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MARINES ROW
2013-14 Medical college exams
Jiah suicide case |
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Mulling AFSPA withdrawal: Shinde Advani-Modi cold war far from over
Pak troops violate ceasefire twice
Online data snooping by US worries India
Obituary
Indian team in Pakistan
to discuss power supply
SMS rail ticketing from July
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MARINES ROW
Italian Deputy Foreign Minister Staffan de Mistura, who was recently appointed by Italian Prime Minister Enroci Letta as a Special Envoy to work out a fair and balanced outcome of the row over the two marines, met External Affairs Salman Khurshid here last night. MEA spokesman Syed Akbaruddin said Khurshid explained to the Italian envoy the situation on the judicial process involving the two marines --- Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone. He provided the Italian envoy an update on the developments since their last meeting. The Indian minister told him that that the executive has a limited role in the marines’ case since the matter was in the highest court of the land. Khurshid said India too wished that the marines’ case be resolved expeditiously so that it did not remain an issue in an otherwise excellent relationship between the two countries. Mistura has been a frequent visitor to India ever since two Italian marines were arrested in connection with the killing of the
two Indian fishermen, apparently mistaking them for pirates. Recently, the Supreme Court had endorsed the government’s decision to ask the National Investigation Agency, which usually handles cases of terrorism, to probe
the killing of the two Indian fishermen by the Italian marines. Khurshid had sought to reassure the Italian government that the assignment of the case to the NIA should be seen only as a task given to a probe agency not under the NIA Act but by nomination. Special envoy meets Khurshid
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2013-14 Medical college exams
New Delhi, June 11 A vacation bench comprising Justices Gyan Sudha Misra and Madan B Lokur made the clarification on a plea by advocate Prashant Bhushan that some of the medical colleges were resorting to rampant malpractices by selling seats for crores of rupees to students who had failed to get even 50 per cent of marks. The colleges were taking advantage of the ambiguity in the interim order passed by a three-Judge Bench on May 13, Bhushan said. On May 13, a Bench headed by Justice Altamas Kabir had allowed colleges across the country to admit students for under graduate and post graduate courses - MBBS, MD, MS, BDS and MDS - either through NEET or through any other existing means. It had, however, clarified that the admission process for the subsequent years would depend on its judgment to be delivered in the first week of July. The Bench, which included Justices Anil R Dave and Vikramajit Sen, had said it was allowing admissions under the existing methods in the interest of the students as well as patients, who were being affected by dearth of doctors in several colleges-cum-hospitals in view of the delay in the admission to post graduate courses. Through a notification issued on December 21, 2010, the Medical Council of India had directed all the medical colleges to take students only through NEET. This was challenged by reputed unaided, private medical colleges, contending that the notification was against the SC guidelines in the TMA Pai case granting autonomy to them in admissions and other aspects. A number of private medical colleges have been taking students either through tests conducted by individual institutions, their associations or the state governments concerned. MCI introduced NEET, contending that these methods had bred corruption and malpractices, besides placing a huge burden on students as they have to write multiple tests conducted at various places in the country. sale of seats
The court said some of the medical colleges were resorting to rampant malpractices by selling seats for crores of rupees to students who had failed to get even 50 per cent marks
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Jiah suicide case
Mumbai, June 11 Suraj, son of actor couple Aditya Pancholi and Zarina Wahab, was yesterday arrested after being booked under IPC Section 306 for allegedly abetting Jiah's suicide, a week after she ended her life at her Juhu home. Seeking his custody, the police told the court that it had recovered five love letters exchanged between Suraj and Jiah and it wanted to verify the contents. The CCTV footage of the hotel and the house where the two went the day Jiah ended her life had also been recovered, Public Prosecutor AK Pacharane told the court. There were serious allegations of threat, assault and rape against Suraj, he told the court. A distressed Jiah had aborted their baby and this aspect too needed to be probed, the prosecution said. Accepting the prosecution's arguments, Magistrate Seema Jadhav remanded Suraj in police custody.
— PTI
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M’rashtra Cabinet gets 6 new MLAs
Mumbai, June 11 Ministers and office-bearers of the NCP, which is part of a coalition with Chavan’s Congress, had last week submitted their resignations to Pawar. Among those sworn in included NCP state president Madhukar Pichad, Sanjay Savkhare, Uday Samant, Suresh Dhas and Shashikant Shinde. While Shinde and Sopal will be Cabinet ministers, Savkhare, Dhas and Samant will be ministers of state. Independent legislator from Barshi in Solapur Dilip Sopal was also inducted today. The five NCP ministers who have been dropped are: Ramraje Nimbalkar (water resources-Krishna valley development), Babanrao Pachpute (tribal development), Laxman Dhobale (water supply), Bhaskar Jadhav (minister of state for urban development) and Gulabrao Devkar (minister of state for transport). Some of the ministers dropped in the reshuffle have been embroiled in various controversies. The portfolios of these ministers will be announced shortly, state government sources said. The reshuffle has drawn criticism from the Opposition Shiv Sena and the BJP, which have accused the NCP of retaining several tainted ministers. Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar said he had nothing to do with today’s exercise. “I got to know the names of these ministers only after Pawar saheb (his uncle and NCP chief) asked me to forward the names to the Governor,” he said. Ajit Pawar also scotched speculation that Home Minister RR Patil would be shifted to the party. He added that a younger leader would be drafted to lead the NCP in
Maharashtra.
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Mulling AFSPA withdrawal: Shinde
Shinde was responding to queries on whether his endorsement of a “bettered situation in Kashmir” could result in a review of AFSPA. A final decision will be taken only after talking to all stakeholders, he said. When asked if an all-party meet could be the mode of consultation, Shinde said there was no need for it. “Only the states concerned would be consulted before taking a final call on repealing AFSPA”. The AFSPA grants special powers to the armed forces and is in force in Jammu and Kashmir and the North-Eastern states. At the Chief Ministers conference on internal security on June 5, Shinde had said: “(The situation in) Jammu and Kashmir is particularly showing marked improvement since 2010. At the same conference Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah had demanded a phased removal of AFSPA from his state and questioned why it was necessary to have such laws in his state when no such laws were enforced in Maoist-affected areas. Demanding the removal of AFSPA, he had gone on to say, “We cannot wait for the last gun to fall silent before moving ahead positively on this important issue.” Separately, Shinde today rejected Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's demand for a White Paper on internal security and said the government was following a two-prong strategy of development and offensive action to tackle Naxalism. "Mr Modi has been the Chief Minister for nine years. He has been attending it (the CM’s conference on internal security) every year. What sort of White Paper do they want? I don't think any White Paper is required,” said the Home Minister. Shindespeak ON AFSPA Only the states concerned would be consulted before taking a final call on repealing AFSPA. On Red terror We have got a two-prong action directive from the all-party meeting that we should go ahead with development work and at the same time act against Maoists. Both Centre and state security forces will work together (in tackling the menace).
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Advani-Modi cold war far from over Ahmedabad, June 11 Political observers in Gujarat believe that he would not miss any opportunity in future to “teach a lesson” to his one-time political mentor, who was instrumental in bringing Modi to active politics from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh cadres and made him the Chief Minister. The bond between Advani and Modi strengthened particularly during the former’s historic “Ram Rathyatra” in September 1990 from Somnath to Ayodhya. Modi, who was the organising secretary of the party in Gujarat, was behind planning the entire Rathyatra that catapulted both Advani and the BJP to the national political scenario. Advani was instrumental in handing over reins of Gujarat to Modi. Since then, Modi never looked back. The relations between the two strained with Advani’s praise of Mohammad Ali Jinnah during his trip to Pakistan in 2005 as Modi refused to back him up in the face of onslaught from both the RSS and the BJP hierarchy. As Modi continued to gain more popularity, Advani’s support kept dwindling. Modi’s “Sadbhavana Mission” fast in September 2011, where he for the first time made his intentions to jump to the national scenario clear, was perhaps the last nail in the relations between the “Guru” and his disciple.
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Pak troops violate ceasefire twice
Jammu, June 11 Last night, around 8.10 pm, Pakistani troops opened small arms fire in Nangi Tekri area of KG sector, said officiating Defence PRO, SN
Acharya. While he said the Indian Army didn’t respond to the firing, an intelligence source said the Army had retaliated. In the gun duel that lasted for 10 minutes, there were no casualties or injuries to the Indian troopers. The source said the firing from Pakistan targeted Kranti and Kirpan posts in Nangi Tekri area. “This afternoon, they (Pakistani troops) again violated the truce deal around 1.10 pm in Nangi Tekri area, opening small arms fire. This time, the Army responded to the unprovoked and unwarranted firing by Pakistani troops, giving them a calibrated response,” said the spokesperson. He said the firing involving the two sides lasted till 2.20 pm. On June 7, two days after Nawaz Sharif took oath of office on June 5, promising to pursue good relations with India, Pakistani troops had opened heavy fire in Mandi sector, killing Naib Subedar Bachan Singh of 3 Garhwal Rifles, a native of Shibu Nagar, tehsil Kotdwara, district Pouri Garhwal, in
Uttarakhand. On January 8, Pakistani troops, aided by LeT ultras, had brutally killed two Indian troopers - Lance Naik Hemraj and Lance Naik Sudhakar Singh - in Balnoi sector of Poonch district. After killing the soldiers, they had mutilated their bodies and decapitated the head of Lance Naik
Hemraj. Meanwhile, Pakistan today alleged two IAF jets entered 7 km into its airspace over Punjab province. Pakistan media reports claimed the incident allegedly occurred around 10.40 am over Pakpattan area — a charge reportedly denied by the
IAF. The reports stated that following a scramble by two PAF jets, the two IAF jets exited Pakistan’s airspace. IAF spokesperson Squadron Leader Priya Joshi said, “The aircraft seem to have flown close to the border and it appears to be a technical violation. The same has been conveyed to Pakistan.” The planes were on a routine training sortie, Joshi added. 2 IAF jets ‘enter’ Pak airspace
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Online data snooping by US worries India
“If it is discovered that Indian laws relating to privacy of information of ordinary Indian citizens have been violated, we would find it unacceptable,” MEA spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin told reporters here. His response came following revelations that the NSA has been spying on emails and social networking activity, and listening in on internet calls around the world since 2007. A former CIA agent revealed to the newspapers Washington Post and Guardian that the US agency had been using technology giants Microsoft, Google, Apple, Yahoo, Facebook, Skype and YouTube to spy on private information of users around the world. The programme, codenamed “PRISM”, has been in operation since 2007. It is aimed at monitoring foreign communication that takes place on US servers. He noted that the two countries regularly conduct a cyber security dialogue at the level of their respective National Security Councils at which this issue would be taken up. “We intend to seek inputs and details during conversation between interlocutors on both sides,’’ the spokesman added. The CPM also took strong objection to the NSA mining internet and telephone data for intelligence purposes, violating the sovereignty of nations and privacy of individuals who use such internet services. “Not only should the Government of India protest against the intrusive intelligence gathering by the US with the help of companies such as Microsoft, Google, Yahoo and Facebook, but it should also join hands with other countries to make these companies accountable to users,’’ the party added.
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Obituary
Hailing from a freedom fighter’s family, his illustrious father Pt Ravi Shankar Shukla was the Chief Minister of undivided Madhya Pradesh, a state also headed by his elder brother Shyama Charan. Vidya Charan entered Parliament for the first time in 1957 from Mahasamund and returned to the Lok Sabha eight times. While the octogenarian leader held many portfolios during his long parliamentary career, he will always be remembered for running the Information and Broadcasting Ministry during the 1975-77 emergency era and strictly enforcing censorship of the Press. Such was his clout in the establishment that Shukla’s word could brook no defiance - “heads will roll” was his infamous quote to bureaucrats who refused to toe the “sarkari” line, while journalists and editors faced the heat with the government suspending freedom of expression during the period. Besides imposing censorship with a firm hand, Shukla, who was brought into the ministry after the then I&B Minister Inder Kumar Gujral was eased out ostensibly for not listening to Sanjay Gandhi, also made sure that songs of Kishore Kumar were not played on either All India Radio or Doordarshan after the latter played truant at a show that had the blessings of the Congress. But soon after emergency was lifted and political realignment took place, Shukla moved away from the Congress, a trait that he demonstrated on a few occasions even later. After having rejoined the Congress under Rajiv Gandhi, he threw his lot with the Jan Morcha of VP Singh and swiftly changed sides to join the Samajwadi Janata Party of Chandrashekar to become the External Affairs Minister. He later joined the PV Narasimha Rao Cabinet in 1991 as the Water Resources Minister but left the party after Ajit Jogi upstaged him to become the Chief Minister of newly formed Chhattisgarh. He joined the Bharatiya Janata Party before the 2004 Lok Sabha elections but lost to Jogi before he finally returned to the Congress fold in 2007. Over the past few years, the octogenarian leader was active in Chhattisgarh politics and it was during one such engagement that he fell to the Maoist bullets.
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Indian team in Pakistan
to discuss power supply
New Delhi, June 11 The delegation will
also have discussions with Chief Minister of Punjab (Pakistan) Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif, they added. The discussions would primarily focus on ways to transmit electricity generated in India to Pakistan. Initially, the supply would be around 500 MW to the Punjab region (Pakistan) with broader plans to increase it to around 1,000 MW, they added. Once the modalities are worked out for having transmission links between the two nations, Pakistan could buy electricity from Indian power exchanges, sources said. The visit comes against the backdrop of Pakistan reeling under severe power shortages. This had also become a major issue during the recent elections won by Nawaz Sharif-led PML-N. The proposal to supply electricity to Pakistan has been on the cards for some time and discussions had been held between the two sides earlier on it. A recent Pakistan media report had said the country’s new government would seriously consider importing 1,000 MW power from India.
— PTI
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SMS rail ticketing from July
New Delhi, June 11 Calling it an environmentally friendly move, a senior official said: “Mobile-based booking provides the users ease of booking tickets from anywhere and anytime. There will be no requirement of a printout because the ticketing message will be considered valid for travel.”
— PTI
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Suraj Pancholi, actress Jiah Khan’s boyfriend, was today remanded in police custody till June 13 by a Mumbai court after prosecution said his interrogation was necessary following allegations of threat, assault and rape against him by the actress in a note discovered three days after her suicide.
New Delhi, June 11
New Delhi, June 11
New Delhi, June 11
Vidya Charan Shukla was an old school politician who began his journey with the Congress five decades ago and travelled across the political spectrum only to return to his parent party five years ago.