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37 die in Maharashtra bus mishap
Cabinet okays revised Food Security Bill
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M’rashtra MLAs assault policeman in Assembly
UK woman jumps off hotel room to escape rape bid
China replaces UK as world’s fifth largest arms exporter
No wrongdoing, claims Agusta
Over 2.6 lakh cases pending before Lucknow Bench
Kunda DSP widow accepts job offer
Rape victim commits suicide
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37 die in Maharashtra bus mishap
Mumbai, March 19 Fifteen passengers, including the bus driver and five Russian tourists, have been admitted to various hospitals at Khed and Chiplun. Some of the injured, whose condition was critical, have been taken to Mumbai. An injured Russian national reportedly died in a hospital. The accident occurred around 3.50 am when the Goa-Mumbai bus belonging to Mahakali Travels suddenly swerved off the Bharna bridge and crashed into the Jagbudi river in Maharashtra’s Ratnagiri district, around 190 km from Mumbai. “So far, 37 bodies have been removed from the site and there are some more injured passengers, including five whose condition is serious,” said BL Shinde, an official from the highway department. Local villagers alerted the police about the accident and rescue operations were launched. Gas cutters and a JCB machine had to be brought in to cut through the mangled remains of the bus in order to reach the dead and the injured. According to eyewitnesses, the accident occurred while the ill-fated bus was in the process of overtaking another vehicle, though the exact cause has yet to be determined. This is among the worst accidents on the treacherous Mumbai-Goa highway. The traffic on the highway remained completely stalled for several hours after the accident. Home Minister RR Patil had yesterday informed the Maharashtra Assembly that 828 persons had been killed and 2,411 seriously injured in various road accidents on the Mumbai-Goa highway over the past three years. “At present, seven highway police help centres manage the traffic on this highway and the requirements of increasing the number of such centres will be examined,” Patil had said. Following persistent demands by local residents and tourists, the work on the four-lanning of the highway is currently underway. TRAGEDY ON ROAD
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Cabinet okays revised Food Security Bill
The amendments to the Bill will guarantee 5 kg foodgrain per person per month, while poorest of the poor families will continue to get 35 kg of grains per month. “The revised Food Bill has been cleared by Cabinet. We will try to bring amendments to the Food Bill in Parliament before Friday,” Food Minister KV Thomas said here. The government intends to get the revised Bill passed in the current session of Parliament that ends on May 10. Over 55-56 amendments to the Bill have been made in line with the suggestions made by the Parliamentary Standing Committee, which submitted its report in January. Rice will be sold through ration shops at Rs 3 per kg, wheat at Rs 2 and millets at Re 1 in the first three years of the implementation of the Act. This is much lower than the market price of over Rs 20/kg for rice and Rs 16/kg for wheat. The beneficiaries would be decided by state governments, while the criteria to exclude 33 per cent of population would be provided by the Planning Commission, Thomas said. About 62 million tonnes of foodgrain would be required to implement the Bill, while the food subsidy is estimated at Rs 1,24,747 crore at 2013-14 costs, which is Rs 23,800 crore higher than the existing level. Instead of dividing beneficiaries into two categories — priority and general households — with different entitlement and price, the revised Bill proposes only one category of beneficiary with uniform entitlement of 5 kg per person per month at uniform price of Rs 1-3/kg for all beneficiaries. In the original Bill, introduced in the Lok Sabha in December 2011, the Centre had proposed 7 kg rice or wheat or millet a month for priority category at Rs 3, Rs 2 and Re 1 per kg, respectively, and at least 3 kg per person per month for general households at 50 per cent of support price. The Food Bill, the pet project of UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, was promised during the 2009 elections. It is seen as a major plank by the Congress for the 2014 General Election.
— PTI
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M’rashtra MLAs assault policeman in Assembly
Mumbai, March 19 “On a complaint by the victim — Assistant Police Inspector Sachin Suryavanshi — attached to the Worli police station, an FIR was registered at Marine Drive police station against MLAs Kshitij Thakur, Ram Kadam and around 14 others,” a police officer said. They have been booked under IPC Sections 143, 341, 353, 504, 323 and 506, the officer added. The incident happened after Question Hour today, when Kshitij Thakur, the Bahujan Vikas Aghadi MLA, gave notice of breach of privilege against assistant police inspector (Traffic) Sachin Suryavanshi. Thakur subsequently noticed Suryavanshi sitting in the visitor's gallery and pointed him out to other MLAs, some of who rushed out to beat him up, according to eyewitnesses. The officer ducked into the room of one of the Mantralaya officers, but was pulled out by the angry MLAs, dragged out, punched and kicked by the legislators. He was later taken to hospital on a stretcher where his condition is said to be stable. The assault comes a day after Thakur alleged that he was stopped on the Bandra-Worli sealink yesterday by the officer while on his way to attend the session and abused. The MLA's allegations resulted in an uproar with many legislators demanding Suryavanshi's suspension. The House was then adjourned. Today, after Thakur had moved a breach of privilege motion against the officer after Question Hour, he noticed Suryavanshi sitting in the visitor's gallery. Some MLAs alleged that the police officer made hand gestures at the legislators looking up at him. High drama
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UK woman jumps off hotel room to escape rape bid
Agra, March 19 The tourist, a dentist from London, who had checked into the hotel in Idgah area, about four km from the Taj Mahal two days ago, told the police that she had asked for a wake up call at 4 am. The hotel owner Sachin Chauhan knocked at her door at 3.45 am and offered a “free hand massage” saying it was part of hotel’s special services for foreign guests, Subhash Chandra Dubey, SSP, Agra, told reporters here. She refused and shut the door. But soon, the owner came with the security guard and tried to open the door. The tourist said she locked the room from inside and leapt from the first-floor window to the level below, injuring her leg. She was treated for ligament injury at the district hospital and later moved to another hotel, police said. Police said the victim was a dentist from London who had arrived in India three weeks back and travelled to different parts before reaching Agra. Chauhan, a Delhi native, was arrested on molestation, harassment and other charges, police said. The hotel owner claimed that he was being falsely implicated as he had gone only to wake her up because she had not responded when the hotel staff had tried ringing her on the intercom. The British High Commission in Delhi said its officials had spoken to the woman and to the local police and that consular assistance was being provided to her. On Friday, a 39-year-old Swiss tourist was gang raped in a forest in Madhya Pradesh, while her husband was beaten up. Six men have been arrested. The Swiss couple were on a cycling trip in India and their next destination was Agra. The UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has reviewed its travel advisory for women travellers to India. It said, “Women travellers should exercise caution when travelling in India even if they are travelling in a group.”
— PTI sequence of events
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China replaces UK as world’s fifth largest arms exporter
This is the first time that China has been ranked among the top five arms exporters since the end of the cold war. Overall, the volume of international transfers of major conventional weapons grew by 17 per cent between 2003-2007 and 2008-12. This is the first time that the UK has not been in the top five since 1950, the earliest year covered by SIPRI data. China’s displacement of the UK is the first change in the composition of the top five arms exporters in past 20 years. The five largest suppliers of major conventional weapons during the five-year period 2008-12 were the United States (30 per cent of global arms exports), Russia (26 per cent), Germany (7 per cent), France (6 per cent) and China (5 per cent). “The volume of Chinese exports of major conventional weapons rose by 162 per cent between 2003-2007 and 2008-2012, and its share of the volume of international arms exports increased from 2 to 5 per cent,” the report said. “The rise of China has been driven primarily by large-scale arms acquisitions by Pakistan,” said Dr Paul Holtom, Director of the SIPRI Arms Transfers Programme. The report goes on to say that a number of recent deals indicate that China is establishing itself as a significant arms supplier to a growing number of important recipient states. In New Delhi the report was released at the Observer Research Foundation where, ORF Director Sunjoy Joshi pointed out that all top five global suppliers of arms were also the permanent members of the UNSC that has failed to stop nuclear proliferation.
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No wrongdoing, claims Agusta
The company, a subsidiary of Italian aerospace major Finmeccanica, faces allegations of illegal payoffs of Rs 350 crore to bribe officials in India for securing the deal by changing tender specifications. An Italian court, on February 12, ordered the arrest of the Finmeccanica CEO. This was the second show-cause notice the MoD had issued to the copter maker after rejecting its reply to the first notice a few weeks ago. The second notice was issued after a team of the MoD and the CBI obtained some documents from Italy. The authorities were reportedly not satisfied with Agusta’s reply and had confronted it with facts. Agusta, in its reply today, said, “The company has not violated the integrity pact it signed with the MoD for the supply of 12 AW 101 helicopters.” The ministry is examining the reply and its response will be known over the next few days. “The MoD response will be conveyed to Agusta in the next few days,” source said. The MoD had asked the helicopter-maker to submit details about its transactions with Tunisia and Chandigarh-based firms, the IDS Infotech and the Aeromatrix, respectively. In response, the company has submitted audit papers of its financial transactions.
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Over 2.6 lakh cases pending before Lucknow Bench
Lucknow, March 19 Congress MLA Pramod Tiwari pointed out that against the sanctioned strength of 160 high court judges, there were only 80 judges presently functioning. He suggested that the state government should write to the centre asking them to at least fill up the vacancies. BJP leader in the house Hukum Singh urged the state government to take up the matter seriously and send another letter to the Centre.
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Kunda DSP widow accepts job offer
Lucknow, March 19 Earlier, Parveen had rejected the job offer, declaring that she would not accept a post lower than the DSP-rank post which her husband held at the time of his death.
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Jaipur, March 19 The woman was raped by the accused yesterday in the Pahari area where she was taken to him by her husband and mother-in-law after she failed to give birth to any child for years, they said. The accused has been arrested, while the further probes are on, the police added. — PTI
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Cherie Blair visits Sewa Centre
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The Cabinet today approved changes to the landmark Food Security Bill to grant the nation’s 67 per cent population the right to get monthly quota of 5 kg foodgrain at highly subsidised rates of Rs 1-3 per kg.
New Delhi, March 19
New Delhi, March 19
New Delhi, March 19
