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Coal blocks allocation
Sahai defends letter to PM
Krishna-Khar meeting on September 8
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Gangster Arun Gawli gets life term for murdering Sena corporator
Sit-ups, pull-ups may soon fetch extra marks in school
Big-ticket buys on cards as new Navy chief takes over
First liver-kidney transplant in armed forces
Karnataka terror plot
Air crash: IAF Chief visits Jamnagar Two close aides of Army ex-chief VK Singh shifted
ITBP team leaves for Congo
2 days after man’s death, wife, daughters end life
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Cong may opt for judicial probe to end House logjam
Anita Katyal/TNS
New Delhi, August 31 UPA sources maintained that the principal Opposition party, which has deadlocked Parliament for two weeks to press for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s resignation over the CAG report on the coal blocks allocation, would necessarily have to be on board or else this proposal would prove to be a non-starter. The government, it was stated, will be placed in an embarrassing position if it went ahead and ordered a judicial inquiry while the BJP remained adamant on stalling Parliament. The government has repeatedly said the issue should be debated in Parliament, but the BJP is not interested. “What purpose would it serve. The idea is to end the impasse in Parliament,” remarked a senior UPA minister. Law Minister Salman Khurshid was circumspect on this issue. “It is a view of Mulayam Singh. It will go to the Prime Minister. Whatever decision is taken by him, whether a decision is taken, only time will tell," he told mediapersons outside Parliament. The continuing stand-off in Parliament and the campaign launched by the BJP against the UPA government on corruption is now beginning to worry the Congress. Party president Sonia Gandhi today held a strategy session with senior leaders on this issue which was subsequently discussed by the Congress core group which met this evening shortly after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh returned from Tehran. The Samajwadi Party, which is extending outside support to the UPA government, today staged a dharna at the main entrance of Parliament House along with leaders of Left parties and the TDP to demand a judicial probe into the coal blocks allocation and the cancellation of all licences.
Sonia calls up Sushma, meets Prez
As an adamant BJP stalled Parliament for the second week in succession, Congress president Sonia Gandhi telephoned Leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj on Friday in a bid to end the ongoing logjam. Although no details were available on their conversation, Sonia’s peace offering does not appear to have cut much ice with the main Opposition party, which is insisting it will not allow Parliament to function till PM Manmohan Singh resigns. Since there is no senior leader to replace Congress chief troubleshooter Pranab Mukherjee, it was left to Sonia to take the initiative to end the stand-off. Sonia also had an hour-long meeting with President Pranab
Mukherjee.
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Sahai defends letter to PM
New Delhi, August 31 The senior Congress leader, however, failed to sound convincing on many issues such as whether Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was aware of his brother’s position in SKS Ispat and Power Limited for which he had lobbied for allotment of coal blocks in Chattisgarh and Jharkhand. Denying allegations of impropriety and nepotism in the allocations, Sahai claimed that he never sought any special favours for SKS Ispat from the PM, who was in charge of the ministry when blocks were being allocated. He said the letter he wrote to the PMO was for the betterment of Jharkhand, the state he represented in the Lok Sabha. Interestingly, however, both the coal fields allotted to SKS were for steel and power plants in Chhatisgarh. “In future also, I would make such recommendations for the development of my state (Jharkhand),” Sahai said, ruling out resigning from the government with a terse: “For what?” When asked whether his act did not tantamount to misuse of his office as his brother was connected to the company and why he did not recommend other companies to the PM for the betterment of his state Sahai said, “I would not recommend any person on the street. We recommend somebody only after checking his antecedents”. Sahai’s argument was based on the assertion that he himself did not hold any share of the company. As far as his brother was concerned, his involvement with SKS was in his independent capacity as a professional, he said. “My brother is executive director in honorary capacity with the firm and receives no financial benefits from them. The letters ‘SKS’ in the name of the company stand for Sri Krishna Structures and not Subodh Kant Sahai,” he said. But again, he could not explain why Sudhir, a “mere honorary director”, was attending important negotiations on behalf of the company, like screening committee meetings on coal block allocations.
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Krishna-Khar meeting on September 8
Announcing the visit here today,
MEA spokesman Syed Akbaruddin said the foreign secretaries of the two
countries would meet a day earlier to prepare the ground for the meeting
between their foreign ministers. The two ministers would also co-chair
a meeting of the India-Pakistan joint commission on September 8. The
announcement about the meeting between Krishna and Khar came a day after
talks between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistan President Asif
Ali Zardari on the margins of the NAM Summit in Iran. Answering
questions, Akbaruddin did not rule out the possibility of the two
countries signing a liberalised visa regime during Krishna’s visit to
the neighbouring country. He recalled that India was ready to ink the
agreement when the Home Secretary had visited Pakistan a few months
back. However, Islamabad said it had to complete certain legal and other
requirements.
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Gangster Arun Gawli gets life term for murdering Sena corporator
Mumbai, August 31 Judge Prithivraj Chavan of the special court set up under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act also imposed a fine of Rs 17 lakh on the mobster who also heads a political outfit, the Akhil Bhartiya Sena. Should Gawli fail to pay the fine he would have to undergo additional imprisonment of three more years, the court ruled. “Instead of sentencing you to death, I am awarding only life imprisonment to you,” the judge said. Apart from his role in the murder, Gawli was awarded prison sentences of 10 years each for being member of a crime syndicate and running an extortion racket. Apart from Gawli, his associates, Sandip, Ashok Jaiswal, Vijay Giri, Anil Giri, Saheb Rao Bhintade, Ajit Rane, Sandip Gangal, Shrikrishna Gaurav, Suresh Patil and Pratap Godse, who were also found guilty in the murder have been sentenced to life imprisonment by the court. Gawli's second-in-command Sunil Ghate who was found guilty under the Arms Act has been sentenced to three years in prison. Jamsandekar was shot dead at his residence in suburban Mumbai in March 2008. According to the chargesheet against Gawli, he had taken supari for Rs 30 lakh on behalf of a builder-cum-contractor Bala Surve who was locked in dispute with Jamsandekar over a plot of land. Surve died while the trial was in progress. Incidentally, Gawli's ABS has a political tie-up with the Shiv Sena in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation.
Supari killing
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Sit-ups, pull-ups may soon fetch extra marks in school
New Delhi, August 31 The Draft National Physical Fitness Programme for schoolchildren unveiled today by Minister of Sports Ajay Maken proposes an eight-point test for children. The idea is to encourage the largely lazy lot to run for fitness. “This is a game-changing idea. Playing will now pay,” Maken said. The draft moots 3 per cent extra marks for the top 10 per cent gender-wise performers in each district in the eight fitness tests proposed. Top 10 to 20 per cent performers will get 2.5 per cent extra marks. Those in the 20 to 30 per cent bracket will get 2 per cent marks. Students in the 30 to 40 per cent performer category will get 1.5 per cent marks and those in the last ranked section - 40 to 50 per cent - will get 1 per cent over and above the marks students score in academic disciplines. The minister admitted the scheme is driven by the government’s urge to hunt for prospective medal winners. “We will set up a national knowledge centre at the National University for Physical Education, Gwalior to analyse the data and develop age, gender and region-specific fitness parameters besides identifying raw talent at schools and train them to win medals,” said Maken, after India’s best-ever medal haul at the Olympics. The proposed fitness test has drawn from the ones in existence in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Haryana and seeks to test children’s abdominal strength through sit-ups per minute, flexibility through sit-and-reach exercises and upper body strength through modified pull-ups. A one-mile run (1,600-metre run) is also part of the test to determine cardio-respiratory endurance while a 4X10 metre shuttle run test will record speed and body control.
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Big-ticket buys on cards as new Navy chief takes over
New Delhi, August 31 Admiral Joshi, who hails from Uttarakhand, is the 19th Indian to command the navy since independence. The first two Navy Chiefs were British during the period of transformation. In a message to the force on his first day in the office, he said: “Navy would need to professionally re-audit, train and consolidate its preparedness to optimise the existing capabilities and harness the potential of new capabilities being inducted”. During his tenure, the first key induction is slated to be of the Russian built sea-borne aircraft carrier, Admiral Gorshkov, that will be renamed as INS Vikramaditya. MiG 29s will operate from its deck. For the first time in 15 years the Indian Navy will have two aircraft carriers, the other being the INS Viraat though it is on its last legs. The next induction will be of the US-built long range reconnaissance planes, Boeing P8-I. Orders have been placed for 12 planes and the first is slated to arrive in January 2013. At the moment India operates Russian-origin IL 38 and the Tupelov 142 for long-range reconnaissance at sea.
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First liver-kidney transplant in armed forces
Chandigarh, August 31 Transplanting two major organs in one go is extremely rare and according to sources, the number of such procedures undertaken in India could be in single digits. It took a team of 13 doctors, headed by Capt (IN) CS Naidu, about 15 hours for the surgery. The young soldier was suffering from primary hyperoxaluria, a rather uncommon illness that arises due to a functional defect in the liver and results in kidney failure. The only cure for this rare disease is transplantation of both liver and kidney. The biggest challenge was getting matched donors for liver and kidney. Hope for the solider came in the form of Meena Devi, wife of a retired army NCO was had developed intracranial bleed and was declared brain dead at the hospital on August 24. Her husband, Naik Ugar Singh and brother Harkesh Singh took the humanitarian decision of donating her organs.
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Muslim bodies cry foul over arrest of youths
Shubhadeep Choudhury/TNS
Bangalore, August 31 “On Thursday, the police announced that 11 persons have been arrested on charges that they are working with the LeT and HuJI. Everyone knows that the LeT and HuJI are at war with each other and there is no way a person can work with both terror organisations. We have reason to doubt the police version, especially in the wake of the impending elections,” Muslim organisations, including Jamiat-e-Islami and Jamiat-e-Ulema-e Hind, said in a press statement. Maulana Waheeuddin Khan of the Jamiat-e-Ulema-e Hind and others addressing the press conference said the investigation against the accused must be carried out in a fair manner and innocent people should not be harassed in the name of investigation. Eleven youths - five from a house in Bangalore and six from Hubli area- were arrested by the police on Wednesday for allegedly planning terror strikes against various persons, including a pro-Hindu columnist of a Kannada daily. Family members of the 11 arrested youths also spoke at a press conference. They expressed concern about their wards’ safety. They said they had no idea about the whereabouts of their wards and were deeply anxious about them. Meanwhile, Ramaiah, spokesman of the Bangalore city police, said the arrested youths were yesterday produced in the court that remanded them in police custody for 14 days.
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Air crash: IAF Chief visits Jamnagar
New Delhi, August 31 The IAF has deputed three transport planes to carry the bodies of the deceased to be handed over to the families for their last rites. The planes flew this afternoon from Jamnagar for their respective destinations with the top brass of the IAF supervising matters at the spot. In North India, a plane has been tasked to bring bodies at Jaipur, Ambala and Pathankot. As per the demands of the families, the bodies have been sent to the places they desired. IAF planes have flown off to Thanjavur, Lucknow, Patna and Kochi. Personnel at the nearest air base will complete final formalities for funeral as per the traditions of the forces.
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Two close aides of Army ex-chief VK Singh shifted New Delhi, August 31 Significantly, the Delhi Area General Officer Commanding (GOC), Lt Gen VK Pillai has been moved to Chennai as the GOC of the Southern states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala, an insignificant posting in the Army. Lt Gen S Mitra replaces him. The order to shift the Director General Military Operations (DGMO) Lt Gen AK Chaudhary to be the GOC Bengal area has been sent for ratification to the Defence Minister. He has sought a transfer on health grounds and will be replaced by Lt Gen Vinod Bhatia. A new appointment at that level needs to be ratified. Sources said in the eyes of the government these two officers were at the helm of affairs when troop movements were reported on the night intervening January 16-17 this year. The government had said the movements were routine, however, during the peak of these movements, the Secretary Defence was summoned back to India by cutting short his visit to Malaysia. Among others to be shifted today were Lt DS Hooda, he will be new GOC of the Nagrota-based 16 corps replacing Lt Gen AS Nandal. Lt Gen JS Bajwa will be new Director General Infantry.
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ITBP team leaves for Congo
New Delhi, August 31 This is the seventh time that an ITBP team will be based in Congo. One of the tasks of the team is be on stand for quick response efforts in emergency situations. ITBP Director-General Ranjit Sinha briefed the team today. This contingent comprises experienced commandos having experience of carrying out operations at high altitude, counter-insurgency operations, VIP protection, election duties, banking security and security of important installations, an ITBP spokesperson said.
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2 days after man’s death, wife, daughters end life
Kolkata, August 31 The police suspect it to be a case of planned suicide by the trio. The bodies were found on the ground in the backyard of the building. The daughters, both unmarried, had lost their father Nihar Mukherjee, a retired Forest Department official in the state government, to death on Tuesday at a private hospital in the Salt Lake area after a protracted illness. The elder daughter Mukuta, who is a freelancer journalist and an environmentalist, and the younger one Shereya, a school teacher, left behind a note along with the signature of their mother declaring that they were voluntarily donating their assets to the Rabindra Bharati University at
Jorashanko.
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Mumbai, August 31
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New Delhi, August 31
