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The AYODHYA Verdict
IAF to induct 250 FGFA
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SC backs permanent commission to women
Road connectivity yet to be restored in U’khand
BJP wins Chhattisgarh byelection
Rabri to contest 2 seats
Lalu not in fray, Rabri to contest
from two seats
Decision on judicial
accountability Bill today Lottery case lands
Singhvi in trouble
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The AYODHYA
Verdict
New Delhi, October 4 Since September 30, when the court pronounced its judgment in the 61-year-old title dispute, RSS chief Mohanrao Bhagwat and then a whole array of BJP leaders hailed it as an opportunity for reconciliation, asking all concerned to forget the past. But when asked about the one-third land awarded to the Sunni Waqf Board for the mosque, the leaders avoided a direct reply in sharp contrast to the earlier position when the VHP and the BJP insisted upon not allowing a mosque in Ayodhya. The VHP refrain used to be “can there be a Hindu Mandir in Mecca? How can a mosque be allowed in Ayodhya?” But Gadkari broke the ice first while addressing the party’s national council meeting in Indore on February 18, appealing to the “Muslim brethren” to facilitate the building of Ram temple and offered a mosque alongside (“baju mein”). He ate his words soon when Parivar leaders raised a cry of protest and amended it offering to build a Masjid outside the “Panch koshi parikrama.” BJP leaders won’t say anything on or even off the record. A leader said, “I will not go into it. After all I am not the party which will build the mosque.” Even today, a senior leader maintained, “This process (negotiations) will go on and what shape it will take has to be seen. If the Supreme Court asks to build the mosque on that land, everyone will have to accept it. But we don’t want to short circuit the process.” Even Bhagwat and VHP general secretary Praveen Togadia circumvented the question on September 30.
Plea to call all-party meet
Lucknow, October 4 He welcomed the judgment and said now there should be no delay in implementing the court order that gave 1/3rd of the land to the Muslim side.
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IAF to induct 250 FGFA
New Delhi, October 4 The duo would be meeting for the Indo-Russia inter-governmental commission on military technical cooperation. The Russians have already test-flown a 30-tonne prototype known as PAK-FA or by its shorter name T-50. Though both the nations say they are co-developing the same, India is yet to formally join in the programme, as the ratio of partnership is yet to be decided. Sources said this was being worked as the Russians have already invested a substantial sum in design, development and testing at the Gromov Flight Research Institute. New Delhi is keen to join in once the money part, which includes paying up for India’s share of what has already been developed, is finalised. It is possible that by the year-end the final partnership deal is signed, with each country’s contribution and future investments detailed out. The Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL), which is already building Sukhoi’s under licence here, is likely to be given development work in the navigation, mission computer and other systems. Russian air force has a demand for 420 such fighters in a two-seater format. However, India wants a single seat configuration and is wary of sharing the technology with any other country, especially Russia’s other friend China. India has cited the example of the US, which has developed a next generation fighter, the F-22 raptor. But here, technology has not been shared even with its NATO allies like Britain. Today, Air Force Chief Air Chief Marshal PV Naik announced that he expected the fighter to start joining the force by 2017 and that the force needed some 250 of these. Commenting on the capabilities of the most advanced fighter aircraft, Naik said, “It would be a swing-role fighter with highly advanced avionics, giving 360 degree situational awareness, stealth to increase survivability and smart weapons.” The fighter would be capable of covering long ranges without air-to-air refuelling and will have the super-cruise features along with the highly advanced mission computers. Apart from the FGFA, the two defence ministers are expected to discuss security issues in the neighbourhood, especially Afghanistan and Pakistan, sources said. The two nations signed an agreement in 2000 regarding collaboration in research, development and the production of defence equipment and systems. A fairly large Russian delegation comprising defence ministry and industry officials was expected to arrive.
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SC backs permanent commission to women
New Delhi, October 4 Arguing before a Bench comprising Justices JM Panchal and Gyan Sudha Misra, Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium said the government had challenged the Delhi High Court verdict for extending the facility to other branches because it was against providing PC to women officers in combat units such as infantry and artillery. At this, the Bench reminded the Solicitor General that the SC had not stayed the HC verdict, which had told the government to extend the PC to other areas. The SC had only stayed contempt proceedings in the HC against the government for the non-implementation of the verdict in favour of PC.
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Road connectivity yet to be restored in U’khand
Nainital, October 4 People have to take longer routes to reach their destination. This, besides being time-consuming, is burning a hole in their pockets. For example, now if one has to go from Nainital to Haldwani, one has to go via Bhimtal, which adds 8 km to the journey. The Nainital-Haldwani highway has been closed because of the sinking of the road near Bhujiaghat. The route to Haldwani from Nainital via Kaladhungi is still longer. The buses that are bigger in size cannot come from Nainital to Haldwani via Bhimtal which is the standard route these days as they are too broad for the Bailey bridge near Bhawali. Hence, the late night air-conditioned buses that ran between Nainital and Haldwani and further went to Dehradun and Delhi are no longer plying on the Nainital-Haldwani stretch. A person who wants to use these services now has to come to Haldwani by regular buses. Similarly, to reach Almora from Haldwani, one has to travel an additional 45 km as now one has to go via Ranikhet. The main Almora highway is not likely to open for some months as large stretches have been washed away by the Kosi river between Khairna and Kakrighat. People wanting to travel between Dehradun and parts of Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh are also facing a tough time as the roads on various stretches have been washed away and the journey has to be extended by over 45 km. This has led to an increase in bus fares. Sources say with a stretch on National Highway No. 74 at Mubarakpur village in Bijnore getting washed away, buses are now plying via Moradabad district. The incessant rains have created a huge pit on the road. Sources say it will take at least a fortnight for buses to run on this stretch. The condition of link roads in remote interiors is worse than that of the highway stretches. A large number of villages connected with link roads are inaccessible at present. Barring the district of Udham Singh Nagar where road connectivity to all blocks and tehsils has been completely restored, all remaining districts of Kumaon are battling the problem of heavily damaged roads.
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BJP wins Chhattisgarh byelection
Raipur, October 4 BJP candidate Rajni Tripathi won the seat by 35,000 votes, defeating her nearest rival, Congress candidate US Singhdeo. The polls to the seat were held on October 1 and there were 12 candidates in the fray. The seat had fallen vacant following the death of BJP’s sitting legislator Ravi Shankar Tripathi, 55, in a car crash in April and the BJP had fielded his widow, while the Congress picked a member of the erstwhile royal family of Surguja as its candidate. The Bhatgaon constituency, around 400 km north of state capital Raipur in Surguja district, recorded over 75 per cent votes in peaceful polling.
— IANS
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Rabri to contest 2 seats
Patna, October 4 However, his wife and former Chief Minister Rabri Devi has been given the party ticket to contest from two different constituencies. Besides seeking another term from her old constituency, Raghopur, she will also contest from Sonepur, an assembly segment of the Saran (Chhapra) parliamentary constituency, which is presently represented by her husband. Lalu defended his wife’s nomination from two seats by the party on the plea that electorate of both constituencies had been demanding so.
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Lalu not in fray, Rabri to contest from two seats Patna, October 4 However, his wife and former Chief Minister Rabri Devi has been given the party ticket to contest from two different constituencies. Besides seeking another term from her old constituency, Raghopur, she will also contest from Sonepur, an assembly segment of the Saran (Chhapra) parliamentary constituency, which is presently represented by her husband. Lalu defended his wife’s nomination from two seats by the party on the plea that electorate of both constituencies had been demanding so. He also took a jibe at Chief Minister Nitish Kumar saying “at least Rabri is not making an entry into the Bihar legislature through back door”. After becoming Chief Minister of Bihar, Nitish Kumar preferred to be a member of the Upper House (Vidhan Parishad) while seeking a second term for his government this time, he has made it clear that the same arrangement would continue and he would not be contesting the Assembly elections from anywhere. Political pundits perceive Rabri Devi’s candidature from two constituencies differently. While her opponents view it as a preemptive move by the RJD to save her from the disgrace of a defeat from Raghopur, her sympathisers say the arrangement has been made so that she can vacate one of the seats for her husband after the party gets a majority to form the government and he becomes the Chief Minister. Notably, Rabri Devi had won the Raghopur seat by a thin majority last time while the RJD was swept out of power by the Nitish-led NDA. Lalu himself contested the last Lok Sabha elections from two different constituencies simultaneously, Saran and Pataliputra, but he could win only from his old constituency Saran.
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Decision on judicial accountability Bill today New Delhi, October 4 The proposed legislation, titled the Judicial Standards and Accountability Bill, has gone through several changes since it was first introduced in the Lok Sabha, way back in 2006. In the latest version, the Bill provides that the oversight committee, which is to be constituted to receive complaints about the
judiciary, will be headed by a retired Chief Justice of India. The earlier Bill had said the panel would be chaired by the Vice-President. This amendment was introduced after it was pointed out that there could be a possible conflict of interest as the Vice-President is also the Chairman of Rajya Sabha, which would decide on the impeachment of a judge. According to the provisions of the amended Bill, the oversight committee will also include a Supreme Court judge and a chief justice from any high court — both will be nominated by the Chief Justice of India. The membership of this panel has been altered to include the country’s attorney-general and an eminent person who is to be appointed by the President. The Bill, which has incorporated recommendations of a specially-appointed Group of Ministers (GoM), has provided for two more layers of committees before any complaint finally reaches the stage of impeachment. It lays down that no judge on this panel should have any close association with individual members of the Bar. If the oversight committee finds any merit in the complaint it receives, it will refer it to a scrutiny panel for a detailed study. This panel in the Supreme Court will include a former chief justice and two judges of the apex court. A similar committee which is to be set up in each high court will have a former chief justice and two sitting judges of the high court as its members. These committees will be given a maximum of three months to submit their report. This panel’s report will then be examined by the oversight committee and if it is feels it needs to be probed further, it will send the case to an investigative committee. This panel is to be set up by the oversight committee. Driven by demands for a greater accountability of the judiciary, the UPA government had first introduced a Bill, which was subsequently withdrawn, in 2006. A revised Bill providing for the constitution of the National Judicial Council was drawn up but Lok Sabha was dissolved. The matter was taken by the Cabinet last July when it approved the Assets and Liabilities Bill, which required judges to declare their assets as well as those of their spouses and children. This Bill was also withdrawn and replaced with the Judges’ Standards and Accountability Bill, which was discussed by the Cabinet in February. Since there was no unanimity on it, it was referred to a GoM. Tomorrow’s decision will be based on this panel’s suggestions.
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Lottery case lands Singhvi in trouble New Delhi, October 4 “Though he (Singhvi) has already said he had withdrawn from the case, the party has taken a serious note of it. It (the issue) is under consideration,” Congress general secretary Janardan Dwivedi said today. The Kerala Congress has been spearheading a campaign against outside lotteries and by taking up the case contrary to the party’s stand, Singhvi left quite a few red faces among state leaders preparing for crucial local bodies’ poll. State Congress chief Ramesh Chennithala has termed Singhvi’s appearance in the case as “improper”, especially when the party had raised the issue against the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government, while Opposition leader Oommen Chandy appealed to the Congress high command to take action against Singhvi. After intense pressure from the state unit, Singhvi, who earlier maintained that he was appearing for the Government of Bhutan in support of a Central government enactment and Regulation of 2010 and it had nothing to do with politics, withdrew from the case to “avoid any communication gap or controversy”.
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Nainital, October 4
