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BJP against quota for Muslims, Christians
Students get lessons on Nitish government
SC declines stay in Bofors case
Kuwaiti plane strays course
UP poll: workers give feedback to Rahul |
SHOOTING AT VARANASI
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Rly tickets now at petrol pumps
Disclose marks of prelims, UPSC told
Most foreign scholars in US are Indians
Top French honour for Lata
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BJP against quota for Muslims, Christians
New Delhi, November 13 In a written statement, he said, “The recent attempt to introduce communal reservation for Muslims and Christians under the disguise of the Veerappa Moiley Committee recommendations is a shameful attempt to propagate communal reservation despite a categorical rejection by the court in connection with the Andhra Pradesh Government’s decision to provide reservation to minorities.” He said both communities figured as OBCs and the BJP was in favour of extending all help to the minorities, but providing reservation to a person merely because he was a follower of a particular religion was contrary to the spirit of the Constitution and also detrimental to the social fabric of India. Accusing the UPA of suffering from the obsession of “minoritism”, he said the Congress was not prepared to learn from its past historical blunder of providing legislative reservation to Muslims at the Lucknow Congress session in 1916 that eventually led to the partition of the country. The Congress, he said, was now putting itself in the shoes of the Muslim League. Since the Partition happened on the basis of religion, the Constitution makers had abandoned the idea of granting reservation on that base. In its eagerness to win minority votes, the Congress would not mind Balkanising the country, he alleged. The party should desist from its anti-Constitutional, divisive agenda fomenting religious animosity, he added.
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Students get lessons on Nitish government
Patna, November 13 Apparently after exhausting its ammunitions by propagating its works through newspapers and hoardings in recent past, the ruling NDA in Bihar targets schoolteachers to propagate its achievements of one-year rule among children in the state. A case in the point is G.A.High School in Vaishali district where children are learning to praise Nitish government and subsequently denouce 15 years of the Lalu-Rabri rule. The move by the Nitish government comes close on the heels of the reported plan by the Congress to open its own version of primary schools as an alternative to the RSS-run Saraswati Shishu Mandir with a special focus on the tribal belt. The purpose is obviously to counter the Sangh ideology with Gandhian values. Following the propagation by the ruling NDA, students in the schools are being taught that while ministers of the RJD government did not attend their office, ministers under the new regime are spending 12 hours in the Secretariat. The students are also being taught that while kidnappers used to have direct contact with ministers during the RJD regime, they do not have any access to the new government. And the list goes unending. Education Minister Brishen Patel, however, finds nothing wrong with this.
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SC declines stay in Bofors case New Delhi, November 13 The court had already admitted the petitions of the two advocates - Mr Ajay Agrawal and Mr Raj Kumar Pandey - against the high court judgement of May 31, 2005, discharging Mr G.P. Hinduja, Mr S.P. Hinduja and Mr P.P. Hinduja in the case. A Bench of Mr Justice H.K. Sema and Mr Justice P.K. Balasubramanyan told the lawyers that their petitions against the high court judgement had already been admitted and there was no fresh reasons to grant the stay. Since the CBI had not filed any appeal against the high court order, the two lawyers had taken upon themselves the responsibility to challenge it, alleging that the Law Ministry had “deliberately” not given permission to the prosecuting agency to file the appeal. They had also raised the issue of the CBI allowing the de-freeze of the London bank account of Italian businessman Ottavio Quattorochi last year
by sending Additional Solicitor-General B. Dutta to make a submission to this effect to the authorities there. When the court had questioned the CBI action, the agency had merely said Quattorochi had withdrawn the money from the said account immediately after lifting of the freeze. The two lawyers had sought stay on the high court verdict while seeking early hearing of their
petitions.
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Kuwaiti plane strays course
New Delhi, November 13 However, the aircraft but was brought back to course immediately. The Delhi-Kuwait flight took off in the direction of Qutab Minar at 6.15 am from the Indira Gandhi International airport and was heading towards Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s residence before it was intercepted. The mistake from the pilot apparently occurred when the Air Traffic Control (ATC) directed the pilot to turn right and chart a course towards Kuwait. Instead the pilot turned left towards the protected zone. As soon as the plane took the wrong turn, the Special Protection Group (SPG) and the ATC noticed the deviation. After which the pilot was told to correct its course and take another left. In the process, the aircraft flew past the south side of the Prime Minister’s residence. The pilot apologised saying it was a mistake. Even the Kuwait Airways tendered an apology. “It was a simple mistake on the part of the pilot. We are looking into the matter and will see what needs to be done,” an official of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation said here about the incident. Sources in the government, however, say that an inquiry has been ordered and a letter has been sent to the airlines to explain the lapse. As a result of the lapse, a meeting of the National Crises Management Committee was also called in the afternoon to review the breach of security but was later cancelled.
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UP poll: workers give feedback to Rahul New Delhi, November 13 Away from the prying eyes of the media and obsequious Congress cadres, the Lok Sabha MP from Amethi has been holding meetings with selected groups of party workers from each Assembly constituency at his house to get a feedback about the electoral prospects in next year’s Assembly poll. This quiet exercise began over a month ago. Today it was the turn of representatives from Kanpur, Lucknow and Mohanlalganj. He has been questioning workers about the constituency profile, caste equations favouring them, the party’s past performance and what needs to be done to improve the Congress position in that particular segment. Since today’s meeting was being held soon after the local elections in Uttar Pradesh, it provided an opportunity to Rahul Gandhi to question the delegations about the party’s performance in the recently-concluded poll. He got a ringside view of the factional battles which beset UP Congress as the Kanpur group launched a blistering attack against Mr Sriprakash Jaiswal, Minister of State for Home and Congress MP from Kanpur, blaming him for the party’s defeat in Kanpur mayoral election. They charged him with backing a candidate with an “anti-minorities” image, which had resulted in the party’s poor showing. While Rahul Gandhi has begun to take a keen interest in the UP elections, there is speculation that he will be given a formal organisational position in the AICC in the soon-to-be announced reshuffle. The party has been clamouring for his induction into the organisation since last January’s AICC session in Hyderabad. He had pleaded for more time, saying that he was still learning.
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Rly tickets now at petrol pumps
New Delhi, November 13 "We had a meeting with top officials of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL). We received positive responses from them," P K Goel, Chairman and Managing Director of Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) told PTI when asked about the proposal. Both HPCL and BPCL have 15,000 petrol pumps across the country and if the plan materialises it would change the way people make train reservations across the country. In order to provide reservation facilities and other information related to trains to the passengers, Mr Goel said, the Indian Railways is also launching call centres throughout the country which will be connected with a single number (139). "We have already given tenders for Service Provider. We have more or less decided with Spanko Tele Services/BSNL to provide services," he said adding that "we will be setting Centres in the North-South, East-West, which would cater to the needs of the people in their respective areas". Two such call centres - one each in Patna and Bangalore - are already operating on trial basis and passengers are utilising them to get information related to their journey including movements of trains and reservation status. The Railways have already tied up with the SBI to install at least 8,000 ATMs at stations across the country which will allow passengers to make reservations or cancel their tickets. A similar arrangement has been made with the Postal Department to extend such facilities to some of the most backward areas in the country. "This would help passengers who have to travel several miles even to book their tickets. They can now book their tickets at a Post-Office nearest to their residence," officials said. Asked how long it would take for the plan to materialise, Mr Goel said "it all depends upon the success of the scheme.... It should go through the test (technically), generate adequate revenue to sustain itself and should be acceptable to the people." However, the IRCTC chief hoped that the process of consultations will be completed by the end of this month and "the scheme could be launched by next month". In order to assimilate technological changes in various fields, the Indian Railways has not only been upgrading its operational facilities but also modernising existing tracks, rolling stocks and wagons, besides passenger amenities, the officials said. "We are upgrading and modernising, in first phase, at least 17 stations across the country including New Delhi, Hubali (Kolkata), Vijayawada, Secunderabad," they said. The Railways have also decided to upgrade with at least 350 stations across the country- five in each of the 69 divisions. These stations will have some of the most modern facilities, including reservation through ATMs and staying facilities for passengers, at Rail Yatri Niwas to be built under public-private partnerships. — PTI
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Disclose marks of prelims, UPSC told
New Delhi, November 13 A full Bench of the CIC asked the UPSC to reveal the cut-off marks in optional papers of the short-listed candidates, who made it to the mains examination. The commission also directed the UPSC to disclose its scaling system saying that it involves large public interest and provides level-playing field to all aspirants.
— PTI
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Most foreign scholars in US are Indians
New Delhi, November 13 While the total number of Indian students had declined slightly this year, the overall students from India remained the largest community of foreign scholars. The number of US students coming to India for studies rose substantially this year,with India entering the top 20th list of destinations for Americans studying abroad for the first time.
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Top French honour for Lata
New Delhi, November 13 Lata has been chosen for the award for her contribution to the world of cinema. The award will be presented to her in Mumbai next month by French Ambassador Dominique Gerard. Satyajit Ray is a previous recipient of the Commander of the Legion of Honour. Last month, Amitabh Bachchan was named winner of the Officer of the Legion of Honour, which he will receive in January.
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Mahant shot dead Assam Rifles’
camp attacked Farmers end life Ganja worth 20 lakh seized
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