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Digvijay shoots off 27 posers to Kejriwal
Strongest teacher for tender brains
ICSSR head to be appointed by search panel, not govt
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It’s yatra time for AP politicians
Study finds alarming levels
of mercury in Sonbhadra
India, Austria join hands to target global markets
Meghalaya mulls permit system to check illegal influx
Cong’s Nanded civic body win brings Ashok Chavan to the fore
18 rhino poachers nabbed in Assam
Contest poll to prove worth, Mulayam tells Kejriwal
Jundal sent to judicial custody till November 3
6 arrested for B’lore law student’s rape
US seeks early ratification of convention on N-compensation
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Digvijay shoots off 27 posers to Kejriwal
New Delhi, October 20 The senior Congress leader is being quietly encouraged to run this campaign as the party cannot officially indulge in a slanging match with Kejriwal and his associates. Consequently, Digivijay Singh has upped the ante, as he tears into Arvind Kejriwal with renewed vigour, raising uncomfortable questions about the foreign funds he received for his NGO and how he used people such as Anna Hazare to further his political ambitions. Digivijay shot off a letter to Kejriwal yesterday describing him as a “self-serving ambitious meglomaniac” following it up today by sending him a list of 27 questions. He asking Kejriwal to “first practice, then preach”. Unnerved by the questions Kejriwal had raised about Robert Vadra’s business empire, a confused Congress did not know how to respond to the allegations. It first distanced itself from Vadra, then went onto defend him and again withdrew into a shell. After it learnt a bitter lesson last year when it criticised Anna Hazare, the Congress offensive against Kejriwal has, at best, been lukewarm. But there has been no let-up in Digivijay Singh’s attack. Having successfully set the agenda so far, he has managed to push Arvind Kejriwal on the defensive. This situation suits the Congress as it is constrained from launching a personalised battle against Arvind Kejriwal while the AICC general secretary is not weighed down by such considerations. If things get too hot, the Congress can always
distance itself from the party leader, saying he has been speaking in his personal capacity.
Digvijay vs Kejriwal
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Strongest teacher for tender brains
The future thinking might be somewhat different, with the 12th Plan Strategy for the Education Sector saying that the “strongest and the senior-most teacher of the school should be assigned class I, where the actual foundation of learning is laid.” Approved by the Cabinet 15 days ago, the strategy, for the first time, acknowledges India’s fixation with better teaching at higher levels rather than at lower level. That explains the reversal in understanding that the most experienced teacher of the school should not simply be asked to instruct senior classes, but should be used to promote cognitive and non-cognitive skills of children, who have just entered school. India National Science Academy president Krishan Lal agrees, “The right way of doing things would be to use the strongest teacher to also teach class 1 and end the reigning isolation which we see between teachers instructing different levels at school. The present system prevents primary schoolteachers from interacting with those instructing higher classes. We must promote dialogue between teachers and encourage them to learn from each others’ experience.” Teachers of top public schools confess there is an element of stature attached to the level of class you are teaching. “It is true that I feel better teaching higher classes. It has always been that way. The school structure in India has been such that they place lesser emphasis on lower classes which is sad. If not anything else, the new strategy to have strongest teachers take lower classes will inspire a change in thought,” says a class IX teacher at a government school in Delhi. There’s enough evidence to show that most part of the child’s brain has developed by the time he enters school. Accordingly, restructuring of strategies involving teacher deployment will form a vital part of education sector planning during the next five years. It would be a critical thing to do, considering India now has a near universal enrolment at primary level. The next challenge is to keep these children at school by getting the most experienced teachers to hold their hands. Even today, close to 30 per cent children who enrol in Class I drop out by Class V because they have been unable to cope with the syllabi.
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ICSSR head to be appointed by search panel, not govt
New Delhi, October 19 The government nominee will, however, be the chairman of the search committee and the ICSSR head will be appointed by the government from amongst the panel of names submitted by the committee. A press statement issued by the ministry on Thursday said the memorandum of association by which the ICSSR had come into being would be amended to make these changes possible. The term of the Chairman, which is currently renewable after three years, would now be extended to a non-renewable term of five years. The composition of the council would also stand modified. The new council would have nine ex officio members, Chairman, ICSSR; Secretary Higher Education, MHRD; Secretary Expenditure, Ministry of Finance; Secretary, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment; Chairman, UGC; Chairman, Indian Council of Historical Research; Chairman, Indian Council of Policy Research; Chairman, National Science and Engineering Board; and Director General, ICSSR. There will be 12 non-ex officio members. Of these, 10 social scientists will be nominated by a collegium of social scientists and one Vice-Chancellor of a Central University and one Director of an IIM/IIT to be co-opted by the council. All these amendments are aimed at giving autonomy to the ICSSR. HRD Minister Kapil Sibal also cleared proposals for restructuring and re-strengthening the existing research institutes of the ICSSR and to expand the research network and establish more such research institutes.
New institutes
Sibal proposed that a group for evaluating the position of research institutes, including a minimum threshold academic strength of 17 faculty members in each institute of the ICSSR, be considered. He said more ICSSR research institutes should come up and for this, a joint ministry and ICSSR committee will be set up to identify regional areas and new disciplines of study for the council to work on.
Key alterations
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It’s yatra time for AP politicians
Hyderabad, October 19 The latest to join the bandwagon is YS Sharmila, the 35- year-old younger sister of jailed MP and YSR Congress president YS Jagan Mohan Reddy. Amid much fanfare, Sharmila launched a 3,000-km-long padayatra on Thursday after offering prayers at the memorial of her father and former Chief Minister late YS Rajasekhar Reddy in Kadapa district. Massive crowds gathered at Idupulapaya, the family estate of YSR, as the humble homemaker took up the political battle on behalf of her jailed brother and embarked on a gruelling walkathon that will see her criss-cross the entire state over the next three months, an unprecedented exercise by any woman politician in the state. “I am the arrow shot by Jagan. I am standing before you on behalf of my innocent brother who has become a victim of political conspiracy by the ruling Congress and the main opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP). I am here to seek justice for my family in the people’s court,” Sharmila said as his mother and YSR’s widow YS Vijayamma and other family members accompanied her on the ambitious padayatra, christened as “Maro Maha Prasthanam”. Clearly, the fledgling YSR Congress Party wants to turn the mass contact programme into a political tear-jerker by invoking the sympathy card as its leader languishes in jail in connection with the ongoing CBI probe into the alleged illegal assets case against him. Meanwhile, TDP president and former Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu is also on a 117-day-long, statewide padayatra covering 2,340 km. For 63-year-old Naidu, the walkathon is seen as a do-or-die battle as his party is gasping for survival in the wake of a series of electoral setbacks ever since losing power in 2004. It is his desperate bid to regain the lost political ground and capture power in the next elections. On his part, Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy has embarked on a mass contact programme, christened as “Indiramma Baata” (In the footsteps of Indira Gandhi), invoking the populist image of the former Prime Minister. It is an ambitious programme that takes the state administration to the doorsteps of people, with the Chief Minister personally interacting with villagers and ascertaining from them the status of implementation of various welfare schemes. The main theme of Sharmila’s padayatra is to highlight how the Congress and the TDP had conspired to malign Jagan and his family and implicate him in false cases. In the absence of Jagan, it was Sharmila who led the party’s campaign during the recent byelections in the state and proved to be highly successful with the party sweeping the polls. Her walkathon is reminiscent of her father’s 2003 padayatra that had propelled him to capture power in the 2004 elections. Striking an emotional chord with the people, Vijayamma said, “My husband (YSR) died in a helicopter accident, my son has been put behind bars for no fault of his and now my daughter is taking to streets to seek your support and blessings.”
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Study finds alarming levels
of mercury in Sonbhadra
Lucknow, October 19 Releasing its latest study on the enormity and impact of rising mercury levels in Sonbhadra and
Singrauli, the New Delhi-based Centre of Science and Environment (CSE) Director-General Sunita Narain today said that the conspiracy of silence must end if a
Minamata-style disaster has to be avoided in Sonbhadra. Approximately 3,000 persons had succumbed to mercury-poisoning-related diseases after Chisso Corporation in Japan dumped mercury into the sea water contaminating the fish which was consumed by the people causing disease and
deaths. Sonbhadra, the second largest district of Uttar Pradesh, is part of the Singrauli area which is the industrial powerhouse of the country. It has massive coal reserves and thermal power plants accounting for 12 per cent of the total thermal power produced in the
country. CSE’s deputy director general Chandra Bhushan said that the centre’s health survey had found high incidence of vitiligo or skin
discolouration, shivers, reduced vision, burning sensation in the limbs and impaired language skills among the people of Sonbhadra - the known symptoms of mercury exposure. The mercury levels now are higher than the level found by two earlier studies conducted by the CSIR’s
Lucknow-based Indian Institute of Toxicological Research in 1998 and Central Pollution Control Board. While the first was never made public, nothing much was done on the second. According to
Bhushan, a moratorium imposed on new projects in the district was removed on the basis of an action plan which did not even recognise mercury as a problem. As the power needs continue to multiply and a number of new coal-based power plants are scheduled to take off in the region, the problem of pollution is only going to get worse, predicts the study. To begin with, CSE has demanded the re-imposition of the moratorium and a fresh action plan to address the problem of mercury
pollution. CSE has also asked the government to urgently set mercury standards for thermal power plants, coal mines and coal washers. “How we can charge industries for non-compliance unless we have standards laid down. Once standards are in place, strict monitoring will ensure that industries adopt environment-friendly technologies,” said
Bhushan. According to the CSE study, one of the main polluting industry violating established standards is Aditya Birla Chemicals Limited which is contaminating the Govind Ballant Pant Sagar reservoir by releasing untreated effluent in Dongiyanallah from its caustic soda manufacturing unit.
The findings
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India, Austria join hands to target global markets
New Delhi, October 19 Apart from higher education in hospitality and several other vocational streams, top-of-the-line Austrian technologies and research tools are now making way to India for other priority sectors like medicine, infrastructure and green technology. Initiated by three Austrian ministries including the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management, Ministry of Education, Art and Culture and the Ministry of Science and Research in collaboration with the Indian Austrian Forum, this bilateral trade will offer Austria’s best technologies to both public and private sectors in India. Over the next four years, green building technologies for urban and rural uplift, waste management, technologies for plant construction, industrial and medical robotics, medical lab technologies, technologies in plastics, engineering, electronic sector, agriculture and food processing will replace the current technologies that are on their way out globally. The entire exchange through the Indian Austrian Forum will involve eight rounds of extensive conferences both in India and Austria. At the initial Indo-Austrian bilateral conference today in the capital, Erwin Hornek, Member of Parliament, Austria, said, “The main goal of this bilateral activity is to ensure that India obtains tested flagship technologies. The structured, step-by-step fusion of Austrian technology giants with compatible companies/partners in India will create very powerful two-country consortia for targeting global export markets in their respective sectors.” “Most Export Promotion Councils and related associations and organisations have been invited for this initial conference today so that their customised mechanisms can be explained to the decision makers of the councils,” added Nikolaus Berlakovich, Austrian Federal Minister of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management.
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Meghalaya mulls permit system to check illegal influx
Guwahati, October 19 Accepting the demand of several NGOs for introduction of the ILP system in the state, the second meeting of high-level committee on influx has unanimously decided to propose to the government for an introduction of the ILP system to counter influx, besides demanding more teeth to the Inter-state Workmen Act, 1979. Deputy Chief Minister Bindo M Lanong said the proposal for implementing the ILP as suggested by the NGOs would be incorporated in the recommendations which would be submitted to the government. “The committee has been given two-month time to submit its recommendations to the government. We are expected to start compiling our recommendations before the next meeting of the committee scheduled to be held on October 30,”
Lanong, who heads the committee, said. “During the course of the deliberations, the NGOs opined that the ILP system is one of the best alternatives to handle the problem of influx and illegal migration in the state,” Lanong said. The government had constituted a fact-finding committee in 2001 to study the ILP and its impact in states such as Arunachal
Pradesh, Mizoram and Nagaland. A large number of migrant workers are engaged in numerous coal mines in Meghalaya and it is posing threat to the local demographic pattern. Hitherto, there is no
system of keeping a proper record of such migrant workers.
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Cong’s Nanded civic body win brings Ashok Chavan to the fore
Mumbai, October 19 Chavan, who hails from this district, single-handedly took responsibility for the party's efforts after promising the Congress leadership a comprehensive victory if given a free
hand. "Chavan ensured that the Congress contested alone, without forming any alliance with the Nationalist Congress Party
(NCP), and ensured its victory," a party official said. Chavan received support from his successor Chief Minister Prithviraj
Chavan, who ensured that the Congress was not forced to tie up with its ally at the state and the
Centre. Under Chavan, the Congress bagged 41 of the 81 seats in the Nanded civic body leaving just 10 seats to the
NCP. Attempts by the Shiv Sena and the BJP to play up the Adarsh scandal did not have much impact and both parties had to make do with 14 and two seats, respectively. Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee president Manikrao Thakre praised Chavan's efforts. "We acknowledge Ashok Chavan's efforts in the part’s victory in
Nanded," Thakre told reporters after the results came in. Chavan, who still enjoys considerable support among the Congress
MLAs, is now said to be angling for a major post in the party ahead of the 2014 elections. "With the passing away of Vilasrao
Deshmukh, the Congress is looking for strong leaders at the district level before the coming elections," says a
Mumbai-city based leader of the Congress. Chavan, with his proximity to builders and industrialists, is known as a resourceful leader in
the party. Deshmukh, who also hailed from the same Marathwada region as Ashok
Chavan, was seen as a major bulwark against Sharad Pawar's NCP. The regional party was flexing its muscle following Deshmukh's passing, but has been cut to size by
Chavan, according to observers.
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18 rhino poachers nabbed in Assam
Guwahati/Diphu, Oct 19 Karbi Anglong superintendent of police BB Chetri told mediapersons here that gang leader Lyngdoh Rongpi was arrested from the Jamelangshu hills last night and based on his interrogation, his accomplices were netted at a village in the Bokolia area on Tuesday. Two forest employees were also held on suspicion that they were also involved in killing the one-horned pachyderms, he said. A huge amount of arms and ammunition, including one AK-47 rifle, 37 rounds of ammunition, two .303 rifles and one gun, were seized from them. Chetri said the axe used to brutally hack to death of the poached animal for its horn has also been seized. Meanwhile, forest personnel manning the rhino abode in the KNP have been armed with self-loading rifles (SLRs) in order to beef up security and bolster protection of the precious one-horned rhinos. Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Tuesday handed over SLRs to the personnel of the Assam Forest Protection Force (AFPF) and allotted additional force to gear up anti-poaching measures in and around the KNP, where poachers have killed 13 rhinos so far this year.
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Contest poll to prove worth, Mulayam tells Kejriwal
“Please don’t give him so much importance” was SP patriarch’s advice to the media when asked to comment on the phenomena of
Kejriwal. Refusing to make any comments on the charges levelled by Kejriwal against Robert Vadra, Salman Khurshid and Nitin Gadkari, he said the charges were a matter of investigation. “I cannot speak till I have the proof. Did he present any proof of the charges he made?” Yadav said. “Kejriwal has not restrained himself from attacking senior political leaders and parties. Just ignore him and watch my word, he would soon be tired and give up,” quipped
Yadav. “Now that he has formed a political party, he should engage in a political battle, contest elections rather than taking potshots at politicians,” he said. Responding to a specific question regarding Union Law Minister Salman Khurshid, Yadav said, “I would not say anything, he is already in much trouble.” The Samajwadi Party president was speaking on the sidelines of a function to release a souvenir of Ma Kali Inter-College run by former UP Chief Minister ND Tiwari on the occasion of his 87th birthday.
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Jundal sent to judicial custody till November 3
New Delhi, October 20 The NIA stated this before Special CBI Judge Talwant Singh when Jundal was produced before the court after expiry of NIA’s remand which was granted on October 8. The court sent Jundal to judicial custody till November 3 accepting the NIA's submission that he was not required for further custodial interrogation. The NIA had earlier sought Jundal's custody in connection with an FIR registered earlier this year following unearthing of a Lashkar-e-Toiba's (LeT) conspiracy for terror strikes across the country. The designated NIA court had also issued production warrants against
Jundal. Jundal had earlier claimed that he was "tortured" physically and mentally during the probe.
— PTI
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6 arrested for B’lore law student’s rape
Bangalore, October 20 City Police Commissioner Jyotiprakash Mirji told reporters here that all of them were arrested from suburban Ramanagara and Mattaradoddigudda areas. Two others are absconding and would be nabbed soon, he said. "The six persons were cutting wood illegally for sale and came to the university campus in search of sandalwood on the night of the crime," he said. Asked about preliminary investigations showing no external injuries on the girl, Mirji said the police were awaiting the medical report which would give a correct picture. The incident took place on Saturday night on the campus after the gang waylaid the car in which she was going with her boyfriend, an IT employee from Kerala.
— PTI
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US seeks early ratification of convention on N-compensation
New Delhi, October 19 Visiting US Deputy Secretary of State William Burns held meetings with Finance Minister P Chidambaram, BJP leader L K Advani, National Security Adviser Shivshanker Menon and Foreign Secretary Ranjan
Mathai. Sources said the discussions on the civil nuclear deal came up during the talks with Indian officials in the context of the
slow progress in its implementation.
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3 die, 35 hurt in stampede Goods train derails Shinde reviews security Legal advice to Mamata
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New Delhi, October 20
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