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Bodh Gaya blasts a spillover of strife in Myanmar: Experts
States told to step up security at shrines |
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President, PM condemn blasts
Ram Temple not a poll issue: Rajnath
Food Bill: Bogus ration cards give officials sleepless nights
Hyderabad to get Asia’s first engineering college for the blind
lok sabha election 2014
Five Andhra legislators resign
Police manipulated witnesses in Ishrat case: Chargesheet
Uttarakhand the challenge ahead Rain hits relief work, copters fail to ferry supplies Disasters force villagers to leave homes
IIT Entrance result
BJP expels former MP minister over sleaze CD
Maharashtra mulls blocking cellphone signals in colleges
A first, women officers on border duty
6 women Maoists killed in police encounter in Gadchiroli
Indian defence team in South Korea
Women farmers send letter written in blood to Modi
Girl’s death: Hostel matron suspended
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Bodh Gaya blasts a spillover of strife in Myanmar: Experts
New Delhi, July 7 It was in August last year that the Mahabodhi temple, a UNESCO heritage site, in Bodh Gaya figured on a list of terror targets. It was around the same time that tensions between Buddhist and Muslim groups peaked in Myanmar. In India, it led to attacks on persons of North-East origin in cities like Pune and Bangalore, resulting in a mass exodus. Several websites and blogs had to be banned for spewing venom. Indications to the Buddhist holy site being on the terror attack list came after Indian security agencies nabbed Syed Maqbool and Imran of the Indian Mujahideen for their alleged role in the failed Pune bombings in August last year. They confessed to having done reconnaissance of Bodh Gaya and Dilsukhnagar in Hyderabad where bombing took place in February this year. The Mahabodhi temple is one of the holiest places of Buddhism and as many as 52 countries have set up their monasteries there. Apart from the Mahabodhi temple, the Vishnupad temple at Gaya and other religious shrines were also put on the watch list by the Intelligence Bureau. Myanmar has a 95 per cent Buddhist population and Rohingya Muslims make up the remaining 5 per cent. The matter of alleged atrocities on Muslims has been raised at several Islamic forums. Several countries like Iran have suggested talks between leaders of both groups. The Sunday attacks look like a ‘revenge attack’ on the Buddhists, sources said. Central agencies had tipped off the Bihar Police about two youth - Sarful Rahman and Sahidur Rahman - who had come to Bihar in June. Both hail from Bihar but had shifted to the UK and Saudi Arabia, respectively. Meanwhile, Union Home Secretary Anil Goswami said, “It was a terror attack.” Teams from the National Investigation Agency and National Security Guard comprising explosive experts were sent to Bihar to help the police in collecting evidence and to assist in the investigation. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Pranab Mukherjee in separate statements condemned the terror strike and said such attacks on religious places would "never be tolerated". "Our composite culture and traditions teach us respect for all religions and such attacks on religious places will never be tolerated," a release of the Prime Minister's Office said here. President Pranab Mukherjee also condemned the serial blasts. His statement said it was a "senseless act of violence targeting innocent pilgrims and monks who had gathered to worship at this temple dedicated to the great apostle of peace - Gautam Buddha".
Connecting the dots
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States told to step up security at shrines
New Delhi, July 7 In an advisory to all states with special emphasis on cities like Delhi,
Mumbai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Pune, the Home Ministry said adequate security must be provided to Buddhist shrines, Buddhist places of worships and Tibetan settlements. Citing recent intelligence inputs, the Ministry said radical terrorist groups were planning to target Buddhist installations, including Bodh Gaya, which was today rocked by serial blasts, injuring two monks. This is perhaps the first time that the Central Government has issued an advisory about possible violence in the wake of the clashes reported in Myanmar. The advisory from the Home Ministry asked the states to gear up intelligence and security mechanism and personnel strength at police stations under whose jurisdiction there is a sizeable Buddhist population or Buddhist shrines are located. According to the United Nations, nearly 250 people have been killed in Myanmar in religious violence over the past year and about 1,50,000 people have been displaced. Meanwhile, officials sources said a security review meeting held in the Bodh Gaya on July 2 between the monastery and the police had several security measures and deployment of additional forces as security in the premises was found to be inadequate. However, it is not immediately clear whether the security was stepped up. — PTI
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President, PM condemn blasts
New Delhi, July 7 In a statement, the President described the blasts as a senseless act of violence targeting innocent pilgrims and monks who had gathered to worship at the Mahabodhi temple. He wished for the speedy recovery of those injured. The Vice-President said the cowardly act was all the more deplorable as it targeted a place of worship and devotees there. ‘’In such difficult times, Lord Buddha’s eternal message of universal peace, non-violence and compassion reminds us that violence has no place in civilised societies.’’ Noting that India’s composite culture and traditions taught the people to respect all religions, the PM asserted that such attacks on religious places would never be tolerated. He also wished for the speedy recovery of those injured. — TNS
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Ram Temple not a poll issue: Rajnath
Amritsar, July 7 Addressing mediapersons at the Golden Temple before attending BJP’s state executive meeting, he said Ram Mandir was never the BJP’s political agenda and the issue should not be unnecessarily politicised. He said this while responding to the media queries about Gujarat CM Narendra Modi’s aide Amit Shah’s statement regarding construction of Ram Temple after visiting Ayodhya yesterday. He said Shah merely expressed his wish as a Hindu and nothing much should be read into his statement, adding that the matter was sub judice and a Supreme Court judgment was awaited on it. “Hindutva can’t be limited to any religion or caste. It is a way of life as put up by the apex court,” he said. Referring to blasts in Bodh Gaya, he lambasted the UPA government for not having a comprehensive action plan for the country’s internal and external security. He accused the government of lacking strong will to meet out such challenges. “After every such attack, we only get assurances that the government is dealing with terrorism and Naxalism with iron hand,” he said. He said Advani was never irked over the elevation of Modi while clarifying that the latter had only been declared poll panel chief and not the party’s prime ministerial candidate. Addressing the inaugural session of the two-day state BJP meet, he termed the UPA’s Food Security Bill as a “political security bill” brought in with an eye on the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. He said the BJP would not oppose the Referring to Ishrat Jahan case, Rajnath said over 3,000 encounters took place before 2002 and 800 in the last one year. “How many of them the government has probed? Were all of them genuine? Why so much hue and cry over this encounter?” he wondered. He exhorted the party workers to expose the “real face” of the Congress and also spread the message that the BJP believed in communal harmony. Earlier, Punjab BJP Chief Kamal Sharma felicitated Rajnath who sported a typical Punjabi turban, presented to him as a mark of respect, while delivering his speech at the executive meeting. The Punjab BJP also handed him over a cheque of Rs 1 crore towards relief for Uttarakhand flood victims.
Message to cadres
Badal slams UPA
Punjab CM Parkash Singh Badal flayed UPA government for its failure on internal and external security fronts. He said there was an urgent need to firmly deal with problems like terrorism and
Naxalism.
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Food Bill: Bogus ration cards give officials sleepless nights
Mumbai, July 7 In its response to a public interest litigation petition, state government officials said 10 to 15 per cent of the 2.30 crore ration cards in the state could be bogus. "We are in the process of weeding out bogus ration cards as part of a drive which began two years ago," says an official of the Food and Civil Supplies Department here. Till last year, the department claims to have removed 54 lakh bogus ration cards from circulation following a special drive conducted on the orders of the Bombay High Court. The slow progress by the authorities has come under continuous attack from all quarters. Earlier this year, the Bombay High Court ordered the Maharashtra Government to link all ration cards in the state to Aadhar cards so that duplicate cards could be weeded out. The court asked the government to make it mandatory for applicants to produce their Aadhar cards in order to be eligible for ration cards. The order came after the Food and Civil Supply department submitted to the court that it did not have to machinery to verify the accuracy of the information provided by the applicant and was only verifying proof of residence before issuing ration cards. A raft of PIL petitions filed before the court argue that pilferages from the PDS amount to as much as Rs 25,000 crore. Meanwhile, a project to introduce a smart card based ration card system in the state is making slow progress. Way back in 2008, the state government awarded the contract to a private company called Spanco to introduce smart card based ration cards. The specifications were subsequently changed to include biometric data of PDS beneficiaries. Food and Civil Supplies department officials say only about 55-60 per cent of the ration cards in the state have been digitised. Food and Civil Supplies Minister Anil Deshmukh is confident that the rationing card system will go completely digital in the next few months when the food security scheme is introduced in Maharashtra. "The digitisation process is in its last stage and we are confident that it will be completed by the end of this year," Deshmukh told reporters here. Maharashtra Government officials say they have already estimated the total number of beneficiaries under the food security law. "The number of beneficiaries will be 7.65 crore people in Maharashtra," says Bhagwan Sahai, principal secretary, Food and Civil Supplies Department.
Whopping figures
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Hyderabad to get Asia’s first engineering college for the blind
Hyderabad, July 7 The Devnar Foundation, which runs a school and a junior college for the visually impaired children, has developed a digital library using indigenously developed software by downloading textbooks and general knowledge material onto a CD with MP3 format. “We are ready with the syllabus. The government has responded positively to our request for the allotment of around three acres. We also have donors and faculty,” said foundation chairman A Saibaba Goud. An opthalmologist-philanthropist, Goud started the foundation in 1991 to provide education and vocational skills to the visually impaired children and the organisation has won acclaim and several national awards for its work. Eight students from Devnar School for Blind went on to complete engineering from mainstream engineering colleges with one of them completing further studies in Boston, US. This prompted Goud to set up an engineering college. Andhra Pradesh has the highest number of 700 engineering colleges in the country. But none has customised courses to meet the needs of the visually impaired students. “Many students are enthusiastic and eager to study after intermediate but they have problems in mainstream colleges,” the chairman said. The Devnar school has been offering English medium education right from the primary school up to class 12. “It has been our long-cherished dream to provide a right platform to the visually impaired students to pursue professional courses,” he said. “We have applied for affiliation with the BITS, Pilani, and Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Hyderabad. We are planning to restrict the intake to 40-50 students per year and select students strictly on merit,” Goud said. The students at the Devnar school are given training in computers from class VI and become proficient in handling computers and browse the Internet by the time they reach class IX. “Computer education is provided to the students using latest computers and screen reading software which converts a PC into a talking computer for the visually challenged,” he explained.
Novel initiative
We are ready with the syllabus. The government has responded positively to our request for the allotment of around three acres. We also have donors and faculty. Many students are enthusiastic and eager to study after intermediate but they have problems in mainstream colleges
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Maya assures quota for poor across the board
Shahira Naim Tribune News Service
Lucknow, July 7 She was addressing a mammoth Brahmin Mahasammelan at the sprawling Ramabai Maidan, the concluding 34th such meeting to mobilise Brahmins in the state. The Bahujan Samaj Party national president urged Brahmins to recreate the social engineering formula at the national level so that she could preside over a ‘sarvjan hitay, sarvjan sukhay’ (for the benefit and comfort of all) government at the Centre that would take care of the marginalised across the board. “If the Bahujan Samaj Party gets one chance at the Centre, I can assure you that we will manage to bring about development that will take care of all the communities within five years that the Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have failed to achieve in their long rule,” she declared.
Takes a dig at modi
Without naming the Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, she hit out at him for drawing political mileage out of the Uttarakhand natural calamity. “A leader who is being projected as a prime ministerial candidate was concerned only about the residents of his state stuck in Uttarakhand. A person with national aspiration has to rise above such narrow, parochial attitude and be non-partisan,” she said
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Five Andhra legislators resign
Hyderabad, July 7 The resignations were meant to express solidarity with those who want the state to remain united. The legislators Adinarayana Reddy (Congress), Srikant Reddy (YSR Congress Party) and Srinivasulu (YSR Congress Party) and MLCs Narayana Reddy and Pullayya, both from YSR Congress Party, submitted their resignations during a meeting of the “Samaikyandhra” (united AP) Joint Action Committee held at Kadapa town. The resignations were addressed to the Assembly Speaker N Manohar. The meeting saw several legislators and other public representatives from Rayalaseema and coastal Andhra regions voicing their concern over attempts to bifurcate the state.
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Police manipulated witnesses in Ishrat case: Chargesheet
The CBI has evidence to prove that Ishrat Jahan and Pranesh Pillai, alias Javed Sheikh, were picked up from Vasad toll plaza, near Vadodara, by two senior officials of the crime branch on June 12, 2004, and were in police custody till they were eliminated on June 15. The earlier case records, however, showed that a witness had stated under Section 164 said the duo was in Surat and they were on their way to Ahmedabad on June 14, a day before the “encounter”. The “routine” initial investigation was carried out by Parikshita Rathod, the then Assistant Police Commissioner of Ahmedabad. In her report, Parikshita submitted a statement under Section 164 of the CrPC allegedly made by one Manoj Siddhapura, the owner of a garage at Varachha road on the outskirts of Surat, near the Mumbai-Ahmedabad national highway. The statement claimed that Ishrat and Javed had got their car “repaired” at his garage on the evening of June 14. The car number he gave in the statement was the same that was found affixed on the vehicle found near the encounter site. The said garage owner also produced a receipt for Rs 1,025, which he claimed was the repairing charges paid by Javed. Javed had, however, refused to carry the receipt with him. Yet another statement made by a hotel owner in Ahmedabad under the same section said the duo “stayed” in his hotel for two days in May to establish the state police claim that they had earlier come for “reconnaissance” of suitable spots for the “assassination” of Chief Minister Narendra Modi.
Two instances
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Uttarakhand the challenge ahead
Dehradun, July 7 "The locals have been psychologically, economically and individually devastated. They have lost their homes and hearths, employment and earning members." Rawat told The Tribune when asked what should be done to rebuild the state. Rawat said though the disaster was not manmade, the victims had nowhere to go. "We need to assure the affected people that the state government and the entire political leadership of the state stand by them in this hour of crisis and will do everything possible to help rebuild their shattered lives," he said. Asked about the priorities of relief and rehabilitation, Rawat said a large population of the state depends on the Char Dham yatra for economic sustenance and every effort should be made to restart it at the earliest. "Restarting the yatra will send out a message not only to the locals but also the world that Uttarakhand can do it. It will be a huge morale booster for the locals and the devotees," he said. The Union minister said given the ground situation following the destruction of roads, the number of pilgrims visiting these shrines should be regulated. "Even if a small number of pilgrims visit these shrines and it is only a token yatra, they should get a feeling of safety. We can have the Kedarnath yatra at Ukhimath, the winter abode of Lord Shiva, till the Kedarnath temple and the area are repaired," he said. Rawat said it was not the time for criticism. "In the Kedar valley alone, 700 locals have reportedly perished and their families have no male members left. Similarly, people have lost their big and small business establishments completely. All these people not only need financial help but also psychological support from the government to get up their feet again," he said. Rawat said the reconstruction of the damaged areas, including the Kedarnath valley, would be a huge task. "But we must ensure reconstruction is done scientifically with proper anti-earthquake engineering and drainage system so that the effects of such a calamity could be checked," he added. Rawat also emphasised another aspect of road building in the ecologically fragile areas of the state. "There should be a decentralised system of road building in rural areas where locals are involved in decision making and even road construction. Faster road connectivity by using dynamites could bring disasters. We can rather wait for roads than invite disasters," he said. He also advocated a central Himalayan authority that could take care of the development needs of the hill states in a scientific manner. Rawat said though electricity was necessary it should be decided how much power was required and where hydropower projects should be located. "There is no monopoly of the state on the waters of the rivers originating from Uttarakhand as they belong to the entire nation. But we need to understand the Himalayas better and live in harmony with the nature. If the Himalayas get annoyed, it could be disastrous," he said. Make it happen
We must ensure reconstruction is done scientifically with proper anti-earthquake engineering and drainage system so that the effects of such a calamity could be checked.
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Rain hits relief work, copters fail to ferry supplies
Dehradun, July 7 On Sunday, 16 bodies were cremated at Kedarnath. State government officials said choppers carrying relief supplies could make only seven sorties in Chamoli and Uttarkashi districts. Following extensive damage to the roads in these affected districts, it was not possible to carry the relief supplies through roads. The state government had claimed that Border Road Organization (BRO) and state PWD officials have been given a deadline of July 15 to prepare mule tracks for carrying rations and relief supplies to the cut-off areas. Due to rains, no helicopter could fly in Rudraprayag district, the worst affected. A total of 21.2 mm of rain was recorded at Rudraprayag. The 75-member team of state government sent to Kedarnath to cremate the bodies is also finding it difficult to carry out their task due to bad weather conditions. The state government has not been able to provide supplies to them due to non-availability of helicopter services. Some of the team members who were reportedly sick could not be evacuated today. The plans of the state government to evacuate the team and send another one was also thwarted. A 13-member police team that tried to move towards Kedarnath on foot could not go further due to landslides. Rain in the last 72 hours has instilled fear among residents of villages adjoining the shrine with waters of Mandakini and Alaknanda constantly on the rise. The relief operations in Pithoragarh and Bagehswar districts also remained suspended due to bad weather.
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Disasters force villagers to leave homes Pithoragarh, July 7 "Whenever it rains heavily in the Madkot area the swelling waters of the Gori river not only washes away our fertile land but also disconnects us from the rest of the district," said Man Singh, another villager. The residents of Ghatta, Bagar, Mori, Chami and Bandarkhet villages situated at some height from the river are now living in tents on the road so that they could get relief material being provided to the people affected by the disaster. These villagers had to camp on the road as damaged track routes were preventing workers providing relief from reaching their remote villages. According to Mori villagers, all 30 families in their village suffer from the natural disaster every year. "We have to take care of our agriculture to earn a livelihood as the relief material will vanish once the sympathies of the government are over," said Man Singh. He has written a letter to the SDM of Dharchula that Mori villagers be permanently shifted from the place and land be given to every household for cultivation. "Landslides and flash floods in the Gori river valley every year have made us poorer and affected education of our children. Due to the disasters some of the villagers have been rendered so poor that they are not in a position to send their children to schools. This has resulted in increase in the number of high school dropouts from our village," said Man Singh. Villagers of Lumti in the Gori valley, who had started businesses in place of agriculture and had opened shops near the road, faced the same fate as the overflowing Gori washed away their shops this time. "All 10 shopkeepers of Lumti village have been rendered jobless as their shops were washed away in the flash floods in the Gori river on June 16. These shopkeepers are now finding it difficult to feed their families," said Mohan Singh, a resident of Lumti village in the Baram area of Dharchula subdivision. The villagers are still waiting for the relief announced by the administration as no government official has visited the village. Some social and political organisations have visited the village and distributed relief material among the villagers. "We are facing multiple effects of the disaster as flash floods have not only our washed away our fertile land but also damaged several houses. Several villagers have been forced to now live with their relatives. Besides, we are compelled to remain confined to our tents as the track route that links our village to the main road at Harkot has also been damaged," said the hapless villagers.
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XII exam norm hits Andhra high-scorers
Suresh Dharur Tribune News Service
Hyderabad, July 7 As per the norm fixed by the authorities, only those who are among the top 20 percentile category in the qualifying 12th standard examination of their respective state boards are eligible for admission into the IITs. Traditionally, AP has been witnessing a fierce competition at the junior college level with scores over 90 per cent in the science stream being very common. As a result, the number of top scoring students in the 12th standard in AP is much higher compared to other states. The JEE authorities had recently released the cut-off figures for each state to gain eligibility for admission into the IITs, the dream destination for science students in the country. The cut-off figures for general category students, released by JEE, have stunned students from the state. They have to score more than 91.1 per cent to gain eligibility - the highest in the country. Jharkhand has the lowest cut-off of 56.20 per cent. Barring Karnataka (86 per cent), Kerala (85.2 per cent) and Tamil Nadu (90.9 per cent), the students of all other states need to score what is less than 80 per cent to be eligible for admission into the IITs. For Maharashtra, the cut-off figure is 68.2 per cent. Some students in AP find themselves out of the IIT race despite scoring seat-fetching marks because they are not among the top 20 percentile scorers in Intermediate, the 12th standard exam conducted by the state board. “This is unfair. Many students will lose out despite bagging good ranks in the IIT-JEE,” said a faculty member at Narayana IIT Coaching Institute, a popular destination for IIT preparation. “There must be a level-playing field. Why should we be punished for performing better in the qualifying examination compared to our counterparts in other states?” asked Jasmita, who was ranked an All India rank of 2,743 in the IIT JEE but failed to get a seat at IIT, Kharagpur, because of the percentile factor. Some students have approached the State Board of Intermediate Education, but the officials there pleaded helplessness, saying the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) had arrived at the cut-off figures based on the data provided by the state Board. The exact number of the affected candidates from AP due to the percentile norm will be known only after the IIT admission process gets over. “There is a need for a wider debate on the issue. Instead of percentile, the IITs can fix minimum marks for students across the country,” said Prof M Ravichander, a chemistry lecturer at one of the coaching institutions. Traditionally, AP students have been performing exceedingly well in the IIT entrance test. A large number of private coaching centres have sprung up in Hyderabad and other cities to train the students for what is arguably the toughest screening test for admission into a professional degree course. In the IIT-JEE (Advanced) 2013, Hyderabad boy P Sai Sandeep Reddy, son of a school teacher, had bagged the all India first rank while AP accounted for nine out of the top 25 ranks including first, second, seventh and eighth positions.
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BJP expels former MP minister over sleaze CD
Bhopal, July 7 Claiming that he would come out clean, Raghavji, who was forced to resign from the state Cabinet after his servant accused him of sexual abuse and a sleaze video CD allegedly showed him in the act, celebrated his 79th birthday with a lot of pomp and show in his constituency Vidisha. DIG Bhopal D Sriniwas Verma said that an FIR in the matter has been registered against him by the police at the Habibganj police station on the complaint of Rajkumar Dangi. "After watching developments for the past two days in Raghavji's case, with the complainant first addressing the media and later going to the police station to record his statement, the BJP has decided to expel him from its primary membership," Madhya Pradesh BJP president Narendra Singh Tomar announced at a hurriedly called press conference here. Tomar said that the decision to expel Raghavji from the BJP’s primary membership was taken by senior party leaders including Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, former Chief Ministers Sunderlal Patwa and Kailash Joshi, BJP national vice-president Prabhat Jha, state BJP election campaign cell head Anil Dave and MP BJP vice-president Raghunandan Sharma. The decision was taken on the basis of developments which unfolded in the last two days, which prima facie, the party concluded, was the appropriate response at the moment. — PTI
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Maharashtra mulls blocking cellphone signals in colleges
Mumbai, July 7 "There are so many applications on mobile phones that can be used to create mischief. We noticed that camera phones can be used to commit cyber crimes like secretly recording girl students. So we sought the opinions of principals on how to regulate use of mobiles and camera phones on campus," Manjusha Motwane, joint director, higher education, said. The circular has predictably caused an uproar among faculty and students alike. Heads of some institutions have already reverted to the government saying they have banned the use of mobile phones during lectures. "We cannot completely ban students from carrying mobiles in degree colleges because many of them have regular jobs after college hours and need the phones for work," said the head of a college in suburban Mumbai. Degree colleges in the city begin classes at 6.30 am and wind up by 10.30 am thereby enabling students to pursue full-time jobs after classes. The ban on mobile phones or rather, phones with cameras was mooted by Ashok Lad, an NCP youth leader from Aurangabad. According to him, these devices are used to circulate vulgar MMS and videos.
There are so many applications on mobile phones that can be used to create mischief. We noticed that camera phones can be used to commit cyber crimes like secretly recording girl students.
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A first, women officers on border duty
New Delhi, July 7 Women under and up to the age of 25 years will be recruited as direct entry officers in the rank of Assistant Commandants (ACs). According to top sources in the Union Home Ministry, these officers will be posted to lead their troops along the two most crucial borders that the BSF guards at present -- Pakistan and Bangladesh. Till now, women could only don the combat uniform in the officer cadre in two other Central security forces - the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF). These forces are tasked to carry out a variety of duties in the internal security domain and not along Indian frontiers as these forces are not mandated for border-guarding duties. "This is the first time that women will be commissioned as officers in a border-guarding force. At a time when India has so many women troops in these forces, there were no women combat commanders. However, having male officers was not a problem but deputing women as leaders surely sends the message that they are second to none and can do any task given to them,” a senior security official said. The recruitment of the first batch of women officers will be completed by December and it will be on ground by late next year, the official added. Two other border-guarding forces - the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) - also do not have women officers in combat roles although they have a good number of women personnel in their constabulary. The Border Security Force had first inducted women constables for regular security duties in 2009 and, at present, it has about 700 such personnel. The force is also the second largest paramilitary of the country with 2 lakh personnel in its ranks. The government will recruit a total of 110 fresh officers in BSF this year while sanction has been given to induct 138 such ranks in the CRPF and 56 in CISF. There is no cap on the number of women taking up these posts as the selection is based on merit under the recruitment exam conducted by the UPSC. After being recruited and commissioned as ACs, these women officers can rise and get promotions to become Deputy Commandants and Commandants of an operational company (about 100 personnel) or a full battalion (approximately 1,000 personnel) in the BSF. — PTI
Empowering women
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6 women Maoists killed in police encounter in Gadchiroli
Gadchiroli (M’rashtra), July 7 "One of the parties of the C-60 Commando Force was today conducting anti-Naxal operation near Medhri village around 10 am, when the Naxals opened fire. The police team immediately retaliated, in which six Naxals, all women, were killed," Inspector General of Police (anti naxal operations), Anup Kumar Singh, told reporters here tonight. The jawans of C-60 Commando Force and Cobra battalion had been conducting anti-Naxal operations in the interior parts of the district for the past few days, he said. "They had inputs that Maoists were hiding in Etapalli-Kasansur area," Singh said. The bodies of the six Maoist women, who wore green uniforms, have been recovered, he said adding that a large cache of arms and ammunition was also found at the spot. The deceased are yet to be identified, he said. "There is a possibility that some more Naxals were injured or killed in the police firing," the officer said adding that search operations were on in the area. This is the 19th police-Maoist encounter in the district this year and so far 23 ultras have been killed in different confrontations, he said. — PTI
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Indian defence team in South Korea
New Delhi, July 7 In 2010, New Delhi and Seoul had entered into a crucial joint research and manufacturing agreement with South Korea to co-develop and co-produce military equipment. India has such agreements for co-developing and co-producing military equipment with its long-time “friend” Russia and other ally, Israel. During the visit, Air Chief Marshal Browne is scheduled to call on Kim Kwan-Jin, Minister of Defence, and would also be meeting General Jung Seung-jo, Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), General Sung Il-Hwan, Chief of Staff, South Korean, Air Force and Rear Admiral Jung Jin Seob, Commander, South Korean Navy’s Second Fleet.
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Women farmers send letter written in blood to Modi
Ahmedabad, July 7 "If you can talk to your brothers in Bihar, why can't you talk to your sisters in Junagadh," the women farmers wrote in their letter to Modi. With a project to expand the said highway on the anvil, the National Highways Authority of India had asked the state government to acquire land for the same. To that end, district officials had undertaken a mapping and measurement exercise that began on June 25. Protesting farmers were detained during the survey process. Atul Patel of Khedut Hitrakshak Samiti says they have been seeking an appointment with the CM for over three years to discuss the project, but their request has never been entertained. Now, 101 women farmers have written to Modi as the previous communication sent to him via letters, postcards, SMS and e-mails has drawn no response. — PTI
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Girl’s death: Hostel matron suspended
Bikaner, July 7 The matron of the hostel was suspended this morning after Meena Chowdhury, a student of first year veterinary science, was stabbed to death by her classmate Dinesh yesterday, sources said. The victim was asked to come outside her hostel room by Dinesh. When she came out to meet him, the youth hit her with a bottle before stabbing her, they said. The accused, who also tried to cut his wrist veins, after the incident was also suspended by the university administration, sources said. — PTI
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Amritsar, July 7
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