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In troubled waters
BPL survey likely to miss December deadline
Mayawati’s move to split up |
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Ishrat case: SIT submits final report in Gujarat HC
Govt mulls review of media regulations
Centre can have SPOs in all states except Chhattisgarh: Apex court
Govt claims employment
up despite recession
Medium multi-role combat aircraft deal to be finalised in four weeks: IAF chief
Nun’s murder: Jharkhand Police detains seven
Train covering India’s longest route to be flagged off today
Chhattisgarh to use GPS technology to curb illegal mining
Katara murder case convict Vishal Yadav denied bail
5 tiger cubs die in Odisha
Youth Congress rally in Kolkata irks Mamata
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In troubled waters
Tirunelveli, November 18 "Our mandate is to talk to the forum (six-member state panel) provided by the Tamil Nadu government. We cannot go on talking to the people in Tirunelveli district," K Balu, a central committee member told reporters after the meeting, also attended by representatives from the protesters. He said the project has "much more than what is necessary to ensure safety as far as environment and people are concerned." Balu said the committee sought to clarify questions raised by the protesters, who have been on a month-long fast in the second phase of their agitation, demanding scrapping of the Indo-Russian venture on safety grounds. Unhappy over the outcome of the talks, M Pushparayan, one of the leaders spearheading the agitation, claimed the Central committee was neither interested in removing doubts raised by them at the last meeting nor had the Central panel given the documents the protesters asked for. "They gave only a 38-page report instead of giving the documents we asked. The report did not have any documentary evidence and so we will continue our protests and the two-hour talks ended in a failure," he said. The Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project in Tamil Nadu's Tirunelveli district, close to achieving criticality, has been facing roadblocks due to agitation with local activists stopping employees from entering the plant. The Rs 13,600-crore project, whose first unit (1000 MWe) was scheduled to be commissioned in December, has run into trouble following protests from locals.
— PTI
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BPL survey likely to miss December deadline
New Delhi, November 18 The survey, which was to be completed by December, in time for the Planning Commission to use the data to finalise schemes for the poor under the 12th Plan beginning 2012, is now expected to be undertaken only by April-May. Sources in the Planning Commission say the government may have to rely on old data to finalise funds for schemes for the poor and blame the delay on “ill-conceived planning and lack of foresight” by the ministry responsible for providing financial and technical support. According to guidelines, the Below Poverty Line (BPL) Census is carried out by states and the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) provides financial and technical support. Rural Development Ministry officials confirm that shortage of hand-held tablet computers, being used to collect data for rank profiling of the BPL households, and of trained manpower to operate them, are among reasons causing the delay. So far, no big state has been able to complete the exercise and they say Chhattisgarh may become the first to do so. For the purpose of data collection, the country has been divided into 24 lakh enumeration blocks, requiring around six lakh machines and an equal number of enumerators and data operators. The paper-less exercise is being carried out with the help of low-cost devices manufactured by state-run Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL). Government sources try to blame it all on states, including UP. According to them, the UP Chief Minister says her government will be able to cooperate only after the Assembly elections. Orissa is blaming the delay on floods in the state while Bihar alleges that the Centre has not sent the required number of machines for its 85,767 enumeration blocks.
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Mayawati’s move to split up
New Delhi, November 18 The party, which is in the process of striking an alliance with Ajit Singh, is in a dilemma because the RLD chief will support the split. However, it cannot openly support Mayawati’s strategic move ahead of the UP Assembly elections because it would then open a Pandora’s box of similar demands from other regions, primarily Telangana. To keep questions regarding state’s divisions at bay, the Congress has also floated the idea of a second States
Reorganisation Commission (SRC), but “not for Telangana”, calling it is a “special case”. Therefore, keeping up the suspense on its stand over Opposition’s move to bring a no-confidence motion against the Mayawati government, all that Congress spokesman Rashid Alvi today said was that an “appropriate decision” would be taken by the party's legislature body. Senior Congress leaders, however, say the first day of what could be the last session of the Assembly of the present government may be taken care of by obituary references. The chaos that will follow after the no-confidence motion is introduced will give the Congress the leeway to escape the situation without causing any political damage. The decision has the Congress in a Catch-22 situation. If the party disagrees with Mayawati’s proposal, she will walk away with the credit for having initiating a process that fulfils long-pending demands of many. But if it agrees to the proposal, demands of state-hood from other regions, mainly Telangana that centres around the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh into two parts, will get fresh impetus.
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Ishrat case: SIT submits final report in Gujarat HC
Ahmedabad, November 18 On October 7, a Division Bench of justices Jayant Patel and Abhilasha Kumari had directed the SIT to submit the final report that would conclude if the encounter of the four persons, claimed by the Gujarat Police to be terrorists, was genuine or fake. “We have submitted the report as directed by the high court,” a SIT member said. He declined to comment further on the report, saying the matter now rests with the court which will look into the findings and decide the next course of action.
— PTI
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Govt mulls review of media regulations
New Delhi, November 18 Expressing the hope that all the stakeholders would pitch in, Khurshid told mediapersons that “a wider discussion will help us understand the context and show the way forward.” Addressing a press conference, he, however, clarified that there was absolutely no link between the case and any proposed move to expand the scope of media regulation. He was answering a query by a reporter who sought his view on Press Council Chairman Markandey Katju’s comments that the penalty was too harsh and disproportionate to the mistake committed by the channel. While presenting a news item, the channel had shown the photograph of a retired Supreme Court judge, instead of the High Court judge who was allegedly involved in the PF scam in Uttar Pradesh judiciary. The Bombay High Court ruled that it would hear the channel’s appeal only if it deposited the penalty, partly in cash and partly in the form of bank guarantee. Challenging this, the media house went to the SC, but the apex court refused to entertain the petition.
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Centre can have SPOs in all states except Chhattisgarh: Apex court
New Delhi, November 18 A Bench comprising Justices Altamas Kabir and SS Nijjar did this by modifying the July 5, 2011 order of another apex court Bench. In the July order passed by Justices Sudershan Reddy (now retired) and Nijjar, the court had directed the Centre to “cease and desist forthwith from using any of its funds for supporting, directly or indirectly, the recruitment of SPOs”. The modification was done on the Centre’s plea that the order would create “chaos” and jeopardise the governments’ fight against armed movements in several states across the country and, thereby, create a great deal of law and order problem. Among the states using SPOs (young men recruited on contract at nominal wages) were Jammu and Kashmir, all those in the northeast, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Accepting the contention made by Solicitor General Rohinton Nariman, the Supreme Court today clarified that since the July order was passed in the context of Chhattisgarh, it was being modified to confine it to that state. The Bench refused
to accept the Chhattisgarh Government’s contention that the modification was discriminatory and
seriously affected the state’s interest.
New drug pricing policy
The Supreme Court today directed the government to ensure that the cost of essential medicines does not go up after the proposed National Pharmaceutical Pricing Policy (NPPP) is put in place. “In the name of the new policy, prices should not escalate,” a Bench comprising Justices GS Singhvi and SJ Mukhopadhaya told the government counsel during the hearing of a PIL on the issue. The Bench made the clarification after the PIL petitioners -- All India Drug Action Network (AIADN) and others -- expressed the apprehension that the prices of some of the medicines might go up five-ten times.
No relief for Sanjiv Bhatt
The Supreme Court today dismissed the petition of Gujarat’s suspended IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt seeking quashing of the criminal proceedings against him for the alleged custodial death of a person 21 years ago. A Bench comprising Justices BS Chauhan and TS Thakur, however, directed the trial court not to get influenced by some factual errors in a Gujarat High Court order against Bhatt. He was suspended for his comments on CM Modi.
Court rap for
ND Tiwari
The Supreme Court today virtually reprimanded former Uttarakhand Chief Minister ND Tiwari for not filing in time his response to the assertions of Rohit Shekhar, who claims to be the biological son of the veteran Congress leader. “How can you file your rejoinder according to your wishes and take an indefinite time?” a Bench comprising Justices Aftab Alam and Ranjana Desai asked Tiwari’s counsel. Pointing out that it had granted four weeks’ time for Tiwari to file his response, the Bench wanted to know how much more time he would take forthe purpose. Tiwari’s counsel sought another four weeks, but the Bench allowed only three weeks, making it clear that no more time would be granted. The next hearing would be held after
four weeks. The case arises from Tiwari’s petition, challenging the right of 31-year-old Rohit for seeking to prove that he was born out of a relationship Tiwari had with Ujjawala Sharma, a former Congress activist.
Katara murder convict denied bail
The Supreme Court today refused to grant bail to Vishal Yadav, who along with his cousin Vikas, is serving life term for killing Nitish Katara in 2002. A Bench of Justices BS Chauhan and TS Thakur, however, asked the Delhi High Court to decide expeditiously the appeals filed by Vishal and his cousin Vikas challenging their conviction and sentencing by the trial court for killing Katara. The court passed the order on Vishal's appeal challenging an earlier order of the HC, which refused him the bail. (With inputs from Agencies)
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Govt claims employment
up despite recession
New Delhi, November 18 The government specifically mentioned the quarter April to June 2011 to reiterate that the employment has increased in respect of all sectors except textiles, including apparels, and transport. The overall employment has increased by 2.15 lakh during this quarter. This survey, 11th in the series, was conducted to assess the impact of economic slowdown on employment in India, and is designated as “Quarterly Quick Employment Surveys in Affected Sectors” covering the period from April to June 2011. According to the survey, the maximum increase of employment (1.64 lakh) was recorded in the period between March 2011 and June 2011 in the IT/BPO sector. Upward trends were seen in the metals sector (0.53 lakh); automobiles (0.18 lakh); gems & jewellery (0.13 lakh), leather (0.01 lakh) and handloom and powerloom sector (0.01 lakh). Significantly, the survey claims the maximum increase in overall employment to the tune of 1.90 lakh in the direct employment category compared to just 25000 in the contract category of workers overall between March and June, 2011. The survey claimed that the data for the four quarters ending June 2011 showed overall employment increase by 10.31 lakh, with the highest increase in the IT/BPO (7.00 lakh) followed by 1.31 lakh in textiles, including apparels, 0.96 lakh in metals, 0.78 lakh in automobiles, 0.16 lakh in transport and 0.13 lakh in leather during the period.
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Medium multi-role combat aircraft deal to be finalised in four weeks: IAF chief
Bangalore, November 18 Talking to mediapersons here today about the MMRCA contract, Air Chief Marshal NAK Browne said, “A lot of work is going on. I expect that in four weeks,
we should be able to wrap it up.” In April, the Defence Ministry shortlisted France’s Dassault Aviation’s Rafale and EADS’s Eurofighter Typhoon for the contract. Commercial bids from the shortlisted vendors were opened on November 4, marking the culmination of almost a decade-long hunt for India’s new mainline fighter which is supposed to replace the ageing fleet of MiGs. “There are a lot of complicated calculations (regarding the price of the aircraft). We are checking and re-checking. By mid-December, we should have a very good sense of who has been selected,” Browne, who was here as chief guest at the 51st annual conference of the Indian Society of Aerospace Medicine (ISAM) at the Institute of Aerospace Medicine, said. On whether the cost of the MMRCA fleet could shoot up beyond the Rs 42,000-crore mark, Browne said, “I cannot tell you anything till the work (of commercial evaluation) is finished.” The IAF chief confirmed that induction into the IAF of the indigenous light combat aircraft (LCA) Tejas - which, at one stage, was also considered a replacement for the MiG 21 fighters - would get further delayed. “Yes, IOC 2 (initial operational clearance 2) of LCA has been delayed. Now, this is expected to take place in the middle of next year,” Browne said. He added that the LCA could get final operational clearance (FOC) only The IAF chief said that the LCA, set into motion more than two decades ago, had been affected by “programme delays”. There were also some “technical issues”, he said. Due to heavy monsoon, not much flying of the LCA prototypes was possible this season, Browne said. The IAF chief did not specify the technical issues he was talking about. However, it is understood that excess weight of the LCA prototypes was one of the issues that the IAF was concerned about.
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Nun’s murder: Jharkhand Police detains seven
Ranchi, November 18 Fifty-two-year-old John was brutally killed at Pachwara village in Jharkhand's Pakur district on Tuesday night. "We have detained seven persons on the suspicion of their complicity," said Pakur SP Amarnath Khanna. A resident of Kerala's Ernakulam district, she had been staying at Pachwara village for several years and spearheaded an anti-displacement movement against a coal firm in Pakur's Amrapara
block. — PTI
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Train covering India’s longest route to be flagged off today
Guwahati, November 18 The train will be flagged off from Dibrugarh by Union Minister of State for Development of the North Eastern Region, Paban Singh Ghatowar, NF Railway spokesman, S Hajong said. Covering the distance of 4,286 km in approximately 83 hours, the weekly train will leave Dibrugarh every Saturday at 11.45 pm and reach Kanyakumari on Wednesday at 10.25 am. On the return direction, it will leave Kanyakumari every Saturday at 2 pm and reach Dibrugarh on Wednesday at 3.30 am.
— PTI
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Chhattisgarh to use GPS technology to curb illegal mining
Raipur, November 18 Chief Minister Raman Singh has asked officials to use GPS and other modern technologies to track and stop illegal mining, they said. GPS is a space-based navigation satellite system that provides location and time information in all weather. GPS satellites are used for navigational, surveying, mapping, routing, charting and time distribution purposes. Singh has said that mineral-rich Chhattisgarh should emerge as a model state in curbing the menace by deploying sophisticated equipment, the sources maintained. — PTI
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Katara murder case convict Vishal Yadav denied bail
New Delhi, November 18 A Bench of Justices BS Chauhan and TS Thakur, however, asked the Delhi High Court to decide expeditiously the appeals filed by Vishal and his cousin Vikas challenging their conviction and sentencing by the trial court for killing Katara. The court passed the order on Vishal’s appeal challenging the February 24 order of the high court which had refused him the bail. The nephew of controversial Uttar Pradesh politician DP Yadav, Vishal had moved the apex court on November 11 seeking bail on health grounds. — PTI
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5 tiger cubs die in Odisha
Bhubaneswar, Nov 18 "The cubs were born to a Royal Bengal tiger couple on Wednesday. We suspect that the cubs died due to low secretion of milk from their mother who was seen rejecting the cubs ever since she gave birth to them," Zoo Deputy Director S N Mohaptra said. It was after 11 years that a normal Royal Bengal tiger couple gave birth to a white cub at Nandankanan, he said. While the mother was born to a white father, her mate had a white
mother. — PTI
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Youth Congress rally in Kolkata irks Mamata Kolkata, November 18 Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee slammed the Congress for taking out the procession to "strengthen the hands of the CPM". WBPCC president Pradip Bhattacharya, on the other hand, justified it saying that Youth Congress workers had decided to take it out to protest attacks on them and police inaction. "Taking out a procession does not indicate any rift or tarnish of the government. It is only a protest," he said. He also said that the Congress would do nothing to create division in the alliance with the Trinamool Congress. "The Congress is for strengthening the alliance with Trinamool Congress and not for breaking it. We will do nothing that will strengthen the hands of CPM. We will never allow the CPM to come back to power in the state," Bhattacharya said. Reposing his party's faith on Mamata Banerjee government, he said, "We are with the government and will remain so." To a question, he said the procession would not affect the Congress-Trinamool Congress alliance. Posters taken out in the procession read 'What kind of coalition dharma is this that YC workers are under attack all over West Bengal?'. Other posters read 'Trinamool's two virtues - create rift in Congress and murder Youth Congress'. — PTI
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The long and strenuous process of selection of a fighter plane for the Rs 42,000 crore contract to acquire 126 medium multi-role combat aircraft
(MMRCA) for the IAF is finally coming to an end. Talking to mediapersons here today about the MMRCA contract,
Air Chief Marshal NAK Browne said, “A lot of work is going on. I expect that in four weeks,
we should be able to wrap it up.”
