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India, France ratify N-treaty
Stampede at Gangasagar kills 8
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Won’t perish like Socrates: Amar
Mayawati, Nitish take on Centre over price rise
Bihar Cabinet meets in yacht
Tytler in ‘caste list’ trouble
32 killed as truck falls into gorge
4 held for RTI activist’s
murder
Monitor aid to Pak, India tells West
Cash-for-judge case tragedy of errors: CBI
Fire at Gurdwara
‘Gurdwara fire suspicious’
‘Dead’ man walks into court complex
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India, France ratify N-treaty
New Delhi, January 14 Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao and French Ambassador to India Jerome Bonnafont exchanged the documents to give effect to the accord that was signed in Paris on September 30, 2008, during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to France. “As responsible states with advanced nuclear technologies, France and India intend to develop a multiform civil nuclear cooperation covering a wide range of activities, including nuclear power projects, R&D, nuclear safety, education and training,” the External Affairs Ministry and the French Embassy here said. The two countries were hopeful that the entry into force of the agreement would give a new impetus to the Indo-French partnership and would contribute to further strengthening the deep ties of friendship and long-standing cooperation between the two countries. Days after India secured a waiver from the Nuclear Suppliers Group on September 6, 2008, after 34 years of nuclear isolation, France became the first country to ink a civil nuclear accord with India. The French Parliament unanimously approved the accord in November last year, paving the way for participation of French companies in India’s nuclear energy sector. France-based nuclear conglomerate Areva has been allocated the nuclear project site at Jaitapur, in Maharashtra, to construct two nuclear power plants initially. Each of the two power plants to be built in Jaitapur will have a capacity of 1,600 MW. India has signed civil nuclear pacts with seven countries - the US, France, Russia, Kazakhstan, Namibia, Argentina and Mongolia. A nuclear pact with Canada has also been finalised, which is expected to be signed later this year. Similarly, a nuclear accord with Britain is also in the pipeline.
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Stampede at Gangasagar kills 8
Kolkata, January 14 The accident occurred following a sudden collapse of an improvised wooden bridge at jetty no 4. The bridge had fallen when a large number of pilgrims were hurrying past over the bridge for catching the first ferry to the island for an early dip at the confluence before the sun rise which was believed to be the most auspicious. Most of the pilgrims could not reach the island as trains, buses and other vehicles in which they were travelling had been stranded on the way due to 12-hour bandh in 24-parganas called by the CPI(M). Still over 8,00,000 pilgrims coming from different parts of the country had taken the holy dip at the Sagar island today. State chief secretary A.M. Chakraborty expressed deep shock at the incident. He said a high-level inquiry had already been ordered and those responsible for the incident would be sternly dealt with. Most victims hailed from Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
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Won’t perish like Socrates: Amar
New Delhi, January 14 With things moving as they are, Amar’s full and final exit from the party may well be a matter of time with the former SP pointsman himself hinting at the same today, comparing himself to Socrates, who was administered poison by friends. “But I won’t perish like Socrates,” Amar said today in reference to a blog letter from a reader, who alleged that the former party spokesman was the target of a conspiracy hatched by old Samajwadis led by Janeshwar Mishra, Ramgopal Yadav and even Azam Khan. “Mulayamji has a clear and old fondness for Azam; it is possible that Shivpal Yadav might also have to go…” Amar said of the alleged power struggle within the SP, which he appeared to be blaming for his impending exit. Azam Khan, the party general secretary, had earlier quit following Jaya Prada’s nomination for the Lok Sabha election from Rampur. As for Amar — in Mumbai today to campaign for SP’s Maharashtra unit chief Abu Azmi’s son contesting bypolls there — the game seems over, with no attempts forthcoming for a patch up. Amar earlier turned down the SP chief’s invite to attend the Sefai Festival, and today said he would return after campaigning in Mumbai and won’t visit Delhi to meet SP leaders. The former SP general secretary, in fact, today insinuated Mulayam’s approval of sorts behind the tirade which others, mainly Ramgopal Yadav, has been unleashing against him. “I have found that Mulayamji was present in Delhi and Sefai on both occasions when Ramgopal spoke against me. I also discovered that he met old Samajwadis in Delhi a while ago…I don’t know what to make of this...” Amar said, using his blog to soil the reputation of old friends turned foes.
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Mayawati, Nitish take on Centre over price rise
Lucknow/Patna, January 14 With the Centre and Uttar Pradesh playing out sugar politics, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo also hit back at Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar for blaming the Uttar Pradesh government’s sugar policy for skyrocketing prices of the sweetener that hovers around Rs 50 a kg. Lashing out at the Centre for blaming states for the price rise, Mayawati charged the UPA government with working under the influence of capitalists and said its polices were helping “blackmarketeers and hoarders”. Nitish Kumar said the Centre and its policies were “fully and solely responsible” for the price rise. “Every time the Congress is in power, the country witnesses price rise.” UPA ally and RJD supremo Lalu Yadav said his party had decided to launch an agitation against price rise from February 18 and the stir would continue till food prices came back to the levels prevailing six months ago. “It is clear that the Central government is working under the influence and pressure of capitalists and if it fails to take immediate and effective measures against price hike, my party would be forced to launch a nation-wide agitation,” Mayawati declared at a press conference here today. She ruled out allowing mills in her state to process imported raw sugar despite requests by the Centre to lift restrictions to help ease prices. She alleged the Centre was solely responsible for rising sugar prices.
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Bihar Cabinet meets in yacht
Patna, January 14 During their two-hour Ganga cruise, the Chief Minister and his cabinet colleagues resolved to work for protecting the holy river and its aquatic life. The meeting also expressed concern over the rising prices of essential commodities and approved the proposal to constitute a Cabinet subcommittee led by Deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi to rein in inflation. The committee would work in coordination with the Centre to check prices in the state. The first step would be to abolish VAT on the import of sugar. Earlier, Nitish had held a similar cabinet meeting near the Vishwa Shanti Stupa (World Peace Pagoda) on Ratnagiri hills at Rajgir (120 km from Patna) on December 29, 2009.
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Tytler in ‘caste list’ trouble
New Delhi, January 14 His claim that the document was not official follows an FIR filed in Patna by an organisation called the Bihar Social Kranti Morcha against him and Bihar PCC chief Anil Sharma for allegedly violating the SC and ST Atrocities Prevention Act. “You find out who leaked the list. It is an internal document. So many things are mentioned in internal papers. What is important is what is released by the party officially,” Tytler said when asked about the leakage of the controversial list. Under attack for preparing the list mentioning castes against names of its office-bearers, a visibly upset Tytler also attacked the media, saying: “It is the media which has damaged me. If you are serious why don’t you find out who stole the list? Who took that list away, which was our internal work?” When questioned about inclusion of Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar’s name and her caste in the list of office-bearers, Tytler snapped back saying that the official list did not have what was being claimed by the media. However, it not just Meira Kumar, six other state leaders have the “offensive” caste name mentioned against their names. Meanwhile, a senior party functionary tried to defend Tytler saying that all pages of the “leaked caste list” did not bear his signature. “He can say that first two pages were replaced since only the last page has his signature. The argument is legally sustainable,” he said.
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32 killed as truck falls into gorge
Ranchi, January 14 The accident occurred when the driver of the truck, carrying 45 people, lost control of the vehicle that hit a tree and skidded off the road into the gorge near Bhagwan Ghati in the district, around 140 km from here. “Thirty two labourers were killed in the accident and 13 others injured. Rescue operations have been launched. The injured have been admitted to the local hospital,” Garwah SP Richard said. The labourers were returning to their villages in Garwah district after working in the fields in Rohtas district of neighbouring Bihar. The district administration has announced Rs 10,000 as compensation to the families of each of those killed. —
IANS
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4 held for RTI activist’s murder Mumbai: The Pune police has detained four persons in connection with the murder of activist Satish Shetty on Wednesday. Shetty was stabbed to death as he was going for his morning stroll, according to the police. According to statements collected from witnesses, the men, who attacked Shetty with swords, wore masks thereby making it difficult to identify them, the police said.
Shetty's brother Sandeep told reporters in Pune that the deceased had filed complaints seeking police protection only last weekend after two persons riding a two-wheeler tried to attack him recently. The murder came a day before the victim was to receive protection. —
TNS
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Monitor aid to Pak, India tells West
New Delhi, January 14 “Pakistan’s concerns of the perceived threat in the East and on Indian activities in Afghanistan needto be unequivocally rebutted,’’ Foreign Secretary Nirupama Raosaid today.
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Cash-for-judge case tragedy of errors: CBI
The money, meant for Justice Nirmal Yadav, was erroneously delivered at the residence of another judge with similar name - Justice Nirmaljit Kaur. And then to cover up the mistake, Haryana’s former law officer Sanjiv Bansal instantaneously thought of another similarly sounding name, Nirmal Singh, to claim that the money was meant for him. The report, submitted before a local court, says Bansal first introduced Nirmal Singh’s name as the intended recipient of Rs 15 lakh and then began the search for him and a systematic effort was made to hush up the matter by Bansal and others. The scam had surfaced in August, 2008, after Justice Nirmaljit Kaur called in cops. The CBI, in its report, has now asserted that, “Justice Nirmaljit Kaur had nothing to do with the same” and the money had, in fact, been demanded by Justice Nirmal Yadav. The report says: “By the time the police reached the residence of Justice Nirmaljit Kaur, Parkash Ram had called Sanjiv Bansal on his mobile and told him about the developments. Realising the gravity of the blunder committed by Parkash Ram, Sanjiv Bansal instantly cooked up an alibi. “Sanjiv Bansal requested Pankaj Bhardwaj, advocate and his friend, to tell the police that Nirmal Singh was to be delivered the packet in the front of his residence…. Bansal got in touch with his friend and business partner Rajiv Gupta and after informing him about the incident related to the delivery of the packet containing Rs 15 lakh at the residence of Justice Nirmaljit Kaur instead of Justice Nirmal “Accordingly, Rajiv Gupta contacted various persons, including Surender Kumar Sood, and identified Nirmal Singh, a business associate of Sood and informed Sanjiv Bansal…. Thereafter, on the directions of Sanjiv Bansal, Rajiv Gupta persuaded Nirmal Singh to give a false statement before the police stating that the money was actually meant to be delivered to him…. “For the purpose of giving false statement before the police, Rajiv Gupta had offered Nirmal Singh an amount of Rs 1.5 lakh and had made a part payment of Rs 50,000 on August 16, 2008”.
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Fire at Gurdwara
New Delhi, January 14 The Australian authorities stuck to their oft-repeated stand; ruling out any racial motive behind the blaze. However, reports from Australia quoted gurdwara authorities hinting at the racist angle to
the attack. According to External Affairs Ministry spokesman Vishnu Prakash, said the Indian Consulate in Melbourne was in the process of ascertaining details from the gurdwara management committee and also following up on the incident with the Australian authorities.
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‘Gurdwara fire suspicious’
Melbourne, January 14 Detective senior constable Paul Stow, in charge of the investigation, said the fire was being treated as suspicious. However, detectives were yet to find out whether the incident had any race or religion angle to it, ‘The Australian’ reported today. “At this stage there is nothing to suggest whether it is race-related other than the fact that it happened to a temple,” detective constable Stow was quoted as saying. “... It is believed to have been set on fire with the use of molotov cocktails early yesterday,” the report said. In New Delhi, an External Affair Ministry spokesperson said India had taken up the incident with Australia. — PTI
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‘Dead’ man walks into court complex
Malda (West Bengal), January 14 Giasuddin Momin, who had been missing since 2006 from his Kaliachak village, was alleged to have been murdered by his business partner Kalu Momin and his supporters after Giasuddin’s father identified an unclaimed body as that of his son on August 13, 2008. Based on the identification, the police registered an FIR and arrested one person, Amiruddin, while five others named in FIR were reported to be missing. —
PTI
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bringing into force the historic deal that will give French nuclear companies a head start over other nations in participating in India’s nuclear energy
programme.
Chandigarh, January 14