamber, the CBI men waiting outside barged into Mishra’s office and recovered the money.
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CM post: Chauhan, Singh to be sworn in on Dec 12
New Delhi, December 9 According to BJP sources, Chauhan and Raman Singh will be formally elected leaders of the BJP legislature parties in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh by newly elected party legislators in Bhopal and Raipur tomorrow. The party has deputed senior leaders M Venkaiah Naidu and Ananth Kumar as observers for the BJP legislature party meeting in Bhopal and Ravi Shankar Prasad and Dharmendra Pradhan for the party legislature party meeting in Raipur.
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5 of endangered Onge tribe die
Port Blair, December 9 Ashok Chand, superintendent of police, South Andaman district, said, “Onge tribals drunk the chemical mistaking it to be alcohol last night from a plastic can that had got washed ashore from the Bay of Bengal at Dugong Creek.” A medical team led by deputy director R.C. Kar had gone to the far-flung island, about 125-km south-west of Port Blair, to provide emergency medical service to the seriously ill tribesmen. They would be flown to Port Blair for further treatment as the remote area lacked proper healthcare facility, Chand said. With the death of 5 Onge tribesmen, the island’s population of the tribe has come down to 95. Official sources said the population of Onge tribals, who numbered 672 in 1901, had dwindled to 100 recently.
— PTI
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Subdued Id celebrations in Bollywood
Mumbai, December 9 Many actors, including Aamir, Zayed, Farhan Akhtar, Sajid Khan, Shabana Azmi and Javed Akhtar, wore black bands to protest against the terror attack in Mumbai. Salman immersed himself in shooting for ‘Veer’, a film he has scripted, at Film City and exchanged Eid greetings with the cast and crew of the film. His family is known to celebrate all festivals with family and friends in a big way but they have refrained from doing so this time. Shahrukh and Aamir are preparing for the release of their eagerly-awaited films — ‘Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi’ and ‘Ghajini’ respectively, but are not promoting them in a very lavish manner. Aamir wore a black band to protest against the “life of terror which people have been forced to lead”, while greeting people on the occasion. Saif Ali Khan is out of the country shooting for his upcoming film and Katrina Kaif is away from Mumbai shooting for Rajkumar Santoshi’s ‘Aajab Prem ki Gazab Kahani’ with Ranbir Kapoor.
— PTI
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Big B, Shahrukh earn livelihood as labourers!
Mahoba, December 9 The incident came to light in Mahoba district, Uttar Pradesh, during the scrutiny of the list released by the NREGA under which these big shots were shown as the beneficiaries of ‘food for work’ scheme under the NREGA and named as daily wage workers. Indian team former skippers Rahul Dravid and Saurav Ganguly were also not spared of the ‘blunder’ and shown to have been given their share of labour under the rural scheme. However, this was not the first such incident as three years ago also people of silver screen and cricket fraternity were enlisted in the muster roll over the misappropriation of Rs 9 lakh, which were sanctioned for road construction work at the Kulpahar area under the rural scheme.
— UNI |
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Islam strictly ‘against’ terrorism
Bhopal, December 9 The “Shahar Quazi” was addressing a huge congregation of over 1 lakh Muslims after the special “Id-ul-zuha” namaz at Idgah here today. The Quazi said the Koran clearly says, “Killing one human being is equivalent to kill the entire humanity and saving one life equivalent to save the entire humanity.” He called upon the Muslims to pray for the country’s safety and security. “There is no contradiction between being a good Indian and a good Muslim”, he added.
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Burney to visit India today
New Delhi, December 9 Pakistan’s former federal minister for human rights and UN human rights council expert adviser Burney said he was visiting India from December 10 to 14 to celebrate UN Human Rights Day and will continue his efforts for peace in the region in the greater interest of human rights. “I am not coming to India just to receive awards but would like to give a message to terrorists that I am not afraid of their threats (not to go to India) and I would continue human rights work and peace struggle till my last breath,” he said.
— PTI
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2 B’deshis held with fake currency
Shillong, December 9 Aananta Marak from Netrakona district of Bangladesh, was arrested by BSF troops from Mahadev under Tura sector here yesterday. In another arrest, BSF troops apprehended a Bangladeshi identified as Muhammed Rai Hazong of Nongkhalai village, Netrakona district, on the same day.
— UNI
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Ritu Kumar gets French award Freedom fighter dead 5 militants killed
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