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Don’t embarrass top brass: Jagan to loyalists
BJP turns to Vajpayee for poll campaign
Finally, Raje may put in her papers
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4 million HIV positive on treatment globally
Acid Attacks
Chinese FM to visit
India
Defence Ministry warned over foreign nationals
Train torched in UP town
SC no to CBI case against ex-MP Subba
Bihar boat mishap toll reaches 53
1984 riots: Court acquits three
Raj is new Jinnah: Bal Thackeray
Ishrat case: Centre files fresh affidavit Three CPM leaders shot dead by Maoists
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Don’t embarrass top brass: Jagan to loyalists
Hyderabad, September 30 In the backdrop of his vocal loyalists indulging in vandalism to press their demand for anointing him as the Chief Minister, Jagan was forced to go into a damage-control mode and issued an appeal for calm.Under attack from certain quarters within the party for encouraging blackmail tactics, the 36-year-old MP pledged loyalty to the high command and made it clear that all Congressmen must be “faithful and loyal to the AICC chairperson Sonia Gandhi.” Expressing shock over reports of some ministers and legislators threatening to resign if he was not made the CM, he said, “the high command has full knowledge about the conditions prevailing in the state. The decision taken with all wisdom by the high command is binding on all of us. We all have a responsibility to strengthen the leadership of Sonia Gandhi. ”He asked his party leaders not to resort to “irresponsible activities” that would cause embarrassment to the high command. “Please do not forget that any action that is detrimental to Congress will not bring peace to my father’s soul. We, the Congressmen, must be faithful and loyal to the party as well as to the leadership of Sonia Gandhi and observe utmost restraint. We all should behave like disciplined Congress workers and adhere to the decision of Sonia Gandhi,” Jagan said. Disturbed over reports of his followers disrupting the party’s membership drive in several districts, he appealed to them to actively participate in the programme. “In order to strengthen the party at grassroots level, let us treat membership drive as a sacred programme and make it a big success,” he said.
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BJP turns to Vajpayee for poll campaign
New Delhi, September 30 Having tried all other tricks, including projecting L.K. Advani as its prime ministerial candidate and having failed each time, since 2004 general elections, the BJP is back to
reminding its voters and supporters that the “Tried, tested and trusted” Atal Bihari Vajpayee continues to be the most important leader of the party. It will again be seeking votes in his name in the three states Maharashtra, Haryana and Arunachal Pradesh going to polls sometime next month. In the last few elections, specially the last general elections, Vajpayee’s name and face had suddenly disappeared from all election campaign material. Vajpayee, of course, is in no position to travel or address public meetings. He has a problem walking because of his knees and, of late, there is some constriction in his vocal chords too, restricting his speech delivery system also. So the party will only show his file photos and run
excerpts from his pre-recorded speeches to mop up support for its candidates in all the three
states. His photograph will also appear prominently on the cover of all election pamphlets and posters said a senior party leader, intimately involved with campaign work. In fact, this time there will be no dearth of leaders peering from the campaign material, advertisements, posters and handbills currently under print. Apart from the mugs of the Atal-Advani duo there will also be president Rajnath Singh’s photo as also of the state leaders and naturally the candidate concerned, explained a BJP leader. Of course, there is no move to cut out Advani from the election campaign. He will be addressing four rallies in Maharashtra and three in Haryana. He was also billed to address a rally in Arunachal Pradesh, but the dates clashed with Maharashtra programme so Arunachal Pradesh has been deleted from his itinerary now, explained the BJP leader. Stung by the past expereince of the adverse fallout of personally targetting Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, BJP has decided to avoid any mention of these leaders in person. Instead “We will focus on larger issues of price rise, unemployment and the non-performances of the UPA government and nautrally the issue of terrorism and security of the nation, of paramount concern to the BJP,” said party vice president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, in charge of the campaign this time. The public address programme of various leaders like Rajnath Singh, Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitely have also been carefully planned keeping in mind their respective strengths. For instance Jaitely will largely concentrate on urban centres, while Rajnath Singh will address the rural masses. Sushma is adept at both and her programmes will include both urban and semi-urban centres.
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Finally, Raje may put in her papers
Jaipur, September 30 Raje had been staying put in New Delhi for the last one month now. She had reached Delhi on August 30 to hold a meeting with senior BJP leader Venkaiah Naidu over her resignation issue next day. However, she reportedly fell ill and after that her resignation got delayed due to one reason or the other. Now, Raje has called her key aides like BJP’s chief whip Rajendra Singh Rathore, SN Gupta, and BJP MLA Rampal Jat to New Delhi. She apparently wants to take her supporters into confidence before sealing a deal with the party high command. While there are reports that Raje may finally give in to the party’s directive to put in her papers, her loyalists still feel that no BJP leader in Rajasthan could replace her. Rathore and Jat met her in New Delhi yesterday, though they remained tightlipped about the meeting. They only stated that Raje had fully recovered now and will soon decide about her future course of action. A section of her supporters even claimed that a compromise formula has already been worked out with the party high command. They hinted at the reports that Raje could first offer to resign and later get re-elected as the Leader of Opposition by the BJP MLAs. To substantiate their claim, they cited state BJP chief Arun Chaturvedi’s remarks in which he credited Raje for building the party in the desert state. Her loyalists feel that the issue will be resolved soon in wake of the approaching panchayat and local body elections in the state. BJP chief Rajnath Singh had asked Raje to relinquish the post of Leader of Opposition, owning responsibility for the party’s back to back defeats in state Assembly and Lok Sabha elections, last month. However, she resorted to defiant approach and went on to lead the party in a brief Assembly session in August end. The BJP too seemed to be buying time to allow the dust to settle down after upheaval in the party post-Chintan Baithak in Shimla. Raje has put forth three conditions before the party high command for quitting the key post - a person of her choice to replace her, dignified exit from state politics (post of general secretary in Delhi), and revocation of suspension of her two key aides - Rajendra Singh Rathore and Gyandev Ahuja — from the party. She is expected to resume talks with Naidu over the issue in the coming days.
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4 million HIV positive on treatment globally
New Delhi, September 30 This represents a 36 per cent rise in treatment in one year and 10-fold rise in patients covered over the past five years, says the latest report of the WHO, UNICEF and UNAIDS. But challenges of access remain, with five million living with HIV still without treatment. Only 38 per cent children in need of therapy have access to it. Even with access to ART improving rapidly, only 42 per cent of the estimated 9.5 million in need of treatment in 2008 actually had it -- up from 33 per cent in 2007. New findings indicate the greatest progress in sub-Saharan Africa, where two-thirds of all HIV infections occur. One of the reasons for improved access is the decline in the prices of the most commonly used antiretroviral drugs. “The cost of most first line regimens decreased by 10 to 40 per cent between 2006 and 2008 although second-line ART therapies continue to be expensive. Despite recent progress, access to treatment services is falling short of need and the global economic crisis has raised concerns about their sustainability,” states the report, holding late diagnosis and late initiation of ART responsible for high rate of mortality in the first year of treatment. A good sign, however, is improved access of HIV services for women and children. About 45 per cent of HIV-positive pregnant women received ART to prevent HIV transmission to children, up from 35 per cent in 2007. Some 21 per cent of pregnant women in low and middle income countries received an HIV test, up from 15 per cent in 2007. Also, more children are now on pediatric ART — those under 15 years on ART were 1,98,000 in 2007 but rose to 2,75,700 in 2008, reaching 38 per cent of those in need. However, globally, AIDS remains the leading cause of mortality among women of reproductive age. “Although there is increasing emphasis on women and children in the global HIV/AIDS response, the disease continues to have a devastating impact on their health, livelihood and survival,” Ann Veneman, UNICEF Executive Director said today. As far as testing and counselling go, recent data indicates increasing availability of services. In 66 reporting countries, including India, the number of health facilities providing such services increased by about 35 per cent between 2007 and 2008. In 39 countries, reported HIV tests performed more than doubled between 2007 and 2008.
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Acid Attacks
New Delhi, September 30 A Bench headed by Chief Justice KG Balakrishnan asked Aparna Bhatt, counsel for a victim, to make the major states that had witnessed such attacks as parties to the PIL that has demanded enactment of a law providing for compensation and protection. As Bhatt sought a directive to the Centre to impose a ban on the retail sale of acids, Additional Solicitor General Mohan Parasaran said the issue was covered under the state subjects. At this, the Bench, which included Justices P Sathasivam and BS Chauhan, suggested that the petitioner move an application seeking impleadment of major states so that the court could issue notices to them seeking their views. Bhatt said such attacks were still continuing unabated in several states mainly due to the easy availability of acids even at small shops. Either the government concerned should pay adequate compensation to the
victims or curb the sale of acids, she argued. The Supreme Court had even clamped a ban on the sale of eggs at some religious places and it should come forward with a similar move to protect girls and women from men spurned by them, she reasoned. Bhatt appeared for Laxmi, a minor girl from Delhi who filed the PIL in 2006 through her father.
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Chinese FM to visit
India
New Delhi, September 30 The visit is in connection with the trilateral Russia-India-China (RIC) meeting to be held on October 26-27 in Bangalore for which Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will also be in India. The meeting will obviously provide External Affairs Minister S M Krishna, who is hosting it in the capital of his home state of Karnataka, an opportunity to hold bilateral talks with his Chinese counterpart on a variety of bilateral issues, some of them contentious. Officials here said the details of the RIC meeting were still being worked out but the Chinese leader is unlikely to visit New Delhi. The visit comes at a time when relations between the two Asian giants have been affected somewhat in the wake of Chinese incursions in Ladakh, Uttarakhand and Arunachal Pradesh. However, both sides have sought to play down these border violations. The argument being advanced is that the perception of line of actual control (LAC) of both India and China overlaps at many places. From time to time, on account of differences in the perception, situations have arisen on the ground that could have been avoided if the two countries had a common perception of the LAC. In order to address this issue, India has from time to time taken up the matter with China and sought expeditious delineation of the LAC. The Chinese side’s attention was drawn to the issue in August also when the Special Representatives (SRs) of the two countries on the boundary dispute met in New Delhi. Foreign Minister Krishna may again raise the matter with Jiechi at their bilateral talks. The incursion by Chinese troops is only one of the issues on the table between the countries. India is miffed with Beijing for the manner in which it tried to block an Asian Development Bank (ADB) loan to Arunachal Pradesh, most of which China claims belongs to it. China also created hurdles in proscribing the Jaish-e-Mohammad at a meeting of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). And how anybody can forget the manner in which China sought to stonewall a clean waiver for India at the nuclear suppliers’ group (NSG) meeting in Vienna last year? India, meanwhile, has dismissed China’s objection to Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama’s proposed visit to Arunachal Pradesh. New Delhi’s contention is that India is a free country and the Dalai Lama is free to travel anywhere. It is to be seen whether the Chinese side will raise the subject again at the much-anticipated talks between the two foreign ministers. Another issue that has cropped up between the two countries in recent days is the misuse of visas by Chinese nationals who entered India on business visas and are now employed in different projects across India. New Delhi recently gave time till October end to these Chinese nationals to convert their visas from business to legitimate employment. Talking about the RIC, it has a trilateral agenda in which the three emerging economies of the world outline their common goals and objectives. All eyes will be on the ‘troika’ as they formulate a common stand on key global issues. This will be the second stand-alone meeting of RIC Foreign Ministers. The last meeting was held in May 2008 in Yekaterinburg.
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Defence Ministry warned over foreign nationals
New Delhi September 30 The Home Ministry has pointed out that most of these foreigners had arrived in India on business visas and were working in various joint ventures between Indian and foreign companies. The rules for all foreign nationals working in India were the same and the Defence Ministry had been provided with all details, a senior official said while confirming the development. All those working on projects need to have employment visas and just cannot walk in and out of the country on business visas. “They are not businessmen, they are employees. Every country has set norms in place to handle such visitors,” said a senior official. Nationals of several countries, it is learnt, are involved in specialist jobs on various projects in the defence manufacturing sector. But, they do not have employment visas for this category. Sources said employment visas were handled by Home ministry officials who screen applications by matching the same with intelligence inputs and reports regarding the person concerned. In case of business visas, the person working on a project does not come under this kind of scrutiny. Notably, the issue came to light when the Home Ministry told the Chinese workers employed in petroleum, steel and other sectors to apply for correct visas or leave the country.
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Train torched in UP town
Haathras (UP), September 30 "Five bogies of Mahananda Express, which was on its way to Delhi from Kanpur, were torched at Haathras junction this morning by demonstrators," Superintendent of Police S R S Aditya said. He said the police had a hard time dousing the flames as demonstrators pelted policemen with bricks. The rail traffic on the Kanpur-Delhi route remained disrupted for several hours due to the agitation, the police
said. To disperse the unruly mob, the police resorted to cane charge and fired several rounds in air, the police said, adding that heavy force, including Provincial Armed Constabulary, had been deployed to avert further
trouble. Thirteen persons, including a circle officer, were injured in the incident, it said. Trouble broke out when the police tried to remove the demonstrators staging a protest since last week against the closure of Haathras Road railway station, adjacent to the main
junction. The police resorted to cane charge and fired several rounds in air, which aggravated the situation and the protesters went on a rampage, torching five bogies of the train. Senior officials, including District Magistrate Pragya Ram Mishra and SP S R S Aditya, reached the spot to ascertain the situation. Aditya claimed that 20 persons have been detained in this
connection. Meanwhile, senior railway officials have also reached the spot and passengers of the train were being sent to Aligarh by road.
— PTI
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SC no to CBI case against ex-MP Subba
New Delhi, September 30 A three-member Bench headed by Chief Justice KG Balakrishnan, however, said the PIL petitioner could directly approach the agency for lodging an FIR against Subba, who failed to get re-elected from Tejpur, on the basis of reports that he had forged his birth certificate. “We won’t direct the CBI to investigate,” the Bench, ruled and rejected another plea of counsel Ambhoj Kumar Sinha, who appeared for the PIL petitioner, Birendra Nath Singh, a resident of Noida, for a copy of the CBI's probe
report. The petitioner could, however, take a look at the report, said the Bench, which included Justices P Sathasivam and BS Chauhan. According to the PIL, Subba is from Nepal and had fled his country following registration of a murder case against him in the early 1970s. The matter would come up for hearing again after four weeks.
— TNS
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Bihar boat mishap toll reaches 53
Patna, September 30 Equipped with ‘mahajaal’ (very large size fishing nets), mechanized boats and deep river diving kits, the NDRF men are engaged in the search operation in Bagmati river for the last two days. Yesterday, they had fished out 30 bodies. Among those killed were 34 children, 12 women and seven men, said Additional Director General of Police (Headquarers) Neelmani. It was learnt that around 150 persons were sailing on the boat, which could have taken the maximum load of 60 passengers. A majority of the passengers were ‘puja’ revelers who were returning home after attending a fair.
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1984 riots: Court acquits three
New Delhi, September 30 Additional Sessions Judge Pinki acquitted Jagdish Singh, Sajjan Singh and Ishwar Singh, who were charged with leading a mob that killed Gurbakshish Singh outside his residence in Paschim Vihar as there was no concrete evidence against them. Gurbakshish Singh was killed November 1, 1984, during the riots that followed the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. The victim's father, Swaran Singh Bhatia, had also testified in court that the mob, which had besieged his house, was not stopped by policemen who remained mute spectators during the entire episode. The role of various policemen had come under the scanner after it came to light that they did not act diligently to save the victim.
— IANS
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Raj is new Jinnah: Bal Thackeray
Mumbai, September 30 In an editorial in the party mouthpiece Saamna attributed to Thackeray, the octogenarian leader is said to have called Raj a pawn in the hands of the Congress. “The British used Mohammad Ali Jinnah to divide India. Now there is a new Jinnah amongst us who wants to divide the Marathi people,” the editorial said. The article also accused the Congress of foisting Raj Thackeray so that it could prevent the Shiv Sena from returning to power. Typical of Thackeray-speak, the innuendo-laden article went on to poke fun at Raj Thackeray without directly accusing hm of anything. Throughout the article, the MNS leader was called as the new Jinnah or ‘this Jinnah’.
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Ishrat case: Centre files fresh affidavit Ahmedabad, September 30 The fresh affidavit was filed in the Gujarat High Court after the Narendra Modi government sought to take cover under the Centre’s first affidavit to validate the police action of killing the 19-year-old college girl and three others in 2004. A judicial inquiry by magistrate Tamang in the case had concluded that the encounter in which the four were killed was fake after which the Gujarat government said as per Centre’s affidavit the four persons were linked to Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) terror outfit. “The Central government was not concerned with the merits of the action taken by the Gujarat Police and anything stated in the (earlier) affidavit was not intended to support or justify the action of the State police,” the fresh affidavit said. “If, on a proper consideration of the facts it is found that an independent inquiry and investigation has to be carried out, the Union of India would have no objection to this and would abide by the decision of the court,” the affidavit filed by Under Secretary, Internal Security-VI in the Ministry of Home Affairs, RVS Mani said. — PTI
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Three CPM leaders shot dead by Maoists Midnapore (WB), September 30 District Magistrate Narayan Swarup Nigam said the Maoists last night abducted local party leaders Anadi Mahato, Radhanath Mahato and Bhakti Mahato from Ranjia village in Salboni and killed them. Soon after the incident, residents left the village in panic even as the police went there to recover the bodies lying on the roadside. Anadi Mahato was a member of Lalgeria gram panchayat, while Radhanath and Bhakti were local leaders, the police said. A total of 88 local leaders have been killed by the Maoists since June 19, when the joint forces started an anti-Maoist operation at Lalgarh and its surrounding areas. — PTI
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Manna Dey to get Phalke award Ex-CM Rao Birender Singh dead
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