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Salman, Digvijay land Cong in trouble
EC to take polling booths to voters’ doorstep
Batla House encounter hits Rahul’s
attempts at wooing Muslims
Jaitley accuses Cong of doublespeak
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Can’t decide Assembly poll dates: Apex court
Bombay HC issues show cause notices to Railways
26/11: Bombay HC nod to Pak judicial panel’s visit
Be nice to TMC, Cong tells its Bengal unit
Nitish seeks action against MNS chief
Counter-terrorism centre gets govt nod
AIIMS paper leak case
Indian diplomacy will have to work much harder: Mathai
PDS digitisation could cut the 40% grain drain-off
Democracy at crossroads: CAG
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Salman, Digvijay land Cong in trouble
New Delhi, January 13 With the BJP jumping into the fray and accusing the Congress of pursuing a divisive agenda, the grand old party appeared to distance itself from these statements which have generated so much heat in the UP campaign. Speaking at a public meeting in his wife’s constituency
Farrukhabad, Khushid had declared the Congress party’s intention to provide nine per cent sub-quota for backward Muslims under the OBC category. The Election Commission had subsequently issued him a show cause notice for violating the model code of conduct. Digvijay Singh, who is party in charge of Uttar Pradesh, courted controversy when he declared at an election meeting in Azamgarh that the three-year-old Batla House encounter in Delhi was fake. His statement was emphatically denied by Home Minister P.Chidambaram who said the encounter was genuine. Addressing the daily press briefing today, Congress spokesperson Rashid Alvi maintained that providing nine per cent quota to backward Muslim could be the individual view of the law minister. Faced with persistent queries on Khurshid’s quota promise, he replied, “The answer to this question should be sought from the person who has made this remark in his individual capacity.” On Digvijay Singh’s statement on the Batla House encounter, Alvi stated, “The Congress fully supports the stand taken by the government.” While describing Digvijay Singh as a senior party leader, Alvi said that the Batla House encounter was a sensitive issue and should not be politicised by anybody to gain mileage in an election. At the same time, Alvi remarked that these statements were a reflection of the inner party democracy in the Congress as individual leaders were free to place their views before the people. Digvijay Singh, who has consistently maintained that the Batla House encounter was fake and had even led a delegation to the Home Minister three years ago, reiterated his stand in the presence of AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi who was greeted with black flags by young Muslims in Azamgarh. This has clearly upset Congress calculations which is assiduously wooing UP’s Muslim voters but is facing stiff competition from the Samajwadi Party on this score. Although the Congress had initially backed Khurshid’s quota declaration, it seemed to be backing off today as it fears that the reservation row as well as Digvijay’s statement could result in polarisation in Uttar Pradesh, especially after the BJP waded into the controversy. “Such statements could have been avoided ..we have unnecessarily provided the BJP with an issue to beat us with,” said a Congress leader. Not only is the BJP accusing the Congress of minority appeasement but it also trying to woo the OBCs by underlining that their 27 per cent quota would be curtailed as the quotas would be carved out of their share. Khurshid, who has sent his reply to the EC notice, said he had no regrets as he had not done anything unlawful. The minister is learnt to have cited the 2009 Congress poll manifesto in which the party had promised a sub-quota for minorities in his defence to the EC.
The controversial statements
Digvijay Singh courted controversy when he declared at an election meeting in Azamgarh that the three-year-old Batla House encounter in Delhi was fake. His statement was emphatically denied by Home Minister P.Chidambaram who said the encounter was genuine
Salman Khurshid had declared the party’s intention to provide nine per cent sub-quota for backward Muslims under the OBC category. The Election Commission had subsequently issued him a show cause notice for violating the model code of conduct
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EC to take polling booths to voters’ doorstep
Mumbai, January 13 Next month’s civic elections in 10 cities across Maharashtra, including Mumbai, Thane and Nashik, will see voters queue up at polling stations at their doorsteps. “We would like housing societies with 1,000-1,200 voters to set up polling stations within their premises so that people do not have to go far away from their homes to vote,” says State Election Commissioner Neela Satyanarayana. The EC has asked municipal corporations to requisition private premises under applicable sections of the law so that polling booths can be set up in the compounds of housing societies. However, municipal officials have been asked to avoid societies which are under the influence of religious and political groups. It is, however, not clear how officials can determine this. At present, polling booths are set up on the premises of private and public schools. However, many of these are situated on the upper floors of buildings thus making it difficult for physically-challenged and senior citizens to exercise their right to vote. This time, the officials have been asked to requisition ground floors of buildings. Only upper storeys in buildings equipped with lifts would be permitted to house polling booths, say officials. “If this works, this method will be extended to cities across the country so that more people come out to vote,” says an EC official. According to officials, residents of housing societies in Thane and Nashik have responded enthusiastically to the proposal while the response has been slow to pick up in Mumbai. After EC officials appealed to housing societies to let their premises be used for polling, a few societies have come forward, say officials. “The response is good and once we ascertain the number of voters we will give permission to set up polling booths there,” said Ramesh Arote, Deputy Election Officer of the Mumbai Municipal Corporation. Residents’ associations that have been lobbying for electing clean candidates have been among the first to adopt the idea. Residents of upmarket areas like Juhu, Andheri, Versova who have been actively campaigning for citizen corporators are backing the move. Traditionally, voter turnout is poor in cities like Mumbai. In the past, voter turnout has gone to as low as 10-15 per cent during civic elections in the upmarket areas of
Mumbai.
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Batla House encounter hits Rahul’s
attempts at wooing Muslims
Lucknow, January 13 While his securitymen kept the protesters outside the college premises, allowing only young women to interact with him, they surely did not succeed in keeping the ghost of the Batla House encounter under cover. This sudden revival of the Batla House controversy has come as a bolt from the blue for the Congress considering that Rahul Gandhi’s UP Mission 2012 is hugely dependent on winning over Muslim voters. In its attempt to woo Muslims, the Congress-led UPA government had gone to the extent of announcing a 4.5 per cent sub-quota within the OBC quota for Muslims just two days before elections were announced. The episode in Azamgarh has kicked off a storm. While Rahul Gandhi maintained complete silence on the issue, Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh claimed that he wanted a judicial probe as demanded by the students of Shibli College. But the Prime Minister and the Home Minister were not convinced by his plea. Home Minister P Chidambaram has asserted that this was Digvijay Singh’s personal view and the encounter was genuine. The Aligarh-based Millat Bedari Muhim Committee (MBMC) today demanded a CBI inquiry into the encounter. The MBMC describes itself as an organisation representing the “saner intellectual elements among Indian Muslims”. In a memorandum submitted to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today, the MBMC has pointed out that just after the encounter, several organisations had demanded a CBI inquiry, but their demand had been rejected. “Digvijay calls the encounter fake while Chidambaram is certifying it as genuine,” Jasim Mohammad, secretary, MBMC, said in a press release. Asking the PM to institute an inquiry, Jasim said that “doubts in the public mind should be removed by instituting an inquiry and that will also serve the national security interest as India’s credibility on human rights is at stake.”
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Jaitley accuses Cong of doublespeak
Chandigarh, January 13 Hitting the Congress hard for its doublespeak on the Batla House encounter, he supported Union Home Minister P Chidambaram. Two Indian Mujahideen (IM) terrorists were killed in the encounter. Chidambaram had backed the Delhi police saying both the persons killed were terrorists. Jaitley said the issue was unnecessarily being politicised with an eye on Uttar Pradesh elections. He termed the encounter as an exemplary example of Indian intelligence. “Batla House broke the backbone of Indian Mujahideen. The Congress is being double-tongued on the issue,” he said. He said that while Sonia Gandhi and other seniors were keeping quiet, they had let loose a general secretary (Digvijay) to question the credibility of the encounter. “This is pandering to fundamentalism and to terrorism,” he said. He also accused the Congress of playing politics by dividing the people on the issue of the 4.5 per cent sub-quota for minorities. “You cannot have reservation on the basis of religion. All such attempts will boomerang,” Jaitley said. The Constitution does not allow reservation on the basis of religion and the BJP would go all out to oppose any such move, he said.
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Can’t decide Assembly poll dates: Apex court
New Delhi, January 13 Since the Election Commission had already set the poll process in motion, the apex court was not in a position to interfere with the conduct of the election, a three-member Bench headed by Chief Justice SH Kapadia remarked while dismissing a PIL. The PIL, filed by a fledgling political party, had sought postponement of the election, particularly in UP and Uttarakhand, stating that the school Board examinations and the severe cold wave would adversely affect campaigning and voter turnout, besides the Union Budget that is normally presented on the last working day of February. According to the EC’s poll schedule, one-day voting will be held in Uttarakhand on January 30, while polling will be staggered over seven phases in Uttar Pradesh on February 4, 8, 11, 15, 19, 23 and 28. The PIL contended that most of the people in Uttarakhand would be unable to come out and vote as the winter would be very severe in the last week of January with snowfall in some places. “Voting is the legal right of every citizen of India” and as such people should not be deprived of exercising their franchise for any reason, the petition had reasoned. Manipur, Punjab and Goa are scheduled to have one-day polling on January 28, 30 and March 3, respectively.
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Bombay HC issues show cause notices to Railways
Mumbai, January 13 The notices were issued by Justice S J Kathawala on petitions filed by a disabled activist Samir Zaveri. Zaveri pleaded that he had learnt through RTI that the Railways had not complied with earlier orders of the High Court to provide immediate attention to the victims by taking them to the nearest hospital. The petitioner contended that every year, around 3,600 persons get killed and another 7,700 sustain injuries while either crossing the tracks or falling down from the speeding locals due to overcrowding in suburban trains. Many a time, Zaveri said, first aid was not available at railway stations and there was also shortage of ambulances to take victims to hospitals, as a result of which, they died due to excessive bleeding. For instance, he said, victims who met with accidents at Virar station were transferred to government-run Bhagwati hospital in suburban Borivali, which was about 35 km away. The high court has already passed an order directing the railway authorities to shift victims to nearby private hospitals if government hospitals were not located within five km radius of the accident site, Zaveri said. The petition contended that by not attending to the victims immediately, the Railways are violating their fundamental rights. He said this was also violative of Section 57 of the Railways Act, 1989. — PTI
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26/11: Bombay HC nod to Pak judicial panel’s visit
New Delhi, January 13 The high court has informed the Ministry of Home Affairs
(MHA) that the in-principle approval for the visit of the Pakistani judicial commission has been given and the team may come in first week of February. The MHA will soon convey the high court's approval for the visit to Pakistan through diplomatic channels, official sources said. However, it is not clear immediately when the Pakistani delegation's visit will actually take place considering the domestic situation in that country. The Pakistani commission will take the statements of Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate R V Sawant Waghule and Investigating Officer Ramesh
Mahale, who have recorded the confessional statement of Ajmal Kasab, the lone surviving terrorist involved in the 26/11 attacks, to pursue the case in Pakistan. It also wanted to take the statements of the two doctors who carried out the post mortem of the terrorists killed during the attack. Pakistan has already issued a gazette notification on the formation of the judicial commission and has listed the members who will represent Pakistan government. The delegation will include Khalid
Qureshi, the head of the Federal Investigation Agency's Special Investigation Group, and Muhammad Azhar Chaudhry and Chaudhry
Zulifqar, the two main prosecutors. The notification further said that representatives of the defence lawyers too would be part of the commission. Accordingly, five counsel of seven Pakistani suspects charged with involvement in the Mumbai attacks had informed the anti-terrorism court that they were prepared to go to India. The notification was issued in response to a directive from the anti-terrorism court that is conducting the trial of seven Pakistani suspects, including Lashkar-e-Taiba commander Zakiur Rehman
Lakhvi, who have been charged with planning and financing the attacks in 2008 that killed 166 people. The five lawyers were Lakhvi's counsel Khwaja Sultan, Riaz
Cheema, Asam bin Haris and Fakhar-e-Hayat. The defence team submitted the passports and other documents of the five lawyers to the court. During the Home Secretary-level talks held here in March, India had agreed to the Pakistani proposal to host the judicial commission of that country. Islamabad has been maintaining that it is necessary to send the commission to India as part of the judicial process in Pakistan. Its contention is that the charges against the seven LeT operatives, including its 'operation commander'
Lakhvi, lodged in a jail there, are based on Kasab's statement in Mumbai and hence the magistrate and the IO's statements are necessary to submit before the anti-terror court. The trial in the Rawalpindi court has been going on at a snail's pace and the Indian officials are not very optimistic that the guilty will be punished any time soon. Curiously, four judges of the court have been changed ever since the trial began in early 2009. Shahid Rafique is the fifth judge to hear the case. — PTI
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Be nice to TMC, Cong tells its Bengal unit
New Delhi, January 13 Admitting that relations between the two parties were fast reaching a breaking point in West Bengal, Congress has stepped in to placate TMC chief and West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee who has publicly dared the Congress to walk out of the alliance. The Congress incharge of West Bengal affairs described Mamata as a “valued ally” and added that differences between the two parties would be sorted out through dialogue. He also urged the Congress and the TMC not to do anything drastic as it would end up helping the Left Front. Speaking in the same vein, Home Minister P Chidambaram said the government would consult all its allies, including the Trinamool, on all major issues. Admitting that an ally (he did not name TMC) had some reservations about allowing FDI in retail trade and the Lokpal Bill, Chidambaram reiterated government’s resolve to iron out these differences with allies. No senior Congress leader has got in touch with Mamata Banerjee to sort out matters while the proposal for a coordination committee has still to fructify, UPA sources said. Congress leaders maintained TMC and West Bengal Congress were locked in an eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation as both parties were battling it out for their respective political turf. State Congress leaders allege their cadres were being routinely attacked and their offices seized by TMC workers. State leaders have submitted list of 61 such cases to Mamata Banerjee in which it has identified TMC workers who have been spearheading these attacks.
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Nitish seeks action against MNS chief
Patna, January 13 Thackeray for his provocative and irresponsible tirade against the north Indians (read migrants from Bihar and UP working in Mumbai and other parts of Maharashtra). The RJD, Bihar’s main opposition party, has also reacted very strongly to the objectionable utterances of MNS leader and demanded his immediate arrest under the National Security Act. Taking a very strong exception to the statement of Raj Thackeray which was published by different newspapers here prominently that the migrants from north India remain calm and gentle only after being thrashed, Nitish said yesterday that the ruling establishment of Maharashtra (the Congress and NCP ruling the state) should be held responsible for prodding and supporting such people who indulge in divisive politics and spit venom against their own countrymen just to derive political mileage in elections. Reminding Thackeray and his likes about the fundamental right of every Indian to live and work in Mumbai and Maharashra or any other part of the country, the Bihar Chief minister urged the migrant workers from north India to carry on with their business in Mumbai without giving a damn to such people and demanded strong punitive action against any one who tries to disturb them. Nitish views Thackeray’s provocative statements in the backdrop of ensuing elections for Bombay Municipal Corporation (BMC) and charged the Congress with instigating the MNS and its men to indulge in such acts in order to derive electoral mileage. He said that such uncalled for and provocative statements of Thackeray or his men would not induce fear among the migrants from Bihar or other parts of north India. He also warned the Congress party that its deliberate inaction against Thackeray and his MNS in Mahrashtra may prove counter productive in electoral terms during the ensuing assembly polls in UP and other north Indian states. Lalu-led RJD, which is in opposition in Bihar, has urged the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to intervene and ensure immediate action against Thackeray and his outfit to restore peace and normalcy in Mumbai and
Maharashtra.
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Counter-terrorism centre gets govt nod
New Delhi, January 13 The NCTC is an ambitious plan of Union Home Minister P Chidambaram to set up an intelligence hub to collate and analyse inputs on terror activities in India. The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh cleared it. The concept of NCTC was opposed by many ministries and also by various agencies who found it an encroachment on their turf. Hence, the delay. In its original avatar, it seemed that the NCTC would shift the power centre from the PMO to the Home Minister. This body will be the fourth major anti-terror setup after the National Investigation Agency (NIA), National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID) and additional hubs of the National Security Guard (NSG). The NCTC, modelled on the US NCTC, is aimed at combating terrorism by analysing threats, sharing the inputs and information with other agencies and converting these into actionable data. The counter-terrorism agency will be a separate body under the control of the Ministry of Home Affairs. The NCTC will be the nodal agency for all counter-terrorism activities and will coordinate with intelligence agencies such as Intelligence Bureau (IB), Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC) and state intelligence agencies. The NCTC will connect the Multi-Agency Centre (MAC), which would be subsumed into the NCTC, and all agencies reporting to it in Delhi and state capitals. The NCTC will not have any foot soldier to collect information, but will depend on other agencies. It will come up through an executive order which will be issued soon. The government will not bring a legislation to set up this anti-terror body, unlike the NIA that was created through an Act. The head of the body, an additional Director General-level police officer, will report to the Union Home Secretary.
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AIIMS paper leak case
New Delhi, January 13 The arrested accused Shahi Balender Bakshi (35) and Vimal Dangi (31), who appeared in the entrance exam conducted by AIIMS on Sunday, were produced before Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Amit Bansal by the Crime Branch of the Delhi police. The court remanded them to police custody till January 17 after the police said that they need custodial interrogation of the duo to unearth the entire conspiracy. The duo will be produced in the court on January 17 along with the other five accused who were earlier remanded to police custody. The police told the court that Bakshi and Dangi were in touch with the other accused and played an important role in the entire conspiracy. Bakshi and Dangi had availed the services of this racket, which was trying to leak the entrance papers and help some candidates by providing answers over mobile phone and bluetooth. The gang, which allegedly charged Rs 25-35 lakh, used a sophisticated software to email images of the question paper taken by two MBAs, posing as PG aspirants, using mobile phones and a bluetooth device concealed in their shirts. The alleged kingpin of the racket was Mohit Chaudhury (23), a second-year MBBS student from Indore and Dr Amit Puniya (23), who used the services of the gang. Two MBAs and a graduate helped Chaudhury in the operations. — PTI
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Indian diplomacy will have to work much harder: Mathai
New Delhi, January 13 "Indian diplomacy, I think, will have to work much harder than it was in the past to help our country manage the transitions... when the world is moving away from the particular phase of globalisation to a much more dangerous years," he said after launching a book titled, "Diplomacy- Indian Style" authored by former Ambassador K P Fabian. Mathai said the evolution of India's independent foreign policy is not in continuation from its imperial past. Referring to the content of the book, he said Chanakya, who authored the ancient Indian political treatise called "Arthasastra" is the talking point in diplomatic reasoning in the book. — PTI
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PDS digitisation could cut the 40% grain drain-off
New Delhi, January 13 Food Minister KV Thomas today said end-to-end computerisation of PDS at a cost of Rs 4000 crore, creation of a special purpose vehicle (SPV) of Food and Railway ministries for grain movement and creation of scientific storage space of 15 metric tonne by the end of 2013, were among the concrete measures to ensure that foodgrain reaches designated persons. The creation of a smooth PDS is an essential parameter for successful implementation of the National Food Security Bill. While the government is trying hard to convince dissenting states like Tamil Nadu, Kerala and West Bengal, it feels that creating a foolproof distribution system will help dispel fears of anticipated shortage and distribution problems, cited by a large number of state governments while responding on the Bill. A meeting of state consumer affairs ministers with Agriculture, Food and Finance ministers on February 8 and 9 will discuss plugging of loopholes in the PDS chain. According to Thomas, digitisation of ration cards records by states like Haryana, Chandigarh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal, Karnataka, Meghalaya, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Puducherry and West Bengal have already shown results, eliminating a large number of bogus ration cards. The number of BPL cards has come down to Rs 7.6 crore from Rs 10.56 crore, he said, adding that the project would hopefully be completed in a year’s time in the entire country. A large quantity of foodgrain, 2.5 per cent according to Thomas, goes waste due to lack of proper storage. Commissioning of scientific storage space of five metric tonne by March this year and an additional two metric tonne by 2012 end will considerably bring down grain wastage. An additional eight metric tonne storage space by 2013-end will take upgraded storage capacity to 15 metric tonne, which will largely be commissioned in producing states on the basis of three years’ production data and consuming states on the basis of the need for four months. The maximum additional storage will therefore be located in producing states like Haryana, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Assam and also newer states like Chhattisgarh. The states are also being advised to build small ‘grameen bhandars’ at the village level, Thomas said.
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Democracy at crossroads: CAG
New Delhi, January 13 Hinting that the pro-active nature of CAG had not gone down well with many, he said that work done by his institution had taken a toll on his friendships. "Democracy is at crossroads today and each one of us assembled here needs to contribute to debunk the myth of the silent majority," Rai said, addressing his Hindu College-mates at a function where he received the 'Alumunus of the Decade' award. "The time has come for the majority not to be silent because it is a minority which speaks on the behalf of the majority," the CAG added. Rai has come under severe attack from various quarters in the government, with some even suggesting that he was over-stepping the mandate that the CAG has. — PTI
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One arrested
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New Delhi, January 13
