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Phone tariffs in 4 states slashed
Aviation officer booked for lying during induction
Cong graph down, feel party men
Chinese Gen arrives tomorrow
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Naqvi urges Kalam to reverse AMU quota
Lalu to review catering policy
Disaster contingency plans being reframed
Report sought on leopard killing in Sundernagar
Nation remembers Rajiv Gandhi
Two acres on Moon for
Rs 2,500!
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Phone tariffs in 4 states slashed
New Delhi, May 21 Earlier, calls made from western Uttar Pradesh to an area in eastern Uttar Pradesh were treated as STD. Similarly, there was not direct connectivity between Mumbai and rest of Maharashtra, and Kolkata and rest of West Bengal. “The government has decided to remove this difference in public interest,” Communications and IT Minister Dayanidhi Maran said here. For this purpose, inter-service area connectivity between access providers in the four states has been permitted. However, access providers will operate within their existing licensed service areas and shall not be permitted to create infrastructure outside their areas for the purpose of inter-service area connectivity. The access providers may take lease lines for such connectivity. This inter-service area connectivity shall be only for terminating traffic. The dialling procedure for calls within a state, for these states, would also be simplified i.e. dialling of mobile-to-mobile subscribers and fixed-to-mobile subscribers would be without prefixing “0”. With the above arrangement, calls within a state in the four states would be treated as non-STD calls and the subscribers would not be required to prefix “0”. The arrangement for dialing and routing of calls from mobile-to-mobile and fixed-to-mobile in the metro district of Kolkata, Chennai and Mumbai and their corresponding remaining parts of the states and for service areas of Uttar Pradesh (East) and Uttar Pradesh (West) are different when compared to other states in India. This difference arose due to historic reasons. |
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Aviation officer booked for lying during induction
New Delhi, May 21 Based on a complaint filed by Anuj Bharadwaj, Joint Director (IA) of Aviation Research Centre, Directorate General of Security of Cabinet Secretariat, the police has registered a case under Sections 419, 420, 468 and 471 vide FIR No 124 against Mr Mallick. According to the complaint, Mr Mallick, who hails from 24 Parganas, West Bengal, has fraudulently gained employment by suppressing facts in the attestation form and the Special Security Questionnaire and continued to intentionally suppress the facts when he obtained the private passport. The facts, which were provided in the forms, are in contrast with the matrimonial correspondence, which the officer had made while entering into the matrimonial alliance. A copy of the matrimonial correspondence was provided to the department by his wife, Ms Rita Mallick. When the department compared the attestation form and the matrimonial correspondence, it came to light that even the particulars Mr Mallick had provided about his close relatives were incorrect. Mr Mallick had given his father’s name as late Mr S. Mallick and his mother’s name as Sumitra Mallick. To support this, in Column No.19 of the Special Security Questionnaire, the officer in question has stated that his family consists of his mother and himself. But in the matrimonial correspondence, he had mentioned his father as a retired teacher and that he has three elder sisters and an elder brother. The FIR also states that Mr Mallick has also obtained a private passport in 1998-99 from the Regional Passport office, Ghaziabad, and mentioned his profession as ‘business’. He also did not follow the mandatory requirement of obtaining NOC, from the department for procuring passport. The department has already sent a request to the passport authorities to cancel the said passport of Mr Mallick. The complainant has also requested the police to take necessary legal action against Mr Mallick.
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Cong graph down, feel party men New Delhi, May 21 As the UPA government gets ready to pat itself on completion of one year in office on Sunday, there is a growing perception among Congress leaders and cadres that contrary to their expectations, the party’s graph has actually declined during this period. Last year, when Ms Gandhi refused the Prime Minister’s post, she had announced that she would concentrate on energising the party. There was a certain buoyancy among the workers who believed that having formed a government at the Centre, the party would automatically witness a grand revival. Nothing of the sort has happened. The Congress President has had little time for party matters as she has been busy helping Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to keep the UPA government intact. Little wonder then that far from celebrating the UPA government’s first anniversary, there is a sense of despondency among Congress cadres. The party got its first shock in Maharashtra where it scored lower than its ally, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), although it had contested more seats in last year’s Assembly election. This was followed by the party’s dismal performance in Bihar and Jharkhand. Although the Congress has virtually no presence in Bihar, it was hoping to improve on its past performance by virtue of having a government at the Centre. It was also banking on Ms Gandhi’s mass appeal to push up its numbers. Not only did the Congress fare miserably in Bihar, in the process it managed to alienate its most dependable and loyal ally, RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, by going in for a partial alliance with with Yadav and his bete noire, LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan. On the other hand, the Congress had a clear edge in Jharkhand when the election campaign got under way but it soon lost the initiative primarily because of its poor management. In fact, Ms Gandhi admitted as much during her recent informal interaction with mediapersons. Yet, there has been no serious effort to analyse reasons for these electoral defeats or to draw up a blueprint for its revival in other problem states. The Congress is struggling to get a toehold in the crucial state of Uttar Pradesh while it cannot hope to improve its position in West Bengal, Kerala and and Tamil Nadu, which are headed for Assembly poll next year.
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Chinese Gen arrives tomorrow
New Delhi, May 21 The visit, which has been termed as a bilateral and a reciprocal visit to that of a former Indian Chief of Army Staff, Gen N.C. Vij, in December last year, could be used by the Indian establishment to point out the regular Chinese intrusions into the Indian territory, sources in the official circles said here. Although China denied that there was any incursion on the Indian territory, a report on the news portal of a daily newspaper had said that the Chinese Army patrol had allegedly intruded deep into the Indian territory last week and stayed there for close to 24 hours. The visit of General Guanglie also follows the recent visit of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and will also provide an opportunity to both sides to further build on the confidence-building measures announced during the visit. General Guanglie, who is also the member of the powerful Chinese Central Military Commission, will hold talks with the Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral Arun Prakash, the Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal S.P. Tyagi, and the Chief of Army Staff, Gen J.J. Singh. He is also expected to meet Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee, besides visiting some of the country’s military establishments. General Guanglie will be the first Chinese PLA chief to visit India after the visit of Gen Fu Quanyou in April 1998 and will also meet National Security Adviser and India’s interlocutor for border talks with China M.K. Narayanan. The sources said General Guanglie would visit the military establishments at Agra and Pune, besides also making a visit to the naval base in Mumbai. General Vij’s last year was a historic one as it was the first by an Indian Army Chief in over a decade and was designed to build trust between the two countries’ armies along their 3,500 km disputed but peaceful border.
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Naqvi urges Kalam to reverse AMU quota
New Delhi, May 21 Accusing the Congress-led UPA government of trying to convert Aligarh Muslim University into “Aligarh Muslim Madarasa”, Mr Naqvi, who is also a member of the AMU Court (the Governing Council), said this “politically motivated” decision would cause harm to the students. “The UPA government may tighten its grip over Muslim vote bank but such reservations are illegal and against the spirit of the Constitution and secularism,” Mr Naqvi said hoping that good sense would prevail and the Centre would revoke its decision. “Through the forum of the AMU Court as well as through the forum of various like-minded people’s group I would forcefully take up this issue and if the government does not revoke its decision I would consider quitting from the AMU Court,” Mr Naqvi, who is the lone representative of the Central Government from the Rajya Sabha, said. In a two-page letter to Dr Kalam, Mr Naqvi said the President, as protector of the Constitution, should intervene and restore the previous status in one of the oldest universities of the country. Students emerging out of competition will stand a better chance in the job market rather than the ones from the reservation quota. By bringing such meaningless amendments, the government was only curtailing the chances of Muslims in the job market, he said. “Who would like to employ a graduate passing out from a university which gives religion-based reservations,” he said. Mr Naqvi said Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh was himself not convinced about the legality of the amendment and hence had said that those who were unwilling to accept the amendment were free to go to the court. He said the Congress was following an appeasement policy but, in the long run, it was harming the Muslims by making them unemployable. The AMU, notwithstanding its name, had 70 per cent of its students from non-Muslim communities and the abilities of the students passing out of the university were widely recognised. |
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Lalu to review catering policy
New Delhi, May 21 CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat, Agriculture Minister and Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar, CPI General Secreatry A.B Bardhan and CPI National Secretary D. Raja were among those who called on the Railway Minister and sought a review of the catering policy. The leaders said the catering policy entailed a higher licence fee and security money according to the classification based on ticket sales turnover of stations. They exressed apprehension that the fee and security deposit would affect thousands of self-employed vendors. They said the policy would have an adverse impact on the livelihood of 7,000 vendors in Kerala alone. CPI National Secretary D. Raja said here today that the Railway Minister assured them that fresh tenders invited for bidding for catering would be kept in abeyance till October. Mr Raja said the delgation also urged the Railway Minister to evolve a proper policy to remove anomalies in the classification of railway stations. |
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Disaster contingency plans being reframed
New Delhi, May 21 The Coast Guard has also drawn up plans to acquire new airplanes, helicopters and ships to “sharpen” its search and rescue(SAR) operations along the country’s coastline. He said the Coast Guard had requested the government to permit the force to acquire new airplanes, helicopters and ships for facing the new challenges. Talking to reporters on the sidelines of the Fourth National Maritime Search and Rescue (NMSAR) Board meeting here Vice-Admiral Arun Kumar Singh said the rough cost of these procurements would be between Rs 150-200 crore. Vice-Admiral Arun Kumar Singh, who is also the Chairman of the NMSAR, said in the year gone by the Coast Guard responded to 55 SAR missions involving 89 ships and 152 aircraft sorties. He said these missions led to the saving of 1,111 lives. He informed the meeting that the amendments to the International Aeronautical and Maritime Search and Resuce (IAMSAR) manual had been endorsed by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and it was likely to get adopted this year. He said these amendments included the addition of a new section on underwater SAR and a comprehensive new section on Mass Rescue Operations (MROs) defined as SAR services characterised by the need for immediate response to a large numbers of persons in distress, taking into account that the capabilities normally available to the SAR authorities are inadequate. The DG, Coast Guard, said the force had sought for one 50-tonne vessel, which would help them in guarding the areas close to the coast while three 200-tonne vessels to look after areas in deep sea. Vice-Admiral Arun Kumar Singh, who had a meeting with Pakistan’s Maritime Security Agency officials at Rawalpindi on May 10, said he had submitted a report to the government on the proceedings which dealt with setting up a hotline between two agencies. “Whatever decision may come up, it will be announced by the government later,” he said. |
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Report sought on leopard killing in Sundernagar
New Delhi, May 21 Forest offcers on Thursday found a decomposed body of a leopard in the demarcated protected forest, Nalot Forest Range, Sundernagar. According to reports, the villagers were alleged to have chased the leopard and beaten him to death. According to a veterinary doctor, the leopards’s teeth and other body parts were missing. Talking to TNS here on Friday, Mr K.N Thakur, Deputy Director, Wildlife, Northern Region, said he would seek an official confirmation from the state government on the
incident. "This seems to be a case of man-animal conflict.’’ Dr
A.S. Jamal, Reader in the Department of Wildlife Sciences at Aligarh Muslim University, who is known for his research on conflict between large cats and men, said the government needed to evolve guidelines for dealing with wildlife that was close to human settlements or private land. |
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Nation remembers Rajiv Gandhi
New Delhi, May 21 Leaders at various functions across the country eulogised Gandhi for carrying the country forward, especially in the field of science, technology and telecommunication. All-religion prayer meetings and mass feedings marked the occasion as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi led the nation in paying homage to the former Prime Minister. A wreath was placed on behalf of President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam at Vir Bhoomi, the memorial to the late Prime Minister, on the banks of the Yamuna here. Railway Minister Lalu Prasad and JMM chief and former Union Minister Shibu Soren also offered floral tributes.
— PTI |
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Two acres on Moon for
Rs 2,500!
Ahmedabad, May 21 Vadodara-based Vishal Kamdar (22) claims to have purchased a plot on the crater-pocked moon — two acres for a paltry Rs 2,500 — by applying through the Internet. “I was never an astronomy student but buying a plot on the moon interested me and I surfed the Internet and managed to buy a plot through a US-based company,” he said. He got the ownership deed from New York around two months ago and is now completely elated with the property he holds.
— PTI |
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