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PM seeks CMs’ support to implement jobs Act
SC rejects plea on Bihar poll
Quake-hit allowed to reconstruct houses
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SC admits SLP in Bofors case
Muslim reservation after SC verdict: Jaya
SC notice to Centre on high-security number plates
Death toll 41 in
Karbi-Anglong
BJP leaders to visit violence-hit Karbi
India 88th on list of corrupt nations
Gawli questioned in Bhandarkar case
Indian strategy for WTO meet
Lecture on ‘Women, money, power’
Charges to be framed against Amarmani
Cop rapes minor
Natwar meets Bhutan King
Duggal to visit Kashmir today
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PM seeks CMs’ support to implement jobs Act
New Delhi, October 18 Dr Singh said India had become the first country to offer a legal guarantee of 100 days employment in a financial year to a rural household at such an unprecedented scale. It is meant to secure the livelihood to people in the rural areas and reflects the government's commitment to provide an effective safety net to the poor. He said a transparent implementation process at each level and public accountability in keeping with the Right to Information Act could achieve the NREGA's objective. He asked the states to gear up the panchayati raj institutions (PRIs) as they have the principal responsibility in planning and implementation of the programme. Strengthening grassroots democracy and capacity- building of the PRIs and proper training of district administrations and line departments is crucial for its effective implementation, he pointed out. Pointing out that initially NREGA would be implemented in 200 backward districts of the country, he said the quality of implementation in the initial phase was crucial in all respects and for that the role of state governments was critical. He assured that the Centre would ensure timely resource support of 90 per cent to the programme and asked states to ensure that wage employment is given within 15 days of demand for work, failing which they would be liable to pay unemployment allowance at their own cost. The process of selection and designing of productive works is also critical and so that durable assets are created strengthening the livelihood resource-base of the area. This would enable those who work for wages in creating these assets, over a period of time, move onto self-sustaining employment, he pointed out. |
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SC rejects plea on Bihar poll
New Delhi, October 18 Mr Justice
Y.K. Sabharwal, who headed the five-judge Bench, told advocate Viplav Sharma, one of the petitioners in the case, that the detailed judgement yet to be delivered in the matter, would make it amply clear why the elections were not stayed by it.
— OC |
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BJP MP joins RJD
Patna, October 18 The development took the BJP by surprise in the midst of the first phase of polling today. Mr Nishad was unhappy with the BJP for denying ticket to his son Ajay Prasad, who was contesting the election on a RJD ticket now. Mr Prasad said that he would resign from Rajya Sabha soon.
— TNS |
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Voter shown dead in list
Patna, October 18 Mr Khurshid entered the polling booth at Phulwara Sharif near Patna today with the election
Commission's card and was not allowed to cast vote by the officer concerned. The reason: he is mentioned as “dead” in voters` list. Mr Khurshid argued for long and later left the booth failing to convince the official that he was alive despite having documentary evidence from the Election Commission. There were reports of lathicharge by the police at Ara in Bhojpur when a group of agitated people tried to block a road after they found their names deleted from the voters` list despite having Election Commissions`s cards with them. |
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Quake-hit allowed to reconstruct houses
New Delhi, October 18 The Mufti Mohammed Sayeed government has decided to provide Rs 40,000 to each of the families as the first instalment for procuring damaged and other materials for reconstruction. In a detailed brief to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the reconstruction of direly-needed shelters in J and K, Union Minister for Urban Development Ghulam Nabi Azad, said that his ministry would put up community halls of a capacity of 200 persons in each of the affected 100-odd villages through the CPWD, NBCC, Hudco and others. Mr Azad noted that that during the discussions with affected families the main demand was for immediately providing shelters. There were some complaints about inadequacy of and discrimination in the distribution of rations, blankets and other relief materials. Almost all residents unanimously expressed the view that they would prefer to rebuild their houses on their own rather than such work being taken up by the state or Central Government agencies. The general assessment of the experts’ team that had gone to J and K following the quake was that almost 90 per cent of the CGI sheets and stones and about 70 per cent of the wood used in the houses which had collapsed was salvageable and fit for use in reconstruction purposes. The community halls could be utilised for providing shelter to the needy. Construction of such community halls with common toilet and kitchen would cost about Rs 30 lakh per village. Mr Azad, who was directed by the Prime Minister to stay put in in J and K after the October 8 earthquake and oversee the relief and rehabilitation work, pointed out that the construction of community halls had been accorded top priority and the first phase consisting of 30 villages as decided by the state government in Uri and Tangdhar regions were expected to be completed by the beginning of next month. In the remaining 70 villages, these community halls were expected to the completed by the end of November. After completion these community halls would be handed over to the local administration. Simultaneously, about 150 junior, assistant and executive engineers had already been imparted training by structural engineering experts of the CPWD. A second batch of about 300 engineers would also be trained by the CPWD with the help of additional faculty drawn from the IIT, Roorkee from October 23. A building demonstration centre at Uri had been made functional. |
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SC admits SLP in Bofors case
New Delhi, October 18 With the admission of the PIL, the ghost of Bofors, which was generally perceived to have been given final burial, was suddenly back with a Bench of Chief Justice R C Lahoti and Mr Justice P K Balasubramanyan admitting the Special Leave Petition
(SLP), filed by advocate Ajay Agrawal after the CBI failed to file it within the September 17 deadline. Agrawal alleged that the Law Ministry had not “deliberately” granted permission to the CBI to file the appeal within the stipulated time as it had sat over the file, allowing the mandatory deadline to lapse. Since the SLP was admitted by the court, the notices would automatically go the CBI and Hinduja brothers —
Srichand, Gopichand and Prakashchand — named as respondents. The court gave liberty to Agrawal to make a special mention of the case before it in due course to fix the next date for early hearing. The high court’s single judge Bench of Mr Justice R S Sodhi had on May 31 quashed the charges of cheating and criminal conspiracy framed by the trial court against Hinduja brothers in the politically- sensitive case on the ground that the CBI had failed to place on record original documents pertaining to the Rs 1,437 crore Bofors gun deal, signed in March 1986 by the then Rajiv Gandhi government. Agrawal also told the court that Hinduja brothers had “committed a judicial fraud” by hiding the fact from the high court that they had challenged earlier order of another single judge Bench of Mr Justice J D Kapoor of March 9, 2004 in which the charges were modified against them. In that
SLP, the Hindujas had sought quashing of the charges completely not modifying them. When their SLP was still pending before the Supreme Court, how the high court could decide the matter, he argued while placing on record the “Diary Number (13085/2004)" of the
Hindujas’ SLP, filed on July 3, 2004. He pointed out that the Registry had given an eight-point direction to
Hindujas’ lawyers for amending the said SLP, but instead of doing so, they quietly went on to file a revision petition in the high court against the framing of charges against them by the trial court, which were ultimately quashed in the May 31 judgement. “This was clearly a judicial fraud committed by them,” Agrawal contended. In the
SLP, he had challenged the high court order on merit also stating that it had quashed the charges on “technical grounds” that no original documents were placed on record by the CBI. He claimed that there were other “sufficient” documents to support the prosecution case during the trial proceedings. |
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Muslim reservation after SC verdict: Jaya
Chennai, October 18 Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa today said,
“The demand of the Muslims will be examined, taking note of the
Supreme Court’s verdict on the 1994 Tamil Nadu Reservation Act.”
Her statement was an attempt to outwit the Dravida Munntera Kazhagam
(DMK) chief M. Karunanidhi who yesterday while attending an “iftaar”
party pledged reservation for both Muslims and Christians, if the
Democratic Progressive Alliance (DPA) was voted to power in next
year’s Assembly election. Mr. Karunanidhi said, “We will provide
reservation to both Muslims and Christians, but if we do not come to
power, we will still fight for the rights of the minorities, including
their demand for reservation. Both the ruling All India Anna Dravida
Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) and the DMK-led DPA are trying hard to woo
the minorities in view of next year’s Assembly polls. Because of her
alliance with the BJP, minorities in Tamil Nadu had deserted Ms.
Jayalalitha and she is now trying her best to woo them back. Following
the AIADMK’s crushing defeat in last year’s Lok Sabha polls, Ms.
Jayalalitha had gone out of her way to cool down the electorate’s
anger by handing out various sops to government employees, teachers,
farmers and students. |
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SC notice to Centre on high-security number plates
New Delhi, October 18 A Bench comprising Mr Justice Y K Sabharwal and Mr Justice C K Thakker issued notice to the Centre and all states seeking their replies. |
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Death toll 41 in
Karbi-Anglong
Guwahati, October 18 According to official sources, six Karbi villagers were shot dead by Dimasa militants at
Doyangmukh, while a Bengali boy was killed at Barlongfar and in the retaliatory violence, 130 Dimasa houses were torched by the Karbi miscreants. Governor Lt-Gen Ajay Singh (retd) had rushed to the spot. Chief Secretary of Assam S. Kabilan and GOC of 3 Corps
H.S. Lidder, besides, the political leadership, were clamouring to get political mileage out of the unprecedented violence. Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi convened an emergent meeting of the Council of Ministers to discuss the development and hammer out a solution. The police report said last night that the DHD militants shot dead six Karbi youths, who had been hoarding the Doyangmukh village. The sources informed that the toll would considerably rise as many interior areas had not been covered and out of fear, many incidents had not been reported.
— UNI |
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BJP leaders to visit violence-hit Karbi
New Delhi, October 18 The
delegation, led by Mr S.S. Ahluwalia, includes Mr Indramani Bora, Mr
Rajen Gohain, Mr Narayan Borkotoky (all MPs) and former Union Minister
Bijoya Chakraborty, BJP media cell national convener Sidharth Nath
Singh. The delegation, which left for Assam today, will assess the
situation and submit its report to Mr Advani, he said. The party held
the Congress government in the state and the UPA government for the
deteriorating law and order situation in the state. |
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India 88th on list of corrupt nations
New Delhi, October 18 On a perceptions scale of 10 to 0 (10 indicating most honest and 0 most corrupt), India’s score is 2.9. Its neighbour Sri Lanka is 10 places above at 78 with a better index of 3.2. The score of Iceland is 9.7. India and eight other countries share the 88th position on a list of 159 countries surveyed this year. Last year, India was ranked 90 in a field of 146 countries with a corruption index of 2.9. The annual report by the Berlin-based corruption watchdog was released worldwide today. The report was released in New Delhi this morning by the India chapter of Transparency International. Bangladesh and Chad come in the last place — both ranked 158 — with a corruption index of 1.7.
— UNI |
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Gawli questioned in Bhandarkar case
Mumbai, October 18 Gawli was questioned on information provided by starlet Preeti Jain, who allegedly gave a contract to Gawli’s henchman Naresh Pardesi. Jain and other members of the Gawli gang who were administered lie detector tests are believed to have told police about the gangster’s involvement in the matter. Gawli himself has denied any role in putting out a contract on Bhandarkar. Last month, Preeti Jain was arrested by the police. Three other gangsters from the Gawli gang have so far been arrested. Police are probing whether Gawli himself took money from Jain to eliminate Bhandarkar. The actress is suspected of paying Rs 70,000 to Pardesi to eliminate the director. |
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Indian strategy for WTO meet
New Delhi, October 18 “The Prime Minister gave the broad parameters for negotiations... I briefed him on the state of play and the US proposal on subsidy cut for farm products,” Commerce Minister Kamal Nath said after a meeting of the Group of Ministers. The informal meeting, chaired by Mr Manmohan Singh, was attended by Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Minister of State in Prime Minister’s Office Prithviraj Chavan apart from Mr Nath. Mr Nath told the meeting that Indian markets would not be opened for subsidised imports from developed countries. The Commerce Minister will attend the meeting in Geneva. It is aimed at breaking an impasse in multilateral trade talks. The meeting also took note of response paper of the Left parties. The leaders of the Left Front, that supports the government from outside, have disapproved of the line being toed by India on the contentious issue of market access in the agriculture sector at WTO negotiations in the run-up to the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference, scheduled for December. In a draft note prepared by the four Left parties, the CPM, the CPI, the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) and the Forward Bloc, they have asked the government to oppose heavy subsidies given by rich countries to their farmers. The Left parties asked the government not to make commitments in WTO talks without a national consensus, especially on farm issues. |
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Lecture on ‘Women, money, power’
New Delhi, October 18 And yet among the poor, it is the women who earn money to support their families. In fact, 94 per cent of India’s working women are self-employed, she observed. |
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Charges to be framed against Amarmani
Lucknow, October 18 Mr Tripathi was produced before the court here along with other accused — Rohit Chaturvedi, Prakash Chandra Pandey and Santosh Rai. However, Amarmani’s wife Madhumani, another accused, informed the court about her ill-health.
— UNI |
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Cop rapes minor
Mumbai, October 18 The police said the Head Constable, Chandrakant Vithal Pawar, on duty near the Sahar Road Taxi Stand, took the victim, a ragpicker, to a lonely place and raped her. Some passersby, who saw the 45-year-old policeman committing the crime, nabbed him and took him to the nearest police station. On the way to the police station, Pawar allegedly offered to pay Rs 15,000 to the group to let him go but it declined. He was handed over to the police, which has registered a case against the constable.
— UNI |
Natwar meets Bhutan King
New Delhi, October 18 Issues like border management, security, development cooperation and hydro-power projects came under sharp focus during these discussions. The King and Mr Natwar Singh expressed satisfaction at the excellent state of bilateral relations which are a model of good neighbourly cooperation to mutual advantage. Later, the King and the Queen hosted a lunch in honour of Mr Natwar Singh. |
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Duggal to visit Kashmir today
New Delhi, October 18 Mr Duggal will also utilise his visit to review the ongoing earthquake relief operations in Kashmir. |
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In video: Madhur Bhandarkar talks
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