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Cancelled jharkhand Rajya Sabha polls
Maoists to decide Odisha MLA’s fate on April 25
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Odisha student shot dead in US
50% Indian smokers unaware of tobacco’s lethal after-effects
Don’t be indecisive: PM to babus
IIT-R rejections on Akash biased, say makers
UP food scam: CBI conducts raids conducted, seizes papers
Mamata plans to launch state-owned TV, paper
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Cancelled jharkhand Rajya Sabha polls
Ranchi, April 21 There is a mechanism in Rajya Sabha election by which the choice of a particular MLA can be known. CBI teams swooped down on the premises of MLAs K N Tripathi (Congress) at Palamau, Suresh Paswan (RJD) at Deogarh and Vishnu Bhaiyya (BJP) at Jamtara, besides their houses here, a senior CBI official said here. The sleuths also conducted raids at the residences of industrialist R K Agarwal, president of the Singhbhum Chamber of Commerce, and his son-in-law Soumitra Saha in Jamshedpur and another of his relative R K Saha in Chaibasa, said The March 30 election was countermanded following allegations that certain candidates were trying to reach the Upper House through horse-trading. The CBI on Thursday lodged an FIR after obtaining the original FIR registered with the Namkum police station following the recovery of Rs 2.15 crore from a vehicle before start of polling on March 30. The cash was seized from the vehicle registered in the name of Agarwal's brother, Suresh, according to the FIR. CBI sources said a case has been registered under section 171F and 188 of the IPC. Meanwhile, the CBI would also seek to examine the ballot papers used on that day. "We will seek permission from the Election Commission to allow us to take the sealed ballot box to know the MLAs' choice of candidates. Otherwise, it would be difficult to nail any accused," the CBI official said. According to Assembly secretariat sources, though the name of an MLA is not mentioned in the ballot paper during RS polls, it has a hidden number which can be matched with its counterfoil number given in the name of an MLA before voting. When the number of an used ballot paper is revealed by scratching a layer hiding it, and it is matched with that of the counterfoil, an MLA's choice of candidate becomes known. The CBI yesterday collected the list of candidates who had contested the March 30 elections and their proposers. The sealed ballot box is now kept in the strong room at the Assembly secretariat. — PTI
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Maoists to decide Odisha MLA’s fate on April 25
In an audio message to the media, a leader of Andhra Odisha Border Special Zonal Committee (AOBSZC) of CPI (Maoist) said the final verdict of the praja court on the fate of Laxmipur MLA would be communicated by April 25. The ultras also rejected the Odisha Government's offer to withdraw cases against 13 prisoners, including five Maoists, and facilitate release of 12 others through bail in order to secure freedom of 37-year-old Hikaka, who had been abducted on March 24 in Koraput district. Though some of the 12 prisoners proposed to be freed on bail had already been granted bail, the Maoists stuck to their demand for release of 29 rebels, asking the government to withdraw charges against them. Sources said the red rebels decided to hold another praja court as the one conducted on Thursday failed to take a final view about the MLA, despite the state government's decision to withdraw cases against ultras which had raised hope about early release of Hikaka. Negating all expectations, the Maoists have enforced a two-day bandh since yesterday and blocked roads in their stronghold of Narayanpatna area in Koraput district demanding withdrawal of security forces, halt in operation Green Hunt and release of jailed ultras.Besides felling trees and placing boulders on roads in a number of places of Narayanpatna area, the extremists torched some vehicles at a construction site in Semiliguda area, police sources said. Home Secretary UN Behera said the state government was taking necessary steps in order to ensure that normal life is not disrupted in Koraput district due to the bandh called by Naxals. However, Narayanpatna virtually remained cut off from the rest of the state since yesterday as Maoists obstructed major connecting roads to the area and even dug up road at some places snapping connectivity, sources said. — PTI
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Odisha student shot dead in US
Family sources said he was scheduled to complete the 18-month course next month and was offered a three-month paid internship in a company here. His father K Sudhakar Rao, a bank employee at Jeypore in Koraput district, was informed by officials of the External Affairs Ministry about the tragic incident. Seshadri, survived by his parents and a brother, had done his schooling at Jeypore and Cuttack and B Tech from the National Institute of Technology in Karnataka. Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik condemned the killing of Rao and said he would take up the matter with the Ministry of External Affairs. — PTI
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50% Indian smokers unaware of tobacco’s lethal after-effects
New Delhi, April 21 The report titled “Cardiovascular harms from tobacco use and second-hand smoke”, commissioned by the World Heart Federation and authored by the International Tobacco Control Project (ITC Project) in collaboration with the WHO, was released at the ongoing WHF World Congress on Cardiology in Dubai yesterday. It showed that India and China, with over 40 per cent of the world’s tobacco users, account for two million of the more than five million worldwide deaths caused by tobacco use. “But the level of knowledge regarding the dangers of tobacco use as well as secondhand smoke in both countries is alarmingly low,” the report says. Data reveals that nearly 38 per cent smokers in India are unaware that tobacco use causes heart attacks and one in two Indian smokers don’t know that smoking causes stroke. “Indians need to wake up to the threat of cardiovascular diseases which are having a devastating impact on health, growth and development of the country. The prevalence and burden figures of CVDs in low and middle income countries like India are well established,” Prof K Srinath Reddy, President elect of the World Heart Federation today told TNS. He said effective measures like pictorial health warnings on tobacco products must depict heart disease and stroke as real dangers of tobacco use. Reddy is one of the few public health experts in India who have openly lobbied against weak pictorial warnings on tobacco packages and low taxation of tobacco products. Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the world’s leading cause of death, killing 17.3 million people every year. CVDs affect Indians almost a decade or two earlier as compared to those from developed countries. At present, CVDs account for 29 per cent of all deaths in the country. With a four-fold increase in CVD prevalence in India in the past four decades, CVDs will be the largest cause of disability and death in India by 2020. Tobacco use and second-hand smoke exposure causes about one-tenth of global deaths from CVD and with smokeless tobacco more prevalent in India, studies have shown a dangerous association between smokeless tobacco use and stroke.
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Support tobacco control policies outlined in the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control by raising its price n
Eliminate tobacco promotion and marketing; implement 100% smoke-free laws in workplaces and public places n
Introduce plain packaging to discourage youth from starting smoking n
Increase training in cessation advice and support among health professionals n
Implement protocols to ensure cessation advice, support and aids are provided systematically
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Don’t be indecisive: PM to babus
New Delhi, April 21 Delivering the inaugural address at the Seventh Civil Services Day here, the Prime Minister told the bureaucrats, “We should encourage boldness in decision making, provided that the decisions are well considered and as per the law of the land.” He expressed full faith in the civil services and complimented them for having served the country well but also added, “There is a growing perception that the moral fibre of our civil servants in general is not as strong as it used to be some decades back and that our civil servants are now more likely to succumb to extraneous pressures in their work. These perceptions might be exaggerated but I do think that there is a grain of truth in them.” The PM warned against witch-hunting in the name of fighting corruption, saying, “We have made substantial progress towards strengthening the legislative framework and revamping our administrative practices to enable us to fight corruption better.”
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IIT-R rejections on Akash biased, say makers
New Delhi, April 21 Datawind CEO Suneet Singh Tuli said here, “There were disputes primarily relating to testing criteria. Specifications were very low and we met them as mentioned in the tender. In December, IIT-R brought in military ruggedised criteria that were plagiarised and not part of the tender. Their rejections were biased and had no scientific basis and so we reached out to the HRD ministry for resolving the issues.” While government decided to transfer the advanced Aakash project to IIT-Mumbai from its Rajasthan counterpart, Datawind retains the project and is in waiting for the purchase order for one lakh upgraded units from IIT-M. “Government has taken the approval for 50 lakh devices for this budget year (till December) and we are open to bid for fresh tenders,” said
Tuli.
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UP food scam: CBI conducts raids conducted, seizes papers
Lucknow, April 21 CBI teams swooped on various godowns and residences of government employees, licencees and transporters directly or indirectly part of the intricate chain perceived to be involved in the scam. While no arrests were made today, officers are said to have laid their hands on important documents. The noose is apparently tightening around neck of jail and food minister Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiyya. — TNS
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Mamata plans to launch state-owned TV, paper Kolkata, April 21 "Government work is not being highlighted properly. We need our own news channel and paper to inform the people," CM Mamata Banerjee said. She said that the media did not highlight the government’s good work. The newspaper, to be named 'Dainik Paschimbanga', would use the press of defunct Bengali daily Basumati, once a premier newspaper in the state, shesaid. The TV channel, to be named 'Paschimbanga', would be located at Roopkala Kendra which has infrastructure for production of documentaries on development issues. — PTI
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Bhubaneswar, April 21
Bhubaneswar, April 21