Paradip (Orissa), May 15
The police today cleared the entry point to the proposed Posco mega steel plant at Balitutha, of protesters resisting land acquisition since January 26, using rubber bullets, teargas shells and batons, leaving at least 30 persons injured.

“The people on dharna at Balitutha defying prohibitory orders have been evicted,” Jagatsinghpur SP Debadutta Singh said.

Police personnel, who ordered the 1,000-odd protesters, mostly women and children, to leave, cracked down when 50 crude bombs were thrown at them, he said. He did not reply to the allegations that the temporary camps of protesters were set ablaze by the police.

The police used baton, teargas shells and rubber bullets to disperse the anti-Posco agitators, Inspector General of Police, Central Range, SK Upadhaya said. Some people received minor injuries in the police action, he said. Eleven others were also arrested, he added. “Our next target is obviously Dhinkia village, epicentre of the anti-Posco agitation,” Upadhaya said.

The police would remain in the area till officials surveyed the forest area and land was acquired for the proposed mega steel plant, he said. “We have been successful in restoring law and order at Balitutha being occupied by anti-project activists since January 26,” Jagastsinghpur district collector NC Jena said.

Earlier, local CPI MP Bibhu Prasad Tarai, Congress leader Umesh Swain and Jayant Biswal were arrested as a preventive measure, though former CPI MLA Narayan Reddy joined the agitators at Balitutha.

The administration had deployed 1,500 security personnel, six magistrates, four ambulances and two fire tenders at Balitutha prior to the operation, the police added. — PTI

Kolkata, May 15
Maoists today called for a 48-hour bandh in five states from May 18 to protest against a slew of decisions taken by the Central Government, including those concerning some PSUs. The bandh call has been given in Bihar, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Orissa and Chhattisgarh.

“Maoists will observe bandh on May 18 and May 19 in the five states to protest against the Centre’s decision to sell 10 per cent government’s stake in 10 profit-making Public Sector Undertakings,” top Maoist leader Kishenji told PTI over the phone from an undisclosed location. Breaking his silence after three months since reports of his injuries sustained during operations by security forces in Hatiloth forest near Lalgarh in March, he said he had been “well all along”.

“I have been well and now I am speaking with you as before,” he told this correspondent.

Kishenji said the CPI (Maoist) was against handing over 15,000 acres to steel maker POSCO in Orissa and favoured subsidy to the oil companies to keep the rate of petroleum products stable.

The elusive Maoist leader made a slew of other demands, including scrapping the IPL cricket tournament. He accused Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Union Ministers P Chidambaram, Praful Patel and Sharad Pawar of being involved in the ‘scam’ surrounding the popular T20 cricket event.

“The government should immediately take action against these accused along with others who are behind the scam involving telecom spectrum allocation,” Kishenji said. — PTI

Bangalore, May 15
It is Raj Bhavan vs the Reddys in Karnataka.

Karnataka Governor Hansraj Bhardwaj, in an unprecedented move, has asked the Reddy brothers, Janardhana and Karunakara, super rich mining barons from Bellary district of Karnataka, to appear before him in person after an MLC (member of legislative council) from Bellary submitted a complaint to the Governor.

Both Janardhana Reddy and Karunakara Reddy are ministers in the BS Yeddyurappa-led government. Sometime ago, when Chief Minister Yeddyurappa tried to rein in the two brothers, they staged a successful coup, forcing Yeddyurappa to revert all his orders considered detrimental to their interests. However, at this juncture, when the brothers appear to be heading for a long-drawn tussle with the Governor, the Reddys will have welcomed a little support from the Chief Minister.

Bhardwaj, a former Union Law Minister, was appointed Governor of Karnataka by the Centre by transferring incumbent Governor Rameswar Thakur to Madhya Pradesh. Right from the outset, Bhardwaj has adopted a combative approach with regard to the BJP government in the state. He does not cut a particularly popular figure with the BJP leadership in the state or with Chief Minister Yeddyurappa. However, Yeddyurappa, perhaps in view of the embarrassment meted out to him by the brothers in the past, is keeping conspicuously silent even as Bhardwaj has opened a new front against a member of his cabinet.

Talking to reporters here, Janardhana Reddy mentioned the struggles the brothers underwent in life and their knack for always coming out on the top. Sons of a police constable, the brothers made a humble beginning in life. People in Bellary still recall how Janardhana Reddy used to go around in the town on a battered scooter. From battered scooter, the Reddys now use their personnel choppers to shuttle between Bangalore and Bellary.

The extent of their wealth could also be gauged from the diamond-studded gold crown presented by Janardhana Reddy to the Lord Venkateswara temple at Tirupati last year. The crown, weighing about 30 kg, was estimated to be worth about Rs 45 crore! Lifting of stay by the Supreme Court recently on their mining operations in Andhra Pradesh had given some relief to the brothers, who had been facing hostile AP Government ever since Rajashekhar Reddy, Chief Minister of AP and a great benefactor of the Reddys, was killed in a helicopter crash.

But the relief was to be short-lived. Ordinarily, a Governor forwards to the Chief Minister any complaint that he may have received against a member of the Council of Ministers. But Bhardwaj, widely accused of acting like an active member of the Congress, wants to meet the brothers and has been found to be quite insistent upon this point.

Reddys had sent their lawyer to the Raj Bhavan to reply to the points raised in the notice. But Bhardwaj is not happy and he has asked the brothers to appear before him in person on June 3. In response, Janardhana Reddy has asked that is it correct on the part of the Governor to use his office as a court of law.

New Delhi, May 15
In a shocking incident, the Indian shooting contingent was harassed by the organisers of the ISSF World Cup in Dorset, UK, which forced team manager M Padmanabhan to shoot off a letter to the High Commission in London.

In his letter, Padmanabhan brought to light the frequent harassment the shooters encountered. He said ace trap shooter and Commonwealth Games gold medallist Manavjit Singh Sandhu was insulted by transport supervisor Mike, who asked the Olympian to get off the bus.

“Our Indian shooters were in the process of boarding the bus from the ranges to the official hotel when the driver slammed the door shut on the Indian shooter waiting outside and left him at the range. When the other shooters on the bus strongly objected, the driver turned back and went to Mike. “Mike then yelled at our shooters and insulted them. He was extremely rude and threatened the team with dire circumstances. He then addressed our Indian World Champion and Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Manavjit Singh and told him to get off the bus. He refused saying that the bus was the official transport and not his personal vehicle. Mike then threatened him by saying that the Indian team would not be allowed to take the bus tomorrow morning,” Padmanabhan wrote in his letter to the High Commission.

“Two days earlier, the same transport department had forced our two women shooters Shreyasi and Shagun to get off the bus. They were humiliated in front of all other competing nations,” the letter, released by NRAI, said. Padmanabhan requested the High Commission to take up the matter with the organising committee so that Indian shooters do not have to face more embarrassment.

“We are feeling harassed and cannot believe that we are being treated this way. We request that you may take this matter up with the ISSF World Cup Oganising Committee. We are feeling very insecure, insulted and threatened in the current atmosphere,” Padmanabhan added.

Rajiv Bhatia, Secretary of National Rifles Association of India, too, alleged the bus driver misbehaved with Manavjit.

He said the transport operators demanded part of the fees in cash and when the team manager went to a bank to encash the travellers’ cheques, they asked the shooters to get off the bus. Bhatia said the bus operators accused Manavjit of misbehaving with the vehicle driver, which was not true. “I spoke to Manavjit who said there was no truth in the charge”.

New Delhi, May 15
Rejecting any differences between party and the government on the issue of tackling Maoists, Minority Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid today said both the government and the party were on the same page on the issue.

"The government and the party are on the same page over the issue ... There are no differences of approach, only the difference of words," Salman Khurshid told reporters here.

In the midst of the debate on the right approach to dealing with the Naxalism, Congress president Sonia Gandhi has said the "root causes" of the problem need to be addressed while tackling it decisively.

"While we must address acts of terror decisively and forcefully, we have to address the root causes of the Naxalism", she said in the "Letter to the Congresspersons" in the first remarks on the issue since a controversy had broken out over Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh's article, criticising Home Minister P Chidambaram's handling of the problem.

When Singh's comments had triggered a controversy in the wake of April 6 Dantewada massacre, the Congress distanced itself from them and said such views should be expressed in party fora only.

Asked about Gandhi's remarks, Singh said there was "no difference" between the approach of the party and the government in tackling the issue. He suggested that he had penned the article at a time when there was talk of a "military strategy" to deal with Maoists.

Echoing similar views, Khurshid stressed that the context in what something was said need to be understood.

"When Congress president writes, she writes from an over-all view of anything. When the Home Minister speaks, he speaks directly about the Home Ministry's responsibility. When a general secretary of the party speaks, he tries to address a large number of people," Khurshid said.

Asked whether Gandhi's insistence on addressing the root causes of the Naxalism points to any softening of the stand on the Naxalism, Khurshid replied in the negative. — PTI

Chandigarh, May 15
Technology developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) for hi-end scientific applications like rocket sled may become the lifesaver of patients who have suffered a cardiac arrest.

Terminal Ballistics Research Laboratory (TBRL), a DRDO establishment based here, has conceived a system based upon wireless telemetry that facilitates pre-hospital initiation of thrombolytic treatment during the “golden hour” by significantly reducing the time from emergency call to initial treatment and thereby, reducing the extent of damage to the heart.

Telemetry is a technology that allows remote measurement and reporting of information and is vital in the development phase of missiles, satellites and aircraft. It also has use in other fields like water and energy monitoring.

Cardiac arrest occurs when flow of blood to the heart is blocked. This derives vital oxygen to heart cells and if supply is not restored within a specific period, the portion of the heart cells and muscles become permanently dead.

“The first hour or so after the attack, called the golden hour, is crucial and much time is lost in transporting the patient to a medical centre. If the patient’s condition and medical parameters can be assessed by specialists during this period and requisite action is taken by para-medical staff, the chances of recuperation increase significantly,” PK Khosla, Group Director with TBRL said.

“This is where telemetry would come in and would be especially useful if patients are to be brought in from rural or far-off places,” he added. A paper in this regard was presented at a conference on emerging medical instrumentation here by Khosla and other experts, from C-DAC and Thapar University, Patiala, involved in the project.

Such a system for medical applications is not in use in India and in other parts is being introduced on an experimental basis. “We have developed and perfected the technology for our own use. It is only to be adapted and optimised for use in medical field,” Khosla said.

The system involves a gadget of the size of a computer CPU to be installed in any ambulance and attached to the medical instruments onboard. This would have a direct point-to-point link through microwave with the base unit at the medical centre, which would provide cardiologists real time information on the patient’s condition and enable them to instruct para-medics accordingly.

Though the telemetry system used by DRDO is much larger in size, the one envisioned for medical applications is much smaller and can be economised. Moreover, all required hardware and software is indigenous and available in the country through the private sector. This would also enable mass adaptation of the system.

New Delhi, May 15
A city court today ordered framing of charges against Congress leader Sajjan Kumar in a case of murder and instigating a mob which allegedly killed five persons during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

Additional Sessions Judge Sunita Gupta allowed the plea of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which is investigating the case, seeking prosecution of Sajjan Kumar under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

According to the CBI, the Congress leader on November 1, 1984, instigated a mob to kill Sikhs following the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards. The five other accused, Balwan Khokhar, Mahender Yadav, Capt Bhagmal, Girdhari Lal, Krishna Khokhar, were charged with leading the mob and killing Sikhs.

The CBI filed a chargesheet against Sajjan Kumar and others in two cases for allegedly instigating mobs during the riots, in which more than 3,000 Sikhs were killed across Delhi.

The court said the charges under Sections 302 (murder), 395 (dacoity), 427 (mischief to property and trespass) and 153A (promoting enmity between different communities) would be formally framed on May 18.

The trial will begin after the framing of charges. The Delhi High Court had earlier ordered completion of trials relating to the 1984 riots within six months. — IANS

New Delhi, May 15
Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, the most widely known moderate face of the BJP/Jana Sangh, after former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, died at 87 in Jaipur today.

His confidence in his acceptance as a moderate and acceptable face of the Sangh Parivar led him to make one vital mistake almost at the fag end of his political career, which was to expect that political parties keeping aside their ideological commitments would vote him as the President, against UPA nominee Pratibha Devisingh Patil in July 2007. He felt hurt when he lost but not before putting up a spirited fight against the first women presidential nominee.

He had served as the Vice-President since 2002, maintaining the dignity and impartiality of the high office he occupied as Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, notwithstanding the fact that his Parivar had elevated him from a state leader of Rajasthan to a position of national eminence trusting him as their man.

But then that was the persona of Bhairon Singh Shekhawat. His humble origins never weighed heavy on his shoulders and he always measured up to the dignity and prestige of the office he occupied.

Born in Khachariyawas, a small village in Sikar district of Rajasthan, in October 1923, his father’s early death forced Bhairon Singh, the eldest of eight siblings, to abandon school and join the police service for earning a livelihood. But in 1948, soon after he was promoted as an Assistant Sub-Inspector of Police, he resigned and joined politics.

Four years later, he successfully contested his first assembly election from Danta-Ramgarh constituency in Rajasthan on a Jan Sangh ticket and entered the assembly never to lose the successive assembly polls in his home state, but once in 1972 from Gandhi Nagar, Jaipur.

That is if we don’t count his defeat in parliamentary polls from Barmer a year earlier in 1971. Soon thereafter the Jana Sangh sent him up to Rajya Sabha in 1974.

He led all three non-Congress governments in the state in 1977-1980, 1990-1992 and 1993-1998, before he handed over the mantle to Vasundhara Raje, shifting base to Delhi.

When the Congress returned to power in 1980, it dismissed all Janata Party governments in the states, including the one led by Shekhawat in Rajasthan. In December 1992 again, then PM PV Narasimha Rao dismissed the BJP governments in all states for sending kar sevaks to demolish Babri Masjid. A year later, while the BJP lost in other states like UP and MP, Shekhawat managed to return to power though with a razor-thin majority.

He was the first Chief Minister to set up a state Waqf Authority to protect vast Waqf properties and undertook the renovation work of the famous ‘Dargah’ of Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti at Ajmer and established the Rajasthan State Urdu Academy.

“A government is responsible to all sections of its people, not just those who have voted for it,” he used to say. The state bureaucracy was always happy with him because he never fell for the policy of transfers and dividing the bureaucrats on partisan lines.

Mussoorie, May 15
Former Speaker of the Lok Sabha Somnath Chatterjee became the first person to be fined by the Traffic Friends, formed in association with the Mussoorie police, for violating traffic rules of driving during restricted hours on the Mall Road here today. Chatterjee is in Mussoorie to deliver a lecture to trainees at an institute.

Senior citizens of Mussoorie were incorporated as traffic friends by the Mussoorie police on the day by cutting the ribbon at Picture Palace. In total, 55 persons, including women, have been selected for the role of the Traffic Friends.

The Traffic Friends, at the Jhoola Ghar, intercepted a vehicle with a beacon, in which the former Speaker was seated, plying on the Mall Road after restricted hours.

The Traffic Friends halted the vehicle of Chatterjee and informed him about the traffic rules and served their first challan of Rs 100. Chatterjee took it sportingly and accepted the fine. He said if any rule had been broken by him, he would pay the stipulated fine immediately.

Chatterjee commended the efforts of senior citizens in making people follow the traffic rules through Gandhigiri. He later entered a sweet shop and enjoyed Bengali sweets.

The crowd surrounded Chatterjee as if he was a rock star. Senior Citizen Forum president RS Mishra said even first Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru used to walk on the Mall Road after restricted hours and Somnath Chatterjee had put a fine example for other public representatives and government servants and this fine should send a positive message in the society.

Jagjit Kukreja, Sunil Panwar, Rajrani Grovwer, Harish Kalra, Sidh prakash Jain, Rajendar Goyal, Anita Saxena, Avtar Singh Kukreja, Narendar Padyar, Rajat Agarwal and others were present at the spot.

Jaipur, May 15
With little over a month to go for the Rajya Sabha elections in the desert state, lobbying has intensified within the ruling Congress and the Opposition BJP for making it to the Upper House of Parliament. Five of the total 10 Rajya Sabha seats from the state are up for grabs. While four sitting members will complete their six-year tenure, the fifth seat has fallen vacant due to the death of BJP MP Krishnalal Valmiki. The MPs completing their term include Narendra Budania and Santosh Bagrodiya from the Congress and Lalit Kishore Chaturvedi and Najma Heptullah from the BJP.

The Congress, which currently has four members in the Upper House, hopes to bag all five seats going to the polls. Though the nominations will be filed next month, there is a buzz in the Congress circles that the party may look to balance caste equations while allotting the ticket.

The ruling party may opt for Gujjar, Jain and Muslim combination. While Muslim and Jain communities from the state have no representation in Parliament, Gujjars only got single ticket in the last Lok Sabha elections, instead of usual three. The names of Sanjay Gujjar and Mahir Azad have emerged from Gujjar and Muslim communities, respectively, while that of Dinesh Khodnia and Suparas Bhandari have been doing rounds from the Jain community.

However, sources said Jat leader Budania, who was known for his proximity to CM Ashok Gehlot, had a strong case for re-nomination, as he got a short term of 10 months. He was elected in August last year after former Union Minister Jaswant Singh resigned after being elected to the Lok Sabha from Darjeeling. Another front-runner from the state is AICC spokesperson Mohan Prakash, who incidentally is the only spokesperson without a seat in the House.

Though he has been visiting the state often, but has refrained from making any comment on the issue. Among the other contenders, the names of former PCC president BD Kalla, senior leader Parasram Mordia and former minister Bhuvanesh Chaturvedi are also doing the rounds. Meanwhile, grapevine has it that prominent Gujjar leader Kirori Singh Bainsla or one of his nominee might be offered the ticket to pacify Gujjars. It would not be difficult for the Congress as the Gujjar leader has already quit the BJP.

On the other hand, among the likely BJP nominees are state BJP president Arun Chaturvedi, senior leader Lalit Kishore Chaturvedi and Omkar Singh Lakhawat. While elections to the four vacant seats will be held on June 17, the by-election to the seat that fell vacant after Valmiki’s demise will take place on June 21.

Hyderabad, May 15
Claiming the responsibility for yesterday’s killing of a constable here, a little known city-based group having alleged links with the LeT and the SIMI has warned of more “revenge attacks” if perpetrators of the Mecca Masjid firing were not brought to book.

The police had found a CD near the place where the constable died after the firing by unidentified motorcycle-borne assailants in the old city area here. The CD contained neither any audio nor video, but had a letter in Urdu attributed to Tehrik-e-Galiba Islam warning of more attacks if the government fails to order arrest of those responsible for police firing after May 18, Mecca Masjid blast in Hyderabad three years ago, the police said. The group said several innocent Muslims were killed in the police firing immediately after the blast, adding it would take revenge if the government failed to arrest those involved in the firing.

However, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the city police today took over the probe into the killing even as Viqaruddin, said to be a member of the banned SIMI, was emerging as the key suspect.

The case was transferred from Hussaini Alam Police Station. The incident took place last evening at Shah-Ali Banda area in the old city of Hyderabad, the police said.

“The case was today handed over to the SIT for a thorough investigation into the death of police constable U Ramesh,” a senior police official said. Police officials, meanwhile, said some eyewitnesses have identified one of the assailants as Viqaruddin, said to be a member of the SIMI. Viqaruddin, allegedly having links with terror outfits like HUJI, is wanted in connection with two attacks on policemen on December 3, 2008 and May 18, 2009.

The body of Ramesh was shifted from Osmania General Hospital here to his native Madanapalli in Chittor district late last night after an autopsy. Three bullets were fired at Ramesh and one bullet was recovered from his chest during the autopsy. It was for the third time in the last 17 months that suspected terrorist elements attacked policemen on duty in Hyderabad city. Alleged ISI operative Viqaruddin opened fire on the sleuths of counter-intelligence cell at IS Sadan in December 2008, injuring a head constable, according to the police. He was also allegedly involved in the shootout at Falaknuma, in which a home guard died and a police constable was injured on May 18 last year, the second anniversary of Mecca Masjid blast. — PTI

New Delhi, May 15
A Delhi court today remanded Uttar Pradesh's independent MLA Mukhtar Ansari to 14-day police custody in a MCOCA case for allegedly running an organised crime gang.

Ansari was today brought here following a production warrant by local court here in connection with the case registered under the stringent provisions of the law.

Additional Sessions Judge Madhu Jain remanded Ansari to custodial interrogation of the Delhi Police to enable the investigators to unearth the whole conspiracy relating to running of an alleged organised gang in the national capital.

During the arguments, counsel for Ansari, I U Khan and S A Hashmi contended there was no ground to invoke the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act against the sitting MLA as he had been in judicial custody in a different case in Uttar Pradesh since August, 2005.

They submitted that he had never visited Delhi since then and there was no question of his being involved in any crime whatsoever in the national capital.

"Unless two criminal cases are pending against the accused, MCOCA cannot be invoked," they argued. The counsels also claimed the Delhi Police had no territorial jurisdiction to slap charges against Ansari under MCOCA.

Special public prosecutor B S Kain sought 14-day custodial interrogation, alleging Ansari was involved in running a crime syndicate along with inter-state gangster Munna Bajrangi and two other accused.

"My brother has been falsely implicated in the case at the instance of another UP-based gangster Brajesh Singh," Ansari's elder brother Afzal Ansari, a former MP, told reporters present outside the court. Brijesh, who had remained elusive since 1989, was arrested in January, 2008, from Orissa's Khurda district by a joint team of Orissa and Delhi Police. — PTI

Thiruvananthapuram, May 15
Famous the world over as a tourists' paradise, the nearby Kovalam Beach town has been hit by rampant incidents of sexual and physical abuse of children in the 12-18 age group, a study has said.

Nearly half of the 705 children interviewed during the study in Kovalam and five nearby coastal hamlets had undergone some sort of abuse, mostly by tourists, relatives and teachers, the study by a women NGO said.

Most of them were from the downtrodden sections, including children of fisherfolk, and school dropouts. Complaints of abuse were also received from child inmates in orphanages and child homes run by charities, Seema Bhaskar, project director of Mahila Samakhya Society, which conducted the study, said.

"Most shocking aspect of the study was many were victims of continuous sexual abuse right from the age of nine," she said. Fourteeen children revealed they were abused by tuition teachers and others by their elder siblings and 39 sexually abused by foreign tourists after offers of cash and gifts. In some cases, they were given mobile phones, fashionable clothes and cosmetics, she told PTI. Of 705 children, 6.36 per cent were physically abused in their homes. This included severe beatings and other such forms of torture.

The Mahila Samakhya Society, with support of the state Social Welfare Department, conducted the study in Kovalam, besides Kottukal, Kanjiramkulam, Vizhinjam, Karinkulam and Venganoor panchayats.

"We suspect there is a racket in the area in arranging children for customers who want sex, with the support of many youth who unfortunately act as middlemen," she said. A consolidated report would be presented to both Central and state governments next month after analysis and compilation of the data, Seema said.

On the methodology of the study, Seema said children were given a questionnaire during a workshop held in these areas with the help of local Anganvadis.

They were first counselled to persuade them to reveal their mental trauma without making them nervous. Classes were also held on matters like child rights, gender problems and various types of child sex abuse, she said. Seema said the need of the hour was for the children to be educated and protect them from physical and mental torture "A deeper study is also necessary to know the link between backwardness, livelihood and educational standards and the hapless conditions of children," she said. — PTI