Political showdown on cards over separate state
Suresh Dharur/TNS

Hyderabad, July 28
A bitter political showdown is on the cards in Andhra Pradesh with the UPA leadership veering towards carving out a separate Telangana state.

The political circles here are abuzz with the speculation that Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, whose strong opposition to the division of the state is well known, might resign if the bifurcation became inevitable.

According to sources close to Kiran, who hails from the Rayalaseema region, he is "extremely upset and feeling helpless" over the moves by the party high command to bifurcate the state. During his recent meetings with central leaders in Delhi, including party president Sonia Gandhi, he made it clear that he would not be a party to the division of the state. "I will not be a party to any destructive decision," he is reported to have told AICC general secretary and in charge of AP Digvijay Singh.

Both the CM and PCC chief Botsa Satyanarayana, who hails from the coastal Andhra region, made out a strong case for maintaining the unity of the state and warned the party leadership against the creation of a Telangana state.

All major parties in the state are divided on regional lines. Cutting across party lines, the leaders from the Telangana region have been rooting for a separate state, while leaders from the Rayalaseema and coastal Andhra regions, jointly referred in the media as Seemandhra, are espousing the cause of united Andhra Pradesh.

At the heart of the dispute is the claim over Hyderabad, the thriving IT-hub with a population of 80 million. The capital city, located in the Telangana region, is a major bone of contention between the supporters and opponents of the Telangana cause. Over decades, several thousands of the people from Seemandhra have made huge investments in the capital city and contributed to its vibrant growth.

Pressure is mounting on elected representatives of Seemandhra to quit their posts in protest against the Centre's moves to split the state. As many as 19 MLAs, including three from the ruling Congress, have announced to resign. A group of 15 ministers shot off a letter to Sonia Gandhi, threatening to quit their posts, if a decision was taken to divide the state.

The Congress is expected to take a final call on the contentious issue at a meeting of its working committee on August 1. All signals point towards creation of the Telangana state with Hyderabad being made the joint capital for a period of five or 10 years. "If it happens, the CM will also resign. Surely, he does not want to go down in the history as somebody who presided over division of the state," a senior minister TG Venkatesh said.

BJP: Poverty claim a pre-poll propaganda

Hyderabad, July 28
The UPA government is trying to divert people's attention away from its failures by claiming that poverty levels had come down, senior BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu has alleged.

“The Planning Commission statement that poverty (levels) have been reduced during the UPA regime from 37.2 to 21.9 per cent is a ploy by the ruling party to divert people's attention away from the massive failures, particularly on the economic and social front,” Naidu told reporters here today.

“All reports, including World Bank studies, reveal that India is far behind in human development indices vis-a-vis Bangladesh, even sometimes Nepal, Sri Lanka and China,” Naidu said. “If that is the case, how can the government claim that poverty levels have come down and the people live on Rs 33 per day?” he asked. The government needs to explain given that the Prime Minister is Planning Commission chairman, he said. — PTI

CBI may get Agusta phone transcripts today

New Delhi, July 28
Italian authorities may hand over to the CBI tomorrow the crucial telephone transcripts in the Rs 3,600-crore VVIP helicopter scam, a move which may help it in expediting the probe into the case.

Sources said the documents are expected to be handed over to Indian mission officials in Milan on Monday after which these would be sent here for scrutiny and ascertaining the role of middlemen and others in the AgustaWestland deal.

The transcripts, which are likely to be handed over to the CBI, would help it carry forward its probe in the Rs 362 crore bribery scandal, in which then Indian Air Force chief SP Tyagi is also an accused, the sources said. The records are crucial as they reportedly contain several conversations related to the alleged remittances made to cousins of Tyagi and others. — PTI

No question of consent in gang-rape cases: SC
R Sedhuraman
Legal Correspondent

New Delhi, July 28
The Supreme Court has held that persons charged with gang rape can’t get away, pleading that it was a case of consensual sex and not rape. “Consent is not possible in the case of gang rape,” a Bench comprising Justices BS Chauhan and SA Bobde ruled while dismissing the appeal of two persons sentenced to 10 years of imprisonment solely on the basis of the victim’s statement.

“There is no prohibition in law to convict the accused of rape on the basis of the sole testimony of the prosecutrix (victim) and the law does not require that her statement be corroborated by the statements of other witnesses,” the Bench clarified.

The two convicted persons in the case had not given any explanation as to why the victim had charged them with such a heinous crime and deposed against them, the apex court noted.

The trial court had come to the right conclusion that nobody could be a consenting party to several persons simultaneously, the Bench explained.

The SC rejected the contention of the accused that they could not have forcibly taken the victim from a crowded market in Simdega, a district town in Jharkhand, in June 1999 and raped her in a school as this would have attracted the attention of the public.

The fact that the victim’s father and five other prosecution witnesses had turned hostile during the trial and no test identification parade (TIP) was conducted also did not weigh with the Supreme Court.

TIP could not be held as the victim had fled her village to reside with her sister at Bokaro after being threatened by the accused and therefore, no benefit could accrue to the convicts, it explained.

Pointing out that rape victims suffered from social stigma which had a devastating effect on them, the SC said such persons required physical, mental, psychological and social rehabilitation.

“Physically, she must feel safe in society. Mentally, she needs help to restore her lost self-esteem. Psychologically, she needs help to overcome her depression and socially, she needs to be accepted back,” the apex court observed. 

Grenade blast in Guwahati, 14 hurt
Bijay Sankar Bora/TNS

Guwahati, July 28
At least 14 persons, including some policemen and three players from the West Bengal state girls basketball team, were injured when suspected militants belonging to the anti-talks faction of the United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) hurled a grenade at a police checkpoint in the busy Paltan Bazar area in the heart of Guwahati city at around 8 pm today.

The police suspects that two motorcycle-borne militants threw the grenade at a team of police-CRPF personnel on duty at the checkpoint.

All the injured were rushed to Guwahati Medical College Hospital (GMCH). The condition of the two injured policemen was stated to be serious. The three injured girls from the West Bengal basketball team that arrived in the city just before the blast were identified as Salma Banu, Jwala Jha and Priya Rai.

The police suspects the hand of the anti-talks faction of the ULFA, or the ULFA (Independent), led by its fugitive commander Paresh Barua in the blast.

The blast was triggered in the busiest part of the city making mockery of the high alert sounded by the government in the wake of a series of grenade explosions that took place on July 23 and 24 in Lakhimpur town in eastern Assam and Bokoliaghat in Karbi Anglong hill district.

Centre to order probe into nod to coal mining in MP
Aditi Tandon/TNS

New Delhi, July 28
The Centre has decided to order an inquiry into the diversion of tribal forest land for coal mining in Mahan region of Madhya Pradesh where mass forgery of villagers’ signatures to attain approvals for land acquisition has come to light.

Tribal Affairs Minister Kishore Chandra Deo confirmed to The Tribune today that the Centre had evidence to reveal a conspiracy to deny tribals of their rights over land and divert forest land for coal mining in Mahan area of Madhya Pradesh.

Mahan Coal Limited, a joint venture between Essar and Hindalco, which got stage 1 environmental clearance from the Ministry of Environment and Forests to mine coal in the allocated block only last year, recently bypassed the Forest Rights Act to allegedly “forge” clearance by presenting a favourable gram sabha resolution in which several signatures are suspect. The Central environmental clearance to the block was subject to 36 conditions, including due clearance under the FRA. The latter was, however, allegedly forged, with the Ministry of Tribal Affairs taking up the matter with Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chauhan.

The ministry has found that the Scheduled Tribes and Other Forest Dwellers Recognition of Forest Rights Act 2006 was blatantly violated in Mahan where not a single right under the law, either individual or community, has been given to the tribals living in the Mahan forest area.

On top of that, the ministry is seized of a resolution which was passed in a special gram sabha meeting on the Forest Rights Act which was held in Amelia village of Mahan region on March 6, 2013. The said meeting was attended by 184 people.

Documents with the ministry show several signatures in the resolution as forged and many belonging to people who are dead. The documents, procured by the Mahan Sangarsh Samiti, a grouping of members of six villages from Mahan, have been submitted to the ministry to strengthen the case against coal block owners.

Deo today told TNS that the passage of the resolution was a violation of the FRA as no consent of villagers were sought. “As many as 11, 074 signatures in the resolution are suspect and we will determine their veracity. The act is criminal,” Deo said adding many villagers had represented to the Centre saying they never signed to give away their lands.

In the capital today to meet Deo, Kripanath, a member of the Mahan Sangarsh Samiti, showed his signatures in the resolution and said he never attended the gram sabha meeting in March.

SC: Pre-2006 voluntary retirees entitled to disability pension
Vijay Mohan/TNS

Chandigarh, July 28
Ensuring parity across the board, the Supreme Court has upheld the decision of the Principal Bench of the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) whereby the cut-off date for the grant of disability benefits to commissioned officers who had voluntarily retired from service prior to 2006 was held to be unreasonable.

Commissioned officers of the defence services were earlier not entitled to disability pension if they proceeded on voluntary retirement.

Though in 2004 the SC had upheld the decision of the Delhi High Court to grant disability pension to voluntary retirees in cases of junior commissioned officers (JCOs) and other ranks, the cases of commissioned officers were still contested by the Ministry of Defence (MoD).

Later the MoD, on recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission, extended the benefit to voluntary retirees of all ranks, but restricted it only to those who had retired after January 1, 2006. The cases of grant of disability pension to officers were further contested when the SC refused to grant benefits to an officer, Lt Col Ajay Wahi. The SC was, however, not informed by the MoD in this case about its own decision to grant benefits to post-2006 retirees.

The Principal Bench of the AFT, however, held though the SC had not granted relief in Ajay Wahi’s case, now that the government had itself granted the benefit, the same could not be restricted to only post-2006 retirees and it should also to be provided to similarly placed pre-2006 retirees. The decision was contested by the MoD again, but the apex court, in its order a few days ago, upheld the decision of the AFT and dismissed MoD’s appeal.

Sources said the SC was apprised of the fact that earlier it had never been informed about the government decision abrogating the prohibition for post-2006 retirees and was also not informed about many other enabling provisions. It was also placed on record how newly introduced benefits were extended to pre-2006 civilian retirees by the government itself with effect from 2006, but similar action was never taken by the MoD. The court was also informed that the government itself had internally termed the prohibition as “archaic and out of tune with reality”, but still opposed it before the SC.

West Bengal panchayat poll counting today

Kolkata, July 28
The counting of votes of the crucial panchayat election in West Bengal will begin tomorrow amid tight security arrangements made by the state Election Commission. On the directive of the Supreme Court, the five-phase rural poll in the state was held on July 11, 15, 19, 22 and 25. State Election Commissioner Mira Pandey said that the entire counting process would begin at 8 am tomorrow under tight security cover around all counting centres.

"Counting in all centres will be held under tight security cover with the deployment of adequate Central forces and state security personnel to make it smooth and peaceful," Pandey said. She also said that district administration have been asked to clamp Section 144 CrPC prohibitory order within 200m around all counting centres. — PTI

Market blast injures 5 in Guwahati

Guwahati, July 28 
A bomb blast near the busy Paltan Bazaar police station in Guwahati on Sunday evening left at least five people injured, the police said. Guwahati's Senior Superintendent of Police AP Tiwari said five people sustained injuries in the blast that occurred in an area close to the railway station and usually crowded.

Since the blast occurred on a Sunday, the place was not as crowded as it usually is, he added. No one has yet claimed responsibility for the explosion. — IANS

Indian prisoners in Lahore jail narrate their unending travails
11 of them send a letter from Kot Lakhpat Jail to tell their woes
Ravi Krishnan Khajuria/TNS

Jammu, July 28
At least 11 Indian prisoners lodged in Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat Jail have narrated their pain and agony in a letter sent secretly to a former spy, hoping it may have an impact on New Delhi and human rights activists.

Written in Hindi by Kuldeep Kumar Yadav of Ahmedabad on June 30 from the Lahore jail, the letter reached Vinod Sawhney, a former spy and president of the Jammu Ex-Sleuths’ Association, last week.

Acerbic throughout in the six-page letter, the Indian prisoners described Indo-Pak joint judicial committee a farce.“The panel visited us thrice on June 13, 2008, April 22, 2011 and April 30, 2013 only to disappoint us,” reads the letter.

They demanded that the panel be done away with immediately and the visits of Indian Embassy officials in Islamabad should also be stopped forthwith.

Fed up with continued third degree torture, they also asked the Indian government to give Pakistani authorities a free hand to kill them so as to rid them of their miserable lives.

“The Indian government should order its embassy officials in Islamabad to stop visiting us because they are just hapless and at the same time it should also give a free hand to Pakistani authorities to shoot us,” reads the letter.

It also bitterly mentioned names of some Indian embassy officials such as SP Bhatt, Rajbir Singh, Gyan Singh, who visited some of them in September 2010, 2011 and June 2012 respectively only to speak rudely to them.

Signed by 10 other prisoners — Kirpal Singh, Kuldeep Singh (of Makwal in Billawar tehsil of Kathua district), Dharam Singh, Mohammed Farid, Tilak Raj, Maqbool Lone, Abdul Majeed, Shambhu Nath, Suraj Ram, Mahender Singh and Punvasi — the letter also mentioned about 21 other Indian prisoners, including four women, who have lost their mental balance due to constant torture.

Chamel Singh of Molu Pargwal in Akhnoor was murdered inside the same prison on January 15, Sarabjit Singh of Bhikiwind on May 2 and Zakir Mumtaz of Amritsar on June 27.

Sarabjit’s killing had also seen retaliation in Kot Bhalwal prison of Jammu here when Pak prisoner Sanaullah Ranjay of Dalowali village in Sialkot district was attacked upon by a prisoner with a shovel resulting in his death on May 9 in the PGI in Chandigarh.

However, with a hope the letter has urged Vinod Sawhney, Panthers Party patron Bhim Singh and Gujarat-based human right activist MK Paul to contribute their bit facilitating their homecoming someday before they also become mental wrecks and die there.

Yadav in the letter also mentioned about an Indian prisoner Baldev Singh of Gurdaspur, who was hanged in Sahiwal prison in 1998.

Monsoon: Northwest comes out of the red
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 28
Monsoon activity in the northwest has improved substantially in the past week. There has been an increase of 17.7 per cent in the area under kharif crops, including paddy, on the back of good monsoon rain.

With good rain in the past 10 days, key growing areas in the northwest region of the country are now in the green. Punjab and Haryana received good monsoon coverage pushing the northwest out of the red with a positive balance of 28 per cent excess rain since the season began.

However, despite the above-average rainfall activity in the past two weeks, the subdivision of Haryana, Delhi and Chandigarh is still 21 per cent below the mark. Neighbouring Punjab is now showing 14 per cent excess rain.

According to the Agriculture Ministry data, acreage of paddy, a major kharif crop, rose by 8.58 per cent to 196.38 lakh hectares from 184.24 lakh hectares in the year-ago period.

“The sowing of most kharif crops picked up further this week. The total sown area as on July 26 -- according to reports received from the states -- stands at 747.78 lakh hectares as compared to 635.05 lakh hectares at this time last year,” the official statement said.

The coverage under oilseeds, particularly groundnut and soybean, too is higher compared to the previous kharif season due to timely onset of monsoon. The pulses-sown area also increased by 90 per cent compared to last year.

In the past week, the rains were near normal and even in excess over the country as a whole and over all the four homogeneous regions except east and northeast India where the rainfall was 49 per cent below the long-period average (LPA).

According to the IMD’s latest data from the 36 meteorological subdivisions in the country, rainfall was excess over 13, normal over 12, deficient over nine (including Haryana, Chandigarh and Delhi) and scanty over two subdivisions - Jharkhand and Bihar.

So far, the cumulative rainfall for the country from June 1 to July 24 is 17 per cent above the LPA except east and the northeast India where it is 36 per cent below LPA.

As much as 48 per cent area of the country has received excess and 35 per cent area has received normal seasonal rainfall (June 1 to 24 July).

The sowing of kharif (summer) crops begins with the onset of the southwest monsoon from June. In the past week, three low-pressure areas formed over northwest Bay of Bengal and the neighbourhood, which moved west northwestwards up to central India. Under the influence of these systems, central India and south peninsula received excess rainfall. However, Bihar and Jharkhand received scanty rainfall during the week. 

Gorkhaland: GJM calls for 3-day bandh from today
Subhrangshu Gupta/TNS

Kolkata, July 28
The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) will begin a fresh stir in the hills of Darjeeling from tomorrow by observing a 72-hour bandh in support of their demand for a separate statehood.

If the Centre and the state government do not immediately come forward and meet the demand, they will strengthen their movement in the hills as well as in the plains, warned GJM president Bimal Gurung.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, however, alleged that the Centre was creating a new problem by politicising the Darjeeling issue. She claimed that they had fulfilled most of the GJM’s demands, which the state government could do. The GJM’s main demand was now lying in the centre’s court.

But GJM secretary Rohan Giri alleged that both the Centre and the state were equally responsible for the Darjeeling problem. He accused the CM of befooling the hill people with the recommendation of the Justice Shymal Sen’s Committee towards their demand for inclusion of 325 villages in the plains into the hill council. The GJM already turned down Sen Committee’s recommendation of inclusion of only one village against 325 in the plains into the council.

The GJM chief also demanded that all the police cases lodged against GJM activists and supporters during their agitation for Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) be withdrawn.

In House canteen, MPs have roti for Rs 1, dal fry for Rs 3
Govt dishes out Rs 3.27 lakh per day as subsidy
Amit Khajuria/TNS

Jammu, July 28
The Parliament canteen could have been the birthplace of the notion, which some Congress leaders recently voiced, that a meal could be had for Rs 5 or Rs 12. A reply to an RTI application has revealed that the Centre doles out a subsidy of Rs 3.27 lakh per day to the Parliament canteen that provides sumptuous meals to parliamentarians. This amounts to Rs 11.94 crore per year.

So don’t feel transported back in time to the early 1990s when some MP tells you about having a ‘dosa’ for Rs 4. But this rate features on the menu of the Indian Parliament canteen that is run by Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) Ltd.

On May 14, Jammu-based RTI activist Raman Sharma had written to Public Information Officer (PIO), Lok Sabha Secretariat, about the rate list of eatables and the subsidy given by the government to run the canteen.

In reply, K Sona, Under-Secretary, Lok Sabha Secretariat, vide letter No. 1(588)IC/13, dated: July 3, informed that the government paid Rs 11.94 crore in financial year 2011-12 as subsidy to the IRCTC to run the canteen where a parliamentarian gets ‘shami kabab’ for Rs 14, ‘rumali roti’ (‘chapati’) for Re 1, ‘dal fry’ for Rs 3 and pizza for Rs 20.

The rate list of the canteen has only been revised thrice in 13 years. In view of the rising prices of eatables in the outside world, the subsidy has been going up constantly. In 2000-01, the subsidy to the same canteen was Rs 2 crore. The last revision to the price list was done in December 2010.

“The government talks about pruning subsidy bills. It has also put a cap on domestic LPG. But why don’t they put a cap on their own canteen subsidy?” asks Raman Sharma.

“Every bite that a parliamentarian takes in that canteen reduces ‘chapatis’ on the plate of the poor in the country,” the RTI activist said. “If they can provide eatables to parliamentarians at this rate, then shouldn’t they also run such canteens at old age homes, orphanages, for BPL category persons and in schools and colleges?”

Low-cholesterol haleem spices up Ramzan festivities
Suresh Dharur/TNS

Hyderabad, July 28
The lovers of haleem, a delectable meat delicacy of Hyderabad, can now savour the dish guilt-free. For the fitness-conscious consumers, a low-cholesterol version of haleem, a patented dish, is on offer.

For the first time, low-cholesterol haleem made out of emu meat is catching up as the holy month of Ramzan brings festivities to the city. The traditional haleem comprises mashed goat meat, pounded wheat, lentils, spices and ghee as the main ingredients. It is high in cholesterol and is generally not advised for diabetic and hypertensive patients.

A young entrepreneur of Bahadurpura in the old city came up with the idea of low-cholesterol haleem using emu meat.

The new variety of haleem, rich in iron, zinc and other vitamins, is registering brisk sales at several outlets across the city. It is priced at Rs 100 per 300 gram pack. Emu bird meat is available at Rs 300 per kg and marketed all over Andhra Pradesh. Emu farmers in the state see a vast potential to market emu haleem as a healthy alternative to the one made of red meat.

Haleem is served hot with crispy fried onions and a dash of lime. The mouth-watering dish is very popular during the month of Ramzan and feasted by both Muslims and Hindus. Several hotels in the city set up special counters to sell the dish during the month-long festivities.

“The cooking process is same for emu haleem and mutton haleem. After tasting emu haleem, people are coming back to our shop to buy more,” said Mohammad Ravoof who runs a haleem outlet in the old city. He gets the birds from an emu farm in Suryapet, about 150 km from here.

Hyderabad haleem has been granted the geographical indicator (GI) tag under the GI Act, 1999, to protect traditional products. This means that no other city can make or market the dish as Hyderabadi Haleem. The unique distinction is similar to Darjeeling Tea and Banarasi Silk.