The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Russian troops ready for tank-firing competition Raj Sadosh Abohar, October 22 Russian troops are all ready for the forthcoming tank firing competition scheduled on Wednesday at the Mahajan Field Firing Range in neighbouring Rajasthan. The Russian troops carried out live firing practice from tanks and infantry combat vehicles in the ongoing joint military exercise, INDRA 2013. Indian and Russian soldiers interacted and familiarised each other’s tank zeroing procedures. The Russian General Officer Commanding also interacted with the Indian officers and troops at the firing ranges. To feel relaxed, jawans of both the armies tried their hand at sports as well. The Mechanised Infantry component of the Russian and Indian contingents participated in small arms firing competition in a newly constructed small arms firing range by HQ South Western Command. The competition involved firing of a mechanised infantry section of both the armies, fully controlled by their section commanders. In the evening, a volleyball match was held to enhance the spirit of sports and camaraderie between the troops of both the nations. Indian brigade commander and his Russian counterpart gave away prizes to both the teams. The exercise is aimed at improving bilateral defence cooperation between both the armies and enhancing their ability to operate as an integrated force within the framework of UN peace keeping operations.
	Lalu’s LS run ends after 5 dream terms Aditi Tandon/TNS New Delhi, October 22 Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav and Janata Dal United MP Jagdish Sharma were today disqualified from their membership of the Lok Sabha following convictions by a CBI court in the fodder scam. The disqualification of both will be effective from September 30, the date of their conviction which was followed by a sentence of 4 year rigorous imprisonment for Sharma and 5 years RI for the Bihar strongman whose run as an MP began in 1977 when he became the youngest member of the sixth Lok Sabha at 29 years, representing the Janata Party. Since then Lalu has been a member of the LS five times ---ninth LS from 1989 to April 1990; he was elected to the 12th Lok Sabha in 1998, 14th Lok Sabha in 2005 and the current 15th Lok Sabha in 2009 where he was representing Saran segment before disqualification. In April 2002, Lalu was also elected to the Rajya Sabha. The disqualification of the two MPs was notified today by Lok Sabha Secretariat in accordance with the recent Supreme Court directions striking down Section 8 (4) of the Representation of People’s Act, 1951 that hitherto gave immunity to convicted sitting MPs and MLAs from disqualification so long as their appeal was pending in a higher court. The SC struck down the section saying all lawmakers sentenced for offences with punishment over two years must face instant disqualification. Lalu and Sharma’s disqualification order signed by LS joint secretary V Ramesh reads, “Consequent upon their conviction by the Special CBI court, Ranchi, in a 1996 case, Lalu Prasad. Member of Lok Sabha representing Saran parliamentary constituency of Bihar and Jagdish Sharma representing Jahanabad parliamentary constituency of Bihar stand disqualified from the membership of the Lok Sabha from the date of their conviction ie September 30, 2013 in terms of the provisions of Article 102 (1) (e) of the Constitution of India read with Section 8 of the RPA, 1951.”
	Power generation begins at Kudankulam N-plant Chennai, October 22 India's atomic power plant operator Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) on Tuesday generated 160 MW power at its first unit in Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KNPP), said a senior official. "Unit 1 synchronisation with the power grid done at 2.45 am onTuesday, generating 75 MW of power. We then increased the power output to 160 MW and maintained that for around two hours before bringing down the power generation," said RS Sundar, site director, KNPP. According to him, the unit will generate 300 MW power in two to three days. "The power generation beyond 400 MW will happen with the permission of AERB (Atomic Energy Regulatory Board). They have asked us to do so," Sundar said. The NPCIL is setting up two 1,000 MW Russian reactors at Kudankulam in Tirunelveli district, around 650 km from here. The total outlay for the project is over Rs.17,000 crore. KNPP is India's first pressurised water reactor belonging to the light water reactor category. The first unit attained criticality, which is the beginning of the fission process, for the first time in July 2013. In August, the AERB gave its nod to KNPP to raise the reactor power levels to 50 percent and synchronisation of the unit with the power grid. The NPCIL earlier said it would connect the first unit to the grid end-August, generating 400 MW power. But that did not happen due to two condenser valve problems which seemed to have got stuck. — IANS
	Delhi polls: Tandoor case witness in race for Cong ticket Aditi Tandon/TNS New Delhi, October 22 Eighteen years after he provided the first crucial leads in the gruesome Naina Sahni murder case by identifying her charred remains, star witness in the case Matloob Karim is back to claim what he describes as his lost political ground. In the race for Congress ticket from Delhi’s Muslim-dominated Matiamahal assembly segment, Karim is seeking candidature from a seat the Congress has never won in Delhi. Part of Chandni Chowk Lok Sabha segment which Law Minister Kapil Sibal represents, Matiamahal is currently held by LJP’s Shoaib Iqbal in the Delhi Assembly. But Matloob believes he can end the Congress jinx. “I can end that jinx provided I am trusted,” says the man whose relationship with Naina led to her brutal murder at the hands of husband Sushil Sharma on July 2, 1995. The Sushil-Naina-Matloob trio was then in the same political league with high hopes from the future. While Naina was general secretary of DYC’s women’s wing, Sushil was DYC president and Matloob the DYC organising secretary. Little had Matloob known what the future held for the threesome, each very ambitious in politics. Reluctant to recall those days, Matloob (who faces stiff competition in Matiamahal from Mehmood Zia, last Congress contestant from here) rues: “I have paid a heavy political price for standing for justice in the Naina case. For Karim, the act of seeking a Congress ticket from Matiamahal is an attempt to redeem his lost political reputation. As star prosecution witness number 12 in the 1995 case, which sent shock waves across India, Matloob was the first man to identify Naina’s charred torso at Ashok Yatri Niwas motel on Janpath Lane on July 5, 1995. Naina’s parents had been too shocked to identify whatever remained of their daughter’s body. Overnight Matloob acquired two distinct identities: one as a man whose suspected illicit ties with Naina led her husband to murder her and two as a witness whose crucial testimony ensured justice for Naina in the end. But Matloob doesn’t quite look back on those days with satisfaction. He mentions with a great deal of angst how he could never steer his course in politics after that case, constantly hounded and branded by the opposition. It’s only now after two decades that Karim has mustered the heart to seek his party ticket for Delhi polls having worked earlier as Secretary of Delhi Haj Committee and as District Minority President. He once lost a Municipal Councillor election which he explains saying: “I was asked to contest from a ward that’s difficult to win. I had sought a ticket from a different ward.” All that said, the fact remains that Karim’s star testimony in the Tandoor case remains his biggest claim to fame and his request for Congress candidature in Delhi a keenly watched development in the wake of SC recently commuting Sushil Sharma’s death sentence to life imprisonment. Back in hunt Matloob Karim (pic) is in the race for Congress ticket from Delhi's Muslim-dominated Matiamahal assembly segment, a seat the Congress has never won in Delhi Part of Chandni Chowk Lok Sabha segment which Law Minister Kapil Sibal represents, Matiamahal is currently held by LJP's Shoaib Iqbal in the Delhi Assembly He was the man whose relationship with Naina led to her brutal murder at the hands of husband Sushil Sharma on July 2, 1995 The Sushil-Naina-Matloob trio was then in the same political league. While Naina was general secretary of DYC’s women's wing, Sushil was DYC president and Matloob the DYC organising secretary
	No proof of Indian involvement in unrest: Baloch CM Ashok Tuteja/TNS New Delhi, October 22 In a major embarrassment for the Pakistani establishment, Abdul Malik Baloch, Chief Minister of Pakistan’s restive Balochistan province, has said he had no evidence of the alleged involvement of India in the volatile region. Asked for New Delhi’s reaction, an Indian source, who did not wish to be identified, said Baloch’s statement only reflected the harsh reality for Pakistan that no external force was involved in the unrest in Balochistan and the deteriorating situation in the province was a consequence of the policies pursued by the Federal Government in Islamabad. “We have taken note of the Balochistan’s Chief Minister’s statement...in any case we have nothing to do with what is going on in the province. Pakistan has become a victim of the forces which it has nurtured using terrorism as an instrument of state policy over the years,” said the source. The Balochistan Chief Minister was not even sure whether the Federal Government or Pakistani agencies had any proof of India’s involvement in the province. His remarks clearly fly in the face of Islamabad’s accusation that New Delhi was aiding and abetting insurgency in Balochistan through its Consulates in Afghanistan. Pakistan Foreign Secretary Jalil Abbas Jilani had recently stated that his government had provided to New Delhi evidence of the involvement of Indian agencies in the unrest in Balochistan. The matter had also been raised by Pakistan Premier Nawaz Sharif during his meeting with Manmohan Singh in New York last month. Islamabad believes Indian and Afghan governments are hosting and fuelling the Baloch insurgency as tit-for-tat for Pakistan’s support to Kashmiri and Taliban militants. New Delhi has denied that Islamabad had provided any evidence about India’s involvement in the unrest while asserting that Indian Consulates in Afghanistan were working for reconstruction and development of the war-torn nation. It is of the view that the insurgency in Balochistan is an offshoot of the denial of provincial rights enshrined in the Pakistan Constitution.
	SC: Ensure food items are free of pesticides R Sedhuraman Legal Correspondent New Delhi, October 22 Expressing concern over the presence of “alarming” levels of pesticide and insecticide residues in rice, vegetables, fruits, meat, fish and other food articles, the Supreme Court today directed the authorities to conduct “periodical inspections” at major markets and crack down on the violators of laws relating to food safety. A Bench comprising Justices KS Radhakrishnan and Dipak Misra ruled that the right to life guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution mandated the availability of food articles free from such chemicals and residues of veterinary drugs, antibiotics and other harmful solvents. “But the fact remains that many of the food articles available in the market contain insecticide or pesticide residues beyond the tolerable limits, causing serious hazards. We notice fruit-based soft drinks available in various fruit stalls contain such pesticide residues in alarming proportion, but no attention is made to examine their contents,” the apex court noted. As a result, children were at a higher risk due to their greater exposure to soft drinks, fruit-based or otherwise, the Bench said. “We, therefore, direct the Food and Safety Standards Authority of India, to gear up their resources with their counterparts in all the states and Union Territories and conduct periodical inspections and enforce scrupulously and meticulously the Food Supply and Standards Act 2006 and the related rules and regulations, covering packaging and labelling and prevention of adulteration,” it said. The SC delivered the verdict on a PIL filed by the Centre for PIL in 2004 pleading for constitution of a body of technical experts to evaluate the harmful effects of soft drinks.
	HC reprieve for ITBP woman officer Vijay Mohan/TNS Chandigarh, October 22 Granting relief to a woman officer from the Indo-Tibetan Border Police Force (ITBP), who was allegedly assaulted by jawans during deployment overseas on a United Nations peacekeeping mission and was later ordered to be tried by a general force court (GFC) for professional impropriety, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has ordered that she be released from arrest. The GFC, the ITBP’s equivalent of a military general court martial, began at the force’s Ramgarh camp near here in May and the officer, of the rank of inspector, had been in custody for about six months. Commandant Parwinder Singh is the court’s presiding officer. The officer has also submitted before the high court that she is not being supplied by copies of documents, including the report prepared by the UN Investigation Officer on the said incident. A copy of the report, the petitioner has claimed, was sent to the ITBP. She has sought six documents from the ITBP. The officer is facing six charges pertaining to misappropriation of rations, violation of good order and breach of trust under various provisions of the ITPB Act. The alleged acts of assault and misappropriation took place in August 2011 in Congo.
	Naxals killed 12,000 civilians, 3,000 cops in 3 decades: Govt New Delhi, October 22 Nearly 12,000 civilians and 3,000 security personnel were killed by Naxals in the last three decades, according to the Home Ministry. The Ministry statistics said 4,638 Naxals were killed by security forces during the period. Altogether 11,742 civilians and 2,947 security personnel were killed by the Naxals in different parts of the country since 1980. The highest number of civilian casualty was reported in 2010 when the Naxals killed 720 people. — PTI
	Asaram taken back to Jodhpur Manas Dasgupta Ahmedabad, October 22 In a surprise move, the Gujarat Police today whisked away the rape-accused self-styled 'godman' Asaram Bapu to Jodhpur jail in Rajasthan two days before his transit warrant is to expire on October 25. The police had brought Asaram from the Jodhpur jail, where he was lodged in connection with the alleged rape of a minor, on transit warrant for questioning him on a similar charge leveled against him and his son Narayan Sai by two sisters based in Surat. He was produced before the Gandhinagar sessions court on the expiry of his police remand today but the police did not seek any further remand indicating that the preliminary investigation into the case was over. As the court ordered sending the him to judicial custody, the police only briefly took him to the high security Sabarmati central jail on the outskirts of Ahmedabad where he was also given the prisoner number '8288' but within minutes arranged for police vehicles and set off for Jodhpur by road before dusk.
	Part of Asaram’s ashram burnt down in Gujarat Valsad, October 22 A portion of self-styled godman Asaram Bapu’s ashram was burnt down in Pariya village at Pardi taluka here by a group of ex-followers, who are upset after allegations of sexual assault surfaced against him, the police said today. Yesterday, some people who had provided land to Asaram Bapu for building his ashram in this remote tribal area burnt down a part of the structure, they said. They had earlier donated land to Asaram, but are no longer his supporters after the allegations of sexual assault resurfaced against him and his son Narayan Sai, they said. The Surat Police had recently registered complaints filed by two sisters — one against Asaram and another against his son Narayan Sai — of rape, sexual assault, illegal confinement and other charges. The complaint against Asaram was transferred to Chandkheda police station in Ahmedabad as the incident took place in his ashram here. The case is going on in Gandhinagar court as Chandkheda area falls in Gandhinagar district. — PTI
	Mars mission on Nov 5 Shubhadeep Choudhury/TNS Bangalore, October 22 With two ships carrying terminals finally positioned in the South Pacific, India's first interplanetary mission is now all set for its nine-month-long journey to Mars. The D-Day, ISRO announced today, is November 5. At around half past two in the afternoon on that day, the PSLV carrying the Mars orbiter will blast off from the spaceport at Sriharikota, near Chennai, for a mission that is by far the toughest and one of the most ambitious in ISRO's repertoire. The launch window is open from October 28 to November 19. ISRO's original plan was to carry out the launch on October 28.