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Akali, Cong MPs spar over Sikh killings
Shinde apologises for ‘filmy’ jibe at Jaya Bachchan
Rain deficit narrows to 17%, rice sowing picks up
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CBI admits to creating email ID in Hemraj’s name
Illegal migrants in Assam will be sent back: Centre
Jaitley blames Cong’s vote bank policy
CBI team in Guwahati, begins probe into violence
Ramdev launches 3-day fast
BJP slams draft law, says it’s unconstitutional
Yamuna Expressway opens amid farmers’ protest
HC reserves orders on Italian marines’ petition
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Akali, Cong MPs spar over Sikh killings
New Delhi, August 9 The chaos led to adjournment of the House during Zero Hour, minutes after Akali Dal's Harsimrat Badal raised the matter followed by BJP's Sushma Swaraj who asked the Centre to come back to the Lok Sabha with the status of inquiry into the brutal killings. Amid interruptions from the treasury benches, led by Congress' Gurdaspur MP Partap Singh Bajwa, who was equally keen to speak, Badal demanded that the PM led a delegation of Sikh members to the US and impressed upon America to educate its ignorant politicians and people on the difference between terrorists and Sikhs. She said the Sikhs, who had sacrificed tremendously, were being targeted for their resemblance to Muslims post-9/11 attacks on the US. Bajwa later rejected the Akali contention and said the Sikhs were being singularly attacked despite their immense contributions to the US. "The US ex-Army man who shot Sikhs in Wisconsin gurdwara was not naïve. He knew he was shooting Sikhs," Bajwa said, demanding compensation for the families of victims. Badal, who had been giving adjournment notices on the issue since yesterday, however, pointed out that the Centre had done nothing in the 10 years since 9/11 to prevent hate crimes against the Sikhs. She said time had come to mount a massive awareness campaign in the US to tell people that Sikhs were not Muslims. Citing past instances where Sikhs were killed after being mistaken for Arabs, the Akali MP from Bathinda said the community was bearing the brunt of practising its gurus' teachings. "Sikh liberties are being threatened because of their resemblance to terrorists or a certain community," she said accusing the UPA of going soft at a time when 1,000 cases of hate crimes against the Sikhs had been documented from the world over. That means a Sikh is attacked every third day. UPA chief Sonia Gandhi in presence, the Congress MPs came back full steam to point out that the PM had immediately called up US President Barack Obama, who had the US Flag fly haft mast for three days, the first time in history. Akali and BJP members, however, stormed the Well of the House, demanding answers from the Centre on what it was doing about the killings. "We want to know why the shooter killed the Sikhs, not how quickly the US police acted," said Badal. She incited sharp reactions later by saying she dreaded what Muslims must be enduring when Sikhs, by mere resemblance to Muslims, have had to suffer hate crimes in the US. The remark saw rebuttals from Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Bansal, who accused the Opposition of baking political cakes on the funeral pyre of Sikh victims. "Don't bake cakes. Join prayer meetings in gurdwaras. The PM phoned the US President who assured of a thorough inquiry and for the first time US Flag flew half mast. We did act in time," he said, prompting furor by Akalis. MoS Science and Technology Ashwani Kumar also said the ghastly attack needed to be condemned and everyone needed to work together to redress the issue.
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Shinde apologises for ‘filmy’ jibe at Jaya Bachchan
New Delhi, August 9 Shinde caused an outcry with a gaffe in the RS when he admonished SP member and actress Jaya Bachchan for interrupting his
reply to the debate on violence in Assam. It was a classic foot-in-the-mouth moment for Shinde as he said, "Listen carefully sister, my sister, this is a serious matter. This is not a filmy issue," when Bachchan rose to intervene. Bachchan took serious objection to the comment and was joined by other members. Shinde later apologised saying, "If she is hurt, I apologise; she is like my sister."
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Rain deficit narrows to 17%, rice sowing picks up
New Delhi, August 9 Area under the key kharif crop rice also improved to 264.39 lakh hectare as compared to 233.68 lakh hectare of a week back. The normal coverage under paddy for this time of the year is 272.58 lakh hectare. Facing a second drought in just four years (the last one was in 2009), the government has taken certain mitigating steps but has so far desisted from imposing any curb on exports of agricultural products or a ban of future trading in them. But with below average rains estimated this year and food prices on the way up, pressure is building on the government to consider export curbs in essentials like sugar. The Empowered Group of Ministers formed to assess the impact of drought in the country will meet early next week after Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar and Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh complete their tour of Haryana and Punjab. Punjab had received 68 per cent deficient monsoon rains, while Haryana, Delhi and Chandigarh are staring at 72 per cent deficit. The two ministers had last week visited Karnataka, Maharashtra and Gujarat where there have been below-normal rains.
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CBI admits to creating email ID in Hemraj’s name
New Delhi, August 9 The CBI, which had earlier denied that email id 'hemraj.jalvayuvihar@gmail.com' was used to call the Talwars for questioning, is now saying that the ID was created for some "specific purpose" which they refused to explain. "I am told by the officers concerned that the email ID was created to interact with the Talwars for some specific purpose during the investigation," CBI spokesperson Dharini Mishra said here. She refused to elaborate on this saying the matter is sub-judice. Talwars’ counsel Manoj Sisodia said he had sought a document from the CBI recently which was sent to him from the email ID. He, however, added that he does not know whether the ID is created by the CBI or not. The Talwar couple was surprised to find that emails asking them to appear for questioning were coming from the email ID which did not look official. The emails carried the file number and name of the investigating officer among other details. — PTI
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Illegal migrants in Assam will be sent back: Centre
New Delhi, August 9 An affidavit to this effect has been filed in the SC by Hari Parasad, Deputy Secretary in the Union Home Ministry, in response to a notice issued on a PIL filed by Assam Public Works, an NGO, seeking a directive to the Centre to abandon its present modality for identification of illegal migrants and adopt new methods for expediting detection and deportation. “The modality suggested by the petitioner NGO to identify and delete alleged doubtful voters from the voters’ list 2006 on religious and linguistic profiling is prima facie illegal, arbitrary and violates the secular and democratic fabric of India,” the Centre said. The PIL has also pleaded for undertaking the detection work first in “immigrants infiltrated and dominated” areas of the state. The detection and deportation of illegal migrants of post March 24, 1971 would be done in conformity with the provisions of the Foreigners Act, 1946 and Foreigners Tribunal Order 1964 through the 36 Foreigners Tribunals, the government said. Appearing before a Bench comprising Justices P Sathasivam and Ranjan Gogoi, Additional Solicitor General Mohan Jain pleaded against granting any interim relief to the petitioner as the NGO’s fresh plea was no different from its main prayer. At this, the Bench posted the supplementary petition for detailed hearing on November 6 along with the main petition.
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Jaitley blames Cong’s vote bank policy
New Delhi, August 9 Rounding off the short-duration discussion on the prevailing violence in Assam, the BJP leader said, “Pursuit of an alternative vote bank is responsible for the problem (in Assam) today...If you (the government) stick to vote bank politics, the security of Assam will be in doubt.” Jaitley said, “The search for alternative vote banks in Assam is the root cause of the problem there. It was because this government allowed the settlement of foreign nationals there. No other country has allowed such a blatant encroachment by illegal foreign nationals, as we have in parts of Assam.” Jaitley attack on the government came as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who is an elected Rajya Sabha member from Assam, was present in the House and heard the Leader of the Opposition carefully.
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CBI team in Guwahati, begins probe into violence
New Delhi, August 9 According to a CBI official, the team reached Guwahati, the capital of Assam, this morning and had a meeting with the state Chief Secretary, Director-General of Police and local police officials to take stock of the existing situation. Having interacted with the top state government officials, the CBI set to register a case and start investigation. In the continued violence, lakhs of people have become homeless and are living in camps. The team has been sent to Assam after the issue was raised on the first day of monsoon session in Parliament. Ethnic conflicts in Assam have always been laced with a heavy dose of militancy. There is at least one militant outfit in every major tribal group in the state - Bodos, Karbis, Dimasas, Adivasis and Kukis, all of whom have been engaged in conflicts at one point or the other in the last 60 years. The current rioting primarily took place between Muslims and Bodo groups. The CBI team will contact leaders of both the communities and others to know the exact cause of the rioting and those responsible for it.
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Ramdev launches 3-day fast
New Delhi, August 9 The kind of response of the Congress-led UPA government, which is believed to have sent feelers for talks with the yoga guru, to his long list of demands like making the CBI independent from the government and appointments to the crucial posts of the Election Commissioners, CAG, CVC and CBI director more transparent, will go on to decide the next strategy of Ramdev. “We will go without food and water for three days. After that, we will think about our future strategy,” Ramdev said amidst crowds from the country’s far and wide corners swarming the ground. The Delhi Police estimated the footfall at around 25,000 supporters vis-à-vis the organisers’s pegging it at nearly 40,000. Backed by a spirited sea of supporters, Ramdev’s tenor when he spelt out his demands at the Ramlila Grounds - the same place from where he was bundled out during a midnight police crackdown in June last year - was that of an open challenge even as he maintained that he has faith in the government. Indicating towards a possible dialogue, he referred to Union Minister Harish Rawat’s statement that the government was ready to talk to him and remarked, “We have been told that they are ready to talk to us. I want to tell Sonia Gandhi that our doors are also open for dialogue.” Ramdev said he has no political agenda and that this agitation is neither against any individual nor any political party though he targeted Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in connection with the “Coalgate scam”. Apart from his pet demand of bringing back the unaccounted wealth stashed in the Swiss banks, the issue of Lokpal Bill has also gained centre stage during Ramdev’s second leg of agitation here. He demanded that the Lokpal Bill be passed during the ongoing monsoon session of Parliament and said, “The fight for Lokpal has not ended, but we will take it forward. All corrupt people have to be punished.”
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BJP slams draft law, says it’s unconstitutional
New Delhi, August 9 From the earlier proposed two years imprisonment and Rs 20 lakh fine, the punishment for violation of the law is now down to three months in prison and Rs 5 lakh fine. The reworked law, that came up for consideration today, was resisted by BJP member Anant Hegde who termed it unconstitutional, attracting sharp responses from Sibal, who said in the House that the top BJP leadership had no problems with the Bill. “That does not matter. Leaders cannot compromise on Bills. We have an opinion as MPs. You are in Parliament,” Hegde said as Sibal argued that the Bill was constitutional and the HRD Parliamentary Standing Committee had approved it. He said the government had in the new Bill incorporated 22 out of 26 recommendations that the committee had made on the Bill. Titled, “National Accreditation Regulatory Authority for Higher Educational Institutions Bill, 2010”, the new draft law (reworked version of the one introduced in Lok Sabha in 2010) mandates compulsory assessment of colleges and compulsory accreditation of academic programmes that the colleges and universities are offering. It says no educational establishment can come up unless it has got its faculty and infrastructure assessed from the statutory authority which the law proposes to establish.
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Yamuna Expressway opens amid farmers’ protest
Greater Noida, August 9 While cars and LMVs will have to pay toll of Rs 320 for a one-way trip, two-wheelers and mini buses will have to shell out Rs 150 and Rs 500, respectively. Terming it as a milestone, Ram Gopal Yadav said, “The expressway will lead to development. In two hours, one will be able to reach Agra. This will save both petrol and time.” Pointing out the deficiencies, he said, “On Mathura to Agra stretch, the barricading is low and display boards were put cautioning public to ‘Drive Carefully, Nilgai-prone area’.” He said measures should be taken to keep the cattle away and prevent accidents. The project saw the light of the day after months of delay due to varied reasons ranging from farmers' protests over land acquisition to demand for free service lanes for nearby villages. Meanwhile, thousands of farmers of villages of five districts across the Yamuna Expressway today threatened to intensify their agitation and observe August 14 as Shaheedi Diwas if their demands for service lane and interchanges were not met. Waving black flags, many farmers temporarily blocked the six-lane Yamuna Expressway protesting against the Akhilesh Yadav government for not fulfilling the promises he had made to them during the bypoll in Agra. While inaugurating the expressway, Akhilesh assured that no development in the state would be possible without the consent of the farmers. In a letter to Akhilesh, RLD MP from Mathura Jayant Chaudhary had even demanded postponement of the inauguration of the expressway till the issues with the farmers were resolved.
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HC reserves orders on Italian marines’ petition
Kochi, August 9
The court had earlier stayed till August 8 the proceedings pending before the Kollam Sessions court against them.
The marines — Latore Masimiliano and Salvatore Girone — had approached the court challenging the July 17 sessions court order that they were not eligible for translated version of the police report and other documents pertaining to the case.
The government today submitted that even though there was provision for giving a copy of chargesheet to the accused, there was no provision to give translated version.
Justice CT Ravikumar then reserved orders in the petition.— PTI
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Ugly political clashes marked discussion on Sikh killings in the August 5 US shootout in the Lok Sabha today as Congress and Akali MPs shouted each other down in their urge to make a point.
The Central Government has assured the Supreme Court that it was committed to detecting all illegal migrants in strife-torn Assam and deporting them to Bangladesh, but would never resort to religious or linguistic profiling of residents of that state.
New Delhi, August 9
The 165-km-long Yamuna Expressway, which will reduce commuting time between Greater Noida and Agra to a mere two hours, was inaugurated today by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav from
Lucknow. The fast-track road is built at a cost of Rs 12,000 crore. Samajwadi Party leader and Rajya Sabha member Ram Gopal Yadav flagged off the vehicles on the expressway and declared it open to the public. Till August 15, the highway will be toll-free.
