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PM arrives in Philippines
No truth in impropriety charges on Jain: CJI
Death sentence: Old and new CJIs hold different views
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LJP demands review of SC judgement on 9th Schedule
Clip on Gandhi: Show-cause notice to channels
Nandigram, Singur no blunder: Yechury
Kalam extends greetings
Three Mushar girls barred from entering school
BMC polls: Cong, NCP to go it alone
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PM arrives in Philippines
Cebu (Philippines), January 13 The Manmohan-Wen meeting on the sidelines of ASEAN summit assumes significance as the next round of Sino-Indian Special Representative (SR)-level talks aimed at resolving the boundary dispute are slated be held in New Delhi on January 17-18. The Chinese SR, Vice-Foreign Minister Dai Bingguo, is scheduled to reach New Delhi on
January 16. Dr Manmohan Singh, who arrived here this evening, is having only two more bilateral meetings tomorrow on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit, apart from Mr Wen -- Philippines President Gloria Arroyo and Vietnam Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung. The Prime Minister is here primarily to attend the fifth India-ASEAN Summit and the Second East Asia Summit. National Security Advisor M K Narayanan, who is the Indian counterpart to Mr Dai at the SR-level boundary talks, said India and China had made steady progress and were committed to resolving their boundary dispute within the framework of Guiding Principles and Political Parameters the two countries had agreed to. On the issue of Indian efforts to get a nod from the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers' Group (NSG) for the Indo-US nuclear deal,Mr Narayanan said during his recent visit to Russia, Moscow had assured to persuade the NSG member countries to give India an exception. Mr Narayanan had just returned from Russia, which is a late entrant to the NSG. Mr Narayanan pointed out that India was making all efforts to get the NSG nod on Indo-US nuclear deal and Special Envoy Shyam Saran was engaged in this exercise. However, he reminded that there could be a problem if even one member country were to be against the nuclear deal because the NSG works by consensus.
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PM to visit Assam on
Jan 16
New Delhi, January 13 Dr Manmohan Singh, who will be returning on Monday, will stop over in Kolkata where he will spend the night, according to the Prime Minister’s media adviser Sanjaya Baru. During his day-long visit to Assam on January 16, the Prime Minister will meet the affected families and hold talks with the state government and Army officials. Just before emplaning for the Phillipines, the Prime Minister said india would be seeking its engagements in South-East Asia even as Asean would consider new initiatives to accelerate the process of economic cooperation in the region. He said the India-Asean Free Trade Agreement (FTA) was an important initiative to promote greater economic synergy. “I shall use this opportunity to explore steps that both sides can take to hasten the conclusion of this important agreement,” the Prime Minister observed in his department statement. He said the East-Asia Summit agenda included energy security, stability of the regional financial system, mitigating natural disasters, environment and other subjects of common interest that could only be tackled effectively within a broad inclusive framework.
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No truth in impropriety charges on Jain: CJI
New Delhi, January 13 The Supreme Court Collegium was unanimous in recommending his name, including his successor Mr Justice K G Balakrishnan, Mr Justice Sabharwal said in an interaction with media a day before demitting office tomorrow. Justice Sabharwal made the clarification when his attention was drawn to media reports about President seeking certain clarification about Justice Jain’s prior to clearing his appointment. Chief Justice-designate Balakrishnan, in a separate interaction, later said any communication between two constitutional authorities on issues like this was not the subject matter of public debate and neither did it fall under the purview of Right to Information Act. He preferred no further comments on the issue. In an elaborate clarification, CJI Sabharwal said that the allegations about Justice Jain favouring one Mr Hari Ram, who incidentally is the father-in-law of former Supreme Court Judge Arun Kumar, in a property dispute case was not (not) true as when the case came before him he was not even aware this was the same Hari Ram. Their acquaintance dated back to 2004 when on the request of Justice Arun Kumar, who then was Delhi High Court Judge, Justice Jain had provided the lawn of his official residence for marriage of Mr Hari Ram’s granddaughter. It is customary in the High Court to make extend such help to relatives and friends of colleague judges. He said even the judgement in the property dispute case decided by Justice Jain has not been challenged in an appeal. “Justice Jain has been a judge for past 13-14 years and in the entire period there was only this one complaint against him… a judge is not suppose to know the name of every litigant when a case comes to him. No body also brought this to his notice that he knew Mr Hari Ram and no body asked him to withdraw from the Bench.. A Judge is not supposed to know the names of every litigant. He did not know whether this gentleman was the same Hari Ram,” He said. “This was taken up by some members of the bar… otherwise in 14 years you find nothing against him. I have put everything to the Government,” MR Justice Sabharwal said, explaining that his making this clarification might redeem some of the damage caused. He said that Justice Jain was entitled to be considered for appointment as Chief Justice of the High Court on the basis of his seniority. Similarly, he said a report was sought by him regarding Justice Bhalla about the allegations of his wife purchasing some land on reduced market rates and the allegations were found to be wrong. Even 10 senior advocate, most of whom had been Advocate Generals in U P at one time or the other and had affiliations to different political parties had came up with a representation that whatever had been published in media was not factually correct about him. He cautioned the media of check their facts clearly when they write anything about judges as they did not have a forum to rebut the allegations if they were incorrect, but at the same time he would like corruption to be exposed in any filed, including the judiciary. Otherwise any unfounded allegations would cause great damage to the judiciary which would not auger well for the institution in which people have great faith, he said.
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Death sentence: Old and new CJIs hold different views
New Delhi, January 13 As long as the provision of capital punishment was there in the statute book, the courts have to award it in the rarest of the rare cases and the personal opinion of a judge even if was against it was immaterial, he said. Making it clear that he was not saying it in the context of Afzal’s case, Justice Sabharwal said though he himself like President A P J Abdul Kalam was personally against the death sentence, but the personal views would not mean anything before the law. However, Justice Balakrishnan, who will take over as the new CJI, refused to comment on the issue of capital punishment saying he would not like to say anything on the issues which he would be deciding as a judge. Both of them denied of any serious friction of judiciary with legislature and executive and preferred healthy criticism of court orders, which should not be seen as a confrontation with other two wings of the government as the Supreme Court has been empowered to decide any issue including those relating to politics. Justice Sabharwal criticised bar associations passing resolutions not to provide legal assistance to the accused in cases like Srinagar sex scandle and Nithari killings, and said an accused has every right of defence and legal aid as he is deemed to be innocent till proven guilty. Both of them, in separate media interactions, expressed concern over the delay in justice delivery system and favoured strengthening it with time bound trials, especially of cases involving the high and mighty and emphasised on recording of statements of witnesses by magistrates to overcome the problem of their turning hostile. Justice Sabharwal said he was satisfied with the steps taken by him to improve upon the criminal justice system and hoped that the his successor Justice Balakrishnan would carry them further as he was conscious of the urgent need and steps to be taken.
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LJP demands review of SC judgement on 9th Schedule
New Delhi, January 13 The Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) today demanded the review of the Supreme Court judgement stating that laws placed under the Ninth Schedule were open to judicial review and wanted that, if necessary, the government should bring a constitutional amendment in this regard. “The government should get the nine-member Bench judgement of the Supreme Court thoroughly studied. The judgement should be reviewed by a 13-member Bench of the Supreme Court, headed by the Chief Justice of India, to protect the benefits given to the poor, weaker section, Dalits and Adivasis through various Acts included in the Ninth Schedule,” LJP national secretary S.N. Singh said in a statement. Stating that the judgement, if implemented, would have negative repercussions on the social fabric of the country, he said if necessary the government should bring a constitutional amendment for the purpose. The CPI, reacting to the verdict, said this was “a matter which only the legislature, which represents the will of the people, can decide upon.” It said the Schedule was a safeguard for giving a legal backup to decisions on matters concerning social justice and economic reforms as per the requirements of the society.
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Clip on Gandhi: Show-cause notice to channels New Delhi, January 13 Sources in the I& B Ministry said IBN 7 and Sahara had been asked to explain their position on the issue by noon on Monday. The notice comes a day after formal expression of displeasure by none other than the I&B Minister Priyaranajan Dasmunsi over airing of the footage picked up from the website YOUTUBE.COM by IBN 7 and Sahara news channels. Dasmunsi said it tantamounted to an assault on the dignity of the father of the nation. Dasmunsi told TNS today that they were awaiting a reply from the respondents. He said the further course of action would be decided after the ministry got a reply from the channels. Hinting at stern action against the channels in case their replies were found unsatisfactory, sources said this would mean prohibition of their telecast. Losing no time in damage control, one of the two channels said they aired the video just to expose how the father of the nation was being insulted and their intention was not to denigrate him. Sources in the other channel however said they were not inclined to tendering an apology. The sources said, “We stand by our story and feel that it is valid. We are disturbed if it has offended our viewers but our honest intention was to draw the attention of the government to the clip and urge them to take corrective measures.'' Google Inc, the company that has bought over YOUTUBE, said in a statement, “We take matters such as this seriously and are currently reviewing the clip to determine the best course of action.'' The statement further said such issues were complicated as the Internet was an international phenomenon. “While technology can bring great opportunity and access to information globally, it can also present new and unique cultural challenges.''
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Nithari: Probe panel finds serious lapses
New Delhi, January 13 Women and Child Development Minister Renuka Chowdhury told mediapersons here today that the four member committee headed by Manjula Krishnan, Joint Secretary in her ministry, has found grave police lapses in the matter. She said that the Centre plans to set up a trauma centre and an Anganwadi Kendra in Nithari village in Noida to help people deal with emotional shock caused by the sexual abuse and murder of children and women of their families. Women and Child Development Minister Renuka Chowdhury told mediapersons here that the report of the committee set up by her ministry and the Home Ministry would be submitted on January 17. A copy of the report will be given to the Central Bureau of Investigation for a holistic view of the carnage. ``I am really shocked that incidents like Nithari can happen. Imagine children going for toffees and sweets and being killed in cold blood, '' Chowdhury said. Manjula Krishnan told TNS here that the committee hopes to present a two page report by January 18. Asked if the committee has inferred lapses on the part of the police in the case, Krishnan said, ``We have met family members of the victims, district administration and the police in the last ten days. We will submit a factual report. We are not here to point a finger at anybody but if there are lapses, we will certainly put it on paper.''
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Nandigram, Singur no blunder: Yechury
New Delhi, January 13 Yechuri insisted that the state government had not issued any notice for land acquisition in Nandigram and that the Haldia Development Authority (HDA) had only issued “some instruction” but not an actual notification for land acquisition. The HDA did not have the mandate to issue a notice for land acquisition. “The question of land acquisition is a right which the state government has. Any other authority that may issue any other orders is absolutely out of its mandate.” Yechuri rejected Trinamool Congress leader Mamta Banerjee’s allegations that farmers in Singur were forced to give their land for Tata Motors’ small car project.
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Kalam extends greetings
New Delhi, January 13 In his message the President said, “on the occasion of Makara Sankranti and
Pongal, I extend my greetings and felicitations to all my fellow citizens and wish them happiness and prosperity”. “Makara Sankranti and Pongal are symbolic of happiness of our people for coming harvest seasons. May these festivals which represent India’s emotional unity continue to drive our people to work for the progress of the nation,” he said.
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Three Mushar girls barred from entering school
Patna, January 13 The story of Phul Kumari, Laljhar Kumari and Soni, all Mushar girls, is a grim pointer to how caste still acts as a barrier in Bihar in facilitating social amalgamation. The development perhaps also suggests that despite the honest efforts by Mr. Kumar, the brand "new Bihar" will continue to elude unless the mindset of the people is changed. The Mushar community in Bihar is being considered the poorest of the poor. They are also popularly known as rat-eaters. The aforesaid three Mushar girls were barred from entering the classroom of a government aided school at Phulwari Sharif in Bihar. The reason: There was pungent smell from their body and they were dirty. The three Mushar girls read till class VI and dreamt to continue their studies to become either doctor, lawyer or teacher to rewrite their fate.They were fighting against all odds amid poverty to pursue their dreams. But the teacher Shakuntala Devi, reportedly was not in a mood to extend her helping hand to these girls. Instead they were shown the doors. She then persuaded the concerned authorities to shift the school from the Mushar toli of Phulwari Sharif to another locality inhabitated by so-called "clean citizens". Initially, the school was located in the Janipur area of Sorompur-Mushar mohalla. The logic behind the move was that the prevailing dirty environment, consisting of dingy bylanes, in the Mushar toli was not healthy for the school to run. And once the school was shifted to another locality, Ms. Shakuntala Devi again prevented the entry of these three girls to that school too. Talking to The Tribune, one of the girls Soni said the teacher was adamant about not allowing them to enter the classrooms because of their dirty "clothes" and " running noses ". Soni said, " Where from we will afford clean clothes? Our parents are not even in a position to arrange two square meals for us a day."
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BMC polls: Cong, NCP to go it alone
Mumbai, January 13 Throughout the day leaders of both parties made a last ditch effort to sew up an alliance but failed as the talks deadlocked over a few seats. The last straw was when the NCP demanded the ward held by Congress’ Rajbir Singh, leader of the Opposition in the BMC. The Congress refused and the NCP walked out. While the NCP initially demanded 75 seats, its leaders scaled down the demand to about 60 seats. But with the parties unable to agree on who gets what seat, talks failed. Both parties declared they would now contest all 227 BMC seats. On the other hand, the Shiv Sena and the BJP have stitched up an alliance. The Sena-BJP alliance has controlled the BMC since 1982. Last time too the Congress-NCP talks failed and the parties barely managed to win.
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Maoists kill ZP member Immolation by polio-hit girl Flight diverted
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