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BJP delegation wants Prez to recall K’taka Governor
Kalmadi, Bhanot sacked
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Jaipur Literature Festival
Endorsements by Docs
Houses of Priyanka Chopra, Katrina raided
Aruna
Case
HC issues notice to Jagan, 56 others
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BJP delegation wants Prez to recall K’taka Governor
New Delhi, January 24 Besides Advani, Leaders of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj and in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley, BJP general secretary and Bangalore MP Ananth Kumar and former BJP president M. Venkaiah Naidu accompanied 23 party MPs from the state to present a memorandum seeking immediate recall of Bhardwaj for "acting as a Congress agent" to topple the BJP government by his "unconstitutional conduct". Yeddyurappa who flew in last evening to seek the support of the central leadership in his fight against the Governor was not there because he returned to Bangalore last night. The BJP leaders charged that by granting this sanction the Governor was deliberately creating a situation of open confrontation in the state. Naidu later alleged that the Congress high command was commandeering the Bhardwaj ship from behind the curtain and Governor Bhardwaj was just "carrying out" its plans. After meeting the President Advani told waiting newsmen, "We appealed to the President to recall the Karnataka Governor as he has been exhibiting an extra-constitutional and confrontationist attitude." He said, "In the memorandum, we have cited several instances to show how the Governor has been pursuing his political agenda.” The BJP memorandum characterised Bhardwaj's appointment as a step to "end democracy" in the country and stated that the "mindset and conduct" of the Governor was motivated by "extraneous and collateral purposes, less as a Constitutional functionary". The BJP leaders stated that "a Governor cannot have "mala fide for political reasons and substitute himself as commission of enquiry or the Lokayukta". Meanwhile, JD-U president and NDA convener Sharad Yadav, hinted today his displeasure with Yeddyurappa continuing in office even as he expressed himself against the Governor’s action and said that Bhardwaj should stay "within limits.”
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Kalmadi, Bhanot sacked
New Delhi, January 24 Minister of State for Youth Affairs and Sports (independent charge) Ajay Maken, in one of the major decisions he has taken after he assumed charge five days ago, sacked Kalmadi from the posts of chairman of the Commonwealth Games Organising Committee and chairman of the Executive Board. Bhanot was removed from the posts of the secretary-general of the OC as well as the secretary-general of the Executive Board. Maken said he took the decision to remove the two top officials from the CWG posts after taking the opinion of Attorney-General, G. Vahanvati. The minister informed that the Government decision came in the light of the ongoing investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation of allegations of corruption and irregularities in the organisation and conduct of the 9th Commonwealth Games held in New Delhi from October 3 to 14, 2010, "and the concerns expressed by the CBI and in the interest of impartial and unhindered investigations". The sacking of Kalmadi and Bhanot comes three months after the Games ended. A defiant Kalmadi said he will not quit as the president of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA), and will comment on his sacking from the OC "only after I see the order". The CBI had raided Kalmadi and Bhanot’s residences late last year and both were called for interrogation to the CBI headquarters. Kalmadi had been keeping a brave face all through, stating that he had committed no impropriety in the conduct of the Games, and whatever decisions he took, were "collective decisions", approved by the OC and the Executive Board. Kalmadi continues to be the president of the IOA, and Maken said legal opinion was being sought whether he could be removed from the apex Olympic body, which was an elected post, as well. Kalmadi is also the president of the Asian Athletics Association while Bhanot is the secretary-general of the Athletics Association of India. Kalmadi and Bhanot have been directed to hand over charge to OC Chief Executive Officer Jarnail Singh, who is also a member, Executive Board. It is believed that an estimated Rs 100 crore were siphoned off from the CWG corruption on various heads like construction of stadiums, purchase of goods and equipment, overlays in the stadia and in the conduct of the Games.
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Jaipur Literature Festival
Three young women novelists, who deal with raw material of human dignity struggling to retain its delicate fabric under brutality, carnage and oppression, come from diverse cultural background, narrating a universal tale. Chimamanda Adichie, born in Nigeria after seven years of civil war, inherited the war, refugee camps and ghosts of those terrible days inhabiting nooks and corners of the house she grew up in. Her debut novel ‘Purple Hibiscus’, was shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction and later received Commonwealth Writer’s Prize. It portrayed the cultural crisis of a girl growing up between strict Catholic values and those of liberal converts. In her second novel, ‘Half Of A Yellow Sun’, she attempted to write about the war. Adichie says, “Researching histories is a different thing, but to know that your grandfathers were among those who died in a refugee camp you research is another. Both my grandfathers were interesting men, both were born in the early 1900s in British-controlled Igbo land, both were determined to educate their children, and both were very proud. I know this from stories I have been told. Eight years before I was born, they died in Biafra as refugees after fleeing hometowns that had fallen to federal troops. I grew up in the shadow of Biafra. I grew up between ‘before the war’ and ‘after the war’ stories- it was as if the war had somehow divided the memories of my family. Writing this book was emotionally exhausting, I cried several times but wrote to honour my grandfathers, and also to honour the collective memory of an entire nation.” Isabel Fonseca, former assistant editor of ‘The Times Literary Supplement’ lived with gypsies for four years to listen to their stories before writing ‘Bury Me Standing: The Gypsies and Their Journeys’, which turned out to be a non-fiction international bestseller. She started working on the project in 1991, and after four years of field work that included living with Gypsy families in many European countries and researching library documents, she concluded that the Gypsies ‘alongside with the Jews are ancient scapegoats.’ She read out some heart-wrenching passages from the Roma experience of living. ‘Indian Summer: the secret history of the end of an empire’, by a brash new-age Oxford historian, Alex Von Tunzelmann, who is less interested in dates and more in how high-brow romance simmering over cups of tea between Pt Jawahar Lal Nehru and Edwina Mountbatten, while death was let loose on the subcontinent. The tale of love, passion, betrayal, intrigue and blood and gore of Partition, which was refused permission to be filmed in India, is suffused with an entirely new approach of looking at history, replacing dates with humans. Candace Bushnell, author of ‘Sex and the City’, has been almost dwarfed by the success of her literary creations; Samantha, Charlotte and Carrie who have become household names, globally. You have to break the iconic Bushnell to see the real woman behind. Bushnell is now 52 (does not look a year beyond 35), married to a belly dancer and is sobered and wiser than her wild years of the 30s Says Bushnell, “I always dreamt of a life of a hard-working writer and living quietly in a small town. I just want to work, lots of work.” She wants ‘Sex and the City’ to be treated as an anthropological exploration of a certain kind of people at a certain time. “My books are not about sex, these are authentic unapologetic portrayals of young, adult life.”
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Endorsements by Docs In December last year, IMA bosses had issued a show-cause notice to KV Babu (see
pic), questioning his move to go public with the matter
New Delhi, January 24 Dr KV Babu’s resignation from the association’s highest decision-making body comes in the wake of his victimisation by the IMA bosses, who had, in December, issued a show-cause notice to the whistleblower, questioning his move to go public with the matter and in the process “violating his duties as a central council member”. The notice required Babu to appear in person before the IMA office-bearers to put up a defence. Babu was accused of approaching the Medical Council of India and the Health Ministry without raising the endorsement issue in the IMA’s Central Council, of which he is a member. “The IMA wants me to raise the matter in the Central Council whose meetings I have been unable to attend due to ill health. I have duly informed them of my health problem and my inability to attend the meetings. Yet, they insist that I should personally appear before them. To spare myself of this harassment as a central council member of the association, I have resigned from the CC. I will now campaign as an ordinary member of the IMA, without having to face the victimisation on account of holding an important position. The IMA actually wants to strip me of the primary membership of the association but I believe I am the only one fit to be a member because I am the only one upholding the Code of Medical Ethics which require doctors to expose illegal practices,” Babu today told The Tribune. He has petitioned the Delhi Medical Council (DMC) to stay further proceedings on the show-cause notice issued to him by the current president and general secretary of the IMA who are both DMC members. He has also sought disciplinary action against these office-bearers on grounds that they are preventing him from discharging the duties the Code of Medical Ethics, 2002, prescribes. Meanwhile, Babu, in his resignation from the IMA’s Central Council, sent to the president of the Payyanur branch of the IMA in Kerala which he represents, protests against the continuing endorsement of Pepsi and Dabur products by the association. In 2011, the IMA will receive Rs 52 lakh from Pepsi and Rs 23 lakh from Dabur in return for these endorsements. Babu’s resignation reads: “Despite my repeated appeals to the local, state and national office-bearers of the IMA to backtrack from the unethical endorsements, there has been no response. Protesting against this callous attitude, I am resigning from the IMA’s Central Council.” Earlier, the MCI had slammed the IMA’s endorsements as unethical and asked it to stop them with immediate effect. It also recommended disciplinary action against the then office-bearers who had approved the contracts of endorsement. Subsequently, the erring office-bearers
had approached the Delhi High Court and sought a stay on MCI’s indictment. The endorsements continue to date.
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Houses of Priyanka Chopra, Katrina raided
The raids come amidst media reports that both Chopra and Kaif have increased their fees to nearly Rs 5 crore per film.
Apart from the residences of the three celebrities, the offices of their managers and chartered accountants, too, are under the taxman's scanner, added sources. While huge crowds gathered outside the houses of the two actresses as news of the raids spread, there was no sign of the duo.
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Aruna
Case
New Delhi, January 24 “We feel like a ship in an unchartered sea, seeking some guidance by the light thrown by the legislations and judicial precedents of foreign countries,” a Bench comprising Justices Markandey Katju and Gyan Sudha Misra said in an order today. The Bench appointed a three-member team of doctors to examine the victim, Aruna Ramachandra Shanbaug, and submit a report before the plea was taken up for final disposal on February 22. The court said it would also decide on the legal validity of the plea made by the victim’s friend, Pinki Virani, through a petition under Article 32 of the Constitution that guarantees right to life and personal liberty.KEM Hospital, where the victim was employed and is lying in a vegetative state with life-support system, had asked the brother and the sister to take her away shortly after the incident, but they did not come forward. The SC’s ruling will become law on the issue as there is no legislation that allows euthanasia (mercy killing) at present. The Bench said it would also go into the question as to whether living in such a state could be described as life. The court appointed senior counsel TR Andhyarujina as amicus curiae in the case to assist it and also asked Attorney General GE Vahanvati to be present.
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HC issues notice to
Jagan, 56 others Hyderabad, January 24 The court took suo motu cognisance of a press conference held by State Textile Minister P Shankar Rao demanding a probe into the abnormal investments made by some industrialists in the companies promoted by Jagan. Rao, a senior Congress leader, has been a bitter critic of Jagan and his family. Apart from Jagan and five other individuals, the court issued notices to 51 investors in Jagati Publications that publishes Telugu daily "Sakshi" and Indira Television Network that manages "Sakshi" news channel, Bharati Cements and the Sajjala Group of Industries. They were asked to submit their replies to the court before February 14. Shankar Rao had alleged that several individuals and companies had invested in the companies floated by Jagan while his father YS Rajasekhara Reddy was the CM. The investors were encouraged to purchase shares in the companies at an abnormal premium. In return, the government had extended several benefits to them.
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HC directive on Sabarimala report Notice to govt on Radia tapes
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Jaipur, January 26
Mumbai, January 24
IT officials who began their raids at 7.30 this morning were scrutinising documents and bank account details of several people and companies. 
