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Bal Thackeray sees a PM in Sushma Swaraj
Anti-corruption cartoonist charged with sedition
Cong ministers to fan out across country to take on BJP
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171 Hindus from Pak seek refugee status
UPCC revamp in the offing
Kudankulam
N-plant
Security concern delays India’s e-passport project
Mere inquiry cannot hold up promotion, rules AFT
Controversial HC judge taken off family cases
Chinese minister made another bid to give cash as gift
Jantar
Mantar
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Bal Thackeray sees a PM in Sushma Swaraj
Mumbai/New Delhi, Sept 9 “At present, there is only one person who is intelligent, brilliant - Sushma Swaraj,” Thackeray said in part three of his interview, published by Sena mouthpiece ‘Saamana’ today. “She would deliver a great performance,” the Shiv Sena leader added. NDA allies Shiromani Akali Dal and the Janata Dal (United) have so far refrained from endorsing the Sena chief’s suggestion. BJP’s response to this was guarded. Balbir Punj said his party has a “number of capable leaders” who can fill the slot as Prime Minister. Punj, a Rajya Sabha MP, welcomed what Thackeray said, while adding, “We have capable leaders. Our existence is not dependent on any single family and therefore, different people see different leaders in our party who can lead the country in these difficult times. And we welcome what Balasaheb has said.” His compatriot, BJP vice-president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, spoke on the same lines, saying, “BJP has many leaders who are competent to become the Prime Minister and are acceptable in the country... A decision on this will be taken by the BJP and other NDA partners at the time of elections.” Taking a swipe at the NDA, Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari said, “The NDA suffers from a malady of anointing Prime Ministers without awaiting for people’s verdict... The NDA and the BJP should not count their chicken before they hatch.” “During the last Lok Sabha polls, there was one Prime Minister-in-waiting (in NDA). By 2012, the numbers are multiplying at a rate that defies logic,” Tewari added. AICC General Secretary Digvijay Singh joined in, saying since the Shiv Sena has proposed her name as NDA’s prime ministerial candidate, Sushma should now clear what her party’s stand on attack on migrants from Bihar and UP in Maharashtra by Sena and MNS workers is. The Sena chief’s comments come close on the heels of his recent meeting with Sushma Swaraj on the issue of coal block allocations which has rocked the Parliament. This is also the first time that the NDA ally has named a BJP leader as a possible Prime Ministerial candidate. Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s name has been doing the rounds as the potential PM candidate for the 2014 Lok Sabha polls while NDA partner Janata Dal (United) has made it clear that he would not be acceptable. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar of the JD (U) has made it clear that NDA’s PM candidate must have clean and secular credentials.
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Anti-corruption cartoonist charged with sedition
Mumbai, September 9 The police had registered several cases against Trivedi after he exhibited his cartoons at the MMRDA grounds, the venue of activist Anna Hazare’s fast. The government had got the company hosting Trivedi’s website to pull it down last December, the cartoonist alleged. The cartoonist has been charged under Sections like 124 of the Indian Penal Code which pertains to sedition, Section 66A of the Information Technology (Amendment) Act, 2008 and the Prevention of Insults of National Honour Act, 1971. Among the cartoons found offensive include one which depicts Mother India draped in the Tricolour about to be assaulted by a politician, a bureaucrat and a beast called corruption.
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Cong ministers to fan out across country to take on BJP
New Delhi, September 9 Congress ministers and party leaders have been deputed to travel to state capitals to expose the principal Opposition party’s “doublespeak on Coalgate” and defend the Centre role on this issue. HRD Minister Kapil Sibal was in Lucknow on Saturday where he slammed the BJP, putting the onus of any wrongdoing on its Chief Ministers who opposed the Centre’s proposal on competitive bidding and executed the lease of coal blocks whose cancellation it is now demanding. “The BJP should ask its CMs to resign instead of seeking the Prime Minister’s resignation as the lease of coal blocks were executed by the states and not the Centre,” Sibal said. Similar such attacks will be mounted in the coming days. The list of ministers drafted for this exercise include Ambika Soni who will go to Tamil Nadu, Anand Sharma to Chhattisgarh, PK Bansal to Uttarakhand, Aswani Kumar to the North-East and CP Joshi to Madhya Pradesh and Mukul Wasnik to Sikkim. The brunt of their argument will be that the BJP has no moral right to criticise the UPA government or the PM as it was their Chief Ministers argued in favour of the old policy of allotting coal blocks by a screening committee. The Opposition CMs of coal-bearing states were represented on the screening committee and they were party to all its decisions, the Congress has said. Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Rajeev Shukla said: “The BJP’s charges just do not hold water given the role of their own chief ministers in the coal blocks allotment.
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171 Hindus from Pak seek refugee status
Jodhpur, September 9 They have been accommodated temporarily in a temple campus until proper arrangements are made. "We have intimated the chief minister about this and expect him to direct the administration to make some arrangements for them," said Singh
Sodha, president of Seemant Lok Sangthan. — PTI
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UPCC revamp in the offing
Lucknow, September 9 The official announcement in this regard is expected after the new UPCC president Nirmal Khatri formally takes over charge on September 11. Eight senior leaders to be made in-charge of 10 Lok Sabha seats each, collectively taking care of the 80 seats in Uttar Pradesh, have been selected. The eight persons had been summoned to Delhi and briefed about their new job responsibility. For the first time, these coordinators, who have yet to get a formal nomenclature, would be holding powers to replace “non-performers” in district and city units. They would also be held accountable for good or bad results in their respective areas of control, which is touted as something new thing in the party set-up wherein people have been getting away due to lack of accountability. The selection of the eight in-charges has been made keeping the caste and community factors in mind. The possible names are former Congress MP from Aligarh and Jat leader Brijendra Singh, Thakur leader and MLA from Banda in Bundelkhand Vivek Singh, former student leader from Allahabad and sitting MLA Anugrah Narayan Singh, Brahmin leader and Union minister Jitin Prasada, Union minister RPN Singh, Muslim face Rashid Masood and Dalit leaders PL Punia and Raja Ram Pal.
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Govt to fund infertility treatment of Parsis
New Delhi, September 9 The Planning Commission has approved a novel, first-of-its-kind scheme, which the Minority Affairs Ministry had mooted to fund the cost of infertility treatment in Parsi couples. The 100 per cent centrally funded scheme is rooted in the realisation that appallingly low levels of marriage, fertility and childbirth are the main reasons for the plummeting population of Parsis, one of the five minorities under the central National Minority Commission Act. The community has a shockingly low Total Fertility Rate (the number of children a woman bears in her life) of 0.89 as against India’s average of 2.5. Their numbers fell from 1.14 lakh in 1941 to 69,601 in 2001 and further to 60,000 in 2011. Costing Rs 20 crore, the scheme would be part of the 12th Plan once the National Development Council approves the full plan. It has been cleared by the Planning Commission steering group headed by Syeda Hameed and included in the draft plan. “The scheme will enable the government to fund fertility clinics in Parsi-dominated areas,” Chairman, National Commission for Minorities (NCM), Wajahat Habibullah told The Tribune today. It envisages financial aid for detection of infertility in childless couples, infertility counselling and screening of female children for detection of diseases that result in infertility and would also support fertility clinics being run by Parsis. Bombay Parsi Panchayat runs one such clinic which offers facilities of blood testing, trans-vaginal sonography, laproscopy/hysterectomy and semen analysis to Parsi couples leading to an infertility treatment plan. Noted Parsi poet and NCM member Keki Daruwalla firmly pushed the scheme in an April 25 letter to Hameed which he wrote amid criticism that the government can’t possibly fund infertility treatment of a minority. “Parsis, despite being a minority, avail none of the benefits that accrue to other minority communities,” Daruwalla said.
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Kudankulam
N-plant
Tirunelveli (TN), September 9 Defying prohibitory orders, the protesters tried to lay siege to the plant and refused to pay heed to repeated appeals by authorities to disperse, insisting they will stay put, 500 metres from the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project site. Police said they will take action "as per the prevailing situation." Over 1,000 anti-nuclear protesters tried to march towards the plant but were prevented by the RAF and police. — PTI
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Security concern delays India’s e-passport project
New Delhi, September 9 This has been pointed out by the Standing Committee of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in its 17th report which was placed in Parliament during the just-concluded monsoon session. When the matter came to light on the basis of Intelligence Bureau (IB) reports, it was taken up by the MEA with the Home Ministry and other concerned ministries and departments. The committee said it had hoped that such inter-ministerial consultations would help in arriving at a concrete decision with due care from all angles, particularly the security aspect, so that the long-pending e-passport project could take off. It, however, expressed dismay that the MEA has not even found it necessary to provide the panel the present status or progress report regarding the project. The committee was of the firm view that the project could not be unjustifiably deferred indefinitely for want of security clearance to the specific bidding company. Since the inter-ministerial consultations so far have not enabled the government to arrive at a final decision about permission to the international firm selected to supply chips for the project, the panel urged the government to either decide the fate of the selected company considering the security concerns or explore the possibility of selecting any other company by discarding the current bidder so that the project could be launched at the earliest. It was hopeful that the e-passport issuance system would be free from the technical glitches that were being experienced in the new online passport issuance system. The agents of GEMALTO, a French company that was selected by India to supply electronic chips for e-passports, were associated with the supply of smart cards to Pakistan
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Now, dress code at Mumbai Ganesh festival
Mumbai, September 9 The organisers of a major Ganpati pandal in the city have imposed a dress code, under which devotees wearing shorts, short skirts and sleeveless clothes would be asked to come back wearing modest clothes. "Devotees above the age of 13 will not be allowed to enter wearing short clothes as it offends religious sensibilities of other worshippers," says Uday Salian, a committee member of the Azad Nagar Sarvajanik Utsav Samiti in suburban Andheri which hosts the popular Andhericha Raja Ganpati. The samiti has been celebrating the Ganesh festival for the past 46 years. Last year, many devotees said they were uncomfortable with young people dressed in revealing clothes. "Many people complained that people wearing such clothes were disturbing the sacred atmosphere," Salian added. The organisers said that they would post volunteers to weed out those wearing immodest clothes from the queue for darshan and ask them to leave. The 'Andhericha Raja' attracts many celebrities and actors from the modelling and television world. However, the decision has kicked up a storm with many devotees complaining about their rights being violated. Salian admits that they are under pressure from various quarters to go back on the rules. Incidentally, some other Ganesh mandals are also keen on following the footsteps of the Azad Nagar Samiti. "Many people feel that dress codes must be introduced because it is a religious function. However, we have to keep in mind the rights of everyone," says Naresh Dahibaokar, secretary, Brihanmumbai Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav Samanvay Samiti, the umbrella body of Ganesh mandals in
Mumbai.
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Mere inquiry cannot hold up promotion, rules AFT
Chandigarh, September 9 After examining the applicable policy, the tribunal’s Bench comprising Justice Rajesh Chandra and Air Marshall SC Mukul ruled this week that pendency of investigation or an inquiry does not result in a bar on promotion unless on the due date of promotion the investigation has culminated and cognisance has been taken on the same by the competent authority for taking action against the delinquent. Re-emphasising the principles laid down by the Supreme Court in the case of Union of India vs Jankiraman in which it was held that a promotion can only be denied if a chargesheet or charge memo has already been issued against a government employee, the AFT held the non-promotion of a Havildar to the rank of Naib Subedar as illegal and directed the Army to promote him to the rank of Naib Subedar. In 2011, Havildar Sandeep Kumar Tiwari of the Corps of Engineers was reprimanded and fined for causing loss to personnel of his unit due to incorrect preparation of the pay summary. He was later promoted to the rank of Naib Subedar in February 2012 which was to take effect in April 2012. However before his promotion, another Court of Inquiry was ordered for the same offence by an engineer brigade for which he already stood punished and even his promotion was not given effect on the basis of the pendency of the second Court of Inquiry. The NCO then approached the AFT on the ground that he was being probed again for the same offence for which he stood punished and that his promotion could not be held back due to mere pendency of a Court of Inquiry.
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Controversial HC judge taken off family cases
Bangalore, September 9 While he tried to justify his recent remark saying he wanted to save the marriage of the couple in question, the judge had earlier said there must be provision in the law for declaring love marriages by young women as “void”. According to Vimochana, a Bangalore-based women organisation, Bhaktavatsala, while hearing a case last year, said young women entered into love marriages because of “hormonal imbalances”. “In our opinion, the girls below the age of 21 years are not capable of forming a rational judgment as to suitability of the boy, who is in love. It is relevant to mention that those girls who are suffering from hormonal imbalance easily fall prey to the boys and fall in love, marry and repent at leisure,” he said. In another case last month, when a young woman advocate was citing the allegations against the husband, Bhaktavatsala stopped her midway and asked her to get married and only then argue cases related to marital discord. In the recent case, he told a woman litigant in a divorce matter, “Your husband is doing good business, he will take care of you. Why are you still talking about his beatings?” he said.
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Chinese minister made another bid to give cash as gift
New Delhi, September 9 The Chinese Minister was on a five-day visit to India from September 2 to 6.
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Jantar
Mantar Anita Katyal 
The Congress was both confused and surprised when BSP chief Mayawati attacked it when her pet proposal, the Bill providing reservations in promotions for SC/ST employees, could not be passed in the recently concluded monsoon session of Parliament after it met with stiff resistance from her arch political rival, the Samajwadi Party. The Congress bewilderment was understandable as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh first rushed to convene an all-party meeting on the issue after Mayawati raised the matter in the Rajya Sabha and then worked at break neck speed to table it in Parliament. A grateful Mayawati, who extends outside support to the UPA government, had even
No end to Cong’s HP woes
The Congess is caught in a proverbial Catch-22 situation in poll-bound Himachal Pradesh. It first encouraged the anti- Virbhadra Singh lobby in the state unit and did everything possible to sideline the former Chief Minister who is also the party’s only mass leader in Himachal Pradesh. However, the party leadership bent backwards to please an angry Virbhadra Singh after he threatened to join hands with the NCP in the year-end Assembly polls. But the party’s worries are not over yet as Virbhadra Singh’s appointment as PCC chief has failed to stamp out factionalism in the state unit. The anti-Virbhadra Singh group has now gone into a sulk. With elections round the corner, the party has to take speedy corrective measures. As a way out, it being proposed that Virbhadra’s bęte noire and predecessor Kaul Singh be drafted as a special invitee in the party’s screening committee and the central election committee to give him a say in the selection of candidates.
Jaya’s party slams Swaraj Senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj was in the eye of a storm when word went round that she had invited Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa to Madhya Pradesh. The visiting dignitary is to lay the foundation stone for the proposed Centre for Buddhist Studies in Sanchi in Vidisha, Sushma Swaraj’s constituency. The BJP’s friendly party AIADMK promptly hit out for unnecessarily extending a red carpet welcome to the Sri Lankan leader. This was followed by street protests where Sushma Swaraj’s posters were also burnt. The BJP leader immediately went into damage control mode, denying she had invited Rajapaksa and instead blamed the Centre and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for giving clearance to this programme. Predictably, Swaraj’s detractors in the BJP were delighted over her discomfiture.
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The Mumbai police on Saturday arrested anti-corruption cartoonist Aseem Trivedi on charges of sedition and creating obscene content after he surrendered to the authorities. He was produced in a holiday court that has remanded him in police custody till September 16.
PATNA: Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad on Sunday said Bal
Thackeray, Uddhav Thackeray and Raj Thackeray were originally Bihari, and that they were "infiltrators" in
Maharashtra. "Thackeray's family are originally from Bihar and now settled in
Maharashtra. They are infiltrators in Mumbai, they should leave Maharashtra as soon as possible," Lalu told newspersons here while reacting sarcastically to Raj Thackeray's remarks over the issue of Bihari "infiltrators". — IANS
called up Law Minister Salman Khurshid to thank him for accepting her party’s suggestions on the Bill and acceding her request to table the Bill first in the Upper House. Now realising that the UPA government had acted with such alacrity only to divert attention from Coalgate, Mayawati has launched an aggressive campaign against the Congress for not ensuring the Bill’s passage.