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cash-for-vote
scam
Govt to launch $35-computer next month
2G: New loss figures enthuse Congress
Stop protecting ‘tainted’ ministers: Jaitley to PM
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States must foot marriage bill of girls to check female foeticide: Azad
3 new districts in
UP; total 75
Telangana activists torch buses, railway counter on Day 16
Crop loss in Orissa floods up to 80%: Central team
Govt to launch $35-computer next month
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cash-for-vote scam
New Delhi, September 28 “The accused is stable but requires monitoring. I leave his shifting out of the hospital to the good judgment of the specialists and super specialists at the AIIMS,” said Special Judge Sangita Dhingra Sehgal, rejecting Amar’s regular bail plea today evening. The case relates to 22 July 2008 incident when three BJP MPs waved wads of money inside the Lok Sabha claiming that they were paid the money to abstain from voting during the no-confidence motion against the then UPA I government. Amar is accused of providing the money to these MPs and was arrested on September 6. The court said the incident showed that Amar and other political functionaries, including arrested BJP leaders, in the case "stooped to a level beyond imagination" aimed at "subverting" the functioning of Parliament. "From the material on record, it appears prima facie that there are fingers which point that the accused (Singh) played a major role in the entire episode which came to light on July 22, 2008, during the debate on the motion of confidence in the Lok Sabha," Special Judge Sangita Dhingra Sehgal said. The court, which also dismissed the bail plea of Singh's former aide and co-accused Sanjeev Saxena, narrated the incident when Ashok Argal, Faggan Singh Kulaste and Mahabir Singh Bhagora (then BJP MPs) displayed wads of currency notes of Rs 1 crore from bags with them and placed the same on the table of the House. The court, in its 17-page order, said the present case has "far-reaching consequences" as it was an attempt to subvert the functioning of Parliament. Meanwhile, Sanjeev Saxena, co-accused in the cash-for-vote scam, was also refused bail by a Delhi court which said he had "links" with Rajya Sabha MP Amar Singh and played the role of a facilitator in the case.
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Govt to launch $35-computer next month
New Delhi, September 28 “The computer will be launched next month," HRD Minister Kapil Sibal said at a function here. “This is not just a dream, it is a reality,” he added. Officials in the ministry said the low-cost device would be launched on October 5. Sibal said the name had already been finalised for the device and would be announced at the launch. He, however, did not elaborate about the device, which is being billed as the cheapest computer globally. “The computer will bring in immense benefits to the students and will be connected to the net and perform all the functions that any other computer can perform. That's an enormously empowering tool,” he said. Sibal, who gave away the first IGNOU-instituted Rajiv Gandhi International Prize for technology in education development to Azim Premji in recognition of his foundation's role in the education sector, said IT has played an important role not only in the education sector, but in other sectors as well. He said, “While it gives scope to a child to transcend boundaries and acquire knowledge using the net, IT can also be used to root out corruption from the country.” Taking a serious note of the quality of teachers in the education system, Sibal said one of the big initiatives in the 12th Five Year Plan would be to introduce national teacher education mission. “It is only then that we would be able to get quality teaching and learning,” he said. “A Bill for public service electronic delivery is also in the pipeline which within the next five years shall enable the online delivery of all your bills,” Sibal added. — Agencies
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2G: New loss figures enthuse Congress
New Delhi, September 28 While CAG sources maintained that officials were confident of the figures given in the final report, Congress spokesman Abhishek Singhvi asserted that the party had never accepted the “fantastic figure” of Rs 1.76 lakh crore projected by Comptroller and Auditor General Vinod Rai as the loss on account of 2G Spectrum scam, terming the new figure of Rs 2,645 crore revealed through the RTI was a vindication of party’s stand. “The basis of the figure (Rs 1.76 lakh crore) must be investigated. It would be a vindication of our stand,” he added. Reports indicate that the CAG overruled his own auditor in calculating the loss caused to the exchequer by the spectrum allocation scam. Documents in public domain through an RTI application suggest that Rai pegged the presumptive loss from 2G Spectrum sale at a massive Rs 1.76 lakh crore even when his lead 2G auditor, Director General Audit (Post & Telecommunications) RP Singh, had estimated the loss from allotment of Unified Access Service (UAS) licences and 2G Spectrum at a far lower Rs 2,645 crore. Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal too had slammed the CAG for the projection of Rs 1.76 lakh crore as presumptive loss on account of 2G spectrum allocation, terming the methodology employed as “utterly erroneous” and now with JPC members questioning Rai’s estimated loss figure and seeking details of the calculation process, mathematics behind the 2G Spectrum sale are getting more and more interesting. |
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Stop protecting ‘tainted’ ministers: Jaitley to PM
Reacting to the PM’s charge made on his way back from Frankfurt, Opposition leader in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley said, “If the government collapses, it will be under the weight of its own contradictions and dissensions.” He and Opposition leader in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj jointly addressed the media today ostensibly to refute the Prime Minister’s allegation that the BJP was trying to destabilise his government. Jaitley said, “The Prime Minister’s statement demonstrates his detachment from the ground realities. The PM seems to be living in a denial mode.” However, when Sushma was reminded of NDA chairman LK Advani’s recent prediction that the Prime Minister could resign anytime leading up to a mid-term poll, Sushma dismissed it, saying, “That was his analysis.” The BJP leaders took to task the PM on all the three points he made on his return journey. Jaitley said, “The Prime Minister is protecting his ministers. A better thing for him would be to stop protecting tainted ministers. The nation expects him to rather protect the truth and answer the questions arising out of the 2G scam. Jaitley also dismissed the PM’s claim of “no dissension in the Union Cabinet” and reminded him of bugging of the Finance Minister’s office, the visible differences in the government over handling of the Anna Hazare agitation and reminded the Prime Minister that Pranab Mukherjee had to engage a private agency to debug his office. Exposing the hollowness of the PM’s claim of “coalition dharma”, Sushma questioned the application of different yardsticks for Congress ministers and the allies. She mentioned how every time the issue of inflation came up, there was an attempt to blame it all on NCP leader Sharad Pawar. “For 2G, DMK minister A Raja was held solely responsible. For the latest Air India scam, Praful Patel has been singled out, while Chidambaram has been spared again,” she stated.
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States must foot marriage bill of girls to check female foeticide: Azad
New Delhi, September 28 Clearly perturbed by the Census 2011 provisional data, which found even the hitherto gender neutral states slip into the worst category so far as the child sex ratio goes, Azad established a connection between the practice of dowry and sex selection. He said to the state representatives, “Female foeticide is a socio-economic problem. Dowry and marriage expenses are major worries for a girl’s parents. Hence, I request the state governments to make a scheme to fund the marriage of girls.” Azad cited examples of such schemes in Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan where funds are provided for the marriage of poor girls. He, however, said money being paid for the marriage per girl was too low. “Some states pay only Rs 20,000, which must be increased to Rs 50,000. The states implementing this scheme must improve upon it and rest of the states must introduce it. This will address the economic dimension of the problem to some extent,” the minister said. Earlier coming down heavily on radiologists and gynaecologists, who indulge in the practice of sex selection for money, Azad said the government had a responsibility to check such malpractices. The meeting happened close on the heels of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh writing to the Chief Ministers for taking every possible step to arrest the decline in child sex ratio. Between 2001 and 2011, the number of girls per 1,000 boys in the age 0 to 6 years (child sex ratio) plummeted from 927 to 914. The worst ratio is in Haryana - 830, followed by Punjab at 846, Jammu and Kashmir at 859, Delhi at 866 and Chandigarh at 867.
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3 new districts in
UP; total 75
Lucknow, September 28 The new districts are Prabudh Nagar, Panchsheel Nagar and Bhim Nagar. With this, the total number of districts has now gone up to 75 in the state. Addressing a public meeting at Shamli, the new district headquarters of Prabudh Nagar, carved out of two tehsils (Shamli and Kairana) of Muzzafarnagar district on Day 1 of her inspection tour, Mayawati repeated her commitment to reservation for Muslims, the poor among the upper castes and inclusion of Jats in the OBC quota. While Hapur and Garh Mukteshwar have been re-christened as Panchsheel Nagar, Moradabad’s Sambhal and Chandausi tehsils have been made into a new district called Bhim Nagar. Incidentally, this is the second district in the state named after Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar. Already, an Ambedkar Nagar district was carved out of Faizabad. Mayawati hit out at the Congress-led Central government as well as the previous BJP-led NDA government for not addressing the popular demand of trifurcation of Uttar Pradesh by creating Bundelkhand, Harit Pradesh and Purvanchal. Underlining her commitment for creation of smaller and more manageable administrative units, including districts and tehsils, Mayawati said that she had, in fact, repeatedly written to the Centre for creation of the new states of Harit Pradesh, Purvanchal and Bundelkhand but had not received any response.
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Telangana activists torch buses, railway counter on Day 16
Hyderabad, September 28 One Volvo bus was completely destroyed after it was torched by unidentified people around 1 am on Wednesday near Jamia Osmania railway station here, they said. The vehicle belonging to a private operator used to carry employees of a software company, the bus driver said. In another incident around the same time, suspected Telangana activists set afire a booking counter of Sitaphalmandi railway station. The attackers fled before police reached the scene. Both the attacks were carried out near Osmania University, which has been witnessing massive protests by students for separate Telangana state. The protesters had earlier targeted Jamia Osmania railway station. In another incident, unidentified people torched a private bus in Nalgonda district after forcing the passengers to get down. The bus was going to Vijayawada from Hyderabad. Telangana Joint Action Committee (JAC), which is spearheading the movement, has already threatened to stop buses being plied between Hyderabad and Seemandhra (Rayalaseema and Andhra regions). JAC leaders had warned the government that if the buses were not stopped from plying, they would not be responsible for the consequences. State-owned Road Transport Corporation (RTC) buses have remained off the roads in Telangana for 10 days as RTC employees joined the general strike for separate state. However, JAC alleged that authorities were still operating buses between Hyderabad and Seemandhra. —
IANS
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Crop loss in Orissa floods up to 80%: Central team
Bhubaneswar, September 28 “The crop loss varies from place to place. It could be about 50 to 80 per cent in Sambalpur and Jajpur, respectively. Agricultural fields were submerged by floodwater for over a week. Therefore, there is no chance of getting any return from cultivation,” MC Diwakar, director, Directorate of Rice Development, Ministry of Agriculture, Patna, said. Diwakar, along with three others, visited several places in western Orissa yesterday and some parts of Puri today. The inter-ministerial Central team led by O P Mahey, joint secretary in ministry of home affairs, along with six-members arrived here today to make a damage assessment report. A four-member sub-team had already visited Sambalpur, Bargarh and Jajpur districts and undertook an aerial survey of Kendrapara and Bhadrak. “We have seen large scale damage of kuccha houses in Jajpur, Puri and other places,” Sunil Kumar Verma, chief engineer, ministry of Road Transport and Highways, said. Mahey said the inter-ministerial group would submit its report to the Centre within 10 days after concluding their visit to the flood-hit districts of the state on September 30. Of the 30 districts in the state, 20 had been badly hit by the current floods where massive crop loss and house damage had been reported, special relief commissioner (SRC) PK Mohapatra said while briefing the Central team here. — PTI
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Govt to launch $35-computer next month
New Delhi, September 28 “The computer will be launched next month," HRD Minister Kapil Sibal said at a function here. Officials in the
ministry said the device would be launched on October 5. — PTI
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Teacher attacked Lata Mangeshkar turns 82
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New Delhi, September 28
The suggestion came at the start of the conference where health ministers from 18 states with the lowest child sex ratio in India assembled to review the status of implementation of the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act.
