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Tribune Special |
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NSG may induct women commandos in operations
Lucknow, Agra to be new IT hubs
Yeddyurappa warns Shettar not to take unilateral decisions
HC grants conditional bail to French diplomat
Pune blasts: 4th accused arrested
IPS officer goes missing in Arunachal
PG test: Clause seeking original MCI documents draws flak
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Amid talk of Cabinet rejig, Rahul meets PM
New Delhi, October 17 This comes a day after the Prime Minister and Congress president Sonia Gandhi held separate meetings with President Pranab Mukherjee which had put the focus back on the pending ministerial changes. The Cabinet rejig was to take place last month but was put off till after the inauspicious ‘shraadh’ period which ended this week. It was being mentioned that the reshuffle could be held on Friday before the President leaves for his village in West Bengal for the annual Durga Puja celebrations. If not, the government may go for a reshuffle after Dusshera as it would prefer to complete this exercise before the opening of the winter session of Parliament in November-end. The PM has repeatedly invited Rahul Gandhi to join the government and the AICC general secretary had indicated in July that he was ready to play a larger role either in the party or the government. Although there is no official word in this regard, it is being indicated that Rahul Gandhi will opt to take on additional responsibilities in the Congress organisation. Rahul Gandhi’s meeting with the PM is being seen in the light that there are plans to promote junior ministers and induct fresh faces to give the Cabinet a “youthful look” with an eye on the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. The AICC general secretary would have a say in the choice of the young persons who are to be inducted and promoted. There is speculation that MPs Manicka Tagore and Meenakshi Natarajan, known for their proximity to Rahul Gandhi, could find a place in the new set-up. Junior ministers like Jyotiraditya Scindia, Sachin Pilot, D Purandeshwari and Jitin Prasad may be elevated. Although Rahul Gandhi may not join the Cabinet, it would carry the stamp of being a “Rahul team.” The Cabinet reshuffle is long overdue as several vacancies have arisen following Pranab Mukherjee’s move to the Rashtrapati Bhawan, the exit of Trinamool Congress ministers, Virbhadra Singh’s resignation and Vilasrao Deshmukh’s death. A number of ministers — Kapil Sibal, Anand Sharma, CP Joshi, Vayalar Ravi and Veerappa Moily — are holding additional charge. Since Trinamool Congress ministers have quit the government, West Bengal has to be given adequate representation in the Cabinet while a berth has to be earmarked for a Maharashtra leader to replace Deshmukh. team rahul
Rahul Gandhi’s meeting with the PM is being seen in the light that there are plans to promote junior ministers and induct fresh faces to give the Cabinet a ‘youthful look’ with an eye on the 2014 Lok Sabha elections
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Tribune Special
New Delhi, October 17 Such a facility can help agencies pin point the location of a mobile phone with an accuracy of 50 metres in urban areas and 300 to 500 metres in the remote areas like the north-eastern states which have fewer towers. The absence of LBS has become a ‘stumbling bloc’ in “our war against terrorism and big crime,” feel officers working in sensitive organisations. Intelligence Bureau sources said the Prime Minister’s Office and the Home Ministry have been ‘alerted’ about how the lack of availability of a practical location solution has been hindering their classified operations. The Delhi Police authorities felt helpless many times when they could not zero in on the nearest location of suspect constantly on the move. The sleuths also faced this situation during the recent Rs. 5.25 crore bank van robbery. Former Secretary (Security) NC Padhi told The Tribune that in an increasingly mobile communications driven environment, such a technology is a critical component of the national security fabric. “Our agencies must arm themselves with latest solution to follow today’s elusive criminals.” With the 3G and 4G rollouts occurring and technologies like Skype that use state-of-the-art encryption protocols that have successfully been ported to mobile handsets, intercepting calls is becoming challenging. In such circumstances, according to the law enforcement agencies, simply locating suspects might be the best available alternative for apprehending criminals. Interestingly, the LBS was made mandatory by the Department of Telecommunication (DoT) on the advice of security and intelligence agencies. But one year deadline (June 1, 2012) to comply with the first phase of the mandate lapsed and still there is no sign of the telecom operators moving forward to implement it. Many domestic and foreign technology vendors have been working with the DoT and the security and intelligence agencies for three years to devise a practical location solution to meet the country’s security needs. In view of the cost and complexity of the technology rollout, the DoT gave sufficient time to the telecom operators to implement the system taking into account population density and different kinds of terrain where signals strength vary. Extensive trials have been conducted in diverse regions including Delhi, Bengaluru, Kolkata and Agartala. The results of these trials consistently demonstrated that the mandate set forth by the DoT will be met by multiple solution providers. The telecom operators have mainly raised two objections regarding their inability to meet the mandate - lack of technology and cost of compliance. The Cellphone Operators Association of India has bluntly asked the government that why its members should bear the entire LBS cost “as the national security is a state responsibility.” Many other countries have also experienced similar objections. Industry sources said ‘field trials’ conducted by Indian operators in their own networks demonstrated conclusively that commercial solutions can meet and exceed the mandate requirements, both technically and commercially. Source said the Home Ministry suggested to the telecom operators that they can approach the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) for passing on the costs to consumers. Technology experts point out that these costs are so miniscule (Rs 25-40 per subscriber over the lifetime) that even a Rs 2 charge per month would result in a recovery period of less than 12-24 months. “We estimate that the entire country can be covered to meet the DoT mandate in less than Rs. 3,500-4,000 crore,” a senior executive of a foreign technology vendor said. An official of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence said “the operators are exposing themselves to unnecessary regulatory risk should the government enforce the licensing terms and conditions rigorously. They have to bear the cost of implementing these systems, much as in the case of lawful interception (call monitoring and surveillance).” A CBI officer felt that “the operators are also obstructing rollout of necessary national security infrastructure.”
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Kingfisher extends lockout till Oct 20
Mumbai, October 17 "The talks were positive. We are moving in the right direction," Aggarwal said. The airline's management had a meeting with striking employees here. The airline has roped in Subhash R Gupte, former chairman and managing director of Air India, who is now with the UB group. One of the airline's employees said they wanted the management to begin paying their salaries before they returned to work. Some of them said the employees were under increasing pressure after the Income Tax Department sent them notices asking them to pay tax on salaries due to them. So far, the employees are adamant that all their pending dues be paid before they rejoin work. The airline's management said it has called the employees for another round of talks on Monday. It is, however, not clear whether the employees would return to the negotiating table. Sources said the meeting was acrimonious with neither side willing to climb down. In Delhi, the Director General of Civil Aviation today said it has not approved the airline's winter schedule. Moreover, a notice has been sent to the airline asking why its licence should not be cancelled over poor service.
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NSG may induct women commandos in operations
New Delhi, October 17 Once the NSG makes a decision in favour of allowing women, 25 of whom are currently in training, it would the first of its kind for the force known as ‘Black Cats’, dressed as they are in black outfits. The disclosure came after a batch of women commandos slithered down the ropes from a MI-17 helicopter at the demonstration mounted for the benefit of a select gathering where Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde was the chief guest. An NSG source said, “Depending on their training, we will have to
see whether they can be used in operations and whether they can match the standards of the
male commandos.” The NSG was raised on October 16, 1984, to fight terrorism and is currently tasked to provide security to 16 VVIPs, with Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav being the latest to get the NSG cover.
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Akhilesh gets NSG security cover
Lucknow, October 17 Akhilesh (39) will now have round-the-clock mobile security of 10 to 12 elite 'Black Cats'. Modelled on the pattern of the SAS of the UK and the GSG-9 of Germany, the NSG is an elite force trained to deal with terrorism. Among the 16 other VVIPs who are entitled to such security in the state are Akhilesh’s father and Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav, former BJP national president Rajnath Singh and BSP supremo Mayawati. The decision to include the Chief Minister was taken by the Union Home Ministry after a fresh assessment of the threat perception about him. Soon after assuming power in March, Akhilesh had made a significant attempt to reach out to the people by deciding to reduce the size of the 415-men strong security cover which had guarded former Chief Minister Mayawati. Akhilesh had also issued orders to scale down his security cover by reducing his fleet from 40 to eight vehicles. Akhilesh had also ordered the pack up of the specialised hospital kept operational at his official residence. He had ordered the relocation of nearly 22 pharmacists, 12 nurses, four hi-tech ambulances and doctors on 24x7 duty who had been manning the medical unit to places where they could be more “constructively employed”.
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Lucknow, Agra to be new IT hubs
Lucknow, October 17 Making a clean break from its past anti-computer image, the Samajwadi government today approved its IT Policy 2012 promising the setting up of an IT city in Lucknow and IT Park in Agra. The decision was taken at the Cabinet meeting today presided over by CM Akhilesh
Yadav. The Cabinet approved to hand over 150 acres on Sultanpur road in Lucknow for the IT city. If 50 per cent of the employees of the newly set up industries are from the state (minimum 100 persons) and continue working there for three years, then the state government would provide 75 per cent of the resources for the employees’ provident fund and state government’s Bima
Yojana.
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Yeddyurappa warns Shettar not to take unilateral decisions
Bangalore, October 17 "I hope Shettar will not go the way of DV Sadananda Gowda (his predecessor) did. It seems there is a thinking that if I go out of BJP, they can continue the govenment with JDS support. I will not allow this even in their dreams", Yeddyurappa told reporters here. Yeddyurappa's remarks come a day after the expulsion of former Union minister Dhananjay Kumar from BJP for six years for his open outbursts against Shettar and the state leadership.
— PTI
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HC grants conditional bail to French diplomat
Bangalore, October 17 Allowing Mazurier's bail plea, Justice H N Nagamohan Das said there was a delay in lodging the complaint and sought to know the reason for it as, though the incident was reported to have taken place on June 13, 2012, it was filed by Pascal's wife Suja Jones only the next day. The court said there
were no eyewitnesses to the incident. Mazurier was granted bail on the condition that he furnish a personal bond of Rs one lakh with two local solvent sureties for the like sum. The court also asked him to surrender his passport with the jurisdictional magistrate, not to leave the jurisdiction of the court without prior permission and in no manner tamper with the prosecution witnesses. Mazurier, Consular Attache to the Consulate General of France here, was arrested on June 19 following a complaint by his wife, a native of Kerala, alleging that he had raped their three-and-a-half year old daughter. A Fast Track Court had earlier rejected the bail plea of Mazurier, who was charge sheeted on September 17 under Section 376 of IPC for allegedly raping his minor
daughter. — PTI
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Pune blasts: 4th accused arrested
New Delhi, October 17 “The alleged IM member, Langde Irfan Mustafa, was arrested from the Sindhi bus stand in Jaipur on October 10,” said SN Srivastava, Special Commissioner of Police (Special Cell). Mustafa is a resident of Ahmednagar, Maharashtra. Interrogation of the three arrested members of the IM module — Asad Khan (23), Imran Khan (31) and Sayed Feroz (38) — led to the identification of Mustafa, said the police. The four accused planned and executed the blasts and later scattered to avoid a police encounter. They took refuge in different parts of Maharashtra, said the police. Mustafa worked as an engineer from January 2008 to June 2009. In 2011, he along with Asad and Imran started a real estate business at Katkatgate, Aurangabad. The police said during his interrogation, Mustafa revealed that he was involved in the August blasts in
Pune.
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IPS officer goes missing in Arunachal
Guwahati, October 17 IPS officer MS Chauhan is the SP, Special Investigation Cell, in the Arunachal Pradesh Police. The Gauhati HC had appointed Chauhan as the special investigating officer of the multi-crore PDS scam in the state in 2008. Involvement of many bigwigs is suspected in the scam and former Arunachal Pradesh CM Gegong Apang was arrested in connection with the scam in 2009.
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PG test: Clause seeking original MCI documents draws flak
New Delhi, October 17 Over 100 aspirants working in hospitals or pursuing MD have complained to the NBE and the Health Ministry against this rule, saying it is impossible to meet the requirement, which was not mentioned in the examination prospectus and was added at the last minute. In-service candidates say hospitals that employ MBBS graduates and MD pass-outs keep original MCI registration as a guarantee and return these only upon resignation or repayment of bond amount, which is quite high. The prospectus for the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test-PG, which is to be held between November 25 and December 6, did not carry this stipulation. On October 9, the NBE issued a notification, saying: “All applicant candidates are required to produce their original certificate of provisional or permanent registration with the State Medical Council (SMC) or the Medical Council of India (MCI) at the test centre before appearing in NEET-PG.” “Candidates who don’t produce their original registration certificate will not be allowed to appear in NEET-PG under any circumstances.” So far, over 90,000 have registered online for NEET-PG.
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