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India to host SAARC ministerial conference Women empowerment must for
HC’s no to extending Daler’s pre-arrest
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SC takes affront to appointment IAF to reorient service rules Jogi meets CEC, says Centre misusing official
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SC defers hearing on Ravi Sidhu’s bail
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Cracks appear in Janata Parivar Proceedings against Thackeray stayed Now, 24-hr news channel
on AIR Election office ransacked
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India to host SAARC ministerial conference New Delhi, October 31 The occasion will be the third meeting of SAARC Information Ministers which is being organised here from November 10 to 12, government sources told The Tribune today. The agenda of this meeting will be finalised at an inter-ministerial meeting to be held here on November 3, which, among others, will be attended by officials of the Ministries of External Affairs and Information and Broadcasting. Sources pointed out that since the event was multilateral there was no scope for bilateral Indo-Pak parleys. The meeting takes place against the backdrop of a palpable improvement in Indo-Pak relations and also the fact that of late the two countries have shown small but significant gestures imbued with diplomatic symbolism. For instance, External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha, while announcing 12-point confidence building measures (CBMs) vis-a-vis Pakistan, made it clear that the Pakistani envoy had already been briefed about the Cabinet Committee of Security (CCS) decision on the CBMs. Similarly, Pakistan also briefed the Indian envoy before the media in Islamabad on October 29 about its response. However, there have been stray cases when Pakistan has conducted its diplomacy through media. Two days ago, Pakistan Foreign Secretary Riaz Khokhar relied on unsourced Indian media reports and quoted Mr Yashwant Sinha as saying that India’s October 22 proposals were “tactical”, guaranteed a “win-win situation” for India and that the Indian government wanted to split the Hurriyat Conference. These remarks attributed to Mr Sinha had to be refuted yesterday by the foreign office spokesman who said the minister had never made such statements. |
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Women empowerment must for progress: CJI New Delhi, October 31 “We have entered into the 21st century, but the status of women has not changed much. They are deprived of their rights because of the attitude and mindset of our society,” the Chief Justice of India, Mr V.N. Khare, said, presiding over a seminar on the ninth Justice Sunanda Bhandare memorial lecture, delivered by noted agriculture scientist M.S. Swaminathan. Mr Justice Khare and the Swaminathan gave away awards and citations to five girls — Neelam Rani, Sarita Tyagi, Sunila Devi, Swati Tyagi and Sushma Rani — from Sanskrit Bharti High School, Haresinghpura in Karnal, for their courageous act of preventing the marriages of a 7-year-old and a 10-year-old girl on April 18 in their village. Expressing anguish over the growing incidents of sexual assault of women, especially minor girls, the Chief Justice said, “Sexual violence against women is a crime of worst form and an assault on their persona and right to privacy.” The Chief Justice asked the law enforcing agencies to deal firmly with such criminals to ensure that the women live with dignity and without fear. In his keynote address on — ‘Women’s empowerment and building of food and water security’ — Swaminathan spoke on diverse aspects of women empowerment and their exploitation over centuries despite their having a major role in the nation building. Expressing concern over the growing imbalance in the sex ratio and the crime of female foeticide, he said a six-point drop in the sex ratio between the 1991 and 2001 census needed a serious pondering upon the issue. He said the ratio of 933 females to 1000 males in 1991 was alarming, its drop to 927 in 2001, was a matter of grave concern. Both Mr Justice Khare and Mr Swaminathan, also expressed concern over the discrimination against girl child especially in rural areas in matter of providing the education and quality food as compared to the male child in a family. Mr Swaminathan said without the contribution of women, Green Revolution in the country was not possible as they constituted a major agriculture work force, but at the same time they had no food security for themselves. “Food and drinking water are the first among the hierarchical needs of humankind. Women play a pivotal role in both the food and water security...they are particularly affected by environment degradation,” he said. “Involvement of women at every stage in the design and implementation of food and water security system is the first step in our quest for an India where every citizen, man or women, has a space for making contributions to human security and happiness,” the noted scientist said. Delhi High Court Chief Justice B.C. Patel and a former Judge, Ms Leila Seth, also spoke on the occasion. A Supreme Court Judge, Mr Rajendra Babu’s lecture was read in absentia. |
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HC’s no to extending Daler’s pre-arrest
bail New Delhi, October 31 Mr Justice S.K. Agrawal, who had earlier granted 10-day anticiparory bail to Mehndi on October 23, issued notice to the Punjab Police directing them to file reply by November 3, when his plea would be taken up for hearing. When his counsel R.P. Bansal insisted that an interim order may be passed for extending the bail for a reasonable period of time as it would be expiring on November 2, Mr Justice Agrawal said “no ex-parte relief can be given. The stand of the investigating agency has to be known.” If the petitioner felt an urgency, he could either move the Punjab and Haryana High Court or the Supreme Court, Mr Justice Agrawal said. Apart from seeking extension of the bail, Mehndi has pleaded for the transfer of the probe to the CBI and providing him police protection in the wake of the alleged assault on him by a mob outside Patiala Sadar police station when he appeared before the investigators on October 27. Alleging that the Investigating Officer had threatened him during his interrogation, Mehndi also sought a direction for probe into the “assault” on him. Punjab Police had alleged that Mehndi, his brother Shamsher Singh and three other accused had cheated on Bakshish Singh of Rs 12 lakh on the promise of facilitating his immigration to Canada. They have also claimed that 31 more complaints of cheating against the accused had been received by the police. |
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SC declines to advance hearing against Badal New Delhi, October 31 The application of former Director General of Mahatma Gandhi Institute (MGI) Karl Reddy for early hearing of his contempt petition was rejected by a Bench comprising Chief Justice Mr V N Khare and Justice S B Sinha accepting the argument of Badal’s counsel H M Singh that there was no urgency for preponing the hearing of the matter. Mr Reddy, who retired as DG, MGI, on March 31 had moved a petition for contempt in the apex court claiming that the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) had recommended his case for placing him in a higher salary scale to the government when the Badal was the Chief Minister, but it had failed to implement the order. |
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SC takes affront to appointment
New Delhi, October 31 Attorney-General Soli J. Sorabjee, keeping in view the critical observations of a Bench comprising Chief Justice V.N. Khare and Mr Justice S.B. Sinha, gave an undertaking on behalf of the government that the commission till further orders would not carry out judicial functions. “In view of the AG’s assurance on instructions from the Centre, we do not pass any interim order in the petition for the time being,” observed Chief Justice Khare. The main objection of the apex court was that a judicial function could not be discharged by a retired bureaucrat. The head of the commission would deal with mergers and demergers of companies running into thousands of crores and its orders were to be executed by the high courts. Senior Advocate R.K. Jain, appearing for a PIL filed by Brahm Dutt, alleged that the commission was to replace the MRTPC, which was always headed by a retired Chief Justice of a high court. The court asked the Centre to file its reply to the petition within two weeks and directed its listing on November 21 for further hearing. —
PTI, UNI |
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IAF to reorient service rules New Delhi, October 31 While totally scrapping the Short Service Commission for men, the IAF is working towards creating service environment whereby it would be able to attract the best talent in the country. More importantly, it is moving towards converting the IAF into a force where men, specially in the other ranks would have to play multiple roles and not remain specialised for a particular field. Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal S. Krishnaswamy, talking on the sidelines of the IAF Commanders Conference here, said while moving towards making the force more ‘leaner and meaner’, the IAF would not only give people the option to leave the force much earlier than what has been in the past, but also retain the option of telling people to go if they were not “up to the mark”. The Short Service Commission would, however, continue for the women. He said the IAF had stopped re-employment of its retired staff and present the situation was that there were more people ready to join than what they actually had to offer. In a bid to make hiring and firing easier, the IAF would be reviewing its terms and conditions and make the force more transparent. For the purpose of attracting the best in the country and making people more aware about the Air Force, the IAF had also employed the market research organisation ORG-MARG to carry out a countrywide survey. The survey teams would not only visit urban areas, but also colleges and campuses, including IITs and regional engineering colleges and rural areas to attract people. The Air Chief announced that those willing to join from the IITs would not have to go through another round of test at the IAF and would be recruited directly in technical positions. Air Chief Marshal Krishnaswamy said that the survey had been undertaken as we (IAF) wanted to know why the youth and talent was not joining the force. However, initial results of the survey had revealed that it was not due to lack of money that the youth were not joining the IAF, but because they were not aware about the service conditions. The survey, which is already in its third month, would continue for nine months, whereby youth across the country would be interviewed to know their views about the IAF and also make them more aware towards it. The officers of the IAF would be part of the survey and would pick the best talent for the force. The Air Chief said that efforts were under way to make the IAF more transparent and in this the stress was on making the force more accessible to the people. He said IAF bases were being opened up to the public and more open days were now being allowed. |
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Jogi meets CEC, says Centre misusing official
machinery New Delhi, October 31 Mr Jogi, who met Chief Election Commissioner J.M. Lyngdoh at Nirvachan Sadan here, alleged that the BJP and a few other political parties had been flooding the EC with “frivolous, false and fabricated” complaints alleging misconduct not only by the Congress but also the state government. During the hour-long meeting with the CEC, he emphasised that the commission should verify the facts whenever such complaints against him were made by the BJP. The Chhattisgarh Chief Minister told reporters after the meeting that he had urged the commission to look into the alleged misuse of official machinery by the BJP for electioneering. Earlier, in a 10-page memorandum handed over to the CEC, Mr Jogi, apparently annoyed over the commission’s directive to the state government to remove two Collectors for participating in a political function, urged the commission to hear both parties before taking any action. |
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SC defers hearing on Ravi Sidhu’s bail
plea New Delhi, October 31 Adjourning the hearing on his bail plea till November 14, a Bench comprising Mr Justice K.G. Balakrishnan and Mr Justice B.N. Srikrishna told Sidhu’s counsel K.T.S. Tulsi that it would like to know whether the trial court would finish recording of the evidence of two approvers in the case on the next date of hearing. Mr Tulsi wanted to complete the arguments on the bail plea today and the court to pass its verdict, contending that all accused in the case had been released on bail. He said the matter was being unnecessarily delayed by the prosecution in the trial court and the former PPSC chief had moved a petition before the Punjab and Haryana High Court challenging the grant of pardon to the approvers, Prem Sagar and Randhir Singh. But the High Court had not yet constituted a Bench to hear the matter, he said. Mr Tulsi said his client was ready to give an undertaking that he would not seek any adjournment in the trial court and that his bail could be cancelled if found guilty of tampering with evidence. However, Punjab Government’s Special Public Prosecutor R.S. Cheema and its standing counsel Bimal Roy Jad opposed the grant of bail to Sidhu at this stage, stating that the trial court had yet to finish recording of the evidence of the two approvers, which was very crucial in the case. As the court pointed out that Sidhu’s mother, brother and sister-in-law had fled the country immediately after his arrest in 2000, Mr Tulsi said his client’s brother and sister-in-law were US citizens. “But his mother is not a US citizen,” said Mr Cheema, who on last hearing had made this a main ground to oppose the bail and contended that the prosecution apprehended that Sidhu might flee from justice, if released from jail. |
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Cracks appear in Janata Parivar
New Delhi, October 31 “The merger is undemocratic. The party (JD-U) constitution has been flouted by top leaders. I will challenge the decision legally,” Devendra Prasad Yadav, detractor of Union Minister Sharad Yadav, told reporters here. Asserting that a party was not anybody’s “private limited organisation” he said without the consent of the National Council, one could foist a “drawing-room decision” on the rank and file of the party. Describing the arrangement between Defence Minister George Fernandes and Sharad Yadav as “an exchange of power between non-resident leaders”, the JD(U) leader said it was a “gimmick of merger which would fall apart sooner than later”. Devendra Prasad Yadav complained he was never consulted before the decision was taken. “I was in the dark. Even JD(U) MLAs in Bihar were not in the know of the development,” he said. The JD(U) MP said it was “strange” that after the decision had been taken, a meeting of the National Council of JD(U) and Samata would be held to approve it. Citing Article 32 of the JD(U) constitution, he said policy decisions were first dicussed at the National Executive and then passed at the National Council with a two-third majority. — PTI |
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Proceedings against Thackeray stayed New Delhi, October 31 Issuing notice to the Maharashtra Government and the complainant, who had initiated the criminal defamation case against Mr Thackeray, a Bench comprising Mr Justice N Santosh Hegde and Mr Justice B P Singh directed the respondents to submit their affidavits. The case against Thackeray was filed by one Wamanrao Deshpande Charthankar for publishing an article in Shiv Sena mouthpiece “Saamna” in 1994. |
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Now, 24-hr news channel on AIR New Delhi, October 31 The DD news channel is being launched by converting the Metro channel. It will be the country’s only terrestrial news channel. DD has set before itself the tough challenge of producing 43 news bulletins everyday, including 23 in Hindi and 17 in English. Besides, there will be a business bulletin and a bulletin each in Sanskrit and Urdu. Announcing key decisions at a press conference today, Chairman of the Prasar Bharti Board M.V. Kamath said the occasion was the biggest and most thrilling day of his life. |
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Election office ransacked Aizawl, October 31 Believed to be members of the Save Mizoram Committee, they approached Chief Electoral Officer Lalmawlsawma with a memoramdum to delete the names of Brus from the electoral rolls. They had allegedly left the state of their own accord and were now in refugee camps in Tripura. The CEO explained to them it was up to the Election Commission to do that. According to officials, the protesters, not paying heed to the CEO, went on the rampage. |
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