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Probe into Ranjit’s assets on PM may meet Jamali one-to-one
Centre mulling more troops to Assam, says Advani SC cautions high
courts on poll petitions Nanavati panel completes hearing |
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Jaish behind Lone’s murder, says probe Karunakaran faction backtracks
Animals victims of cosmetic industry NHRC for ratification of human rights treaties Sanskriti Award winners’ list declared Osa test-fired
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Probe into Ranjit’s assets on Patna, November 27 The department would conduct the inquiry in association with the CBI and ascertain whether the kingpin had been filing his returns regularly, Chief Commissioner of Income Tax (CCIT) (Bihar) Ashutosh Singh Thakur said. The IT Departments in Mumbai and Delhi would be contacted to gather information regarding Ranjit’s assets in the two metros and a notice would be served to Ranjit under the IT Act after collecting information about his tax returns, he said. The Director (Investigation), Income Tax, Bihar, and Jharkhand, Mr Vijay Sharma, has been entrusted with the task of looking into the returns filed by Ranjit during the past six years as per the amended provisions of the Income Tax Act, 1961. Ranjit, arrested from a Delhi hotel while leaking question papers on the eve of the Common Admission Test (CAT) examination on November 23, reportedly owns luxurious houses in Mumbai, Delhi, Patna and his native place in Hilsa block of Bihar’s Nalanda district, besides a pharmaceutical firm in Mumbai. Investigations into the assets of Ranjit’s associates arrested along with him, would follow. Meanwhile, it is learnt Ranjit not only acquired an MBBS degree for himself, but also managed medical degrees for a large number of his kin and well-wishers. The medical graduate of the 2000 batch of Darbhanga Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) secured admission of his younger brother, Shravan Azad, in Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) in 1995, who passed the MBBS exam in 2001. Ranjit’s sister Sulochana was admitted to PMCH in 1997. He is alleged to have secured the admission of Birendra Singh, younger brother of his brother-in-law Nagendra Singh, in Patna Dental College in 2001. Dr Manoj Kumar, who was arrested along with Ranjit, revealed to the investigating agency that his younger brother Deepak Kumar was admitted to King George Medical College, Lucknow, in 1997. Manoj’s younger sister, Ranju Kumari is a student of Mahatma Gandhi Medical College, Jamshedpur. —
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PM may meet Jamali one-to-one Lucknow, November 27 Asked whether there would be a one-to-one meeting between him and Jamali, he told reporters that “my programme of going to Pakistan is being prepared and I will meet everyone there.” When pressed whether there would be a one-to-one meeting with Jamali, he quipped: “I will be happy if Jamali meets me.” Asked about the ceasefire between India and Pakistan, the Prime Minister said the matter was being looked into by the defence personnel and expressed hope that the truce would hold. “The defence personnel are looking into it. I hope that the ceasefire will hold,” he said. —
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Centre mulling more troops to Assam, says Advani New Delhi, November 27 Talking to reporters, Advani said whatever assistance the Centre could give had been provided to the state government. “We were still examining if more assistance can be given...more can be sent after the Assembly elections. But the situation should be brought under control,” he said. Asked about the reported involvement of the ISI, the Deputy Prime Minister declined to comment and said at present ULFA’s role was quite evident. The Centre has already made it clear that the Assam Government has 158 companies of security forces, besides the Army, enough to handle the situation and asked the state administration to deploy and utilise them effectively. Official sources said Assam had 158 companies of security forces, including the BSF, the CRPF and the India Reserve Battalions (IRBs), besides the Army, but the state government had to deploy these adequately to effectively handle the situation arising out of the recent spate of
violence. These include 138 companies of Central para-military forces and 20 companies of IRBs. There are also 10 companies of security forces deployed along the Assam Nagaland border, which can’t be disturbed. The Centre has already dispatched 25 companies of central para-military forces between November 20 and 25 to assist the state administration in maintaining law and order. In addition, district magistrates are empowered to call in the Army to deal with any eventuality as and when the need arises, they added. —
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Centre criticises Assam Govt New Delhi, November 27 Minister of State for Home I.D. Swami told reporters that “law and order is the responsibility of the state government. But the Assam Government did not act swiftly when attacks on Hindi-speaking people had just started.” He alleged that the Tarun Gogoi government delayed in seeking Army’s help though as per the rules even a District Magistrate could directly seek the help of the Army. —
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SC cautions high
courts on poll petitions New Delhi, November 27 “A prima facie case must be made out for scrutiny and recounting of ballot papers,” a three-judge Bench, headed by Chief Justice Mr V.N. Kahre, said while setting aside the Madras High Court’s judgement ordering recounting in Karur Parliamentary constituency for 1999 Lok Sabha poll. The Bench, having Mr Justice S.B. Sinha and Mr Justice A.R. Lakshmanan as the other two judges, in a word of caution to the high courts further said the basic requirement for admitting an election petition was that it should be based on sound foundation, as the onus to prove any allegations rests with the petitioner. The court said the degree of proof for issuing direction by high courts for recounting of votes should be of a “very high standard”. The high court had allowed DMK candidate K.C. Palaniswamy’s petition for recounting of votes after he had lost to ruling AIADMK’s M. Chinnaswamy by a margin of 2,847 votes. But it had rejected his allegations of corrupt practices against the winning candidate. |
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Nanavati panel completes hearing Ahmedabad, November 27 The two-member commission waited here for witnesses from Bavla, Dholka and Dholera tehsils till today noon and when they did not turn up, announced the official completion of the hearing of riot-affected persons. However, the commission said if any of the witnesses from the tehsils wished to say anything, they could do so through affidavits. The commission would conduct a special hearing on the request of advocate Mukul Sinha and would re-examine 22 witnesses from Vatva, Naroda Patiya and Bapu Nagar areas of the city. Mr Sinha had requested for a special hearing a month back. According to the schedule, the re-examination would be conducted at Vatva on December 11, Naroda Patiya and Bapur Nagar on December 12 and 11 from the Gomtipur area of the city on December 16. —
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Jaish behind Lone’s murder, says probe New Delhi, November 27 The probe, which has been given topmost priority, has pointed to the involvement of Ghazi Baba, who was later shot dead by security forces in an operation earlier this year, official sources said. Lone was assassinated by militants at a ceremony marking the 12th death anniversary of Mirwaiz Farooq, on May 21, 2002. The sources said investigations found that Ghazi Baba had received a directive from across the border to kill Lone as it was feared that he would hold talks with Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who began his visit to the state the same day. The claim of the state police was substantiated by documents seized from the place where Ghazi Baba was killed. —
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Karunakaran faction backtracks Thiruvananthapuram, November 27 The strategic move is seen as part of the veteran leader’s attempt to mobilise support of as many MLAs as possible before going for a collision course with the Congress high command. There was also speculation that he was yet to get confirmation from 34 MLAs, whose support he had claimed earlier. After an emergency meeting at the city residence of Mr Karunakaran, faction spokesman P.P. George said they would meet the Governor with a list of MLAs at an “appropriate time.” “We will go ahead with our gameplan to remove Mr Antony from power. There will not be any change in our objective,” he said. Terming as baseless the reports that there was some confusion in the camp over the support of MLAs, Mr George said all MLAs were united and they expected more support in the coming days. They would also lodge a complaint against Speaker Vakkom Purushothaman who was ‘threatening’ MLAs loyal to Mr Karunakaran. However, sources said the Karunakaran faction was under tremendous pressure from coalition partners, known to be close to him, to wait till December 1. —
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A day of 14,000 weddings in Delhi New Delhi, November 27 And there’s more news:
the marriage season will be around to give pleasure — or pain — for quite a while. Lakshmi Narain Shastri, the head priest of the Lakshminarayan temple, also known as Birla Mandir, told IANS: “The auspicious Hindu wedding season started on November 6 and will continue till March 12, with a break of about a fortnight in mid-December.” The rush of weddings comes after a four-month lull between July and October. “God is said to be sleeping in this period and it is pointless getting married when you can’t get his blessings,” said Shastri. But today, there were plenty of couples to be blessed. Parks in residential areas, community and banquet halls and hotels, all overflowed with wedding guests, while parking lots spilled over with cars of guests as did roads. “I hate the wedding season. Guests at weddings park their vehicles on the street and completely choke traffic,” said Sujata Menon. While five-star hotels remain an option for many to host a grand wedding, the trend nowadays is shifting towards banquet halls. The elite are also increasingly opting for theme weddings. Says Mahesh Kalra, who plans to marry on December 5, “Since I am a wedding planner myself, I know how to make the most of a limited budget and stretch it far. “For instance, I have got my cards printed at Chawri Bazar, at about half the
normal rate”. He is forgoing the frills of having a DJ for the evening and multi-cuisine for simplicity and will serve Indian food to his 100-odd guests. A spokesman of the Marriott WelcomHotel, a five-star hotel in south Delhi, said: “We started getting bookings from March onwards and are booked
till the end of December, with a break of about a week in between.” The hotel has hosted 20 weddings so far, and about 10 other pre-wedding functions. “The trend seems to be three to four functions before the big day, like a dinner or cocktail party following
the engagement ceremony,” she said. While neighbours in residential areas might lose their sleep because of wedding bands and loud music at marriage venues, others say no Indian marriage is complete without these. Wedding planner Neeta Raheja has organised weddings for anywhere between 800 and 1,500 guests. The expenses begin at the stage when cards are distributed, if not before. “I had a client who sent out gifts of silver candlestands and whole silver dinner sets with the wedding card, depending on how close relations were with those invited.” Raheja also did a wedding with a crystal theme recently in Indore. “We had even done up trees with crystal, though, of course, there were flowers as well.” A wedding like this can cost anywhere between Rs 10 lakh and Rs 2 crore, even Rs 10 crore. And it’s not just the upper crust that is ready to splurge. For those who dread the wedding season, there will be some respite till April. But, then, the auspicious dates start again from April 13. —
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Animals victims of cosmetic industry New Delhi, November 27 Apart from the direct cruelties we inflict on animals in the name of frivolous fashion, these indirect cruelties, which are largely ignored or goes unnoticed, need to be highlighted, activists and experts say. “It is considered as indirect cruelty and goes unchecked and unnoticed. These chemicals, whether it is eyeliner, muskara, lipstick or anyother creams, are first tested on animals resulting in pain and torture,” Mr Iqbal Malik of “Beauty without cruelty”, an NGO campaigning for the right of all types of living forms says. “It is extreme cruelty. Experiments like applying large amount of creams on rabbit or monkeys after shaving their skin off and bandaging it for 48 hours are common and a normal practice. The whole area will get degenerated during this period,” Mr Malik says. Animals are made to eat large quantities of lipstick in the name of safety. “The reason often given are safety standards. Actually one doesn’t know the actual extent and the real system goes much beyond that, Mr Ravi Aggarwal, who works with Toxic Links, an NGO says. All these tests can be undertaken on tissues which are easier, she says underlining the need for a compassionate lifestyle. “Alternate ways of living, a concept in sync with the environment and its inhabitants is gaining ground now and it needs to be popularised,” she says. Compassionate lifestyle or alternate ways of living with regard to food and fashion advocates the need for adapting a healthy and environment-friendly lifestyle. Seasoned campaigners like Mr Dileep Biswas, former Chairman of the Central Pollution Control Board, believes that compassionate lifestyle can provide peace of mind. “Following a compassionate lifestyle can provide peace of mind and it reflects on your lifestyle. Both are complimentary to each other,” he says. But environmentalists like Mr Aggarwal believe consumer pressure is the only way out. “There is always pressure on these manufacturers because of the cutthroat competition. They don’t adhere to corporate social responsibility. We should demand which we think are free of these cruelties,” he says. The government, on the other hand, has so far not made any rules in this regard. Recommendations made by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) plainly state that it is not mandatory to conduct experiments on animals, they say. —
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NHRC for ratification of human rights treaties New Delhi, November 27 Inaugurating a two-day capacity building workshop on “economic, social and cultural rights” jointly organized by the NHRC and the Indian Institute of Public Administration here, Justice Anand emphasised that the states were under obligation to ensure everyone had adequate food, education and enjoyment of the highest attainable standards of physical and mental health. These rights had to be respected and made available to the citizens by the state, he added. Under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights a state party was obliged to use all steps to achieve progressively full realisation of the rights recognised in the covenant, Justice Anand pointed out and said that these included adoption of legislative means which were exercised on a non-discriminatory basis. India, being a signatory to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and other international instruments, was legally as well as morally committed to ensuring basic human rights to all its citizens and enact laws accordingly, he said and called for ratifying the treaties the country had been delaying for so long so as to give a practical shape to the resolution for protecting and preserving human rights. He said there was need to civilise and discipline public power for the betterment of society. However, Justice Anand cautioned that while seeking rights one should not overlook the duties and obligations as citizens. —
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Sanskriti Award winners’ list declared New Delhi, November 27 The awards are presented to young talents in the fields of literature, art, performing arts, journalism and social and cultural achievement in the 20-35 age group. While Puthiram (Tamil) and Pankaj Mishra (English) have been selected for literature. Soma Wadhwa will get the award in the category of journalism. The other awardees for the 23rd and 24th editions of the Sanskriti Awards are Jaideep Hardikar (journalism), Bharti Kher and Talur L.N. (both for art), Manjiri Asanare Kelkar (music), Abhilash Pillai (theatre) for performing Arts, and Abha Narain Lambah and Ratish Nada for heritage conservation. The awards will be presented by internationally acclaimed writer Vikram Seth at a function here on December 11, it was announced today. Each award carries Rs 20,000 and a citation plaque. —
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Osa test-fired Balasore (Orissa), November 27 The mission was successful, defence sources said. With a target range of 10 km, Osa was mounted on an MBT (main battle tank) and hit a para-barrel target, the sources said. —
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5 killed in grenade blast Jaipur, November 27 |
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Locals join police in
patrolling streets to prevent violence in Assam. (
