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IAF inducts AJT Hawk
Backlog of cases a scourge: Prez
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Human trafficking racket busted, 3 held
Govt for ‘building bridges’ with Canadian NRIs
Techie remanded in custody
Film on Prophet Mohammad
11 killed in Manipur
MNS protests ‘belittling’ of Bihar Guv
Ship carrying 25 Indians missing
BJP attack on price rise, Ram Setu worries Cong
Cong U-turn on Soni
Cyber cafe users to produce photo I-cards
GND varsity part of antibiotics project
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Bidar, February 23 The induction of AJT Hawk Mark 132 came 27 years after the need for such machines was first mooted to bridge the gap between the intermediate trainer and frontline fighter aircraft. Inducting the trainers - which are also used by US Navy and other advanced countries - defence minister A.K. Antony declared that procurement delays were history and the process to modernise the armed forces will be "quick" hereafter. He also said that India would purchase 40 more Hawks at an estimated price tag of Rs 5,000 crore and these trainers could be used to train both IAF as well as Naval pilots. The British Aerospace Systems (BAe) built Hawk Mark 132 aircraft will bridge the gap between the slow speed aircraft like Kiran and advanced fighter aircraft currently in the IAF inventory, with IAF officials saying that this could bring down number of air crashes. The 66 AJT Hawks, being procured as per a contract signed with the BAe in 2004, will gradually replace the Kiran and the MiG-21, which are currently used for stage III and stage IV training of fighter pilots. While 24 are being bought in flyaway conditions, the rest 42 would be produced under technology transfer at HAL. The trainers were inducted at an impressive ceremony marked by a flypast by various IAF trainer aircraft in the presence of British High Commissioner Richard Stagg and Air Chief Fali H. Major. With its proven design and advanced avionics, the Hawk-132 aircraft is expected to bridge the gap between the performance spectrum of the intermediate trainer and frontline fighter aircraft, which trainee pilots would finally fly, Group Captain Michael Fernandez, Chief Instructor for the AJT Hawk told reporters here. As a dedicated trainer, the aircraft is expected to greatly enhance flight safety and have a beneficial impact on the quality of training being imparted to fighter pilots. BAe Systems had already delivered eight aircrafts to the IAF, with the first jets arriving here in November last year. The IAF will be the 19th Air Force in the world to use Hawks as its trainer frontline aircraft. — PTI
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Backlog of cases a scourge: Prez
New Delhi, February 23 Describing the huge backlog of cases with courts a “scourge” and tackling of the problem as a “daunting challenge”, the President said: “Case disposals are excruciatingly time consuming. This agonising delay has rendered the common man’s knock on the doors of justice a frustrating experience. This has ominous portents. We cannot allow a situation where the common man is tempted to take law into his own hand and subscribe to the deviant culture of the lynch mob.” She was speaking at a seminar on “Judicial Reforms” organised by the Confederation of Indian Bar at Vigyan Bhavan here. However, Chief Justice of India (CJI) K.G. Balakrishan was quit to respond to the concern of the President and in a polite tone, put the blame for delay and mounting arrears with the judiciary on the doorstep of the government. The CJI not only blamed the government for inadequate financial and the infrastructure support, but also said people were driven to the court due to “lack of good governance”. “Lack of proper and good governance largely contributes to the number of cases in courts. If the decision making authorities take firm, independent and impartial decision, the citizens would not normally be driven to litigation,” Justice Balakrishnan asserted. The President in her inaugural speech said the formal adjudicatory machinery had to reign supreme and both judges and the lawyers had equal responsibility to address the problem. “We talk incessantly about delays, but now the time has arrived to launch a crusade against the scourge of arrears. We need to have in place judicial machinery, which is easily accessible and dispenses affordable and incorruptible justice to the people,” she said. The President said if in this endeavour, a need arose to amend the laws and the legal procedures, it had to be made carefully so as to ensure quick justice while safeguarding that fair play, equity and good conscience did not become a casualty. The CJI said the government itself was the biggest litigant, particularly in high courts and much of
the delay was due to authorities apathy in responding to courts’ notices promptly and lack of proper governmental administration. Justice Balakrishnan unveiled the National Minimum Court Performance Standards (NMCPS) for judiciary and sought cooperation of all, particularly the government to make it a success. He said the NMCP, being developed by the National Judicial Academy, Bhopal, the disposal would be accelerated and no more than 5 per cent cases should be allowed to go beyond five years period in a court in next three years and no more than 1 per cent should be allowed to go beyond one year in next five year period.
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Human trafficking racket busted, 3 held
New Delhi, February 23 The racket used to allegedly target "innocent looking" people who used to queue up at the US embassy to apply for visas, offering them their help in rectifying mistakes in supporting documents. Following a tip-off, the arrests were made from various parts of the capital on February 20, said additional commissioner of police (Crime Branch) Satyendra Garg. Ajay Shukla, the alleged kingpin who runs his office from a Safdarjung Hospital staff quarters, his associate Pawan Mishra and Gursahib Singh, a visa applicant, were caught by the special team of the Delhi police's Crime Branch, Garg said. Mishra was caught by the sleuths from Rohini in north-west Delhi and fake bank statements, authority letters, visa deposit slips, visa interview letters besides two original passports were allegedly recovered from him. His interrogation revealed Shukla's alleged involvement in the racket and based on the information provided by Mishra, Shukla was arrested from near the American embassy in Chanakyapuri. Gursahib Singh, who was in the queue of visa applicants, was also arrested after the police found that he was allegedly in possession of forged documents supplied by Shukla. Shukla allegedly used to charge Rs 2 to 5 lakh from "successful" people who got visas while he charged Rs 15,000 to 20,000 from rejected applicants as processing fee, Garg said. Shukla allegedly used forged PAN cards, income tax returns and bank statements as supporting documents for procuring visas. Based on the information provided by Shukla, a raid was conducted at the residential quarters of the government hospital in south Delhi from where the police recovered 102 passports, computers and application forms like that of Saral. The seized items include a large number of fake bank statements, income tax papers, statements of various banks, fake documents filed with passports, rubber stamps of various banks and income tax department. During interrogation, he said, the duo told the police that they had sent more than 100 people to the US using forged documents. Shukla's father-in-law, a travel agent, was also previously arrested in a forged document case. His father is also a travel agent. A case has been registered under Sections 467, 468, 471 and 120-B. — PTI
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Govt for ‘building bridges’ with Canadian NRIs
New Delhi, February 23 “Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has announced that he will form an advisory group of eminent overseas Indians to advise him on a strategy to build new bridges with the Indian communities abroad. I am sure that the diaspora in Canada will actively participate in these ventures,” said Vayalar Ravi, minister of overseas Indian affairs. Ravi, who was addressing a roundtable meeting on “Building Bridges: The Role of Indian Diaspora in Canada”, said the community has “undoubtedly built bridges” between the two countries over the years. He also sought the community’s participation in developing the trust fund, established for channelising philanthropic resources into India. “In fact, the welcome accorded to arriving Indian immigrants in Canada has been a major factor in the evolution of the Indian community there, which has played a significant role in every facet of life in Canada,” Ravi said. The minister also reminded that the Indian community in Canada - that number about 850,000 - has achieved a high degree of harmony among themselves and between them and others in that country. “India is legitimately proud of the Indian contribution to the economic and social growth of Canada,” he said. The research project, “Building Bridges: The Role of Indian Diaspora in Canada” was initiated by former Indian Ambassador Kant Bhargava. Deputy high commissioner of Canada Kenneth McCartney was also present on the occasion. —IANS
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Techie remanded in custody
Hubli, February 23 Kammakutty, arrested in Bangalore on Thursday, was produced before judicial first class magistrate Srinivas, who allowed a plea by the Corps of Detectives seeking his custody. During interrogation, Yahya was reported to have stated he had conducted meetings of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) here in the past, the police said. He also told the police that other terror suspects Mohammad Asif, Shakeel Mali and Asadullah Abubakker, already arrested, had guided him in such meetings.
— PTI
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Film on Prophet Mohammad
Hyderabad, February 23 When speaker K.R. Suresh Reddy disallowed the adjournment motion, MIM members sprang to their feet and persisted with their demand. In a bid to assuage the ruffled feelings of the members, home minister K. Jana Reddy said a special screening would be arranged and assured that the government would impose a ban if the film was found to be objectionable. The MIM floor leader Akbaruddin Owaisi said his party would oppose the screening of the film. Meanwhile, MIM activists gathered at the theatre screening the film and demanded that the shows be cancelled. The screening was later stopped apparently on instructions from the government. The Hollywood classic Al-Risalah, a bi-lingual film made in English and Arabic, deals with the evolution of Islam and the life and times of Prophet Mohammad. It was dubbed into Hindi and Urdu and released across India in December last year. The big-budget film, whose director has been nominated for the Oscars, has one song which has been sung by Indian music director A.R. Rahman.
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Agartala, February 23 Tripura became the first state in the North-East where 100 per cent photo electoral rolls were used. Deputy election commissioner R Balakrishnan told reporters here at the end of the polling that all voters carried their electoral photo identity cards. Chief electoral officer GSG Ayyangar said the ballots would be counted on March 8. Though polling officially ended at 4 pm, people standing in queues at that time were allowed to vote. In urban areas, Khayerpur registered the highest turnout, Ayyangar said. Meanwhile, except the kidnapping of a Left Front leader in Raimavelly of Dhalai district last night, there was no report of any poll-related violence, he stated. The electoral fortunes of 313 candidates, including 31 women and 64 Independents, are being decided by an electorate of 20,35,877. The contenders include Chief Minister Manik Sarkar, 10 of his Cabinet colleagues and senior Congress leaders and former Chief Ministers Samir Ranjan Barman and Sudhir Ranjan Majumdar. Two key candidates from the Congress-Indigenous Nationalist Party of Tripura (INPT) alliance are Maharani Bibhukumari Devi and militant-turned-legislator Bijoy Kumar Harangkhwal.— Agencies
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Ghising rejects GJM’s resignation demand
Kolkata, February 23 Ghising said that West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee also did not ask him to resign. Instead, the Chief Minister promised administrative and political help for redressing the hill people's problems. He claimed he had also been assured of adequate protection to the hill people's lives and properties. The GNLF chief was talking to mediapersons at Writers Buildings today after meeting Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee. In their hour-long meeting, they discussed the present situation in Darjeeling vis-à-vis the Sixth Schedule proposal. Chief secretary A.K. Deb and home secretary Prasad Ranjan Roy also attended the meeting. Ghising had "secretly" flown down to Kolkata yesterday after being kept "confined" for three days at Siliguri following resistance by the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha, a rival group, which has been demanding his resignation. Earlier, he had gone to Delhi and met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and home minister Shivraj Patil and pressed them to grant the Sixth Schedule at the earliest. He returned to Darjeeling on Tuesday but could not return to the hills following the GJM’s agitation. He was kept at Pintal village at Siliguri under heavy security for three days. On Monday, he will meet Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi to apprise him about the situation in Darjeeling. The GNLF chief said that at this stage, the GJM's demand for a separate Gorkhaland was meaningless after the formation of the Gorkha Hill Council following a tripartite agreement in 1988 between the Centre, the state government and the GNLF. He felt that most problems in the hills would be solved soon after obtaining the Sixth Schedule. He said that in the present circumstances, more autonomy for the hill people was their demand and not a separate Gorkhaland. Ghising said the GHC’s present term would expire on March 19 and he would automatically lose the chairman's post. And then, the state government will have to hold an election in the hill council for electing the new board. GJM president Bimal Gurung, however, claimed that the hill people were now with them and they were demanding Ghising’s immediate removal from the hill council. He said the Sixth Schedule would not solve their problems and they were sticking to the demand for a separate Gorkhaland.
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11 killed in Manipur
Imphal, February 23 The six suspected insurgents of the UNLF were killed in an encounter with the Assam Rifles personnel at a border village in Manipur’s Chandel district early this morning, the sources said. The incident occurred when the security personnel were conducting raids near the border pillar number 75, about 123 km south-east from here, the sources said. In another incident yesterday, five persons, who were travelling in a jeep, were shot dead by suspected Kuki militants in interior Saikul village of Senapati district. The victims were identified as Paogil Lal (14), Saiboulian Khongsai (15), Jangminlan Hangsing (14), Langgoumang lhouvum (14) and Haopao Chongloi (67), the sources said, adding that the victims were students. Chongloi was self-styled public relations officer of militant outfit Kuki Revolutionary Army (KRA).
— PTI
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MNS protests ‘belittling’ of Bihar Guv
Mumbai, February 23 The MNS was reacting to the behaviour of Bihar MLAs, who created unruly scenes during Bihar Governor R.S. Gavai’s address to the state Assembly yesterday wherein some of them reportedly raised slogans saying “Gavai go back to Maharashtra”. “This is not just an insult of the Governor but insult to crores of Dalits. To prevent further insult of a Dalit leader like Gavai, Sonia Gandhi should call him back to Maharashtra.” But while doing so she should also see to it that 25 lakh Biharis from Mumbai were sent back to Bihar,” MNS general secretary Shishir Shinde said in a statement. He said, “The Congress and Lalu Prasad Yadav should first teach lessons of good behaviour to Bihar MLAs before giving advice to the people of Maharashtra”. MNS chief Raj Thackeray yesterday took a dig at the Bihar MLAs who created ruckus in the Assembly and said, “This was the reason (unruly behaviour) why he was opposed to outsiders in Maharashtra. “Why did I have to launch an agitation to protect the culture of Maharashtra? The answer to this question lies in the manner in which the MLAs of Bihar behaved in front of the the Bihar Governor, who is a Maharashtrian,” he said. — PTI
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Ship carrying 25 Indians missing
Mumbai, February 23 According to reports, the ship left for Turkey on February 17 from Russia. The vessel, MV Rezzak, managed by CMR Denizcilik ve Ticaret of Turkey and manned by Mumbai-based Pelican Marine, was carrying steel billets from Novorossiysk in Russia to the Bartin port in Turkey. It lost all communication with the tracking centres on February 18. Biswas Santosh, director of Pelican Marine, said the director general, shipping, and families of the crew members had been informed about the incident. Five days of search by the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) have found no trace of the ship, even though a life raft of the vessel was spotted drifting some five nautical miles off the Turkish coast. A source in the office of the director general (shipping) confirmed today that the ship had been missing and said efforts were on to make radio contact. — Agencies
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BJP attack on price rise, Ram Setu worries Cong
New Delhi, February 23 Expressing concern over the soaring prices of essential commodities, Congress spokespersons from its state units wanted to know how best they could counter the BJP’s campaign against the UPA government for its failure to check inflation. The first day’s proceedings indicated that the BJP attack is worrying the Congress functionaries. Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Alhuwalia, who spoke on the UPA government and inclusive economic growth, faced a barrage of questions on price rise. Pointing to the high growth rate, they wanted to know the reasons for the increase in prices of essential commodities. “Why have the prices of vegetables and foodgrains gone up when the economy is doing well? Why has the price of tomatoes doubled?” The participants asked and wondered how they could correct the popular perception that the benefits of liberalisation were not filtering down to the poor. Faced with a string of Assembly polls this year, to be followed by the 2009 Lok Sabha election, the two-day meeting has been organised with the objective of marketing the Congress brand, clarifying the party’s position on important issues and communicating the government’s achievements effectively through the media.
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Cong U-turn on Soni
New Delhi, February 23 After a strong protest by culture and tourism minister Ambika
Soni, the AICC media department rushed to put out a press note denying reports that the minister and former chairperson of the AICC media department was excluded from the two-day training camp organised here for spokespersons. According to a statement released by AICC secretary Tom
Vadakkan, “Ambika Soni was invited for the training camp but did not attend due to prior engagements.” He also maintained that the
programme, which commenced today, was decided by the AICC’s media committee and was not vetted by Congress president Sonia Gandhi. The statement, however, contradicted AICC media department chairman Veerappa
Moily, who made no mention of the invitation to Soni or her inability to attend. On the other hand, he had maintained that it was not possible to accommodate everybody. He mentioned that he had approached science and technology minister Kapil Sibal to speak on the Ram Setu project as he had been working closely with him in party panels.
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Cyber cafe users to produce photo I-cards
Kolkata, February 23 The order, issued by city police commissioner Gautam Mohan Chakraborty, comes into effect from today. “I have issued the order keeping in mind the modus operandi of terrorists and other anti-social elements. Such persons may use cyber cafes to contact their accomplices over mail. Terrorists also interact with their contacts on details of their designs,” Chakraborty told PTI here. The order makes it compulsory for internet parlour owners to seek the photo I-cards from customers and record their names and addresses as also details about the time of log in, duration of use and the serial number of computer used. The details have to be kept on the server for six months. The foreigners would be asked to furnish their passports, a top police official said. — PTI
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GND varsity part of antibiotics project
New Delhi, February 23 The network project, initiated by the Department of Biotechnology, is called “Screening for biomolecules from microbial diversity collected from different ecological niches”. It is the first initiative in India where the industry and academia will work together to screen a large number of bacterial isolates. The participating institutes includes Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar. The credit sharing among the institutes and the industry has been worked out and an agreement in this regard was signed here yesterday. The project involves nine institutes with NPIL Research and Development Limited (NRDL) as an industrial partner. The total cost of the project is Rs 24.86 crore, with DBT contribution of Rs 17.98 crore. An amount of Rs 6.88 crore is being contributed by NRDL.
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