|
|
|
|
Ageing embankments compound
Assam takes to e-revolution to counter ULFA
‘Fake’ Encounters |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Kandhamal Violence
Centre ready to hold CBI probe: Patil
Disclosures send govt in a tizzy
Pay Hike
Nanda’s sentencing
on Friday
Chopper trouble for official
Cong blames West Bengal govt, Tatas for Singur impasse
BJP seeks white paper on SIMI
Ganesh festival begins in Maharashtra
HC: Judicial officers can’t be prosecuted for wrong verdicts
CS Prelims
Hard drives used by terror suspects seized
Madhur donates prize money
|
|
Ageing embankments compound flood havoc
Guwahati, September 3 The minister was the target of Opposition’s ire over the alleged faulty construction of Matmora embankment in Dhemaji district of north Assam where floods have wreaked havoc. As many as 12 engineers associated with the construction of Matmora embankment, which has already been washed away by the swirling waters of Brahmaputra, have also been put under suspension. Assam’s flood worries have been compounded by hundreds of ageing embankments that have past their utility period. According to official sources, the state has been fighting the perennial problem of floods since 1950 with the support of a network of 423 river embankments. However, out of these 295 embankments have outlasted their efficacy span and are surviving on occasional patchworks by the water resources department. According to figures made available by the government, 30 embankments out of 38 under the Dibrugarh water resources division have already past their expiry dates, while eight out of 12 such structures have surpassed their period of effectiveness in the worst-affected Majuli island. All 10 embankments under the Upper Assam investigation division of the water resource department have lost their efficacy, while in Dhemaji district, 14 out of 22 embankments are existing for the name’s sake. The ageing embankments have obviously contributed to the flood menace in the state which suffered damages worth Rs 1250 crore in terms of agriculture crops and public utilities last year while damages so far this year have been estimated at over Rs 96 crore. Meanwhile, chief minister Gogoi today made aerial survey of flood ravaged Majuli river island in Jorhat district of Upper Assam. The river island, which has been vying for world heritage tag has faced the worst flood in its history. Perennial floods and erosion by Brahmaputra have reduced the total area of Majuli from 1250 sq km in 1950 to only 450 sq km today.
|
|
Assam takes to e-revolution to counter ULFA
Guwahati, September 3 At a function held to roll out 500 Common Services Centres (CSCs) in the state, chief minister Tarun Gogoi said: “Christened as Arunoday, these CSCs will trigger electronic revolution and knowledge explosion in the rural areas that in turn will facilitate rapid overall economic growth. The e-revolution is our answer to their (banned ULFA’s) armed revolution.” Significantly, the ‘Arunoday’ in Assamese means ‘rising sun’ which is the symbol used by the ULFA. State information technology minister Himanta Bishwa Sharma said: “We have snatched the ‘rising sun’ from the ULFA for the sake of prosperity and economic growth. Through CSCs, we want to popularise work culture among our youth to counter the gun culture propagated by the ULFA.” Assam today became the second state after Tamil Nadu to set up such a large number of CSCs at one stroke under the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) for delivery of government to citizens (G2C) and Business to Citizens (B2C) services at the doorstep of the rural folk in public- private partnership (PPP) mode. These centres would bring ranges of services in both government and private sectors to the doorstep of village people, youths and students. A villager can log onto the internet to avail of services like e-ticketing, information on education, insurance services, postal services, banking services, tele- medicines, information- related prices of agriculture, market linkages. The Government to citizens (G2C) services that will be available in these CSCs include various certificates, land records, information of government welfare schemes, all government forms.
|
|
|
‘Fake’ Encounters
New Delhi, September 3 Petitioner Gopinath Pillai said the Gujarat police had then alleged that his son, Pranesh Kumar Pillai alias Javed Shaikh, who was among those killed in the encounter, had links with terrorist groups. The police, however, could not produce any evidence in support of its charge even four years after the incident. A two-member bench, comprising Judges Tarun Chatterjee and Aftab Alam, also sought the response of state home minister Amit Shah to the petition relating to the encounter in which a woman had also been killed. The court issued another notice to the state government on a separate petition filed by lyricist Javed Akhtar who has sought a probe by a special investigation team into alleged fake encounters in Gujarat, primarily targeted against the minority community on the pretext of anti-terrorism operations. The petition cited the killing of one Sameer Khan in October 2002 in an alleged fake encounter following which the police had claimed that Khan, who was in police custody, had snatched the revolver of a policeman while being taken to a spot where he had murdered a constable. It was also alleged that he had links with Pakistan’s ISI and Jaish-e-Mohammed to assassinate Modi and other leaders.
|
|
Kandhamal Violence
New Delhi, September 3 A bench headed by Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan issued the directive while hearing a petition of Cuttack Archbishop Raphael Cheenath who contended that violence was continuing unabated even after he had approached the apex court yesterday. Disputing the contention of the Archbishop, the counsel for the Orissa government said the situation was under control and a similar PIL had been filed in the Orissa High Court. He, however, said he was not aware of Togadia’s proposed yatra. The hearing would continue tomorrow. The Archbishop's counsel, Colin Gonsalves, sought a ban on Togadia's proposed yatra as it would vitiate the atmosphere further. He also contended that the state police was not cooperating with the central paramilitary forces as was clear from the CRPF chief's statement. Additional solicitor general Gopal Subramaniam said the Centre was closely In the PIL, the Archbishop has sought a CBI probe to nail the organisation behind the violence and a compensation of Rs 5 lakh each for the families of those killed in the violence and Rs 4 lakh each for those whose houses were destroyed. He also wanted Rs 3 crore as compensation to the churches which were damaged.
|
|
Centre ready to hold CBI probe: Patil
Bhubaneshwar, September 3 He also announced Rs three lakh compensation each for families of 16 people killed in the recent spate of violence in the state. Back in Orissa, the home minister apologised for the death of 16 people in the violence that has been pervading the state for 11 days now. “We apologise for the lives lost and assure the people that persons responsible for this will be treated as per law. Normalcy will soon be established in Orissa,” Patil said, adding that the situation was neither volatile nor fully normal. The home minister today visited village Raikia and the relief camp at Udaygiri in Kandhamal district which has witnessed brutal killings and destruction. “All the shops were closed, people have deserted their homes. Such a situation is certainly not normal,” Patil told The Tribune, adding that the state government had asked for more central forces which would be provided. Refraining as usual from hard talk with the state government on the issue, Patil said he was not there to blame anyone. “Divisive forces are responsible for the situation and we should not encourage them,” said Patil, pointing out that such a situation can only be controlled through year-long monitoring of the security situation. About the state government not positioning central forces where required, Patil said the central and state police will now cooperate. The home minister also instructed the state government to rebuild damaged houses of the people. The state Congress unit will tomorrow hold a protest rally against the atrocities on Christians, Jayadev Jena, state unit president told The Tribune, adding that the last such rally would be held in Bargarh district where 19-year-old Rajni, a cook in a local orphanage, was burnt alive soon after the communal violence spread on August 24.
|
||
|
Disclosures send govt in a tizzy
New Delhi, September 3 He held confabulations with external affairs minister Pranab
Mukherjee, national security adviser MK Narayanan and other senior officials on the issue. He is also learnt to have spoken to US Ambassador to India Ronen Sen. An external affairs ministry spokesman said: “ We don’t, as a matter of policy, comment on internal correspondence between different branches of another government; Insofar as the issue of testing is concerned, our position is well-known. We have a unilateral moratorium on testing. This is reflected in the India-US Joint Statement of July 18, 2005.'' US ambassador to India David Mulford sought to play down the controversy sparked by the disclosures but that did not help matters as the BJP and the Left parties slammed the government over “revelations”, saying the UPA regime stood exposed. In a statement, Mulford said the January 16, 2008 State Department letter to the US foreign affairs committee, “contains no new conditions and there is no data in this letter which has not already been shared in an open and transparent way with members of Congress and with the Government of India.” Government sources said the document was an internal document of the US state department and was not binding on India. “These ‘so-called’ disclosures are nothing new…they have no implications on India,” they said. Significantly, the disclosures come on the eve of a crucial meeting of the Nuclear Suppliers’ Group
(NSG) in Vienna to consider the waiver for India to undertake nuclear commerce. Congress spokesman Manish Tewari said as far as India was concerned, it was bound by the 123 agreement, of which clause 14, clearly says that if India conducts a test, a consultative mechanism would come into operation to consider the matter. The sources, meanwhile, said the consultative mechanism would comprise a group of countries, which could take years to decide if action was warranted against India. They refuted suggestions that the 123 agreement fully conformed to the Hyde Act provisions as was being suggested in certain quarters. BJP vice-president Yashwant Sinha said the Bush administration’s letter disclosed that the US would stop fuel supplies to India if New Delhi conducted a nuclear test. The government stood exposed on the nuclear deal, he said. The CPM reacted sharply to the “disclosures”, demanding that the government suspend all further moves to operationalise the “anti-national” nuclear deal. They alleged that the Manmohan Singh government had violated the commitments made in Parliament and had compromised the country’s vital security interests. PTI adds:
Meanwhile in Vienna, seeking to address concerns of sceptic NSG countries, the revised India-specific waiver draft, to be considered by the grouping tomorrow, has provided for regular information by its head about New Delhi's adherence to its guidelines on global atomic trade.
|
||
|
Pay Hike
New Delhi, September 3 A day after the three service chiefs said the pay commission should not be implemented till the anomalies are sorted out, sources in the finance ministry today said “facts” about the parity of the armed forces officers with civilian officers will be placed before the right quarters. Officials in the finance ministry believe that the armed forces will get “far greater financial benefits” than their civilian counterparts. Sources in the forces said this is all wrong projection. A comparison should be made between the same ranks in the armed forces and the civil administration. The same ranks of the previous pay commission should be equated and the difference will be evident, said an officer. Now the status of the armed forces has been lowered and a comparison is being made with civil ranks that were anyway lower than each rank of the forces that has been placed in a lower pay band than the previous pay commission. The finance ministry has prepared it own data to counter the claim of the three chiefs. This includes aspects like military service pay that is calculated when the dearness allowance is given. Allowances like Siachen allowance have been doubled from Rs 7,000 to Rs 14,000. The high-altitude allowance has been doubled from Rs 4,000 to Rs 8,000. The ministry is also collecting figures to show that 60 per cent of the expenditure during this financial year for the increased wages will go to the armed forces. The armed forces point out that earlier the rank of Lieut Colonel was equal to an IAS cadre director drawing an equal salary. When compared with a non-IAS director rank official, a Lieut Colonel was getting more salary. Now a Lieut Colonel will get Rs 14,000 less than his IAS counterpart and Rs 11,000 less than the non-IAS counterpart. When the pay commission was announced, the armed forces had represented this anomaly to the Committee of Secretaries (CoS). The CoS had agreed to the demand to an increase in grade pay across
the The new category of Higher administrative grade (HAG) includes all DGs and DGPs. The services have demanded that all officers of the rank of Lieut General be included in this category. In the Fourth Pay Commission a Lieut General was ahead of the DGP. In the last pay commission they were on a par and in the latest one the DGP has been put ahead.
|
||
|
Nanda’s sentencing
on Friday
New Delhi, September 3 The court shall now announce the quantum of punishment on September 5.
Earlier, during the hearing, the prosecution had sought 10-year jail term for Sanjeev
Nanda, grandson of former Chief of Naval Staff S.M. Nanda and the prime accused in the case. The court convicted
Nanda, along with three others, yesterday. The maximum punishment that can be awarded under section 304(2), under which Sanjeev Nanda has been held guilty, is 10 years while the minimum is two years and fine or both. Six persons, including three cops, were killed when they were mowed down by a BMW car, allegedly driven by Sanjeev in Lodhi Colony area in the wee hours of January 10, 1999. Apart from Sanjeev
Nanda, three more accused, businessman Rajeev Gupta and his two employees, Bhola Nath and Shyam Singh
Rana, were convicted for destruction of evidence. The three were held guilty under Section 201 (causing disappearance of evidence) of the IPC for allegedly washing away the bloodstains and flesh pieces from the offending car at a house in Golf Links area here.
|
||
|
Chopper trouble for official
Lucknow, September 3 More embarrassing is the fact that he has also been shown the door from the Chief Minister’s secretariat, popularly known as the ‘pacham tal’. Krishna became the subject of state Chief Minister Mayawati’s wrath when it was found that the aerial survey of the flood-hit districts was suffering due to the unavailability of the chopper, which was in need of repairs. Taking a serious view of this lapse, Mayawati ordered the hiring of a chopper till the state helicopter is not available. During a review meeting late last night, she decided to transfer the principal secretary Civil Aviation to Forests for not making proper arrangements for this important task. She also suspended the commissioner of Basti Division T.P. Pathak and transferred the district magistrates of Lakhimpur Kheri and Sant Kabir Nagar. |
||
|
Cong blames West Bengal govt, Tatas
New Delhi, September 3 The Congress had, so far, maintained that it was for the West Bengal government and the Tatas to resolve this issue. Today, however, it went a step ahead to put the Buddhadeb Bhattacharya-led government and the Tatas in the dock for their inability to instil confidence among local people. Although the Manmohan Singh government is an ardent supporter of industrialisation, the Congress is compelled to take this stand as it finds squeezed out of the opposition space in West Bengal with Mamata Banerjee emerging as the rallying force for all anti-Left forces. Mamata has been an on-off alliance partner of the Congress and though there appears to be little possibility of an electoral pact at present, the Congress continues to keep its options open for next year’s Lok Sabha election. Taking potshots at the Tatas and the West Bengal government, Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari said, “The question is not about 600 or 400 acres of land , it is about instilling confidence among the people whose land is being acquired. Both, Tatas and the state government failed to do so.” Tewari said the land at Singur was acquired nearly two years ago but the Tatas did not utilise this time to assuage the apprehensions of the local people. Stating that the Tatas should have gone the extra mile to take the local population along, Tewari remarked, “They failed to build bridges with the local people.” Similarly, he said, the state government failed to provide security to Tata Motors and bring all stakeholders to the table.
|
||
|
BJP seeks white paper on SIMI
New Delhi, September 3 Advani, accompanied by Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, addressed a press conference here today solely on the subject of SIMI’s activities and refused to reply to other related questions from newsmen. He said, “India has been facing the challenge of terrorism for several years. We in NDA also faced it but then it was mainly cross-border terrorism. That has not ended. Instead, SIMI has struck deep roots all over the country.” Pressing for a white paper on SIMI, Advani said, “The government has enough evidence on SIMI which, when it comes out, will only expose those in the overnment who have been supporting SIMI”. Supporting Advani’s argument, Modi claimed that Indian Mujahideen is nothing but SIMI under a new name and it has spread to nine states now. He charged that in SIMI there was an age limit of 30. But in the Indian Mujahideen there is no such limit. The Muslim youth under the influence of SIMI is mainly from the educated and economically well-off sections of the society. He also mentioned the “defiant and hostile mood” of those caught by his police recently and said, “They behave like Taliban and mock their interrogators.”
|
|
Ganesh festival begins in Maharashtra
Mumbai, September 3 Unlike in earlier years, the rain gods have taken a break although the weather bureau expects rains to begin before the festival is over. This year, celebrations began at around midnight and went on for more than an hour as people observed the rituals. In many parts of the Konkan region devotees flocked to the workshops of Pen on the Mumbai-Goa route where idols of Lord Ganpati have been made for decades. Meanwhile, security has been tightened at many places with police personnel from the city and state reserve police forces being deployed in sensitive areas, officials said today.
|
|
HC: Judicial officers can’t be prosecuted
Madurai, September 3 Justice K. Chandru made the observation while dismissing a writ petition seeking sanction to initiate prosecution against a Judicial Magistrate and an Additional District Judge for a “wrong” judgement resulting in imprisonment of petitioner. The judge said judicial officers had been given protection by the Judicial Officers’ Protection Act, 1850. The petitioner, by filing a criminal case against the judicial officers for having discharged their judicial work, could not invoke provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code to prosecute them. The petitioner had failed to get sanction for prosecution (of judicial officers) from lower courts and hence could not approach this court with a prayer for the same. If the petitioner felt that he was maliciously prosecuted, the remedy open to him was to sue the persons who were in charge of the investigation and prosecution and not the judicial officer who determined the case. There was a hierarchy of courts to correct the errors committed by the lower judiciary and the petitioner, himself, was a beneficiary of revisional powers of the High Court, he said. The judge said the only way the petitioner could seek relief was to complain to the Chief Justice against such judicial officers who had acted injudiciously in any matter. Petitioner J. Selvaraj submitted that a magistrate convicted and sentenced him on the charge of mischief and criminal intimidation. On appeal, the Sessions Judge modified the sentence. But the High Court acquitted him. — PTI
|
|
CS Prelims
New Delhi, September 3 “We observed that the documents submitted by the UPSC in a sealed cover are not of such nature that can be characterised as secret, or of a type the disclosure of which would not be in public interest,” observed a division bench of Chief Justice A.P. Shah and Justice S. Muralidhar in a judgment. Upholding the April 17, 2007, order passed by a single judge favouring the CIC’s decision which had held that disclosure of information pertaining to cut-off marks would not harm the interest of the UPSC or any third party, the Bench dismissed a petition filed by the commission against the single judge’s order. The bench also dismissed the apprehension of the UPSC that by disclosing the working of the scaling methodology for preliminary examination, merit can get compromised and candidates with less merit would be selected and said “...We are of the view that the apprehension of the UPSC is not well founded”. — PTI
|
||||||
|
Hard drives used by terror suspects seized
Ahmedabad, September 3 City crime branch officials today said that they were hopeful of getting important leads on the absconding two accused — Abdul Subhan and Qayamuddin — after the seizure during a search operation here. "We have seized some hard drives from a cyber cafe in the Paldi area of the city and have sent them for an analysis to the directorate of forensic science (DFS) in Gandhinagar. The report is expected in a week or two," a crime branch official associated with the investigation said. "The information from the hard drives might give us some new leads on Subhan and Qayamuddin who had sent some e-mails from this cyber cafe before the July 26 blasts. Our information is based on statements of some witnesses who had seen them in the cyber cafe," the officer said. — PTI
|
||||||
|
Madhur donates prize money
Mumbai, September 3 He has donated his prize money to the families of three farmers from Vidarbha who committed suicide. Bhandarkar has chosen the families of three farmers - Kashinath Dagdu, Prakash Darne and Shamrao Kannake - for disbursing Rs 2.5 lakh among them.
— PTI |
||||||
Quota for poor among forward castes in Kerala Pachauri re-elected IPCC chief Soren appears in court 2 Maoists killed in encounter 3 radio sets in 12 villages Amar Singh in Bengali film Eight feared drowned 
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Letters | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
