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Pawar-Thackeray meeting irks Chavan
After snub from Shiv Sena, NCP downplays episode
More countries willing to join Milan group
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Stop giving conflicting statements: Cong to Oz
Maratha unity? Gadkari says NCP chief shouldn’t be singled out over price rise
RTI Query
US nudged India into talks with Pak: Advani
Sachin to feature in revised ‘Phir Mile Sur’
Justice Prasad takes over as SC Judge
Upgrade airport, Gill urges Patel
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Pawar-Thackeray meeting irks Chavan
New Delhi, February 8 Though party leaders in private are quite critical of Pawar’s relationship with Thackeray, the Congress refused to comment on the meeting, saying it was entirely Pawar’s prerogative whom he met. However, the Agriculture Minister came under fresh attack from the grand old party, which held him singularly responsible for spiralling food prices. “Food inflation falls squarely within the ministries of agriculture, food distribution and consumer affairs (all under Pawar’s charge),” Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari said, a day after Pawar called on Thackeray. However, the meeting is being read as a subtle message to the Congress that has come down hard on Pawar over soaring food prices. Tewari, however, sought to dismiss suggestions that the party was resorting to Pawar “bashing”. “Who meets whom in what context is their business,” Tewari said, adding that the party had never criticised Pawar as the NCP chief but had only tried to remind him of his responsibility as the Agriculture and Consumer Affairs Minister. “The Congress never indulges in bashing up an ally. To control prices is a collective but differentiated responsibility. Food inflation squarely falls in the ambit of the Agriculture and Food Ministry and the Congress is well within its rights to reflect concerns of millions of people,” Tewari said. The NCP, in the meantime, justified Pawar’s discussion with Thackeray, contending that dialogue and discussion were important in a democracy. However, in a strong message to Shiv Sena, Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan said all security would be provided and “anybody who will try to take law in hands, try to perpetrate any violent incident, state government will take stern view and initiate legal action.” “I do not think there is need to take permission from any other authority in the state... there cannot be an extra-constitutional authority,” Chavan said, adding “…the government is competent, it is the authority and there cannot be two authorities in a state”. Chavan refused to comment on why Pawar met Thackeray on the issue. “Don’t ask me. It will be better you ask Pawar,” he said. But Congress leaders are quite critical of Pawar’s releationship with the Sena chief, saying that the latest meeting just reinforces the fact that two were old allies and friends. “Pawar is the Agriculture Minister and not the Sports Minister. The question why he met Thackeray needs to be addressed to him. In fact, the Home Minister of Maharashtra belongs to his (Pawar’s) own party. Pawar meeting Thackeray to discuss security of players means he has no confidence in his own Home Minister. If someone wants to discredit a leader from his own party what can the Congress do,” they say.
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After snub from Shiv Sena, NCP downplays episode
Mumbai, February 8 “Balasaheb will take a decision on allowing Australian cricketers to play in India in next couple of days,” Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamna announced today. The Shiv Sena is projecting Pawar’s arrival at Thackeray’s residence to hold negotiations as a “major victory” and a morale booster for its cadres after being at the receiving end from across the political spectrum. Saamna quoted Thackeray as telling Pawar that he should mind the national interest more than the fate of Indian cricket. “For me, India is more important than the game… we will not tolerate India’s interest,” Saamna wrote. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), which is indirectly controlled by Pawar through his proxies, is also bending over backwards to please the Thackerays. “We will be making a presentation to Balasaheb about the number of Australians playing in the Indian Premier League,” BCCI president Shashank Manohar told reporters after meeting Thackeray on Sunday evening. The face-saver being prepared by the BCCI is that the Australian players would be playing in their individual capacity and that country’s national team won't be playing in India in the near future. Pawar’s sudden decision to meet Thackeray has drawn flak from the Congress party, which is under pressure to crack down on the Shiv Sena.
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More countries willing to join Milan group
The ‘Milan Naval exercise’ is expected to grow in size when the next edition is conducted two years from now. A few other Asian countries have expressed a desire to join the group. This year’s exercise ended today with ships from 10 of the 13 participating countries conducting a five-hour joint sailing in high seas. India’s amphibious warship, the INS Kesari, lead the grouping. Many other countries have also expressed a desire to join in the exercises by this group initiated by India, senior officials at the Andaman Nicobar command here explained while refraining from naming the countries, which have showed interest. However, a final decision on including new countries or increasing the complexities and scope of the exercise will be taken by the Ministry of Defence and the MEA. Already, indications are emerging that India will be keen to play a lead role in these waters. Especially with the fact that the sea trade route to Asian economic power houses - Japan, Korea and China - passes through the Andaman and Nicobar islands. To beef up the confidence of the nations lying close to the Andamans, India plans a slew of military measures, which will be more in line with its newfound global position. Sources here said Indian forces have already expressed a desire that frontline fighters were needed on the Islands to have air supremacy at high seas and also for the “protection” of these crucial trade routes in case of eventuality. More than 17 million barrels of crude oil is shipped through these sea-routes daily by oil tankers. Others than this, billions of dollars worth of trade is conducted annually. Tactically, if these routes close, countries like China would be “choked” of supplies.
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Stop giving conflicting statements: Cong to Oz
New Delhi, February 8 Congress spokesman Manish Tewari said while the Australian High Commissioner in India said attacks had taken place because Indian students lived in poor areas of the city and worked in hotels and drove taxis, the Victoria Police Commissioner advised them not to exhibit jewellery. He said: “The Australian government should decide whether its High Commissioner is right or the Police Commissioner of Victoria.” “Either Indian students are rich or poor,” he said. Calling such statements “negative”, Tewari said, “Australia should provide security and apprehend those guilty of attacks.”
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Maratha unity? Gadkari says NCP chief shouldn’t be singled out over price rise
New Delhi, February 8 Building up the tempo for the BJP’s price rise rally here slated for Wednesday, Gadkari held a press conference here today and released to the media a power point compendium titled “Food inflation: Mismanagement/Manipulation!” He reeled out data meticulously compiled by the party blaming the Government’s free reins to forward trading and speculative market in a big way for the current price rise of essential commodities like wheat, rice, pulses, sugar and edible oils. But when specifically asked whether Sharad Pawar, holding the Food and Agriculture portfolio was responsible for back-breaking burden of out of reach cost of food articles on the common man, Gadkari replied, “The responsibility lies with the entire cabinet. Sharad Pawar is only a member of the Union cabinet, the Prime Minister, the Finance Minister, the Commerce Minister and the Congress, which had won on the slogan of relief to aam aadmi, are all no less to blame.” Repeated media attempts to seek his comment on Pawar’s role failed to elicit any response beyond the standard comment that the responsibility lay with the entire Union cabinet led by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. He even ducked a response to the query whether there was a connection between Pawar’s courtesy call on Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray at his residence yesterday and Gadkari’s kid glove treatment of the Maratha strongman, smiling all the while. Gadkari’s attempts to let Pawar off the hook came amidst Pawar’s party NCP sermonising the people to avoid eating sugar for it is a rich man’s diet and not good for health and declaring that sugar was not necessary for survival. But since Pawar is being repeatedly targeted by the Congress, political observers see in this an attempt by the BJP to reassure Pawar that if he decided to break away from Congress and UPA others were only too ready to welcome him.
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RTI Query
New Delhi, February 8 Passing the order, a Bench comprising Justices B Sudershan Reddy and SS Nijjar said the matter required consideration for which it wanted the views of the Registrars General of HCs as they were getting several applications under the RTI Act. The Bench was hearing the appeal filed by the SC Registry challenging the CIC order. Earlier, the apex court had stayed the CIC order for disclosure of the communication between Chief Justice KG Balakrishnan and Justice R Raghupathy of Madras HC on the alleged interference by a Union Minister in a sub-judice matter. Attorney-General GE Vahanvati said the SC Registry did not want to disclose the information sought under the RTI Act as it was not in public interest. A seven-Judge bench of the apex court in the SP Gupta case had laid down the procedures for the appointment and transfer of judges and disclosure of such information would force the Judges not to express their true views on the persons considered for elevation, Vahanvati contended. Rebutting the AG’s assertions, advocate Prashant Bhushan said public interest would be served by disclosure of such information as it would make the procedure transparent. The same apex court judgement in the SP Gupta case had also expressed views, contrary to those cited by the AG, he said.
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US nudged India into talks with Pak: Advani
New Delhi, February 8 Reacting nearly a week after the UPA government’s offer to Pakistan to resume foreign secretary-level talks, the BJP parliamentary party chairman has forewarned against bartering away Kashmir interests to Pakistan under pressure from the USA. A day after the announcement, the BJP reacted in a similar vein and in effect what Advani said today was a virtual repeat of what Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha said on February 5. Advani wrote in his blog: “Is this the consequence of Obama’s assertion being put into action?” He was referring to US President Barack Obama's remarks in a media interview during the presidential campaign that “working with Pakistan and India to try to resolve the Kashmir crisis in a serious way” would be among the critical tasks of his administration if he was elected.
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Sachin to feature in revised ‘Phir Mile Sur’
New Delhi, February 8 Kailash Surendranath, the mind behind the unity in diversity song, said he will soon shoot the song with Tendulkar. "Very soon we will see Sachin in the edited version of “Phir Mile Sur”. He is keen to do the song. We had tried to get him as well as other cricketers earlier but they were busy playing back-to-back matches and, moreover, we were under pressure to release the song on Republic Day," said Nath, who conceived and conceptualised the song along with his wife Arti. The song, which is a modern follow up to the iconic unofficial national anthem of the 1980s "Mile Sur Mera Tumhara", has been shot with more than 60 personalities, including film stars like Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan, sporting stars like Saina Nehwal, Vijender Singh and several musicians also, was released officially by Bachchan on January 26. Nath hinted at the possibility of updating the new version from time to time with inclusion of more personalities. On criticisms that many have found 'Phir Mile...' lacking in spirit due to its presence of many film personalities and its length (at 16 minutes). He said: "If you compare both the songs, you will find that the proportion of film personalities is almost the same. Last time there were 26 artistes, of which 12 were from films. This time out of 60 personalities, we have 22 actors, while there are 13 musicians. Inclusion of film personalities instils a message of national unity as the film fraternity of the country has a strong presence in the minds of youth. When we were researching, Bollywood was on top of our minds." Answering the criticism that due was not given to Lok Seva Sanchar Parishad's Suresh Mullick, who had come up with the entire concept of the original “Mile Sur”, Nath said, "It is not necessary to give him credit. But I will say there is no harm in giving credit to the great man and may be the edited version could have his name in the credits." — PTI
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Justice Prasad takes over as SC Judge
New Delhi, February 8 The government had resisted the elevation of Justice Prasad to the apex court following allegations of corruption. It, however, subsequently accepted the recommendation of the Supreme Court Collegium, headed by the CJI, which had found the allegations baseless upon verification. With this, the number of judges in the Supreme Court goes up to 27.
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Upgrade airport, Gill urges Patel
New Delhi, February 8 “You are aware of my deep interest in the Amritsar International Airport. You had appointed me chairman of a committee of MPs before the May elections to give a report on steps to be taken. The report was submitted to you before the election but no action on any point seems to have taken place…,” Gill today wrote to Patel, asking him to give the Punjab airports - including the one at Chandigarh - their due. The minister also reminded the Civil Aviation Ministry of the Punjab Assembly’s recommendation to name the Amritsar airport after Guru Ram Das. There is already a pending proposal to name the Chandigarh airport after Shaheed Bhagat Singh.
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Gangrape: Delhi HC upholds life term 8 Maoist leaders held
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New Delhi, February 8
