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Flood fury aggravates
Floods may dampen Ganesha festival
Power sector to get major boost, |
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No money flowed from Taj Corridor scam to Mayawati: CBI Sonia’s stand on Anti-conversion-Bill flayed Dasmunsi may take over WBPCC reins
Notice to HRD Ministry on IIAS affairs
Left, Right leaders support quota Bill for women
ED may summon Andaleeb Sehgal
CPM demands probe against Reliance
Foreign tourists rush to valley
SC seeks report on Taj vandalism
Nitish govt gives in to Oppn demand
Paswan gives Nitish quit-Bihar call
Ex-IAS officer floats party
HC gives respite to agitating medicos
Karnataka bans colas in schools
Forgery case against Yogita
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Flood fury aggravates
Swollen rivers swamped thousands of villages and towns across India’s south and west on Wednesday, forcing 4.5 million people to move from their homes as rescuers struggled to bring them food and drinking water, officials said.
The death toll in Maharashtra has crossed the 200 mark with reports of more deaths coming from the interiors of the state. “Most of the victims drowned after rivers broke the banks in many parts of the state,” the state police control room said. The number of people missing is said to be more than 400 with families being scattered in many flood-hit areas. The authorities have shifted nearly 3 lakh people to safer areas and emergency supplies of food and water are being provided to them. In all 3,419 villages across 22 districts of the state have been labelled flood-hit even as heavy rain continued to lash many parts of Maharashtra. According to the disaster management cell of the state government, heavy rain continued to lash Nashik, Jalgaon, Amravati, Aurangabad, Nagpur, Pune, Nanded, Buldana, Jalna, Ahmednagar, Parbhani, Hingoli, Yavatmal, Washim, Akola and Nandurbar. The Godavari, Krishna and Koyna are still flowing above the danger mark as water from dams on them are being released following continuing rains. Army officials posted in the flood-hit areas told television channels that people are refusing to move out of their homes leaving behind their cattle. State government officials say, police have been asked to round up people in vulnerable areas and evacuate them to prevent casualties. Meanwhile the Maharashtra government has sought a Rs 500 crore financial assistance from the Centre for relief work in flood-affected parts of the state, according to Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh. Meanwhile Brig P.B. Charak, of the Army’s Southern Command, said 650 soldiers had been deployed to assist the civil administration in all the three states and to evacuate marooned people and families. Congress president Sonia Gandhi conducted a survey of flood-hit areas in Andhra Pradesh that have taken a toll of 106 lives. She was accompanied by Home Minister Shivraj Patil. The people of the flood-ravaged areas of Andhra Pradesh have been disappointed. Mrs Gandhi, who gave no assurances to the suffering people who thronged to see her in large numbers. The UPA chairperson visited Amalapuram in East Godavari district and Bhadrachalam in Khammam district. Her visits to both the places were very brief. The Home Minister announced Rs 200 crore as immediate assistance to Andhra Pradesh to cope with the emergency situation. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s scheduled visit to the flood affected regions of Gujarat and Maharashtra tomorrow has been postponed due to bad weather conditions prevailing over there, official sources said today. Floods in Gujarat continued to disrupt half of India’s natural gas production for the second day today, threatening power generation in north and CNG supplies to automobiles in the national capital. State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp’s (ONGC) South Bassein and B-55 fields in Mumbai offshore remained shut for the second day in running while the ONGC-Reliance-British Gas operated Panna/Mukta and Tapti fields did not produce any gas and were forced to cut oil production by 20,000 barrels per day. Meanwhile, after four days of unabated rains, Mumbai is finally having a sign of breather from showers on Rakshabandhan. The Met Department forecasts spells of rains or thundershowers with a possibility of few heavy falls in parts of the city and suburbs in the next 24 hours.
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Floods may dampen Ganesha festival Mumbai, August 9 With just 20 days to go for the festival, artisans across the state were giving finishing touches to their idols when the rains struck. “We have lost many idols as water levels rose in Central Mumbai,” says Ulhas Shirke who makes hundreds of small and medium idols at a makeshift shed at Lalbaug in Central Mumbai’s Lower Parel area. According to him, several idols have been damaged and work is on to make replacements quickly as orders come in thick and fast. Lalbaug has some of the biggest idols on display every year. And work on these idols begin as early as January when the mandals which organise the festival place orders. Luckily, none of the big idols have suffered any damage yet. Still, the artisans say the rains have hurt their main source of income. “Much of our earnings come from the small idols which we make out of plaster of Paris,” says Vishwas Agre who takes leave from his job to craft the idols. He adds that the artisans were looking forward to this year’s festival to offset losses incurred during the heavy rains of last year. Meanwhile, reports reaching here say flooding has affected the idol makers in the town of Pen, 210 km from here. Most of the idols that come into Mumbai are crafted in Pen, where the Ganesha idol making is a cottage industry. The idol makers feel that they may still catch up if the rain gods relent in the coming few weeks. “Even if we speed up the work now, we need the sun to come out for the idols to dry,” says Shirke.
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Power sector to get major boost, 40 projects ready
New Delhi, August 9 Among major projects, which are scheduled for commissioning before March 31, 2007, include two units of 250 MW each of Lehra Mohabbat hydroelectric project in Punjab (by February, 2007, and March, 2007 ), built at an estimated cost of Rs 1789 crore. The ministry has directed the public sector power companies, including the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) and the National Hydel Power Corporation (NHPC) and state power utilities, to take steps to complete the projects at the earliest to meet the 10th Plan (2002-07) targets. Official sources said Power Minister Sushilkumar Shinde, who commissioned the first unit of Tehri project (250 MW) last week, though delayed by many years, is taking keen interest to complete the projects in time. Other projects in North India, which are expected to be commissioned shortly are 390-MW Dulhasti project, 450-MW Baghliar project in Jammu and Kashmir (by March 2007), 126-MW Larji hydroelectric project in Himachal Pradesh (by October), three units of Tehri hydroelectric (750 MW) in Uttaranchal (by December). “The government is taking steps to augment the supply of power to meet the power requirement through adequate capacity addition, improvement in plant load factor (PLF) at thermal plants and by promoting energy efficiency and conservation measures,” Mr Shinde informed the Rajya Sabha. According to the ministry, the power sector is likely to add up over 15,000 MW to the existing power generation over the next few months, which would include 4200 MW by the Central Power Utilities and joint ventures with state governments in the thermal power sector. In the power deficit states like Bihar the NTPC has assured to commission 1500 MW Kahalgaon thermal plant (3X 500 MW) by March next year. It will be built at an estimated cost of Rs 6,000 crore. The coal-rich states like Chhattisgarh is also expected to commission three power projects generating 750 MW, including 250-MW project by OP Jindal Group in Raigarh. A number of projects will be commissioned in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal with a total power capacity of around 5,000 MW. In the hydro sector, the government is expecting addition of over 3,000 MW capacity, including 510-MW Teesta project in Sikkim, 225-MW Prulia project in West Bengal and 304-MW Maneri Bhali project in Uttaranchal.
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No money flowed from Taj Corridor scam New Delhi, August 9 Solicitor General (SG) G.E. Vahanvati told the Bench of Mr Justice S.B. Sinha, Mr Justice S.H. Kapadia and Mr Justice D.K. Jain that no evidence about the flow of Rs 17 crore as the first installment for the Taj Corridor project to the accused persons had been found. The SG said the Corridor scam and DA cases against Ms Mayawati and other persons were registered separately and investigated independently and the probe in both of them was over. While the Corridor scam was being monitored by the apex court, which had earlier made it clear that the DA case was not being monitored by it. The statement was made by the SG in view of the Supreme Court’s last week direction seeking details about the DA case against Ms Mayawati and the status of the probe in it in the wake of reversion of CBI’s DIG Neeraj Nain back to his parent West Bengal cadre. He was in-charge of the investigation. Allegations were raised in a petition that Mr Nain was being removed from the investigation to bail out Mayawati in the Taj Corridor and DA cases. Following the SG’s statement, the court said there was no occasion for it to interfere in the matter pertaining to the reversion of Mr Nain to his parent cadre after serving the CBI for seven years. The details about the DA case was sought by the court last week while it reserved the judgement on the issue whether the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) CVC had any role in the investigation of a case by the CBI and whether the agency was right in seeking the opinion of the Attorney-General whether to file the chargesheet or not. Due to differences in the CBI at the top level regarding filing of the chargesheet against Ms Mayawati, her former Cabinet colleague, Nasimuddin Sidiqui, and some bureaucrats whose names figured in the Taj Corridor scam, the agency had sought the opinion of Attorney General Milon Banerjee, who reportedly stated that no case was made out for going ahead with filing of the chargesheet. In view of this, the apex court had referred the matter to the CVC for its opinion, which said a prima facie case was made out against Ms Mayawati, Mr Siddiqui and some bureaucrats. Ms Mayawati in an application had challenged referring the matter to the CVC for its opinion on the ground that the commission had no role to play in the investigation of a case by the CBI as it was only a supervisory authority over the agency. The court verdict on this important legal question is awaited.
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Sonia’s stand on Anti-conversion-Bill flayed New Delhi, August 9 The Congress’ opposition to the Anti-conversion Bill by the Madhya Pradesh Assembly was not justified as such a Bill had been passed earlier during the Congress regimes in some states, including Madhya Pradesh, BJP parliamentary party spokesperson V.K. Malhotra told newspersons here. He took a strong exception to Ms Gandhi’s comment in the letter that it was the BJP-ruled state which had adopted such a Bill and assured the Christian body that this would not happen in Congress-ruled states. Mr Malhotra said the Supreme Court had also held that conversion through incentives was bad. He said the matter was discussed at the party’s parliamentary party meeting this morning and all speakers criticised the Congress opposition to the Bill. The BJP parliamentary party meeting, he said, also criticised the UPA government for not giving a befitting homage to late Suraj Bhan, who had held the cabinet post, as chief of the SC/ST Commission and also been a former Governor, former union minister and former Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha. The party, he said, had also decided to press a “battery of speakers” while participating in the debate on the Pathak authority’s findings on Volcker’s allegations about the non-contractual beneficiaries in the Iraqi Oil-for-Food Programme. He said the party felt that the findings were a farce which had not revealed anything. Similarly, the meeting also criticised the government for not taking any action against manufacturers of soft drinks. Mr Malhotra said the government was too soft on these companies which gave an impression that it was trying to help them instead of taking any action against them. Setting up a committee to go into the pesticide contents in the soft drinks was merely a formality. The party wanted that these soft drinks should be banned as done by the Gujarat Government till the product conformed to international standards, Mr Malhotra said.
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Dasmunsi may take over WBPCC reins Kolkata, August 9 Mr Dasmunsi will have to lose either his post in the ministry or parliamentary affairs department to devote more time in revamping the state Congress. Sources in the AICC said though the next Lok Sabha elections would be held in 2009, the present strained relations between the Congress and the Left parties, vis-a-vis the CPM’s relation with the BJP on the UPA’s policy on the US, might force Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to resign earlier, necessitating another Lok Sabha elections. The AICC wanted that the Congress in Bengal and elsewhere should fight the elections against the Opposition parties after seat adjustments with various regional parties. In West Bengal, Mrs Gandhi had expressed her desire that both the Congress and the TMC should jointly fight the elections against the CPM. Accordingly, she had sent words to Ms Mamata Banerjee through Mrs Margaret Alva, AICC general secretary and in charge of West Bengal affairs. According to the sources, Mrs Gandhi had finally agreed to allow the Defence Minister to leave the WBPCC chair to make room for Mr Dasmunsi. Mr Mukherjee had tendered his resignation owning moral responsibility of the party’s debacle in the last Assembly elections. But, he was still continuing at the request of Mrs Gandhi till his suitable successor was decided. And now the AICC had agreed to revamp and re-organise the Bengal Congress from the grassroots level under the leadership of Mr Dasmunsi with the direct involvement of Mr Somen Mitra, Mr Pradip Bhattacharyya, Dr Manash Bhuiya, Mr Adhir Chowdhury, MP,who represented various factional groups. Mrs Gandhi had talked to both Mr Dasmunsi and the Defence Minister soon after meeting two separate party delegations from Bengal, which included Mr Subrata Mukherjee, Mr Abdul Mannan, Mr Mitra, Mr Bhattacharyya, Dr Bhuiya, and discussed about re-vamping the state congress. Initially, there was a proposal for re-organising the party with Mr Somen Mitra as president, to which Mr Mitra himself declined on health ground. Mr Mitra had undergone a bypass surgery. But, he agreed to assist Mr Dasmunsi for the larger interest of the party in the state.
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Notice to HRD Ministry on IIAS affairs
New Delhi, August 9 A Bench of acting Chief Justice Vijender Jain and Mr Justice Kailash Ghambhir also issued notices to the IIAS’ governing body and two other academicians associated with it during past few years after taking cognizance of a PIL filed by a Delhi University professor and a former fellow of the institute. The former Director,Ms Bhuvan Chandel , and the other two academicians
Prof G C Pande and Prof Mushirul Hassan, who is also Vice Chancellor of Jamia Millia Islamia University issued notices, were directed to submit their replies by November 13 along with the HRD Ministry and IIAS’ Chairman and Governing body. DU professor Prem Singh, who moved the PIL yesterday through his counsel Devendra Singh, has mainly based it on an inquiry report on the alleged bungling in the IIAS and a report of a three member sub-committee, headed by Prof Mushirul Hasan set up to examine the findings in the inquiry report. According to the petition, the charges of alleged irregularities against the IIAS administration for the six year period between 1998 and 2004 were inter alia found to be correct by the sub-committee. The inquiry was
conducted by D Bandopadhyaya. In a multi-fold relief, the petitioner has sought direction to the HRD Ministry to take immediate steps to implement the recommendations of Bandopadhyaya committee to initiate action against the persons indicted in the report. In the wake of “adverse” findings in the inquiry report, Prof Prem Singh has also sought dissolution of the IIAS governing body and another body in its place . Besides, the direction was sought to the HRD Ministry to fix responsibility for alleged financial and administrative irregularities pointed out by the inquiry committee. Professor Prem Singh pointed out that the UPA Government in its Common Minimum Programme had clearly laid “to ensure that all institutions of higher learning and professional education will retain their autonomy” but the HRD Ministry was not taking appropriate steps to live up to this assurance. The final report by the inquiry committee was submitted on July 27, 2005 while the sub-committee, headed by Prof Hasan had submitted his report on March 6, 2006.
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Left, Right leaders support quota Bill for women
New Delhi, August 9 Representatives of the CPI, PMK, DMK, TDP and the NCP appeared on one platform here in favour of the controversial Bill marking the culmination of the 17-day agitation organised by the National Federation of Indian Women
(NFIW). Addressing the rally, DMK leader and Union Minister for Communications Dayanidhi Maran said the Bill should be tabled in Parliament in an “undiluted form”. The legislation envisages 33 per cent reservation for women in Parliament and state legislatures. “Women must be given reservation in order to create an equal society. Every politician, including me, should feel ashamed for not rendering justice to this section of the society in the last one decade,” PMK President S. Ramadoss said. The NFIW, which has been spearheading the agitation, said it will step up the stir in the coming days. “Our agitation for reservation does not end today, we have been fighting for the last 10 years and it will continue till the UPA government fulfills the promise for women’s reservation made in its Common Minimum Programmae,” NFIW General Secretary Annie Raja said. Veteran Gandhian Nirmala Deshpande, NCP spokesperson D P Tripathi, CPI leaders Gurudas Gupta and D Raja, TDP Rajya Sabha MP N P Durga besides several other activists attended the rally.
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ED may summon Andaleeb Sehgal
New Delhi, August 9 Sources in the directorate said he had been questioned in the past several times and could be questioned again in the light of the remarks made in the Pathak report. The government in its action taken report (ATR) had stated that it had forwarded the probe report to the three Central investigating agencies of economic offences - Enforcement Directorate, Central Board of Direct Taxes and Central Board of Excise and Customs. The ATR said the three agencies would be asked to treat the Pathak report as information to take action that may be warranted under law. Sources said the directorate would also question those who assisted the Pathak Inquiry Authority. The report details showed how Andaleeb Sehgal, his relative, and Aditya Khanna, Jagat Singh'sfriend, got the oil contracts given by the Saddam Hussein regime in 2001, in which they earned a commission of $ 1,93,000. Sehgal's Hamdaan Exports got a commission of $47,000 for executing one contract and another $1,46,000 for a second contract. Meanwhile, The Bhartiya Janata Party today said the Congress had suspended former External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh just to protect its president Sonia Gandhi who was also allegedly involved in the Iraqi oil-for-food scam. BJP spokesman Prakash Javadekar said, ''Desert the man when the charges come to Sonia, that is the typical Congress culture but the real question is about the Congress coupons which were traded.'' Taking a serious view of Mr Singh's outbursts and rebellious attitude against the party, the Congress last night suspended him from primary membership of the party for indiscipline. The party also decided to serve a showcause notice on Mr Singh, asking him to explain the notice for a privilege motion by him in the Rajya Sabha against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, for the leak of the Justice R.S. Pathak Inquiry Authority report. The showcause notice also asked him to explain why he should not be expelled from the party.
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CPM demands probe against Reliance
New Delhi, August 9 “The fourth beneficiary — Reliance Company — appears in three oil contracts (M/09/35, M/10/17 and M/11/25) amounting to a total of 19 million barrels as non-contractual beneficiaries,” the party Politburo said in a statement, adding that it had lifted 15.78 million barrels as per the Volcker report. Observing that BJP’s “silence on this issue is also illuminating,” it said it was during the BJP-led government that these allotments were made to Reliance Company. While the Pathak inquiry authority dealt with two of the four beneficiaries, the third one “did not lift any oil on the contracts assigned to him”. It said the demand for a “special investigation” into the Reliance role should “not be confused with the exports by over 125 Indian companies, which supplied goods to Iraq under the oil-for-food programme. They had paid the taxes levied by the Iraqi government and these transactions were recorded and legal.” “It is incumbent upon the UPA government to submit a report on the biggest non-contractual beneficiary,” the CPM said.
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Foreign tourists rush to valley
New Delhi, August 9 Minister of Tourism Ambika Soni told the Rajya Sabha that till July 26 this year, 3,49,166 domestic tourists visited the valley as compared to 3,65,818 during the same period, last year. In fact, the beginning of the season was very good, with as many as 6,000-7,000 tourists arriving in the valley daily, which not only helped in restoration of economic activities in the valley but also boosted the morale of the local people to a great deal. But subsequent to militant attacks, specifically targeting tourists, resulted in a significant drop in the arrival of visitors, and at present the number is down to 400-500 tourists per day. A fact also conceded by state Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad yesterday, who told a conclave of Air Force Sector Commanders in Srinagar that the tourist arrival in the valley had witnessed a significant decline after the recent militant attacks on visitors. A state government report says that till July 30, there have been nine militant attacks on tourists, killing 15 and injuring 55 persons. However, the number of foreign tourists has gone up. Up to July 26, 10,317 foreign tourists visited the valley as compared to 9,777 during the same period last year. In an endeavour to make security environment progressively safer, the government and the security forces are taking several steps. For one, special tours of travel trade from Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkota and Hyderabad to Kashmir from August 2 to 6 are being organised. Separate tourist police and enforcement wing personnel have been deployed at Srinagar, Jammu and other places to look after and protect the interests of tourists. There has been adequate deployment of the security forces and the police with regular patrolling and anti-sabotage checks around tourist spots and roads leading to such places. Besides this, there are permanent security arrangements at the shrine of Mata Vaishno Devi at Katra and its proximity. Special security arrangements have also been made for tourists visiting the Amarnath shrine, Pahalgam and Kheer Bhavani.
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SC seeks report on Taj vandalism
New Delhi, August 9 A three-judge special Bench monitoring all Taj-related matters since 1984 on a petition of environmentalist lawyer M.C. Mehta sought a detailed report from the CISF Commandant in Agra about the forcible entry by over 10,000 persons into the monument complex on August 5. The court also directed the Centre to submit a report why no action was taken on its 10-year-old order issued by a Bench headed by then “green judge” Justice Kuldip Singh regarding obtaining the status of a major world heritage city for Agra from UNESCO. Mr Mehta brought these issues to the notice of the court submitting that virtually no action had been taken by the authorities concerned so far on many of the directions issued by Mr Justice Kuldip Singh, saying his order formed the basis for improvement of sorroundings of the Taj. Mr Mehta and advocate Krishan Mahajan, who has been appointed amicus curiae in the case, said in fact the Taj Corridor scam proved to be a major obstacle in initiating steps towards getting the heritage city status to Agra as just prior to this former Tourism Minister Jagmohan had entered into a dialogue with UNESCO, which also had given a positive response.
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Nitish govt gives in to Oppn demand
Patna, August 9 The Assembly will now hold the first-ever debate on law and order under the new dispensation on Saturday. It were the CPI(ML) MLAs, and not the Opposition RJD, which stormed the House launching a blistering attack on the Nitish government for the killing of 26 persons in 10 separate incidents, including carnage, in Nalanda, the hometown of the Chief Minister, during the past nine months of the NDA rule. Uprorious scenes in the Assembly forced Speaker Udai Narayan Chowdhary to suspend the House for two hours with the promise to allow a debate on law and order on Saturday. The NDA also conceded to another major demand of the Opposition to extend the time of the monsoon session till August 12. The session was scheduled to conclude on August 11.
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Paswan gives Nitish quit-Bihar call
Patna, August 9 The LJP and the Left Front, along with other splinter Left forces, organised a “revolution march” today, taking cue from the “kranti rally” by Mahatma Gandhi on August 9, 1942, asking the then British raj to quit India. The slogan — British quit India — was recoined by the LJP and the Left as “Nitish quit Bihar”. The CPM too joined the dais with the CPI and other Left parties. Addressing the rally, Mr Paswan charged the Nitish government with failure on all fronts. Claiming that the “revolution march” was the beginning of the end of the “Nitish raj”, Mr Paswan accused Mr Nitish Kumar of hoodwinking people with false promises. CPI general secretary A.B. Bardhan said there was no improvement in the law and order front or the living conditions of the people.
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Ex-IAS officer floats party
Hyderabad, August 9 The Lok Satta will have a national outlook and national objectives, but will initially make a foray in Andhra Pradesh with political reform as its central agenda, he told reporters here today. The son of a railway guard, he resigned as secretary to the government in 1996 to float the Lok Satta. “We don’t want to be just an alternative, we want to redefine the political culture which would revolve around issues like education and health for all, he said. The Lok Satta will apply for registration with the Election Commission on October 1. Saying that it was unfortunate that many sections of society were shunning politics because of deep-rooted corruption, he said only better politics could ensure a better life for the people of the country. Presently, member of the National Advisory Council and Administrative Reforms Commission of the Union Government, Mr Narayan said he did not think it was impractical to expect people to vote on issues. The common man had to be educated that his vote had a direct bearing on the quality of his life, he added.
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HC gives respite to agitating medicos
Bangalore, August 9 More than 100 students who had taken admission in private medical colleges in the state had approached the High Court claiming they were being penalised by the college management for their inability to approach the court earlier to challenge the fee fixed by the Fee Fixation Committee. The medicos claimed that students who had approached the court to challenge the committee formed by private medical colleges had been allowed to pay a lower rate of fee with some of them paying an annual tuition fee of only Rs 1.60 lakh. While they were being asked to pay Rs 3.70 lakh as per the recommendation of the committee. The Bench, comprising Chief Justice Cyriac Joseph and Mr Justice N K Patil, issued an interim order directing the managements to accept Rs 2,90,000 for 2005-06.
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Karnataka bans colas in schools
Bangalore, August 9 It is also mulling a complete ban on aerated drinks in the state on the pattern of Kerala. However, a decision in this regard will be taken only after consultation with legal experts, state Health Minister R. Ashok said here today. He said the ban would cover both state-run as well as private schools. The government has come out with a list of 13 brands of aerated drinks which would be covered under the ban. However, drinks with fruit content, even if manufactured by the same multinationals, will not be covered under the ban.
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Forgery case against Yogita
New Delhi, August 9 police registering a case of forgery against her. The police have alleged that Kidwai, a former airhostess, forged ownership documents of the Hyundai Elantra car she drove on July 27 to the Prime Minister's 7, Race Course Road, with her two friends Veena and Imran. She has been charged under Section 420 (cheating), 120B (criminal conspiracy), 471 and 468 (both deal with forgery) for allegedly forging documents to get the ownership documents of the black luxury car changed to her name. Yogita had bought the car from one Zahir. The police had arrested the trio, all in their early 20s, on charges of criminal trespass and impersonation, a day after the sensational incident that embarrassed security officials. All three had claimed during interrogation that "they drove to the PM's residence just for the sake of fun".
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Hazare on indefinite fast
Alandi, Pune, August 9 Mr Hazare, who
started his protest from a religious place at Alandi, told reporters
that by bringing in the amendments the very soul of the right to
information would be taken away. “This is injustice to the 110 crore
people of this country”, he said. Protests and demonstrations in
this regard would be undertaken in all 27 districts of Maharashtra from
tomorrow, he said, adding that a countrywide agitation would also begin
from tomorrow. — UNI
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Bhargava new NHRC Secy-Gen
New Delhi, August 9 Before assuming charge, he was Additional Secretary in the Department of Justice, Ministry of Home Affairs. He has succeeded Nirmal Singh who has been transferred to the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs. |
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