 |
|
|
Congress
defends Karnataka Governor Scots to
help Indian diabetics THE TWO
HORSE RACE IN BIHAR |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Minority
votes still hold the key The Congress is contesting all the seats in Bihar after several decades. Will Rahul Gandhi make a difference? — PTI Straws in
the wind Tourist
influx in Capital below expectations Banned
UNLF confirms chief’s arrest in Bangladesh Capital
Probe
tusker deaths in Kaziranga, Assam told 22 more
Commonwealth works under CVC lens 3-fold
hike in rates of ex-servicemen health plan Elections
in Bihar, wooing in Mumbai Unmanned
aerial vehicle Rustom takes off Rustom: A success 11 drown
in Bihar boat capsize Tribunal
puts promotion policy on hold Terror
alert at Tirumala Jantar
Mantar Thackeray’s grandson is
Sena’s youth wing chief
|
|
Congress defends Karnataka Governor New Delhi, October 17 “Regarding the Karnataka Governor what had to be said has been said by party general secretary Janardan Dwivedi. But it is important to say that given the kind of circumstances what else could the Governor do…. It was not the Governor but 11 BJP and five Independent MLAs who withdrew the support from the BJP government. So what sin did the Governor commit,” party spokesman Manish Tewari questioned as he went on to launch a scathing attack on Karnataka Assembly speaker K G Bopaiah for rejecting the party’s suggestion to hold the trust vote after the high court hearing on disqualification of 16 rebel MLAs. “Constitution experts should reflect over the drama enacted in Karnataka,” he said, terming the second trust vote an example of the BJP’s “political opportunism”. Tewari said the second trust vote did not prove anything as the constitution of the Assembly had not changed since the first trust vote when the 16 MLAs were not allowed to vote. “The Karnataka verdict was manufactured in Delhi and marketed in Bengaluru. The fact remains that the Karnataka government is a minority government,” he said, adding that Independent MLAs could not be disqualified. Virtually washing his hands off Bhardwaj, Dwivedi had said on Wednesday, “As far as the role of the Governor is concerned, what he is doing and what he is not doing, the party has nothing to do with it. This issue is between the Governor and the Home Ministry, i.e the
Centre”.
|
||
|
Scots to help Indian diabetics New Delhi, October 17
A comprehensive foot care programme involving a podiatrist can, on the other hand, reduce amputations from 13.3 per 1,000 persons to 5.8 per 1,000 persons in just 10 years -- something the Scots will now help India to do. A historic MoU was today signed between the Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU) -- which holds an envious record in diabetic foot care management -- and Sitaram Bhartia Diabetes Research Centre, New Delhi, in the presence of HRD Minister Kapil Sibal and First Minister Scotland Alex Salmond. Over six months, experts from GCU’s Department of Podiatric Surgery and Medicine will train 300 Indian doctors to detect foot problems in time to treat them. “We hope to save the limbs and lives of thousands of Indians. Once the doctors and patients realise the long-term positive impact of this training, they will be motivated to go to villages where diabetic populations run an even greater risk of leg amputations as they walk barefoot, allowing foot lesions to decompose. They can’t even report the problem because they feel no sensation,” Prof Pamela Gillies of GCU told The Tribune. The project will educate medics to identify high-risk feet and minor lesions that can lead to gangrene. When amputation is performed for gangrene, the other leg begins to face problems in 18 to 36 months in half of the diabetic patients. “Prevention and prophylactic methods are thus doubly important to save the second foot,” Gillies said. Finally, if amputation can be avoided, patients can remain self-sufficient till the consequences of coronary artery and other vascular diseases develop to threaten them. “In the process, you avoid the cost of hospitalisation, surgery, prosthesis fitting, rehabilitation or dependence on family or society for the duration of the amputee’s life,” said Dr Sneh Bhargava, Prof Emeritus, AIIMS, who signed the MoU on India’s behalf.
|
|
The first phase of polling in Bihar is scheduled for Thursday this week. The Assembly election is crucial for both Nitish Kumar and Lalu Yadav and will determine if caste is still King.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Minority votes still
hold the key
But with the state gearing up for the first of the six-phase polling this week, the picture appears less clear and far more complicated. Caste and clan factors, which always played a decisive role in Bihar, along with feudal considerations seem to be strong enough to cast a cloud of uncertainty, although everyone agrees that the NDA is the favourite . But it is no longer a one-horse race. There are, in fact, three horses in the fray and the race appears to be a close one. Nitish Kumar, however, is pinning his hopes on 'forward-looking' first-time voters, who have no patience with caste politics, and his record of governance to win the election and get a second term in office as the Chief Minister of one of the most populous and problematic states. It is worth noting that Bihar has almost four times the population of Punjab. He is confidently stomping the state, reminding people of Bihari pride and seeking a second chance to carry forward his agenda. On paper at least, the performance of his government has been impressive. Roads and bridges have been built at a fast clip, law and order has been restored, 50,000 criminals have been convicted, including strongmen and politicians from the Chief Minister's own party, teachers have been appointed and schools and hospitals made functional. The minority Muslims expected little from Nitish , largely because of his alliance with the BJP. But the Chief Minister moved fast to book the culprits of the Bhagalpur riots ( 1989) and secured for the victims of the riot compensation on the lines of the package offered to the Sikhs after the riots in 1984. His firm stand on not allowing Narendra Modi and Varun Gandhi to campaign in Bihar also earned for him the confidence of the community. The government also spent Rs 200 crores in fencing graveyards. It is a measure of the growing acceptability of Nitish Kumar that JD (U) has fielded as many as 16 Muslim candidates in the election this time, as against 8 in the last election in 2005. Nitish Kumar expects the voter turn-out to be larger than last time and that, he believes, will do the trick for him. He is also putting his faith on women, who, he points out, were given 50 per cent reservation in panchayats by his government. The 'empowered' women , he is sure, would like him to continue. The results, expected to be announced on November 24, will surprise everyone, predicts the Chief Minister, almost hinting at a landslide. People are fed up with divisive politics and caste considerations, he believes, and are certainly going to give a thumbs up to the urgency to move forward and catch up with the rest of the country. The key is held by the caste cookie and how it crumbles. In the last election the upper castes in Bihar went all out to support the NDA to get rid of Lalu Yadav. But this time they seem divided, largely because of Nitish Kumar's aggressive wooing of the Extremely Backward Castes. While the state government did shelve land-reforms measures to protect the interests of sharecroppers, the upper castes are suspicious of Kumar's intentions. As Bihar gets ready for the first phase of polling on Thursday, October 21 this week, there are no easy answers though. Will Nitish get a second term in office ? Will Lalu Yadav-Ram Bilas Paswan be able to mobilise their support among their castemen and women ? Finally, will Rahul Gandhi and the Congress be able to revive the national party's fortune in the state ? The Congress, which could win only 9 seats in the 243-member Assembly in 2005 and only 2 of the 40 Lok Sabha seats in 2009, is contesting all the 243 seats for the first time in several decades. While it is unlikely to win too many seats-primarily because of a shortage of credible state-level leaders and even candidates---the party is clearly hoping to act as spoilers. Its presence in all the constituencies has the potential of engineering a three-way split of votes, making the outcome far less certain. Another uncertainty dogging the election is the Ayodhya verdict. A large section of Muslims , although not vocal, seem to be in no mood to forgive the Congress for the court's verdict on Babri Masjid. The idol of Ram Lalla, they argue, was placed in the mosque during Congress-rule; the disputed site was opened to devotees during Congress-rule and the mosque was demolished also when a Congress government was at the Centre. And, finally, the verdict upholding the Hindu rights over the mosque has also come when a Congress-led government is at the Centre. That has convinced many among them that Congress did not do enough to ensure a fair judgment. It is not clear whether this is a fringe view or whether the community overwhelmingly holds the party guilty. But there is little doubt that the verdict will have a bearing on the election and could well influence the future course of politics. The first election surveys indicate a skirmish in the offing. While giving the NDA the edge, none of them rules out a strong showing by Lalu Yadav led alliance of the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Lok Janshakti Party. Lalu is still banking on the MY ( Muslim-Yadav) magic that kept him and his wife in the saddle for 15 years. The rainbow coalition is largely intact and given his political skills, his ability to strike a rapport with the masses and his ability to make fancy promises, he can't just be ruled out as a spent-force. Confusion has been confounded by deserters from both sides. A large number of 'leaders' have switched allegiance after feeling sidelined. The BJP state president Dr C.P. Thakur in fact resigned before BJP's national leaders managed to placate him. It's going to be a long-drawn affair with the polling to be held till the third week of November. While crystal gazing is not advisable so early in the election, bravehearts have predicted a landslide in favour of the NDA while more cautious analysts have played it safe and see a fractured mandate or Nitish Kumar pipping his erstwhile friend to the post. But then the people of Bihar are politically savvy and could well prove the pundits wrong.
|
|
|
Corruption index A real estate boom in Patna, where apartments which cost Rs 15 lakhs five years ago are now available for Rs 50 lakhs, is cited by detractors of Nitish Kumar as an example of the culture of corruption promoted by his government. " The flats are being bought by government employees like the Block Development Officers and Circle Officers," they point out. The money pumped into the system, they charge, has lined the pockets of the bureaucracy and made it more corrupt. But then in Patna it has always been the case. The joke in political circles was that 60 per cent of the state's Plan budget was spent in Patna and the rest in Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore. The capital city even today has more jewellery showrooms than pharmacies or book stores. Cars for 'Bekars' Trust Lalu Prasad Yadav to promise
motorcycles to school students. It came as no surprise because when he
was the Chief Minister, he had once promised 'cars' for 'Bekars' (
unemployed in Hindi). The promise of motorcycles was meant to counter
the NDA government's popular scheme of distributing bicycles to school
students. An amused Chief Minister Nitish Kumar could not resist
reminding Lalu that school students are not allowed to ride motorcycles.
They have to attain the age of 18 before they can even apply for a
licence, the CM pointed out. But an unfazed Lalu shot back to say,
" Don't school students have fathers ? The parents will drive them
to school." Cash contingency Helicopters and planes are
apparently being used by leaders and candidates to carry unaccounted
cash for distribution among workers and voters alike. The so-called VIP
hangar at the Patna airport boasts of at least half a dozen such
helicopters and planes taking off every day. The leaders do not have to
go through any security and their baggage are never scanned, which makes
it easier for them to drive up to the aircraft and hop into them. But,
according to reports, the Election Commission has got wise about what's
going on and has alerted 'Expenditure Observers' to keep a close eye.
The second-ring leaders and hangers-on are the happiest because the onus
will now be on them to carry and distribute the cash by road. Muslims divided Indications are that minority Muslim votes are heading
for a three-way split between the Rashtriya Janata Dal, the Congress and
the JD(U). The battle for the Muslim votes has always been intense in
the state because of the belief that they vote en bloc and they vote
aggressively. The Congress has fielded the highest number of Muslim
candidates but the RJD and JD(U) are not far behind. But the merger of
JD(U)'s minority cell with the RJD indicated how serious Lalu Yadav is
to maintain his Muslim-Yadav ( MY) alliance intact. Indeed, Shabnam
Parveen, the wife of a JD (U) MP from begusarai, is an RJD candidate
from Munger. Bhai Bhai Party Ram Bilas Paswan's Lok Janshakti
Party ( LJP) is known in Bihar as the Bhai-Bhai Party due to the large
number of candidates it has fielded , who are related to the 'leaders'.
While Paswan's brother is the state president of the Party, his
brother's daughter-in-law and Paswan's son-in-law are contesting the
election. " Earlier the race for party tickets was confined to the
children of leaders but now even wives of nephews are in
contention," admitted sheepishly an LJP worker.
|
|
|
— Rahul Gandhi
— Ram Bilas Paswan
—Tejaswi Yadav (Younger son of Lalu Yadav)
— Lalu Yadav
|
|
Tourist influx in Capital below expectations New Delhi, October 17 Though these figures can, at present, only be guesses, as concerned agencies would take some more days to figure out the exact number of foreign tourist arrivals for the Games, the Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) observation is that only around 8,000 to 10,000 overseas tourists visited the National Capital during the extravaganza, which incidentally, was sold by the government as an event that would immensely benefit aviation, hospitality and tourism sectors. Blaming the lack of enthusiasm on poor advertising of the event in the overseas market and all the negative publicity that preceded them, TAAI vice-president, Jagdeep Rikhy said visitors from neigbouring States did manage to bridge the deficit, though only marginally. “Ideally, the publicity for the Games should have started at least two to three years before the event. But here, just one week before the Games, we were not even sure whether they would be held. Obviously, one problem after the other hitting the preparations in days preceding the event, and so much of negative reporting, are not expected to encourage people to visit a foreign land,” he said. For the hospitality industry in Delhi, October is the beginning of the peak season. But the hotel industry also faced a huge disappointment. While hoteliers say negative publicity surrounding the Games, traffic chaos and security concerns hit them hard by keeping tourists away, bed and breakfast lodgings, which had multiplied across the city hoping to do a roaring business during the Games, also suffered terribly with dismal occupancy. Not just this, prominent markets in the Capital also witnessed a slump during the event, part of which even overlapped the auspicious Navratra period that normally witnesses an upsurge in buying . The Confederation of All-India Traders (CAIT) said there was as much as a 40 per cent decline in business due to stepped up security during the Games.
|
|
Banned UNLF confirms chief’s arrest in Bangladesh Capital Guwahati, October 17 The statement signed by outfit’s vice-chairman Kh Pambei and issued in Meitei language to media in Imphal said Meghen was apprehended by a combined team of Bangladeshi Intelligence and RAW sleuths at a place called Lalmatia under Mohammadpur police station on the outskirts of Dhaka on September 29. Meghen, said to be in his late 60s, was driving when the combined team of Bangladeshi and Indian intelligence officials intercepted him and took him to an unknown destination. The UNLF statement, however, said the outfit was not yet sure whether Meghen had been handed over to India. There was no statement forthcoming from the Manipur government so far although the media had been carrying news about the UNLF chief’s arrest quoting unofficial sources. Meghen, who comes from the royal family of the erstwhile princely state of Manipur, heads the second oldest insurgent group in the North-East (after the Nagas) founded in 1964. The UNLF’s armed wing called the Manipur People’s Army has an estimated strength of 2000 cadres.
|
|
Probe tusker deaths in
Kaziranga, Assam told The incidents have prompted Union Minister of Environment and Forest (MoEF) Jairam Ramesh to ask Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi to initiate a probe. Forest officials suspect that the tuskers could have been poisoned. In a letter dated October 12, Ramesh said: “I was most distressed to learn that four elephants were found dead in the fringes of the Kaziranga National Park. I would request you to please have an inquiry conducted very soon and take the most stringent possible action against those found responsible for the tragedy.” While carcasses of two elephant calves were found inside the Difloo tea estate adjoining the Kaziranga National Park on October 6, a dead pregnant elephant was discovered on October 11 inside the Panbari reserved forest adjoining the Kaziranga Park. The death of a fourth elephant was reported from the Dolamora in the Karbi Anglong hills that form part of the Kaziranga-Karbi Anglong elephant reserve. Cases have been registered. Postmortem reports have also indicated the possibility of poisoning behind the deaths. Samples have also been sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory in Guwahati for further examination. A number of stone quarries have come up on the southern fringes of the Kaziranga Park that constitutes natural elephant migration corridors. Permission from the Forest Department is required for setting up of these quarries. “There has been rapid shrinkage of elephant habitat around the Kaziranga Park due to expansion of areas under tea and rubber cultivation leading to intensification of man-elephant conflict,” said Dr Bibhab Talukdar, secretary general of Aaranyak, a leading wildlife NGO working in Eastern Himalaya region.
|
|
22 more Commonwealth works under CVC lens
New Delhi, October 17 Besides, the CVC has found alleged misuse of official position by Raj Kumar
Sacheti, Joint Director General of Commonwealth Games, who is considered a close aide of Organising Committee Chairman Suresh
Kalmadi. According to the information received in response to an RTI application, out of the total of 22 projects, a highest of six were being carried out by Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, four by Delhi Development Authority, three by Organising Committee and two each by Municipal Corporation of Delhi, Central Public Works Department, Government of Delhi. One work each relating to Department of Commerce, Indian Meteorogical Department and New Delhi Municipal Council is also being probed, the reply said. An analysis by Chief Technical Examination Wing of CVC earlier found alleged financial and administrative irregularities in 16 construction and procurement projects. Six of them were done by
PWD, three by MCD, two each by CPWD, DDA, NDMC and one by RITES, a Government of India Enterprise, the CVC report said. The expansion of the probe by the CVC came even as it directed all agencies concerned to submit their reports by the month-end. Official sources said a reminder has recently been issued to Central Public Works Department
(CPWD), Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), Delhi Development Authority
(DDA) and Public Works Department (PWD) in this regard. The move came after Central Vigilance Commissioner PJ Thomas objected to the "lackadaisical approach" and continuous delay by agencies in submitting replies to the queries raised by the anti-corruption watchdog, they said. A senior CVC official said that based on their replies, the CVC will give its findings or final report to a committee formed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh headed by former Comptroller and Auditor General
(CAG) of India VK Shungloo. As per the RTI information, it has been found out that some of the agencies are sitting on the clarification or delaying their replies asked by CVC on corruption charges since January this year.
— PTI
|
|
|
3-fold hike in rates of ex-servicemen health plan Chandigarh, October 17 Orders issued by the Ministry of Defence on September 29 announcing the increase in the one-time payable rates have been circulated to medical and welfare establishments over the past few days. The increase in rates, according to sources, is consequent to the hike in salaries and pension of armed forces personnel following the implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission. This also comes in the wake of the recent increase in charges levied by the Central Government Health Scheme for civilian pensioners. The new ECHS rates for all ranks up to havildar and equivalent would have to pay Rs 15,000, with the next slab up to naib subedar being liable to pay Rs 27,000. From subedars up to the rank of major, the revised charges are Rs 39,000 and for lieutenant colonels and above, it would be Rs 60,000. Earlier, the contribution for those drawing a pension of between Rs 3,000 - 6,000 was Rs 4,800, Rs 8,000 for those drawing Rs 6,001 to Rs 10,000 and for those getting Rs 10,001-Rs 15,000, the rate was Rs 12,000. Veterans drawing a pension of above Rs 15,000 had to pay Rs 18,000. ECHS was launched in April 2003 and the aim of the scheme was to provide quality medicare to its members and their dependents.
|
|
Elections in Bihar, wooing in Mumbai Mumbai, October 17 With nearly 20 lakh people from Bihar living in Mumbai, Thane and surrounding areas, national parties like the Congress and the BJP are aggressively wooing the migrant population who will be leaving for home for the holidays. According to sources in the Congress and the BJP, most of the people of Bihari origin living in and around Mumbai are registered as voters in Bihar. “We have been holding meetings in all the North Indian-dominated areas for the past several weeks,” says Mohammad Farooq Azam, vice-chairman of the Congress Party’s Minorities Cell. Azam noted that the Congress enjoys plenty of support among the Bihari population in Mumbai for standing up to Maharashtra Navnirman Sena over its campaign against North Indian migrants living in Maharashtra. Azam added that the Congress was playing the development card among the Biharis. Not to be left far behind, the BJP too has joined in the campaign to woo the Bihari population living in urban Maharashtra. The party has unleashed a post card campaign whereby Bihar men living in Mumbai and other places are encouraged to send cards to their relatives back home asking them to vote for the Nitish Kumar-BJP combine. “We have already distributed more than one lakh post cards so far,” says Mohan Mishra of the North Indian cell of the BJP. Leaders of both parties have already left for Bihar with thousands of workers hailing from that state for organising the campaigning. While the Congress insists that it has mobilised nearly 5,000 workers, the BJP claims to be sending 7,000 workers to Bihar. Meanwhile, travel agents have reported heavy bookings for trains leaving for Bihar from Maharashtra during the holiday season.
|
|
Unmanned aerial vehicle Rustom takes off New Delhi, October 17 It is a medium altitude long endurance UAV, developed by the Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE), a lab of the DRDO. The ADE specialises in UAVs and flight control systems. The DRDO while releasing a picture of the UAV said it flown in a manner as planned, up to a height of 3,000 ft and remained airborne for 30 minutes. “All mission requirements were completed.” UAVs, fitted with sensors and high-resolution cameras, are critical for the modern battlefield needs and also in counter-insurgency areas. Recently they were deployed to hover over the national capital to keep an eye during the just concluded Commonwealth Games. At present the country imports a majority of its UAV while Hindustan Aeronautics Limited is jointly developing some newer ones with an Israeli partner. The subsequent flights of the “Rustom” will test and demonstrate capabilities like controlling the UAV through GPS satellites. The ‘Rustom’ has been designed for endurance of 12-15 hour with a 25,000-ft altitude ceiling and 75 kg payload of cameras and sensors. The data link for this has been developed by DEAL, another DRDO laboratory, and a private Indian company has built the airframe.
|
|
|
11 drown in Bihar boat capsize Patna, October 17 Director-General of Police Neelmani said the boat was carrying 55 passengers from Bharochokia village in the Pipra police station area to a fair at Naubatpur in Patna district. All 1 bodies, including those of four women and three children, have been fished out from the river bed. The rest of the passengers other than the 15 missing swam to safety, the DGP said. A massive search operation has been launched with the help of trained divers to locate the missing passengers. Personnel of the National Disaster Response Force have also been rushed from Patna to join the rescue operation. Senior officials, including District Magistrate J K Sinha, are overseeing the rescue operation. Official sources said the state Disaster Management Department has announced compensation of Rs 1 lakh for dependents of each of the drowned. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has expressed sorrow over the deaths and extended condolences to the bereaved families. — PTI
|
|
Tribunal puts promotion policy on hold Chandigarh, October 17 A colonel had moved the tribunal on the grounds that the new policy was adopted with effect from April 23 this year and hence not applicable to those promoted and seconded to the DGQA prior to this date. New guidelines provided that superseded and non-empanelled Lieutenant Colonels will now not be considered for permanent secondment and that the Special Merit Board (SMB) had been discontinued. The fresh policy stated that non-empanelled and superseded officers who had been granted permanent secondment in the DGQA in the past would only be granted one promotion to the rank of time-scale colonel and this clause would be applicable to those non-empanelled officers also who had already promoted to colonel in the DGQA. The colonel had contended that clauses of the policy were conceptually flawed because he was not a non-empanelled or superseded officer since he was a Lt Col when he had been permanently seconded to the DGQA and had not faced his fresh promotion board at all.
|
|
Terror alert at Tirumala Hyderabad, October 17 A three-tier security cover will now be put in place in and around
Tirumala, the abode of Lord Venkateswara, which attracts around 50,000 pilgrims from across the country and abroad every day. The figure touches one lakh on special occasions. The first ring of security will cover the seven entry points to the main temple, which will be well-guarded by security personnel and gadgets. The second level of fencing will be in a radius of 2 km from the
Tirumala township while the third will be set up at a radius of 9 km
from Tirumala.
|
|
Jantar Mantar Hosting Obama
Durga Puja & Pranab
Frown down south
|
|
|
Thackeray’s grandson is Sena’s youth wing chief Mumbai, October 17 Handing over a sword to Aditya to encourage him in his new endeavour--Yuva Sena, the 83-year-old Thackeray at the same time said he does not believe in "dynasty politics" in the Sena. 20-year-old Aditya, who is making his first major public appearance, is Sena Executive President Uddhav Thackeray's son. “I never brought Udhhav in Sena. — PTI
|
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Letters | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
Four months ago the results
of the Bihar election appeared a foregone conclusion. Nitish Kumar
appeared firmly on the saddle as Chief Minister and the opposition was
in disarray. The TINA ( There is no alternative) factor seemed to be
working in Kumar's favour as Biharis seemed loath to give Lalu Yadav and
his wife another chance.
Four months ago the results of the Bihar election appeared a foregone conclusion. Nitish Kumar appeared firmly on the saddle as Chief Minister and the opposition was in disarray. The TINA ( There is no alternative) factor seemed to be working in Kumar's favour as Biharis seemed loath to give Lalu Yadav and his wife another chance. Didn't they rule over Bihar for a decade and a half ? The contrast between that period and the relatively peaceful and orderly NDA rule seemed to have left voters with no choice but to give Bihar's 'Vikas Purush' a second term.
Nitish Kumar would not let some BJP leaders (Narendra Modi and Varun Gandhi) campaign in Bihar but he does not seem to have any problem
It is true that Nitish Kumar has not fielded his family members to contest the election. But that is only because they do not have any political talent.
You have seen papa's magic in the Railway ministry. Now you will see his black magic in this election. ( Rail mantralay mein aap papa ka jaadu dekh chuke hain, ab tona baaki hai.
Rabri Devi is not just a woman. She can spark a fire(Rabri Devi naari nahin, chingaari hai )
Guwahati, October 17
With US President Barack Obama set to address the members of both Houses of Parliament on November 8, the Central Hall (the venue for this programme) is witnessing a facelift these days. Special lighting arrangements are being made while the place is being given a coat of paint with a special colour scheme being planned for the imposing dome of the hall. In addition, about 50-odd art restorers have been drafted from the Archaeological Survey of India to touch up the traditional paintings, which line the corridors of Parliament House. TK Viswanathan, who has just taken over as Lok Sabha secretary general, has his hands full supervising the arrangements for the occasion. US security officials have also dropped in to survey the heritage circular building to satisfy themselves that the Central Hall is adequately protected.
If there is one minister in the UPA government who can be described as a workaholic, it is Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee. When he is not busy with his ministerial work or various GoMs that he heads, he is preoccupied troubleshooting for the Congress or the government every time there is a crisis like the recent Karnataka imbroglio. But Mukherjee, as he is affectionately called, is happiest when he is working and his aides say it is impossible to tear him away from his files and meetings. The only occasion when Pranabda makes an exception is during the annual Durga Puja week when he shuts shop and takes off for his ancestral village in Birbhum district of West Bengal. In fact, nothing -- no amount of work -- can keep him away from his village on this occasion. For instance, Pranabda was away to the United States a week ago but he made sure he was back in time to attend the annual celebrations, even though it meant declining an invitation to address a meeting of NRI Bengalis in San Francisco.
Science and Technology Minister Prithviraj Chavan was a little surprised when he found there was nobody from the protocol division to receive him when he went to Chennai last week to deliver the presidential address at a special function marking the silver jubilee of the Fast Breeder Test Rector at Kalpakkam. Ordinarily, this lapse could have been put down to a communication gap. But in this case, Chavan's visit followed a day after Congress president Sonia Gandhi addressed a rally in Trichy in Tamil Nadu where she exhorted party cadres not to lose the party's distinct identity and to strengthen the organisation in the state. Sonia Gandhi's stirring message to her state party unit apparently did not go down well with its alliance partner, the Karunanidhi-led DMK, which enjoys big brother status in Tamil Nadu and is clearly not enthused by these efforts on part of the Congress to emerge out of its shadows. It was, therefore, no coincidence that a Congress minister was subsequently given the royal ignore by the state government.