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Setback for BJP as three secys quit
EC set to transfer more officers
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Naxalites changing strategy to trap cops
Maoists kidnap three persons
Gadkari to be star BJP campaigner in UP
Re-look at anti-landmine vehicles: ex-DGPs
Second Uplokayukta takes charge in K’taka
MP minister says sorry, orders shoes without laces
Naval vigil pays off, seas
pirate-free for 6 months
Terror, crime funds trickling into casinos: Report
For AP prisoners, relatives will
be a call away
From 2013, know how your ward’s school spent its funds
Lankan Navy ‘attacks’
TN fishermen; 9 missing
1 killed as ultras target Speaker’s house in Imphal
British teacher arrested for ‘inappropriate’ chatting with boy
Jantar Mantar
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Rahul rides on Pitroda’s OBC heritage
Lucknow, January 22 “Uttar Pradesh does not require a government of this caste or that caste; it needs a government of the ‘aam aadmi’ of the state”. Those stirring words of the Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi, uttered in November, have been all but forgotten as he took a U-turn and began playing the caste and the minority cards. In December, he dramatically declared that Sam Pitroda, the man credited with ushering in the telecom revolution in the country, was indeed a ‘Vishwakarma’ and belonged to the OBCs ( Other Backward Classes). And when, two days before the polling dates were announced, the Union Cabinet cleared the special 4.5 per cent sub-quota for Muslims out of the 27 per cent reservation in government jobs for OBCs, it was widely attributed to Rahul Gandhi’s lobbying. Virtually every political party has, since then, come up with its take on the issue, pushing Muslims in UP on the defensive, and allowing the BJP to raise the bogey of minority appeasement. When Mulayam Singh Yadav recommended 18 percent reservation for Muslims on the basis of Sachar and Misra committee report, Rahul Gandhi had repeatedly criticised Yadav in his speeches and questioned Yadav’s sincerity towards Muslims and for reducing the campaign to ‘vote bank’ politics. The Ranganath Misra Commission had submitted its report in 2007 and the report was made public in 2009. It had recommended a 8.4 per cent sub-quota for minorities within the 27 per cent set aside for OBCs; and further recommended a 6 per cent sub-quota for Muslims within the 8.4 per cent for minorities. The Union Cabinet’s decision not only provided a handle to the Opposition but it also created considerable confusion. Why didn’t the government notify the sub-quota at any time during the past three years, asked the opposition while bewildered Muslims wondered whether the Commission was more generous to them than the Union Cabinet. Above all, the aggressive Congress campaign appears to have helped polarise both OBCs, who are convinced that the Muslim quota will be carved out at their cost, and the ‘communal elements’ that Congress professes to fight. Not surprisingly, the Bharatiya Janata Party is not complaining. The dust kicked up by the quota debate may have helped the party rally the hardliners. Has Rahul Gandhi lost another opportunity to shift the political discourse away from caste and community ? Development and change were his buzzwords during the past few years and it remains to be seen if the aggressive bid to woo backward classes and the minorities pays
off.
Setback for BJP as three secys quit
Lucknow, January 22 Pankaj, who was till now working as the state secretary, has been promoted as the seventh general secretary of UP unit of the party, BJP general secretary Vindyavasini Kumar said. Kumar, however, said he had no official information that three secretaries Daya Shanker Singh, Ashvani Tyagi and Santosh Singh have quit. Party sources said that as per the party constitution only six general secretaries are allowed to be appointed. Daya Shanker, who was the BJP candidate from Ballia in the last election, said that he has sent his resignation to national president Nitin Gadkari and forwarded its copy to state president Surya Pratap Shahi. In his resignation letter Daya Shanker, who is also former state president of the party's youth unit, said the change in post was not justified during elections and his work and contribution should also be evaluated. He also confirmed resignation by two secretaries Santosh Singh and Ashvani Tyagi, though they could not be contacted. While Daya Shanker was willing to contest for Ballia, Ashvani and Santosh were seeking tickets for Bilhaur in Meerut and Lucknow East seats respectively, sources said. —
PTI
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Naxalites changing strategy to trap cops
Garhwa (Jharkhand), Jan 22 The reports said Bargarh village head Ramdas Minz called up the Bhandaria Block Development Officer (BDO) Basudeo Prasad yesterday and requested him to visit the village, about 22 km from the ambush spot, to sort out a dispute that forced a road shutdown by a section of local people. The BDO narrowly escaped as his vehicle drove past the area before the landmine blast that claimed the lives of 13 policemen. “We can’t rule out. We have not yet located him (village head). We have launched anti-Maoist operation in the Bariganwa forests,” Superintendent of Police, Garhwa, Michael S Raj said when asked whether the police suspected Minz following yesterday’s trap laid by the rebels. Minz had recently come out of jail after getting a bail in connection with a case. Intelligence sources said usually the Maoists’ strategy was to call the police on the pretext of Naxal movement in a certain area and then ambush them. But the police soon got aware of such traps. The security forces often use a different route to return from the visited spots, but yesterday the Maoists attacked them while the police party was heading to the assigned place. Garhwa DC RP Sinha had said yesterday that the BDO and the police party were going to Bargarh to convince the local people to call off agitation. —
PTI
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Gadkari to be star BJP campaigner in UP
New Delhi, January 22 By contrast, party’s octogenarian mascot L.K. Advani will campaign for seven days in UP and two each in Uttarakhand and Punjab. Advani had recently toured the whole country on his motorised Rath during the Jan Chetna yatra to campaign against the Congress, corruption being the key issue with a slogan “Ab Bas”, conveying the impression that his yatra was declaring the end of the UPA regime and implicitly projecting himself as harbinger of change in the country. To project BJP as a symbol integrity and honesty, he forced his party to sack two sitting chief ministers B.S. Yeddyurappa and Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank in Karnataka and Uttarakhand, respectively, both BJP-ruled states, to rid the party and himself of any charge of taint. As per this script, the BJP’s poll plank was intended to be corruption and Lokpal/Lokayukta. Sources said most party leaders, including Advani, felt these two issues were good enough to mobilise support against the Congress, the SP and the BSP in UP. But once the Congress proposed Muslim reservation, the BJP too tweaked its plans and grabbed it as a more potent issue. It roped in ousted BSP leader Babu Singh Kushwaha and has now fielded Uma Bharti to focus on the Congress “injustice” to the OBCs. However, when the party inducted Kushwaha on January 6, there was a virtual revolt with leaders like Advani, Sushma Swaraj and Murli Manohar Joshi objecting to a tainted Kushwaha’s induction, saying this would weaken party’s anti-corruption plank. Advani even threatened to skip UP while campaigning for his party. Instead, he indicated his desire to restrict himself to Uttarakhand and Punjab. Gadkari swung into action. He first persuaded Kushwaha to hold back his party membership till the end of UP elections. He then chalked out the campaign plans setting aside the maximum number of days for himself and the minimum for Advani. Finally, the issue was settled with Advani agreeing to campaign in UP just for seven days. Arun Jaitley, Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, got the maximum number of days (17) to campaign in UP, while Sushma Swaraj, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha got 14 days. The star campaigner will be Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. But the party has not finalised Modi’s campaign schedule so far. Film and TV personalities Hema Malini, Shatrughan Sinha and Smriti Irani will supplement the party’s campaign team.
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Re-look at anti-landmine vehicles: ex-DGPs
Ranchi, January 22 “Every aspect should be re-looked at. Whether the personnel inside the anti-landmine vehicles are fastening their seat belts and wearing helmets?” former DGP VD Ram said. “The anti-landmine vehicle can withstand about 30/40 kg explosives. If 50 to 80 kg explosives are used, it cannot endure the impact,” he said. Even if an anti-landmine vehicle is tossed up to 30 feet high due to an explosion and it falls back on the ground, the jawans, if wearing safety belts and helmets, could survive, Ram said. The jawans need not to come out of the vehicle risking gunfire, he added. Another ex-police chief RR Prasad said, “I am surprised to know why this vehicle failed to withstand the explosion. We should examine the vehicle to find the reason.” He called for a re-look at the model of anti-landmine vehicles. —
PTI
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Second Uplokayukta takes charge in K’taka
Bangalore, January 22 Governor HR Bhardwaj administered the oath of office to Chandrashekaraiah (70) at the Raj Bhavan. Chandrashekaraiah has also served as the President of the Karnataka State Consumer Redressal Commission. He comes in place of Justice (retd) R Gururajan, who resigned in October, citing health reasons. Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister S Suresh Kumar, Home and Transport Minister R Ashoka, JDS leader HD Revanna were prominent among those who attended the ceremony, where Chief Minister DV Sadananda was conspicuous by his absence. Chandrashekaraiah was reportedly allotted a 4,000-sq ft prime site in the Judicial Layout in 1997, while he already owned a house in Banashankari-II stage, allegedly in violation of the housing society bylaws. He yesterday sought to downplay the issue, pointing to a Supreme Court ruling that upheld dismissal of a case challenging the owning of sites by judges, and questioned “raking up” the controversy. Chandrashekaraiah said he was not the only judge who was allotted a site. Chandrashekaraiah served as a Judge of the Karnataka High Court between 1995 and 2004 and as the commission president between 2004 and 2009.—PTI
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MP minister says sorry, orders shoes without laces
Chhindwara (MP), Jan 22 "I admit it was my mistake and I am sorry for it," he told reporters after the incident caught on camera hit the media spotlight. “I swear that from now onwards, I will not wear any shoes with laces. I have specially brought from Pune six pairs of shoes without laces," he said. Bisen found himself in a tight spot after he was caught by TV cameras getting his shoe laces tied by a boy, at a public function at Khamra in the presence of Union Minister Kamal Nath two days back. The state minister claimed that following his bypass surgery, doctors had advised him not to bend forward, after which he employed this student- Chhotu to take care of his personal needs. He said that when the boy saw that he was finding it difficult to tie the shoelace, he himself came to his help. —
PTI
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Naval vigil pays off, seas
pirate-free for 6 months
New Delhi, January 22 It has been nearly six months since pirates attacked a merchant ship in these areas. The International Maritime Bureau’s (IMB) global piracy report released this month says there were “improvements (in bringing down incidents of piracy) in South East Asia and the Indian subcontinent”. The incidents of piracy so close to Indian coast - in some cases just some 300 km off the coast of Kerala - had raised questions, especially in the light of the November 2008 Mumbai attacks when terrorist took a boat to reach Mumbai. Intelligence agencies, after a review with all stakeholders in January last year, warned that these pirates were mercenaries and could easily be hired by Al-Qaida or its affiliates. It all started on December 5, 2010, when pirates had their first strike. It sent alarm bells ringing across the shipping community. The attack was carried out at an area, which till then, was free from piracy. Sea brigands mostly operated in the Gulf of Aden or off the coast of Somalia in north-east Africa which was a couple of thousand miles away. That day, a Bangladesh-flagged merchant vessel MV Jahan Moni was captured by pirates just 70 nautical miles (130 km) off the coast of Minicoy Islands. Then a few more merchant vessels were attacked. The pirates threatened free movement across the 9 Degrees Channel which is a major sea lane of communication. Thousands of tonnes of cargo passes through it daily. It also mounted a challenge to the Navy which is a dominant player in the Indian Ocean region. In the last week of December 2010, Defence Minister AK Antony ordered that a flotilla of four-five warships of the Navy and the Coast Guard be stationed in the eastern Arabian Sea. Surveillance aircraft were also pressed into service to get real-time images from the sky and transmit to the warships. A major success was achieved on January 28 last year when 11 sea brigands were reportedly killed while 15 of their accomplices were captured. The Navy men also secured the release of 20 hostages from the clutches of the pirates. The pirate vessel, a hijacked Thai fishing trawler MV Prantalay, sunk after Navy and the Coast Guard retaliated 360 km off the cost of Kerala. MV Prantalay was being used by the pirates since April 2010 and was involved in several incidents of piracy. Then on, the Navy slowly started driving back these pirates. Now the areas is said to be free from the menace.
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Terror, crime funds trickling into casinos: Report
New Delhi, January 22 A total of 7,006 Suspicious Transaction Reports (STRs) during the 2010-11 fiscal have been reported by the casino business and allied payment operators to the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), an enforcement agency under the Union Finance Ministry. The casino business in the country was brought under anti-money laundering laws in 2009 and the operators primarily provide slot machines and electronic games to customers. According to a 2010 report of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the top global financial body set up by G-7 nations in 1989 to combat financial crimes, India has just more than 20 casinos. While Goa, the state with numerous sun-kissed beaches, has the majority of these gaming facilities, 14 land-based casinos (located in five-star hotels) and six offshore (ship-based), there are a few in Sikkim too. "The casino sector, although small in India, is vulnerable to instances of criminal money and terror funding in its channels. The STRs in the last fiscal indicate the unusual complexity of money involved in the sector," a Finance Ministry official said. However, nor the FIU report or the official could quantify the number of those STRs which indicate terror financing and their ultimate results as the FIU dispatches such reports to agencies like CBI, Income Tax department and Intelligence Bureau for further action. —
PTI
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For AP prisoners, relatives will
be a call away
Hyderabad, January 22 The new facility will be provided on a trial basis at Cherlapally central prison where a biometric telephone system would be installed inside the premises to enable inmates to utilise the paid facility. “They will be allowed to call their family members twice a week or eight times a month, but not all at one go. They could speak for five minutes at a time and the call charges will initially be Rs 5 per minute,” DGP (prisons) CN Gopinath Reddy said. The facility would be available to convicts and undertrials. On an average, a prisoners earn a daily income ranging from Rs 30 to Rs 50 by carrying out assigned tasks. They will be given tokens in denominations of Rs 5, Rs 10 and Rs 20 that they could use for making the phone calls. The facility is expected to be in place within a week. If the experiment is successful, it would be extended to other major prisons in the state, the DGP said. Illegal use of mobile phones by prisoners has been one of the major challenges being faced by jail officials. Installation of biometric telephone system and adoption of a more liberal approach towards the genuine needs of the inmates could help curb the menace, officials said. Phone numbers of family members of the prisoners will be registered in advance and every call would be monitored by the jail authorities. “Initially, to cover the cost of the biometric system, the inmates will be charged Rs 5 per minute. The charges will come down after six months,” Cherlapally prison superintendent KC Srinivasa Rao said. Cherlapally is the largest prison in the state with about 3,000 inmates.
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From 2013, know how your ward’s school spent its funds
New Delhi, January 22 For the first time, the government has decided to implement uniform accounting standards in central educational institutions across India and those that are under academic regulators such as the UGC and All-India Council for Technical Education (AICTE). The idea is to ensure transparency and end the practice of concealment of funds and their flow within an institution. Simply put, it means a parent will have the right to know how much money a certain school has raised on account of tuition fee and how it has spent it. Likewise, money taken by schools in the name of donations for building etc would have to be accounted for in a format which the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) has prepared for the Ministry of Human Resource Development. Accepting ICAI’s report yesterday, HRD Minister Kapil Sibal said the educational institutions would be required to implement the standards by 2013 and workshops would be held to train people to use these procedures. The ICAI report will also be placed before the April meeting of the Central Advisory Board of Education, the highest policy making body for education in India, to enable state governments to adopt the same for their schools if they want. The argument behind these uniform norms is simple. Presently, educational institutions in India follow not only diverse accounting practices, but also different basis of accounting, leaving immense scope for arbitrary reporting and concealment of money flow. The ICAI group has recommended that all educational institutions should be mandated to apply accrual basis of accounting and accounting standards issued by ICAI be made mandatory to educational institutions. The ministry has agreed to the proposal in a bid to tame corruption in the education sector. The accounting standards will be applicable to all central educational institutions, universities under the regulatory ambit of the UGC or those receiving grants from the UGC, technical institutions under the regulatory ambit of AICTE, teacher education institutions under the regulatory ambit of NCTE and schools affiliated to
CBSE.
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Lankan Navy ‘attacks’
TN fishermen; 9 missing
Rameswaram (TN), January 22 Fishermen from the island who had set out to sea in 600-odd boats were fishing near the IMBL when they were allegedly surrounded by Lankan Naval personnel and attacked with stones, forcing them to return to the shores, fisheries officials said, quoting the fishermen. This is the first attack on fishermen, allegedly by the neighbouring nation’s navy, after the External Affairs Minister raised the issue with authorities in Colombo during his visit last week. Officials said nine fishermen onboard two of the 600 boats did not return. However, it was not known whether they had been taken into custody or had strayed. According to fisherman Justin, whose boat was pelted with stones, the Navalmen attacked them with big stones damaging the windscreen of many boats. They also cut off the fishing nets and took them away. —
PTI
Pak arrests 31 Indian fishermen
Islamabad: Pakistani authorities have arrested 31 Indian fishermen and seized 14 boats for allegedly violating the country's maritime boundary, an official said on Sunday. The fishermen were detained by the Maritime Security Agency (MSA) during routine patrolling. Fourteen Indian boats with 31 crew members were "apprehended for poaching well inside Pakistani waters (approximately 110 nautical miles)", a spokesperson said. The Agency handed over the fishermen to the police in Karachi for further investigation.
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1 killed as ultras target Speaker’s house in Imphal
Imphal, January 22 In their continued attack on Congress leaders and workers in the state going to Assembly poll on January 28, militants hurled the bomb before the house of the Speaker in which one passer-by was killed. The victim's identity was yet to be established. The Speaker is safe, the police said. Two grenades were lobbed targeting two Congress workers, Ningombam Gojen (45) and N Rojen (50), in Thoubal district during the day, but they escaped unharmed, the police said. Seven insurgent outfits had announced soon after the poll notification that they would attack Congress candidates, leaders and workers as the party opposed their "cause". Since then almost every day Congressmen were under attack by the militants. They also attacked a Trinamool Congress candidate a few days ago, police said. —
PTI
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British teacher arrested for ‘inappropriate’ chatting with boy Bangalore, January 22 He has been charged under the Juvenile and Information Technology Acts, a senior police official said. Parents of the boy, whose identity was not disclosed, complained that the accused called the boy to his chamber and talked about sex and also chatted with him on the subject on a social networking site. The private school following British curriculum and a favourite among expatriates has “removed” 37-year-old Meekins till completion of the inquiry, the police said, adding his passport has been confiscated. The school management said they are deeply shocked and saddened by an unfortunate issue, wherein a parent approached the school administration with a complaint that Meekins was allegedly having inappropriate chatting sessions with the pupil. “Immediately, the management convened an emergency meeting and decided to suspend him from his current responsibilities forthwith pending investigation not withstanding his past laurels,” it said in a statement. “Thereafter, a police investigation was initiated and we have extended full cooperation to the police authorities”. — PTI
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Jantar Mantar
Oozing confidence, Sukhbir was heard telling his political opponents that his party, the Shiromani Akali Dal, which won 49 seats in the 117-member Assembly in the last elections, was set to spring a surprise this time. He went on to point out that even during the 2002 poll, the Akali Dal had won 41 seats even though there was a wave in favour of the Congress while his father, Parkash Singh Badal, had not been keeping well and he, too, had not been particularly proactive. Even at the best of times, the Congress had just managed to sneak past the half-way mark with 62 seats, he declared. Sukhbir’s analysis was, however, effectively cut short by Home Minister P Chidambaram, who patted him on the back and told him, “Don’t worry, we will win 60 seats and beat you this time again.” Although it is several days since this development took place but Delhi’s political grapevine is still abuzz about the abrupt resignation of Harish Khare, who served as the PM’s media adviser for over two years, and the induction of television journalist Pankaj Pachauri as Communication Adviser. No reasons have been forthcoming but it is said that the new appointment took Khare by surprise. Also, Khare was left with few options after the office order said that Pachauri was mandated to advise on communicating the government’s achievements to the media with a special focus on electronic and social media. It also said Pachauri would be reporting to PM’s Principal Secretary Pulok Chatterjee. Pachauri takes over at a time when the PM is being criticised personally for being indecisive while the UPA government’s reputation has taken a severe beating on the issue of corruption. Pachauri apparently has been on the government’s radar for some time, particularly after Congress president Sonia Gandhi had praised his TV programme when she met him at a social gathering and even told her son, Rahul Gandhi, to watch the show. In fact, Pachauri’s name had even been suggested for the membership of the Prasar Bharati Board. As it happens, he has now got a far more challenging assignment. Maya’s farsightedness Having learnt a bitter lesson from her past experience, the BSP leader has displayed unusual far-sightedness to ensure that these memorials don’t become a picture of neglect when she is not in power. For instance, the sprawling Ambedkar memorial, which was set up during her last regime, was closed and became an overgrown jungle when her adversary, Samajwadi Party leader Mulayum Singh Yadav, came to power. Mayawati has, therefore, gone in for the plantation of hundreds of date trees, especially ordered from outside the state, as these can survive even when there is no maintenance.
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While a section of Congressmen in the state claim the Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi is ‘very confident’ about results in Uttar Pradesh, the less vocal section wonder if he is ‘over-confident’.
Garhwa (Jharkhand), Jan 22
When Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal met senior Congress leaders at a social function recently, their conversation naturally centered around the state Assembly elections, which are less than 10 days away.
Visitors returning from poll-bound Uttar Pradesh are awe-struck by Chief Minister Mayawati’s pet projects — the various Ambedkar parks and memorials which have been set up in Lucknow during her regime. Unfazed by the scorn heaped on her for dwelling on mindless “political symbolism” instead of governance, Mayawati has remained totally focused on the development of these projects.