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Monsoon session washed out
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A high of lows
Will consider clemency to Sarabjit: Zardari
Woman cop being chased away by Cong workers.
Don’t resort to frequent strikes, HC tells doctors, lawyers
Modi calls for a mass movement against gutkha in Gujarat
Goa ex-CM indicted in illegal mining case
Cabinet nod to scholarship scheme for ST students
Cabinet okays AI subsidiaries
Workers demand judicial probe into Manesar violence
Army probing Lt Col’s allegation against junior officer
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Monsoon session washed out
New Delhi, September 7 The monsoon session had 19 sittings but the Rajya Sabha worked only for about 29 hours, loosing 62 hours to the din. For the Lok Sabha, the statistics have not yet been tabulated but working hours could be even fewer. The state of parliamentary affairs in the country could not have been summed up more explicitly as perhaps Vice President Hamid Ansari. Delivering his valedictory address at the end of the stormy monsoon session, a grim sounding Rajya Sabha chairman said: “The session is likely to be remembered for work not done. The data is in no need of commentary”. An upset Speaker of the Lok Sabha Meira Kumar did not make her customary valedictory address today and adjourned the House sine die. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Leader of the House Sushil Kumar Shinde was present when the adjournment happened. Later outside the House, she said: “Parliament has not functioned and it has made me very sad. In our democracy, sometimes there are forms of dissent which disturb us,” hoping that a solution to the logjam would be found soon to ensure smooth functioning of the Winter session. Important government Legislative and other important business could not be transacted due to continuous interruptions in the both Houses over the CAG report on allocation of Coal Blocks and augmentation of coal production. But while the BJP kept its opposition vocal, it was the shocking image of two honourable members- BSP's Avtar Singh and SP's Naresh Aggarwal-engaged in a wrestling match on the floor of the Rajya Sabha when the quota in promotions bill was being tabled-which will remembered for times to come . Enacted right in presence of the Prime Minister, the high drama was beamed directly homes of millions of Indians who watched in dismay the Indian Parliament and democracy being subjected to yet another beating. Otherwise, for the parliamentarians this session, it was largely no work and all play at the tax payers’ expense. The only worthwhile work done during the session was short-duration discussions on recent incidents of communal violence in Assam in the two Houses.
5 posers to BJP
The Congress on Friday posed five questions to the BJP terming the continued disruption of Parliament as an invitation to anarchy and internal strife. Punjab Congress leader Ashwani Kumar said:
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A high of lows
A whopping Rs 117 crore were lost due to disruptions with the Lok Sabha losing 80 per cent time (78 hours) and the Rajya Sabha losing 77 pc (62 hours) on account of the Opposition’s demand of PM’s resignation and cancellation and auctioning of coal blocks he allocated as the Coal Minister beginning 2004.
Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Pawan Bansal admitted for the first time today that the cost of running the two Houses was Rs 2.5 lakh a minute as against Rs 36,000 previously thought. He regretted that parliamentary discourse had hit a new nadir and slammed the Opposition for “inflicting a lacerative wound on the body politic of India” by refusing to debate in both Houses. Successive
Lok Sabhas “They (the BJP) are out to turn the Parliament irrelevant. Their strategy smacks of fascism,” Bansal said at the end of monsoon session which met for 6 out of planned 19, wasting 13 days. This session of the 15th Lok Sabha is the second most disrupted after the winter session of 2010 which was consumed by Opposition’s demand for a joint parliamentary committee on 2G Spectrum scam. So far, in its three-year life, the 15th Lok Sabha has lost 570 hours of business time and worked for around 1,138 hours, thus wasting half of the time it spent working. The Tribune has learnt that at the commencement of the monsoon session, close to 80 Bills were pending for passage in both Houses --- 55 in Lok Sabha and over 30 in Rajya Sabha. Bansal didn’t share details of these exact Bills pending in Parliament as of today (for obvious reasons) and said the government had prepared only 32 for passage in this session and later reduced these to 15. “Four bills were passed in the Rajya Sabha and two in the Lok Sabha. At least 15 should have been passed,” the minister said. The analysis of timings of all Lok Sabhas so far reveals that the 15th LS is the worst of all when it comes to performance. It has had close to 261 sittings in three years and spent 1,138 hours working - the worst performance for any Lok Sabha so far; this despite MPs resolving to “strengthen democratic values and making the government accountable to people” on the occasion of the 60th sitting of the Parliament on May 13. Question Hour, the only government accountability mechanism was held only on one day out of 19 during the monsoon session. Among the vital stuck legislations due to poor functioning are Educational Tribunals Bill; National Accreditation Authority Bill and another to prevent unfair practices in higher educational institutions.
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Will consider clemency to Sarabjit: Zardari Islamabad, September 7 The minister raised the issue when he called on Zardari here this evening. Sources said the president also instructed his officials to take a note of the request. The assurance came amid reports that the petition by the death convict is in the final stages of consideration. In another development, Sarabjit Singh was granted consular access by Pakistan. Interior Minister Rehman Malik said the government had acceded to the request and an Indian official met the death convict yesterday. “I had granted permission on September 5. He is being looked after and is doing well,” Malik told correspondents on the sidelines of a reception hosted by Indian High Commissioner Sharat Sabharwal in honour of the External Affairs Minister SM Krishna that was attended by a large section of political leaders in the National Assembly including Maulana Fazlur Rehman of the Jamait-e-Ulema-Islami (Fazlur) and representatives of the Khyber Pakhtoonwa Mili and Pakistan Teherik-e-Insaf of Imran Khan. On the issue of granting pardon to Sarabjit Singh, Malik maintained it is an issue that has to be decided by the courts. He said just as judiciary is independent in India, it is so in Pakistan. The access that India was seeking for a long time following reports about his condition came on the eve of the India-Pakistan Foreign Ministers’ dialogue to be held here tomorrow. Krishna arrived here in Islamabad today.
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Bhubaneswar, September 7 Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said the violence was condemnable and people were shocked by the assault on the woman constable. Union Minister and Congress leader Srikant Jena dubbed Odisha as a 'police state' where the right to protest and democratic values have been lost. Thousands of Congress workers clashed with the police yesterday when they tried to picket the state Assembly building demanding resignation of Patnaik over the Coalgate row leaving around 260 persons, including 60 police personnel, injured. At least 34 persons have so far been arrested for the violence and attack on the woman constable, Assistant Commissioner of Police Nihar Das said. In the Assembly,
Congress legislators stormed the Well of the House protesting police excesses paralysing proceedings. Shouting slogans against the BJD government and the police action, the Opposition members attempted to climb the Speaker's podium.
— PTI
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Don’t resort to frequent strikes, HC tells doctors, lawyers
Jaipur, September 7 A division bench of Chief Justice Arun Mishra and Justice NK Jain Sr was of the view that since duties performed by lawyers and doctors are commitment towards the society, it is expected that they should not indulge in any such call for strike or suspension for seeking their demands being fulfilled leaving the public suffering. Doctors, lawyers and government employees should not resort to strikes as far as possible, the court said. The matter came up before the high court on a PIL filed by one Rajesh Chakran who claimed compensation for the doctor's strike in 2010 besides seeking a declaration that such a strike is illegal. The bench in its order highlighted the duties of doctors also touched upon the frequent strikes called by lawyers and employees in the state. The court, however, refused to grant any compensation but set the aggrieved persons free to approach proper court for compensation in regular suit.
— PTI
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Modi calls for a mass movement against gutkha in Gujarat
Ahmedabad, September 7 "This is the time to rise to the occasion together and create a
mass movement to remove gutkha from our lives and save our youth from the menace of cancer," Modi wrote on his blog, while reminding people about the new legislation banning gutkha in the state from September 11. "Come 11th September 2012, there will be a comprehensive ban on gutka consumption across the state. It is our determination to create a society where no woman is widowed due to hazards of gutkha eating in the family. We want to see a day when no child loses a parent or no mother prematurely loses a son due to gutka consumption," Modi said.
— PTI
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Goa ex-CM indicted in illegal mining case
New Delhi, September 7 The Justice M B Shah Commission, which went into the issue of illegal mining of iron ore and manganese in Goa, cited instances of abuse of power by Kamat, who held the Mines portfolio over a 10-year period from 2002 in three governments, two headed by the Congress and one by the BJP. The Commission also found "total lack of coordination" in different wings of the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests which "resulted in illegalities and consequential ecological damage." The Shah Commission Report, along with the Action Taken Memorandum, was tabled in Parliament today by Union Mines Minister Dinsha Patel. The Commission has found several orders passed by Kamat including on application for condonation of delay in renewal of mining lease as "against the law" and "abuse of power" as the Central Government is the ultimate authority in this regard. The report has also come down heavily on Kamat for ignoring complaints about the destruction caused by illegal mining in the coastal state. "It is amply clear that the Minister of Mines and Chief Minister (Kamat) were well aware about non-compliance of conditions and other illegalities/irregularities happening in the mining sector," the report said.
— PTI
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Cabinet nod to scholarship scheme for ST students
New Delhi, September 7 Over 22 lakh ST students will be covered under the scheme every year during the 12th Five-year Plan. The scheme will be introduced shortly and will be implemented through the state governments and the UTs. Total fund requirement during 12th Plan has been estimated at Rs 2,695.46 crore. Financial requirement for this year is Rs 472 crore and a provision of Rs 86 crore has already been made in current year’s budget. Implementing agencies will receive 100 per cent Central assistance for expenditure under the scheme over and above their committed liability.
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Cabinet okays AI subsidiaries
New Delhi, September 7 Hiving off maintenance, repair and ground-handling business as new profit-making subsidiaries of Air India is part of the comprehensive turnaround plan (TAP) and the financial restructuring plan (FRP) to improve the cash-strapped airline’s functional and financial position and optimum utilisation of its massive 29,000 employee strength. Air India’s aircraft-manpower ratio last year was 263 as against 150 in Jet Airways, 111 in Kingfisher and 102 in Indigo. With the hiving off, this ratio is expected to come down considerably, sources said. As per the restructuring plan, 7,000 employees will go to the engineering MRO wing and 12,000 to the transport services of the airline. The engineering wing has the expertise to maintain and repair the latest Airbus and Boeing aircraft and plans are afoot to use it to maintain planes from airlines all over Asia.
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Workers demand judicial probe into Manesar violence
New Delhi, September 7 Post the Manesar violence, uncertainty haunts the families of the Maruti workers as 546 workers were dismissed and 150 others jailed under Section 302 of the IPC by the Manesar police and many remain underground. “The workers are living amid fear of alleged police torture in areas such as Yamunanagar, Rohtak, Ambala and Jind,” workers’ representatives said during a convention ‘Intensified Assault on the Working Class: Challenges before Democracy’ organised by the AICCTU and AISA in solidarity with the Maruti workers today. Doubts were raised on the investigation done by the special team comprising the police officials whose roles themselves warranted a thorough probe as they were present at the site of the incident. Accusing the Haryana Government and the Centre of being anti-worker and favouring the Japanese company, the activists sought immediate withdrawal of the police and paramilitary force from the industrial areas in Gurgaon-Manesar and release and reinstatement of all the workers.
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New Delhi, September 7