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Haryana MPs air grouses before Rahul Gandhi
PM’s post not a priority: Cong VP
Nagaland, Meghalaya CMs take oath
Haryana asks two ex-ministers to vacate govt houses
Navy copter crashes near Vizag; two missing
LS remains paralysed
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North not providing enough nutrition
Service revolver not used in UP officer’s killing
Blast ‘link’: Andhra cancels remission to life convict
Kerala delegation meets Bansal
VVIP copter deal: CBI examines Aeromatrix CEO
Public hearing on Gujarat N-plant held amid protest
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Haryana MPs air grouses before Rahul Gandhi
Chandigarh, March 5 Party MPs raised issues of alleged regional bias in development, atrocities on the Scheduled Castes (SCs) and alleged favouritism for dominant classes even as Rahul counselled them to be battle-ready for the next year’s parliamentary and state Assembly elections. A strong plea to raise contentious issues within the party fora and not before the media was also made at the meeting. While Hooda’s known detractors, Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Kumari Selja and Gurgaon MP Rao Inderjit, who recently launched the Haryana Insaaf Manch, were not that vocal at the meeting, Union minister’s close confidant Rajya Sabha MP Ishwar Singh alleged how the Scheduled Castes (SCs) were being discriminated against in the state. Faridabad MP Avtar Singh Bhadana raised the bogey of alleged favours to dominant castes in the matter of jobs and other privileges. An MP said the development works were concentrated in a few areas and this was leading to resentment among party cadres. While Hooda’s son and MP from Rohtak Deepinder Hooda and Sirsa MP Ashok Tanwar went ga ga over the “unprecedented” development during the Hooda regime, Rajya Sabha MP and AICC general secretary struck a discordant note saying all that was seen by the party functionaries “might not be true”. In Chandigarh, Hooda took pains to refute allegations of regional bias, particularly those levelled by Rao Inderjit, claiming that all were getting justice under his regime. Change of Guard Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday assured party MPs that the new president of the Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC) would be appointed soon. Phool Chand Mullana has been the acting president of the body for around two years now.
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PM’s post not a priority: Cong VP
New Delhi, March 5 Spelling out his “vision” for the party and his forthcoming “mission”, Rahul Gandhi told a group of Congress MPs that he was more interested in strengthening the party organisation and building a broad-based cadre of future leaders. The Congress vice-president’s remarks come at a time when there is a growing clamour in the party that he should be declared its Prime Ministerial candidate before next year’s General Election. Taking a leaf from his speech at the Jaipur AICC session, the 42-year-old Congress leader made it abundantly clear that he was in politics for the long haul and was willing to spend the next 10 to 15 years in empowering more and more people who could aspire for top positions. “I want to give voice to the middle tier... empower the middle-level leaders. Why should there be only one Prime Ministerial candidate... why not 200?” he remarked, adding that there should be a more equitable distribution of power in a party. Speaking candidly, Rahul also bemoaned the “high command” culture in the Congress, saying he understood how MPs felt without power. However, he remarked that the situation was no better in other political parties. If 15 to 20 persons call the shots in the Congress, there are some parties, like the BSP, which are run by one leader, the Samajwadi Party by two leaders and the BJP by five to six leaders. “I want to empower all MPs, the 5,000-odd legislators and the vast army of panchayat leaders,” he said even as he quoted Nishkam Karma from the Bhagwad Gita. Rahul also admitted the high command culture took root during his grandmother Indira Gandhi’s regime. Seeking to rationalise her decisions, Rahul said she “was under severe assault”, adding, “I knew her and, maybe, if I had been in her place, I would have taken the same decision.” Speaking publicly about his marriage plans for the first time, Rahul hinted there was nothing on the anvil. “If I get married and have children, I will develop vested interests.... I will start thinking about how my children can take my place,” he said. Rahul said he drew inspiration from Mahatma Gandhi who was his hero because he did not aspire for power and instead focussed on building the Congress. “When people went to him with their problems, they had the confidence that he would be fair in his judgement as he was not hankering for power” he pointed out.
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Nagaland, Meghalaya CMs take oath
All 11 ministers in Rio’s new cabinet are from the NPF. The party had won 38 seats in the 60-member House. It is supported by two alliance partners, the BJP and the JD(U) with one MLA each, while it has the unconditional support of seven Independents. Nagaland Governor Nikhil Kumar administered the oath of office and
secrecy to 63-year-old Rio and his ministers-Noke Konyak, TR Zeliang, G Kaito Aye, Imkong L Imchen, Kuzholuzo Nienu, Kiyaneilie
Peseyie, Yanthungo Patton, CM Chang, EE Pangteang, S Pangyuh Phom and R Merentoshi Jamir. In Meghalaya, Governor RS Mooshahary administered the oath of office to Mukul Sangma (47) as the Chief Minister of the state for the second consecutive term. Sangma will announce the list of his council of ministers later this week after getting approval from the Congress high command. The Congress emerged the single largest party with 29 seats, two short of majority, in the 60-member House in Meghalaya.The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), which won two seats, and 11 out of the 13 independent legislators have extended “unconditional support” to the
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Haryana asks two ex-ministers to vacate govt houses
Chandigarh, March 5 As a petition on the issue came up before the Punjab and Haryana High Court, Haryana said a 15-day deadline had been set for former Power Minister Savitri Jindal to vacate her official accommodation in Chandigarh. Jindal had been “unauthorisedly” occupying house number 76 in Sector 7. Another former minister, OP Jain has been asked to vacate house No 78 in the same sector, in 15 days. An official communication was sent to the two former ministers on March 4, the court was informed. On the last date of hearing, the high court was informed that Haryana politicians Kiran Chaudhary, Savitri Jindal and OP Jain were to pay Rs 29,12,995, Rs 89,29,455 and Rs 38,08,723, respectively, for overstaying in government houses. The Punjab Government also told the Bench that former Chief Minister of Punjab Rajinder Kaur Bhattal had been issued a show-cause notice under the Public Premises and Land (Eviction & Rent Recovery) Act, 1972, asking her to explain why she should not be evicted from the house. Bhattal has also been issued a notice to pay a penal rent of more than Rs 45 lakh. She has been asked to reply to the notice by March 21 by either appearing in person or through a representative.
ON NOTICE
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Navy copter crashes near Vizag; two missing
New Delhi, March 5 The Chetak helicopter crashed at around 3 pm during a routine training sortie, they said.
The Cheetah and Chetak helicopters are the vintage of the 60s and the 70s and are the mainstay of the armed forces for ferrying small groups of personnel and light loads. The Navy has already initiated the process for acquiring 56 new light copters with twin-engines for replacing the vintage helicopters. The IAF and the Army are also in the process of replacing their fleet of such helicopters. In a similar crash in Panaji last October, three Naval personnel, including two pilots, had died when their machine crashed at the Dabolim Airport while landing. Before that incident, a Navy light helicopter crashed in 2005 when a copter from Goa met with an accident near Belgaum in Karnataka on its way to Vishakhapatnam. —
PTI
Training sortie gone wrong
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LS remains paralysed
New Delhi, March 5 At 11 am, the House commenced proceedings when Speaker Meira Kumar welcomed a Parliamentary delegation from Macedonia led by Trajko Veljanoski. Within minutes, MPs from the ruling as well Opposition parties stormed into the well of the House forcing the first adjournment. The House re-assembled at Congress members from Punjab Partap Bajwa, Santosh Choudhary, Mohinder Singh Kaypee, Sukhdev Singh Libra and Ravneet Singh Bittu raised the matter of a woman being beaten up by the Punjab Police. They raised slogans against the Akali Dal-BJP government in the state over the incidence of policemen beating up a woman and her aged father who were complaining of molestation. BSP members were vociferous against the Samajwadi Party’s rule in Uttar Pradesh demanding the arrest of Raghuraj Pratap Singh, alias Raja Bhaiya, for his alleged role.
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North not providing enough nutrition
New Delhi, March 5 As many as 65 per cent children who must get supplementary nutrition (SN) under the centrally-sponsored Integrated Child Development Services Scheme (ICDS) that seeks to fight malnutrition in India are not fed in Jammu and Kashmir even though one in three kids in the state’s anganwaris have been found to be malnourished. Shortfall in the coverage of beneficiaries under the SN component of the ICDS is equally high in Haryana (53 pc), Punjab (47 pc), Uttarakhand (41 pc) and Himachal (31 pc). Moreover, while norms under the ICDS require average daily expenditure per child per day on supplementary nutrition to be Rs 2.06 (2006 to 2009) and Rs 4.21 (2009 onwards), the northern states have been spending woefully less. Punjab performs most poorly on the count. Between 2006 and 2011, Punjab never spent more than Rs 2 per child per day on SN. It spent only Rs 1.6 in 2011 while Uttarakhand spent Rs 1.58; Himachal Rs 3.89 and Haryana Rs 3.07. J&K maintained no data on this aspect. Even India wide expenditure on SN was found to be low at Rs 3.64 per child per day against the norm of Rs 4.21 in 2011. These and more revelations form part of the CAG’s latest performance audit of the ICDS. The last such audit was done in 2000 but the new review was necessitated considering that despite increased spending India’s infant mortality rate remains a high of 47 per 1000 live births as against just 16 in China and 14 in Sri Lanka. High IMR can be attributed to several deficiencies revealed in the ICDS by the CAG. Shortfall in the expenditure on supplementary nutrition component of the ICDS ranges from 15 per cent to 36 per cent across India when compared to the mandated requirements. The northern states are faring poorly on several other counts. For instance, Haryana has not been spending a single penny out of funds the Ministry of WCD releases for buying medicine kits for anganwaris. The shortfall for both Haryana and Punjab in this component has been high, 100 pc for Haryana and around 70 pc for Punjab.
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Service revolver not used in UP officer’s killing
Lucknow, March 5 “The search for the missing revolver is still on,” he added. Three days after the murder of CO Zia-ul-Haq, Pradhan Nanhe Yadav and his brother Suresh in Kunda, Pratapgarh, no breakthrough has been made in the investigation so far. — TNS
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Blast ‘link’: Andhra cancels remission to life convict
Hyderabad, March 5 Facing embarrassment over the remission granted way back in 2009, Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy signed an order, cancelling the remission. Maqbool, along with another alleged IM operative Imran Khan, is currently lodged in Delhi's Tihar Jail in connection with the 2012 Pune blast case. The National Investigation Agency (NIA), which is probing the Hyderabad blast case, had last week interrogated Maqbool and Imran for four days here for their possible role in the February 21 twin bomb blasts at Dilsukhnagar that had left 16 dead and 120 injured. The duo was later taken back to Delhi. After their arrest by the Delhi police in October last year, Maqbool and Imran had admitted that they had conducted reconnaissance of Dilsukhnagar and other key public places in Hyderabad to plant bombs. The state government received flak from the opposition for failing to prevent the terror strikes despite alerts from the central intelligence agencies. Adding to the state government’s woes was the revelation that Maqbool's life sentence was remitted by it in 2009 when K Rosaiah was the Chief Minister. A native of Nanded in Maharashtra, Maqbool was involved in a murder case in Nizamabad district. He was sentenced for life in 2004. He and his brother Syed Mukhtar Ahmed were among 940 prisoners, who were granted remission on October 2, 2009. Maqbool was even given a "good conduct" certificate by the Cherlapally Jail authorities in Hyderabad. After his release, Maqbool allegedly developed links with terror outfit and is suspected to be involved in some other cases of blasts. Governor ESL Narasimhan, meanwhile, today approved the file cancelling the remission to Maqbool. In view of the serious criminal offence committed by Maqbool, the Chief Minister has decided to cancel the remission, the official sources said. As per the guidelines, remission is applicable to life convicts who have spent seven years in prison. One of the conditions says that the remission will be cancelled if the released convict commits any criminal offence again. It is said that Maqbool had actually served the sentence of nine years, four months and 10 days out of the total over 10 years. In view of the cancellation of the remission, the police would take appropriate action to see that he serves the remaining period of sentence.
Role under lens The role of Syed Maqbool, a suspected IM operative, in the twin explosions is under investigation Maqbool, along with another alleged IM operative Imran Khan, is currently lodged in Delhi's Tihar Jail in connection with the 2012 Pune blast case
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Kerala delegation meets Bansal
New Delhi, March 5 The meeting came after the state's political class, cutting across party lines, criticised the Rail Budget terming it as totally disappointing for Kerala. State Transport Minister Aryadan Mohammed had said that Kerala had suffered "utter neglect." The delegation said the "meagre amount of Rs 53 crore" allocated in the Rail Budget was not enough and more money should be pumped to complete the rail coach factory in Palakkad, which was announced four years ago.
— PTI
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VVIP copter deal: CBI examines Aeromatrix CEO
New Delhi, March 5
Bakshi was examined for a few hours as the CBI team was not satisfied with the details given by him yesterday. If need be, other senior officers of the firm would also be examined, sources said. Bakshi was earlier with the IDS Infotech. When the IDS has left the business of chopper deal and handed over all stake to Aeromatrix, Bakshi had joined it as the CEO. The agency is trying to find out the criminal liability of suspects in Rs 350 crore kickbacks in chopper deal case. Once the criminal liability is conformed, the CBI will register an FIR, the sources said. The investigating agency suspects that a portion of Rs 350 crore bribe was allegedly routed to Indian nationals, through Tunisia and Mauritius, camouflaged as payments for engineering contracts to Chandigarh-based IDS Infotech and Aeromatrix. While examining the CEO, the CBI team tried to collect exact amount of kickbacks received by Aeromatrix and its role in the chopper deal.
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Public hearing on Gujarat N-plant held amid protest
Ahmedabad, March 5 Opposed to the proposed power project to be set up by the Nuclear Power Corporation of India, the villagers, who were complaining against alleged procedural lapses by the concerned authorities, demanded cancellation of the public hearing. About 4,500 villagers in over 128 villages likely to be affected by the proposed nuclear power project were prevented by the police from appearing for public hearing with protest black arm bands. The sarpanch of Jaspar village, Shaktisinh Gohil, was also not allowed to represent the protesting villagers before the public hearing conducted by the Bhavnagar district collector and officials of the Gujarat Pollution Control Board.
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India, Kazakhstan to intensify N-energy cooperation
New Delhi: India and Kazakhstan on Tuesday decided to intensify their cooperation in the civil nuclear energy field as New Delhi sought its support for the ONGC Videsh Limited’s bid for a stake in the Kashagan Oil Field in the Caspian Sea. External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid held talks with his Kazakh counterpart on various regional and international issues of mutual interest and reviewed status of bilateral ties. — TNS
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More interested in strengthening party base and building broad-based cadre of future leaders
Guwahati, March 5
The CBI today asked Aeromatrix CEO Parveen Bakshi to join the investigations for examination of all the details and allegations laid by the suspects in Italy. His name was reportedly disclosed by Guido Haschkhe, one of the suspects in Italy. 
