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Mamata cartoon row
Mumbai Cong ex-chief booked under Arms Act
Laxmikant Vajpayee chosen BJP’s UP president
UP withdraws cases against protesting farmers
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Mild quakes in M’rashtra, Gujarat
Leaders pay floral tributes to Dr Ambedkar
Akhilesh meets PM, seeks smooth
fund transfer for Central schemes
Illiteracy costs India $53 billion every year
NCTC not to be discussed at CMs’ meet tomorrow
Sibal regrets poor education figures in India
India, Pak to speed up talks on trade in petro products
Sacked MCI secy moves CAT against ‘illegal termination’
Govt values freedom of expression, says US historian
Rongali Bihu marks Assamese New Year
Govt in back-channel efforts for release of Odisha MLA
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4 held for assaulting Jadavpur varsity prof, released on bail
Subhrangshu Gupta Tribune News Service
On the professor’s allegations that he had been assaulted and threatened with dire consequences by some TMC workers on Thursday night for posting the cartoons, the police today arrested four TMC workers, including Arup Mukherjee and Amit Sardar. But soon, they were given bail on personal security bonds of Rs 500 each by the Alipore court where they were produced. Incidentally, it was Sardar who had lodged the FIR against the professor at Jadavpore police post. Mahapatra today denied that he had drawn any cartoon to defame the Chief Minister. He said that when he saw the cartoon in his email, he found it humorous and accordingly, he shared it with others. He said that he had no intention to belittle anybody. Prof Mohapatra and his neighbour Subrata Sengupta were arrested yesterday for posting a cartoon on a social network site featuring Mamata Banerjee with Railway Minister Mukul Roy and his predecessor Dinesh Trivedi. The cartoon showed the Chief Minister and the Railway Minister exchanging dialogues from a popular Bengali film by Satyajit Ray which alluded to the replacement of Dinesh Trivedi by Mukul Roy as Railway Minister. (With PTI inputs)
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Mumbai Cong ex-chief booked under Arms Act
Mumbai, April 14 The former Mumbai Congress President possessed 14 bullets of 12 bore, 72 cartridges of .32 bore, nine of 7.65 bore and 15 bullets of 8 mm calibre, all beyond permissible limits. The bullets were recovered from his flat in suburban Bandra last month, they said. While attaching properties of the former Maharashtra Minister as per a Bombay High Court order, a Special Investigation Team (SIT) stumbled upon 400 ‘live’ bullets at his flat, the sources said. After going through the firearm licences issued to the Congress leader and his family, the SIT concluded that Singh, also an MLA, held 110 bullets more than the limits set by the licence terms, police sources said. "Subsequently, an FIR was registered against Singh under relevant sections of the
Arms Act and he was declared a wanted accused," said an officer at Nirmal Nagar
police station. The Economic Offences Wing of Mumbai Police in March attached all properties of Singh and his family in the city after lodging an FIR against them in the DA case. Singh and his family owned 12 properties in Mumbai, one each in Panvel, Ratnagiri (Maharashtra) and another
in his native place in Uttar Pradesh, according to the HC order. The HC had on February 22 ordered the prosecution of Singh for "criminal misconduct" under the Prevention of Corruption Act and attachment of his properties. His family members were alleged to have abetted the commission of offence. — PTI
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Laxmikant Vajpayee chosen BJP’s UP president
New Delhi, April 14 Simultaneously, BJP president Nitin Gadkari announced for the other UP vice-president Mahender Singh the lone seat in the Legislative Council in BJP’s quota. Shahi, who lost the Assembly elections last month, has been elevated as a special invitee member of the party’s national executive. These have been described by political observers as routine promotions. UP BJP leaders met at Gadkari’s home throughout yesterday and discussed the reasons for their failure, as also what should be done to improve the situation including who should lead the party in the state and who should be sent to the Legislative Council. Sources said even after day-long deliberations, the party failed to arrive at a consensus. After this, Gadkari was authorised to arrive at a decision on the issue and he announced his nominees today. Sources claim Laxmikant Vajpayee is a three-time MLA from Meerut and also a senior vice-president of the UP BJP. Observers pointed out he is hardly known in Lucknow and least of all in Delhi. Even Surya Pratap Shahi, whom Vajpayee succeeds and who had been inducted ostensibly to attract the Bhumihar vote traditionally gravitating towards the BJP, proved to be no vote-catcher.
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UP withdraws cases against protesting farmers
Lucknow, April 14 The farmers’ protest against acquisition of their productive agricultural land near Mathura and Aligarh by the then Mayawati government had brought the government’s land acquisition policy under sharp focus, especially when Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi had taken proactive interest in the issue. Describing the cases against the farmers as “fake”, a state government press statement said following a probe, it was found that the farmers’ agitation was a peaceful one launched by agriculturists to safeguard their interests in the face of the then BSP government forcibly taking over their land and livelihood. The government said the cases were pending in a judicial court in Mathura and it was of the opinion that farmers were being “unduly victimised”, because of which, it was withdrawing the cases against them. The orders have been sent to the competent authorities, the statement said.
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Mild quakes in M’rashtra, Gujarat
A quake measuring 5 on the Richter scale was experienced in parts of western Maharashtra at 10.50 am. Its epicentre was Goshatwadi village, about 10 km from Koyana dam in Satara district, the Met office in Pune said. An aftershock of 4.4 magnitude was registered an hour later, it said.
A quake, measuring 4.1 on the Richter scale, was felt at 8.55 am in parts of Gujarat. The earthquake had its epicentre at Vamka taluka in Kutch, which is an active fault line, scientists at Institute of Seismological Research said. An aftershock measuring 2.9 was also felt, they said. Besides Kutch district, tremors were experienced in parts of Saurashtra region. No loss of life or damage to property has been reported so far in Gujarat, officials said. — PTI
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Leaders pay floral tributes to Dr Ambedkar
New Delhi, April 14 Among the dignitaries who paid tributes were several Union Ministers, MPs and former MPs. Secretary-General of Rajya Sabha VK Agnihotri and senior officers of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha Secretariats also paid tribute. A booklet containing the profile of Dr Ambedkar in Hindi and English brought out by the Lok Sabha Secretariat was presented to the dignitaries who attended the function.
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Akhilesh meets PM, seeks smooth
fund transfer for Central schemes
Lucknow, April 14 During the hour-long meeting at the PM’s 7 Race Course residence, the CM requested a smooth transfer of central funds to accelerate development projects especially in the infrastructure sector which was his government’s top priority. The 38-year-old Chief Minister requested adequate funds to implement his government’s commitments on roads, power, education, health, drinking water, irrigation, flood control, social welfare and the development of backward regions in the state. He also asked for an upward revision in the budget for the organisation of the 2013 Kumbh mela. One of the major concerns which the CM shared with the PM was the acute shortage of power in the state partly due to the shortage of coal and the delay in BHEL fulfilling its obligation of providing fresh machinery for upcoming projects. “There was a peak shortfall of around 2,000 MW which was covered by overdrawing from the grid,” Yadav told Dr Singh. Expressing the need for around Rs 11,800 crore for linking all the district headquarters with four-lane roads, Yadav asked the Prime Minister for an annual grant from the central road fund. Demanding more resources for the development of Bundelkhand and Purvanchal regions, Yadav informed Manmohan Singh that the present fund allocated by the 13th Finance Commission of the Planning Commission for this purpose was inadequate. Later, the CM paid a courtesy visit to Rashtrapati Bhawan, accompanied by senior officers, and apprised President Pratibha Patil of his government’s developmental projects.
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Illiteracy costs India $53 billion every year
Of this, the Indian economy alone is losing $53.56 billion annually, lesser only to China’s which is losing $ 135.60 billion. The cumulative loss of illiteracy
to the economies of developed countries, emerging economies and
developing countries has been put at $ 803.94 billion; $ 381.11 billion and $ 5076.48 billion, respectively. Published by the World Literacy Foundation and released to coincide with the just concluded World Literacy Summit, the report titled, “The Economic and Social Cost of Illiteracy: A Snapshot of Illiteracy in A Global Context” assesses functional illiterates which UNESCO defines as “people who can read and write simple words but can’t apply these skills to tasks such as reading a medicine label, balancing a cheque book or filling a job application”. A report by World Literacy Foundation states that the cost of illiteracy to the global economy is $1.19 trillion The research highlights the social and economic impact of a person’s inability to read and write It reveals, quite shockingly, that more than 796 million people globally cannot read and write Around 67 million children don’t have access to primary school education and another 72 million miss out on secondary education The research highlights the social and economic impact of a person’s inability to read and write. It reveals, quite shockingly, that more than 796 million people globally cannot read and write. About 67 million children don’t have access to primary school education and another 72 million miss out on secondary education. The report states that the cost of illiteracy to the global economy is $1.19 trillion and the effects of illiteracy are very similar in developing and developed countries. It calculates the cost of illiteracy to a developed nation at 2 per cent of its GDP while the loss to an emerging economy like India and China would be around 1.2 per cent of the GDP and to a developing country 0.5 per cent c of the GDP. “These figures are based on a sample study of countries in each category based upon UNESCO’s mathematical formula for calculating the economic impact of illiteracy,” the authors say. Even the UK, it shows, needs to make 95 per cent population functionally literate to bring itself in line with the upper quartile of OECD (Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development) nations. “This will be a challenge considering 70 per cent people who will be in the workforce by 2020 in the UK have already left school,” the report states. Calling for ways to bring children to schools and retain them, the Report says that illiterates earn 30 to 42 per cent less than their literate counterparts as they don’t have the literacy skills required to undertake further vocational education training to improve their earning capacity. The report also establishes a link between illiteracy and crime saying majority of prison inmates across the world have poor literacy skills. Also amongst juvenile delinquents, up to 85 per cent are functionally illiterate. “In various nations, estimates show that 60 to 80 per cent prisoners have reading and writing skills below basic levels,” the report says calling for incentives to also help parents overcome the negative attitudes towards education and for breaking geographical barriers to education.
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NCTC not to be discussed at CMs’ meet tomorrow
New Delhi, April 14 But the contentious issue of the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) will not be discussed then as a special meeting from May 5 has been scheduled for it. It too will be addressed by the Prime Minister . Following pressure from states, the issue of NCTC had to be taken off the agenda for the annual meeting on internal security.
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Sibal regrets poor education figures in India
New Delhi, April 14 Inaugurating the centenary celebrations for the Anjumane Wazifae Sadat wal momineen (Association for scholarships for Syeds and faithfuls), a Shia body promoting education through scholarships, Sibal said that India was determined to improve the figure to 30 per cent by the year 2020 and up to 50 per cent by 2030. Earlier, the organisers informed that the association disburses scholarships to non-Muslim children too. — TNS
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India, Pak to speed up talks on trade in petro products
New Delhi, April 14 Energy-deficient Pakistan has expressed keenness to buy petroleum products and electricity from India. New Delhi has said it was favourably looking into
the proposal. The joint statement said the commerce ministers expressed their joint wish that the business visa regime between the two countries needed to be liberalised at the earliest. It was noted that a formal decision on this was expected to be taken at the forthcoming meeting between the Home/Interior secretaries of the two countries in Islamabad. The Pakistan side stated that through a Cabinet decision in 2009, the flow of items was linked to provision of adequate infrastructure at the check post. "...It (Pakistan) would take the case to the Cabinet on the basis of the additional capacity created through the new ICP," the joint statement said, adding Islamabad would take necessary steps to remove extant restriction on items permitted through the land route. It was felt by both sides that the new infrastructure would permit trade to be conducted over longer hours during any working day. Both sides expressed satisfaction that the transition process for complete normalisation of the
trading of goods and services, including investment, has started. There has
been a substantial increase in the list of commodities permitted to be imported from India. The joint statement noted that this was the third bilateral meeting between the Commerce Ministers of the two countries within a time span of less than seven months. ‘’This is a testimony of the political commitment on both sides to normalise and strengthen the bilateral trade and commercial relationship,’’ it added.
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Sacked MCI secy moves CAT against ‘illegal termination’
New Delhi, April 14 Sharma, appointed as Secretary, MCI last year after due process being followed by former MCI BOG headed by SK Sarin, was sacked at a notice of two hours on March 30. She was delivered the termination letter at 2.30 pm and asked to hand over charge to Additional Secretary of MCI P Prasannaraj. Sharma, a permanent MCI employee, has moved CAT on two major grounds — she was terminated against the law as no reason was ascribed for her termination; the additional secretary who was asked to take over charge from her had been declared ineligible for the post last year when he had moved CAT against Sharma’s appointment as Secretary. The CAT had admitted the plea against the Ministry of Health and the MCI Board of Governors headed by Dr KK Talwar as the chairman. Sangeeta stated in her petition to CAT that she completed her probation in the MCI on March 23 and was hence a permanent employee. She said although the MCI sacked her and gave her salary and allowances against the three months mandatory notice period, she could not have been terminated on such grounds. “A permanent employee cannot be sacked by paying off salary against the notice period. Service of the notice is essential so is the mentioning of reasons behind termination. Further, Prasannaraj, who has been handed charge, was declared ineligible for Secretary’s position last year,” she stated in her petition. An issue against Sharma’s appointment was that it was made without approval of Appointments Committee of the Cabinet. Sharma argues in her petition that all past secretaries to the MCI have been appointed without the ACC approval.
Two grounds Sharma, a permanent MCI employee, has moved CAT on two grounds — no reason was ascribed for her termination; the additional secretary asked to take over charge from her had been declared ineligible last year when he had moved CAT against Sharma’s appointment as Secretary.
‘inappropriaTe’ The MCI Board of Governors terminated Sharma’s services after an inquiry committee it constituted found her appointment inappropriate. An issue against Sharma’s appointment was that it was made without approval of Appointments Committee of the Cabinet.
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Thackeray praises Nitish, ridicules Raj
Mumbai, April 14 "The role of the "natwarya" (veteran actor) to first oppose and then not to oppose has been exposed. The delicious 'vada' (a local snack) has become 'rabdi' (a sweet dish)," he said in an editorial in party mouthpiece 'Saamana'. Votebank politics hinges on 'nautanki' (drama) and 'tamasha', he said, taking potshots at Raj for his flip-flop over Kumar's visit to Mumbai to take part in Bihar Day celebrations. he said, "Due to fabulous leadership Bihar has got in the form of Nitish Kumar, the state is on road to development."
— PTI
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Govt values freedom of expression, says US historian
Chennai, April 14 "I am grateful to Home Ministry for reviewing my case and arriving at a decision that shows government values freedom of expression and diversity of opinion within framework of Indian law," Heehs, whose book on Sri Aurobindo created a controversy, said. — PTI
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Rongali Bihu marks Assamese New Year
Guwahati, April 14 The rhythmic sound emanating from traditional drum (dhol) is reverberating throughout the Brahmaputra valley in the state where
the natives are celebrating the festival with colours. This is the most popular festival among agrarian section in the state where farmers go all out to celebrate the occasion before they get ready to toil in the harvest season. The All-Assam Students Union (AASU) organised a mega event to celebrate Bihu at the historic Judges’ Field here on Friday to mark the beginning of the festival. Singers and Bihu artistes from all the ethnic communities participated with enthusiasm in the presence of a huge gathering. “We have organised the event to showcase our culture and strong bonding among all communities in the state. It is also aimed at cementing the bond among all ethnic groups,” Samujjal Bhattacharrya, adviser, AASU, said.
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Govt in back-channel efforts for release of Odisha MLA
Bhubaneswar, April 14 Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who had visited Koraput yesterday, held a crucial meeting with local leaders where the back channel negotiation option figured, a senior official said. Some people's representatives from Koraput were directed to explore contacts with the Chasi Mulia Adivasi Sangha, a front organisation of Maoists, for striking a deal with ultra group Andhra Pradesh Border Special Zonal Committee (AOBSZC) to secure the release the 37-year-old MLA, the official said. "So far, the government has decided to facilitate the release of 15 members of CMAS and 8 Maoists through the bail route," Home Secretary UN Behera said today. —
PTI
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Stop probe against Setalvad: SC to Gujarat
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Congress leader Kripashankar Singh, accused of amassing disproportionate assets (DA), has been booked under the Arms Act for allegedly possessing bullets beyond permissible limits, and declared as a wanted accused, police sources said today.
Pune/Ahmedabad, April 14
Lucknow, April 14
Kolkata, April 14
Pune/Ahmedabad, April 14
New Delhi, April 14
In a joint statement issued at the end of talks between Commerce Minister Anand Sharma and his Pakistani counterpart Makhdoom Amin Fahim at the conclusion of the latter’s visit to India, the two countries also agreed that the new Integrated Check Post (ICP) opened at Attari yesterday would streamline the process of movement of trucks between the two countries and enhance the flow of trade.
