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Privilege notices against Ajit Singh Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh speaks in the Lok Sabha in New Delhi on Tuesday. — PTI
Antrix-Devas deal |
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55,470 children missing since 2009
Presidential poll: Cong to reveal its choice by first week of June
Maya’s jumbo statues could be
Rs 40,000 cr scam, says Akhilesh
Doc held for sale of infant
in Assam Modi attendance at BJP national meet doubtful
Maoists detain train in J’khand, hang can bomb outside engine
Home Secy meets Pakistan envoy
KPL is Kashmir’s answer to IPL
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Privilege notices against Ajit Singh
New Delhi, May 15 The privilege notices against Ajit Singh, moved by BJP’s Anath Kumar, CPI’s Gurudas Dasgupta, CPM’s Basudeb Acharia, demanded reply from the minister over his remarks to a TV channel that the beleaguered national carrier could be privatised. “When Parliament is in session, how the minister can make a statement outside Parliament on a policy matter like privatisation,” Acharia told The Tribune. The notices were under the Speaker’s consideration and their fate would be known tomorrow, he added. The Opposition also wanted to know what the government was doing to resolve the impasse with 71 pilots being sacked so far. The question of privilege raised during Zero Hour by leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj, who questioned Ajit Singh’s daily statements on AI crisis outside Parliament when the matter had repeatedly been raised in both Houses, forced the minister to come to the House and give a statement later in the day. His UPA partner Congress also appeared disapproving of him speaking on policy issues on civil aviation outside Parliament. “I am not aware what statement the minister has given outside Parliament. When Parliament is running, the ministers definitely keep in mind the fact that no statement is given outside Parliament,” party spokesperson Rashid Alvi said. Ajit Singh’s RLD is the latest entrant to the UPA, joining the alliance just a few months before the UP Assembly poll. Meanwhile, Ajit Singh told the House that Air India would have to perform to get a bailout package from the government and that it was the last chance for the national carrier. He said the cash-strapped carrier had lost Rs 150 crore due to the ongoing strike. Urging the pilots to get back to work, he said if the pilots reported back on duty, the Air India management would not be vindictive. “The government promises striking pilots to look into their grievances unconditionally, but asks them to report back on duty,” he said. AI flights curtailed *
As part of its contingency plan to stabilise its
international operations hit by the pilots’ strike, Air India has curtailed and clubbed many of its flights to the US and Europe *
The clubbed flights will operate on Delhi-Paris-New York, Delhi-Frankfurt-Chicago and
Delhi-London routes * The contingency plan will remain in place from May 16 to May 20 "The government promises striking pilots to look into their grievances unconditionally, but asks them to report back on duty."
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Not convening Insat panel meet ISRO’s big lapse, says top scientist
Shubhadeep Choudhury/TNS
Bangalore, May 15 Reacting to the Comptroller and Auditor General’s scathing observations about the Antrix-Devas deal, Narasimhan said ISRO or its commercial arm Antrix Corporation had nothing to do with spectrum allocation. “Spectrum allocation is done by the Department of Telecommunication (DoT). ISRO had leased out only the transponders of the two proposed satellites (GSAT-6 and GSAT-6A),” he said. Narasimhan said International Telecommunication Union (ITU) decides the orbit allocation of satellites launched by various countries. Issue of spectrum is linked to the orbit allocated to a satellite, he said. While ISRO represents India in the ITU meetings and is a key agency for allocations of orbital slots for satellites launched by India, ISRO cannot take any decision about spectrum allocation on its own, Narasimhan said. He said the issue of spectrum allocation to an agency is given final shape in the ICC meeting in which representatives of DoT and DoS both take part. Then the DoT determines the price of the spectrum. However, not a single meeting of ICC was held between 2004 and 2009. K R Sridharamurthy, former managing director and board member of Antrix Limited, claimed the provision of payment of compensation to Devas for delay in leasing of transponders was inevitable in a commercial agreement. On CAG’s observation that the deal was totally in favour of Devas and compromised the interest of the Department of Space, he said since this was a new technology (making multimedia service available in hand-held, vehicular and other mobile receivers), there was “some risk involved for the other party (Devas)”. Madhavan Nair is in Patna where he is chairman of the board of governors of the IIT. He could not be contacted. Former ISRO chief U R Rao refused to comment saying he had not seen the CAG report.
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55,470 children missing since 2009
New Delhi, May 15 That explains why a shocking piece of information the Home Ministry submitted to the Parliament last week went unnoticed as issues involving corruption and cartoons of politicians in the NCERT textbooks took precedence. The Tribune analysed the data which reveals alarming trends and serves as a wake up call for everyone engaged in child protection. On an average, 162 children go missing in India every day and one in every three child, who gets lost, is never traced by the official machinery. The Home Ministry’s latest statistics on missing children show that between 2009 and 2011, 1,77,660 children went missing from the country. Of these, 55,470 (31.2 per cent) are still listed in the Government data sheets as “untraced”. Of those still missing nationally, 60 per cent (35,605) are girls and the rest (19,855) are boys. This trend (of more girls going missing than boys) is true of entire India except six northern states -- Haryana, Punjab, J&K, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Chandigarh -- where 60 per cent of untraced kids are boys indicating possibilities of human organ trade gangs operating. There are 1,727 boys as against 1,193 girls in the missing children’s list. This is a rare departure from the national trend. “It is indicative of potential human organ trade and trafficking. Gurgaon and Faridabad have reported kidney transplant rackets in recent past. They are emerging as huge human trafficking hubs,” Rishi Kant of Shakti Vahini, a child protection organisation helping Government’s anti-trafficking units says. West Bengal, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi together accounted for over half of India’s missing children over the past three years. In 2009, out of 68,227 children reported missing, 13,099 vanished from Maharashtra; 11,527 from Bengal, 9,498 from Madhya Pradesh and 5,946 from Delhi. More worrisome is the growing number of missing children. The numbers have risen from 68,227 in 2009 (18,166 of them still untraced) to 77,091 in 2010 (23,209 never found). The Government data shows only 32,342 children missing in 2011. But a closer look at the statistics reveals that this mighty drop is on account of 15 states, including the high-burden Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab, J&K and Rajasthan not submitting any data on missing children in 2011. Even of these, the police was unable to recover 14,000 kids. The percentage of untraced children in Punjab, Haryana, J&K, Uttarakhand, Himachal and Chandigarh is 45 - much more than the national average of 31 per cent. These revelations come close on the heels of February 8, 2012 advisory on missing kids which the Home Ministry issued to states. The advisory which B Bhamati, Additional Secretary, Home, shared with the reporters in the wake of brutal torture of Baby Falak, is yet to bear fruit.
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Presidential poll: Cong to reveal its choice by first week of June
New Delhi, May 15 Party insiders said the choice would be firmed up after another round of internal discussions and consultations with the UPA partners, which will pick up pace after the ongoing Parliament session closes on May 22. Congress president Sonia Gandhi has held one round of consultations with major UPA partners like Sharad Pawar-led NCP, Karunanidhi’s DMK and Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress. Smaller allies will be contacted in the coming days to ensure that all the UPA allies are on the same page. Top party sources said no names were discussed in the initial interactions as the first priority for the Congress was to get the support of allies for a Congress candidate. Specific names would be taken up in the next round, it was stated. But even before the Congress could proffer any names, both the DMK and the NCP have backed Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee’s candidature. Mamata is yet to declare her choice and will not do so till she gets a favourable response from the Centre to her demand for a bail-out package for West Bengal. It’s only when all the UPA allies are on board that Sonia Gandhi will reach out to Samajwadi Party leader Mulayum Singh Yadav and BSP’s Mayawati. While Mukherjee has emerged as a clear front-runner, the Congress appears to be wary of relieving him of his present responsibilities as he is the chief trouble-shooter for the party and the government. His elevation as the President will leave a void in the government which will be difficult to fill, say senior Congress leaders. Moreover, it will lead to a series of changes in the government. The Opposition, on the other hand, is privately pushing Mukehrjee’s case as it believes the UPA would be rendered rudderless if the Finance Minister moves to the Rashtrapati
Bhavan.
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Maya’s jumbo statues could be Rs 40,000 cr scam, says Akhilesh
Lucknow, May 15 Akhilesh made the claim a day after a search was carried out by police at the office of Rajkiya Nirman Nigam (RNN) in Gomti Nagar for alleged irregularities in erection of statues of elephants at parks in Lucknow and Noida. The Samajwadi Party leader said the state government would soon decide the nature of inquiry into the alleged fraud, calling it a "huge scam." On being asked about the alleged Rs 5,000 crore scam in installation of statues and stones, Akhilesh said mediapersons should not scale down the magnitude of the scam. "We have said during election time that a large-scale scam has been committed. An account of Rs 40,000 crore would emerge," he said. He said when the cost is worked out, cost of land is not taken into account. "You will not add the cost of the building which was constructed and later demolished... wastage in the construction of boundary wall again and again is not taken into account," he said. "The palm trees which are being talked about.. if you take information, a number of trees are lying in Jiyamau and a large number have been buried in ponds," he alleged. — PTI
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Doc held for sale of infant in Assam
Guwahati, May 15 A police source said Dr Jaynal Abedin, who had treated the mother Sharmila Basumatary in the hospital, forced her husband Saniram Basumatary to buy medicines worth Rs 7,000 from a pharmacy outside the hospital flouting all norms. He was picked for interrogation yesterday and formally arrested today. The State Health Commissioner and the Mission Head of the state chapter of the National Rural Health Mission had ordered a probe into the incident as medicines are supposed to be provided free of cost to new mothers in government hospitals in the state under the Janani Surakshya scheme.
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Modi attendance at BJP national meet doubtful
New Delhi, May 15 The latest being apparent inclination of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi to skip the national executive as well. He refused to attend the last national executive meet on September30-October 1 in New Delhi, despite repeated calls by BJP president Nitin Gadkari and Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley. Upset over re-induction of his bête noire Sanjay Joshi into the BJP, Modi has virtually been boycotting the Delhi leaders of his party, especially Gadkari, even when he comes here on any official business. To Modi’s chagrin, the RSS is pressing ahead with preparing ground for breaking the BJP rule to give a second term to Gadkari. BJP spokesman Syed Shahnawaz Husain said, “All the members of the national executive have been extended invitation and whoever comes, we will report to you when we meet in Mumbai on the day of the meeting.”
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Maoists detain train in J’khand, hang can bomb outside engine
Jamshedpur, May 15 The Tata-Bilaspur passenger train, which was detained at the Posaita station last night at around 9.50 pm, ran for another 15 km with the can bomb dangling from the engine to the Manoharpur station where it was removed and defused, SP AK Singh said. Earlier, as soon as the train entered the Posaita station, a group of 12 armed Maoists boarded it and began pasting posters in the compartments with passengers panicking, but the ultras did not harm them, Singh said. They slung the can bomb in a bag in front of the engine and also a banner in support of the 'Bharat bandh'. The train, which was scheduled to stop for two minutes at the station, was detained for 20 minutes before the Maoists left. The passengers of the Tata-Bilaspur train were disembarked at the Manoharpur station and accommodated in the Howrah-Kurla Express, Singh said. Suspecting the detention of the train to be the handiwork of the Habil Charwa and Sandip squad of the Maoists, a quick response team of the CRPF launched a massive hunt and came across the ultras at the Saranda forest near Salai village this morning, Singh said. An encounter lasting 45 minutes followed before the ultras fled, the SP said, adding there was no casualty on the police side. A combing operation is underway. Earlier last night, the Maoists beheaded a villager, Ramlal Kayam, at Kudaburu under the Sonua police station dubbing him a police informer, Singh said. — PTI
Pulling the Chain n They slung a can bomb in front of the engine and also a banner in support of Bharat Bandh n The train was detained for 20 minutes n It ran for 15 km with the can bomb dangling from the engine to the Manoharpur station where it was removed and defused
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Liberalised Visa Tribune News Service
New Delhi, May 15 Home Secretaries of India and Pakistan are slated to meet in Islamabad on May 24-25 where the much talked about new visa regime for the two warring neighbours is expected to be signed. The Union Cabinet had given its nod for signing the pact on April 25. An agreement to liberalise the visa procedures is expected to benefit people of both the countries as it will exempt the elderly from police reporting, allowing commoners from either country to visit three earmarked cities instead of one. A decision on issuance of multiple entry and reporting-free visas for businessmen, allowing them to visit five cities instead of the present three, is expected to be taken, the sources said.
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KPL is Kashmir’s answer to IPL
Narbal (Budgam), May 15 A group of boys, who broke into a Bhangra on an Army truck instead of the routine female cheerleaders, whenever a wicket fell, made for the only noticeable difference between this cricket match and an IPL tie. Excitement was writ large on faces of spectators and young cricket players of local clubs who took part in the first game of Budgam district’s Kashmir Premium League (KPL) edition here. “This is an initiative not just for promotion of sports but also it will keep youth away from subversive activities,” said local player Showkat Ahmad. “We are hopeful that this year’s tournament will be a bigger success as compared to last year,” General Officer Commanding (GOC) Kilo Force Major General Sarath Chand, who inaugurated the Budgam edition of KPL, said. “Besides grooming local talent, the tournament will help in bridging the gap between the forces and the people,” he added. “This tournament has full support of police. It will produce the Sachin Tendulkar’s and Imran Khan’s of Kashmir,” said Additional Director General Police SP Vaid. The curtain raiser of this year’s KPL was held in Srinagar on April 16. It was attended by GOC of Srinagar-based 15 Corps Lt Gen SA Hasnain and Minister of Youth Services and Sports RS Chib. The Army and Youth Services and Sports Department are organising the tournament jointly. “KPL is not a tournament but a movement,” opines Hasnain; indeed— it has been garnering attention of the Kashmir youth in substantial measure.
heady stuff
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Qualifying matches are being played across districts to select 14 teams that will compete for the title next month in the second phase of the series
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The preliminary KPL matches for Budgam
started on Tuesday
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Politics today took over the Air India pilots’ stir that started a week ago as a simple trade union strike. The stir has inconvenienced thousands of passengers and held the government to ransom.
New Delhi, May 15
