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Mukul Roy, Deshmukh, Jaya file papers for RS polls
Double Trouble
New warships, aircraft to take up bulk of defence spending
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Gold duty hike: Jewellers down shutters for 3 days
2G scam: Ruias, Khaitans told to appear in court ‘in their interest’
Two guilty of BPO employee's rape, murder
Aid to elderly as adult diapers to cost less
Cong MP serves privilege notice against Kejriwal
Prepare to pay more to eat out and travel
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Mukul Roy, Deshmukh, Jaya file papers for RS polls
The last day for filing of nominations for the March 30 elections is March 19. All eight candidates filed their papers before the Returning Officers of the state Assemblies concerned. AICC spokesman Abhishek Singhvi and three journalists — Kunal Ghosh, Nadimul Haque and Vivek Gupta — all Trinamool Congress nominee were the other candidates who filed their papers. Jaya is one of the six Samajwadi Party candidates. Roy, Union Minister of State for Shipping and Trinamool Congress' all-India general secretary, Ghosh, Haque and Gupta filed their papers in Kolkata as Trinamool nominees. Mamata defended her party's decision not to support Congress nominees in the elections to the Upper House from West Bengal. As the Trinamool gave a seat to the Congress in the earlier election to the Rajya Sabha, the party was this time expected to support the Trinamool in this election, she said Deshmukh filed his nomination papers in Mumbai. He was accompanied by Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, state unit Congress president Manikrao Thakre and party ministers Narayan Rane, Balasaheb Thorat, Harshvardhan Patil, Satej Patil, Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil and MLC Ulhas Pawar among others. The Union Science and Technology Minister is among the six members from Maharashtra whose Rajya Sabha membership term ends on April 2. A former Rajya Sabha member, Jaya Bachchan filed her in Lucknow in the presence of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and other party MLAs. Jaya was earlier elected to the Rajya Sabha in 2004 as SP nominee and completed her term in 2010. She, however, refused re-nomination. She is the sixth SP nominee to file her nomination for the Upper House. Naresh Agarwal, Kiranmay Nanda, Darshan Singh Yadav, Brijbhushan Tiwari and Munawwar Saleem filed their nominations yesterday. SP, which has a strength of 225 (with one Independent MLA Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiya) in the House of 403 can send six members to the Rajya Sabha. Katiyar, a BJP nominee, also filed his papers in Lucknow in the presence of senior party leaders Kalraj Misra, Suresh Khanna, and Hukum Singh. Singhvi, a Congress sitting Rajya Sabha MP, filed his papers in Jaipur. The Congress has renominated Singhvi and senior MP Narendra Budania from Rajasthan for the biennial elections for three seats to the Rajya Sabha. — PTI
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Double Trouble
Lucknow, March 17 During the oath-taking ceremony, G Patnaik, Principal Secretary to the Governor, had pointed out that Khan did not take the pledge of office and secrecy according to Constitutional procedure. Ironically, Khan was Parliamentary Affairs Minister in Mulayam Singh Yadav’s previous regime and is well-versed in rules and regulations. The anomaly had been pointed out to the minister there and then during the oath-taking ceremony at the La Martiniere Grounds on March 15 by Patnaik. Khan repeated the oath but curiously read only the half that he had already read. The irregularity became an issue when a PIL was filed in the Allahabad High Court claiming that Khan had not taken oath of office as a minister as provided in Form V of the 3rd Schedule of the Constitution. The PIL was filed by a local lawyer Yogendra Kumar Misra through his counsel Hari Shankar Jain. According to the petition, no person, in absence of a proper oath of office, can function as a minister and should be considered an usurper of the office. The petitioner had prayed that the court may issue a writ in the nature of quo warranto against Khan as he cannot function as a minister of the state. The matter is likely to come up for hearing on March 20. Khan’s swearing in is not the only issue which has caused embarrassment to Akhilesh’s government. One of the first decisions taken by CM Akhilesh Yadav regarding a two-year extension to the present Lokayukta Justice NK Mehrotra beyond his six-year term has come in question. An ordinance extending the tenure of the Lokayukta from six to eight years by amending the Uttar Pradesh Lokayukta and Up-Lokayukta Act 1975 was approved during the first Cabinet meeting on March 15. By the time, the ordinance reached Raj Bhawan for approval, well after office hours, Governor BL Joshi had left for Delhi and Justice Mehrotra’s term had come to an end as he had assumed office on March 16, 2006.
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New warships, aircraft to take up bulk of defence spending
Yesterday, when Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee announced the Budget, he allocated Rs 79,579 crore for capital expenses. The allocation is Rs 10,380 crore more than the Rs 69,199 crore allocated last year. Capital expenses are targeted specifically to purchase weapons, war planes, warships, equipment, for naval dockyards and special classified projects. Just a shade more than 40 per cent of the capital outlay has been set aside for aircraft and aero-engines. A sum of Rs 32,057 crore has been allocated for the purchase of helicopters and aircrafts for the Army, Navy and Air Force. The IAF will get Rs 23,701 crore which is directed at part payments for the heavy lift transporter - the C-17 - being imported from the US; the Mi-17-V5 series of armed helicopters from Russia; and for the upgrade of 49 Mirage-2000 combat jets. The first of the transporters from the US is expected next year, while in case of the helicopters, the first lot of some 21 machines was inducted in February this year. The payment of all such deals has been staggered. The first two of the Mirage 2000 have already been sent to the original manufacturer Dassault Aviation in France. The Army will also get Rs 3,052 crore for its aviation wing which is largely deployed in the mountains. A sum of Rs 13,617 crore has been set aside to pump in money for under-construction ships like the seaborne aircraft carrier at Kochi Shipyard, the stealth frigates being produced in Russia and submarines being produced at Mazagon Docks
Mumbai.
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Gold duty hike: Jewellers down shutters for 3 days
Mumbai, March 17 Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had proposed doubling import duty on gold to 4 per cent. The government had in January imposed a 2 per cent import duty on gold. Most bullion markets and jewellery showrooms remained closed in major cities, All India Sarafa Association president Sheel Chand Jain said. He said the association had written to Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee to rollback the proposals. Analysts say the new duties could result in gold imports falling by as much as 20 per cent. “Gold prices went up by Rs 40 per gram as soon as the Finance Minister’s proposals came in on Friday,” said Anand Zaveri, a gold jeweller in suburban Mumbai. “The demand for jewellery will certainly fall because of the higher duties,” he added. Showrooms in Mumbai’s Opera House and Zaveri Bazaar, the epicentre of the jewellery trade in the country, downed their shutters. Smaller jewellers also joined in to protest the government’s decision to impose 1 per cent excise duty on unbranded gold jewellery. According to those in the trade, these measures were being implemented to favour corporate houses selling branded jewellery. “High import duties will only give rise to smuggling and affect government revenues in the long run,” said Prithiviraj Kothai, president of the Bombay Bullion Association that took out street protests.
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2G scam: Ruias, Khaitans told to appear in court ‘in their interest’
New Delhi, March 17 The warning came from Special CBI Judge OP Saini after the Ruias and Loop Telecom promoters IP Khaitan and Kiran Khaitan failed to turn up at the hearing today. "It would be better and in their interest to appear before the court. People do not follow my advice and then they suffer," the Special CBI Judge said after they did not appear personally before him and were represented by their lawyers. The judge allowed their plea for exemption from personal appearance for the day after their counsel said the matter regarding jurisdiction of the special court in taking cognisance of the CBI chargesheet against them was pending in the Supreme Court. The court has now listed the matter for further hearing on March 31. During the hearing, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Ruias, said hearing in the apex court would continue the next week. "The hearing in the Supreme Court on jurisdiction has started and it (hearing) is kept for next Friday. Kindly give us three weeks’ time," Rohatgi said. The court, however, said it would not give time to them on the ground that matter is pending before the Supreme Court. "You will get the time but not on this count (that matter is pending in the apex court) only," the court said. — PTI
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Two guilty of BPO employee's rape, murder
Pune, March 17 The court will pronounce the quantum of sentence on Monday. The victim, who was an employee of the firm, was raped before being murdered by a cab driver and his accomplice in Pune on November 1, 2007. "There were no eyewitnesses in the case. Due to the concrete evidence and examination of 29 witnesses, the court held the two accused, Purushottam Borate (28), cab driver and his accomplice Pradeep Kokate (26) guilty," Ujjwal Nikam, special public prosecutor, told PTI. The woman was staying with her sister and brother-in-law at the time of the incident. She had joined the call centre as an associate in 2006, Nikam said. Investigating officials, who had arrested the cab driver and his friend, said the woman, who was alone in the vehicle and could not make out, which way the cab was going. She was not well-versed with the area's topography. She was raped and then strangulated with a scarf. The accused had also smashed her head with stones. Her body found in a field had deep strangulation marks on the neck and injuries on the hands and legs, Nikam said. Police said after the incident, the cab driver picked up other employees on the way, as he returned to the Wipro call centre, as if nothing had happened. — PTI
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Aid to elderly as adult diapers to cost less
New Delhi, March 17 Basic customs duty on raw materials used in the manufacture of adult diapers is proposed to be reduced from 10 per cent to 5 per cent, making the item cheaper. Pension for a differently abled person of BPL family was also raised from Rs 200 to 300 a month, but apart from this the General Budget announced today had little for the differently abled. A few references Pranab made to the disability sector in today’s speech were - “No new case of polio being reported in the last one year”; “I propose to increase monthly pension per person from Rs 200 to Rs 300 under the ongoing Indira Gandhi National Disability Pension Scheme for BPL beneficiaries”; “Aadhaar platform is being used to support the payments of disability pensions”. Among the disadvantaged, the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes have managed a fair share of allocations. In 2012-13, the allocation for the Scheduled Caste Sub Plan is Rs 37,113 crore, which marks a raise of 18 per cent over 2011-12. The allocation for the Scheduled Caste Tribal Sub Plan is also up to Rs 21,710 crore, a raise of 17.6 per cent over the Budget of 2011-12. The overall budget of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has been pegged at Rs 6,008 crore (both plan and non plan) for 2012-13. This includes allocations for SCs, OBCs, disability development and social defence where the concerns of older persons are addressed. Bulk budget (Rs 4,049 crore as against Rs 3,797 crore in 2011) of the social justice ministry in 2012-13 has, however, been set aside for the SC welfare, followed by Rs 722 crore for OBC welfare and only Rs 471 crore for the the differently abled. “The hopes of 70 million the differently abled persons have once again been dashed. There is no vision for the sector even though the 12th Five Year Plan seeks to focus on faster and inclusive development. We are heartbroken,” said Javed Abidi, convenor, Disability Rights Group, India. For the rehabilitation of manual scavengers, a scheme actively pursued by the National Advisory Council headed by UPA chief Sonia Gandhi, the Finance Minister allocated Rs 67 crore for the next fiscal. The allocation is the same as for 2011-12. Last year, the Budget was revised to Rs 67 crore as the state governments failed to use it.
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Cong MP serves privilege notice against Kejriwal
New Delhi, March 17 The Lok Sabha Secretariat has sought a reply from Kejriwal following the receipt of the notice from Verma, a Congress MP from Madhya Pradesh's Dewas, a Team Anna member said here today. This will be the second time Kejriwal has been served a privilege notice in the past seven months. In September last year, Kejriwal was served a notice for making "derogatory" remarks against Parliamentarians during Hazare's agitation. In his notice, Verma has mentioned Kejriwal's speech ast month in which he called MPs "rapists, murderers and looters". — PTI
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Prepare to pay more to eat out and travel
New Delhi, March 17 Claiming that the hike will have a detrimental effect on the tourism industry, already reeling under the burden of multiple taxes, Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO) president Subhash Goyal said we had been demanding complete exemption from service tax but it happened otherwise. India as a tourism destination is already uncompetitive when compared to countries like Malaysia, Thailand and China, the industry is seeking tax exemptions on the lines of entitlements given to export-oriented industries. “This decision will negatively impact the tourism industry as package costs will go up due to taxes on all components of tourism like air and rail tickets, hotel bookings and transport,” says Goyal, adding that “it is because of multiple taxes that Indian tour operators cannot match the prices offered by other countries” “For a European tourist operator, it works out to be cheaper to make bookings through operators based in Nepal and Pakistan because of the tax structure in these countries. We, in fact, were expecting due recognition to the industry in this Budget with an ‘Export Industry Status’ at par with export-oriented industries so that Indian holiday packages can be made competitive when compared to popular budget foreign destinations. The sector has had a poor run in the past three financial years due to global economic downturn in major traffic-generating markets, which contribute maximum tourists round the year,” Goyal adds. India scores the highest when it comes to calculating taxes on travel and tourism industry, says Subhash Verma, president of the Association of Domestic Tour Operators of India. “India works out highest taxes on travel and tourism with multiple taxes like service tax on hotel stay and food, luxury tax, value added tax, road tax… In fact, this multi-taxation amounts to 30 to 40 per cent of a holidaymaker’s bill. Instead of incentivising the sector, which is a source of precious foreign exchange and promote it, the government has burdened it with more taxes,” Verma said.
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CPM strongman Lakshman Seth arrested by CBI
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Mumbai/Kolkata, March 17
Mumbai, March 17
Mumbai/Kolkata, March 17
Trinamool chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was present at the time of filing of the papers. Roy, who is Trinamool's candidate to replace Dinesh Trivedi as Union Railway Minister after his removal was demanded by the party, has been renominated for a second term.
New Delhi, March 17
