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IM operative’s murder
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presidential election
Lok Sabha bypoll
Nithyananda on the run
Brows raised over babus in AFT selection panel
Withdraw cases against farmers: RLD MP
Tainted judge, six others booked
Autobiography of former Army Chief JJ Singh released
Two die of dengue in TN
Unhygienic practices can affect academic performance
‘One nation-one test’ in trouble
Train hits platform during shunting
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Crucial link to terror planner Bhatkal lost
Shiv Kumar/TNS
Mumbai, June 9 Qatil Mohammad Jafar Siddiqui was strangled to death by two inmates after a brawl, according to the police. The two killers, Alok Bhalerao and Sharad Mohol are being questioned by investigators from several agencies. According to sources, investigators are trying to ascertain whether the duo carried out the murder on behalf of someone else. Sources say Siddiqui was a crucial link to Bhatkal who allegedly fled to Pakistan after carrying out a string of terror attacks across India. According to police he had provided crucial information about the operations of a module of the Indian Mujahideen in Bihar. A number of hideouts of the IM were busted based on the information provided by Siddiqui, according to police. Siddiqui was arrested by the Delhi police in December 2011 and he was handed over to the Mumbai Anti-Terror Squad for questioning over his alleged role in carrying out the German Bakery blast. However, the Mumbai ATS had finished questioning Siddiqui and was in the process of handing him back to the Delhi police, sources here said.
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Abhishek Verma, wife in 7-day CBI custody
New Delhi, June 9 "Both the accused are remanded in CBI custody till June 16," Special CBI Judge Talwant Singh said. Verma and his newly wed Romanian wife, Ancia Neascu, were arrested yesterday by the CBI after registration of a fresh case by the agency against them. In the new case, Verma has been accused of taking $530,000 from Rheinmetall Air Defence AG (RAD) for using his influence to stall the blacklisting proceedings initiated by the government against it after the Ordnance Factory Board scam had surfaced. The CBI produced the couple before the special CBI court and sought their custody for 12 days saying the investigation in the case is going on and they need to unearth the entire conspiracy.
— PTI
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presidential election
New Delhi, June 9 The Congress has not been able to name its candidate as it wants to first secure the backing of all UPA allies. That these consultations are at a critical stage was evident when Janardan Dwivedi, head of the Congress media department, today volunteered a statement that the party has s yet to finalise its Presidential candidate. “The process of discussions with our allies and supporting allies is on. No name has so far been finalised," he added. Though there is no official word from the Congress, there are indications that Mukherjee is a a front-runner in the race. Talk about Mukherjee’s candidature gathered momentum yesterday when the Congress president’s political secretary Ahmed Patel had a long meeting with Mukherjee after which the finance minister left for Kolkata. This meeting came about after Sonia Gandhi’s discussions with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. There is no official word from the Congress about its choice but all the allies, except Mamata Bannerjee, have been favoruably inclined towards Mukherjee. While DMK chief M.Karunanidhi had publicly come out in favour of Mukherjee, his party leaders M.K.Stalin and T.R.Baalu are learnt to have reiterated their stand when they met Sonia Gandhi two days ago. Rashtriya Lok Dal chief and Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh, who was consulted by the Congress president earlier this week, told press persons that Mukherjee was “qualified” to be the country’s President. Sharad Pawar-headed NCP has also endorsed Mukherjee’s candidature. After she wraps up her second round of consultations with UPA allies, Sonia Gandhi will meet parties which are extending outside support to the government. Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav, whose support in the President’s election is crucial as his party has a six per cent vote share in the electoral college, has also indicated his backing for Mukherjee. However, Mamata Banerjee is still holding out. She has made it clear that her support for Mukherjee would be contingent on the Centre’s positive response to her demand for a bail-out package for debt-ridden West Bengal. The Centre is feverishly working on a cash package for the state though it is reluctant to accept her demand for a moratorium on loan repayment to placate Mamata. Congress sources said though the UPA can push through Mukherjee’s candidature without Mamata’s support as the shortfall in the votes can be made up with the support of the Left parties, it would not like to alienate its key ally. This would have serious ramifications at the Centre as the UPA government is dependent on the Trinamool for its survival.
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‘Party to decide’
Kolkata, June 9 Mukherjee returned to Kolkata late last night after holding an hour-long meeting with Sonia Gandhi’s political secretary Ahmed Patel at the former’s bungalow.
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Lok Sabha bypoll
Lucknow, June 9 Ecstatic Samajwadi Party workers took to the streets dancing all the way to the party headquarters where they were seen congratulating each other and distributing sweets celebrating the victory of Dimple. SP national president Mulayam Singh Yadav who was holding a meeting with workers expressed satisfaction at the results which have added another feather to the Samajwadi Party hat. The honor of Dimple being elected unopposed from the Kannauj seat comes almost three months after the party’s landslide victory in the UP Assembly elections when it bagged 224 of the 403 seats. The Kannauj bypoll was necessitated when three-time MP Akhilesh Yadav quit the seat to accept the membership of the Vidhan Parishad after becoming the Chief Minister. Addressing the media soon after the expiry of the 3 pm deadline for the withdrawal of candidature, Kannauj District Magistrate Salva Kumari J confirmed Dimple Yadav’s unique achievement of entering the Lok Sabha unopposed. The announcement was a mere formality as the two candidates in the fray had decided to pull out from the electoral race yesterday. They were Sanyukt Samajwadi Dal candidate Dashrath Shankhwar and independent candidate Sanjay alias Sanju Katiyar. While the Congress was the first major party to decide not to contest, the BSP abstained by default when the party supremo Mayawati did not suggest any name till the last date. BJP candidate Jagdev Yadav could not reach Kannauj in time to file his nomination.
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Nithyananda on the run
Bangalore, June 9 Trouble started for Nithyananda yesterday when activists of some Kannada organisations and ashram devotees clashed. The activists were apparently angry over Thursday’s alleged attack on TV journalists during a press conference addressed by Nithyananda. “One complaint named Nithyananda as one of the accused. We do not know his whereabouts right now. But we have not booked him yet. We are still investigating the case,” Anupam Aggarwal, SP, Ramanagara district, said.
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Brows raised over babus in AFT selection panel
Chandigarh, June 9 The issue being raised is that judicial members, who are serving or retired judges of the high court, are higher in status and precedence to bureaucrats and hence, IAS officers can’t sit in judgement over their eligibility and merit. The four-member selection committee comprises a sitting judge of the Supreme Court nominated by Chief Justice of India; Chairperson of the AFT; Secretary, Ministry of Law and Justice; and Secretary, Ministry of Defence. The AFT has an authorised strength of 15 judicial members. At present, a large number of these posts are lying vacant. A petition filed before the Punjab and Haryana High Court contends that while the first two members may seem acceptable, the secretaries of the Law and Defence Ministries are career bureaucrats who ideally should have no say in the selection of members of a judicial tribunal. The petition, which seeks judicial intervention to redress various administrative and functional issues affecting the AFT, is pending before the high court. Stating that an “unnecessary and uncalled-for leverage has been provided to two serving bureaucrats to select judicial members, the petition adds that a serving secretary to the Government of India is junior in status, standing, precedence and in the official pecking order than a high court judge who features in Article 17 of the Warrant of Precedence vis-à-vis a secretary who features in Article 23. “Having a junior sit in a committee to select a senior and that too a senior appointment in a judicial capacity is directly opposed to the spirit of law laid down by the court,” the petition avers. It has also been claimed in the petition that the vacancies for appointments are not advertised, but vacancy circulars are simply uploaded in one of the corners of the Defence Ministry’s website or circulars are sent out to Registrars of high courts and military establishments.
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Withdraw cases against farmers: RLD MP
Lucknow, June 9 MP Jayant Chaudhary has demanded that cases filed against farmers protesting forced land acquisition in Mathura, Agra, Meerut, Allahabad and other places be withdrawn immediately, RLD spokesman Anil Dubey said. The MP from Mathura said that last month the CM had announced withdrawal of cases against farmers of Bhatta and Parsaul.
— PTI
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Tainted judge, six others booked
Hyderabad, June 9 The ACB also registered cases against six others, including two BJP MLAs from Karnataka: Gali Somasekhara Reddy, brother of the jailed mining baron, and Suresh Babu in the scam. The former judicial officer of AP TV Chalapathi Rao, Pattabhirama Rao's son Ravichandra, Yadagiri, a rowdy-sheeter and Dasharath Ram Reddy, a junior advocate, have also been booked. They have been charged under provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act and the IPC for corruption, cheating and criminal conspiracy.
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Sachin says no to govt bungalow
New Delhi, June 9 "I am not keen on blocking a government bungalow because this would be a waste of taxpayers’ money as I reside in Mumbai. It would be better if the bungalow is allotted to someone else who needs it more than me," he said. Tendulkar, who took the oath as member of the Rajya Sabha earlier this week, is entitled to government accommodation and was reportedly allotted a bungalow close to Rahul Gandhi's house on Tughlaq Lane in the heart of capital. "I would prefer to stay in a hotel in Delhi at my own expense when I am on official work. For me, the honour of being nominated as a Rajya Sabha MP matters the most. Not taking a government bungalow would not affect my responsibilities as Rajya Sabha MP. I do hope to attend few days of parliament in every session," he said. Ever since his nomination, there have been questions over whether he would be able to devote time for Parliament over his cricketing commitments.
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Autobiography of former Army Chief JJ Singh released
New Delhi, June 9 Through the book, JJ Singh takes the readers through a vast number of issues, including his tenure as Army Chief, India’s relationships with its neighbouring countries, the Sino-Indian border issue, AFSPA (Armed Forces Special Powers Act) and ethics in the Army. Addressing the audience at the book launch, he hinted that he derived his inspiration as author and soldier from his grandfather who had served in the 1/67 Punjab Regiment during the First World War in Mesopotamia and
Kut-al-Amara, both in present-day Iraq. “The sound of the bugle reminds me of my grandfather because he was very proficient at playing the bugle and the bagpipes. “My grandfather once told me that in his time, English officers inspected the Indians. Then, looking at me with pride, he said: And now, my grandson has done an inspection of English soldiers in London,” said JJ Singh. The Arunachal Governor admitted that it had been difficult to write his autobiography. He said that it was a “tough” decision as he was in a moral dilemma about whether he could write his achievements objectively. “My present position prevented me from writing about sensitive issues. Nevertheless, the book is a lucid account of a simple soldier who reached the top of the Army without a godfather. “I have narrated my innermost thoughts and written personalised descriptions of the events that I have witnessed,” he said. It took the former Army Chief four years to complete the book. He had decided to write down his memoir when he was appointed Army Chief on November 27, 2004.
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Two die of dengue in TN
Tirunelveli, June 9 The deceased were a girl nursing student from Kadayanallur village and a 12-year-old boy at
Kayatharu, the sources said. — PTI
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Unhygienic practices can affect academic performance
New Delhi, June 9 Just pushing them for long study hours will not help as health status, determined by the above mentioned factors, is a major determinant of the child’s academic performance as well as cognitive development, as found out by recent study titled “Child Health Intelligence and Performance (CHIP) conducted by Indian Medical Academy
(IMA) in four metros of India: Delhi, Kolkata, Bangalore and Mumbai. The study based on an online perception survey among 500 parents of the kids studying in 5th - 8th grade in the sampled areas and 540 pediatricians across the country, aims at encouraging safe hygienic practices, while highlighting the co-relation between hygiene habits and sickness-related absenteeism as students with poor hygiene fall ill more often and therefore tend to have poor attendance. It was observed that 68 per cent students in Group A scored above 80 per cent marks and had over 80 per cent attendance as they followed basic hygiene practices. While on the other hand, only 19 per cent students in Group B scored below 80 per cent marks and had less than 80 per cent attendance. While the latter showed sickness as the major cause for absenteeism from school as seen in 69 per cent cases, family engagement accounted for 43 per cent of the students with an attendance above 80 per cent. “Very often children are not properly taught healthy sanitary and personal hygiene habits and they suffer more in terms of academic performance. Infections lead to absenteeism, and the learning process suffers. Infections lead to mal-absorption of nutrients causing malnutrition, which in turn results in growth and cognitive impairments,” said Dr. Sanjeev
Bagai, senior paediatrician and IMA member. All 540 pediatrician’s survey felt that the unhygienic behavior and poor personal hygiene may lead to enteric infections and absenteeism from school, with nearly 92 per cent of them maintaining that the hygiene related factors can markedly affect a child’s academic performance and limit their learning skills. Regular attendance and good percentage of marks as observed by the experts must go hand in hand.
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‘One nation-one test’ in trouble
New Delhi, June 9 After IIT-Kanpur Senate (faculty body) rejected the idea yesterday saying it would hold its own JEE in 2013, the All-India IIT Faculty Federation (AIIITFF) today accused Sibal of breach of trust and asked all IIT Senates to go the Kanpur way. "IIT Kanpur will coordinate with other IITs who choose to join this (IIT-Kanpur's) admission process," AIIITFF said, opening a front against Sibal who has been saying that four of seven IIT Senates agree to his common entrance test (CET). On June 5 when Sibal asked state education ministers to join CET, he also said that the councils (supreme policy makers) of IITs, National Institutes of Technology (NITs) and Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs) to unanimously adopt the idea on May 28. But AIIITFF challenged the ministry today saying CET 2013 is in "gross violation of majority IIT Senate views and an attack on IIT academic autonomy". IIT Delhi Senate is expected to meet next week and could challenge CET in court besides resolving to hold JEE with IIT Kanpur in 2013. As a precursor, the AIIITFF today said Sibal broke his promise of consulting them. "In our April 14 meet, the minister accepted that Senates would decide on IIT-UG admissions. He asked Senates to give a view. Majority Senates communicated that they didn't want CET in 2013. We were told a final decision on CET would be taken in a separate IIT Council meeting which Senate representatives will attend. The meeting never happened but CET was announced," Federation secretary Prof Atul Mittal of IIT Delhi said. HRD Ministry sources for their part said the IITs would not get takers if they go it alone. The test
Alumnus take Former IIT Kanpur student Kshitij Deo, who built India's first indigenous nano satellite, says he and his IIT colleagues are against considering school marks for IIT admissions. "The school marks idea is bad. School education doesn't give you any understanding of engineering. Moreover, syllabus across state boards is extremely diverse.”
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The cash-for-bail scam in Andhra Pradesh took a turn today with the Anti-Corruption Bureau registering a case against a tainted judge of a special CBI court, T Pattabhirama
Rao. It was alleged that he accepted bribe to grant bail to the mining baron Gali Janardhan Reddy in the illegal mining case.
