New Delhi, July 23
Notwithstanding the failure of last week’s Islamabad talks because of Pakistan army’s machinations, India has decided to pursue the path of peace with its neighbour.

External Affairs Minister SM Krishna’s public admonition of Home Secretary GK Pillai over the timing of his statement blaming the ISI for the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks was apparently aimed at assuring Islamabad of New Delhi’s sincerity in putting the bilateral dialogue back on the track.

Sources said Krishna had rapped Pillai after discussions with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, whose stand on having a peaceful relationship with Pakistan is well articulated.The two nations are expected to establish contact in the coming days, conveying to each other their commitment to the dialogue process. The possibility of the two foreign ministers meeting on the margins of an international meet could also not be ruled out, particularly in September when the UN General Assembly meets in New York.

The Home Ministry and the External Affairs Ministry are also trying to put their spat behind and move on. “As of today, the misunderstanding between the Home and Foreign Ministries has been cleared…” said a senior official a day after Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao called on Pillai in his North Block office. Several important matters were discussed by the two.

The public posturing apart, it has been pointed out to the Foreign Ministry that Pakistan’s stance remains unchanged on the key issue of “exporting terror” to India and about continuation of terror camps on its territory. New Delhi, meanwhile, is quite clear that it can’t be “business as usual” until Pakistan brings to justice the masterminds of the Mumbai assault and stops its “terror factories”.

New Delhi, July 23
The Supreme Court today cleared the way for a tutor, sentenced to 5.5 years in jail for raping a 21-year-old student, to join the Civil Services by dismissing a petition filed by the National Commission for Women.

The Commission had challenged the Delhi High Court verdict reducing the life sentence of the tutor, Ashok Rai alias Amit, to five years and six months. The HC had observed that the convict had redeemed himself in jail by his good conduct and by preparing for and clearing the IAS examinations.

An apex court Bench comprising Justices HS Bedi and CK Prasad rejected NCW’s appeal, ruling that the commission had no locus standi (right to appear before the court) in the matter. There was no provision in law for allowing persons other than the state, prosecutor or the kin of the victim to file an appeal, the court pointed out. While the trial court had sentenced Amit to life for the rape and abetment to suicide, the HC did not agree with the abetment theory. 

Patna, July 23
The Patna High Court on Friday gave a major reprieve to Nitish Kumar government by staying its previous order on a PIL suggesting a CBI enquiry into the alleged irregularities in expenditure of Rs 11, 412 crore funds. The PIL was filed on the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor-General (CAG).

A division bench comprising Chief Justice Rekha, M.Doshit and S.K.Katriar also kept in abeyance their earlier directive to the Director and Joint Director of CBI to be present in the court on July 26, the next date of hearing of this PIL. The state government had filed an interlocutory application (IA) in the court seeking a stay on its previous order for a CBI probe. After two days of hearing into the IA, the court decided to keep in abeyance its previous order. In course of hearing the arguments from both sides, the court also heard the counsel for CAG who clarified that the CAG report talks about non-adjustment of bills worth Rs 11,412 crore and not misappropriation.

The state Advocate General PK Shahi also informed the court that since its previous order on July 15, the state administration had already submitted the pending DC Bills for Rs 5500 crore to the office of Accountant General here. 

New Delhi, July 23
The BJP today finally announced the list of state prabharis (persons in charge) and of other morchas and cells of the party.

Under the new dispensation, Ananth Kumar will be the prabhari of Madhya Pradesh and Bihar, Jagat Prakash Nadda of Chhattisgarh, Shanta Kumar of Karnataka, Kalraj Mishra Himachal Pradesh, Thawarchand Gehlot of Uttarakhand, Yashwant Sinha of Punjab and Balbir Punj of Gujarat.

Narendra Singh Tomar gets Uttar Pradesh, Kaptan Singh Solanki Rajasthan and Vasundhara Raje gets charge of Haryana. O.P Kohli is the in charge of J&K, Bhagat Singh Koshiyari of Jharkhand, Chandan Mitra of West Bengal, Vijay Goel of Assam, Santhosh Gangwar of Orissa and Bijoya Chakraborthy of Arunachal Pradesh, Murlidahar Rao of Kerala and Maj Gen (Retd.) B.C. Khanduri of Tamil Nadu. Purshottam Rupala of Andhra Pradesh, M Venkaiah Naidu of Maharashtra and Delhi and Najma Heptullah of Daman & Diu

Karuna Shulka will be the in charge of the party’s Mahila Morcha, Dharmendra Pradhan of Yuva Morcha, Thawarcahnd Gehlot will be in charge of the SC Morcha, Narendra Singh Tomar of the ST Morcha. Satpal Malik will the prabhari of the kisan morcha and J.K. Jain of the minority morcha.

New Delhi, July 23
The role of Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) yet again came under the scanner. US Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen today expressed concern about the agency and its activities.

“There is a lot about the ISI we don't know and the ISI will have to change its overall strategic approach,” Mullen told mediapersons here this evening. However, in a way he echoed India’s stance, which has been pointing finger towards the ISI for fomenting trouble in India, notable being the latest repartee by Union Home Secretary GK Pillai and National Security Adviser Shiv Shankar Menon. India has found that several of the ISI middle level officials are free wheelers, who act on their own.

Mullen importantly made a point on China, saying there is “opaqueness” about China's military intentions in the Indian Ocean as well as the Pacific Ocean. The US, he said, wanted its warships to operate in the international waters of the Yellow Sea, but was denied the permission by China.

On having a continuing US Military role in Afghanistan, Mullen was categorical “…Afghan mission will not end in July 2011. We are not in a hurry to leave or looking for a door”. A handover to Afghanistan forces would depend on the ground conditions, he said, while probably dropping a hint at India “….No country can alone police the world, it has to be a group of countries with shared goals that have to do it”. India has so far shied away from joining the US-led joint forces in Afghanistan in any ground operations against the Al-Qaida and Taliban.

Mullen scotched a demand of the Defence Minister AK Antony, who sought a “monitoring mechanism” for weapons sales by the US to Pakistan.

He said, “The systems that we are selling to them (Pak) are being used against the terrorists threat within their own country. Certainly, we have expressed very strong desire on where these weapon systems should be used and the resources as well."

Antony at a meeting with Mullen in his office this morning told him about India's worries that Pakistan was diverting the American military assistance to building capacities against India.

New Delhi, July 23
Irked by the award of compensation for the death of a housewife in a road accident by assessing her worth at Rs 5,000 a month, the Supreme Court has called upon Parliament to have a relook at the value of such women.

“Time has come for the Parliament to have a rethinking for properly assessing the value of homemakers and householders work and suitably amending the provisions of Motor Vehicles Act and other related laws for giving compensation when the victim is a woman and a homemaker,” Justice Asok Kumar Ganguly observed in a separate verdict while being part of a Bench.

The Judge noted that it was often forgotten that the time spent by women in doing household work as homemakers was the time which they could devote to paid work or to their education. “This lack of sensitivity and recognition of their work mainly contributes to women’s high rate of poverty and their consequential oppression in society, as well as various physical, social and psychological problems,” Justice Ganguly explained.

The courts and tribunals would do well by factoring these considerations while assessing compensation for housewives who were victims of road accidents, he said. The Bench was dealing with a case in which the income of the housewife had been assessed at one-third of her husband’s earnings. “This is not based on any apparently rational basis,” the Judge said. The apex court hiked the compensation to Rs 6 lakh.

Justice GS Singhvi, who wrote the main verdict, also said: “In our view, it is highly unfair, unjust and inappropriate to compute the compensation payable to the dependents of a deceased wife/mother, who does not have regular income, by comparing her services with that of a housekeeper or a servant or an employee, who works for a fixed period.

“The gratuitous services rendered by wife/mother to the husband and children cannot be equated with the services of an employee and no evidence or data can possibly be produced for estimating the value of such services. “It is virtually impossible to measure in terms of money the loss of personal care and attention suffered by the husband and children on the demise of the housewife.”

Justice Ganguly said there was a need for amendments in matrimonial laws as well in order to give effect to the mandate of Article 15(1) of the Constitution for providing equal opportunities to women.

New Delhi, July 23
The Monsoon session of Parliament, beginning July 26 is all set to be hijacked by Gujarat home minister Amit Shah, fearing whose arrest by the CBI in connection with the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case, the BJP is ready to stall proceedings, indicated Government sources. BJP leaders virtually put the Government on notice today by boycotting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s lunch exclusively in their honour today.

The BJP also hinted that it will not allow the two Houses to function at least during the first half of a month-long session. Minister of State in the PMO Prithviraj Chavan denied manipulation of the CBI he said, “The CBI is working independently on the directions of the Supreme Court under the supervision of the CVC. They (the BJP leaders) should have come to the lunch and aired their grievances there. In a democracy there is scope for discussion on all issues. In any case we should all welcome it and I hope that the investigations will lead to catching of some important criminals.”

Simultaneously, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal listed 24 Bills pending for consideration and passage, nine for introduction, consideration and passage and another 26 for introduction alone. He said, “Opposition can raise all outstanding issues on the floor of the House instead of resorting to these tactics.”

But political observers feel the BJP may not find much support on this even in NDA. While Arun Jaitely claimed that the JD-U was in agreement with the BJP on the misuse of CBI, Sharad Yadav when asked specifically about CBI pursuing RSS men involved in terror activities and Amit Shah issue said, “CBI record is not too bad. Sometimes it does some good work also.”

Sources in the BJP said that while the BJP has not yet discussed its strategy with the JD-U leaders, the JD-U may find it very difficult to support it on Gujarat issue, specially when the Bihar assembly elections are so close by and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar objected to even publicising old photograph of holding hands with Modi.

Secular parties like left, SP, BSP and RJD are even more wary of Narendra Modi.