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Punjab farmers to boycott procurement
Farm Loan Waiver
Andhra unveils 1,690-cr loan waiver scheme
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British witness deposes before Goan police Panaji, March 17 A key British, witness who spilled the beans on Samson D’Souza arrested in Scarlett death case, today said he had originally come to Goa on the accused barman’s request and was later shooed away by him.
Kidney Scam
Lapang readies for acid test
Krishna Returns
Air India employees defer strike
GND varsity to have research centre on Guru Granth Sahib
Over 2.6 lakh cases pending in Punjab & Haryana HC
Mid-day meal: Ruckus in RS
ULFA militant killed
Child rescued from borewell
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Punjab farmers to boycott procurement
New Delhi, March 17 They have resolved that they will neither bring their produce for sale to mandis of Punjab until government amends terms of reference of the CACP nor repay loans to cooperative and commercial banks. In other words, since the Rs 60-crore loan waiver scheme is meant to benefit defaulters, the farmers have decided to get that status for themselves. Bharti Kisan Union (Punjab) president Balbir Singh Rajewal said since Prime Minister Manmohan Singh did not have the time to meet them and accept their memorandum personally, they were left with no other option but to launch the fresh struggle. Rajewal said the farmers would not bring wheat to mandis till the government favourably amends terms of reference of the CACP according to Dr Swaminathan Committee report to fix the MSP of wheat with 50 per cent profit on its cost of production at Rs 1,720 per quintal this season. “And the farmers will also not repay loans of cooperative and commercial banks till they sell their wheat stock. The government has decided to waive the loans of defaulters therefore we have decided we will not repay our loans and also become defaulters," he said.
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Farm Loan Waiver
Osmanabad, March 17 Farmers in regions like Vidarbha and Marathwada have larger land holdings and due to scanty rainfall and “we feel the benefits must be extended to them,” Gandhi said addressing a farmers’ rally in this town of Marathwada region. “This issue (of extending the benefits) was raised in Parliament by some MPs, including Rahul Gandhi, and I hope that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister P. Chidambaram will take the appropriate steps,” she said. The remarks by the UPA Chairperson come within 10 days of similar demands made by Pawar at a farmer’s rally in neighbouring Beed district. She did not refer to Pawar or his party NCP. However, in an apparent reference to the NCP, Congress’ Maharashtra unit chief Prabha Rau asked those taking credit for the announcement, to do some “rethinking” saying, “it was due to a letter sent by us on March 10, 2006 following farmer suicides that meetings on the subject were held by various bodies including the Planning Commission.” Rau said such leaders must rather concentrate their energies on creating a better coordination between the Centre and state so that Maharashtra benefits. “We felt the farmers are sad and a worried lot due to which the decision to waive the loans was taken so that four crore farmers benefit,” Gandhi said. — PTI
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Andhra unveils 1,690-cr loan waiver scheme
Hyderabad, March 17 The loans, obtained by 43.84 lakh beneficiaries totaling Rs 1,690 crore, would be written off, Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy announced in the Legislative Assembly. A maximum ceiling of Rs 1 lakh has been fixed for each beneficiary. The scheme covers loans obtained by the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes, Backward Classes, minorities, physically challenged and women from various state-run corporations. “The loan waiver is aimed at providing relief to the poor who are unable to clear their dues. Apart from this, we are also taking measures to increase lending to the needy,” Reddy said. The main opposition, the Telugu Desam Party, however, dubbed the move as “hasty” and pointed out that the government had not made any budgetary provision for the waiver. The Scheduled Castes will be the biggest beneficiaries of the latest sop.
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British witness deposes before Goan police Panaji, March 17 “I arrived in Goa on February 1, 2008 and was invited to stay as a guest of Samson D’Souza and his wife Cecile,” Michael Anthony Mannion, a British national, who came down to Goa to depose before police in connection with the death of the 15-year-old British teenaged girl, told reporters. “I had been acquainted with Samson D’Souza since my first meeting with him in Anjuna in 2002,” Mannion, who claimed to have left Goa after the incident fearing for life, said. “I was advised to stay away by legal representatives,” he said talking to reporters outside Superintendent of Police’s office at Porvorim. The Briton, however, refused to name the person who gave the advice. Michael is a witness to the happenings on February 17 night, the eve of Scarlett’s death. Scarlett Eden Keeling was drugged, raped and murdered on Goa’s popular Anjuna beach. Besides Samson, the police has arrested Placido Carvalho, a drug dealer, in the case. A look-out notice had been issued for Mannion by the police after he went to the media claiming to be a witness in the entire case. Mannion said he had accompanied Samson to the Lui Cafe shack where the entire episode took place. At that time in the shack, there were D’Souza, Luis Coutinho (owner of the shack), a local man named Shanna (Placido Carvalho) and an IndianMurli Kumar, who I believe was an employee of Curly’s beach shack, the deposition available with PTI mentions. For the first time through Mannion’s deposition, the presence of another British national, named Charlie, in the shack has come to light.Mannion has said Scarlett was seeking help from the people in the shack as she had no money to go back to Siolim, a place where she was staying. The deposition mentions that Mannion saw Samson on “top of Scarlett”. “They both were fully clothed. It appeared that Samson D’Souza was trying to remove Scarlett’s clothes, he said. Mannion said he could not help Scarlett as Samson and Murlie were local men and could have physically assaulted him. He later drove away from the place. The deposition says Samson returned home at 6 am. New Delhi: Dubbing the handling of the British teenager in Goa as ‘shameful’, the BJP today demanded a CBI inquiry to “probe deeply” into the role of politicians and top police officials in suppressing the case. BJP parliamentary party spokesman Vijay Kumar Malhotra said the CBI should not only look into police lapses but also vital link of the drug mafia patrons with the police hierarchy as well as political figures since the mother of British teenager had taken the names of Home Minister and state police chief. Meanwhile, the Goa government is all set to make an appeal to union home and external affairs ministries not to extend the visa of Fiona Mackeown, mother of slain Scarlett Keeling.
— PTI/UNI
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Kidney Scam
Ghaziabad, March 17 “We have sent the letters rogatory to Canada, Greece and Turkey to get more information about the accused,” CBI’s special director M.L. Sharma told reporters on the sidelines of a function here. The letters rogatory from the designated court and later routed through the external affairs ministry to these countries seek details about the funds stashed by Kumar and details about his patients who came from countries like Greece and Turkey. The CBI suspects Kumar had stashed a part of his earnings in Canada. His family is also believed to be residing in that country. Appreciating Canada’s help in the case, Sharma said the country is “cooperating very well” with the probe agency. “The Canadian government’s help has been very good. This will help in restricting Kumar from selling his properties and meddling with his bank accounts,” he added. The CBI wants to know the name of the patients from Turkey and Greece who had come for kidney transplantation to Kumar and the mode of payment by them, he said. The special director, who is personally monitoring the case, said the CBI had adopted more of a focused approach in this particular case and was concentrating on his illegal operations in Gurgaon at present. — PTI
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Lapang readies for acid test
Guwahati, March 17 The Opposition parties’ cluster, the Meghalaya Progressive Alliance (MPA) led by the NCP leader and state’s veteran politician P.A. Sangma on the other hand is waiting in the wings to take over power in the state after the trial of strength in the House. The Congress won 25 seats out of the 59 seats where elections were held on March 3. It was invited to form the government although the Opposition groups, led by the NCP, mustered an post-poll alliance, Meghalaya Progressive Alliance (MPA), had also staked claim to form the government on the strength of 31 legislators. The Congress later managed support of three Independent legislators and formed the ruling Meghalaya United Alliance (MUA), having support of total 28 legislators. Now onus is on Chief Minister D.D. Lapang to prove majority of his government in the House even as the MPA claims that it has remained a united bloc of 31 MLAs and there is hardly any chances of “minority Lapang government” surviving the floor test. However, Lapang told the media that the MPA, which he termed an “opportunist post-election alliance”, would succumb to infant mortality within three months. He said the MUA would prove its majority in the House. Apparently, it is not yet clear how the Congress will manage support of at least three more MLAs to arrive at the magic figure of 31.
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Krishna Returns
Bangalore, March 17 This despite the fact that Krishna had cancelled his earlier programme of reaching Bangalore after undertaking a two-day road ‘yatra’ after entering Karnataka from Belgaum. Controversies had started even before Krishna’s formal entry into the state with the former Governor not attending a “Janandolan” function held by the Pradesh Congress at Mysore to kick off its election campaign. Krishna’s supporters claim he did not attend the function as his name was not included in the list of invitees. Today’s function became a virtual factional show with his known supporters , including former ministers D.K Shivakumar, G. Parameshwar and Ramalinga Reddy holding centrestage. However, former Chief Minister N. Dharam Singh was present though Pradesh Congress head Mallikarjun Kharge, former Deputy Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and even new entrant MP Prakash absenting themselves from the show. Kharge, while reacting to the development, said the pradesh Congress had not been informed about the time of Krishna’s arrival. He said due to this no function had been organised at the KPCC office.Krishna stuck to his nature and promptly cancelled the arrangements made to welcome him back to the city. Speaking on the occasion, Krishna appealed to Congressmen in the state to work unitedly to bring the party back to power. He said he was happy to return to state politics and was thankful to the party high command for drafting him for the upcoming election campaign in the state.
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Air India employees defer strike
New Delhi, March 17 “We have decided to defer our strike as the labour commissioner has intervened. The next conciliatory meeting has been scheduled for April 4, by when we have to submit our demands to the chief labour commissioner,” said general secretary of the Air Corporation Employees Union (ACEU) J.B. Kadiyan after the conciliation proceedings. The strike call, declared illegal by the National Aviation Company of India Ltd (NACIL), which runs Air India, was given by the Joint Action Committee of eight unions, including the ACEU and the Indian Commercial Pilots Association. The unions, covering almost all sections of staff, were protesting on the “non-implementation” of various demands, including agreements, relating to wages and cadre policy. After declaring the strike illegal, the NACIL and the civil aviation ministry had last week decided to “take serious view” if the employees went ahead with their threat.
— PTI
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GND varsity to have research centre on
New Delhi, March 17 The university has already submitted a fresh proposal to the University Grants Commission (UGC) for finalising the budgetary allocation for the 11th Plan, minister of state for human resources D. Purandeswari said in response to a question raised by Independent member Tarlochan Singh. The centre would be fully funded by the ministry of human resource development through the UGC, she said, adding that necessary funds would be released to the university. Questioning the fate of the project, Tarlochan Singh said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had announced in 2004 for setting up the institute “Subsequently, various departments of the ministry held meetings to finalise the project. The project has been lingering on for three years and now they say that it will not be an autonomous institute but a mere centre. The government is now scaling down the project,” he told The Tribune. The minister informed the House that the government was committed to establishing the institute to spread the message of Guru Granth Sahib in the country. “We realise the sensitivity of the matter,” Purandeswari said, adding that there was no question of scaling its importance. The UGC had approved the proposal for setting up the institute as an autonomous body during the 10th Plan. It was also decided by the UGC that an expert committee constituted by it would act as governing body-cum-advisory committee to guide the university till the time the governing body was constituted. The committee also recommended that the institute would be funded entirely by the UGC on a permanent basis. An amount of Rs 1 crore was also sanctioned through the UGC as seed money to the university. The minister also assured the House that the government would not cut on the budgetary assistance to the programme.
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Over 2.6 lakh cases pending in Punjab & Haryana HC
New Delhi, March 17 Minister of law and justice H.R. Bhardwaj told the Rajya Sabha today that as reported by the Punjab and Haryana High Court, there were 2,65,072 cases pending as on June 30, 2007. Out of these, 68,114 cases were pending for 10 years and 66,473 cases for less than 10 years but more than five years. Bhardwaj said his ministry had taken many steps to fight with this problem. “The government has taken several steps, including deciding to increase the strength of judges in the high courts and setting up of fast track courts to facilitate faster disposal of pending cases. The government is also implementing a scheme for computersation of district and subordinate courts, which includes upgradation of the information and communication technology infrastructure of the HCs,” he said. Alternative modes of disposal, including mediation, negotiation and arbitration are also being encouraged, he added. With a view to ensure expeditious disposal of cases, the Civil Procedure Code has been amended, inter alia, limiting the number of adjournments that can be given to a party. Classification and grouping of cases involving common question of law is also done in the HCs for speedy disposal of pending cases, he added.
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Mid-day meal: Ruckus in RS
New Delhi, March 17 Referring to media reports, CPM member Brinda Karat questioned whether the government was pushing for a proposal to give ready-to-eat meals to children that was opposed by the Planning Commission. Taking objection to motives being ascribed on her ministry, minister of women and child development Renuka Chowdhury said the government was as much concerned about the welfare of children as anybody else did. Members, both from the BJP and the Left, were on their feet asking for a specific reply from the minister that led to noisy scenes for sometime. Amidst the din, Chowdhury was heard asking Karat as to what she meant by “pushing”. Earlier, Chowdhury said a deliberate vilification campaign was going on over the issue. Faced with questions on the Planning Commission’s reported opposition to the proposal, she said the commission did not have the Constitutional powers that the government had. She said the question of centralised system of food distribution did not arise and it would continue to be a state subject. The need of the hour was to put pressure on state governments to ensure that the programme reached the beneficiaries, she said, asserting that the Centre would direct states to pay anganwadi teachers for the additional work that they were asked to do.
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ULFA militant killed
Dibrugarh, March 17 Nanak Chetia, alias Diganta Kalita, an explosives expert of ULFA’s 28th battalion, was killed during a gunfight with the army personnel at Dirakbokhai village, officials said. On the other hand, an IED exploded late last night near Rajib Bhavan at Sonari town of Sivasagar district injuring the carrier, Satyajit Chetia, suspected to be an ULFA linkman. In another incident, a bomb exploded behind a hotel owned at Gaurisagar but there was no casualty.
— PTI
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Vijayawada, March 17 Mangalagiri Mandal revenue officer J. Uday Bhaskar told UNI that Gopi fell into the borewell while playing. The borewell was dug for constructing houses under Indiramma Housing Scheme. — UNI
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