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Bill introduces cane price regime
Dinakaran divested of judicial work
Tribune correspondent gets media fellowship
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71 ‘crorepatis’in fray for J’khand polls
Shinde’s daughter challenges Marriage Act
Recovery of Severed Heads
Russian rape case accused flees
VVIP movement must not hit traffic: SC
PIL seeks mercy death for ailing nurse
‘Pravin won’t be shifted to govt hospital’
N-deal
Prosecution winds up 26/11 case
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Bill introduces cane price regime
New Delhi, December 16 Food and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar assured the Rajya Sabha, which passed the Essential Commodities (Amendment and Validation) Bill today, that the right of states to decide the State Administered Price (SAP) would continue under the amended Essential Commodities Act. Replying to the clarifications sought by members, Pawar said if SAP for sugarcane was more than the Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP), the sugar mills would have to pay the difference. Following the protests and farmer rallies in the capital, the government agreed to amend the bill and asked the sugar mills to pay the difference between the two prices. Even though the new Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) has received Parliamentary approval, Pawar was compelled to assure the Opposition as also the ally DMK that he would revisit the provision that does away with farmers sharing profits with the mills. “I accept the suggestion,” Pawar said after BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu pressed for such an assurance. Naidu’s views were also endorsed by DMK member T Siva. Pawar tried to justify removal of the provision for farmers’ profit-sharing with mills stating that it had remained a non-starter. But Naidu as also Siva said even if mills had not shared profits, the provision gave a legal remedy to farmers, which was being taken away. The Bill replaces the October 21 Ordinance, which had led to massive protests among sugarcane farmers and political parties against obligation sought to be put on the state governments if they chose to pay higher price than FRP. Winding up the debate on the Bill, Pawar said: “There were strong reactions in northern India and Tamil Nadu. We said uniform price throughout the country would not be acceptable. The government accepted the demand and the state governments are free to decide SAP without paying the differential with FRP.” Earlier, the Opposition, including BJP, SP, BSP and RLD had stalled Parliament proceedings on the first two days of the winter session, protesting the Sugarcane Control Order. The new law would also enable the government to pre-empt the sugar industry’s claim of about Rs 14,000 crore on account of levy price fixation. Pawar ruled out decontrol of the sugar sector, stating that the “situation was not favourable for total decontrol.”
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Dinakaran divested of judicial work
New Delhi , December 16 A notification has been issued by the HC Registry on the order of Chief Justice of India KG Balakrishnan, court sources here said. The move comes in the wake of an attempt for the removal of Justice Dinakaran through impeachment in Parliament. Nearly 70 Opposition MPs in the Rajya Sabha have given notice to House Chairman and Vice-President Hamid Ansari for moving an impeachment motion against the CJ, who is facing allegations of corruption and land grabbing, besides several other irregularities. In September, the Supreme Court Collegium headed by the CJI had recommended the elevation of Justice Dinakaran to the apex court. The government has, however, returned his file asking the Collegium to review its decision in view of the allegations.
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Tribune correspondent gets media fellowship
New Delhi, December 16 Among the eight journalists and two photojournalists from across India, Tribune Correspondent Chitleen K Sethi has also bagged the fellowship this year. Chitleen plans to reviewing the drug abuse problem in Punjab. Each year, the journalists from across the country are shortlisted following a rigorous procedure. Out of 100 applications, these 10 were selected by a special jury. The problem of drug abuse is primarily considered to be a “social” issue rather than a health subject. Drug addiction centres in Punjab have no technical expertise. Punjab is one of the most vulnerable states in India due to its proximity to the “Golden Crescent”- Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran. It is also the new hub of drug trafficking in India,” she said. She further said the research would focus on arousing the required government intervention in the problem. The journalists are required to publish 10 articles related to the undergoing research with the fellowship aid of Rs 1 lakh. “The fellowship allows the journalists to take time off routine beats to research and publish articles/photo essays on issues concerning the less privileged, that need to be high on the national agenda for relevant reasons,” said Usha Rai, developmental journalist. Among others who received the fellowship are Anoop Sharma from Assam, Ambika Pandit from Times of India, New Delhi, etc. “The fellowship supports pursuit of in-depth, creative field research on these concerns and writing about them with evidence to impact the public policy,” she added. Two fellowships were awarded to photojournalists too.
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71 ‘crorepatis’in fray for J’khand polls
Ranchi, December 16 What is even more astonishing is that the assets of the 37 outgoing MLAs, who are seeking re-election this time, have registered an ‘average’ growth of 3,000 times since 2004. And this by their own admission as NEW compared the declaration of assets made by them in 2004 and 2009. Take the case of Bhushan Tirkey of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha. Hailing from Gumla district, Tirkey had declared assets worth just Rs 6,000 in 2004. But in 2009, he declared assets worth Rs 67 lakh. Former minister Sudesh Mahto, known for a fetish for baseball caps, had relatively modest assets worth Rs 7 lakh in 2004. But in the next five years, he managed his finances so well that his assets grew to Rs 1.67 crore. The NEW study does not, however, provide details of the assets and how they were acquired in the first place. But clearly, politicians, even in Jharkhand, have access to good fund managers. A ‘Leftist’ MLA from Dhanbad, Aparna Sengupta of the All-India Forward Bloc has seen her assets grow from a paltry Rs 32,000 in 2004 to a healthier Rs 3.38 lakh. As many as 60 per cent of the candidates in fray have not bothered to furnish details about their PAN despite a table in the declaration form requiring them to do so. Interestingly, the two wealthiest candidates in fray are both from the Congress. Roshan Surin, son of late Congress leader Sushila Kerketta, has declared assets worth Rs 27 crore while Rameshwar Oraon, a former IPS officer and MP, has declared assets worth Rs 14 crore.
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Shinde’s daughter challenges Marriage Act
New Delhi, December 16 A Bench headed by Chief Justice KG Balakrishnan also issued a notice to Smriti’s husband Sanjay Pahariya as the PIL has named him as the second respondent. Smriti and Supriya Sule, daughter of Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, were present in the court when the PIL came up for initial hearing. In May 2009, the apex court had confirmed a June 6, 2008, order of the Bombay High Court which had cancelled the divorce granted to Smriti and Sanjay by a family court in Bandra, Mumbai. Married in 1993, the couple has two children, born in 1995 and 1997, but they separated in January 2005 following irreconcilable differences. According to the PIL, in a marriage between two persons who are emotionally and mentally incompatible, life itself becomes a saga of cruelty. A law which displays such lack of sensitivity for the gender differences and their concomitant fallout on the psyche of a woman is clearly violative of Articles 14 and 21.
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Cops yet to find clues
Bijay Sankar Bora Tribune News Service
Guwahati, December 16 Meanwhile, Dr Barua, who rushed back from Bangalore where he had gone on Saturday, today lodged a complaint with the police regarding the ransacking of his hospital. He alleged that it was a conspiracy hatched by his “enemies”. Dr Barua, who was in the news in 1996 following a controversial transplant of a pig's heart to a human body, said, “This is part of a conspiracy against me. The severed heads were definitely not found inside my campus. I suspect that some criminals are out to grab land of the villagers, including that belonging to my hospital.”
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Russian rape case accused flees
Panaji, December 16 The Russian Consulate, meanwhile, took umbrage at the contentious remarks made by Congress MP from Goa Shantaram Naik in the Rajya Sabha directed against the rape victim. The consulate even offered to issue an advisory, asking its citizens not to remain outside hotels after 10 pm, in an apparent response to the remarks by Naik and Chief Minister Digambar Kamat that the victim should not have been out with men late in the night. The BJP also demanded a public apology from Naik for his controversial remarks which had angered several woman MPs. Police spokesman Atmaram Deshpande told reporters that the crime branch had not been able to trace Fernandes, who has been missing since yesterday's order of the Goa Bench of the Mumbai High Court order, which cancelled the anticipatory bail granted to the fugitive by a district and sessions court. The 25-year-old Russian girl, whose name has not been released, has alleged that Fernandes (34) had allegedly raped her at Colva beach on December 1. Deshpande said the police had initiated all required steps to arrest Fernandes. Sources said the Colva police on Tuesday went to the house of the accused where he was unavailable. The Russian Consulate in Mumbai, in a letter to Kamat, voiced its distress over the victimisation of its citizens in Goa and said the recent cases of crime against their women had caused a great deal of public concern back home. The accused had surrendered before the police after he managed to get anticipatory bail and was subsequently subjected to medical test. The Russian Consulate also reiterated their demand for a probe into the rape of the 25-year-old woman. —
PTI
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VVIP movement must not hit traffic: SC
New Delhi, December 16 “We are not having regular ambulances. You are talking about fancy airlifting” of patients by launching a chopper service, a Bench comprising Justices RV Raveendran and KS Radhakrishnan remarked in response to a proposal mooted by Additional Solicitor General Indira Jaisingh. The ASG made the suggestion as part of a series measures proposed by the government to deal with situations such as the June 13, 1997, fire at the Uphaar cinema hall here which had left 59 people dead and 103 injured. In this context, the Bench also made an apparent reference to the death of a kidney patient who died in Chandigarh last month due to the failure to get timely treatment at the PGI owing to the traffic restrictions at the time of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit there. Traffic on all roads leading to major hospitals should remain unaffected by VVIP movements, the Bench suggested. Responding to the chopper service proposal for airlifting patients, the Bench also specifically referred to the Bhubaneshwar incident in which the rotor blade of an IAF chopper which was carrying the President hit an abandoned building while taxiing on the runway on December 10. The chopper hit the only building in the airport and the proposed medical service by air would have to be provided in cities cluttered with highrises, the Bench observed, explaining its non-feasibility.
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PIL seeks mercy death for ailing nurse
New Delhi, December 16 A Bench headed by Chief Justice KG Balakrishnan today issued notice to the Centre and Maharashtra government seeking their response to a PIL filed by the victim’s friend, Pinki Virani, stating that the continued “vegetative existence of Aruna is violation of her right to live with dignity”. According to the PIL, Aruna, who was assaulted by a hospital sweeper when she was 25, cannot be said to exist in the sense human being is supposed to live. She is virtually a skeleton. Excreta and urine are discharged by her on the bed itself and she remains in this state till she is cleaned but in a short while she gets back into the same sub-human condition. In 1980, Aruna was shifted to a solitary room and kept locked except for giving access to the staff for completing her routine activities. The PIL has also named the Municipal Corporation of Brihan Mumbai, the KEM Hospital Dean and Mumbai Police Commissioner as respondents.
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‘Pravin won’t be shifted to govt hospital’
Mumbai, December 16 Pravin Mahajan was out on parole when he suffered a brain haemorrhage last week. A medical team organised by the authorities of Nashik Jail, where he is serving the sentence, recommended that he was too ill to be moved. Pravin continues to be in coma and is surviving on a ventilator at Jupiter Hospital in Thane. —
TNS
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Differences persist over reprocessing
Ashok Tuteja Tribune News Service
New Delhi, December 16 When asked at a briefing whether the next round of talks on the pact between the two countries have been scheduled, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao replied in the negative. However, she hastened to add that the talks would be held shortly. “The agreement would certainly be completed within the time-line, within a year, before July 2010,” she added. Her statement has fuelled speculation that the pact might take longer time to come through than expected earlier. About a fortnight back, National Security Adviser MK Narayanan had stated that the two sides would conclude the pact on reprocessing spent fuel in a week or so. “We have arrived at the final stage. It’s all a matter of legalese now. It will take a week or a little more to wrap it up,” Narayanan had said. The pact was expected to be concluded during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Washington last month, but that did not happen due to differences over the language of the draft agreement. The two sides held their first round of negotiations in July. According to reliable sources, the gap between the two sides has narrowed down to just one issue of suspension of the right to reprocess in case India conducts a nuclear test or indulges in activities that may jeopardise the nuclear deal.
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Prosecution winds up 26/11 case
Mumbai, December 16 The prosecution wrapped up examination of evidences and a total of 610 witnesses against Kasab and two Indian accused, Faheem Ansari and Sabauddin Ahmed. The court will record the statement of Kasab under Section 313 of Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) on the evidences and witnesses produced by the prosecution on December 18. Kasab's lawyer KP Pawar, however, argued that the trial should proceed only after Kasab is medically fit. Special Judge ML Tahilyani then asked Kasab if he was ill, to which the Pakistani national replied in the negative and said he was fit to give his statement. "The trial began on May 8 and in about seven months the prosecution today closed the case," Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam said. The prosecution's aim was not only to prove the case against Kasab, but also expose the prime conspirators from Pakistan-based terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), he said. "Kasab is one of the instruments of the terror outfit. He and the nine other slain terrorists were a small part of LeT which wanted to inflict serious damage to India by attacking its commercial capital," Nikam said. The prosecution has tabled concrete evidence of Pakistan's links to the attacks in the form of telephone intercepts between the terrorists and their Pakistani handlers, he said. The special court had in the beginning of the trial issued non-bailable warrants against 27 absconding accused, including LeT founder Hafeez Sayeed and the outfit's chief of operations Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi. The warrants have been forwarded to the Interpol for execution but so far no one has been arrested. The prosecution's evidence also includes Kasab's statement before a magistrate, in which the gunman has revealed that he and his associates were trained in a LeT camp in Pakistan. Of the 610 witnesses, the prosecution examined 267 personally, which included senior police officials, forensic experts, eyewitnesses and FBI officials. The evidences of the remaining formal witnesses have been adduced in the form of affidavits before the court. These witnesses were not examined personally as they were formal in nature and included those who had carried bodies of victims to hospitals, relatives of victims who claimed the bodies, people who suffered damage to their properties and medical officers who treated the victims. — PTI
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New Delhi, December 16
