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PPS officers denied key posts, want justice
BJP scuttles Uma’s visit to Longowal
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Natwar ‘gatecrashes’ into Rajiv memorial function
Natwar promises Volcker revelations in book
Nitish consolidates position
Centre aware of militant activities: Pranab
Organiser goes soft on Advani, ignores Vajpayee Rs 22-cr gold throne for Shirdi Sai Baba soon SSA has failed to achieve targets: CAG Bismillah’s wish for ‘halwa’ fulfilled ‘Sweet’ water may cause diseases
BJP for probe into train fire
Rains delay train to Pakistan
Rajasthan flood toll reaches 21
Concern over ‘poor’ share of rural areas in housing finance Nirmala Deshpande gets sadbhavana award
Close shave for Justice A.N. Ray
Lanka crisis: India offers formula
CM well aware of my visit to Lanka: Vaiko
Criminal turned noble man
Truck crushes
eight to death 10 die in AP bus mishap One dies after falling from train Contract killer nabbed
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PPS officers denied key posts, want justice
New Delhi, August 20 This is the essence of a petition filed by the Association of Punjab Police Service (PPS) Officers before the Supreme Court, which has now been referred to the Punjab and Haryana High Court for expeditious adjudication within six months. The PPS officers apart from being aggrieved by the high court’s August 9, 2004 interim order asking the Punjab Government not to post any of the non-IPS cadre officers in key positions, were also not happy with the treatment being meted to them. Their association contended that when the state was under virtual seize by militants, the Centre and state government felt the need to post the state police cadre officers of the SSP rank as district police chiefs but on peace returning to the state, the same benefit was being denied to them. “The ex-cadre posts were created by the Government of Punjab in order to meet the extraordinary circumstances which were prevailing in the state, after bifurcating 17 revenue districts and creating six more police districts for the purpose of effective administration and governance during militancy,” association’s counsel Sudhir Walia in the petition said. But it was a pity that an IPS officer, Mr Nilabh Kishore, had chosen to implead himself as a party in a PIL filed by a private organisation—Resurgence India—to oppose the posting of PPS officers in the key positions, Mr Walia said alleging that the PIL was nothing by a proxy petition on behalf of the IPS lobby. Insurgence India’s counsel Prashant Bhushan refuted the charge and argued that it has nothing to do with the IPS lobby as the PIL was aimed at the implementation of the police reforms in the light of various reports in this regard. But during the hearing before the apex court Bench, headed by Mr Justice S. B. Sinha last week when it passed the order for remanding the case back to high court, questions were raised by the PPS association on the propriety of raking up service matters in a PIL. The association contended that PPS officers holding the rank of SSP were being treated as second grade officers despite the fact that Union Home Ministry during the last cadre review in 1998 had reserved 43 of a total 144 IPS cadre posts in Punjab for them. “When the governance in Punjab morphed into brute force and terrorist violence resulted in the loss of more than 25,000 civilian lives, over 1,800 men in uniform sacrificed their lives to protect the unity and integrity of the country,” the association said, quoting from the data that “out of 1,800 policemen killed, more than 1,000 belonged to feeder channel of the PPS cadre whereas only five officers of the IPS cadre were killed during action against terrorists.” “Today when peace has returned, the state the PPS officers are being discarded by amending the cadre and re-fixing its strength,” the association said, reminding that after increasing the number of police districts to 23, PPS officers were in charge of the 11 districts and the IPS officers of the remaining 12 districts.
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BJP scuttles Uma’s visit to Longowal
New Delhi, August 20 Sources said the SAD had extended an invitation to Ms Bharati to attend a function at Longowal on the martyrdom day of Sant Harchand Singh Longowal at the behest of former state Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal. The SAD had sent a delegation to the Bharatiya Janshakti Jandesh rally in the Ramlila Maidan in the National Capital on March 21. The SAD’s invitation to Ms Bharati for Longowal came after the SAD high command saw the popular response to her visit to Punjab and a rally at Jalandhar, the sources said. They said Mr Badal felt that Ms Bharati had a better hold on Hindu votes in comparison to the BJP and thus an electoral understanding with her party would prove beneficial to the SAD. However, when the BJP came to know of the SAD move to invite Ms Bharati, BJP president Rajnath Singh asked the party general secretary and in charge of Punjab, Mr Arun Jaitley, to ensure that not only to prevent Ms Bharati from going to Longowal but also to scuttle a possible move to reach an electoral understanding between the two. Mr Badal had told the media earlier this month that the SAD would not be averse to having an electoral understanding with Ms Bharati’s party. In Fazilka, Mr Badal had said the SAD would have an understanding with the BJP, but would remain open to electoral understanding with her party also. Mr Jaitley reportedly got in touch with Mr Badal and succeeded in prevailing upon the SAD chief to wriggle out of his invitation. The BJP general secretary said Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar would come to Longowal to provide a star attraction to the SAD function. The sources said the SAD’s rival, All India Shiromani Akali Dal (Longowal), headed by Mr Prem Singh Chandumajra, also got in touch with Ms Bharati for her visit to Longowal but she declined to attend their function.
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New Delhi, August 20 Dr Singh offered floral tributes and stood silently for a few moments at the samadhi of the late leader. Ms Gandhi paid homage along with her children, Mr Rahul Gandhi, MP, and Ms Priyanka Vadra. Home Minister Shivraj Patil and a host of other Congress leaders were also present. Dr Singh and Ms Gandhi also attended a function held at the Central Hall of Parliament, adorned by a portrait of Rajiv Gandhi, where Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman K Rahman Khan and several Cabinet ministers were in attendance. Ms Gandhi also distributed tricycles to the handicapped and launched All-India Congress Committee’s (AICC’s) website in Urdu — both at her official residence at 10 Janpath. In other functions organised to mark the occasion, Ms Gandhi inaugurated a new building of the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) at Rouse Avenue here and attended a dental camp organised at the AICC headquarters at 24 Akbar Road. She also attended a couple of functions organised by SC/ST organisations, besides the Rajiv Gandhi National Sadbhavana Award function. Noted Gandhian Nirmala Deshpande received this year’s award presented by former Chief Justice of India A M Ahmadi. — UNI MUMBAI: Rich tributes were paid to former Prime Minister late Rajiv Gandhi on his 62nd birth anniversary here today. Maharashtra Congress President Prabha Rau, Revenue Minister Narayan Rane, Mumbai suburban district Guardian minister Chandrakant Handore and state unit office bearers were present at the function held at Tilak Bhavan, the state unit headquarters this morning. Free saris were distributed to 500 women on the occasion. Mr Rane, Ms Rau and others recalled the late leader’s contributions to building a modern India and the steps like Panchayati Raj and reservations for women in local bodies. Mr Rane called for the need to strengthen the Congress party at the Centre and in Maharashtra so that a party government at both places will accelerate the realisation of Rajiv Gandhi’s dreams of a modern India. — UNI
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Natwar ‘gatecrashes’ into Rajiv memorial function
Chennai, August 20 Mr Natwar Singh, clad in an impeccable white suit walked on to the stage where Union Minister G.K. Vasan, TNCC president M. Krishnasamy, Congress High Command Tamil Nadu observer Veerappa Moily, Congress Rajya Sabha members Sudharsan Nachiappan, Gnanadesikan, Mrs Yesodha and Peter Alphonse were present. Congress MLAs, Congress Legislature Party leader Sudharshanam, Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) president G.K. Mani MLA, State Local Administration Minister M K.Stalin and others, who were also present on the stage were stunned by the sudden appearance of Mr Singh. The audience was taken aback when PMK president Mani, while addressing the meeting, announced the arrival of Mr Singh. However, Mr Singh went and took a seat in the first row on the dais. As no one came forward to greet him, he showered petals to a decorated portrait of late Rajiv Gandhi and left the venue. TNCC president M. Krishnasamy told UNI that they never invited Mr Singh and added that he came on his own. It was later discovered that Mr Singh, who was here since last night on a private visit, was passing through the venue on Anna Salai when he was told that Rajiv Gandhis birth anniversary celebrations were going on at the ‘Kamarajar Arangam’. Following this, he made a quick decision to visit the function and pay tributes to the late leader. — UNI
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Natwar promises Volcker revelations in book
New Delhi, August 20 “Paul Volcker himself said he made changes in the report to save UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan from embarrassment. Therefore, it is clear that the report was doctored,” Mr Natwar Singh told BBC Hindi in an interview. Mr Natwar Singh was forced to resign as Foreign Minister in November last year following publication of the UN-appointed Volcker committee’s report that named him as a “non-contractual beneficiary” in the scandal. “No government in the world except the Indian Government took any notice of the report. The Indian Government was the only one to have taken notice and acted on the unclear report,” he said. “My name or that of my party did not figure in the first four reports of Volcker. My name was added as late as February 2005 in the fifth report and that too was misspelled as Natora Singh”. “Our missions in the United States did not bother to find out about the report and the names, neither was I informed about this when I visited that country in April 2005, nor in July same year, when I was there with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. “Had we been informed, we would have got this anomaly removed. Now the question is why did the Indian Government decide to act on a report, which was completely trashed in other parts of the world. This I would reveal in my new book that I am going to write soon”, Mr Natwar Singh said.
— IANS
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Nitish consolidates position
Patna, August 20 The suspensions of two party MLAs in past three days, Chedi Paswan and Sunil Pandey, on charges of indiscipline bore eloquent testimony to this. While Chedi Paswan was suspended on Thursday for criticising the party leadership on the issue of lathicharge on teachers during an agitation last month in Patna. Sunil Pandey was suspended on Saturday following his open challenge to the Nitish government in the wake of the recent arrest of Anandmohan—another “bahubali” party leader from Patna — last month. Pandey, a history sheeter, expressed anger when the police used force to arrest Anandmohan stating that he would shot the SSP, Mr Kundan Krishnan, if he behaved with him in such manner. This was preceded by his drunken brawl in a city hotel where he had threatened to shoot a member of the electronic media for filming his “misconduct.” The criminal-turned-politician Pandey subsequently expressed his dissatisfaction over the functioning of the Nitish government and criticised the growing influence of bureaucracy. The JD (U) leadership finally took serious offence when Sunil Pandey and Chedi Paswan reportedly tried to gang up with some other “bahubali” politicians last month against Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in a bid to show their strength.
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Centre aware of militant activities: Pranab
Kolkata, August 20 But it was not possible for them to solve the problem overnight just like “switching off the electricity”, he remarked. For stopping cross-border terrorism, the Defence Ministry and the Home Department had been taking a joint move by deploying forces on the border. He said the states had been already alerted against the infiltration of Pakistani-based terrorists, who had built bases in certain parts of the country. He reiterated that the country’s peace talks would not succeed unless the terrorism in Kashmir from across Pakistan was not stopped. Mr Mukherjee was speaking at a function on the occasion of the late Rajiv Gandhi’s 62 birth anniversary. Referring to the recent arrest of two LeT militants on the Indo-Bangla border, he said it had been proved once again that terrorists had set up their camps in Bangladesh, which the government there should dismantle forthwith.
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Organiser goes soft on Advani, ignores Vajpayee
New Delhi, August 20 Advani, who stepped down as BJP chief seven months ago over his row with the RSS for his comments last year on Pakistan’s founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah, has appeared in the RSS documentary as a commentator on Sangh ideology in what is being seen as a reconciliation move between the former Deputy Prime Minister and the Sangh. In its latest issue, the Organiser carried several pictures of Advani from the August 15 screening of Karamyogiv, the 90-minute documentary on Golwalkar. The film showed in its end messages of homage to Golwalkar from Vajpayee, then President V. V. Giri, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and Lok Sabha Speaker G. S. Dhillon, reads an article in the RSS mouthpiece on the screening of Karamyogiv. But the Sangh organ has made no mention of Vajpayee as it listed out eminent personalities whose homage was screened in Karamyogiv. It shows pictures of Advani sitting besides RSS chief K. S. Sudarshan on the podium in a packed Delhi auditorium, and honouring the film cast and makers. In another article, the weekly quotes Advani as praising the Sangh as the largest nation-building movement of the 20th century. On August 15, no other BJP leader except for former Deputy Prime Minister and Sushma Swaraj, attended the film show alongwith Sudarshan, who last year remarked that both Advani and Vajpayee were too old to lead the party. The Organiser’s latest issue carries only a small picture of Vajpayee in a bottom right corner, where he is shown paying homage at the body of writer Bhanupratap Shukla who died on August 17. — PTI
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Rs 22-cr gold throne for Shirdi Sai Baba soon Mumbai, August 20 The huge throne measuring 325 kilograms in gold will be installed within six months. Bhausaheb Wakchaure, CEO of the trust, said the golden throne would replace the silver throne which was installed six years ago. While around 100 kg of gold donated by devotees would be used for the throne, the trust would buy the remaining from the open market, Mr Wakchaure said. The Sai Baba trust is one of the richest shrines in Maharashtra with annual revenues exceeding Rs 100 crore. The trust has also invested huge amounts in properties and government bonds. However, the authorities say that funds for the throne would be collected from devotees without dipping into the trust funds. The trust has already hired a security firm from Israel run by former Mossad agents to oversee the shrine’s security. Central intelligence agencies had warned the trust about a threat from terrorist outfits. However, the trust decision to spend on the huge throne has come in for criticism from Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray. In a write-up in party mouthpiece Saamna today, he said the money could have been used for welfare purposes. “What kind of devotion is this? This amount could be used to help victims of recent floods, bomb blasts and distressed farmers committing suicide,” Mr Thackeray wrote. He went on to suggest further uses for the money. “It could be used to help families of jawans who sacrifice their lives for the country.”
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SSA has failed to achieve targets: CAG New Delhi, August 20 These children in the age group of 6-14 continue to remain out of school even after four years of the implementation of the SSA and utilisation of almost 86 per cent funds available with the concerned agencies. A recent report of the Comptroller and Auditor General has criticised the SSA for the way it is being managed. Consider this: Out of 3.40 crore children, 40 per cent remain out of school as on March 2005, four years after the implementation of the SSA and after having incurred an expenditure of Rs 11133.57 crore. The budget calendar for financial management and procurement has not been implemented by the Ministry of HRD, which has resulted in delay in finalisation of the annual work plan and budget of the states and release of grants. Funds have been irregularly diverted to activities and scheme, which were beyond the scope of SSA. In 11 states Rs 99.88 crore was spent on items not permitted under SSA and financial irregularities of Rs 472.51 crore have been noticed in 14 states and Union Territories. Taking notice of the irregularities in the scheme, the CAG has recommended that the ministry should ensure the release of funding for SSA through special efforts. "Unless the assessed funding requirements are met substantially and implementation is monitored more effectively, the targets are not likely to be achieved even with the extension of deadline," the CAG notes. Glaring irregularities like releasing funds to the tune of Rs 47.88 lakh to two schools in Jharkhand, which are non-existent, failure to maintain the SSA norm of 1:40 for teacher student ratio, delay in providing text books and inability to meet the basic requirement of at least two rooms with a verandah are mentioned in the CAG's report. The CAG has asked the ministry to examine the principal reasons for non-enrolment in coordination with the state government so as to make enrolment more attractive by devising specific and more focussed sub interventions. It has also asked the ministry to prepare a time-bound and comprehensive infrastructure development plan with targets for converting all the temporary structures and buildingless schools into permanent structures with basic amenities and ensure community participation so that a vigil can be kept on the activities by seeking periodical reports.
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Bismillah’s wish for ‘halwa’ fulfilled
Varanasi, August 20 The former student leader, who is an AICC member, accompanied Union HRD Minister Arjun Singh at the hospital where Khan Sahib is being treated. “On coming to know from Mr Singh about late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s birth anniversary, Khan Sahib wished he could savour the sweetness of ‘halwa’ on the ocassion,” Ms Lamba told UNI here. The young Congress leader immediately rushed to the guest house of the Banaras Hindu University (BHU) and prepared ‘Sooji halwa’ for the music icon. “It was great meeting Khan Sahib, but unforgettable to render the taste of the sweetdish to him from my own hands,” added an awestruck Ms Lamba. Ms Lamba, the former DUSU president, had unsuccessfully contested the 2003 Delhi Assembly elections against Madan Lal Khurana from the Moti Nagar constituency. — UNI
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‘Sweet’ water may cause diseases
Mumbai, August 20 “We are keeping a round-the-clock vigil on all hospitals in the city and suburbs, including peripheral medical institutions, for any case of gastro-enteritis as we have to be prepared for a possible outbreak of water-borne diseases,” S J Damble, Joint Commissioner of the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM), told PTI. “Luckily, so far no case of gastro-enteritis has been reported. The acute cases should have come within four to 10 hours of drinking the water and there is no report of any chronic case.” Thousands of people have thronged Mahim beach since Friday night following reports that sea water there had turned “sweet”. However, the MCGM and Maharashtra Pollution Control Board yesterday said that this was not an unusual phenomenon and cautioned people against drinking the sea water. Despite the official explanations, people collected murky water in bottles and plastic bags to take it home due to their ignorance, Damble said. Children and women drank the “holy” water on the beach. MCGM’s Chief Executive Health Officer J Thanekar said the corporation is yet to receive a bacterial report on the “sweet water”. Quoting officials of the National Institute of Oceanography, Thanekar said, “It could be possible that contamination in the water might have been reduced due to the waters from Mithi river flowing into the mouth of Mahim Bay.” — PTI
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BJP for probe into train fire
Hyderabad, August 20 In a statement here, he said the inquiry should cover all angles, including any involvement of anti-social elements and extremists. The Andhra Pradesh Government should also involve in the probe, he added. Stating
that the incident had created doubts on railway safety, he demanded that
the Railway Ministry allocate more funds for safety and speed up
introduction of fire proof coaches.
— UNI |
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Rains delay train to Pakistan
Jaipur, August 20 “The train was delayed by only five hours as repairing works were on for the section of the track that was damaged due to heavy rains. The train is now on its way to its final destination — Jodhpur,” A.K. Khanna, Divisional Railway Manager at Jodhpur, told IANS on the telephone. Railway officials said the train reached Munabao at around 10.30 on Saturday night but the Customs clearance for about 410 passengers on board was taken up on Sunday morning. However, it could leave Munabao for Barmer only at 1.30 pm — five hours behind schedule — because of the rains. The track between Munabao and Jodhpur was not fit for train movement in the morning, the officials said. The delay led to a shortage of eatables and drinking water for the passengers. “When we came to know about the shortage, the railways provided food packets and drinking water bottles at Barmer for all passengers,” the official said. On Saturday, the first Thar Express operated by Indian Railways crossed the border into Pakistan after a delay of more than six hours at the Munabao station as clearance was awaited from the other side. It was the first train run after India took charge of the service at the end of six months from its launch in February. For the six-month period, the Pakistan Railways had been operating the train service up to the Munabao station in Barmer district in line with the memorandum of understanding signed between the two countries.
— IANS
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Rajasthan flood toll reaches 21
Jaipur, August 20 Eight of the worst-affected districts are Kota, Jhalawar, Sirohi, Pali, Udaipur, Dungarpur, Banswara and Chittorgarh. Pali district has reported the maximum number of nine
casualties. Three members of a family were killed in Bhilwara district due to house collapse. Dungarpur, Banswara, Chittorgarh , Rajsamand and Barmer district have reported one death each. Sihori and Jalore districts have reported two flood related deaths. In Banswara district, a man drowned after being swept away in the flash floods. In Dungarpur district, road traffic in the Dungarpur-Simalwara and Dungarpur- Sagwara roads continue to be disrupted with the collapse of the bridges. Army personnel are repairing the bridges. In Udaipur, the flood situation continues to be grim with about fifty per cent of the city under water. The rivers and dams were in spate due to continuing rain. Army personnel were engaged in relief and rescue operations. Salumber tehsil in Udaipur district has cut off due to over flowing waters from the Jaisamand lake.
— UNI
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Concern over ‘poor’ share of rural areas in housing finance New Delhi, August 20 The committee, in its report submitted to the Parliament on August 3, has cited the data provided by NHB to state that only 10 to 11 per cent of the lending for housing could be made available to rural areas between 2001 and 2005. Calling for a more focused attention to the issues related to institutional finance, it recommended the extension of activities of NHB in the rural sector or setting up a separate NHB for rural areas. The committee said the role played by the public sector banks had also not been to the desired level and people in rural areas continued to be on the mercy of moneylenders. The committee said despite the rural people proving their trustworthiness by repaying their loans honestly, financial institutions were not coming forward to help them. It also rapped the Department of Rural Development for doubting the creditworthiness of the rural poor. Pointing to the wide variation in the rate of interest (7.5 per cent to 11 per cent) being charged by various banks and housing finance companies for loans in rural areas, the committee called for appropriate regulation to ensure low interest for the poor. It said certain institutions were getting the benefit of lower rate of re-finance from institutions like the NHB and NABARD. The committee said the benefits of government grant based scheme were being taken by persons who have land and landless persons, who are the poorest of the poor, were being deprived of benefits of schemes like the Indira Awas Yojana. “Providing land to the landless persons is the biggest challenge to address the problem of shortage of shelter in the country,” it said. Calling for amendments to the Land Acquisition Act, the committee said the process of land acquisition should become easier to facilitate its availability to various state governments for the construction of houses for BPL persons. The committee suggested that the government should explore the possibility of inviting private sector in rural housing with the condition that a certain percentage of houses were provided for BPL category.
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Nirmala Deshpande gets sadbhavana award New Delhi, August 20 The award, carrying a cash prize of Rs 2.5 lakh and a citation, was presented to her at a befitting function organised here on the occasion of the 62nd birth anniversary of the former Prime Minister. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Cabinet ministers, senior Congressmen and many eminent citizens attended the award function. Speakers at the function paid tributes to the late leader while hailing the work of Ms Deshpande. “Rajivji often said that the resurgence of communalism was the greatest challenge to national unity. We must meet the challenge head on and protect our unity,” the Prime Minister said. “Nirmalaji has done this boldly by highlighting the commonalities of our shared heritage. I believe that one of the initiatives she took in this regard was the creation of Sanjhi Virasat, a forum of writers and artists, and the Adhyatma Jagaran Manch, a forum to counter misuse of religion. Through each of these initiatives, Nirmalaji emerged as a brave and sincere exponent of Sadbhavna,” the Prime Minister said. Dr Manmohan Singh said the Sadbhavana award was a celebration of the humanism, modernism, secularism and patriotism of Rajiv Gandhi and Ms Deshpande was a “fitting and worthy recipient” of the award. In her acceptance speech, Ms Deshpande dwelt on the threats to the country’s social fabric and on Gandhiji’s message of non-violence. The message of non-violence was all the more relevant in this age wracked by terrorist violence, she said. She was the 14th
recipient of the award, which has gone in the past to such stalwarts as Mother Teresa, K.R. Narayanan, Ustaad Bismillah Khan and Lata Mangeshkar.
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Close shave for Justice A.N. Ray
Lucknow, August 20 Summoning high-level officials at his residence, Mr Justice Ray gave a piece of his mind to the officials, including the Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister, Mr Anil Kumar; the Principal Secretary, Home, Mr S.K. Agarwal; and the ADG, Mr Padam Singh. Responding to this embarrassing breach in security, the state government last night suspended nine police officials, including the SHO of the Loni Katara police station. A two-member high-level probe has been ordered into the incident. The probe will try to ascertain why the Chief Justice’s motorcade had not been given information about this roadblock on the way. It is expected to submit its report in a week’s time. Mr Justice Ray had a narrow escape though his car was badly damaged. He was on his way to Varanasi from Lucknow. The incident occurred at Bhilwal village. Justice Ray’s car became the target of angry villagers, who blocked the Lucknow-Sultanpur highway to protest the alleged police high-handedness in a land grab case. Even the police was beaten up and their vehicles set on fire and the crowd could be controlled only after when several rounds were fired into the air.
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Lanka crisis: India offers formula
New Delhi, August 20 India has offered a devolution formula, based on the Sarkaria Commission’s recommendations, which could take care of the interests and aspirations of all sections of the society of the island nation, official sources told PTI here. New Delhi has suggested that Sri Lanka look at the Indian model of governance, where there is a clear-cut distribution of power between the Centre and the states, they said. In this context, a copy of the Sarkaria Commission report, which has an elaborate definition of the devolution of powers, has been given to the Sri Lankan government. New Delhi has also conveyed its readiness to provide constitutional experts to help Colombo reframe the national Constitution. Other kinds of political help is also on offer. The offer comes in the midst of increasing demands here that India should do something to help end the two-decade-old conflict in Sri Lanka, which is again becoming bloody after a brief lull.
— PTI
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CM well aware of my visit to Lanka: Vaiko
Chennai, August 20 Joining issue with Mr Karunanidhi, he said the DMK chief was well aware of his (Vaiko’s) trip to Vavuniya even before his meeting with the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in New Delhi on February 8, 1989. Accusing Mr Karunanidhi of adopting double standards on the Eelam Tamils issue, Mr Vaiko, a staunch supporter of the LTTE, said before the elections in 1989, the DMK chief had called for complete halt of the IPKF operations in Sri Lanka. However, after winning the elections and becoming Chief Minister, he insisted the LTTE representatives in Tamil Nadu that the outfit should lay down arms.
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Criminal turned noble man
Patna, August 20 Daya Sagar has now taken to the noble profession of teaching and runs a teaching centre in Nalanda, the home district of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. According to the district officials, after spending four years behind bars Shyam Narayan (bandit) has turned into Daya Sagar (Balmiki). The transformation had begun in the jail itself where Daya Sagar used to educate nearly 300-400 prisoners. Before taking up teaching as a profession, Daya Sagar had educated himself and mastered Urdu, Hindi and Bangla. It was at the age of 14 when Daya Sagar had committed his first crime. In his confession, reportedly made to the jail officials, he said he felt remorse for his past criminal activities and wanted to start life afresh after coming out of jail. After taking recourse to teaching to repent and subsequently enlighten his fellow prisoners, he continued the said journey after being released from the jail. In his bid to change the quality of life of his fellow villagers through teaching, Daya Sagar now depends largely on the donations for which he virtually begs from door to door. But Daya Sagar's experience of people favouring his good cause is not encouraging. By his own admission to a senior district official, the society was "more prompt" to give money to a pistol-totting Shyam Narayan, once known as an abductor and a killer, than to Daya Sagar who now has given up the gun for the pen. |
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Sultanpur, August 20 Five persons were also seriously injured in the incident. Police said the uncontrolled flour- laden truck, which was coming from Lucknow crushed 12 persons who were sleeping on the side of the road near Mussafirkhana area under Amethi Lok Sabha constituency. The truck driver was arrested and the vehicle had been seized by the police. The deceased have been identified as Ram Anjor (60), Ramchandra (45), Gudiya (7), Ramadevi (40), Rajesh Kumar (13), Kedarnath(60), Kewela Devi (51) and Sonali (8). The injured—Sunita, Priti, Dharmendra, Ravi and Anup—have been admitted to the district hospital in critical condition. Meanwhile, AICC president Sonia Gandhi and local MP Rahul Gandhi have expressed grief over the death of eight persons in the accident. — UNI
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10 die in AP bus mishap Tirupati, August 20 The police said the mishap occurred when the ill-fated bus — carrying 55 passengers — which was proceeding to Tirupati from Koyembedu Bus Station in Chennai, collided with a lorry loaded with iron-ore going to Chennai from Renigunta. Of the 10 persons killed on the spot, five belonged to one family.
— UNI
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One dies after falling from train Guna, August 20 Anil Jain and his wife Rita intended to go to Gwalior but wrongly boarded the Bhind-Kota Passenger train. The couple alighted from the running train and got hurt seriously. Anil died on the spot, while his wife was admitted to hospital.
— UNI
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Varanasi, August 20 Police said here that Irfan, working for PP Gang was arrested from the Englishia Line area under the Sigra police station, following a tip off. A countrymade revolver, cartridges and 20 gm smack were seized from his possession. On interrogation, Irfan admitted to committing many contract killings for the PP Gang, including the murder of Haldwani-based businessman Pankaj Khandelwal in Nainital on January 23 last for Rs 2 lakh paid by the businessman’s brother to the PP Gang, police added. Further investigations were on. — UNI |
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