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Walmart lobbying: Govt ready for probe
Upset Ansari proposes scrapping Question Hour
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MLAs come to blows in Bengal Assembly
Like Cabinet, new
AICC team to have Rahul imprint
Tata group develops artillery gun
Rift between Anna, Kejriwal widens
Airport development fee to be cut by 50% from Jan
CBSE notifies last stage of JEE 2013
Kargil martyr Capt Kalia’s father moves UN seeking justice
Sidhu’s remarks against Patel set to hit BJP in Saurashtra
Chargesheet against ex-minister likely soon
Get blueprint ready for Yamuna clean-up: SC to IITs
AFT upholds GCM’s verdict, says pilot guilty of mid-air collision
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Walmart lobbying: Govt ready for probe
New Delhi, December 11 Speaking in the Rajya Sabha first, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath said the government viewed “this (Walmart disclosure) with as much concern as the Opposition and has no hesitation in having an inquiry”. “It is a matter of concern for the government as well. We (the government) would make further announcement during the course of the day,” the minister announced in response to BJP leader Venkaiah Naidu’s demand. This appeared to satisfy the Opposition benches who allowed the conduct of remaining part of pre-lunch proceedings in peace. However, when the House reassembled after the lunch break, SP members rushed to the Well of the House raising slogans against the Quota Bill. Deputy Chairman P J Kurien’s request the protesting members not to disrupt the House proceedings failed to make any difference. Though Minister of State in PMO V Narayanasamy rose to table the contentious measure, Kurien was forced to adjourn the House till 3 PM, when unrelenting SP members trooped into the Well. When the House reassembled, E M Sudarsana Natchiappan, who was in the Chair, repeatedly asked sloganeering members to get back to their respective seats, but SP members refused to oblige following which the House was adjourned till 4 pm and then for the day. The BSP has threatened to take a “tough stand” in case the government did not help bring the Bill in the Rajya Sabha and get it passed. BSP threat on Quota bill The BSP has threatened to take a 'tough stand' in case the government did not help bring the Bill providing for reservation to SCs/STs in promotions in government jobs in the Rajya Sabha and get it passed.
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Upset Ansari proposes scrapping Question Hour
New Delhi, December 11 Faced with similar situation, Ansari had last year undertaken the experiment of shifting the Question Hour to 2 pm from 11am. However, following demands by members, it was restored to its original time. But this time around the Chairman means business, it seems. A meeting of the Rules Committee has been called tomorrow at 3 pm to take a call on the running of the Question Hour when members have the opportunity to seek information from the government on critical issues and to which Ansari attaches great importance. This morning, faced with agitating MPs, Ansari stood up and first appealed for calm and then, speaking in a voice that did not quite hide his contempt, he suggested re-scheduling of the one-hour period. As Opposition members created uproar over the issue of the reported lobbying by Walmart and quota in promotion in government jobs, Ansari tersely said: “Hon members, a situation has arisen in which the Chair has to watch helplessly disruption of the Question Hour very frequently. I, therefore, propose to call a meeting of the Rules Committee and put before the members of the committee two options. One, that the Question Hour be moved to another part of the day. Two, since members don’t seem to attach very great importance to the questions being answered, the Question Hour be dispensed with altogether,” he said.
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MLAs come to blows in Bengal Assembly
Kolkata, December 11 The fracas broke out when the Left Front moved an adjournment motion over the state government’s alleged failure to curb chit funds in the state. The Speaker Biman Banerjee, however, rejected the plea for an adjournment motion. CPM MLAs reportedly gheraoed Speaker Biman Banerjee in protest against his decision. Nazmul Hoque of the CPM tried to snatch away Speaker’s microphone. Following this, the Speaker suspended CPM MLAs Nazmul Hoque, Amjad Hossain and Susanta Beshra for the remaining part of the on-going session of the Assembly. The Speaker’s decision sparked violence in the House and clashes erupted among Trinamool and CPM MLAs. Hoque and two other CPM MLAs, Deblina Hembram and Gouranga Chattopdhyay, were severely beaten up. Mahajeda Beghum of the CPM dragged Hembram on the floor. Chattopadhyay was admitted to SSKM hospital with head injury. His condition was stated to be critical. MLAs of the Congress and Left parties staged a walkout after the incident. Left parties’ MLAs later organised a sit-in in the lobby of the Assembly building. Leader of Opposition and CPM Politburo member Surjya Kanta Mishra said, “Time and again we have been denied our demand of admitting an adjournment motion on important issues involving public importance. Since the Trinamool government has come to power, all our adjournment motions have been rejected for discussion, mostly on flimsy grounds.” He said their party member Gouranga Chattopadhyay had to be hospitalised after being assaulted by Trinamool members. “Not only Chattopadhyay was assaulted but also our women legislator Debolina Hembram was manhandled and filthy language was used against her,” Mishra said. “I was repeatedly hit on the head with a heavy object,” said Chattopadhyay before being wheeled inside the state-run SSKM Hospital. Trinamool Congress leader and the state’s Parliamentary Affairs Minister Partha Chatterjee, however, rubbished Mishra’s claim, and in turn said two of his party members Mahmuda Hossain and Pulak Roy were severely assaulted by CPM members and they had to be hospitalised.
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Like Cabinet, new
AICC team to have Rahul imprint
New Delhi, December 11 However, the party clarified today that the next General Elections will be fought under the combined leadership of party president Sonia Gandhi and Rahul. Congress spokesperson PC Chacko had suggested yesterday that Sonia would soon assume the role of “patron and supreme leader”, while Rahul would lead the 2014 election campaign. Congress sources said the long overdue rejig could take place before the ‘Chintan Shivir’ to be held in Jaipur next month so that Team Rahul is in place when the two-day conclave draws up the broad contours of its strategy for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Rahul has already started work on ‘Mission 2014’. The six-member high-powered coordination committee, which he heads, has held several brainstorming sessions over the past month on the party’s next big electoral challenge. Although a formal announcement regarding Rahul’s elevation in the Congress is not forthcoming yet, the ‘yuvraj’ has been increasingly playing a key role in party affairs. He was intimately involved in the Cabinet reshuffle and it was at his instance that a number of young and junior ministers were promoted and given key portfolios. The emphasis on promoting youth and effecting a generational change will be the calling cards of the AICC reshuffle. While bringing in new faces, care will also be taken to ensure that the old guard or experienced leaders are not ignored. Congress insiders maintained that like the Prime Minister’s new ministerial team, Sonia’s secretariat will be a combination of youth and experience. For instance, AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh may not belong to the party’s “youth brigade” but he will continue to occupy a key position in the revamped party set-up because of his proximity to Rahul. He is presently in charge of Uttar Pradesh and was recently named member of the Rahul-headed election coordination committee. He also heads a sub-group which is to draw up the publicity campaign for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Senior party leader Ambika Soni, who resigned as Information and Broadcasting Minister before the last Cabinet reshuffle, is also expected to get a key position in the party. At present, she is heading a 10-member committee set up recently to organise ‘Chintan
Shivir’.
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Tata group develops artillery gun
New Delhi, December 11 "We have worked with a number of foreign partners to develop the mounted gun system. We have requested the Army to provide its ranges and ammunition to us for engineering firing of the howitzer," Tata Power Strategic Electronics Division chief Rahul Chaudhary said here today. He said a prototype of the Howitzer has been produced and "around 50-55 per cent of its content is indigenous." "By the time we are in position to produce 150 or more guns, we would be able to increase the indigenous content to 70-75 per cent," he said. —
PTI
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Rift between Anna, Kejriwal widens
New Delhi, December 11 “Views and statements have to be changed as per times. I’ll tell the reason when the right time comes. At this stage, it will create problems,” remarked Anna, who had last week retracted from his earlier stance that he will support Kejriwal and other honest candidates from his party. Anna had even termed Kejriwal “greedy” and declared that he would not vote for him. In a sharp response to questions put up before Anna, he said, “He (Kejriwal) is dreaming. I had never intended to join politics and made this clear. Also I have never told anybody to vote for him or the party.” While the ties between the septuagenarian and his aide have been changing with Anna’s wavering stand, one thing that Anna has been resolute is his demands of having a strong Jan Lokpal along with “right to reject”. “I am going through the Bill in the Rajya Sabha and if it is not strong enough, then we will go for another movement before the 2014 elections. We will begin a nationwide tour from Pune on January 30. This Lok Sabha is not upholding the Constitution and the gap between the poor and the rich is increasing. The time has come to dissolve the Lok Sabha and we have to awaken people. We may have to struggle for the next 20-25 years,” he remarked. He also took on the Congress-led UPA government on the issue of FDI and said international companies are being allowed to come and lands are being forcefully taken from the farmers.
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Airport development fee to be cut by 50% from Jan
New Delhi, December 11 According to officials, Ajit Singh-led Civil Aviation Ministry had agreed to the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority’s suggestion that the three years’ ADF-recovery period for the operators at Delhi and Mumbai be extended by two years. —
TNS
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CBSE notifies last stage of JEE 2013
New Delhi, December 11 "All aspirant candidates of JEE (Main) 2013 who have completed their registration formalities through online application form of JEE (Main) 2013 and have paid fees for the examination are informed that they should send duly completed confirmation page along with bank draft, in case fee was paid through bank draft, immediately to the address mentioned in the information bulletin to reach us latest by December 26," the CBSE said in a press statement. The board said it would display the particulars of all the candidates on the JEE (Main) website in the second week of January 2013 so that the candidates could rectify their incorrect particulars (if any) except change of examination cities and option for change of mode of examination from computer-based examination (online) to pen-and-paper-based examination (offline). The correction page
generated after corrections the candidates is also to be sent to the address
mentioned in the information bulletin. The candidature of applicants whose confirmation page is not received by December 26 will be summarily rejected. The correction page of such candidates, if any, received thereafter would not be entertained, the CBSE informed. JEE Main will determine the entry of students to all engineering colleges except IITs which will select top 1.5 lakh candidates from JEE Main exam and subject them to JEE Advanced for entry to their system.
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Kargil martyr Capt Kalia’s father moves UN seeking justice
New Delhi, December 11 The petitioners — Capt Kalia’s father Dr NK Kalia, Rajya Sabha MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar and the Flags of Honour Foundation — have urged the United Nations Humans Rights Commission for a full and independent investigation into the torture and death of Capt Kalia and five jawans during the Kargil War in 1999 and sought justice for them. Capt Kalia and jawans Arjun Ram, Bhanwar Lal Bagaria, Bhika Ram, Moola Ram and Naresh Singh of 4 Jat regiment were the first to officially verify intrusions by Pakistan Army in the Kargil sector. They were on a routine patrol of the Bajrang Post in the Kaksar sub-sector of Kargil on May 6, 1999, when Pakistan Army soldiers fired at them. Capt Kalia and his men put up a valiant fight, but ran out of ammunition and were captured alive by the enemy and subjected to inhuman torture and killed. Pakistan handed over their badly mutilated bodies 22 days later. The autopsy report of the Captain and jawans revealed extreme torture, including cigarette burns, eardrums pierced with hot rods and chopped off limbs and private organs before they were finally shot dead. The petition was filed on December 7 with Juan E Mendez, Special Rapporteur on Torture, Office of High Commissioner of Human Rights, UN Office Geneva. It urges UNHRC has been urged to take appropriate steps to ask the Government of Pakistan to probe the matter and ascertain who was responsible for the torture and death of Captain Kalia. The petition cites from available correspondence, post-mortem reports and also a book authored by the then Army Chief General VP Malik (retd). “I am supporting this petition to UNHRC to seek justice for the family of Capt Saurabh Kalia who was tortured and shot dead while performing his duty, a clear case of war crime and a violation of the Geneva Convention,” said Rajeev Chandrasekhar. Article 3 of the Geneva Convention — drawn up after the World War II — clearly states that soldiers who have been detained or have laid down arms shall not be subjected to “murder of all kind, mutilation, cruel treatment and torture, humiliating and degrading treatment, passing of sentences, carrying out of executions”.
Tortured, killed IN pakistan
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Sidhu’s remarks against Patel set to hit BJP in Saurashtra
Ahmedabad, December 11 Chief Minister Narendra Modi and his party had been avoiding any critical remarks against Patel. The party has, by and large, adopted the strategy of “ignoring” him and focusing on its principal rival, the Congress. It was apprehensive that any attack on the veteran leader could result in a “Patel” backlash against the party, particularly in the Saurashtra region. Not only the GPP, even some Congress leaders have also demanded a public apology from Sidhu and the BJP. The GPP has organised protest rallies at many places and burnt Sidhu’s effigy. Patel, who was unceremoniously removed by the BJP high command from the Chief Minister’s office in October, 2001, in the wake of the January, 2001, devastating Patel believes that Modi not only tried to destabilise his government during the post-1998 period when he returned to power with a comfortable majority, he had also been lobbying among the high command leaders for his removal. The alleged “non-performance” of his government in providing relief to the earthquake-hit only proved handy to upstage him from the Chief Minister’s office, he believes. Patel had become active well in advance before these elections. He had informed the high command that he would be forced to quit and “fight for the people” to remove the “pirate and Pindari Modi” if the party did not agree for change of leadership before the elections. The party, however, did not concede to his demand and Patel resigned from the BJP in September. Later, he launched his party, the GPP. It was because of the respect Patel commanded among the BJP cadres as well as a section of the people that the BJP leadership chose to avoid any direct criticism of the veteran leader while Patel and the GPP leaders also consciously avoided any attack on the BJP making Modi their personal target. But the things have changed ever since the controversial remarks of Sidhu against Patel. Another factor hitting Modi in the Saurashtra region is his erstwhile party MLA Kanu Kalsaria who for long had been waging war against the Modi government for its alleged “pro-rich policies”. The party did not dare take any action against him despite his open rebellion against Modi over the past five years due to his popularity among the farmers. A doctor by profession, Kalsaria is contesting as an Independent this time. Initial assessments indicate that Patel and Kalsaria together could cost Modi about eight to 10 seats in the Saurashtra region, including Visavadar in Junagadh district from where Patel himself is contesting. Other than Visavadar, The GPP does not look to be in the race to win many seats in the region, but the damage caused by it could benefit the Congress. The 87 seats in Saurashtra and south Gujarat will go to polls on December 13, while 95 seats in Kutch and north and central Gujarat regions will go to polls in the second phase on December 17.
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Chargesheet against ex-minister likely soon
Lucknow, December 11 The name of former health minister Anant Mishra has been doing the rounds ever since the scam broke out in April 2011. He and the other minister Babu Singh Kushwaha were made to resign together following financial irregularities coming out in the open after investigations into the twin murders of the CMOs. Despite facing several rounds of interrogation by the CBI, Mishra till now has not been formally implicated in the scam. Mishra is being named in a case related to alleged corruption in the posting of chief medical officers and district project officers during the period when the NRHM irregularities were being committed. Former family welfare minister Kushwaha, former principal secretary (health) Pradeep Shukla and five others, including ex-BSP MLA Ram Prasad Jaiswal, would be Mishra’s co-accused in the case. —
TNS
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Get blueprint ready for Yamuna clean-up: SC to IITs
A Bench comprising Justices Swatanter Kumar and Madan B Lokur directed them to have a meeting on January 12, 2013 with all the authorities concerned on the issue in order to draw up a blueprint for the project. The meeting would be convened by the Union Environment Secretary and attended among others by the Chief Secretary of Haryana, Chief Engineer of Delhi Jal Board (DJB), Member Secretary of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), Noida authority, Delhi Municipal Commissioners, Vice Chairman of the Delhi Development Authority (DDA), Additional Secretary in the Water Resources Ministry and the representative of the Delhi Lieutenant Governor. Among the options that would be considered by the two experts was taking all sewer water, be it from industrial or residential areas, to a place 30-40 km away from Delhi for the purpose of treatment. Another possibility was to ask the upper riparian states to release more water in Yamuna to make the job of the treatment plants in Delhi easier, the Bench said. The Bench acknowledged that several orders passed by it on a 1994 PIL on the issue had not resulted in improving the pollution levels of the river water. Rather, it was getting dirtier day by day despite the fact that several governments and civic bodies had spent Rs 12,000 crore so far, it observed. The SC directed all the authorities concerned at the Centre and in Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh to render all assistance required by the IIT experts. The apex court would decide the final shape of the proposed project after considering the experts’ report, the Bench said. The PIL would be taken up for next hearing on February 8. The Bench was informed that the SC had passed an order on May 14, 1999 on the need for releasing fresh water into the Yamuna at Delhi in order to check pollution, but this was no longer being implemented.
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AFT upholds GCM’s verdict, says pilot guilty of mid-air collision
Chandigarh, December 11 In December 1995, while on a routine training sortie, two MiG-23 aircraft collided after one of them had suffered a generator failure. While the pilots managed to bail out safely, the debris had resulted in the incidental death of a five-year old girl, Monica, and a nine-month-old boy, Shiv, in Hoshiarpur district. The petitioner, Gp Capt Ajit Singh, was tried by a GCM for three charges under the Air Force Act without reasonable excuse, destroying an aircraft belonging to the government, neglect in flying aircraft causing loss of life and neglect in flying aircraft causing injury to a person. He was acquitted of the charges in 1998, but the then AOC-in-C, Western Air Command, Air Marshal Vinod Patney ordered the GCM to revise its findings. On re-assembly, the GCM, while holding him guilty of the first charge, ordered forfeiture of three months service for the purpose of pay and pension and a severe reprimand. The petitioner moved court against the GCM’s order and in September 2010, the tribunal, while setting aside the sentence, remanded the matter back to the GCM with liberty to take additional evidence and hearing both parties, and to reconstitute the GCM if the original members were no longer in service. Accordingly, the IAF reconstituted the GCM, which held the petitioner guilty of the first charge but not guilty of second and third charges.
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buy temporary peace with assurance of an enquiry into Walmart disclosure issue, the Rajya Sabha faced repeated adjournments over Samajwadi Party protest against the Bill providing for reservation to SCs/STs in promotions in government jobs, which was listed in the day's business.
Patel, 84, is one of the founders of the erstwhile Jana Sangh and later the BJP in Gujarat. He is a highly revered leader among the “Patels” and the defamatory remarks against him have started alienating voters from the BJP. Patel hails from Rajkot, the political nerve centre of the Saurashtra region. 
New Delhi, December 11