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Justice Reddy to head panel on Manipur Act
Army orders probe into killing of man
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SC notice to Reliance for damaging forest
Fertiliser crisis hits region
No tie-up with JD(U): Paswan
Khurshid takes over Congress reins in UP
Punjab opposes Ravi Sidhu’s plea
Outcry over woman’s death
Cop opens fire, kills four
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PM to visit Manipur
today
Imphal, November 19 The Prime Minister, Manipur Chief Minister Ikram Ibobi Singh told this correspondent, was expected to declare the process initiated by the Centre to replace the AFSPA with a “humane law”. The Prime Minister is also expected to officially announce the handing over of the historic “Kangla fort” to the state government for its preservation as a heritage building. The Kangla fort was currently being used by the Assam Rifles. The Chief Minister said the Prime Minister was also expected to declare the conversion of Manipur University to a central university. He was also scheduled to announce the construction of a railway line (Jiribam-Toupul line) which would help Manipur have better access with other states of the North-East and also with the mainland. After completing his visit to Manipur, the Prime Minister will reach Guwahati by November 21 afternoon. The Prime Minister is scheduled to flag off the prestigious Indo-ASEAN car rally on November 22 from Guwahati. The Prime Minister will leave for Delhi on November 22 evening. |
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Justice Reddy to head panel on Manipur Act
New Delhi, November 19 An announcement to this effect was made here by the Union Home Minister on the eve of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s North-East tour of Manipur and Assam. The name of Justice Reddy, who is also a former Chairperson of the Law Commission, was decided after deliberations at the highest level, sources said. “Following the demands made by the general public and civil groups, it has been decided with the approval of the competent authority to set up a committee to review the provisions of the Act as amended from time to time,” the office order issued by the Home Minister said here today. The committee has been given a period of six months to submit its report. |
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Army orders probe into killing of man
New Delhi, November 19 Manipur, which has already been seeing protests in the past few months over the alleged rape and killing of K. Manorama Devi, again witnessed protests following the death of the old man. A Defence Ministry spokesperson said here that the Court of Inquiry would investigate the incident of November 16/17 night when personnel of 28 Assam Rifles, during a cordon and search operation, reportedly killed 75-year-old LD Rengtuiwan Chiru and injured his wife Thangmuchim. The spokesperson said the old man was killed during on exchange of fire with militants holed up in the area. A search operation has also been launched by Assam Rifles personnel, along with police commandos, from Thoubal following “specific intelligence” regarding the presence of underground cadres in the area. According to reports, the Tuesday night incident led to agitated residents submitting a memorandum to Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh, demanding identification of the jawans responsible, and handing them over to the police for “proper investigation” by a police officer not below the rank of SP. The Manipur Government is understood to have agreed to institute a judicial inquiry to ascertain the facts and circumstances leading to the death of Rengtuiwan. |
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SC notice to Reliance for damaging forest
New Delhi, November 19 A Bench comprising Mr Justice Y. K. Sabharwal, Mr Justice Arijit Pasayat and Mr Justice S. H. Kapadia issued the notice after Central Government standing counsel A. D. N. Rao made a reference of the matter raised in an application for the approval of the court. Rao said the Central Empowerment Committee (CEC) had on November 13 asked the RTL to deposit Rs 1 crore in the Compensatory Afforestation Fund (CAF) for causing damages to the Madhav National Park in MP by digging a vast area for laying the cables without permission from the forest authorities. The committee had also pulled up the MP Government for taking a stand that in a wildlife area approved under the Forces Act, permission was not required for non-forestry activities. The CEC in its report had said that such a stand was not correct as prior approval was compulsory. “This is the legal requirement and also the procedure that is being followed by all states in cases involving non-forestry activities in any national park or sanctuary,” it said. The committee had also asked the MP Government to ensure that in future no project was allowed to be implemented inside any protected forest without prior sanction from the competent authorities. RTL had claimed before the committee that it was granted permission by Ministry of Environment and Forest for laying the optical fibre cables in the 6-km stretch along the Agra-Mumbai national highway passing through the Madhav National Park. In an another matter, the court, which was considering a batch of petitions concerning forest matters across the country, also issued notice to Director Project Elephant regarding death of 59 elephants in Nagarhole reserved forests in MP, allegedly caused by poaching or by farmers in efforts to save their crops. The Director was asked to furnish details about the steps being taken to protect the elephants in the area. |
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Fertiliser crisis hits region
New Delhi, November 19 Bharti Kisan Union (BKU) has submitted a memorandum to the Prime Minister on the issue alleging that farmers were forced to buy the fertiliser at a much higher price from traders while the Centre and state government were acting as "silent spectators to the benefit of private manufacturers and traders at their cost." Interestingly, Union Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister Ram Vilas Paswan is still maintaining that there is no shortage of fertiliser in the region. Official sources, however, admitted that farmers were facing acute shortage of fertiliser in Punjab, and would the crisis may soon spread to Haryana, Western UP and MP as the sowing is yet to pick up in these states. Even if government decides to increase imports now, not so easy in the tight international market, it will not provide any relief to the farmers, as the wheat sowing season will be over in next 10-15 days before the arrival of fertiliser. The Ministry has blamed the Finance Ministry for the crisis which had declined to increase fertiliser subsidy bill by Rs 5,000 crore as demanded by it in view of the increase in demand in fertiliser after drought for three cosecutive years. The Ministry has asked to increase fertiliser subsidy from Rs 12,500 crore to over Rs 17,000 crore this year. Talking to The Tribune here today, Mr R.C. Gupta, Deputy Director-General, Fertiliser Association of India, said," unusually heavy rains during October this year that led to early sowing of wheat in Punjab and Rajasthan has led to an increase in demand for DAP fertiliser essential for sowing." "The state government should take all steps to check black marketing by private traders while coordinating with the producers to provide relief to the farmers," he said adding that some of the fertiliser producers were reluctant to supply fertiliser to the farmers in Northern India due to " faulty subsidy policy resulting in present crisis." |
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No tie-up with JD(U): Paswan
New Delhi, November 19 “The LJP will have no alliance or seat adjustment, at any cost, with the NDA or any party of the NDA in the forthcoming Bihar Assembly elections,” he told reporters here. Asked about reports, triggered by the presence of the JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar at an Iftar hosted by him, that there could be a tie-up with his party, Mr Paswan said since the JD(U) had decided to stay in the NDA, there was no question of any seat adjustment with it. “Even if it comes out of the alliance.It is a closed chapter now,” he added. About the possibility of a split in anti-Laloo votes in Bihar in view of his decision, the LJP leader said since his fight was against the RJD “misrule”, all forces opposed to Laloo Prasad would unite with him (Paswan). He said CPI leaders D Raja and Gaya Singh had met him yesterday to discuss the political situation in Bihar. “I told them that the LJP has no problem with the Left or the Congress. The problem is with the NDA and the RJD,” he said.
— PTI |
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Khurshid takes over Congress reins in UP
Lucknow, November 19 A clearly electrified Congress cadre completely went overboard by outdoing one another and painting the town in Congress colours to welcome the new chief. Mr Khurshid entered the city just in time for the Friday prayers and headed straight for the oldest mosque of the city — Tilewali masjid. Obviously, he could do with prayers if he has to improve his record of taking the party from zero to 10 seats in the state during his last tenure as the party chief. The city wore a festive look as Congress leaders, workers and cadre had put up decorative gates. |
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Punjab opposes Ravi Sidhu’s plea
New Delhi, November 19 An affidavit filed by the Punjab Government before a Bench of Mr Justice K. G. Balakrishnan and Mr Justice Tarun Chatterjee, stated that the three cases against him "deal with distinctly different offences" and related to "entirely different transactions". "Any order directing the clubbing of all or two of the trials would result in grave misjoinder of charges," the Punjab Police Vigilance Bureau, in its affidavit filed through state's standing counsel Bimal Roy said. The Supreme Court today adjourned the hearing in the case as Sidhu's counsel K. T. S. Tulsi was not available having been engaged by the Tamil Nadu Government to deal with the Kanchi Shankaracharya case. The Vigilance Bureau had registered a trap case (FIR No 7) against Sidhu for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 50 lakh, a corruption case for allegedly doling out jobs for money and acquiring disproportionate assets. |
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Outcry over woman’s death
Dehra Dun, November 19 Meanwhile, the High Court in Nainital today suspended the hearing of the bail application by the four accused policemen till November 22. Uttaranchal DGP Kanchan Choudhary Bhattacharya, who ordered the suspension of the four policemen immediately after the incident, said the incident was extremely unfortunate. A case of murder had been registered against the four and a high-level inquiry ordered into the incident, she said, assuring action against the guilty. However, just one of the four policemen, Head Constable Jagdish Singh has been arrested while the other three — constables Surinder Negi, Surat Singh Rawat and Assar Singh —had absconded. The young woman, a renowned jeweller’s wife, was allegedly shot dead by a group of drunken cops when she was on her way to Rishikesh with her family in a car. Manisha, her husband Sanjiv Chauhan, their six-year-old daughter and Sanjiv’s sister were going to Rishikesh. According to Sanjiv Chauhan, when they were crossing the IDPL factory, an Indica car without the number plate signalled them to stop but he sped away instead because the cops looked drunk and their car did not look like a police vehicle. Following this, the cops fired at them, injuring Manisha on her right temple. She was rushed to a nearby hospital where she was declared brought dead, police sources said. |
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Cop opens fire, kills four
Patna, November 19 The police said two persons, injured in the shooting, succumbed on the way to the Patna Medical College and Hospital. Constable Dinanath Tiwari opened fire when he was challenged in his bid to rape a girl. Meanwhile, tension was high in Begusarai. Additional police force had been rushed to the district to control the situation.
— UNI |
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