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YSR as accused in assets case
CBI intensifies probe into Jagan’s assets
41 killed in UP road mishap
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Govt set to expand scope of non-communicable diseases
Alagiri ‘influenced’ police during bypoll
Anna’s supporters protest outside PM’s house in Guwahati
No student snubbed PM at convocation: IIT Kharagpur
Anna army gherao houses of ministers, MPs
A supporter of Anna Hazare places a rose outside Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee's residence during their protest against corruption in New Delhi on Monday. Tribune photo: Manas Ranjan Bhui Govt to bring separate law for lower bureaucracy
Why didn’t Anna take Muslims along, asks Bukhari
Judiciary, PM should come under Lokpal: Priya Dutt
Anna fever grips ‘dahi handi’ revellers in Mumbai
Arundhati slams ‘aggressive brand of nationalism’
Move Lokayukta court for bail, HC orders Yeddyurappa
NDA leaders meet to chalk out strategy
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YSR as accused in assets case
Hyderabad, August 22 The resignations were in protest against the naming of former Chief Minister late YS Rajasekhar Reddy by the CBI as one of the accused in the illegal assets case involving Jagan. In all, 26 Congress MLAs, two Telugu Desam Party rebels and a Praja Rajyam Party legislator put in their papers.
Chiranjeevi's party merges with Cong
While the ruling party alleged that the en masse resignations were meant to divert public attention from the ongoing CBI investigations into Jagan’s business deals, loyalists of the young MP accused the Congress of resorting to witch-hunting and maligning YSR’s family. The pro-Jagan MLAs handed over their resignations to Legislature Secretary S Raja Sadaram as the Speaker Nadendla Manohar was not available. Talking to reporters, former minister P Subash Chandra Bose said they had resigned as a mark of protest against the deliberate attempts to malign the image of YSR. "The Congress has launched a vilification campaign after the untimely death of YSR and a conspiracy was hatched to erase his memories from public life. The ruling party explored legal options and used the CBI to project YSR as the co-accused. We cannot continue any longer in the face of such attempts to denigrate the late leader," Bose said. The Congress MLAs also faxed letters to the Congress headquarters in Delhi, conveying that they were resigning from the primary membership of the party. Along with the MLAs, two Congress MPs Sabbam Hari and M Raja Mohan Reddy also announced their resignations. However, there is no immediate threat to the government due to the resignations. In the 294-member Assembly, the Congress has 173 MLAs, including 18 from the actor-turned-politician Chiranjeevi’s Praja Rajyam Party which has since merged with the ruling party. The Congress’ ally Majlis Ittehadul Muslimeen has seven MLAs and three Independents are also supporting the ruling party. The CBI registered an FIR against Jagan, considered India’s richest MP with declared assets of Rs 365 crore, for allegedly conspiring with his father and other individuals and companies to "cheat the Government of Andhra Pradesh in the matter of granting certain favours”. The FIR alleges that Jagan had exercised influence on YSR and other government officials to dole out favours to certain individuals and companies in land allotments, mining leases, licences for ports and special economic zones in return for huge investments into his business ventures. The charges relate to criminal conspiracy, cheating, criminal breach of trust, falsification of accounts and criminal misconduct. In all, the FIR had named 72 companies and individuals as accused in the case.
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CBI intensifies probe into Jagan’s assets
Hyderabad, August 22 The official, who is heading investigations in both the cases of Jaganmohan Reddy, or Jagan as he is known, and the irregularities by Emaar Properties in developing a township, said the teams would call the accused for questioning based on the information available to them. "The teams will then collect evidence and depending on the evidence take other measures which are taken during investigations," he said. The CBI has completed searches in Hyderabad but did not rule out more searches if necessary. The official denied that the CBI registered an FIR in the Jagan case on the direction of the Central government. — IANS
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41 killed in UP road mishap
Lucknow, August 22 “The accident took place in Ballia's Nagla area when an overloaded tractor-trailer carrying them overturned and fell into a ditch," District Magistrate Madhukar Dwivedi said. Over 60 persons were riding on the trailer. The victims were natives of Usmanpur village in Ballia and were on their way to Sati Mata temple situated on the outskirts of the neighbouring Ghazipur. While some of the 41 victims were crushed under the overturned vehicle, others drowned in the water-filled roadside ditch in which the vehicle finally stumbled after turning turtle. Chief Minister Mayawati has announced a compensation of Rs 1 lakh for the next of kin of the 41 deceased. She also announced an aid of Rs 50,000 for those suffering grievous injuries and Rs 25,000 assistance for persons who have suffered minor injuries.
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Govt set to expand scope of non-communicable diseases
New Delhi, August 22 Discussions around the inclusion of these three NCDs in the national screening programme for early detection are almost final, and negotiations with stakeholders are also going on to see if genetic blood disorders like thalassaemia, hemophilia and sickle cell disease can also be covered under the prevention programme. The decision to include the COPD and the CKD under the national programme follows from the fact that while the COPD is emerging as a major cause of healthcare burden worldwide and the only leading cause of death which is increasing in prevalence, the CKD is now the third largest killer globally after cancer and heart diseases. In India, more than 2,00,000 kidney failures occur every year. In six out of 10 patients of chronic kidney disease, diabetes and hypertension are the underlying causes. Likewise, the COPD is estimated to be the cause of around 7 per cent of all deaths in India and its leading risk factor if tobacco consumption which is also a major risk factor for cancer. “It, therefore, makes sense to include the COPD and the CKD to the national screening programme which is currently running in 100 districts of 21 states. In the 12th Plan, this programme will be spread across all the 650 districts,” Health Ministry sources said, ahead of tomorrow’s national summit on NCDs. The two-day summit will set the tone for India’s positioning in the forthcoming United Nations General Assembly’s High Level Meeting on NCDs on September 19 and 20. Heads of Governments will attend the meeting which will formulate a global response to the rising NCD burden. By 2030, NCDs are projected to claim 52 million lives worldwide; people with these diseases often die young with 9 million dying under the age of 60 years. India, too, is experiencing a rapid health transition with the rising burden of NCDs which are emerging as the leading cause of death, accounting for over 42 pc of all deaths with considerable loss in potentially productive years (aged 35-64 years) of life. According to a WHO report of 2002, cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) will be the largest cause of death and disability in India by 2020. It is estimated that the overall prevalence of diabetes, hypertension, Ischemic Heart Diseases (IHD) and Stroke is 62.47, 159.46, 37.00 and 1.54, respectively, per 1000 population of India. There are an estimated 25 Lakh cancer cases in India, with 8 lakh detected annually. The cost implications of NCDs to society are enormous and run into thousands of crore of rupees.
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Alagiri ‘influenced’ police during bypoll
Chennai, August 22 "While police was in his father's (ex-CM Karunanidhi) control, he had his own police department," Minister for Co-operation Sellur K Raju said in the Assembly. "You may think how come a state minister can talk like this. But, that was the way he (Alagiri) had influenced the police in Madurai," Raju said. — PTI
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Anna’s supporters protest outside PM’s house in Guwahati
Guwahati, August 22 Anna supporters also staged similar demonstration in front of the city residence of Guwahati parliamentary constituency MP and BJP’s national vice-president Bijoya
Chakraborty. Over 200 supporters of Anna Hazare gathered outside the PM’s house here around 1 pm while the administration geared up security in the area by deploying a large number of police and paramilitary force personnel. However, the demonstrators dispersed after staging a peaceful dharna for about an hour.
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No student snubbed PM at convocation: IIT Kharagpur New Delhi, August 22 The institution authorities rubbished reports that one student - Shashi Shekhar Singh - had snubbed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh by refusing to accept the degree the PM was awarding at the IIT's annual convocation ceremony held today. "The PM never even gave away any degree. It was the Institute Director who distributed degrees much after the PM had left. Where is then the question of anyone snubbing the PM by refusing to accept the degree? Also, no student refused any degree during the convocation today nor did anyone formally intimate us of his or her urge to not accept the degree," Professor BK Mathur, Dean, Planning and Coordination, IIT Kharagpur, today said, terming Singh's refusal to accept the degree as a "publicity stunt". If he wants to refuse the degree, he must at least inform us, Mathur said. He explained that the PM did not distribute any degree and was simply present as chief guest when the Director announced that students were being bestowed with the honour of the IIT degree.
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Anna army gherao houses of ministers, MPs
New Delhi, August 22 In the Capital, a dharna was staged by Hazare supporters in front of the residences of Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, HRD Minister Kapil Sibal, Delhi Chief Minister Dikshit and some MPs. Sibal was among the first who had to face the ire of the protesters when around 40 persons gathered outside his Teen Murti residence seeking his support for the Jan Lokpal Bill. “Go to their residences... go sing Raghupati Raghav raja Ram, sabko sanmati de bhagwan,” he had said yesterday while asking a cheering crowd at the Ramlila Grounds to start visiting their elected representatives’ residences and stage demonstrations. “We have come here to request Sibal to support the Jan Lokpal Bill. This is a good Bill and everybody should support it,” a protester outside Sibal’s Teen Murti residence said. People also gathered outside the Talkatora residence of Mukherjee, who was a member of the joint drafting committee on the Lokpal Bill along with Sibal, and shouted slogans against the government. The police was deployed in strength outside their homes. Protesters also staged demonstrations outside Dikshit’s Motilal Nehru Road residence. They shouted slogans against the Chief Minister and also referred to the CAG report on Commonwealth Games. Protests were held outside the homes of BJP spokesperson Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, party MP Ashok Argal and Congress MPs Kamal Nath, Subodh Kant Sahay and JP Aggrawal. — PTI
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Govt to bring separate law for lower bureaucracy
New Delhi, August 22 Jairam said he would soon put on the ministry’s website the draft Bill for public consultations. At present, he was working on the draft, using his ministry’s experience in grievance redressal under MNREGA. The legislation, he said, was being designed to specifically address concerns that people had on corruption at the cutting-edge level. Tentatively christened Public Service Grievances Redressal Bill, the legislation will take care of problems that ordinary citizens face in the day to day life, for example not receiving entitlements under the government’s programmes like Public Distribution System or the ones regarding making of driving licence, ration cards etc. Besides the lower level bureaucracy, the legislation will bring under its ambit officials like block development officers, tehsildars etc. One of the major issues that Anna Hazare has with the government is that the Lokpal Bill does not take care of corruption at the lower level. Anna and his supporters have been demanding that not only higher officials but also the lower bureaucracy should be brought under the ambit of the Lokpal. The discord between the government and Team Anna is mainly on three grounds --- the inclusion of the Prime Minister in the purview of the Bill, the inclusion of the higher judiciary and inclusion of the lower bureaucracy. Jairam, who is expected to place the draft Bill on the ministry website by next week, said the Lokpal Bill should not be seen as stand-alone effort in the UPA’s fight against corruption. “The criticism of the government is unfair. It is not as if we are not concerned about corruption, ever since the debate (on Lokpal Bill) started, all of us, including the Prime Minister, have said that we need an effective mechanism for grievances redressal,” he added. He went on to add that grievance redressal was very much part of the government’s fight against corruption which started with the RTI Act and was followed up with the Lokpal Bill, Whistleblowers Bill, Judicial Accountability Bill, all of which were now before Parliament. “The grievances redressal Bill is the fifth Bill in the UPA’s efforts to bring transparency and accountability and end corruption,” he maintained. Meanwhile, sources in the Congress said the law could be one of the proposals to be sent to Anna
Hazare.
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Why didn’t Anna take Muslims along, asks Bukhari
New Delhi, August 22 Bukhari said while he very much believed that corruption needed to be weeded out of the country, it was equally important to tackle communalism by addressing the problems of Muslims. “He could at least have met some members or leaders of the minority community and offered to rub a balm on our wounds. He could have also made references against communalism as part of his campaign to make it look more inclusive,” Bukhari said. — PTI
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Judiciary, PM should come under Lokpal: Priya Dutt
Mumbai, August 22 "The judiciary and the prime minister should come under the purview of the Lokpal Bill...I don't think the PM has a problem with it," the MP from Mumbai North Central constituency said. Dutt was talking to reporters outside her home in suburban Bandra after meeting Anna Hazare's supporters. MPs from Mumbai faced protests on the issue of the Lokpal Bill after people gathered in front of their houses here, responding to Hazare's call. — PTI
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Anna fever grips ‘dahi handi’ revellers in Mumbai
Mumbai, August 22 “Corruption in public life is the main theme of this year’s Dahi Handi celebrations," said Ram Kadam, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena MLA from Ghatkopar in North Central Mumbai. Kadam has announced a prize money of Rs 1 crore for the Govinda group which breaks the 'handi'. "If the ‘handi’ is not broken by the evening, its height and the prize money will be reduced,” said Kadam. The MNS, which hopes to make its mark in the forthcoming elections to the Mumbai municipal corporation, gave away T-shirts with anti-corruption slogans written on them this morning. The MNS, at several places in Mumbai, Thane, Navi Mumbai and Nashik, have put up ‘dahi handis’ to highlight the corruption issue. At many places, pots with “corruption” emblazoned on them are being symbolically broken to signify the war against graft. Not to be outdone, Bal Thackeray's Shiv Sena is also playing up the corruption card though not as prominently as the MNS. “Our local leaders decide on these issues, the party has no stand on this," a Shiv Sena spokesman told The Tribune. Predictably, the Congress and NCP leaders are coy on corruption issues. "We are not playing politics. Dahi Handi is a religious celebration and we do not want to bring politics into it," Congress party leader and former Mayor Hareshwar Patil said. The young boys and even girls who form part of the Govinda mandals are using the occasion to extend support to Hazare's cause. "Every Govinda has been given T-shirts with Anna Hazare's image. This is how we are supporting Anna's fast against corruption," said Amit Jadhav of the Borivali Govinda Mandal. The Govindas have also pledged to donate part of the prize money earned by them to Anna's cause. Similar sentiments have been expressed by the Govindas at Lalbaug and Lower Parel, Mumbai's dominant working class neighbourhoods. Banners featuring images of Anna Hazare, Arvind Kejriwal and Kiran Bedi have been strung up across these areas.
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Arundhati slams ‘aggressive brand of nationalism’
Hyderabad, August 22 “My worry is that with the Lokpal creating a bureaucracy to monitor hundreds of officials right from the Prime Minister to the lower-rung employees, people will have to bribe two systems,” Roy, who was in Hyderabad in connection with the release of the Telugu translation of her book, “Broken Republic,” told reporters. Asserting that she was not wearing the “I am Anna” cap which has become a sort of trend-setter in the country after the launch of the anti-graft agitation by Anna Hazare, the Booker Prize winning author of “God of Small Things” said: "The events of last week right from the arrest of Anna Hazare and the eruption of protests across the country need to be examined closely.” The government is, in fact, helping Hazare stage his protest by letting him dispatch video messages from the prison. The Delhi municipality cleans up the Ramlila Maidan ahead of Anna's protest there. While condemning Anna’s arrest as objectionable since he had not committed any crime, Roy said it was important to understand the dimensions of corruption when people fight against it. “Is corruption just an accounting problem, a financial irregularity? Or, is it a currency of social inequality or concentration of power?” she asked. She said an increasing number of corporate houses were taking up the government's role by taking up road-laying, electricity supply and other infrastructure activities and as such, corporates, media and NGOs, who play a pivotal role in opinion formation, must also come under the scanner of Lokpal. Taking a dig at the media, Roy said: “The media is being unfair by showcasing the protests of the influential and ignoring the voices of the poor. Right now, 10,000 people are protesting at Koodankulam against the nuclear plant. They will not get even five minutes on our news channels. Maoists and Gandhi followers are protesting against the same injustice of the government. While the Anna protests are coming from the top layer of the society, the Maoist protests are from the grassroots.''
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Move Lokayukta court for bail, HC orders Yeddyurappa
Bangalore, August 22 The directive was issued by Justice L Narayana Swamy during the hearing of the anticipatory bail application filed by Yeddyurappa apprehending arrest in the case filed on a complaint by lawyer Sirajin Basha alleging irregularities in denotification of land of the Bangalore Development Authority to favour his family members. The lokayukta court had on August 8 issued summons to Yeddyurappa to appear before it on August 27 in connection with the complaint filed by Basha. Appearing for Yeddyurappa, senior Supreme Court lawyer UU Lalit submitted that his client was entitled to anticipatory bail. Opposing the bail plea, counsel for the complainant CH Hanumantharaya said the petitioner had not exhausted the option of approaching the lokayukta court for bail. He contended that “no exceptional grounds” had been established by Yeddyurappa to “jump the gun” (moving the high court straightaway) and “without following the procedure, the matter would become non-maintainable”. Justice Swamy directed the petitioner to approach the lokayukta court on August 25 and adjourned the application till then. He granted time to Hanumantharaya to file his objections.— PTI
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NDA leaders meet to chalk out strategy New Delhi, August 22 NDA acting chairman LK Advani summoned a meeting of Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj, Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley, SS Ahluwalia and NDA convener Sharad Yadav at his residence today apparently to chalk out a common NDA strategy for Parliament tomorrow. Later, Yadav said: “We discussed our strategy for Parliament and decided to sit again tomorrow to identify the issues.” Curiously, apart from Yadav, no other NDA leader came for this unscheduled meeting. Consequently, Parliament may run smoothly tomorrow, though the BJP/NDA may forcefully raise the issue of Anna’s protest in the two Houses of Parliament. Before the meeting dispersed, spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravishankar also arrived there and held consultations with the BJP leaders on the state of health of Hazare. Though formally nothing was stated, apparently he urged them to press the government to come to resolve the issue with Anna amicably soon to pave the way for Anna to end his fast. The BJP has announced nationwide protests for August 25. But that is only a BJP show, commented a political observer. Unlike the Left, which took on board all its prospective allies as well, the BJP announced its agitational programme without consulting any of its NDA partners. Asked if the JD-U and other NDA partners will also join the protest, Sharad said, “It is their (BJP) programme. We are already holding our programmes.” Meanwhile, Advani raised further the pitch of the anti-Manmohan Singh cry by asking him to go and seek fresh elections. “I would like to tell Manmohan Singh, the time has come for this government to quit voluntarily and go to the people and seek their support once again, seek a fresh mandate from the people, really speaking, their mandate of 2009 has been exhausted,” he added. But while the BJP is struggling to set its house in order to coordinate its agitation with the Anna agitation, the Left seems to have taken the lead by launching a nationwide agitation tomorrow along with five other secular parties.
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Help pours in for flood victims GUWAHATI: The Northeast Frontier Railway has provided help to the flood victims of Assam’s worst-hit districts of Lakhimpur and Dhemaji. NFR chief public relation officer S Hajong said the Railway Board had made arrangements to send relief materials to the affected districts and dispatched them by road. — PTI
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As many as 41 devotees, including 32 women, were killed and around 20 injured when the tractor-trailer they were riding on overturned and fell into a roadside ditch filled with water in Ballia district this morning.
New Delhi, August 22 
HYDERABAD: Actor-turned-politician K Chiranjeevi's Praja Rajyam Party today merged with the ruling Congress in Andhra
Pradesh. The celebration at the APCC headquarters "Gandhi Bhavan" to commemorate the occasion with Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, PCC president Botsa Satyanarayana and a host of party leaders in attendance to welcome the "star of the day" K Chiranjeevi and his group of MLAs into their fold turned out to be damn squib. — PTI
