The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Meet on diesel, LPG rates soon New Delhi, May 24 After a steep hike in petrol prices, a high-powered ministerial panel headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee may meet soon to decide on revising diesel, LPG and possibly also kerosene rates. The Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) has not met in almost a year although depreciation in rupee and rise in international oil prices raised cost of imports. Sources said the panel may meet as early as tomorrow, but a top Oil Ministry official stated no meeting had been scheduled as yet. "The Finance Ministry yesterday sought to know the availability of Petroleum Minister S Jaipal Reddy for holding an EGoM meeting on Friday. They were told that he is in Turkmenistan (for signing of TAPI agreement) and would return only on Friday evening," a source said. "Subsequently, Reddy has preponed his departure from Turkmenistan and is returning this evening". — PTI
	Bharat bandh on May 31 Mumbai, May 24 The NDA today called for Bharat Bandh on May 31 in protest against the steep hike in petrol prices and spiralling prices of essential commodities. The Left parties, the CPM, the CPI, the Revolutionary Socialist Party and the All-India Forward Bloc, have also decided to observe an all-India protest day on May 31. Senior BJP leader LK Advani announced the decision to give a call for nationwide bandh in his capacity as the acting chairman of the NDA, party spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad told reporters here. He said there was widespread anger among people over the way petrol price had been increased. The hike is an anti-people move by the government, Prasad quoted Advani as saying. "We appeal to the people to make it a great success by conveying their profound anger and protest against this decision," Advani said, adding the call for the bandh was given after consulting all allies in the NDA. Asked if the BJP-ruled states would waive VAT on petrol, like the Parrikar government did in Goa to benefit consumers, Prasad said the problem was with the bad governance at the central level. NDA convener and JD-U president Sharad Yadav said in Delhi that the alliance would talk to other parties also to elicit their support to the bandh. He trashed government's argument that the hike was done by petroleum companies as the pricing of petrol was deregulated, saying, "This is an eyewash..." He asked why the hike was not announced when Parliament was in session and why oil companies did so the very next day after the session got over. "The government will also be increasing prices of diesel and LPG after the Presidential elections are over," he said. The JD(U) chief also accused the government of being a "total failure" in checking prices of essential commodities. — PTI
	Reddy cuts short official visit to Turkmenistan New Delhi, May 24 Oil Minister S Jaipal Reddy today cut short his official visit to Turkmenistan by a day to be in New Delhi to field questions on the steepest-ever increase in petrol price. "Reddy, who was to return after signing of a pact to buy natural gas through the US-based Turkmenistan-Afghanistan -Pakistan-India pipeline, was to return here only tomorrow evening. He is now returning this evening," sources privy to the development said. — PTI
	CBSE Class X results declared Girls trump boys again Jyoti Rai/TNS New Delhi, May 24 With an impressive pass percentage, girls have once again trumped boys in the Class X board examination results declared this evening by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE). Across the country, nearly 11.8 lakh students were registered for Class X examination this year- an increase of about 11 per cent over last year. The overall pass percentage is 98.19 per cent, as compared to last year, when 96.61 per cent students passed the examination. This year, a total of 68,400 students scored a CGPA of 10. “The overall pass percentage of girls is 98.48 per cent as compared to 97.98 per cent in case of boys. As many as 34,419 girls have scored a perfect 10 CGPA as compared to 34,012 boys nationwide,” said an official.The CBSE Class X results for Delhi, Guwahati, Allahabad, Ajmer, Patna, Bhubaneshwar and Panchkula were announced by CBSE this evening, while results for Chennai region were declared on May 21. Zone-wise, Chennai has emerged as the region with the best results with a pass percentage of a whopping 99.45 per cent, followed by Patna at 99.21 per cent and Ajmer at 99.15 per cent. Panchkula ranks 6th, while Delhi ranks 7th at 97.92 per cent, just ahead of Guwahati, that finishes last at 88.29 per cent. The results are available on the websites www.results.nic-.in, www.cbseresults.nic.in, and www.cbse.nic.in. Students can also get their results at their e-mail address by registering themselves on these websites. Besides, they can get the results by dialling 011-24357276 or 011-28127030. CBSE has set up a toll-free helpline for students all over India at 18001803456 where an expert panel of counsellors will help students and parents tide over the emotional crisis after an unfavourable result. People can avail one-on-one counselling from 8 am to midnight for exam-related queries through the helpline.
	Panchkula region shows improvement in results Tribune News Service Chandigarh, May 24 The Central Board Of Secondary Education declared the Class X results of Panchkula region today wherein 98.8 per cent of around 1.13 lakh students were declared pass. Girls have yet again stolen the show in the region comprising schools from Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, J&K and Chandigarh. While the pass percentage of girls stands at 99.4 per cent, the corresponding figure is 98.8 per cent for boys. In terms of schools, the Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya is leading the tally with 99.58 per cent pass percentage while independent, private schools have 99.11 per cent pass percentage. The Kendriya Vidyalayas have a pass percentage of about 98.99 per cent while government schools situated in Chandigarh have clocked 98.84 per cent. “The overall pass percentage may be the same as the last year, but the quality of results has improved as more and more students have got perfect 10 as their CGPA. It is all thanks to Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation,” said RJ Khanderao, Regional Director, CBSE Panchkula region. A minor technical snag hit CBSE’s online portals, delaying uploading of the result by almost three hours. The result, which was to be uploaded at 4 pm, could be uploaded only at around 7 pm.
	Wait for Aadhaar card to be over soon Yoginder Gupta/TNS Chandigarh, May 24 Those who have been waiting for their unique identification number card (Aadhaar) for the past several months, wait for them would be soon over. The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has engaged three printers, who can print a large number of the cards every day. Director-General, UIDAI, RS Sharma, who was here to launch the second phase of enrolment for Aadhaar in Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh, said earlier his organisation had a contract with India Post for print and dispatch the Aadhaar cards. India Post had the capacity to print only one lakh cards daily, while the UIDAI was enrolling 10 lakh citizens every day. This led to the backlog. Sharma said while UIDAI had generated about 14 crore cards, India Post could print only two crore cards, while it could dispatch only one crore of them. He promised to clear the backlog by June 30. The three new printers, Manipal Technologies Ltd, Bombay Security Press and Kolkata Security Press, have a combined printing capacity of 15 lakh UID cards per day. Also, with the use of improved software in the second phase of enrolment, the delays would be minimised. The delivery rate of the cards in Himachal Pradesh was 92 per cent, Chandigarh 88 per cent; Haryana 83 per cent; and in Punjab 80 per cent. Sharma said the entire population of Punjab, Chandigarh and Himachal Pradesh would be enrolled by February 2013. He said the biggest success of Aadhaar was in eliminating duplication and fake entries in various beneficiary schemes launched by the government.
	paternity suit Tiwari need not come to Delhi for sample: SC R Sedhuraman Legal Correspondent New Delhi, May 24 The Supreme Court today allowed former Uttararakhand Chief Minister ND Tiwari to give his blood sample from his residence at Dehradun, thus sparing him from the trouble of travelling down to Delhi on May 26 as directed by the Delhi High Court. A Vacation Bench comprising Justices Deepak Verma and SJ Mukhopadhaya, however, warned the 86-year-old Congress leader to be prepared to “face the consequences” if he failed to provide the DNA sample this time as well. The SC Bench directed the Civil Surgeon, Dehradun, to visit Tiwari’s residence on May 29 along with the District Judge and the Delhi HC Joint Registrar for collecting the blood sample for a DNA test to ascertain a claim that he is the biological father of 32-year-old Rohit Shekhar. Rohit has filed a paternity suit in the Delhi HC claiming that he was born out of a relationship his mother, Ujjawala, had with Tiwari. Earlier, the Delhi HC Joint Registrar had directed Tiwari to turn up at the HC dispensary on May 26 for giving his blood sample. A Division Bench of the HC had allowed the use of the police to forcibly collect his blood sample if he refused to comply with the court order voluntarily. The SC Bench passed the order today after senior counsel Gopal Subramanium, arguing for Tiwari, contended that his client was not in a position to travel all the way to Delhi in view of his age-related health problems.
	Centre to offload excess foodgrain on states Vibha Sharma Tribune News Service New Delhi, May 24 While the government is yet to take a call on wheat export to ease the foodgrain storage crisis, it has decided to offload some of its “problem of plenty” on the states, asking them to pick up their PDS foodgrain quota of six months in advance at one go. Sources say the Empowered Group of Ministers headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is likely to meet in the first week of June to decide on wheat export and the related issues as the Commerce Ministry is yet to ascertain whether wheat export is a viable option for the country. But to mitigate the storage problem to some extent, Food Minister KV Thomas has written to chief ministers, asking them to avail the facility of advance lifting of foodgrain and its onward distribution to PDS beneficiaries to the maximum possible extent. According to officials, the decision to permit states lifting and distributing six months quota of foodgrains in one go under the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) had been taken in view of the existing stock foodgrains position in Central pool. “This will not only ease the problem of additional storage in view of the increased procurement but also ensure uninterrupted supply of ration to the beneficiaries,” they say. Sceptics, however, are not so hopeful of many states complying with the request promptly, especially in view of several instances of states not lifting the foodgrains allocated to them. By the Food Minister’s own admission, 12 states lifted only 27 per cent of the allocation for their poorest districts during 2011-12. Thomas has asked the states to ensure lifting of additional allocation of 60 lakh tonnes for Above Poverty Line (APL) and 15.40 lakh tonnes for the poorest districts in these 12 states made during the current year under the TPDS. A committee headed by C Rangarajan suggested offloading of 10 million tonnes of wheat to the BPL and the APL families and three million tonnes via open market sale.
	Fasting activist forcibly taken to hospital Bijay Sankar Bora/TNS Guwahati, May 24 The Assam Police today forcibly admitted the fasting RTI activist and Krishak Mukti Sangram Samity (KMSS) leader Akhil Gogoi into Guwahati Medical College Hospital (GMCH) after his condition turned critical. Akhil Gogoi was on fast since May 19 demanding halt in construction of mega dams on Brahmaputra and its tributaries in the upper reachesHe also demanded restrain on the State Police force that has been harassing anti-dam agitators in the state. Gogoi’s health had detiorated after five days of fasting and he was advised by doctors to get admitted in a hospital. But teh activist remained adamant. The government had already ruled out dialogue with Akhil unless he gave up the fast unto death. Left with no other option, the state government used police force to evict Gogoi from the site of his agitation and admit him into Guwahati Medical College Hospital early morning. The police action has sparked widespread protests in the state. Thousands of protestors hit the streets in Guwahati and blocked the National Highway 37 bypass for hours before police used force to clear the blockade.
	Juror beaten to death in MP Betul(MP), May 24 A juror (Panch) of Ratanpur Panchayat in the district was allegedly beaten to death by some relatives of a tribal girl with whom he was suspected to be having an affair, police said today. The juror, Ram Prasad Yadav, was tied with a pole after being beaten black and blue by some relatives of a tribal girl aged 20 years in a tribal populated village Semaldhana and when he died, the body was thrown into a drain. Some of the persons who beat the juror had informed the police on Tuesday that they had killed Yadav and thrown his body into a drain. The Chicholi police station incharge Mukesh Choube said that he had registered a case. — PTI