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BJP bosses meet to decide K’taka CM fate
2g spectrum scam |
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Sonia slams 2Gs — graft & greed
New Delhi, November 19 Amid some very serious allegations of high-level scams hitting the Congress-led UPA in quick succession, party president Sonia Gandhi today opined that “graft and greed” were on rise in the country, thereby putting in danger the very principles on which independent India was founded.
Docs pay a price for endorsing products
Rouvanjit Case
Bihar acid test today as Red Zone goes to polls
Rane loses revenue charge
as Chavan expands Cabinet
IPS Nehchal Sandhu set to be IB chief
Tribunal sets aside 25-yr-old court martial order
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BJP bosses meet to decide K’taka CM fate
New Delhi, November 19 After day-long consultations between the state and central leaders, mainly at the residence of party general secretary and South Bangalore MP Ananth Kumar, BJP president Nitin Gadkari invited late tonight his Karnataka leaders, including Chief Minister Yeddyurappa, state president KS Easwarappa, former state president Sadanand Gowda, state Rural Development Minister Jagadish Shettar, BJP state organising secretary Santhosh and general secretary VS Satish to discuss the situation arising out of the latest expose. Gadkari and his party, mounting pressure on the UPA government at the Centre to constitute a JPC to probe the corruption allegations against the Union government, is faced with a piquant situation after skeletons started tumbling out of Yeddyurappa's cupboard. But formally Gadkari maintained that Yeddyurappa has not broken any rule or law. Also, yesterday the Karnataka Cabinet decided to set up a judicial commission to probe all land deals from 1994 onwards (when former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda was the state chief minister). Moreover, now Yeddyurappa announced that his children have returned the land and, therefore, there was now no case against him. But that is for the world outside. Inside, the knives are again out for the Chief Minister in less than a month of 16 treasury bench MLAs being disqualified for rebelling against him. This time again the Yeddyurappa group is accusing Ananth Kumar of fomenting trouble in the legislative party. But his supporters pleaded that the Chief Minister is scheduled to announce the panchayat elections in the state by November 22. If he is replaced now, it will jeopardise BJP's election prospects and the long-term fortunes of the BJP in the South. "For the BJP, the first government in the South is more important than Parliament where anyway we are in Opposition," commented a BJP leader from Karnataka. The most important factor favouring Yeddyurappa is that he belongs to the Lingayat caste and thanks to him the Lingayats constituting nearly 17-18 per cent of the state's populace, backed the BJP whole-heartedly. The other major caste, the Vokalligas, is already with former Prime Minister Deve Gowda. Thus if the BJP loses Lingayat support, it could dent its vote base, argued the Yeddyurappa camp. Besides, most of the names mentioned as his alternative are also tainted, pointed a Yeddyurappa confidant. Central leaders, meanwhile, maintained a complete silence on the issue even as Deve Gowda, while welcoming the Karnataka Cabinet decision, added one more "land scam" to the list of Yeddyurappa's "bungling" that of giving 5,000 acres of land near Bangalore to Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprises Limited (NICEL), causing a loss to the state exchequer worth Rs 30,000
crore.
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PMO not obliged to respond to Swamy’s letters: Sibal
Aditi Tandon/TNS
New Delhi, November 19 After proceedings in the Parliament were wrecked for the sixth day today, senior Congressmen came out to defend the PM, with Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal saying the PM was not even obliged to respond to Janata Party president Subramaniam Swamy’s “politically motivated” petitions to the PM on the 2 G Scam. The PM was decent enough to respond and he’s being targeted for that, the minister said. AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi maintained the Supreme Court’s observations in the issue were no embarrassment to the PM. Sibal, the legal expert of the Congress, was obviously strategically fielded to pick holes in Swamy’s petitions. He challenged the very request of JP president for Raja’s sanction saying the law didn’t permit sanction without an investigation. “Sanction is a term used with reference to a legal proceeding which is missing in the present case. Swamy is not an investigating agency. How can he ask the PM to sanction Raja’s prosecution? If he wanted a sanction, he should have filed an FIR mandating a probe or made a private complaint...”
DMK says Maran did not arm-twist PM
Chennai, November 19 Also, the party said it was confident of retaining the Telecom ministry, maintaining that the portfolio had been temporarily allocated to Kapil Sibal. And once the DMK identified the “right” nominee to join the Cabinet in place of Raja, the Telecom ministry would come back to the DMK, sources in the party said. Writing a letter to the Prime Minister, the DMK sources said, did not mean that Maran had arm-twisted the Prime Minister in the spectrum issue.
Govt may ask new telcos to pay more New Delhi, November 19 According to sources, cancellation of licences, as recommended by TRAI over roll-out obligation, was not a viable solution. CAG had separately raised questions on the pricing of 2G spectrum. If the public exchequer has lost due to under-pricing of the spectrum, there should be ways to compensate it, sources said. The ministry had distributed 122 licences to new operators besides about 34 dual technology licences and gave away start-up 2G spectrum at Rs 1,651 crore for pan-India operations. — PTI
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Sonia slams 2Gs — graft & greed
New Delhi, November 19 “The principles on which independent India was founded, for which a generation of great leaders fought and sacrificed their all, are in danger of being negated,” she said at the 10th Indira Gandhi Conference at Teen Murti House. And as she talked about social democracy, Sonia was of the view that high rate of economic growth was “not an end in itself” as “our moral universe seems to be shrinking”. “Our economy may increasingly be dynamic, but our moral universe seems to be shrinking. Prosperity has increased but so has social conflict. Intolerance of various kinds is growing. Graft and greed are on the rise,” she said in the presence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. In a telling commentary on what she feels about the “high rate of economic growth”, she said “We are right to celebrate our high rate of economic growth. We must do all that we can to sustain it. However, let us not forget that growth is not an end in itself. Much more important to my mind is what kind of society we aspire to be, and the values on which it should be built,” Sonia said. And as she stressed on “more effective and efficient government,” the Congress president added that “the Indian state, at its many levels, needs to augment its financial and managerial capacity to deliver public goods and services better. We need greater probity, more transparency, an open attitude and a willingness to try out fresh ideas.
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Docs pay a price for endorsing products
New Delhi, November 19 The government today said a decision had been taken by the Ethics Committee of the Medical Council of India to strike off from the medical register for a period of six months the names of Indian Medical Association’s National President and Secretary General who signed the memorandum of understanding with Pepsi and Dabur to endorse their products. The National President of the IMA and Secretary General at the time of the signing of the MoU were Ajay Kumar and SN
Misra, respectively. The Tribune was the first to report that strict censure was on the cards for the IMA office-bearers who agreed to get 2.25 crore for three years of the contract with the two companies -- Rs 52 lakh a year from Pepsi and Rs 23 lakh a year from
Dabur. Also, the MCI Ethics Committee has recommended issuing of a censure letter to all 187 executive committee members of the IMA who in a meeting of the Central Working Committee at Puri on April 13, 2009, approved the decision of the IMA top brass. The government made this admission in the Lok Sabha today, sending out a clear signal to medics that endorsements of food and skin products for money was unethical and would not be tolerated. The said contract was to endorse Quaker Oats and Tropicana juice of Pepsi Co and Odomos cream and gel of
Dabur. Odomos carries IMA’s logo so do Tropicana and Quaker. The order comes following a prolonged battle which the Kerala Medical Association member, Dr KV
Babu, fought for medical ethics. Today Babu told The Tribune, "I did not want action against my colleagues. All I wanted was an end to endorsements. But the IMA did not relent. So the censure had to come." The MoU was first approved in a meeting of the IMA’s Endorsement Committee held on October 26, 2007, in New Delhi. Minutes of the meeting in possession of The Tribune read: "Endorsement Committee authorises the National President,
IMA, to sign the agreements with the aforesaid companies on the terms and conditions proposed in the presence of IMA Secretary General." The minutes are signed by Ajay Kumar as IMA National President and SN Misra as its Honorary Secretary General. The terms agreed upon for endorsement were: Pepsi will pay Rs 46 lakh per year for three years to the IMA and spend Rs 6 lakh per annum for IMA’s Continuing Medical Education
programmes. Pepsi’s financial commitment would be Rs 156 lakh for three years. Dabur would likewise pay Rs 23 lakh a year to the IMA for Odomos endorsement for three years. Till date, the IMA has got Rs 1.50
crore. Earlier, ace actor Dr Sriram Lagoo’s name was struck off from the medical register for endorsing
Chyavanprash. But it is the first time that office-bearers of the IMA are facing strict censure for endorsing commercial products for money.
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Rouvanjit Case
Kolkata, November 19 The four accused in the Rouvanjit suicide case would be tried under Section 305 (abetment to suicide), Section 324 (voluntarily causing hurt) and Section 34 (common intention) of the
IPC, the 12th metropolitan magistrate, Bankshall Court directed. The trial would begin before a Sessions judge on December 14. Principal Sunirmal Chakravarti and the three teachers -
Garnian, Partho Dutta and David Raun - had been arrested in connection with the suicide of the 13-year-old class VII student on February 12. All the four accused are currently on bail. The case had been filed by the student’s father Ajay Rawla under Section 305 (abetment to suicide) of
IPC, but later the police filed a chargesheet under Sections 323 and 324 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), 352 (punishment without grave provocation) and 23 of the Juvenile Justice (negligence of duty). —
PTI
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Bihar acid test today as Red Zone goes to polls
Patna, November 19 If the elections in Bihar pass off peacefully, it would be news for the national and international media. The state was known for its bloody elections all this while. At least seven persons were killed, 20 injured and 115 incidents of violence and group clash were reported during the Assembly elections in 2000. The last Assembly elections in November 2005, conducted during President’s Rule, witnessed 11 incidents of violence. Apparently, the Election Commission’s idea behind holding polling in the districts considered to be Naxal strongholds during the fag end was to provide adequate security arrangements to the voters as well as the poll machinery. No wonder, the security arrangements made for the polls tomorrow are unprecedented.
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Rane loses revenue charge
as Chavan expands Cabinet
Mumbai, November 19 As expected Shiv Sena leader-turned-Congressman Narayan Rane, who held the revenue portfolio under Chief Minister Ashok Chavan, has been downgraded and allotted the industries portfolio. Rane’s tenure as revenue minister has been controversial with a number of court cases pertaining to land reservation filed against his ministry. Like his predecessors, Chavan will hold the urban development portfolio himself. Matters pertaining to land use in Maharashtra’s cities, including Mumbai come under this ministry. Contrary to expectations, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar does not get the home ministry but will be Maharashtra’s Finance and Energy minister. RR Patil, the Home Minister under Ashok Chavan, retains his portfolio. The portfolio allocation came hours after Governor K. Sankaranarayanan administered the oath of office and secrecy to 29 ministers, including 19 Cabinet ministers and 10 ministers of state.
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IPS Nehchal Sandhu set to be IB chief
New Delhi, November 19 Director of IB, the country’s top espionage and intelligence gathering agency, is considered top post for IPS officers. An expert in counter terrorism, Sandhu, at present, is the senior most officer in the IB behind the incumbent Director Rajiv Mathur. Sources confirmed that Sandhu, who has spent more than three decades in the IB, has been picked for the top job by a high-level committee. A formal announcement was expected in a day or two. He is expected to join on December 1 and be an “understudy” to Rajiv Mathur for one month. During the transition period, the outgoing Director keeps the new man in the loop for all decisions, meetings and even on briefings to the Prime Minister, Home Minister or the National Security Adviser on sensitive issues of the country and also on the borders. The sources said some of key elements and information are known only to the Director. These have to be introduced to the new man during the one-month period. The Intelligence Bureau Director has a fixed term of two years. Within the IB, he is considered an upright officer, straight forward and a “man of action”. The Congress-led UPA, in its first term, had appointed General JJ Singh as the first Sikh Army Chief. In 2009, NPS Aulakh, a Punjab cadre officer of the 1972 batch, was appointed Chief of the National Security Guards (NSG).
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Tribunal sets aside 25-yr-old court martial order
Kochi, November 19 The tribunal has ordered the respondents -- the Union Government, Chief of Army Staff, Commandant COD and the General Officer Commanding UP area -- to treat as if the petitioner, Captain Tony George, was on actual duty till the date on which he would have superannuated. The arrears of salary, allowances of salary and pension after adjusting the amounts should be paid to the petitioner within six months, the Kochi bench of the tribunal held while allowing a petition by Captain Tony George of Central Ordnance Depot (COD), Agra cantonment, challenging his Court Martial. The division bench of the tribunal also set aside the court martial findings and punishment against the petitioner. “The facts and circumstances clearly show that the court martial was held without any valid order or a report as provided under Army Rule 150 by the competent military authority,” the tribunal held. The amounts due to the petitioner should be paid within six months, failing which each month arrears would carry 9 per cent interest annually from the date of which it fell due and the payment is made, the tribunal held. Captain Tony, who was posted as officer in charge of a section in COD, Agra, was dismissed from service after he was found guilty of offences of perjury under Sect 60 of the Army Act. He was examined as a witness in a theft case in the depot. Commissioned in the Army in 1973, Captain Tony George was serving as officer-in-charge in the COD when in 1984 he deposed as a witness in a GCM against Lt Col Balwant Singh, the depot administrative officer and some others. Action was ordered against the petitioner and three others for “making false statements”. — PTI
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Parliament logjam on over the Opposition demand to institute a JPC probe into the 2G Spectrum scam, a cornered UPA today threw its weight behind PM Manmohan Singh, currently under the Supreme Court scrutiny for his 11-month silence on the issue.
