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To highlight UPA’s drawbacks, failures…
CPM not averse to backing UPA after elections
Population Pangs
Army turns heat on ULFA
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Officer objects to charge of weapon possession
Gowda seeks nationalisation of mines
BJP to work for welfare of Muslims: Advani
Khanduri draws flak from partymen, Oppn
5th round of talks with Pak on schedule
Iran Policy
Bhutan PM arrives today
False Rape Case
Heritage site status eludes Majuli
Police crackdown on Bangladeshis in Delhi
10 killed, 35 injured in road mishap
Two Delhi youths drown in Goa
Mohali resident envoy to Suriname
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To highlight UPA’s drawbacks, failures…
New Delhi, July 13 The four Left parties - CPM, CPI, RSP and Forward Bloc - will explain to the people what prompted them to withdraw support to the UPA and why they oppose the nuclear deal, the bone of contention between them and the Congress. Top Left leaders will address a meeting at Mavlankar Hall ground here where they will cite the UPA’s “drawbacks and failures, including rising prices and inflation, surrendering of national interest, and unkept promises with regard to the Common Minimum Programme (CMP)”. The leaders are expected to launch a “vigorous attack” on the government for its “refusal” to take appropriate steps to tackle the “runaway” inflation and “back-breaking” price rise. “We will explain to people the reasons for withdrawing our support. We will also explain the UPA’s pro-American and anti-people policies which are resulting in price rise and other problems,” CPM general secretary Prakash Karat said. He said the Left would rally with other democratic and secular forces “who do not want either the Congress or the BJP to be the only alternative”. In the course of the campaign, he said the Left would also place before the people the alternative to meet energy requirements for development and for putting an end to economic policies which are “harmful to farmers, rural poor, workers and other sections”. CPI national secretary D. Raja said the Left campaign would not centre around only on the issue of nuclear deal. “We will raise issues like inflation, price rise and mismanagement of economy among other issues,” he said. The campaign aims at removing “misconceptions” people have about Left’s position on various issues, including its opposition to the deal,
Raja said. Plans are afoot to field top leaders, who will criss-cross the country, to attend public meetings and rallies organised in major towns in all states, he said adding that focus of the campaign will be on youth as the “cream of the country” needs to be educated on the “ill-effects” of the nuclear deal and other problems facing
the country. “We will have a special focus on college campuses,” Forward Bloc secretary G. Deverajan said. The leaders will explain to the people that the Government’s insistence that nuclear energy is the “panacea” to the country’s energy needs is “not the right picture”. “We are not against nuclear energy. But the Government proposition that it is the only way out to meet energy needs is wrong. That we will tell people,” Deverajan said.
— PTI
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CPM not averse to backing UPA after elections
New Delhi, July 13 Senior CPM Politburo member Sitaram Yechury said the present "experience will be a shadow" in the ties but did not rule out Left extending support to the Congress based on the "circumstances and policies" it follows. "It (support) depends on the policies they follow. If they follow a CMP without betraying like now," Yechury told Karan Thapar in CNN-IBN's Devil's Advocate programme. "This experience (government going to IAEA) will (however) be a shadow," he said, adding that the Left extended support to the UPA four years ago based on the common minimum programme (CMP) which "did not include the nuclear deal". CPI general secretary A.B. Bardhan has, three days ago said, the Left parties will not be averse to supporting the Congress in the bigger fight against communal forces in the future but indicated that it would not support a government led by Manmohan Singh. He said there would be "occasions" in the future when the Left parties will have to fight against communal forces together with Congress and similar "secular" parties. "He (Singh) will not always be the Prime Minister. I am talking about the Congress as an institution. I am talking of secular parties. We will have to deal with them," Bardhan said.
— PTI
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Population Pangs
New Delhi, July 13 While the current total fertility rate in the country is 2.8 per cent, it must be brought down to 2.1 per cent by 2010 if India has to stabilise its population by 2045. Population related data suggests that India will add 371 million to its population by 2026 and a whopping 22.2 per cent of this will be contributed by Uttar Pradesh alone. The other northern states - Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh - will account for another 27 per cent in the total share. As of today, the total fertility rate in the country is estimated at about 2.8 per cent. This must go down to 2.1 per cent if stable population has to be achieved by 2045. Another challenge is to address inter-state variations in TFR. While 15 states and UTs, including Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Nagaland, Mizoram, and Delhi, which constituted 44 per cent of the population in 2001, have already achieved TFR of 2.1 per cent, 10 states, including Bihar, Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Meghalaya and Tripura, which make 42 per cent of India’s population, may not be able to achieve the replacement level by 2010. The health ministry is now firming up policies to address these variations. As per the 2001 Census, the population of India was 1,029 million in March 2001, with 533 million males and 496 million females. Health ministry officials say India is now following the demographic transition pattern of the developing countries from initial levels of high birth rate and high death rate to the intermediate transition stage of high birth rate and low death rate. The final stage of this transition will be low birth rate and low death rate. As for contributors to population, 58 per cent of it comes from the population in the reproductive age group. Higher fertility contributes 18 per cent to the population. High-intended fertility due to prevailing high infant mortality rate (IMR) contributes 24 per cent. Among other factors causing concern are anaemia among pregnant women, low levels of immunisation among infants, low coverage of prenatal and antenatal care. One of the heartening achievements for the government has been in the field of male sterilisation, where the performance has improved from 1,14,005 in 2006-07 to 2,19,776 in 2007-08, an increase of over 92 per cent. This is the highest in the country since the last 30 years.
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Army turns heat on ULFA
Guwahati, July 13 A security source informed that the Army had tightened the noose around the 27, 109 and 709 battalions of the ULFA in central and western Assam to force the cadres to follow the path shown by the ‘A’ and ‘C’ companies of the outfit’s 28th battalion which have declared unilateral truce with the Government of India Forces. The general officer commanding (GOC) 4 Corps of the Indian Army, Lt-Gen B.S. Jaswal has termed the unilateral truce declared a very significant development given that these companies were the main strike force of the outfit in upper districts of the state and were mainly involved in raising fund for the ULFA through extortions. The Army is very much elated over the first discernible vertical fissure that had appeared in the ULFA during all these years with the move made by the ‘A’ and ‘C’ companies defying the top brass of the outfit. The security forces are of the view that fugitive ULFA commander-in-chief Paresh Baruah will not be able to raise a new Battalion in these districts to negate the move made by the companies of the 28th Battalion given the hitherto overwhelming mass response to the peace initiative suo moto undertaken by the leaders of the companies. People in general from the ULFA bastion in Tinsukia and Dibrugarh districts are celebrating the unilateral truce declared by the two ULFA companies and it has been very well reflected in huge gathering at different public meetings addressed by leaders of the two ULFA companies so far in their bid to mobilise public opinion for ‘direct and unconditional talks’ between the ULFA top brass and the Government of India.
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Officer objects to charge of weapon possession
Chandigarh, July 13 In a petition sent to the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Western Command, the GCM’s convening authority, the officer, Maj Rajeev Sirohi, has contended that according to Section 45 of the Arms Act and relevant provisions of the regulations for the Army, an Army officer is legally permitted to possess one pistol or revolver without license and such possession is not an offence. The defence had raised objection to the charge in the court earlier, but the GCM had overruled it. The GCM being held at New Delhi, is scheduled to re-assemble tomorrow after a brief adjournment. The officer is facing four charges. The second charge framed under the Arms Act alleges that he had possessed a .38 pistol without holding a licence and without due authority. Other charges include bringing Ethiopian girls to his residence and conducting intelligence operations beyond his charter of duties. Alleging “legal mischief” while framing the charge against him, the officer has contended that legal provisions, which warrant to be read along with the relevant sections of the Act, had been suppressed. He has claimed that the sections specifically mandate that nothing in the Act shall apply to possession of firearms by public servant in the course of his duty. It is because of such immunity that the central government has made further provisions in tune with provisions of Arms Act, vide paras 944 and 945 of the Regulation for the Army, that an officer while in service is allowed to possess without licence a privately owned pistol/revolver of any pattern in addition to one service pistol/revolver, he has further claimed in his petition. The officer has sought that a benign and careful consideration be given to the aforementioned legal issue and the “unwarranted” charge be cancelled, besides seeking that the judge advocate, the court’s legal advisor, be changed for seemingly not acting impartially.
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Gowda seeks nationalisation of mines
Bangalore, July 13 Janata Dal (Secular) chief and former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda’s support for the nationalisation of mining industry, however, it is believed, has not much to do with national interest. It can even be questioned whether the regional interest of Karnataka, Gowda’s home state, will be served by the demand. The nationalisation of mines though will be a big blow to the mine-owners of Bellary in Karnataka and the former Prime Minister apparently has set his eye on that. Two Reddy brothers, Janardhana and Karunakara, both super-rich mining lords of Bellary, recently played a key role in organising the defection of two MLAs from the JD(S) and one from the Congress to the BJP in the state. Balachandra Jharakiholi and K. Shivanagouda Naik, who were JD(S) legislators, and Asnotikar Anand Vasanth of the Congress, were all sworn in as ministers soon after they joined the BJP after quitting their Assembly seats. Reddy brothers were also instrumental in the trio’s getting ministerial berths. Left to himself, Chief Minister Yeddyurappa would have kept at least one of the three outside the ministry because with their induction into the ministry the constitutional limit on the size of the council of ministers had been reached. Brothers and sons of a former police constable are also ministers in the Karnataka government while the family’s good friend B. Sriramulu is also a minister. Sriramulu’s official residence in Bangalore was the venue where the three defectors announced their decision to resign from the Assembly and join the BJP. In a spectacular leap to power riding on the crest of the increasing global demand for iron ore, the Reddys emerged from the backyard of Bellary in quick time. The brothers, who reportedly moved around in two-wheelers as late as 1998, now boast of a helicopter as part of the family’s modes of transport. So perturbed is Gowda over the Reddys that he had reportedly asked the Congress to push for the nationalisation of mines as a condition for giving support of the two JD(S) MPs to the UPA in the trust vote in the Lok Sabha on July 21.
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BJP to work for welfare of Muslims: Advani
New Delhi, July 13 Addressing a women’s conference organised by the BJP’s minority cell, he said, “Irrespective of what percentage of Muslims vote for the BJP and the NDA, we will work for the welfare, development and security of the Muslims with the same commitment as we shall show in respect of non-Muslims. This is my solemn assurance,” The BJP leader said: “He valued the contribution of Indian Muslims to the evolution of India’s culture, to the country’s struggle against the colonial rule, and, to the building of a strong and prosperous India.” He said: “Some political parties in India, purely for vote bank considerations, wanted the Muslims to remain forever in the minority mindset.” Their politics of minority appeasement is neither helping the nation’s development nor the development of minorities themselves.” He sought to dispel the impression that his party was against the minorities.” The BJP is anti-minority appeasement but not anti-minorities.” He asked the Muslim women to go back to their families with the message that the anti-BJP sentiments spread by the Congress was a farce. A resolution adopted in the conclave hailed Advani’s candidature for prime
ministership. The seminar was also addressed by BJP minority cell chief Syed Shahnawaz Hussain and other leaders, including Najma Heptullah, Vijay Kumar Malhotra, Vijay Goel and Kiran Maheshwari.
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Khanduri draws flak from partymen, Oppn
Dehra Dun, July 13 While Kedar Singh Phonia, a ruling BJP legislator, resigned as an adviser of the proposed SAF winter games to be held in the state next year alleging nepotism, two senior politicians, one from the Opposition and another a Cabinet minister, were annoyed at the inauguration of Srinagar Medical College by the Chief Minister last week. Phonia, the BJP legislator from Badrinath Assembly segment and former state minister, was associated with the preparations of the SAF winter games scheduled to be held at Auli in Chamoli district in February 2009. He has been asking the state government to act decisively against the encroachment of the skiing slopes at Auli for the past one year but no action had been taken. Last year, Nidhi Yadav, SDM, Joshimath, was transferred after she registered cases against the encroachers. Phonia had been demanding prompt action in view of the preparations for the games, but to no avail. He met the Chief Minister three days ago and submitted his resignation. Coming as a big setback to the BJP government, the Chief Minister called a meeting today to review the preparations for the winter games and admonished the officials to act fast. On the other hand, two leaders are unhappy with the Chief Minister for their treatment at the inauguration function of Srinagar Medical College. Harak Singh Rawat, Leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly, was incensed at not being called to address the inauguration function while Uttarakhand health minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank was unhappy since the function was held in his absence. Rawat gave vent to his feelings by using choicest expletives for Chief Minister, but Nishank remained more
discreet. Interestingly, all three -- Major-Gen Khanduri, Ramesh Nishank and Harak Singh Rawat -- belonged to Srinagar area.
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5th round of talks with Pak on schedule
New Delhi, July 13 They were asked if the talks could be deferred in view of the floor test to be taken by the UPA government in the Lok Sabha on the same dates and also Monday’s car bomb blast outside the Indian embassy in Kabul, in which more than 40 persons were killed. India has alleged Pakistan’s involvement in the blast. The sources said India had serious concerns about the role of Pakistani intelligence agencies in instigating terrorist attacks in India. These concerns would be conveyed to the Pakistani side when foreign secretary Shiv Shankar Menon and his Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir kick-start the fifth round of the dialogue process. The decision to launch the fifth round on July 21-22 was taken when Pakistan foreign minister Shah Mahmud Qureshi visited New Delhi last month. Meanwhile, the two countries are expected to give a push to confidence building measures when their senior officials meet in Islamabad on July 18. At the joint secretary-level talks, the two sides will discuss various ideas and proposals to enhance people-to-people contacts and trade across LoC. The meeting was originally scheduled to take place on July 10, but had to be postponed as joint secretary in the external affairs ministry T.C.A Raghavan had to rush to Kabul in the wake of the blast at the embassy.
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Iran Policy
Mumbai, July 13 Talking to mediapersons here, Amar Singh said the SP will support the UPA during the no-confidence vote in Parliament on July 22, purely based on the assurance of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that US would not press the Hyde's Act on the nuclear deal, as assured by US President George W. Bush on the sidelines of the G8 Summit in Japan. He said SP was also convinced by Dr Manmohan Singh's assurance that the US would not invoke the Hyde's Act if India went ahead with its economic cooperation with Iran, especially on the gas pipeline link. If there was any U-turn by the UPA government on this front, the SP would withdraw support, he added. Besides, the party was convinced after the two-hour meeting with former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam that the nuclear deal was a must for ensuring the country's energy security. "We are not with the UPA government either on the price rise front or in hiking the rates of petroleum products, but purely in national interest, the SP is supporting the government," he said. He added, "There is no deal or any other hidden agenda in the change of mind of the party."
— UNI
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Bhutan PM arrives today
New Delhi, July 13 This will be his first visit outside Bhutan as the first democratically elected Prime Minister after Bhutan’s historic transition to a democratic constitutional monarchy. The Prime Minister will be accompanied by Thinley and a high-level delegation that includes Lyonpo Khandu Wangchuck, minister for economic affairs, Lyonpo Ugyen Tshering, minister for foreign affairs, Lyonpo Wangdi Norbu, finance minister, and other senior officials, an external affairs ministry release said. India and Bhutan share a very special relationship, which has roots in their history and culture and has found new dynamism in mutually beneficial cooperation. This relationship is characterised by close consultations, mutual trust and understanding. During the visit, the Bhutanese Prime Minister will call on President Pratibha Patil and the Vice-President Hamid Ansari and will hold talks with Prime Minister and other Indian leaders.
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False Rape Case
New Delhi, July 13 “The evil of perjury has assumed alarming proportions in cases depending on oral evidence and in order to deal with the menace effectively, it is desirable for courts to use the provision more effectively and frequently,” the apex court observed. The apex court said that on account of the false case thrust by the woman, two innocent persons were arrested by the police and had to face the ignominy of facing the trial for a serious offence like rape. In this case, she had lodged a case of rape against two persons with Pischhore police station in Madhya Pradesh on January 28, 1993. She claimed that the accused waylaid and ravished her by turns. On the basis of her complaint, the accused were arrested and a charge sheet was filed by the police under Section 376(2).
— PTI
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Heritage site status eludes Majuli
Guwahati, July 13 The island and the Kalka-Shimla Railway (KSR) from India were among the 13 natural and 34 cultural sites submitted before the Unesco committee for the heritage tag. It was disheartening news for the Assam government as well as the ‘save- and- preserve Majuli’ campaign that the river island once again failed to make it to the Unesco World Heritage Site Status. After Majuli had failed to get the World Heritage Site Status on technical grounds at the 31st session of the World Heritage Committee held at Christchurch in New Zealand last year, the Assam government in cooperation with the Centre made a fresh attempt before the committee this year.
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Police crackdown on Bangladeshis in Delhi
New Delhi, July 13 Officials said an increasing number of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants in the city got into crime like murders, attempts to murder, burglaries, robberies, snatching and drug peddling among others and posed a threat to Delhiites and to the national security. According to a Delhi Police data, about 2,000 illegal Bangladeshi immigrants have been detained and subsequently deported to their country between January 1 and June 15, 2008. The police said they detained at least 10 Bangladeshi illegal immigrants every day from different parts of the Capital. Figures show that more than 4,000 illegal Bangladeshi immigrants are being deported from the Capital every year. As many as 5,813 illegal migrants were deported to Bangladesh in 2003, while 6,027 were deported in 2004 apart from the 5,754 sent back in 2005. The figure stood at 4,742 and 4,117 for 2006 and 2007. “The increase in the number of illegal immigrants is a cause of worry,” a police official said. However, detecting illegal immigrants was a Herculean task, as many of them had succeeded in obtaining fake identity proofs like ration cards and voters identity cards, he said. According to him, a dedicated wing of the Delhi Police, Bangladeshi cell, is in place under each police station. Each cell is headed by an Inspector, who regularly visit his area and detect and detain illegal immigrants acting on the tip-off of intelligence agencies or through his own networks of informers.
— PTI
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Groom skydives to tie knot
Bhubaneswar, July 13 Shishir Mishra of Odagaon village in Nayagarh district went up in a private helicopter along with three other skydivers and jumped from a height of about 6,000 feet to reach his fiancée’s house in Bhubaneswar. Several hundred relatives and other invitees witnessed Mishra and his friends landing in a playground a short distance from the marriage pandal (marquee). Mishra was taken to a nearby hotel from where he returned within minutes after he had changed into the traditional groom’s dress to marry Sweta Prusty. “The helicopter took off from Bhubaneswar airport at around 11 a.m.,” chief pilot of Sky Airways, Captain A.C. Pati, said. “They jumped from about 6,000 feet and opened their parachutes some 3,500 feet above the ground,” he said. Mishra, who works as an aircraft technician with the
Indian Air Force at Delhi, has over 10 years of experience in sky diving. He claimed he had earlier created a record by jumping from a height of 15,000 feet with the Tricolour in the United States as part of an Indian delegation. “Marriage is always a significant event in one’s life and I did this to make it memorable,” Mishra, who is a member of India’s only sport skydiving team “Air Devils”, said.
— IANS
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10 killed, 35 injured in road mishap
Roorkee, July 13 The police said the accident took place on the Hardwar-Delhi national highway. The bus was on its way to Hardwar while the truck which was ferrying over 35 labourers, was coming from the opposite direction. “Eight persons were killed on the spot while two others succumbed to their injuries while being taken to hospital,” said DSP Pradeep Rai. “We received the information of the collision at 3.25 am and within the next 20 minutes, most of the victims were rushed to the civil hospital at Roorkee for medical aid by the police,” he added. He said a majority of the labourers hailed form Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh. The police has identified six of the deceased as Sumer Chand, Rattan Lal, Harikrishan, Om Vir, Mahendra and Vipin.
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Two Delhi youths drown in Goa
Panaji, July 13 Sandeep Dharmpal Jain and Deepak Adishwar Jain, both in their 30's, were washed away from beach yesterday, while their friend Vijay Rajendra Jain, managed to swim ashore. The trio, who run a small-time business in Delhi, were on a holiday in Goa and had ventured in the choppy sea, they said. While Sandeep's body has been fished out, search is on to find out the body of Deepak, they added. The Goa government has already restricted swimming in the sea as it is rough and pose acute danger of drowning. State Tourism Department officials said they had already put up adequate warning across the coast to desist tourists from going in the sea water. "With the onset of monsoons, sea is very rough and tourists are advised not to venture in the sea," a tourism official said. "We are also working out a comprehensive plan to make beaches of the state drowning free by deploying lifeguards and other safety equipments to avert tragedies," the officer said.
— PTI
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Mohali resident envoy to Suriname
Sodhi, a resident of Mohali, had graduated from government college. He is presently joint secretary at the external affairs ministry. He is expected to take up his assignment shortly.
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Mishap victim’s mother seeks pardon for killer Now, old-age home for gays Nandita Das in Pak movie 
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New Delhi, July 13
