 |
|
|
Seek equity, Ansari asks Muslims
Cash-at-judge’s Door |
|
|
Girl set afire for being ‘scantily dressed’
Rape of German Girl
Tackling Pirates
Chandrayaan-I
Cong claims victory
Prez’s Assam, Meghalaya visit from today
Judicial panel visits Kandhamal
Pay Revision
UP hikes income limit of creamy layer
Russian foreign minister arrives tomorrow
Anand Sharma gets additional charge of I&B Ministry
|
|
Seek equity, Ansari asks Muslims
Aligarh, October 18 Addressing a gathering of over 500 Aligarh Muslim University alumni from as many as 20 countries, Ansari said the Muslim community should adapt to changing requirements of time and pointed out the need to draw every segment, including women, into the sphere of education. This, he said, was the only way out if the Muslim community is to partake in India’s historic growth story. “We as a community have failed to appreciate the need for education for all sections. Our illiteracy levels continue to remain above the national level and we continue to lag behind in ensuring education at the primary level and for women,” the Vice-President said. Rejecting the growing clamour for ‘quotas’ in educational institutions and jobs, Ansari said the community should “seek equity not concessions” as “seeking specific dispensation will not take us too far”. “Let us candidly admit that we have failed to conceptualise the demands of a changing environment and failed to understand that education cannot be sectional,” Ansari told the first ‘World Summit of AMU Alumni’. He said Muslims should learn to emulate other communities in adapting to changing requirements of time and utilising the opportunities and sops provided by the government. “Our failure to participate in India’s growth story will lead us to marginalisation,” a candid Ansari, who is himself an alumnus of the AMU and also a former Vice-Chancellor, warned. Coinciding with the birth anniversary of its founder Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, the two-day meet deliberated on the need to streamline resources for making the university a world class institution in the next 20 years. Ansari, who passed out from the varsity in 1959, reminded the delegates of the founder’s purpose for establishing the over 100-year-old institution in Aligarh, asking them to revert back to the message of Syed Ahmad. “This is time to do cost accountancy and time to introspect. The institution was instituted in 1875 in response to a specific need to impart modern education to Muslims and inculcate in them a spirit of rational thinking,” the ex-diplomat said. “We need to revert to the message of Syed Ahmed Khan,” he said, pointing to the need of philanthropic efforts to draw the marginalised sections towards education and channelise incomes for setting up more institutions. A number of participants from the US including leading scientists and entrepreneurs pledged their support for the establishment of a “modern centre for entrepreneurship” at the AMU, which could play an important role in fulfilling the country’s need for technological innovators. The AMU Chancellor, former Chief Justice of India A M Ahmadi said that a major objective of holding the meet was for the establishment of alumni foundation which would lead to the academic rejuvenation of the institution.
— PTI
|
|
Cash-at-judge’s Door
Chandigarh, October 18 She has been asked by the three-judge committee to be present before it during its three-day visit to the city, starting from October 21. The committee is looking into the cash-at-judge’s doorstep case. This is the panel’s second visit to the city. The committee, during their previous visit to the city earlier this month, had left without talking to Justice Yadav, though it had examined several accused in the case, including Haryana’s former law officer Sanjeev Bansal and his clerk Parkash Ram. The Solan land deal, allegedly involving Justice Yadav, too was examined. The committee had also sought the assistance of another Punjab and Haryana High Court judge, Justice Nirmaljit Kaur. It was on the complaint forwarded on her behalf that a corruption case against Bansal and others was registered in the matter. It is believed that the committee during its impending visit to the city will question Justice Yadav on the basis of evidence so far gathered from the statement of the accused. Justice Yadav is currently on leave. Before recusing herself from judicial work after the surfacing of her name in the statements of the accused, Justice Yadav had told Chief Justice Tirath Singh Thakur she was not in a position to concentrate. The panel, consisting of Allahabad High Court Chief Justice Hemant Laxman Gokhale, Gujarat High Court Chief Justice K.S Radhakrishnan and Justice Madan B. Lokur of the Delhi High Court., has also called co-accused in the case, Ravinder Singh. He had allegedly handed over the money to Bansal for delivery at Justice Yadav’s residence. Notice to appear before the committee has also been issued to Bansal’s absconding second clerk. The committee arrives at a time when a human rights body is demanding protection for “honest judges”, and expulsion of the corrupt. In a communiqué to Chief Justice Tirath Singh Thakur, the committee has also condemned “judge-bashing” by an advocate, closely associated with the prosecution in the initial stages of the case. The body has asserted that the bashing of certain judges has seriously affected not just the case, but also the “judicial system as a whole”. The organisation has asserted the advocate, in their opinion, had some “oblique motive to attack some of the judges”. “The criticising of the judges in such a matter must be depreciated…. The dragging of the name of the judges is uncalled for under the circumstances of the case”. The organisation has gone a step further. It has asked that the advocate, and some others closely associated with him, should be questioned by the CBI “to clear the matter”. The dragging of the judges’ name should also be looked into, it has asserted. The committee after completing its probe is expected to submit its report to the Chief Justice of India at the earliest. Speculation is rife that transfers of some judges will follow the submission of the report.
|
|
Girl set afire for being ‘scantily dressed’
Jaipur, October 18 The police has arrested Salim, alias Azzi (55), who allegedly poured kerosene on the girl and set her afire at Dhanna Das Ki Bagachi here yesterday, he said. Khan said Salim, who runs a grocery shop from his house, took the girl into a room there and asked her younger brother to sit outside. After bolting the room from inside, he poured kerosene on the girl and set her afire. Engulfed in flames, the girl managed to unbolt the door and ran outside crying for help. The neighbours came to her rescue and one of them was also injured while trying to put out the flames, he said. Khan said Salim was a distant relative of the victim’s family and the girl addressed him as ‘nana’ (maternal grand father). A case of attempt to murder has been registered against Salim, Khan said. The girl’s father alleged in his statement that the accused set her daughter ablaze after she resisted his attempt to molest her. Khan, however, said the girl had, in her statement, not mentioned anything about Salim trying to molest her.
— PTI
|
|
|
Rape of German Girl
Panaji, October 18 Fadela’s counsel Aires Rodrigues made this disclosure at a press conference at a city hospital Saturday afternoon. He produced a piece of paper on which Jennifer Monserrate had scribbled her name and mobile number and allegedly handed it over to Fadela, when she had visited the victim’s home on October 3. A day after the victim’s mother had filed the complaint. “We have filed a complaint under section 195 (a) of the Indian Penal Code,” Rodrigues said. Rodrigues said the state was conspiring with the Monserrates to protect the 21-year-old accused, who has been absconding for more than a week. “Jennifer told the media that it was the advocate-general who had advised her, that the police had erred in procedure while filing the complaint. How can the state advocate-general advise the accused in this case?” Rodrigues asked, adding that it was the duty of the law official to advise the police and not the family of the accused. “ The government is acting in connivance with the accused. It is not safeguarding the interest of the minor victim,” Rodrigues said. He futher added that he had informed Chief Minister Digambar Kamat about the advocate-general’s “transgression” and hoped some action would be initiated against him. Rodrigues, a high court lawyer and rights activist, was assaulted by a group of masked men Monday night while having dinner with a colleague at a restaurant in Panaji. He lost two fingers in the attack. Meanwhile, five people arrested in connection with the assault on Rodrigues have been remanded to seven days’ police custody. The latest arrests take the number of people nabbed for assaulting the lawyer to eight. Rodrigues alleged the assailants were sent by Atanasio Monserrate the day before he was to accompany Fuchs to the police headquarters to pursue the complaint against Rohit. Fuchs had complained to the police October 2 that Rohit had raped her daughter and had sent her obscene SMSes.
— IANS
|
|
|
Tackling Pirates
New Delhi, October 18 “The Navy has already re-deployed a warship to the Gulf of Aden. The ship, which was in the region, was asked to rush to the Gulf of Aden following the government orders,” a Naval officer told PTI here. “The ship has enough endurance to remain there and provide security to Indian flagships carrying cargo till another warship is sent there to replace it,” the officer said. Navy sources said the re-deployed warship was a stealth frigate and it had the wherewithal to protect Indian merchant ships sailing through the Gulf
of Aden. It is most likely to remain in the region near the Horn of Africa for a month. The government has said the Indian naval presence in the Gulf of Aden for anti-piracy operation would not be restricted to just one ship and more could be deployed, whenever needed. The government had on Friday approved a Navy’s proposal to send its warships to the east African coast for protecting Indian flag-bearing merchant ships. Earlier in the day, minister of state for defence M.M. Pallam Raju said the government was taking serious measures to
safeguard Indian interests in the Indian Ocean Region. — PTI
|
|
|
Chandrayaan-I
Chennai/Bangalore, October 18 “The fully integrated launch vehicle has been moved out of the vehicle assembly building and anchored into the umbilical tower,” ISRO spokesperson S. Satish told PTI at Bangalore today. A 52-hour countdown for the mission is expected to commence in the early hours of October 20. There was slight rain in Sriharikota today, but there is no cause for worry. The weather on October 22 is forecast to be fine, he said. The lunar spacecraft is slated to be launched by PSLV-C11 at 6.20 am on Wednesday. Meanwhile, preparatory activities for the countdown have begun. “Preparatory activities, including checking of various parameters in payloads, to start countdown are going on,” Satish Dhawan Space Centre Associate Director Dr M Y S Prasad told PTI at Chennai from Sriharikota. Dr Prasad said the spacecraft was moved to the launch pad last evening. Prasad said all operations were progressing satisfactorily for the launch of the spacecraft mission on October 22. “About 42 tonnes of propellant would be filled during the countdown period,” he said.
— PTI
|
|
|
Cong claims victory
Lucknow, October 18 In a press statement, UPCC president Rita Bahuguna Joshi declared that the common people of these two districts had forced Mayawati to reconsider her anti-development decision. However, the state unit would not roll back its resolve to launch a state-wide stir against the Mayawati government from October 19 to 24, drawing attention to the BSP government’s anti-development agenda. Reacting to the CM’s letter to the Prime Minister, demanding a central package to revive the industries of Rae Bareli and
Amethi, the UPCC president said the state government should also do something to revive the industry-friendly environment of the state. “To begin with Mayawati should remove the hurdles being created by her government in setting up new industries and institutes not only in these two districts but also in the entire state”.
Bahuguna Joshi appealed to the Chief Minister to ensure an environment of security and stability for the industries to prosper. “Unfortunately, the state’s wrong industrial policies and insecure environment were preventing new industries from coming up in the state and causing rampant unemployment among the youth.”
|
|
|
Prez’s Assam, Meghalaya visit from today
Guwahati, October 18 The President is scheduled to give away the Fakharuddin Ali Ahmed Memorial Award for the years 2006 and 2007 to noted journalist Shekhar Gupta and film personality Shabna Azmi, respectively, at a function to be held in the city immediately after her arrival tomorrow. She will give away Nirmal Gram Awards for the northeastern region at a function here on Monday. Official sources informed that the President would travel to Tezpur on October 21 to lay the foundation stone of Assam’s fifth medical college and hospital there and would address troops of the 4 Corps of the Army. During her two-day visit to Meghalaya, the President will inaugurate the Greater Shillong Water Supply Scheme at Mawphalng in Shillong and address a meeting with Padma awardees and women leaders of Meghalaya on October 22. She will inaugurate Baljek Airport at Tura in West Garo Hills district of Meghalaya on October 23 and will grace the centenary celebrations of Laban Bengali Girls Higher Secondary School in Shillong the same evening. It may be mentioned that it will be the second visit of the President to Garo Hills areas in Meghalaya after 56 years. The only other President to make a trip to the remote hill area of the region was Rajendra Prasad, who visited Tura in 1952. At that time Tura was under the undivided state of Assam. Therefore, the enthused citizens of Tura are holding a public reception of Patil on her maiden visit to the sleepy hill town.
|
|
Judicial panel visits Kandhamal
Bhubaneswar, October 18 Justice S.C. Mohapatra, heading the one-man commission, visited the ashram at Jalespeta where VHP leader Laxmanananda Saraswati and his four associates were gunned down on August 23 triggering the large scale violence in the district and elsewhere in the state. Soon after his arrival here last night, Justice Mohapatra held a meeting with senior officials, including district collector Kishan Kumar and superintendent of police Praveen Kumar, the sources said. During his four-day tour of the district, the panel head is scheduled to visit Saraswati’ ashram at Chakapada, where the VHP leader’ samadhi is situated,
tomorrow. — PTI
|
|
Pay Revision
New Delhi, October 18 The association is asking for certain changes in the GK Chadha committee report. The UGC has adopted the Chadha committee report and submitted it to the HRD ministry for a final view. The association wants teachers in Readers' Grade (Rs 12000-420-18300) to be placed in pay band 4, as in Group A services of the Government of India. The Chadha committee has placed the Readers in pay band 3. Another demand relates to restoration of the four-tier structure -- Lecturer, Senior Lecturer, Reader and Professor instead of a seven-tier structure as recommended by the committee. The association warned of intensifying its agitation in case its demands were not met.
|
|
UP hikes income limit of creamy layer
Lucknow, October 18 Mayawati made this announcement at a convention held to discuss the problems and possible solution of
SC/STs and OBCs. The cabinet approved the decision later in the day. This means that those whose family income is up to Rs 5 lakh can avail of OBC reservation. The cabinet also decided to revise the income limit every three years and even earlier if need be. The decision to keep Rs 3 lakh as the limit for creamy layer was fixed in 2001.
|
|
Russian foreign minister arrives tomorrow
New Delhi, October 18 The two ministers are expected to review bilateral ties in diverse spheres and discuss regional and international issues of mutual interest. A protocol on regular consultations between the ministry of external affairs and the ministry of foreign affairs of Russia is expected to be signed during the visit. Mukherjee and Lavrov last met in New York on September 28 on the sidelines of the 63rd UN General Assembly meet.
|
|
|
Anand Sharma gets additional charge of I&B Ministry New Delhi, October 18 “The President of India, as advised by the Prime Minister, has directed that Mr Anand Sharma, minister of state in the Ministry of External Affairs be entrusted with the additional charge of minister of state in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting..,” the communique said today. — UNI
|
Former Meghalaya CM dead 45 nabbed for burning youth Leader’s house set ablaze
|
| 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 | |
