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Over 3 cr take holy dip at Sangam
SC: States must replace pvt fair price shops with cooperatives
HC overturns several AFT decisions
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Tripura Assembly Elections
249 candidates in fray, but only 14 women
61 IAS, 65 IPS officers shifted in Uttar Pradesh
Scarce water forces leopards out of M’rashtra forests
2 Pakistani nationals held for overstaying
Let law take its course: Antony
VS: Govt trying to protect accused in Suryanelli case
India clears hydel project on Brahmaputra to counter China?
Gorkha soldier’s wife fights for benefits
Jantar Mantar
Modi ‘invited’ to attend European Parliament
Afzal’s execution, recent SC verdicts raise questions on death penalty norms
Congestion charge on private vehicles mooted
Why execution of Afzal Guru was kept top secret
ITBP to procure HAPO bags
for troops at high altitudes
After Sikhs, Catholics question divorce law
Schools closed in Nepal to protest against Indian textbooks
Odisha to hand over 1,554 acres to POSCO
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Over 3 cr take holy dip at Sangam
Allahabad, February 10 “As per our estimates, around three crore persons had taken a holy dip by 3pm. The influx of visitors has slowed down a bit since then, but the turnout has already exceeded our expectations,” said Kumbh mela officer Mani Prasad Mishra. “No untoward incident has been reported from any part of the Kumbh area so far,” he added. The sprawling city of tents, spread across 6,000 acres, may have briefly become the most populous place in the world on account of this unusually high turnout. A sea of devotees kept surging towards the confluence of holy rivers Ganga, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati throughout the day, while the 13 “akharas” took out processions for the second “Shahi Snan”. In fact, the ritual of bathing started yesterday afternoon itself when “Mauni Amavasya” began according to the Hindu almanac and reached its crescendo this morning. A steady stream of devotees was seen at railway stations and bus stops where people from nearby as well as far-off places took to roads and pathways all of which seemed to be leading towards the Sangam today. The Railways ran a number of special trains and bus operators, both private and government, plied hundreds of additional buses for the occasion. However, according to reports received here, a railway station in the neighbouring district of Pratapgarh was vandalised this morning by people angry over non-availability of a special train for a trip to the holy Sangam. Tight security arrangements were in place with more than 15,000 security personnel drawn from central paramilitary forces like the ITBP, the CRPF, the BSF and the RAF besides the Uttar Police and its Provincial Armed Constabulary and Anti-Terrorist Squad keeping a close vigil. The Army, which has an ordnance depot located close to the Kumbh area, also did its bit by conducting aerial surveys every few minutes. Army sources said they had offered to temporarily open some of the area under its control, normally out of bounds for general public, if the Kumbh administration finds itself inconvenienced in handling the heavy rush of devotees on the normal routes. A number of VIPs, including political heavyweights, film stars and business tycoons have visited the Kumbh over the past few weeks. They included Sriprakash Jaiswal, Rajnath Singh, Subodh Kant Sahay, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, the Hinduja brothers, Anil Ambani with his mother Kokilaben, film producer Ekta Kapoor, actors Shilpa Shetty, Emraan Hashmi, Rajpal Yadav and Ashutosh Rana and comedian Raju Srivastava. A number of classical musicians like Pandit Jasraj, Hari Prasad Chaurasia and Malini Awasthi also enthralled people by their performances at the Kumbh area. However, the administration had banned any film promotional activity in the Kumbh area to prevent any unwanted gathering. — PTI
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SC: States must replace pvt fair price shops with cooperatives
New Delhi, February 10 A Bench of Justices TS Thakur and FMI Kalifulla said the Centre should take every step that did not involve financial outgo, pending Parliament’s approval of the National Food Security Bill that would entail a food subsidy of over Rs 23,000 crore a year. Attorney General GE Vahanvati assured the Bench that he would hold meetings with officials in the ministries of agriculture and PDS to ensure implementation of the Justice DP Wadhwa committee report suggesting measures for eliminating corruption in the PDS. He said the food security Bill was expected to be approved by both Houses of Parliament in the coming Budget session, beginning February 21. The AG said the Centre had accepted most of the recommendations of the Wadhwa committee, including nationalization of FPSs. However, it was for the states to decide on the method of running the FPSs. The SC cited some successful models in various states - FPSs run by the government in Jammu and Kashmir, by the cooperatives in Tamil Nadu and ‘mahila mandals’ in Chhattisgarh. The states could be given the freedom to let the FPSs function the way they wanted them to be run, except allowing private individuals that invariably resulted in diversion of foodgrains to the open market to make huge profits at the cost of the poor for whom the system was meant for. The Bench was hearing a PIL filed by the People’s Union for Civil Liberties seeking an overhaul of the PDS. The case would be taken up again on March 11.
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HC overturns several AFT decisions
Chandigarh, February 10 In a series of decisions in the past one month, the HC has set aside various decisions of the AFT by which benefits were denied to defence veterans. On claims of disability pension rejected by the AFT, the high court has held that the AFT cannot accept medical board opinion or statements of the government as gospel truth and is duty bound to apply mind and provide reasons. It has been held that the AFT cannot merely go by what the government states in its stand. In yet another case, the HC has held that it was wrong for medical boards and the AFT to declare as “constitutional” those disabilities which are listed in the rules as ones “affected by stress and strain of service”. Another judgment of the AFT was set aside in a case where without following due procedure a defence personnel was discharged on the basis of four red-ink entries and the discharge was later endorsed by the AFT. In one case, the AFT had dismissed the pensionary claim of a pensioner but the HC termed the view of the AFT as ‘myopic’ reminding that pension is not a bounty but is the property of an individual. The decisions that were set aside were given by the AFT bench comprising Justice NP Gupta and Lt Gen NS Brar. Lawyers as well as litigants feel that they are forced to knock the doors of courts when most of the issues can be effectively resolved at the AFT level itself.
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Cong has maximum criminal candidates
Bijay Sankar Bora/TNS
Agartala (Tripura), Feb 9 Giving a breakup of the candidates with criminal cases against them, an analysis by the National Election Watch said the Congress has 27 per cent candidates with criminal cases against them. While the figure for the INPT (Congress ally) and Amra Bangalee was six per cent, the CPM and the BJP have just two per cent candidates with criminal record. In total, 249 candidates are in the fray. As many as 13 out of 48 Congress nominees have declared pending criminal cases against them. In comparison, the ruling front has only one candidate (out of 60) with criminal cases pending against him. Three Congress candidates - Birajit Sinha, Premtosh Nath and Ratanlal Nath - have serious charges, including murder, kidnapping and theft, against them. Birajit Sinha, fielded by the Congress from Kailashahar LAC, has also been charged with voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons (Section 326 of the IPC). He has been booked for rioting and criminal intimidation too. Another Congress nominee, Premtosh Nath, has been booked on murder charges while Ratanlal Nath of the same party also has a booked in a murder case. The latter also has a case under Section 326 of the IPC pending against him. Charges under Section 326 of the IPC have been also slapped on Congress’ Gopal Chandra Roy (Banamalipur LAC), PCC president Sudip Roy Barman (Agartala LAC) and Subal Bhowmik of the Congress. Sujit Paul, who is contesting from Town Bardowali LAC in Agartala, also has a charge pending against him related to assault or criminal force against woman with intent to outrage her modesty under Section 354 of the IPC. Bidyut Ghosh, Congress candidate for Ramnagar LAC has been booked under Section 498A of the IPC.
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249 candidates in fray, but only 14 women
Agartala, February 10 This is especially unexpected in Tripura where the ruling Left Front boasts of 50 per cent reservation to women in panchayat bodies. Significantly, there were 31 women candidates in the fray in the 2008 Assembly election in the state. The Left front has nominated only four women: Social Welfare minister Bijita Nath, sitting MLAs Rita Kar Mazumdar and Gouri Das, former minister Vijay Laxmi Sinha and Tunu Malakar, a greenhorn. All of them are from the CPM while other Left Front constituents -- CPI, RSP and Forward Bloc -- have not nominated a single woman candidate in the election. The main opposition party, Congress, has nominated only three women candidates, all from indigenous tribal communities. They are Himani Debbarma, Jaydami Tripura and Purnita Chakma. The remaining six women candidates include four from SUCI and Independents. Left Front constituents say that could not find adequate number of “well-qualified” women candidates.
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61 IAS, 65 IPS officers shifted in Uttar Pradesh
Lucknow, February 10 This major reshuffle is one of the most extensive reshuffling exercises in the state bureaucracy at one go in recent times. During the recently concluded IAS week, the CM had hinted that he and the chief secretary were evaluating the performance of the bureaucracy and very soon the efficient would be rewarded and the ineffective pulled up. At least seven district magistrates have been put on the waiting list, getting no fresh assignments and a senior IAS officer, Zuhair bin Sagheer, attached to the CM’s secretariat has been shunted out and posted as the DM of Agra. Principal Secretary (PWD) Kumar Arvind Singh Deo has also been put on the waiting list. Last night, the CM allotted portfolios to the 12 new ministers inducted two days ago. He also changed portfolios of some of the existing ministers. The most significant change was handing over the department of jail to trusted MLC and Samajwadi Party spokesperson Rajendra Chadhury taking it away from minister with a criminal background Raghuraj Pratap Singh, alias Raja Bhaiyya, who now remains the Minister of Food. In the run-up to 2014 General Election, it is crucial for the Samajwadi Party to present a picture of a government that delivers. Party national president Mulayam Singh Yadav is fully aware that unless his son’s government manages to perform, it will find it difficult to convince voters to vote for them in order to get a decent number of seats in the state. It is in this context that in the recent weeks that party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav had not missed any public opportunity to drop broad hints of a major shake up in the government. Yesterday, he had pointed fingers at a section of the bureaucracy accusing them of deliberately attempting to block the government from proceeding with its development programme in the state. At every party meeting in recent weeks, senior Yadav has been pulling up ministers and elected representatives and has not minced words in expressing ire with the bureaucracy. He had charged his own ministers of not taking the trouble of reading the party’s poll manifesto and being unavailable to the people of their constituencies. Similarly, the bureaucracy was blamed for being lukewarm in implementing pro-people policies of the Samajwadi Party government and not being attentive enough to the people’s problems that the elected representatives brought to them.
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Scarce water forces leopards out of M’rashtra forests
Mumbai, February 10 According to forest officials leopards are straying out of forests as water bodies dry up and often enter agricultural areas. So far, incidents of leopards straying into inhabited areas have increased in Western Maharashtra, which is facing severe drought this year. "Leopards stray out of forests in search of water every summer, but this year incidents of leopards coming into agriculture areas is becoming common early in the year," says Deputy Conservator of Forests Rajendra Kadam, who is based in Pune. The area around Pune, which comprises the Western Ghats, is the natural home of the leopards. According to Kadam, the area is rich in prey and the animals do not have to come out to hunt for food as they do at the Sanjay Gandhi National Park in Mumbai. However, shortage of water is proving to be a major problem, he added. Local villagers in the region have reported several leopard sightings which have caused panic. In Junnar district near Pune which has the highest concentration of the big cat, cases of leopards straying out of the forests have even the government officials worried. "In 2003 more than a 100 leopards were trapped and relocated after a large number of people were killed by the animals," says a district official. The move received wide condemnation from animal rights activists according to whom leopards are territory-conscious. Leopards are known to walk as much as 200 km to return to their natural hunting grounds. Politicians in the area are also worried that the sudden appearance of leopards could cause major problems to people. Shivajirao Adhalrao Patil, Member of Parliament from Shirur, told reporters earlier this week that people are reporting leopard sightings more frequently these days. "We need to find a proper solution as at present forest officials simply trap the leopards and release them into the forests. The animals usually stray back into human habitation," Patil said. Forest officials say, leopard sightings have been reported in the cantonment areas of Pune.
Man-animal conflict
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2 Pakistani nationals held for overstaying
Hyderabad, February 10 Dr Athiya Zabeen Ather and her son Mohammed Habib were arrested and remanded to judicial custody yesterday under relevant sections of Foreigners Act, who, according to police were staying here "unauthorisedly" since 2010 after the expiry of their visa, they said. Born in Hyderabad, Zabeen had gone to Dubai where she married a Pakistani national and later shifted to Pakistan and took citizenship of that country. However, in 2006 after getting divorce from her husband, she came back to Hyderabad along with her son and was staying in a rented house here, Mirchowk police said. "Their visa expired in 2010 and they continued to stay here illegally.”— PTI
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Let law take its course: Antony
Kozhikode/Thrissur, Feb 10 Antony, however, said no evidence has been found during probes conducted during the tenure of both the UDF and the LDF rule in Kerala against Kurien. "The (state) government has received another complaint after the Supreme Court verdict in the case. Let the government decide. If the government's decision is not acceptable (to the aggrieved party), the court can be approached again. Let the law take its own course," he told reporters. Striking a different note, Congress national spokesman PC Chacko said the party would discuss the "Kurien issue" before the start of Budget session of Parliament. — PTI
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VS: Govt trying to protect accused in Suryanelli case
Kozhikode, February 10 Speaking to reporters here, he said it was during the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front regime that those accused in the case were punished, while UDF governments have always 'protected' them. On Defence Minister A K Antony's remarks that the then LDF government had done nothing in the case, he said the victim's family knew fully well what his government had done on the issue. Antony had said that Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman P J Kurien had been absolved from the case by the Supreme Court and it was not possible for him to recollect what had happened 17 years ago since he was not a 'human computer'. — PTI
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India clears hydel project on Brahmaputra to counter China?
New Delhi, February 10 The government has given clearance to the 800 MW Tawang-II hydropower project in Arunachal Pradesh this week, paving the way for its implementation, according to officials. The project had been pending clearance a long time. The hydropower project would help to mark the stakes of India, a lower riparian country, in a crucial river, especially in the absence of a water sharing treaty with China, according to officials. Officials said China's 510 MW capacity Zangmu dam, being built on the Brahmaputra bend section, "will be completed in three-four years" and India needs to push its project to counter China even as it has taken up the issue of Beijing's "flurry of dam-building" at the "highest level". The Zangmu dam, said to measure over 100 m, would supply water to China's dry regions in the north, but it would starve Assam and neighbouring Bangladesh of water in the summer months, water officials and experts said. China has announced plans to build three dams Dagu, Jiacha and Jiexu on the river last month -- part of its aggressive planning to provide for energy and water needs of its 1.3 billion people. Beijing has assured New Delhi that the new dam projects will not affect water flow to India. "India has for a long time been aware of the Zangmu dam. We have seen Google Earth images and have got information from our agencies about ongoing dam construction," one official said, declining to be named. According to the official, China is also going ahead with work on some other big dams and many smaller dams on the river, which originates in the Mansarovar Lake in Tibet. The Brahmaputra originates in the Himalayas in Tibet as the Yarlung Tsangpo river and flows for about over 2,800 km across southern Tibet through the Himalayas and into India and Bangladesh before merging with the Ganges and emptying into the Bay of Bengal. "China has 25 other dam projects in the pipeline (on the Brahmaputra)," the official said. Seven rivulets originating from the glaciers in the Tibetan plateau feed the Brahmaputra. Damming of the river upstream would starve India of water from these snow-fed rivulets during the summer months, he added. Ashokananda Singhal, president of NGO Jana Jagriti, spearheading an awareness campaign against China's hydro-projects on Yarlung Tsangpo, said China is building 26 hydropower dams on the upper reaches of the Brahmaputra. Once the projects are completed, "85 per cent less water will come from China to India" during the summer months, he said. — IANS
construction spree
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Gorkha soldier’s wife fights for benefits
Chandigarh, February 10 Khusi Maya Gurung’s husband, a havildar in the Fourth Gorkha Rifles, had gone to Nepal on annual-cum-sick leave of 68 days in September. While availing leave, he fell sick and was admitted to a local hospital in Nepal, but was advised by the doctors to report to a military hospital in India for further treatment since he was serving in the Indian Army. Accordingly, the soldier left for treatment at Command Hospital, Kolkata, in September 2005, since his unit was then located in Kolkata. He boarded the Poorvanchal Express from Gorakhpur to Kolkata along with another soldier from his unit. During the journey, he got down at Chhapra Railway Station for fetching drinking water but did not return to the train. His companion, Rifleman Uttam Thapa, last saw him at the said station. The family members and the soldier’s unit thereafter made extensive efforts to trace the soldier but without any result. Thereafter, the military authorities duly registered an FIR with the Railway Police at Chappra, but even the police could not locate the missing soldier or his body and he remains missing till date and his disappearance also remains a mystery. Later, the Army declared him a deserter rather than missing and also dismissed from service in an ex-parte manner. After repeatedly taking up the case for release of pension and other benefits with the Gorkha Training Centre at Subathu near here did not yield any results, Khusi moved the Chandigarh bench of the Armed Forces Tribunal. In her petition, she has contended that according to government policy, service and pensionary benefits are to be released to families of personnel whose whereabouts are not known. Earlier government departments used to wait for seven years for presumption of death and then used to release the arrears but in 1988 the government issued a policy that some benefits would be released immediately on declaration of disappearance and some other service benefits would be released after one year of declaration of disappearance after lodging a missing report with the police. The Army authorities have maintained that she cannot be given benefits under pension regulations as her husband had been declared a deserter. She has contended in her petition that service is only forfeited for pension only in case a person has been convicted for the offence of desertion by way of a court martial, which is not so the case.
Missing for eight years
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When no Central BJP leader came to attend Modi’s lecture
Anita Katyal
Rahul’s fast-track decisions
In his formal interaction with AICC office-bearers, newly-appointed Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi heard persistent complaints from the floor about the slow pace of decision-making in the party. But the Congress leadership appears to be oblivious to the grievances of the party functionaries. Continuing with its old style of functioning, the decision to field a former Youth Congress leader Muzaffar Hussain for a seat in the Maharashtra legislative council was taken late at night, a day before nomination papers were to be filed. Hussain found himself in a bind as his daughter was getting married the same day and he was obviously preoccupied with the ceremonies which were held in a suburb at the border of Mumbai. As soon as the nikah was over, Hussain hopped onto a helicopter which flew him into Central Mumbai from where he drove at breakneck speed to the Assembly premises and made it just in time to file his papers..
A daughter’s tribute to Netaji
Legendary freedom fighter Subhash Chandra Bose's daughter Anita B Pfaff presented her book on her father titled "Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose and Germany" to President Pranab Mukerhjee at a special function at the Rashtrapati Bhavan last week. While the focus of the programme was on the book, Anita Pfaff also used the opportunity to ask the President for his help in bringing her father's "ashes" back to India from the Renkoji Temple in Japan where they have been kept. She felt this would not only be a perfect homecoming for Netaji but it would also enable people to pay their respects to him. Unlike some members of Netaji's family who believe that the ashes kept in Japan are not those of Bose, his daughter is convinced Netaji died in a plane crash in Taiwan and that the ashes kept in the Renkoji Temple are his.
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Modi ‘invited’ to attend European Parliament
Ahmedabad, February 10 "The lawmakers invited Modi to attend the European Parliament in Brussels in November this year. The Parliament will be attended by representatives of over 27 nations. There is also an invitation to attend the European Business Meet in Brussels later this year," Modi's blog said. The CM yesterday had an online interaction with the European lawmakers who were attending the 10th corporate culture and spirituality India conference in Bangalore, according to the blog post. The lawmakers appreciated Gujarat's development and congratulated Modi for making the state vibrant. According to the post, during the interaction, Modi highlighted various initiatives taken by the Gujarat government for environment protection.— PTI
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Afzal’s execution, recent SC verdicts raise questions on death penalty norms
New Delhi, February 10 In the past two days, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdulla and many civil rights activists have questioned the August 4, 2005, SC verdict confirming death penalty awarded to Afzal on the basis of mere "circumstantial evidence" relating to his role in the December 13, 2001, terror attack on Parliament. They have also found fault with the apex court ruling for sending him to the gallows for satisfying the "collective conscience" of the nation outraged by the terror attack on the "symbol of democracy." Even the SC has acknowledged in a verdict delivered on November 22, 2012 in a case from Haryana that its Benches were not following the "rarest of rare cases" principle laid down in 1980 in the Bachan Singh case. "This needs a fresh look. In any event, there is little or no uniformity in the application of this approach" while assessing the aggravating and mitigating circumstances, a Bench comprising Justices KS Radhakrishnan and Madan B Lokur had noted. On February 7 last week, a Bench of Justices KS Radhakrishnan and Dipak Misra ruled that while applying the rarest of rare cases test the judiciary should "look into a variety of factors like society's abhorrence, extreme indignation and antipathy to certain types of crimes like rape and murder of minor girls, especially intellectually challenged minor girls, minor girls with physical disability, old and inform women with those disabilities etc." Further, the rarest of rare test "depends on the perception of the society and not judge-centric that is whether the society will approve the awarding of death sentence to certain types of crime or not," the SC held while commuting the death sentence awarded to two persons for killing a couple and their two children at Bhittewad village in Amritsar district on August 21, 2000, following a land dispute. Just two days earlier, on February 5, another Bench of Justices P Sathasivam and Jagdish Singh Khehar had confirmed the capital punishment awarded to a man for kidnapping a 7-year-old boy for ransom and killing him in Tamil Nadu in July 2009. Among the seven aggravating circumstances cited by the Bench was the fact that the victim was the only male child of the parents who also had three daughters. "Purposefully killing the sole male child has grave repercussions for the parents of the deceased. Agony for parents for the loss of their only male child, who would have carried further the family lineage, and is expected to see them through their old age, is unfathomable. Extreme misery caused to the aggrieved party, certainly adds to the aggravating circumstances," the Bench had reasoned. On January 28 this year, another Bench of Justices Sathasivam and FMI Kalifulla had ruled that a Ludhiana man, sentenced to death for murdering his wife and daughter, whom he had raped when she was a minor, need not be sent to the gallows as the crime did not fall under the rarest of rare cases. The man had been sentenced to 12 years of rigorous imprisonment for raping his minor daughter in 1999 and assaulting his wife Veena. But he was released on parole in January 2005 and a year later he murdered his wife and the daughter in the presence of the other daughter. The apex court cited three reasons for commuting the death sentence One, his wife and daughters did not let him live with them when he came out on parole and thereby forced him to stay in a rented house. Two, he could have killed his other daughter also, but did not do so. Three, he was not beyond rehabilitation and this was borne by the fact that his sister had not totally given up on him. The Bench also noted that the wife was the complainant in the rape case. The Justice JS Verma committee, appointed to have a re-look at the laws relating to crime against women in the wake of people's demand for death penalty in cases involving brutal sexual assaults, has not recommended death penalty for such accused. It has also not accepted another demand for lowering the age of juvenile offenders from 18 to 16. The government has, however, clarified that these factors would be taken into account before making any change in the law.
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Congestion charge on private vehicles mooted
New Delhi, February 10 In a letter addressed to chief secretaries of all states and UTs, Secretary of the Union Ministry of Urban Development Sudhir Krishna has suggested instructions to be issued to the authorities concerned to identify the most congested areas in their cities before introducing “congestion charges”. A study on various aspects of congestion charges is also required. The letter said the problem of congestion might be partly resolved by adopting Transport Demand Management (TDM) strategies that required government investment in public transport, cycling and walking. It said business areas in some cities could be decongested due to its demographical and archaeological compulsions. Due to private vehicles, these areas become more congested. Even pedestrians face difficulty in moving. To ease traffic conditions, “congestion charges” on private vehicles can be one of the options. The letter also said providing a good public transport, pedestrianisation, cycling is condition precedent to introduction of congestion charging. It suggested that the authorities concerned in the states should take people’s opinion before introducing congestion charges. The government should launch awareness campaign to educate people on its benefits. It has dual advantage — reducing traffic on the roads on one hand and generating funds on the other hand which can go towards improving alternative systems of transport. The concept already exists in countries like Singapore, London, Rome, Stockholm, Milan, Santiago-de-Chile, New York City and Seoul. The letter further said there may be different ways for collection of charges. The most effective ways include online payment, SMS payment, prepaid and based on vehicle identification either by cameras or boxes equipped into cars. “To start with, we may have the manual permit or coupon system as was done in Singapore when the country introduced congestion pricing for the first time”, Secretary, Urban Development, said.
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Why execution of Afzal Guru was kept top secret
New Delhi, February 10 In the past few years, there have been cases of chief ministers coming out in the open to save death row convicts even after the President rejected their mercy petition, considered a final appeal. Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal did it for Balwant Singh Rajoana convicted for the assassination of former Chief Minister Beant Singh in 1995. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa went a step further and passed a resolution in the state Assembly seeking pardon for the three killers of Rajiv Gandhi after the President rejected their mercy petition. The third case was of Davinder Pal Singh Bhullar, convicted in a terror attack in Delhi. With such history of political and judicial interventions in recent memory, the MHA chose to inform Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah of the hanging around 8 pm on Friday, less than 12 hours before it was done. Nothing was made public when President Pranab Mukherjee rejected Guru's mercy petition on February 3 and Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde okayed the execution the following day. Judicial clearance for the execution was taken in equal secrecy on February 8 and Guru was told of it on Friday night, leaving no scope for any sort of judicial intervention or political debate on the matter. The mercy petitions of Balwant Singh Rajoana, Afzal Guru, Rajiv Gandhi's assassins and Davinder Pal Bhullar, became a matter of political comment, even opportunism, with opinions being sharply divided. Balwant Singh Rajoana was to be hanged on May 31 2012 following his conviction. Three days before his death sentence was to be executed, President Pratibha Patil accepted a clemency petition filed by Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal. The President returned Rajoana's mercy plea to the MHA for review, hence saving him. The MHA went ahead and stayed the execution. The Tamil Nadu Assembly had in August 2011 passed a resolution seeking commutation of the death sentence to Murugan, Santhan and Perarivalan convicted in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case. The resolution, moved by Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, urged the President to take into consideration the sentiments of Tamils. This spurred Omar Abdullah on tweet that if the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly had passed a resolution against the death sentence given to Afzal Guru, as was done by the Tamil Nadu Assembly for Rajiv Gandhi's killers, the reaction would not have been as muted as it was then. He even questioned why it was wrong to ask for clemency for Guru, if other states could seek the same for Rajiv Gandhi's assassins and Davinder Pal Bhullar. In May 2011, Patil had rejected Bhullar's mercy petition. The family backed by Sikh organisations had moved the SC pleading that capital punishment for Bhullar be commuted to life imprisonment as there had been an "inordinate" delay in deciding his mercy plea and that he was not mentally sound. The Supreme Court on hearing the family plea questioned the government whether or not it had taken into consideration factors such as Bhullar's conduct in jail.
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ITBP to procure HAPO bags
for troops at high altitudes
New Delhi, February 10 The HAPO bags will be used by troops posted at altitudes of 10,000 feet to 18,000 feet above sea level, according to an ITBP officer. These areas are located in Himachal Pradesh, Leh and Ladakh, Sikkim, Uttarakhand and Arunachal Pradesh. The HAPO bags will also be carried by long-range patrols of the ITBP, which last for about 10 to 15 days. “In high altitudes, a troop who is suffering from HAPO can be placed inside these bags. The bag is insulated from inside and can be inflated manually, by electricity and by battery. Through a duct located on the bag, oxygen can be supplied to the person from a cylinder,” said the officer. The ITBP will also procure about 200 portable, light-weight oxygen cylinders. The force will also be provided with 24 oxygen concentrators for generating oxygen for many people. This device will be first used on an experimental basis. It can be used by troops who get stuck in high altitude locations due to an avalanche or bad weather. According to reliable sources, the tender for supplying HAPO bags, oxygen cylinders and concentrators was opened to companies in December last year. The equipments are likely to be procured in a month. The officer said before these bags were introduced to the force, the only two methods of providing medical aid to a person diagnosed with HAPO, was to call for immediate air evacuation or transport the person to lower altitudes by foot. “The evacuation of a sick person by a chopper to the sea level usually causes his immediate death. So we have advised our troops to instead carry the man by foot to lower altitudes, which can take days, eventually causing his death,” said the officer. Although, regular medical checkups of all ITBP personnel are conducted before they are sent to high altitudes, any one of them can be diagnosed with HAPO. “The sickness is caused due to shortage of oxygen at high altitudes, where there is low atmospheric pressure. The lungs get filled with liquid. Oxygen does not reach the brain and other muscles. The person has difficulty in breathing, coughs, has trouble in walking and exercising and suffers memory loss,” added the officer. An ITBP officer who was on a Himalayan expedition was diagnosed with HAPO. “At a high altitude, he was drinking coffee and had suddenly collapsed. He was brought to Delhi and then to Bareilly (Uttar Pradesh). He was eating dal and roti, but he could not even place the food in his mouth. He could not coordinate his hand that either touched his forehead or his ear,” said the sources.
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After Sikhs, Catholics question divorce law
New Delhi, February 10 A three-member Bench headed by Chief Justice Altamas Kabir passed an order seeking the Centre’s response to the PIL filed by Clarence Pais. On October 25, 2012 another Bench headed by the CJI had issued notice to the Centre on a petition seeking “separate and distinct” laws for Sikhs in the matter of divorce, maintenance, succession and adoption. PIL petitioner’s advocate Ajit S Bhasme said thousands of Catholics across the country were facing prosecution for committing bigamy despite the divorce obtained from the Church. Even the Christian priests who granted such divorces could be prosecuted in such cases as under the present laws Christian marriages could be dissolved only by regular courts under the Christian Marriage Act. While the Christian Marriage Act allowed solemnisation of marriages under the Canon Law, it did not recognise divorces granted by churches. However, Muslims were being allowed divorce by saying ‘talaq’ thrice, Bhamse said. According to the petition relating to Sikhs, the Anand Marriage (Amendment) Act 2012, notified in June, has solved only the problem of registration of marriages by Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists. Earlier, they had to register their marriages under the Hindu Marriage Act 1955. For other matters relating to succession, adoption, divorce and maintenance, people professing these three faiths still have to resort to the Hindu Succession Act, 1956, the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956 and the Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act 1956. The petitioners questioned the wisdom of including Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists under the laws meant only for the Hindus, if one were to go by the titles. “When all the four religions stand admittedly on an equal footing and are independent of each other, is it right for the legislature” to mention just one religion in the title, they wanted to know.
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Schools closed in Nepal to protest against Indian textbooks
Kathmandu, February 10 The All Nepal Teachers' Organisation and the Akhil Krantikari students union affiliated to the CPN-Maoist, the breakaway faction of ruling UCPN-Maoist, has accused the DAV Sushil Kedia Bishwa Bharati Higher Secondary School of following Indian textbooks under CBSE pattern and expelling two teachers without any reason. The Maoists had last month shut down the DAV school for two weeks for the same reason. According to DEO of Lalitpur Mankaji Shrestha, various rounds of talks between the two sides remained fruitless. — PTI
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Odisha to hand over 1,554 acres to POSCO
Bhubaneswar, February 10 "The state government has already handed over 546 acre of land to POSCO and the rest 1,554 acres would be handed over to the company soon," official sources said quoting recent status report on POSCO -India project. — PTI
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With China seemingly on a dam-constructing spree over the Brahmaputra, including one near the point where the river enters India, the government has given the go-ahead for a big hydropower project in Arunachal Pradesh to mark India's stake in a river that is in many ways a lifeline of the strategic North-East.
Amid chants of “Har Har Gange”, devotees, including a fair sprinkling of foreigners, watched awestruck as “naga sadhus” with their matted hair, ash-smeared naked bodies adorned with garlands of marigold and “rudraksh” moved in processions with their “Shri Mahants” and “Mahamandaleshwars” perched atop decorated chariots, horses and elephants.
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Delhi last week for a lecture at Delhi University's Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC) once again proved that the BJP's Prime Ministerial aspirant is a loner and does not like to share the limelight with his colleagues. Modi came to the college with his officials but not a single leader from the Central BJP office was present at the lecture even though several former SRCC students hold prominent positions in the party today. Arun Jaitley, easily the most senior BJP leader from the SRCC, who is said to have been the brains behind this event, was conspicuous by his absence. On his part, Modi flew into Delhi for the programme and left soon after without meeting any senior BJP leader. BJP insiders are not surprised as Modi displayed the same disdain for his colleagues during the recent Gujarat elections. He made it clear that party leaders from Delhi were not required to campaign in his home state while those who did go to Gujarat put in a mere token appearance. Although senior BJP leaders are uneasy with unilateral Modi's style of functioning, they may have no choice but to endorse his candidature for the Prime Minister's post in view of the groundswell of support for him from the party cadres..
