New Delhi, October 3
The Commonwealth opening ceremony wouldn’t have been as successful had it not been for the CWG volunteers who worked round the clock at the stadium today.

Even Organising Committee chairman Suresh Kalmadi, President Pratibha Devi Singh Patil and Commonwealth Games Federation chief Mike Fennell also made a special mention of the volunteers in their opening speeches. Right from the entrance till the time the visitors were seated, volunteers were everywhere.

They were especially a lot of help to the foreign guests who were having trouble finding their way around at the stadium. From assisting team athletes after their march in the stadium to participating in the flag hoisting ceremony, from taking care of last minute details to attending agitated queries, the volunteers tried their best to contribute their bit in the ceremony.

And the spectators agreed, that apart from the grand ceremony at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium that they will remember for years to come, it’s their experience with the CWG volunteers that they will take back home.

After days of negative publicity regarding accreditation and volunteers backing out after claiming their swanky kits, volunteers going missing and not reporting on duty, adequate number of volunteers was present at the stadium today to take charge.

According to PIB Press operations, the ratio of paid Organising Committee staff to volunteers was as steep as 40:500. “We couldn’t have done it without them. The enthusiasm we see today is spectacular. There may be some shortcomings, but at a gala event like this complications are bound to come. We as volunteers and you as guests have to work together as a team and get the solution for any problem at hand,” said Komal Chauhan, assistant manager at PIB press operations.

New Delhi, October 3
A stunning show of colourful crackers in the sky, loud beats of AR Rahman’s music thumping at the feet and thousands of dancing artistes representing the rich and diverse India set a magnificent stage at the opening ceremony in the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, thus presenting a lifetime entertainment to the audience.

It was when the Mozart of Madras, Rahman, took over the stage that the stadium, which was almost full to its capacity, reached its best moment of the evening.

The crowd inside the stadium went crazy when the music maestro sung the theme song of the Commonwealth Games, 'Yaaron, Hai India Bula Liya', at the end of the ceremony.

The entire stadium was buzzing with the lyrics and people could not help shaking their legs to the tunes of the song. The athletes of different nations who were made to sit alongside the main arena stood from their seats to take a glimpse of Rahman.

The scene inside the jam-packed stadium became unimaginable when the song was followed by Rahman’s Oscar winning track ‘Jai Ho’.

Rahman’s show captured the pulse of the ceremony and was a big hit with the people who left the stadium humming his song.

New Delhi, September 3
The Congress-BJP political war transcended the cyberspace, with the saffron party accusing its rival of "petty, pickpocket-like theft" and buying a website aping the BJP's official site to direct visitors to the All India Congress Committee website.

The party said a cyber case legal notice had been sent to the AICC headquarters for using portal "www.bjp.com" with a similar domain name as www.bjp.org for "re-directing all hits to the AICC website". Party spokesperson Nirmala Sitaraman said even though a legal notice was served on the grand old party on September 27, so far no official confirmation had been received.

Sitaraman's contention is that her party is well known the world over as BJP. According to her, the ruling party purposely bought the private website, owned and operated by Bharat Journals and Publications, and linked it the AICC website to divert "traffic toward the Congress party". "It is a clear pickpocket-like theft, a very low, petty attempt by the ruling party to take away benefits of our identity," the BJP spokesperson said, terming it a "deliberate" and not an "unknowing" attempt.

Apparently the BJP got worried with low hits its website received on September 30, the day the Ayodhya verdict was announced. However, as per Sitaraman, over 40 lakh hits were received by www.bjp.com on September 30, which were all re-directed to the AICC website.

Now why BJP considers this a "deliberate" attempt by Congress is because as per the party spokesperson when political parties registered as websites, they did so in the .org format. "Commercial establishments usually have .com websites", Sitaraman argues, adding that since the website was "masked" and linked to the Congress website it is important for the BJP to know who was behind it and hence the legal notice.

Sitaraman said bjp.com website's owner details had been provided as Bharat Journals and Publications along with some telephone numbers in the US. When contacted, the phones were found to be connected to answering machines.

Meanwhile, by the evening some rectification appeared to have taken place at the website. When www.bjp.com was typed on the internet browser, the caption "All India Congress Committee-The Indian National Congress has always represented a secular, democratic, just and inclusive India, an India that is empowering the disadvantaged and the…." did appear. However, on punching the enter button, the user did not get automatically directed to www.congress.org.in -- the Congress website. The website was only providing links to services like education, jobs, property matrimony etc.

Meanwhile, Congress dismissed the issue, terming it "petty politics over what could be a technical fault". "It is unfortunate that BJP is playing petty politics over such an issue," party spokesman Shakeel Ahmed said.

New Delhi, October 3
Union Sports Minister MS Gill was “absolutely becoming unaccountable” when he asked the MPs to take the RTI route to get information, new Chief Information Commissioner AN Tiwari said asserting that mere dependence on the RTI Act will not promote transparency.

“Because there is RTI, some people are saying unless you come through RTI, we will not give you information. Latest example is MS Gill saying in Parliament that come through RTI route. How can you say that? It is absolutely becoming unaccountable. You should say that my system is such that you don't need RTI to get information," he said.

Tiwari said he would start a dialogue with all the "government instrumentalities" to identify documents and records which cannot be made public, so that all remaining records could be made available to public without any use of the transparency law. “My proposal to government is that they create a negative list of documents which cannot be disclosed. The rest of the files should be open, which can be accessed by citizens without the use of RTI. RTI works best when it is used the least," Tiwari said.

In such a regime, he said, the use of RTI Act would be limited to documents and records which have not been brought in the open category, thus making the use of transparency law even more effective.

Speaking on the success of transparency regime in the country, Tiwari said mere dependence on the RTI Act will not promote openness in the system, which is trained to have an "intuitive reflex to secrecy".

“Everyone in government is scared about what will happen if we become transparent," he said. He said while the present system of getting information through RTI should continue, at the same time there should be a dialogue with all the "government instrumentalities about an institutional adherence to transparency”.

Tiwari (64), who succeeded Wajahat Habibullah, said while opening documents for public scrutiny, "one size fits all" will not work. The class of documents which can be disclosed in one organisation can be confidential for another.

On the issue of proposed changes in the RTI Act, which are being contemplated by the government, he said, "Civil society does not have arguments for not amending the Act but those who want to amend the act also do not have the arguments for urgency of bringing the changes. Both are working with insufficient information." — PTI

Chandigarh, October 3
The Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) has declined to release pension benefits to a Major General who has been booked by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) under the Prevention of Corruption Act. The tribunal has said that all post-retiral benefits can be adjusted only after the criminal prosecution concludes.

Maj Gen AK Kapur had challenged the Disciplinary Vigilance (DV) ban on the release of full pension and other retiral benefits after the CBI registered a case against him for allegedly possessing assets disproportionate to known sources of his income. The matter is pending before the competent civilian court.

The CBI registered an FIR against General Kapur in October, 2007, on the basis of sourced information, which the officer contended were anonymous complaints against him. The FIR was lodged just prior to the Special Selection Board (SSB) meeting and the case prompted the Army Headquarters to impose a ban on his promotion.

The tribunal’s Bench comprising Justice AK Mathur and Lt Gen ML Naidu observed that the petitioner was facing DV ban “Type-C” which was invoked when the competent authority accorded approval for prosecution of the officer by the CBI in the civil court. As per provisions, all his retiral benefits would be paid after adjudication of the case, be it in his favour or against.

The petitioner submitted that as per the policy of the DV Ban, the relation with the Army had ceased to exist with effect from the date he retired and therefore, the matter should be dealt under Section 123 of the Army Act. Further, his leave encashment should have been released.

The Bench ruled that it did not make any difference for the simple reason that as per the policy, the incumbent who was facing criminal prosecution by the CBI and as per “Type-C” ban, all his retiral benefits had to be determined after decision of the criminal trial in accordance with the pension regulations for the Army.

Hyderabad, October 3
The only favour they seek from life is death. Confined to bed due to a crippling muscular disorder, two brothers in Medak district of Andhra Pradesh have pleaded with the government to grant them mercy killing.

Konda Jagannatham (30) and Konda Manohar (28), sons of a weaver in Ramakkapeta village, have a heart-wrenching request: “Please allow us to die and end the suffering”.

They are afflicted with muscular dystrophy — a rare and incurable disease that cripples muscular movement and leads to slow and painful death.

The two brothers have been suffering from the disorder for the last 15 years. Their father, Konda Durgaiah, is finding it difficult to bear the growing medical expenses. He has already sold the family property for their treatment.

Seeking death as a means of salvation, the brothers have expressed their last wish to donate their organs before leaving this world.

“We know that this disease corrodes vital organs. Before it is too late, we want to donate our organs to the needy,” said Manohar. The brothers have written a letter to Chief Minister K Rosaiah requesting him to allow mercy killing and harvesting of their organs.

“We are reduced to vegetable state. There is no use in continue to live like this. Instead of helping our parents, we have become a burden for them. We want to help others before we leave this world. Our only request to the Chief Minister and the government is that we should be allowed to die,” Manohar said.

The two brothers had completed their schooling before the debilitating disorder struck them. Jagannatham was in 10th standard when he suddenly collapsed while returning home from school. He could never recover since then. Manohar also became a victim of the disease a year later. The family consulted a number of doctors, including experts at Mumbai’s JJ Hospital, but there was no improvement.