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India, UK to discuss climate change, technology
Three killed in police firing
Hijack Threat |
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Conscription not a solution: Antony
From TDP, with Love
AI rejects Bihar’s publicity material
Swiss tourist raped in Pushkar
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India, UK to discuss climate change, technology
New Delhi, January 19 The objective is to share experiences and best practices as well as identify potential collaborations between Indian and UK businesses in this area. Science and technology minister Kapil Sibal, UK minister of state for trade and investment, Digby Jones and UK minister of earth sciences, Richard Lambert, will address the round table, which is being held as part of the India-UK Summit 2008 (January 20-21). Sunil Bharati Mittal, president, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and chief of the Confederation of British Industry will be the other speakers. On January 22-23, a two-day international workshop on carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS) in the Indian power sector will be held. CCS has the potential to enable the generation of low carbon electricity from fossil fuels. CCS is a type of Carbon Abatement Technology (CAT) in which the carbon in fossil fuels is captured (as CO2) either before or after combustion and committed to long-term storage in geological formations such as depleted oil and gas fields. The UK is demonstrating global leadership by being the first country in the world to support a commercial-scale CCS project using post-combustion capture on a coal-fired power station. The workshop, which will be attended by ministers from both sides, is sponsored by the UK Department for Environment and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the British High Commission and is being held in partnership with the Department of Science and Technology (ministry of science and technology) and the Planning Commission.
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Kahalgaon, January 19 Mohd. Khairo (18) was killed and another person identified as Mohd. Aslam was injured when the police opened fire on a crowd that had set ablaze a hospital and attacked the police with stones in the Pathanpura locality of Kahalgaon town, official sources said. A student Sumit Kumar was killed in the police firing yesterday while another, who was injured, succumbed during treatment today. In Patna, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today announced a judicial probe into the firing and other incidents at Kahalgaon and ordered suspension of SDO S. N. Srivastava and deputy SP B. N. Jha. Earlier, principal home secretary Afzal Amanullah, who along with additional director-general of police (headquarters) Abhayanand visited the troubled town, told a gathering of protesters that Dy SP, SDO, block development officer and officer in-charge of the local police station had been transferred. A spokesman for the chief minister’s office told PTI that the officer in-charge of Kahalgaon police station and BDO had not been suspended. He said the Law Department would send a proposal to the state government after which the name of the judge would be finalised in consultation with the Patna High Court. Amanullah also announced release of 60-odd persons arrested during the protests, an ex-gratia payment of Rs 1 lakh to the next of kin of the deceased and treatment at the state’s expenses of those injured. Thousands of people protested against the firing and set ablaze the hospital, an ambulance and chief medical officer’s jeep. They also attacked the police when they tried to stop them. An undeclared bandh was observed with shops and business establishments, offices and educational institutions closed. Though clashes have stopped now, contingents of Rapid Action Force, Special Auxiliary Police comprising ex-servicemen and District Armed Police are maintaining a tight vigil, official sources said. — PTI
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Hijack Threat
Guwahati, January 19 According to a police source here, intelligence agencies alerted that the proscribed United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) had drawn up a sinister design in its Bangladesh base to hijack a passenger aircraft from any of the airports in the North-East. The militant group had assigned the task to a special team of ultras. There are nine operating airports, including Gopinath Bardoloi International Airport in Guwahati, in northeastern states out of which five are located in Assam. A few smaller airports, in Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh, are for running regular passenger helicopter services. Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel are responsible for security inside all these airports in the North-East while the state police and other security agencies man areas outside these airports. The international airport in Guwahati is the busiest airport in the region with about 60 flights landing here in a week. The CISF had already augmented security cover in and around Guwahati airport that was frequented by VVIPs, in the wake of an alert sounded by intelligence agencies. Security agencies were concerned over lack of proper security infrastructure in some of the smaller airports in the region. A few of them were not equipped with proper boundary wall, making it vulnerable for infiltration by militants. Sometimes X-Ray machines installed in smaller airports did not function
properly.
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Conscription not a solution: Antony
New Delhi, January 19 While minister of state for defence M.M. Pallam Raju said yesterday that there were no plans for compulsory military service, defence minister A.K. Antony further sealed the matter beyond doubt today. Talking on the sidelines of his visit to the Republic Day NCC camp here Antony said, “conscription is not a solution,” adding that there was instead a need to make jobs in armed forces more attractive. Terming the suggestion of the Chief of Army Staff as a “passing remark”, Antony said, “we have considered this (conscription) but Indian conditions are not suitable and government is not for that ... there is no proposal from the government.” Raju said the government had no immediate plans for conscription and denied that it was seized of the issue at the moment in view of acute shortage of young men opting for military officers’ training through the combined defence services examinations. Gen Kapoor had recently said conscription could be one of the ways to meet the shortage of officers in the armed forces. The Army had a shortage of 11,238 officers in an authorised strength of 46,615. The defence minister on the other said the important thing was to give the forces more facilities. “Most of the soldiers stay away from their families. They have a whole lot of problems. Better pay packets and other facilities will make an armed forces career more attractive,” he
said.
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From TDP, with Love
Hyderabad, January 19 The opposition party bought a swank Tata Safari for Rs 10 lakh and spent another Rs 20 lakh on bullet-proofing and mine-proofing it, a gesture apparently aimed at putting pressure on the government to replace Naidu’s entire convoy of eight ageing Ambassador cars with new vehicles. Naidu, who had escaped an assassination bid by Naxalites on October 1, 2003 when he was Chief Minister, has a Z plus category security cover. His convoy comprises eight cars, including two bullet-proof ones meant for his travel and a vehicle fitted with a jammer that can neutralise any remote control device in the vicinity. As the old and rickety vehicles being used by him raised security concerns, the TDP had written to the government to replace them with new bullet-proof vehicles. Party sources alleged that the government had deliberately ignored the plea, though it had recently procured 20 bullet-proof Scorpio vehicles meant for VIP security. The officials, however, said Naidu was offered one such vehicle but he declined it. The TDP, instead, wanted the entire convoy to be replaced. Naidu’s security personnel experienced anxious moments on a couple of occasions recently when the ageing cars in his convoy broke down in the middle of the road, exposing him to security risk. Security experts say the newly-acquired Tata Safari could become an easy target for militants as it stands out prominently in a convoy of Ambassador Cars. “We want all the vehicles to be replaced with new ones,” a TDP leader said.
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AI rejects Bihar’s publicity material
Patna, January 19 The move was part of a deal offered by Air India to brand one of its aircraft - a Boeing 747- "Bihar" after it had decided sometime back to name its new fleet after different states of the country to help each state develop and promote itself on the aircraft named after it. Sources disclosed that the publicity material designed by the officials of the Bihar government included a four-page glossy pamphlet on Bihar and its ancient glory and was to be kept in the flap of every seat of the aircraft. The Nitish government had agreed to avail this offer as part of its aggressive marketing strategy to project Bihar’s rich cultural heritage in the international market and attract foreign tourists. The deal will reportedly cost the state Rs 40 lakh a year, but the Nitish government feels it is worth the cost. The state government has now entrusted the task to a private firm. The fresh material will be resent to AI by this month end.
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Swiss tourist raped in Pushkar
Puskhar, January 19 Nanuram Rawat, the proprietor of Hotel Nanu Garden, was arrested today and the woman has been sent for a medical examination, Anand Srivastava, superintendent of police, Ajmer, said. He said the Swiss tourist came to his office and lodged a complaint that she was sexually assaulted by the owner of the hotel where she was staying. Following her complaint, an FIR was registered under Section 376 (rape) of IPC and a police team was sent to arrest Rawat, the SP said. The alleged rape comes exactly 10 days after a guest house owner here was arrested on the charge of raping a 40-year-old British freelance journalist and a priest's relative held for allegedly molesting an American woman tourist in Udaipur. This is the third incident of rape of a foreign tourist in this town in less than a year. The city is famous for the Brahmsarovar, Lord Brahma temple and the livestock fair. — PTI
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