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Cong plays down links with
Nagma
Sale of weapons: US firms assure
secrecy
India, Italy ink 6
accords
Parikkar moves SC
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Geelani gives statement to
police
Allocation for rural employment to be
hiked
Talks with Naxals to continue:
Governor
Hindi version of Guru Granth Sahib released
CBI restrained from closing Taj case against Mayawati
Centre’s order to make pollution data
public
One held
for spying
Govt restrained from ‘harassing’ slain MLA’s wife
40 opposing Valentine function held
MP killed
in mishap
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Cong plays down links with
Nagma
New Delhi, February 14 Party functionaries suddenly developed amnesia on whether Nagma had formally joined the Congress but unofficially admitted that that she may not be asked to continue with her election campaign. Nagma has just returned after a whirlwind tour of Jharkhand where she is stated to have drawn large crowds. Distancing itself from the latest controversy regarding Nagma, Congress spokesperson Anand Sharma maintained that it is for the investigating agencies and the courts to go into these charges. In any case, he said, the fimlstar has gone on record to rebut these charges. “We would not like to comment merely on the basis of allegations,” he added. “As far as the Congress is concerned, Mr Sharma
clarified, the party is a votary of clean and principled politics and has never endorsed criminalisation of politics.” He ducked questions about the nature of the filmstar’s association with the Congress and her future campaign plans. He admitted that she has campaigned for the party but was not sure whether she would be drafted for the third phase of elections, stating that it will only be known when the programmes are drawn up. Mr Sharma feigned ignorance when asked specifically about Ngama joining the Congress, stating that he would have to check since the party’s membership drive has concluded only recently and lakhs of persons have enrolled themselves as party members. Although the party is now disowning the
filmstar, Nagma has been spotted at the Congress headquarters several times and has been constantly calling on senior leaders and ministers, including AICC general secretary Ambika Soni and Union Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad. Pitching for an active role in the party
organisation, she has also sought an appointment with Congress president Sonia Gandhi. |
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Sale of weapons: US firms assure
secrecy
New Delhi, February 14 The assurance came from the top officials of the American armament manufacturer and supplier Lockheed Martin, whose weapons platforms like the F-16 Fighting Falcon and P3C Orions form the frontline of Pakistani armed forces. The officials here said that a “technology balance and secrecy” would be maintained in the sales of weapons and missiles to India. Although officials of the
American aviation giant did not seem very pleased at being riddled with questions on offers to India of weapon platforms, which are already in use by Pakistan but said that there would be no leakage of any information regarding the weapons sale to India. Lockeed Martin is eyeing the vast India defence market and had also brought in their F-15 E aircraft to the Aero India show recently raising the pitch among the competitors wanting to supply 125 fighter aircraft to the Indian Air Force (IAF). The officials in their defence pointed out that other major companies like the French Mirage, as well Russians had also carried out sales to Pakistan and China of weapon systems which were already in use by the Indian forces. The company today unvieled its medium lift transport aircraft C-130J in its rapid reaction capability to Indian special forces in Agra and to top IAF and Ministry of Defence officials here. The C130J version being offered have advanced night manoeuvre capabily and ability to fly undetected and land in short and unprepared runways. Mike Kelly, the company international sales vice president for India, said the company as a major step towards government to government sales for the long-range Naval maritime surviellance aircraft P3C Orion had recently concluded a techincal assistance agreement with the HAL. The agreement would pave the way for Lockheed martin to share technical data about the Orions with the Indian Navy as provided under the US law. |
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New Delhi, February 14 The agreements were inked in the presence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and visiting Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi after the two leaders held wide-ranging discussions on important bilateral, regional and international issues of mutual concern. The agreement for cooperation in space, science, technology and application was signed by G Madhavan Nair, Chairman of ISRO, and Sergio Vetrella, President of the ASI. Ninety-two high technology areas have been identified in another agreement outlining programme of cooperation in the field of science and technology for the period 2005-07. It was inked by V.S. Ramamurthy, Secretary, Department of Science and Technology, and Italian Ambassador to India, Antonio Armellini. Annual meetings between the Foreign Ministers has been envisaged in the MoU on political cooperation signed by External Affairs Minister K. Natwar Singh and his Italian counterpart Gianfranco Fini. An MoU on cooperation for the conservation of paintings of the Ajanta and Ellora Caves was signed by Information and Broadcasting Minister S. Jaipal Reddy and Italian Culture Minister
Giuliano. — PTI |
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Parikkar moves SC
New Delhi, February 14 A writ petition on behalf of Parikkar was filed in the Supreme Court Registry by his counsel this evening just before the closure of office hours. The petition sought to challenge the legality of the Governor’s decision terming it as a “partisan” in the wake of the BJP government winning the trust vote. The former Chief Minister also challenged the Governor’s authority to sit over the judgement of speaker’s action in conducting the House, saying it was contrary to the constitutional scheme. It said the proceedings of the House could not have reached Raj Bhavan for the Governor to take an independent view of the matter in such a short span of time immediately after the trust vote was passed by the Assembly. Describing the Governor’s action a “arbitrary, mala fide and unconstitutional” as pre-decided and “hasty”, Mr Parikkar said it “smacked of a colourable exercise” of constitutional powers by him. Once the government had won the trust vote on the floor of the House, the Governor could not have taken a decision to dismiss it, the petitioner said. |
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Geelani gives statement to
police
New Delhi, February 14 Since the Delhi Police has to provide a report to the Supreme Court on the incident within a week, the Crime Branch teams earlier tried to record Geelani’s statement, but he refused to do so, saying he was “too tired,” to speak. Even this morning when he was being questioned by the sleuths, he reportedly told the doctors that he was experiencing irritation and asked to sleuths to try again to record his statement. According to the police, the first round of questioning lasted two hours. Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Tejender Luthra said, “We today questioned Geelani, but so far he could not tell much beyond that he saw a man shooting at him that night.” The police will continue its questioning, Luthra said, adding that “he said all those things he has been saying.” Geelani, in an affidavit in the Supreme Court, has alleged that he was facing threat to his life and has been shadowed by the Police ever since his acquittal by the High Court. Besides Geelani, the sleuths also recorded statements of his lawyer Nandita Haksar’s husband Sebastian Hongray and a Jawaharlal Nehru University student Jitender Singh. |
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Allocation for rural employment to be
hiked
New Delhi, February 14 Sources said the budgetary allocation for the rural job scheme as envisaged in the National Rural Employment Guarantee Bill, was expected to be in excess of Rs 15,000 crore. While the Left parties have demanded that the budgetary allocation for the programme be increased to Rs 20,000 crore, the National Advisory Council (NAC), headed by Congress President Sonia Gandhi has recommended that the employment programme should receive a budgetary support of Rs 19,000 crore. The NREG Bill envisages that the government, provide to every poor household, whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work, not less than one hundred days of work in a financial year. The sources also indicated that there was a strong likelihood that the Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana (SGRY) would be merged with the Food for Work Programme. |
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Talks with Naxals to continue:
Governor
Hyderabad, February 14 The talks with ultra Left parties collapsed after the Maoists pulled out of talks, citing “betrayal” by the police. However, the state government continues to maintain that it was committed to dialogue with the revolutionary groups, even while insisting that the guerrillas should disarm themselves first. |
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Hindi version of Guru Granth Sahib released
Bhopal, February 14 Mr Gaur announced that a separate chair would be set up in the honour of Guru Granth Sahib and Guru Nanak at the Barkatullah University in Bhopal. Besides, the state government would bring out special publications to apprise the common people of the glorious Sikh history. Addressing a symposium on "Guru Granth Sahib Ki Mahima Apaar" organised by the Madhya Pradesh unit of the Rashtriya Sikh Sangat to mark completion of 400 years of the Guru Granth Sahib, the Chief Minister said the great book contains poetic compositions of enlightened saints of different religious faiths in their respective regional languages and dialects. The book thus represents the all-embracing and catholic culture of India. He said the Sikh community has a glorious history of bravery, courage and sacrifices. |
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CBI restrained from closing Taj case against Mayawati New Delhi, February 14 Taking
exception to the CBI’s unilateral decision to close the case without informing the court, a Bench of Ms Justice Ruma Pal, Mr Justice S B Sinha and Mr Justice S H Kapadia said: “No closure report will be filed” by the agency before the trial court. “The report submitted to us by CBI Director U S Mishra having regard to evidence gathered as well as the opinion of the Attoreny-General (Milon Banerjee) that the prosecution would not be launched in the case, the CBI Director will submit the evidence and his opinion within two weeks,” the court said, while posting the matter for further hearing after three weeks. When Solicitor-General G.E. Vahanvati, appearing for the Union Government, sought to keep the opinion of AG out of the purview of the order of the court, the Bench turned it down and said “It should be given in a sealed cover.” Perusal of the opinion of the AG was necessary because “it was on the basis of his opinion that the decision for closing the case has been taken,” the Bench observed. The direction was issued by the Bench after examining a status report of the CBI, placed before it today. The Bench made it clear to the SG that the FIR in the case was registered on the court’s direction and any decision for closing the case could not be taken by the CBI or anyone else without placing the material before it. Amicus curiea Krishan Mahajan, assisting the court in all Taj related cases, expressed surprise over the CBI’s decision to close the case, stating that flagrant violation of rules was evident to the entire world as how construction activities were going on just behind the Taj at the instance of the the then U P Government, headed by Mayawati. The CBI had registered the FIR against Mayawati, her former Cabinet colleague Nasimuddin Siddiqui and two central and four UP Government officials as per apex court’s September 18, 2003 order for their alleged role in sanctioning the project in violation of the rules. The court was not impressed with the submission of the Solicitor-General that the AG had given his opinion after analysing the reports of various agency officers and the “conflicting opinions” of different law officers. UP Government counsel Ashok Desai gave brief statement about the action taken by state government against four of its officials - former Chief Secretary D S Bagga (now retired), former environment secretaries R K Sharma and V K Gupta and Mayawati’s Principal Secretary P.L. Punia - stating that reports for further action against them had been sent to Union Public Service Commission (UPSC). Similarly the SG said the cases of Union Environment Secretary K.C. Mishra and NPCC Chairman S C Bali had also been sent to the UPSC for further action. The Supreme Court also extended the night viewing of Taj Mahal for a period of one year and directed the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and Uttar Pradesh government to follow all security measures scrupulously, a PTI report said.
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Centre’s order to make pollution data
public
New Delhi, February 14 Minister for Environment and Forests A. Raja today told the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), state pollution control boards (SPCBs) and other agencies that the air and water quality monitoring data collected by them should be made available to the public without any delay. Inaugurating a meeting of chairmen and member secretaries of the pollution control boards and committees, Mr Raja said that drinking water sources should be protected by keeping a close watch on all polluting agents. “Considering the incidence of water-borne diseases in the country, it is important to protect drinking water sources by keeping a close watch on all polluting agents,” he said. |
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Amisha severs ties with parents
Mumbai, February 14 The actress issued a public notice in a newspaper yesterday through her lawyer Vibhav Krishna of Messrs Juris Consillis claiming that she had not given any power of attorney, authority or authorisation to her father Amit Patel, mother Asha Patel or brother Ashmit Patel either singly or jointly. She further claimed that any such authority that may be shown by her family to the members of public was false, bogus and fabricated and stands cancelled, terminated and withdrawn. The notice cautioned the public from any dealings on behalf of the actress by her parents and brother on the basis of such power of attorney, authorisation or papers purportedly signed by her.
— PTI |
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One held
for spying
New Delhi, February 14 The accused person identified as Mohammed Untoo, hailing from Kashmir, was arrested from the R K Puram area on Saturday while he was allegedly passing on some secret documents to another person. However, the second person escaped the police dragnet. The police said that the accused Untoo, who presents himself as a human rights activist, has been booked under Official Secrets Act. |
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Govt restrained from ‘harassing’ slain MLA’s wife
New Delhi, February 14 The interim direction to this effect was passed by a Bench of Mr Justice N. Santosh Hegde and Justice S.B. Sinha while hearing a petition of Raju Pal’s wife Puja Pal, who had sought CBI probe into the killing of her husband, in which Samajawadi MP Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf had been named as accused among others. |
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40 opposing Valentine function held
Bhopal, February 14 “At least 40 Shiv Sainiks were arrested in the Annapurna area where they had gathered to hold protest against Valentine’s Day and were moving towards shops menacingly,” Indore district Superintendent of Police Adarsh Katiyar told PTI.
— PTI |
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MP killed
in mishap
Mau (UP), February 14 Circle officer (city) R.N. Yadav told PTI here that the mishap occurred around 2 pm when Mishra was on way to Azamgarh. Mishra’s face was crushed beyond recognition and he could be identified with the help of his Rajya Sabha card, he said. An aide of Mishra, who was in the jeep, was also killed in the accident which occurred near Chiuti Dan village. The driver of the vehicle sustained serious injuries and was admitted to hospital. — PTI |
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