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Cong sets poll ball rolling with 3 new PCC heads
UP Vidhan Sabha passes Bill to control organised crime
Mulayam goes hard at Mayawati in Assembly |
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3 rhino poachers held, ivory seized
Teachers’ Appointment
Valentine’s Day
Does being single mean isolated?
Telangana issue rocks AP House
‘Mentally unsound’ girl tops varsity
‘Allow Taslima to stay beyond February 18’
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Cong sets poll ball rolling with 3 new PCC heads
New Delhi, February 13 Information and broadcasting and Parliamentary affairs minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi was appointed president of the West Bengal Congress unit, while water resource minister Saifuddin Soz was named head of the state unit in Jammu and Kashmir and minister for personnel Suresh Pachauri was given charge of party affairs in Madhya Pradesh. Today’s changes have paved the way for a long overdue Cabinet reshuffle which may even take place before the commencement of the budget session of Parliament on February 25. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi will have to decide whether the Cabinet ministers who have been entrusted with organisational responsibilities should be relieved of their ministerial duties to enable them to concentrate on party work. Congress sources said Dasmunsi may have to shed one of his ministeries to enable him to devote more time to the reorganisation of the West Bengal state unit. The Rajya Sabha term of Suresh Pachauri, who holds additional charge of parliamentary affairs, ends in March and most likely he will be asked to focus full-time on party affairs in poll-bound MP. Dasmunsi's appointment in West Bengal, where Pradip Bhattacharya was working president after external affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee quit the post in 2006, is being viewed as a significant political move. While Mukherjee enjoys a good working relationship with the Left parties, Dasmunsi is known to be a Left-baiter and has been waging a bitter battle against the Marxists since his student days. For Dasmunsi, it is a case of history repeating itself.. Over four decades ago, he and West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya had been bitter rivals in the student union elections in Calcutta University. Dasmunsi had won the polls in 1964 by forging an alliance with the CPI-led AISF. Today, when the two leaders are again pitted against each other, political observers are wondeirng if Dasmunsi can repeat the feat by taking advantage of the prevailing tension between the CPM and its Left allies. Although the Left parties are supporting the UPA government at the Centre, Dasmunsi has been one of their most bitter critics and had publicly attacked the West Bengal government during the Nandigram and Singur violence. Dasmunsi clarified that this battle against the Left will continue. Pachauri, who replaces former deputy chief minister Subhash Yadav, will lead the party in the year-end assembly poll in Madhya Pradesh. In a balancing act, Ajay Singh, son of HRD minister Arjun Singh, who was also a contender for the PCC chief’s post, was accomodated as chairman of the state campaign committee.
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UP Vidhan Sabha passes Bill to control organised crime
Lucknow, February 13 Earlier also the UPCOCA had got approval in the Vidhan Sabha but was stalled in the Upper House where the Samajwadi party still has the majority. In Uttar Pradesh where carrying guns culture is dominant, it will now be an offence to show off firearms at a wedding or even at meetings to grab contracts. Depending on the crime a person will have to pay a minimum fine of Rs 5 lakh along with five years of imprisonment. It can go up to life term, worse still capital punishment, along with a fine of Rs 10 lakh. There will be no ex parte bail on the first registration of crime and if a person dared to break the law a second time the offence will be non-bailable. Much on the lines of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act 1999, the UPCOCA aims to eliminate organised crime in the state. Similar laws are also in force in states like Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Delhi. While the Act is mainly aimed at contract killers, kidnappers, gun-totting contractors, hawala traders, land grabbers, producers of spurious drugs and liquors, drug smugglers, mafia and the like, the Opposition fears it may be used by the ruling party to intimidate it and weaken the democratic expression of discontent. The other sort of crime that the UPCOCA claims to check is covert management of benami property by criminals. Under the Act, licences of members of any group moving around with three or more licenced guns will be liable for cancellation. Besides, private security with police personnel has also been prohibited. The mafia-contractor nexus will also be checked by the Act. It will stamp out cases of organised criminals grabbing contracts by the use of force. To further check the credentials of contractors it, will now be made mandatory for them to submit a character certificate. Under the Act the onus of proving innocence lies with the culprit, who, if convicted, will have to pay a minimum fine of Rs 5 lakh and undergo imprisonment of five years or life term or even capital punishment along with a fine of Rs 10 lakh. To prevent its misuse, the written permission of the divisional commissioner and a deputy inspector general has been made compulsory before lodging the first information report. The written permission of inspector general has also been made obligatory before filing the charge sheet in the court of law. Under the act, a state-level Organised Crime Control Authority is to be constituted under the chairmanship of the principal secretary, home. The ADGP, law and order, the ADGP, crime, and the special secretary (Justice) will be the members of the authority. The authority has been empowered with all rights to break the economic backbone of the criminals. However, to ensure that the Act is not misused there are several checks and balances that have been introduced keeping in mind the state’s specific context. The Act provides for a state level appellate authority under the chairmanship of a retired Judge of the high court. The appellate authority will hear the appeals against the orders passed by the state level authority within 30 days of the passing of the orders. Besides the DGP, an officer of the level of principal secretary will be member of the Appellate Tribunal.
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Mulayam goes hard at Mayawati in Assembly
Lucknow, February 13 For close to three hours Yadav continued criticising Mayawati government’s performance on every front while responding to the governor’s address to the joint session of the Vidhan Sabha. An astonishingly mellowed leader of the house Mayawati heard him out with patience and often a wry smile. But when Yadav spoke of his deep respect for Bhimrao Ambedkar she clearly could take it no longer and nudged her minister of parliamentary affairs Lalji Verma to intervene. Trying her patience Yadav asked her to answer herself and not force the minister to do so. Mayawati stood up to ask the former Chief Minister why the memorial in the name of Ambedkar was neglected during his tenure if he had such deep respect for the man. “The memorial was starved of electricity and 10 feet high grass grew all over the place”, she retorted. Apart from a few such exceptions Mayawati attentively heard Yadav as he continued his barrage against the BSP government’s performance during the last nine months often repeating himself and meandering to the same topics and examples - the killing of a student in police firing in his ancestral village of Sefai, reported harassment of SP leaders by filing false cases against them and all round corruption. Earlier in the day, the SP had managed to exert pressure on the ruling party by forcing the withdrawal of a resolution to expel SP-supported independent MLA Imraan Masood. The first time MLA had climbed on the reporters’ table forcing the Speaker Sukhdev Rajbhar to expel him from the house for the remaining part of the budget session. In response Samajawadi Party MLAs created a ruckus by clambering on the same desk and demanding en mass expulsion. Finally BJP legislative party leader Om Prakash Singh and CLP leader Pramod Tiwari defused the situation by suggesting a meeting of the leaders in the Speaker’s chamber. When the house reassembled at 1 pm the Speaker announced, ‘reconsidering’ his earlier decision on the expulsion and allowed the leader of the opposition to speak. Just then Chief Minister Mayawati entered the house and remained seated till the very end of the Yadav’s speech.
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3 rhino poachers held, ivory seized
Guwahati, February 13 Karbi Anglong additional superintendent of police (ASP) N.N. Goswami, who led the operation, informed that acting on a tip-off that traders in wildlife organs were camping in Diphu looking for buyers, the police set up decoys as buyers to track them. A team of policemen in civvies today managed to arrest the gang of poachers from Hotel Holiday in Diphu town along with five pieces of ivory. They were identified as Kham Khan Soun ((48), Nur Islam (30) and Goupu Paite (30). Two of them hail from Karbi Anglong while the third person is from Dimapur in Nagaland. The police claimed that the arrested persons had confessed to links with the big network rhino poachers in the Kaziranga National Park. They are suspected to be involved in trading of rhino horns also. Assam wildlife and forest minister Rockybul Hussain earlier said a large inter-state network of poachers suspected to be aided by some insurgent groups was involved in the recent killings of precious rhinoceros in the Kaziranga National Park. Meanwhile, a citizens’ meet held in the Guwahati Press Club this afternoon demanded a probe by the CBI into the recent incidents of rhino poaching in the Kaziranga National Park. The meeting, which was attended by prominent citizens, representatives of students organisations, officials of some wildlife NGOs, demanded that the authority of the Kaziranga National Park should every year issue a public notice informing the people about the annual counts of rhinos and other endangered animals in the Kaziranga National Park. The meeting condemning the state wildlife department for failing miserably in tackling rhino poachers in the park demanded the setting up of a monitoring committee on citizens concerned and NGOs to keep a tab on affairs in the Kaziranga National Park. The monitoring committee, however, should have no representative from the Assam Wildlife and Forest Department.
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Teachers’ Appointment
New Delhi, February 13 The apex court also asserted that a state government is free to recognise or de-recognise any educational course and courts would not interfere with such decisions unless these violate any statutory or constitutional provision. A Bench of Justices H.K. Sema and Markandeya Katju said the NCTE deals only with teachers training institutes in the country, but cannot have a say in the appointment of teachers made by respective state governments under local rules. The Bench passed the ruling while dismissing the appeal of a teacher who lost his job after the Uttar Pradesh Government de-recognised certain teachers training courses in the state. On August 11, 1987, the UP Government issued a circular recognising only certain teachers training courses like Basic Teachers Certificate (BTC), Hindustani Teachers Certificate (HTC), Junior Teachers Certificate (JTC) and Certificate of Teaching (CT) among others. In this case, Upendra Rai and a few others, who graduated from other institutes said to be recognised by the NCTE lost their jobs as their courses were not recognised in UP. — PTI
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Valentine’s Day
New Delhi, February 13 Beauty parlours as well as specialised skin and health clinics have come out with special offers to ensure you and your partner look your best on February 14. Rakshit Hargave, the business head of Hindustan Unilever Limited’s beauty and wellness services that runs the Lakme Beauty Salons, told IANS: “We understand that women love to look good and for an occasion as special as Valentine’s Day, we wish to help them look perfect - making it truly exciting and memorable. For this, we have introduced ‘Valentine Makeovers’. The beauty treatments have been innovatively grouped together by Lakme Beauty Salons to allow the customers to decide the extremity of their makeover with a range of packages, attractively named Cupid Special, Sweet Surprise and Love Shock, to choose from. During this time of the year, when flowers, teddy bears, cakes and chocolates earn maximum profits, health and beauty treatment clinics have also begun to observe a gradual upswing in their profits. Devendra Shinde, the marketing head of Kaya Skin Clinic, a skincare solutions centre, revealed that during the pre-Valentine and Valentine’s week every year, their profits rise by almost 10 to 15 percent. Kaya Skin Clinic is also cashing in on the increasing obsession with beauty during this period with its Valentine’s Day couple package. “We are in a business of beauty and have to admit that we do seek special occasions when more people wish to look beautiful,” said Shinde. According to him, their target audience does not comprise school and college going students. “We are targeting the ‘young at heart’ people (18 to 40 years) for our services,” he said. Ankit Mahajan, a 20-year-old student, feels that on Valentine’s Day his girlfriend should make heads turn if they go for a party and wants to gift one of the beauty packages to her. Prachi Khanna, a 21-year-old HR consultant, said: “For me, the day is not about looking good, it is about feeling good and about being with the one you love.” Reacting to the offers, Khanna said: “Makeovers are momentary and involve the use of chemicals that may damage one’s skin or hair.” — IANS
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Does being single mean isolated?
New Delhi, February 13 Psychology experts in India believe that youngsters nowadays only pretend to be in love so as to be able to say ‘I have a valentine’. Those who cannot fit in, end up with bouts of depression. “It is not as if people are falling in love and so they are celebrating Valentine’s Day; but because they want to celebrate the day, they pretend to fall in love,” Sanjay Chugh, leading psychiatrist and founder chairman of the International Institute of Mental Health, told IANS. Experts feel that media and peer pressure are two factors responsible for inducing a sense of emptiness within a person for not having a girlfriend or boyfriend. “Those who are swayed by the media and peer pressure feel empty within, leading to depression at times. I think what one should seek is a stable relationship and not just for one particular day,” said Samir Parikh, chief of the mental health and behavioural science department, Max Healthcare. Chugh echoed his opinion, “It is like wherever you see the crowd, join it!” He pointed out that Indians for long were not even aware of such a day or its significance. But ever since it got floated as a concept and got promoted endlessly, it caught everyone’s fancy. “Increased exposure leads to greater acceptability. So the more people got exposed to the concept of Valentine’s Day, the more they accepted it till it finally became a religion to them,” Chugh added. I need to be with someone else or I will be the odd one out. People will laugh at me and call me a loser, and If I don’t have someone in my life, it means there is something wrong with me are some of the thoughts that can cloud a person’s mind in the run-up to Valentine’s Day. “Feeling empty merely because of one day is not how one should react. The day should be spent like any other day with work and family. Also, if there is sustained need for a partner then one needs to focus on it - not because it’s a (special) day but because it is an emotional need,” Parikh explained. The problem escalates in the case of people who already have problems with their self-image, moods or relationships, Chugh said. He stressed that sitting alone, sulking and thinking about the fun others must be having will only make one more miserable. “If they enjoy the day with family or friends, it will allow them to be more positive and confident about their own situation,” he suggested. — IANS
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Telangana issue rocks AP House
Hyderabad, February 13 Full-throated slogans of “Jai Telangana” reverberated in the House as combative TRS legislators, waving placards, frequently stormed the Speaker’s podium and obstructed the business, leading to abrupt adjournment of the Assembly for the day. As soon as the House assembled for the day, they moved an adjournment motion on the Telangana issue, which was disallowed by Speaker K.R. Suresh Reddy. Amid din, the Speaker adjourned the House twice in quick succession in a bid to restore order. However, as the furore continued with the TRS members refusing to leave the podium and insisting on Telangana resolution, the Speaker adjourned the House for the day without transacting any business. The Assembly was to commence discussion today on motion of thanks to Governor N.D. Tiwari’s address. The TRS’ belligerent posturing is a prelude to their planned en masse resignations from Lok Sabha and Assembly in the first week of March. The sub-regional party has set March 6 as the deadline for the UPA government to initiate the process for the formation of new state. “We are planning to submit our resignations on March 4 or 5 and go to people to expose betrayal by the Congress,” TRS floor leader Vijayarama Rao said. The party will boycott the President’s address to the Parliament on the opening day of the budget session and also stage a sit-in in New Delhi before its four MPs submit their resignations.
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‘Mentally unsound’ girl tops varsity
Mumbai, February 13 Justice Swatanter Kumar presented 27-year-old Setu Parikh with two gold medals during the university’s annual convocation ceremony Tuesday. Ironically, the Bombay High Court is in the process of hearing a petition filed against the staff of the Boss School of Music, where Setu is a teacher. In 2005, parents of two of Setu’s colleagues filed the petition that alleges that members of the school staff were mentally unsound and used black magic on their children. On March 17, 2006, a division bench ordered a mental examination of all the staff members and students of the school. Perturbed by the order, the staff and parents of the students filed special leave petitions before the SC, which stayed the high court order. Setu has also topped her MBA exams and was recently invited to speak at the plenary session of the Indian Social Science Congress.
— IANS
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‘Allow Taslima to stay beyond February 18’
New Delhi, February 13 In a letter to the Prime Minister, the Forum for the Protection of Free Speech and Expression alleged that the government had held Nasreen in “custody” in an undisclosed location somewhere in or around Delhi. “Her visa expires on February 18 after which she is liable to be deported or remain confined as an illegal alien,” it added. The Forum said she (Nasreen) was one in a long list of journalists, writers, scholars and artists who have been persecuted, banned, imprisoned, forced into exile or had their work desecrated in this country. Well-known painter M.F. Hussain has been virtually forced into exile, it added.
— UNI
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Comedian Rajendra Nath dead
Mumbai, February 13 The actor had been suffering from breathing problems for the past several days and his end came at his residence in suburban Khar. He would be cremated tomorrow, family sources said. Rajendra Nath began his career in 1938 with Hindi film ‘Vachan’ and went on to act in movies like ‘Patanga’, ‘Hum Sab Chor Hain’ and ‘Dil Deke Dekho’. His role of Popatlal in the 1961 box-office hit ‘Jab Pyar Kisi Se Hota Hai’ became a big hit and the title of Popatlal stuck to him. Chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh condoled the actor’s death and said, “Rajendra Nath regaled film lovers across generations with his typical sense of comic timing.”
— PTI
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