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Navy announces Rs 20-lakh relief
UPA in bind over Bill
Sonia must quit: BJP
An ADGP’s ‘super 30’ answer to quota
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Plea moved in SC against ‘The Da Vinci Code’
Bengal freed of anti-graffiti law
Good pre-monsoon showers likely
Curfew continues in Aligarh
Govt rubbishes UNAIDS report
Bihar gets tough with criminals
Pathak panel examines Natwar
Naxal leader killed in
encounter
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Navy announces Rs 20-lakh relief
New Delhi, May 31 While the Army, under whose command naval commandos operate in the Wullar Lake area, has ordered a Court of Inquiry to investigate the incident, the Navy announced a Rs 20 lakh ex gratia relief to the bereaved families. A naval spokesman said the Army inquiry was statutory and would run parallel to the judicial inquiry ordered by the state government. “The Navy deeply regrets the accident,” a naval statement said here, making it clear that the force was committed to providing all assistance towards expeditious investigations. The statement on the tragedy said a detachment of the Naval Marine Commandos with an acronym MARCOS was deployed at the Wullar Lake, Asia’s largest fresh water lake, to assist the Army in counter-insurgency operations. Vice-Admiral N.K. Verma, Chief of Personnel at the Naval Headquarters, has flown to Srinagar to call on Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad to offer condolences. He will also hand over a cheque for Rs 20 lakh for disbursement among the bereaved families, the spokesman said. Naval officials said preliminary investigations indicated that a group of teachers and children from Primary School, Handwara, had approached the sailors on duty at the post and requested for a boat ride in a Baut (assault boat). Officials said the Baut had the capacity to carry 16 fully-equipped combat troops plus two crew members. “Schoolchildren, along with their teachers, embarked on the
Baut, which capsized after covering a distance of 50 to 60 metres from the shore.” “The sailors in the boat were able to rescue one teacher and 11 children. However, the rest unfortunately drowned,” the statement said.
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UPA in bind over Bill
New Delhi, May 31 Although the National Advisory Council (NAC) previously headed by Ms Sonia Gandhi was among the 56 offices included in the Bill passed in the recently-concluded Budget Session, Ms Sonia Gandhi had not returned to head the body. As it happens, her decision not to do so has saved her and the party a lot of embarrassment, given the latest twist in the long-drawn-out Office of Profit controversy. Ms Gandhi had resigned from the NAC and the Lok Sabha when the Opposition petitioned the Election Commission seeking her disqualification on the ground that as NAC Chairperson, she was holding an office of profit. The Congress President has since returned to the Lok Sabha after a record-breaking victory in the Rae Bareli bypoll. While the party is pleased that Ms Gandhi is safe, the UPA government finds itself in a bind on this issue. On one hand, it is faced with the embarrassment of having the Bill returned by the President, on the other hand, it has to appease the Left parties, the government’s key supporters, as they are the most affected by this Bill. As many as 14 offices held by CPM MPs, including Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, were exempted from disqualification as Office of Profit in the recently-amended Bill. In fact, the Left parties had pressured the ruling combine to rush this legislation and it is unlikely that it will relent on this issue even after the latest developments. The BJP, on its part, has renewed its attack against Ms Sonia Gandhi, once again calling for her disqualification, but the Congress is not particularly perturbed over it. The party believes that Ms Gandhi is on a high moral ground after she resigned and won her Lok Sabha seat with a huge mandate. The fact that she has not returned to head the NAC has further strengthened her case. “She’s the only one who resigned from Parliament and faced the electorate again,” said a senior Congress functionary. Consequently, the Congress today launched a scathing attack against the BJP for demanding Ms Gandhi’s resignation and sought to turn the tables on the NDA for adopting double standards on this issue. Dubbing its behaviour as “irresponsible and motivated” party spokesperson Jayanti Natarajan asked the saffron party to ask its government in Jharkhand to resign which has also passed a similar law on Office of Profit.
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Sonia must quit: BJP
New Delhi, May 31 “It is unprecedented and serious, the President’s decision to return the Bill for reconsideration of Parliament...This Bill, with retrospective effect, was passed by the UPA government to save some Congress and Left party MPs from disqualification. Therefore, on moral grounds Ms Gandhi should quit the seat,” he told newspersons here. Asked why Ms Gandhi should resign the second time, the BJP chief said the Congress President had resigned from the Rae Bareli seat as she wanted to avoid an EC inquiry and did not have the guts to face Parliament on the issue. Welcoming the decision of the President to return the Bill, the BJP chief said: “The party’s stand inside and outside Parliament on the Bill stands vindicated.” He said under the UPA government, every constitutional institution was under attack. Whether it was the EC or the Supreme Court or the Governor’s post, the UPA had shown “utter disregard”, he said. “When the highest court of the land termed the Illegal Migrants Detection by Tribunal Act as ultra vires, the UPA government sought to amend the Foreigners Act,” he said, adding that it was also unprecedented that during the UPA regime, the apex court had accused a Governor of playing “fraud on the Constitution.” The BJP President appealed to all MPs to “frame a law which would act as a check on the selfish attitudes of parliamentarians” in view of the President returning the profit Bill.
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An ADGP’s ‘super 30’ answer to quota
Patna, May 31 The “super 30” are 30 meritorious boys and girls from Bihar, mostly hailing from socio-economically backward condition, who receive free training for the IIT
entrance examinations, cutting across caste, creed and religion. Merit is the only criterion for selecting the 30 students being chosen every year since 2003 after they pass class XI (science). A team of three, led by Mr
Abhayanand, selects them. Talking to the Tribune here today, he said the “super 30” concept first came to his mind by late 2002, following which he teamed up with Mr Anand Kumar to train poor
meritorious boys and girls for IIT entrance
examinations. Twntyeight of the 30 made it to IIT examinations after the results were published today. One aspirant from the “super 30” has been ranked tenth. Among these 28 two are girls, two SC and 10 OBC. According to Mr
Abhayanand, an IPS of 1977 batch, these boys and girls could actually build up a new Bihar. While 28 of the 30 made to the IIT this year, 26 made it last year. In 2004 the number of successful students was 22 and in 2003 it was 18. The ADGP said after the tests, the “super 30” receive seven months of intensive residential training. “The centre of training is at
Kankarbagh. They stay at a lodge hired by us at Mithapur,”Mr Abhayanand said. According to him, it costs Rs 30,000 per month, including food and lodging, to train 30 students for seven months. “The cost factor is being taken care of by Mr Anand Kumar, who runs a private coaching institute. He spends a portion of the money he earns to train these students,” he said. The ADGP thrice a week teaches physics to the “super 30”.
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Govt gets tough on tobacco New Delhi, May 31 Speaking at a function here on the occasion of World No Tobacco Day, the Union Health and Family Welfare Minister, Dr Anbumani Ramadoss, said the new set-up would coordinate with the government, NGOs and individuals for effective implementation of the anti-tobacco legislative measures. The authority would also have laboratories for testing the tobacco content in consumable products. It would be given adequate financial assistance to work in an effective manner. Dr Ramadoss said a Cabinet note had been circulated among the ministries concerned with regard to the trade and taxation policy on tobacco products. He said 50 per cent of the space on cigarettes and other tobacco packages would have to be set aside to depict a pictorial warning to deter smokers. Dr Ramadoss said a government notification would be issued in the first half of August in this regard. After the notification, tobacco companies would be given six months time to implement the mandatory labelling rules. The pictorial message will contain a pictorial warning, a health message and a health warning. The minister added that his ministry, together with the Information and Broadcasting Ministry, had reached a consensus on banning smoking scenes in movies and television. The government would come up with a notification in this regard within two months. Dr Ramadoss said as per the consensus, film and television people would have to remove “irrelevancies of smoking scenes”. A committee would be set up for screening every movie and an advisory would be displayed against every smoking shot. The Health and Family Welfare Ministry will institute awards for individuals and organisations to inspire those who are carrying out anti-tobacco activities. The government had given a suggestion to the Agriculture Ministry for a gradual withdrawal of subsidies to tobacco crops and to increase the crops of medicinal plants.
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Plea moved in SC against ‘The Da Vinci Code’
New Delhi, May 31 After questioning Mathews, who claimed himself to be a communicant member of the church of New Delhi and Christ Church of Noida, as to what prompted him to file the petition, a Bench of Mr Justice Arijit Pasayat and Mr Justice Lokeshwar Singh Panta fixed the hearing on it for June 12. Mathews sought stopping of the film on the ground that it hurt the sentiments of Christians due to “malicious and blasphemic description of Jesus Christ.” He said the facts leading to filing of the petition were that the film was based on Don Brown’s controversial novel “Da Vinci Code”, a fiction in which Jesus Christ, Marry Magdalene, Bible and others figure and it was claimed to be a historic novel, which was not true. When the court asked that when the censor board and government had cleared the picture what was his objection to it, Mathew said, “It strikes at the basic foundation of Christianity.” It also depicted “Jesus as a father, an ordinary man having miraculous powers”, the petition said, seeking quashing of the censor board’s certification of the film for release in the country.
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Bengal freed of anti-graffiti law
Kolkata, May 31 But the Chief Minister, Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, has warned that this should not effect the city’s beauty. He said how best these walls could be used for the
above said purpose would be decided by a three-member ministerial committee, headed by the state Law Minister, Mr Rabindralal Roy. Briefing the mediapersons at the Writers Building, he said he was happy to keep his promise of repealing the Act. Mr Bhattacharjee said they had also decided to set up a farmers’ commission which would look into proper utilisation of land for industrial purposes. He felt the problems the state government was facing in transferring agricultural land to Tata Motors small car plant at Singhur, Hooghly, and to Indonesia’s Salim group at Uluberia, Hooghly, would be not repeated in future. Later, official sources claimed that the controversy of transferring of 10,000 hectares to the proposed Rs 1,000 crore Tata Motors small car plant had been resolved following Industries Minister Nirupam Sen’s meetings with the Kishan Sabhas and various other trade unions. Accordingly, the Tata Industries officials had been requested to visit the place once again to finalise the site. The Chief Minister further said that they had also decided to pass the necessary legislation for categorising the “profit of merits posts” in the state. A decision to set up an administrative reform committee for improving the work culture in the government offices was also taken. Mr Balai Roy was re-appointed as the state’s Advocate-General at today’s Cabinet meeting, while Mr Nisith Adhikeray, former Law Minister, would act as Deputy Advocate-General.
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Monsoon hits M’rashtra early
Mumbai May 31 According to Met officials, monsoon has hit even the interiors like Pune and Solapur. The monsoons is expected to cover the entire country by the first week of June, at least a week ahead of schedule, the officials said. The rains have already claimed more than seven lives across the Konkan region. While three fishermen have been lost at sea in Karwar, Karnataka, one crew member of a fishing boat was missing off Goa. Four persons were killed in a landslide near Ratnagiri in Maharashtra, according to the state police. Several persons have also been reportedly struck by lightning. The Met officials have predicted heavy to very heavy rains in the next 48 hours across the Konkan region and Mumbai. Fishermen have been asked not to venture into the sea. So far Ratnagiri recorded the highest rainfall with 64 cm of rains pouring down in the past three days. As a result train services along the Konkan Railway have been affected for the second day today. While several services were terminated along the route, trains have also been delayed on the route, according to a spokesperson. The rains have also loosened the soil on this route which is prone to landslides in the monsoons.
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Good pre-monsoon showers likely
New Delhi, May 31 The National Centre for Medium Range Forecast
(NCMRF) expects monsoon flow to maintain its current strength over the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal, leading to continued good monsoon activity over the western coast and north-eastern states during the next two to three days. It, however, adds that there are now indications that beginning June 4, there may be slight weakening of the monsoon current over the Arabian Sea and strengthening of the current over the Bay of Bengal region. The fact is that there is no one-to-one correlation between early onset of monsoon and its progress or intensity. So while the most-awaited yearly weather phenomenon in the country may have knocked ahead of schedule this time, the met office is waiting for the results of two more parameters before it commits itself on how its performance will be over the four homogeneous regions of the country, the forecast for July, or whether it will be able to maintain the momentum it has been showing so far. The good news as per the NCMRF is that a fresh western disturbance is approaching northwest India — Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh — which may cause isolated to scattered precipitation activity over the region on June 3 and 4. Together with moisture coming in from the Arabian Sea, the region can expect some good pre-monsoon showers over the region on June 3 and 4. The rain activity in the region seen today has been due to a western disturbance over Jammu and Kashmir and the adjoining area. This resulted in thunderstorm activity over the adjoining plains of northwest India. This will bring some relief to the heat wave conditions prevailing over most parts of Rajasthan and northwest Madhya Pradesh where the day temperatures are 45°C or more. The heat wave is expected to abate from these areas from June 2 due to isolated to scattered rain. Meanwhile, the southwest monsoon, which hit Mumbai nine days earlier than its actual date, further advanced into some more parts of Konkan, north-interior Karnataka, coastal Andhra Pradesh and parts of south Madhya Maharashtra and remaining parts of
Rayalseema. The northern limit of the monsoon today passed through Mumbai, Pune, Sholapur,
Kurnool, Ongole and Gangtok. Some stations on the west coast have been receiving heavy rain, in excess of 12.5 cm, during the past 24 hours. These include Ratnagiri that received 64 cm, Panjim 21, Amini Divi 18,
Aghathi, Shirali and Kolhapur 17 each and Mumbai (Colaba)13. As per the
NCMRF, the further advancement of the monsoon is likely over the north Konkan coast, parts of the Gujarat region, more parts of Madhya Maharashtra, parts of Marathawada and parts of Telangana during the next two days. Widespread rain, with heavy to very heavy rain at a few places, is likely in Kerala, coastal Karnataka, Konkan and Goa, south Gujarat during the next three days. One or two places in the Konkan coast may receive extremely heavy rain.
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Curfew continues in Aligarh
Lucknow, May 31 Speaking to mediapersons, DGP Bua Singh said the city police had made 109 preventive arrests for violation of Section 144 and other related offences. He said the STF was working round the clock in cracking the murder cases of three local shopkeepers, the third of which had triggered off violence on Sunday night. Chandrapal, a criminal carrying a reward of Rs 15,000 on his head, was also shot in an encounter in Aligarh today. AMU exams on schedule
NEW DELHI: Aligarh Muslim University has announced that all examinations beginning tomorrow will be conducted as per the original schedule. The university has made special arrangements to bring students residing in curfew-bound areas to the examination centres and drop them back along with police escorts. A decision in this regard was taken at a meeting of the AMU Vice-Chancellor with all deans of the faculties, principals of colleges, managers of schools and other university officials, a statement issued by the university said. It was also decided that the university vehicles would be available at 7.15 a.m. for morning examinations and 1.15 p.m. for the afternoon examinations at six locations in Aligarh. These are Kotwali at Upper Fort, Chauraha Abdul Karim, Embassy Hotel at Rasal Gunj, Sasni Gate police station, Delhi Gate police station and Khirni Gate police post. The Vice-Chancellor has said the hall tickets of the students would be treated as curfew passes. He said the district administration had assured him of all help in the conduct of the university examinations.
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Govt rubbishes UNAIDS report
New Delhi, May 31 Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss said he was surprised at the UNAIDS 2006 Report on Global AIDS Epidemic, which stated that India had surpassed South Africa in having the largest number of HIV/AIDS cases. The UNAIDS report had stated that India had 5.7 million cases of HIV by the end of 2005 as against South Africa’s 5.5 million. Dr Ramdoss said the UNAIDS report was incorrect and India had only 5.208 million estimated HIV-positive persons in 2005. The minister said, “NACO has scientifically arrived at this number of 5.208 million on the basis of sentinel surveillance sites in the country. Even the WHO and UNAIDS had been associated with the process of data collection and approved of it. I don’t know how they have arrived at this new number.” He also denied that the only 1.7 percent of HIV-positive mothers were being given medicine to prevent mother-to-child transmission. Admitting that the number of increase in HIV-positive persons in the country was alarming, Dr Ramadoss said there was, however, no need to panic. Stating that the situation needs a lot of focus, he said recently many states like Tamil Nadu have shown that the number of HIV-positive persons had reached a plateau and even declined. Meanwhile, the UNAIDS has defended its report about India having the highest incidence of HIV in the world with 5.7 million suffering from the infection. It said the figure had been arrived at by including children under 15 years and adults over 50 years who were traditionally excluded from reporting on HIV/AIDS. “In order to assure universal access, estimates have for the first time included children under 15 years and adults of over 50 years to the 15 to 49 age group traditionally used for reporting. The new methodology accounts for the additional 0.5 million taking the current number of Indians living with HIV to 5.7 million,” it said.
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Bihar gets tough with criminals
Patna, May 31 State Home Secretary Afzal Amanullah said the STF had been asked to go all out to achieve its target. The message was loud and clear during the fourth phase of the statewide panchayat poll held on Wednesday. The police did not hesitate to detain the brother of RJD chief Lalu Prasad, Gulab Yadav, and his father-in-law, Sheo Choudhary, for creating disturbances at some booths in Gopalgang. Close on the heels of this development, the Chief Minister did not block the move by the state administration to frame charges against his own party MP from Maharajgang and JD(U) parliamentary board leader Prabhunath Singh in the fast-track court of Bhagalpur on Friday for his alleged involvement in killing two persons during the 1995 Assembly poll at Patanpur in Saran district.
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Pathak panel examines Natwar
New Delhi, May 31 “I am abiding by the confidentiality code of this probe in its letter and spirit. Deliberations and discussions were held in detail and the nature of the hearing is confidential,” he told the reporters. The examination comes close on the heels of the quizzing of Andleep Sehgal, Director of Hamdaan Exports, who has been named as one of the beneficieries in the UN oil-for-food scam.
— PTI
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Naxal leader killed in
encounter
Lucknow, May 31 Taking advantage of the darkness and hilly terrain some Naxals fled during the encounter. The CRPF and PAC were combing the area to capture them. According to Home Secretary S.K. Aggarwal the encounter occurred in the area of Manchi police station. It recovered arms and ammunition.
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Judicial custody of Pravin extended
Mumbai, May 31
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Brahmos test-fired successfully
New Delhi, May 31
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