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Murder case against Raj in Jharkhand
Kundan Prasad Singh weeps next to the photo of his son Rahul Raj during a 'shradhanjali sabha' in Patna
on Saturday. — PTI
Govt has no Haj policy: CAG
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BJP minister embarrasses MP government
BJP backs Sena on legal aid to blast suspects
Sadhvi, 2 others undergo polygraph test
Bal Thackeray backs Pragya
I am tired of meeting followers, says Bal Thackeray
Chandrayaan camera sends excellent photos
Kalam glad
Somnath for right to recall MPs
Benazir’s Murder
10 suspected B’deshis
held
Nobel Theft Case
BJP, Trinamool part ways in Bengal
Pro-Kannada activists jubilant
German Rape Case
Train derails on hitting metal sheet
on track
PM to visit Oman, Qatar
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Murder case against Raj in Jharkhand
Ranchi, November 1 Raju Mallik, a resident of Chaktita village, about 240 km from here, filed a complaint in the chief judicial magistrate’s (CJM) court of Dhanbad district under various Sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including that related to murder. Mallik has said that he and two of his friends, Sakaldeo and Vijay Singh, were going from Dhanbad to Mumbai in search of jobs and when they were travelling in a train to Mumbai on October 19, MNS supporters entered the compartment and beat up passengers from North India. While he managed to escape, his two friends were trapped by Thackeray’s supporters, he said. Mallik said Sakaldeo was killed and Singh has remained untraceable. According to the Dhanbad police, their Mumbai counterparts termed Sakaldeo’s death as an accident. Raj Thackeray, who is facing controversy over his party’s campaign against people from outside Maharashtra working in the state, already has two arrest warrants pending against him in Jharkhand.
— IANS
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Govt has no Haj policy: CAG
New Delhi, November 1 Other countries, including Pakistan, send ‘Haj’ goodwill delegations consisting of only five-10 members. But, the ministry had not acted on the recommendations to reduce the size of the delegation, the CAG said in its report. Pointing out that although the objective of the goodwill delegation and the goodwill functions to be performed remained more or less identical every year, the CAG said the widely varying number of the members included in the delegation would suggest that its size was determined every year in an ad-hoc manner. The CAG was of the view that the ministry had not established any criteria for determining the suitability of members included in
the delegation. While documents in the ministry did not disclose any specific policy and procedure followed for the nomination of the members, it gave unsubstantiated and vague response to audit query stating that the size of the delegation was decided after taking into consideration all aspects, representations from all segments of the community and from all parts of the country. The CAG said the ministry’s approval for unwieldy goodwill delegations for long duration of 18-20 days was inconsistent with the role of the delegations and made it extravagant. It asked the ministry to reduce the size of the delegation and depute it for the minimum number of days to fulfill its assigned roles. The ministry should also review the extravagance in hiring of the accommodation and transport and delink the pilgrimage by the members of the delegations and their spouse/family members from the goodwill delegation with a view to ensuring economy in expenditure and value for money from the goodwill delegation.
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BJP minister embarrasses MP government
Bhopal, November 1 The minister’s stance has put paid to the BJP’s efforts to distance itself from Sahu, Sadhvi Pragya Thakur and four other residents of the state arrested by the Maharashtra ATS in connection with the Malegaon blasts. Initially, the BJP had tried to disown the sadhvi and others saying they had nothing to do with the party or with the ABVP, the VHP or the Bajrang Dal. Several important party leaders from Venkaih Naidu downward had denied any links with the accused. Then, surfaced a photograph showing the sadhvi in the company of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan and BJP president Rajnath Singh. Subsequently, Uma Bharati rushed to the sadhvi’s defence and even announced that she would be her party’s candidate in the forthcoming Assembly elections. She also chided the BJP for disowning the sadhvi. And now, Vijayvargiya has created an embarrassing situation for his own party. Besides Sahu, the minister also defended the sadhvi. He even virtually defended the Malegaon blasts. “If the charges against them are true, then one should ponder over the fact as to why Hindus, who maintained their poise even in the face of worst of provocations, are resorting to violence”, he asked.
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BJP backs Sena on legal aid to blast suspects
New Delhi, November 1 “We have no objection to the Shiv Sena’s announcement of extending legal aid to the Malegaon blast suspects. For that matter, even the RSS has promised help. It is not wrong for private funds to be utilised for helping someone. It is everyone’s right,” party spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said. Asked why did the party raised objection over the legal aid to the alleged terrorists arrested in Jamia Nagar, the party justified its stand saying it was because “public money was involved.” “We had only one objection in the university extending legal aid in the Jamia Nagar case. Public money was involved. Taxpayer’s money cannot be used to defend someone. If it is a private organisation’s money then it is all right,” Javadekar said. The Shiv Sena had in Saamna promised legal help to Malegaon blast accused. — PTI
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Sadhvi, 2 others undergo polygraph test
Mumbai, November 1 Pragya Singh Thakur, a sadhvi, former Army official Ramesh Upadhyay and Sameer Kulkarni, were brought to the laboratory and tests were conducted, police sources said. “Some of these accused had the tests performed on them yesterday as well,” they said, adding that
narco-analysis was still to be performed on them. Five persons, including the sadhvi, were arrested for planting a motorcycle bomb in Malegaon which claimed six lives. A magistrate's court in Nashik had granted permission to the ATS for conducting polygraph and
narco-analysis tests on the three accused.
— PTI
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Bal Thackeray backs Pragya
Mumbai, November 1 Defending the Sadhvi and others - Maj (retd) Ramesh Upadhyay and his associate Sameer Kulkarni- Thackeray said all of them were being framed by the Anti-Terror Squad of the Maharashtra police at the behest of the UPA government. “It is up to the Hindu community to support the Sadhvi, Upadhyay and Kulkarni,” Thackeray wrote in his editorial in the party mouthpiece Saamna. Drawing parallels with the support for Afzal Guru, who was found guilty in the Parliament attack case, Thackeray said the Hindus must learn from the “pseudo-secularists who supported Guru and be proud of Sadhvi, Upadhyay and Kulkarni,” he wrote. The Shiv Sena supremo, who claims to have retired from the party politics, said people like Sadhvi or Upadhyay were born in the present milieu where “everyday Islamic terrorists were planting bombs to kill the Hindus in India”. He said the arrests following the blasts were made as parts of efforts to appease the Muslims in the country.
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I am tired of meeting followers, says Bal Thackeray
Mumbai, November 1 In a front-page article in the party mouthpiece
Saamna, Thackeray asked his followers not to meet him since he had handed over the baton to his son
Uddhav. “I get tired seeing so many people who call on me....There is no point meeting me, now that Uddhav is handling all party affairs,” Thackeray said. The Sena supremo noted that party workers arriving to meet his son, often sought meetings with him as
well. Thackeray added that he regularly interacted with his son and stayed updated on party affairs and hence did not need to meet the Shiv Sainiks regularly. He went on to say that the write up was provoked by the endless stream of people arriving at his door on Diwali. “My health is entirely in your hands,”
Thackeray wrote. Only last Dusshera, Thackeray virtually handed over the reins of his party to
Uddhav. The heir also addressed his maiden rally at the venue where the elder Thackeray founded the party more than four decades ago.
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Chandrayaan camera sends excellent photos
Bangalore, November 1 The black and white images, received by the Indian deep space network (IDSN) at Byalalu near Bangalore, show the northern and the southern coasts of Australia. The images of the northern coast were taken at 8am IST from a height of 9,000 km. The southern coast was photographed from a height of 70,000 km at 12.30 pm. The camera was operated from ground through a series of commands issued from the spacecraft control centre of ISRO telemetry, tracking and command network (ISTRAC) at Bangalore.
The TMC is one of the 11 scientific instruments (payloads) onboard Chandrayaan-1. Once the spacecraft is put on the orbit of the moon at a height of 100 km from the lunar surface, the TMC will be used for comprehensively mapping the topography of the moon. Having a resolution of 5 m, the images taken by the camera will help scientists to have a better understanding of the evolution
of the moon and of various lunar regions. The images, when studied with the help of the data from the lunar laser ranging instrument (LLRI), also an indigenously developed payload aboard Chandrayaan-1, will also provide crucial information about the lunar gravitational field. Besides the TMC and LLRI, three more scientific instruments in the spacecraft are Indian made. These are, high energy x-ray spectrometer (HEX), hyperspectral imager (HySI) and moon impact probe (MIP). Six other payloads in Chandrayaan-1 are from abroad, including two built with Indian collaboration. The satellite, weighing 1,380 kg, was launched into an initial elliptical orbit around the Earth by PSLV-C11 rocket on October 22 from Sriharikota in
Andhra Pradesh. Four orbit raising manoeuvres carried out subsequently have put the satellite on a much higher altitude. It is now circling the earth in an orbit, whose apogee is 267,000 km and perigee, 465 km. In this orbit, the spacecraft will take six days to go round the earth once.
It is expected to enter the lunar orbit on November 8.
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Kalam glad
Bangalore, November 1 Kalam, who has been closely associated with the country’s space programmes, said he had seen the first pictures of the earth, shown to him by ISRO chief Madhavan Nair. “They are good and are high-resolution pictures,” he said on the sidelines of a function organised to mark the launch of an emergency response service in Karnataka. The photographs, he said, “Are indicative of what things hold for us in future.” On the moon mission, he said, “Every Indian should be proud about the success of the mission.” The terrain-mapping camera on board India’s first unmanned lunar spacecraft Chandrayaan took black and white shots of the earth from deep space. The camera was operated through a series of commands from the spacecraft control centre of the ISRO’s telemetry tracking and command network here. The first imagery was taken from an altitude of 9,000 km above the earth and second from 70,000 km.
— PTI
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Somnath for right to recall MPs
New Delhi, November 1 “Build incentives and disincentives into the system. Punish members who misbehave, see that they don’t get to contest again. Set up a committee to observe and rate the performance of members at the end of their term,” said Murthy, injecting an element of radicalism into the debate at the second roundtable on “Strengthening Parliamentary Democracy” organised today, at the initiative of Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee. Earlier, initiating the discussions, Chatterjee batted for people’s right to recall non-performing MPs. Reiterating that his days in Parliament were numbered, the Speaker recalled with anguish the recent developments in the House, referring to uproarious scenes and forced adjournments. “Because of fractured politics, we have degenerated into confrontationist politics,” said the Speaker, recommending the right to recall to punish members, who fail to fulfill people’s aspirations. “This measure is important to have a functional Parliament, but its feasibility is an issue,” he added. Although seconded by former chief justice of India Justice A.M. Ahmadi, the suggestion was resisted by acclaimed author Shashi Tharoor, who said the right to recall would be a recipe for colossal confusion. Tharoor cited India’s anti-incumbency spirit as the reason why such a right would not work; he called for reinvention of the parliamentary system, arguing that it was based on “an eccentric, rather flawed, British premise that one needs a legislature to have an executive.” Also, he referred to the money power that controls politics. “Non expenditure guarantees defeat,” said Narayan, his speech bordering on optimism as he added: “Our national parties are losing out in this perverse coalition politics. They are now lusting for change in their own interest. The country will also incidentally benefit in the process,” Narayan reasoned. A political solution to the issue came from veteran Congressman Vasant Sathe, who said the Prime Minister should be elected by an electoral college comprising members from panchayats to parliament. “Let the PM choose his council of ministers,” Sathe said, not finding favour with the Speaker, who was supportive of the comments by veteran filmmaker Shyam Benegal, a nominated Rajya Sabha member. Benegal listed easily-attainable goals - advancement of question hour to post-lunch session and scrapping of zero hour. His Lok Sabha colleague Ranjeet Ranjan pitched for a policy on adjournments. She also embarrassed her senior colleagues by admitting today that most adjournments were forced either by the opposition, or senior party leaders who came with a pre-designed plan.
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UN ready to assist Pak in probe
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, November 1 Addressing a press conference here at the end of his two-day visit to India, he said he had already held discussions with the Pakistani authorities on investigating the murder on December 27 last year in Rawalpindi during an election rally. Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari had also discussed the issue with him last month in New York. “We are discussing modalities, scope and financing of the (fact-finding) commission …it will take sometime but we stand ready.’’ Ban’s statement clearly indicates that the UN is not ready to hold an independent inquiry into the assassination. The Pakistan government as well as Benazir’s Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) had requested the world body to hold an independent inquiry into the assassination so that truth behind it could be established. The UN chief, who held extensive talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee and other Indian leaders, defended the role being played in the region by the UNMOG, which has been tasked with ensuring that the ceasefire line between India and Pakistan was not violated. India has somehow not been happy with its presence. “The UNMOG has been playing an important role in ensuring peace and stability in the region. I am sure with the active assistance and cooperation of India and Pakistan, it will continue to perform its mandated activities successfully.” Welcoming the improvement in relations between India and Pakistan, he expressed concern over the deteriorating security situation in Pakistan. “I sincerely believe that Pakistan’s neighbours and the international community should help the country in dealing with terrorism so that it can enjoy genuine security.” Without endorsing the case of India or any other major country aspiring to become a permanent member of the Security Council, he said he would support any initiative, which could truly and in a representative way lead to the expansion of the Security Council. He would encourage member-states to agree on a formula for the expansion, which was acceptable to all of them. India, he said, was an enduring partner of the UN in facing ever more complex global challenges. “India is a leading voice in the developing world, a long-established democracy and a growing economic power. The country’s contribution has helped to make our peacekeeping operations more effective in some of the world’s toughest places.’’ On Myanmar, Ban asked the military regime there to take steps to accelerate the democratisation process.
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10 suspected B’deshis
held
Shillong, November 1 The Army nabbed two suspected Bangladeshis-Hussain Miya and Dilbar Hussain-at Tikrikilla in the West Garo Hills while they were on their way to Guwahati from Kurigram in Bangladesh yesterday. Counterfeit currency notes of the face value of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 denomination, mobile handsets and Bangladeshi bus tickets were seized from them, the police said. In another incident, eight suspected illegal migrants were arrested at Nongpoh when they were going to the Jaintia Hills to work in a cement plant, the police said today. Expressing fears that militants from across the border could slip into Meghalaya in the guise of migrant labourers, Khasi Students Union general secretary Hamlet Dohling asked the state government to introduce the work permit system for labourers soon and strengthen manning of the infiltration check-gates. The Garo Students Union has also asked the government to set up additional check gates in the vulnerable areas, as they cautioned that infiltrators were swamping the plain belts of the Garo Hills, leading to unrest and insecurity in the region. Both organisations said they would deploy their own members at the check gates if the police failed to take adequate steps. The police has also intensified vigil and frisking across the state, placing several vulnerable places in the state under scanner.
— PTI
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CBI get time to file status report
Bolpur (WB), November 1 Additional chief judicial magistrate, Bolpur, asked the agency yesterday to file the report on December 17, after investigating officer P.S. Bose sought more time to submit the report. Giving its nod to the CBI to reopen the Nobel theft case, the court on September 26 asked the agency to file the report yesterday. A year after closing the case, the CBI had moved the ACJM, H Bhutia’s court on September 18 and sought its permission to reopen the case stating that it got some vital clues lately. The theft of the Nobel medallion and 47 other memorabilia from the Rabindra museum at Santiniketan was detected on March 25, 2004. The state CID was asked to probe the theft after it was detected and later the case was handed over to the CBI. But CBI could not make any headway after three years of investigation and closed the case on September 1 in the past year. However, the agency got some clues after one of the suspects, Jiban Bagdi, was stabbed to death on September 11. According to the police, Bagdi had a long criminal record and he had been interrogated by the CBI and the state CID after the theft. However, he had been released later. — PTI
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BJP, Trinamool part ways in Bengal
Kolkata, November 1 “The poll alliance between Trinamool Congress and BJP in Bengal no longer exists,” state BJP general secretary Rahul Sinha said. Blaming Trinamool Congress for the parting of ways, Sinha said “Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, who is eying the Muslim vote bank, has openly declared that she does not want to keep truck with the BJP in the state.” He said BJP has shortlisted candidates for 15 of the total 42 seats in the first phase. The list has been sent to party president Rajnath Singh for approval. Asked whether the party would field a candidate against Mamata at her South Kolkata constituency, Sinha said: “We have not decided as yet.” The names in the list includes that of state BJP president and former union minister Satyabrata Mukherjee from Krishnanagar and former state party chief Tathagata Roy from Kolkata North. He said the other seats the party had shortlisted were Dum Dum, Barrackpore, Malda (North), Midnapur, Bishnupur, Alipurduar, Coochbehar, Bolpur and Jhargram. The party would contest another 15 to 20 seats candidates for which would be shortlisted soon. The Trinamool Congress had contested the last Lok Sabha elections in the state in 2004 and the state assembly elections in 2006 in alliance with the BJP. Subsequently, Mamata, keen to exploit alleged cracks in Bengal CPM’s Muslim vote bank after Nandigram, distanced her party from BJP without formally stating that she was readying to exit the BJP-led NDA.
— PTI
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Pro-Kannada activists jubilant
Bangalore, November 1 The state’s red and yellow colours were seen fluttering in a number of places. Loudspeakers from shops blared out Kannada music, while revelers offered food and cold drinks to passersby. Government buildings were lit up and pro-Kannada activists burst firecrackers in the state soon after news of the announcement made by union minister of tourism and culture Ambika Soni in Delhi reached the state. For the pro-Kannada activists, news came as another shot in the arm. Only on Thursday, the BJP state government, bowing to the pro-Kannada lobby, had announced that the display of signboards in Kannada at commercial establishments would be made compulsory in the state from next year. Chief Minister of Karnataka B.S. Yeddyurappa had declared that he would hold a demonstration at Rajghat, Delhi, to protest against the central government’s reluctance to accord classical status to Kannada. He also asked opposition parties to join the demonstration. Following the grant of classical language status by the Centre, Yeddyurappa said he would like to congratulate Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and all others, who were instrumental in according the status.
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Finally, 14-year-old deposes
Panaji, November 1 After initial reluctance, the 14-year-old girl gave her statement in camera for almost two hours before magistrate Bela Naik. The girl accompanied by her mother and lawyer Aires Rodrigues appeared in the court in the afternoon. This is for the first time that the girl had deposed before any authority. The deposition is crucial in the case as police had refused to arrest the accused. On October 2 the girl’s mother, a German researcher, had accused Monserrette’s elder son Rohit of raping the minor. Subsequently, the mother had also alleged that public works department minister Churchill Alemao’s nephew, Warren, had sexually exploited her daughter. Meanwhile, Rodrigues told media that the deposition would be handed over to the police for further action. He did not divulge whether the girl had named Rohit and Warren in the statement. — PTI
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Train derails on hitting metal sheet
on track
Kollam, November 1 The driver of the train applied sudden brake on seeing a metal sheet on the track and averted a major rail tragedy. The incident occurred late last night near Monrothuruth station here. However, no casualty has been reported, the sources said, adding that the possibility of sabotage bid could not be ruled out. The sources said the bogie got derailed due to the heavy jerk that was caused by sudden applying of brakes. Meanwhile, the senior railway officials visited the spot and passengers of the derailed train were taken to Kollam town via road.
— PTI |
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PM to visit Oman, Qatar
New Delhi, November 1 The Prime Minister will be in Qatar on November 8 where he will meet the Emir, Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani and Prime Minister Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabor Al
Thani. In Oman, Singh will hold talks with Sultan Qaboos bin Al Said.
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WHO warns against melamine contamination ‘IIM-B, best B-school’ Yukta Mookhey to wed Fire guts 50 shops in Oshiwara
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A murder case was lodged against Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray and 15 others in a court in Jharkhand on Saturday following the death of a train passenger last month.
The Indian Space Science Data Centre (ISSDC) has confirmed excellent performance by the indigenously developed terrain mapping camera
(TMC) onboard Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft after having analysed and processed the images of the earth captured by the camera on Wednesday.
