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Won’t end monitoring of Gujarat riots cases: SC
PM, Digvijay shoot off letters to Anna Hazare
PSLV-C18 set for launch today |
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Finally, psychiatry gets its due
Man serves life term by proxy
Omar, Chidambaram discuss AFSPA
Bookies hire techies to boost ops
75% rural single women don’t get even minimum wages
Karuna backs Marans; Jaya
dubs CBI raid an ‘eyewash’
Drunkard holds 60 students hostage in UP
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Won’t end monitoring of Gujarat riots cases: SC
New Delhi, October 11 The apex court should stop monitoring the investigations in the riots cases in which the trials were at a concluding stage and judgments were expected soon, Gujarat’s senior counsel Mukul Rohatgi argued before a three-member Bench headed by Justice DK Jain. The Bench, which included Justices P Sathasivam and Aftab Alam, virtually rejected the plea, observing that it was not inclined to consider the request immediately. It would cease to monitor the probe at a later stage, the judges said. Rohatgi, however, persisted with his plea, arguing that the monitoring could not continue till judgments were delivered or even during the consideration of the appeal in the High Court. But the Bench was not convinced. The monitoring has been going on for three years now and after keeping quiet for so long, the state could not suddenly raise objection, it reasoned. In the 2G scam case, Centre’s senior counsel PP Rao contended before another Bench yesterday that the SC had no power to monitor the investigations once the chargesheet was filed. He cited several apex court verdicts to drive home his argument. The Centre had advanced the arguments while opposing a plea for probing the alleged role of Chidambaram in the Spectrum scam. The Bench comprising Justices GS Singhvi and AK Ganguly has reserved its verdict on the plea. Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has been questioned by the SC-appointed Special Investigation Team in one of the riots cases. After perusing the SIT report, the apex court has passed it on to the trial court for taking a decision on whether Modi should be prosecuted for allegedly letting the riots go on unchecked. Today, the Bench also deferred its decision on the SIT plea for video-recording trial proceedings of riots in Ahmedabad’s Gulberg Housing Society in which former Congress MP Ehsan Jaffri was burnt to death. Jaffri’s wife, Zakia, had approached the SC seeking a probe into the alleged role of Modi in the riots, upon which the Bench had asked the SIT examine the complaint.
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PM, Digvijay shoot off letters to Anna Hazare
New Delhi, October 11 On the other hand, senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh criticised Anna for remaining "silent" on the issue of corruption when the BJP-led NDA was in power and denying that his movement was supported by RSS.
Replying to Anna's letter of September 21, the PM said the government was considering electoral reforms, including the Right to Reject as recommended by Hazare, but political consensus was necessary. Manmohan also said he "completely" agreed with Anna on empowering gram sabhas. Digvijay Singh, in his letter, asked Anna why he was not attacking the BJP. He hit out at the Gandhian for denying his movement was supported by the RSS. "Are you not aware that Sangh spokesman Ram Madhav had come to your dais and had extended He added, "What is being seen now is that you have been strongly opposing
the Congress. You have been praising BJP's Narendra Modi despite the fact that there is no Lokayukta in Gujarat for the past
nine years." He cautioned Anna against playing into the Opposition party's hands with a lure of projecting him as a Presidential candidate. "The talk is that the BJP wants to make you a candidate in the Presidential election next year.
You become a candidate, but beware of the lofty promises of the BJP, which is in the habit of leading people up the garden path," he said. Digvijay asked Anna whether he was aware of credentials and track record of Ajay Chautala of the INLD and Kuldeep Bishnoi of the Haryana Janhit Congress Party, whom he was indirectly supporting.
The proposed Lokpal will have the status of a Constitutional authority for which purpose the Constitution will be amended, Union Law Minister Salman Khurshid disclosed on Tuesday. “We are working on a very strong Lokpal Bill. A Lokpal Bill that will come with a Constitutional amendment. That amendment will give the Lokpal the status of a Constitutional authority more powerful than the Election Commission," he said.
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PSLV-C18 set for launch today
Bangalore, October 11 The 50-hour countdown commenced at 9 am yesterday. During the countdown, propellant-filling operations of the liquid propellant second stage (PS2) and fourth stage (PS4) of the launch vehicle is being carried out. Mandatory checks on the launch vehicle and spacecraft including charging of batteries and pressure of propellant tanks are also being performed. Readiness of various ground systems including tracking of radar systems and communication networks are also being checked. The 230-tonne PSLV-C18 is slated to launch the 1,000-kg Megha-Tropiques into an orbit of 867 km altitude at an inclination of 20 degrees with respect to the equator. While earth observation satellites launched by ISRO had earlier improved understanding of the monsoon in India, much about it had still remained in the realms of the unknown. The INSAT gives photographs of the clouds and also specifies the direction of their travel. However, snapshots say little about the cloud structure or the amount of water in it. The latest satellite will probe the cloud structure and can make available substantial input about the amount of rainfall that is likely to take place in a region. For this purpose, Megha-Tropiques will carry an Imaging Radiometer Microwave Analysis and Detection of Rain and Atmospheric Structures (MADRAS), a Humidity Sounder (SAPHIR), a Scanner for Radiation Budget (SCARAB) and a Radio Occultation Sensor for Vertical Profiling of Temperature and Humidity (ROSA). MADRAS has been built jointly by ISRO and the state-run French space agency Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES). While SAPHIR and SCARAB have been manufactured by CNES alone, ROSA has been procured from Italy. After lift-off, ISRO’s Telemetry, Tracking And Command Network (ISTRAC) will take control of the satellite. The instruments on board will be switched on during the following three weeks. The mission will also place three nano satellites - the three kg remote sensing satellite Jugnu of the IIT-Kanpur, 10 kg SRMSAT of the SRM University in Chennai, and the 30 kg VesselSat of Luxembourg-based aerospace and defence company Luxspace - into orbit. Jugnu will check out an indigenously developed camera system for imaging the earth in the near infrared region and test image processing algorithms, evaluate GPS receiver for its use in satellite navigation and will also test indigenously developed MEMS-based Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) in space. SRMSAT will try to address the problem of global warming and pollution by monitoring carbon dioxide and water vapour in the atmosphere with the help of a spectrometer. VesselSat, developed by Luxspace, has tools to guide ships sailing in the high seas.
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Finally, psychiatry gets its due
New Delhi, October 11 Hitherto, assessment in psychiatry was not compulsory throughout the MBBS course nor was it essential for institutes to include subject questions on psychiatry in the paper of medicine. Even if psychiatry questions were included in the paper, students had the option to leave them out and attempt the rest in the pool. “Suppose a paper has seven questions and students have the option of attempting five, they can, under the present system, choose not to attempt those on psychiatry. But we are mandating that no student can leave out psychiatry questions. The move seeks to give the subject its long deserved due,” MCI sources told The Tribune on the occasion of the World Mental Health Day yesterday. The MCI has also conveyed these changes to the National Human Rights Commission which is monitoring the National Mental Health Policy in India and was the first one to seek changes that enhance MBBS students’ exposure to psychiatry as a subject. At present, a general physician on an average sees one-third cases that require psychiatric diagnoses but he has just 1/70th of the exposure to psychiatry to actually diagnose those conditions. The board has further taken a decision to increase teaching hours of psychiatry from 20 to 40 hours. Further to lift the status of the course and ensure students have adequate knowledge of psychiatry and do not treat it as a burden, the MCI has increased the period of clinical posting in psychiatry from 20 to 40 weeks. In another important decision, psychiatric posting in internship has also been mandated for 15 days. Such posting until now was only optional. That apart, the board has not yet taken a positive view on making psychiatry a separate subject, as demanded by several people working in the mental health sector. The Ministry of Health is keenly pursuing the matter with the MCI. Sujaya Krishnan, Joint Secretary, Health, today admitted, “We want psychiatry to be made a full examination subject, a separate one so that students pursue it seriously and not on the fringes.” In Indian, unlike in the West, psychiatry is not a full subject and is taught as a part of medicine. This, despite the alarming incidence of mental health disorders and low exposure of general physicians to psychiatric conditions. Dr Rajesh Sagar, Secretary, Central Mental Health Authority today told TNS, “We are seeking psychiatry as a separate subject in the MBBS curricula. That is essential to give the subject proper recognition. We as a country need to do that considering we have 200 lakh people in need of treatment for serious mental disorders and 500 lakh in need of treatment for common disorders.”
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Man serves life term by proxy
Nainital, October 11 It is a unique case of its kind that has shocked senior police officials and the legal fraternity. On the directions of a local court, a case in this regard has been registered at the Tallital police station. According to officials, two persons, Raj Kumar and Faisal of the Sikota area of Muzaffarnagar, had been accused in a murder case that had been reported in the Kitcha area of Udham Singh Nagar (then Nainital district). The duo was later released on bail while the hearing in the matter proceeded on. Three years later, both of them were awarded a life sentence in the case. However, Raj Kumar managed to convince one Kiran Singh of Uttar Pradesh to go to jail in his place. He had promised Kiran that he would arrange for his release within a week. Both Faisal and Kiran spent the past 14 years in the Haridwar jail. A few days ago the local court received a letter from Faisal in which he disclosed that the real convict, Raj Kumar, was roaming free while Kiran was serving his sentence. Following this, the court ordered the police of the area concerned in Saharanpur to probe the allegations. When the police reached his village, Raj Kumar fled and surrendered himself in the court on Monday. The police has registered a fresh case in the matter under various sections of the IPC. According to police sources, they are likely to book the lawyer involved in presenting an impersonator in the matter in the court. It is also being investigated whether there were other persons involved in the crime. The police will also be looking into the aspect of why Faisal had remained quiet all these years and what made him write to the court a few days ago.
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Omar, Chidambaram discuss AFSPA
New Delhi, October 11 Emerging from the meeting, Omar Abdullah termed it as “stock taking” and said, “I look forward to the report of interlocutors. There is no apprehension of any law and order issue. I hope positive things come out and are implemented.” “The state has made certain recommendations on AFSPA. It should be lifted from areas that have reached near normalcy where the Army is not needed….Would want Disturbed Areas Act and AFSPA to go,” Omar Abdullah said. He, however, said, “It cannot be done overnight. It will take some time.” The recommendations made by the state originate from the observations made by a state-level committee. The committee comprised the state DGP, the Home Secretary, the Corps Commander of 15 Corps, Srinagar, and the Corps Commander of 16-Corps, Nagrota. The committee has listed out areas “near to normalcy” that can be removed from the list under the Disturbed Areas Act. The final approval will hinge upon the assessment of the Army. If an area is removed from the list of disturbed areas under the Act, AFSPA will automatically cease to apply to that area. The Act gives the Army powers to detain and, if the situation warrants, eliminate suspected militants while fighting insurgents without any fear of prosecution. The Army, on its part, has made it clear that the troops will not carry out operations in the areas not covered under the AFSPA.
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Bookies hire techies to boost ops
Mumbai, October 11 "We have arrested a software engineer who built an elaborate software programme which allowed bookies to take bets and pay the winners in a systematic manner," a police official from the Social Service Branch of the Mumbai police said. According to the police, it arrested Atul Pankaj Shah (42), who owns a software designing business in Mumbai, after raids on some bookies threw up his name as the designer of the computer programme used to handle bets. "We will be charging Shah under relevant sections of the cyber crime laws," the police official said. Investigators are now questioning the bookies for more information on other software experts possibly employed by them. Earlier this year, the cyber crime cell of the Mumbai police said it was probing the use of instant messenger services by bookies and punters to bet during the Indian Premier League matches. Police officials said they had taken possession of several computers and obtained vital clues on the use of betting software installed during the recently concluded Champions Trophy T20 matches. Though there are a number of websites dedicated to handling bets on cricket matches, punters in India prefer to deal with trusted bookies since all transactions are done in cash, say the police.
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75% rural single women don’t get even minimum wages
New Delhi, October 11 There is evidence to show that the government’s social security schemes are hardly helping these women. Among them, several widows reported having bribed public officials to get access to pensions. Conducted by the National Forum for Single Women’s Rights, the survey found that 75 per cent of the sampled 386 women (177 widows, 47 divorcees, 101 separated and 61 unmarried) lived on less than the minimum daily wage in their states. Yet, only 21 per cent of them were actually recognized as “poor” by the government. Almost 32 per cent respondents reported a family income ranging from Rs 1,000 to Rs 10,000 a year. “The monthly income for these households would not be more than Rs 833, which means these households cannot spend more than Rs 28 a day. Ironically, as per the Planning Commission’s latest definition of poverty, none of these single women would be entitled to benefits the BPL categories get,” Ginny Srivastav of the forum told The Tribune today. In all seven states where the survey was done, abject levels of poverty were found. The irony is that 89 per cent of the interviewees are part of the workforce, mostly unorganised. In Bihar, 86.4 per cent of single women households were found to be living below the state’s minimum wage of Rs 120 a day. The corresponding percentages in other states were 80 per cent in Jharkhand where the minimum wage is Rs 127, 79.4 per cent in Himachal where the wage is Rs 120, 78.9 per cent in Rajasthan with a wage of Rs 135, 64.3 per cent in Maharashtra where wage is Rs 120 and 58.8 per cent in Gujarat with a wage of Rs 100. The condition of single women is worsened by the fact that despite technically heading the households and providing for their children and ageing parents, they are hardly named as heads of families in ration cards. Just 40 per cent of the respondents were listed as heads of households in ration cards while a quarter had no card, denying them access to social security schemes including public distribution system. Given the odds, 90 per cent single women admitted they often borrowed money to survive while only 21 per cent said their children supported them. The survey’s most shocking finding is prevalence of corruption in access to social security services. The forum found only a quarter of respondents receiving social security benefits. So far as housing goes, just 12.7 per cent single women said they had benefited from schemes like Indira AawasYojana. Pension went to just 26 per cent of those actually eligible under programmes like Indira Gandhi Old Age Pension Scheme, Indira Gandhi National Widow Pension Scheme and Indira Gandhi National Disability Pension Scheme. As many as 45 women reported having bribed someone to get pension. Most of these women said they had to bribe the village head. The forum is asking the government to recognise as poor all single women who don’t have salaried jobs, enough property or education to look after themselves and their families. For the survey, the forum targeted women registered with single women’s associations in states. So far, only seven states have such associations.
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Karuna backs Marans; Jaya
dubs CBI raid an ‘eyewash’
Chennai, October 11 Breaking his silence, Karunanidhi said he treated ‘equally’ both his daughter
Kanimozhi, jailed over the 2G scam, and former Union Minister Dayanidhi Maran and his brother media baron
Kalanidhi. In her reaction, Jayalalithaa was dismissive of the CBI raids yesterday saying it appeared to be an ‘eyewash’ and an exercise in ‘cheating’ the people. “The CBI raids against Maran brothers, their offices and associates appear to be a mere eyewash to hoodwink the public,” Jayalalithaa said. She said the raids happened more than four years since the issue came to light. “It is very difficult to imagine that in this interval, the Maran brothers would still be keeping incriminating documents in their residences or office premises,” Jayalalithaa said.
— PTI
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HAL director found dead
Bangalore, October 11 A passerby found his body hanging from a tree around noon on the way to Nandi Hills. “We then reached the spot and lowered the body from the tree and identified him to be Baldev Singh of HAL from a credit card in his pocket,” Chickballapur rural DSP S. Chelvaraj said. He is survived by his ailing wife and two sons, Mohit Singh and Nimith Singh. While Mohit lives
in Singapore, Nimith is in the US.
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Drunkard holds 60 students hostage in UP
Bareilly (UP), October 11 Vijay, a villager, reached the school in Sirauli
area and demanded money from teachers to purchase liquor. After the teachers refused to give him money, he held 60 students hostage for more than
two hours. Later, he ran away from the school when police was contacted to nab
him. — PTI
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