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Tiwari pleads against declaring DNA result
12 suspended NCERT employees meet Sibal
Medical admission racket busted
NCP ministers skip Cabinet meet; threaten to quit
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Cabinet makes law against rape gender-neutral
Pawar, Patel skip Cabinet meeting; ‘ready’ to quit
2011 saw 7,000 new HIV infections per day
US cautions citizens against travel to India
Wheat export to Pakistan via Punjab soon: Anand Sharma
Big plans for Haryana unveiled
Declare Assam floods national calamity: Gogoi govt to Centre
Women must wear right dress to avoid trouble: Assam MLA
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Tiwari pleads against declaring DNA result
New Delhi, July 19 In his plea, Tiwari said the DNA result should be announced only if it was proved that Rohit’s mother, Ujjawala Sharma, did not have access to her estranged husband at the time of becoming pregnant. The veteran Congress leader has also prayed for in-camera proceedings of the case pertaining to the paternity suit in the HC, making it out-of-bounds for the media. Tiwari had reluctantly given his blood sample for the DNA test after defying the orders of the HC and the Supreme Court for a long time. Both Rohit and Ujjawala had also given their blood samples which were tested at a lab in Hyderabad. The HC received the results recently. Describing Tiwari’s plea as malicious and frivolous, Rohit said it was yet another attempt at harassing him and his mother by opening one more round of litigation.
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12 suspended NCERT employees meet Sibal
New Delhi, July 19 Led by Ved Prakash, president of the coordination committee of NCERT employees, the suspended employees’ delegation sought the intervention of the minister to prevent what they see as “arbitrary changes” by NCERT Director Praveen Sinclair, who took over earlier this year. The employees have threatened to go on a hunger strike from tomorrow if the notified recruitment rules are not immediately withdrawn. The NCERT executive committee is also meeting tomorrow to discuss the issue. “New recruitment rules have cut down on departmental promotion quotas and raised the percentage of direct recruitments. Even within the reduced promotion quotas, some seats have been reserved for promotions only through entrance tests. Further, NCERT has imposed an age bar on direct recruitments and said no person above 40 years of age can apply in the direct recruitment category,” Ved Prakash said. Sources in the NCERT however said changes were necessary to bring archaic rules in line with the changing times and give importance to talent in promotions. “The new system will ensure that people improve their capacities. Age bar on direct recruitment category is a normal procedure the government follows. When we are directly taking people, we want young, fresh talent to come,” NCERT officials said. The changes in the transfer policy are also causing trouble among employees as the policy now entails that an employee, once transferred out, will have to compulsorily spend five years in the place of posting.
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Medical admission racket busted
New Delhi, July 19 Sources said Irshad Pasha, alias Amit Kapoor, who ran an educational consultancy service Asian Academy in Shalimar Bagh, a private medical practitioner Arun Goel, his son Nayan Goel and another person have been arrested. Pasha was allegedly involved in arranging dummy candidates and using unlawful means for manipulating admissions. — PTI
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NCP ministers skip Cabinet meet; threaten to quit
New Delhi, July 19 Agriculture Minister Pawar and Heavy Industries Minister Praful Patel skipped the meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh after Defence Minister AK Antony was given the place next to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the last Cabinet meeting that has relegated the NCP chief to the third position. Reports suggested that Pawar and his close aide Praful Patel were even ready to quit the Cabinet, although it could be another case of posturing in the coalition. Reports also suggested that the Congress leadership was already in touch with Pawar and the matter would be sorted out amicably. Although the two senior NCP leaders were not available for comments, NCP spokesman DP Tripathi said, "We did not attend." He, however, did not want to give any reasons. He merely said "no comment" when asked for the reason for the NCP ministers staying away from the meeting.
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Cabinet makes law against rape gender-neutral
New Delhi, July 19 Taking up a host of changes to the existing laws, the Cabinet, in a late night decision, approved the much-awaited Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2012, which will, for the first time, provide for charging sexual assaulters of children lodged in government homes with aggravated assault punishable with imprisonment ranging from 10 years to The Bill will be listed for introduction in the forthcoming Monsoon session of Parliament and will go to the Standing Committee, top UPA sources told The Tribune today. They said there was complete unanimity in suggesting the need to have a neutral rape law instead of the one allowing women alone to lodge cases. “This will be achieved by replacing the term “rape” with sexual assault in the definition prescribed under the law. Also, the new law will make sexual assault punishable with imprisonment that can go up to life. The most important part of the new law is change to the existing IPC sections dealing with grievous hurt to women. Thus far, there was no specific provision to deal with acid attacks which have been rising by the day. This crime needed to be registered alongside other injuries under Sections 320, 322, 325 and 326 of the IPC dealing with grievous hurt. But with today’s approval to the new Bill, a new section called 326-A, listing acid attacks as a separate category of offence, will be added to the existing sections. Not just that, the Bill provides for enhanced punishment (as against simple imprisonment that may be extended up to one year) under Section 509 of IPC, which involves usage of words, gestures or acts intended to insult the modesty of a woman. Punishments have been increased under Section 354 which deals with assault or use of criminal force on a woman with the intent to outrage her modesty. Punishment will be more than the current two years’ imprisonment and fine or both. Another landmark development is the inclusion of the term “aggravated sexual assault” to punish managers of government-run children’s homes.
Stricter sentence
The much-awaited Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2012 will provide for charging sexual assaulters of children lodged in government homes with aggravated assault punishable with imprisonment ranging from 10 years to life term
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Pawar, Patel skip Cabinet meeting; ‘ready’ to quit New Delhi, July 19 Agriculture Minister Pawar and Heavy Industries Minister Praful Patel skipped the meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh after Defence Minister AK Antony was given the place next to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the last Cabinet meeting that has relegated the NCP chief to the third position. Reports suggested that Pawar and his close aide Praful Patel were even ready to quit the Cabinet, although it could be another case of posturing in the coalition. Reports also suggested that the Congress leadership was already in touch with Pawar and the matter would be sorted out amicably. Although the two senior NCP leaders were not available for comments, NCP spokesman DP Tripathi said, "We did not attend." He, however, did not want to give any reasons. He merely said "no comment" when asked for the reason for the NCP ministers staying away from the meeting. The boycott of the Cabinet meeting came after the NCP had on Saturday last also stayed away from the UPA meeting on Vice Presidential poll candidate. While the Cabinet meeting was on at the Prime Minister’s residence at 6 pm, Pawar was in a meeting with Patel and Tripathi at his residence here. The row erupted after Pranab Mukherjee, who held the de facto post of the number two, quit the government to contest the presidential poll. The controversy was triggered after the chair next to the Prime Minister was allocated to Defence Minister AK Antony at the last Cabinet meeting, signalling that he was now the number two in the government.
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2011 saw 7,000 new HIV infections per day
New Delhi, July 19 A new UNAIDS report released today says though the world has reduced new HIV infections by 20 per cent over the past decade, half of the treatment-seeking population remains out of the ambit of anti-retroviral therapy (ART). The report, Together we will end AIDS, comes just before the XIX International AIDS Conference that begins in Washington on July 22. It shows that an estimated 34.2 million people were living with HIV in 2011. Of them, 4.2 million were in South and South East Asia. India housed 2.4 million, the largest infected population after South Africa’s. Of the 1.7 million AIDS-related deaths the world saw last year, around 1,70,000 were in India. This accounts for 10 per cent of the global burden. That’s not to say that no progress was made. India specially did well by reducing new HIV infections by 50 pc over the past decade, states the report. It, however, red flags the issue of funding sector gap, saying the world HIV/AIDS programme will be short of around US$ 7 billion by 2015. This gap is despite the increased domestic budgets that far exceeded global funding over the recent years. The report lauds BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) for increasing domestic public spending on HIV by more than 120 per cent between 2006 and 2011. “BRICS now fund, on average, more than 75 pc of their domestic AIDS responses. India, too, has committed to increase domestic funding to more than 90 pc in its next phase of the AIDS response,” it says. The concern however is that global HIV AIDS funding remained static between 2008 and 2011 at around US$ 8.2 billion. This means the world won’t be able to put 15 million people in need of treatment on ART by 2015, as committed, unless countries push budgets handsomely. “Countries most affected by the epidemic are taking ownership and demonstrating leadership in responding to HIV. However, it is not enough for international assistance to remain stable - it has to increase if we are to meet the 2015 goals,” says Michel Sidibé, Executive Director, UNAIDS.
VITAL STATISTICS
34.2 million living with HIV globally in 2011; 4.2 million in South, South East Asia; 2.4 million in India 25 lakh new infections globally; 3 lakh in Asia 3.3 children newly infected; 21 000 in Asia 17 lakh AIDS deaths globally; 2.7 lakh in Asia; around 1.7 lakh in India 7,000 new infections a day; 6,000 in adults (47% of these in women; 41% in 15 to 24 year olds)
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US cautions citizens against travel to India
New Delhi, July 19 The advisory said terrorists have targeted public places in India frequented by Westerners.
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Wheat export to Pakistan via Punjab soon: Anand Sharma
Chandigarh, July 19 He held a meeting with Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal during which a number of issues were discussed. He said while the country had arrived at an in-principle understanding with Pakistan on the issue, it would now formally ask it to implement the same. “I do not foresee any delay as we are receptive to the idea and have stocks available for export,” he said. The Food Corporation of India (FCI) would be asked to plan the movement. The movement of stocks would occur through the Wagah integrated check post for which additional facilities would have to be created, he added. The Union Minister said his ministry would request the Railways to establish the necessary line as well as yard to facilitate smooth movement of foodgrain to Pakistan. Steps would be taken to allow movement of goods to Pakistan through containers, he added. In order to boost and plan trade movement, both countries have exchanged their respective holiday list, the minister said. He said the customs wing would remain open all seven days and goods would be cleared on the same day. The minister said he had approved the establishment of a common treatment plant (CTP) at Ludhiana. He said this would be established under the Textile Ministry’s Technology Upgradation Funds Scheme (TUFS). He said a committee had been constituted and that it would visit Ludhiana within two weeks and suggest ways and means to construct the CTP in a time-bound manner. A similar problem of pollution existed in Tamil Nadu and the technology used to deal with it could be replicated in Punjab, he added. He said the industrial clusters of Ludhiana, Batala and Jalandhar would be covered under the restoration of industrial infrastructure scheme. He also announced that the Dhariwal Mills in Gurdaspur would be revived and that the National Textile Corporation would be responsible for the same. The minister also announced that seven mega clusters had been proposed and that one of them would be established in Punjab. He said it was up to Punjab to decide where to establish that cluster and that a grant of Rs 125 crore would be given for the same. Badal, while interacting with newsmen after the meeting with the Union minister, termed the occasion as a “historic” day for Punjab. He said he was grateful to Sharma for having come to Punjab with his entire team and settling pending issues expeditiously. “We will have to go to Delhi less often,” he added.
Kinnow export
Anand Sharma announced that steps would be taken to export kinnow to Bangladesh via land route. He said the Director Generate, Foreign Trade, in Kolkata would be asked to facilitate the move. Punjab farmers produce around 100 tonnes of kinnow every year
FDI in retail
The Union minister held discussion with Punjab CM Parkash Singh Badal on FDI in retail. "I am reaching out to everyone and urging them to allow FDI in retail," he said. Badal, however, indicated the state government would stick to the anti-FDI stand taken by the BJP
Cold stores
The minister said cold-storage facilities would be created at the international airport at Mohali. He also announced that Punjab would be connected to the Western corridor through railway link and that the Ludhiana-Rewari link had been identified for the purpose
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Big plans for Haryana unveiled
Chandigarh, July 19 The minister, who was addressing a press conference in the presence of Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda here today, said that Manesar-Bawal investment region has been declared as one of the first eight national manufacturing investment zones to be developed as green field-integrated industrial townships. This ‘region’ will be spread over an area of 383 sq km. The Union Minister agreed in principle to set up a NIFT at Panchkula. He announced that the development of Manesar-Bawal investment region would see total infrastructure investments of over Rs 71,000 crore and total estimated investments in the region would be in the range of Rs 2.5 lakh crore. Over the next 30 years, it will provide employment to 28 lakh persons. A state-of-the-art logistic hub will be established near Panchgaon Chowk at an estimated cost of nearly Rs 2,000 crore of which the Government of India will contribute Rs 300 crore. This logistic hub will transform Haryana into a regional logistics centre for the entire northern region. A mass rapid transit system will be established in the Manesar-Bawal investment region at a projected cost of Rs 13,580 crore. This will be developed in PPP mode. The minister had a high-level review meeting on project implementation, land acquisition and for a joint Centre-state task force for monitoring the timelines of the project that have been agreed upon to ensure that the road map drawn for project implementation is followed. He said that the Government of India would support the establishment of a global city spread over a large area which would be developed as a hi-tech city with a central business district, finance centre and an integrated exhibition-cum-convention facility at
Garhi-Harsaru.
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Declare Assam floods national calamity: Gogoi govt to Centre
Guwahati, July 19 For the second time in a span of 10 years, Assam Assembly has adopted a unanimous resolution to demand that the Centre recognise the perennial flood and erosion problem of the state as a ‘national calamity’. Assam’s topography is decided by the mighty Brahmaputra river flowing through it from the east to the west. While Brahmaputra and its web of numerous tributaries have together been a boon for farmers of the agrarian state, the same rivers also turn the root cause of sorrow for lakhs in the state owing to the flood and erosion they cause almost every year in different magnitudes. According to official data available, Brahmaputra river alone has eroded away an area of 5,95,155 bighas of land in the most populous state in the North-East during 1971 and 2009, rendering 40,246 families homeless in seven of the Assam valley districts. This year alone, flood has so far claimed 126 lives besides inundating houses of over 23 lakh people and a large chunk of crop land. Innumerable livestock have perished in the deluge. Left with no other option but to tackle the menace, Assam Assembly has adopted the resolution asking the Centre to declare the state’s flood and erosion problem a national one. It is the second such resolution passed by the Assembly in 10 years. Earlier, a similar resolution was adopted by the state Assembly in 2002. Subsequently, in a tripartite meeting held with the Centre and Assam government in 2005 on all burning issues of the state, influential All Assam Students Union (AASU) too raised the demand for considering Assam’s flood and erosion
a national calamity, given the degree of destruction it causes to the state and its populace. Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has been maintaining it is the erosion associated with the flood every year that has been posing a grave danger to the state as a huge chunk of the state’s landmass is thus lost. Assam needs real help to prevent its rivers from eating into its remaining land mass.
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Women must wear right dress to avoid trouble: Assam MLA Guwahati, July 19 “The girls and women must observe restraint in their dresses so that they can avoid trouble,” Amiya Gogoi, a Congress MLA, said, participating in a discussion on the rising trend of crime against women in the state. A section of ruling party legislators were heard thumping on the desk in support of remarks made by Amiya Gogoi. She said, “If the girls move around in short dresses, such type of incidents (July 9 molestation case) will happen. The parents should not allow young girls to go to bars and pubs.” The woman legislator further commented that the amount of precious hours devoted for discussing crime against women in the Assembly in the current session was uncalled for as the state was plagued by many other burning issues that needed attention. A number of ruling as well as Opposition MLAs, participating in the discussion called for strong measures on part the government to check crimes against women. Replying to the discussion on behalf of the Chief Minister, who also holds the Home portfolio, Forest Minister Rakibul Hussain informed the House about the measures that had been taken by the state government to check incidents like July 9 molestation and attack on legislator Rumi Nath.
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Union Commerce Minister Anand Sharma today said wheat would soon be exported to Pakistan via land route in Punjab.
He held a meeting with Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal during which a number of issues were discussed. He said while the country had arrived at an in-principle understanding with Pakistan on the issue, it would now formally ask it to implement the same.
