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Bhopal Tragedy
Stratfor accused of spying for Dow on Bhopal activists
China opts out of meet on piracy in Indian Ocean
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SBI cuts education loan rates by up to 1%
SC reserves verdict on plea for
shifting Aarushi murder trial
NCTC to miss its March 1 deadline
Cops in trouble for revealing Noida rape victim’s name
Govt: Action against Siddiqui not possible
CBI to probe NRHM case
Hassan Ali Case
AK Jain
Andhra CM creates Rs 600-cr fund for spending by MLAs
Killing of fishermen: Arms from Italian ship sent to forensic lab
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India wants Dow removed as Olympics sponsors
Sports Ministry shoots off letter to IOC Tribune News Service
New Delhi, February 27 A strongly worded letter to International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge signed by Sports Ministry Joint Secretary Rahul Bhatnagar today stated: "India was dismayed that the IOC had not respected the sentiments of a large group of stakeholders, including Olympians and withdrawn its association with Dow Chemicals." The ministry said the IOC should cancel the sponsorship deal for the sake of ideals of human rights as thousands had lost their lives in the tragedy and several more continue to suffer the after-effects. "The Government of India would therefore strongly urge the IOC to go beyond lesser considerations and in the larger interest of the ideals of human rights, compassion and solidarity, immediately take steps to cancel the sponsorship of Dow Chemicals for the London Olympics thereby apart from assuaging the feelings of millions of people, send a strong message to the world over, for upholding the noble ideals of the Olympic Movement," it said. "We strongly believe that there is no better medium than sports to inculcate and foster the feeling of friendship and solidarity among the people of the world," the Sports Ministry added. Dow currently owns Union Carbide, the company responsible for the 1984 Bhopal Gas tragedy. "You are no doubt aware that Dow Chemicals is the successor company of Union Carbide, which was responsible for the unprecedented and large-scale human tragedy that occurred in 1984 in Bhopal. "For Dow Chemicals to be engaged as an official sponsor for an event like the London Olympics is extremely distressing, considering the fact that this company is linked with an event in which thousands of innocent lives were lost and an even larger number of people were incapacitated for life and for whom, even now everyday is a struggle for survival," the letter added. The IOC had earlier refused to entertain pleas by the Indian Olympic Association, saying while it appreciated IOA's concern for the victims of tragedy, Dow Chemicals had no ownership stakes in Union Carbide till 2000. The IOC also said that its relationship with Dow Chemicals was well over 30 years and it was "aware of the Bhopal tragedy while discussing the partnership with Dow". The IOA had urged the IOC and the London Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) to withdraw Dow as games sponsors. "A false campaign has been launched by Dow Chemicals saying that matter has been settled. It is not correct. The case is still pending in the court and no final compensation has been made. It is IOA's considered opinion that Dow Chemicals should be removed as the sponsors of the Games," the letter, written by IOA Acting President Vijay Kumar Malhotra to IOC President Jacques Rogge said.
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Stratfor accused of spying for Dow on Bhopal activists
New Delhi, February 27 The emails date from July 2004 to December 2011. These reveal the inner working of a company that fronts as an intelligence publisher, but provides confidential intelligence services to large corporations, such as Bhopal's Dow Chemical Co, besides US defence majors Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon and government agencies, including the US Department of Homeland Security, the US Marines and the US Defense Intelligence Agency. WikiLeaks has alleged that Stratfor monitored and analysed online activities of Bhopal activists on behalf of Dow Chemicals. It also made databases and dossiers of the activists, including those in the USA. It tracked reactions in the media about various cases in Indian courts and news items appearing in the media. The company analysed the impact for its client - Dow Chemicals. Union Carbide owned the Bhopal Chemical Plant and it paid $ 470 million as compensation to the Indian Government. US giant Dow Chemicals bought Union Carbide. WikiLeaks has also exposed the list of "Yes Men", for Dow. WikiLeaks, in its statement on the website, called Stratfor as the "shadow CIA (Central Intelligence Agency)". The emails show Stratfor's web of informers, pay-off structure, payment-laundering techniques and psychological methods. WikiLeaks also names government employees, embassy staff and journalists around the world as informants of
Stratfor. The Global Intelligence Files expose how Stratfor has recruited a global network of informants who are paid via Swiss bank accounts and pre-paid credit cards. Stratfor has a mix of covert and overt informants.
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China opts out of meet on piracy in Indian Ocean
New Delhi, February
27 The conference on "Indian Ocean challenges - a quest for cooperative solutions" is being organised by the Ministry of Defence-backed think tank, the National Maritime Foundation headed by former Naval Chief (retd) Admiral Sureesh
Mehta. Without China's participation and its cooperation, the conference is incomplete and may not throw up an exact picture for policy makers, officials maintain. The Chinese Navy is working on the high seas against piracy and has posted its warships in the Gulf of Aden to provide an escort to merchant vessels crossing the piracy-prone areas. It even cooperates in forming the escort schedule with
India. For China and India, the security of the sea lanes of communications (SLOCS) is vital. These SLOCS run across the high seas and around 82 per cent India's gas and oil needs are shipped through these waters. In case of China, around 61 per cent of its oil and gas is shipped through the Indian
Ocean. In the backdrop of China opting out of the conference, it is explicit belief that India alone cannot be the dominant player in the Indian Ocean.
Meanwhile, Defence Minister AK Antony today said the "real problem" of piracy was located on land where powerful people were backing the sea brigands and piracy cases were continuing at an alarming
rate. "While the pirates can be neutralised at sea, the real solution lies in addressing the root causes-which are complex and are actually located on land. Pirates are only the front as there are powerful people behind them," he
said. The minister said India has put forward certain proposals before the United Nations to tackle piracy, for which a consensual and cooperative effort was required.
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SBI cuts education loan rates by up to 1%
New Delhi, February 27 In order to extend financial assistance to students pursuing higher education in India and abroad at affordable rates, the SBI has reduced the rate of interest for education loans, the bank said in a statement. Education loans up to Rs 4 lakh have become cheaper by 0.25 percentage point to 13.50 per cent against 13.75 per
cent. However, loans between Rs 4 lakh and Rs 7.5 lakh will be available at 13.25 per cent against 14.25 per cent, a sharp reduction of 1 pecentage
point. Loans beyond Rs 7.5 lakh will cost 0.25 percentage point less at 12 per
cent. Under this education loan scheme, loans up to Rs 10 lakh for studies in India and up to Rs 20 lakh for studies abroad are
given. The new rates are effective from today, the bank said. Besides, under the SBI Scholar Loan Scheme extended to students joining elite institutions like IIMs/IITs/NITs etc, the new rate of interest is 200 basis above Base Rate, currently 12 per cent. — PTI
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SC reserves verdict on plea for
shifting Aarushi murder trial
New Delhi, February 27 The judgment is expected to be delivered in a few days as the Bench of Justices BS Chauhan and CK Prasad passed an order asking the trial court in Ghaziabad to adjourn the next hearing, slated for February 29 for one
week. Pleading for shifting the trial to Delhi, senior counsel Mukul Rohatgi cited more than half-a-dozen reasons in support of the dentist couple. First, Rajesh and Nupur moved from Noida to Delhi about two years ago following the “harrowing experience” they underwent after their 14-year-old daughter was found murdered at their home on May 15/16,
2008. Rohatgi also pointed out that the CBI had registered the FIR in Delhi while the distance between Noida and Delhi was half as compared to that of Noida-Ghaziabad and the travel time was even less. Further, a large number of witnesses were in Delhi and Noida, not in
Ghaziabad. He said Talwar was subjected to a brutal attack right outside the trial court on January 25, 2011 and as such there was a threat to his life there. The atmosphere in the trial court was not conducive to holding free and fair proceedings and even the court had acknowledged this by suggesting in-camera
hearings. Rohatgi also rebutted CBI’s contentions that the couple wanted the trial to be held in Delhi only to seek anticipatory bail, the provision for which was not there in Uttar Pradesh. The couple was already on bail and there was no need for anticipatory
bail. On the other hand, arguing for the CBI, Additional Solicitor General Haren Raval contended that the couple’s plea was liable to be thrown out on the sole of ground of aspersions cast on the trial court on the aspect of a fair trial. Most of the witnesses were CBI or other government officials who had no problem in traveling to Ghaziabad. While the two accused were telling the SC about the threat to their life in UP, they had not sought security from the CBI, Raval argued, contending that the plea was purely aimed at delaying the trial.
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NCTC to miss its March 1 deadline
New Delhi, February 27
The Tribune, in its edition dated February 24, had mentioned that the NCTC will miss its deadline. The MHA had announced in the first week of February that the NCTC -
a single point pan-India body - will start functioning from March 1.
The NCTC is facing stiff opposition from non-Congress Chief Ministers. The NCTC may take its shape only after a meeting of the police chiefs of all states likely to be held in Delhi on March 10. The appointments of the director and three joint directors of the NCTC have also been put on hold.
The Union Home Secretary will invite Chief Secretaries and Commissioners of Home Departments of states along with the DGPs and heads of anti-terror organisations for a meeting, possibly on March 10, to "discuss in detail the scope and functions of the NCTC", Home Ministry sources said.
Union Home Minister P Chidambaram has written a letter to the Chief Ministers explaining the NCTC.
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Cops in trouble for revealing Noida rape victim’s name
Noida, February 27 The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights and the UP State Women's Commission have issued notice to the state government asking it submit a report. The UP Police, in a damage control mode, said it had ordered an inquiry into the issue and would take "necessary departmental action". — PTI
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Polling for UP’s sixth phase today
Lucknow, February 27 The 13 districts going to polls tomorrow are: Saharanpur, Prabuddh Nagar, Muzaffarnagar, Meerut, Baghpat, Ghaziabad, Panchsheel Nagar, Gautam Buddha Nagar, Bulandshahr, Aligarh, Mahamaya Nagar, Mathura and Agra. This is also the region where the recent delimitation exercise as well as carving out of new districts has impacted the traditional electoral dynamics making things far more
unpredictable. This phase would decide the hold of RLD’s Ajit Singh on his traditional Jat vote bank. He has gambled by fielding his son Jayant Chaudhury, the sitting Mathura MP, from a predominantly Jat citadel of Maant in Mathura against a six-time veteran MLA Shyam Sundar Sharma contesting on a Trinamool Congress ticket. RLD state president and former bureaucrat Baba Hardev Singh is also making his political debut from the newly created Etmadpur constituency in
Agra. The phase would also decide the fate of another reportedly tainted minister of the Mayawati cabinet, Energy Minister Ramveer Upadhyaya, who is facing a Lokayukta enquiry. Deputy leader of BJP Legislative Party Hukum Singh and son of former BJP chief minister Kalyan Singh and a former minister Rajveer Singh are also contesting.
The disgruntled Samajwadi Party leader Rashid Masood, who quit the SP to join the Congress after the original so-called Muslim face Mohammad Azam Khan’s return to the SP, would also be eager to prove his worth. The Congress has distributed most of the tickets in Saharanpur on his recommendation. His nephew Imran Masood is in the fray from Nakud seat in
Saharanpur.
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Govt: Action against Siddiqui not possible
Lucknow, February
27 On February 22 state Lokayukta Justice N K Mehrotra had recommended a CBI and Enforcement Directorate probe against Siddiqui and his BSP MLC wife for accumulating property more than their known sources of income.
Quoting UP Lokayukta and Uplokayukta Act (1975) Section 12(4), the statement said it was not possible to take action against the minister under these rules as the charges against Siddiqui were not regarding decisions taken by him in his capacity as a
minister. Under the 1975 Act, Section 7, the Lokayukta can recommend action against a public servant only for decisions taken in his capacity as a public servant.
According to the state government press release, as such it was not possible to take action against the minister “as per rules”.
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CBI to probe NRHM case
Lucknow, February 27 In a letter written to the Centre, the state government had requested the central agency to take over the investigation of health department accountant Mahendra Kumar Sharma, whose body was found inside his locked official residence at the Pasgawan Community Health Centre (CHC) at Lakhimpur Khiri on February 15. He had been missing since February 7. Following the postmortem report, Sharma’s wife had demanded a CBI probe into the murder.
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ED summons 2 ex-employees of UBS Switzerland
Mumbai, February 27 The summons, issued on the directions of a local court, have been issued against former executive director of United Bank of Switzerland (UBS) Prabhu Guptara and former employee Peter Willie under Section 59(1) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. The duo has been asked to be present in the court anytime between April 9-13. — PTI
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Rajasthan ADGP surrenders in fake encounter case
Jaipur, February 27 Jain (59) had gone absconding after the CBI filed a chargesheet against him in June 2011 accusing him of masterminding the fake encounter of Dara
Singh. The court immediately sent him to judicial custody and the CBI would be moving for his remand
tomorrow. The CBI had mounted a lot of pressure on Jain and revoked his passport besides declaring him a proclaimed offender and also announcing a reward of Rs 10 lakh on information leading to his
arrest. The agency had initiated the process of securing an Interpol Red Corner Notice against him as there was no information available about the whereabouts of Jain, a 1978 batch IPS
officer. It was not immediately clear as to whether he had arrived from Singapore or was hiding somewhere in the
country. Jain has been named by the CBI in its chargesheet accusing him of allegedly killing Singh in 2006 when he was heading the Special Operations Group of the Rajasthan
Police. This is for the first time in the history of inception of the Indian Police Service that such a senior police officer has been declared as a proclaimed offender. — PTI
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Andhra CM creates Rs 600-cr fund for spending by MLAs
Hyderabad, February 27 But the move is seen by Opposition parties as a “clear inducement” to keep the legislators in “good humour”. “The CM discretionary fund is a euphemism for backdoor allocation of funds to favoured legislators in the name of development,” an opposition Telugu Desam Party legislator Revanth Reddy
said. The discretionary fund allows the Chief Minister to allocate funds to any MLA of his choice for any kind of scheme with no upper limit. This is in addition to the MLAs’ Constituency Development Fund (CDF) for which Rs 395 core has been earmarked for 2012-13. In effect, a total Rs 995 crore per annum would be at the disposal of the legislators for spending on development works in their
constituencies. The political observers say that this is the highest amount available to the legislators in any state under discretionary quota. The reasons for the largesse are not far to seek. The Kiran Kumar Reddy government had recently managed to survive a no-confidence motion with a slender margin and the threat of desertions to the YSR Congress Party, headed by YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, looms large over the ruling party
camp. Thanks to the political instability and continued uncertainty over the Telangana statehood issue, the legislators appear to be a pampered lot. Recently, they were showered with benefits like hefty hike in salaries and allowances, swanky SUVs and special discretionary quotas in housing schemes and
jobs. There are allegations that the Chief Minister has set up this fund to keep his flock of MLAs together, particularly in the backdrop of 17 legislators, owing allegiance to Jagan Reddy, defying the party’s whip and voting against the government during the no-confidence motion on December 25
last. While presenting the annual budget in the Assembly recently, the Finance Minister Anam Ramanarayana Reddy claimed the “unique” discretionary fund would meet the requirements of MLAs of different
regions. “The allocation will be at the sole discretion of the chief minister. He will straightway release the funds and the MLA concerned will monitor their utilisation,” a Finance Department official
said. The MLAs Constituency Development Fund, on the lines of MPs Local Area Development Scheme, was introduced during the TDP rule in 1995 when N Chandrababu Naidu was chief minister. Under the scheme, each MLA was given Rs 25 lakh per year for spending on development works in his or her constituency. Subsequently, Naidu disbanded the scheme after he came back to power in 1999 following allegations of its
misuse. The scheme was revived after K Rosaiah took over the reins of the state in September 2009 following the death of YS Rajasekhar Reddy in a helicopter crash. The amount was hiked to Rs 1 crore per year. Soon after taking over as the Chief Minister, Kiran hiked the limit to Rs 1.3 crore per year.
When revolt started brewing in the Congress and several Jagan loyalists threatened to desert the party, it was decided to set up the discretionary fund to take care of the needs of the MLAs. Defending the decision, the government Chief Whip in the Assembly G Venkata Ramana said the funds should not be viewed as bribes to MLAs as they were meant for the MLAs of all political parties. “The discretionary funds are meant for accelerated development of backward areas in the state,” he said.
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Killing of fishermen: Arms from Italian ship sent to forensic lab
Kollam, February 27 Two sealed boxes containing the fire arms, seized from Enrica Lexie on February 25, were brought from Kochi by the police officials investigating the case and produced before First Class Judicial Magistrate Dony Thomas
Verghese. After the court officials tallied the list of items furnished by the investigators against the contents in the trunk boxes, they were ordered to be taken to the Government Forensic Laboratory in
Thiruvananthapuram. Two Italian naval officials were also present when the boxes were produced in the court. Though the details of the contents had not been revealed, court sources said they included Berretta ARX-160
guns. The SIT probing the case had on Saturday searched the merchant vessel, berthed off Cochin Port, and traced the firearms used by two Italian marines, who allegedly shot dead the fishermen off Kollam coast on February 15. — PTI
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Two airport officials jailed
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New Delhi, February 27
New Delhi, February 27
Arms seized from the Italian ship Enrica Lexie in connection with the killing of two Indian fishermen in firing by its naval guards on February 15 were today sent to a forensic laboratory for examination after being produced before the magistrate court
here.
During this phase not only is the BSP’s reputation at stake but the newly formed Rashtriya Lok Dal’s Congress alliance would also be tested for its political efficacy. In 2007, the BSP had won 35 of the 68 seats making it the party which has most at
stake.
