Bihar BJP rocked by dissidence; says JD(U) poaching its MLAs 

Patna, July 21
Rattled by revolt after the ruling JD(U) snapped ties with it last month, Bihar BJP today suspended its MLA Amarnath Gami, who had rebelled against senior leader Sushil Kumar Modi, for six years and accused the Nitish Kumar government of "luring" its legislators.

The JD(U), however, claimed there was "panic" in the BJP and that a dozen of its MLAs were ready to "cross over" as they were unhappy with the party leadership.

Gami was suspended for six years for alleging that Sushil Kumar Modi had "hijacked" the party. Gami had also accused Modi of being power hungry, monopolising party affairs and promoting sycophants while neglecting genuine workers like him.

Gami, MLA from Hayaghat in Darbhanga district, claimed that nearly a dozen other BJP MLAs harboured similar views about Modi and they would come into the open gradually.

He said he was suspended without serving any show-cause notice. This was an example of Modi's "undemocratic" way of functioning, he said. State BJP president Mangal Pandey dismissed Gami's allegations and justified his suspension.

Hitting out at JD(U), Pandey said, "Our MLAs are being lured away. They are being offered ministerial posts and their relatives are being promised seats in the legislative council".

He accused Chief Minister Nitish Kumar of trying to shore up his numbers by wooing BJP legislators. "The day the Chief Minister expands his Council of Ministers, there will be a split in the JD(U). So, he is trying to increase his numbers in the Assembly".

After dumping the BJP last month in the wake of Narendra Modi being appointed as chief of the party's election campaign committee, the Nitish Kumar government had comfortably won a vote of confidence in the 243-member Bihar Assembly with the Congress backing it.

A total of 126 votes, including four of the Congress and one of the CPI, were cast in favour of the confidence motion, while 24 members, including 22 from the Lalu Prasad-led RJD, voted against the motion as the BJP members staged a walkout before the vote. State BJP vice-president Sanjay Mayukh said Pandey had suspended Gami for anti-party activities. — PTI

 

MLA suspended The Bihar unit of the BJP on Sunday suspended its MLA Amarnath Gami for six years for rebelling against senior leader Sushil Kumar Modi Gami had alleged that Modi had "hijacked" the party

bihar Mid-day meal horror
No monitoring, warnings ignored

Gandaman/New Delhi, July 21
The Bihar village school where 23 children died by poisoning last week had been providing lunch under a government-sponsored scheme without checks or monitoring by local officials to see if the food was stored carefully or cooked properly.

Although it is the first such disaster in the "midday meal" project that feeds about 120 million children every day across the country, a Reuters review of audit reports and research papers shows officials have long ignored warnings of the lack of oversight and accountability in the programme.

"You only come and do checks when you get complaints or when there are serious cases," said Rudranarayan Ram, the local education administrator for the Gandaman village.

The poisoning, which police suspect was caused by storing cooking oil in a used pesticide container, killed the children so quickly that some died in their parents' arms while being taken to hospital. Ram, who was tasked with monitoring the programme, said the headmistress of the school, who has fled, bought the food and the oil in which it was cooked.

He just doesn't know from where nor how the items were stored. Although fatal contamination is extremely rare in the midday meal scheme, auditors in several states have described unhygienic conditions in which the food under the programme is prepared and served, and the poor quality of food itself. — Reuters

1 year in office
Pranab brings Rashtrapati Bhawan closer to people
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 21
President Pranab Mukherjee completes his one year in the Rashtrapati Bhawan on July 25. For a person who remained part of active politics for over four decades, the pace has become less hectic now.

Unveiling of a bust of Mahatma Gandhi sculpted by Ram Sunder Das near the Ashoka Hall, opening of a library and stadium besides a dinner for the Union Council of Ministers are some of the engagements planned for the day.

Having settled in the stately 340-room presidential house built by the British, one of the first things Mukherjee did was to begin the restoration of the heritage building and revive interest in the historical piece of architect that sits majestically on the Raisina Hall.

“The President believes the Rashtrapati Bhawan belongs to the nation and the people at large. It is a legacy we must safeguard and protect to the best of our ability. The President is a man of humble origins and will like to share his life in the Rashtrapati Bhawan with the common man…to have larger participation of ordinary Indians in its activities,” Press Secretary to the President Venu Rajamony said here surmising the change Mukherjee is bringing about in the building once known as the Viceregal Lodge.

The measures include opening public tours through online booking with scholar guides conducting tours through the museum and gardens, collection of special Rashtrapati Bhawan souvenirs for sale in the curio shop, public viewing of the new “Change of Guard” every Saturday besides organising cultural programmes in the auditorium.

Besides the restoration of antique items in the collection, including furniture, the library containing old and rare books from 1800 has been opened for public tours, while a list of such books is being added to the President’s official website.

Recently, in collaboration with the Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts, a multi-volume documentation project of the Rashtrapati Bhawan was launched that seeks to put together comprehensive history, including architecture, furniture, paintings, artifacts, flora and fauna, Presidential retreats at Mashobra in Himachal Pradesh and Rashtrapati Nilayam in Secundrabad, Andhra Pradesh.

The Indian National Trust for Cultural Heritage prepared a road map to restore the heritage structure, avenues, gardens and future development in the 300-acre estate.

Rajnath virtually vets Modi for PM

New York, July 21
BJP president Rajnath Singh today virtually anointed Narendra Modi as the party’s man for the top job by ruling himself out of the prime ministerial race.

He claimed the party would get more allies as the general election approaches and even after it was over. He further said development issues rather than the Ram Janam Bhoomi dispute would dominate the party’s poll campaign.

“It’s not necessary that the party president should also be a crowd-puller and a prime ministerial candidate. I have an assignment to do for my party. I have a job to deliver i.e. ensuring victory of the party in the 2014 elections.”

“Seven months before the elections, I have nominated Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as chairman of the party’s election campaign committee. What is unusual in that? We have nominated Modi like other parties do and why read between the lines? I have named him as campaign head in view of his image, popularity and commitment to the party,” he told mediapersons at the start of his five-day trip to New York and Washington.

Indicating that Modi could be their prime ministerial candidate, Singh said the chief minister was currently the most popular leader in the country.

“He is a crowd-puller not only in Gujarat but also in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar - from North to South, East to West. He is one single leader with a national appeal. His popularity will help the party in the elections,” he said.

On why the party president was not being projected as the prime ministerial candidate, he said: “I am more interested in getting the BJP back into power in the Centre and packing off the corruption-ridden bad governance of the Congress in my tenure as president of the party.” — PTI

Andhra IIT aspirants in a fix
Suresh Dharur/TNS

Hyderabad, July 21
Several IIT aspirants from Andhra Pradesh, who missed the bus because of a wrong calculation of the Class XII cut-off marks by the state authorities, are waiting for justice with their fingers crossed.

Following intervention by Union HRD Minister Pallam Raju, the state authorities are now engaged in revising the list of students who figure in the “top 20 percentile” category.

According to the norm fixed by the CBSE authorities, only those who are among the top 20 percentile category in the qualifying class XII examination of their respective state boards are eligible for admission into the IITs. The problem arose when officials of the AP Board of Intermediate Education (BIE) made calculations inconsistent with the one required by the IITs.

The top 20 percentile was calculated on the number of students who appeared for the class XII examination while it should have been on the total number of students who passed the exam. This led to a discrepancy.

According to the original calculation, the cut-off mark was fixed at 487 out of 530 while it should have been 457, an official of the BIE said. A revised list, with a new calculation method, was being sent to the CBSE and IIT authorities to see if the anomaly could be corrected, the official said.

An estimated 80 students from Andhra Pradesh had failed to make it to the IITs due to the discrepancy in the calculation methods adopted by the state Board and IITs in arriving at the top 20 percentile.

Despite reaping a rich haul of ranks in the IIT entrance examination, including four in the All-India top 10 slots, the Andhra Pradesh students find themselves in a disadvantageous position in terms of the final admissions because of the mandatory “top 20 percentile” norm.

Traditionally, Andhra Pradesh has been witnessing a fierce competition at the junior college level with scores over 90 per cent in the science stream being very common. As a result, the number of top-scoring students in class XII in the state is much higher compared to other states.

Some students in the state find themselves out of the IIT race despite scoring seat-fetching marks because they are not among the top 20 percentile scorers in Intermediate, the class XII exam conducted by the state board.

Corruption stink over proposal to shift Mumbai zoo
Shiv Kumar/TNS

Mumbai, July 21
The Prithiviraj Chavan government in Maharashtra is coming in for strong criticism over a proposal to shift the historic Mumbai zoo from the city to the distant suburbs.

Under the proposal put out by the Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation recently on its website, the city zoo could be located to either the Sanjay Gandhi National Park at Borivali or to Aarey Colony in suburban Goregaon. The MTDC further suggested that the 53-acre plot could be turned into a botanical garden.

The zoo known formerly known as Victoria Garden or Rani Baug was renamed Veermata Jijabai Bhosale Udyan. The premises also houses the Bhau Daji Lad Museum, formerly known as the Victoria and Albert Museum, home to a priceless collection of historical artifacts.

According to the opposition parties, the move to shift the zoo to the suburbs was a precursor to handing over the plot of prime land to real estate developers. “This is a prime piece of land and many builders are looking at it. Once the zoo shifts from here only the very rich people will come to live here,” Shiv Sena leader Ajay Chaudhary said. He added that the party would be beginning an agitation to save the zoo.

1,300 shifted as Godavari level rises in AP

Rajahmundry, July 21
Over 1,300 people have been shifted to rehabilitation camps in East Godavari district after water level of Godavari river at Dowleswaram barrage rose alarmingly following heavy rains. The second flood alert in the district was issued yesterday, an official said.

District collector Neetu Kumar Prasad, and other senior administrative and police officials were visiting the flood-affected areas in the district today and measures have been initiated to prevent further damage, including of roads, which were severely affected by heavy rains.

Over 17 lakh cusec water discharged to sea as Godavari at Dowleswaram was receiving heavy inflows due to rains in the catchment areas. "We are monitoring the situation at Dowleswaram. Officials are taking stock of the situation and checking various irrigation sources situated in the district. The Godavari and its tributaries — Gouthami, Vashita Godavari and other rivers are in spate," the official said.

Due to this, the low-lying villages in Polavaram are severely affected, he said. Over 1,300 persons were shifted to various relief camps about 700 from Konaseema and 600 from Devipatnam agency area and other places. The relief and rehabilitation works are in full swing in the district. — PTI 

Mars mission not for pride: ISRO

Bangalore, July 21
As India prepares to launch its Rs 450 crore mission to Mars this year, a top space official says the country’s first martian odyssey, that has attracted some criticism, is not just for pride but for undertaking “meaningful research”.

K Radhakrishnan, Chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), also debunked perception in some quarters that the Mars Orbiter mission around the red planet, that’s just three months away, is primarily a “feel-good” package to just pat ourselves on the back.

“It’s not for pride because the exploration of Mars has its own scientific value and possibly a future habitat which people are talking about...may be 20 years...30 years from now...it’s possible”, he told PTI here in an interview, referring to the colonisation angle.

India will be the sixth country to launch a mission to Mars after the US, Russia, Europe, Japan and China.

ISRO says the primary objectives are to demonstrate India’s technological capability to send a satellite to orbit around Mars and conduct meaningful experiments such as looking for signs of life, take pictures of the red planet and study Martian environment. — PTI

India engages in defence diplomacy with US, China
Ajay Banerjee/TNS

New Delhi, July 21
India’s military diplomacy will be crucially engaged over the next few days on either side of the Pacific Ocean - in the USA and in China.

It comes just weeks after Defence Minister AK Antony’s visits to Australia and China besides Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Japan. Today, Indian Air Force Chief Air Chief Marshall NAK Browne proceeded on four-day visit to the USA.

Yesterday, a three-member Navy delegation led by a Rear Admiral left for China. Both have separate tasks. With the US, India has a strategic alliance that blossomed after 2008. On the other hand, with China there are moves to take baby-steps even as the two Asian rivals battle out over a disputed boundary alignment in the Himalayas and compete globally for resources to power their respective economies.

Air Chief Marshal NAK Browne, who is also the Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee-a body of three service chiefs of India-has been invited by General Mark A Welsh III, Chief of Staff of the US Air Force (USAF).

Air Chief Marshal Browne is scheduled to hold talks with senior military leadership of the USA, including General Martin E Dempsey, Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff, and General Herbert J Carlisle, Commander, Pacific Air Forces .

Under the US scheme of things, India is in a part of the world that the US perceives is handled by its Pacific Command. “(Browne) is likely to discuss a wide range of bilateral issues on the ongoing defence cooperation between the two countries towards strengthening the growing US-India Security and Defence relationship,” An IAF spokesperson said today.

The IAF Chief would also be accepting the delivery of the second C-17 Globemaster III, scheduled to be delivered to the IAF on July 22, 2013, at a ceremony at Boeing’s Long Beach final assembly facility. The first C-17 was delivered to the IAF at Hindon on June 17. The plane, which can carry 80 tonnes of load, is a game changer as it can land on small airstrips in the Himalayas.

The IAF Chief’s schedule also includes visit to US Cyber Command at Maryland and the US Space Command located at Colorado.

The Indian Navy team in China will work out modalities to increase navy-to-navy cooperation. On July 5, during Antony’s visit to China, it was decided to ramp up military ties between the two countries. On the long wish list is an effort by New Delhi and Beijing to hold joint exercises of their navies. The Navy team will work out modalities for the same. 

Jagannath servitor ‘assaults’ noted Odishi danseuse

Puri, July 21
Italy-born Odishi dance exponent Ileana Citaristi today accused a servitor on the chariot of Lord Jagannath of assault for “refusing to pay money for darshan” of the deity.

Chief temple administrator Arabind Padhee said Citaristi had lodged a complaint with the temple administration. The commander of the temple police has been asked to identify those present on the chariot “Nandighosh” at that the time of the incident.

Citaristi, awarded Padma Shri for her contribution to Odishi dance, alleged that she and another woman pupil climbed up the chariot by paying Rs 20 each to a priest.

But when they tried to move closer to Lord Jagannath, a servitor demanded Rs 1,000 each from the two, Citaristi alleged, adding she was ill-treated and physically assaulted by the servitor when she refused to pay the money.

“I was shocked at the behaviour of the servitor who ill-treated and hit me thrice on the head shouting foreigner... foreigner,” said the foreign national settled in Odisha. — PTI

IM formed after Gujarat riots: Cong
BJP riled, terms Shakeel Ahmed’s remarks ‘stupid’, ‘reprehensible’

New Delhi, July 21
The Congress today blamed the Gujarat riots for creation of terror outfit Indian Mujahideen, a remark slammed as "reprehensible" by BJP which accused it of playing the communal card for vote bank politics.

"Indian Mujahideen (IM) was formed after the Gujarat riots, says NIA in its chargesheet. Even now, BJP and RSS will not desist from their communal politics?," Congress leader Shakeel Ahmed said on microblogging site Twitter.

Hitting back, the BJP said the remarks were "stupid" and "reprehensible" as the Pakistan links of such outfits were well known and alleged that it was a "desperate" Congress that was actually trying to communalise the political scenario and playing with national security as it had "no answers for all the wrongs" it had done.

The Congress general secretary blamed the "communal politics of BJP for the chain reaction" on the issue of terror. "This (2002 riots) was the reason behind the creation of Indian Mujahideen. If they foresake their communal politics, outfits like IM will cease to exist," Ahmed said.

The BJP said it was well known that Pakistan has been aiding and abetting terror outfits that are active in India. "There is this competition among various Congress spokespersons and leaders to deliberately communalise the country's political scenario, because they have no answer to stinking corruption, malgovernance, price rice, unemployment, the general sense of suffering the people of India are having," Deputy Leader of BJP in Rajya Sabha Ravishankar Prasad said.