Guwahati, June 1
The Centre and the Naga rebel group NSCN(IM) today said both of them were committed to find a mutually acceptable early settlement to the long-drawn Naga political conflict, following a three-hour-long discussion held for the first time in Nagaland in the 13-year-long Naga peace process.

However, the discussion that was held at the “Heritage” resort in the heart of Nagaland’s capital Kohima, apparently hasn’t made any headway in resolving the present stalemate in Manipur over the issue of NSCN(IM) general secretary Thuingaleng Muivah’s proposed visit to his birth place Somdal village in Ukhrul district of the state.

The NSCN(IM) leader had come from Viswema village near Nagaland-Manipur boundary, where he had been waiting since May 5 last to take the onward journey to Somdal, to attend today’s talks in Kohima and went back there under heavy security. Centre’s interlocutor for the Naga peace talks, RS Pandey, accompanied by special director, Intelligence Bureau (IB), Ajit Lal today held discussions on various issues with leaders of NSCN(IM) keeping in view the “uniqueness of the Naga history and situation to find settlement that should be honourable and acceptable to the both sides.”

Emerging out of the parley, Pandey told the media that the today’s discussions covered wide-ranging issues based on a set of proposals submitted earlier by the NSCN(IM) to the Government of India and both the sides expressed their commitment to explore all possibilities to arrive at an agreement on “certain sensitive issues”. Pandey, however, sounded hopeful to iron out differences on the contentious issues in due course of time.

On the NSCN(IM)’s persistent demand for a single administrative set up incorporating all Naga inhabited areas of the North East, Pandey said the Government of India’s stand on this matter was that it (Naga integration) needs consensus among the states concerned. He also informed that the Centre had invited the NSCN(IM) leaders to hold next round of peace talks in New Delhi.

Muivah appreciated ‘more seriousness and sincerity’ on part of the Government of India for finding a negotiated settlement on the basis of “unique rights, history and situation” of the Naga people. He termed today’s round of discussion as ‘significant’. However, on the Centre’s invitation for next round of talks in New Delhi, Muivah said he would have to consult his people before taking a decision.

Though he recognised difficulties of the Centre on certain contentious areas, Muivah insisted, “Integration (of the Naga inhabited areas) is a natural aspiration of the Naga people, we believe the Government of India also understands it and hope they will solve this issue in due course of time.”

New Delhi, June 1
Rebuking a retired Judge of Punjab for trying to become two years younger on record 12 years after joining service, the Supreme Court has set aside verdicts of the Punjab and Haryana High Court and two courts below that had asked the state government to alter his date of birth.

“Ordinarily, we would have saddled respondent No. 1 (Megh Raj Garg) with costs, but keeping in view the fact that he has already retired from service, we have refrained from doing so,” a Bench of Justices GS Singhvi and CK Prasad ruled in a recent verdict.

Garg joined service as a Sub Judge-cum-Judicial Magistrate (Class II) in March, 1973, mentioning his date of birth (DOB) as March 27, 1936, while applying for the post in response to an advertisement of the Punjab Public Service Commission.

On February 22, 1985, he made a representation to the Registrar of the HC seeking to change his date of birth as March 27, 1938, on the basis of a correction allowed by Panjab University.

The suit filed by Garg was “clearly misconceived and the trial court committed a serious error” by passing a decree in his favour and the lower appellate court and the HC “repeated the same error” by refusing to set aside the decree, the Bench said.

Being a law graduate, he must have been aware of the DOB recorded in his matriculation certificate. If any genuine correction was necessary, he would have “immediately after joining the service” made an application to the university, instead of waiting for 10 years,” the apex court said.

Unfortunately, the three courts blow “totally misdirected” themselves in appreciating the true scope of the relevant rule that allowed such corrections only for two years from the date of joining. All of them committed a “grave error” by nullifying the government decision, taken in consultation with the HC, not to accept his representation, the Bench ruled.

New Delhi, June 1
The CPM today dared Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to honour the premium he places on value-based politics by stripping Union Telecommunications Minister A Raja of his ministerial responsibilities pending the CBI probe into his alleged role in 2G Spectrum allocation. “The PM has always placed a premium on value-based politics. It is now time to honour that premium,” party’s Politburo member Sitaram Yechury today said, asking the UPA to mend the damage already done to the nation in terms of Rs 1,90,000 crore loss caused due to unfair 2G allocation.

The red brigade cited incriminating documents against Raja to claim that a whopping Rs 1.90 lakh crore were lost due to the minister’s alleged corrupt dealings to favour few companies. The CPM wants the entire money recovered from the beneficiaries and invested in the social sector where India was in dire need of financial resources.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) recently said the GSM operators who held spectrum in excess of the original spectrum bundled with the licence should be made to pay market based prices retrospectively as benchmarked by the 3G spectrum auction prices. The senior Left Front partner today welcomed TRAI’s suggestion to recover the money squandered due to Raja’s alleged manipulations (he interpreted first-come, first-serve not on the basis who applied first, but on the basis of who paid the money first) and sought that the same be extended to new entrants and the CDMA operators for the crossover licences.

“These new entrants should also be made to pay the market value of the spectrum, as benchmarked by the 3G auction recently. Spectrum is a rare national wealth and should be used to the country’s social advantage,” said the CPM leader in the Rajya Sabha. The party recalled Prime Minister’s May 24 assertions that the government would take a view on Raja if the CBI probe found him guilty and said nailing the minister was not enough. “The country’s wealth should be recovered first,” Yechury said.

New Delhi, June 1
The stand off between the Congress and YS Jaganmohan Reddy took an interesting turn after the Kadapa MP said the party had given him the go-ahead to continue with his “Odarpu Yatra”- a claim that was strongly refuted by senior party leader Veerappa Moily.

After meeting Moily- in charge of party affairs in Andhra Pradesh- Jaganmohan said the senior Congress leader had given him the green signal to continue with the yatra and also that his tour had been widely appreciated by Moily.

Barely a couple of hours later, Moily told reporters: “I never told him to go-ahead nor did he take my permission. There is no question of giving permission when he has not discussed the issue with me. Our advice is better he desists from going ahead with the yatra,” he said.

Jaganmohan said he had told Moily that the yatra was apolitical and aimed at visiting the families of those who had died of shock or had allegedly committed suicide after hearing the news of his father Y S Rajasekhara Reddy’s death.

However, Moily said: “I asked him not to go to the Telangana region till the by-polls are over. But he never asked me about other areas nor I gave any persmission to him.”

The Law Minister said he also contacted Jaganmohan after he spoke to the media and told him not to go ahead.

“When he goes to some place, there will be meetings and rallies, there may be some problems. Already some problems have been created. It is good for him not to continue... ,” he added.

Jaganmohan has been in trouble ever since he defied the party’s directive and went ahead with his tour of Telangana region on Friday last. However, he had to abandon the yatra after violence erupted in Warangal district, the hot bed of the Telangana agitation.

Congress sources said the fact that Sonia Gandhi had not met Jaganmohan was a clear indication of the party leadership’s unhappiness with him. There are various theories on why the Congress is going soft on YSR’s son.

This is interpreted as the grand old party’s hesitation to rock the boat ahead of the Rajya Sabha poll. Another reason is besides being a good fund raiser; the young Kadapa MP also has the support of youth and YSR’s loyalists.

Jaganmohan, who is emerging as the new problem child for the Congress, is in no mood to mend fences with Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister K Rosaiah, whom he criticised for his way of handling the situation. 

New Delhi, June 1
Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee skipped the Cabinet meeting again today, saying she had “some serious job” to do rather than attending the meeting on Jharkhand, but lost her temper when reporters asked her about her frequent absence. Although Banerjee had earlier remained away from several Cabinet meetings as she used to be in West Bengal, she did not attend the Cabinet meeting held this morning to decide on President's Rule in Jharkhand despite being in Delhi.

“It depends on how serious is the meeting,” she said, justifying her absence from the meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. “Sometimes the ministers go, sometimes they have some other duty. It is a very casual thing, nothing serious,” she said and added she did not attend the meeting as it was “only for Jharkhand. A very simple meeting” and that she was “doing some serious job here”. While defending herself, she targeted her predecessor Lalu Prasad Yadav, saying he “did not answer a single question” in Parliament on the Railways during his five-year tenure, but the media did not question it.

“If I remember correctly, my predecessor Laluji did not answer a single question in the Parliament in his five years tenure. I replied 99.9 per cent questions. Why did not you ask this question to him? You people are politically biased,” she replied to the reporters' queries on her frequent skipping of the Cabinet meetings and left in a huff.

When asked about the reports of differences between the Congress and her party Trinamool Congress, Banerjee said, “Some conspiracy is going against us. This is very unfortunate.” She said she would attend the meeting in the evening for release of the UPA report by the PM and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi on completion of the government's one year, saying it was her “first priority” to do so.

“There are no differences between the Trinamool Congress and Congress. We are absolutely comfortable. I have great respect for the PM,” Banerjee said. Alleging some people are “spreading rumours" to “create some confusion between the two parties”, she said, “I can assure you there is no difference between the Trinamool Congress and the government.” The Railway Minister said she is “part and parcel of the UPA” and has “some obligation and duties” as an ally. — PTI 

New Delhi, June 1
The Ministry of Rural Development has released grant-in-aid worth Rs 10 crore for Punjab and Haryana for construction of rural roads under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY).

The sum is from the special window created in National Bank for Agriculture & Rural Development under RIDF as grants-in-aid to the Punjab Roads and Bridges Development Board and Haryana Rural Roads and Infrastructure Development Agency -- agencies executing the works taken up under the PMGSY in the state.

The PMGSY, a 100 per cent Centrally-sponsored scheme, envisages connectivity to all habitations with a population of 500 persons in rural areas and about 250 persons and above in the hilly, tribal areas and desert areas. 

Chandigarh, June 1
The CBI today accused Haryana’s disgraced top cop SPS Rathore of “trying to distort and confuse the facts” in Ruchika molestation case and added the “convict intentionally and deliberately with prior planning molested Ruchika on August 12, 1990”. The assertion, in the form of a reply, was handed over to the Punjab and Haryana High Court a day after Rathore’s wife-cum-counsel Abha Rathore described him as “a man of high moral character”. It came as Rathore’s term in Burail jail entered the second week today.

Rathore was sent to the jail soon after the appellate court upheld its conviction, while enhancing the sentence from six months to one-and-a-half years on Tuesday last. His plea for suspension of the sentence, placed before Justice Ajay Tewari, could not make any headway today, as complainant’s counsel Pankaj Bhardwaj was taken ill.

But the premier investigating agency, in its reply, made attempts to demolish brick by brick the defense case built by Abha Rathore. It said prosecution witness Aradhana had “personally seen the overt acts of the petitioner-convict, while molesting Ruchika”. Later, she even told Aradhana the convict was “feeling emboldened” and might “further molest her”. The CBI said Ruchika broke down and could not narrate the entire incident of molestation to her father SC Girhotra, who asked Aradhana to take the victim to her mother “so she could disclose the entire incident”.

Responding to the allegations of Ruchika’s signatures being forged and her father and brother not signing the initial memorandum, the investigating agency said the prosecution has proved the victim signed the memorandum and another application.

“This fact has been proved by prosecution witnesses Anand Parkash, Madhu Parkash, Aradhana and SC Girhotra. The evidence of the handwriting expert is weaker than the direct evidence,” added the CBI in the reply filed through its counsel Anmol Rattan Sidhu and Ajay Kaushik. 

t It was a day of disappointment for Rathore’s family and even the media. The wait for the hearing started at about 10.30 am. At about 12.30 pm, it became apparent that the case would come up for hearing after lunch. Finally when it was heard at about 2.45 pm, an advocate informed Justice Ajay Tewari that complainant’s counsel Pankaj Bhardwaj, present in the court during the morning hours, was unwell and had been advised rest.Opposing the plea for a day’s adjournment, Abha Rathore expressed her doubts by saying her information was that Bhardwaj was downstairs. She added complainant Madhu Parkash had not even been made a party in the matter and the case should be heard as “my petitioner is in jail”. Justice Tewari said he had no intentions of mistrusting the lawyers and added: “We will do it tomorrow”. 

New Delhi, June 1
Dismissing petitions filed by medical practitioners from Haryana, Delhi and Rajasthan, the Supreme Court today ruled that individuals who acquired certificates, degrees or diplomas from the Hindi Sahitya Sammelan, Allahabad, after 1967 are not eligible to indulge in any kind of medical practice.

A vacation Bench comprising Justices BS Chauhan and Swatanter Kumar also held that the Hindi Sahitya Sammelan “is neither a University/Deemed University nor an Educational Board.” There is no document on record disclosing as to what was the institution/school where such persons had got admission, imparted education, attended the classes and practicals in laboratories and what was its duration, the Bench ruled.

Study of medical sciences required attendance in classes and a proper technical training and a competent faculty as they play an important role in maintaining public health, the court observed. In a 30-page judgment, the Bench said it had reached 10 “inescapable conclusions:”

The Sammelan is a Society registered under the Societies Registration Act. It is not an educational institution imparting education in any subject inasmuch as the Ayurveda or any other branch of medical field. No school/college imparting education in any subject is affiliated to it. Nor Hindi Sahitya Sammelan is affiliated to any university or board. The Sammelan has got no recognition from the Statutory Authority after 1967. No attempt had ever been made by the Society to get recognition as required under Section 14 of the Indian Medicine Central Council Act, 1970. After commencement of the Act, a person not possessing the qualification prescribed in Schedule 2, 3 and 4 of the Act is not entitled to practice.

Allowing the appeal filed by the Central Council of Indian Medicine which had challenged the claim of such practitioners, the apex court dismissed the appeals of Ayurveda Vikas Chikitasak Sangh, Jodhpur, Rajasthan Pradesh VS Sardarshhar, Delhi Pradesh Registered Medical Practitioners Association and Haryana Vaidaya Samiti.

New Delhi, June 1
The government has ruled out any women officers post for the select paramilitary forces even as a significant number of women were recently recruited in lower ranks of some of the border guarding forces.

The new notification issued by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), which recruits entry-level officers for the Central police forces will make it impossible for any women officer to head the almost 2,000 young women personnel in the combat ranks of three of the border guarding forces.

The UPSC has notified that women applicants for these entry-level officer posts are ineligible for border guarding forces of Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and Border Security Force (BSF).

“Both males and females are eligible for CISF and CRPF. For SSB, BSF and ITBP only male candidates are eligible,” the notification for recruitment of Assistant Commandants for the five paramilitary forces said on May 29.

Incidentally, the above mentioned forces started recruiting the women constables for their active duties along the borders for the first time since the last year, but the all-women battalions and companies are still commanded by the male officers. The forces had recruited women constables in their ranks with huge fanfare and Home Minister P Chidamabaram had commissioned the maiden women batches for ITBP and BSF.

The government has recently notified the Recruitment Rules for Central Police Forces Assistant Commandants (ACs) Examination 2010, scheduled to be held on October 24 this year. This is the entry-level exam for officers in these forces.

Initially recruited as ACs, the officers rise to become Deputy Commandants and Commandants of an operational company (100 personnel) or a full battalion (1,000 personnel) subsequently.

However, not many are happy with the new rule. "Although, male commanders in the ranks of the Assistant Commandants, Deputy Commandants and Commandants are commanding these women units well, a women commander will surely boost their morale,” a senior Home Ministry officer said. — PTI