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LAC talks progressing well, says Antony
Mission 272+ |
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Weather satellite INSAT-3D launched
HC not to monitor Ishrat probe
ishrat case
Telangana: Troubled Cong buys time, says wait for the decision
Welder held for Maruti GM’s murder in Manesar
Goenka award for Tribune expose on PGI scam
Meal cost row: Rahul raps party leaders
Interim relief to Yukta Mookhey’s husband extended
India, France discuss Afghan situation
Don’t meddle into politics: Shiv Sena chief tells Amartya Sen
Suspected ISI agent held
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LAC talks progressing well, says Antony
New Delhi, July 26 Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a function to pay respects to martyrs on Kargil Vijay Divas, Antony said: "Both sides are trying to find a long-term solution to the long-pending border dispute. Till that time, our aim is to maintain peace and tranquillity along the border. Still, there are disputed points. Both sides are going by their own perceptions. Sometimes, this gives rise to embarrassing situations." Talks with China, he said, were at the "final settlement" stage and would be continued through another round of talks in Beijing over the next few months. The Line of Actual Control (LAC) between India and China has been in dispute for long. Due to this reason, both sides have increased patrolling in the area. "As more soldiers are patrolling the disputed areas, it sometimes leads to a face-off," he said. The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) has recently approved the formation of a 50,000-strong Mountain Strike Corps to boost Indian defence capabilities in the area.
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Focus on Modi, BJP tells its IT campaign panel
Vibha Sharma/TNS
New Delhi, July 26 Apparently, BJP technocrats and functionaries associated with the committee (which holds a special place in the party’s election campaign committee chief Narendra Modi’s strategic planning for 2014) were specifically asked to focus on the Gujarat Chief Minister’s “good” governance and development fundamentals. The idea is to expand the reach of the party and its leadership on various social media platforms to achieve what has now been named “Mission 272+”. Sources said the key message conveyed to the 300 plus members by senior leader Arun Jaitley, committee head Piyush Goyal and general secretary(organisation) Ramlal was to focus on effective use of technology (digital, mobile and internet) to showcase Modi’s “good governance” against the “bad governance” of the UPA. The delegates were told to attack the Congress on the policy matters rather than focusing on a particular person or what he or she said. “Basically, they were told not to indulge in any unnecessary ‘tu-tu-main-main’ in the IT-backed blitzkrieg against the economic, leadership, foreign policy and infrastructure failures of the UPA,” the sources said. However, while Modi clearly holds an important position in the BJP’s strategic plans, it may be a while before his name is announced formally as the party’s PM candidate. There seems to be a consensus within the party on that particular issue but announcing his name now would also mean giving the Congress too much time to target him. Therefore, it is possible that the big declaration will be made just in time to enthuse the grassroots and make the maximum gains. Plus, the BJP also wants to wait till the Congress opens its cards on the key question - its face for the 2014 General Election. In the meanwhile, the BJP’s hi-tech committee, supported by the IT and communication cells, will focus on harnessing the power of its volunteer force.
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Weather satellite INSAT-3D launched
Bangalore, July 26 The satellite was placed in an elliptical Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) by French commercial space transportation company Arianespace’s Ariane-5 rocket, 32 minutes and 48 seconds after its lift-off at 1.24 am IST. In its 56th consecutive successful mission, the workhorse vehicle Ariane 5 also launched Alphasat, Europe’s largest ever telecommunication satellite. INSAT-3D, carrying advanced payloads including improved imaging system, will add a new dimension to weather monitoring through the newly developed atmospheric sounding system which would provide vertical profiles of temperature, humidity and integrated ozone from surface to top of the atmosphere. The Bangalore-headquartered Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) announced that its Master Control Facility (MCF) at Hassan in Karnataka took over the control of INSAT-3D soon after it was placed in orbit. “Preliminary health checks of all the subsystems of INSAT-3D bus were performed and the satellite’s health is satisfactory,” ISRO said. Earlier, the solar panel of INSAT-3D got automatically deployed soon after separation of the satellite from Ariane-5. In the coming days, orbit raising manoeuvres will be performed on INSAT-3D using the satellite’s own propulsion system to place it in the 36,000 km high Geostationary Orbit after which it was planned to turn on the meteorological payloads in the second week of next month, it said. “We are looking forward to an excellent operational performance of INSAT-3D for the next seven years making a difference for the weather forecasting and disaster warning systems for the country,” ISRO Chairman K Radhakrishnan said minutes after the launch.
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HC not to monitor Ishrat probe
Ahmedabad, July 26 A Division Bench of the high court comprising Justices Jayant Patel and Abhilasha Kumari told the CBI today that the Bench did not feel it necessary to monitor the investigation any more since the agency had already filed the chargesheet in the case in the special CBI court. The CBI had filed its first chargesheet in the CBI court on July 3. It had held that the Ishrat Jahan encounter on the outskirts of Ahmedabad on the morning of June 15, 2004 was a fake one and concluded it to be a joint operation between the Gujarat police and the then Ahmedabad unit of the central intelligence bureau.
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ishrat case New Delhi, July 26 Declared as an absconder in the case by the Gujarat High Court this month, Pandey was heading the Crime Branch of Ahmedabad police as Joint Commissioner at the time of the fake encounter in which the girl’s three associates - Javed Shaikh alias Pranesh Pillai, Amjadali Akbarali Rana and Zeeshan Johar - were also killed. An apex court Bench comprising Justices BS Chauhan and SA Bobde made it clear that its order against arrest would stand cancelled if he failed to appear before the trial court on Monday. The SC granted the protection despite the objections of Additional Solicitor General Indira Jaisingh, who appeared for the CBI, contending that the accused had gone underground following the summons issued to him by the trial court. The Bench clarified that Pandey was at liberty to seek bail on Monday and asked the trial court to consider the bail plea strictly in accordance with law. On July 12, another SC Bench had dismissed Pandey’s plea against the HC’s order transferring the investigations to the CBI.
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Telangana: Troubled Cong buys time, says wait for the decision
New Delhi, July 26 The statement, which came at the end of Congress core group meeting this evening at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s residence at Race Course, reflected the troubles of the party which stands to face the ire of its Andhra leaders in case the state is divided. Party’s woes were further compounded today by a two-hour meeting which four Union Ministers from Andhra attended along with 12 state ministers from Andhra and four MPs who are anti-Telangana. Held at Andhra Bhavan, the meeting, which central ministers MM Pallam Raju, Chiranjeevi, JD Seelam and KS Rao attended, resolved to oppose any move towards a division of Andhra Pradesh. Central leaders from Andhra didn’t rule out mass resignations in case the state was divided. With the Andhra Congress leaders from Rayalseema and Andhra regions of the state assuming aggressive postures, the Congress clarified today that the government and the party would now have to take a decision on Telangana. “Consultations are over. Now wait for the party and the government to take a decision,” Digvijay Singh, Congress general secretary in charge of Andhra, said after the core group meeting chaired by party president Sonia Gandhi. This meeting was preceded by deliberations between Digvijay and Ghulam Nabi Azad, former AICC in charge of Andhra, with the state CM Kiran Kumar Reddy, Deputy CM Damodar Rajnarsimhan and PCC chief Botsa Satyanarayana. The meeting, held at Congress war room on Rakabganj Road, ended inconclusively with the CM and the PCC chief again opposing a division. At the end of this meeting also Digvijay had said a decision would now be taken soon.
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Welder held for Maruti GM’s murder in Manesar
New Delhi, July 26 The man — identified by the police as Pradeep Kumar (26) alias Gurjar —is a resident of Kaithal in Haryana. The Delhi Police Crime Branch apprehended him from Shalimar Bagh yesterday evening. The police had been tipped off about his arrival there to meet someone. He had been working at the Maruti Suzuki Manesar plant as a welder for five years.— TNS
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Goenka award for Tribune expose on PGI scam
New Delhi, July 24 As a principal correspondent in The Tribune, Chitleen unearthed the scam. Touts based in Mumbai and Delhi were selling PGI's coveted MD seats for lakhs of rupees. A sting operation led to two such doctors doing MD in PGI on bought seats. The two had managed to get into the premier institute through impersonation. The CBI conducted further investigations into The Tribune expose which led to the arrest of at least a dozen others, including the two doctors and the kingpin, in the scam. Chitleen received the award from CBI director Ranjit Sinha in the presence of the Chief Justice of India Justice P Sathasivam, who was the chief guest, and Shekhar Gupta, Editor-in-Chief of the Indian Express group.
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Meal cost row: Rahul raps party leaders
New Delhi, July 26 Topping the list of embarrassing remarks was national spokesperson Raj Babbar and MP Rashid Masood’s claim on Rs 5 to Rs 12 meals in these inflationary times. Ticked off by the high command, Babbar issued a regret even as the Congress fielded its Communication Department in charge Ajay Makan to do some damage control following Opposition’s scathing attack on the Congress coupled with angry protests outside Babbar’s residence here. “The party doesn’t subscribe to Rs 5 or Rs 12 lunch statement made by some leaders,” Makan tweeted. By the evening, no regret had come from Masood, who chose to modify his former statement saying, “I still maintain that you can get a meal in Delhi for Rs 5, but I can’t vouch for the quality of that meal.” Officially, the Congress kept pleading for the matter to rest with spokesperson Renuka Choudhary saying: “Raj Babbar has regretted his statement and Ajay Makan has also tweeted saying the party does not believe in the said statements. Let us treat the subject as closed now.” While the Congress managed to evade the cheap meal issue rather quickly, it could not distance itself that easily from general secretary Digvijay Singh’s reiteration of a judicial probe into the Batla House encounter. Asked why it has taken senior leaders like Digvijay Singh just four days to forget Rahul Gandhi’s caution, Renuka Choudhary said: “We should not verbalise anything which diverts from the judicial process. Leaders are not free to say what they want and we do not believe in the policy of appeasement. There should be no further controversy on the issue.”
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Interim relief to Yukta Mookhey’s husband extended
Mumbai, July 26 "The investigation is still at a very preliminary stage," observed judge DA Dholakiya while adjourning the case till August 20. The court also directed Mookhey's husband Prince Tuli and his parents to go to police station daily till July 31 and later twice a week till the next date of hearing. Mookhey has accused her husband of unnatural sex and her in-laws of cruelty and criminal breach of trust among other offences in a complaint filed with suburban Amboli police station on July 3. Tuli's lawyer argued that his client and his family members were available for investigation and had cooperated with the police so far, so they need not be arrested. — PTI
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India, France discuss Afghan situation
New Delhi, July 26 A joint statement issued after deliberations between Defence Minister AK Antony and his French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian, the two sides said they have agreed to further strengthen their defence ties as they were mutually beneficial and noted that defence ties were an important pillar in the relationship. It was in 1998 that India and France entered into a strategic alliance, at a time when sanctions had been imposed following the Pokhran nuclear tests. The joint statement said: “The ministers had detailed discussions regarding current and future cooperation in the areas of defence equipment and technology collaboration. They agreed that such cooperation should continue to be progressed to the mutual benefit of both countries, including in high technology areas involving joint research and development and transfer of technology’’. Afghanistan also figured in the joint statement under discussion on regional security: “Antony and Le Drian held detailed and useful talks on regional and international security challenges of mutual interest”. The two sides also reviewed the status of various measures for bilateral defence cooperation and the progress in areas pursuant to their discussions in February this year during the French President’s visit to India, the statement said. The two Defence Ministers agreed to enhance exchanges between their respective defence institutions and armed forces including in the areas of military education and training and through the conduct of military exercises. They welcomed the upcoming bilateral exercise ‘Shakti’ in September 2013 in France between the two armies.
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Don’t meddle into politics: Shiv Sena chief tells Amartya Sen
Mumbai, July 26 “Sen is an economist of international repute and such demands (stripping him of Bharat Ratna) shouldn't be made by his detractors,” Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray said in an editorial in party mouthpiece ‘Saamana’. — PTI
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Suspected ISI agent held
Lucknow, July 26 "The ATS arrested Imran Ahmed Teli alias Munna, alias Aftab, alias Sammer, from the bus stand while he was waiting to board the bus to Rupaideeha in Nepal," said ADG (law and order) Arun Kumar. — PTI
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New Delhi, July 24
