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China dam will not affect Brahmaputra’s flow: PM
New Delhi, August 4 Dispelling apprehensions that the flow of the mighty Brahmaputra in India would be affected by a dam built by China, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said today that the government was keeping a close watch on the activities of its neighbour on the northeastern river, on which agriculture and economy of Arunachal Pradesh and Assam are dependent.
15,000 police stations to get connected
HC rejects PC’s plea against poll petition
Balkrishna skips CBI questioning
Cabinet clears scholarship scheme for J&K
Re-arrest Maria, demand Neeraj Grover’s parents
Below normal rain forecast for Aug, Sept
Cut-off marks sacrosanct: SC
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Prices beyond our control: Govt
New Delhi, August 4 To that extent, the motion on price rise, which BJP's Yashwant Sinha yesterday moved and the House today adopted by a voice vote, appeared weak in its content, "The House calls upon the government to take immediate effective steps to check inflation." As no steps were announced by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee who replied today to the 13th debate on inflation in the recent years, Sinha, the motion's prime mover, protested saying, "The NDA is disappointed over the government's silence on steps to be taken to check prices." The UPA supporters, the BSP, the SP and the RJD also walked out while the Left forced a division of vote on the amendments it moved to the motion. They wanted its text to say, "The government has failed to curb inflation". The motion was defeated with 51 votes in favour against 320. The government for its part said the prices were beyond its control and followed global trends. Pranab reminded the House that food inflation had dipped from 22 per cent in February last to 8.3 per cent now. "Our efforts are helping reduce inflation and people today are not dying of starvation. MNREGA has given them purchasing power to buy food. Even in the Bengal famine, people died of lack of purchasing power, not lack of food," he said. The crux of Pranab's reply was - petrol prices were beyond the government's control as they were rising globally. Crude oil was priced $16 a barrel in 1991 and $117 today; and even after recent petrol price hikes, oil PSUs would suffer Rs 1,22,000 crore as under recovery this year. The only silver lining in Pranab's contentions was his agreement to consider JDU chief Sharad Yadav's suggestion to withdraw diesel subsidy (Rs 3.8 per litre) on passenger cars which consume 15 per cent of every 100 barrels. That apart, the Finance Minister blamed the NDA for stalling economic reforms and sought its help to pass laws on Pension Fund Regulatory Authority, Goods and Services Tax, insurance and banking. "Help us with financial reforms and we'll have a situation where industrialists say Hello India, Tata World," Pranab said in a dig at Sinha who yesterday showed how Indian industrialists were investing abroad and saying goodbye to India. The UPA troubleshooter had for Sinha another lesson in history: "Cromwell, who destroyed England's democracy, was ultimately exhumed from his burial place and his skull hanged. We are a democracy; we know of our limited mandate," Pranab said a day after Sinha quoted Cromwell to dare the UPA to go if it could not tame inflation (Cromwell had asked England's King Charles 1 to depart for being ineffective). The UPA further rejected the BJP's charge of going for growth at every cost. "There's no contradiction between growth and inflation. We are pursuing growth with moderate inflation," the Finance Minister said. At the end of the day, the hype over a debate on inflation didn't help as the government excused itself for inflation saying inflation was a reality in all developing countries, including Pakistan and
Nepal.
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Gowda sworn in as K’taka CM
Bangalore, August 4 Gowda visited Shettar’s residence this morning and sought the cooperation of MLAs, who backed Shettar. The MLAs, who were having breakfast at Shettar’s residence, told him not to come under Yeddyurappa’s influence. Despite the personal invitation, the MLAs kept away from the swearing-in function. Shettar had lost the race for the Chief Minister’s post to Gowda yesterday after legislators were asked to cast secret ballots to choose either of the two aspirants. Ananth Kumar and BJP’s state unit chief KS Eshwarappa, the two leaders who set up Shettar against Gowda, were, however, present at the oath ceremony. Gowda’s benefactor BS Yeddyurappa, being called the “Super CM” to acknowledge his transformation to kingmaker from being a king, was present in the function and was in a jubilant mood which was in stark contrast to the glum face of Ananth Kumar. The branding of Yeddyurappa as “Super CM” and Gowda as “puppet CM” had in fact prompted Gowda to clarify to mediapersons today that he would not be a proxy CM and “puppet” at the hand of any one. “Only time will tell whether I will be a proxy CM. I am not a puppet in the hands of anyone. I have independent views,” said Gowda, who is right now a Lok Sabha member and will have to become a member of either the legislative assembly or the legislative council within six months to continue as CM. Gowda will have a term of 22 months. Elections are due in the state in May 2013. Yeddyurappa remained in power for 38 months before he was asked to resign by the BJP’s high command following his indictment by the Lokayukta in his report on illegal mining. However, Gowda has a tough task on hand to put the divided party in order and bring administration of the state back on track. The new CM was the lone member to be sworn in today. This is also being seen as an indication of the difficulty being faced by Gowda in accommodating the various factions in his cabinet.
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China dam will not affect Brahmaputra’s flow: PM
New Delhi, August 4 The Prime Minister assured the Rajya Sabha that China’s project on its side of the Brahmaputra was just a “run-of-river dam”, and, significantly, he also added that being neighbours it was in India’s interest to have best possible relations with China. “The sharing of waters of rivers which are of interstate importance can cause problems between two sovereign countries. India and China are neighbours. It is in our interest to have the best possible relations with China,” he said in a brief intervention in the House during the Question Hour after similar assurances by External Affairs Minister SM Krishna on the issue failed to satisfy BJP members. China is reportedly building a dam on Tsangpo, the source river of Brahmaputra, raising fears that flow of the river would be affected in India. The Prime Minister said the issue of safeguarding India’s interest on the river had been repeatedly discussed with the authorities in China, including the China’s Prime Minister. “As Krishna said, we trust what is said to us but we will also verify. In this particular case when the minister has stated unambiguously that what is being alleged is merely a run-of-the-river project, I think that’s where the matter should be allowed to rest,” he said.
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Another IAF jet crashes; pilot, teen killed
Lucknow, August 4 The ill-fated plane carrying pilot Sidharth Pandey had taken off from the Gorakhpur air base. An IAF helicopter was pressed into service. It immediately ferried the pilot’s body back to the airbase. The 18-year young woman, who also died on the ground, has been identified as Roma, daughter of Nageshwar Sahni. The victim’s mother Basmati and her brother Dharmendra suffered minor injuries after being hit by the debris, informed police sources. Four goats hit by the debris also died in the accident. According to the police, the plane crashed at Ferozpur Dhilai village under Madhubani police station on the outskirts of the district town. Senior officers rushed to the spot immediately after the accident. Defence experts said significantly today's crash involved a Jaguar, which was a twin-engine aircraft unlike single-engined MiG-21s and MiG-27s. They said one of the reasons for choosing Jaguars was that these warplanes had two engines, giving them a better chance of survivability in case one engine failed. They said there could be many possible reasons for the crash of the aircraft, which have been there with the IAF for about 30 years. There could be hydraulic failure as also structural problems. All these angles needed to be explored as the planes had aged, they said. According to eyewitnesses in Dilahi Firozpur village, the plane was seen loosing height and, at one point, it seemed that it would crash into a residential area but the pilot somehow steered it away towards a field. Before hitting the ground, the plane struck a tree, they said, adding that the body of the pilot was found in the debris.
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15,000 police stations to get connected
New Delhi, August 4 Named the Criminal Tracking Network Systems (CCTNS) Project, it has been launched recently. Nearly 15,015 police stations and 7,000 higher offices, including circles, districts, subdivisions and state headquarters throughout the country have been proposed to be automated, Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, Jitendra Singh, told Parliament in a written reply. The CCTNS is to be implemented to make the police functioning transparent, accountable and effective by automating the processes and functions at the level of the police stations. It will provide the investigating officers with technologies and information to facilitate faster and more accurate investigation of crime and detection of criminals. The CCTNS was planned after the November 2008 Mumbai attacks. It facilitates collection, storage, retrieval, analysis, transfer and sharing of data and information among police stations. Police officials across the country will be able to keep track of the progress of the crime and criminal investigation and prosecution cases, including progress of cases in the courts. The government proposes to connect the police stations through a comprehensive network using various modes like a wide area network at each state and provide broadband connections. Under CCTNS Project, 25 lakh police personnel of states and UTs have been trained so far in basic IT awareness. The process is still continuing. The training on CCTNS software will commence after its rollout in states and UTs in the last week of December this year. In North India, the CCTNS will be launched in Chandigarh (11 police stations), Delhi (313), Haryana (270), Himachal Pradesh (114), J&K (189) and Punjab (351).
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HC rejects PC’s plea against poll petition
Chennai, August 4 In his application, Chidambaram had contended that there were some defects in the petition filed by Kannappan, who lost the election by just 3,354 votes, and sought its dismissal. Chidambaram had claimed that the high court registry had noted the defects when the petition was filed by Kannappan. Dismissing Chidambaram’s application, Justice K Venkatraman said, “There cannot be any doubt that an election petition filed with defects which cannot be curable cannot be considered as an election petition at the end. However, in the case on hand, the defects pointed out by the officer concerned are not defects which are not curable warranting dismissal of the election petition.” The Judge said he was of the considered view that the application preferred by Chidambaram “is liable to be rejected and accordingly rejected.” Kannappan in his petition filed on June 25, 2009, alleged that Chidambaram’s election “deserved” to be declared void due to “manipulation” of votes and “corrupt practices” committed by him, his election agents and others, with his consent. He had also sought recount of the votes polled in the entire constituency, particularly in the Alangudi Assembly segment. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa during her visit to New Delhi in June last had sought the resignation of Chidambaram alleging that he got himself elected to Parliament by “fraudulent” means.
— PTI
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Balkrishna skips CBI questioning
Dehradun, August 4 Through a fax sent to the Dehradun CBI office, Balkrishna stated he had to collect his passport and submit it to the Nainital High Court. Thus, he would not be able to appear before the agency on August 4 and 5. Sources said it was unclear from the fax from where he had to collect the passport. But he had earlier claimed that he had deposited his passport with the British High Commission for visa purposes. However, Balkrishna took time off at his Haridwar ashram during the day. As per his supporters, today is his birthday and it is celebrated as “jadi buti diwas” every year. However, CBI officials said as per documents submitted by him, his birthday was in July.
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Land Grab Case
Erode (TN), August 4 Raja, former Handloom Minister, Erode Municipal Corporation Mayor K Kumar Muruges, party's District Deputy Secretary OC Viswanathan, his son Rajendran and one Subramaniam were arrested by the special police for land grabbing cell, the police said. They were taken into custody following a complaint from one Ramasamy a few days ago that Raja and 11 others, including Muruges and Viswanathan, had visited his house in 2007 and forcibly obtained his signature to sell 60.5 acres land at Thendralnagar in Perundurai for the amount he had borrowed from Subramaniam, the police said. He had complained that no money was paid to him. Cases have been registered against Raja and 11 others. — PTI
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Cabinet clears scholarship scheme for J&K
New Delhi, August 4 As first reported by The Tribune in these columns last week, the scheme provides 5,000 fresh scholarships every year over the next five years. Of these, 4,500 scholarships will be for general degree courses, 250 for engineering and 250 for medical studies. The scheme was a part of the recommendations made to the government by the PM’s Expert Group on Employment in J&K. Former RBI Governor and chairperson of the PM’s Economic Advisory Council C Rangarajan had headed the group and recommended the scheme to integrate state’s youth with the rest of India. Every scholar will get up to Rs 30,000 per annum for tuition fees for general degree courses; up to Rs 1.25 lakh per annum for engineering course and up to Rs 3 lakh per annum for medical studies. In addition to these, hostel fees and incidentals will also be given for all categories of courses up to a ceiling of Rs 1 lakh per annum.
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Re-arrest Maria, demand Neeraj Grover’s parents
Mumbai, August 4 The elderly couple, Amarnath and Neelam Grover, met Maharashtra Home Minister R R Patil at his residence and pleaded that fresh charges be filed against Susairaj. The couple told the minister that the actress should be treated as the prime accused in the murder. "Maria is as guilty as Jerome in the murder of Neeraj. Both of them together killed our son. Maria should not be allowed to get away lightly," Amarnath Grover told reporters after meeting Patil. He further alleged that Maria had called Neeraj to her residence on the eve of his murder. Maria, he said, was angry with Neeraj for not giving her a role in a television serial and wanted to take revenge. The Grovers said they wanted the government to file an appeal in the Bombay High Court. They also requested that Ujjwal Nikam be appointed as special public prosecutor. The Grovers further said the prosecution should vigorously oppose Jerome's bail plea when his appeal comes up for hearing before the Bombay High Court.
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Below normal rain forecast for Aug, Sept
New Delhi, August 4 While the season began on a good note with June receiving 111 per cent falls, it was followed by a slump in July which witnessed 86 per cent rains. While the weather office sees 46 per cent probability of below normal (86-94 per cent of LPA) rainfall in the next two months, the probability of deficient rains (less than 85 per cent of LPA) is 27 per cent. The country has received 95 per cent rainfall of the LPA in June-July. Weather scientists said the model error of eight per cent for August-September forecast would mean that some areas may get 98 per cent rain while it may be 82 per cent in other places. There are chances of farm productivity being affected in regions getting less rainfall, they said. Earlier this year, the IMD had issued regional monsoon forecasts-three per cent below normal in northwest India, five per cent below normal in central India and six per cent below normal in the southern peninsular region.
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Cut-off marks sacrosanct: SC
New Delhi, August 4 A Bench comprising Justices Mukundakam Sharma and Anil R Dave made the clarification in a verdict while rejecting the claim of a candidate who had failed to make the grade for the post of Subordinate Judge under the Haryana Civil Services (Judicial) exam.
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