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IOC cancels deal with Dow
Rajiv murder case: deportation of two Lankan Tamils stayed
Jaya’s pre-poll sops for all
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Farmers, police clash during bandh
Expedite peace talks, say Naga students
Disciplinary action against Khurana likely
22 promoted for foiling Ayodhya attack
TRAI plea against tribunal quashed
Crow deaths spark fear of avian virus
Loudspeaker use at night banned
Locarno fest to open with
‘Mangal Pandey’ PM condoles death of Biplab Dasgupta
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IOC cancels deal with Dow
Bhopal, July 18 The Union Carbide, considered responsible for the death of over 20,000 people and permanent injuries to over one lakh others, had merged into Dow Chemicals in 2001. The gas leak survivors have been insisting that Dow Chemicals should accept the criminal and civil liabilities of Union Carbide Corporation towards the survivors. The IOC last year entered into an agreement with Dow Chemicals to use the Union Carbide’s patented technology to set up a naphtha cracker plant at Panipat with a 30-lakh MT per annum production capacity. The survivors have since been protesting, and not only in Bhopal, against the IOC move. A protest demonstration was also held at Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar’s constituency of Mayiladuthurai in Tamil Nadu over this issue some time back. Twenty survivors had written in their blood a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh urging him to scrap the agreement. According to the survivor organisations’ leaders, the IOC recently communicated to Dow Chemicals that the technology purchase deal had been cancelled as the IOC had found that critical submissions made by Dow Chemicals as part of the contract negotiations were “false”. However, the Indian Government was yet to communicate its final decision to Dow Chemicals, the organisation leaders said. As part of the campaign against the proposed deal between the IOC and Dow Chemicals, the Bhopal survivors and their sympathisers had launched a nationwide boycott of IOC’s petrol pumps. |
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Rajiv murder case: deportation of two Lankan Tamils stayed
New Delhi, July 18 A two weeks’ stay
on the high court order was granted by a Bench comprising Mr Justice Ashok Bhan and Mr Justice S.B. Sinha only on the condition that the Union Government would make its stand clear on the fate of the duo on next hearing on August 1, saying the Centre could not be allowed to drag the matter indefinitely without coming to a final conclusion whether they were actually involved in the case or not. “We cannot confine them under detention as the matter is dragging on for over 15 years now. Get clear and final instructions from the Government. We cannot keep them here (in India),” the Bench told Solicitor-General G.E. Vahanvati. CBI Director U.S. Mishra, as head of a Multi- Disciplinary
Monitoring Agency (MDMA) set up by the Centre to go further
into the Rajiv Gandhi murder conspiracy, had moved an appeal in
the apex court challenging the high court directive for release of Vasanthakumar and R. Lingam from a special camp for Sri Lankan Tamil refugees at Changalpattu, allowing their petitions that they were
innocent. But the MDMA contended that their release would hamper further probe in the matter, claiming that there were strong suspicions against the two about their role in the conspiracy and providing logistic support to the nine-member LTTE suicidal team, including its leader Sivarasan and human bomb Dhanu, that executed the murder of Rajiv Gandhi. Mr Vahanvati said the problem of the Union Government was that the Sri Lankan Government had not responded to the Letters Rogatory (letter of request) sent by a Chennai special court for probing their role in that country prior to their migration to India just a few days before the May 21, 1991, assassination of Gandhi. “The issue is being taken at diplomatic level through the Ministry of External Affairs,” the Solicitor- General told the court. But the Bench after perusing the file was
not much impressed and observed “we are not deciding your (Government’s) bona fide. If they (Sri Lanka authorities) are not responding, will this matter be kept pending indefinitely? They (the suspects)
are here for over 15 years now.” The Solicitor-General said since the MDMA was constituted as a
consequence to the Jain Commission findings, the probe against the duo only commenced in 2000. The MDMA in its SLP had alleged that the duo were closely associated with the LTTE though their names were not among the 21 accused
in the Rajiv Gandhi murder case. While Lingam had been in constant touch with Sivarasan, the leader of the suicide squad, Vasanthakumar provided logistic support to it, the MDMA alleged. |
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Jaya’s pre-poll sops for all
Chennai, July 18 She said today that the notification banning strikes by the government staff, issued in July 2003 when the government employees went on an indefinite strike, would not be renewed after its expiry on July 23. Ms Jayalalithaa said, “I am announcing this far-reaching measure in the interest of government employees and teachers. They should reciprocate by always adhering to the path of understanding, discipline and good service to the public, resolving issues only by mutual discussions, totally abjuring practices affecting the public.” All the opposition parties and the government employees’ organisations have been demanding repeal of the Tamil Nadu Essential Services Maintenance Act (TESMA). The Act gave the state powers to ban strikes and dismiss employees who went on strike and during the 2003 strike, all striking state government employees were dismissed and their leaders arrested with criminal charges. After the Lok Sabha elections, the Chief Minister announced withdrawal of all cases against the leaders. Ms Jayalalithaa announced that the absence from duty by 1,003 government employees, whose services were terminated for their participation in the 2003 strike but were reinstated in February 2004, would be treated “as on duty”. This would motivate the government staff and teachers to perform better, she added. She said, “I have announced this package in a spirit of goodwill with the specific intention of helping the government employees and teachers to do better in rendering service to the public. I have a goal to take Tamil Nadu to the numero uno position in every sphere. I want the government employees and teachers to join me in realising this vision. Tamil Nadu with its 12 lakh employees has the highest number of state government personnel in the country and account for a huge vote bank along with their family members. She also announced a 3 per cent hike in the dearness allowance to the government employees, teaching and non-teaching staff in government and government-aided schools, college lecturers and pensioners from July 1. This pay hike will cost the exchequer Rs 201.23 crore in a full financial year, benefiting 12.33 lakh government staff and 4.37 lakh pensioners. An ad hoc increase of Rs 20 per month for those who were drawing a consolidated pay of Rs 150 and above and Rs 10 per month for those who had been drawing less than Rs 150 will be given from that date, she said. Earlier, Ms Jayalalithaa had announced a subsidy for green leaf tea produced by small growers in Nilgiris district, where small tea farmers are facing yet another crisis due to a steep fall in the market prices. Under the “Small Tea Growers’ Protection Scheme,” more than 60,000 small tea growers will get a subsidy of Rs 2 per kg on green leaf tea produced and sold by them. The subsidy will be paid for six months from this month to small tea growers who own or manage up to 25 acres of tea plantation. The subsidy will be paid directly to the tea growers, and the total subsidy amount to be disbursed will be Rs 28 crore. She felt that the Central Government’s Price Stabilisation Fund Scheme was inadequate and said, “The scheme is unlikely to provide any tangible benefit or protection to the small tea growers of Nilgiris district, as it has stringent conditions. Further, the amount of relief available to small growers under it was only Rs 1,000 per grower. This is totally inadequate, and a much more liberal approach is necessary and the scheme has to be completely redesigned.” The Chief Minister has also written to the Prime Minister about the launch of the new subsidy scheme and requested him to reimburse the cost of the scheme to the state government. Last week, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) President M. Karunanidhi had written to the Prime Minister, urging him to implement a price fixation scheme for the Nilgiris green tea leaf in view of the crisis among small growers created by the fall in tea prices. In fact, Ms Jayalalithaa’s announcement of subsidy for tea planters in the Nilgiris came close on the heels of Mr Karunanidhi’s letter as both are out to outwit each other keeping in mind next year’s Assembly poll. Trying to woo the parents, Ms Jayalalithaa also announced a sop for boys studying in the plus II classes in government and government-aided schools. Boys from Scheduled Castes, tribes, backward and most backward classes will now get a free bicycle each from the government just like female students. |
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Farmers, police clash during bandh
Jaipur, July 18 A DSP was seriously wounded, while more than 10 persons sustained minor injuries in the violence. The Kisan Mazdoor Avem Vyapari Sangharsh Samiti had given a call for a bandh and “chakka jam” for today in Bikaner, Sriganganagar and Hanumangarh districts to protest against the breach of trust by the government by not providing water for irrigation from the Indira Gandhi Canal Phase-I as agreed after the bloody movement that resulted in the death of five persons eight months ago. According to sources, mandis remained closed in Raisinghnagar, Kesarisinghpur, Suratgarh, Anupgarh, Gharsana and Rawala. However, traffic remained unaffected in these areas. In Gharsana, the police used teargas and resorted to mild cane-charge to disperse an angry crowd when agitating farmers tried to enforce “chakka jam”. In the conflict, farmer leader Hetram Beniwal was beaten up and arrested by the police. He was later sent to Bikaner Jail. |
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Expedite peace talks, say Naga students
New Delhi, July 18 Almost 400 Naga students held a demonstration at Jantar Mantar here in support of their demands and submitted memoranda to the Union Government and Congress chief and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi. “Ahead of the expiry of the annual ceasefire agreement on July 31, the NSUD and the Nagas living in Delhi would like to join hands with the Nagas living everywhere in their homeland and abroad in support of our rights to live as a self-determined nation under one political system. Further, we would like to reiterate our firm support to the
NSCN(I-M) towards a political settlement based on uniqueness of the historical aspiration of the
Nagas,” the memorandum stated. It further stated, “On the question of
territorial integration of the Naga areas, we shall not rest till the integration of Naga areas is a reality.” “We would like to impress upon the Government of India to fulfil the long-cherished aspirations of the Nagas and envision a new political relationship where national interests of the nations take its own shape,” the NSUD said.
— UNI |
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Disciplinary action against Khurana likely
New Delhi, July 18 “The party President is seized of the matter. The Khurana issue is definitely a matter to be looked into seriously. The party President will take appropriate steps,” BJP spokesman Prakash Javdekar told newspersons here. Mr Advani is understood to be upset over Mr Khurana’s public statement not only demanding his resignation but also expressing his inability to work under him. As for others, including former presidents Bangaru Lakshman and Jana Krishnamurthy as also MP Pyarelal Khandelwal, who had demanded that ideological issues be discussed at the Chennai National Executive, sources said they had only demanded a debate though they could have avoided making the demand in public. Mr Khurana’s outburst against Mr Advani could have been due to the party deciding not to nominate him for the Rajya Sabha seat from Gujarat, the sources said. |
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22 promoted for foiling Ayodhya attack
Lucknow, July 18 Earlier, the government had proposed promotion to seven PAC men, but a probe revealed that 22 of them were responsible for foiling the terrorists’ efforts. State ADG (law and order) Acharya Palenivel said here promotions would be given to one Inspector rank officer, one sub-inspector, five head constables and 15 constables. He said the state government had ordered the promotion of 22 PAC personnel after examining carefully their role on the day. Earlier, Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav had announced a cash reward of Rs 25 lakh for these security personnel. The state government is also likely to set up a committee to decide upon the share of each policeman in this cash reward. The Central Reserve Police (CRP) had already given out-of-turn promotions to its 32 personnel for foiling the Ayodhya attack. Meanwhile, the Uttar Pradesh Police has sent a team with warrant to bring here two militants arrested in Jammu and Kashmir in connection with the July 5 Fidayeen attack on Ayodhya. The duo — Mohd Naseem Feroze Bin and Farroque — will be brought here under ‘’highest’’ security cover any time this week and produced in a Faizabad court where the case was registered, official sources said here today.
— UNI |
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Prostitution racket busted
New Delhi, July 18 The arrests of all 13, including kingpin Riazuddin, were made in Bhajanpura following a raid
after a decoy customer was sent yesterday, the police said today. Among those arrested were five customers. The raids were conducted following a tip-off and after several complaints came from the area. Interrogation of Riazuddin revealed that he suffered a loss in his silk trade after which he switched to this business with his first wife doing the ‘entertaining’ initially. Later others, including married women, widows, abandoned girls and divorcees, joined the trade with him. The ‘customers’ were entertained in-house and were charged extra for that.
— UNI
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TRAI plea against tribunal quashed
New Delhi, July 18 The Telecom Dispute Settlement Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) in its April 27 order had ruled that TRAI, the market regulator on telecom, had no power to interfere with the interconnectivity agreements between two or more telecom operators. Aggrieved by its order, TRAI had moved an appeal in the apex court, which was taken up for hearing today, during which regulator’s counsel G L Sanghi sought interim stay pending the final decision on the appeal. |
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Train pupils in wife's presence
Kolkata, July 18 In an unusual verdict, a Division Bench of the high court comprising judges Amit Talukdar and Shankar Mitra asked dance teacher Suraj Dokania of north Kolkata to take his wife Sneha to his dance school for 15 days. The court direction came on Friday after Sneha filed a case alleging she was tortured by her in-laws for dowry and that her "wayward" husband was flirting with his students. Dokania is the head teacher at the Anurag Dance School where the popular Hindi film style of dancing is taught to about 500 students. In her case, Sneha alleged she was tortured to bring in dowry of Rs.1 million since her marriage in 2001 and that her husband was having flings with his girl students in the name of dancing lessons. Dokania is apparently popular with his students because of his skills. The growing demand for film style dancers in programmes across West Bengal helps him earn a living. Sneha left her in-laws' home to live with her parents on June 19. Dokania now has to take his wife to his school every day and then drop her back to her house after classes are over. The court order, apparently aimed at saving the marriage, asked the couple to report after 15 days. Dokania will not be arrested during this period and if the couple makes up, he will be granted bail. — IANS
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Crow deaths spark fear of avian virus
Mumbai, July 18 Naturalists in Mumbai who first noticed birds dying in the city’s streets have collected specimens and handed these over to the authorities. “We’ve got several similar leads suggesting a possible link with the West Nile Virus,” naturalist and writer Sunjoy Monga said in a message flashed in the Mumbai naturalists’ mailing list. According to Mr Monga the post-mortem reports conducted on the crows indicated the birds exhibited symptoms peculiar to infectious virus like the WNV. The past week has seen bird watchers in the city report more bird deaths, including pied starling, oriental magpie robin, white-breasted waterhen, white-throated kingfisher and red-vented bulbuls and black pariah kites. No injuries were reported on these birds and they all seemed to have suddenly died. A sudden outbreak of the virus was reported last April in the USA and Canada and a large number of people had contracted the virus in both countries. Health officials who are monitoring the WNV said it could be detected by the West Nile Virus IgM Capture ELISA test, used on people reporting symptoms of viral encephalitis or meningitis. Other noticeable symptoms include headache, high fever, neck stiffness, stupor, disorientation, coma, tremors, convulsions, muscle weakness, and paralysis. Doctors here said the kits for conducting the tests were not available in India and would need to be imported. The US FDA had warned that the human victims of WNV, especially those above the age of 50, developed severe infections resulting in neurological disease and even death. The American agency had also warned that blood donors too must be screened for the virus since it could spread via blood transfusion. |
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Loudspeaker use at night banned
New Delhi, July 18 Pronouncing its judgement on the PIL, filed in 1998, a Bench of Chief Justice R.C. Lahoti and Mr Justice Ashok Bhan banned the use of loudspeakers between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. in public places to keep the
decibel level in the air under permissible limit at night. The PIL had raised the issue of growing noise pollution in the big cities, caused by vehicular traffic, blaring of loudspeakers in public places, including marriages and other functions. The Court also issued guidelines to the police and civic authorities on how to implement the judgement. It took special note of the PIL seeking use of pressure horns by the vehicles near hospitals and schools, bursting of crackers close to these places during festivals like Divali. The earlier guidelines on bursting of crackers during Divali were also incorporated in the judgement. |
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Locarno fest to open with ‘Mangal Pandey’
Mumbai, July 18 It will premiere in Locarno, Switzerland, on August 3, Bollywood Trade reports quoting producer Bobby Bedi. Aamir’s “Lagaan” had received a fantastic reception at the Locarno Film Festival four years ago. The festival will be attended by Bedi, Aamir, Rani Mukherjee and Mehta. After the theatrical release of the film, Bedi plans to enter it in other festivals like Toronto and Sundance. The screening makes it the first Indian film to open the Locarno Film Festival. The film will also be a part of the competition section. The film, set in Barrackpore against the backdrop of the first War of Indian Independence in 1857, may find it difficult to replicate the Oscar glory of “Lagaan but Aamir is keeping his fingers crossed. “I haven’t thought about the Oscars yet. I just want to entertain people. All I know is that when people see this film, they’ll know the man behind Mangal Pandey, the starting point of our freedom struggle,” says Aamir. “It was difficult because very little is known about Pandey. Even so, all the events in the film are based on historical facts,” he says. “I even wanted to visit Barrackpore but it didn’t work out. However, Ketan and production designer Nitin Desai did go there for research.” The two-and-half-hour long film, made simultaneously in Hindi and English, will hit theatres worldwide on August 12. Produced by Bobby Bedi and Deepa Sahi, ‘Mangal Pandey’ boasts of an ensemble cast - Aamir, Rani Mukherji, Amisha Patel, Toby Stephens and Kiron Kher. — Agencies
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PM condoles death of Biplab Dasgupta New Delhi, July 18 In a message from Washington, he said Dasgupta was an outstanding Parliamentarian and active participant in Parliamentary debates and proceedings. “As a fellow member of the Rajya Sabha, I fondly cherish the memories of the time spent with him in the House,” he said. He said Dasgupta was an economist with a deep insight into economic processes in rural India and his contributions in this field will the remembered for a long time. Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee today said it would be extremely difficult to fill the void created by his demise. In a condolence message to Ms Arati Dasgupta, wife of the late Marxist leader, the Speaker pointed out that his contribution in Parliament was widely acknowledged and would always be remembered. “Personally, I have lost a great friend and a very close comrade”, Mr Chatterjee said in a release. Communist Party of India (Marxist) member of Rajya Sabha and former Central Committee member of the party, Biplab Dasgupta died in Kolkata yesterday after a protracted illness. He was 66. Dasgupta, widely respected for his in-depth study on Marxist and other literatures and leadership qualities, served the party for more than four decades in different capacities.
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