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Telangana agitations
Adarsh housing scam |
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Dharmendra, Shabana get Padma Awards BJP to take call on second term for Gadkari next month Czech firm Tatra calls Ravi Rishi’s bluff CBI files second chargesheet in NRHM scam
India congratulates victorious Suu Kyi
Junior staff of Kingfisher Airlines get salaries
PIL in SC against next Army Chief
Anticipatory bail to Akhil Gogoi
Tipsy pilots may lose licence Cop, who cracked Park Street rape case, shifted
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Apex court raps Andhra Govt
New Delhi, April 4 A Bench of justices GS Singhvi and SJ Mukhopadhyaya directed the Andhra Police chief and Home Secretary to file affidavits detailing the preventive measures and subsequent actions taken to curb violence in the high court premises. It also asked the Indian Railways to file its reply, detailing the loss suffered by it during the stir. The Bench gave the orders while hearing advocate PV Krishnaiah's plea for actions against the perpetrators of the violence and compensation for those killed and wounded in the ongoing two-year-old stir for a separate state. The petitioner contended that normal activities in the state, including those in courts, were paralysed during the stir with the agitationists hurling missiles at judges in court rooms and prevented them from functioning. "What are you doing? You are supporting vandalism. What have you been doing all these times? You should have physically prevented them. It is sheer goondaism in the high court. This seems to be something extra-ordinary. What is this? You (advocates) would have even killed that judge. The state is watching like a silent spectator," the bench told counsel Nageshwar Reddy, who appeared for the state. The apex court bench pulled up the state government as even the state high court's Registrar General had supported the petitioner's allegations in an affidavit and had admitted that 'missiles' were thrown at the judges in court halls 6 and 32, particularly between September 14 and 16, 2010. — PTI
JAC deadline
HYDERABAD: The Telangana Political Joint Action Committee (JAC) has threatened to intensify its agitation once again if the ruling Congress fails to make its stand clear on the issue before the Parliament resumes for the second part of the Budget session on April 24
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Noose tightens around ex-CM Ashok Chavan
Shiv Kumar/TNS
Mumbai, April 4 He is among the last of the high-profile accused named in the case who are still to be arrested. Those arrested by the CBI so far include former Maharashtra Information Commissioner Ramanand Tiwari, former Mumbai Municipal Commissioner Jairaj Phatak, former Mumbai Collector Pradeep Vyas, Congress leader and co-promoter of the Adarsh Society Kanhaiyalal Gidwani and retired Army officers. Phatak and Tiwari who were detained by the CBI for questioning, were formally arrested on yesterday evening. According to sources, both were subjected to prolonged questioning. CBI officials have so far refused to say whether Ashok Chavan will be called for questioning. “If necessary, we will question those accused in the case,” a senior CBI official said. According to sources, Chavan, who had to resign as the Chief Minister for holding three flats in the society in the name of his relatives, has been named by several accused as having played a major role in obtaining permissions for the controversial project. During his tenure as the Revenue and Forest Minister, Ashok Chavan had sent a proposal to amalgamate a plot of land meant for a bus depot with the adjoining Adarsh Housing Society land. The proposal was sent to then Secretary, Urban Development, Ramanand Tiwari who forwarded the same to then Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh who headed the department. Deshmukh cleared the proposal. He later said he had done so since it was suggested by his cabinet colleague. There is a buzz among Maharashtra bureaucratic circles that former Principal Secretary in the Chief Minister’s Secretariat Subhash Lala will be the next on the CBI’s radar. Lala was closely associated with former Chief Ministers Chavan and Vilasrao Deshmukh when crucial decisions regarding the Adarsh Society were taken, sources say.
CBI custody
Former Maharashtra Urban Development Principal Secretary Ramanand Tiwari and ex-BMC chief Jairaj Pathak were on Wednesday remanded in CBI custody till April 12 by a special court here for their alleged role in the Adarsh scam. Both bureaucrats were arrested yesterday by the CBI after they were questioned in connection with the scam. — PTI
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Dharmendra, Shabana get Padma Awards
New Delhi, April 4 Miranda's son Rahul received the Padma Vibhushan from Patil at a ceremony at the Rashtrapati Bhawan, which was attended by Vice President Hamid Ansari, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and a host of other dignitaries. A loud round of applause reverberated in the majestic Durbar Hall when filmstar Dharmendra stepped forward to receive the Padma Bhushan award from the President. Shutterbugs had a field day as actor-turned-activist Shabana Azmi received the Padma Bhushan. Among the Padma Bhushan awardees were literary theorist Homi K Bhabha, violinist MS Gopalakrishnan, Tata Steel vice chairman B Muthuraman, former bureaucrat Mata Prasad, mathematician Raghunathan, jurist P Chandrasekhara Rao, Vittal, neurologist Noshir Hormusji Wadia and former Singapore Foreign Minister George Yong-Boon Yeo. Eminent painter KG Subramanyan (Padma Vibushan), Satya Narayan Goenka and Jose Pereira (Padma Bhushan) were not present at the ceremony. Among the Padma Shri awardees were industrialist Swati Piramal, eminent diabetologist V Mohan, former hockey Olympian Zaffar Iqbal, archer Limba Ram and cricket commentator of yesteryear Ravi Chaturvedi. Yakshagana exponent Ramachandra Subraya Hegde Chittani, sitar maestro Shahid Parvez Khan, terracotta artist Mohan Lal Kumhar, Rajasthani folk musician Sakar Khan Manganiar also received the Padma Shri. Odissi dancer Minati Mishra, theatre personality R Nagarathnamma, Lavani exponent Yamunabai Waikar and Chhau dancer Gopal Prasad Dubey Art also received the Padma Shri. Among the other Padma Shri awardees were Laila Tyabji (handicrafts), Vijay Sharma (painting), Reeta Devi, Niranjan Pranshankar Pandya, Sat Paul Varma and Phoolbasan Bai Yadav (social work). Scientists V Adimurthy, Virander Singh Chauhan, Vijaipal Singh, YS Rajan and Jagdish Shukla were among the Padma Shri awardees. Distinguished chartered accountant Yezdi Hirji Malegam, industrialists Gopinath Pillai and Swati A Piramal, archaeologist K Paddayya and environmentalist Kartikeya V Sarabhai received the Padma Shri. Prof Mahdi Hasan, Shrinivas S Vaishya and Vallalarpuram Sennimalai Natarajan received the Padma Shri in the medicine category. The Padma Shri conferees in the Literature and Education category were Eberhard Fischer, Surjit Singh Patar, Irwin Allan Sealy, Sachchidanand Sahai and Ralte L Thanmawia. Prabhakar Vaidya received the Padma Shri in the Physical Education category, while T Venkatapathi Reddiar was honoured for his contribution to horticulture. Homeopath Late Jugal Kishore was also among the Padma Shri awardees but no one from his family was present to receive the award.
— PTI |
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BJP to take call on second term for Gadkari next month
New Delhi, April 4 The meeting has assumed importance because the party has to take a call on a proposal to grant second term to Gadkari as the party president. This will be the first formal meeting of the party after the UP Assembly and Rajya Sabha elections, wherein it earned flak for its poor performance. While there is every likelihood that the national council may approve the amendment providing for a second term to the president. The number of Gadkari critics is also swelling. They include top leaders like LK Advani, Sushma Swaraj, Murli Manohar Joshi, Yashwant Sinha, Shanta Kumar, Vinay Katiyar and Vijay Goel. In the BJP parliamentary party meeting on March 20, Yashwant Sinha criticised Gadkari’s decision to back NRI businessman Anshuman Mishra’s candidature for Rajya Sabha poll. The incident brought out in the open the growing unease over the party president’s decisions. According to a source, realising that Gadkari enjoyed trust and backing of the RSS and that the sangh was keen on giving Gadkari a second term, a senior BJP leader from Madhya Pradesh recently went to Nagpur to broach the subject with sangh leaders. Gadkari’s source of strength lies in the fact that there is no consensus on any other name. Some leaders have thrown up the name of Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi as a possible replacement of Gadkari. Some, however, also saw Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as a potential candidate for the post. But Modi would be busy with Assembly elections till January, while the organisational election process had to begin in July-August this year.
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Czech firm Tatra calls Ravi Rishi’s bluff
Bangalore, April 4 In a statement, the Czech heavy duty truck makers said, “The British company Vectra Ltd. (which is owned by Rishi) is a minority stakeholder in Tatra Holdings and in principle holds one of the four votes”. This is contrary to what Vectra would like people to believe with regard to its relations with the Tatra truck. According to declaration published in the Vectra group website (www.vectragroup.com), “Vectra is the largest shareholder of the consortium Tatra Holding s.r.o. that owns Tatra a.s.”. The Tatra, a.s. statement, issued from Koprivnice in Czech Republic by the company’s media representative Vladimir Bystrov, said Rishi would be asked to give an explanation about the CBI probe against him. “Tatra will request Mr Rishi and Vectra Ltd. for an explanation about any investigation against him and Vectra Ltd by the Indian CBI as it relates to sales of products branded with the Tatra name. Otherwise, Tatra, a.s. has no responsibility for actions taken or claims made by unrelated third parties with whom it has no relationships” the statement added. Rishi, who is already facing a CBI probe, has been accused of floating a company by the name of Tatra Sipox and entering into a criminal conspiracy with the Bangalore-based BEML for subverting the contract for supplying Tatra, a.s, trucks to the Indian Army. The Tatra statement sent to The Tribune does not touch upon the issue of the mysterious Tatra Sipox reportedly based in Surrey in UK. According to Tatra, it sends portions of the truck to India for final assembly by the BEML. Tatra also makes strong comments about Ural India, a joint venture between Motijug Agencies Ltd. of India with Uralaz of Russia. It said that over the past 20 years, Tatra, a. s. had never received any complaints from BEML or its customers expressing dissatisfaction with the
quality, service life, or technical specifications of Tatra trucks. “Tatra continues to receive orders for its component parts for several hundred trucks for the
Indian market each year, including current production orders in 2012”, the statement said.
'Criminal conspiracy'
Rishi, who is already facing a CBI probe, has been accused of floating a company by the name of Tatra Sipox and entering into a criminal conspiracy with the Bangalore-based BEML for subverting the contract for supplying Tatra trucks to the Indian Army. Tatra would ask Rishi to give an explanation about the CBI probe against him.
Minority stakeholder
The British company Vectra Ltd. (which is owned by Rishi) is a minority stakeholder in Tatra Holdings and in principle holds one of the four votes. — A company spokesman
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CBI files second chargesheet in NRHM scam New Delhi, April 4 Besides Ram, others named in the chargesheet are former Uttar Pradesh Small Industries Corporation MD Abhay Kumar Bajpai, area manager Sanjeev Kumar and owner of a private firm Saurabh Jain, official sources said. The chargesheet was filed before a designated CBI court in Ghaziabad against the accused. The chargesheet alleged that the contract was awarded in a pre-decided manner in procurement of medical equipment amounting to Rs 4.42 crore to two Moradabad (UP) based firms by the then Director General (Family Welfare) through the UPSIC, thereby causing a loss of Rs 1.5 crore to the exchequer. The NRHM funds to the tune of Rs 10,000 crore were allocated to Uttar Pradesh for the period 2005-06 till date by the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry. The CBI had filed its first chargesheet yesterday against former Uttar Pradesh Jal Board General Manager PK Jain and others for allegedly causing a loss of Rs 5.46 crore in the upgrading work of 134 district hospitals. Meanwhile, CBI sources said former Health Minister Babu Singh Kushwaha and MLA RP Jaiswal were not included in list of the accused in the chargesheet. — PTI
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Naga rebels pin hopes on Delhi talks
Guwahati, April 4 Both the leaders before leaving for New Delhi exuded hope that the Government of India would go for a settlement this time and claimed that their hopes are based on the positive attitude shown by both the Prime Minister and the Union Home Minister during the meeting held in New Delhi last year. Chief negotiator for NSCN-IM and general secretary Th Muivah said, “We are waiting for a final response from the Government of India. Our (Nagas) history is unique and our solution should also be based on the uniqueness of Naga history.” The next round of talks is to be held likely in second or thirds week of this month. The civil society in Nagaland is wary of the uneasy peace prevailing in the state because of continuing rivalry among various factions of the NSCN, while the most influential faction, the NSCN-IM, has remained engaged in talks with the Government of India. The apex civil society banner organisation Naga Hoho and the Church-backed Federation of Naga Reconciliation (FNR) have been trying hard to make peace among the NSCN factions so that the Government of India is sufficiently assured to have an agreement with the NSCN-IM that will be all acceptable in the Naga society. The FNR’s efforts for reconciliation of all Naga rebel groups to facilitate a final solution to Naga insurgency problem recently suffered a setback with the SS Khaplang-led NSCN-K deciding to pull out of the reconciliation process. The NSCN-K, which has its base in Myanmar, has apparently decided to pull out of the reconciliation process protesting its rivals’ - NSCN-IM, Khole-Kitovi faction of the NSCN and S Singnya faction of Naga National Council (NNC) - decision not to help any rebel group of the region ‘averse’ to the Naga political cause and territorial integrity of the Nagas in North East. The NSCN-K runs a profitable business of providing logistics to other N-E rebel groups to set up bases inside Myanmar territory close to N-E India.
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India congratulates victorious Suu Kyi
New Delhi, April 4 "We welcome the successful conduct of byelections in Myanmar," External Affairs Ministry spokesman Syed Akbaruddin said. The results announced so far show that New Delhi-educated Suu Kyi's NLD has bagged 40 of the seats declared out of the 45, for which polling took place on Sunday. "We extend our heartiest congratulations to Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD. These elections represent a major milestone in Myanmar's transition towards multi-party democracy," Akbaruddin said. At the invitation of Myanmar, India sent Election Commission officials as observers for the elections. India's ambassador to Myanmar also observed the elections in Yangon region. "We congratulate the Myanmar Election Commission, the government and people of Myanmar on the peaceful and smooth manner in which elections have been held," the official said. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is expected to visit Myanmar next month.
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Junior staff of Kingfisher Airlines get salaries
Mumbai, April 4 The payment comes following KFA chairman Vijay Mallya's assurance to the employees on Monday that their dues would be paid in a staggered manner by April 10.
— PTI
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PIL in SC against next Army Chief
New Delhi, April 4 Lt Gen Bikram Singh, currently the Eastern Army Commander, is to succeed General VK Singh who demits office on May 31. The petitioners alleged that Lt Gen Bikram Singh was involved in the fake encounter and the case is pending J&K High Court. —
PTI
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Anticipatory bail to Akhil Gogoi
Guwahati, April 4 Justice P K Mushahary granted the bail to Gogoi with conditions. The conditions are that Gogoi will appear before the Investigation Officer of Dispur police station once a month for a period of four months and also cooperate with the investigation process.
— PTI
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Tipsy pilots may lose licence New Delhi, April 4 Flight crew is not allowed to drink 12 hours before operating flights. According to data presented in Parliament, 57 tipsy pilots were caught between January 2009 and November 2010, but only 11 were dismissed. For the first offence, such pilots would be kept off flying duty and the licence suspended for three months. The licence would be cancelled for five years in case he is caught again. In case a senior pilot - such as an instructor, examiner or a check pilot - is found drunk during the pre-flight medical examination, he would lose his position "for at least three years in addition to the action" already recommended, the rules said. According to the Cabin Safety Circular 2 of 2012, airlines have also been asked to "record, maintain and submit the BA Positive data to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation office on a monthly basis."
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Cop, who cracked Park Street rape case, shifted Kolkata, April 4 Sen, who was heading the inquiry, was given a less important posting at the Barrackpore police training college as the DIG today. It is evident that Sen had become a victim of the Chief Minister’s wrath, though according to the official sources, it is termed as a routine transfer. The rape incident on the Christian woman, which had caused uproar in the city, has cast an aspersion on the functioning of the police department, which was looked after by Mamata. Soon after a meeting with the city police chief Ranjit Pachananda and her main lieutenant Partha Chatterjee at the Writers’ Buildings on the day, Mamata had denied the happening of any such incident. It is false and fabricated and an attempt to malign her government, Mamata promptly came out in the public. However, Sen, who was heading the inquiry, gave a different picture of the incident. The rape incident was true and the culprits could be identified too, she told the mediapersons.
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Following the arrest of two senior bureaucrats in connection with the Adarsh housing scam yesterday, the noose seems to be tightening around the neck of former Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok
Chavan.
Late cartoonist Mario Miranda, actors Dharmendra and Shabana
Azmi, top mathematician MS Raghunathan, former Chief Vigilance Commissioner N Vittal and industry leader B Muthuraman were among those conferred with the Padma awards by President Pratibha Patil here today.
Miranda's son Rahul received the Padma Vibhushan from Patil at a ceremony at the Rashtrapati
Bhawan, which was attended by Vice President Hamid Ansari, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and a host of other dignitaries.
The BJP is likely to hold its once-a-year national council meeting in Shimla next month. While BJP general secretaries met at the residence of president Nitin Gadkari last night and
held discussions on the venue and rough dates for the meeting, the final decision is likely to be taken only after wider consultations.
