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India, Pak discuss steps to make truce pact effective
Delhi’s
shame
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Constable’s death: 3 eyewitnesses questioned
Green signal for freight corridor through national park in M’rashtra
AP parties divided over stand on Telangana
Telangana clouds over Telugu conference
2012 LOOKING BACK: JUDICIARY
Samjhauta accused
also involved in Jammu blast: NIA
UP Cong wants LPG cap raised to 12 cylinders
7% hike in IIM-A fee
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India, Pak discuss steps to make truce pact effective
New Delhi, December 27 The Indian side at the meeting was led by YK Sinha, Additional Secretary (Pakistan) in the External Affairs Ministry while the Pakistani team was headed by Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry, Additional Secretary in the Foreign Ministry. New Delhi believes that the ceasefire agreement signed by the two countries in November 2003 has been a major CBM between them. It proved to be quite effective until Pervez Musharraf was at the helm of affairs in Pakistan with ceasefire violations being reported occasionally. However, there has been a spurt in ceasefire violations during the civilian rule in Pakistan in the past few years, especially by Pakistani Rangers ostensibly to push militants into the Indian side. At today's meeting, the two sides also discussed fresh proposals, including more flag meetings, to make the ceasefire agreement more effective. “The talks were held in a cordial and constructive atmosphere,” said a joint statement after the talks. “The two sides reviewed the implementation of existing CBMs, including the ceasefire along the LoC, exchanged ideas to further advance the CBM process and reaffirmed their commitment to continue discussions with the aim of strengthening conventional CBMs,” said the statement. The two officials will report the progress made during the current round of talks to their respective foreign secretaries. The talks on conventional CBMs follow the agreement reached between the foreign ministers of India and Pakistan during their meeting on September 8 in Islamabad. The two sides will hold talks on nuclear CBMs tomorrow. On the cards: More flag meetings
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Delhi’s
shame
New Delhi, December 27 Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar appeared before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home to face questions on 'growing atrocities against women in Delhi'. Home Secretary RK Singh, who was also to appear before the panel, could not attend the meeting. Kumar informed the panel about the sequence of events of the incident and said the police control room vans reacted "promptly" after receiving the phone call about the crime. He is learnt to have told the committee that police investigations helped nab the accused within days of the December 16 gang rape. During the course of the Police Commissioner's deposition, Congress member Sandeep Dikshit, who had recently demanded the resignation of Kumar in the wake of police action against protesters on Sunday, is understood to have said there was a disconnect between officers sitting in rooms and those on the ground. He said officials below Station House Officer rank act on their own giving little regard to orders from superiors. Dikshit is the son of Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit who had been demanding that the Delhi Police be brought under the control of the city government. The Delhi Police is under the direct control of the Home Ministry. Some members said police vehicles were not being replaced as the Finance Ministry was not releasing funds, according to sources. They said two old PCR vans withdrawn from service used to be positioned in the area where the incident was reported from. The committee also observed that several vacancies of officers in the Delhi Police have not been filled and asked the Home Ministry to respond to the issue in writing. When the committee was discussing paucity of women constables in the force, Kumar is learnt to have said more women constables will be recruited. The committee will meet again on January 4 when Kumar will provide a written response to questions which could not be answered today. Meanwhile, committee chairman M Venkaiah Naidu informed the members that the Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, introduced in the Lok Sabha during the Winter Session, would be referred to the panel soon. The Bill seeks to amend the Indian Penal Code, 1860, the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, and the Indian Evidence Act, 1872, by replacing the word 'rape' by the words 'sexual assault' to make the offence of sexual assault gender-neutral and also widening its scope. It also seeks to make acid attack a specific offence and enhance the punishment.
— PTI Gujarat HC upholds life term to 5 rapists Ahmedabad: Describing the gangrape of a 24-year-old here as "barbaric", the Gujarat High Court on Thursday upheld the life term awarded to five accused in the 2003 case where the girl was sexually assaulted on the New Year night after her boyfriend Sajal Jain lured her to a city hotel. The victim, hailing from a middle class family, committed suicide by hanging herself in her room on January 7, 2004, a week after the crime on December 31, 2003. — PTI Soon: database of rape convicts New Delhi: In an attempt to name and shame rapists, the government has decided to prepare a data base of all rape convicts across the country and their photographs, names and addresses would be made public. Minister of State for Home R PN Singh said he has directed the National Crime Records Bureau to prepare a directory of all rape convicts and upload their photographs, names and addresses on its website. — PTI
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Constable’s death: 3 eyewitnesses questioned
New Delhi, December 27 A controversy had erupted over the cause of the death of 47-year-old Tomar during the demonstrations with eyewitnesses and a government hospital claiming that he had received no grave injuries while the post-mortem report contradicted these versions. The Crime Branch had sent notices to eyewitnesses Yogendra, Paoline and Salim Alvi in connection with the investigation into the case. Yogender and Paoline claimed that they saw Tomar collapsing during the protest without anyone hitting or attacking him. They also rushed Tomar to the hospital. Yogendra and Paoline claimed that they did not spot any injuries on him when they tried to revive him. However, Salim Alvi, a resident of Bulandshehar, claimed that he saw the deceased constable being hit by protesters. The police had also
sent notice to Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) Hospital’s Medical Superintendent Dr TS Sidhu who has been asked to join the probe after he said that Tomar did not suffer
any external or internal injury.
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Protests continue to rock Capital New Delhi, December 27 In response, nearly 500 protesters — along with activists of various NGOs like Jaogri, Saheli, Anhad and other women fronts — gathered at Nizamuddin Gol Gumbad and planned a march to India Gate in the afternoon. However, with prohibitory orders in place at Rajpath and India Gate, the Delhi Police stalled the protest midway at Zakir Hussain Marg, an arterial road leading to India Gate. The protesters decided to avoid a clash with the police and staged a sit-in right there. The protest continued till late evening.
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Green signal for freight corridor through national park in M’rashtra
Mumbai, December 27 State government officials confirmed here that 58 hectares of land, which now belongs to the national park, will be used for building the DFC. At present, a single railway line connecting Panvel (outside Thane) to Vasai (outside Mumbai city) passes through the SGNP. Following the green signal, a second line will be laid on this stretch as part of the freight corridor, according to officials of the wildlife department. The ministry has specified that four underpasses be constructed below the rail tracks so that there would no threat to the movement of wild animals in the forest. The Maharashtra government had cleared the proposal at the state-level and sent it to the Centre early this month. However, the government which is keen on attracting foreign investment fast tracked the proposal. Sources say, Maharashtra which has been accused of lagging behind in acquiring land for the DFC has now stepped on the accelerator. According to officials most the 470 hectares of land between Panvel and Dahanu earmarked for the stretch of the DFC passing through the state has been acquired. “It now depends on the railways to invite bids to begin work on the project,” a senior state government official said. Once complete, the 1,500-km freight corridor will connect JNPT with the National Capital Region. The Western DFC between Dadri and JNPT will pass through Vadodara, Ahmedabad, Palanpur, Phulera and Rewari. This section of the corridor will be a double-lined diesel track. The corridor also includes another 32-km single line from Pirthala to Tughlakabad. road in the wild
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AP parties divided over stand on Telangana
Hyderabad, December 27 Never in the past did the state witness major contenders for power undergoing a similar dilemma on a politically sensitive issue. The long-pending demand for a separate state for Telangana region, comprising 10 districts and Hyderabad, has brought about a vertical division among the main parties. The ruling Congress, the main opposition Telugu Desam Party and YSR Congress Party, headed by the jailed MP YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, have been unable to formulate a clear policy on Telangana owing to internal rift on regional lines. While leaders from Telangana region, cutting across party lines, are rooting for a separate state while their counterparts from Rayalaseema and coastal Andhra regions oppose bifurcation of the state. Given the regional divide within the major parties, even the die-hard optimists are not hopeful of any breakthrough at the meeting convened by the Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde. Moreover, the Home Ministry has invited two representatives from each recognised party for the meeting, thus providing an elbow room for them to articulate both the pro-Telangana and anti-Telangana views to satisfy the respective regional compulsions. The political observers say that the coming meeting might end up as a damp squib in a virtual repeat of what happened during the earlier two rounds of all-party meetings held in 2010 and 2011. On the first occasion, the Congress and TDP had two representatives at the meeting, articulating divergent views, while the second round was a dampener with major parties boycotting the meet. Five political parties, who have a clear stand on the issue, announced the names of their leaders who would participate in the meeting. The Telangana Rashtra Samithi, BJP and CPI are rooting for a separate state while CPI-M) and Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen, which has pockets of influence in Hyderabad, are opposed to the state's division. “This is the last chance for the Congress to prove its sincerity to the Telangana cause. Without any further delay, it should spell out its stand at the meeting. Otherwise, the Telangana people will teach a fitting lesson to the ruling in the coming elections,” TRS legislator T Harish Rao said. However, the State Congress chief B Satyanarayana said, “We will take a stand after hearing other parties.”
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Telangana clouds over Telugu conference
Hyderabad, December 27 President Pranab Mukherjee inaugurated the three-day event amidst protests and rallies by the cultural and literary organisations in Telangana region. The poets, writers, artistes and academicians from Telangana stayed away from the event, dubbing it as an attempt to ‘suppress’ the movement for a separate Telangana state. The Telangana protagonists argue that the region represents a distinct cultural and literary identity that is sought be sidelined by the ‘cultural invaders’ from coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions. “We do not accept the dominant arrative of Telugu culture being propagated by the rulers from Rayalaseema and coastal Andhra regions. We will continue to fight for protection of our unique identity and heritage,” said a
noted Telangana writer Gowri Shankar.
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2012 LOOKING BACK: JUDICIARY
New Delhi, December 27 It was perhaps an unprecedented year in the judicial history of the nation with such a wide range of issues coming up for adjudication -- the coal embedded deep inside the earth, rivers flowing just on the surface, crime on high seas, telecom airwaves travelling in the sky and a unique human drama involving paternity, besides the usual corruption and terrorism. Former Uttarakhand Chief Minsiter ND Tiwari and the then Army chief Gen VK Singh were among those who had staked their honour in court cases
and lost. On the strength of DNA test results, the Delhi High Court declared in July that 32-year-old Rohit Shekhar is the biological son of Tiwari. Rohit had claimed that he was born out of a relationship the veteran Congress leader had with his mother Ujjawala. The unique paternity case is still pending in the HC for technical reasons. In a first of its kind move, Gen Singh had challenged the government ruling that he was a year older than the age recorded in his school leaving certificate. The SC virtually rejected his claim in February, forcing him to withdraw his petition and retire on May 31. The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbhandak Committee (SGPC) vigorously pursued in the SC its challenge against the December 20, 2011 verdict of the Punjab and Haryana High Court restoring the Sehajdhari Sikhs’ right to vote in the SGPC election. The HC had struck down the Centre’s October 8, 2003
order disenfranchising Sehajdharis. In another case, the SC set December 31 as the deadline for holding election to the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Managing Committee and subsequently refused to extend the time limit. The dispute between Punjab and Haryana over sharing river waters continued to be heard in the SC for adjudication, with the two states refusing to budge even an inch from their stated positions. Tamil Nadu waged legal battles on two fronts, with Kerala on
the safety of the Mullaperiyar dam and with Karnataka on the sharing of Cauvery river water. In a major relief to telecom major, Vodafone, the SC ruled that the company need not pay capital gains tax amounting to a whopping Rs 11,000 to the government. In the 2G scam case, the apex court scrapped all the 122 telecom licenses granted
in 2008 by the then Telecom Minister A Raja and directed the government to auction them. Subsequently, the government got some relief in the case with a Constitution Bench ruling that the verdict on auction would
be restricted to 2G and would not apply to other natural resources. On August 29, the SC upheld the death sentence awarded Ajmal Kasab, the lone LeT terrorist nabbed alive in the anti-terror operation against the 11 Pakistani terrorists involved in the 2008 Mumbai attack. He was hanged on
November 21. The SC was also seized of issues pertaining to the huge wealth of the
Padmanabha Swami Temple at Thiruvananthapuram and the killing of two Kerala fishermen on the high seas by Italian marines. The alleged irregularities in the allocation
of coal blocks and the government decision to allow FDI in retail trade have also been brought to SC through
PILs. What kept the pot boiling?
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DRDO test-fires Astra
Chandigarh, December 27 The missile, in its full configuration, met all the mission parameters, after being fired from a ground-based launcher at the Integrated Test Range in Odisha, a statement issued by the DRDO said. The missile successfully intercepted the designated mid-air target, Lakshya, the indigenously developed Pilotless Target Aircraft. Astra is stated to be a state of the art, beyond visual range’ (BVR) being developed for the Air Force. It is an active radar homing missile with a range of up to 110 km. Some more tests will be carried out from the ground launchers to generate data, which will be followed by launches from various aerial platforms. The missile will be capable of being deployed on various aircrafts, including the Tejas, MiG-29, Su-30, Mirage-2000 and the under development PAK-FA fifth generation fighter.
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Samjhauta accused
also involved in Jammu blast: NIA
New Delhi, December 27 After arresting three persons from Madhya Pradesh recently, the NIA teams were in for a surprise when it was claimed by one of the nabbed persons that their group was also involved in throwing a grenade outside a mosque in Jammu in 2004, official sources said today. The three persons were arrested in connection with the Samjhauta train and Malegaon blasts. At least 20 persons were injured when a grenade was thrown during Friday prayers at Peer Mitha, an Ahle Hadees mosque, on January 9, 2004. Two of the injured later succumbed to their injuries. The police had then claimed that the attack was a handiwork of Tehreek-ul Mujahideen terror outfit but with the fresh leads emerging now, the NIA plans to request the Jammu and Kashmir Police to hand over investigations of the case to see if there is any link with the ongoing probe into right-wing terror activities. The fresh leads in the case emerged after the arrest of Rajesh Chaudhury, Dhan Singh and Tej Ram, against whom the NIA was on the look out since the arrest of Kamal Chauhan last year, the sources said. The interrogation of the trio has put the NIA sleuths on the trail to unravel further conspiracies in various cases which were till now either unsolved or had been closed for want of evidence.
— PTI
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UP Cong wants LPG cap raised to 12 cylinders
Lucknow, December 27 “The decision to limit the number of cylinders to six has angered many families,” states the resolution. However, AICC general secretary and in charge of Uttar Pradesh Digvijay Singh, who was the chief guest at the convention, admitted that limiting subsidy to only six cylinders was perhaps wrong. Passing the ball to the state government’s court, he said the state government could increase it to nine cylinders as was being done in Congress-ruled states.
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7% hike in
IIM-A fee Ahmedabad, December 27 An official spokesman of the IIMA said the increase was approved by the board of governors at its meeting held here yesterday. The 7 per cent hike in fee was commensurate with the inflation of the economy which was 7.24 per cent. The spokesman said the IIMA was only trying to keep pace with the inflationary trend in the economy by raising its fee to the same level to nullify inflation. It is the second consecutive year that the fee has been hiked by 7 per cent. The board was also due to consider the recommendations of the search committee to find the successor for IIMA Director Samir Barua, whose five-year term ended on November 7 but was given three months extension till a new Director is appointed. But the three-member search committee could not reach a unanimous choice to decide on a three-member panel for the post of director. It later decided to take a decision only after the Narendra Modi government in the state took office.
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