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TIGER TOURISM
Oppn wants Mumbai police chief shifted for ‘going soft’ on rioters
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Coal storm: UPA goes into huddle to counter Oppn Cong’s strategy: Offence is the best defence
Anti-Sikh RIOTS
Over 70% teaching posts for SC, STs vacant across India
CBI files chargesheet in two CWG cases
Akhilesh flags off 200 ambulances in UP
Demand to open trade via Hussainiwala post: Govt
India faced nuclear threat thrice before 1998: NSA
special treatment to politician prisoner?
No safe haven for valuable antiques
Rehabilitate male, transgender sex workers also: SC
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TIGER TOURISM
New Delhi, August 22 “Why did you initially recommend the ban? What are you going to do to save the tiger? Earlier, its population was 13,000, now it has come down to 1,200. You are more worried about commercial activities,” a Bench comprising Justices AK Patnaik and Swatanter Kumar told Centre’s counsel WA Kadiri. The Bench made the observation in response to the permission sought by the government for reviewing the guidelines in the light of concerns expressed by the states over the serious consequences the July 24 apex court ban would have on the livelihood of people in forest areas. Once their income from tourism activities dried up, the local people themselves might pose a threat to wildlife and forests, the Centre contended. Further, tourists should not be deprived of an opportunity to appreciate the nature. Also, the state governments had begun evicting people living in the core areas of tiger reserves in order to enforce the ban, evoking protest from various quarters, the Centre said. In view of this, there was a need to review the process adopted by the states for notifying buffer areas of tiger reserves. Unconvinced, the Bench said, “You are trying to make up. You had come out with the guidelines after due deliberations.” The court wanted to know how the government would protect the tiger without ending commercial activities in the core areas. “The government has done nothing for tiger conservation, except filing affidavits,” the Bench remarked while clarifying that the extended ban would continue at least till August 29, the next date of hearing. The government has made the fresh plea through the National Tiger Conservation Authority and the Ministry of Environment and Forests. On July 24, a Bench comprising Justices Swatanter Kumar and Ibrahim Kalifulla had imposed a ban on tiger tourism as part of efforts to protect the endangered species. It had also directed the states to immediately notify core areas (800-1,200 sq km) and the buffer areas (1,000-3,000 sq km outside the core areas) for implementing the ban. The SC passed the order on a PIL filed by conservationist Ajay Dubey pleading that the core or critical tiger habitats in all tiger reserves be made out of bounds for tourism and other commercial activities.
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Oppn wants Mumbai police chief shifted for ‘going soft’ on rioters
Mumbai, August 22 On Tuesday, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) leader Raj Thackeray echoed the demand made by his cousin and Shiv Sena leader Uddhav Thackeray that Patnaik, along with Home Minister RR Patil, be shunted out. Both the Thackeray cousins alleged Patnaik did not do enough to protect police personnel who were attacked by protesters. At least 58 police personnel were injured with many of them needing hospitalisation. Patnaik, who personally prevented policemen from opening fire at the protesters thus averting a major conflagration, also insisted that his officers arrest people indulging in violence based on photographic evidence collected from mediapersons and CCTVs. Though Patnaik has received praise from the leaders of the minority community for handling the issue sensitively especially since the violence coincided with the month of Ramzan, he is under fire from Hindutva parties like the Shiv Sena, BJP and MNS. Statements by the police commissioner denying that women constables were molested has also drawn flak from the Opposition and sections of the police force. Senior officers in the force whose relations with Patnaik are inimical have told reporters off the record that the commissioner's statements have hurt the morale of the Mumbai police. Adding to the fire is an MMS clip shot uploaded on social networking sites which show Patnaik upbraiding an IPS officer for arresting a youth indulging in violence at Azad Maidan at a rally called by Muslim organisations like the Raza Academy. In it, Patnaik is seen threatening the officer with a transfer out of Mumbai. MNS leader Raj Thackeray during his rally yesterday referred to the clip and expressed support for the average policeman. The speech prompted a constable to come on stage and offer a rose to Raj Thackeray. Patnaik told reporters a few hours later that the constable was 'mentally unstable'. Amid allegations that Patnaik did not enjoy the confidence of the police force, the demand for his ouster is gaining strength. Sources said that a section of the bureaucracy has mooted the idea of transferring Patnaik. 19 more arrested
As many as 19 more alleged rioters have been arrested in connection with the Azad Maidan violence here, taking the total number of arrests in the case so far to 43, the police said. Two of them, identified as Niyazuddin Shaikh and Mohammed Hussain Ansari, were produced before a metropolitan magistrate court which remanded them in police custody till August 28.
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Coal storm: UPA goes into huddle to counter Oppn
New Delhi, August 22 The newly-constituted UPA coordination committee, headed by Congress President Sonia Gandhi, held its second meeting today where the discussions centred around the ongoing impasse in Parliament over the latest CAG report. Key UPA ally Trinamool Congress chief and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who attended the meeting for the first time, extended her wholehearted support to the UPA, having cold-shouldered the BJP’s earlier attempts to wean her away from the ruling coalition. Emerging from the meeting, Finance Minister P.Chidambaram disclosed that the logjam in Parliament figured in today’s discussions and it was decided that the ruling combine would reiterate the offer made by the PM to discuss the issues raised by the opposition in Parliament tomorrow. The BJP’s demand for the PM’s resignation was rejected. The coordination panel was set up to provide a structured forum for UPA allies to sort contentious issues before these are placed before the Union Cabinet. A host of economic issues like FDI in retail and the pending pensions and insurance Bills also came up for discussion. Mamata Banerjee is learnt to have made a strong case for reversing the decision on decontrolling fertiliser prices. It appears that these controversial issues would be kept in abeyance till the storm over the CAG reports dies down. Today’s show of unity came as a big relief for the Congress which has been at the receiving end of the opposition’s attack. Mamata’s decision to go along with the UPA, however, proved to be a setback for the BJP which failed in its attempts to enlist her support in its “oust PM” campaign. The BJP is also finding it difficult to convince its own allies about its unyielding approach to coalgate. Uncomfortable with the BJP’s “maximalist” position”, JD (U) chief Sharad Yadav today said that Parliament should debate the findings of the latest CAG reports. BJP leaders Shahnawaz Hussain and Rajiv Pratap Rudy are learnt to have sought Mamata’s support in their ongoing campaign against the UPA government when they met her at the Delhi airport on Tuesday night. BJP leaders, however, denied that there was any political discussions with Mamata, describing their meeting as a “chance meeting.” Mamata Banerjee turned down their request, making it clear that she had no intention of joining hands with the opposition. The Trinamool Chief told them she did not support the Opposition demand for the Prime Minister’s resignation and instead favoured a debate on the issue of coal block allocations.
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Cong’s strategy: Offence is the best defence New Delhi, August 22 There was a flurry of activity in the UPA camp as several leaders, including Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal, were fielded to present the government’s side of the story and defend the Prime Minister, who is in the firing line. Jaiswal has been briefing party leaders on the facts of coal block allocations so that they are adequately equipped to take on the Opposition. The PM’s office is all set to rip through the Opposition’s charges. It has prepared a note in which the government has pointed to the inaccuracies in the assessment of loss calculated by the CAG, taken objection to the national auditor’s questioning of the Centre’s policy and blamed Opposition-ruled state governments for opposing competitive bidding. Instead of going on the defensive, the Congress has decided to respond aggressively to the BJP attack. Party president Sonia Gandhi, it is learnt, is in a combative mood and has directed the party to put up a spirited fight and put the BJP in the dock. In line with this decision, Sriprakash Jaiswal today came down heavily on the BJP for running away from a debate as it would be hard-placed to defend itself. “The Opposition does not want a discussion as it will stand exposed,” he said. Jaiswal was quick to point out that Opposition-ruled states of Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, West Bengal and Odisha had turned down the Centre’s proposal for competitive bidding of coal blocks. The minister said the government is even prepared to place the letters written by the BJP and other Opposition Chief Ministers in which they expressed their disagreement with the the Centre’s decision to adopt the auction route. Keeping up the attack against the BJP, Jaiswal said the decisions on allocation of coal blocks were taken by a screening committee whose members included representatives of the mineral-rich states. In fact, he said, the allocations were made on the recommendations of the state governments. “If CAG report is the criteria, they should first ask Gujarat, Chhattisgarh and MP leadership to resign,” the minister said, stating these reports had indicted these state governments on several issues. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal and Congress spokesperson Rashid Alvi spoke in the same vein.
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Anti-Sikh RIOTS
Only three witnesses had told the court that they had seen Sajjan Kumar in the Delhi Cantonment area during the violence or heard him deliver an inflammatory speech, counsel IU Khan contended during his arguments before District Judge JR Aryan. The investigating officer (IO) had specifically asked the witnesses about the former MP’s presence in the area, but most of them denied that they had noticed him. The CBI had put pressure on the witnesses to nail Kumar in court, but still, they did not say they had seen him instigate the mob. This showed that his client had no role in the riots and that the CBI had conducted an unfair investigation, Khan contended. Further, the CBI had failed to produce several witnesses in court despite the fact it had named them as material witnesses. The agency’s plea that they were not available was not true as they were government officials. The fact was that the government officials had refused to toe the CBI line and depose against Kumar, the counsel argued. Kumar is facing trial for his alleged role in the killings of six persons in the area during the riots in the wake of the assassination of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on October 31.
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Over 70% teaching posts for SC, STs vacant across India
None of the 40 central universities under the Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) has been able to fill the sanctioned teaching posts for SC and ST candidates. More than 70 per cent sanctioned teaching positions across all universities are lying unfilled in both categories. The trend is uniform across all universities right from the University of Delhi which has over 80 affiliated colleges to the central universities of Jammu and Kashmir that have relatively lesser student burden. Surprisingly, even Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University, set up exclusively for the welfare of SCs and marginalised groups, hasn’t managed cent per cent recruitment against its 20 sanctioned SC teaching posts. Of these, six are vacant. In the ST category, this university has 10 posts of which it has filled only four. All 40 central universities have a total sanctioned teaching strength of 2,511 in the SC category. Of this, a whopping 1,828 posts (72 per cent) are unfilled. In Delhi University, 211 SC teaching positions are vacant as against 255 sanctioned. In Banaras Hindu University, 247 of the 362 SC posts for teacher are vacant. Central universities located in most states are facing problems in filling up these vacancies. In the Central University of Kashmir, only one SC post out of the 21 sanctioned has been filled so far. In the CU of Jammu, all three SC teaching posts are unfilled. In the University in Punjab, no SC or ST post out of those sanctioned (21 for SCs/11 for STs) have been filled. Haryana has filled only two SC teaching posts out of the 21 sanctioned and Himachal has filled up three of the 21 sanctioned. The situation with respect to ST teaching posts is marginally worse. All central universities together have a sanctioned strength of 1,265 ST teaching posts. Out of these, 924 (73 per cent) were unfilled, said the HRD Ministry. It has sent repeated reminders to all universities, especially the ones set up before 2008, to launch special drives for recruitment.
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CBI files chargesheet in two CWG cases
New Delhi, August 22 The chargesheet has been filed against six accused - the then Joint Director General, Revenue Marketing and Chairman Secretariat (RM and CS); the then Deputy Director General (Marketing); the then Joint Director General (Finance), all of Organising Committee, Delhi Commonwealth Games-2010; Director of a London-based transport firm and another private firm dealing in audio-visual equipments; and the two private firms owned by him - under sections of 120-B, 420, 468, 471 of the IPC and 13(2), 13(1)(d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 in the Court of Special Judge for CBI Cases, Delhi. In the first case, it was alleged that the work of hiring of transportation was awarded to a London-based transport firm without following the standard tender process. The accused allegedly prepared fake notes on the proceedings and placed forged e-mail in support of the proposal for engagement of the transport form. The accused officers of the Organising Committee of the CWG in collusion with private persons allegedly acted dishonestly and fraudulently to justify allotment of work related to the first aid, mobile temporary toilets, power generations, etc to a London-based transport firm at exorbitant rates on the ground that it was approved by the High Commission of India at London and submitted fake proposal in the file of the Organising Committee. In the second case, it was alleged that the work order related to video screen was allotted to a London-based private firm dealing in audio-visual equipments on the basis of the comparison of bogus quotations received from three companies of London. The CBI said two out of three companies had been dissolved in 1990s. One out of two companies of London has denied having given any quotation. It was alleged that the work to the London-based firms was awarded at exorbitant rates. For work orders related to video equipments, first aid, barricades etc, a wrongful loss of 1,19,439 (pounds approx) was caused to public exchequer.
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Manmohan Singh’s birthplace in Pakistan in a shambles
Gah, August 22 But when the world’s biggest democracy elected the softly-spoken Manmohan Singh as Prime Minister in 2004 and he told an interviewer he had been born in a remote Pakistani village, Khan was over the moon. “He was our class monitor and we played together. He was a gentle and brilliant child. Our teacher always advised us to get his help if we couldn’t understand something,” Khan recalled, striding through village maize fields. Even more incredibly, Manmohan wanted to help the 2,500 villagers in Gah, on a plateau of muddy rock and bushy forest 100 km southeast of Islamabad near the ultra-modern motorway that runs almost to the Indian border. “I never imagined Manmohan would one day bring so many blessings to our village. He did what our own government still refuses to do,” recalled Khan, who is Manmohan’s last surviving classmate left in the village. But the last eight years is a tale of generosity, squandered opportunity and political short-termism that leaves Pakistan with an embarrassing predicament now that President Asif Ali Zardari has invited Manmohan to visit later this year. The model village that Manmohan dreamt of lies in tatters. Buildings that cost tens of thousands of dollars stand empty and unfinished. The only question is what,
if anything, will Pakistan do to fix it? Not long after taking office, Manmohan wrote to Pakistan’s then ruler, Gen Pervez Musharraf, asking that Gah be earmarked
for development. Musharraf, at the time working on peace talks that he hoped would resolve India and Pakistan’s conflict over Kashmir, was happy to oblige. The provincial government in Punjab built a decent road from the motorway to the village, high schools for boys and girls, a hospital, veterinary clinic and hooked the village up to the water supply. Manmohan sent an Indian firm to install solar-powered street lights, solar-powered lights to 51 households that did not have electricity and a water heating system at the mosque close to the site of his destroyed home. But the project stalled after elections in 2008 swept former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-N party to power
in Punjab, booting out of office Pakistan Muslim League-Q and Musharraf stepped down. The high schools and hospital stand empty. No teacher or doctor has been appointed, because the villagers say, credit for the development would have gone to the previous regime and not the new government. “We contacted the district administration and members of the ruling party time and again. They say there are no funds for the facilities and that they are trying to get it from the government,” said Ashiq Hussein, the mayor of
Gah. But a Punjab Government spokesman said it was “absolutely baseless” to suggest it had abandoned the Gah development project for political reasons. “No scheme has been stopped anywhere in the province on such a basis,” Pervez Rasheed told
AFP. “The hospital in the village is still under completion and the boundary wall plus equipment is being provided this year. Staff will be recruited when it’s completed,” he said, referring to plans to open the high schools in September. Villagers young and old are united in their hope that the return of their lost boy sometime later this year will be the spur. “Everybody wants to see him (Manmohan) and say thank you. We also want him to come soon because we think the abandoned development will be completed for his visit and we will get staff in our schools and hospitals,” Khan said. The mayor hopes that if Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, brother of former PM Nawaz Sharif, attends village celebrations for Manmohan’s 80th birthday in September, development work will resume. Hussein, whose late uncle Raja Mohammad Ali met Singh in New Delhi, is pushing full steam ahead with preparations to welcome home the “great son” of Gah.
— AFP |
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Maharashtra to arrange chartered flights to bring back N-E students
Itanagar, August 22 In a statement, Sanjoy quoted Chavan as saying, "If state governments send written requisitions, officials will be ready to receive students at airports to escort them to their institutions with full security." Suggesting preparation of a list of all N-E students studying in various cities in Maharashtra, Chavan promised allotting land near major educational institutions in the state for constructing hostels for N-E students. Appreciating the initiative of the Arunachal Pradesh Government to send the goodwill team, Chavan has said another plot of land will be allotted in Mumbai for constructing an Arunachal Bhawan.
— PTI
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Four arrested for circulating inflammatory SMSes
Pune, August 22 The SMSes had allegedly incited the recent violent attacks on northeastern students and workers that led to an exodus of the affected people to their home states, police said. A case has been filed against them for creating enmity between two groups on grounds of religion, the police said. According to Deputy Commissioner of Police (cyber cell) Sanjay Shinde, the four suspects arrested last night were well versed with computer technology. The police said they were also investigating the circulation of doctored MMS about violence in Myanmar and Assam and the persons behind it. Meanwhile, the rush of northeast people to their native states showed signs of ebbing with confidence building measures taken up at various levels through involvement of administrative machinery and public organisations. The situation has shown a steady improvement over the last week.
— PTI
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Akhilesh flags off 200 ambulances in UP
Lucknow, August 22 Akhilesh made this declaration while taking the first step towards fulfilling another poll promise of providing ambulance services in the 820 development blocks. He flagged off 200 ambulances as part of the setting up of ‘Emergency Medical Transport Service’ under a re-invented
NRHM programme. The next step would be setting up of a call centre by next month which will manage toll free number 108 for availing free of cost ambulance services. With more ambulances to be added in phases, a total of 972 ambulances would be operational by October. The ambulance service would provide immediate relief to victims of road accidents, natural disasters, heart patients,pregnant women and children. Till the toll free number becomes operational, the ambulances would be available in the districts through the DM or the CMO.
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Demand to open trade via Hussainiwala post: Govt
New Delhi, August 22 In a written reply to BJP member from Punjab Avinash Rai Khanna, he said any trans-border trade would boost economy of the areas adjoining the international border and facilitate overall development. “However, due to operational, security, infrastructural reasons, the government has not made any announcement in this regard,” he added. Responding to another query, he said an amount of Rs 128.87 crore had been released by the Centre to the Punjab Government under the Border Area Development Programme (BADP) during the past five years of which Rs 104.47 crore had been spent by the state government so far. He said it was the primary responsibility of the state government to undertake all-round development of the state, including border areas. However, to meet the special development needs of the people living in remote and inaccessible areas situated near the international border, the Centre was running a 100 per cent centrally funded BADP.
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India faced nuclear threat thrice before 1998: NSA
New Delhi, August 22 That they did not succeed, he added, was because of the ‘hard-headed’ leadership the country was fortunate to have. Once India became a declared nuclear state in 1998, India has not faced any such threats. “So the possession of nuclear weapons has, empirically speaking, deterred others from attempting nuclear coercion or blackmail against India,” the former Foreign Secretary said, addressing a national outreach conference on ‘Global Nuclear Disarmament. The conference, an initiative of the Prime Minister's informal group on global disarmament chaired by Mani Shankar Aiyar of the Congress, was held to commemorate the 68th birth anniversary of Rajiv Gandhi, who presented a plan for a nuclear-weapons-free world order at the UN General Assembly in 1988. Menon said India had made it absolutely clear from the very beginning that its nuclear weapons were weapons of deterrence and not war-fighting weapons. “This is why our nuclear doctrine provides for no first use by India of these weapons. These weapons are for use against a nuclear attack on India.” Obviously alluding to Pakistan’s argument justifying its tit-for-tat nuclear tests in 1998, the National Security Adviser said “India’s nuclear weapons were not meant to redress a military balance, or to compensate for some perceived inferiority in conventional military terms, or to serve some tactical or operational military need on the battlefield.” He said India chose to have nuclear weapons in order to promote real nuclear disarmament. “We spent nearly 24 years after our first peaceful nuclear explosion in 1974 urging and working for universal nuclear disarmament and a nuclear weapon free world. We did so out of the conviction that a nuclear weapon free world would enhance our security and that of the rest of the world,” he said. Menon said: “We do think that we would be more secure in a world that is truly free of nuclear weapons. But until we arrive at that happy state, we have no choice, and a responsibility towards our own people, to have nuclear weapons to protect them from
nuclear threats.” In his valedictory address, Vice-President Hamid Ansari sought to clearly draw a distinction between nuclear weapons and nuclear energy. “The former is destructive while the latter opens door to innumerable benefits for the good of mankind. The later, if utilised prudently, can be of immense benefit to humanity.”
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special treatment to politician prisoner?
Lucknow, August 22 The media cameras caught the three constables — Vijay Sonkar, Gulaab and Raj Kumar — demanding and accepting Rs 500 each from the MLA’s daughter Seema Mishra, who had accompanied his father out of the jail on his release on August 21 after a year-and-a-half-long stay. The act lends credence to the notion that political inmates receive VIP treatment inside the state’s jails and the guards and policemen have a deferential attitude towards politician prisoners under their “protection”. Vijay Mishra, the SP MLA representing Gyanpur segment from Bhadohi, was behind bars for the last one-and-a-half years, being the main accused in the July 2010 bomb attack on Mayawati Cabinet minister Nand Gopal ‘Nandi’ near his house in Allahabad. While Nandi survived the injuries, two persons including the correspondent of a national daily were killed in the blast. Mishra, having 62 criminal cases against him, had recently hit the headlines along with another incarcerated MLA Mukhtar Ansari when they turned up at the Chief Minister’s official residence to attend a Samajwadi Party-hosted lunch for Presidential candidate Pranab Mukherjee. The two imprisoned MLAs had permission only to participate in the Vidhan Sabha proceedings.
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No safe haven for valuable antiques
New Delhi, August 22 In 2012, two cases of theft were reported from Assam and Tamil Nadu, said the Culture Ministry in response to a query on retrieval of stolen antiques. Culture Minister Kumari Selja, however, does not believe that such incidents are increasing. “Available information does not indicate that the incidents of thefts pertaining to antiquities having historical and cultural value are on a rise,” she told the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday. Experts say the reason why many stolen items have remained untraced is because of poor documentation of artifacts by museums and temples. Officials in fact say that the government’ figures only represent those antiquities which were documented and for which an FIR was lodged. “It is a known fact that Indian artifacts are in a huge demand and can be found in antique shops and auction houses across the world. India's priceless treasures are regularly smuggled abroad under the garb of replicas,” they say. Selja defends the government, saying that initiative has been taken for documenting the protected and unprotected antiquities and monuments through the National Mission for Monuments and Antiquities.
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Rehabilitate male, transgender sex workers also: SC
New Delhi, August 22 The Bench made the remarks after finding that the recommendations of the amicus curiae were focused on female sex workers and their children. The apex court also suggested distribution of condoms to all sex workers free of cost in order to protect them against dreaded diseases associated with the profession. The government, however, informed the court that this was being done already under a health intervention scheme as part of a programme to check AIDS.
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The Supreme Court today extended the ban on tiger tourism after questioning the logic behind the Centre’s fresh plea for reviewing its own guidelines that formed the basis for the SC order for saving the big cat.
Opposition parties in Maharashtra and even a section of the Mumbai police force are calling for the transfer of city police commissioner Arup Patnaik for, what they allege, treating Muslim rioters earlier this month with kid gloves.
New Delhi, August 22
New Delhi, August 22