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Rahul's 1st list of LS candidates ready; winnability key factor
Decision on Agusta blacklisting after legal consultation: Antony
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Resolve 20 sticky issues: Northern states to SC
SC verdict today on impact of delay over mercy pleas
Mumbai engineer’s rape & murder: Cabbies under lens
Experts highlight role of economy in shaping culture, society
Cabinet nod to minority status for Jains
Power rates down by 20% in M’rashtra; no cut in Mumbai
Sanjay Dutt’s parole extended by one month
Case slapped on Kumar Vishwas for ‘hate speech’
Ugandan mission denies writing to AAP
BJP poll meeting discusses AAP effect in Haryana
Bengal gang rape: Probe ordered
Air India flight hit by bird at Jaipur, lands safely
India may be next target of
Taliban: Former NSA
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Rahul's 1st list of LS candidates ready; winnability key factor
New Delhi, January 20 The short list prepared centrally by senior Congress leader and AICC general secretary in charge of UP Madhusudan Mistry at the behest of party vice president Rahul Gandhi is the first experiment in the party to nominate the best possible panels based on the internal survey conducted by Congress’ own workers. Winnability has been the principal factor behind the nomination of candidates in the first list, with Mistry today clarifying that other factors such as criminal background of the candidate and his political history will be factored in later at the stage of discussions to see that genuine Congress men are accommodated. Panels for all the 545 LS seats have been drawn by Mistry and his team of 54 central observers, who the selection team has called ‘facilitators’. Each facilitator was assigned ten LS seats for selection of candidates and they went and interacted with local leaders to complete the process. These facilitators were chosen by the Congress centrally after a rigorous exercise. Only those were eligible to apply for
the job who had won at least one election. The exercise was started a year and a half ago. “We selected 54 facilitators out of 400 who had applied. They were made to take a test where we gave them five case studies asking the applicants to suggest the best candidate out of the five we described in those case studies. The analytical skill of the candidate and his ability to articulate in Hindi or English languages were the main criteria,” Mistry said. The exercise a first of its kind initiated by Rahul’s attempts to aid the screening committees which the party high command set up about 10 days ago to screen probable candidates. ‘ The party has however clarified that the screening committees can differ in their recommendations to the first short list of candidates prepared at Rahul’s instance though the greater likelihood is that the screening panels would also arrive at the same conclusion as Mistry’s team. Of 15 segments, where Rahul said the selection of candidates would be done directly by Congress workers, two will be in UP, and others in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Maharashtra. A final list of these segments is being drawn up.
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Decision on Agusta blacklisting after legal consultation: Antony
Defence Minister AK Antony while speaking on the sidelines of a NCC function in Delhi today, denied that the government had reached an understanding with the company on not blacklisting it. The Defence Minister said the government is focusing on encashing its bank guarantees in Italy and India. "We are examining the whole thing and we will take a decision (on blacklisting) after detailed examination and in consultation with the Law Ministry and the CBI. I don't want to take any hasty action that will cause problems to us....There is no understanding between the government and the company”, Antony said. “The bank guarantee in the Indian bank has been encashed while the MoD is trying to encash the guarantee in the Italian bank (Deutsche bank)”, Antony said, adding that the company has disputed the claims but attempts are on to fight the case. On being asked about an inquiry into violation of norms in granting a no-objection certificate (NOC) to build a hotel and yacht facility at Viper Islands in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Antony said the investigation report was being assessed by the ministry and strict action would be taken if anyone is found guilty. Separately, Antony clarified that there was no damage to the Indian submarine that had to wait just outside the harbour in Mumbai on January 17. The submarine has to wait for four hours for favourable tide conditions before it could berth.
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Resolve 20 sticky issues: Northern states to SC
Among the main issues is whether all these projects “being unilaterally undertaken by Punjab by excluding participation of other states should be undertaken, administered, operated and maintained by the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) or any other neutral central agency” in view of the historical, factual and legal background of the use of waters of the three eastern rivers by the states. The SC would also decide whether the Punjab Re-organisation Act 1966 “contemplates” administration of Madhopur Headworks, Ranjit Sagar Dam Project and the Shahpur Kandi Dam Project by BBMB. It would also go into the impact of the Punjab Terminal of Agreement Act 2004 on the entitlement of Jammu and Kashmir to Ravi waters. The 2004 Act had covered “all agreements relating to the Ravi Beas waters including the agreement dated 31.12.1981 signed by the Chief Ministers of the states of Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan.” The issues, framed on the original suit filed by Haryana in 2009, also include Himachal’s entitlement to its rights and interest in the Ranjit Sagar Dam as per the provisions of the January 19, 1979 agreement between HP and Punjab. The main point on which Haryana has sought SC ruling is whether it has a legal right to be associated with all the projects for generating power, constructed or to be constructed, on river Ravi and receive its proportionate share of power therefrom. After going through the 20 issues, a Bench comprising Justices CK Prasad and Kurian Joseph today asked the states to file affidavits of evidence within eight weeks. Thereafter the suit would go to the court Registrar for cross-examination of witnesses. Questioning the maintainability of Haryana’s suit under Article 131 of the Constitution, Punjab has claimed exclusive legal right to undertake any project on its territory for producing hydro power by non-consumptive use of water. “Whether Haryana has at all any legal right to a share in the power generated from the Anandpur Sahib Hydel Project, Thein Dam Project, UBDC Stage-II and Shahpur Kandi Hydel Scheme,” it wanted to know. Appearing for Punjab, senior advocate Rupinder Singh Suri today pleaded against allowing HP and J&K to submit their contentious issues in the suit. If they wanted any relief, they should file separate suits, he contended. The Bench said Punjab could raise this point at the time of arguments on the maintainability of the suit. “Framing of issues does not mean something is decided against you. When the court takes a holistic view, it will consider whether to take HP’s issues into account,” the Bench assured Punjab. Row over rivers
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SC verdict today on impact of delay over mercy pleas
The verdict is likely to have an impact on the curative petition of Devender Pal Singh Bhullar sentenced to death for his role in the 1993 bomb attack on Youth Congress president MS Bitta in which nine security personnel were killed and 17 injured, including Bitta. A Delhi court had sentenced Bhullar to death in August 2001 which was confirmed by the SC. Bhullar approached the SC again, seeking quashing of the rejection of his mercy plea on account of the delay over the decision. But the SC ruled that terrorists were not entitled to any relief on account of the delay in the Presidential decision on their mercy petitions. Tomorrow’s verdict will cover the cases of several death-row convicts, including former Haryana MLA Relu Ram Punia’s daughter Sonia and her husband Sanjeev. Sonia Chowdhary, 31, and her husband Sajeev Kumar, were sentenced to death for the gruesome murder of eight members of her family, including her father Punia. A taekwondo champion, Sonia had chosen her 19th birthday (August 23, 2001) to commit the crime at the farmhouse of her father at Litani Mor in Hisar. Among those bludgeoned to death were her mother Krishna, sister Priyanka, stepbrother Sunil, his wife Shakuntala and their three children - Lokesh (4), Shivani (2) and Preeti (45 days). The petitioners have challenged the execution move citing delay in rejection of their mercy pleas. The petitions were filed in the wake of the sudden and secret hanging of Afzal Guru, convicted in the Parliament attack case. The SC had stayed some of the hangings after hearing arguments late in the evening at the residence of Justice P Sathasivam, who later became the Chief Justice. Bhullar angle
The verdict is likely to have an impact on the curative petition of Devender Pal Singh Bhullar (pic) sentenced to death for his role in the 1993 bomb attack on Youth Congress president MS Bitta in which nine security personnel were killed and 17 injured, including
Bitta.
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Trying to resolve row over terror charges against marines: Govt to SC
New Delhi, January 20 Arguing before a Bench headed by Justice BS
Chauhan, Attorney General GE Vahanvati said the initiation of the trial proceedings in the court was getting delayed as the Italian witnesses were refusing to come to India to depose in the case. The Bench was hearing a petition by the accused marines and Italian envoy Daniele Mancini objecting to the terror charges and the delay in the trial. Asking the Centre to expedite the process, the Bench posted the case for next hearing on February 3. The SC had delivered its verdict on January 18, 2013, directing the Centre to hold expeditious trial of the accused by setting up a special court but not even the chargesheet had been filed in the case so far, they pleaded. The petitioners contended that invoking the anti-terror law, Suppression of Unlawful Activities
(SUA) Act, against the marines was against the SC order for charging them only under the Maritime Zone Act, the Indian Penal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code and the UN Conventions. Charging them under the anti-terror law would tantamount to calling Italy a terror state, they pleaded. The petition also pleaded for letting the accused to leave for Italy and stay there, pending the beginning of the trial. The marines, Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore
Girone, have pleaded that they shot down the fishermen mistaking them for pirates.
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Mumbai engineer’s rape & murder: Cabbies under lens
Mumbai, January 20 The police said the woman (23) had arrived in Mumbai after a Christmas vacation at her home in Hyderabad on January 5. Shortly after alighting at the LTT station at 5.37 am, she went missing. After tracing her mobile phone records, police said the woman was in the vicinity of the train station till 6.04 am. "We traced her mobile network to Bhandup East at around 6.30 am on January 5 after which her mobile phone was switched off," a police officer said. Her body was found a few km away at Kanjurmarg on January 16. The police said she was raped, murdered and her body set afire with some chemical. Her body was found by her relatives who launched a search in the isolated areas around Bhandup East from where her last mobile
phone signal was traced. “We are questioning all the auto-rickshaw and taxi drivers who were operating from LTT on January 5," the duty officer at Kanjurmarg police station said. In all, some 400 taxi and auto-rickshaw drivers were operating in the vicinity of the train station on that day, said the police. The police said her mobile phone was found next to her body. Her luggage was also missing. Civil rights organisations in Mumbai have criticised the police for not being prompt in their investigations. "The police were lax in their investigations and they did not conduct a search in the vicinity of Bhandup for 12 days where her mobile signal was traced," Abraham Mathai, minorities' rights activist, said. Body set afire
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Experts highlight role of economy in shaping culture, society
Since the growth of market economy has forced societies to assume, everything is run on the basis of economics, even culture, what should be the role of money and market in a good society? To debate the issue two scholars of economics, Michael J Sandel, author of “What Money Can’t Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets” and John Ralston Saul who penned “The Collapse of Globalism: And the Reinvention of the World” concluded, economics has grown with the pretensions of a science that can explain all aspects of the human behavior, but it needs a re-look to re-establish an ethic driven society. The public participation enlivened the debate on a drab subject. Other issues related to literature that dominated the day’s proceedings included the age-old tradition of travel writing. From Marco Polo to Hiuen Tsang to Ibne Babuta wrote about their exploration of the world and the transformation it brought about in their world-view. In fact, some scholars believe travel writing in the mother of all writing. This is now invaded by single women travellers who are penning their experiences of exploring the world, challenging the established notions about travel. Another trend in the modern literature — of finding inspiration from the mythical characters — has caught readers’ imagination. “The Blue God: Conversations on Krishna” could have enlightened the audience about the timelessness of inspiration derived from this mythical character, but the panelists Sir Meghnad Desai and Pavan Varma assumed they were on a TV talk show, the session remained embroiled in putting the other person down rather than engaging in an informed literary discourse. The city as a protagonist featured in another session with Rana Dasgupta’s latest book “Capital” featuring Delhi being in the focus, in the line of many other books being inspired by the city. The session kept the audience engaged. Then, there were women authors, writing under pseudonyms to protect their creative freedom. The session on humorous writing failed to bring smile, while Bina Ramani, who was a witness to the famous Jessica Murder case and was expected to appear in the session “Death in a Cold Climate”, did not show up, disappointing audience.
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Death due to drug overdose
“Drug overdose”, which in other words could be called drug poisoning, has been cited as the cause of death in the conclusion by doctors, according to AIIMS sources. The autopsy report was submitted to SDM Alok Sharma, who is holding inquest proceedings in the case. Refusing to disclose details of the autopsy report, he said he would examine it along with the statements of various people, including Tharoor and Sunanda’s brother, and other evidence. “On this basis, I will conclude what was the cause of death and submit a report to the police whether a case is made out or not surrounding the death and whether the police should carry out further investigation or not,” Sharma said. The police said they were awaiting the SDM’s report before deciding on their future course of action. — PTI
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Cabinet nod to minority status for Jains New Delhi, January 20 The government exercised its powers under Section 2(c) of the National Commission of Minorities Act, 1992 to take the decision today. So far, Jains were considered a minority at the level of 13 states only. The community comprises 0.4 per cent of India’s population qualifying as a minority. It had been demanding Central minority status on the grounds that it qualified as a religious minority by virtue of the practice of distinct (from Hinduism with which Jains were historically often tied) ceremonies of birth, death and marriage. The decision means Jains will now be eligible for all benefits meant for Centrally listed minorities — various educational scholarship schemes, free coaching scheme and all the benefits under the Prime Minister’s 15 point programme for minorities. The Tribune was the first to report on December 25 last year that the government had decided to notify Jains as a Central minority before the 2014 LS elections. Law Minister Kapil Sibal today told The Tribune, “The Supreme Court in 2005 had clarified that The SC ruled on a review petition filed by Bal Patil, Convener of Dakshin Bharat Jain Subha, after a three-judge Bench of the apex court earlier said that minorities should be notified depending on their population at the state level. The confusion over Jains’ status has continued to prevail ever since. Yesterday, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi — after meeting a Jain delegation — had called up PM Manmohan Singh seeking an early decision on the issue.
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Power rates down by 20% in M’rashtra; no cut in Mumbai
Mumbai, January 20 The reduction in tariffs will be applicable to areas serviced by the state-owned Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company (Mahavitaran). Mumbai, which gets power supply from the private sector state Reliance Infrastructure, Tata Power and the civic-owned BEST will not get the benefit of the tariff reduction for now, according to state government sources. The state government has called a meeting of officials from the Power and Finance Ministries next week to work out the modalities of reducing power tariffs to consumers in Mumbai, sources said. A section of the bureaucracy felt that it would not be advisable to pay subsidies to private companies supplying power in Mumbai and wanted the companies to reduce some components of the tariff levied by them, according to sources.
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Sanjay Dutt’s parole extended by one month
Mumbai, January 20 The actor was granted parole for two weeks on October last year because of his ill-health. He was granted another two weeks’ extension at that time. The actor was sentenced to five years in prison for keeping illegal weapons sourced from the bombers who carried out the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts. He had already served 18 months of his sentence and was ordered to serve the remaining 42 months in prison by the Supreme Court. Dutt’s wife Manyata has been diagnosed with a tumour in her liver and is also suffering from heart disease.
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Case slapped on Kumar Vishwas for ‘hate speech’
Lucknow, January 20 Filed by general secretary of the Sri Ram Janambhoomi Sewa Samiti Ram Prasad Mishra, the complaint relates to Vishwas’ remarks available online for which he has already apologised. The FIR has been filed at the Mahanagar police station under IPC sections 295, (injuring or defiling place of worship with intent to insult the religion of any class) and 295 (A) (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs).
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Ugandan mission denies writing to AAP New Delhi, January 20 The clarification came hours after Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal claimed that a woman from the Ugandan mission had met Law Minister Somnath Bharti and praised his raid targeting African women over allegations of a sex and drug racket. “The woman came to meet Somnath Bharti last evening and told him that you did very well and that many women from Uganda are being trafficked. She also brought this letter,” Kejriwal had said.
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BJP poll meeting discusses AAP effect in Haryana New Delhi, January 20 Leaders, who were part of the deliberations — the party’s first preparatory meet for the 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana — also confirmed the BJP’s decision to have no alliance with the INLD — Haryana’s leading Opposition party. Sources say that the BJP’s preliminary audit for the country has forecast AAP effect on 38 Lok Sabha seats in the country. Planning to ride on the “anti-Congress wave”, the saffron party is particularly worried about Haryana — whose sizable part constitutes the NCR region close to National Capital Delhi where AAP is running its newly-formed government in the most unusual, dramatic way, targeting the urban voters throughout the country. This is one reason that the party has decided to have a wide panel of all the aspirants to select the most appropriate person for the each one of the 10 seats. The fact is that the BJP, which in the pre-AAP scene was eyeing “at least nine out of 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana,” has reduced the estimate to a more conservative “six to seven”. Party leaders admit changes in Ambala, Gurgaon, Faridabad and Karnal — the constituencies with urban influence.
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Bengal gang rape: Probe ordered
Kolkata, January 20 The victim, a 16-year-old schoolgirl, was gang-raped on October 20 last while she was returning from her coaching classes. Afterwards, in the face of constant threats by anti-socials who were demanding withdrawal of the FIR lodged against them, the girl had shifted to Dum Dum, near the Kolkata airport. However, she was burnt alive in their rented house there on December 31. The bereaved parents and social organisations demanded a CBI inquiry into the incident.
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Air India flight hit by bird at Jaipur, lands safely
Jaipur, January 20 It suffered a bird-hit while landing in Jaipur, Air India station manager Anil Warman said. Anil Warman said that the aircraft landed safely and was examined by technical experts. — PTI
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India may be next target of
Taliban: Former NSA New Delhi, January 20 Narayanan, now Governor of West Bengal and a former Director of the Intelligence Bureau, said it was worrying that Pakistan showed no inclination to desist from pursuing “high risk” strategies and appeared determined to support Jihadist elements as a strategic instrument to keep India off balance. The former NSA was delivering the first Radha Vinod Raju memorial lecture organised on the occasion of National Investigation Agency (NIA) Day. The late RV Raju was the first Director General of NIA, which was set up in the aftermath of Mumbai terror attack in 2008. Narayanan said India’s location was such that it was an easy target to threats posed by terrorism most of which emanated from outside the borders.
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Ambedkar statue unveiled 2 chain snatchers escape from lock-up
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New Delhi, January 20
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