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Two ‘tainted’ Andhra Pradesh ministers quit
Naidu petitions Prez to ‘dismiss’ duo
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Ansari’s Uzbekistan visit begins today
Cong reshuffles its Uttar Pradesh team
Raj Babbar defends Cong Bollywood style
Raw deal for lone woman minister in Karnataka
Memorial scam: UP Lokayukta indicts 2 BSP ex-ministers
Ruling NDA alliance is intact, says Nitish
Terror accused’s death
Automated scanner to detect milk adulteration
Army, MHA spat over ITBP’s operational control
Trinamool completes two years in office
Maharashtra mulls making parking slot ownership a must for car buyers
Railgate: Accused remanded in two-day CBI custody
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Two ‘tainted’ Andhra Pradesh ministers quit
Hyderabad, May 20 High drama preceded the tendering of resignations by Home Minister P Sabita Indra Reddy, and Roads and Buildings Minister D Prasada Rao. After receiving specific directions from the Congress high command, Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy summoned the two to his office today and conveyed the decision of the party leadership to remove them. The central leadership had decided to act against the ministers facing corruption charges to send a strong message to the cadre and people ahead of the 2014 Assembly elections. Soon after his return from Delhi, the Chief Minister held a meeting with the two ministers at his residence last night and followed it up with another round of consultations today. It was conveyed to the ministers that the central leadership was keen on refurbishing the party’s image and that they should stay away from the Cabinet till their innocence was proved. “I have not committed any mistake. I had strictly followed the rules and procedures and all decisions regarding land allotments and mining leases were taken by the Cabinet collectively. However, as a loyal soldier of the Congress, I am quitting the Cabinet to uphold certain principles. I am confident of proving my innocence in court,” said one of the ministers after meeting the Chief Minister. Sabita and Prasada Rao have been named as accused in two separate chargesheets filed by the CBI in the ongoing probe into the disproportionate assets case against Jagan, son of former Congress Chief Minister Rajasekhar Reddy. Both were members of the YSR Cabinet when the controversial orders were issued to favour certain individuals and companies as part of a quid pro quo arrangement. Sabita, the first woman Home Minister of the state, is charged with granting limestone mining lease to Dalmia Cements in 2008 as Mines and Geology Minister in the YSR Cabinet. The chargesheet states that Dalmia Cemnets had made Rs 95 crore investments in Jagan’s companies as part of a quid pro quo arrangement for getting the mining lease for 405 hectares of land for a 30-year period. Named in CBI chargesheet
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Naidu petitions Prez to ‘dismiss’ duo
New Delhi, May 20 At a time when the Congress-led UPA government is under attack on charges of corruption being levelled by the Opposition, Naidu met the President urging him to direct Andhra Pradesh Governor ELS Narasimhan to dismiss all “the corrupt and tainted ministers” and withdraw the decision to extend financial assistance to these ministers to fight their legal battles. The state government, he said, was extending legal assistance to six of them facing allegations and charges of corruption including Home Minister Sabita Indra Reddy, J Geetha Reddy, Ponnala Laxmaiah, D Prasada Rao and Kanna Laxminarayana. According to reports emanating from Hyderabad, Sabita Reddy and Prasada Rao are understood to have put in their papers. Naidu, who once played a leading role in bringing about parties outside the Congress and BJP fold, today in his interaction with the media here preferred to steer clear of giving any impression of such a venture. Having completed a ‘padayatra’ across the state recently, the TDP leader is working to regain the hold of the party in Andhra
Pradesh.
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Ansari’s Uzbekistan visit begins today
New Delhi, May 20 Both India and Uzbekistan are plagued by terrorism emanating from their neighbourhood. Uzbekistan has been a victim of terror attacks blamed on Islamic extremists based in Afghanistan. Ansari's would be the first visit by any vice president of India to Uzbekistan. The visit holds greater significance as both New Delhi and Tashkent have interest in what happens after the NATO forces move out of Afghanistan in July 2014. Essentially, it has been termed as a "goodwill visit" to a nation with which India has relations since 14th century. The ties are also testified by the history of the Silk Route, where Samarkand and Bukhara played an extraordinary role in promoting trade and travel. Concerns over the Afghan situation and the developments in the neighbhourhood would temper the visit as also common strategic interests ranging from finding a common ground to fight terrorism and enlarging trade and investment. Indian exports to Uzbekistan have seen a rise from $79.9 million in 2008 to $163.4 million in 2012. Imports to India from Uzbekistan too have risen from $11.1 million in 2008 to $37.82 million in 2012. Besides visiting historical places, the Vice-President would meet Uzbek President Islam
Karimov.
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Cong reshuffles its Uttar Pradesh team
New Delhi, May 20 All eight political heavyweights heading the eight zones into which Rahul Gandhi had divided the party late last year for focused coverage of the 80 parliamentary segments stand replaced with younger people being described in the Congress circles as “aam (ordinary) Congressmen”. The changes follow evidence of none of the eight zonal heads delivering the goods they were asked to. Among those sacked from their positions are RPN Singh, MP from Kushi Nagar and Union Minister of State for Home Affairs; Jitin Prasada, MP from Dhaurara and Union Minister of State for Human Resource Development; PL Punia, MP from Barabanki and Chairman of the National Commission for SCs; Rajaram Pal, MP from Akbarpur; Rasheed Masood, Rajya Sabha member; Brijendra Singh, former MP from Aligarh, and Uttar Pradesh MLAs Anugrah Narayan Singh and Vivek Singh. The new zonal heads are pretty much local leaders with their heads to the grounds and most of them are barely known outside their areas of work in UP. These include Jat leader Pankaj Malik, a second term MLA from Shamli in Western UP’s Muzaffarnagar; Deepak Kumar, a former MLA from Muzaffarnagar’s reserved constituency; Vinod Chaudhary, an OBC and formerly UP Youth Congress President and an MLA; Dijvijay Singh, a current District Congress president in Ballia; Laliteshpati Tripathi, MLA from Mirzapur in UP and grandson of seasoned Congress leader Lokpati Tripathi; Bhagwati Choudhary, a Dalit leader and a former MLA; Sanjay Kapoor, a second term MLA from Rampur again in Western UP, and Dr Muslim, an OBC MLA from Amethi, Rahul Gandhi’s Lok Sabha segment. Rahul Gandhi’s stamp is visible in the overhaul which includes the naming of 31 new District Congress chiefs in Uttar Pradesh. Rahul effect?
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Raj Babbar defends Cong Bollywood style New Delhi, May 20 Glossing over key queries in respect of the Congress’ challenges in the country, especially Uttar Pradesh where Babbar belongs, the newly anointed party spokesperson chose to dialogue deliver his responses no matter what the question. So when asked what would happen to the corruption-ridden UPA in the next general election, Babbar’s response was, “Pagri jo logon ne hame pehnai hai, voh mazboot hai…Hum pagri pehenkar dobara desh ki chowkidaari karenge (We will again guard the country),” Babbar said, adding that the UPA-III would be a reality. His primary focus today was on UPA’s key achievements ahead of government’s ninth anniversary on May 22. He made a special reference to the Right to Information (RTI) Act describing the law as a “Rs 10 gun with which people were targeting corruption”. The MP from Agra had an interesting take on UPA’s corruption scandals. “It’s not that there was no corruption nine years ago. The only thing is corruption scandals are now surfacing. That is because we have nothing to hide and have given people ‘dus rupay ki bandook’ (Rs 10 gun) called RTI which they are using to unearth the truth,” he said. It’s not that there was no corruption nine years ago. The only thing is corruption scandals are now surfacing. That is because we have nothing to hide and have given people ‘dus rupay ki bandook’ (Rs 10 gun) called RTI which they are using to unearth the truth.
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Raw deal for lone woman minister in Karnataka
Bangalore, May 20 Former MLC and actress Umashree had defeated sitting BJP MLA Siddu Savadi by 2,599 votes from Terdal in the May-5 elections. She is among the five out of 171 women candidates to have successfully contested the elections. Motamma, who had served as Women and Child Welfare Minister in the SM Krishna Cabinet and was the Leader of the Opposition in the Council, failed to make the cut this time. While women’s representation in the House remains dismal, there is also no deviation from the practice of giving portfolios to women ministers that are considered unimportant. The SM Krishna’s Cabinet of 1999 has so far had the maximum number (four) of women legislators - Motamma, Rani Satish, Suma Vasanth and Nafeeza Fazal - in the state. Barring Manorama Madhwaraj, who served as the Food and Civil Supplies and Large and Medium Scale Industries Minister, and Shobha Karandlaje, who headed important ministries like Rural Development and Panchayat Raj, Food and Civil Supplies and Power in the outgoing BJP government, all other women ministers have been given relatively low-profile offices so far. Gracy Tucker, who served as Deputy Minister for Education in the Nijalingappa Cabinet, and Leelavathi V Magadi, who was Deputy Minister for Rural Industries in the BD Jatti ministry, again got relatively unimportant assignments. Women ministers are usually assigned Women and Child Welfare and Kannada and Culture departments. Sure enough, Umashree, a Minister of State with Independent charge, too, has been allotted these two portfolios.
Insignificant charge
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Memorial scam: UP Lokayukta indicts 2 BSP ex-ministers
Lucknow, May 20 Recommending filing of FIRs against 19 persons including the ministers, Lokayukta NK Mehrotra pointed out that the former ministers Siddiqui and Kushwaha were key accused in the multi-crore Dalit memorial scam. Justice Mehrotra’s report, submitted to the Chief Minister today, blamed the BSP ministers and some senior officials, including mining official SA Farooqi, for siphoning off public funds to the tune of Rs 1410.50 crore in the construction of memorials, parks and statues in Lucknow and Noida. The Lokayukta report demanded that 30 per cent of the money siphoned off in the scam be recovered from the former ministers. As many as 37 accountants and over 50 government engineers have been named in the report. Kushwaha is already lodged in Dasna jail for his role in the multi-crore NRHM scam.
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Ruling NDA alliance is intact, says Nitish
Patna, May 20 “The NDA alliance is intact. Alliance gives constituents freedom to express opinion on any issue and there is no harm in this,” Kumar told reporters. The JD(U) leader’s comments came against the backdrop of a survey indicating that the NDA will increase its tally in the next Lok Sabha polls due in 2014 if the JD(U) and the BJP remain together but will lose seats if they parted ways. The NDA has 34 of the 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar with JD(U) having 22 and the BJP the remaining 12. Asked about the fate of the NDA if Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi is projected as the Prime Ministerial candidate by the BJP, Kumar said, “We should not talk in terms of ifs and buts.” To a query about about his ‘who has seen the future’ remark which triggered speculation of a possible threat to JD(U)-BJP ties, Kumar's response was that he had said so in a general context. “When there is no certainty of life then who can say in definite terms about the future,” he said seeking to clarify that it was not specific to ties between the two partners which is perceived to be under strain in the wake of the JD(U)’s sharp attack on Modi and BJP's vigorous defence of the Gujarat strongman. On reports of him snubbing BJP MP Kirti Azad at Darbhanga, Kumar said “I am shocked to see such things in the media ... nothing like this happened ... the issue has been blown out of proportion. “It is the priority of the government whether to invite an MP to such a meeting,” he said on Azad's allegation that as a public representative he was not allowed to raise issues related to water-logging. Criticising RJD supremo Lalu Prasad for using unparliamentary language against him and his party leaders, Kumar said he could digest such comments, but those who could not would go to court. “I have capacity to digest such baseless comments, but people who do not are justified in seeking justice in court,” he said, referring to party MLC Sanjay Singh filing a criminal defamation suit against Prasad for making a derogatory remark at the RJD’s “Parivartan rally”. “He has become unemployed and to seek employment he is making vulgar comments at me and JD(U) leaders,” he added. — PTI
Survey findings
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Post-mortem fails to find cause of death
Tribune News Service
Lucknow, May 20 Addressing mediapersons, a panel of lawyers and human right activists today demanded the Centre to immediately order a CBI probe into the incident so that the facts in the case could emerge. Barabanki lawyer Randhir Singh Suman demanded that the CBI should take cognizance of the FIR filed by the family against 42 police officials responsible for the arrest and brutal torture of Mujahid. A team of activists met Mujahid’s three other co-travelers to Faizabad jail - Tariq Qasmi, Sajjadur Rehman and Mohammad Akhtar - at the Lucknow jail yesterday who have blamed the jail authorities for neglecting his health. According to human rights lawyer Risha Syed, Qasmi told the visiting team that Mujahid had been complaining about pain in his left shoulder for the last few days still no doctor visited him. When finally a doctor came, he prescribed a medicine and promised to send it when it was available. Sajjadur Rehman and Mohammad Akhtar also held that the escort team was not to be blamed as they immediately took action and rushed Mujahid to the district hospital but by that time it was too late. However, their lawyer Mohammad Shoeb who last met Mujahid at the Faizabad court approximately an hour before he died said the testimony of the three co-travellers could not be taken as the last word as they were under judicial custody. Civil rights activists demanded the immediate tabling of the Nimesh Commission report which had raised doubts at Mujahid and Qasmi’s involvement in terror crimes.
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Automated scanner to detect milk adulteration
Chandigarh, May 20 The Automated System for Detection of Adulterated Milk, christened Ksheer Scanner, has been developed by scientists at the Central Electronics Engineering Research Institute and is based on the electrochemical method of detection. It is capable of detecting adulterants such as urea, salt, detergent, liquid soap, boric acid, caustic soda, soda and hydrogen peroxide in milk. The system is suitable for installation at village milk collection centers and has been successfully tested at various dairies in Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. The specially-designed hardware of the Ksheer Scanner is efficient in detection of adulteration in raw milk. It has dedicated software modules for signal acquisition, control, analysis and display and user-interactive menu-driven software for calibration. The scanner offers real-time automated scanning of raw milk samples at milk collection points. It is safe to use and is said to be ideal for a dairy, milk society or other agencies handling large quantities of milk.
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Army, MHA spat over ITBP’s operational control
New Delhi, May 20 Following the incursion by Chinese troops into disputed areas along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in April, the MoD has suggested that operational control of the ITBP should be with the Army. The MHA rejected the idea with the Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde having asserted: “The ITBP will remain with the MHA”. In turn, the MHA has demanded that the Assam Rifles, a paramilitary force under the operational control of the MoD, should be removed from its duties along the 1,634-km Indo-Burma border and the MHA’s own forces like the Border Security Force (BSF) be given the charge. The MHA funds the Assam Rifles. National Security Advisor Shiv Shankar Menon has been asked to play an arbitrator after the committee of secretaries took up the issue. At the last meeting on May 15, the Army argued that since it was responsible for the defence of the country and is accountable for any breach, resultantly, the ITBP, deployed along the boundary with China, should be operationally under the Army. Also it was conveyed that the Army cannot be held responsible for areas which are under the ITBP control along the 4,057-km LAC with China. The last incursion that took place was under the ITBP post at Burtse camp in northern Ladakh was the argument given at the meeting, sources said. The ITBP, on the other hand, maintains that all top-notch surveillance equipment like UAVs and helicopters are with the Army or the IAF and the ITBP troops are ill-equipped. The ITBP has some five battalions (close to 4,000 troops) in Ladakh. It is also the lead force along the Sino-India boundary in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. It is deployed in parts of the Sikkim and also Arunachal Pradesh. Army and ITBP troops are deployed in adjoining areas along the LAC but the control and command is with separate ministries. On the Assam Rifles, the MHA has given two options. First: It has suggested that the force be treated par with other border-guarding forces like the Sashastra Seema Bal and the BSF and hence be under its control. The second: The BSF should replace the Assam Rifles on the India-Burma border. The Assam Rifles, which is also involved in counter-insurgency in the Northeast, could be utilised in operations elsewhere. The MHA has pointed out that the Assam Rifles was in any case not physically manning the border. It remained stationed some 20 km inside the Indian territory leaving large gaps along the border. The Assam Rifles has some 15 battalions (approx 12,000 troops) mandated for the Indo-Burma border. In 2011, Defence Minister AK Antony had disagreed with then Home Minister P Chidambaram on transferring control of the Assam Rifles. In the past, the MHA and MoD had locked horns over the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA). The Army wanted Act to remain in force in Jammu and Kashmir while the MHA wanted the Act to be whittled down.
The controversy
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Trinamool completes two years in office
Kolkata, May 20 Enough of the UPA-1 and UPA-2. There will be no UPA-3 in the country, she said during a recent public meeting. She invited all the small and regional parties to get united and replace the present government after the elections. Side by side, the CM also declared that she would root-out corruption from her government. “Mere framing of charges against any MP or minister are not enough. If the charges are proved in the inquiry, I will certainly remove them from the party, whoever and whatever powerful he or she might be,” the CM said. But Mamata was still against the CBI inquiry into the Saradha’s chit fund scandal. She claimed that SIT inquiry into the matterhad already made progress. The judicial inquiry headed by former Chief Justice of Allahabad High Court Shyamal Kumar Sen was also identifying the culprits and the committee was formulating measures for returning money to the defrauded depositors. At this stage, there was no need for the CBI probe in the chit fund case. She said she had lost all faith in the CBI after the Supreme Court’s recent observations on the CBI’s coalgate probe. A booklet was published on the achievements of the state government in two and also the Centre’s denial of the state’s legitimate dues. Mamata alleged that of late the Congress and the CPM had been conspiring against the TMC and the state government for gaining their respective political interests. But she was confident that the people would give them a befitting answer in the panchayat polls and in the Lok Sabha elections.
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Maharashtra mulls making parking slot ownership a must for car buyers
Mumbai, May 20 In his proposal to the Maharashtra Government, More has said that the Motor Vehicles Act be amended so that prospective car buyers could be asked to present proof that they owned slots in their buildings to park a vehicle before buying one. “We cannot turn public roads into parking slots for car owners. There are too many cars on the roads in cities like Mumbai,” More said. He added that people who did not have adequate parking spaces should be barred from owning cars. There are 24.30 lakh cars alone in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation limits as on December 2012. The number of parking spaces in buildings is minuscule with older buildings in South Mumbai having no slots for vehicles at all. Civic officials admit around 45 per cent of these cars are parked on the roads. “We tow away cars parked on the streets every night but people pay the fine and claim their vehicles the next day,” says Upendra Naik, Executive Engineer, BMC. This is not the first time that the municipal corporation has mooted restricting car ownership in the city. But each time such a proposal is made, it is opposed by automobile companies and car owners on various grounds. Automobile manufacturers have instead been asking the civic body to construct parking slots and rent these out on a commercial basis. So far, 30,000 such slots have been constructed, but these have proved insufficient for the number of cars entering the city’s roads every year.
Spilling onto roads
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Railgate: Accused remanded in two-day CBI custody
New Delhi, May 20 Daga, who was arrested yesterday, was produced before the court and the agency sought his remand, saying it needs to confront him with documents and intercepted conversations of the accused. Special CBI Judge Swarana Kanta Sharma allowed the CBI’s plea and remanded Daga in the agency’s custody till May 22. “Since accused (Daga) has been arrested yesterday itself, he needs to be confronted with documents and intercepted conversations. It is also to be ascertained as to from where the bribe amount had been arranged....I remand the accused to police custody for two days,” the judge said. The agency told the court that Daga, a regular railway contractor, had allegedly arranged part of the bribe amount which was paid to Bansal’s nephew Vijay Singla for the posting of co-accused and then Member (Staff) of Railway Board Mahesh Kumar’s posting as Member (Electrical) of Railway Board.
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