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Another panel set up on MiG crashes Nirupam meets Manmohan
Naxals attack police station, kill 7
PM to flag off LoC bus on April 7
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SC to the rescue of
Judicial Magistrate
Mumbai bus strike called off
4 Mumbai cops may face POTA
BJP celebrates Jharkhand victory
Farmers get restive in Rajasthan
BJP asks Modi to be accommodating
Workshop on cyber crime
Conference on NRIs’ problems begins
Kedarnath shrine to open on May 12
Justice Ray is PCI chief
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Kolkata, March 12 Stating this here today, Air Chief Marshal S.P. Tyagi said the advance jet trainers were expected to arrive from 2007. “Besides, there is a requirement for 126 multi-role combat aircraft. And for this, the request for information has been sent to US-based company Lockhead, which manufactures F-16 aircraft, a Russian company that manufactures MIG-29, a French company manufacturing Mirage, a Swedish company manufacturing Grifer, besides a Belgium company,” he said. “It’s a matter of $ 2 billion and for that evaluation of the information is on,” he told reporters. Talking about UK-made Hawk aircraft, he said initially 24 such aircraft would arrive, four each in six months and later 42 would follow, which would be assembled here. Air Marshal Tyagi said to the existing three LCA, they had placed an order for 20 such aircraft. “We are expecting the arrival of the first batch of the LCA by 2008,” he said, adding that the upgrade process of Jaguar, MIG and MI-35 aircraft was on. Talking about the accident rate of the various aircraft, he said: “The graph has come down and it should come down faster and further.” — UNI
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Another panel set up on MiG crashes Mumbai, March 12 Talking to reporters after delivering a lecture here this evening, Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee expressed concern over the crashes of old fleet of aircraft in the Indian Air Force. An expert committee has been appointed to suggest measures to reduce the accidents. An earlier committee had suggested measures to bring down the accidents, but that had not happened, he lamented and added another panel had been appointed. As many as 161 pilots have lost their lives in 321 MiG crashes in the country in the past few years. “We are trying to make them useable. We will have to improve the standards of training. The accidents are bad. When it snuffs out lives of young IAF personnel, it is much more’’, he observed. On India looking to acquire F-16s from the USA deviating from traditional ally in the Eastern Bloc, Mr Mukherjee said “We have to outsource our requirement. Ideal situation is to have familiar aircraft. By acquiring new aircraft we could have problems, but we have to sort them out.’’ On Gorshkov aircraft carrier deal, he said the country would have it in “due time’’. On spares from the former Soviet Bloc countries, he said the problem had been taken up with Russian President Vladimir Putin during his visit to India. They were against India buying it from other countries. Best solution would be to manufacture them in India, he added. — UNI
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Nirupam meets Manmohan New Delhi, March 12 “The meeting was very satisfactory and positive,” he told reporters adding he impressed upon the Prime Minister the need for a “transparent” inquiry into the serious matter given the fact that the Telecom Ministry under Mahajan had later changed rules almost daily to suit a particular WLL player. Replying to questions, he said no party politics was discussed and indicated that he would take a decision about his new political address in two-three days. He had “serious” offers from the Congress, the NCP and the RJD to join them, he claimed. — PTI |
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Naxals attack police station, kill 7
Hyderabad, March 12 According to the police, around 40 armed Naxalites who came in two Sumos, one jeep and a van, stormed into the town police station and the nearby police quarters around 10.45 p.m. throwing grenades and firing shots. Inspector R. Prasad and Sub-Inspector Dharmendra Babu, who were interrogating an accused on the terrace of the station, tried to flee but Prasad was caught and axed to death. The Naxals, who included women, went on a rampage and killed head constable Mohan Rao, constable Omar, home guard Venkateswarlu, a visitor, Veera Reddy, a college clerk Hanumantha Rao and SI Dharmendra’s aged mother Umamaheswari Devi. Before leaving the scene, the Naxals shouted slogans against recent encounters in which several Naxals have been killed by the police. The attack comes after the March 7 encounter in Manala forests of Nizamabad in which 10 Naxals were killed. Maoist representatives and civil rights groups alleged that the encounter was staged and filed a case in the High Court for another post-mortem examination of the bodies. Following the deadlock in the talks between the government and the Moaists, many areas in the state have slowly been turning into killing fields with both the police and Naxals out to eliminate each other. Since January this year, Maoists have killed 52 persons, including police personnel, political activists and alleged informers, while the police has gunned down 45 alleged militants. Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy and Home Minister K. Jana Reddy, who visited Chilakaluripet to convey their sympathy to the families of the victims, announced Rs 12 lakh, Rs 8 lakh and Rs 5 lakh to the families of the Inspector, SI and civilians, respectively. Later, the Chief Minister, speaking to reporters, condemned the killing but refused to say whether the government was still open to talks with the Maoists.
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PM to flag off LoC bus on April 7
New Delhi, March 12 Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will flag off the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service from Srinagar on April 7, Prime Minister’s Media Adviser Sanjay Baru told The Tribune today. This will be Dr Manmohan Singh’s third visit to J&K since he became Prime Minister in May last. It will be a day-long visit and the PM will return here the same evening, Dr Baru said. With this decision, the Prime Minister has once again seized the diplomatic initiative for restoring normal relations with the nuclear neighbour. The question that is bound to trigger off debates and discussions in the power corridors of Pakistan is: will General Musharraf be willing to play ball and receive the first bus across the LoC in more than half a century when it completes its 170-km journey in Muzaffarabad? And if the General were to go a step ahead, he could ask Dr Manmohan Singh to board the LoC bus, receive the Prime MInister after the bus crosses the LoC and the two leaders could travel to Muzaffarabad together. Pakistani diplomats here expressed their inability to comment on this issue saying it was too premature at this stage. It may well prove to be a diplomatic master stroke from the economist PM who has no pretensions of being an expert in diplomacy. Analysts here believe that Gen Musharraf would find it very difficult to not to reciprocate Dr Manmohan Singh’s gesture. Gen Musharraf is reported to have accepted the Government of India’s invitation for watching the cricket match in India, though a formal communication is yet to be made.
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SC to the rescue of
Judicial Magistrate
New Delhi, March 12 Judicial Magistrate Manoj Kumar Bansal, who was compulsorily retired from service on September 22, 2000, for allegedly employing official process server for doing household chores, making phone calls exceeding the permitted limit, ordering to challan an autorikshaw owner whom he had earlier engaged for commuting his wife to the college where she worked and some other similar charges, was restored on service by the single judge of the high court, holding that no “evidence” had been found against him. But he was divested of judicial work and was appointed as Officer on Special Duty (OSD) in the high court itself. The inquiry officer had probed 12 such charges against him and allegedly had found six of them partially or fully correct, but the single judge did not agree with the findings and ordered his restoration in service on November 22 last year. This order was, however, reversed by the high court’s Division Bench after it was challenged by the High Court Registrar-General in an appeal, which is still pending before it. Aggrieved by the high court order, Mr Bansal moved the Supreme Court. The apex court Bench comprising Chief Justice R.C. Lahoti and Mr Justice D.M. Dharmadhikari, while allowing the high court to go ahead with the hearing of the appeal, in an interim direction stayed the high court’s Division Bench order disengaging him of his work as OSD. The apex court also issued notices to the high court administration, through the Registrar-General seeking reply to the petition of Mr Bansal. His counsel Anil Nag contended that the Division Bench of the high court had completely overlooked the findings of the single judge, who had given a “well reasoned judgment and had quashed the charges against Bansal”. He said the posting of Mr Bansal as OSD of the high court was ratified by the “full court” on December 7 last year after the single judge’s order, and, therefore, there was no occasion for the Division Bench to intervene in the matter.
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Mumbai bus strike called off
Mumbai, March 12 According to a BEST spokesperson, unions and the management have come to an agreement on a package which would provide higher dearness allowance to employees. The two-day strike threw life in Mumbai out of gear The BEST undertaking plies buses across Mumbai, parts of Thane and Navi Mumbai every day. The employees launched a strike after their talks with the management on dearness allowance calculations failed. |
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4 Mumbai cops may face POTA
Mumbai, March 12 A special court constituted under POTA yesterday issued a show-cause notice to Crime Investigating Department of the Mumbai police for not invoking POTA against the four officers under arrest over the suspected death of Khwaja Yunus, who was picked up for allegedly setting off a bomb in a bus in Mumbai in 2002. Yunus had been arrested under POTA at the time of the incident. Designated judge A.P. Bhangale asked the CID to file a reply by March 14, stating why POTA was not invoked against Senior Inspector Praful Bhosale, Inspector Rajaram Vhanmane, Assistant Inspector Hemant Desai and Sub-Inspector Ashok
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BJP celebrates Jharkhand victory
New Delhi, March 12 While most of the senior leaders, including party President L.K. Advani, were in Ranchi for the swearing-in ceremony of Chief Minister Arjun Munda, those present in Delhi, including Vice-President Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and party’s Deputy Leader in Rajya Sabha Sushma Swaraj, joined scores of party activists in the celebrations. “It is a victory of truth and democracy. We should have been called for government formation much earlier but in violation of all democratic norms, Governor Syed Sibtey Razi invited a minority formation,” Ms Swaraj told newspersons here. Reiterating the party’s stand that Congress President Sonia Gandhi was behind the Governor’s “unconstitutional” action, she said: “Without her knowledge, nobody can even sneeze on their own. What were Union Ministers S.K. Sahay and Priyaranjan Dasmunsi doing in Ranchi? We are targeting the roots.” Asked whether the party was still in favour of bringing in a no-confidence motion against Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, Ms Swaraj said: “The circumstances have changed but we will take a formal decision at the NDA meeting on Monday.” Sources in the NDA confirmed that a no-confidence motion against the Speaker was not on cards but said a formal decision would be taken either on Monday or Tuesday. Sources further said the NDA would also decide whether presiding officers of the NDA-run states would join the conference of the presiding officers which had been convened by Mr Chatterjee on March 20. Ms Swaraj also expressed hope that the party’s “victory” in Jharkhand would lead to “political realignments” at the Centre.
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Farmers get restive in Rajasthan
Jaipur, March 12 The farmers feel that at this juncture, when the wheat crop is going to ripen, the non-availability of water for a fortnight would lead to great losses. Various farmers’ organisations have approached senior officials of the state Irrigation Department for rescheduling the dates for the proposed repairs. They have threatened to launch a protest if their demand is not conceded. Official Sources said here yesterday that the repairs were being taken up by Punjab after more than a decade following repeated requests by Rajasthan and as such it might be problematic for the government to persuade Punjab for issuing a revised notification and rescheduling the repairs programme. The sources maintained that the state irrigation authorities were in a position to continue the supply of water to the fields for two or three days more even after the closure at Harike. |
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BJP asks Modi to be accommodating
New Delhi, March 12 Although on Thursday, party president L.K. Advani had during the BJP Parliamentary Party meeting asked the aggrieved party leaders to stop airing their grievances through the media, he is understood to have conveyed his displeasure to Mr Modi about his style of functioning. While Mr Advani was appreciative of the various developmental work being carried out by Mr Modi, he wanted the Gujarat Chief Minister to carry the party colleagues and the organisation along, source said here today. Meanwhile, to sort out the issue amicably, Mr Advani apart from meeting in person all the dissident MLAs, is likely to ask former party president M. Venkaiah Naidu or party general secretary Arun Jaitley or both to mediate on the issue on behalf the party high command, the sources said. Mr Advani has already expressed his desire to meet the dissident MLAs after the end of Gujarat’s Budget Session on March 18. For the past one year there had been rift between a section of Gujarat BJP MLAs and Mr Modi over the latter’s “autocratic” style of functioning and his reluctance to “adequately share power with his party colleagues”. Three days back, 35 dissident MLAs and five MPs had held a closed door meeting at the residence of former Gujarat Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel, to air their grievances and decide on the future course of action. In that meeting, even those MLAs who had previously abstained from voicing protest against Mr Modi were also present.
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Workshop on cyber crime
Dehra Dun, March 12 The workshop is aimed at creating awareness on the subject as increasing number of people become exposed to the use and consequence of virtual space, directly or indirectly influencing their life, said Avdhash Kaushal, chairperson of the Rural Litigation and Entitlement Kendra (RLEK), the voluntary organisation holding the workshop. It dealt specifically with issues of cyber terrorism and cyber warfare with reference to the Army, said Kaushal. Mr K.V. Rao, Deputy Director, CAPART, inaugurated the event. A number of participants, including Army officers, journalists, bank officials, representatives from human rights and non-governmental organisations are attending the workshop. |
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Conference on NRIs’ problems begins
New Delhi, March 12 Mr Mirdha said the issues pertaining to the compliance of international and national environment laws needed to be addressed in the context of their jurisdiction in Indian courts in view of the problems being faced by 25 million NRIs on this account. The two-day conference attended by International Law Commission member P. Sreenivasa Rao and a Delhi High Court Judge, Mr Justice Vikramjit Sen, dealt with various issues arising out of the invoking of the jurisdiction of foreign courts in India to resolve the family disputes like marriage, custody of children, divorce, adoption, succession and maintenance. Chandigarh-based lawyers — Anil Malhotra and Ranjit Malhotra — dealing with the problems of NRIs in family law cases, gave a presentation on enforcement of foreign court orders, their implementation and the need for codification of the same in the Indian jurisdiction. They said from their experience in the field, it was felt that changes in the Indian law in these areas were urgently needed to keep pace with changing times to ensure that the rights of parties, especially the NRIs, were not abused in the cases filed in Indian courts. They referred to the “runaway” marriages in Punjab whereby thousands of brides are being “cheated” and abandoned by NRI bridegrooms. “There are as many as 16,000 abandoned women in Punjab alone who were cheated by their NRI husbands and left in lurch to fend for themselves”, Mr Anil Malhotra said. The conference was of the view that the Union Government should take urgent steps to formulate an appropriate legislation to deal with the menace of “runaway” marriages.
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Kedarnath shrine to open on May 12
Dehra Dun, March 12 The palanquin carrying the idol of Kedarnath would be taken in a procession from its winter temple at Ukkimath on May 9. Prayers would follow for the next three days before the shrine is opened to public. |
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Justice Ray is PCI chief
New Delhi, March 12 Justice Ray succeeds Justice K. Jayachandra Reddy whose term as the PCI chief ended recently. The new chairperson’s three-year term began yesterday. — TNS |
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