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Kunda murders rock UP Assembly
Minister: 75,000 missing children untraced in 3 yrs
Rahul presses for better coordination among party men |
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BJP: Dual power centre has hit UPA govt’s functioning
New Delhi, March 6 Taking the UPA government to task for its acts of omission and commission, Leader of the Opposition Arun Jaitley today said the presence of a ‘dual power centre’ had affected the functioning of the ruling coalition.
OFB to supply 114 Howitzers to Army
New UPSC format notified
All Mumbai buses to have CCTVs
Kudankulam-1 likely to be commissioned by next month: Govt
Budget cut won't hit operations, says Antony
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Kunda murders rock UP Assembly
Lucknow, March 6 As soon as the House was convened, the BSP MLAs rushed to the well of the House raising slogans and demanding arrest of former minister Raghuraj Pratap Singh, alias Raja Bhaiyya. The oath-taking ceremony of the newly elected Samajwadi MLA from Bhatpar Rani Ashutosh Upadhyaya was also lost in the din, forcing Speaker Mata Prasad Pandey to adjourn the House twice. When the House was reconvened, Swami Prasad Maurya spoke about the reportedly popular anger against the state government for not arresting the minister who had been named by the widow in the FIR. Charging the state government of shielding the minister, the BSP members staged a walkout. Defending the state government, minister Ambica Chadhury said prompt action had already been taken in the case and as per the wishes of the CO’s widow, the Chief Minister had already ordered a CBI inquiry into the case. BJP leader Hukum Singh and Congress MLA Pramod Tiwari sought to know if the CBI had accepted the state government’s recommendation regarding the inquiry. Quoting law, Tiwari said, “Till the time the CBI issues a notification, it is the state government’s duty to carry on the investigation and ensure that evidence is not tampered with.” Accusing the state government of purposely misleading the House in the matter, the Congress members also walked out. BJP member Hukum Singh sought an assurance from the state government to uniformly provide Rs 50 lakh to the family of all police officers who were killed while on duty. When Chadhury said it was not possible to lay down a policy in that regard, the BJP also staged a walkout. Meanwhile, CM Akhilesh Yadav, accompanied by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Mohammad Azam Khan, today visited Balipur village in Pratapgarh to offer condolences to the bereaved families of slain gram pradhan Nanhey Yadav and his brother Suresh Yadav. Assuring to take responsibility of the education of the murdered brothers’ minor children, the CM promised to give them government jobs on growing up. He also handed over cheques worth Rs 20 lakh each to the two widows. DSP ‘beaten up’ before death
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Minister: 75,000 missing children untraced in 3 yrs
New Delhi, March 6 The minister said the Centre had issued advisories to states to appoint nodal officers at all police stations to deal with such cases and make registration of FIRs mandatory. The advisories followed two interim orders of the Supreme Court in January 2013, he said. The Supreme Court had ordered mandatory recording of FIRs in such cases and setting up of special juvenile police units in different states. The minister admitted the issue of missing children had assumed “alarming” proportions. He said as part of the measures being taken by the government to check such cases, a web portal “TrackChild” has been launched on pilot basis to deal with the problem. States are also being asked to update data on missing children on the portal, he said. He said there was no information that missing children were being sold in neighbouring countries. When pointed out that children were also being kidnapped from hospitals, he said there had been such cases but law and order was a state subject. As per a data of National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), 34,406 children remained untraced in 2011, 23,236 in 2010 and 18,166 in the previous year. The numbers
Year Untraced kids 2010 23,236 2011 34,406 2012 18,166
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Rahul presses for better coordination among party men New Delhi, March 6 Rahul made these observations at a meeting with party office-bearers today. This was essentially a follow-up of his earlier interactions with them when he had encouraged the participants to give their views about the deficiencies in the organisation and their suggestions on streamlining the party. The office-bearers had complained about the slow decision making process in the party and the growing use of money power in elections and pointed to rampant factionalism in state units and lack of coordination between the party and the government where the Congress is in power. Today, it was Rahul’s turn to give his feedback. “There is plenty of talent in this room (AICC) and in the states but unfortunately there is lack of coordination and communication in the party,” he told the gathering of Congress general secretaries and secretaries. Calling for a course correction, the Congress vice-president asked the office-bearers to ensure that the state, district and block level committees meet regularly to thrash out outstanding issues and chalk out party programmes. “Work enthusiastically and enjoy your work,” he counselled the office-bearers.
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BJP: Dual power centre has hit UPA govt’s functioning
"When the UPA came to power nine years ago, there was a buzz of excitement about India. The NDA had left power with an eight per cent growth rate and now we may have less than a five per cent growth rate. The atmosphere has changed from that of enthusiasm to a sense of cynicism about India," Jaitley said during a discussion on the motion of thanks to the President for his address to the joint session of Parliament. He said it was for the government to reflect on whether the UPA model was right for governing the world’s largest democracy. There was a leadership crisis and a credibility crisis on how to formulate policies. “Dual power centres cannot work for policy decisions," he added. Noting that the UPA government was about to complete nine years in office, Jaitley said so much time was enough to change the course of a country. “When the government enters its final year, it will have to decide how it wants history to write it," he said. His comments came after Congress member Renuka Chowdhury, while initiating the debate, stated that India could tackle the global economic slowdown only because of the "sound" economic policies of the UPA government. "We were enjoying a boom time but the world underwent a financial crisis. Our armour was dented but is still strong. We could go through the 2008 economic crisis because we had the UPA (United Progressive Alliance) government and because of the sound policies of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh," Chowdhury said. "India will continue to grow at 5.9 per cent, second only to China, because of the sound economic policies of the government," she said. She also said that the government was taking steps to empower women and increase the reach of education.
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Soldiers hurt while on leave entitled to disability benefits: SC
Chandigarh, March 6 While disposing-off the case of an Army Medical Corps (AMC) trooper, the apex court has ruled that injuries suffered while an individual is on casual leave are to be considered as injuries suffered as if on active duty. His petition for benefits had earlier been dismissed by the Armed Forces Tribunal. The soldier, who was selected for the non-technical commission as an officer in the AMC, was denied officer-ship on the grounds that he had been placed in the low medical category (LMC) and only those LMC soldiers were eligible for a commission who had suffered disabilities attributable to active duty service. His injury was sustained while on casual leave. Rejecting the government’s stand, the SC, after discussing various rules and notifications, held that casual leave was very much to be considered as part of duty and the soldier deserved to get a commission in the AMC. The SC has also upheld the decision of the Punjab and Haryana High Court in which the HC had ruled that a widow was entitled to special family pension in a case where her husband had died while driving his private scooter and whose claim had been rejected by the government on the grounds that his death was not attributable to service. In yet another case, the SC has dismissed an SLP filed by the Central government against a landmark judgment by the Kochi Bench of the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT). In its 116 page judgment, the AFT had ruled that though the opinion of the medical board regarding attributability or aggravation of disabilities due to service had primacy, as held by the Supreme Court in various cases, but for the same to prevail the opinion needed to be in conformity of the rules and be supported by reasons. Otherwise the benefit of disability pension was to go to disabled soldiers. The AFT had also remarked that even while arguing cases before the SC, the Ministry of Defence did not place the correct rules and subsequent amendments before the Court, including in cases where the Solicitor General himself had appeared.
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OFB to supply 114 Howitzers to Army
New Delhi, March 6 The OFB will supply 114 such guns at cost of Rs 11.03 crore apiece, making it an order worth Rs 1,257 crore. The MoD move come after validation firing of the gun was successful in the last two trials - one in December 2012 at Balasore, Orissa, and second on February 4, 2013, at Pokhran. The MoD-OFB indent was signed on March 4 and lays down a timeline for delivery. At present, the OFB has produced two variants: one that has 68 per cent local content and other has 46 per cent local content. “They have been asked to focus on the one with more local content to keep down costs,” said sources. Once the final production design is done, the gun will be tested again in June and December this year. The validation trials have got an approving nod from the Army. Produced by the Ordnance Factory Board, these guns are 155 mm, 45 calibre howitzers. These look like Bofors and have the capacity to fire up to a distance of 38 km, slightly more than the Bofors. The guns are more or less based on the existing Bofors design for which the OFB holds the Transfer of Technology (ToT) licence from the Bofors. Research for the manufacture of a number of variants of the howitzer is underway and is nearing completion. The Army has expressed keenness to have 155 mm 52 calibre guns which the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) will produce. The original AB Bofors, inducted in 1987, is 39 calibre. The “calibre” of a gun is primarily the size of the inside of the barrel.
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New Delhi, March 6 The Civil Services (Mains) exams for the first time will also have a separate paper on "ethics, integrity and aptitude", according to a gazette notification issued by Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) on the changes about the test conducted by Union Public Service Commission (UPSC). "This paper (on ethics, integrity and aptitude) will include questions to test the candidate's attitude and approach to issues relating to integrity, probity in public life and his problem solving approach to various issues and conflicts faced by him in dealing with society," it said with regard to the 2013 civil services exams. DoPT has also changed the marks distribution of papers and increased number of compulsory subject papers of general studies for the main examination. From Civil Services (Mains) exams, 2013, there will be four compulsory general services papers of 250 marks each, in addition to two optional papers of 250 marks each. Earlier, there were two compulsory papers on general studies and two optional papers of 300 marks each. Total marks for the main exams will be 1,800. The paper on essay and English comprehension will continue to be of 300 marks. The civil services preliminary examination will be held on May 26, this year and the last date for filing online application is April 4. — PTI Ethics, integrity& general studies in focus
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All Mumbai buses to have CCTVs
The civic-owned transport undertaking began installing CCTVs in some buses after police warned of terrorists’ plan of targeting the buses during peak hours. However, the police has now asked the organisation to install CCTVs in all its buses after women passengers complained of being harassed inside packed buses. In a circular issued here, the police has asked all bus operators to ensure that CCTV footage recorded inside buses be stored for 72 hours. The police said it will soon become compulsory for all school buses to be fitted with surveillance cameras. The decision was taken after parents complained of their children being touched inappropriately by bus conductors. The police has also made it mandatory for a woman attendant to be present inside school buses at all times. Police officials say it will soon be made mandatory for all buses, public and private, to have CCTVs installed. Several private operators run contract buses to ferry employees of big corporations in
Mumbai. Boosting Security
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Kudankulam-1 likely to be commissioned by next month: Govt
New Delhi, March 6 Of the 2,000 MW electricity to be generated by the two units, Tamil Nadu has been allocated 925 MW, Kerala (266 MW), Karnataka (442 MW) and Pondicherry (67 MW), he said. "The government has also agreed to consider providing additional 100 MW power to Tamil Nadu," Narayanasamy said. Some power generated by the two units has not been allocated. In reply to a question, Narayanasamy said the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) had given clearance for the second heat up and full system tests of the unit-1 of Kudankulam nuclear power project on January 24.
— PTI
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Budget cut won't hit operations, says Antony
New Delhi, March 6 Replying to questions in the Upper House, the Defence Minister said: "We will not compromise" on operational capabilities of the armed forces. The allocation to the Defence Ministry for the current financial year has been reduced by Rs 4,903.77 crore under the revenue segment and Rs 10,000 crore under capital in the revised estimates of 2012-13. Antony said the allocation made for defence is adequate to sustain the pace of modernisation in the current fiscal. He said "most important procurements" of weapon systems will take place on time.
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Having heard out AICC office-bearers and state leaders in a series of meetings over the past month, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi has pointed to the lack of coordination and communication in the party and suggested this should be rectified by holding regular meetings of workers at state, district and block levels.
New Delhi, March 6
Mumbai, March 6