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Attack on North Indians
Thackeray backs
Bachchan; Mumbai peaceful
Mumbai calm; 200 Raj men join Shiv Sena
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Bailable warrants against Punjab resident commissioner quashed
Cong wants FM to control inflation
Deora cancels Pak visit
Tackling Terrorism
Rs 396 crore hike in Uttarakhand Plan outlay
ITC to buy waste from residents in Bangalore
Underground Water
RTI comes to aid of Assam students
Promotion fundamental right of employee: SC
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Attack on North Indians
New Delhi, February 6 In a statement issued here, union home minister Shivraj Patil said, “The state government has been asked to see that no individual or group of persons is intimidated, attacked or their properties are targeted and damaged. The state government has been asked to take necessary action against the miscreants indulging in such activities without delay and to provide protection to those who may need it or may be vulnerable.” His statement comes in the wake of attacks on north Indians by the activists of the Maharashtra Navnirman Samiti (MNS) headed by Raj Thackeray. Hoping that the people would not allow the peace and harmony to be disturbed, the Patil said, “Mumbai is the financial and industrial capital of India, built by people of Maharashtra and the citizens of India, coming from all parts of the country.” He added, “People from Maharashtra and all parts of the country are living here and have enjoyed prosperity and faced adversity together. Mumbai has always been a symbol of unity which in no case should be disturbed or allowed to be disturbed and damaged.” “Mumbai, all through its history has drawn people from far and near and its people are well known for their broad-mindedness and hospitality. They should see that this reputation of the city of the state is not allowed to be tarnished in any way,” he said. Meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajashekara Reddy sought protection of Telugu speaking people in Maharashtra in the wake of tension over MNS chief Raj Thackeray’s controversial remarks against non-Maharashtrians. Reddy, who was in Delhi, made this request when he spoke to Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh on phone this morning, an Andhra Pradesh Government spokesperson said.
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Thackeray backs
Bachchan; Mumbai peaceful
Mumbai, February 6 “The allegations are nothing but stupidity”, Thackeray said in a statement, deriding the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief’s allegation that Bachchan always gave priority to Uttar Pradesh over Maharashtra, sparking attacks on North Indians in the city and some parts of the state. “Amitabh is Amitabh. He should ignore such allegations,” 82-year-old Thackeray said. “Amitabh is a family friend. The friendship goes back 40 years during which it has not ever diminished,” Thackeray said. Terming Bachchan as a global superstar who is respected all over the world, the Sena supremo said the actor had always expressed his gratitude to Mumbai and the people for giving him fame. Meanwhile, barring stray incidents of violence, the situation in Mumbai was largely peaceful even as the administration deployed police and paramilitary personnel in different parts of the city. In another development around 200 members of Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) today joined Shiv Sena in presence of Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray. The MNS members, who are fed up with the anti-north Indian stance adopted by Raj, joined the Sena at a function held at Bal Thackeray’s residence Matoshree in suburban Bandra, Sena secretary Vinayak Raut said. Three days after activists of the Samajwadi Party and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena clashed on the streets of Mumbai, north Indian migrants to the city complained of stray attacks on their businesses by unknown persons. The police said a north Indian owner of a cloth shop at Matunga in Central Mumbai, close to the residence of MNS chief Raj Thackeray, was attacked this morning. According to the complaint filed by the shopowner, seven or eight persons entered his shop and scattered the clothes on display before fleeing. In another incident early this morning, unknown persons set two auto-rickshaws on fire. Congress spokesman Sanjay Nirupam alleged that the arson was the handiwork of MNS activists though the police claimed that the identity of the arsonists were yet to be established. Late Tuesday evening, some unknown people attacked an outdoor broadcast van of IBN-7.
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Mumbai calm; 200 Raj men join Shiv Sena
Mumbai, February 6 Meanwhile, around 200 members of Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) today joined Shiv Sena in presence of Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray. The MNS members, who are fed up with the anti-north Indian stance adopted by Raj, joined the Sena at a function held at Bal Thackeray’s residence Matoshree in suburban Bandra, Sena secretary Vinayak Raut said. Three days after activists of the Samajwadi Party and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena clashed on the streets of Mumbai, north Indian migrants to the city complained of stray attacks on their businesses by unknown persons. The police said a north Indian owner of a cloth shop at Matunga in Central Mumbai, close to the residence of MNS chief Raj Thackeray, was attacked this morning. According to the complaint filed by the shopowner, seven or eight persons entered his shop and scattered the clothes on display before fleeing. In another incident early this morning, unknown persons set two auto-rickshaws on fire. Congress spokesman Sanjay Nirupam alleged that the arson was the handiwork of MNS activists though the police claimed that the identity of the arsonists were yet to be established. Late Tuesday evening, some unknown people attacked an outdoor broadcast van of IBN-7. Meanwhile, the police said it was questioning activists of the MNS in different parts of the city for the violence earlier this week. More than 95 persons from both the MNS and the SP were arrested and released on bail. The Shiv Sena, which has been working hard at building an alliance cutting across different communities in Mumbai, has been wary of Raj Thackeray’s attacks on north Indians. Migrants account for more than 35 per cent of Mumbai’s population and account for a big chunk of the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha seats in the city. Under Uddhav Thackeray, the Sena is reaching out to the migrants in order to remain relevant in the city’s politics. Meanwhile, cases have been filed against several MNS leaders and one Shiv Sena MLA, Bala Nandgaonkar. Though affiliated to the Shiv Sena, Nandgaonkar is a close confidant of Raj Thackeray and is considered to be a rebel in the party.
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Bailable warrants against Punjab resident commissioner quashed
New Delhi, February 6 Allowing the petitions of resident commissioner Anjuly Chib Duggal, an IAS officer, Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul took a serious view of the manner in which the MM Vinay Singhal proceeded the entire case. The high court quashed the notices issued to Duggal after her counsel Meet Malhotra argued that it was the “utter abuse of the process of law.” Duggal had moved two separate petitions in the high court, invoking its intervention powers under the Section 482 of the CrPC for quashing the notice issued earlier as well as the bailable warrant order of December 11, 2007. She had raised various legal grounds to challenge the validity of the notice and warrant orders, including questioning the fixation of the liability on an officer of civil administration in a criminal case. The issue arose from a complaint filed by Centurian Bank of Punjab against Gian Singh of Sangrur district in a cheaque bouncing case before the metropolitan magistrate court. When the presence of the accused was not secured by the magistrate through repeated summons and warrants, he issued notice to the Sangrur SSP. The SSP could neither file a summon report and the MM had issued a show cause notice to him to be sent through the resident commissioner, which was to be served through the cabinet secretary. The MM had got the notice, which was issued through SHO of Mukherjee Nagar police station in North Delhi, and Duggal’s counsel Malhotra took serious objection. Malhotra termed the route resorted to by the MM as “precipitated action”, particularly against the resident commissioner, who as a civil officer was in no way responsible for securing the presence of an accused in the court as it was purely a matter between the court and the police. “Civil administration cannot be roped in to secure the presence of an accused in a criminal case. The MM had wrongly and illegally taken recourse to issuing show cause notice and directing the petitioner (Duggal) to appear before him in person,” he said. The high court fully agreed with Malhotra and set aside the MM’s order against the resident commissioner observing that the magistrate should have refrained from using the kind of language he had used in the show cause notice sent through Duggal to the cabinet secretary. Justice Kaul said the courts should follow the required decorum and could not summon officers of the administration handling various important works just to satisfy their ego.
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Cong wants FM to control inflation
New Delhi, February 6 Worried Congress leaders, who gave their suggestions for this year’s budget during a special interaction with Chidambaram, warned that the party would end up paying a heavy electoral price, if the current inflationary trends were not checked. All the 38 leaders and functionaries, who participated in today’s meeting, pointed out that there was a growing public perception that the government had been unable to control the soaring prices of essential commodities. It was pointed that as a government, which had pledged to protect the common man’s interests, the UPA should go out of its way to do so. “We cannot go to the people citing a high growth rate as the government’s achievement... how many people understand this, especially since expenditure is not matching income levels and people are battling high inflation,” a senior Congress leader told the finance minister. Besides expressing their concern on the price front Congress leaders like R.K.Dhawan, V.Narayanswamy, Veerappa Moily, Arjun Sengupta and Rita Joshi Bahuguna said another worrying factor was that despite the huge budgetary allocations made by the Centre for the UPA’s flagship programmes, the benefits were not percolating down to the common man. Although they admitted that the state governments were responsible for the implementation of these programmes, they also wanted the Centre to take corrective steps like stricter monitoring of the implementation of these schemes. With general elections just a year away and 10 Assembly polls coming up this year, the Congress also sought assurances from Chidambaram on loan waiver for farmers, greater emphasis on the agriculture sector and more sops for the party’s core constituency comprising the weaker sections, scheduled castes and tribes, minorities and other marginalised groups. Placing the party’s budgetary wish list before Chidambaram, the AICC general secretaries, CWC members and other Congress functionaries stressed that the budget “should deliver” on creating a popular public perception that the UPA government was serious that the benefits of the country’s high economic growth reached the common man, Veerappa Moily, AICC media department, chairman, told mediapersons. Chidambaram, however, did not say anything but only gave a patient hearing to those who participated in the meeting held at the AICC headquarters. Stating that the high GDP growth should not be restricted to the “upper crust”, the party kept the focus mainly on its core support base and asked for waiver of farm loans for small and marginal farmers, increase in agricultural credit, cheaper and accessible credit for handloom weavers and redesign of the PDS as a food security scheme. The party’s young leaders said since Rahul Gandhi was now heading the Youth Congress and the NSUI, the “hopes and aspirations” of the young generation were on a new high and that the budget should “respond positively” to these by introducing massive schemes for the employment of the youth in urban and rural areas.
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Deora cancels Pak visit
New Delhi, February 6 Deora’s visit was “put off indefinitely”, a diplomatic euphemism for “cancellation”, after an advice from the ministry of external affairs that meaningful talks could be held only when a new government is installed in Pakistan after the February 18 elections. Deora had been invited by his Pakistani counterpart Ahsan Ullah Khan for talks to resolve the transit fee issue plaguing the IPI project. The MEA advice, however, casts no reflection on the state of Indo-Pak relations overall; nor does it torpedo the proposed 1035-km-long Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project. It only pushes the pause button on India-Pakistan talks on the IPI project till a new government takes over in Pakistan. Indian petroleum minister’s visit to Pakistan was meant to pave the way for India-Pakistan-Iran trilateral talks, currently in a limbo. The three countries were in fact going to meet in Tehran on February 12-13 for sealing the project, but now this meeting too will have to be deferred. Deora was scheduled to head a high-powered delegation to Pakistan, comprising petroleum secretary M.S. Srinivasan and chiefs of ONGC, GAIL and Indian Oil Corporation. Only one angle of the India-Pakistan-Iran triangle has so far made progress on the IPI project talks front, Iran-Pakistan, as lot of differences still remain between India and Iran and India and Pakistan on the subject. At recent India-Iran Foreign Office consultations in Tehran, the two sides had covered some distance on the IPI project but a total synergy of thought was still not achieved. Fresh complications have arisen between New Delhi and Tehran over India launching the Israeli military satellite TechSar from Sriharikota on January 21. Iran is peeved over the Indian move and its ambassador here has gone on record conveying his country’s displeasure. “We hope that wise and independent countries should not provide space and technology to countries, who are undertaking spying operations on Iran”, Iranian ambassador to India Seyed Mahdi Nabizadeh told reporters yesterday. He added that Iran had desisted from lodging a formal protest.
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Tackling Terrorism
Jabalpur, February 6 Addressing a rally here which was scheduled to be the launch of his
"Sankalp Yatra", he sought to know from the Prime Minister whether Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru had been given "unofficial clemency" and the number of terrorist modules busted by his government in the last three-and-a-half
years. Advani attacked the Congress saying the unresolved boundary issues with Pakistan and China were the legacy of successive Congress governments and blamed it for virtually all the problems faced by the
country. Advani posed four questions to Manmohan Singh -- whether Afzal Guru had been given unofficial clemency, disclose the progress of investigation in terror attacks since 2004, number of terror modules busted and militants arrested or killed and steps taken to check Bangladeshi infiltration in Assam.
— PTI
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Rs 396 crore hike in Uttarakhand Plan outlay
Dehra Dun, February 6 In a bid to bridge the gap between the outlay and resources, CM asked for enhancing additional central assistance, especially for the Haridwar Maha Kumbh Mela 2010, the SAF Winter Games 2009, economic conservation, plantation, civil aviation, establishment of trauma centers, construction of medical colleges, Doon University and rural drinking water scheme. Despite all constraints, the state had been successful in meeting the target of 6.8 per cent growth in GSDP set up for the 10th Five Year Plan. Referring to the review by the commission that had rated Uttarakhand as best among all states regarding utilisation of the plan funds, Khanduri said the government had introduced various innovative measures in the form of policy, procedures and structural changes, so that outlay allocated to it was fully utilised for the full benefit of the people. He informed that a target of 5194 MW of additional power generation during 11th Five Year Plan had been fixed, which would benefit the whole nation. Besides, the state government was promoting community-owned and operated micro and mini hydro-power projects and water mills. The Chief Minister said the agriculture sector had registered an average annual growth rate of 3.3 per cent during the 10th Five Year Plan. He affirmed that 4 per cent growth rate of GSDP in 11th Five Year Plan was being ensured through various innovative programmes, including development of seed banks, promotion of organic farming, emphasising agri-diversification, promotion of traditional crops, revamping of farm research apparatus, encouraging PPP projects for agro-processing and development of horticulture.
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Fog disrupts flights again
Mumbai records 9.4°
C New Delhi, February 6 Mumbai, in Maharashtra, touched the lowest in the last 58 years at 9.4°
C. At Colaba, the minimum was 13° C. The cold weather continued in Nashik with the minimum temperature recorded at 6.2° C. In
Pune, it was 8.4° C and in Aurangabad it was 13° C.
— UNI
New Delhi, February 6 According to airport officials, the safeguard procedures were adopted around 5.30 a.m., when the runway visual range
(RVR) fell below 1,000 metres allowing the use of only single runway. The RVR further fell at about 9 am to 100 metres allowing only CAT-III B compliant aircraft to take off. The use of single runaway was restricted for more than five hours leading to delays, cancellations and diversion of both domestic and international flights. Flight operations limped back to normal around 11.05 a.m but by then thousands of passengers were a harried lot stranded at the airport with no information about when their flights would eventually take off after the long delay. The officials said during the safeguard procedures, only 39 domestic and international flights could operate from the airport. Five international flights were diverted to
Ahmedabad, Mumbai and Karachi, and 13 Delhi-bound domestic flights were diverted to
Jaipur, Mumbai and nearby airports. Jet Airways' four flights to Leh, Srinagar and Jammu and two Kingfisher flights bound for Agra and Srinagar were cancelled. Two flights to Srinagar - one each of SpiceJet and Indian - were also cancelled. The officials said that a few flights of other domestic airlines were also cancelled.As a result of the fog almost all morning flights were affected. Nearly 150 flights of Kingfisher, Jet, Indigo, Air
Deccan, Indian and SpiceJet bound for Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Nagpur and Ahmedabad were delayed for over three hours leading to a ripple effect and a huge backlog.
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ITC to buy waste from residents in Bangalore
Bangalore, February 6 ITC has signed a memorandum of understanding with citizen forum of Yelahanka New Town under which it will initially collect dry waste from 10,000 households according to a time schedule agreed upon by smaller resident associations of the area. Giving details of the scheme, ITC officials said presently most of the apartment complexes in Yelahanka and in other parts of the city were paying private operators to cart away their dry and wet waste. He said this operation was mostly done at night and the private operators dumped the waste in nearby lakes on in private lands next to the road leading to further problems. B.V. Prasad, deputy manager, materials of ITC said shortly the company was purchasing dry waste from residents in Hyderabad and that the company wanted to extend the same scheme to Bangalore and Kolkotta. He added the scheme would officially start in Bangalore from April 1. The scheme was a win win opportunity for the community as well as the rag pickers, as they too did not lose their livelihood and were also paid for collecting dry waste directly from the residents. The rag pickers will be trained and issued special identity cards so that they can go to designated residences once each fortnight to collect garbage. Bangalore mahanage palike commissioner Dr S. Subramanya said the ITC initiative was a welcome step because the palike found it difficult to serve all the new areas which had sprung up around Bangalore. ITC wants to use the dry waste to make recycled paper which it can use itself in its paper mills. Besides this, it is in talks with companies who want to take plastic and metal waste as raw material for their factories. The company has decided to pay Rs 4 for each kg of old newspapers, Rs 6 per kg for plastic waste and Rs 3.50 per kg for metal waste.
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Underground Water
New Delhi, February 6 The proposal, which would be taken to the cabinet for final approval, entails fixing appropriate price mechanism for commercial use of groundwater by industries. An expert group constituted by the ministry, which looked into the regulatory framework and incentives for economic use of groundwater, has
recommended that cess on water for soft drinks and bottled water industry should be much higher than other industries and metres should be installed at the point of withdrawal of groundwater. The six-member group included a senior official from the ministry, representatives from the industry, the Central Ground Water Board and officials from the ministries of commerce and industry and environment. Water resources minister Saiffudin Soz told The Tribune that he agreed with the principle of pricing water for industries but its structure would be decided by the cabinet. He said water was a state subject and the ministry was holding wide consultations to finalise its proposal. The expert group said in its report that cess rates prescribed by the CPCB should be such that that the industry was compelled to look into technological interventions to lessen pollution load and consequent cost of treatment. "Metering arrangement at the point of withdrawal of groundwater should be made compulsory for all the industries so as to monitor the consumption pattern of ground/surface water by the industries," the report said. The report called for comprehensive water audit for all industries which use more than 100 cubic metre a day (on the lines of energy audit and heat audit already being implemented in several industies). Suggesting creation of an audit audit body to track consumption and measure effects of intervention made by the corporates, it said Public Private Participation (PPP) should be allowed in delivery mechanisms. “For commercial use of groundwater, where it is used as a raw material as in the bottled water industry, soft drinks industry and the like, the rates of cess should be far higher than other industries," the report said.It said that before locating any new industry, threat to drinking water sources from groundwater withdrawal should be clearly spelt out and an action plan for artificial recharge should be prepared by the concerned industry. Pointing to reports that industries were resorting to sub-surface injection of treated effluent to meet the norm of zero effluent discharge, the expert group said injection of this treated effluent might carry the potential risk of contamination of the aquifer. “Hence a blanket directive may be issued by
Central Ground Water Authority under section 5 of EPA Rules, 1986 to ban injection of treated waste water,” it said.
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RTI comes to aid of Assam students
Guwahati, February 6 The minister was addressing a meeting of the Board of Secondary Education, Assam, (SEBA) and Assam Higher Secondary Education Council (AHSEC) officials here to review the preparations for the examinations, starting from February 15. For the first time an education minister has reviewed examination preparation in the state. Bora, urging the candidates to utilise the Act to ensure that they get the correct marks, also called on the evaluators to be more careful as the person would be held responsible for any improper evaluation. He also took stock of the security arrangements being taken to ensure that question papers were not leaked and that answer sheets were not manipulated. Altogether 3,55,120 candidates would appear for the class X examinations in 758 centres, while another 1,65,726 candidates would take the class XII examinations in 618 centres.
— UNI
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Promotion fundamental right of employee: SC New Delhi, February 6 A Bench comprising Justices S.B. Sinha and G.S. Singhvi, while dismissing the appeal of Food Corporation of India (FCI), also imposed costs of Rs 50,000 on FCI. FCI had appealed against the judgement of the Andhra Pradesh High Court, which had upheld the right of engineers working with the corporation, for promotion. The apex court, in its judgement pronounced yesterday, noted, “When employees are denied an opportunity of promotion for a long time (in this case 30 years) on the grounds that they fell within a category of employees excluded from promotional prospects, the superior court will have the jurisdiction to issue necessary directions.” “If there is no channel of promotion in respect of a particular group of officers resulting in stagnation over the years, the court although may not issue any direction as to in which manner a scheme should be formulated or by reason there of inference with the operation of existing channel of promotion to the officers working in different departments and government officers but the jurisdiction to issue direction to make a scheme cannot be denied to a superior court of the country,” the court added. — UNI
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