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2G: BJP ups ante, seeks jail for Chidambaram
Telangana activists threaten to lay siege to Hyderabad
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Anna’s Lokpal version criticised at House panel meeting
Mumbai blasts: Top cop claims
breakthrough
N-capable Shourya missile successfully flight-tested
Anti-collision devices can check rail mishaps
2 held for selling fake jewellery
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2G: BJP ups ante, seeks jail for Chidambaram
For the third consecutive day the BJP has kept the issue alive, sending one after another its top guns to fire at Singh and Chidambaram citing the Pranab Mukherjee note to the Prime Minister on 2G. The Left also took serious note of the latest developments on 2G and demanded appearance of both the Prime Minister and the Home Minister before the JPC on 2G. The BJP fielded Yashwant Sinha today to mount an attack on the Prime Minister who, in a significant move, also tried to acquit Raja of any culpability. He said, "We will appeal to the Supreme Court to order CBI probe against Chidambaram and go ahead and investigate the Prime Minister also, or justice won't be done with this huge scam that has taken place." The former Finance Minister, who has also to appear before the JPC since he, too, chaired the GoM on Telecom in the NDA regime acquitted Raja, saying, "I admire A Raja. He informed the Prime Minister at every step. He even informed the Prime Minister about advancing date of licences being issued. The Prime Minister kept silent which will be seen as approval. The Prime Minister will defend Chidambaram because if Chidambaram is touched, the Prime Minister will be touched. Like with Raja, when Chidambaram goes to jail, he (Manmohan Singh) will stop defending Chidambaram and will start defending only himself. The government has been soft on Chidambaram. Chidambaram's place is where A Raja is, the same cell in Tihar Jail." said the BJP leader. Left, too, mounted pressure on the government to come clean on the latest developments with CPM Politbureau member Sitaram Yechury saying, "Anybody involved, anybody whose culpability is in doubt, anybody on whom questions have been raised, all those will have to come before the JPC to explain their position." Asked whether that would include the PM as well, Yechury added, "Everybody". BJP trains guns on PM
New Delhi: Seizing on information obtained by an RTI activist and advocate, Vivek Garg, the BJP on Saturday trained its gun on the PM, accusing him of being responsible for diluting the terms of reference of a Group of Ministers, set up to deliberate on vacation, allotment and pricing of spectrum. Copy of a letter written in February 2006 by the then Telecommunication Minister Dayanidhi Maran, obtained by Garg, appears to indicate that Maran wanted the PM to dilute the terms of reference of the GoM headed by Pranab Mukherjee and that the Prime Minister obliged.
— TNS
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Telangana activists threaten to lay siege to Hyderabad
Hyderabad, September 24 “Be prepared for some dramatic actions from us. We will bring everything to a grinding halt in Hyderabad on the lines of Egypt’s revolution,” senior Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) legislator T Harish Rao said. Rao, nephew of TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao, threatened to intensify the agitation. Meanwhile, normal life remains paralysed in the region following an indefinite general strike by employees and workers. “Our patience is fast running out. We will go to any extent to realise our goal,” he said. The TRS leader’s belligerent remarks came in the backdrop of a crippling impact of the ongoing Telangana stir. And it was yet another day of torment for the public as train services across Telangana region came to a standstill following a 36-hour rail roko call given by Telangana Joint Action Committee (TJAC). The agitators staged demonstrations and squatted on the tracks at various railway stations. The South Central Railway (SCR) cancelled 72 express and 264 passenger trains and diverted several others. Commuters had a harrowing time as buses were off the roads, with the Telangana employees of the state-run A P State Road Transport Corporation participating in the general strike. “In view of some incidents that took place during similar protests earlier, we are not operating train services this time,” the SCR chief public relations officer K Sambasiva Rao said. Adding to the woes of the public, autorickshaw drivers also joined the stir. As a result, movement of over five lakh autorickshaws came to a halt across the region. grinding halt
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Anna’s Lokpal version criticised at House panel meeting New Delhi, September 24 Sources said a majority of those who deposed before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice, called the Gandhian’s version of the contentious
Bill as “extra-constitutional”. Even though they favoured strengthening of existing anti-graft institutions, the majority advocated keeping the judiciary, MPs and the Prime Minister out of the ambit of the proposed
Lokpal. Dalit leader Udit Raj, who has been actively campaigning against Team Anna’s version of Lokpal Bill, wants corporate houses, NGOs and media to be brought under the anti-corruption ombudsman in order to make the law “more effective”. He said corporate houses were “dens of corruption” and should also be brought under the ambit of Lokpal if corruption had to be fought seriously, while excluding NGOs from Lokpal Bill, as desired by Team Anna, because there were separate laws to govern them, was not desirable. Lawyer Harish Salve also wants all NGOs, both receiving government and private funds, to be covered under the Lokpal. He is understood to have told the committee that setting up of the Jan Lokpal would be “unconstitutional” as it would lead to creation of a monolithic authority.
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Mumbai blasts: Top cop claims
breakthrough
Mumbai, September 24 He, however, did not reveal the name or other details of the group. “We have to complete the investigations and some loose ends have to be tied up before we can reveal the name of the group,” Parsanis said. The DGP, who is due to retire next week, was felicitated in Kolhapur and he utilised the occasion to make the statement, police officials said here. Parsanis said the blasts taxed the skills of the investigators who took more than two months to achieve the breakthrough. In all 29 persons lost their lives in the blast and several others were seriously injured.
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N-capable Shourya missile successfully flight-tested
Balasore (Orissa), September 24 The state-of-the-art missile is equipped with multiple advanced computing systems, very high accuracy navigation and guidance
systems, defence sources here said. “The trial of the missile, which took off from Launch Complex-III of ITR at 1430 hrs, was fully successful,” ITR Director S P Dash said. The missile was flight-tested from a canister in a ground-launch mode. “The launch was perfect like in text book and followed the path exactly to the predefined target," he said. All radar, telemetry and electro-optical stations along the east coast have tracked and monitored all the mission parameters, Dash said. Ships located near the target have also tracked and witnessed the flight test and the missile reached the target within few meters accuracy, a defence official said. Today’s flight test was the second developmental trial of the missile. The first test of the missile was successfully conducted on November 12, 2008, from the same base,
he said. “This developmental flight trial is part of the on-going technology refinement work undertaken by the Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO),” he said. The defence official said the sophisticated missile combines simplicity of operation with low maintenance. It can be easily handled, transported and stored in the canister for longer shelf life. The high manoeuvrability of the missile makes it less vulnerable to available anti-missile defence systems. “We have designed ‘Shourya’ in such a way that it can be launched from under water as easily as from land. The gas-filled canister that houses the missile fits easily into a submarine. The underwater leg of the nuclear trial needs to be totally reliable and needs a state-of-the-art missile," said a scientist associated with the project. DRDO chief controller Avinash Chander congratulated the scientists and employees of the organisation and other establishments for the successful test flight. As a safety measure, prior to the test, Balasore district administration had temporarily evacuated 400 families residing within 2 km radius of the launch pad to nearby shelter camps early this morning, official sources said.
— PTI
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Anti-collision devices can check rail mishaps
New Delhi, September 24 While last week, there was an announcement for setting up of a committee to suggest ways to improve rail safety, officials maintain had Railways been judicious, safety standards would have been much better. The first ACD was installed and tested on a Northeast Frontier Railway train in January 2001. Not much effort has gone into ensuring installation of these devices, officials say. It is a known fact that more than 50 per cent of railway collisions happen due to lapses on the part of loco pilots. There is a need to install technical devices to assist loco pilots in preventing collisions. The recent train accident in Tamil Nadu would not have occurred had the ACDs been installed on those trains, officials add. In the Railway Budget of 2010, then Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee had announced safety measures that the Railways had to undertake. These included installation of ACDs and train protection warning system (TPWS). The standing committee on railway has felt that the pace of installing the ACDs was “not satisfactory”. It directed the railway board to come out with a concrete strategy within six months in that regard after examining all issues involved. “Considering the number of accidents and the consequent loss of life and property, the installation of ACDs acquires paramount importance,” the panel headed by DMK MP TR Baalu said in its recently tabled report in Parliament. However, the Railways has maintained that ACDs have been on trial as a pilot project on Northeast Frontier Railway trains since July 2006. Based on those trials, specifications of ACDs needed to be revised to improve their efficacy, reliability and availability. An improved version of ACDs was put on service trials on trains of Southern, South-Central and South Western Railways covering 1,600 km route. Officials point out there were some operational and technical problems being looked into and a new ACD version-II was being developed. The committee has also recommended refresher courses for the railway staff.
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2 held for selling fake jewellery
Coimbatore, September 24 He had paid them Rs three lakh and purchased a six-foot long gold chain from them. However, upon examination later, it was found to be fake, he said.
— PTI
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Now, KVs will teach German Close shave at Chennai airport
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New Delhi, September 24
