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CAbinet decisions
Marriage celebrations end in tragedy
Telangana campaigners plan joint stir
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Sachan's family moves SC, seeks CBI probe
UP is run by ‘dalals’: Rahul
AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi interacts with Kirpalpur villagers during the third day of his padyatra in Uttar Pradesh on Thursday. — PTI
39% Indians think domestic violence is justified, says UN report
Kim Davy case
Food or ‘daily dose of poison’?
Nalanda agenda: To bring world to Bihar
Spectrum Pricing
Kidney-Racket Case
Forensic experts reconstruct Ishrat encounter
India, Pak foreign ministers to meet in July-end
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CAbinet decisions MPLAD funds hiked from
Rs 2 crore
to
Rs 5 crore
In another decision, the Cabinet also cleared a massive hike of Rs 3 crore in the annual allocation for a scheme that enables every MP to recommend development works in their constituencies. A hike of Rs 3 crore in the annual allocation for a scheme that enables every MP to recommend development works in their constituencies, was also approved by the Cabinet. The move would cost the exchequer an additional Rs 2,370 crore annually.
New Delhi, July 7
Briefing newsmen after the meeting Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni, told reporters that while the government expecting to raise about Rs 1,733 crore from auctions, the new FM radio licences would extend FM radio services to about 227 new cities with a population of over one lakh. The will result in a total of 839 FM stations across 294 cities.
The e-auction would be held in batches and the number of batches will be decided by the I&B Ministry, depending upon the response from the bidders after the auction of first batch.
The government will appoint an independent expert agency to conduct the e-auction. A notice inviting applications for participation in the auctions will be issued in due course of time.
The salient features of the new policy say that broadcast pertaining to certain categories like information pertaining to sports events, traffic and weather, coverage of cultural events, coverage of topics pertaining to examinations, results, admissions, availability of employment opportunities, public announcements pertaining to civic amenities and health alerts as provided by the local administration will be treated as non-news and current affairs broadcast and will therefore be permissible.
Private operators have been allowed to own more than one channel but not more than 40 per cent of the total channels in a city subject to a minimum of three different operators in the city.
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Marriage celebrations end in tragedy
Lucknow, July 7 According to SP Kanshiram Nagar Ratan Srivastava, prima facie the accident appears to be due to the negligence of the driver. According to survivors, the bus was being driven by cleaner. The axle of the bus reportedly broke down on the railway track of the Adhurpura unmanned railway crossing at Patiali village of Kanshiram Nagar. While the driver and the cleaner struggled to push the bus off the track, the speeding Mathura Chhapra Express crashed into the bus dragging it for around 500 metres reducing it to mangled steel and shattering most bodies beyond recognition. The bus was carrying around 100 persons. All the dead, returning from the wedding party, were men aged between 15 to 65 years. All, except three, belonged to Yadavgarhi village under Mirhachi police station of Etah district. Railway Minister of State K.H.Muniyappa accompanied by Railway Board chairman Vinay Mittal visited the accident site and informed that Commissioner, Rail Safety, would hold a high-level enquiry. They also announced the PMO’s ex-gratia relief of Rs 2 lakh each for the next of kin of the deceased, Rs.50,000 each for seriously injured and Rs.10,000 each for simple injuries. Additionally, the state government has announced a compensation of Rs 1 lakh for the next of kin of the deceased, Rs 50,000 for the seriously injured and Rs 25,000 for those who have suffered minor injuries. The state government has also demanded the Railway Ministry to give a job to one family member of the deceased. According to Kanshiram Nagar Chief Medical Officer (CMO) R.C. Pandey, the injured have been admitted to Etah district hospital and various community centres, while the four critically injured have been shifted to Agra for further treatment.
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Telangana campaigners plan joint stir
Hyderabad, July 7 Another TDP MP quits HYDERABAD: Telugu Desam Party (TDP) MP Gundu Sudha Rani quit on
Thursday from the Rajya Sabha in protest against the delay in formation
of a separate state, taking the number of parliamentarians from the
party who have resigned on the issue to three. Rani faxed her
resignation to Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari this morning, TDP
sources said. Two TDP members of Lok Sabha had submitted their
resignations to Speaker Meira Kumar two days ago. As a result, the “rail rook” stir in the region, which was to start tomorrow, has been postponed. The JAC would organise a meeting with all public representatives, who have resigned from their posts, in the next couple of days and decide the future course of agitation, its convener M Kodandaram told reporters here. He said JAC leaders had spoken to some Congress MPs and Telugu Desam leaders who have responded positively to the idea. “They all said they will discuss the matter internally and tell us. The general feeling is that a joint stir should be undertaken.” Accordingly, the “rail rook”, proposed to be held on July 8 and 9, and also the collective cooking programme on July 10 had been postponed, he said. The JAC currently comprises the TRS, the BJP and a number of people’s organisations. Disagreeing with the view that the en masse resignations of MPs, MLAs and MLCs failed to yield the desired result of paving the way for the formation of a separate Telangana state, Kodandaram said the Centre had come under pressure to act fast now. Over 100 MLAs, of the total 119 MLAs from Telangana, and 15 MPs cutting across party lines quit their posts in support of the Telangana demand this week. Following the en masse resignation of legislators, top Congress leaders like Pranab Mukherjee, Ghulam Nabi Azad and Ahmed Patel have held talks with the a delegation of party leaders from Telangana in Delhi. — PTI
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Sachan's family moves SC, seeks CBI probe
New Delhi, July 7 An advocate, appearing for the Sachan's family, apprised the Bench of Justices Altamas Kabir and Cyriac Joseph about a petition filed in the court's registry and sought its urgent hearing. The Bench, however, asked the advocate to tell the registry to slate the petition for proper hearing. Arrested for his alleged role in the murder of Lucknow CMO BP Singh, purportedly to suppress a scam involving financial irregularities and embezzlement of the National Rural Health Mission funds, Sachan was found dead inside the toilet of the Lucknow district jail hospital on June 22 night under mysterious circumstances. The Uttar Pradesh Government has ordered a judicial probe into the incident. The police had said that following his arrest, Sachan was admitted to the jail hospital for treatment of general ailment and had undergone angiography, but he committed suicide. His death came a day before a court was to take up the plea for his remand and those of three others. Sachan was named in the CMO murder case as main accused by the police following the arrest of three persons by the state's Special Task Force on June 17. — PTI
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UP is run by ‘dalals’: Rahul
Jahangarh/Kansera, July 7 “You are not together. Uttar Pradesh is divided and that is why dalals (brokers) are running the state,” Rahul said, addressing farmers in Kirpalpur village. “You may not like it. But this is true. Since you are not together that is why this is happening here. Unless you unite, you will continue to suffer. Unless you don’t understand what is happening, the train will not come on its track,” he said. He continued to woo farmers on the third day of his padayatra to Aligarh for the Congress-backed ‘kisan mahapanchayat’ on Saturday. The AICC general secretary also promised that the Land Acquisition Bill to be brought in Parliament would be in favour of farmers. “We will present the Land Acquisition Bill in the Lok Sabha and you will see that it will be passed in your favour,” he said. Meeting groups of villagers at Kirpalpur, Jahangarh and Kansera villages in Aligarh district to drive home his point how farmers were suffering after their land was “forcibly” acquired at cheap rates, he said the state’s land acquisition policy was “full of flaws”. The land acquisition policies should be framed after holding talks with farmers and taking them into confidence, he said. — PTI AICC gen secy’s security breached
Rahul faced a security scare when a young man carrying a licensed revolver was detained while trying to move close to him in Tappal two hours after he resumed his march at Sarole village in Aligarh district around 6.30 am. The UP police, however, said there was no “blatant security breach” and that Harikrishna Sharma, nabbed by SPG personnel accompanying
Rahul, was a “properly verified” resident of nearby Udaipur village. Congress blames Mayawati
govt
The Congress on Thursday blamed the Mayawati government for a breach in party scion Rahul Gandhi's security on the third day of his padayatra in Uttar
Pradesh, the second such incident in the state. The Congress credited the SPG for being "alert and doing a good job," but added that it did not trust the UP police. Congress spokesman Manish Tewari said it was the duty of the state government to provide foolproof security to
Rahul, who was carrying out his duty as the party leader by establishing a mass contact with people to listen to their problems. Government sources, however, said the local police personnel, who were deployed along the Rahul's route, "failed" to control protesters. — TNS
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39% Indians think domestic violence is justified, says UN report
New Delhi, July 7 Addressing issues like marital rape, domestic and sexual violence, gender inequality etc, the survey done in the report suggest that 39 per cent men and women in India think that it is justifiable for a man to beat his wife. According to the report, 63 per cent of women in India, between the age group of 15 and 49 years, lack autonomy in their homes which is defined as having no say in any of the vital everyday decisions, including own health care, large household purchases, purchases for daily needs and visits to family or relatives. India also significantly lags behind the rest of the world with women being just 3 per cent of the judges. UN Women, the United Nation’s new organisation for women has called on the government to take urgent action to transform justice system and laws for women in India. Some of the key recommendations of the report include employing more women police, providing legal aid and awareness for women, creating specialised courts, implementing gender-sensitive law reforms. “It is clear from the report that if the laws are in place on issues such as domestic violence, their prevalence tends to be lower and fewer people think that violence against women is justifiable,” Lakshmi Puri, assistant secretary-general and deputy executive director of UN Women. Talking about women presence in politics and public life, the report said that much needs to be done to ensure that women can access justice and achieve their rights. “The report has found that the existing laws are inadequately enforced. Many women avoid reporting crimes due to social stigma, prohibitive costs, expensive legal advice and weak justice systems,” said Puri. The report has also emphasised employing of women on the front line of justice services and police officers. “Data shows that there is a positive correlation between the presence of women police officers and reporting of sexual assault. Recruitment of women police officers and resourcing of gender desks must be part of a broader strategy to train the police to adequately respond to women’s needs,” said Indira Jaisingh, Additional Solicitor General of India and a senior Supreme Court lawyer.
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Kim Davy case
New Delhi, July 7 Sources in the Government said that the External Affairs Ministry summoned the Charge d'Affaires on Monday and conveyed in no uncertain terms that such remarks about India's human rights records and prison conditions were unacceptable. The envoy was told that Davy was an accused in arms dropping case and he was a wanted by Indian law. Union Home Minister P Chidambaram had yesterday termed the Danish High Court's observation as "disappointing" and strongly rejected the argument that prisoners are subjected to torture here. "Kim Davy verdict is very disappointing. We reject the argument that prisoners are subjected to torture or that human rights of the accused will be violated," Chidambaram had said. Chidambaram also said he has written a letter to External Affairs Minister S M Krishna, making all these points and requesting him to ask the Government of Denmark that they should immediately file an appeal in a higher court there. Last week, the Eastern High Court in Copenhagen gave its verdict while rejecting the Danish government's plea to allow 49-year-old Davy to be handed over to the CBI in the 1995 Purulia case. — PTI
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Food or ‘daily dose of poison’?
New Delhi, July 7 Quoting studies, Vandana Shiva, founder of Navdanya, a network of seed keepers and organic producers, says very high levels of organo-chlorine compounds have been found in human blood, human milk and human fat samples in India as compared to the rest of the world. Around 51 per cent of food commodities were contaminated with pesticide residues with 20% contaminated with pesticide residues above the maximum residue level, while worldwide studies found only 21% of samples contaminated with pesticide residues with only two per cent above the maximum residue level. “This shows the quality of food India is consuming,” said Shiva, who today released Navdany’s report on the hot political topic of land acquisition “Corporate Hijack of India” at a conference on “Poison free food: Organic farming for health and safety”. “There can be no food security without recognising farmers’ rights to their land and people’s right to poison-free food,” she said. Details of deliberations at the day-long meeting would be forwarded to the government. Activists are also putting together available data to prove how “poisonous” the daily food is. They blame the government for working in favour of the pesticide industry by ignoring warnings. “All data on safety comes from the industry, which is trying to spread the myth that chemical farming is safe. There is a UN ban, SC ban and Kerala government ban on endosulfan, but we have to wait the report of the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) report before the final decision,” she said, adding that there was enough scientific proof to prove the case against the pesticide. The SC on May 13 banned the manufacture, sale and use of endosulfan throughout the country citing its harmful effect on health. The court has also ordered the government to come up with safer and cheaper alternatives of the pesticide and decide on how existing stocks have to be destroyed.
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Nalanda agenda: To bring world to Bihar
Patna, July 7 Briefing mediapersons after the meeting, Dr Sen said the university would begin with two schools - School of Historical Sciences and School of Environment and Ecology. According to him and Dr Gopa Sabharwal, the designated Vice-Chancellor of NIU, if the Bihar government provided suitable accommodation, the governing board might start the two schools in 2013. Refusing to set any date for the functioning of NIU from its own building, Sen said it was not possible to set a deadline for a university of this magnitude. “It had taken 20 years to build the ancient university of Nalanda while Cambridge University took seven-and-a half years,” he said. Stressing highest level of quality for the upcoming university building, he said it had to be a grand piece of architecture and there would be global competition for its design. “We do not want to rush things as it was going to be an university for the coming centuries,” Sen added. “The objective is to bring the world to Bihar through this university. The ancient one was an architectural marvel. The new one will have a cutting edge,” Prof Sugato Bose from Harvard University said. The Educational Consultants India Limited - a public sector enterprise under the HRD Ministry - has prepared an estimated expenditure of Rs 1,100 crore on this university apart from the recurring expenses.
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Spectrum Pricing
New Delhi, July 7 Secretary, Ministry of Finance, and Chairman of the CBDT told this to the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on 2G Spectrum scam. Briefing newsmen later, committee chairman P.C. Chacko said the Telecom Ministry insisted on only the Group of secretaries vetting the Spectrum pricing. Dayanidhi Maran who resigned today after coming under a cloud on 2G scam, was then the Telecom Minister, though Chacko refused to name him. Chacko conceded that the Finance Ministry advice was overruled and the Telecom Ministry was allowed to have its way after Maran insisted that this was his prerogative alone. The Telecom Ministry view prevailed in the Union Cabinet. The government incurred a loss of Rs 968 crore for the first four years from 2004-07 in the disbursement of Unified Access Service (UAS) because of Maran’s decision to reduce the licence fees by 2 per cent. Since then it is incurring a loss of Rs 885 crore every year, according to the Finance ministry assessment. The national exchequer lost at least Rs 43,523.92 crore when the NDA Government allowed the private telephone companies to migrate from the auction regime to one-time licence fees regime in 1999 according to the figures produced before the committee by the Department of Telecom. However, Chacko said the DoT figures did not satisfy the members who asked him to return with the correct figures after taking into account several other factors left out by him. In mid 1990s when the telecom sector was opened to private sector they bought licences through auction. Soon after the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Government assumed power in 1998 private cellular operators appealed to the then Telecom Minister Sushma Swaraj to shift the process from auction to licence fees regime. Apparently, Sushma cleared the file. But in between the Delhi elections came and Sushma resigned to lead the BJP in Delhi. She was succeeded by Jagmohan who rejected the proposition out of hand and even suggested imposition of fine and recoveries from private operators who failed to fulfil their commitment. The then Attorney General Soli Sorabjee concurred with Jagmohan. But the private operators panicked and immediately Jagmohan was replaced briefly by Ram Vilas Paswan. Soon Pramod Mahajan took charge who was followed by Arun Shourie in the NDA regime. Sorabjee overturned his advice and the government not just allowed the cellular operators to migrate from auction to licence raj without incurring any penalty on them. Instead, the amount they deposited for the auction was converted to licence fees and the national exchequer was deprived of thousands of crores.
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Kidney-Racket Case
Panchkula, July 7 Therefore, the CBI had filed an application in the Punjab and Haryana High Court to modify its earlier order wherein it had directed the CBI to complete the recording of statements of all donors by July 15. The CBI court had already framed charges against the accused, Dr Amit Kumar, his brother, Jeevan Kumar, Dr Krishan, lab technician Manoj, middleman Giyasuddin, nurse Linda, Upender, Dr Saraj and middleman Jagdish. The racket was busted on January 24, 2008, after a joint team of the UP and Gurgaon police forces raided a house in Gurgaon’s Sector 22. In its charge sheet filed on April 29, 2008, the CBI had stated that the accused lured people to a private hospital in Gurgaon and other places where their kidneys were removed and sold at higher prices to needy people, including patients from abroad. Cases for removing kidneys were also registered against Amit and Jeevan in Rajasthan, Maharashtra and several other states. The accused had reportedly duped around 500 persons, most of whom were from a poor background. — TNS
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Forensic experts reconstruct Ishrat encounter
Ahmedabad, July 7 SIT chairman Satyapal Singh said an eleven-member team from the All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS) and the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL), New Delhi, was helping them in reconstruction and collection of the data that would be useful during investigation. — PTI
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India, Pak foreign ministers to meet in July-end
New Delhi, July 7 Indications are that Pakistan’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar will be elevated to the Cabinet rank to hold talks with her Indian counterpart S M Krishna. Before the meeting between the two foreign ministers, two working groups are scheduled to meet by the middle of this month to discuss proposals on confidence-building measures (CBMs), including the expansion of cross-Line of Control movement and trade and nuclear CBMs. Ahead of the talks between the foreign ministers, the two countries will also have time for some track-II diplomacy with a Pakistani parliamentary delegation led by National Assembly Speaker Fehmida Mirza arriving here today for the fifth conference of SAARC Speakers and parliamentarians. The other members of the delegation are: Shanaz Wazir Ali, Tasmeen Siddiqui, Mahmud Hayat Khan, Tariq Shabbir and Karamat Niazi.
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Mulayam, Azhar detained 2G scam probe HC notice to Aamir New Defence Secy Security to VIPs
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Jahangarh/Kansera, July 7
New Delhi, July 7
The governing body, earlier known as Nalanda Mentor Group, held a marathon meeting yesterday in Patna to discuss the nitty-gritty of the proposed university that has attracted global attention. It was the third meeting of the interim board of governors and the first one in Bihar. Barring Lord Meghnad Desai, all other members of the board attended the meeting.
