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Ram temple on BJP’s agenda in UP poll
Woman IAS officer accused in illegal mining case
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Rahul pays surprise visit to riot-hit Gopalgarh
Remembering Kanshi Ram, Maya unveils 484 schemes
Labour pain for industry due to rural job scheme: FICCI
Roerich paintings stolen from Delhi, CBI alerts Interpol
Woman kills her 5 children, self
Ex-president of Modern School Trust dead
Jantar Mantar
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Ram temple on BJP’s agenda in UP poll
New Delhi, October 9 BJP vice-president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said the "Jan Swabhimaan Yatra" against corruption and crime in UP will start simultaneously on October 13 from Varanasi and
Mathura. Former BJP president Rajnath Singh will lead the yatra from Mathura, while senior leader Kalraj Mishra will head the yatra starting from Varanasi to be flagged off by NDA working president LK
Advani. "Both the yatras will culminate in Ayodhya on November 16. On November 17, a Vijay Sankalp Samagam (victory pledge) will be organised," Naqvi said. BJP sources said the recent Allahabad High Court verdict trifurcating the disputed land at
Ayodhya had come as a shot in the arm for the party and it wishes to capitalise on the issue. While Advani had said soon after the verdict that it vindicated his stand that the disputed place was Lord Rama's birthplace, the party feels this is one issue which should be kept alive for the 2012 Assembly polls. Meanwhile, Advani said today that the issue of bringing back Indian black money illegally stashed away abroad would figure prominently during his anti-corruption 'Jan Chetna Yatra' across the country. "Though I will raise the issue of rampant corruption, price rise and extreme poverty that exists in the country during my Jan Chetna Yatra, issue of black money stashed away abroad will figure most prominently," he said. He was addressing a gathering of people from the rural areas of Delhi at his residence. "For the last so many years, I have been saying that huge sums of Indian money has been stashed away abroad in foreign banks, especially in Switzerland," Advani said. Congress made light of Advani's focus on the black money issue and asked him to mention one concrete step which the BJP-led NDA government had taken in this matter from 1998 to 2004. On the contrary, Congress spokesman Abhishek Singhvi said he is in a position to give at least 20 "concrete, useful, productive steps" already inplemented by the UPA government which are showing results as far as black money is concerned.
— PTI Advani’s rath yatra anthem launched The former deputy prime minister will go lyrical on black money with a song composed specially for the yatra opening with him reciting a line, “Thousands of crores of nation's money in foreign banks”. The four-and-a-half minute song ends with Advani reciting a line to eradicate corruption.
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Woman IAS officer accused in illegal mining case
Hyderabad, October 9 The CBI, probing the multi-crore illegal mining involving Obulapuram Mining Company (OMC) owned by the Bellary Brothers, has named Y Srilakshmi, presently the Secretary of the AP Family Welfare Department, and a retired bureaucrat VD Rajagopal as the co-accused in the scam. After conducting extensive raids, the CBI sleuths found incriminating evidence against the two officials who now face an imminent arrest. The investigating agency has accused the bureaucrats of colluding with mining tycoon Janardhan Reddy and his brother-in-law BV Srinivasa Reddy, who are lodged in the Chanchalguda Central Prison here. Srilakshmi, an IAS officer of 1989 batch, was the Secretary of the Industries and Commerce Department between 2005 and 2009 when the government headed by late YS Rajasekhara Reddy granted licenses to the OMC for iron ore mining at Obulapuram in Anantapur district. Rajagopal was the director of the state mining corporation. The investigations revealed that the two civil servants had favoured the Bellary brothers while granting the mining lease, which facilitated illegal mining as well as transportation of iron ore. The CBI will submit a status report before the special court tomorrow, after which the two officials are likely to be arrested. The main charge against Srilakshmi is that she had deliberately deleted the words “captive mining” from a government order issued for granting the mining lease to the OMC, whereas the note file signed by YSR Reddy had clearly mentioned that the mining leases were being granted to the OMC only for captive mining to provide iron ore supply to the Brahmani Steels proposed to be set up by Janardhan Reddy in Kadapa district. The CBI team searched the office and residence of Srilakshmi and recovered several important documents.
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Rahul pays surprise visit to riot-hit Gopalgarh
41-year-old Gandhi accompanied by Union Minister of State for Home Jitendra Singh interacted with villagers in Gopalgarh, Maliki and Piproli. They also visited the homes of people who had suffered during the clashes. The Congress general secretary visited Jama Masjid area in Gopalgarh where the clashes had taken place and asked people to maintain peace. During his talks with village elders, Rahul said all matters need to be solved amicably. The Congress leader visited the house of deceased Rukhdin and interacted with his family members. He later travelled to Piproli village riding pillion on a motorcycle, throwing the Special Protection Group personnel into a tizzy. The SPG men were left with no choice but to hitch a ride on passing motorbikes to follow the VIP. In Piproli village, Rahul spoke to the family of deceased Iqbal Singh. The villagers came in large numbers at the place and started narrating the incidents of September 14 that left 10 people dead. The clashes took place between Mev Muslim community and Gujjars over a land-related dispute.
— PTI
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Remembering Kanshi Ram, Maya unveils 484 schemes
Lucknow, October 9 After paying floral tributes at the ‘Manyawar Shri Kanshi Ram ji Smarak Sthal’ this morning, the BSP supremo told the massive crowd that their presence itself had invalidated the opposition parties’ charges of wasting money on the memorials. “The money being raised through the entry tickets since October 1 will very soon not only recover the cost of the memorials and pay for their upkeep but also, in the long run, support schemes for the uplift of the poor”, she claimed. On the occasion, Mayawati listed her government’s various programmes and projects for perpetuating the memory of the BSP founder.
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Labour pain for industry due to rural job scheme: FICCI
New Delhi, October 9 A FICCI survey on impact of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) on industry and farm sector suggested that the scheme be implemented only during non-peak agricultural season, a demand that also finds favour with the agriculture sector in Punjab and Haryana - the two states facing maximum labour problems. Incidentally, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar had also written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh suggesting that the scheme be suspended during the peak agricultural season, a proposal that did not go down too well either with the nodal Rural Development Ministry or social activists. As a solution, FICCI suggested that work done in industrial units be considered for coverage under the MGNREGA, saying that this would be useful in areas where there is heavy concentration of industrial activity. It also said the state governments must not make it mandatory to hire workers from within the state. The suggestions stem from the conclusions that wages have risen by more than 10 per cent and extent of potential loss due to labour scarcity was also 10 per cent. “Indian industry is caught in a vice-like grip of shortage of labour, loss of confirmed orders and increase in wages. The situation has been compounded by the government’s flagship employment programme by opening an alternative employment avenue for casual labour in rural and semi-urban India,” the survey said. CHAMBER STUDY
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Roerich paintings stolen from Delhi, CBI alerts Interpol
New Delhi, October 9 The CBI had registered a case in this regard last month and questioned staff of the institute. The paintings depicting the Himalayas were some of the precious works of the Russian painter who came to India in 1923 and stayed here till his death in 1947. The institute recently came to know that the missing paintings had been auctioned in London for $2million. After coming to know about the theft, the institute had filed a complaint with the
CBI. — PTI
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Woman kills her 5 children, self
Lucknow, October 9 The suicide note recovered from the victim’s house in Attara in Banda district of Bundelkhand mentioned her planning her suicide a day before the Navaratras began. " ... I will observe the fast and if my husband did not give up his bad habits till the end of Navaratras, then I will end my life along with my children," the suicide note said. According to the police, prima facie it appears that Vimla first poisoned her two sons and three daughters and then consumed the same poisonous substance. — TNS
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Ex-president of Modern School Trust dead New Delhi, October 9 The retired General was the son of Lala Raghubir Singh, who along with Sir Sobha Singh, founded Modern School in 1920 at Daryaganj. He was commissioned in 1937 during the British times and retired in 1966. He was admired for his humanitarian and philanthropic outlook. — TNS
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Jantar Mantar
This slot has been lying vacant ever since BS Lalli was stripped off the post following his implication in the Commonwealth Games scam. Sircar is due to retire next March and Doordarshan CEO’s post officially falls vacant this year-end when Lalli would have completed his five-year term, had he continued in office. In fact, the decision to give additional charge of the I&B Ministry to Sircar itself came as a surprise since it was almost certain that Uday Kumar Varma, who is currently holding charge as secretary, Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME), will be moving to the I&B Ministry. There is one view that Varma’s new posting was put on hold because the Prime Minister’s new principal secretary Pulok Chatterjee, who had taken a personal interest in the government’s media and communications strategy during his tenure in the PMO during UPA-I, wants to be involved in this crucial appointment. Advani’s charioteers under cloud
Ananth Kumar, a known Advani confidant, had been at the centre of controversies for allotment of land to favoured ones as Urban Development Minister during the NDA regime. He was also in the eye of a storm over his “close business relationship” with corporate lobbyist Niira Radia and his proximity to the Bellary brothers. Shyam Jaju’s role had come under a scanner when Rs 2 crore went missing from a safe in the office of then party president Rajnath Singh. As office secretary, Jaju had easy access to the room.The party had subsequently resorted to an elaborate cover-up to clear Jaju. Hisar: Testing ground for Team Anna Team Anna’s decision to campaign against the Congress in the Hisar bypoll is part of a well-thought-out strategy to indirectly help BJP-backed candidate Kuldeep Bishnoi. The social activist and his team members are constrained not to come out in open support of the BJP as they have publicly declared that they are not associated with any political party. They have, therefore, decided to ask the electorate not to vote for the Congress on the plea that it is running a corrupt government at the Centre and is not fully supportive of the Jan Lokpal Bill. Team Anna has deliberately chosen Hisar as its first target as the overwhelming view is that the sympathy factor is working in favour of late Bhajan Lal’s son Kuldeep Bishnoi while the Congress candidate Jai Prakash is lagging far behind. In case Bishnoi wins, which appears highly likely, Team Anna will be able to tout this victory as the people’s growing support for the Jan Lokpal Bill and their disenchantment with the Congress. The anti-graft crusaders will then venture into the next electoral battle with even greater zeal.
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Bharatpur (Rajasthan), October 9
When culture secretary Jawahar Sircar was given additional charge of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting last week, it immediately sparked off speculation that he was being tipped to take over as the CEO of national broadcaster Doordarshan.
As BJP patriarch LK Advani’s cross-country rath yatra is all set to roll out, there are serious misgivings within his own party about his choice of charioteers. BJP insiders privately maintain that the inclusion of former minister Ananth Kumar and national secretary Shyam Jaju as the yatra’s organisers is particularly jarring when the focus of Advani’s yatra is good governance and clean politics.