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Need to defeat House disruptions: Meira Meira Kumar. Appeal for calm
Multi-role combat aircraft not fit for BrahMos
CET impersonation |
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Colonel held guilty of molesting woman officer
Land Acquisition
Assam to move Centre against NSCN-IM’s anti-truce activities
Arrest of anti-EVM activist sets off furore
Bihar Speaker fears threat to life from Naxals
Gurjant gets bail, but can’t come home
One-rank, one-pension not so soon: Antony
IB chief: Bid to revive Sikh militancy
Sales of CWG tickets from retail outlets
Scribe’s Death Report: 2009 IPL auction was fixed
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Need to defeat House disruptions: Meira
New Delhi, August 25 With no concrete suggestions emerging in this respect, a concerned Speaker sought the PM to convene detailed deliberations after the current session ended three days later. “I have met many Parliamentarians across the world and they are in awe of our democracy. If they come to know how we are conducting ourselves, there will be considerable erosion in that awe,” Meira Kumar said after the meeting wherein she mentioned how members had told her of having “received directions from somewhere to sit in the well of the House”. This problem has to be solved together by everyone lest the Parliament becomes “irrelevant”, Meira said. After June 1 when the fifth session of the 15th Lok Sabha commenced, the lower house has lost 42 working hours to interruptions. The Speaker today admitted that question hour was the worst hit and no queries could be taken for seven days. Today’s meeting came within days of mock parliament enactment by leaders of Samajwadi Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal and BJP. A note circulated today for leaders said MPs representing only 4 per cent of the total strength of the House were holding the business to ransom. “Those who frequently disturb the House constitute about 4 per cent of its total strength. Around 96 per cent members want the House to function. Disruption is a violation of the rights of those 96 per cent,” the note said as leaders promised corrective action without suggesting any implementable ideas. Importantly, SP’s Mulayam Singh and RJD’s Lalu Prasad Yadav were absent at the meeting, attended among others by UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Leader of Lok Sabha Pranab Mukherjee, Leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj and BJP veteran LK Advani. Meira later asked all leaders to be present at the meeting to be called later. While Sonia and Advani were silent today, Sushma indirectly disapproved of the mock parliament in which her colleague Gopinath Munde participated. A suggestion to consider suspending unruly MPs was resisted by Pranab, who cited the unsavoury developments that followed MPs’ recent suspension from the Rajya Sabha. The Speaker, meanwhile, said, “The trend of disrupting proceedings instead of debating issues is fraught with danger — the danger of rendering Parliament irrelevant. Disruptions have become frequent and have seriously affected the transaction of normal schedule of business fixed for the session.”
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Multi-role combat aircraft not fit for BrahMos
Bangalore, August 25 BrahMos Aerospace, the Indo-Russian joint venture, has successfully developed the low-altitude supersonic BrahMos cruise missile that is quicker than any other missile in the world. Having a speed of 2.8 mach, BrahMos, with a range of 290 km, is four times faster than American Tomahawk cruise missile, widely used by the USA during its offensive against Iraq. BrahMos Aerospace is now working to develop a hypersonic missile having a speed of over 6 mach. Addressing a press conference on the sidelines of the Space Expo here today, A Sivathanu Pillai, CEO and MD of BrahMos Aerospace, said the new hypersonic missile would be ready in another five years. The warhead of the hypersonic missile would be relatively smaller, he said and added that because of its speed, the hypersonic missile would hit the target with a devastating impact nevertheless. Pillai said following the induction of the supersonic BrahMos in the Army and the Navy, they were now working to develop a supersonic missile for the IAF. He said the missile would be integrated with the Russian Sukhoi 30 aircraft. Pillai said $50 million, split between the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and its Russian partner on a 50.5 and 49.5 per cent basis, had been allocated for developing the air force version of the missile to be used for air-to-ground attacks Modifications in the Sukhoi aircraft for integrating the missile would be carried out by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) at its facility at Nashik, Pillai said. Blueprint for the changes would be drawn up by the Sukhoi design bureau in Russia, Pillai said. The flight-test of the air force variant of the missile would take place in 2012, he added. On the issue of integrating the missile with the MMRCA, which the IAF was in the process of acquiring, Pillai said medium aircraft were not being considered for firing the missile. “Sukhoi, being a big aircraft, is ideal for BrahMos,” he said.
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Saroori does not resign
Goes for umrah sans clearance Tribune News Service & PTI
Jammu/New Delhi, August 25 Saroori, who has been maintaining that he was a victim of politics in the state, chose to ignore the orders of the party High Command and did not submit his resignation before leaving for umrah or mini Haj pilgrimage. His office in Jammu circulated a statement that he had not been asked by the party High Command to resign on the issue of impersonation allegedly involving his daughter. The minister had not taken the mandatory “political clearance” from the MEA as is necessary for any minister to travel abroad, official sources said. Saroori arrived in the national Capital yesterday and was called up by Union Minister Prithviraj Chavan on three occasions, with the last call informing him that he should submit his resignation before leaving for umrah. “The minister has been asked to resign," Chavan, who is also the AICC General Secretary in charge of Jammu and Kashmir, said. It was alleged that two youth, including a girl, were to appear in the medical examination for the kin of two politicians - Saroori and former minister Ram Pal of the National Conference, Congress' coalition partner in Jammu and Kashmir. Seven alleged impersonators were apprehended in connection with the case on August 21. The state government had already decided to hand over the probe to the CBI. Vehemently denying any wrongdoing by his daughter, Saroori has dubbed it a “misinformation campaign” by vested interests to tarnish his image. He claimed his daughter Huma was pursuing her bachelor's degree in the Government Women's College in Jammu, a fact that was being verified by the police authorities. Meanwhile, National Conference leader Ram Pal has resigned as the chairman of the Scheduled Caste and Backward Classes Cell of the party. In his resignation Pal has claimed that he was innocent and would cooperate with the CBI probe.
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Colonel held guilty of molesting woman officer Chandigarh, August 25 The accused, Col A Mishra, had faced four charges under Sections 69 (read with Section 354 of the IPC) and 63 of the Army Act and was found guilty of three charges. In May 2007, he had allegedly called the woman officer to his residence on the pretext of instruction and misbehaved with her. Other charges levelled
against him include passing inappropriate comments and making late-night phone calls. Sources said the woman officer had recorded some of the phone conversations containing incriminating comments, sources added. The trial, presided by Brig Arvind Datta, Commander of a mountain brigade, had commenced on July 21 at Udhampur. The Colonel had denied the charges against him and maintained that the CD containing the alleged comments was doctored. Contending that the charges were vague, he maintained that the woman officer had levelled the allegations 14 months after the incident was purported to have taken place and had done so with ulterior motives. Based upon the woman officer’s complaint, the Army had ordered a Court of Inquiry, presided by Brig SK Sarkar, then Deputy GOC of 39 Mountain Division, in November 2008. The Colonel was held blameworthy and thereafter Headquarters (Northern Command) had ordered disciplinary action against him. Prior to the commencement of the court martial, Colonel Mishra had challenged his trial in the Armed Forces Tribunal, but the tribunal had declined to interfere in Army’s proceedings at that stage.
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Ahead of farmers’ gherao, Cong leaders meet PM
Vibha Sharma Tribune News Service
New Delhi, August 25 Led by party general secretary Rahul Gandhi, a delegation of senior Congress leaders and farmers agitating against “forcible” acquisition of land in Aligarh and adjoining areas today met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and returned with an assurance that the pending Land Acquisition Amendment Bill will be brought in the next session of Parliament. The meeting comes a day ahead of the proposed march to Parliament by the RLD and other political parties in support of the farmers' demand for better compensation and early passage of the Bill. Ahead of the meeting with the Prime Minister, Rahul said land acquisition was an important issue. “We should have view on it. What I saw in Aligarh is extremely unfair we need have to have view on it”. The Land Acquisition Act, 1894, allows the state to take their property if such an act is meant to serve a public purpose. The Land Acquisition (Amendment) Bill, 2007, along with the accompanying Resettlement and Rehabilitation Bill, 2009, was introduced in the Lok Sabha on February 25, 2009, but was allowed to lapse in view of the strong opposition from key UPA ally, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee. AICC general secretary in-charge for Uttar Pradesh Digvijay Singh said the Prime Minister gave an assurance that the Bill would be brought in the next session. Digvijay Singh said relief and rehabilitation policy followed by Haryana should be treated as a model policy and sent to other states. The engagement of farmers with mainstream parties on the issue of land acquisition for the expressway in UP is deepening by the day. Rahul paid a surprise visit on Saturday to Tappal village in Aligarh district - the epicentre of the farmer protests - and assured them that he would raise their concerns at appropriate forums. Keen to seize the initiative in farmers’ agitation for higher compensation in the state, the Congress also extended support to a statewide shutdown called by farmers over their demand for higher compensation but is not supporting the proposed march to Parliament on Thursday. Congress spokesperson Shakeel Ahmed said the party could not support a protest against its own government.
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Assam to move Centre against NSCN-IM’s anti-truce activities
Guwahati, August 25 While the group is sponsoring blockade of highways linking Manipur by Naga organisations in hill districts of Manipur, it is involved in sparking a boundary row between Assam and Arunachal Pradesh where NSCN-IM cadres have set up bases in Tirap and Changlang districts. The Assam government has accused the Naga rebel group for instigating violence and boundary row at Charaipung in Sivasagar district of the state where armed raiders from Arunachal Pradesh’s Tirap district have set fire to a number of houses and an under-construction post of the Assam Police since the night of August 14 last. The Assam government has called upon the Arunachal Pradesh government to drive out the cadres of NSCN-IM from Tirap and Changlang districts of the neighbouring hill state. The Assam health minister and government spokesman, Dr Himanta Bishwa Sharma, said it would move the Central government if the Arunachal Pradesh government failed to evict NSCN-IM ultras from that state. He said the Assam police would take all possible measures to protect the state’s boundary, lives and property of people living in border areas of Charaipung. Miscreants from Arunachal side opened fire in the air while the minister along with state forest minister Rockybul Hussain visited the troubled inter-state boundary area on Tuesday. Arunachal Pradesh home minister Tako Dabi has denied involvement of NSCN-IM cadres behind the boundary row at Charaipung and stated that the current flare up was a result of misunderstanding when some villagers from Arunachal Pradesh tried to clear forest at Charaipung area without informing the Assam Police. The pro-talks action of the banned United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) also launched a 72-hour economic blockade today against Arunachal Pradesh by blocking Changlang road connecting Margherita in upper Assam to Arunachal Pradesh in protest against the border row instigated by the armed NSCN-I cadres at Charaipung.
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Arrest of anti-EVM activist sets off furore
Hyderabad, August 25 As part of a movement against the use of EVMs in elections, Hariprasad, who is a technical director of an NGO - VeTA (Citizens for Verifiability, Transparency and Accountability in Elections) - had demonstrated through a sting operation that EVMs were vulnerable to tampering and manipulation. Along with fellow researchers and members of VeTA, he was invited to Delhi by the Election Commission on August 10 to discuss technical vulnerabilities of EVMS. However, on August 21, a police team from Maharashtra swooped on his residence here and whisked him away. It was later announced that Hariprasad, who also runs a software company, was arrested in connection with the theft of an EVM from the Mumbai Collector’s office. The arrest triggered protests from anti-EVM activists and also the opposition parties who have been raising doubts over the efficacy of the voting machines. TDP president and former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, who took up the issue at national level, demanded that the poll panel convene an all-party meeting to clarify doubts over EVMs. He is also trying to rope in other parties, including the BJP, JD (U) and RLD, to carry out a campaign against EVMs. “Hariprasad and his team had carried out a sting operation to demonstrate vulnerability of EVMs. This was similar to a sting operation by the media. If the stings done by the media are a legitimate method of information gathering, so is this demonstration. In both cases, public interest is paramount,” another leading anti-EVM activist and political analyst GVL Narasimha Rao said. VeTA convener VV Rao alleged that his colleague was arrested on a flimsy charge at the instance of the Election Commission that was bent upon “suppressing the voices of dissent”. “We had successfully demonstrated before the Election Commission and also the media how EVMs can be tampered with. Instead of taking corrective steps, the EC has started witch-hunting,” Rao said. “India's electronic voting machines have fundamental security flaws, and do not provide the transparency necessary for voters,” said Alex Halderman, a computer scientist at the University of Michigan, who had worked with Hariprasad in “exposing” the vulnerability of
EVMs.
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Bihar Speaker fears threat to life from Naxals
Patna, August 25 A person named Samar Singh, who claims to be the spokesman of his outfit for Bihar and Jharkhand, called up some mediapersons in the state capital to communicate the decision of his organisation that Chaudhary would not be allowed to enter his constituency for election campaign lest the Maoists would go to any extent to punish him. Charging Chaudhary with being aligned to the feudal forces in his constituency, Samar Singh also accused him of oppressing the poor and downtrodden. The Maoist outfit has sought a ‘report card’ from Chaudhary on the development works carried out by him in his constituency in the past 15 years since he had been representing it.
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Gurjant gets bail, but can’t come home
Tamluk (WB), August 25 Chief Judicial Magistrate Gopal Kumar Dalmia granted interim bail on two sureties of Rs 2,500 each to Gurjant, who hails from Sangrur, after the CID placed the case diary and the mechanical test report of the truck which stated that the brakes of the vehicle had failed as claimed by Gurjant. The Judge granted interim bail till September eight and directed Gurjant to meet investigating officer of the state CID once a week at the CID headquarters in Kolkata, about 100 km from here. The Judge also directed that the accused was not to leave West Bengal without the permission of the court. Gurjant's truck had hit the escort car of Banerjee which in turn hit her car at Kolaghat when she was returning to Kolkata after addressing a rally at Maoist-dominated Lalgarh on August nine. Banerjee was flung against the dashboard and suffered injuries in the chest. Appearing for Gurjant, counsel Monojit Singh prayed for bail submitting that the accused hailed from Punjab and had no intention to hurt Banerjee, as had been alleged in an FIR by Trinamool Congress MP Subhendu Adhikari.
— PTI
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One-rank, one-pension not so soon: Antony
New Delhi, August 25 Replying to a zero hour mention by Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley, which was supported by members across party lines, including Defence Minister AK Antony, said implementation of the OROP was an ongoing process. “In one stretch we will not be able to implement it but we are near the goal….It is a long process,” Antony said, as he went on to counsel protesting ex-servicemen not to take the extreme step of returning their medals. But Minister of State for Defence MM Pallam Raju in a written reply categorically said that no such proposal was under consideration.
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IB chief: Bid to revive Sikh militancy
New Delhi, August 25 “The attempts to revive Sikh militancy using international bases is another worrisome trend,” IB chief Rajiv Mathur said here. “There have been attempts by inimical agencies abroad to reactivate Sikh terrorist elements, forge nexus between the LeT and terrorist groups like Babbar Khalsa International and the Khalistan Zindabad Force and mobilise their resources for planning terrorist violence in Punjab and elsewhere in the country," Mathur said.
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Sales of CWG tickets from retail outlets
New Delhi, August 25 The OC today unveiled the tickets and said they would be available at 30 outlets across the city. They would also be available at 20 selected Central Bank of India branches and seven Hero Honda showrooms and the IRCTC counter. Those who have booked their tickets online and got coupon could redeem them for actual tickets at the bank branch in OC headquarters, the Parliament Street and an IRCTC outlet in central Delhi.
— TNS
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Scribe’s Death Ranchi, August 25 “We have received a report from the expert panel of the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) on the postmortem of the body of journalist Nirupma Pathak on Monday. It clearly says she committed suicide and was not killed,” Jharkhand Joint Secretary (Home) Sadanand Sahay said here today. Pathak, a 23-year-old journalist, was found hanging from the ceiling fan dead in her home in Koderma's Chitragupta Nagar on April 29. “We have forwarded the report to the DGP who will decide about the future course of action in the matter in view of the AIIMS report," he said. — PTI
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Report: 2009 IPL auction was fixed New Delhi, August 25 According to CNN-IBN, Chennai Super Kings’ owner and BCCI secretary N Srinivasan and suspended IPL chairman Lalit Modi could have been involved in ensuring specific players for the Chennai franchise. The Chennai franchise, owned by Indian Cements, has denied any wrongdoing and said all these reports were “deliberate attempt to tarnish Chennai Super Kings and Indian Cements image”. — PTI
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For the first time since she assumed office, Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar today held an urgent meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and leaders of all political parties to discuss the issue of continued disruption of House proceedings and ways to stem the rot.
Jammu/New Delhi, August 25
