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UT booth scam rocks Parliament
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36 Naxals gunned down in Bihar, Chhattisgarh
8 jawans killed in militant attack
Zero tolerance to sexual abuse in forces: Antony
High
court bans construction in Sukhna catchment area
Gene therapy for chronic diseases
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UT booth scam rocks Parliament
New Delhi, March 14 Trooping into the well of the Houses, which were adjourned thrice until 2 pm, BJP members shouted “Bansal isteefa do” (Bansal resign) slogans. The minister, in turn, said he was ready for any probe into the matter and if he was found guilty he would never face the Parliament. “I am not afraid of any inquiry. I know I have not done anything wrong,” the minister said, adding that he didn’t even have the copy of the report which was being flashed by BJP members. In the Lok Sabha, Leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj led the charge against Bansal on the basis of the 700-page inquiry report finalised this February 23 by former Additional Deputy Commissioner and SDM (Central) of UT Administration PS Shergill. The report accuses the minister and some UT bureaucrats of shielding the booth mafia in the city and allotting 90 booths illegally at subsidised prices. It also recommends a CBI probe into the link between the mafia and city authorities. Outraged by the Opposition’s stinging attack, Bansal assumed an unusually combative form to defend himself and trashed all allegations as baseless. He accused the BJP of using cheap gimmicks to wrest power in Chandigarh. Challenging the validity of the report in question, Bansal questioned the credentials of the SDM, who conducted the probe. “On which evidence am I being charged?” he asked. Bansal said the BJP was trying to destabilise the country by repeatedly disrupting the House and it was baffled over repeated electoral losses in Chandigarh. “For us, money is not greater than God. For them, it is. Let Sushma or Navjot Sidhu face me at the hustings and we will know who the people back,” the minister said as the war of words got personal, with Sushma rebutting: “Our local representative would be enough to bring you down.” As the two sparred, Samajwadi Party’s members almost came to blows with the saffron rankers, who were preventing their MP Akhilesh Yadav from speaking despite Speaker Meira Kumar calling out his name. It took Sharad Yadav and Gurudas Dasgupta to calm the two sides. Order returned only at 2 pm when Yadav was allowed to speak followed by Sushma who kept needling Bansal. The minister questioned the Shergill report saying, “This inquiry wasn’t ordered by the government or the Chandigarh Administration under the Commission of Inquiry Act. It wasn’t notified. I was never served a notice for cross-examination. The SDM in question had links with a former Administrator and overstepped his brief. How did he get seven extensions? ” Bansal asked, slamming the report as an attempt to vilify him. The SDM in question was repatriated to Punjab on January 14 this year.
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Sushma Swaraj misusing her position, alleges Bansal
New Delhi, March 14 Bansal was reacting to the BJP thwarting his attempt to reply to Sushma’s accusation in the House earlier. The BJP alleged that Bansal, as Chandigarh MP, had patronised kiosk mafia and indulged in corrupt practices. The one-time classmates in Panjab University’s law faculty, rallied on the opposite benches of the Lok Sabha. He said: “The Leader of Opposition has misused her position to claim the right to speak anytime, anywhere unmindful of the rules.” The Chandigarh MP was particularly sore with the BJP’s attempt to block his reply to Sushma’s allegations in the House saying, “She repeated the same mendacious allegations against me as stated by vested interests. This is a cheap gimmick to malign me. This is a product of a sick mind. They can go to any extent. Even accuse me of rape. I will do everything possible to salvage my reputation.” Bansal mentioned that while in the meeting with Speaker Meira Kumar earlier BJP leaders Rajnath Singh and Shahnawaz Husain had conceded his right to reply to Sushma’a allegations, the BJP went back on it and stalled the House proceedings as soon as he (Bansal) rose to speak. The Parliamentary Affairs Minister charged the BJP with trying to sabotage democracy by coming up with flimsy excuses to stall the House proceedings. “First, there was the CWG issue, then came the demand for the JPC. Once the government agreed to a JPC, they were left with no issue to malign the government and stall the House, so they have come with this one now. “But I dare them to make this allegation outside the House and I will sue them. They are deliberately taking cover under the immunity allowed inside the House for making cheap allegations.” The Congress, however, had a different take. According to party sources, Swaraj is upset and jittery over the prospect of mining ministry discussion in the Lok Sabha slated for March 16. The Congress, the JD-S and others are anxiously waiting to give it back to the BJP on the Bellary mining issue, in which Sushma’s name has often cropped up. The Congress says the BJP wants to thwart that debate. But BJP sources recalled how the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha was lying low since she gave a clean chit to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the CVC issue. Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitely, who stole the limelight in the CVC case, tried to underplay the significance saying: “It’s good that we have managed to draw the attention of the House to the issues concerning the people of Chandigarh.”
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36 Naxals gunned down in Bihar, Chhattisgarh
Raipur/Motihari, March 14 The Raipur police today claimed to have gunned down 30 Naxals in a fierce encounter in Chhattisgarh’s Dantewada district after an ambush by the extremists left three policemen dead and nine others injured. Additional Director General (Naxal operations) Ram Niwas said a police team of 145 jawans was on a search operation in the the Chintalnaar area, when the Naxals struck. “In the ambush by the Naxals, three of our men were killed and nine injured,” he said. He said the police believed “to have killed 30 Naxals” in a retaliatory action. “Firing has stopped. We are now looking for bodies,” Niwas said. Reinforcements were being sent to the area and the injured were being air-lifted, he added. In Bihar, six Naxals were killed while eight were arrested after an encounter with the security forces in Darmaha village in Bihar’s east Champaran district this morning. The over 12-hour-long encounter ended at 4 am, DGP Neelmani said. The bodies of all six Naxalites have been recovered and eight ultras, including three women, arrested. The security forces seized 14 weapons, including five SLRs, eight police rifles and one .315 rifle, besides explosives and ammunition from the spot, the DGP said. A search operation was going on in the area, Neelmani added.
— PTI
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8 jawans killed in militant attack
Guwahati, March 14 The BSF patrol party from the 10th battalion, which was deployed in Ultapani reserve forest area, was travelling from Bangladoba in Chirang district of Assam to Ultapani when it came under attack. The injured were admitted to Kokrajhar Civil hospital while seriously injured were shifted to Guwahati Medical College Hospital.
— TNS
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Zero tolerance to sexual abuse in forces: Antony
New Delhi, March 14 He told the Lok Sabha in a written reply that all cases of sexual harassment would be viewed very seriously and strict action taken against the perpetrators and commensurate punishment meted out to them. All commands have been directed by the Defence Ministry to ensure compliance. The Army has laid down instructions on the definition of physical harassment and the procedure for taking action against defaulters.
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High court bans construction in Sukhna catchment area Chandigarh, March 14 Acting on a petition filed in public interest to save the lake, a Division Bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court today banned till further orders building activity of any kind in the catchment area falling in the states of Haryana and Punjab. The development is significant, as a part of Mansa Devi Complex’s Sector 1 forms a part of the catchment area. Some of the area falls in Punjab as well. The Tribune was the first to underscore the issue. As the petition came up for resumed hearing, the Division Bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Augustine George Masih asserted they were of the view until further orders no housing colonies or building activity of any kind should take place in the catchment area.The Bench clarified it included the forest zone and the agriculture area falling in the two states of Punjab andHaryana. The Bench also made it clear the direction was necessary for maintaining the catchment area, and in The directions came after the State of Haryana placed before the Bench an affidavit saying “part of the Sector 1, Mansa Devi Complex, forms a part of the catchment area delineated by the Survey of India”. In the affidavit submitted by Town and Country Planning Director-General TC Gupta, it was added that the “area forming a part of the catchment of Sukhna Lake has been designated as open space zone and no building or construction activity has been proposed within this zone”. Gupta added natural drainage channels - Nathewala Nadi, Nepli Nadi and Gherari Nadi - passing through the catchment area in Haryana were joining the Sukhna Nadi. “None of these rivulets formed a part of the urbanisation proposal envisaged in the development plan of Mansa Devi Complex”. Gupta added Mansa Devi Urban Complex plan has been prepared by the town and country planning department for “planned development of the area earmarked for urbanisation in the development plan for periphery controlled area, immediately east of Sukhna Lake.... The urbanisation being approved/initiated by the department in the area was in accordance with the approved plan,” Gupta added. Virtually putting the matter on the fast track, the Bench after going through the affidavit asserted in view of Haryana’s stand, they were of the view that they should discontinue with the practice of asking the states whether they had any plans of having housing colony constructed or built in the catchment area. The case also saw the Bench asking the UT Administration to make available to Bhakra Beas Management Board the original drawings of the flood gates. The board was also asked to render necessary advice to the UT Administration. The direction was issued after the board claimed it was too understaffed to take up the issue of leaky floodgates. But, it would study the problem, if the original drawings were made available to them. Before parting with the order, the Bench asked the UT Administration to make endeavour for identifying competent organisations in a position to undertake the work. The case will now come up on May 3 for further hearing.
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Gene therapy for chronic diseases
New Delhi, March 14 The molecule, a single-stranded gene, has been obtained after genetic mapping and profiling of 252 medicinal herbs found in Sonapur village, located about 50 km from the Guwahati airport. From the selected list, he and his team zeroed in on three plants whose extracts were tried initially on pigs for efficacy. With a shelf-life of five years, si-RNA molecule acts on the detrimental genes in a targeted manner based on a missile action, the expert termed it as “knocking them down or knocking them out”. During his recent visit to the national Capital for releasing his latest four volume of books on human genome engineering, Dr Dhani Ram Baruah said, “It was a distant dream, but now a reality.” “Applied science of genetic engineering works wonders where medical science cannot reach,” he added. “Medical science doesn’t know the cause of several incurable diseases and the cure lies in genetic engineering. By injecting si-RNA, a molecule isolated from edible plants, the effect of diseases, like coronary artery diseases and cancer, can be reversed. This molecule acts against the detrimental m-RNA, increases delta energy, which results in a decrease in instability. This, in turn, releases the restriction of translation process and allows m-RNA to synthesise beneficial proteins. The whole disease process is reversed,” Dr Baruah explained. Adding that the new molecule corrects the deformed or mutated genes, Dr Baruah, who himself is a cardiac surgeon, said, “The bypass surgery is actually a mismatch procedure that adds up to the risk to a patient’s life, thus pushing him towards premature death. As a matter of fact, the coronary artery disease is not confined to heart alone and affects the body’s entire arterial system. The disease keeps recurring and the treatment gets prolonged.” He further downplays the conventional treatment modalities, like stenting, angioplasty used for rectifying arterial defects and chemotherapy used for cancer. A beneficiary of the revolutionising therapy, retired judge of Mumbai High Court WS Rane, said when he had lost all hope after his bypass surgery failed, it was this new treatment that has enabled him to lead a normal life. “In 1994, I started having excruciating pain in my body and I’d almost lost my speech and movement. Consequently, I was forced to leave my job in judiciary seven years in advance. On doctor’s advice I underwent a bypass surgery in 1996, but after four-six months, the same problem recurred. Medicines were of no help and I lost all hope. Then I took this new treatment. I am fine,” said Rane. Rane is one of the first few patients of Dr Baruah since he started this genetic mode of treatment in 1997 when he used to give capsules, containing compounds of medicinal plants, for treatment. However, for the past four years, he has been administering the curative molecule through intravenous injection.
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Bansal’s
ouster
Chandigarh,
March 14
