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Montek backs diesel price hike, favours tough decisions
Pull out, BJP tells Cong allies
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Oil firms begin blocking multiple LPG connections Mamata fumes, sets deadline for FDI rollback
Amrita Pritam’s son found murdered in his Mumbai home
PM calls for friendly ties with neighbours
Kudankulam: Anti-nuke ‘Jal Satyagraha’ enters Day 2
Activists and residents stand in the Bay of Bengal waters as they protest in Kudankulam on Friday. — PTI
Punished with 100 sit-ups, AP teen dies
Teenager’s murder
Justice Katju for scrapping sedition
law
Unable to meet Rahul, villagers stage protest
Pranab’s son to contest from dad’s LS
seat
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Montek backs diesel price hike, favours tough decisions
New Delhi, September 14 The need for these bold measures was echoed by Montek Singh Ahluwalia, deputy chairman, Planning Commission, who said that tough decisions were required and that diesel and petrol prices should be deregulated in phases to cut down the deficit. He added that “diesel price hike is a tough decision and we need a lot of tough decisions to get to 8 per cent growth rate”. “I think they have taken a very important step. I am very glad that the government has taken this decision (to hike diesel price),” he said. On the government’s decision to go ahead with these measures which may be unpopular, sources point out that the international oil prices have been rising consistently. The average price of the Indian basket of crude oil which was $85 a barrel in 2010-11 rose to $111 a barrel next year. The average in the current fiscal is around $106 a barrel. Coupled with this has been the depreciation of the rupee against the US dollar. Since July 2011, the rupee has weakened significantly. The exchange rate, which was around Rs 44 to the dollar in July 2011, reached a level of Rs 57 towards the end of June 2012. It is estimated that every one rupee depreciation increases the under-recovery on diesel, kerosene and cooking gas by Rs 8,810 crore per annum. As a result, under-recoveries of state-owned oil companies like IOC, BPCL and HPCL have been mounting. The projected under-recovery for 2012-13 before the price hike yesterday was pegged at Rs 1.87 lakh crore. Sources point out that these numbers on regulated fuel products have reached an unsustainable level. The financial health of oil companies has been directly hit by mounting under-recoveries. During 2011-12, these companies reported a combined net profit after tax of Rs 6,177 crore which was only 0.7 per cent of their combined turnover of Rs 8.22 lakh crore. In addition, lack of budgetary support from the government has led the oil marketing companies to resort to huge market borrowings to meet their working capital requirements and capital expenditure. The combined borrowings have increased to Rs 1.57 lakh crore as on June 30, 2012 and the underlying interest cost has risen to Rs 2,919 crore for the first quarter.
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Pull out, BJP tells Cong allies
New Delhi, September 14 The Left parties also strongly condemned the move with the CPM stating that the unprecedented hike in the price of diesel and the limiting of six cooking gas cylinders per family per year would have a cascading inflationary impact, imposing greater burden on the already suffering people. The CPM also announced that it would organise protests against the government for “imposing such severe economic burden” on the people. Addressing a media conference, BJP spokesman Rajiv Pratap Rudy wondered why the allies of the Congress were indulging in a farce by criticising the government’s decision. “If they are so upset with the government, the Trinamool Congress, SP, BSP and DMK should withdraw support to the Manmohan Singh government for virtually unleashing financial terror on the common man,” he said. Demanding that both the decisions be rolled back in the interest of farmers and the lower middle class, he said, “It is an acid test for the UPA allies to show whether they stand with the people and demand and get a roll back of the prices or blindly support the government for the sake of power.” Rudy said the BJP core group had held a meeting last evening under the chairmanship of party president Nitin Gadkari where it was decided that the party would organise protests all over the country over the next nine days against the increase in diesel prices and the rationing of LPG cylinders and also to highlight the rampant corruption in the allocation of coal blocks which has come to light in the CAG report. Coming down heavily on the Prime Minister, the BJP spokesperson charged Manmohan Singh with leading the country to bankruptcy by pursuing anti-people policies. “How long will the people of this country tolerate a Prime Minister and a government which has completely failed on all fronts. The BJP cannot remain a mute spectator.” Rudy also wanted to know if UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi had approved of the latest decisions of “this dysfunctional government” at the Centre.
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Oil firms begin blocking multiple LPG connections
Chandigarh, September 14 Beginning today, the three state-run oil marketing companies (OMCs) — IOC, HPCL and BPCL — have started disconnecting any multiple connections that a consumer has. Such consumers will be liable to face permanent disconnection and penal action under the Essential Commodities Act. In a bid to stem the astounding under-recovery of Rs 30,000 crore from the sale of subsidised LPG, the government had issued directions yesterday to give only six subsidised LPG connections in a year. In a related communication today, the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas has said that for the remaining part of this fiscal (till March 2013), consumers can get three more cylinders at subsidised rates. For any additional refill, consumers will have to pay anything between Rs 750 and Rs 900 per cylinder (14.2 kg). The exact price at which the unsubsidised LPG will be sold will be determined after the Ministry of Finance decides on whether to impose excise and customs duty on LPG, which is presently not being imposed. Meanwhile, state-run OMCs have already identified all consumers who have multiple LPG connections. As part of the “One Household, One LPG Connection” programme last month across the country, consumers were issued an advisory by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas to surrender any additional LPG connections that they have. It is suspected that there are over 30 lakh consumers having multiple LPG connections. Consumers were also warned that in case they fail to surrender their additional LPG connections by September 14, their existing connections would be blocked and they will not get a refill.
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Mamata fumes, sets deadline for FDI rollback New Delhi, September 14 While PM Manmohan Singh issued a fervent appeal “to all segments of public opinion to support the government’s steps”, key UPA ally TMC chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee issued a 72-hour ultimatum to the government to withdraw the proposal on FDI in retail. The TMC’s Parliamentary Party is meeting on September 18 to decide on its next course of action. The Left parties and the BJP were equally quick to attack the government, saying the decision was taken under foreign pressure. Railway Minister and TMC leader Mukul Roy declared, “Our party opposed any kind of FDI in the retail sector,” while his colleague Kunal Ghosh warned the government of angry protests if these decisions are not reviewed. Roy, it is learnt, also called up the Congress president’s political secretary Ahmed Patel to convey his party’s views. While registering its opposition to these decisions, the TMC failed to give any plausible reason for Roy’s absence from the key Cabinet meetings which cleared these proposals.
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Amrita Pritam’s son found murdered in his Mumbai home
Mumbai, September 14 Kwatra was son of Punjabi writer late Amrita Pritam. Preliminary investigations revealed that Kwatra was strangulated to death and at least two persons were involved in the crime, which was first detected at 11 am today. The police said two youngsters had visited the victim’s house in the morning on the pretext of delivering a packet. Later, they tied his hands and legs before smothering his face and neck. The police said the exact time of Kwatra’s death would be determined by the postmortem report. According to Kwatra’s neighbours at the posh Wilderness Building, LIC Colony, the deceased did not mix up much with locals and often remained out of town. He used to visit his wife in New Delhi. Sources close to the family said Kwatra had last year sold off his bungalow at the Hauz Khaas in Delhi for Rs 25 crore only. He purchased two flats in Greater Kailash locality and kept the remaining amount to invest in Bollywood. However, not much is known about his recent investments in films. The police has found some documents and other transaction books from his house. Though Kwatra was found dead on his bed, nothing else in the house was found disturbed. Kwatra's wife has been informed and is expected to reach Mumbai by late Friday night. He is survived by two children, who are settled abroad, sources said.
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PM calls for friendly ties with neighbours
New Delhi, September 14 “The imperatives of our foreign policy have not changed. Security against external threats, economic prosperity and pitching in global public goods remain the central impulses. A dynamic environment, however, demands constant fine-tuning of instruments of the policy,” Singh said addressing Indian High Commissioners and Ambassadors from nearly 120 countries. The conference will discuss an entire gamut of foreign policy issues, including UN reforms, counter-terrorism, nuclear proliferation, India’s relations with neighbouring countries and the situation in West Asia. The conference is being held against the backdrop of new threats like cyber security and the shifting contours of global geopolitics. Emphasising the idea of establishing greater connectivity in South Asia to promote the movement of goods, services, investment and technology so that India’s growth provided the engine of progress for its neighbours, Singh said Indian HoMs in the region needed to consider innovations that made the most effective use of country’s limited developmental resources. The Prime Minister underlined that for the foreign policy to effectively serve domestic growth needs, it was imperative that efforts be equally geared towards finding economic opportunities in trade and financial flows and assisting the search for privileged access to critical or rare natural resources. External Affairs Minister SM Krishna said India’s neighbourhood was of paramount importance for national interests and outlined the initiatives taken during the last year to enhance India’s interaction with its neighbours. “We are reasonably satisfied at the progress achieved in the last round of the resumed dialogue, given the complexities of the issues that we face, in our relations with Pakistan,” Krishna said, emphasising that India was cognisant of the fact that there was a long way to go in ties with Islamabad and the path ahead would not be easy.
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Kudankulam: Anti-nuke ‘Jal Satyagraha’ enters Day 2
Kudankulam/New Delhi, Sept 14 “Women and men will stand in the sea waters for two hours in turns,” Pushparayan, leader of the Peoples Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE), spearheading the year-long agitation, told reporters here. The police here said Satishkumar, a close associate of SP Udayakumar, convener of PMANE, was arrested in Chennai today for trying to "instigate" the fishermen there to join the stir against the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KNPP). Search for Udayakumar, who had announced that he would surrender on Tuesday night but later did a U-turn, continued, the police said. The Coast Guard aircraft and ships maintained surveillance at the sea off nearby Idinthakarai as the villagers stood in waist and neck deep water. Taking cue from a similar protest demanding land as compensation and reduction of the Omkareshwar Dam recently by villagers of Khandwa district in Madhya Pradesh, the PMANE launched ‘Jal Satyagraha’ yesterday, marking a new turn in their agitation, which was intensified after preparations for fuel loading into the plant was announced. Over 4,000 police personnel, bolstered by the Rapid Action Force, continued to maintain a strict vigil, having almost sealed the entire Kudankulam town. The Supreme Court had yesterday refused to stay loading of fuel for the Kudankulam plant, but agreed to examine the risk associated to the project, saying safety of people living in its vicinity is of prime concern. Meanwhile, Lydia Powel of the Observer Research Foundation, who believes that keeping in mind all pros and cons, India should continue to pursue nuclear energy, is assertive that the Kudankulam protests are justified because people living near any industrial projects have the right to know the risk associated with the project and to be insured about the safety. “The government should allow time for the people to accept the project rather than imposing it on them forcefully,” explains Lydia.
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Punished with 100 sit-ups, AP teen dies
Hyderabad, September 14 Following a complaint from the victim’s parents, the city police registered a criminal case against the teacher who had handed out the punishment in the name of discipline. The incident occurred at Royal Embassy School in the old city. Hussain's crime was that he was talking to his friends in his class and was irregular with his homework. Infuriated over his indiscipline, the class teacher Mubina Begum reportedly ordered him to do sit-ups in every class till the school closed for the day. “Though he repeatedly complained of severe pain in the legs, the teacher remained adamant. Despite excruciating pain, he continued doing the sit-ups and could not stand by the time the school was over,” Ismail’s father Mohammed Siddique Hussain said in his complaint. “We have registered a case under Section 304 (A) - causing death due to negligence - against the school management and teacher and will take action after receiving the post-mortem report,” Assistant Commissioner of Police Sai Krishna said.
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Court orders execution of death penalty
Sanjeev Singh Bariana/TNS
Chandigarh, September 14 The court has ordered that the death penalty be executed on October 5 at 9 am in a Patiala jail where the accused are currently lodged. The development follows filing of an application by advocate Maninder Pal, representing Ravi Verma, father of the kidnapped teenager who was murdered. Giving details of the orders issued yesterday, Maninder Pal said, “The death penalty had been confirmed by the Supreme Court in January 2010. However, the sentence had not been carried out, forcing us to approach the court once again. We had argued that the death had not been stayed at any level and should be carried out.” The advocate further said, “All three had been given death sentence by the Sessions court in December 2006, which was upheld by the High Court in May 2008, following which the accused had approached the Supreme Court. The SC upheld death sentence for Jasbir Singh and Vikram Walia while the sentence to Sonia was commuted to a life term.” Case file
Jasvir Singh and Vikram Walia kidnapped and murdered Harry, a class IX student of DAV School,
on February 14, 2005. Jasvir’s wife Sonia was part of the conspiracy The abductors demanded a ransom of Rs 50 lakh Harry’s body was found dumped near Adampur, at least 20 km from Hoshiarpur
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Justice Katju for scrapping sedition
law
New Delhi, September 14 The former Judge of Supreme Court said the 1870 law “should either be repealed by Parliament or declared invalid by a Constitutional Bench of the SC”. He clarified that the sedition law applied only in cases where speech or actions of a person incite immediate violence. Delivering a talk at the Press Club of India on the history and purport of the archaic law, Justice Katju slammed the Maharashtra authorities for arresting
Trivedi. The PCI chief said Trivedi did not commit any sedition and the people who arrested him deserved to
be criminally proceeded against under Section 342 of the IPC which prohibits wrongful arrest. “It is absurd to say Trivedi committed sedition. All he did was portray politicians as corrupt. The whole country is saying that. Will you arrest everyone? The authorities who arrested Trivedi violated the law,” said Justice
Katju.
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Unable to meet Rahul, villagers stage protest
Lucknow, September 14 Despite continuous rain since morning, a large number of people had arrived at the guest house to meet the AICC general secretary and submit their petitions complaining about various local
issues. Over 40 residents of Chitkapur village, led by their pradhan Girish Chand Mishra and former pradhan Mumtaz Khan, had arrived demanding audience with Rahul to complain about the delay in construction of an over-bridge near the Amethi railway station. When the villagers were unable to meet Rahul Gandhi right away, they started shouting slogans. Local Congress leaders and the district administration intervened and facilitated a meeting with Rahul. A delegation of farmers apprehending acquisition of their land for the building of the Jafrabad-Musafirkhana bypass also met Rahul. On the concluding day of the two-day visit to his constituency, Rahul today distributed tricycles to differently abled persons at a function in Parasdepur village and held a meeting of the block Congress committee.
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Pranab’s son to contest from dad’s LS seat New Delhi, September 14 Abhijit (52) is a party MLA from Nalhati constituency in Birbhum district of West Bengal. Jangipur seat fell vacant after Pranab Mukherjee became President. He had represented the seat since 2004. The AICC announcement came on a day when the President is on a visit to his home state. "Congress President Sonia Gandhi has approved the proposal for the candidature of Abhijit Mukherjee for the byelection to the Lok Sabha from Jangipur Parliamentary constituency," a release by AICC general secretary Oscar Fernandes said. — PTI
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The government’s rationale for the huge hike of Rs 5 per litre in diesel prices and capping cooking gas refills at six per family every year rests on rising international crude oil prices, depreciation in the rupee and the mounting under-recoveries of the oil companies which are affecting their financial health.
Kudankulam/New Delhi, Sept 14
Lucknow, September 14
