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Government committed to judicial reform: PM
Opposition-ruled states getting step-motherly treatment: BJP
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SC gives Andhra constable benefit of doubt in rape case
SC: Employees can’t refuse to return excess payments made by mistake
India, Russia to ink contract for fifth-generation fighter Mulayam eyes Centre, talks about third front ‘Employees can’t
refuse to return excess payments’
Education boost for STs in Andhra
5 cops knocked down by Sumo driver
Fear psychosis still grips N-E migrants
North-East people safe in Delhi: Dixit
Assam effect: Shopkeepers, local leaders clash in Allahabad
Deficient by 25%, SSB to raise 16 new battalions
Dodged by Kanda, Delhi Police had no clue of his moves
Kingfisher pilots go on strike; 7 flights cancelled
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Government committed to judicial reform: PM
Mumbai, August 18 Speaking at a function to mark the 150th year of the Bombay High Court, Manmohan Singh said some success has already been achieved with the overall pendency of cases in various courts of the country declining by more than 6 lakh cases between July and December 2011. “Our government stands committed to working with the judiciary to bring about improvements in the justice delivery system. We have taken a number of initiatives for this purpose. “In 2011, we launched the National Mission for Justice Delivery (NMJD) with the twin objectives of increasing access by reducing delays and arrears and enhancing accountability,” the PM said. He added that the government was working on a Constitutional amendment Bill to increase the retirement age of judges of the high courts. Other measures on the anvil include a comprehensive proposal to set up an all-India judicial service and studies to revamp court procedures. Noting that a number of court cases pertained to cheques being dishonoured, the PM informed that an inter-ministerial group was looking at possible amendments to the Negotiable Instruments Act. In his speech, Manmohan Singh noted that the three organs of the government needed to work together to ensure social, economic and political justice for the citizens of India. “The judicial institutions in our country face the unenviable task of delivering timely justice to millions of people in our country at affordable cost," he said. Among those who attended the function included Chief Justice of India Justice SH Kapadia; Maharashtra Governor K Sankaranarayanan; Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan; Governor of Goa BV Wanchoo; and Chief Minister of Goa Manohar
Parrikar.
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Opposition-ruled states getting step-motherly treatment: BJP
New Delhi, August 18 The meeting was attended by BJP chief ministers Narendra Modi (Gujarat), Shivraj Singh Chauhan (Madhya Pradesh), Jagdish Shettar (Karnataka), Raman Singh (Chhattisgarh), Prem Kumar Dhumal (Himachal Pradesh) and Manohar Parrikar (Goa). Jharkhand Chief Minister Arjun Munda could not attend the meeting due to health reasons. Chunni Lal Bhagat, the senior most BJP minister in the Akali Dal-BJP government in Punjab, was also present. ''The country is facing severe economic crisis. The policies of the UPA have affected the country and the states. The Prime Minister has failed on the economic front,'' BJP president Nitin Gadkari said while inaugurating the day-long meeting. He alleged that the Congress-led UPA government lacked political will, leadership, vision and commitment. “No infrastructure development is taking place. There is power crisis. There is unemployment. Several development projects are pending,’’ he said. The BJP chief claimed that the BJP and the NDA-ruled states were performing better than the Congress-ruled states. He claimed that the national growth rate was about six per cent while in the BJP-ruled states it was more than 10 per cent. Continuing his tirade against the Centre, he said the country's GDP was decreasing while the ''UPA governance deficit and policy paralysis’’ was increasing. Keeping in mind the coming Assembly elections and the 2014 general elections, the BJP president added that the “governance success” in the BJP-ruled states needed to be transformed into political success. The chief ministers gave a presentation on economic situation, governance and UPA's approach toward federalism. The BJP has been accusing the Congress-led Centre of making a mockery of the federal structure by treating non-Congress state governments in a 'step-motherly' manner. ‘'Discrimination is rampant in the allocation of funds and natural resources. Legislations passed by the BJP-ruled states are kept pending at the Centre level. The list of the pending projects was long. In independent India's history, the Centre-states relations have never been worse,'' BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar told reporters while giving details of the meeting.
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SC gives Andhra constable benefit of doubt in rape case
New Delhi, August 18 “Convictions cannot be based on suspicion, conjectures and surmises,” a Bench comprising Justices Afrab Alam and Ranjana Desai ruled yesterday while setting aside Andhra Pradesh High Court’s verdict convicting and sentencing the cop to seven years in jail. The HC had reversed the trial court’s acquittal order. “We are unable to come to the conclusion that the trial court’s judgment is perverse. For want of legal evidence, we will have to set aside the appellant’s conviction. But we make it clear that we are doing so only to give him the benefit of doubt,” the SC clarified. According to the prosecution, the victim was playing with other children on the terrace of the constable’s house on August 30, 1998. As the children got down from the terrace after some time, the polio-hit girl sought the constable’s help to come down. The cop lifted her, took her inside his house, laid her on a cot and raped her. This was witnessed by some children who peeked in through the curtains on the door. Rape was confirmed after a medical examination of the victim. Sperm was detected on her skirt and human blood was found on the cop’s ‘lungi.’ But there was no medical evidence on record to relate the sperm to the cop. The group of the blood found on the lungi could not be identified. Further, the girl’s parents, who were daily wagers, and the child witnesses had turned hostile. Further, during the trial, the traumatised girl nodded “yes” to both the questions of the court: Did the constable rape you? Did he not rape you?
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SC: Employees can’t refuse to return excess payments made by mistake
New Delhi, August 18 A Bench comprising Justices KS Radhakrishnan and Dipak Misra delivered the judgment, dismissing an appeal filed by some teachers and principals from Uttarakhand whose scales had been fixed wrongly in the wake of the Fifth Pay Commission Report. The petitioners had contended that since the excess payments were not due to any fraud or misrepresentation on their part, the same should not be recovered from them. “We are concerned with the excess payment of public money which is often described as ‘tax-payers money’ which belongs neither to the officers who have effected over-payment nor is that of the recipients,” it was stated. “We fail to see why the concept of fraud or misrepresentation is being brought in such situations. The question to be asked is whether excess money has been paid or not,” the Bench said. The Bench observed that excess payments were made from public money at times due to various reasons like negligence, carelessness, collusion and favouritism, but the money involved in such cases “does not belong to the payer or the payee”. These payments were without any authority of law, it clarified. The apex court ordered the recovery of the excess payments in 12 equal monthly instalments starting from October 2012.
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India, Russia to ink contract for fifth-generation fighter New Delhi, August 18 Indian Air Force intends to order some six squadrons - approximately 120 - in the first lot and will follow up with more. It will be the IAF’s frontline fighter in the next decade. This stealth warplane, so far known by its acronym FGFA - Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft - will have advanced features such as super-cruise, ultra-manoeuvrability, highly integrated avionics suite, enhanced situational awareness, internal carriage of weapons and Network Centric Warfare capabilities. India’s share in the cost of R&D will be some $5.5 billion. The contract is expected to signed by the end of this year, well-placed sources said, while confirming that copies of the draft agreement have been exchanged. India wants some additions like banning of the sale of the plane to other countries. Once done, it will be the second fifth-generation plane after the US-produced F-22 Raptor. Russian President Vladimir Putin is visiting India in November and his visit could see the historic signing. This is the first time that India is developing one of the latest warplanes with any country. The R&D will include development, certification and transfer of technology. The preliminary design phase of the plane is complete. A joint team of the Indian Air Force and the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) will visit Russia in two weeks from now to check documentation of the preliminary design which jointly cost $295 million and was started in December 2010 with an 18-month deadline. Once the R&D contract is signed, FGFA prototypes will be available in India in 2014, flight-tested by Indian pilots and monitored by Indian engineers. Two more prototypes will follow in 2017 and 2019; the last will be the final version on which the FGFA will be based. Indian Air Force Chief Air Chief Marshal NAK Browne had visited Russia from August 9 to 12 and had also visited the FGFA facility at Zhukovsky airfield, 40 km south-east of Moscow. The R&D will be done by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and Russian firms Rosoboronexport and
Sukhoi.
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Mulayam eyes Centre, talks about third front He hinted that third front could form a government. "The present equations indicate that both the national parties- Congress and the BJP- would not be able to get majority and in many states it is the third front which appears to be winning," the former chief minister said. Uttar Pradesh would play an important role in the coming elections and it is the responsibility of SP workers and leaders to help the party win 60 seats, he said. By winning maximum seats in the Lok Sabha, party would maintain its upper hand, he said adding that "it could also come to power at the Centre." He asked party workers to maintain decorum and help find solutions to the problems faced by the people. "The workers should behave properly and become a partner in resolving problems of the common people...if the image of the party and the government remains good, it will gain confidence of the people," Yadav was quoted as telling his workers in a party release. On the election promises, he said that distribution of unemployment allowance and 'Kanya Vidyadhan Yojna' would start soon and the promise to provide free irrigation water would also be fulfilled. Asking the workers to remain prepared for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Yadav said the people of the state have given a historic mandate to the Samajwadi Party which has stunned the entire nation. — PTI
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‘Employees
can’t refuse to return excess payments’ New Delhi, August 18 A Bench comprising Justices KS Radhakrishnan and Dipak Misra delivered the judgment, dismissing an appeal filed by some teachers and principals from Uttarakhand whose scales had been fixed wrongly in the wake of the Fifth Pay Commission Report. The petitioners had contended that since the excess payments were not due to any fraud or misrepresentation on their part, the same should not be recovered from them. “We are concerned with the excess payment of public money which is often described as ‘tax-payers money’ which belongs neither to the officers who have effected over-payment nor is that of the recipients,” it was stated.
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Education boost for STs in Andhra
Hyderabad, August 18 Billed as the first such effort in the country, QuEST is aimed at developing subject-specific and class-specific competencies among tribal students. As part of the initiative, 52 instruction books (Deepika) for teachers and practical books (Abhyasika) for students have been prepared for Classes VI to IX and eight more are under preparation for Class X. Launching the scheme, Chief Minister N Kirankumar Reddy announced that the government would appoint one volunteer for every 100 houses, with school drop-out tribal children, to bring them back into the formal education stream.
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5 cops knocked down by Sumo driver
Mumbai, August 18 The mishap took place at 4 am when a police team was busy completing formalities at the spot where a concrete mixer truck had turned turtle. The police team had just completed their work and entered their wireless van to update the control room when the Tata Sumo driven by Sagar Gaikwad (27) rammed into them. The injured personnel are Assistant Police Sub Inspector Kalyan Mandalik (55), constables Sridhar Sawakande (45), BD Dhagde (44), Tukaram Yadav (44) and Sudhir Pandit (45). While Mandalik and Sawakande were administered first-aid on the spot, the other policemen had to be admitted to hospital. — TNS
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Fear psychosis still grips N-E migrants
Bangalore, August 18 “Everybody was leaving. So we thought we should also leave,” she told this reporter standing beside the train that runs between Bangalore and Bhagalpur. Asked if her folks back home are asking her to return, she said her mother, who teaches in a college in Imphal, is “scared”. Rosina is accompanied by her classmate and friend Priya, who is also from Manipur, and Priya’s father and brother. The brother had come to Bangalore to secure admission in an engineering college and father had come with him. Rosina and Priya left Mysore early this morning and met Priya’s father and brother in Bangalore. Priya and her brother were asked why they were leaving Bangalore. Priya talked about receiving an SMS, but was unable to spell its content. “It says this or that and something will happen,” she mumbled. They wanted to go up to Howrah by train and then go to Imphal by flight from Kolkata. But they could not board the train. Only Rosina had an RAC ticket for the AC 2-tier coach. Others had tickets for general compartments. The general coaches of the train, which originates from Yeswantpur station, were crowded as usual and Priya and her father and brother felt they would not be able to travel in general coaches. The conductor of the AC coach asked them to board the compartment and assured them he would get them seats. But Priya’s brother, aged about 20, who seemed to be the one who takes the decisions, did not board the train. “What if we are kicked out later,” he said. Rosina cannot think of travelling without her friend. So she also stayed back. In the process, Rosina’s ticket worth about Rs 2,000 and the three ordinary tickets costing about Rs 500 each went waste. Having an RAC ticket, Rosina could have got a partial refund, but she did not try to claim the money. Maybe her e-ticket purchased from Mysore was not good enough for a refund claim in Bangalore. As the train left the platform, the four began their walk to leave the station to check into some hotel. Later, Rosina told this correspondent over phone that she and Priya would be leaving for Imphal by plane tomorrow. Priya’s brother and her father, an employee in Manipur government’s labour department, would stay back in Bangalore. Evidently, they do not want to take any chance with the two ladies. The flight of people of north-eastern origin from Bangalore and elsewhere in Karnataka fearing violence against them as retaliation for violence against Muslims by Bodos in the recent riots in Assam, however, showed signs of abetting today, with Priya and Rosina being among the last of the evacuees. “Only 50 tickets were sold to people today who were going to Guwahati via Chennai,” Suvankar Biswas, spokesman, South Western Railway, said. He added that no special train would leave for Guwahati today from Bangalore. According to figures provided by the Railways on the basis of sale of tickets, 29,636 people left for Guwahati from Bangalore in various special trains during the last three days. Besides students, many of the people who left by trains were working in security agencies and in hotels and restaurants and as salespersons in malls.
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North-East people safe in Delhi: Dixit
Phagwara, August 18 She said this while talking to the mediapersons after presiding over the 40th Convocation of Kamla Nehru College for Women here today. She said the law and order situation in Delhi is normal and normalcy would be maintained at all cost. She said all efforts are being made to provide better Metro service from the Delhi railway station to Indira Gandhi International Airport and a better Metro service would be restored soon on this section. Denying reports of her differences with the Urban Development minister of Delhi, Dr Ashok Walia, who aspires to become the Delhi Chief Minister, Dikshit said she did not have any differences with her any of colleagues. About the regularisation of all 900 unauthorised colonies, CM Dikshit said that the steps are being initiated for their regularization and affirmly said there is no political motive behind the initiative. When asked about the possibility of Rahul Gandhi getting a berth in the Union cabinet, she said Rahul is the future of the country and he should be inducted soon. About the failure of the Northern Grid few weeks ago, Delhi CM demanded a separate grid for Delhi. She said, “House Sparrows” has been declared “State Bird of Delhi”. Delhi Health Minister Kiran Walia also accompanied her.
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Assam effect: Shopkeepers, local leaders clash in Allahabad
Lucknow, August 18 Speaking to The Tribune, Allahabad SSP Mohit Aggarwal admitted that some local leaders were preventing the shopkeepers to open their shops. This resulted in a minor scuffle near the Ghanta Ghar area. But the police chased the troublemakers away thereby allowing the shops to open. After five hours, preventive curfew — imposed in Allahabad last night — was also lifted. On Friday, violence was witnessed in Lucknow, Allahabad and Kanpur when after the ‘Alvida’ namaz, a section of the minority community took to the streets and indulged in violent protests ostensibly to draw attention to the alleged atrocities against minorities taking place in Assam and Myanmar. In Lucknow, the protesters moving towards the Vidhan Sabha in Hazratganj brought the traffic to a halt and looted kiosks on the way. Mediapersons covering the violence during the unruly march were targeted. At least five photojournalists were injured and half a dozen vehicles damaged. In Kanpur, protesters attacked a cycle market and ransacked several shops. The Rapid Action Force (RAF) has been deployed to prevent further escalation of violence. Curfew had to be imposed in Allahabad late last evening when protesters indulged in arson and looting in the old city. Principal Secretary, Home, RM Srivastava has announced that Lucknow Commissioner Sanjeev Mittal would probe the incidents in Lucknow where mediapersons were attacked in Hazratganj area, cameras snatched and damaged while they were covering the unruly march which started from the historic Teliwali mosque immediately after ‘Alvida’ prayers. Large-scale vitriolic SMS messages created panic appealing to the youths to avenge the so-called incidents of atrocities against the Muslim community. The rumour-mongering forced the Principal Secretary, Home, and DGP AC Verma to issue a joint appeal to citizens to ignore such messages and maintain peace and communal harmony on the eve of Eid. Strangely enough, senior district officials remained mute witnesses as they had been reportedly restrained by higher authorities not to use force against the protesters. Journalists staged a dharna demanding the dismissal of district officials, compensation for their damaged equipment and free treatment for the injured. Fifteen people were arrested in Allahabad on Friday after an FIR was lodged against 10 persons and 500 unknown persons. Following the Lucknow violence, the Imam of the Tilewali mosque Syed Shah Fazlur Rahman Waizi condemned the violence and disassociated himself from the protest. Similarly, Dr Salman Khalid, vice-president of Jamait Ulema which had earlier given a call to stage a peaceful dharna in front of the Vidhan Sabha, condemned the violence describing the protesters as anti-social elements.
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Deficient by 25%, SSB to raise 16 new battalions
Chandigarh, August 18 The SSB, a Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) under the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), has an authorised manpower of 78,700 combatised personnel, but the current posted strength of the force is 58,570. It is also authorised a cadre of 2,675 civilian/non-combatised personnel, which has a posted strength of 2,590, according to the Home Ministry’s data. The new battalions are being raised in a phased manner from this year onwards and the exercise is scheduled to continue till 2016. In addition to regular battalions, the SSB is also raising 32 new dog squads to assist in border patrolling and internal security duties. The force already has 41 dog squads. Among the lesser known CAPFs, the SSB was raised as the Special Service Bureau in 1963 following the Indo-China conflict, then having the mandate to build up morale and capability in border regions against threats of subversion, infiltration and sabotage from across the border. In 2001, it was rechristened as the Sashastra Seema Bal and its revised charter including border guarding duties. It is currently responsible for management of the Indo-Nepal and Indo-Bhutan borders. The force, with 54 battalions, is divided into five frontiers and 11 sectors. As part of is ongoing reorganisation, the SSB raised eight new battalions, two sector headquarters and one frontier during the last fiscal. Its other recent establishments include five animal transport units for the high-altitude areas, three recruit training centres and two horse riding training units. Apart from manpower, the SSB is also getting better weapons, surveillance, communication and navigation equipment, personnel protective clothing, bullet proof vehicles and light armoured utility vehicles. A few years ago, the MHA had approved a special three-year modernisation plan amounting to Rs 444 crore for the SSB, but there have been slippages in its implementation. Till March 2012, only about 68 per cent of this outlay could be utilised. While the force spent Rs 33 crore on modernisation in 2009-10, the figures came down to about Rs 7 crore in 2010-11 and Rs 11 crore in 2011-12.
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Dodged by Kanda, Delhi Police had no clue of his moves
New Delhi, August 18 His supporters maintained that the surrender was a voluntary act. The police was on his trail since August 8, when he failed to appear before the investigators in Delhi for questioning in the case of the alleged suicide of former MDLR group employee, Geetika Sharma. Kanda was arrested early this morning after he surrendered at the Ashok Vihar police station in the north-west district of Delhi. The Delhi police’s claims to have barricaded all roads leading to the area and checking every vehicle before letting in stood exposed as Kanda reached the police station in a dramatic fashion. He was in a van that had media stickers pasted on it and avoided police detection. As his van pulled in front of the police station, mediapersons surrounded him. It was only then that police personnel ran to take charge of the situation by grabbing Gopal Kanda and taking him inside the station. Sources close to Gopal Kanda said the former minister began his journey to the police station from a remote place in Haryana, around 10 pm on Friday. But the question that needs to be answered is: where was Gopal Kanda hiding when he was evading the police? Sources said that from August 8 Gopal Kanda was constantly changing his locations shuttling between Haryana and Punjab. Reports earlier said that Gopal Kanda was hiding in Nepal making phone calls to a relative in Sirsa (Haryana) from there. However, the police after questioning a relative denied that Kanda was hiding in Nepal. Deputy Commissioner of Police (North West District), Dr P Karunakarn had said, “He is not in Nepal, but is somewhere in India.”
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Kingfisher pilots go on strike; 7 flights cancelled
Mumbai, August 18 According to information available here seven flights from Mumbai were cancelled. It is not yet clear if the airline's flights from other parts of the country operated as per schedule. Unlike in the past when pilots of the airline went on strike, Kingfisher Airlines officials did not offer any reactions this time till early evening. However, representatives of pilots told reporters in Mumbai that some of them have gone on strike after they failed to get paid on Friday as promised earlier by promoter Vijay Mallya. Some pilots, who sought a meeting with Mallya, were told that their pending salaries for March would be cleared by Tuesday. Unconvinced that Mallya would keep his word, the pilots said, they went on strike.
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Lucknow, August 18