|
|
|
|
|
maoist Bandh |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
ULFA top gun Moran detained in Myanmar
NHRC calls for AFSPA’s
repeal
No mining licence was issued by me: Krishna
Indian team waiting for its eco-minister
Jantar Mantar
Killing of farmers to be probed
|
|
BJP rebel retains Bellary seat as Independent
Bangalore, December 4 Sreeramulu, a mining baron and a close associate of jailed mining czar and former minister G Janardhana Reddy, secured 74,527 votes and retained the seat which he had vacated protesting denial of a ministerial berth to him in the DV Sadananda Gowda ministry. The BJP, the support base of which in Bellary district and its neighbourhood is apparently getting eroded as a result of the Reddy brothers and Sreeramulu distancing themselves from the party, finished a poor third with its candidate P Gadilingappa managing only 17,366 votes and losing his deposit. The Congress’ B Ramprasad secured 27,737 votes in the triangular fight. The JD(S) did not put up any candidate in the bypoll and tried to help Sreeramulu’s cause. Sreeramulu (40 yrs), who fought the bypoll as an Independent candidate, had resigned his Assembly seat in August and quit the BJP days before the November 30 byelection, the result of which was announced today. The entire BJP top brass of Karnataka including former Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa, present Chief Minister DV Sadananda Gowda and the party’s Karnataka unit president KS Eshrawappa extensively campaigned in Bellary to ensure the BJP candidate’s victory and Sreeramulu’s defeat. The over 71 per cent voting in the byelection was an all-time high for Bellary. Sreeramulu’s victory margin of over 46,000 votes was a huge improvement over his victory margin of 25,716 in 2008 when the polling percentage was around 55 per cent. TMC keeps S. Kolkata with record win
Kolkata: Trinamool Congress candidate Subrata Bakshi on Sunday won the South Kolkata Lok Sabha byelection by a record margin of 2,30,081 votes against CPM’s Ritabrata Banerjee. Bakshi surpassed the victory margin of his leader Mamata Banerjee, who won the seat six terms at a stretch. In the 2009 Lok Sabha byelection, Mamata won the seat with margin of 2,19,571 votes by defeating CPM candidate Rabin Deb. The byelection was held on November 30 following the resignation of the TMC supremo, now the state CM.
— TNS
|
|
maoist Bandh
Ranchi/Patna/Bhubaneswar, December 4 After lying low since July following the “Operation Monsoon” and “Operation Prahar”, the Maoists indulged in the violent acts just hours after attacking the convoy of Independent MP Inder Singh Namdhari yesterday. Namdhari narrowly escaped the attack at Ladu More in Latehar district. The number of casualties in the attack rose to 11 today with one more policeman succumbing to his injuries. The toll included 10 policemen and an eight-year-old boy. Two injured policemen were being treated in a hospital here, IGP Rezi Dungdung said. On the first day of their 'Bharat Bandh', the Maoists triggered an IED in the early hours to blow up tracks between Gomia and Dumri railway stations of the East Central Railway in Bokaro district, SP Kuldip Diwedi said. Another group of Maoists blasted tracks between Hehegara and Chhipadohar railway stations in Latehar district, Latehar SP BD Sharma said. The police said the Maoists took away two SLR and eight Insas rifles, 900 rounds of bullets and a wireless set after launching the attack on Namdhari’s escort car carrying police personnel. Yesterday, DGP G S Rath had said two civilians, including the driver of the escort car, and eight policemen were killed. Later it turned out that the driver of the car was a police department employee and not a civilian, Sharma said.
— PTI
|
|
ULFA top gun Moran detained in Myanmar
New Delhi, December 4 Ministry sources said that journalist Rajib Bhattacharya and photographer Pradip Gogoi, who were detained by Mayanmarese Army along with Moran, were released after their mobile phone and camera were confiscated. However, there was no information on whether Moran was still in detention, they said. Bhattacharya and Gogoi work for a local newspaper in Guwahati and had left in mid-October for Myanmar apparently to interview Baruah, ULFA’s self-styled commander-in-chief. The trio were reportedly detained in the eastern part of Myanmar bordering China. It is immediately not known when and under what circumstances they were detained. After their detention, Myanmarese authorities gave the information to the Indian government, sources said. They said the two would be crossing into India soon. Earlier, the Home Secretary said there was no information about the detention of Baruah as reported in certain media reports.
— PTI How it happened
|
|
NHRC calls for AFSPA’s
repeal
New Delhi, December 4 In a major revelation of India’s contradictory position in respect of this Act, which guarantees protection to armed forces operating in troubled areas, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has shown that India, in a recent report to the UN, has said that it faces no conflict situation. By that yardstick, AFSPA should go. NHRC’s India report for the Second Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of human rights in the country states, “The Armed Forces Special Powers Act remains in force in Jammu and Kashmir and northeastern states, conferring an impunity that often leads to the violation of human rights”. This, despite the fact that India's 2011 report on the Optional Protocol to the CRC (Convention on Rights of the Child) states that India does not face either international or non-international armed conflict situations.” The report, released today, is ready for submission to the UN for next year’s UPR of India. Speaking to The Tribune exclusively, NHRC member Satyabrata Pal said, “When the government has itself said it faces no conflict situation, we see no reason for it to continue with the Act. Considering the enormous opposition the Act has generated in the states where it is in force and considering the evidence we have on record to show how the military is using it, the Act should go.” The UPR mechanism was created by the UN General Assembly (UNGA) on March 15, 2006 and is undertaken every four years to ensure universal coverage of human rights across the world. The mechanism calls for three reports from every country to judge its performance on human rights - the report by the country’s human rights commission; another by the civil society and a third by the government. The NHRC-India UPR report further makes a strong case for the repeal of the AFSPA, with the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Omar Abdullah already calling for it. The report also raises concerns on the attitude of the police, stating in its report that 35 pc complaints it receives annually are against the police. “In 2006, the Supreme Court issued seven binding directives to start police reforms but little has been done,” the report says, painting a grim picture on the civil and political rights situation. It documents cases of custodial injustice and says jails remain overcrowded and unhygienic. “Over 67% prisoners are under trial, unable to raise bail or confined far longer than they should be because of the huge backlog of cases. Over 56,383 cases were pending in the Supreme Court at the end of October 2011. At the end of 2010, 4.2 million cases were pending in high courts and 28 million in subordinate courts,” the report says. In a shocking documentation, the commission also finds that the Indian Railways are the largest users of manual scavengers, whereas the government has committed itself to abolishing the practice.
|
|
No mining licence was issued by me: Krishna
A day after a probe was ordered against him on the basis of a private complaint filed in the court dealing with Lokayukta cases in Bangalore, he said though his legal team would take appropriate action at an appropriate time, he wished to clarify matters since silence on his part would give rise to speculation. “Everyone is aware that the then Lokayukta Mr Justice Santosh Hegde conducted a detailed and comprehensive enquiry into the issue of mining from 1999 to 2010 which covered my tenure as Chief Minister from 1999 to 2004. There is no indictment of me anywhere in the Lokayukta report. The fact that Justice Hegde has gone on record in public only confirms this.’’ Krishna said there had been no de-reservation of forests as was being reported incorrectly. The Cabinet sometime in 2003 decided to de-reserve mineral wealth for mining. The government in July empowered to take such a decision as per the Minerals Concession Rules 1960. A gazette notification was issued pursuant to this Cabinet decision. The notification clearly stated that the applicants for mining leases have to obtain certificates from the Forest Department. When a gazette notification had been issued, it was abundantly clear that there was nothing which has been done in secret. “I wish to point out that I never retained the portfolio of Mines and Geology. Further to the best of my knowledge, no mining licence was issued during my tenure. Even if such licences were issued, this would have been done by the competent authority of the Mines and Geology Department,’’ he added. In view of this, there was no wrongful loss to the government. Consequently, there could no wrong gain. In a revised statement subsequently, one significant line was deleted. It said “the allegations of my close relatives acquiring assets illegally rings hollow.’’
|
|
Indian team waiting for its eco-minister
Now, as the Indian delegation here readies for the arrival of Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan for the second week of the talks, the question on everyone’s mind is whether she would be the face of a flexible approach like former minister Jairam Ramesh or take a more “hard line.” “The negotiation brief especially for key negotiations like climate change are approved in different countries at the highest competent authority that is the Government of India…there is no regime change in India.” It is generally perceived among Western negotiators and activists that Ramesh played a constructive role in the 2010 talks in Cancun, which had allowed the talks to move forward. One Western activist described India’s current position as “blocking, blocking, blocking.” Others feel that India has been making too many compromises like allowing for international monitoring of its voluntary domestic pledges to reduce carbon dioxide. The Kyoto Protocol is the only legally binding treaty that requires 37 developed countries to decrease the amount of CO2 they release. The first term of the treaty expires in 2012. While some developed countries have withdrawn from the treaty, the European Union is willing to take more cuts under the treaty if emerging economies, like India and China, also agree to reduce CO2 release into the atmosphere under a legal treaty. Natarajan has been instructed by the Cabinet not to back down from certain red lines, including not accepting internationally legally binding commitments at this stage of its development and pushing for developed countries to bring down their CO2 under a second period of the Kyoto Protocol. India wants that long-term commitments should be based on equity. If India comes under extreme pressure to sign a treaty to reduce its CO2, it will only do so after 2015 taking into consideration the circumstances of that time. The developing world is also divided on whether emerging economies like China and India should take legally binding carbon emission cuts. Many say that because of the rapid development both countries are going through, they should take on more responsibilities. Others feel that developed countries have “historical responsibility” because they have been polluting the Earth since the Industrial Revolution. Paul Oquist Kelley, minister-private secretary for national policy for the presidency of the Republic of Nicaragua, said, “In any legal system — Western or non-Western — the part that causes damages must redress the party that is damaged.”
|
|
Jantar Mantar
Soon after he fell foul of Anna Hazare, Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari deliberately kept a low profile. He rarely addressed the daily party media briefings and was conspicuous by his absence on TV debates. He had also declared publicly that he would prefer to stay out of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Law and Justice, which examined the Lokpal Bill.
|
|
Killing of farmers to be probed
Guwahati, December 4 The commission will ascertain the circumstances leading to the killing of four persons and injuries to eight others in a police firing during the blockade by farmers on National Highway 52 at Dalgaon area in the district. The panel will examine whether police action, including firing, was justified and also ascertain if any person or persons and/or organisations were responsible for the violence, an official release said.
— PTI
|
Man sets wife, son ablaze Doctor kidnapped
|
| 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 | |
New Delhi, December 4
December 4: The first week of the 17th UN climate change talks ended with key issues remaining unresolved and the fate of the Kyoto Protocol, the only legally binding treaty on climate change, hanging in the balance.
Jayant Mauskar, India’s lead negotiator told the international media that he couldn’t possibly answer that question. “Let’s not get into personalities,” he said.
When the UPA government’s decision to allow foreign investment in multi-brand retail triggered a full-scale political storm, Commerce Minister Anand Sharma’s office went into an overdrive to publicise the benefits of this policy. The campaign was kickstarted with full-page advertisements in English newspapers, dispelling the widely held perception that the Centre’s FDI policy will open the floodgates for cheap Chinese goods and kill local retail trade. However, it soon dawned on Sharma’s publicists that the placing the ads in English newspapers are was like talking to the converted as its readers are all for opening up the retail sector. In an effort to disseminate the message beyond the English-speaking populace, the minister’s office called up several Hindi and regional language newspapers offering interviews with Sharma. As a result, one can soon expect a spate of interviews with Anand Sharma in the language newspapers where he will be explaining the merits of the Centre’s new FDI policy.
Singhvi factor behind Tewari’s no?
The Congress top brass, however, went ahead and nominated him on the panel on the ground that it is the party’s prerogative to decide the names of its representatives for the different House committees. Despite his re-nomination, Tewari chose to stay away from the panel’s sittings. One explanation is that the Ludhiana MP did not want to invite Team Anna’s wrath at this stage when Punjab Assembly elections are a few months away. Or, as some Congress insiders maintain, it could also be because of Tewari’s rivalry with party colleague and fellow lawyer Abhishek Singhvi, who heads the standing committee.
