|
|
|
|
|
Special to
The Tribune External Affairs Minister SM Krishna with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Washington on Wednesday. — PTI
Court turns down Yeddy’s bail plea
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Theft of Signal
Equipment
Differently abled resent being called ‘powerless’
The police takes away Nithyananda after he surrendered before a magistrate
at a court in Ramanagara, near Bangalore, on Wednesday. — PTI
Iran oil imports
Now, MNS men vandalise toll booths in Maharashtra
’84 riots: Delhi HC notice to CBI on Sajjan’s plea
Maharashtra schools rush for minority status to bypass RTE
provisions
India will regain growth: Krishna
IIT faculty to meet PMO officials today
UP House passes Bill seeking to deny quota in promotions
18 bombshell-like objects found in Jalandhar locality
‘Horse-trading’ in RS
polls TN allocates
Rs 1 crore for transgenders' uplift Bt cotton finds favour with Union Minister
BJP core group meets to chalk out strategy New Delhi, June 13 After adopting a virtual hands-off approach to the Presidential election, the BJP core group met tonight to chalk out its strategy for the upcoming poll but it did not take any final position on this issue and instead decided to wait till the Congress finalises its nominee.
|
|
Special to
The Tribune
US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and External Affairs Minister SM Krishna sought to dispel claims that the US-India relationship had run adrift as they chaired the third strategic dialogue in Washington on Wednesday.
The relationship has, over the past three years, “only strengthened our mutual partnership in every
field... We are making tangible and continuous progress,” said Krishna. “What was once novel and unprecedented in our relationship is now almost routine and normal. In the process of our engagement we have built something more precious: friendship, goodwill, trust, mutual confidence, candour and belief in the importance of a successful partnership,” he added. Krishna acknowledged that there were sometimes “questions and doubts” about the relationship. “They are inevitable in something so unique and new, but I believe that having settled the question of whether India and the US can or should work towards a close relationship, the question we ask now is how to harness the full potential of that relationship,” he said. “We are on the right track. We have reasons to be satisfied but not complacent,” he added. Hillary listed five areas in which the US and India are making progress: trade and investment; science and technology; education and people-to-people ties; security and defence; and cooperation in South and East Asia. But, she said: “It is not enough to talk about cooperation on issues ranging from civilian nuclear energy, attracting more US investments to India, or defending human rights or promoting women’s empowerment.
We have to follow through so our people... see and feel the benefits.” “There is a lot of room... for further growth and we need to keep up the momentum,” she added. On the economic front, despite the fact that bilateral trade in goods and services is on track to touch a new high of $100 billion this year, as a percentage of overall Indian trade the US percentage is dropping. The US and India are in talks to finalise a bilateral investment treaty, which would accelerate investment flows, create jobs, and generate growth. However, there is growing frustration in the US over restrictions to foreign investment and the slow pace of economic reforms in India. Hillary said the US wants to advance negotiations on the bilateral investment treaty to reduce barriers to trade and investment in areas like multi-brand retail and to create hospitable environments for each country’s companies to do business in the other country. On Tuesday, US firm Westinghouse Electric Co. signed a memorandum of understanding with the Nuclear Power Company of India Ltd. that would pave the way for the construction of nuclear power plants in Gujarat. Hillary described this development as a significant step, but added that “there is still a lot of work to be done, including understanding the implications of nuclear liability legislation.”
|
||
|
Court turns down Yeddy’s bail plea
With the rejection of the plea, the CBI can arrest Yeddyurappa and kin. Yeddyurappa’s lawyers, however, said they would move the high court for bail. The mining bribery case is being probed by the CBI on the directive of the Supreme Court. Yeddyurappa and his kin are accused of taking kickbacks from a mining company in return for favour. The CBI had also earlier searched the residential and office premises of Yeddyurappa and his kin in connection with the case. Yeddyurappa had said he would cooperate with the CBI. During the hearing of the Yeddyurappa’s anticipatory bail petition, his counsel argued that no official favour was extended to the mining company in question in lieu of the donations it made to a trust run by Yeddyurappa’s sons and son in law. With regard to the land de-notification case against Yeddyurappa, the counsel argued that the same case figured in the petition by Sirajin Basha and Yeddyurappa had already obtained bail in the case. Counsel for the CBI, who opposed the anticipatory bail plea of Yeddyurappa and his kin, said the accused persons were influential people and could temper with the evidence if they were not taken in custody. Yeddyurappa, BJP’s first chief minister in Karnataka, was forced to quit on July 31, 2011 over the mining bribery issue brought out by the Lokayukta in his final probe report on illegal mining in Karnataka. In October-November last year Yeddyurappa spent over three weeks in prison in connection with two land scam cases filed against him by Sirajin Basha.
|
||
|
Theft of Signal
Equipment
Jalandhar, June 13 The Army authorities were tightlipped about how the matter came to the fore, number of rods that went missing and the exact market price. But sources maintained that the issue came to notice when tall aluminium rods weighing between 95 and 200 kg each were found missing from the stocks of the Signals Centre on June 8. Sources ruled out an easy attempt to steal the rods from the stocks of the highly secure centre but maintained that it was a matter of grave concern and would be investigated at the earliest. “All stocks of the centre are being checked. The Army is also questioning everybody linked with the centre to solve the case threadbare,” sources added. The Army authorities also pointed towards a possible theory of alleged theft during the recently concluded “Exercise Ashwamedh” of the Vajra Corps, which was held from May 27th to 30th in the western sector. It is pertinent to mention here that troops from the Signals Centre, with its highly tactical battle equipment, were part of the exercise. It was also learnt that the Army authorities were making inquiries from various scrap dealers to check if any such material was sold out to them recently, the sources added. Rumours are doing the rounds that the tower rods were to be dispatched to a unit in Ambala Cantonment. However, the sources did not divulge anything on this issue. Meanwhile, though the police is in the know, no case has been registered as of now. When contacted, Manpreet Singh, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Jalandhar Cantonment, said, “Though an Army officer had approached us, we have not registered any case as there has been no green signal from their side.” However, Defence spokesperson Naresh Vig said, “The case has been reported to police. Meanwhile, CoI has also been ordered and investigations are on.”
|
||
|
Differently abled resent being called ‘powerless’
New Delhi, June 13 Small wonder then that the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment came in for criticism today when state Commissioners for Disabilities assembled in the capital to review progress under the Persons with Disabilities Act, 1995. Most of them voiced the sentiment of the community that strongly resented the use of word “nishakt” to describe them in all official Hindi communications of the government.
The word, they rightly insist, will reinforce long-held stereotypes about the specially abled instead of removing these. “We must not use this word in official communications. It must be changed by amending the law. It is certainly objectionable and derogatory. We can debate which word to use but ‘nishakt’ is unacceptable,” said Maj Gen Ian Cardozo (retd), Chairman of Rehabilitation Council of India, the first sector expert to flag the issue today. The majority of Disability Commissioners endorsed Cardozo’s point and said the word ‘viklaang’ was more acceptable for use in Hindi official communications of the ministry as it technically described a disabled person in Hindi. “The word in Hindi means someone with a defective limb. To that extent, it is more acceptable than “nishakt” which means powerless, weak and worthless,” said Javed Abidi, President, Disability Rights Group. Even the Hindi version of Persons with Disabilities Act, 1995, uses ‘nishakt’ to describe specially abled persons. State Disability Commissioners today urged the government to amend the Act and replace the derogatory term. They also sought a change in the Hindi name of the new Disability Department which has recently been set up in the Ministry of Social Justice. The ministry thus far only had a disability division. But following the announcement that Social Justice Minister Mukul Wasnik made in Parliament in the budget session, a full fledged Department of Disability was recently set up. This department will have a Secretary, enabling undivided attention for a long-neglected sector. But the question is if the government is willing to change its vocabulary along with its rhetoric. “Signing the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability and passing a law is not enough. The government must display a mindset that matches its proclaimed commitments in respect of the sector,” Abidi said.
|
|
Nithyananda surfaces in court, arrested
Bangalore, June 13 Nithyananda - suspected to be indulging in sexual excesses in his ashram near Bidadi - was whisked away by the police after he appeared in the court. There was a possibility that the 32-year-old guru, caught on camera in 2010 while frolicking with an actress and recently charged with rape by a disgruntled woman devotee, might have been lynched by the angry mob which had gathered on the court premises after news spread that he had surrendered before the
court. Agarwal said Nithyananda has been named in two complaints. One was filed by a reporter of a Kannada news channel and the other was by activists of a Kannada
organisation. The police also searched the ashram located near Bangalore yesterday and today to collect evidence of immoral activities there.
Agarwal, however, told this reporter that they did not find anything incriminating during the
search. Nithyananda has also moved the Karnataka High Court for quashing the case against him and his disciples. The high court adjourned hearing in the case to June 15 after directing the state government to file its objections to the petition. Karnataka Chief Minister Sadananda Gowda on June 11 had ordered Nithyananda’s arrest and sealing of his ashram in the wake of the fracas with media personnel last Thursday and a group of Kannada activists the following day. The ashram, however, is yet to be sealed. Agarwal said that as many as 120 persons were staying in the ashram at the moment. Besides heading his own “Dhyanapeetham” organization, Nithyananda has also been recently chosen the pontiff of an ancient Shaivite mutt in Tamil
Nadu. After fleeing from Karnataka, he was apparently hiding in Tamil
Nadu. Nithyananda faces a rape case filed in 2010 following the telecast by a Tamil TV channel of a video showing him indulging in sexual act. Soon after the telecast, Nithyananda went underground for two months and was finally arrested from a village in Solan district of Himachal
Pradesh. He was kept in jail in Ramanagara for about eight weeks and has been bail on since June 2010.
|
||
|
US sanctions could have hit India hard
Ashok Tuteja/TNS
New Delhi , June 13 ''India can breathe easily for sometime but it must make sufficient progress in reducing its dependence on Iran to meet its crude requirement in the next six months or the threat of sanctions could resurface,'' sources added. It is, however, candidly acknowledged in official circles that the Indian economy, already in a bad shape, would have suffered even more had India also become one of the countries attracting the crippling US sanctions which come into force from June 28. The sanctions would have banned any Indian bank involved in the oil trade with Iran from dealing with its American or European counterparts. India has already been struggling for quite some time to find a viable mechanism to pay for Iranian oil after the Reserve Bank of India was forced by sanctions on Iran to scrap the Asian Clearing Union, which served as a clearing house for trade with Iran. For a while, India made its oil payments through a German bank and, later, through a Turkish bank. However, the proposed US sanctions have made these options also almost impossible. India, meanwhile, bargained with Tehran to accept Indian Rupees for its oil payments. An Iranian delegation is currently visiting India to explore the possibility of importing wheat from this country in exchange for the oil dues of the Islamic republic. There are also reports about the unavailability of funds with the UCO Bank in the Rupee account which has affected India's exports to Iran. The sanctions would have impacted India largely because Iran is India ’s second largest oil supplier after Saudi Arabia. India was importing some 12 per cent of its overall oil purchases from Iran before the US announced its decision to impose sanctions.
|
||
|
Now, MNS men vandalise toll booths in Maharashtra
Mumbai, June 13 According to the state police control room, cases of assault and vandalism were registered against MNS activists in Mumbai, Thane, Vasai and Virar on the outskirts of the country’s financial capital in addition to Nashik, Aurangabad and Buldana. Thackeray had said earlier this week that private agencies tasked with constructing roads and other infrastructure were collecting toll long after they recovered their investments and made profits. Thackeray had demanded that toll operators should provide data like the total cost of the project, the number of vehicles actually using the facility, the period for which the agency would be allowed to collect toll and the actual amount of toll collected. The MNS leader warned that the state government would face protests if the authorities did not immediately review toll collection policies across
the state. Toll collection on Maharashtra roads has become a contentious subject with RTI activists ferreting out details of operators linked to powerful politicians extending their tenures on major arterial roads for decades. The protests against toll collection in the state have also drawn support from social activist Anna Hazare who has been raising the issue on public fora for the past several months. The activist has been demanding that toll collecting agencies be brought within the ambit of the Right to Information Act so that the actual toll collected by them can be put up to public scrutiny. As for his reaction to the attacks by the MNS activists, Hazare said, “If the government tests the patience of the common man, they will be forced to attack.”
|
||
|
’84 riots: Delhi HC notice to CBI on Sajjan’s plea
New Delhi, June 13 Listing the next hearing for July 3, Justice SP Garg said there was no need for Sajjan to move the HC during the summer vacation as the case in the trial court was coming up only on July 13. On June 2, the trial court had dismissed Sajjan’s plea for using the affidavits and statements of the complainant and key witness, Jagdish Kaur, to confront her. The CBI had opposed the plea, contending that under the Commission of Inquiry Act, affidavits and statements of any witness given before any commission could not be used for the purpose of questioning the testimony given in the court. Sajjan, however, contended that the CBI and witnesses were using the affidavits filed before the Ranganath Misra and GT Nanavati commissions and as such there could not be any bar against him for resorting to the same method.
|
||
|
Maharashtra schools rush for minority status to bypass RTE
provisions
Mumbai, June 13 "We are granting minority status only after a strict review as a large number of schools have applied for minority status," said Minister for Minorities Arif Naseem Khan. According to him, the number of applications for obtaining minority status went up manifold after it became clear that the government would be enforcing the provisions of the RTE from the current academic year. Khan said the government has decided to enforce the rules strictly so that no schools are wrongly given minority status. However, a large number of schools in the state managed to obtain minority status after the RTE Act was enacted. According to government data, 930 schools from the state were granted minority status. Of these, 287 were from
Mumbai, Thane and Navi Mumbai alone. According to reports in the local press, a number of prestigious private schools in Mumbai have also adopted unfair means to obtain minority status. A corporate-run school with operations in many states managed to obtain minority-status as a
Parsi-run institution in order to stay out of the RTE's provisions in
Mumbai. Stung by these reports, the state government is now planning a review of the minority status granted to some schools. "To qualify for minority status, the schools must have at least 50 per cent of its students from the minority community," said an official of the education
department.
|
||
|
India will regain growth: Krishna
Washington, June 13 "Questions have been raised about economic policy and commitment to implement reforms. Doubts have been expressed whether the story of Incredible India will remain credible!" Krishna said. "But, time and again, our economy rebounded with new
vigour, on the strength of strong fundamentals, and supported by sound policies and prudent economic management," he added. Krishna's remarks came at the end of the day-long annual gala of the US India Business Council
(USIBC) where American corporate leaders and think tanks expressed scepticism over the current business environment in India and lamented that economic reforms are not taking place. US Deputy National Security Advisor on international economic affairs Michael Froman said the US industry has increasingly become concerned about the relationship given that the investment environment has deteriorated. "Domestic political challenges are slowing" the economic reform and as a consequence, the economic relationship is not achieving that it might be, he noted. The disappointment of the business community is "worrisome", as it has been one of the strongest proponents of a strong US-India relationship, Froman said. Meanwhile, cautioning that a weakened India will be bad for the world, new Chairman of USIBC Ajay Banga said policy flip-flops and unpredictable business climate are hampering the country's progress and scaring away foreign investors. Krishna said, "In an era of global inter-dependence, not everything is within the powers of national governments. But we are confident that
we will restore investor confidence and regain economic momentum and growth," he said. Krishna said measures taken in response to an earlier phase of the global economic crisis, international turbulence and volatility, and policy challenges, have all contributed to the current situation.
— PTI
|
||
|
IIT faculty to meet PMO officials today
New Delhi, June 13 The All-India IIT Faculty Federation (AIIITFF), which had petitioned the PM against the Human Resources Development Ministry’s alleged arbitrary stand on pushing the common engineering entrance test, confirmed to The Tribune today that they had been invited by the Prime Minister’s Office for talks tomorrow. The meeting with PM Manmohan Singh is expected on Friday. The meeting comes 10 days after Human Resources Development Minister Kapil Sibal announced go-ahead on the new common engineering entrance test from April 2013. The minister said on June 5 that the Central Board of Secondary Education will conduct the new test and IITs will set papers. Christened Joint Entrance Exam, the common engineering entrance test will have two components — Main and Advanced, both multiple choice questions based and its merit list will factor in Class XII marks, normalised through a formula which Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata, has developed but not validated. The All-India IIT Faculty Federation said they will submit a dossier to the Prime Minister’s Office highlighting that the Human Resources Development Ministry had disregarded the majority views of IIT Senates (faculty bodies) on significant aspects of the new test.
|
||
|
UP House passes Bill seeking to deny quota in promotions
Lucknow, June 13 The Bill introduced as per the Supreme Court order envisages withdrawing of reservation in promotions in state government jobs which had been provided for by the Mayawati-led BSP government. The Allahabad High Court in 2011 had upheld the Mayawati government’s decision to grant reservation in promotions to all the reserved categories among government employees. The Supreme Court in April 2012 overruled the Allahabad High Court. It declared that there could be no reservation in promotions. The apex court judgment had come in response to petitions filed by various associations of state government employees against the high court ruling. The apex court had maintained that the decision of the Uttar Pradesh government was ultra vires the Constitution.
|
||
|
18 bombshell-like objects found in Jalandhar locality
Jalandhar, June 13 RK Sharma, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (ADCP), City-I, however, claimed that preliminary investigations showed that the objects had no association with any weapons used by the defence forces. The police has initiated its probe after registering a daily diary report (DDR) at police station, division no. 8, in this regard, Sharma added. A rag picker had noticed the bombshell-like objects on Tuesday noon. Senior police officials reached the spot and took possession of the 18 objects, weighing 7 kg each, and informed the Army authorities.
|
|
‘Horse-trading’ in RS
polls
New Delhi, June 13 The CBI said sleuths of the investigation agency conducted raids at four places including the office premises of Dhruva Infrastructure Project Limited in Gurgaon, three places in Delhi and 19 places in Jharkhand, Kolkata and Odisha. Their bank accounts have also been checked. Some incriminating documents have been recovered in connection with the case, sources said. Raids were conducted in the houses of independent MLAs Bandhu Tirkey and Chamra Linda. The raiding team has also sought mobile details of JMM MLAs connected with Dhoot. Raids were also conducted in the house of Pawan Kumar Dhoot in Delhi and Gurgaon, CBI officials said.
|
|||||
|
Bt cotton finds favour with Union Minister "With every passing day, I am getting more convinced that what I did on Bt brinjal was correct," he said, referring to the moratorium imposed on the commercialisation of Bt brinjal during his tenure as the Environment Minister. However, scientific issues being flagged were a cause of concern, the minister agreed, saying that the government should do "a critical scientific analysis" of Bt cotton. "If the story of Bt cotton is so catastrophic why have 95 per cent of Indian farmers adopted it," Ramesh told participants at a conference organised by the coalition for a GM-free India on the completion of 10 years of Bt cotton. "The number of farmers producing Bt cotton has increased in direct proportion to the number of published papers calling it disastrous. Only a good analysis in Punjab, Haryana and Gujarat can reveal the reasons behind the dramatic increase in yields and area. It is time for some serious work on sources of growth in cotton, whether it is the Bt cotton that has caused structural transformation or good rains, hybrids and increased area under irrigation are the reasons," was his poser to the activists who maintain that the story of GM variant of cotton is that of "hype and failed promises". "Bt cotton has failed to meet its promise of sustained yield, pest protection and reduction in pesticide usage. The government should reject the hype around Bt cotton, and focus on sustainable solutions and pro-farmers measures to achieve production, environmental safety and farmers' welfare that are long-lasting," said Sridhar Radhakrishnan, convener, GM-free India.
|
|||||
|
Prez Poll New Delhi, June 13 The core group deliberations, chaired by BJP president Nitin Gadkari, acquired urgency after Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee and Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav rejected the Congress choices and instead proposed three new names - former President APJ Abdul Kalam, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and former Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee.
|
|||||
|
|||||
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Letters | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | E-mail | |
US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and External Affairs Minister SM Krishna sought to dispel claims that the US-India relationship had run adrift as they chaired the third strategic dialogue in Washington on Wednesday.
Vocabulary impacts our mental worlds like nothing else does. So when a ministry, charged with the responsibility of “empowering” the disabled, calls its all-new department for the sector “Nishakt Karya Vibhaag”, there are bound to be problems.
‘Nishakt’ in Hindi means powerless and no specially abled person would ever prefer that description.
Small wonder then that the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment came in for criticism today when state Commissioners for Disabilities assembled in the capital to review progress under the Persons with Disabilities Act, 1995. Most of them voiced the sentiment of the community that strongly resented the use of word “nishakt” to describe them in all official Hindi communications of the government.
Bangalore, June 13
New Delhi, June 13