Jaipur, December 21
The agitation by the Gujjar community, led by Kirori Singh Bainsla, entered the second day today disrupting road and rail traffic in Bharatpur district of Rajasthan. The authorities have diverted several trains and stopped buses on two routes, official sources said. Janshatabdi express and Jamunabridge express have been cancelled while movement of two dozen other trains has been affected in the Bharatpur-Sawaimadhopur section, they said.

A Rajasthan State Road Transport Corporation official said that buses on the Hindaun-Bayana and Hindaun-Bharatpur routes have been stopped due to the agitation. Security forces have been deployed in Pilukapur area as the agitators are camping at the Delhi-Mumbai rail tracks near the region, a senior police official said.

"Additional forces of Reserved Armed Constabulary, Railway Protection Force and Government Railway Police have been deployed for the security of railway stations, rail tracks and nearby areas," the official said. The Gujjars led by Bainsla started an agitation yesterday in Bharatpur district to press for their demand for reservation for the community, even as the Gehlot government stated that it would try to solve the issue through talks.

Police have lodged an FIR against Kirori Singh Bainsla, Harprasad Gujjar, Roop Singh and 1,000 others under relevant sections of IPC, PDP and Railway Act for blocking the Bayana-Hindaun road and damaging public property, including railway tracks.

The case was lodged last night with Bayana police station, the police said today.

Meanwhile, Railways today diverted a number of trains between Mathura and Kota as a precautionary measure due to the agitation. The trains which have been diverted include the Mumbai Central-New Delhi Rajdhani Express, Mumbai Central-Hazrat Nizamuddin Augustkranti Rajdhani Express, Mumbai Central-Amritsar Golden Temple Mail, Udaipur-Hazrat Nizamuddin Intercity Express and Hazrat Nizamuddin-Trivandrum Rajdhani Express. Hazrat Nizamuddin-Kota Janshatabdi Express trains have been cancelled today. — PTI

Lucknow, December 21
Blatant misuse of power was witnessed in the state when a BSP minister reportedly abducted two persons who were proposers of a rival candidate in the elections for the post of Block Pramukh scheduled for tomorrow.

In the presence of hundreds of people, including senior police officials, the minister in charge of the backward welfare Awadhesh Prasad Verma allegedly caught one of the proposers by collar and dragged him out of the office where the nomination papers were to be filed.

The incident occurred yesterday at Dadaraul block in Shahajahanpur district, about 175 km from here. “Though the proposers and others kept shouting for help, the police looked the other way,” eyewitnesses claimed.

According to those present, the minister and his aides forcibly dragged the two proposers in their vehicles and sped from there. It appears that the minister was keen to ensure that his candidate did not face any opposition.

The incident occurred during the nominations for elections for heads for Kshetra Panchayats that were filed yesterday at all 821 block headquarters spread over all 72 districts.

Polling to be held tomorrow would be on the system of proportional representation on single transferable vote.

There are unconfirmed reports that in 230 blocks from many districts candidates have been declared elected unopposed and most of them are supported by ruling BSP.

In Sultanpur district jailed BSP supported head of Dhanpatganj Kshetra Panchayat retained his seat. In nine blocks of the 17 in Ballia and seven blocks of the 14 in Baharaich only one candidate has filed nominations.

Similarly, in Lakhimpur Kheri district from six Kshetra Panchayats out of 15, BSP supported candidates have been declared elected unopposed. In Pratapgarh district Congress-supported candidates are successful to get elected unopposed from 3 blocks.

Opposition parties, including SP and BJP, alleged misuse of government machinery by the ruling party in favour of their supported candidates. They have alleged that in several districts their candidates were intimated from filing nomination papers. They have send representations to the State Election Commission in this regard. 

New Delhi, December 21
India's indigenous Lakshaya pilotless target aircraft was successfully flight tested to check user requirements for such a combat aerial vehicle.

"Bangalore-based Aeronautical Development Establishment conducted the flight test of Lakshya-2 successfully yesterday," a Defence Research and Development Organisation press release said here today.

The aircraft is built to meet anticipated users requirements for such a vehicle for testing out their guns and missiles and the users have indicated their requirement of flying it at very low altitudes of 15 to 25 metres above sea level to simulating trajectory of low-level cruise missiles.

"ADE prepared the Lakshya-2 with necessary hardware and software for meeting the user requirements. The flight test was of 32 minutes.”— TNS

Chennai, December 21
AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi will visit Tamil Nadu tomorrow for a consultation with the Youth Congress functionaries on continuing his party’s alliance with the DMK for the forthcoming Assembly elections.

Rahul’s visit assumes significance as the Youth Congress leaders were critical of the ruling DMK and the party was uncomfortable with the continuance of ties with the DMK in the wake of spectrum scam.

The Special Protection Group personnel have already arrived in Chennai, which will be Rahul’s first destination, and he would travel to the northern district of Villupuram later, said M Yuvaraj, state Youth Congress president.

On December 23, Rahul is scheduled to visit Tiruchi, Madurai and Tirunelveli before leaving for Thiruvananthapuram. The AICC general secretary is likely to interact with the SC and ST cadres during his visit to Tirunelveli and nearby districts, he said.

A team of Youth Congress leaders headed by Priyavrat Singh, the in charge of Tamil Nadu unit, has already arrived in Chennai and is holding meetings with state unit president Yuvaraja and other office-bearers regarding arrangements for Rahul’s visit.

Hyderabad, December 21
It is a curious case of teachers flunking the exam in subjects that they are supposed to be handling in their colleges.

In the first ever Faculty Eligibility Test (FET) conducted by the state-run Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University (JNTU) here, over 70 per cent of the candidates, including senior lecturers working in professional colleges, have failed. The test, held last week, was meant for both the working faculty and the aspirants with minimum qualifications.

Out of 5,300 candidates who sat for the test, held last week, only 1,500 could clear it. This despite the university authorities fixing 30 per cent as qualifying marks for reserved category candidates and 40 per cent for other castes. A majority of those failed were assistant professors working in private engineering colleges.

“This is a sad state of affairs. We have received several complaints about poor quality of faculty in engineering, pharmacy, MBA and MCA colleges in private sector. Such ineligible faculty members are causing great harm to the student community,” an official of JNTU said.

There are over 300 engineering and 100 pharmacy colleges affiliated to JNTU-Hyderabad. Billed as first such experiment in the country, the university has introduced FET this year in the wake of complaints that several private colleges were recruiting “ineligible faculty” leading to poor results every year.

The FET has been designed with an intention to put an end to this problem. It will now be made mandatory for those who want to enter affiliated colleges as faculty. These candidates will be called “University approved faculty” and the colleges will have to implement the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) pay scales for them.

The test was conducted in 18 subjects for 120 marks each and many assistant professors, who have been teaching engineering students for the last several years, failed to clear the examination. While 40 marks were allotted to test “teaching aptitudes”, the remaining 80 were for assessing the candidates’ knowledge in their specified subjects.

Along with the core subjects, the test covers general ability, aptitude and analytical skills.

Guwahati, December 21
Close on the heels of Congress president Sonia Gandhi announcing her firm stand against corruption and the corrupt, Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has issued a directive to the state chief secretary to entrust the CBI to investigate the financial irregularities in North Cachar Hills Autonomous District Council (NCHADC).

A special audit report (inspection report) of the Auditor General recently pointed out gross irregularities in financial dealings of the hill autonomous district council over a period of time. The AG report has provided an opportunity to the opposition parties to point a finger at the Congress government in Assam headed by Gogoi.

Even as the opposition parties are trying to make an issue against the ruling Congress over the AG special audit report keeping in mind the 2011 election, Gogoi has issued the directive for a CBI investigation into the allegations of a financial scandal in the hill district. Gogoi claims that it was his government which had asked for a special audit by the AG.

The CBI is already investigating a few cases of embezzlement in various departments of the hill autonomous council and has even recovered over Rs 13 crore from the residence of a close relative of one of the prime accused R H Khan, an officer in the social welfare department.

The special audit mentioned about release of Rs 1146.59 lakh to the hill council by the state government in excess of the budget provision. The special audit report was submitted to the Assam Chief Minister. However, the Assam Government has claimed that a thorough scrutiny of the AG audit report by the state chief secretary has revealed that instead of release of Rs 1146.59 lakh as “excess fund”, only Rs 33.03 lakh was released.

The government claims that the year-wise excess release of funds as found after the scrutiny of the AG report was Rs 0.39 lakh as against the Rs 744.64 lakh reported in the AG report for 2007-08 and it was Rs 32.64 lakh as against Rs 401.95 lakh reported in the AG audit for 2008-09.

New Delhi, December 21
Eight months after the Ministry of Human Resource Development recommended international affairs expert Prof Amitabh Mattoo as the first Vice-Chancellor of the Jammu Central University, President Pratibha Patil has approved his appointment.

This clears the way for the university to begin its academic session from the next year, though six months was being seen as a very tight time line for the V-C, who would first have to constitute the University’s executive and finance committees, appoint finance officer, registrar and faculty and seek the President’s approval for all this. Among the 16 new central universities that came up last year, Jammu’s would be the last one to commence work due to unprecedented delay in the appointment of its V-C.

Mattoo, earlier the V-C of Jammu State University from 2002 to 2008, has been in the race for the top administrative post at the new university since April when the file, with his name on the top in a panel of four, was sent to the President for clearance, she being the appointing authority in her capacity as the Visitor for central universities.

The process got stuck after the Visitor received a series of petitions against Prof Matoo, some alleging nepotism and favouritism by him when he was earlier the V-C and some questioning his Kashmir policy.

In July, Jammu Divisional Commissioner sent a report to HRD Ministry, apprehending law and order problems in Jammu if Mattoo was made the V-C. The ministry forwarded the report to the Visitor who twice sought its comments in the matter. The ministry stuck by Matoo’s recommendation on grounds of his “fine academic credentials”.

Mattoo has been selected from a panel that comprised Prof R Bhatnagar from the School of Biotechnology, Jawaharlal Nehru University; Prof Anil Kumar Singh from IIT Bombay’s Chemistry Department and Prof MP Mahajan, Professor Emeritus in the Chemistry Department of Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar.

That apart, this easily is one of the most delayed appointments of a university V-C in India. For eight months, some Jammu-based groups argued that someone from Jammu should be the first V-C of the central university of the state, which was conceded following a political agitation.

Originally, the government had only provided for a central university for Kashmir -- something that triggered violent protests in Jammu. The argument that a Jammu-born person be made the V-C, however, cut no ice as the Central Universities Act doesn’t consider domicile as an issue for such appointments.

The matter was kept in abeyance in view of the volatile political situation in Kashmir where the death of two youngsters triggered unprecedented protests through June and July this year. Top Ministry sources had earlier admitted that the matter had been delayed due to political reasons.

Mattoo is presently the Professor of international politics at Jawaharlal Nehru University. He is also a member, National Knowledge Commission (which advises the PM on key issues) and has a doctorate in international relations from the University of Oxford, UK. Earlier, he was the director, Core Group for the Study of National Security.

New Delhi, December 21
Rural children enrolled in Navodaya schools will no longer be at a disadvantage compared to their urban counterparts, courtesy the new Telecom and Information Technology Minister Kapil Sibal.

Sibal, also the HRD Minister, has ordered broadband connectivity for all 583 Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas, which were conceived by former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi to identify and hone academic skills of gifted rural children who would otherwise never get a fair chance to march ahead in life.

So far, these schools only had computer labs but connectivity was a huge issue, putting students of these schools at a weaker footing than their urban competitors who enjoyed broadband connectivity and speedy Internet facilities.

That gap will now go, with Sibal directing the BSNL to do whatever was needed. The process will take about six months after which all 2, 70,000 Navodaya students would have access to high-speed Internet facility, thereby allowing them access to e-learning material.

Confirming the development, NVS Commissioner Manoj Singh said virtual classrooms in rural India would now become a reality and all teaching and pedagogic inputs available to urban schools would be available to rural students of these schools.

“We have long dreamed of having smart classrooms for our children. That will become possible and radicalise the system of teaching. We can now hope to compete with the best urban schools,” he said. Navodayas select gifted rural children on the basis of an All-India CBSE test held every year. The schools, one in each district, have fine academic record, comparable and, at times, better than that of Kendriya Vidyalayas in urban areas.

Meanwhile, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi is all set to inaugurate the first sports stadium of Navodaya Vidyalayas, coming up in her Lok Sabha constituency of Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh. Navodayas will, for the first time, have a dedicated sports stadium to host their national competitions. It will be inaugurated in January.

Melbourne, December 21
Indian doctor Mohammad Haneef has struck a deal with the Australian government for receiving a “substantial” compensation for his wrongful detention, three years after the traumatic experience which he said had a serious impact on his life and career.

Haneef, who was detained after being wrongly accused of having links to the failed Glasglow bombing attempt in 2007, returned to Australia last week to settle his compensation claim.

The 31-year-old doctor said the settlement would help him re-establish his career and reputation and stated that he would consider returning to the country. The lawyers of the doctor have refused to divulge details of the compensation which was confidential, but said the amount agreed upon is "substantial".

Haneef and his lawyers completed two days of talks with the government in Brisbane today, and this will see legal action against former immigration minister Kevin Andrews dropped, AAP reported.

"Part of the agreement is that the parties not discuss the details of the settlement," Haneef's lawyer Rod Hodgson told reporters as he left the meeting.

"Although I can say that Dr Haneef will receive a substantial compensation," he was quoted as saying.

The compensation claim had also sought damages for lost earnings, interruption to his medical career, damage to his reputation and emotional stress.

The claim has been described as unique in Australian legal history by his lawyers.

Before the mediation talks started, lawyers had said the compensation could be up to $ 1 million.

"I'm very pleased and happy with the resolution of this matter," Haneef, who is accompanied by his wife Firdous and three-year-old daughter Haniyah, told reporters after the meeting.

"My wrongful arrest and detention in 2007 was a very traumatic experience and today's settlement is a chance to end that part of my life and move on with my family," he said.

He thanked his friends and supporters in this country and back in India who he said had been a "great source of strength".

He said he would consider the prospect of reapplying for his original job on the Gold Coast.

"It certainly will take some time to get on track to get out to Australia. I need to get my registration sorted and other things and I need to discuss this with my family," he said, adding it could take less than a year. — PTI

New Delhi, December 21
Even as the BJP is preparing to take the 2G scam in a big way to the people through a NDA rally at Ramlila Maidan here tomorrow, it is likely to remain largely a BJP show.

For the record, BJP calls it “NDA Mahasangram rally” with small photos of JD-U president Sharad Yadav, Akali Dal chief Parkash Singh Badal and Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray seen along with those of LK Advani, Nitin Gadkari, Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley.

But no other big non-BJP NDA leader will be attending tomorrow’s public show of solidarity of anti-Congress forces against UPA corruption. Sharad Yadav, too, is there more as the NDA convener.

Notwithstanding Gadkari’s attempt to play down BJP’s discreet overtures towards Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) of Raj Thackeray, Shiv Sena Thackerays are keeping away. Sharad Yadav hoped Anant Geete may make it, since according to him former Lok Sabha Speaker Manohar Joshi is too unwell. Similarly, no one is coming from Akali Dal. One of their MPs, perhaps Ratan Singh Ajnala, may mark his token presence.

The JD-U too in spite of Sharad seems to be largely ignoring the rally with new mascot of alliance Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar staying away. Most BJP chief ministers are also keeping away from tomorrow’s show. But that is for a different reason, explained a BJP insider. With Karnataka chief minister and his government under a cloud, the BJP would be too embarrassed to have BS Yeddyurappa on the dais. The party is even avoiding holding its anti-corruption demonstrations in Karnataka, confirmed BJP vice-president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi. To prevent people noticing Yeddyurappa’s absence, the BJP has not invited its other chief ministers as well.

But the party is looking at the 2G scam and the consequent anti-UPA/Congress mood in the country with great hope of returning to power before long. A few leaders like LK Advani, in their blogs, have started forecasting the fall of the UPA government by 2012 and implicitly the return of a BJP-led coalition. They feel that the Left will be decimated in both West Bengal and Kerala in the Assembly elections next year. So a third front is virtually ruled out. “All the anti-Congress, anti-UPA forces will have to wily nily collect under the BJP umbrella,” said a party leader, predicting the post-2011 political scenario in the country.

BJP fondly remembers how with just two MPs in the eighth Lok Sabha, they along with the rest of Opposition rode to power in 1989 on the strength of allegations of payoffs in the purchase of Swedish Bofors gun discrediting the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and his Congress.

But party insiders point out how corruption becomes an issue only when the mascot is a spotlessly clean person like Jai Prakash Narain or VP Singh. Moreover, before 2004 the people had not experienced a long spell of BJP/NDA rule, which had its own scams and scandals, and which is still ridden by scams and scandals in the states it is ruling.

New Delhi, December 21
The Railways today decided to cancel a number of trains in the coming days as the dense fog over many parts of North India continued to affected train movement, leading to late running and rescheduling of services over the last couple of weeks.

According to Northern Railway, Sitamarhi-Anand Vihar Terminal Licchavi Express will remain cancelled from December 22 onwards while Hatia-Anand Vihar Terminal Jharkhand S.J. Express and Ujjain-Dehradun Ujjaini Express will remain cancelled from December 23 onwards.

Haridwar-Allahabad Express train will remain suspended from December 24 onwards, a Northern Railway spokesperson said.

The step was taken in view of foggy weather conditions in parts of North India, he said. Railways today cancelled three trains such as Delhi-Howrah Janta Express and Rajendra Nagar-Anand Vihar Jansadharan in both the directions.

Besides, it rescheduled the services of five trains as more than 35 trains arrived here several hours behind schedule. — PTI

This a project dealing in registering existing airmen training institutes as community colleges enabling all serving airmen to obtain a Bachelor’s degree within 8-13 years of their service. The MoU was signed by the Air Officer-In-charge Personnel, Air Marshal KJ Mathews on behalf of the IAF and by IGNOU Vice Chancellor, Prof. V.N. Rajasekharan Pillai.— TNS

Guwahati, December 21
With the prospects of his release from jail getting brighter, chairman of the outlawed United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) Arabinda Rajkhowa appealed to the governments of India and Bangladesh to facilitate participation of the outfit’s general secretary Anup Chetia in the proposed peace talks.

Anup Chetia who was arrested in Bangladesh in 1997, is now lodged in a jail in that country. His participation is considered to be key for holding a dialogue between the Government of India and ULFA.

After a routine medical check-up in the Guwahati Medical College Hospital here, Rajkhowa told reporters that “the atmosphere is now conducive for talks and we appeal to both India and Bangladesh governments to facilitate the participation of our general secretary Anup Chetia in the talks.”

New Delhi, December 21
A Delhi court today took serious note of the sensational claim by two undertrials that they were provided with a pistol and a knife allegedly by Tihar jail officials to kill two Commonwealth Games officials lodged in the high security prison on corruption charges.

Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) Vinod Yadav sought a detailed report on December 24 from the Station House Officer of Hari Nagar police station on various allegations, including that the Tihar jail officials provided them a country-made pistol and a knife to eliminate two of the three CWG officials who are in judicial custody.

The application filed by Nishant and Amit, who are facing trial on murder charges, have not mentioned the names of the CWG officials. A knife was recovered from their barrack. "Let a report from SHO Hari Nagar police station be called for on December 24," the CMM said.

In their application submitted before the court, the undertrials have said that they were shifted from the ordinary cell to the high security ward where the controversial CWG officials were kept in judicial custody. The undertrials have filed two applications which were signed jointly by both of them. The undertrials also claimed that they were also given a countrymade pistol to kill the CWG officials but it was taken back by the jail authorities.

The duo have also alleged that Amit was transferred from jail number four to the high risk ward of jail number five and he (Amit) was threatened as well.

Three former top Organising Committee officials T S Darbari, M Jayachandran and Sanjay Mahendroo are presently in judicial custody in Tihar jail. Darbari and Mahendroo were arrested on November 15. Jaychandran is in custody since November 21. All of them are facing corruption charges.

Darbari and Jayachandran are facing charges of causing losses to the state exchequer by awarding a contract to the tune of Rs 1.55 crore with regard to Queen's Baton Relay (QBR) in London in November last year before the mega sporting event.

All the former officials are accused of causing wrongful losses in the award of contract to M/s AM Car and Van Hire Limited for various functions relating to the conduct of the QBR.

The case against them has been registered under different sections of the IPC and the Prevention of Corruption Act. — PTI

New Delhi, December 21
In a tactical move to counter the precarious political situation in Andhra Pradesh, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today announced a Rs 400-crore relief package for farmers whose crops had been affected badly by rains.

The announcement comes following the “politics of fast” in which the state leaders were indulging. While Telugu Desam Party chief N Chandrababu’s fast (demanding relief package) entered the fifth day on Tuesday, he was joined in by estranged Congress MP YS Jaganmohan Reddy today, who too launched a 48-hour fast demanding adequate compensation for farmers.

Political observers have a reason to believe that if present trends intensify, Andhra Pradesh could see an election much earlier than envisaged. Fighting to keep its own flock together after the exit of Jaganmohan, Congress fears that the next elections may throw up a new regional formation.

While the PMO statement tries to give credit to newly appointed Chief Minister Kiran Reddy for bringing to the Prime Minister's attention the “plight of the farmers in the state”, sources said Congress was “extremely worried” about the shifting political positions in its only independent bastion down South. The turnout at Jaganmohan’s fasting event only added to its nervousness.

In Andhra Pradesh, crops worth crores were lost due to heavy rain, a devastation following which a number of farmers committed suicide.

Now, political parties are vying with each other to cash in the on situation. Seeing Naidu getting good support, PRP chief Chiranjeevi is touring coastal districts demanding higher relief for the farmers. BJP leaders have also written to the Prime Minister seeking relief for farmers in 15 districts of the state that had witnessed excessive rains.

Meanwhile, according to the PMO, a delegation comprising Andhra MPs met Prime Minister today and apprised him of the loss incurred by farmers in various regions of Andhra Pradesh that suffered cyclonic rains recently.