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Padma Awards for 108
359 to be awarded for gallantry
Awards for Central armed police forces men
PVSM for Air Marshal Rajinder Singh
Shettar meets K’taka Guv, claims majority
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Jaipur Literature Festival - Day 2
Verma panel tells govt not to outsource child
protection
SC: Public prosecutors not mouthpiece of probe agencies
Six die in Mumbai slum blaze
Aspirants unhappy over Centre’s no to appointment of new LPG dealers
Indian prisoner dies after ‘assault’ in Pakistan jail
EC awards Gujarat, UP for poll management
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Padma Awards for 108
The list awardees for the Padma Bhushan, the second highest civilian honour, includes chief of the India's Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) Dr VK Saraswat, late Jaspal Bhatti, cricketer Rahul Dravid, boxer Mary Kom, actress Sharmila Tagore, actor Rajesh Khanna, chief of the BrahMos missile project S Pillai, industrialist Adi Godrej, scientists Dr Ashoke Sen, Dr BN Suresh and Prof JC Pati of the USA. The list of Padma Shree awardees, the third highest civilian honour, includes, actress Sridevi, actor Nana Patekar, Pablo Bartholomew, Late Manju Bharat Ram of Delhi and Avinash Chander. Sportspersons Yogeshwar Dutt, HN Gowda, Olympic medalist from Himachal Pradesh Subedar Major Vijay Kumar, boxer Dingko Sing, Naib Subedar Bajrang Lal Takhar are also on the list. Fashion designer Ritu Kumar will also get the award. In all, President Pranab Mukerjee has approved 108 Padma Awards. These comprise four Padma Vibhushan, 24 Padma Bhushan and 80 Padma Shri Awards. Twenty-four of the awardees are women and the list also includes 11 persons in the category of foreigners, NRIs, PIOs and posthumous awardees. Padma Awards are awarded to persons excelling in disciplines like art, social work, public affairs, science and engineering, trade and industry, medicine, literature, education, sports, civil service, etc. "Padma Vibhushan" is awarded for exceptional and distinguished service; "Padma Bhushan" for distinguished service of high order and "Padma Shri" for distinguished service in any field. The awards are announced on the occasion of Republic Day every year. These are given by the President at a function held at the Rashtrapati Bhawan sometime between March and April.
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359 to be awarded for gallantry
New Delhi, January 25 Ten Mention-In-Despatches have also been announced. Apart from this, 874 police personnel will be awarded police medals. This includes one President’s Police Medal for gallantry (PPMG), 115 Police Medals for Gallantry (PMG), 88 President’s Police Medals for Distinguished Service and 671 Police Medals for Meritorious Service. Another 37 personnel have got Correctional Service Medals. The winner of the lone Kirti Chakra is Major Anup Joseph Manjali. The Shaurya Chakra winners are Major Sandeep Kumar 13th Sikh, Major Manish Punj Rajput, Capt Dinesh Kumar 9 Madras, Lt Manish Singh 9 Para, Subedar Pradeep Beck Bihar and Havildar Vir Singh 13th Sikh. A Rahul Ramesh Engineers, Naik Rajeshwar Singh 16 Punjab, Naik Anil Ail Kumar 16 Punjab and Naik Krishan Kumar Guards have got Shaurya Chakra posthumously. Naval officer Lieut Commander Inderjeet Singh has also got the Shaurya
Chakra.
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Awards for Central armed police forces men
New Delhi, January 25 The CRPF has been awarded a total of 95 medals, including six President's Police Medals for Distinguished Service, 57 Police Medals for Meritorious Service and 32 Police Medals for Gallantry. One of the awardees of the Police Medal for Gallantry is late N Manoranjan Singh, who was an Assistant Commandant posted with the 201 CoBRA (Commando Battalion for Resolute Action) battalion. He was killed in a Naxalite ambush at Dantewada in Chhattisgarh. Border Security Force (BSF) personnel have got 52 medals, including a Police Medal for Gallantry, five President's Police Medals for Distinguished Service and 46 Police Medals for Meritorious Service. Constable Xavier Kindo has got Police Medal for Gallantry posthumously. Inspector General (Administration) Ashok Kumar, former IG (Ops) Sanjay Kundu, IG (Dr) Surendra Kumar Sharma, Chief Veterinary Officer (SG) Sardari Lal and Assistant Commandant Murad Khan have been chosen for the President's Police Medals for Distinguished Service. DIG Rajendra Prakash Sanwal and DIG Parshotam S Dhiman among the 46 BSF personnel who have been awarded the Police Medal for Meritorious Service. SK Gautam, IG (Personal & Training) at the Sashastra Seema Bal headquarters in Delhi was conferred the President’s Police Medal for Distinguished Service. Eleven other officers and personnel of the SSB have been awarded the Indian Police Medal for Meritorious Service. They include Commandant RS Negi, Deputy Commandant NK Tamta and Assistant Commandant PS Raghawan. Thirty Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel have been awarded the President's Police Medals. IG (WS HQ), Mumbai, Pramod Shripad Phalnikar, and Commandant (EZ HQ), Patna, Virendra Prasad Bhatt, have been conferred the President's Police Medal for Distinguished Service. Twenty-five CISF personnel have been awarded the Police Medal for Meritorious Service. They include Sudhir Kumar, DIG (CISF HQ) in New Delhi, Ramesh Chander Huria, DIG (CISF HQ) in New Delhi, and Keshav Kishore Singh, Additional Inspector General (CISF HQ) in New Delhi. Three CISF personnel have been awarded the Fire Service Medal for Meritorious Service. Assistant Commandant (DSP Durgapur) Dhyan Singh is one of the awardees for this medal. Three Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) personnel have been awarded the President Police Medal for Distinguished Service. Twelve ITBP officers have been conferred the Police Medal for Meritorious Service.
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PVSM for Air Marshal Rajinder Singh
Bangalore, January 25 Air Marshal Rajinder Singh was commissioned in the flying branch on December 14, 1974. He is Qualified Flying Instructor and has flown over 3,100 hours The Air Marshal has commanded a frontline fighter squadron besides holding prestigious appointments of Air Officer Commanding, Air Force Station, Palam, and Defence Attache at Embassy of India, Egypt, where he looked after five countries. The Air Marshal is also the recipient of the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal and Vayu Sena Medal.
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Shettar meets K’taka Guv, claims majority
Bangalore, January 25 Earlier today, talking to reporters on the sidelines of a function, Bhardwaj said the 13 rebel MLAs had met him on Wednesday and told him that they wanted to resign from the Assembly but were unable to do so owing to the absence of the Assembly Speaker K G Bopaiah. Bhardwaj said he immediately got in touch with the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister (Governor did not specify which one of the two Deputy Chief Ministers he had called up) and told them about his meeting with the MLAs. “I cannot speak to the Assembly Speaker because he represents an independent office”, Bhardwaj said refuting the reports yesterday that he had asked the Speaker Bopaiah to give intimation about his whereabouts. Bhardwaj said Shettar would be meeting him today when he would “confront” the Chief Minister with the resignations letters the MLAs had given to him when they met him in the Raj Bhavan. “I have already convened the Assembly session from February 4. If necessary I shall order the Chief Minister to prove his majority on the floor of the House”, Bhardwaj had said. Shettar, however, claimed that Bhardwaj did not ask him to prove majority. “The Governor brought to my notice the resignation of 13 legislators. I have assured him that I have majority and that there is no problem to the government,” Shettar told reporters after meeting Bhardwaj at Raj Bhavan this afternoon. Asked if the Governor had directed him to take the floor test to prove he had majority on the floor of the legislative assembly, Shettar said, “The issue did not come up in the discussion with Bhardwaj.” He said Bhardwaj had accepted the government’s invitation to address the joint sitting of the legislature on February 4.
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Jaipur Literature Festival - Day 2 repression Vandana Shukla/TNS
Jaipur, January 25 Some daring voices who have exposed the inside stories of state repression shared their experiences on what made them write despite being on the run against their respective states, that often "reward" them by tapping their phones and scanning email accounts. For all these authors, who write about their side of the story against their own state repression or violence, it is imperative that the writing does not become a moral tool for their personal cause. Selma Dabbagh, a British, Palestinian author who has addressed the Palestinian cause in her writings, said, "When I write about the Palestinian cause, I am aware of the emotional connect of the readers to the cause, and the pressure of expectations from me. Despite that, it's very important to treat the issue with utmost responsibility." Ariel Dorfman, the Argentine, Chilean writer who witnessed the bloody transition of Chile to democracy and wrote, among many other books the famous novel "Death and the Maiden" turned into a film by Roman Polansky, observed quoting Orwell, "If you are going to be a political writer, you have to be most critical of your own side." Sandeep Chakravarty, author of "Red Sun" and "Highway 36" written on his journeys and research from the conflict zones of the Naxalites, observed it is fine to celebrate freedom of speech at a lit fest, but thought needs to be spared about one hundred thousand people in India who are facing charges of sedition against the state, for raising voice for their rights. Gary Shteyngart, author of "Absurdistan", Manu Joseph and Deborah Moggach, author of the famous novel "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel," shared what makes books vehicles of laughing and weeping. Another panel discussion tried to grapple with the rusty, antiquated idea of what makes a classic and if classics monopolise greatness. Hindi film lyricist Javed Akhtar attempted to dissect what makes Bollywood a state unto itself. He shared his worry about the shrinking language abilities of society, reflected well in the Hindi cinema and how despite many good film scripts coming about, no major breakthrough is taking place to have a national narrative in Bollywood cinema. DSC PRIZE-2013 The much awaited DSC Prize 2013 was announced with much fanfare. In a symbolic gesture, showing solidarity for women's cause, a victim of gang rape was invited, along with Sharmila Tagore, on the stage to handover prize to Jeet Thayil for "Narcopolis". Of the six shortlisted authors for the award that carries a purse of $50,000, Jamil Ahmad for "The Wandering Falcon", Tahmina Anam for "The Good Muslim", Amitav Ghosh for "River of Smoke", Mohammed Hanif for "Our Lady of Alice Bhatti", Uday Prakash for "The Walls of Delhi" and Jeet Thayil for "Narcopolis", three could not attend the ceremony for various reasons.
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Verma panel tells govt not to outsource child
protection
New Delhi, January 25 “One child goes missing every eight minutes. Trafficking of children sets the climate for a rape culture. We are horrified at the plight of India’s missing children,” Justice JS Verma, committee chairperson, says, hoping the government takes their recommendations on missing children seriously. Flooded with evidence of state apathy towards missing children and those housed in privately-run homes, the panel has demanded changes to the juvenile justice law to take children’s homes out of private hands. It has cited the child sexual abuse at Rohtak’s Apna Ghar to back the recommendation. The racket was exposed last year by Vinod Tikoo, member, National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), who hit upon three girls who had escaped from this home managed by one Jaswanti. The Verma report takes strong note of fact that Rohtak Deputy Commissioner, judicial magistrate, SDMs and Haryana Women and Child Development department officers had routinely visited Apna Ghar and signed its visitors’ book but never spotted child abuse. With Apna Ghar as a reference point, the Verma panel has slammed the Union Government for “outsourcing” child protection to private players. “There has been gross failure on government’s part in its belief of outsourcing fundamental obligations to the poor. These homes must be taken out of the control of private organisations and placed under High Court supervision till Parliament passes a stringent law to ensure competent caretakers to run them,” Justice Verma says adding that the committee found no evidence of states making efforts to select sensitive child home wardens. The committee has also demanded a census of missing children recommending that every missing case must be registered as an FIR and a copy sent to the NCPCR for seeking habeas corpus relief from the High Court concerned. In past two years, 1,17,000 children went missing from India but only 16,000 FIRs were lodged. Between 2009 and 2011, 2,05,028 children went missing; 64,050 remain untraced apprehensions being they could have been trafficked for prostitution, servitude or organ trade. To address these fears, Verma panel has sought the inclusion of trafficking and employment of trafficked persons as a new IPC offence and demanded minimum seven years rigorous jail term for police officers found complicit in trafficking. For recall, the committee has cited the 2007 government report on Nithari which had concluded: “It doesn’t appear the police filed ‘gumshudgi’ reports diligently. Investigation of disappearance of Payal based on court orders led to other missing children. Their families revealed that the police were insensitive and often said they must have themselves sold their kids.” Nithari had also shaken India’s conscience but nothing much has changed since then.
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SC: Public prosecutors not mouthpiece of probe agencies
New Delhi, January 25 Further, they would be deemed to be advocates and officers of the court despite their full-time employment with the government and the fact that they were subject to the disciplinary control of their employer. These conclusions have been arrived at by a Bench comprising Justices RM Lodha, Anil R Dave and Ranjan Gogoi in a case involving the appointment of PPs and APPs as Additional District and Sessions Judges in Haryana Superior Judicial Service (HSJS) in 2008. The Punjab and Haryana High Court had quashed their appointments on May 18, 2010, holding that they could not be treated as advocates under the Advocates Act 1961 and Bar Council of India (BCI) rules as they were full-time salaried employees. Setting aside the HC’s findings, the apex court said of course a PP or an APP was a full-time employee of the government, “but once he appears in the court for conduct of a case or prosecution, he is guided by the norms consistent with the interest of justice. “His acts always remain to serve and protect the public interest. He has to discharge his functions fairly, objectively and within the framework of the legal provisions. It may, therefore not be correct to say that an APP is not an officer of the court.” The SC further explained that advocates would cease to be advocates only if they were in full-time employment which did not require them to argue cases in courts.
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Six die in Mumbai slum blaze
Mumbai, January 25 The blaze was noticed around 5 am when most of the people living in the slum were asleep. The fire which spread rapidly since there was little space between the shanties has rendered several hundred people homeless. After receiving the first call, seven fire engines and eight water tankers were rushed to control the blaze. It took firemen nearly four hours before the flames were put out. While residents alleged that the fire engines took time to arrive, local fire officials blamed narrow passage ways preventing the entry of fire trucks. Police and residents were seen pulling down structures to enable the fire trucks enter the slum cluster. However, local member of Parliament Eknath Gaekwad from the Congress felt that the fire brigade did a good job. “The number of casualties could have been far higher if the firemen did not go beyond the call of duty to lessen the impact of the blaze,” Gaekwad told reporters. Though Gaekwad felt the casualties could be far higher, there were no reports of any further increase in the death toll till early evening today.
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A first: Cloned buffalo delivers calf
Karnal, January 25
Garima-II, the world’s first surviving cloned buffalo produced through hand-guided cloning technique, gave birth to another female, christened Mahima, at 1.51 pm by normal parturition. “Mahima, weighing 32 kg, started suckling milk within 30 minutes of birth and is healthy,” said NDRI director Dr AK Srivastav. The National Dairy Research Institute had earned worldwide acclaim for producing the world’s first buffalo cloned calf on August 22, 2010. Garima-II attained early sexual maturity at 19 months — normal age of puberty is 28 months — and was inseminated with frozen-thawed semen of a progeny tested bull (NDRI No. 1875) on March 27, 2012, which resulted in conception. During her gestation, Garima-II showed impending calving symptoms and showed signs of second stage of parturition after medical aid. She calved normally upon slight veterinary medical assistance. The jubilant team of scientists said the mother and calf were in good health.
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Aspirants unhappy over Centre’s no to appointment of new LPG dealers
dealers sought Many aspirants, who were interested in taking up the LPG dealerships for the three state-run oil marketing companies (OMCs) — Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) — are alleging that the existing LPG dealers, many of whom are politically well connected, are behind the move to suddenly stall the appointment of new dealers, so as to ward off any competition. The announcement for appointing new dealerships was made on December 31, 2012, and the aspirants were given a time till February 4 for submitting their applications. However, just as some of the aspirants approached the three state-run OMCs to submit their applications, they were told that the decision to appoint new distributors has been kept in abeyance. These aspirants said they had also gone ahead and signed lease deeds for 15 years, after paying huge sums as deposits to owners of godowns, so as to submit their forms. The official spokesperson with the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas told The Tribune that the decision to keep the new appointment in abeyance had been taken by Petroleum Minister Verappa Moily as he was not happy with the guidelines issued for appointment of new dealers.
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Indian prisoner dies after ‘assault’ in Pakistan jail
Islamabad, January 25 lawyer’s claim Media reports quoted a lawyer, Tehseen Khan, recently released from the Kot Lakhpat jail, as saying that he had seen prison staff assaulting Chamel Singh for using water from a tap to wash clothes on January 15 and that he died two days later at Jinnah Hospital in Lahore. But officials of the Indian High Commission said the Pakistan authorities formally informed them that Singh had died in Lahore on January 15. But the cause of Singh’s death had not been mentioned. Khan further alleged that Singh was “mercilessly beaten up” by jail staff as they made “racial remarks against Indians and minorities”. He claimed that other Indians in the jail, including Sarabjit Singh on death row, faced a “grave threat”. The Pakistan authorities had asked the Indian side to inform Singh’s family about his death, Indian officials said. The information was conveyed to the External Affairs Ministry in Delhi and the authorities were awaiting a response from Singh’s family on whether his body be brought back to India or his last rites be performed in Pakistan. The Indian officials said they had no information on Singh being allegedly beaten up in the jail. Singh’s body is currently in the mortuary of a state-run hospital in Lahore. His family contended he was not involved in spying and had gone missing from his fields on the border with Pakistan in July 2008. Indian officials said Singh’s age given in media reports was wrong but other particulars were accurate. —
PTI
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EC awards Gujarat, UP for poll management
New Delhi, January 25 The awards were received by Chief Electoral Officers Anita Karwal (Gujarat), Umesh Sinha (Uttar Pradesh) and Sunil Gupta (West Bengal). Four District Electoral Officers and Superintendents of Police were also given national awards for best electoral practices. The awards were presented by Vice President Hamid Ansari on the National Voters Day at a function here. The National Voters' Day was marked by organising functions at 6.5 lakh locations across the country covering nearly 8.5 lakh polling stations involving around 46,000 educational institutions. The Vice-President also handed over Electoral Photo Identity Cards (EPIC) to ten young first-time voters whose names were added during the summary revision on January 1 this year. —
PTI
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On the second day, DSC Jaipur Literature Festival-2013 witnessed some engaging discussions on serious issues that influence the written word beyond their literary significance. Concerns were raised about the rise of intolerant voices of our times against the brave, the liberal and the innocent.
New Delhi, January 25
Chandigarh, January 25