|
|
|
|
|
Advani’s clean chit to BJP ex-ministers
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Oppn threatens adjournment
on price rise
Kejriwal still not out of the woods
2G: CBI faces charge of influencing witnesses
Mnrega irregularities
Airstrip at Vijaynagar to be reactivated
Maya’s move to split UP stumps rivals
Amit Shah
Govt has names of 700 account holders of Geneva HSBC Bank
Pranab Mukherjee
CBSE automates paper setting for classes IX, X
ULFA anti-talks faction leader Paresh Barua in China
|
|
Advani’s clean chit to BJP ex-ministers
Chandigarh, November 17 “The three were dropped and others elevated as a routine process”, he said on the 37th day of the Jan Chetna Yatra here. His remark has infused a fresh lease of life into the political careers of the three former ministers who until now were considered out of the reckoning for the party ticket. Advani’s statement, that is in tandem with those of BJP party affairs incharge Shanta Kumar and JP
Nadda, has infused a fresh lease of life into the political careers of the three BJP leaders. A senior BJP leader said that there was little doubt now that
Kalia, Swarna Ram and Master Mohan Lal would be fielded by the party in the coming elections. The BJP, a coalition partner of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), has five ministers in the Punjab Cabinet: Tikshan Sud, Laxmi Kanta Chawla, Satpal Gosain, Surjit Kumar Jaiyani and Arunesh Shakir. Sud replaced Kalia as leader of the BJP in the Vidhan Sabha. The reshuffle in the BJP took place in May last year on the “orders” of the party’s central leadership after the CBI registered a case in a land scandal against BJP Chief Parliamentary Secretary Raj
Khurana. The complainant named some senior BJP ministers as beneficiaries but only Khurana’s name is mentioned in the FIR registered by the CBI. A section of BJP workers behind the reshuffle indicated that they would employ other ways to keep the three former ministers out of the poll arena. That the Punjab unit of the BJP stands divided was evident from the vacant chairs at most places where Advani addressed rallies.
|
|
|
Probe Sonia’s role in cash-for-vote case: Gadkari
Ayodhya, November 17 Speaking to the media before a public meeting, Gadkari said the cash for vote episode was to save the Manmohan Singh-led UPA government from falling over the nuclear deal issue. Sonia Gandhi saved the government by using money. “I think Manmohan Singh did not know the details of the episode, like from where the money came and who paid it, but Sonia Gandhi had all information about it,” he claimed. Later, addressing a public meeting on the banks of
Saryu, he said Ram Mandir was not on the party’s agenda, but if voted to power, the BJP would establish Ram Rajya as envisioned by Mahatma Gandhi. However, in case the party did not get clear majority, it would prefer to sit in the Opposition instead of supporting either Mulayam Singh Yadav or Mayawati, he said. The “Vijay Sankalp Samagam” here today marked the conclusion of the two Jan Swabhiman Yatras going around the state led by former national president Rajnath Singh and national vice-president Kalraj Mishra from Mathura and
Kashi, respectively. Claiming that the party had prepared a blueprint for the state’s development, Gadkari hit out at Chief Minister Mayawati for diverting the attention from her misrule by calling for a division of the state. Asserting that the BJP was a supporter of smaller states and had created Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Uttrakhand but such moves were undertaken after much deliberation.
|
|
|
Oppn threatens adjournment
on price rise
New Delhi, November 17 In the monsoon session, 46 pc of business time in Lok Sabha and 44 pc in Rajya Sabha had been lost to disruptions due to disagreement between the Opposition and the government on the rule under which to discuss issues. Today again, the BJP, while listing a discussion on food inflation as top priority, said it wanted a prior agreement with the government on the rule under which to raise the discussion. An adjournment motion is, however, most likely to be moved by Leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj in the Lok Sabha when the House meets on November 22. The BJP will, however, make a formal announcement of its strategy on November 21 after meeting NDA partners. The Left was categorical in stating that it would move an adjournment motion on the first day for discussing the price rise after the government’s failure to curb inflation despite the August 4 resolution adopted to this effect in the Lok
Sabha. “People feel we are denigrating Parliament but the government must show wisdom in accepting the adjournment motion,” Gurudas Dasgupta of the CPI said. While the Speaker said everyone echoed the need for smooth functioning of the House, Sushma Swaraj said, “In every Speaker’s meet, the government says it would be ready to discuss anything. The controversy, however, is always about the rules for the discussion. We want a discussion this time on food inflation which has crossed 12 pc and we need to know before hand what rule will be accepted for discussion. We will take a decision on November 21.” The BJP has zeroed in on eight issues for discussions - price rise, disclosure of 700 names hoarding black money in Swiss accounts, poverty indicators stated by the Planning Commission before the Supreme Court, the Telangana agitation, the
Centre-state relations, the Kashmir interlocutors report, new twist in the Indo-Pak relations and crimes against women. “On the
Centre-state relations, every party wants a discussion. We also want to discuss the “Man of Peace” certificate our PM gave to his Pakistani counterpart recently,” Sushma said. The BJP will also move four calling attention motions to discuss fluoride content in the drinking water, Japanese Encephalitis, non procurement of wheat and female feticide. The Left has given notices to discuss (besides price rise) the state of economy, 26 pc FDI in pensions, farmers’ suicides and paid news. The government said it was committed to pass Lokpal Bill in the winter session. “We are committed to passage of Lokpal Bill this session,” MoS Parliamentary Affairs Rajeev Shukla said, adding that the government would be willing to discuss anything. However, it is unlikely that the government will accept adjournment motion to debate price rise with Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Bansal saying yesterday that price rise is not a new phenomenon and only new occurrences warranted adjournment motions which entail voting. The Speaker made it clear that she would consider notices for discussions as and when they come.
|
|
|
Kejriwal still not out of the woods
Man Mohan Our Roving Editor
New Delhi, November 17 Kejriwal did send a cheque on November 3 for Rs 9,27,787 along with a letter to the PM, asking him “not to trouble” his six friends, who had given him an interest-free loan to settle his dues. The amount was sent by him because the Department had been asking him to clear the dues before he could be released from the service of the government. After vehemently denying that he owed any money to the government, the 1992 batch officer of the Indian Revenue Service may have decided to pay up so as to stall possible disciplinary action. But by not sending the cheque to the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), Kejriwal may have given the government another opportunity to pull him up. Chances are that the PMO would return the cheque to him, said sources, adding that Kejriwal had no business to send the cheque to the PMO because the last notice was issued to him by a Chief Commissioner of Income Tax (Delhi) On October 20 in which he was asked to pay up by October 27. If Kejriwal faces disciplinary action, sources held, his VRS request could be kept in abeyance. And, if he is found ‘guilty’, the Department can levy a minor or a major penalty, which may even include dismissal from service. Such a move would not only deny him subsequent employment by the government but would also affect his retirement benefits. The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) sources said that Kejriwal’s decision to clear his dues may also have been prompted by his desire to ensure a seat on the high table during Anna Hazare team’s parleys with senior Ministers during the Parliament’s winter session beginning next week. Since his notice for VRS in 2006, Kejriwal had refused to pay to the government his salary drawn by him during his two-year study leave from 2000 for violating the bond signed by him. Kejriwal campaigned against the Congress in last month’s Hisar Parliamentary bypoll. The Congress lost the election. The conduct rules for the central government servants specifically prohibit political activism by them. Any charge sheet, at this stage, if issued by the Department, would also delay processing of the VRS notice since vigilance clearance is a necessary condition for permitting a government servant to leave the service. When he sought VRS in February 2006, Kejriwal was asked to pay Rs 3 lakh, but he sought a waiver on the plea that he did not have the money to pay. Over the years, his dues rose to over Rs 9 lakh, which includes interest and a computer loan. Six months after Kejriwal ‘stopped working’ for the government, he got Ramon Magsaysay award. He also started his non-governmental organisations around the same time, all without waiting for acceptance of his VRS. Interestingly, instead of clearing his outstanding dues, Kejriwal had donated the $50,000 prize money of the Magsaysay award as ‘corpus fund’ to his own NGO - Public Cause Research Foundation.
|
|
|
2G: CBI faces charge of influencing witnesses
New Delhi, November 17 Special CBI Judge O P Saini issued a notice to the agency seeking its response by November 23 on a plea filed by Vinod Goenka, a director of Swan Telecom and an accused in the case. Advocate Majid Memon, appearing for Goenka, filed the application saying prosecution witness A N Sethuraman, Group President of Reliance ADA Group, was "unauthorisedly" and "suspiciously" called by the CBI two days before recording of his statement on November 11 in the court. This was done in the name of refreshing his memory and it amounted to interfering with the trial in an illegal manner, Memon alleged. The allegation also got the support from Sethuraman, whose cross examination concluded today as he testified "the CBI official did say to me to follow whatever I had earlier stated in my statement (given to the agency)." "It has transpired in the cross-examination of Sethuraman that shortly before giving of evidence, the witness (Sethuraman) was suspiciously and unauthorisedly invited to the CBI office by a CBI officer and was given his statement under section 161 CrPC to be read for the first time. This is impermissible in law. "If the law permits refreshing of memory of the witness, there is a settled established legal methods for such an exercise. What has surfaced in evidence of Sethuraman is alarming and amounts to attempt to tamper with the witness," the application alleged. Meanwhile, three accused in 2G Spectrum case have moved a Delhi court seeking alteration of charges framed against them saying there were errors and contradictions in the order of framing of charges, which need to be corrected for a fair trial. The accused R K Chandolia, former Private Secretary of former Telecom Minister A Raja, Swan Telecom promoter Shahid Usman Balwa and Director Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables Pvt Ltd Asif Balwa contended the order on charges dated October 22 did not specify the manner in which various offences were committed. — PTI
|
|
Mnrega
irregularities New Delhi, November 17 In his 14-page letter to Mayawati, Ramesh cited instances of alleged irregularities and corruption in the implementation of the scheme in Balrampur, Gonda, Mahoba, Sonbhadra, Kushinagar, Mirzapur and Sant Kabir Nagar and insisted on a CBI probe. Lamenting that there has been no action against the guilty, Ramesh said, "If the state government wants to act honestly and send a message to the people that it does not in anyway want to save those who have looted funds from the schemes, then I feel that you should ask for a CBI probe in these districts." — TNS
|
|
|
Airstrip at Vijaynagar to be reactivated
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, November 17 Sources in the Indian Air Force said the existing strip at Vijaynagar located at the tri-junction of India, China and Myanmar, will be inaugurated tomorrow. IAF’s AN-32 transport plane carrying Arunachal Pradesh Governor General JJ Singh (retd) and Eastern Air Commander Air Marshal S Varthaman is scheduled to land at the ALG on Friday to mark its reactivation. The ALG has been upgraded to have a fully paved 4,000-feet-long runway that can easily accommodate an AN-32 and also the recently acquired C-130-J. Till now, the ALG had specially carved out steel sheets laid out on compacted mud to aid landing and take-offs. Since the ALG is close to a river, the sheets were needed to provide firmness. The IAF has been operating small transport planes from this strip since 1964. Vijaynagar is the eastern-most habitation of India. The civilian population and the troops stationed here are totally dependent on the air strip for supplies. It had been closed since March 2009 and the supplies were sent on Mi-17 choppers or by using ponies. In the recent past, the ALG at Mechuka, also in Arunachal Pradesh, was provided with a paved runway. The IAF is also upgrading other ALGs in the state like Tuting, Pasighat, Walong and Ziro besides several helipads. Apart from this, since 2008, India has reactivated its eastern Ladakh ALGs like Nyoma, Daulat Beg Oldi and Fukche. All these are largely compacted mud strips. The dry plateau of Ladakh allows landing of a plane on mud as there is almost no ground moisture to soften it. The IAF has already announced turning of Nyoma, located just 23 km from the Line of Actual Control with China at an altitude of 13,300-feet, into a full-fledged airbase. IAF transport squadron based at Chandigarh often lands its planes at Nyoma to drop supplies for troops stationed at the LAC. India’s counter-measures are part of a “conscious strategy” to strengthen infrastructure, capabilities and place operational assets in the eastern sector.
|
|
|
Maya’s move to split UP stumps rivals
New Delhi, November 17 Mayawati has greatly disturbed the current political calculations and equations, pointed out a political observer. For instance, her action posed a challenge to RLD leader Ajit Singh demanding for Harit Pradesh for long. Ajit Singh was in the process of announcing electoral alliance with the Congress for the forthcoming UP Assembly elections. Singh immediately welcomed the announcement and seems to be rethinking on his plan to strike an alliance with the Congress. He told newsmen today, “Talks are on with the Congress, but this does not mean a tie-up is necessarily taking place. There is still no certainty.” Describing Mayawati’s move as political, he nevertheless said, “We will vote in its favour when the resolution is brought in the Vidhan Sabha.” Ajit Singh and the Congress, led by Rahul Gandhi, made a common cause opposing UP Government’s bid to acquire land of West UP farmers in Bhatta Parsaul and adjoining areas earlier this year. For once, Ajit Singh’s land-owning vote bank, traditionally anti- Congress, had softened to the Rahul Gandhi and this held great promise for the Congress and the RLD. But now Ajit Singh has to support Mayawati move and the Congress knows not how to counter the move even as Rahul launched his campaign against Mayawati just two days ago. AICC general secretary Digvijaya Singh has thrown up the idea of a second SRC, ostensibly to study the issue in detail, but actually to postpone it for another day. Similarly, the Samajwadi Party seemed to be recovering the lost base by regrouping Yadavs and Muslims to defeat Mayawati. But if the state gets divided into four parts, Mulayam may be the biggest loser because his Yadavs are thinly spread and if Muslims plus Yadavs do not add up to a winning combination, the Muslims may completely desert his camp. Therefore, Mulayam Singh has categorically opposed the suggestion and will oppose it in the Assembly as well. The fourth and no less important player is the BJP, which, till very recently, ruled the state and on its strength, it also ruled the nation till 2004. The party is currently backing the violent agitation for carving out Telangana and often advocates for smaller states.
|
|
|
Respond to lapses, SC tells CBI
New Delhi, November 17 "This is clearly an insinuation which is wholly unwarranted and totally unfair", a bench comprising justices Aftab Alam and Ranjana Prakash Desai said. "You (CBI) told us on these complaints no action has been taken (by the state government). No action can be taken on these letters. The complaints appear to be absolute trash" the bench, which perused 200 such complaints made available to it by the CBI against Shah, said. "You (CBI) are supposed to be our finest investigators. Now you have to respond to all these lapses and inefficiencies", the bench said during the hearing of the plea by the CBI seeking cancellation of the bail granted to Shah by the Gujarat High Court in the fake encounter killing case. During the hearing, Shah alleged he was a victim of a political conspiracy and that he has been falsely implicated by the CBI in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter killing case. The agency had placed before the court two reports in sealed covers accusing Shah to be the kingpin of an extortion racket which allegedly led to Sohrabuddin’s killing. The CBI had claimed it has annexed 200 complaints on which the Gujarat government failed to act. Advocate Ram Jethmalani, appearing for Shah, pointed out that there were only three complaints which addressed Shah and the rest were anonymous letters or suggestions having no connection with the complaints of extortion. — PTI
Says Complaint absolute trash
You (CBI) told us on these complaints no action has been taken (by the state government). No action can be taken on these letters. The complaints appear to be absolute trash. — SC Bench
|
|
|
Govt has names of 700 account holders of Geneva HSBC Bank
New Delhi, November 17 Mukherjee is learnt to have made this disclosure at the all-party meeting, convened by Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar today, when several opposition leaders said they would press the government to disclose the names of the account holders during the winter session of Parliament which commences next Tuesday. In fact, Mukherjee is stated to have rebuked RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav when he insisted that the government reveal their identity. Ticking him off, Mukherjee said those making such a demand were clearly unaware about the intricacies of international treaties. The Finance Minister said India had been given the names of account holders for recovery of taxes. “We will stop getting any further information if we do not honour international treaties and go public with the names,” he told the meeting. He also explained that the government would be able to reveal the names as per the existing treaty terms once the investigation starts, prosecution takes place and the matter comes to the court. The list of the HSBC account holders, it is learnt, includes high-profile industrialists and politicians. While the BJP has been targetting the UPA government on the issue of black money for over two years, the matter is centrestage now after the Indian government received the details of 700 Indian account holders of HSBC Bank in Geneva. In addition, Denmark and Finland are also learnt to have shared details of 2,000 bank accounts which has prompted the Income Tax department to initiate investigations. Earlier, the LGT Bank in Liechtenstein had given information about the huge deposits held by Indians in
foreign banks. The I-T department is said to have issued notices to most of the 700 account holders in the HSBC list and conducted more than 50 raids across the country and recovered over Rs.300 crore.The Finance Ministry had recently admitted that India has received over 9,900 pieces of information from several countries about suspicious transactions by Indian citizens, which are being investigated. The Department of Criminal Investigation is expected to initiate legal proceedings in several cases in the next few months.
|
|
|
CBSE automates paper setting for classes IX, X
Chandigarh, November 17 Bidding adieu to the decades-old system of making teachers prepare question papers, CBSE has decided to employ a new software which will generate question papers for the summative assessments (SAs), which are conducted twice a year. The SA is a written exam conducted by CBSE under its Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) process. The board will prepare a comprehensive question bank and feed it into templates in the software according to set parameters in different subjects. The question papers will be in a variety of textual, pictorial and multiple choice formats. The software is expected to incorporate all the requirements accordingly. Schools, after verification of their credentials, will be able to log into a special online portal. After verification of credentials, a school will have to select the subject and standard for which it wants a question paper generated. Schools will now be able to generate question papers in keeping with preferred difficulty levels and the paper at one particular school is purported to be unlike those at others in the country. The software will allow over 8,000 schools to download papers at the same time. “The software will come in handy in dealing with the risk of question paper leak. It will allow schools to download and print papers hours before the examination,” said a senior CBSE official from Delhi.
|
|
|
ULFA anti-talks faction leader Paresh Barua in China
Guwahati, November 17 A source in the state Home Department said the state government, in fact, expected it to happen when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was likely to meet his Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao on the sidelines of the ASEAN meet and the East-Asia Summit at Bali in Indonesia. Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, who also holds the Home portfolio, met the Prime Minister in New Delhi on the eve of the latter’s departure to Bali. Paresh Barua’s strong opposition to the peace talks between the Centre and the pro-talks ULFA faction led by Arabinda Rajkhowa (chairman) posed challenge to the success of the peace process. The Barua faction has been trying hard to gain fresh foothold in Assam.
|
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Letters | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | E-mail | |
Senior BJP leader LK Advani today gave a clean chit to three former ministers Manoranjan
Kalia, Swarna Ram and Master Mohan Lal who were dropped from the SAD-BJP Cabinet in May this year, saying that corruption charges had nothing to do with it.
Four days ahead of winter session of Parliament, the Opposition led by BJP today warned the government of an adjournment motion on food inflation and said its acceptance of their demands would determine the manner in which the Houses run.
Mandarins in the Income Tax Department seem to be in no mood to let leading Team Anna member Arvind Kejriwal off the hook. Technically, they maintain, Kejriwal remains in the service of the government and the government is yet to release him.
Kejriwal did send a cheque on November 3 for Rs 9,27,787 along with a letter to the PM, asking him “not to trouble” his six friends, who had given him an interest-free loan to settle his dues.
Mayawati’s election-eve gamble, proposing to split Uttar Pradesh, seems to have its desired effect with most of her political rivals left tongue-tied. The UP Cabinet cleared the proposal whereby four states - Purvanchal, Pashchim Pradesh, Awadh Pradesh and Bundelkhand - will be carved out of Uttar Pradesh. Reports suggested that she may soon seek a vote in the state Assembly on a resolution to this effect.
New Delhi, November 17
