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no-confidence motion
No-trust move will collapse: Ahmed
Lakhs bid adieu to Thackeray; Mumbai shut
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Raj walks separately to Shivaji Park
HSBC Geneva accounts
Paid news trend must be curbed: Panel
MoD to review projects impacting national security
Curfew relaxed in Kokrajhar
IIT alumni meet new HRD Minister
CPM petitions Prez on victimisation of Muslim youth in terror cases
Maharashtra cane farmers strike hits migrant labour
Andhra varsity defers exams to save student’s life
1 lakh villagers form 100 km human chain
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Mamata reaches out to non-Cong parties
Subhrangshu Gupta Tribune News Service
Kolkata, November 18 She contacted BJP leader Sushma Swaraj, DMK’s Karunanidhi and SP’s Mulayam Singh requesting their support for the motion - to be placed in the Winter Session of Parliament beginning on Tuesday. But the response, so far, has not been encouraging. Mamata said that she wanted to see the response of different parties to the TMC’s proposed motion. By their response, citizens would come to know which parties were really concerned about the common man’s interests, she said. The TMC would not go after any ministry or power against the interest of the people, she said. That is why TMC ministers tendered their resignation en masse. No other political party could dare take such a step, the Bengal CM said. Senior BJP leader Dr Murli Manohar Joshi told mediapersons in the city today that Mamata had called up Sushma Swaraj seeking the BJP’s support to her move. But the BJP has not discussed Mamata’s request yet, he said. As Mamata had “betrayed” the BJP in the past, Joshi was unsure if the BJP would follow her line on the motion. CPM Politburo member and Left Front chairman Biman Bose said that the Left had received no request from the Chief Minister on the no-confidence motion. “Let her first manage the signature of at least 50 MPs needed to move the motion in the Lok Sabha. The TMC has only 19 members,” Bose said. The CPM leader said that as a major partner of UPA-II, the TMC was equally responsible for all the anti-people decisions that the UPA government took before the TMC withdrew support. West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee president Pradip Bhattacharyya criticised Mamata’s decision as being politically motivated.
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No-trust move will collapse: Ahmed
Ranchi, November 18 “A 19-member party like Trinamool Congress announcing to bring no-confidence motion shows its closeness not only to the
BJP, but also to the CPM, but it will be defeated by 305 members,” AICC spokesman Shakeel Ahmed told reporters here. Counting up the support of the
RJD, the SP, the BSP and the Janata Dal (Secular) in defeating the motion, he said, “The required number is 272, but the UPA has the support of 305 members. The government will complete its full tenure.” — PTI
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Lakhs bid adieu to Thackeray; Mumbai shut
Mumbai, November 18 As millions of people gathered at the sprawling grounds and clambered above neighbouring buildings to bid their final goodbyes to their icon, the mortal remains of Thackeray, brought to Shivaji Park after a day-long procession from his residence, was consigned to the flames. The pyre was lit by his son
Uddhav. Keeping public sentiment in mind, the Maharashtra Government on Saturday agreed to accord a state funeral to Thackeray though he never held any elected post during his political career. As the sun set into the Arabian Sea behind Shivaji Park, the police offered a 21-gun salute and played the Last Post. Within minutes, Thackeray's funeral pyre was burning bright bringing down the curtains on a brilliant if divisive political career. Earlier in the day, more than 30 lakh persons from across Maharashtra and neighbouring states descended on to the streets of Mumbai to bid farewell to Thackeray who passed away on Saturday afternoon after a prolonged illness. According to the police, crowds were converging from places as far as Madhya Pradesh, Goa and Karnataka to reach Shivaji Park by any available means of transport. As the funeral cortege passed by, people shouted slogans like “Parat ya parat
ya, Balasaheb parat ya” (Come back, come back, Balasaheb come back) and “Balasaheb amar
rahe”. The funeral plans announced by the Thackeray family underwent major changes as there was a delay in starting the procession from his residence
Matoshree. Once on the road, Thackeray's cortege moved at a snail's pace as people came out on the roads. Windows and balconies of buildings along the 6 km route were packed with people who threw flowers at the cortege. The police said that as many as 4-5 lakh persons travelled with the procession while several times that number gathered on the streets to watch. With Bal Thackeray’s death, Mumbai seemed to have put behind Thackeray's divisive politics that targeted South Indians,
Gujaratis, Muslims and North Indians at different times in the past four decades. Weeping women were seen in the Muslim-dominated Mahim area just as devotees from the church nearby came out to pay their respects to the passing cortege. For a party which stressed on violence and machismo as a means to achieve its ends, its leaders and cadres alike shed copious tears at the passing of their leader. Son
Uddhav, who was at Bal Thackeray's bedside, wept openly. Others like former Chief Minister Manohar Joshi looked visibly stricken. Even nephew Raj who shared a love-hate relationship with the leader broke down as the Last Post sounded minutes before Thackeray's mortal remains were consigned to the flames. En route to Shivaji Park, Thackeray's cortege paused at the Shiv Sena
Bhawan, the party headquarters from where the deceased leader attempted to run the
destiny of Mumbai for several decades. After the half-hour-long detour that was restricted to just family and few close associates, the cortege with Thackeray drove into Shivaji Park for the last time.
Big names at funeral
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Raj walks separately to Shivaji Park
Bal Thackeray's nephew Raj, who broke away from the Shiv Sena to form his own Maharashtra Navnirman Sena
(MNS) more than five years ago, broke away from the funeral procession to go it alone. However, his wife Sharmila was among those who were on board the open
truck.
Raj, who oversaw the funeral arrangements at the venue on Saturday, left Matoshree along with his supporters and walked separately along a different route. Instead of going directly to the funeral venue, he went to his residence located nearby. When the cortčge took a break at the Shiv Sena
Bhawan, the party headquarters located near Shivaji Park, Raj Thackeray was not present. He, however, arrived at Shivaji Park a few minutes before Bal Thackeray's cortčge entered the ground. Raj Thackeray went to the VIP enclosure and awaited for the rest of the Thackeray family to arrive. Later, he was seen confabulating with cousin Uddhav and other members of the family. Later, both cousins accepted condolences from mourners. — TNS
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I-T Dept seeks data from Swiss authorities
New Delhi, November 18 The department, which approached the Finance Ministry and the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) in this regard recently, has initiated the step in order to build a watertight case against those who have stashed illegal funds abroad. The action has been taken under the recently revised tax information exchange treaty between the two countries. Top sources involved in the probe said that after India received the list, both the IT Department and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) have gathered vital leads on the financial investments of a certain number of individuals. It is suspected that a number of them hold other Swiss accounts under different names allegedly to evade the tax scanner. — PTI
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Paid news trend must be curbed: Panel
New Delhi, November 18 The Standing Committee on Information Technology headed by Haryana MP Rao Inderjit has selected these two among a clutch of subjects that would be under its examination during 2012-13. Among the subjects is an equally contentious issue of a strategy to regulate cross media holdings, which will study the holding pattern of media houses that have platforms across print and electronic, especially radio and television. While Inderjit headed the panel earlier too, the choice of subjects by the recently re-constituted committee comes at a time when there have been a series of debates on ‘self-regulation’ as against bringing television networks, especially news networks, under some authority. The Press Council of India (PCI), an institution created by an Act of Parliament, has jurisdiction only over print media and goes into complaints filed by aggrieved parties/individuals for redressal. For nearly a decade, there have been many discussions whether the scope of the PCI be expanded to include television and rechristened as the Media Council. Intermittently, voices from within the establishment have been advocating the need for self-regulation and on the occasion of National Press Day on November 16, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh emphasised that India believes in complete independence of the media from external control. However, he underscored that sometimes irresponsible journalism can have serious consequences for social harmony and public order, which the public authorities have an obligation to maintain, but censorship is no answer. “It is for the members of the Fourth Estate themselves to collectively ensure that objectivity is promoted and sensationalism is curbed. It is for them to introspect how best they can serve our country and society,” Singh said in his message. New Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari felt that both the regulatory framework and human ingenuity have not kept pace with the technological innovations and said: “In the current scenario, self-regulation is the best way forward with the participation and partnership of key stakeholders.” Paid news phenomenon is rather recent and came to the fore after the 2009 General Elections. The PCI has already prepared a report and came up with a set of suggestions to tackle this practice, while the Election Commission of India (ECI) too maintains close vigil on such activity.
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MoD to review projects impacting national security
New Delhi, November 18 Antony will meet top officials over four days to assess key components: status of infrastructure in Arunachal Pradesh, development of the indigenous aircraft carrier, working of the Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs) and the working of the ordnance factory board. Sources said the review is expected to toss up some bitter facts, especially issues concerning the languid pace of work and the need to speed up matters in view of multiple threats faced by India. The status of infrastructure in Arunachal Pradesh is a sensitive issue and is flagged in almost all sessions of Parliament. The review comes at a time when India remembers the most humiliating military defeat at the hands of China in 1962 with Arunachal being the major flashpoint. In consequence of the Sino-Indian clash, New Delhi had held the view that the construction of roads in the border areas could prove counter-productive as it would facilitate the entry of the Chinese army and ensure uninterrupted supply lines for the invading force. But over the last decade, this theory has changed and India now wants to match China in building roads along the disputed frontier with China. On the other hand, China has a vastly superior infrastructure across the frontier, thereby putting India in a disadvantageous position. Several parts of Arunachal Pradesh are still not connected with the rest of the country through the road network. The Indian Air Force and the Army has projected the need to upgrade the existing mud-paved advanced landing grounds (ALGs) to fully paved concrete runaways. The ALGs - built by the British for the Burma operations in 1944 - exist at Pasighat (East Siang), Ziro (Lower Subansiri), Mechuka (West Siang), Tuting (Upper Siang) and Walong (Anjaw). Another ALG at Vijainagar was paved last year. Vijainagar lacks a road link or electricity for its 6,000 inhabitants. The only alternative to air transport is a six-day trek through a 157-km stretch of thick jungles to Miao, the nearest town.
Under Lens
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Curfew relaxed in Kokrajhar
Guwahati, November 18 The curfew was relaxed from 10 am to 2 pm to let people buy essentials. Inspector General of Police (BTAD) GP Singh said no incident of fresh violence was reported from anywhere in BTAD since Friday night. "There has been no major incident of violence since Friday night. On Saturday, some armed men snatched an SLR (self-loading rifle) from a security personnel deployed in a construction company at Kokrajhar," Singh said. As many as 11 persons have been killed and several others injured in a violence in Kokrajhar and Gosaigaon since November 10. The violence also spread to Baksa and Udalguri districts in BTAD after Kokrajhar. One person was killed in Baksa. However, there were reports of firing and arson from Udalguri as well as Baksa, the police said. — IANS
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IIT alumni meet new HRD Minister
New Delhi, November 18 The IITs had an ugly engagement with former HRD Minister Kapil Sibal, who had proposed their inclusion in the pan India entrance test for admission to Central technical institutions. The IITs had vehemently opposed any move to join a test that would take away from them the right to administer their own entrance tests. The matter had been resolved after the IITs were allowed to screen students from the pan India test and hold an add-on test to finally prepare the merit list for admissions. The IIT alumni, however, are not satisfied with the current proposal as well and today flagged the changes made to the former Joint Entrance Exam system under Sibal. In a press statement issued following the meeting with Raju today, president of IIT Delhi Alumni Association Somnath Bharti said, “The minister after hearing out the delegation promised to give a fresh visit to the issues concerning IITs, including controversial changes inducted in the JEE by his predecessor. He showed inclination to take actions which are in the interest of all the stakeholders of the IIT system. Without commenting either way on rolling back of the misdirected changes brought in the JEE, Raju promised to give a patient hearing on the issues concerning the autonomy of IIT.” The IIT alumni association members also said Raju accepted an invitation to speak in the upcoming PanIIT conference in Kolkata from December 7 to 9. The meeting was attended by Bharti, who is also coordinator, IITians for IITs’ Autonomy; Yogesh Andlay, former president, IIT Delhi Alumni Association and MD, Nucleus Software Engineers; HR Vaish, chairman, PanIIT and MD, Instapower; YPS Suri, president, IIT Kharaghpur Alumni Association, Delhi Chapter.
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CPM petitions Prez on victimisation of Muslim youth in terror cases
New Delhi, November 18 Led by CPM general secretary Prakash Karat, the delegation appealed to President Pranab Mukherjee to prevent the repeated persecution of scores of Muslim youth in terrorism- related cases. In a memorandum, the delegation demanded compensation and rehabilitation for the innocent persons implicated; provision of special courts for settlement of such cases within a year and punishment for police officials who misrepresent evidence to crack cases. The delegation comprising Subhashini Ali and J&K MLA Mohd Yusuf Tarigami, both members of the Central Committee of CPM, and Sehba Farooqui, member of the Delhi state committee of CPM, called for reconsideration of the draconian provisions in the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act which allow investigating agencies to delay trial. Falsely implicated for terror plotting Maqbool Shah from Srinagar (jailed for 14 years) and Syed Wasif Haider from Kanpur (jailed for eight years) were also part of the delegation. The leaders also drew the attention of the President to lack of compensation to the victims of state atrocity. “In some cases, these young men have been incarcerated for 10 to 14 years as under trials before being finally acquitted by the courts as innocent. Several reliable groups of concerned citizens who have collected the details of these cases, have revealed how the court judgments have strongly indicted the investigating agencies for the biased mentality against Muslims who are the most vulnerable targets today,” states the memorandum.
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Maharashtra cane farmers strike hits migrant labour
Mumbai, November 18 Farmers affiliated to three different organisations have come together to stall supply of sugarcane to various mills run by sugar cooperatives in the Kolhapur-Sangli-Satara belt which accounts for the bulk of Maharashtra's sugar output. The farmers who are demanding higher prices from the cooperatives are preventing movement of sugarcane from the farms to the sugar mills. "All the farmers are united and we are not allowing sugarcane to be supplied to the sugar factories," Raghunath Patil who heads a faction of the Shetkari Sanghatna, a farmers' body, said. According to Patil, farmers are not harvesting the crop as they are waiting for the government to increase procurement price for cane. "Migrant labour employed for harvesting the crop are already here and are waiting," Patil said. These labourers are brought in by contractors who pay them a fixed daily wage paid weekly. However, with harvest slowing down there is no work for the labourers. Cane harvesting which begins in October goes on till the arrival of the monsoons though most of the crop is harvested by early summer.
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Andhra varsity defers exams to save student’s life
Hyderabad, November 18 The plight of E Preethi, a final-year BTech student diagnosed with a crippling liver disease, has moved both the students and
the authorities. The daughter of a poor cab driver from Madanapally in Chittoor district, Preethi, 20, needs to undergo liver transplantation. And, the procedure will cost nearly Rs 50 lakh. However, her friends at NBKR Institute of Technology in Nellore did not lose heart. Determined to pool in the money required for the surgery, the students of the engineering college went door to door collecting donations. As more and more well-wishers and large-hearted people joined the mission to save the life of terminally-ill Preethi, the students approached the university authorities and requested them to postpone the examinations so that they could mobilise the amount to fund the treatment. Touched by the mission, the officials immediately agreed to the request and, in a rare gesture, rescheduled the examinations. “This may be the first time that a university has rescheduled examinations to allow students to collect funds for a noble cause,” college director V Vijayakumar Reddy said. The college management too offered assistance and allowed the students to spare no efforts in collecting donations. Preethi, a vivacious and fun-loving girl, suddenly fell ill about three months ago. After several visits to hospitals and expensive medical tests, it was revealed that she was suffering from an end-stage liver disorder and that she had to undergo liver transplant. The poor family has already spent nearly Rs 10 lakh on visiting various hospitals and for medical tests by selling their small house and other valuables. The hospital authorities said that her survival chances were remote if the transplant was not carried out immediately. This has set Preethi’s friends on a race against time. Forming about 30 groups, the students went around Nellore town and nearby villages for nearly a week and started collecting donations. The philanthropists donated generously for the 'Save Preeti' fund. The students collected nearly Rs 10 lakh and got Preethi admitted to Asian Institute of Gastroenterology at Hyderabad last week. Her friends are hopeful that more donations would flow in as the word spreads. “So far, the students and philanthropists have collected and donated about Rs 25 lakh. We need another Rs 15 lakh for the transplant,” Preethi’s father David said.
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1 lakh villagers form 100 km human chain
Udhagamandalam (TN), November 18 Uniting under the banner of 'Gudalur Constituency People's Right to live and protection Committee', the villagers, including tribals, women, students, children, members of different NGOs and leaders and cadres of political parties, joined hands from Gudalur and formed the chain through more than 20 villages and back. — PTI
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Democracy comes at a cost
While delivering the Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Lecture at the Vigyan Bhavan last week, Myanmar’s Opposition leader and pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi spoke at length about how she was deeply influenced by Nehru’s writings and ideas while she was under house arrest. She specially referred to Nehru’s dilemma when the British offered to release him from the jail to be at the side of his ailing wife Kamala, provided he gave an undertaking that he would not indulge in any political activity. Nehru declined and later when he was able to spend time with his wife, Kamala was equally firm that he should not give any such undertaking. Suu Kyi probably related this incident as she found herself in a somewhat similar predicament when the Burmese junta regime told her that she could visit her husband Michael Aris in Britain as he was suffering from prostrate cancer. Suu Kyi refused the offer as she was sure she would not be allowed back into Myanmar to continue her peaceful movement for democracy. She did send a taped farewell message to her husband through the British embassy, but apparently he did not get it. Suu Kyi finally visited her husband’s grave in Oxford earlier this year in June, 15 years after his death.
Prez, Ambani Jr watch ‘Lincoln’
A special screening of Steven Spielberg’s biopic “Lincoln”, featuring Daniel Day Lewis as US President Abraham Lincoln, was held at the Rashtrapati Bhavan auditorium recently. The movie was prefaced with a televised welcome message from sward-winning director-producer Spielberg for President Pranab Mukherjee who has become quite movie buff ever since he occupied Raisina Hills. ADAG chairman Anil Ambani and his wife Tina, who have a financial stake in the film, were among the special invitees. Coincidentally, the film screening was held on the same day that activist-turned-politician had accused industrialists Mukesh and Anil Ambani of featuring among 700 Indians who allegedly syphoned crores of black money to the Geneva branch of HSBC Bank. Anil Ambani was, however, unfazed by the uproar created by the latest revelations and brushed off media persons, saying all these issues had already been clarified in Parliament by Pranab Mukerhjee while he was the Finance Minister.
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Kolkata, November 18
