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Women’s Reservation Bill
Gen VK Singh takes over
PASSING THE BATON: Outgoing Army chief General Deepak Kapoor (left) shakes hands with his successor General VK Singh, as the latter assumes charge in New Delhi on Wednesday. |
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Court defers order on CBI plea to withdraw Bofors case
Gujjars lift dharna after Gehlot’s assurance
Centre mulls minority status for Jains
Environment Ministry to get strict in clearing projects
Row over withdrawal of insurgency allowance
India: Need to guard against N-terror
PM Manmohan Singh will attend the N-security summit in US on April 12-13.
Probe trafficking, child rights panel told
Somali pirates hijack one more vessel
‘Karkare’s bulletproof vest was no shield from AK-47’
China to allow more pilgrims for Kailash
Search on to trace boat off Diu: PC
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Pranab calls all-party meet
Vibha Sharma Tribune News Service
New Delhi, March 31 The Prime Minister’s statement came amid speculation that the government may concede to some dilutions in the Bill in the wake of stiff opposition from the Yadav trio of Lalu, Mulayam and Sharad. “It is too premature” was however his response to a question whether the Bill, seeking to provide 33 per cent reservation to women in the Lok Sabha and the state assemblies, could see any changes in view of opposition from some political parties.
“We will discuss with political parties how best to proceed. We are committed to discussing the issue”, he added. The Bill, which has both the ruling Congress and the opposition BJP competing with each other to take credit for, has the Congress-led UPA government tied up in knots on how it will handle the situation once the legislation is tabled in Parliament. While Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati has called for countrywide protests against the Bill, saying that the legislation was against Dalit icon Bhim Rao Ambedkar’s ideology of empowering women from all sections of society, the Yadav trio is also vehemently opposed to the legislation. Mayawati plans to hold protests at the tehsil level and has asked her party leaders to “educate” people about the flaws in the Bill, though she claims that the BSP is not against the reservation, but wants a sub-quota for women from the weaker sections of society. Adding to the Congress’ woes is the fact that the Bill is also being opposed by RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, SP supremo Mulayam Singh and JD-U leader Sharad Yadav. The trio has been demanding a quota within quota for women from backward communities and minorities and even threatened to withdraw support from the government if the Bill is passed in its present form.
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Gen VK Singh takes over
New Delhi, March 31 Old timers do not recall a similar instance when all three Chiefs are from the same squadron of the NDA. There are 15 squadrons at the NDA and each squadron has 100-120 cadets of various batches at any given point of point of time. Each of the squadron is attached to a Battalion which are four in number. The ‘hunters’ are under the 2nd Battalion. Most of the interaction between cadets is limited to the squadrons they belong to or to their own course mates. The entire training period is spent together in competition with other squadrons in sports, academics and extra-curricular activities. The other two from the “hunters” Air Chief Marshall PV Naik and Admiral Nirmal Verma are already the chiefs of the IAF and the Navy, respectively. Gen Singh joined this two former mates today as he took over as Army Chief at his office located in the South Block. General V K Singh, who is from the Rajput Regiment, took over as the Chief of the Indian Army, the second largest in the world. General Deepak Kapoor handed charge over to him. The outgoing Chief and his successor were accompanied by their wives at brief ceremony this morning. General Singh will be 26th chief of the Army and will stay at the helm of the 1.13 million-strong force for over two years. General VK Singh is the first trained commando to take over as the Army Chief. He was awarded the ‘Commando Dagger’ for standing first in the course. He has seen action in the 1971 war as a young lieutenant. He has experience in counter-insurgency operations along the Line of Control. He has also commanded the Jalandhar-based 11 Corps and the Ambala-based 2 Strike Corps. General Kapoor retired from the Army after over four decades of service and would formally cease to be the Army Chief at midnight tonight.
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Court defers order on CBI plea to withdraw Bofors case
New Delhi, March 31 Metropolitan Magistrate Sandeep Garg adjourned the matter after Additional Solicitor General PP Malhotra submitted that the original records, which were sent to the Supreme Court, have yet not been returned. Advocate Ajay Agrawal, who had filed an application against CBI’s move to withdraw the case on October 3, argued that the appeal filed by him in October 2005 in the matter was still pending before the Apex court. He claimed that CBI had not filed the appeal against the Delhi High Court judgment discharging some accused in the case. Meanwhile, the Apex court yesterday asked Agrawal to withdraw his petition seeking directions to CBI to take action for stopping the de-freezing of bank accounts of Quattrocchi in London. It, however, allowed him to file a fresh petition against 70-year-old Quattrocchi. A Delhi court had on November 6 last year deferred the pronouncement of its order, saying that it did not have the original documents as those have been sent to the Supreme Court. Quattrocchi, the sole surviving accused in the case after the Delhi High Court quashed the charges on May 31, 2005 against other accused, has never appeared before any court in the country.
— PTI
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Gujjars lift dharna after Gehlot’s assurance
Jaipur/Ajmer, March 31 Divisional Commissioner Atul Sharma, who accompanied Bainsla to the protest venue, read out the message of the CM to the Gujjar community. The CM, in his message, said the Gujjars would get 5 per cent reservation under the Special Backward Classes (SBC) category. He assured the community that the government would hold back 5 per cent of the vacancies, while making recruitment for 80,000 government jobs in the state to protect the interests of the Gujjars. Later, Bainsla added that the CM has also agreed to give relaxation in age to the community’s youth, who are approaching the upper age limit for these jobs. The Gujjar leader also made it clear that the final agreement with the government would be reached in the presence of representatives of four other communities from the SBC category. However, Bainsla is not ready to give in so easily. At the same time, he served a seven-day ultimatum to the state government to issue an order for holding back 5 per cent vacancies, failing which the community would resume its agitation.
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Centre mulls minority status for Jains
New Delhi, March 31 Today at the annual conference of the state minority commissions, Minority Affairs Minister Salman Khurseed said the government was trying to find a way to overcome the issues raised by the Supreme Court in the said judgment. The matter would, however, have to be taken to the Parliament, the minister said. Jains have been declared as minority communities in 13 states of the country, including Rajasthan, UP, Delhi, Maharashtra, Gujarat, West Bengal and Chattisgarh. Overall, they comprise just 6 per cent of the total Indian population, which varies from state to state. The issue of minority status for Jains was raised again today at the meeting of the commissions, with Kalyan Chaudhuri, vice-chairman of the West Bengal Commission for Minorities, flagging it with Khursheed. Earlier, the SC, in its November 2005 judgment in the case, rejected the Jain community’s plea to advise the Centre to notify Jains as a minority under Section 2 [c] of the National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992. At present, there are five notified minorities in India —Muslims, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis and Sikhs.
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Environment Ministry to get strict in clearing projects
New Delhi, March 31 Even after the projects have got environmental approval they could be subjected to review if found to be having adverse environmental impact, he said, adding: “I am trying to increase the rate of rejection. We have been quite liberal in the past”. Ramesh termed as “baseless” the criticism of his ministry by fellow ministers for delaying environment clearance to various infrastructure projects. He said Kamal Nath had been bringing a lot of projects to the Cabinet without environmental clearance and the Cabinet agreed to approve national highway projects to facilitate detailed project preparation with his ministry’s clear condition that no on-site expenditure would be allowed to take place until all environmental and forestry clearances were obtained. The Environment Minister said he had suggested that his ministry should have a say while allocating development projects in environment-sensitive areas. He said the quality of the environmental impact assessments (EIAs) was often mediocre. In light of the new information that was not available earlier, his ministry would, therefore, not hesitate in reviewing some cases even after granting environmental clearance.
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Row over withdrawal of insurgency allowance
Chandigarh, March 31 Following objections by the Comptroller and Auditor General in its report of 2007, that Army personnel deputed to the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) and the General Reserve Engineer Force (GREF) were actually engaged in CI operations, the allowance, that was introduced in 1994, was stopped and recovery initiated from all those who had received the allowance since 1994. Over the past 16 years since the introduction of the allowance, thousands of officers and other ranks would have served in the BRO and GREF and consequently be affected by the said issue. At present the CI allowance for officers is Rs 7,800 per month. Many affected persons have by now retired and recovery is being done retrospectively. The tribunal’s bench comprising Justice Ghanshyam Prashad and Lt Gen AS Bahia today issued notice to the government on the petition seeking restoration of the allowance that was discontinued in 2008. CAG had pointed out that military personnel posted to BRO/GREF were getting CI allowance while civilian employees were not getting the same. The petitioners are contending that “risk-related” allowances was introduced for all Army personnel as compensation of deployment in insurgency affected areas or field areas and Regulation 18 of the Border Roads Regulations states that military officers shall continue to be eligible for special concessions admissible in various areas to defence personnel from time to time.
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India: Need to guard against N-terror
New Delhi, March 31 With Prime Minister Manmohan Singh deciding to personally lead the Indian delegation at the summit, New Delhi also expressed its readiness to take part in multilateral negotiations on a fissile material cut-off treaty (FMCT). It regretted that the negotiations on the proposed treaty were held up at the Conference on Disarmament (CD) due to Pakistan’s opposition. Government sources said the Washington summit would focus on safeguarding against nuclear terrorism by bolstering international cooperation and improving security for nuclear material worldwide. The summit would provide an opportunity to discuss practical ways to identify and disrupt illicit trade in nuclear materials.
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Probe trafficking, child rights panel told
New Delhi, March 31 The Bench, which included Justices Deepak Verma and BS Chauhan, passed the order after hearing the PIL filed after 76 children from Assam and Manipur were rescued from an unregistered children’s home in Kanyakumari district. According to the Tamil Nadu government, the children had been brought by one Rev Paul, who also belonged to the northeast, and admitted to a school in Chennai. However, shortly after some time he took the children to Kerala before bringing them back to Tamil Nadu. Paul went into hiding after the children were rescued. Additional Solicitor General Indira Jaising and Aparna Bhat, amicus curiae in the case, pleaded for an inquiry as the matter was serious.
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Somali pirates hijack one more vessel
Ahmedabad/New Delhi, March 31 “According to information received late last night, some 11 men from Mandvi (Gujarat), who were working on Dubai-based vessel Al-Barari, were taken hostage after Somalian pirates hijacked the ship near the port of Mogadishu,” Kutch Vahanvati Association (KVA) president Kasam Ali Bholim told PTI. “The pirates attacked the ship when it was anchored near Mogadishu port after unloading the cargo it had brought from Dubai,” he said, adding he got the information from crew of another vessel which was anchored at the same port. The fresh strike came even as the government was trying to rescue the nearly 100 Indian sailors on board eight vessels which were seized by pirates off the Somalian coast about a week back. India is in touch with Indian missions in Seychelles and Nairobi, working out ways to rescue the hostages. Shipping Secretary K Mohandas said there were about 100 Indian sailors on board the hijacked ships and so far there was no information on their fate.
— PTI
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‘Karkare’s bulletproof vest was no shield from AK-47’
Mumbai, March 31 The order for such jackets was placed way back in 2001, when the 26/11-like situation was not anticipated, says an affidavit filed by Deputy Commissioner of Police Vijaysingh Jadhav. The jackets were meant for protection from nine mm pistol and carbine, and “not for AK-47 rifle and 7.62 SLR”, according to the affidavit. Similar jackets are still used even by the "military forces", the police said. Karkare's post-mortem report says he did not die because of substandard jackets, the affidavit said, adding the "standard design" of the vest which he wore did not cover the neck and shoulder. Hearing of the PIL will continue next month.
— PTI
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China to allow more pilgrims for Kailash
New Delhi, March 31 Presiding over the computerised draw for selection of ‘yatris’ for the pilgrimage, he said it has been agreed to increase the size of each batch of pilgrims from 44 to 60. The number of pilgrims has progressively increased over the years, and this year up to 960 pilgrims would go from India in 16 batches. The Minister said the government attached great importance to the pilgrimage in view of the deep religious sentiments of the people of India associated with Kailash and Mansarovar. It was the government’s endeavour to improve and upgrade facilities for the pilgrimage on a continuing basis and increase the number of pilgrims every year.
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Search on to trace boat off Diu: PC
New Delhi, March 31 Home Minister P Chidambaram said here today that information had been received from fishermen that a boat with the name 'Al Salam' and bearing a certain registration number had been spotted.
— PTI
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Even as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today described as “too premature” the possibility of any climb-down on the Women’s Reservation Bill, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has convened an all-party meeting on April 5 over the contentious legislation before it is tabled in Parliament, most likely when it meets after the break.
More than 40 years ago, three young men were together in a squadron, ‘the hunters’ as cadets at the National Defence Academy, Pune.
New Delhi, March 31
