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Justice Sathasivam sworn in as 40th CJI
Police vehicles set on fire by protesters in Azamgarh district on Friday. — PTI |
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Mountain Strike Corps will add teeth to military might
Food
Security
Bihar Mid-day meal horror Never said Modi is secular: Hazare
2 new faces in Akhilesh ministry
Hi-tech gadgets to replace traditional CRPF baton
HIT-&-Run case
Hoarders blamed for onion price rise
Flood situation worsens in AP
Arms consignment meant for rebels seized
Violence mars third phase of Bengal panchayat polls
A jawan keeps vigil during the third phase of panchayat polls in Howrah district on Friday. — PTI
Rickshaw-puller as ‘doc’: Notice to Ballia DM, CMO
Railgate: CBI faces court’s ire
Cong core group meets to discuss Parliament strategy
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Justice Sathasivam sworn in as 40th CJI
New Delhi, July 19 He took the oath in the name of God. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Cabinet colleagues, UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, senior BJP leaders LK Advani, Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj and Supreme Court judges, both sitting and retired, were among those present. Like his predecessor CJI Altamas Kabir, CJI Sathasivam will be in office for over nine months. He will demit office on April 26, 2014. At a function organised by the SC Bar Association last evening to bid farewell to CJI Kabir, Justice Sathasivam said taking steps to reduce the number of pending cases would be his priority. He also reiterated his opposition to the government’s move to change the collegium system for the appointment of SC and high court judges. Instead of trying to tinker with the system, the government should give its views on the candidates proposed by the HCs and SCs, he said. “In how many cases, the Centre has given its opinion,” he wanted to know, implying that the government was shying away on this score. Among the major judgments delivered by Justice Sathasivam since his elevation to the SC in August 2007 are the clean chit given to BSP chief Mayawati in a corruption case, upholding the conviction of film star Sanjay Dutt for illegal possession of fire arms and of Dara Singh for murdering Christian missionary Graham Staines in Orissa and denial of bail to former Congress leader Jagan Mohan Reddy in corruption cases. Much of the cases pending for years could be disposed of by fixing a time limit for arguments and encouraging submission of written notes. Another way out was to enhance judicial productivity, both qualitatively and quantitatively, he explained. He said he would accord priority to cases relating to death sentences and jail matters pending in the SC and work for the setting up of exclusive magisterial courts for hearing cheque bounce cases. All the SC judgments relating to cheque bounce cases would be put in one folder and circulated to the trial courts to help them decide such matters expeditiously.
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Ex-MLA killed, violence
erupts in Azamgarh
Azamgarh (UP), July 19 Tension erupted after 35-year-old Seepu and Narad Rai (40), who came to him for some work, were shot dead by unidentified men in front of his house, the police said. As soon as the news of the murder spread, hundreds of Seepu's supporters attacked Jiyanpur police station and snatched rifles from policemen, indulged in brick-batting and tried to set the police station afire, IG (law and order) RK Vishwakarma said in Lucknow. The angry mob also torched two 'Vajra' vehicles and six motorcycles, he said, adding that the police had to open fire to control the unruly mob. Vishwakarma said besides the former MLA, two persons were killed and added that it could not be confirmed if one death took place in police firing. The incident appeared to be fallout of an old enmity, he said, adding that a search operation has been launched in neighbouring Mau, Jaunpur, Ambedkarnagar districts to nab the assailants. Seepu was a Samajwadi Party MLA from Sagari seat till 2012. He then joined the BSP and had contested the last Assembly elections on a BSP ticket from the Sadar seat here. Seepu's father Rampyare Singh was a Cabinet minister in the previous Mulayam Singh Yadav government. Meanwhile, condemning the killing of Sarvesh Singh, Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Assembly and a senior BSP leader Swami Prasad Maurya in Lucknow demanded that immediate steps be taken to check the "goonda raj" in the state. "When people's representatives are not safe what can be said about the common man," Maurya said, adding that Sarvesh Singh, who had joined the BSP in 2012, was provided security but it was withdrawn by the SP government.
— PTI
Slain leader shifted from SP to BSP
Sarvesh Singh Seepu was a Samajwadi Party MLA from Sagari seat till 2012. He then joined the BSP and had contested the last Assembly elections on a BSP ticket from the Sadar seat
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Mountain Strike Corps will add teeth to military might
New Delhi, July 19 The next lot of C-130-J Super Hercules, a specialised plane for air-dropping troops, will be stationed at Panagarh in West Bengal. At present, the first lot of these planes is based at
Hindon. Sources said that Panagarh, located in the western part of West Bengal, could be the headquarters of the corps, but a final call would be taken soon. The corps will have two divisions — specially trained in mountain warfare — of the infantry and a school for training will be part of the corps raising. Each division will have some 15,000 men. It has been suggested that one of the divisions be located in Assam while the other one could be in Bihar or
Jharkhand. These will be division headquarters while forward elements like brigades could very well be located in Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh. In addition to the two infantry divisions, there will be three artillery brigades. Each brigade has some 90 heavy guns like Bofors 155 MM which can fire at a distance of 35 km. The guns will be a mix of
Bofors, the under-production India-produced replicas of Bofors and the ultra-light howitzer which India is procuring from the US in a direct sale. Each division will be allocated one artillery brigade while the third one will be held as reserve. The corps will also have a specialised
air-defence brigade that will carry truck-mounted missile systems to react to an air attack by the enemy on any Indian formation. The corps will be backed by a brigade of engineers that will rapidly provide support for civil works, rectify machines and lay bridges. An aviation brigade will also be part of the corps that will include helicopters and unmanned aerial vehicles for reconnaissance. It will have attack helicopters and heavy-lift helicopters. External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid today welcomed the Mountain Strike Corps. Khurshid is part of the CCS which is headed by the Prime Minister. The Ministers of
Defence, Home and Finance are also part of the CCS.
Corps will include
Two divisions, specially trained in mountain warfare, of the infantry Three artillery brigades A specialised air-defence brigade An aviation brigade A brigade of engineers China cautious
Beijing: China has reacted cautiously to India's proposal for the establishment of the Mountain Strike Corps along the Sino-Indian border, while the official media here ignored the development.
— PTI
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Juvenile convicted of dacoity
New Delhi, July 19 The carpenter, Ramadhar, was lured into the same bus before the girl and her male friend boarded it in south Delhi. Sources in the prosecution has said the JJB Board, presided over by Principal Magistrate Geetanjali Goel, has convicted the juvenile under section 395 (dacoity), 342 (wrongful confinement) and 412 (dishonestly receiving property stolen in the commission of a dacoity) of the IPC. They said that the minor, however, was acquitted under section 365 (kidnapping or abducting with intent secretly and wrongfully to confine person and 394 (voluntarily causing hurt in committing robbery) of the IPC. The Board will pronounce its sentence on July 25. On the same day, it has also fixed for the final judgement in another case lodged for the gangrape of a woman physiotherapy intern in a moving bus here by six persons on the night of December 16, last year.The murder charge was slapped after the victim died on December 29 in a Singapore hospital. Besides the juvenile, the four adult accused-- Mukesh, Pawan Gupta, Vinay Sharma and Akshay Thakur--are being tried by a special fast track court. However, proceedings against fifth and key accused Ram Singh abated after his death on March 11 when he was found hanging in his cell in Tihar Jail here. The other four accused are also being tried for robbing carpenter Ramadhar on the fateful night. During the inquiry, the juvenile had denied all charges, claiming he was not a participant in the horrendous crime. The juvenile, an Uttar Pradesh native, had moved to Delhi when he was 11-year-old and had taken up menial jobs. — PTI Railways lacks CCTV footage
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Food Security
New Delhi, July 19 “The Planning Commission is likely to adhere to the existing date on inclusion ratio with a minor tweak here and there. The recommendations will be forwarded to the Food Ministry next week after which they will be sent to respective states,” officials say. The figures would then be utilised by states to finalise their list of beneficiaries based on individual socio-economic criteria, they add. Identification of the beneficiaries is one of the major issues before the planners. The Bill is targeting 67 per cent of the population, which means it is not universal in nature. However, the centre’s socio-economic caste census is yet to be completed which is why it has been decided that the identification of the beneficiaries for the mega programme will be decided with the help of the existing data used by the government to disburse foodgrain under the TPDS. According to the officials, after the inclusion percentage for each state is finalised, identification of households to be covered will be left to the states. Since every state will adopt different criteria, it will naturally lead to a situation of households with same socio-economic condition getting the benefit in one state but not in other State. For example a household considered prosperous in one state may get coverage in the other state depending upon its socio-economic situation. According to the government, the Bill, as introduced in the Lok Sabha in December, 2011, provided that guidelines for identification will be prescribed by the Central Government. However, the states during their interaction said they should have a greater role in determining criteria for identification of households. Therefore, keeping in view the wide inter-state variations in the socio-economic conditions, it was felt that any criteria evolved by the Central Government for the country as a whole may not properly reflect these diversities, and therefore invite criticism. It was also difficult to evolve a consensus with the state governments over the issue of criteria to be adopted. Therefore the work of identification is now proposed to be left to the states, which may develop their own criteria.
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Assam to form mothers’ groups
Bijay Sankar Bora/TNS
Guwahati, July 19 “The government is, therefore, planning to form mothers’ associations in schools. Mothers would be entrusted with the responsibility of implementing the scheme. The women involved in the scheme will also be given a token amount,” the minister said. Education Minister seemed worried given that it was not possible for the government to check each and every school every day. Assam has a history of food poisoning due to the use of pesticides and recently, more than 300 children of Sonapur area on the outskirts of Guwahati were admitted to hospital after consuming gram distributed among them. The minister said though nothing so far had gone wrong in the implementation of the mid-day meal scheme in Assam, more caution was needed in the wake of what happened in Bihar. Most schools in the state do not have proper facilities to store the rice provided for the mid-day meal scheme and, very often, the rice gets infested with rats. Scorpion in meal,
39 fall ill in Odisha
Dhenkanal: At least 39 students fell ill after consuming food, contaminated by a dead scorpion, served under the mid-day meal scheme at the Upper Primary School in Siaria Tailasahi, Odisha, officials said. A class-V student allegedly spotted a scorpion in the served potato-soya curry, they said. The children then complained of uneasiness and were taken to the hospital. Thirty-six students were later discharged.
— PTI
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Never said Modi is secular: Hazare New Delhi, July 19 "He (Modi) belongs to a party that sympathises with only one community, and is against other communities. It is also known that it is totally against one particular community," Hazare told reporters. "Modi represents what the BJP stands for. From their statements, it appears to be communal. I don't want to talk about an individual person, because it is a matter of his political party. The BJP has nominated Narendra Modi as Chairman of its Campaign Committee," he said. Hazare said a non-communal person, who can provide better governance, should come to power after the elections. He said that he was misquoted by a section of media which said he viewed Modi as not being communal. "This is wrong. Journalists asked me whether I consider Narendra Modi communal or not. I immediately said I don't have any proof against him, so I can't say anything on it. But some newspaper wrote that Anna Hazare said Modi is not communal... On his former aide Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Admi Party, he sounded firm that he would not support it as it a political entity.
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2 new faces in Akhilesh ministry
Lucknow, July 19 Two ministers of state have been elevated - one to the Cabinet rank and one with independent charge - while two new faces have been sworn in as Cabinet ministers. At a simple ceremony at the Raj
Bhawan, Ballia (Sadar) MLA Narad Rai and MLA from Jangipur (Ghazipur) Kailash Yadav were sworn in as Cabinet ministers. MLA from Akbarpur in Ambedkar Nagar Ram Murti
Varma, who was Minister of State (Dairy Development), has been elevated to the Cabinet
rank. Gayatri Prasad Prajapati, MLA from Amethi, who was the Minister of State for Irrigation, has been made a Minister with Independent Charge. Of the four, Kailash Yadav, Ram Murti Varma and Gaya Prasad Prajapati belong to OBC castes while Narad Rai is a
Bhumihar. All belong to the districts of eastern UP, popularly called
Purvanchal. Contrary to expectations, the expansion did not see the return of Kunda MLA Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiyya who had resigned as Cabinet minister after his name cropped up in the Kunda DSP Ziaul Haq murder. With the CBI virtually giving him a clean chit
with his name not appearing in any of the chargesheets, there was speculation of his return as he holds considerable sway over the Thakur lobby. Two significant omissions in the Cabinet expansion that are bound to generate heat in the coming days are that of Umar Khan, son-in-law of Shahi Imam Syed Ahmad
Bukhari, and Zahoorabad (Ghazipur) MLA Sayyeda Shadab Fatima. According to sources, the tussle between the various power centres within the government had its stamp on the Cabinet expansion.
Umar Khan was reportedly dropped at the last minute after senior SP minister Mohd Azam Khan made his reservations known. Shadab
Fatima, who was to be the lone Shia-Muslim face in the ministry besides being the second woman in the
60-member ministry, could not figure in the final list as she was seen too closely aligned to one of the power
centres.
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Hi-tech gadgets to replace traditional CRPF baton
Chandigarh, July 19 The Central Reserve Police Force
(CRPF) is equipping its Rapid Action Force (RAF) with a host of non-lethal hi-tech devices that would, to a large extent, replace the traditional baton and other means of employing force to disperse mobs. Primary among the range of new gadgets being evaluated by the RAF are acoustic guns that transmit audio signals of specific frequency causing intense irritation in the ears leading to temporary disorientation. These are long-range devices and can be used from a distance. Also in the pipeline are laser dazzlers that induce temporary blindness and battery powered batons that induce electric shock on touch or impact with the body.
Tasers, which shoot electrically charged non-lethal darts immobilising the targeted person for a brief period are also on the wish list. The force expects to start procuring the new equipment by the end of this year. The RAF was raised in 2012 as a specialist force comprising young and handpicked personnel for quick deployment in communally sensitive areas to handle adverse law and order situations, control mobs and provide immediate succour to the violence-hit. Over the years, mob behaviour has undergone changes and violent or subversive elements now have greater access to tools of destruction and communication. The explosion of information technology, enabling quick and virtually unmonitored communication has added another dimension to law and order situations.
In the pipeline
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Salman to be indicted on July 24
Tribune News Service & PTI
Mumbai, July 19 The actor appeared before the court clad in a blue shirt and pair of jeans accompanied by his sisters Arpita and Alvira and a bodyguard. The courtroom was packed to capacity as the police prevented access to lawyers and litigants. On September 28, 2002, Salman’s Land Cruiser ran over a group of people sleeping on the footpath outside a bakery in suburban Bandra. It is alleged that Salman, who was behind the wheel, was drunk at that time. The actor had earlier been tried by a metropolitan magistrate for a lesser offence of causing death by negligence (Section 304 A, IPC) that provides for a maximum sentence of two years. He will now stand trial under a law pertaining to culpable homicide that could attract a jail term up to 10 years.
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Hoarders blamed for onion price rise
Mumbai, July 19 Vikhe-Patil’s statement has come in for flak from the onion trade at Lasalgoan, the country’s biggest onion market. “Severe drought last year damaged the crop and the onions held in our stocks are getting exhausted,” says Shankar Gole, a trader at the Lasalgaon Agriculture Market. Wholesale onion prices touched Rs 2,800 per quintal with the quality of the produce falling sharply. According to traders, farmers are bringing produce that is not fully matured in order to benefit from rising prices. The wet onions coming in are of poor quality. At the retail market, onion prices have gone up to Rs 37-38 per kg with prices in upcountry markets crossing the Rs 40 per kg mark. According to traders in Mumbai, demand for onion will remain high through this month because of Ramzan. “The situation will improve only by end-September when fresh produce enters the market,” says a trader at the
Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee market at Navi Mumbai.
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Flood situation worsens in AP
Hyderabad, July 19 Eight persons have died in the rain-related incidents across the state in the last few days as incessant rains lashed several parts of Telangana region and coastal Andhra districts of East Godavari and West Godavari. The Godavari river was flowing close to the danger mark in the temple town of Bhadrachalam in Khammam district while northern Telangana region, East Godavari and West Godavari districts received torrential rains for the fourth day today, inundating dozens of villages and damaging the standing crops. Two teams of the NDRF, each comprising 18 members, left for Khammam district, where Godavari river was in spate, officials said. The government is organising relief 14 camps in different districts and is ready to postpone the gram panchayat elections in the affected areas if rains continued tomorrow, the minister said.
— TNS
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Arms consignment meant for rebels seized
Guwahati, July 19 A police source informed that the arms consignment was intercepted at Chinabat under East Garo Hills district. The police had been tipped off by intelligence agencies. The seizure included an AK-47 assault rifle with magazine, an AK-47 rifle with
UBGL, an AK-47 rifle with drum magazine and bipot, two UBGL grenade cells and ammunitions of different
calibre. The police arrested one Beet Sangma of Dimapur, a linkman of the
GNLA, while two other persons Taklu and Kari Ao, both from Dimapur, escaped. The
GNLA, which has a stronghold in Garo Hills areas of Meghalaya, is a Garo tribe militant group that is fighting for a separate Garo Hills state for the tribe. Recently, several arms consignments meant for the outfit and procured from the clandestine arms market in Dimapur were intercepted by the Assam police in and around Guwahati city.
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Violence mars third phase of Bengal panchayat polls
Kolkata, July 19 CPM activists blocked roads and railway lines at several places in protest against police inaction over alleged vandalism by TMC activists. State Election Commission secretary Tapash Roy said they had received reports of rigging and booth capturing from several centres and the commission was awaiting the official report from the observers. He said central forces could not be properly deployed at many places following late arrival of forces as well as some technical problems. Around 60 per cent polling was reported in the North 24-Parganas, South 24-Parganas and Howrah till 5 pm, but the figure was set to up go up as the polling would continue late into the night.
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Rickshaw-puller as ‘doc’: Notice to Ballia DM, CMO
Lucknow, July 19 The NHRC has asked them to submit their response within two week. Referring to the incident, where a child died after the rickshaw puller reportedly administered an injection on the directions of the doctor on duty, the NHRC observed that if the contents of the press report are true they raise a serious issue of violation of the child’s right to health.
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Justice P Sathasivam today became the 40th Chief Justice of India, with President Pranab Mukherjee administering him the oath of office at a brief function at the glittering Durbar Hall of Rashtrapati
Bhawan.
Delhi’s shame
Kolkata, July 19
