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Heads roll over Rudrapur riots: DM, DIG, SSP shifted
65-day blockade brings Manipur to its knees
Have faith in Parliament, Cong tells Anna
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SC: Customs Act meant for recovery, not punishment
It’s raining sops in AP
Andhra Pradesh faces dark Diwali as Telangana strikes trigger power crisis
Superbug discoverer warns India again
BJP outsources RTI Cell to Daryaganj book publisher
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Heads roll over Rudrapur riots: DM, DIG, SSP shifted
Nainital, October 4 The three officials have been replaced by PS Jangpani, Abhinav Kumar and RS Meena who has joined again as Inspector General (IG) of Police (Kumaon Range). The change in the top brass of the police as well as the administration has been effected after the massive criticism that followed the large-scale arson and rioting in Rudrapur on Sunday. The officialdom was criticised for having responded too late to the crisis that left four persons dead and dozens injured. Apart from that, several shops and vehicles were set ablaze by irate mobs belonging to two communities. It was also pointed out that there were enough warnings and intelligence inputs hinting at the possibility of outbreak of communal violence in the Terai belt of the region. Over the last one-and-a-half years, attempts were being made to disturb the social fabric of the region which is the economic hub of the state. Observers say that the trouble was possibly orchestrated with an eye on the state Assembly elections due in a few months. The possible aim could be the polarisation of society on communal lines. It was alleged that there was trouble over desecration of the Holy Quran last week. But it was with the repeat of the incident on Sunday that it reached a boiling point and spilled over in the form of an unprecedented riot. It was observed that the police and the administration should have taken proactive measures to bring the situation under control. The Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) was ordered to quell the trouble a bit too late. By ordering the transfers on Tuesday, Khanduri has tried to send a strong message both to the officialdom and to his political detractors. He has deflated the move of those who had started questioning his intention to act in the given circumstances. In a video conferencing that he held with the top brass of the districts, Khanduri has called for strict vigil across the state during the forthcoming festive season. He has called for proactive steps to identify and deal with the trouble makers. Meanwhile, Rudrapur continues to be under curfew. Long-distance buses are still being diverted from Ramnagar and Pantnagar. Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) SK Bhagat reviewed the situation in the town in the morning. The new District Magistrate along with the new SSP toured the areas which witnessed violence on Sunday and took stock of the situation.
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65-day blockade brings Manipur to its knees
Guwahati, October 4 The blockade has driven up cost of essential items and fuel. Hospitals have put on hold all routine surgeries due to non-availability of oxygen cylinders while stocks of essentials, baby food and life-saving drugs have almost dried up. Worst, the Congress-led coalition government in the state headed by Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh and the Centre have failed to persuade the agitators to withdraw the blockade. The blockade, which has choked the two major lifelines of the state - Imphal-Dimapur-Numaligarh National Highway 39 and Imphal-Jiribam-Silchar NH 53, linking the land-locked state with the rest of India - is a result of a bitter rivalry between two tribal groups over creation of new district in the region. The Kukis are demanding a separate Sadar Hills district while the Nagas are refusing to give up their land for it. Hundreds of trucks carrying essentials and medicines have been stuck in the adjoining states of Nagaland and Assam with protesters laying siege to the two highways. Though the government is providing escort facility to trucks carrying food items, medicines and fuels along the NH-53 once a week, it is certainly not enough. “An LPG cylinder is being sold for over Rs 2000 in the black market. The cost of one litre petrol is rs 200. Long queues are seen at filling stations. The petrol pumps are also resorting to rationing. So, a two-wheeler owner cannot buy petrol above Rs 500. The upper limit for care owners is Rs 800. maximum,” said Satyajit N, a resident of Imphal. “Life has become difficult for people in Manipur. Unscrupulous traders are having a field day charging exorbitant rates,” said Basanta Singh, another resident. “Very soon, the entire life support system in the state will collapse,” said T. Singh, a rights activist. “The crisis is deepening with each passing day. We have told the state government to do whatever it has to solve it immediately. The Central government has failed miserably to provide adequate security along the national highways to facilitate smooth movement of vehicles carrying essentials and medicines, alleged CPI leader Dr M Narasingh. The CM has constituted a Districts Rorganisation Commission to look into the demand for a separate district by Kukis in Sadar Hills and requested the agitating groups to be patient till the report of the commission comes.
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Have faith in Parliament, Cong tells Anna
New Delhi, October 4 Reiterating its commitment for the passage of a strong Lokpal Bill, the party asked him to have faith in Parliament and not allow himself to be used by other political parties. Addressing Youth Congress activists, Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi stressed that battle against corruption could only be fought “through the political system”. “People talk of corruption. If you want to fight corruption then this can only be done through the political system and democratic means,” Rahul said in an apparent rebuttal to the Gandhian’s threat. Senior Congress leader Janardan Dwivedi also advised Anna to have faith in Parliament, which would come out with a robust anti-corruption watchdog. “Anna always said he had no political aspirations…we trust him and believe that he will not do anything that can be used by some other forces for political gains,” he said. The government also reiterated its commitment to pass a strong Lokpal Bill in the winter session. What may worry the Congress is the fact that Anna has threatened to fast for three days prior to the elections in UP, touted as party scion Rahul’s acid test. The activist warned that he would ask people not to vote for the party. The Congress is planning a high-pitched campaign in the state, where Assembly elections are due in early 2012. Rahul will lead the campaign and all UP ministers and MPs will extensively tour the state, immediately after Dasehra. However, party leaders can draw some solace from the fact that their targeted electorate may not be so concerned about Anna’s tirade. There is restlessness in the Anna camp following reports that the Jan Lokpal Bill is coming under sharp criticism from all quarters in the meetings of the Parliamentary panel, which is examining various drafts of the legislation. Sources said majority of witnesses, including legal and Constitutional experts, who deposed before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice, christened the Gandhian’s version of the contentious Bill as “extra-constitutional”. Even though they favoured strengthening of existing anti-graft institutions, they advocated keeping the judiciary, MPs and the Prime Minister out of the ambit of the proposed Lokpal Bill, thereby strengthening government’s position on the issue.
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Actor Fardeen Khan charged in cocaine case
Mumbai, October 4 According to legal experts, the charges under Section 21 (A) of the Narcotics Drugs and Pshychotropic Substances Act carry a maximum punishment of six months and a fine of Rs 10,000 or both. Khan was arrested in May 2001 along with an alleged drug dealer and another person in Juhu. After his arrest, Khan said he was attempting to buy one gram of cocaine from the dealer, Nasir Shaikh and his accomplice Tony Gomes. The actor told reporters outside the courtroom that he was relieved at the court's decision to drop charges of possession against him. “It is something we have been appealing in the court for the last 10 years. Now, I have been charged only for attempting to buy one gram. Charges pertaining to the possession of cocaine have been dropped. I am happy,” Khan said.
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SC: Customs Act meant for recovery, not punishment
New Delhi, October 4 A three-Judge Bench delivered the verdict while allowing a bunch of 15 appeals filed by a number of parties affected by the decisions of the two departments to launch criminal proceedings against them, instead of focusing on duty recovery. The Bench, comprising Justices Altamas Kabir, Cyriac Joseph and SS Nijjar, analysed various provisions of the two Acts at great length before arriving at its conclusions in the 51-page verdict delivered on September 30. On the Excise Act, the Bench held that its language “seems to suggest” that its main object was the “recovery of excise duties and not really to punish for infringement of its provisions.” Further, the introduction of Section 9A in the Excise Act through a 1972 amendment to define non-cognisable offences “reveals the thinking of the legislature that offences under the 1944 Act should be non-cognizable and, therefore, bailable,” the Bench reasoned. Non-cognizable offence has been defined under Section 2(1) Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC): “A non-cognizable offence is an offence for which a police officer has no authority to arrest without warrant.” The Bench, however, clarified that offences under the Excise Act were bailable not because of being non-cognizable. These were bailable because of the fact that the Section 9 and 9A read with Section 20 of the 1944 Act “indicate that the offences under the said Act are bailable in nature.” The apex court also accepted the argument that the bailability of offences under the Customs Act, 1962 “are identical” to the provisions of the Excise Act. The Customs Act was also aimed at recovery of unpaid and/or avoided customs duties. In fact, the provisions relating to offences and bail in the two Acts “are not only similar” but were also “pari materia” (two laws relating to the same subject), the Bench acknowledged in the verdict authored by Justice Kabir. Accordingly, the offences under the “Customs Act, 1962 must also be held to be bailable,” the Bench ruled, while rejecting the averments of the government and the two departments to the contrary.
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It’s raining sops in AP
Hyderabad, October 4 The new “zero interest” scheme, to be implemented from this agriculture scheme, will benefit 95 lakh farmers and cost the state exchequer around Rs.650-700 crore annually, Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy said. However, only those farmers, who make prompt repayment of the loan amount, will be eligible for the facility. The government would reimburse the interest amount to the banks. The unveiling of the new scheme comes close on the heels of another populist programme to provide rice to the poor at the rate of
Rs 1 per kg, covering 2.26 crore families.
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Andhra Pradesh faces dark Diwali as Telangana strikes trigger power crisis
Hyderabad, October 4 Thermal power generation has nosedived as the indefinite strike by workers of Singareni Collieries coal fields, spread over four districts of Telangana region, has hit coal supplies. Apart from the present domestic power-cuts, ranging from 4 to 10 hours, the state government imposed a three-day power holiday for industries from today. The gap between power demand and supply has widened to 50 million units (MU) per day, with the demand touching a peak of 275 MU. The state-run Power Transmission Corporation is finding it difficult to ensure seven-hour power supply to the agriculture sector. The thermal power generation at AP Power Generation Corporation’s units in the state has now fallen to 3,000 MW as against the installed capacity of 5,093 MW. The general strike, which entered its 21st day today, has resulted in reduction of coal production to 36,700 tonne per day as against the normal 1.5 lakh tonne, the Secretary of AP Energy Co-ordination Cell A Chandrasekhar Reddy said. There are over 50 coal mines in Telangana region. The National Thermal Power Corporation’s unit at Ramagundam in Telangana region has been forced to shut down one of its units, resulting in a loss of 500 MW. The total loss of thermal power due to severe coal deficit is around 56 MU per day, the official said. The gas-based power stations are working to only 75 per cent of their Plant Load Factor (PLF) and generating 36 MU. The hydel power generation, that peaked to 65 MU early last month, due to heavy inflow of flood water into major reservoir, has now come down to just 39 MU as inflows ceased. “This is a crisis situation. Even if we want to buy power from the open market, it is not readily available,” Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy said.
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India moves Portuguese SC for Abu Salem extradition
New Delhi, October 4 Salem, 43, had filed a petition in the Lisbon High Court alleging violation of Rule of Speciality after which a judgment was pronounced on September 19 saying that the 2005 extradition stood revoked as there had been breach of the Indian undertaking given to the Portuguese authorities. The CBI, through Ministry of External Affairs, filed the plea in the Portuguese Supreme Court contending it was a matter of interpretation of Rule of Speciality by the highest court of India, binding on all subordinate courts in the country, sources said. — PTI
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Superbug discoverer warns India again
New Delhi, October 4 In India for the first time since his research, “The emergence of new antibiotic resistance mechanism in India”, published in the Lancet that caused national outrage, Walsh today estimated that over 100 million carriers of the dangerous NDM (named after New Delhi) strain in India and said he wanted to help the government set up a research facility to detect actual community prevalence of the resistant gene so that solutions could be worked out. The scientist who received 58 abusive emails in the aftermath of his superbug study lamented that since the publication of the work, no Indian expert was willing to collaborate with him. “No one is willing to even talk to me,” he said, adding that he was profoundly unapologetic about naming the gene after New Delhi as this was the normal practice in science. “In 2005, Indian scientists named a new strain after New Delhi. Why were they not targeted? We have strains named after UK and the US. No one has ever objected,” he said. Walsh however added that he wanted to work with the scientists in India to set up the first Indian Molecular Network for antibiotic resistance that can help trace the evolution of NDM gene in the population. “It is an issue where we all must collaborate in global interest,” he said on the sidelines of the conference. Asked how he estimated 100 million NDM carriers in India, Walsh cited a recent study in Pakistan which found the prevalence of NDM1 in 19 out of 70 in-patient samples at 27.1 per cent and in 18 out of 130 out-patient samples at 13.8 per cent. “If you apply this standard to India, at least 100 million people here would be NDM carriers of multi-drug resistant Enterobacteriaceae with NDM1 enzyme,” Walsh said. The Pakistan study was done in two military hospitals in Rawalpindi and published recently in the American Journal of Anti-microbial Chemotherapy. He cited another latest retrospective study on samples from India and said, “We discovered four copies of NDM enzyme on different types of plasmids in 2005 from Chennai. NDM existed in India much before we published our superbug work in 2008,” Walsh said, calling upon the government to give a call to fight antibiotic resistance. Walsh and his team had last year discovered the prevalence of NDM-1 (New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase) 1 positive bacteria not only in India but also in the UK. The gene was found in some infected British patients who had travelled to India for kidney or bone marrow transplants, dialysis and other treatments.
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BJP outsources RTI Cell to Daryaganj book publisher
New Delhi, October 4 He is listed in the party directory as convener of the RTI Cell set up in March. There is some mystery about the other members of the RTI Cell. While there is no mention of any other member on the BJP website, Garg reluctantly discloses that there is “one retired Director of Doordarshan and one or two advocates (in the cell)” but refuses to name them. There is something peculiar about the relationship between the BJP and its RTI Cell convener. He does not sit in the BJP’s 11, Ashoka Road office and claims he hardly visits it. At the BJP headquarters too, unlike the offices of all other party cells, there is no cubicle for the RTI Cell. Vivek Garg sits at Manas Publications’ office on Ansari Road mostly managing his family business, as he explains. He is not dependent on the legal profession either for his bread and butter, but likes calling himself an “advocate and RTI activist” and insists that Manas Publications should not be mentioned for links with the BJP. Going by the books on display, Manas Publications seems to specialise in security and intelligence related material. Also on display is a book on the RSS, written by two veteran Sangh loyalists and published by Manas Publications. Garg insists that he has no political or ideological affiliation to any party, leave alone any past association with the RSS. He told The Tribune, “We don’t work at the BJP’s instance. The BJP started its RTI Cell only sometime in March-April and asked me to train their men. So I held one workshop for them.” The second workshop is due to be held sometime after Diwali, he added. “I have nothing to do with the BJP. Tomorrow, if the Congress wants, I can train their men as well. It’s an open house. I have put in 4,300 RTI applications so far,” he said. However, he has proudly displayed on a raised desk all material relating to the 2G scam procured by him through the RTI Act. This, he says, is to aid mediapersons looking for documents to fix this government on 2G. “Earlier, they (mediapersons) were taking away documents on the promise of returning them the next day. But since many of them don’t bother to return the documents, I have put a stop to it. I have a photocopier now; you can get any number of documents photocopied and take them away,” he said. But for all his protestations of being non-partisan and apolitical, his other achievements through the RTI Act are virtually all in aid of the BJP -- the discovery of four bungalows allotted to Mayawati in Delhi, acquisition of low-floor buses for the Commonwealth Games and the purchase of 4,300 computers by the MCD bought during the earlier Congress regime. Asked why Garg shies away from owning up his Sangh-BJP connections, a BJP insider explained that since publishing security and intelligence related material is his main business, close proximity with the BJP could pose a problem.
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Nainital, October 4
Landlocked Manipur depends on supplies from outside the region. Trucks from the rest of India carrying essentials pass through Nagaland