|
|
|
|
|
JD (U) keeps BJP on tenterhooks
Former BJP president Nitin Gadkari after a meeting with NDA convener and Janata Dal (U) chief Sharad Yadav at his residence in New Delhi on Thursday. — PTI
PM will visit Pak only if there is progress in ties
|
|
|
India’s first navigation satellite set for July 1 launch
Border agreement
Coalgate
GameShame
Pandya murder
'Can't wait till child birth' to sue doc for failed tubectomy
Maharashtra bans Owaisi’s entry
|
|
JD (U) keeps BJP on tenterhooks
New Delhi, June 13 Amid efforts to placate the JD(U), the saffron party is also trying to revive a controversial issue that it had kept aside to float the NDA — the scrapping of Article 370 of the Constitution under which Jammu and Kashmir enjoys special status. BJP leader Shahnawaz Hussain and senior RSS member Indresh Kumar met President Pranab Mukherjee to present a memorandum on behalf of the Muslim Rashtriya Manch, an RSS outfit, which bore signatures of five lakh Muslims to support their stand. The national executive of the JD(U) in Delhi, which had opposed Modi’s prime ministerial aspirations, also passed a political resolution asking the BJP to clarify its stand on the three contentious issues, which was not liked either by the BJP or its ideological fountainhead — the RSS. The other two issues are: Bringing the Uniform Civil Code and the construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya. According to senior leaders, it has been communicated to JD(U) leaders that Gujarat CM Narendra Modi had been appointed as the election campaign committee chief of the BJP and not that of the NDA. “If the JD(U) still wants to split to appease their Muslim vote bank then they should realise that the BJP also has to look after its voters. Our leaders have told Yadav that the atmosphere in the country was distinctly anti-Congress and efforts should be to build on that by staying together,” they add. Though the BJP is continuing with its efforts to placate the miffed JD(U), sources say that it is only a matter of time before the split occurs. According to Nitish, the party is concerned over the recent developments in the coalition, but will take a call on the alliance after discussions with his colleagues. He has been in touch with his counterparts in West Bengal and Orissa, Mamata Banerjee and Neveen Patnaik, who are at the forefront of the new federal front being formed by the regional parties. “We will discuss all issues. Before that, it is not proper for me to say anything, but we are concerned about the developments which have taken place in the last few days,” Nitish said.
|
|
Shiv Sena praises Modi, slams Nitish
Mumbai, June 13 “Narendra Modi is the hero of Hindutva.... he is not some Yaksh or Rakshasha,” a write up in Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamna said. Quoting party chief Uddhav Thackeray, the statement said the Bihar Government would be in the ICU without BJP support. “Nitish Kumar is breathing with the support of the BJP. Even the Akali Dal has supported Modi, but then they are in government with the BJP support,” the statement said. “People should know their limits before they criticise,” Uddhav Thackeray has been quoted as saying. The sena leader hoped the JD(U) would stay in the coalition.
|
|
|
Modi India's first authentic fascist, says Ramesh New Delhi/B’lore, June 13 Ramesh, a Congress leader, while describing the Gujarat Chief Minister as 'Bhasmasur', a mythological character known for trying to destroy his creator, said Modi has "consumed" his mentor and BJP patriarch LK Advani. Ramesh, an outspoken minister, also dubbed Modi as India's "first authentic fascist". Ramesh was responding to questions about the developments in the BJP after Advani's resignation from all party posts following the elevation of Modi as chairman of BJP's election campaign committee for the next Lok Sabha elections. — PTI
|
|
|
PM will visit Pak only if there is progress in ties
New Delhi, June 13 ‘’We would like a well-prepared visit that could take the relationship forward,’’ they added. Sources pointed out that Manmohan Singh has himself stated on more than one occasion that he was looking forward to a visit to the neighbouring country. Welcoming the positive noises being made by new Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on ties with India, the sources said New Delhi would certainly be looking forward to Islamabad fulfilling its commitment of granting the most favoured nation (MFN) status to India at the earliest. The issue was likely to be discussed further between the Commerce Secretaries of the two nations. Sources denied that there was ever a pause in the dialogue process between the two countries after the beheading of two Indian soldiers by Pakistani troops in January. The two countries had gone ahead with at least two important engagements -the visit of the joint judicial committee on prisoners to Pakistani jails and the visit of a judicial commission from Pakistan in connection with the trial of the Mumbai terror attack. “Now that the elections in Pakistan are over, dialogues will be brought on track,” sources said, adding the issue was expected to be discussed between Foreign Secretaries of the two countries in the coming days. Asked what was the objective of the PM’s special envoy K Lambah’s visit to Lahore to meet Sharif even before the latter had taken the oath of office, the sources said the idea was to convey to him New Delhi’s recognition of the vision he had spoken about for improving ties with India.
|
|
|
India’s first navigation satellite set for July 1 launch
Bangalore, June 13 The Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System-1A (IRNSS-1A) was scheduled for launch on board Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C22) on June 12, 2013 at 01:01 hours from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota. The spacecraft had gone through all electrical checks and was ready for propellant filling. The PSLV-C22 was fully integrated and was undergoing electrical checks. But during the electrical checks of the launch vehicle early this month, an anomaly was observed in one of the electro-hydraulic control actuators in the second stage, forcing the space agency to postpone the launch. Bangalore headquartered ISRO has since replaced this actuator. The 1,425 kg IRNSS-1, which will have a life span of about 10 years, will provide satellite-based terrestrial, aerial and marine navigation services and also help in disaster and fleet management and vehicle tracking, an ISRO official said. ISRO has planned to have a constellation of seven satellites under IRNSS by 2014-15. IRNSS is an independent regional navigation satellite system, and once all the spacecraft become operational, it would provide position accuracy, similar to Global Positioning System (GPS), of better than 10 metres over India and the region extending about 1,500 km around the country. "It is designed to provide an accurate real time Position, Navigation and Time (PNT) services to users on a variety of platforms with 24x7 service availability under all weather conditions", the official said. IRNSS provides two basic services -- standard positioning service for common civilian users and restricted service for special authorised users, ISRO said.
— PTI
10-year life
|
|
|
China yet to respond to India’s proposals
Ashok Tuteja Tribune News Service
New Delhi, June 13 China had sent its proposals to India on March 4. In return, India had submitted its own draft to Beijing on May 10, days after the tense border stand-off between the two countries in the Ladakh sector ended. The draft proposals are expected to be discussed between the two sides at length when Defence Minister AK Antony visits Beijing in the near future. Antony’s visit was earlier planned for June or July. But as his Chinese counterpart has engagements during these two months, the two countries are discussing possible dates for the visit in August. Asked when the Special Representatives (SRs) of India and China were expected to hold their 16th round of talks, sources said the dates for this meeting too were being worked out through diplomatic channels. National Security Adviser Shivshanker Menon is the SR on the Indian side while China will have a new SR at the next round of talks — its former Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi who has replaced Dai Bingguo. The sources pointed out that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, during their talks in New Delhi last month, had asked the two SRs to discuss the reasons for the border face-off in Ladakh in the Daulat Beg Oldi (DBO) sector at their next meeting. Chinese troops had pitched tents there triggering tension between the two neighbours at a time when their relationship was looking up. New Delhi is still not clear why the Chinese troops carried out the incursion in Ladakh and what was their ultimate objective. China has so far not offered any convincing explanation. On China’s proposal for a Bangladesh-Myanmar-India-China economic corridor, the sources said that India had told Beijing that it was a good idea to build up linkages but the views of both Bangladesh and Myanmar in the matter would have to be ascertained.
Border talks
|
|
|
Overseas, Jindal to join CBI probe by month-end
Syed Ali Ahmed/TNS
New Delhi, June 13 The investigation agency had raided his residential and official premises recently in connection with irregularities in coal blocks allocation, sources said. Sources said that the CBI approached his family to ascertain Jindal’s whereabouts. The agency has also slapped charges on Jindal’s companies - Jindal Steel and Power Limited and Gagan Sponge - that were allotted the Amarkonda Murgadangal coal block in Birbhum, Jharkhand, in 2008. They had allegedly misrepresented facts to get the coal blocks. During the raids conducted on June 11, CBI sleuths could not open a few cupboards in Jindal’s house at Prithviraj Road in Delhi. The CBI has sealed the cupboards and is waiting for Jindal’s return from abroad. CBI officials have told Jindal’s family to recall him as soon as possible. The CBI hopes that it might get some incriminating documents in support of its allegations against Jindal from the sealed cupboards. CBI sources alleged that Jindal had bribed former Minister of State for Coal Dasari Narayan Rao to get coal blocks in Jharkhand. The CBI has also got permission from the government to question former secretary in the Coal Ministry HC Gupta.
|
|
|
GameShame
New Delhi, June 13 A Vacation Bench comprising Justices Gyan Sudha Misra and Madan B Lokur made the remark while hearing a PIL seeking a comprehensive probe by the CBI or any other independent investigation agency without coming under pressure from political and other influential quarters to expose and book the real culprits behind the organised crime involving thousands of crores of rupees. According to PIL petitioner Sharmila Ghuge, an assistant professor of law from Mumbai, the police in Delhi and Maharashtra are investigating the allegations without any coordination or sharing information and ?are acting hand in glove with some politicians to cover up the issue? despite having evidence against the masterminds behind the huge racket possibly involving politicians, criminals and underworld elements. The
Bench, however, asked her to wait and watch the progress and direction
of the investigations and file an affidavit before the next hearing in
the third week of July to enable the court to take a decision. The Bench
also rejected the petitioner’s plea to issue notice respondents - the
Centre, the police of Maharashtra and Delhi, besides the CBI and the
Board of Control for Cricket in India - seeking their response.
|
|
|
NDA govt used CBI to manipulate probe, says widow Manas Dasgupta
Ahmedabad, June 13 Jagrutiben Pandya today claimed that she had learnt “many new facts” about her husband’s murder during her meeting with Ashghar Ali, who was the main accused and later convicted by the lower court in the Haren Pandya murder case. He was later acquitted by the Gujarat High Court and released after spending nine years in the Sabarmati central jail. Currently in detention in Vishakhapatnam jail under the Arms Act, Ashghar Ali, the Hyderabad-based noted criminal, is claimed to have told Jagrutiben that the CBI, which was investigating the murder, had used force and pressurised him to confess to the murder though he was not even aware who Haren Pandya was and why was he murdered. Talking to mediapersons here, Jagrutiben said she had met Ashghar Ali in Vishakhapatnam jail on Tuesday and talked to him for over two hours. Soon after the murder of the former minister in March 2003, his father Vithhalbhai Pandya and many others had described it as a “political murder”. The state police, and later the CBI, then under the Deputy PM LK Advani, spread the dragnet to Hyderabad and arrested Ashghar Ali and produced him as the key accused in the lower court. The probe, however, left many loopholes and the high court acquitted all of them.
|
|
|
'Can't wait till child birth' to sue doc for failed tubectomy
New Delhi, June 13 The commission took exception particularly to the fact that the woman had sued the St Stephens Hospital here after finding that the newborn was a girl child. She should have filed a complaint immediately after her pregnancy was confirmed, “but she waited till delivery and it appears that as a female child was delivered, she filed the complaint which is not fair on her part,” a Bench comprising Justice KS Chaudhari and Dr BC Gupta held. The woman had opted for tubectomy in January 1998 two days after giving birth to a baby girl, but she conceived again and delivered another female child in July 2001. After this, she filed a medical negligence complaint with the district consumer forum claiming a compensation of Rs 4 lakh for bringing up the unwanted child and getting her married and another Rs 25,000 as the cost of delivery. The district forum allowed a compensation of Rs 1.02 lakh, prompting the hospital to challenge the order in the state forum. The state commission, however, dismissed the hospital’s appeal, following which it approached the commission.
|
|
|
Maharashtra bans Owaisi’s entry
Mumbai, June 13 Owaisi was due to address meetings in the communally sensitive towns of Malegaon and Dhule over the next few days. The police said Owaisi has been banned from Dhule till June 26 and from Malegaon till July 12. MIM workers had sought permission for a public meeting to be held by Owaisi at Malegaon on Friday. The state Home Department said the Muslim festival of Shab-e-Barat is due to fall on Friday night. This day in 2006 multiple bombs went off at Malegaon. Owaisi's proposed meeting is thus seen as a threat to law and order, officials said.
|
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Letters | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | E-mail | |
The BJP is trying to keep communication lines open with its warring NDA partner — the JD (U) — although it appears to be only a matter of days before the two allies go their separate political ways in Bihar.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will visit Pakistan only when there is a substantive progress in the relationship which would make such a visit useful, official sources said today.
‘’We would like a well-prepared visit that could take the relationship forward,’’ they added. Sources pointed out that Manmohan Singh has himself stated on more than one occasion that he was looking forward to a visit to the neighbouring country.
