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PC defends CVC appointment
As Vindhyagiri capsizes, war of words begins between Navy, port trust
Smoke billows from INS Vindhyagiri, which caught fire after a collision with a merchant vessel, at
the Naval dockyard in Mumbai on Monday. — AFP |
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MCI recommendation ignored
‘Makara Jyothi’ is man lit: Devaswom board
Yeddyurappa claims threat to life from sorcery
US: Ankle tags standard procedure
TDP MLA murder case returns to haunt Jagan
Let Parliament function, PM tells Opposition
Let House function, PM tells Opposition CMs to debate crowd-control steps Bappi Lahiri to be first Indian in Grammy jury
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PC defends CVC appointment
New Delhi, January 31
The Supreme Court has questioned why Thomas was selected as the country's senior-most officer in charge of fighting corruption despite the fact that he had been facing a case of corruption some two decades back in his home cadre of Kerala. Thomas was selected in September 2010 by a three-member committee that was headed by the Prime Minister and included the Home Minister and Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj. While the Prime Minister and Chidambaram supported Thomas for the appointment, BJP leader Sushma Swaraj recorded her dissent. Swaraj has now made it public that she had dissented and Thomas was appointed despite her protests. The Home Minister explained: “We did discuss the names of the panel. In fact, the bulk of the time (of discussion) was regarding Thomas and the palmolein case. She (Swaraj) made her points, the other members (PM and HM) of the committee made their points.” During the discussion it was brought out that although a case was registered, no sanction of prosecution was granted by the NDA government between December 1999 and May 2004 and also by the UPA government subsequently. The trial of the case was stayed by the Supreme Court between 2007 and 2008. The Home Minister said that in September 2007, the Kerala Government which had been pressing for permission to prosecute Thomas had appointed him as Chief Secretary. Chidambaram, quoting Attorney General GE Vahanvati, said the top lawyer maintained that when the apex court had asked him whether papers and files relating to the case against Thomas were “circulated” during the meeting in September 2010, he had said that “the papers and files were not circulated. It was never stated (by the AG) that there was no discussion on the case against Thomas”.
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As Vindhyagiri capsizes, war of words begins between Navy, port trust
New Delhi, January 31 INS Vindhyagirihad capsized following a collision with private merchant tanker MV Nordlake last evening off Mumbai coast. The Naval ship is as good as lost as the cost of salvaging it and refitting it will be much more than the future usage of the warship that was anyway slated to de-commissioned in three years. The Navy has registered an FIR and the merchant vessel and it crew has been detained for questioning. JNPT officials were quoted by a section of the media as having blamed the Naval personnel for the incident. An inquiry was ordered by Director-General (Shipping) SB Agnihotri into the incident while the Navy has ordered its own probe. Naval spokesperson Commander PVS Satish said Naval ships had multiple radars and sailors standing on either side while merchant vessels did not have the same number of radars or people. “Statements blaming the Navy were premature,” he said, adding that the probe could take upto 8-10 weeks. The collision had led to fire and flooding on board INS Vindhyagiri. Ammunition on board was cleared and there was fire raging in the engine room. The sea being shallow near the port, the bottom of the ship had touch the sea-bed and a portion of the ship is out of water. Necessary measures have also been taken to prevent any spillage of oil from the ship. Other naval operations and commercial operations in Mumbai port have not been affected.
Port communication set to get better
Mumbai, January 31 According to sources, the proposal to upgrade the communication system was mooted after two vessels, MSC Chitra and MV Khalija III had collided off the Mumbai port last year causing a massive oil spill. Coast Guard sources say there have been a number of collisions in the past. In March 2010, a Coast Guard ship, Vivek, collided with a Panamian vessel, MSC Global Purity, and sank. Subsequently, two ships collided again on August 31. The series of collisions have a pointed finger at the traffic management at the Mumbai harbour, with many opining that the communication system was breaking down. There are two ports off Mumbai - the old Mumbai Port Trust and the new Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust. Both ports share a common approach channel till the point where the paths diverge towards the respective ports. — TNS
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MCI recommendation ignored
New Delhi, January 31 The Gujarat Medical Council (GMC), the parent association of Desai, has decided to close all cases against the Desai, also in the dock for corruption in the sanction of new medical colleges. In its last general body meeting, the GMC passed a unanimous resolution closing the cases against Desai, who was proceeded against by the MCI on a complaint filed by Dr Kunal Saha, an HIV/AIDS intervention specialist based in the US. It was after the GMC refused to act on Saha’s complaint that he filed an appeal to the MCI, whose Ethics Committee held Desai guilty and barred him from representing India in any conference abroad, besides recommending the suspension of his medical licence. With the GMC now deciding to close the file, the MCI’s recommendations would bring no results.
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‘Makara Jyothi’ is man lit: Devaswom board
Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 31 "It is known to everybody that Makara Jyothi is a fire lit up by men at Ponnabalamedu and the TDB also recognises this', TDB president M Rajagoplan Nair told reporters here today. However, he said the board was not going to run a campaign to propagate that it was man-made as there was a belief behind it into which the temple board did not intend to interfere, he said. Kerala High Court had recently asked the TDB to clarify whether the Makara Jyothi is man lit light or celestial phenomenon, in the wake of the Pullumedu stampede in which 102 devotees died on January 14 while returning after witnessing the jyothi. Nair was briefing media after the discussions the board had with high priests, members of the Travancore and Pandalam Royal Houses and authorities on temple rituals and architecture.—PTI
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Yeddyurappa claims threat to life from sorcery
Mysore, January 31
“There is a conspiracy to eliminate me. I am not even sure whether I will return home after visiting Vidhana Soudha (state secretariat),” said Yeddyurappa, who has been facing unending troubles since becoming Chief Minister in 2008. Yeddyurappa, who was instrumental in bringing the BJP to power for the first time down south, overcame two bouts of internal revolt and won confidence motion twice in the Assembly before facing a criminal case for alleged corruption with Governor HR Bhardwaj sanctioning his prosecution recently. On October 11 last, when Yeddyurappa faced the first floor test, chopped chicken heads and vermilion-smeared pooja articles were found strewn near the Vidhana Soudha, fuelling rumours that it was part of witchcraft. Yeddyurappa had then blamed the opposition for it, but they had accused him of indulging in such practises to remain in power. Known for his frequent visits to temples, especially during crisis, and for liberal donations, often inviting opposition ridicule and criticism, Yeddyurappa, however, said he would not be cowed down by such threats (black magic). Meanwhile, the Congress today ridiculed Yeddyurappa's claim that there was a conspiracy to eliminate him by taking recourse to “black magic”, saying it exposed the BJP leader's “medieval and reactionary mindset”. “This is a living example of a medieval and reactionary mindset. The fundamental question is that whether this betrays only his mindset or also that of the party to which be belongs and which has made him the Chief Minister,” party spokesperson Manish Tewari told reporters here. — PTI
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US: Ankle tags standard procedure
New Delhi, January 31 A day after India condemned the use of radio trackers as ‘inhuman’, the US Embassy admitted that some of the students involved in the investigation had been issued ankle monitors. “The use of ankle monitors is widespread across the US and standard procedure for a variety of investigations, and does not necessarily imply guilt or suspicion of criminal activity.’’ Defending the action of the American police, the mission further added that an ankle monitor sends a radio frequency signal containing location and other information to the receiver and does not impair the person’s normal activity.
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TDP MLA murder case returns to haunt Jagan
Hyderabad, January 31
The CBI’s internal document allegedly contained the statement of one Dantuluri Krishna alias Mangali Krishna in connection with Ravi’s murder. Krishna, an accused in an earlier assassination attempt on Ravi in 2001, was believed to have confessed to his close links with Jagan. In another sensational claim, the media report quoted the document, prepared in April 2005, to say Krishna had given a detailed account of how the TDP leader was eliminated with the “blessings” of Jagan. However, the CBI did not include these revelations in its chargesheet and subsequently gave Jagan a clean chit. In the context of the changed political scenario in the state with Jagan quitting the Congress and planning to float his own party, his detractors in the government and the opposition lost no time in calling for a fresh look at the case to ferret out facts. Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, who is now at loggerheads with Jagan camp, held discussions with the police top brass about the possibility of seeking re-examination into the case in the wake of “fresh revelations” following the recent murder of Maddelacheruvu Suri, the prime accused in the killing of Paritala Ravi. State Medical and Health Minister DL Ravindra Reddy, bete noire of Jagan, said he would take up the issue in the Cabinet meeting and seek a fresh CBI probe.
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Let Parliament function, PM tells Opposition
New Delhi, January 31 “Parliament is a primary forum for discussion, dialogue, legislation and I don’t think anybody would deny that things are not what they ought to be,” he said in the backdrop of the washout of the entire Winter session due to the stand off between the government and the Opposition over the 2G spectrum scam. Meanwhile, a Lok Sabha bulletin announced that the Budget Session would commence on February 21 with President Pratibha Patil addressing both Houses. — TNS
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Let House function, PM tells Opposition New Delhi, January 31 “Parliament is a primary forum for discussion, dialogue, legislation and I don’t think anybody would deny that things are not what they ought to be,” he said in the backdrop of the washout of the entire Winter session due to the stand off between the government and the Opposition over the 2G spectrum scam. Meanwhile, a Lok Sabha bulletin announced that the Budget Session would commence on February 21 with President Pratibha Patil addressing both Houses. — TNS
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CMs to debate crowd-control steps New Delhi, January 31 In the last conference on internal security, it was agreed that a task forces headed by the Union Home Secretary will lay down standard operating procedure for handling public agitations by using non-lethal means. A sub-group within the task force appointed the DG, CRPF, to identify new aids that were non-lethal, but effective. The report will be shared with the Chief Ministers tomorrow.
The PM is also slated to raise key matters with the states on additional counter-terrorism initiatives and cooperation on ramping up intelligence gathering. This will include setting up of a separate intelligence cadre. Some states have already set up this cadre. The PM will also elaborate on the National Counter Terrorism Centre, which is slated to be operational by the year-end. The countrywide multi-agency centre (MAC), which was activated following the Mumbai attacks, will merge with the NCTC, making it into an overarching body. The PM will also brief the Chief Ministers on the much talked about Crime and Criminal Tracking Network System (CCTNS). The Home Ministry has set a deadline to activate this within this year. The conference will also debate the issue of fake Indian currency notes being pushed into India from across the border. The matter of having a separate countrywide financial intelligence unit to look out for money trails and also money laundering. It will be a central hub to probe all suspicious and large banking transactions. The amended Money Laundering Act will also come up for discussion. A separate session will deal with issues of Naxal-affected states of Bihar, Maharsahtra, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Orissa.
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Bappi Lahiri to be first Indian in Grammy jury Mumbai, January 31 This year Lahiri had also sent in his album "World, Peace And harmony" for the prestigious awards. It got him a spot in the top 50 Grammy albums but, however, lost out on the main five nominations. In the album released only in US, the 58-year-old has collaborated with popular saxophone player Gerald Albright and himself sang and also played the tabla. This year, the Grammys will be presented on February 13 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. — IANS
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Sonawane attacker dead Karuna meets Sonia Rouvanjit suicide Kandhamal riots Tatkal tickets Maoists blow up water tower
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A war of words has broken out between the Navy and authorities of the Jawharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) at Mumbai over yesterday’s incident wherein Naval warship INS Vindhyagirihad collided with a merchant vessel.
The Home Minister, while addressing his monthly press conference, said the selection committee meeting did discuss the issue of Palmolein import case against Thomas. In response to a question, he clarified the Supreme Court would decide if a consensus was needed in such appointments. 
In remarks that are bound to further raise political heat in the state, Yeddyurappa said: “Those who indulged in black magic to unseat me from power and failed are involved in it again”.
After a leading Telugu daily “Andhra Jyothy” carried in its columns what it claimed to be excerpts from a CBI document pertaining to investigation into the murder of former Telugu Desam Party (TDP) MLA Paritala Ravi, the ruling Congress and the main opposition TDP joined the chorus of demand for re-opening the case to examine Jagan’s alleged role in the 2005 killing.
