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Bring 26/11 attackers to justice: UN Secy Gen
Pawar: Global warming has not impacted Indian crops
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Aarushi murder
Navy gets first of three stealth frigates
Tejas’ naval version takes maiden flight
Cheaper medicines
Rahul woos young blood in Mumbai, to tour M’rashtra
Seniors cannot work under juniors: AFT
New US envoy promises to strengthen ties with India
Opposition seeks Chidambaram’s ouster
SC bans use of tinted glass beyond permissible limits
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Bring 26/11 attackers to justice: UN Secy Gen
New Delhi, April 27 ''I understand that India and Pakistan are discussing the issue (of bringing the masterminds of Mumbai attack to justice) to bring it to a satisfactory closure,'' he said at a press conference here this evening. Ban complimented the leaderships of India and Pakistan for their efforts to resolve bilateral differences. This has a broader significance for the region and for global peace. The UN chief earlier in the day held talks Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, External Affairs Minister S M Krishna, Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi. He was also conferred an honorary degree of Doctor of Letters by the Jamia Millia Islamia. Ban asserted that terrorism could not be justified under any circumstances and for any reason. It has to be eliminated and stopped. The menace must be fought together by the international community. The UN, he said, had formulated a comprehensive counter-terrorism strategy in 2006 and set up a task force for the purpose. ''We are determined to combat terrorism.'' Asked for his views on the Kashmir issue, the UN chief said, ''I hope the issue will be addressed peacefully without resorting to violence...the will of the people there should be fully respected and human rights should be protected.'' Lauding the role being played by India at the UN Security Council in its capacity as a non-permanent member, Ban said ''I am grateful to the Indian delegation for its activities...India had shown great leadership qualities on all important issues, be it human rights, peace and security and the Arab spring.'' India's wisdom, resilience and principled position had tremendously benefited discussions on all major issues at the Security Council.'' Asked for his view on the expansion of the Security Council, he did not give a straight reply but said ''we are living in an era of rapidly changing world...old models don't work at this time.'' Ban said he had discussed with the Indian leaders the threat posed by pirates operating off the coast of Somalia and how the international community could deal with them.
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Pawar: Global warming has not impacted Indian crops
New Delhi, April 27 “If there is a serious impact globally, there will be a serious impact on Indian agriculture too, it will affect the crop yield. But, for the last five years, if you see carefully, in the areas of wheat, rice, cotton and sugarcane, fortunately in India, production has not dropped. In fact, we are getting more production,” Pawar said, responding to a query on development of climate resilient crops. Notably, some study papers say that a one degree Celsius increase in temperature may reduce yields of major food crops by 3 to 7%. However, according to the minister, except for Nigeria, no negative impact of global warming has been reported globally so far. Considering wheat is more sensitive to changes in temperature, the Indian Council for Agricultural Research has developed four new varieties- HD 29-85, HD 29-87, HD 30-47 and Golden Halna. “These varieties are terminal heat solvent wheat varieties and we are observing, and I think we will definitely get good results,” he said.
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Aarushi murder
New Delhi, April 27 A Bench comprising Justices AK Patnaik and JS Khehar, however, asked the trial court to consider her bail plea expeditiously. Arguing for Nupur, senior counsel Mukul Rohatgi sought anticipatory bail as his client apprehended that she would be arrested upon her surrender. The Bench refused to grant the plea, observing that it did not want to guess as to what the trial court would do. If the trial court did not grant bail, the option of approaching the High Court and then the SC was always open to her, the Bench said. The Ghaziabad court had issued non-bailable warrant against Nupur on April 11 following her failure to appear in the court in response to summons. Rajesh Talwar, who was present in the trial court, had prayed for time to enable his wife to appear, but the CBI prevailed upon the court to issue the NBW. During the hour-long arguments today, Rohatgi contended that there was no shred of evidence to show that the dentist couple killed Aarushi in a rage after suspecting that there was some “hanky-panky” going on between her and the 45-year-old domestic servant, Hemraj, who was also found dead on the terrace the following day. The only ground on which they had been arrayed in the case was on the basis of the “last seen” theory, but this was also not valid as all their three servants had access to the front portion of the Talwars’ Noida flat besides the terrace, Rohatgi contended.
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Navy gets first of three stealth frigates
India has indigenously built two stealth frigates of its own called the Shivalik class. These are 6000 tonne vessels. Another one is expected to join the fleet by the end of this year. For the first time, India has opted to have the deadly BrahMos missile on one of its stealth frigates -- the Teg class. The first of the ships is named INS Teg. “BrahMos will be the preferred mode of ammunition on future warships,” officials said. So far five Indian Navy warships of the Ranvir class have been fitted with the BrahMos. This missile is among the best in the world and being a local product its production or supplies cannot be hit by strategic mood swings of international politics, said officials. Meanwhile, the Indian Navy today said the INS Teg, a 4000 tonne vessel was inducted at the Yantar shipyard in Kaliningrad, Russia. It will sail for some 45 days to reach India.
Key features
n Classified as stealth frigates due to their ability to avoid detection from enemy radars n
The INS Teg will have a coordinated function to launch surface, air and underwater missions n
Besides the BrahMos, the warship is equipped with a surface-to-air missile system, anti-submarine torpedoes, etc n
A chopper with anti-submarine capabilities will be on board the ship
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Tejas’ naval version takes maiden flight
Bangalore, April 27 The LCA Naval Prototype 1 (NP1), which took off from the HAL Airport at about 12 noon, flew for 21 minutes and returned amid applause from high-profile gathering that included IAF chief NAK Browne and DRDO chief VK Saraswat. The Navy was represented by Vice-Admiral Satish Soni and Rear Admiral D Madhusudan. NP1 was flown by Commodore JA Maolankar of the National Flight Testing Centre (NFTC), while Wing Commander M Prabhu, flight engineer with the NFTC, sat in the rear portion of the tandem-seating fighter jet. Commodore CD Balaji, project director of LCA-Navy, PS Subramanya, Director of Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA), and others associated with the design and development of the fighter jet were gripped by emotion and had tears in their eyes as Maolankar and Prabhu emerged from the cockpit after the aircraft successfully landed. Both pilot and co-pilot went to the terminal building on the shoulders of their jubilant colleagues. Maolankar later said they flew at a speed of 450 km per hour and carried out a series of tests mostly related to the handling of the aircraft. “We stuck to a 30 km area around the base and flew in a fairly aggressive formation,” he said. “The first flight was primarily to validate the landing of the aircraft and this has been successfully accomplished,” he said. The undercarriage (landing gear) of the plane was not retracted during the flight, he said. Another LCA (Air Force) flew with the naval version as a chase aircraft while a British Hawk flew alongside the two LCAs as a stand-by aircraft. “We still have a long way to go. Today was the first flight. This will have to be followed up by ramp take-off and the last step will be arrested landing. This is not easy technology,” Maolankar said. Vice-Admiral Soni said the Indian Navy was in tremendous need of indigenously developed carrier-compatible fighter jets.
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Cheaper medicines
New Delhi, April 27 Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said in Lok Sabha the Centre had initiated a National Procurement Agency for drugs. “We are in advanced stages of setting up this institution, the National Procurement Agency, for procuring all the essential medicines at one place and supplying them to the entire country. A society has already been registered. The Health Ministry has recommended to the Ministry of personnel, setting up of a search committee for selecting the Chief Executive Officer of the agency. Once the Ministry of Personnel gives its okay to the search committee, the committee would go ahead with selection of the CEO and the process of central procurement of medicines will start,” Azad said. He was replying to a question on large quantities of substandard drugs and equipment being supplied to central government hospitals and state hospitals under the National Rural Health Mission. The questioner — K Sugumar — referred to how the CBI, probing the multi-crore NRHM scam in UP, found substandard drugs had been supplied to government hospitals by pharmaceutical firms, some of them blacklisted. The government dismissed talks of supply of poor quality drugs under NRHM. Azad said the onus was on state governments.
Stark facts
n According to Health Ministry figures, Indians spend 70% of out-of-pocket income on medicines as against 40% for Asian countries like Sri Lanka n
39 million Indians are pushed to poverty because of ill-health every year n
30% rural Indians didn't seek treatment due to financial constraints in 2004; in urban areas, 20% ailments untreated due to money constraints the same year
n States are cutting down expenditure on drug purchase
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Rahul woos young blood in
Mumbai, to tour M’rashtra
Mumbai, April 27 At a major meeting of party workers in suburban Mumbai, the Congress party bosses in the city were asked to organise a meeting comprising mainly of the workers of the National Students' Union of India and the Youth Congress though a sprinkling of senior leaders were present. “The future of India’s politics depends on those like you,” Rahul Gandhi was quoted as saying in the closed-door meeting. In the speech that has been called as rousing, Rahul asked leaders of the Youth Congress and the NSUI to recruit more members in order to strengthen the party organisation in Mumbai. According to party sources here, Rahul Gandhi's advisers are in the process of cleaning up the Congress party which could result in a number of senior leaders being pushed out. A number of entrenched leaders in the local unit of the party have been held responsible for the Congress’ poor show in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation elections. Rahul has been seen as endorsing the leadership of the Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan who was present at the meeting. He asked party workers present at the venue to approach Chavan if they faced any problems in the Congress party organisation. "We have been asked to approach Chavan if there are any problems in the party organisation," a youth leader told reporters after Rahul left the venue. Cadres of the NSUI reportedly complained of irregularities in the election to the governing body of the organisation held last year. Members of the organisation have been quoted as telling Rahul that fresh elections be held so that new leaders of the NSUI can be elected. Later in the day, Rahul Gandhi met with members of the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee at Tilak Bhawan in Dadar. According to Congress party leaders here, he will tour different parts of the state ahead of the 2014 Assembly elections. Rahul told party workers that he would be visiting various constituencies in Maharashtra to access the party's strengths and weaknesses. A number of student leaders who attended the meeting later told reporters that he was concerned about the Congress losing ground to the Nationalist Congress Party.
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Seniors cannot work under juniors: AFT
Chandigarh, April 27 “When persons working in the MES go back to their unit, they should get their due place in that unit without affecting their seniority or promotion. It is seen that when persons working in MES go back to their parent unit, they are sometimes placed below their juniors who are elevated while working in the parent unit. This is discriminatory and violation of Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution,” the Tribunal’s bench comprising Justice AK Mathur and Lt Gen SS Dhillon observed. Consequent to a study undertaken on the rationalisation of trades in the Army, a policy was formulated to reduce the number of trades for personnel below officer rank and merge some of them to do away with superfluous and outdated practices. As a fall out of this, troops from the militarised cadre of the MES were being repatriated. “The repatriation would have created a lot of disturbance in the existing status of the parent unit due to the seniority imbalance and seniors being placed under juniors. This would have also seriously affected their further right of promotion and created hardships for them,” Maj K Ramesh
(retd), counsel for some of the petitioners said. “As many as 945 MES personnel, some of whom had been working with the MES for 15 years, were being sent back,” he added. The Tribunal, while upholding the Army’s rationalisation policy, directed that all the personnel who are repatriated to their parent unit would be restored back to their original seniority and they would be given their due. In case, if anyone is required to pass certain eligibility test for the promotion then he would be given that opportunity and the whole exercise would be undertaken and completed within a period of six months. The Tribunal also directed that these orders would apply to all MES personnel placed in this situation regardless of whether they have sought judicial redressal or not.
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New US envoy promises to strengthen ties with India
New Delhi, April 27 ''As India's business climate becomes more transparent and predictable, it becomes more attractive to companies that will create jobs in India and the US and improve the quality of life of our people,'' she said addressing the 20th annual general meeting of the American Chamber of Commerce. Powell said she and her team would do everything they could to bolster two-way trade and investment between the two countries. ''We seek to help companies take full advantage of the talent and innovation available in both our countries. I pledge to work with you, with other business organisations and with my esteemed colleagues in the Government of India to reduce the barriers US businesses face here.''
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Opposition seeks Chidambaram’s ouster
New Delhi, April 27 The BJP, the JDU and the AIADMK stormed the well of the House soon as it met and demanded the adjournment of question hour to discuss the issue. Speaker Meira Kumar ran the proceedings briefly and finally adjourned the House for the first time at 11.29 pm to reassemble at 12 noon. Even then, the disruptions continued and the Speaker had to adjourn proceedings until 2 pm. The Opposition BJP demanded that Chidambaram stepped down from his ministry in the wake of Subramanian Swamy’s latest allegations that Chidambaram as Finance Minister in 2006 delayed permission for the sale of Aircel to Malaysia-based Maxis to financially benefit his son Karti. Karti has threatened legal action against Swamy. — TNS
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SC bans use of tinted glass beyond permissible limits
New Delhi, April 27 Vehicle manufacturers may produce vehicles with tinted glasses with 70 per cent visual light transmission
(VLT) on the front and rear and 40 per cent VLT on the sides, a Bench of Chief Justice SH Kapadia and Justices AK Patnaik and Swatanter Kumar ruled.
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New Delhi
Mayiladuthurai
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New Delhi, April 27
New Delhi, April 27
