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Pranab holds 2 more offices of profit, says Team Sangma
In Gowda’s exit, Yeddy
shows who’s the boss
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illegal mining
Bathinda air base gives Air Force big edge
Krishna-Khar meet on cards in Tokyo
Illegal mining: CBI grills
Yeddy, son
BJP wins 7 Mayoral posts in UP
Mediation best way to resolve disputes, say President & CJI
Rahul Gandhi denies charges of illegal confinement
AI went back on its word: Pilots
PC as telecom EGoM head will be ‘cruel joke’ on nation: BJP
Krishna-Khar meet on cards in Tokyo
Two RTI activists shot at in 2 days
Dara Singh in hospital, critical
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Pranab holds 2 more offices of profit, says Team Sangma
New Delhi, July 7 A three-member delegation met Chief Election Commissioner VS Sampath on behalf of Opposition-backed presidential candidate PA Sangma to express its dissatisfaction with the returning officer’s order overruling its objections to Mukherjee’s nomination. The Election Commission has given Team Sangma time till Monday to submit its written petition. Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy, who was part of the delegation, later told mediapersons that Mukherjee continues to hold two more offices of profit -- as vice president of Birbhum Institute of Engineering and Technology and as chairman of Rabindra Bharti Society, which is part of the Rabindra Bharti University. Describing it as a case of fraud, Swamy said the Constitution gives the Election Commission powers to intervene in an election. ”Let the Election Commission take a final decision,” he said. The Opposition’s decision to persist with its battle against Mukherjee is part of its strategy to dent his image and erode the UPA government’s credibility. Earlier, Sangma’s lawyer and BJP leader Satpal Jain had charged that Mukherjee had violated the office of profit rules as continued to hold the post of as chairman of the Kolkata-based Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) when he filed his nomination papers. He had also alleged tht Mukerhjee’s resignation letter to the ISI was forged and “manufactured” after the opposition brought up this issue at the time of the scrutiny of the nomination papers. These objections were overruled by the presidental returning officer VK
Agnihotri.
Pranab has quit as society chief
Kolkata: The Rabindra Bharati Society on Saturday said Pranab Mukherjee had resigned as its chairman on June 20, much before filing his nomination for the Presidential election
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In Gowda’s exit, Yeddy
shows who’s the boss
Bangalore, July 7 With the BJP top brass in Delhi buckling under his pressure and all set to replace Sadananda Gowda with Jagdish Shettar as the Chief Minister of the southern state, Yeddyurappa has once again proved his upper hand over the
high command. The BJP high command had persuaded Yeddyurappa to quit as the CM after he was indicted in the Lokayukta’s report on illegal mining, but the Karnataka strongman had the final say on his successor. Despite party’s Central leadership backing Jagadish Shettar at that time, Yeddyurappa made sure that Sadananda Gowda became the Chief Minister. The Lingayat strongman, architect of the BJP’s
first electoral triumph in Karnataka, chose Gowda because he was expendable. The strategy has paid off. After the latest revolt engineered by Yeddyurappa against Gowda with resignations by nine ministers, including seven from the Lingayat community, the BJP high command is ready to dump
Gowda. However, sacrificing Gowda for Shettar may have a heavy political cost. It will show that the BJP prefers
Lingayats, among whom the party has a strong following, courtesy
Yeddyurappa, to a Vokkaliga leader (Gowda). The Vokkaligas are a political influential caste of Karnataka whom the BJP can ill-afford to alienate. To placate the
Vokkaligas, the party is contemplating promoting Home Minister R Ashok, a
Vokkaliga, as deputy Chief Minister. Shettar, whose candidature for the CM’s post was earlier opposed by Yeddyurappa fearing emergence of another strong leader from his own community, had to fall in line with BSY because of the caste factor. Shettar ran the risk of becoming an outcaste in his own Lingayat community had he not supported Yeddyurappa against
Gowda. The “betrayal card” has worked well for Yeddyurappa in the past. The BJP got the largest number of seats in the 2008 Assembly elections in the state after cashing in on the the “betrayal” by Janata Dal (Secular) leader HD
Kumaraswamy, who refused to hand over the power to the BJP despite the promise he made to the saffron party while cobbling up a
JD(S) - BJP coalition government in the state in 2006. The Assembly elections in Karnataka are due next year.
Yeddyurappa, by making Shettar the CM, will be an endearing figure for his community when the elections are held. Corruption cases against him have made it difficult for him to become the CM himself immediately.
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CBI questions Yeddy, son
Bangalore, July 7 Former Minister SN Krishnaiah Setty was also questioned by the agency, official sources said. The investigating agency had interrogated Raghavendra, his brother BY Vijayendra and Yeddyurappa's son-in-law RN Sohan Kumar at its office here last month. The CBI has already registered an FIR against Yeddyurappa and others and raided their residential and other premises as part of the probe ordered by the Supreme Court on the recommendations of the Central Empowered Committee set up by it to look into illegal mining. — PTI
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Bathinda air base gives Air Force big edge
New Delhi, July 7 The Ministry of Defence had early last year signed a contract with Tata Power’s Strategic Electronics Division under a Rs 1299 crore modernisation of airfield infrastructure (MAFI) project for upgradation of 30 air bases in the country, including those in the north-east. Bathinda is the first airfield where the project was launched in July last year with the target of completion in June 2012. IAF sources told The Tribune that upgradation work at Bathinda was completed earlier this week. The IAF is now operating with the latest equipment. The newly installed hi-end gadgetry brings Bathinda airbase at par with air force bases in the developed world using such technology. This is an important cog in the network-centric approach. Ground based, controllers will have a real-time view enabling sharp decision making. The information can be relayed further to ground based troops of the Indian Army. The newly inducted twin-engined Mi-17-V5 armed choppers — used for troop insertions in forward areas — are based there. However, the upgrade means Hi-end gadgetry
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Krishna-Khar meet on cards in Tokyo
New Delhi, July 7 Sources said officials of both countries were in touch to arrange the meeting. Krishna would be holding talks with the Pakistani minister just three days after the meeting between Foreign Secretaries in New Delhi. The talks between Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai and his Pakistani counterpart Jalil Abbas Jilani yielded no tangible result as the two sides appeared sharply divided over the issue of terrorism in the wake of revelations made by Abu Jundal on the Mumbai attack. However, the two countries have decided to remain engaged to resolve all outstanding issues. The meeting between the two foreign ministers
will provide them an opportunity to take stock of the dialogue process as also discuss the proposed dates for Krishna's visit to Islamabad in early September. Krishna was scheduled to go to Islamabad on July 17-18 to review the progress in the dialogue process with Khar. However, he was compelled to review the dates in view of the Presidential poll in India on July 19. Apart from meeting Khar, Krishna will also have talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Japanese Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba, who is hosting the Tokyo meeting. SM Krishna is also scheduled to meet new French Foreign Minister Laurent
Fabius.
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Illegal mining: CBI grills Yeddy, son
Bangalore, July 7 Former Minister SN Krishnaiah Setty was also questioned by the agency, official sources said. The investigating agency had interrogated Raghavendra, his brother BY Vijayendra and Yeddyurappa's son-in-law RN Sohan Kumar at its office here last month. The Central Bureau of Investigation has already registered an FIR against Yeddyurappa and others and raided their residential and other premises
as part of the probe ordered by the Supreme Court on the recommendations of the Central Empowered Committee set up by it to look into illegal mining. — PTI
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Armed with CCTV footage, cops rescue kidnapped child
Mumbai/Haridwar, July 7 Two picket constables, Pankaj Giri and Dilwar, posted at the Haridwar bus stand, noticed a person carrying away a child on his shoulder in a suspicious manner. Their suspicion grew as they had seen on television footage of the abducted child from the Mumbai railway station, which was quite similar to the child and the kidnapper. With the suspected person failing to give a satisfactory explanation, the constables took him to the Mayapur police post where, following investigations by Sub Inspector Santosh Singh Kunwar, suspect Raju confessed to abducting the child from CST, Mumbai. Raju further revealed that he had abducted the child in order to make her a beggar. Prabhat Kumar, Commissioner, Government Railway Police, told reporters in Mumbai that a police team has been sent to Uttarakhand to bring the girl to Mumbai. "A team is being sent to Haridwar and as soon as we confirm the identity of the suspect, we will take his custody," Kumar added. Earlier this week, the police released footage of the kidnapping to the media after failing to make any headway in the case. According to the police, the kidnapping happened on the intervening night of June 9 and 10 after the victim's parents and siblings missed the train to their hometown in Parbhani. The family, which works as labourers in Mumbai, decided to stay at the station platform before trying to board the train the following day. However on June 10, the family realised that their youngest child was missing and filed a complaint with the police. Investigators pored through footage from several CCTV cameras installed at different parts of the CST station to map the movement of the kidnapper. Piecing together the incident, the police said the man got off a train and wandered near the waiting room of the railway station before sidling besides the sleeping family around 2 am on June 10. The child’s parents, who are in Mumbai and watched the news on television, confirmed that it was their daughter Sangeeta who was rescued by the Uttarakhand authorities, the police said.
Haridwar Link
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BJP wins 7 Mayoral posts in UP
Lucknow, July 7 As vote-counting was in progress, the party led with a good margin in Varanasi, Kanpur and Ghaziabad, whereas the state's ruling SP-backed candidate IS Tomar won the Mayoral election of Bareilly municipal corporation. In the last municipal elections held in 2007, the BJP had won eight seats, including Varanasi, Gorakhpur, Aligarh, Lucknow, Kanpur, Agra, Ghaziabad and Meerut. In Moradabad, BJP candidate Veena Agarwal defeated her nearest rival Humanu Kabir of Peace Party by a margin of 70,111, whereas its candidate Shakuntala Bharati defeated independent Razia Khan in Aligarh by a margin of 41,834 votes. In Gorakhpur, BJP's Satya Pandey defeated Sujit Kareem of Congress by a margin of 33,156 votes. In Jhansi, Kiran Raju Bookseller of BJP won, while in Lucknow, BJP candidate Dinesh Sharma won the seat for the second consecutive time. In Meerut, Harikant Ahluwalia of BJP defeated SP-backed Rajeeq Ansari and in Agra, party candidate Indrajeet Arya defeated BSP-backed Kartar Singh Bhartiya. While the Congress and the BJP contested elections on party symbols, the BSP and the SP allowed their workers to contest polls but not on party symbols. The Congress has so far failed to open its account. — PTI
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Mediation best way to resolve disputes, say President & CJI
New Delhi, July 7 “Mediation can definitely become a big movement in India as an effective mode of settlement of disputes. There should be a campaign to create awareness about the availability and advantages of mediation,” Patil said in her inaugural address at the 3rd National Conference on Mediation. Unlike the courts, where rival parties tried to win their respective cases, the mediation process brought them together as partners in finding solutions. “This creates an opportunity to arrive at a win-win formula as mediation is built around a culture of give and take. When a dispute is resolved through this process, there is no winner or loser, for the parties agree to the solution whereas in litigation there is always a loser. This is a positive outcome,” the President pointed out. Presiding over the inauguration function of the two-day conference, organised jointly by the Mediation and Conciliation Project Committee of the Supreme Court and the Delhi High Court Mediation Monitoring Committee, CJI Kapadia said such alternative dispute resolution mechanisms would go a long way in clearing mounting arrears in courts. The CJI advocated greater use of facilitative mediation, particularly in commercial matters such as pricing of gas and oil, in the interest of national economy in the globalised world. “The entire world is closely watching litigations in India,” he said called for evolving new methods for quick disposal of cases. In his special address, Law Minister Salman Khurshid said mediation had a good success rate of 42 per cent and continuous cooperation between the judiciary and the executive would result in better implementation of such initiatives. In his keynote address, SC Judge Altamas Kabir, who is also Chairman of the National Legal Aid Services Authority (NALSA), said mediation was gaining momentum and greater recognition.
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Rahul Gandhi denies charges of illegal confinement
New Delhi, July 7 In a counter-affidavit filed in the SC, Rahul submitted that the allegations made against him were "totally false, frivolous, vexatious and are calculated to harm my standing and image". "It is respectfully submitted that a serious view should be taken of such allegations," the affidavit stated. The apex court had on April 6 last year issued notice to Rahul, the UP Government and four others on a petition filed by a former MLA challenging the Rs 50 lakh fine imposed on him by the Allahabad High Court in a sexual exploitation case. A Bench of Justices VS Sirpurkar (since retired) and TS Thakur, while staying the high court order, which had also directed a CBI probe against the former legislator, asked the respondents to file their replies within four weeks. — PTI
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Soon, art gallery for 210 locked Roerich paintings in Bangalore
Bangalore, July 7 About 25 acres of the 468 acres vast estate here - where the couple lived for many years - will be developed as a rose garden by the state’s Horticulture Department. On another 25 acres, an art gallery will be set up to display the paintings of Roerich. The paintings are now in the Venkatappa Art Gallery in Bangalore in a locked room. The key is with the city police’s crime branch. The room is opened twice a week in the presence of a senior policeman to let in fresh air and light. The small paintings are kept in almirahs and the others on steel racks. A Supreme Court order in August last year upheld the acquisition of the estate by the state government. In its heydays, the estate had received visits from eminent personalities such as Jawahar Lal Nehru, S Radhakrishnan, Alexei Kosygin and Andrei Gromyko. Roerich passed away in 1993 and Devika Rani died the following year. Both have been buried in the estate. The childless couple had neither left a will nor had named an heir. Since 1996, the legal battle for the rights over the property has been going on. Private company KT Plantations and Mary Joyce Poonacha, who was Devika Rani’s personal assistant, had claimed shares in the estate. They had challenged in the Supreme Court the Karnataka High Court’s upholding of the acquisition of the estate in 1996 by the state government. Besides a bungalow and a studio, the Tataguni estate also has an 11 acre lake which is maintained by the Lake Development Authority. The state government has set up the Roerich and Devika Rani Roerich Estate Board to look after the sprawling area. Chief Secretary of Karnataka is chairman of the board.
Bonanza for art lovers
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AI went back on its word: Pilots
Mumbai, July 7 "We had a meeting with representatives of Air India management Friday under the supervision of the Chief Labour Commissioner. However, they (management) failed to find a solution to our problems," Rohit Kapahi, committee member of IPG, said. After initially making 14 demands, the pilots are now only asking for reinstatement of their 101 colleagues who were sacked during the strike. The IPG late Friday said that in their talks with the management, Air India officials expressed their inability to commit anything on reinstating pilots or addressing their demands. "The management officials said they needed more time to consider our two demands -- reinstatement of 101 sacked colleagues and recognition of IPG," Kapahi said. "They (Air India) failed to reciprocate IPG's goodwill gesture of calling off the agitation," IPG general secretary EA Kapadia said. The impasse notwithstanding, the pilots will not resume the strike, he said. According to the pilots, the Chief Labour Commissioner has recorded Air India's stand and would report to the Delhi High Court on Monday. The pilots having allegiance to IPG called off their strike after Air India Tuesday told the Delhi High Court that it would sympathetically consider their grievances. According to an airline official, nearly 300 pilots belonging to the IPG have begun reporting back to work. Before resuming work, the pilots will have to get their fitness checked by doctors and undergo refresher training and a mandatory route flying check. "There are four levels that the pilots need to cross, including fitness test, ground training refresher, simulator trials and finally a route check exam. These procedures will take 15-20 days to complete," said the official. For the route flying check, the pilots who have not flown an aircraft for over 30 days will operate a flight with a check (instructor) pilot who will oversee their performance. After that, the pilots resuming duty will be assigned a flying schedule. Trouble for the airline started May 8 when IPG members took mass sick leave, protesting against the move to provide Boeing-787 Dreamliner training to pilots from the erstwhile Indian Airlines. Air India and Indian Airlines were merged in 2007 to form a single entity to overcome their sub-optimal performance and in the hope that the step would result in a Rs.1,000 crore profit in the first year itself. The strike crippled Air India's international operations and caused an estimate revenue loss of Rs 625 crore. The losses will keep on mounting till operations are completely restored, the official said. The grounded fleet of Boeing 777s, unused manpower and absence from key routes have hit the airlines' chances of a financial turnaround. Currently, the airline is operating only 38 of its 45 international services. Among the axed destinations are Hong Kong, Osaka, Seoul and Toronto. — IANS
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PC as telecom EGoM head will be ‘cruel joke’ on nation: BJP
New Delhi, July 7 "There are reports about the likely appointment of Chidambaram as head of the EGoM on telecom. There has been no denial from the government. This flies in the face of PM's statement yesterday that he maintains a high level of integrity," BJP chief spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad told reporters here. He demanded that the Prime Minister should explain how this move to appoint Chidambaram goes in accordance with his claim. “The Prime Minister had said in Parliament that the pricing of spectrum was decided after the meeting between then Telecom Minister A Raja and Chidambaram,” Prasad said. Chidambaram had taken this decision on spectrum pricing at 2001-rate despite his officials advising him against this. Prasad said that Raja has claimed that Chidambaram should also be questioned while some feel he should be made a co-accused.
— PTI
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Delhi Airport Metro line shut from today
New Delhi, July 7 The announcement was made by the Secretary of the Union Urban Development Ministry Sudhir Krishna after a meeting of officials of the ministry, the Delhi Government, Delhi Metro and Reliance Infrastructure (the operator of the line). The defect was detected during a recent annual inspection. The Reliance Infrastructure-led consortium has found that 250 bearings out of the total 2,100 (bearings are concrete structures on top of pillars on which girders rest) on the elevated corridors are “shaky”. The Reliance Infrastructure had informed the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation about the defect in writing on June 7, sources said. The trains run at a speed of 105 km/hr on the 23-km line, which connects New Delhi Railway Station to Indira Gandhi International Airport. The government has constituted a committee comprising director-level officers of the Northern Railways, Delhi Metro and Reliance Infrastructure to carry out an inquiry. The panel would submit a report within 10 days after which rectification work would be carried out. ”The Reliance Infrastructure reported that there are some defects in the civil structure. There are problems with the bearing. Repairs have to be done below the girders,” Sudhir Krishna said today. "By the end of August we expect the line to be functional again," he added. Sumit Banerjee of Reliance Infra said the corridor was not making profits, but added that the operator would continue to run the line and would not close it down. "The decision to suspend the train services on the corridor is purely linked with safety," Banerjee said.
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Krishna-Khar meet on cards in Tokyo
New Delhi, July 7 Sources said officials of both countries were in touch to arrange the meeting. Krishna would be holding talks with the Pakistani minister just three days after the meeting between Foreign Secretaries in New Delhi. The talks between Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai and his Pakistani counterpart Jalil Abbas Jilani yielded no tangible result as the two sides appeared sharply divided over the issue of terrorism in the wake of revelations made by Abu Jundal on the Mumbai attack. However, the two countries have decided to remain engaged to resolve all outstanding issues. The meeting between the two foreign ministers
will provide them an opportunity to take stock of the dialogue process as also discuss the proposed dates for Krishna's visit to Islamabad in early September. Krishna was scheduled to go to Islamabad on July 17-18 to review the progress in the dialogue process with Khar. However, he was compelled to review the dates in view of the Presidential poll in India on July 19. Apart from meeting Khar, Krishna will
also have talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Japanese Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba, who is hosting the Tokyo meeting. SM Krishna is also scheduled to meet new French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius. Meanwhile, India will focus on feeding of recomendations of Delhi Investment Summit on Afghanistan, terrorism and development assistance in the outcome document of the Tokyo summit.
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Two RTI activists shot at in 2 days Raigarh/Guwahati, July 7 The attackers, aged between 25 and 27 years, fired two bullets at Agarwal, also an environmental rights campaigner, at his computer shop in Aitbari Bazar, Raigarh SP Neha Pandey said. The RTI activist, who suffered gunshot wounds in his thigh, was admitted to a hospital where the bullets embedded in his left thigh were removed, she said. Agarwal, who works for environmental rights organisation Jan Chetna Manch, is out of danger, doctors said. The RTI activist shot to limelight last year when the Amnesty International demanded his unconditional release after he was arrested for staging a protest against public hearing conducted for an industrial project. Agarwal has been campaigning against pollution caused by industrial projects and the potential negative environmental impact of proposed projects in central Chhattisgarh. Meanwhile, a Congress councillor was arrested in connection with the attack on RTI activist and Team Anna member Akhil Gogoi while search was on for five others allegedly involved in the assault. The Nalbari district bandh called to protest against the incident disrupted normal life in the area today. Congress councillor Tapan Barman was arrested last night while search was on for five others allegedly involved in the attack on Gogoi when he was surveying flood damage in Purni village yesterday, police said. Gogoi, who sustained injury on his face and waist after being attacked by bamboos and sharp weapons, managed to reach Nalbari Sadar police station. — PTI
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Dara Singh in hospital, critical
Mumbai, July 7 "He is very, very critical. He was brought in an emergency condition to hospital at 5.15 pm. He had suffered cardiac arrest. He is in ICU and we are monitoring his condition hour-by-hour," Dr Ram Narain, Chief Operating Officer at Kokilaben Ambani Hospital in suburban Andheri, said. Earlier, the 83-year-old actor's son, Vindu, had said his father was serious. "He is serious. There is blood clot in his brain or he has suffered heart attack. We are not sure what has happened. We have been told that he is under observation for 24 hours," Vindu
said. — PTI |
Two killed in UP road mishaps Etah (UP): Two persons were killed and 16 injured in two road accidents in the district, the police said today. — PTI
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Alleging that UPA presidential nominee Pranab Mukherjee continues to hold two more offices of profit, Team Sangma today urged the Election Commission to use its powers and order a probe.
New Delhi, July 7
