The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

UP Ministers’ Portfolios
Akhilesh keeps lion’s share, Prison for Raja Bhaiyya

Lucknow, March 18
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav today kept the bulk of ministries, including the key Home and Finance, with him.

Interestingly, controversial independent MLA Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiyya, who was jailed by previous Chief Minister Mayawati and against whom there are pending criminal cases of attempt to murder, kidnapping and abduction, has been given the Prison Department.

In portfolio allocation by Uttar Pradesh Governor B L Joshi in consultation with the Chief Minister, Akhilesh, who was sworn in as the youngest CM on March 15 along with 28 Cabinet ministers and 19 Ministers of State, kept charge of 50 departments while his uncle Shivpal Singh Yadav was given responsibility of PWD and Irrigation.

Another senior leader and Samajwadi Party's Muslim face Azam Khan has been allocated Parliamentary Affairs, Muslim waqf, Urban Development, Minority Welfare and Haj, besides Urban Employment and Poverty Alleviation. Raghuraj Pratap Singh, whose induction in Cabinet had sparked criticism, has been allocated Food and Civil Supplies along with Prison.

Ahmad Hasan has got Medical and Health, Family Welfare and Mother and Child welfare and Balram Yadav will hold the Panchayati Raj Department.

Apart from Home and Finance, the other departments with Akhilesh are general administration, vigilance, appointment, information, tax and registration, secondary education, higher education, technical education, medical education, housing, cane development, sugar mills, IT, planning, estate, excise, power and institutional finance.

Waqar Ahmad Shah has been alloted Labour and Employment and Transport Department has been given to Raja Mahendra Aridaman Singh. P Anand Singh has been allocated agriculture and religious endowment.

Ambika Chaudhary has been given responsibility of revenue and rehabilitation department. Social welfare, SC/ST welfare departments have been allocated to Awadhesh Pratap and land development and water resources department has been given to Om Prakash Singh. Paras Nath Yadav got minor irrigation and animal husbandry, whereas child development and nutrition and basic education has been given to Ram Govind Chaudhary.

Stamp and court fee, registration and civil defence departments have been allotted to Durga Prasad Yadav, homeguards and vocational education to Brahma Shanker Tripathi.

Kameshwar Yadav has been given externally aided projects, Ambedkar village development sports and youth welfare departments.

Khadi and village industry have been allocated to Rajaram Pandey, horticulture to Raj Kishore Singh and textile industry and sericulture to Shiv Kumar Beria.

Among ministers of state (independent charge) Rajendra Singh Rana has been allocated rural engineering services, Arvind Singh Gope got rural development, Bhagwat Sharan Gangwar got small industries and Aruna Kori woman welfare and culture. Departments have also been allocated to 24 ministers of state and they have been attached to their respective Cabinet ministers. — PTI

Bypoll peaceful in 4 states, turnout moderate to heavy
Tribune News Service & PTI

New Delhi, March 18
Moderate to heavy polling was recorded in by-elections to nine Assembly constituencies and one Lok Sabha seat spread over four states that passed off peacefully today.

Fifty-five to 60% turnout was registered in Udupi-Chikmagular Lok Sabha seat in Karnataka and nearly 67% in seven Assembly constituencies in Andhra.

Seventy-five per cent voters exercised their franchise each for the Mansa seat in Gujarat and Sankarankovil (SC) in Tamil Nadu.

Nearly 67% polling was recorded in the seven assembly constituencies in Andhra Pradesh, State Chief Electoral Officer Bhanwar Lal told reporters in Hyderabad.

Six seats — Kollapur, Nagarkurnool, Mahabubnagar, Kamareddy, Adilabad and Station Ghanpur — are in Telangana region and the seventh, Kovur, is in coastal Andhra.

Byelections to five of these constituencies were necessitated by the resignation of sitting MLAs in support of separate Telangana demand.

Though Jagan's YSR Congress contested only in Kovur, the election was crucial for him as this was his first electoral battle outside his family bastion of Kadapa district.

Fifty-five to 60% turnout was registered in the Udupi-Chikmaglur Lok Sabha by-election where ruling BJP faced a litmus test, locked in a bitter contest with Congress and JD(S). The bypoll arose after DV Sadananda Gowda vacated his seat following his elevation as Karnataka CM.

The BJP fielded former Karakala MLA Sunil Kumar, the Congress former minister K Jayaprakash Hegde and the JD (S) Bojegowda.

Over 75% turnout was registered in the Mansa bypoll in Gujarat's Gandhinagar, District Collector P Swaroop said.

Around 75% polling was recorded in Sankarankovil (SC) constituency in TN and the exercise was peaceful.

(Inputs from Shubhadeep Choudhury in Bangalore & Suresh Dharur in Hyderabad)

Appointment of K’taka DGP set aside

Bangalore, March 18
The Bangalore Bench of Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) has set aside the appointment of Shankar M Bidari as the DGP of Karnataka.

The Bench of Dr Suresh and Meena Mehendil directed the state government to send all the records to the UPSC for fresh empanelling.

AR Infant, DGP (Fire, Civil Defence and Home Guards), had challenged Bidari’s appointment saying the NHRC proceedings against Bidari (when he headed the operations to nab forest brigand Veerappan) were not placed before the UPSC by the state government. — TNS

SC: Cases to go on against loan defaulters after they clear dues
R Sedhuraman
Legal Correspondent

New Delhi, March 18
The Supreme Court has ruled that criminal cases against persons who try to cheat a bank or a financial institution would continue even after the disputes were settled and dues cleared by the defaulters.

This would be so particularly in cases where the “emphasis is more on the criminal intent than on the civil aspect,” a Bench comprising Justices Altamas Kabir and J Chelameswar has held. The Bench made the clarification while rejecting the plea of two persons for quashing the criminal proceedings against them in view of the fact that they had cleared their dues under the “one-time settlement” scheme offered by the bank.

The apex court accepted the contention of Additional Solicitor General Mohan Jain that the accused could not be absolved of the offence even if they had settled their dispute with the bank in 2010 under a compromise formula.

The petitioners had secured a credit for Rs 1.88 crore in 2000 by submitting forged property documents as collaterals. The accused had also used fake import documents for getting the credit.

The court did not agree with their contention that persisting with the criminal proceedings against them would be a futile exercise.

On the powers of the court under Article 142 of the Constitution to quash any charge involving a crime against society, the Bench said this could be used only sparingly.

Convene meeting of legislative party in 48 hrs, BSY tells BJP

Bangalore, March 18
The Ruling BJP in Karnataka today plunged into a crisis with former Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa intensifying his power struggle by claiming support of over half of his party MLAs and demanded that the central leadership convene a legislature party meet within 48 hours.

"55 legislators are here today. 15 more will join tomorrow. I am confident that the BJP central leadership will take note of all these developments and take an appropriate decision as soon as possible," said Yeddyurappa, who is making a renewed bid to get the party to reinstate him as Chief Minister.

The BJP has a strength of 120 legislators, including the Speaker, in the 224-member Assembly.

"Wait for 48 hours. It is not a deadline. I am sure the party leadership will take a decision", he said, apparently indicating that the BJP leadership will have to take a call on his demand for reinstating him as Chief Minister before his successor D V Sadananda Gowda presents his maiden budget in the state Assembly on March 21.

He was talking to reporters after holding a meeting with his supporters at his residence here. — PTI

‘China hasn't diverted Brahmaputra’
Bijay Sankar Bora/TNS

Guwahati, March 18
Allaying fear over diversion of the flow of Brahmaputra River (Siang in Arunachal Pradesh) at its source in the Tibet region, the Assam Government said there was no evidence to prove that China had diverted the river.

Assam Water Resources Minister Rajib Lochan Pegu said both the Central and state government was keeping a close watch on the flow of the Brahmaputra.

“After reports of the Siang River drying up at Pasighat in Arunachal Pradesh, the state government got in touch with the Union Ministry of Water Resources and Arunachal Pradesh government officials. We found out that the changes in the river flow were a natural phenomenon based on various factors, including rainfall,” the minister said.

A section of the Indian media had reported in the wake of sharp reduction of water-level of Siang river in Arunachal that China had diverted the Brahmaputra. He clarified that there was no abnormal change in the flow of the river in the last two years.

Tribune Special
Govt agrees to reveal procedure behind selection of spy agency chief
Man Mohan
Our Roving Editor

New Delhi, March 18
In an unusual development, the Cabinet Secretariat and the PMO have agreed to furnish information on how and under what circumstances the current chief of the external spy agency, Research & Analysis Wing (RAW), Sanjiv Tripathi, was selected for the post.

RAW works under the Cabinet Secretariat and it had earlier refused to disclose the information sought under the Right to Information Act (RTI). In late February, however, it informed the Chief Information Commissioner that since the information did not relate to RAW, a body exempted from the RTI, but a decision-making process of the competent authority, it would provide the information to the applicant.

The capital is agog with speculation on why the Government agreed to part with the information and how much it would eventually reveal.

Tripathi, the 19th chief of RAW, happens to be the son-in-law of the spying agency’s seventh chief, Gauri Shankar Bajpai. Tripathi was made Secretary, RAW barely a week before he was due to retire as the chief of the Aviation Research Centre (ARC), an allied organisation dealing with aerial and signal surveillance, mainly over Pakistan and China.

The then RAW chief, K.C. Verma, said to be a close ‘friend’ of Tripathi, was due to retire at the end of January, 2011, a month after Tripathi was due to retire. But Verma inexplicably ‘resigned’ around Christmas of 2010 and is said to have ‘recommended’ the name of Tripathi as his successor.

The RTI applicant has sought information whether the Intelligence Bureau (IB) had opposed Tripathi’s appointment and whether a former Bihar Governor too had put on record his reservations about Tripathi.

The Government’s decision left others, who were in the race, in the cold. And the applicant has sought information on the procedure followed before accepting the outgoing RAW chief’s recommendation and before ruling out other contenders for the post.

The Tribune in an exclusive report - ‘It is spy versus spy’ - on November 18, 2010, had disclosed how in a cloak and dagger operation, efforts were being made to push Tripathi as the next RAW chief.

Jantar Mantar
Anita Katyal

Lalu’s bonds with Congress

Lalu Prasad

RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav may no longer be a member of the UPA government but he has not snapped ties with the Congress. On the contrary, he has further strengthened his links with the Congress through the marriage of his daughters. Earlier this year, his fourth daughter Ragini tied the knot with Rahul, son of a former Samajwadi Party MLA Jitendra Yadav, who joined the Congress on the eve of the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls. On its part, the Congress has also been quite partial to Lalu. In fact, it was generous in giving Jitendra Yadav a ticket to contest from the Sikandrabad constitutency in UP in the recent elections even at the risk of a revolt within its own cadres. And now comes news that Lalu's sixth daughter Anuskha is all set to get married to Haryana power minister Capt Ajay Singh Yadav's son Chiranjeev Rao, who is president of the state Youth Congress unit. The marriage was finalised after a PSO attached to Lalu, who hails from Haryana, suggested this alliance to the two families. It can safely be assumed that the PSO will be the guest of honour at the wedding which is set to take place in Delhi next month.

When PIB ‘misled’ journalists

Shortly after Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee presented the Budget in the Lok Sabha last Friday, an SMS was sent by the Press Information Bureau (PIB) that Union ministers Ghulam Nabi Azad, Krishna Tirath and Anand Sharma would be available for their comments on the Budget. It was suggested that journalists could get in touch with their offices for appointments. However, mediapersons drew a blank when they called for interviews as the staff members of the ministers had no clue about any such arrangement. As a result, a good idea came to naught. Another classic case of the left hand not knowing what the right is doing.

O’Brien’s ‘tolerable’ tweet

Derek O'Brien

Tech-savy Trinamool Congress spokesperson Derek O'Brien loses no time in tweeting his own and his party's views whenever the occasion arises. He was quick to tweet the party's opposition to the fare hike announced by his party colleague and Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi in his Rail Budget last week. Similarly, O'Brien put out the TMC's response to the general Budget after its presentation in the Lok Sabha. "Tolerable" he tweeted. He subsequently disclosed that he sent out the tweet only after he had looked up the definition of the word "tolerable" which read as "mediocre, endurable, bearable, reasonable and not the highest quality." O'Brien was clearly pleased as punch that he had zeroed in on such an appropriate word to convey his party's reaction. The Congress, however, did not grudge the TMC spokesperson this little pleasure as long as there were no tantrums from his mercurial leader Mamata Banerjee.

Nitish says Delhi can’t run without Biharis
Faraz Ahmad
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 18
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar launched his “national profile” in the Capital under the guise of celebrating Bihar Day here today.

Weeks before the elections to the now trifurcated Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) are scheduled, Nitish Kumar collected a formidable gathering of Biharis settled in Delhi at the Coronation Park, Kingsway Camp and implicitly threatened Delhi with a virtual blockade, in case it ignores the sentiments and aspirations of the ‘Biharis.’

Biharis and Eastern UP migrants constitute a large body of electorate in Delhi and are crucial to the successive victory of the Congress party in Delhi elections.

Ostensibly to celebrate the centenary celebrations for the creation of the state of Bihar, Kumar mentioned the tremendous effort the people of Bihar have put in building the nation as well as the national capital and regretted they were not getting their due.

He said, “Delhi is for everyone, though ever so often we (the Biharis) become the butt of jokes,” and added “Biharis don’t go out to beg” but to make an honest living through their hard work and industry and have made a place for themselves. “If there is recruitment on the moon, the people of Bihar will go there too, we are so industrious. And yet, sometimes we are made to feel unwelcome in Delhi," he regretted.

“If the people of Bihar choose to stay away from work a single day, Delhi will come to a standstill. But I am not asking you to stop working; we have as much a right to Delhi as anyone else,” he added.

He strongly pleaded for their right to work anywhere in the country, insisting that did not imply there is no work in his state. “This is our right and we will exercise it. And nobody can stop us,” he said. He later felicitated 10 Biharis from different walks of life who have made a mark in Delhi.

While officially, his aides denied any political design, political observers saw this as a well thought out exercise to project himself a leader with a following beyond the boundaries of Bihar.

Of late, Nitish has been actively confabulating and aligning with other regional satraps, Mamata Banerjee, Naveen Patnaik and Jayalalitha on issues of mutual interest like National Counter Terrorism Centre, Central grants to the states and state Lokayuktas, giving credence to the speculation about the formation of a fourth front of regional parties, sans the Congress, BJP or Left.

Decks cleared for Bihar agri-roadmap
Target: To double foodgrain output in 5 yrs
Sanjay Singh/TNS

Patna, March 18
Decks have been cleared for Bihar government’s ambitious agriculture roadmap for the next 10 years. The state’s agriculture Cabinet finally approved it in its meeting on Friday after incorporating the views of the farmers, MLAs and MLCs. The new roadmap for an amount of
Rs 1.52 lakh crore is to be implemented from April 1 this year.

The government of Nitish Kumar has set a target to double the foodgrain production following the new roadmap in the next five years.

Bihar is perhaps the first and only state to have an agriculture Cabinet comprising 18 departments. Every department would have detailed work plans in both physical and financial terms year wise and a meeting of the agriculture Cabinet would be held every three months to monitor the progress of jobs related to their respective departments.

The department of Human Resources was also brought under the purview of this Cabinet, as the state government decided to introduce agriculture as a subject right from the high school level.

A top Agriculture department officer said the new roadmap aims to bring about a rainbow revolution in the state by developing not only the farm sector but also allied sectors like dairy, poultry, fishery and food processing. The funds sanctioned for this roadmap would be spent in different areas to help farmers, like energy, rural roads, cooperatives, water resources, minor irrigation, food processing and warehousing to enhance the storage capacity of foodgrain and other food products.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had initiated preparation of an agriculture roadmap for the state in 2008. It was applicable to four years till March 31 this year.

The results of the first agri roadmap have been quite encouraging, particularly in implementation of accelerated seed extension programme, increase in plan expenditure for agriculture sector and promotion of horticulture and organic farming.

Army legal officers’ promotions stayed
Vijay Mohan/TNS

Chandigarh, March 18
The Judge Advocate General’s (JAG) Department, the Army’s legal wing, is in the eye of the storm yet again. Following a petition by a senior Judge Advocate General officer, alleging irregularities in the empanelment of officers for promotion, the Armed Forces Tribunal has stayed the proceedings of the selection board for Judge Advocate General officers, which was held by the Army headquarters last month.

The controversy arose after the Military Secretary’s (MS) Branch, responsible for officer cadre management, amalgamated two batches of officers of different seniority for empanelment. This, according to Military Secretary Branch’s own policy, cannot be permitted and has thus raised contentions that the move was aimed at pursuing vested interests.

Sources said that 11 officers of the rank of Colonel were empanelled for promotion.

The Judge Advocate General department has just about 120 officers.

Taking up a petition filed by Col Rakesh, posted at Corps 2 Headquarters, Ambala, the tribunal’s bench comprising Justice NP Gupta and Lt Gen HS Panag ordered the Army to hold promotions of Judge Advocate General officers till further orders.

In the instant case, Judge Advocate General officers of 1985 batch were empanelled to be considered for promotion with officers of the 1987 batch-two years their junior.

This is not the first case where promotion of Judge Advocate General Branch officers had been stayed on judicial intervention. Only a few weeks ago, the promotion of an officer to the top slot in the Judge Advocate General was stayed after a departmental officer moved the tribunal alleging that he had been blamed earlier by a court of inquiry for professional impropriety. The officer has since picked up his rank as Major General and is now heading the Judge Advocate General Department.

There have also been a couple of instances wherein promotion of Judge Advocate General officers to the department’s top slot were stayed by the courts.

Osmania Dalit hostellers want mess menu beefed up
Suresh Dharur/TNS

Hyderabad, March 18
A ‘meaty’ controversy has hit Osmania University in Hyderabad. Food, it seems, has become the new mode of assertion of Dalit identity.

Representatives of the Dalit Students’ Association want beef to be served in the hostel mess. “Beef is part of our food culture. But a section of the upper caste students has been ridiculing and insulting our culture. We want to end this hegemony,” claimed a representative.

At present, chicken, mutton and eggs form the non-vegetarian menu at the university hostels. With the ‘politics of food’ now entering the campus, the authorities a treading cautiously in view of the sensitive nature of the issue.

“Dalit students are justified in demanding that their food culture be respected. In democracy, the rights of individuals have to be protected,” noted Dalit writer and academician Kancha Ilaiah told The Tribune.

He lamented that the authorities have been imposing ‘food fascism’ in the name of caste and religion and called for respecting Dalit food culture.

The students are also planning to organise “Beef Festival” on the campus. Beef will be cooked and then served to the gathering as an expression of our identity and right, they said.

The festival is being planned to coincide with the birth anniversary celebrations of BR Ambedakar on April 14, Jyotiba Phule on April 11 and Babu Jagjivan Ram on April 5. Given the history of caste tensions on the campus, there are fears that the issue may become a flashpoint.

University authorities have refused permission to conduct such a festival. “We have received a representation seeking permission for conducting this festival. But, the matter is very sensitive and we cannot take a decision in a hurry,” Vice-Chancellor S Satyanarayana said.

University officials said a section of the students were strongly opposing the conduct of beef festival as it would “hurt the sentiments” of some sections. In the past, there were some instances of scuffle between members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad and Dalit students over the latter’s attempt to hold beef festival on the campus.

Meaty row

Representatives of the Dalit Students' Association want beef to be served in the hostel mess. Beef is part of our food culture, they say

At present, chicken, mutton and eggs form the non-vegetarian menu

Dalit students are planning to organise a ‘Beef Festival’ on the campus as an expression of their identity and right

Army legal officers’ promotions stayed
Vijay Mohan/TNS

Sources said that 11 officers of the rank of Colonel were empanelled for promotion.

The Judge Advocate General department has just about 120 officers.

In the instant case, Judge Advocate General officers of 1985 batch were empanelled to be considered for promotion with officers of the 1987 batch-two years their junior.

There have also been a couple of instances wherein promotion of Judge Advocate General officers to the department’s top slot were stayed by the courts.