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Assam bandh turns violent; one killed
Now, ONGC in CAG’s line of fire
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Refuses to join public debate on coal blocks
PMO favoured Sahai on coal block allotment: BJP
GUJARAT FAKE ENCOUNTER
The night Hyderabad residents did not sleep!
Niira Radia phone tapping
Cabinet okays complete ban on child labour below 14 Nod to accreditation Bill amendment
26/11, Samjhauta blasts very different: PM SC wants to shift Sohrab trial to Maharashtra Teen held for defacing war memorial
Judges recuse themselves from hearing Adarsh cases
Land Acquisition Bill referred to GoM
LPG tanker explodes, 2 dead
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Assam bandh turns violent; one killed
Kohima, August 28 Around 500 bandh enforcers were picked up by the police for trying to create trouble. Police and paramilitary force personnel had to fire in the air, burst tear gas shells and resort to baton charge in various bandh-hit areas to control frenzied mob. Indefinite curfew was clamped on Barpeta Road and Howly in the Barpeta district after armed miscreants hacked to death one person and injured more than 20 others in the Beltola area. Several houses were also torched by the miscreants, who also assaulted journalists. The Army was called out to stage flag march in the Barpeta area. Curfew was also clamped at Tezpur town in Sonitpur district as a precautionary measure after bandh supporters attacked and damaged a newspaper carrying vehicle this morning. Scuffles between pro-bandh activists and the general public were reported from various parts of the town and adjoining areas. The police had to fire in the air and baton-charge at several places. In neighbouring Nagoan, bandh supporters burnt tyres and effigies on the streets. There were reports of scuffles and indefinite curfew was clamped in the Ambagan area. A prohibitory order under Section 144 of the Cr PC was imposed across the district. Violent protests were staged by bandh supporters in Jogighopa in Bongaigaon district. The police had to fire in the air to disperse a mob that pelted security personnel with stones. Nearly 10 people were injured in the police firing and were rushed to nearby hospitals. Clashes were also reported from Sivasagar district, forcing police to resort to baton charge at two places in the district to control the situation. The national highway 31 was blocked in Bilasipara in Dhubri district by bandh enforcers, while an inter-city train was blocked in the district for some time. Mediapersons and their vehicles also came under attack at Sivasagar, Bongaigaon, Goalpara, Tezpur, Nalbari and Barpeta Road. Various media organisations, including Electronic Media Forum Assam, Assam Photojournalist Association and Journalists Forum Assam, have condemned the incidents of attack on mediapersons. Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, who is facing severe criticism for failing to effectively control the violence in the state, today admitted that the government has failed to
bring the warring groups face-to-face for talks. “The government’s efforts to bring leaders of the clashing Bodo and Muslim communities to talk to each other have not yielded any result yet,” he told reporters. The Chief Minister urged political parties not to engage in war of words and asked leaders to exercise restraint. Gogoi said bandh calls by various organisations at this hour would only add fuel to the already raging fire. He condemned the BJP and the All India United Democratic Front for making inflammatory statements and provocative speeches. The violence in western Assam’s Bodoland Territorial Autonomous Districts (BTC) and adjoining areas has so far claimed 96 lives since July 20 and displaced 4.5 lakh people. Indefinite curfew
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Now, ONGC in CAG’s line of fire
New Delhi, August 28 “In nearly 40 per cent of the projects, ONGC took more than two years to complete the acquisition, processing and interpretation cycle, leaving little time for drilling of committed exploratory wells within the phase. This led to extension of time and payment of liquidated damages of Rs 133.03 crore to Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MPONG) for not drilling 24 wells in 13 blocks within the committed period,” CAG said in its report on hydrocarbon exploration efforts of ONGC (2007-08 to 2010-11)), tabled in Parliament today. The auditor said ONGC needed to focus more on exploration and ensure that it produced more from discoveries and asked the Ministry to reset its annual targets. According to CAG, the audit was done to ascertain whether ONGC’s exploration efforts had been taken up with proper planning and executed with efficiency and effectiveness to achieve its own and India’s envisioned hydrocarbon goal. Oil and gas exploration in India is conducted by central and state public sector enterprises as well as private sector companies. ONGC is a leading national oil company in exploration and production in India. However, according to CAG, despite its large acreage and rich experience in exploration and production sector, ONGC made “lesser discoveries” than new entrants Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (GSPC) and Reliance Industries Limited (RIL). Output by ONGC had been almost static, with a downward trend over the last decade from 2001-02, the report said. The company produced 46.48 million tonnes of oil equivalent (mtoe) in 2010/11, down from 48.29 mtoe in 2007/08. Despite getting 89 prospective blocks out of 120 blocks auctioned in the first eight rounds of New Delhi’s exploration auctions, ONGC has made only 11 discoveries in eight blocks and did not complete work commitments elsewhere. The company did not complete work in 74 percent of highly prospective blocks acquired by the company and was able to “monetise” only 73 out of its 158 discoveries between 2002 and 11 and only two out of 56 offshore discoveries.
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Refuses to join public debate on coal blocks
New Delhi, August 28 A statement released on behalf of Comptroller and Auditor General Vinod Rai today said that being a Constitutional authority, it would be unethical on his part to join a public debate on the issue. “It is hereby clarified that the organisation of CAG would clarify on the report at an appropriate forum, when required,” he said. Ever since the presentation of the controversial report in Parliament on August 17 and the resulting political standoff between the ruling Congress and the Opposition BJP, Rai’s office had been inundated with calls for reaction and clarification in that regard. Till last week, the government front against the CAG was being managed by senior ministers and Congress spokespersons, but yesterday the PM himself joined the debate. He described the findings of the government auditor on 2004-09 coal block allocation as “disputable and flawed”. He said the CAG observation that opaque screening process, absence of bidding system and delay in introduction of competitive bidding resulted in financial gain of Rs 1.86 lakh crore to private parties was “clearly disputable”. While Rai has remained incommunicado, CAG officials defend the report saying all figures (of losses and undue gains) were based on documents provided by the ministries concerned and not on any assumptions. Rai had also come under severe government criticism after the CAG audit on 2G Spectrum allocation. He had defended the audit saying that the CAG was always attacked whenever it came out with a hard-hitting report. On the day the Coal Block allocation report was released, Deputy CAG AK Patnaik also maintained said the audit had been carried out as per norms and within the Constitution’s ascribed mandate. He also asserted that the intention was not to question the government policy, but how it had been implemented.
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PMO favoured Sahai on coal block allotment: BJP
Addressing the media here, BJP spokesman Prakash Javadekar sought authentication of a letter written by then Food Processing Minister Subodh Kant Sahai to the PM in February 2008, requesting that two coal blocks be allotted to SKS Ispat Power Ltd for its steel plants in Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand. The blocks were allotted to the company the next day after the PMO referred the matter to the then Coal Secretary, he alleged. “What does SKS stand for... We want the government to authenticate the letter,’’ he added. Javadekar also drew attention to a written question he had raised in the Rajya Sabha yesterday, questioning as to how many private companies which were allocated coal blocks during 2006-2009 have not operationalised their plants. The reply given by the government was that a total of 70 coal blocks were allocated to various private companies during the period. However, none of the coal blocks had come into production. “The government’s reply proves hollow the PM’s argument that coal blocks were allocated to push development... He should resign on moral grounds,’’ he added. He said the BJP Parliamentary Party had met this morning wherein Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley briefed the members on issues arising from the CAG report on allocation of coal blocks. Party MPs were asked to “expose” the UPA government on the issue in their respective constituencies. “We are preparing to launch an agitation against the government on this issue... We are chalking out our strategy,’’ he stated. The Sahai link
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GUJARAT FAKE ENCOUNTER
New Delhi, August 28 “We feel the trial should go to Mumbai or somewhere else in Maharashtra,” a Bench comprising Justices Aftab Alam and Ranjana Desai said while hearing the CBI’s plea in the case, in which former state Home Minister Amit Shah is an accused. The CBI has pleaded for shifting the case from Gujarat, contending that a fair trial was not possible in the state as Shah being an influential person could win over the witnesses and tamper with evidence. The amicus curiae, however, contended that “there is no adequate material to show that the entire judiciary of Gujarat will not be able to render justice” in the case. On the other hand, the CBI had failed to investigate a possible police-politician nexus in the case despite the fact that Shah and top police officials from Gujarat, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh were involved in the case. Further, the agency did not appear to be sincere in gathering evidence. The Bench said it wanted to detach the pleas for transfer and Shah’s bail plea from the main case pertaining to SC monitoring the CBI investigations into the killing of Shohrabuddin on November 26, 2005 in a fake encounter with the Gujarat police. Senior counsel Ram Jethmalani, arguing for Shah, said his client was staying away from Gujarat for more than a year now at the instance of the SC and in view of the coming Assembly election in the state the politician should be allowed to visit the state and take part in the democratic exercise.
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The night Hyderabad residents did not sleep!
Hyderabad, August 28 As the word spread like wildfire, the panic-stricken families in several areas of the old city were seen stopping their near and dear from going to bed and making it a point not to fall asleep throughout the night. According to the rumour, a “multi-limbed” baby, born in Pahadeshareef area of Old City, apparently told the parents immediately after birth that anyone, particularly children, who slept that night would die. This rumour, which initially started in parts of the Old City, soon spread across the city and also neighbouring districts like Nizamabad, Karimnagar and Warangal as people called up their friends and relatives to inform them about the “impending doomsday warning declared by the divine child.” While many chose to ignore the rumours, several hundred families rushed out of their houses in the middle of the night along with their children and kept awake till the early hours of Thursday. Recalling the ordeal that her family went through, Zainab, a resident of Old Bowenpally in Secunderabad, said that she had received a call from her son-in-law at midnight and was told about the doomsday. “I was initially disturbed by the rumours, but I realised that this was the work of some mischievous elements. I did not even bother to wake up my children to tell them. I switched on a local Urdu television channel which ran scrolls continuously throughout the night asking people to keep calm and not to believe in such rumours.” Jahangir, an employee of Asian Paints, said: “I also came to know of the rumours late in the night when my friends called me. I also got calls from my relatives in Nizamabad who wanted to know if it was true, and I told them to go back to sleep and not to believe in such rumours.” The city police, still recovering from the bitter experience it went through after the avalanche of ‘hate mail’ against citizens from the North East leading to exodus of Assamese and Manipuris from the city, swung into action and went around the Old City appealing to the people to go back to sleep and not to give credence to such rumours. But for the ban on bulk SMSes in the aftermath of the North East episode, the situation would have been very different, a police official said, adding that patrolling had been intensified in the sensitive areas of the city to prevent any untoward incident. Deputy Commissioner of Police (South Zone) Akun Sabharwal went live on television and appealed to people not to believe the rumours. “We have no idea of the ‘divine baby’ and we are making all efforts to get to the bottom of it. We will track down the culprits who are behind the rumours,” the top cop said.
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Niira Radia phone tapping
New Delhi, August 28 It was obvious that somebody was behind the leakage, a Bench comprising Justices GS Singhvi and SJ Mukhopadhaya said, virtually rejecting Additional Solicitor General AS Chandihok’s plea that the official inquiry had shown that the government was not responsible for it. The Bench said it wanted to see the files to ascertain as to whether the government had followed the procedure under the telegraph rules while recording Radia’s conversations with politicians, journalists and corporate honchos, including Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata. Pointing out that some of the intercepted conversations possibly contained “sensitive information relating to national security”, the Bench said the government should have taken steps to prevent the leakage. “Your report is hardly satisfactory. The world is facing threat from various quarters. Terrorism threatens national integrity and security. You have to keep all these factors in mind,” the Bench told Chandihok. The Bench also noted that there was a legal provision to keep the intercepted conversations only for six months, but the government was holding it for more than a year. The Bench was hearing a PIL filed by Tata seeking action against those involved in the leakage of the tapes, contending that publication of the details was an infringement of his fundamental right to life and privacy. The government had recorded Radia’s conversations following a complaint that she had built up a Rs 300-crore business empire within a decade and she was working for a foreign intelligence agency.
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Cabinet okays complete ban on child labour below 14
The existing Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act 1986 however allows employment of children below 14 years in non-hazardous occupations, posing major challenges to the spirit of RTE Act, which calls for educating every child under 14 years of age. The discrepancy was apparently removed today, with the Union Cabinet clearing amendments to the existing law to specify that no child below 14 years will now be employed under law and that such employment would invite imprisonment up to three years and a fine up to Rs 50,000. The amendments approved today by the Cabinet also describe children aged 14 to 18 years as adolescents and said these children can henceforth be employed only in non-hazardous occupations. Until now, children above 14 years could be employed in any work, with no distinction between dangerous and non-dangerous occupations. The amendment allows children aged 14 to 18 years to work only in non-hazardous industries like domestic work, and other safer occupations. This means no child up to 18 years of age can now be employed in hazardous industry like mining,
brick kilns, beedi rolling, quarrying etc. The new amendments conform to International Labour Organisation Conventions 138 and 182, which the international community had been urging India to follow. changes in LAWS
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Nod to accreditation Bill amendment New Delhi, August 28 The Trinamool Congress resisted the requirement of state institutions having to seek accreditation from the central agencies under the National Accreditation Regulatory Authority which the Bill proposes to set up. The RJD, SP and BSP were livid at Sibal for excluding OBCs and minorities from the eight-member authority which would otherwise give representation to SCs and STs. RJD chief Lalu Yadav had slammed Sibal in the LS for “discriminatory attitude” and demanded representation for OBCs and minorities. Today, Sibal effected the required changes to the Bill for the second amendment to be put in motion. The National Accreditation Regulatory Authority Bill introduced in LS on August 9 was the reworked version of the original draft law introduced in LS in 2010. HRD Standing Committee proposed 26 changes to this Bill and the Ministry accepted 22, which reflected in the new Bill presented to the Lok Sabha on August 9. The new draft (proposing mandatory pre-assessment of all higher educational institutions and compulsory accreditation of their academic programmes in five years of commencement) was however not good enough for UPA allies. Consequently, the Cabinet today allowed two amendments to evolve consensus on the Bill. 2 central varsities for Bihar The Cabinet also cleared two central universities for Bihar - the Central University of North Bihar in Motiohari (as demanded by the JDU faction of the state) and the Central varsity of South Bihar in Gaya (as earlier proposed by the
govt)
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26/11, Samjhauta blasts very different: PM
Asserting that India has provided enough evidence to show involvement of not only non-state actors, but also of official hierarchy in 26/11, government sources said Manmohan Singh will raise the issue of terrorism, which is of prime concern to the country, with Zardari, who is also arriving here on Thursday to participate in the NAM Summit. The PM is on a four-day visit here to attend the summit and will also hold crucial bilateral meetings with the Iranian leadership, apart from holding parleys with the leaders of Bangladesh, Nepal and other countries. The government sources said other bilateral issues will also be discussed during the Manmohan-Zardari meeting on the sidelines of the summit. India, which has already indicated the time on Thursday to Islamabad for the meeting, is awaiting a confirmation from the Pakistani side for the same, officials said. Asked about Pakistan equating Mumbai attacks, in which 166 people were killed, and Samjhauta Express blasts in which 67 Pakistani nationals died, sources said, "...there is no comparison. We have shown the will to take action, not chosen to make statements of convenience". Sources also noted that India had managed to convict some of those involved in the Mumbai attacks through the same set of evidence that was provided to Islamabad in a trial that was not a "show trial". Pakistan keeps switching judges, and people inside the jails are using mobile phones to run their network, the sources said, clearly expressing India's unhappiness over the slow progress of the 26/11 trial in that country. The remarks, in the backdrop of Pakistan equating the two incidents to project that it is also a victim of terrorism, also assume significance given that it comes before the structured Indo-Pak talks between their foreign ministers in Islamabad next week. — PTI
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SC wants to shift Sohrab trial to Maharashtra New Delhi, August 28 “We feel the trial should go to Mumbai or somewhere else in Maharashtra,” a Bench comprising Justices Aftab Alam and Ranjana Desai said while hearing the CBI’s plea in the case, in which former state Home Minister Amit Shah is an accused. The CBI has pleaded for shifting the case from Gujarat, contending that a fair trial was not possible in the state as Shah being an influential person could win over the witnesses and tamper with evidence. The amicus curiae, however, contended that “there is no adequate material to show that the entire judiciary of Gujarat will not be able to render justice” in the case. The Bench said it wanted to detach the pleas for transfer and Shah’s bail plea from the main case pertaining to SC monitoring the CBI investigations into the killing of Shohrabuddin on November 26, 2005 in a fake encounter with the Gujarat police.
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Teen held for defacing war memorial
Mumbai, August 28 "Abdul Quadir Mohammed Younus Ansari, an unemployed youth, was picked up from Sitamarhi in Bihar yesterday. He was preparing to flee to Nepal when he was apprehended," said Joint Police Commissioner (crime) Himanshu Roy. Subsequently, he was brought to Mumbai today and placed under arrest, following which he was produced before a local court which remanded him in police custody till September 4, Roy added. So far, the police has arrested 53 alleged rioters for the Azad Maidan mayhem, in which two persons were killed and over 50 were injured, including 44 policemen, when a rally called to protest the alleged atrocities on Muslims in Assam and Myanmar turned violent. A metropolitan court yesterday discharged three of the accused arrested in connection with the violence.
— PTI
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Judges recuse themselves from hearing Adarsh cases
Mumbai, August 28 The judges announced their decision shortly after senior counsel Amit Desai referred to the application filed by former Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan seeking to quash the case filed against him by the CBI. As soon as Desai said he was being assisted by lawyers from Federal and Rashmikant legal firm, Justice Bobde said the court would not be able to hear the matter. According to sources, the matter pertaining to the Adarsh Housing Society scandal will now be heard by another bench. An announcement of the new bench from the office of the Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court will be expected in due course.
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Land Acquisition Bill referred to GoM
New Delhi, August 28 A senior official said, “The Land Acquisition Bill (Right to Fair Compensation, Resettlement and Rehabilitation and Transparency in Land Acquisition Bill, 2012) had been referred to a group of ministers (GoM) as it needed some time for consultation”. The Cabinet approved amendments to the Accreditation Regulatory Authority Bill, the Educational Tribunals Bill, 2010, and the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act.
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Kannur (Kerala), August 28 Both were residing in houses close to the spot on the national highway, where the tanker overturned after hitting a divider and exploded triggering a fire which spread to nearby houses and shops in the area, the police said. More than 30 persons suffered burns, of which the condition of 12 was stated to be critical. The injured had been admitted to Kannur Pariyaram Medical College hospital and other nearby hospitals. — PTI
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Lucknow Bokaro (Jharkhand)
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New Delhi, August
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New Delhi, August
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Tehran, August 28
