The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	SC orders closure of 49 iron-ore mines in K’taka R Sedhuraman Legal Correspondent New Delhi, April 18 Cracking down on illegal mining activities in Karnataka, the Supreme Court today ordered the closure of about 50 mines for committing maximum violations and thereby damaging the environment, but allowed issue of fresh leases on strict conditions in order to ensure availability of iron ore in the country. A three-member Bench headed by Justice Aftab Alam also allowed resumption of iron ore mining in category A and B mines, which had comparatively committed less illegalities, after fulfillment of the guidelines relating to reclamation and rehabilitation. However, the operation of seven leases placed in Category B would remain suspended until finalixation of the inter-state boundary disputes between Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, it said. The proceeds from the iron ore mined by the worst violators (Category C) which had been confiscated and auctioned by the SC appointed monitoring committee would go to the state government and would be used for undoing the environmental damage. “Illegal mining apart from playing havoc on the national economy had, in fact, cast an ominous cloud on the credibility of the system of governance by laws in force. It has had a chilling and crippling effect on ecology and environment,” the Bench noted. It was evident from the reports of the Central Empowered Committee (CEC), appointed by the Bench to assist the SC in giving clearance to development projects in forest areas, that several Category C mines were operating without requisite clearances under the Forest Conservation Act or even in the absence of a mining lease for a part of the area used for mining operations. “The satellite imageries placed before the Court with regard to environmental damage and destruction has shocked judicial conscience. It is in the light of the above facts and circumstances that the future course of action in respect of the maximum violators/polluters, i.e. Category C mines has to be judged. “While doing so, the Court also has to keep in mind the requirement of iron ore to ensure adequate supply of manufactured steel and other allied products,” the SC explained in the 81-page verdict
	India, China talk Afghanistan post-US troop withdrawal Ashok Tuteja/TNS New Delhi, April 18 In what is bound to cause some disquiet in Islamabad, India and China today held their first-ever bilateral dialogue on Afghanistan at which the two countries discussed the situation likely to emerge in the land-locked nation after the withdrawal of foreign troops in 2014. The Indian team was led by YK Sinha, Additional Secretary (Afghanistan) in the External Affairs Ministry while Luo Zhaohui, Director General of Asia Division in the Chinese Foreign Ministry, headed his country’s delegation at the meeting held in Beijing. It is learnt that the two countries shared their respective perception of various developments in Afghanistan in recent months, particularly the attempts being made by the West for reconciliation with the Taliban. They agreed that the Afghan issue concerned regional security and stability and they, being the two big powers in the region, ought to remain engaged on it. Both India and China have strong interest in the stability of Afghanistan after the drawdown of foreign troops. India has committed investments worth about two billion dollars in the war-ravaged nation while China has invested some three billion dollars, primarily in the mining sector. So far, China was reluctant to hold any dialogue with India on Afghanistan, lest such a move annoys Pakistan, its ‘all-weather’ ally. Pakistan, which seeks to gain strategic depth in Afghanistan after the pullout by foreign troops, has been vehemently opposed to any Indian role in Afghanistan. But the worrisome situation in Afghanistan and the goodwill India has generated among the people of Afghanistan due to its humanitarian assistance programmes have made Beijing realise the role New Delhi might be called upon to play in the post drawdown phase. China is also apprehensive of Pakistan’s help to the terrorist infrastructure in the Af-Pak region because it will have huge security implications for its own Muslim-dominated autonomous region of Xinjiang, which borders Afghanistan. Officials say the initiative for the bilateral India-China dialogue on Afghanistan also came from Beijing when National Security Adviser Shivshanker Menon visited Russia recently for the trilateral India-Russia-China meeting to discuss the situation in the embattled nation. India also holds a trilateral dialogue with the US and Afghanistan on the Afghan imbroglio. The Afghan issue had also figured prominently during talks earlier this month on counter-terrorism between India and China. More such interactions are planned between the two countries before new Chinese Premier Li Kequiang’s visit to India in May. Strong interest The two countries discussed the situation likely to emerge in the land-locked nation after the withdrawal of foreign troops in 2014 The two sides agreed that the Afghan issue concerned regional security and stability and they, being the two big powers in the region, ought to remain engaged on it Both India and China have strong interest in the stability of Afghanistan after the drawdown of foreign troops. India has committed investments worth about two billion dollars in the war-ravaged nation while China has invested some three billion dollars, primarily in the mining sector
	Cabinet approves National Child Policy Aditi Tandon Tribune News Service New Delhi, April 18 For the first time since Independence, India today adopted a policy document at the highest level to recognise every child’s right to survival, development, protection and participation and define a child as a person below 18 years of age. The Policy approved by the Cabinet will inform all existing laws related to children and prevent future conflicts on the issue of child’s definition as witnessed recently during the debate on anti-rape bill when some Union Ministers were seeking the age of consensual sex to be lowered to 16 years and others to retain it at 18 in line with the universally accepted definition of children. The National Policy for Children 2030 cleared today states for the first time that a child will be any person below the age of 18 years. It adds that all existing legislations will have to change to honour the policy. This means the Government will now have to amend laws that bear conflicting definitions of children. The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act 2006 will have to be amended to define all children below 18 years. At present, this law differentiates between male and female children defining a child as anyone below 21 years in case of “males” and “anyone below 18 years in case of “females”. “The Child Marriage Prohibition Act will have to change and both male and female children defined neutrally as persons below 18 years. Similarly, the Prohibition of Child Labour Act will have to change as it currently defines a child as someone below 14 years for the purpose of child labour,” sources in the Ministry of Women and Child Development told TNS today. The change in child’s definition stems from India’s commitment to the UN Convention on Rights of the Child which it ratified long ago but failed to bring its laws in line with the UNCRC. “Every time we would go to the CRC committee they would ask us questions. Now we have a policy as an answer,” Government sources said. India adopted the last National Child Policy way back in 1974. The old policy stressed Integrated Child Development Services, immunisation and child labour. But since the advent of globalisation, rise in crimes against children and strides in mass media, the Government had not revised its policy which could guide the national plans properly. The National Child Policy 2030 for the first time recognises the children’s right to life, survival and development and goes beyond their physical existence.
	Tribals to decide fate of Vedanta’s bauxite project: Apex court R Sedhuraman Legal Correspondent New Delhi, April 18 The Supreme Court today ruled that the fate of Vedanta Groups’s bauxite mining project in Odisha would have to be cleared by the tribal panchayats in Kalahandi and Rayagada districts of the state. A three-member Bench headed by Justice Aftab Alam, who retired today, said since the project covered about 660 hectares of forest land, including the Niyamgiri hills worshiped by the tribals, the clearance of the forest dwellers, mostly tribals, was required for the project. The Bench, which included Justices KS Radhakrishnan and Ranjan Gogoi, noted that the responsibility of safeguarding and preserving tribals’ community resources, traditions, customs and cultural identity had been given to their Gram Sabhas under the Panchayats (Extension of the Scheduled Areas) Act, known as the PESA Act. Therefore, the tribal panchayats in the area would examine whether the proposed mining area would in any way affect the abode of their god, Niyam Raja, atop the Niyamgiri hills, the Bench clarified. “The Gram Sabha is also free to consider all the community, individual as well as cultural and religious claims,” the SC ruled. The tribals affected by the project would have to file their claims with the Gram Sabha within six weeks. The Odisha Government and the Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs would assist the Gram Sabha for settling individual and community claims within three months. The Union Ministry of Environment and Forests should take a final decision on the grant of stage two clearance for the bauxite mining project within two months thereafter. The proceedings of the Gram Sabha would be attended by a judicial officer of the rank of the District Judge, nominated by the Chief Justice of the Orissa HC, as an observer to ensure that none of the parties - state, centre or the company - influenced the final decision. The SC delivered the judgment on a plea filed by Orissa Mining Corporation challenging MoEF’s decision to cancel the environmental clearance to the Niyamgiri Bauxite Mining Project.
	aarushi case CBI: Wall separating Aarushi, parent’s rooms was hollow Ghaziabad, April 18 Putting a question mark on the earlier theory that noises in Aarushi's room could not be overheard in the adjoining room of her parents as they were separated by a brick wall, the CBI today said there was a hollow portion in it. A senior CBI official told the city court here that the bedrooms of Aarushi and her parents were separated by a brick wall which was covered by a plyboard sheet. However, during his inspection, Additional SP AGL Kaul suspected that the plyboard covered wall was hollow in parts. When asked, Talwars had told him that there used to be a door, which has been removed, hence the portion is hollow. Defence counsel Tanveer Ahmed Mir asked Kaul that if there was a brick wall between the two bedrooms that was covered with plyboard, how could Rajesh and Nupur, who were fast asleep, hear the voices coming from their daughter's adjoining room. To this, Kaul clarified that when he inspected the bedroom he suspected that there was a portion which sounded hollow. Kaul said when he inquired from the dentist couple, they told him that there was a door in the brick wall that was removed and entire area blocked with plyboard; hence the door portion sounded hollow. While questioning, Mir also said that the phone call on no. 100 was made at 6.54 am on May 16, 2008, whereas Talwar's maid had claimed that she had come at 6 am and came to know about the murder of Aarushi, CBI prosecutor RK Saini, who was present in the court of Additional District and Sessions judge S Lal said. The defence asked Kaul to explain why the identification of Aarushi's phone, which was recovered by a woman from a park in Noida few weeks after her murder, was not done from Talwar's couple. The officer said Talwars had already provided them with the IMEI number of the phone and the handset which was recovered matched with it so there was no need for identification from Talwars. — PTI
	Aligarh on the boil after rape, murder of 6-yr-old Aligarh/Lucknow, April 18 An elderly woman was knocked down by a police officer with his baton during a lathicharge to quell protests today over the alleged rape and murder of a six-year-old girl in which seven persons were injured. The minor girl went missing this morning and later her body was recovered at a garbage dump in Nagla Kalar area in Aligarh, the police said, as the crime sparked violent protests by locals prompting police to use force. The victim's family alleged that she was strangled to death after being sexually abused, they said. TV footage of the lathicharge showed the officer rushing towards the unarmed elderly woman and pushing her down using his baton, an action that triggered a condemnation of Uttar Pradesh's Samajwadi Party government by Opposition parties in unison for use of force by police on protesting women. Deputy director information Ashok Sharma told PTI in Lucknow that Circle Officer (Civil Lines) A K Singh, who was involved in the incident involving the unidentified elderly woman, has been removed from the post and sent to the police office Aligarh. Singh also allegedly thrashed some women protesters. Sharma also said that a constable and a head constable, shown in video footages telecast by some TV channels, have been suspended. Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav said he was pained at the police action on the elderly woman. "When I saw these visuals on TV I felt sad about the behaviour of the policemen towards the elderly woman," he said. — PTI
	Aligarh on the boil after rape, murder of 6-yr-old Aligarh/Lucknow, April 18 An elderly woman was knocked down by a police officer with his baton during a lathicharge to quell protests today over the alleged rape and murder of a six-year-old girl in which seven persons were injured. The minor girl went missing this morning and later her body was recovered at a garbage dump in Nagla Kalar area in Aligarh, the police said, as the crime sparked violent protests by locals prompting police to use force. The victim's family alleged that she was strangled to death after being sexually abused, they said. TV footage of the lathicharge showed the officer rushing towards the unarmed elderly woman and pushing her down using his baton, an action that triggered a condemnation of Uttar Pradesh's Samajwadi Party government by Opposition parties in unison for use of force by police on protesting women. Deputy director information Ashok Sharma told PTI in Lucknow that Circle Officer (Civil Lines) A K Singh, who was involved in the incident involving the unidentified elderly woman, has been removed from the post and sent to the police office Aligarh. Singh also allegedly thrashed some women protesters. Sharma also said that a constable and a head constable, shown in video footages telecast by some TV channels, have been suspended. Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav said he was pained at the police action on the elderly woman. "When I saw these visuals on TV I felt sad about the behaviour of the policemen towards the elderly woman," he said. — PTI
	Bandh in protest against SC order on Asiatic lions Manas Dasgupta Ahmedabad, April 18 Even as the Gujarat Government is preparing to file a review petition against the order of the Division Bench of the Supreme Court for translocation of a section of Asiatic lions from its only abode in the Gir Sanctuary to Kuno-palpur in Madhya Pradesh, the people in Sasan and many other parts of the Saurashtra region observed a total “bandh” in protest against the apex court decision. All shops and business establishments in the villages around Sasan, the administrative headquarter of the Gir Sanctuary, remained closed for the day in response to the bandh call given by shopkeepers and hotel owners associations. An official spokesman of the state government said it was preparing to file a review petition against the SC order as the people of the state feel Asiatic lions were the pride of Gujarat and would resist any move to hurt their pride. A member of the Rajya Sabha from Chhattisgarh, Parimal Nathwani has also opposed the translocation move and said the apex court order was “unfortunate”. He said it should not be overlooked that the Asiatic Lions for centuries had only survived in the Gir forest because of the geographical, climatic, environmental and bio-diverse peculiarities of the region.
	Assault on cop Reduce punishment for MLAs: House panel Wants dept inquiry against policeman Shiv Kumar/TNS Mumbai, April 18 A House panel which probed the assault of a policeman by legislators inside the Maharashtra Assembly premises has recommended lowering of punishment for two MLAs held in the case. Also, it has recommended a departmental inquiry against the policeman. The seven-member committee headed by legislator Ganpatrao Deshmukh in its report said there was no evidence to indicate that three legislators, Rajan Salvi (Shiv Sena), Jaykumar Raval (BJP) and Pradeep Jaiswal (Independent), participated in the assault on the policeman. The committee recommended that the suspension of the three be revoked during the ongoing session of the Assembly itself. Admitting that there was evidence against Bahujan Vikas Aghadi MLA Kshitij Thakur and Ram Kadam of the MNS, the panel noted that criminal cases have been lodged against them. However, it recommended that the suspension of two be curtailed and they be allowed back in the House during the first week of the monsoon session of the Assembly. Speaker Dilip Walse Patil, who read the report of the committee in the House, said the panel also found the conduct of the Police Sub-Inspector Sachin Suryavanshi objectionable. The policeman had caught Thakur speeding on the Bandra-Worli Sealink and the two had an altercation. Footage recorded by the MLA on his mobile showed the sub-inspector abusing him. The panel has recommended that a departmental inquiry be held against Suryavanshi. The policeman has already been suspended. The committee also said that the injuries sustained by the policeman following his assault in the Assembly building on March 19 were not serious. The panel has now recommended that the Chief Secretary formulate a fresh policy to review the conduct of govern-ment officials with elected representatives. The House panel consisted of veteran legislator Ganpatrao Deshmukh (Peasants and Workers Party), Sadashiv Patil (Congress), Nawab Malik (NCP), Dilip Sopal (Independent), RM Wani (Shiv Sena), Girish Bapat (BJP) and Uttamrao Dikle (MNS). Power play The seven-member committee headed by legislator Ganpatrao Deshmukh in its report said there was no evidence to indicate that three legislators, Rajan Salvi (Shiv Sena), Jaykumar Raval (BJP) and Pradeep Jaiswal (Independent), participated in the assault on the policeman The committee recommended that the suspension of the three be revoked during the ongoing session of the Assembly itself Admitting that there was evidence against Bahujan Vikas Aghadi MLA Kshitij Thakur and Ram Kadam of the MNS, the panel noted that criminal cases have been lodged against them. However, it recommended that the suspension of two be curtailed and they be allowed back in the House during the first week of the monsoon session of the Assembly
	Cong workers join bandh against CM’s order on demolition of illegal buildings Shiv Kumar/TNS Mumbai, April 18 Congress party workers today joined in the Thane bandh called by the Shiv Sena to protest demolition of illegal buildings ordered by Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan. The bandh saw some violence as miscreants came out on the streets early this morning and stoned buses plying on the streets, police said. Private vehicles plying on the roads and shops that opened their shutters were also ordered shut. Chavan had asked civic workers in Thane to begin demolition of illegal buildings in Thane after one such structure crashed earlier this month, killing 72 persons. “We are not against demolition of illegal buildings, but we want those displaced to be given alternative accommodation first,” Baburao Jadhav, a Congress party leader from the city, told this reporter. Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) and the BJP did not participate in the bandh. The bandh has received the support of local leaders like Eknath Shinde of the Shiv Sena and Jitendra Avhad of the NCP. So far, Chavan has refused to back down, saying the lives of people living in dangerous buildings were at risk.
	Singer Zubin Garg draws ULFA faction’s ire Bijay Sankar Bora/TNS Guwahati, April 18 The outlawed United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) anti-talks faction today warned popular Assamese singer Zubin Garg, who has also carved a niche for himself in Bollywood through some chart-busting numbers like ‘Ya Ali ..’, for defying the diktat of the outfit that barred singers from performing Hindi movie songs at Rongali Bihu functions in the Assam. In a statement e-mailed to The Tribune, the ULFA anti-talks faction led by fugitive leader Paresh Barua said it had taken strong exception to Zubin Garg performing Hindi movie songs at a prominent Bihu function in the heart of Guwahati and would now onwards consider him as the ambassador culture from colonial India to Assam. The ULFA faction stated that Garg’s action was uncalled for as all the other artists in Assam refrained from performing Hindi songs this Bihu as wished by the ULFA.
	Bangalore blast: 24 hrs on, police still in dark Shubhadeep Choudhury/TNS Bangalore, April 18 More than 24 hours after an explosion rocked Bangalore, injuring 16 persons, the police has got little by way of evidence to further its investigation in the case. In fact, the police is still not certain if the injuries in the bodies of the victims were caused by shrapnels that were part of the bomb or by parts of the motorcycle (said to be carrying the bomb) which flew in all directions after the explosion. Only two of the 12 injured constables sustained “cut injuries” from the blast. The police is unsure whether the “cuts” were from shrapnels or from motorbike parts. The remaining 10 Karnataka State Reserved Police (KSRP) personnel injured in the incident were victims of the deafening noise of the blast. “Their eardrums were affected. Some also bled from the ears,” a police officer said. Two of the four civilians injured in the blast also sustained “cut injuries” and these cuts could also have been caused either by shrapnels or by bike parts. While it is suspected that a timer was used for triggering off the blast, police is yet to lay its hands on any conclusive evidence of use of such a device. “The bomb must have been in the form of a pressurised metal can. Otherwise it would not go off,” the investigating officer said. He said they were not yet certain about the shape and size of the bomb. There has been no breakthrough in the case as yet, prompting the Karnataka government to announce a reward of Rs 5 lakh to anyone providing credible information on the blast that took place near the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) office in the city. Karnataka Director General of Police (DGP) Lalrokhuma Pachau told reporters here that four special teams were formed to investigate the blast, with Joint Commissioner of Police Pranab Mohanty heading the teams. Suspicion of involvement of the Indian Mujahideen (IM) in the blast in Bangalore is gaining ground, with the police finding similarity between the Bangalore incident and the blasts at Hyderabad that took place in February leading to the deaths of 16 persons.