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CBI unrelenting, to press for autonomy
TRS against Hyderabad as UT or joint capital |
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Telangana blues for Telugu film industry
Heavy rain claims 20 lives in Maharashtra
Skeletons of two persons abducted by Maoists recovered
Centre mulls ownership of mid-day meal scheme
SP slams Sonia Gandhi for Durga letter
NDA plans to floor govt over food
ordinance
Paramilitary forces to go in for advanced weapon simulators
Mumbai’s Fiat taxis on the way out
BSF to get Rs 3,665 cr to
develop infrastructure
Mumbai teenager leaves red-light zone for US degree
Now, a course on love at Presidency University
Human activities increasing risk of calamities: Study
Bring parties under RTI: Justice Hegde
Four officials of chit fund company held
Jharkhand CM expands ministry, six fresh
SP shifted after he reopens history sheet of Cong MLA’s father
Air Cmd Jasjit Singh passes away
Shinde operated upon for lung ailment
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CBI unrelenting, to press for autonomy
New Delhi, August 4 Highly-placed CBI sources said that the agency's proposal that its Director should report directly to the Minister of Personnel and Training is aimed at cutting red-tape as many files of the agency remain stuck at various levels in different ministries. The sources said the CBI understands the importance of accountability and its demands for more power are for carrying out its investigations in a timely manner. Setting the stage for a standoff in the apex court on the autonomy issue, the Centre had on August 2 rejected the CBI's stand for more power for its Director with a minimum three-year term, saying an all-powerful chief without checks and balances entails the risk of "potential misuse". The matter will come up before the Supreme Court on Tuesday. The agency has demanded financial powers equivalent to that of secretary in the Union Government but the Centre has suggested such powers be equivalent to what is available with a Director General of a Central police force. The sources said the agency wanted a panel of counsel to be appointed by the CBI Director and that the practice of the Law Ministry providing lawyers should be stopped since the government can replace them any time. The proposal of the agency wanting autonomy in appointing a panel of special counsel without government's approval was turned down by the Centre in its affidavit filed before the apex court last week, saying, "Any overriding powers of the Director over prosecution would compromise the impartiality". The sources said the agency has been demanding financial autonomy to facilitate smooth investigations as many a time they get stuck in the absence of financial clearances from officials in the ministry. — PTI Agency's stand
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TRS against Hyderabad as UT or joint capital
Hyderabad, August 4 Rao said the administration of Hyderabad should be run by the Telangana government. “The TRS would have no objection if the new Andhra Pradesh government runs its administration from Hyderabad till a capital with necessary infrastructure is built, but the administration of Hyderabad should be run by the Telangana government,” he said. The TRS president was speaking at a meet the press programme organised by the Telangana Journalists Forum. While giving its nod to the creation of Telangana state out of Andhra Pradesh last week, the Congress Working Committee(CWC) has proposed that Hyderabad will be the joint capital of the newly proposed state and the other regions --Rayalaseema and Andhra -- for a period of 10 years. With no major city in the Rayalaseema and coastal Andhra regions having the necessary infrastructure to be the capital of the new Andhra Pradesh state, some leaders from the two regions have favoured making Hyderabad a UT or permanent capital of the two states. He alleged that Telangana has suffered a lot in terms of jobs, availability of water among other things in a united Andhra Pradesh. The TRS president also said that red carpet welcome would be extended to those who wish to make investments in Telangana. “Telugu film industry, based in Hyderabad, would also be encouraged to grow,” he said. Rao also said that he would like to see a Dalit leader as Chief Minister of Telangana if the TRS gets majority and that he would like to head a “state advisory commission”. The passage of Telangana bill is important before taking a call on the possible merger of the TRS with the Congress, he added. About the development of Telangana after the formation of separate state, the TRS chief said he would “like to see smiles on the faces of all”. — PTI Violence in Karbi Anglong Violence continued to rock Karbi Anglong district for the fifth day over the demand for a separate state with government offices and properties of political leaders torched and curfew reimposed after a relaxation of four hours. Police said the office of the additional chief engineer of irrigation department and the khadi board office were set ablaze by agitators. A teak plantation of Congress MP from Autonomous Hill districts Biren Singh Engti was set on fire. Normal life hit in Darjeeling Six members of Gorkha Janmukti Morch (GJM) were on Sunday arrested for stopping the vehicle of SP during the bandh in Darjeeling hills. They were then taken to Darjeeling Sadar police station for interrogation. GJM supporters set ablaze a passenger vehicle on NH-31A at Kalijhora in Kalimpong sub-division. Normal life continues to be paralysed in Darjeeling hills on the second day due to an indefinite bandh demanding separate Gorkhaland state.
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Telangana blues for Telugu film industry
Hyderabad, August 4 The Tollywood, as the Telugu movie industry is called, is almost entirely dominated by the entrepreneurs from coastal Andhra region. A majority of film stars, producers, directors, script writers, technicians and financiers hail from coastal Andhra belt and have made Hyderabad their home. The Rs 12,000-crore industry is based in Hyderabad which will now be the common capital for the two states for a period of ten years, after which it will remain the capital of Telangana. An uncertain future stares in the face of the entertainment industry which has huge stakes in Hyderabad. The mid-1980s saw the Telugu industry shifting its base from Chennai to Hyderabad following the advent of Telugu Desam Party, led by the Telugu matinee idol late NT Rama Rao. Utilising the incentives and tax sops offered by the successive governments, the Tollywood made Hyderabad its home and the city now boasts of some of the best film studios and production houses in the country. “Once Hyderabad becomes a full-fledged capital of Telangana, there will be pressure on the producers and studios to move out of the city to the Andhra Pradesh state. This will lead to large scale displacement of movie workers and technicians,” a source in the Tollywood said. Churning out nearly 150 films per year, the Tollywwod occupies second position in the country after Bollywood. During the Telangana agitation that rocked the region, several films had to face the wrath of agitators and shooting schedules were disrupted. There were also occasions in the last few years when the film stars and producers had to face the anger of Telangana protesters in the city. However, there are some in the industry who are optimistic about the future, provided the new Telangana government ensures proper protection and a puts in place a competitive tax regime. “The future will largely depend on the kind of incentives that are offered to the industry. Even now, about 30% of the shootings happen in places like Visakhapatnam and other coastal Andhra areas because of their scenic beauty,” noted producer Thammareddy Bharadwaja said. Another leading producer D Suresh Babu, son of Dada Saheb Phalke Awardee D Rama Naidu, said that the taxes and incentives would play a key role in the future growth of the industry. He said that filmmakers could go to the new state of AP, post-division, if a better set of tax concessions was offered. "If entertainment tax is common in both the states, nobody will go from here. But, if the other state is formed and they say that entertainment tax is exempt if you make a film in that state, they will go there," Suresh Babu said. He said that shifting the base of the industry would be very painful. The port city of Visakhapatnam could be a preferred choice for film shootings in the proposed new state of AP. Citing the examples of Hollywood, Mumbai and Chennai, he said that the film industry across the world was largely located in coastal areas. Political observers say that there could be large scale migration of Seemandhra investors from Telangana for new projects in the newly created state. According to rough estimates, they own about 75% of the drug, infrastructure, realty, education, hospitals, hospitality, media and film industry in and around Hyderabad. The worry Once Hyderabad becomes a full-fledged capital of Telangana, there will be pressure on the producers and studios to move out of the city to the Andhra Pradesh state. This will lead to large scale displacement of movie workers and technicians. — Tollywood sources Fate uncertain
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Heavy rain claims 20 lives in Maharashtra
Mumbai, August 4 According to the disaster management cell, 5,204 persons have been evacuated with more than 2,000 shifted to relief camps set up in government schools and public buildings. The authorities have deployed the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) to carry out relief and rescue operations. The banks of the Wainganga river have been breached, thus flooding the nearby areas. Worse still, water is being released into the Wainganga from the Gosikhurd dam in neighbouring Bhandara district, officials say. Water level has gone up in all 11 irrigation projects in Chandrapur. Low-lying areas in Chandrapur city and Ballarpur township have been inundated. The Irai river has inundated a number of areas in Chandrapur city. Flooding has destroyed standing crop in more than 2 lakh hectares in the district. The damage has been more than 50 per cent in some areas. Elsewhere in the region, the administration has warned people settled in low-lying areas to shift to higher places as water from the upper and lower Wardha projects in Amravati district would be released into the Wardha. Water from the Isapur project is also being released into the Painganga, thereby threatening low-lying areas in Yavatmal district.
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Skeletons of two persons abducted by Maoists recovered
Jhargram, August 4 Superintendent of Police of Jhargram Bharati Ghosh said acting on a tip-off a police team went to Masangidighi forest near Jhargram town and dug up earth and recovered the two skeletons. The SP claimed that the two skeletons were of Devendra Nath Singh and of Panchu Murmu as the family members of two identified the skeletons before a magistrate by the clothes they were wearing and the rings. Devendra Nath Singh, a CPI(M) worker and a primary school teacher was a resident of College para area of Jhargram and was abducted by Maoists in the year 2011. The Maoists suspected Panchu Murmu, a resident of Tengia village to be a police informer and abducted him in the year 2011. The family members of both Singh and Murmu had lodged police complaints about their missing. — PTI
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Centre mulls ownership of mid-day meal scheme
New Delhi, August 4
Chairing a review meeting on the midday meal scheme, HRD Minister MM Pallam Raju said the programme was largely suffering on account of lack of ownership. “Everyone who attended the meeting agreed that ownership must be created. For any programme to succeed, ownership is a must. We debated a range of options from mothers of children attending school to ASHAs who are working in the National Rural Health Mission to deliver health services. We are looking at ASHAs also,” Raju said after the meeting. The meeting came on a day when a teacher fell ill in a Delhi school after consuming a midday meal. Importantly, the Education Minister of Bihar, who was invited for the meeting, did not turn up. The debate around MDM’s efficacy had begun after 23 children died in a school in Bihar’s Chhapra district after consuming a poisonous meal. The minister said views of experts in the area had been taken on board and their input would help frame the objectives of the new national level committee on MDM monitoring which the Centre has formed. Raju said normally school management committees would be expected to oversee proper distribution of midday meals because 75 pc representation in the committee is of parents. “But we have seen that in poor and backward rural areas, SMCs have not been able to take ownership of MDM scheme. We need to revisit the scheme guidelines to fix ownership and see who best to assign it to,” he said. The Centre will soon notify the members of the high-level monitoring committee.
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SP slams Sonia Gandhi for Durga letter
New Delhi, August 4 “We have already said we will support the bill only if the government guarantees 100 pc purchase of farmers’ produce and not in its present form,” SP’s national general secretary Naresh Agarwal said. The SP’s reassertion came a day after Congress president Sonia Gandhi wrote to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh saying fair treatment should be ensured to Durga Nagpal, the suspended SDM of Gautam Nagar in Uttar Pradesh where SP is in power. Trashing the letter, the SP slammed Sonia for “interfering with the state’s prerogative to deal with state issues” and asked why she was silent when her son-in-law Robert Vadra’s land dealings were challenged by IAS officer Ashok Khemka who was eventually ousted in Congress-run Haryana. “The UP government has done in Durga Shakti’s case what it deemed right. Who would have been answerable if the SDM’s act had led to communal clashes in UP? Why did the Congress president not write to Haryana not to target Ashok Khemka?” asked Agarwal. On what UP’s stand would be if the issue gathers steam in Parliament with parties like the BJP and the Left keen to raise it, Agarwal said: “It would be unfortunate if MPs started discussing state issues in Parliament. Tomorrow they will ask why a dog died in a municipality. Such MPs would be better off in local bodies than in Parliament.” Besides, the SP along with OBC parties like the JDU, the BSP and DMK, are planning to stall House proceedings on Supreme Court’s recent order rejecting 27 pc OBC reservations in AIIMS at the specialty and super-specialty stages. Lalu Prasad’s RJD will also raise this matter. JDU president Sharad Yadav has already asked the Centre to nullify the order and bring a Constitutional Amendment Bill if necessary. The DMK, the PMK, the BSP and the SP have said they would formidably raise the matter in Parliament when it starts tomorrow. LS: WHERE CONG-LED UPA STANDS
SAD hails Sonia's letter The Congress on Sunday found an unexpected supporter in the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on the raging issue of Sonia Gandhi's letter to the PM seeking justice for suspended Gautam Nagar SDM Durga Nagpal. Naresh Gujral, senior SAD leader and Rajya Sabha MP, said he was "appreciative of Sonia's letter and the PM should have sought a report from UP much before Sonia wrote to him considering DoPT is the reporting department for IAS officers who need to be protected to fight the mafia in their areas of jurisdiction". — TNS
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NDA plans to floor govt over food
ordinance
New
Delhi, August 4 Meeting here at BJP veteran LK Advani's residence, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), one of the two NDA partners, raised several objections to the way in which an important law was being pushed through Parliament without addressing practical agriculture and farmer-related issues on the ground. The SAD, represented at the meeting by Rajya Sabha member Naresh Gujral, said it would put the government on the mat on the food security ordinance. The SAD said it first wanted the Centre to explain why 12.5 million tonnes of foodgrain was rotting in Punjab and another six million tonnes in Haryana. Gujral asked at the meeting how the government would ensure year-round food supplies in a country where produce was dependent on the monsoon with 65 per cent of total agriculture being rain-fed. It reiterated its concern over low MSP for farmers, especially when the country was going to pass a law that would require enhanced production and more input on the farmers' side. The BJP-led Opposition agreed it would again raise the demand of MS Swaminathan formula to be adopted to decide MSP of crops. Gujral said while the MSP might have gone up 9 pc annually during the UPA regime, input costs had shot up much more sharply, thus negating the impact of raised MSP. The NDA also decided to raise the issue of Telangana statehood (which has led to similar demands all over India), fall in the value of the rupee vis-à-vis the dollar and the Uttarakhand floods.
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Paramilitary forces to go in for advanced weapon simulators
Chandigarh, August 4 While some CAPFs have already inducted arms training simulators procured from various agencies, these are limited in numbers and vary in design and performance parameters. They also lack some features that could provide a holistic training environment. The Ministry of Home Affairs, according to sources, is devising a policy to induct advanced weapons simulators that would be standard across all CAPFs and meet their training requirements at various levels. The Border Security Force has been tasked to frame up the policy and define technical specifications for all CAPFs, sources added. The armed forces have also adopted the use of training simulators in a big way. Besides being cost effective and efficient, they enable training in all weather conditions and provide a scientific and precise feedback to instructors on the ability and skill levels of a trainee. Unlike a convectional firing range, a training simulator with its large screen can provide a host of operational scenarios like built-up areas, jungle, desert, mountains or rural country side, create different environmental and climatic conditions like rain, fog, night, windy etc, and throw up static as well as moving targets. “Since CAPFs are deployed across diverse environments like counter-terrorist operations in built-up areas as well as in the countryside and combating left wing extremism in jungles besides undertaking operations in densely populated areas, advanced training simulators would psychologically orient troops to adapt easily to any kind of situation and increase their confidence matters,” an officer said. “Adversaries have increasingly become more lethal and unpredictable, with heavy firepower at their disposal. In such situations a high level of skill and morale is crucial,” he added. The Home Ministry is looking at procuring simulators which would be able to provide a user defined three-dimensional interactive scenario and able to simulate targets for up to 10 firers at a time at ranges up to 1,000 metres for individual training as well as group exercises such as ambush, VIP protection, hostage rescue and counter assault, sources said.
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SC verdict on Abu Salem plea today
New Delhi, August 4 A Bench headed by Chief Justice P Sathasivam had reserved the verdict on July 9 saying it would pass order after considering CBI's submission that the agency is ready to drop certain charges against 45-year-old Salem under TADA and Explosive Substances Act in view of its commitment to Portuguese Government at the time of his extradition that he shall not be awarded death penalty or detained in custody for more than 25 years if found guilty. Attorney General G E Vahanwati had said government was committed to its assurance given to the Portuguese court and sought the apex court's permission to drop the additional charges framed against Salem by the trial court. The agency sought withdrawal of charges under section 5 and 6 of TADA and sections 4(b) and 5 of the Explosive Substances Act. The Supreme Court had stayed the trial after Salem approached the apex court against the TADA court's order of January 31, rejecting his plea for closure of his trial. He had filed the application after the Portugal Supreme Court upheld the order of a lower court there, terminating his extradition for "violation" of deportation rules by Indian authorities. — PTI
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Mumbai’s Fiat taxis on the way out
Mumbai, August 4 Around 4,500 Premier Padmini taxis have gone off the road from Thursday when the new rule mandating the scrapping of taxis more than 20-year-old came into effect. Over the next few months, most of the 10,000 Premier Padmini taxis plying the Mumbai streets would be off the roads, thus ending an era of “Fiat taxis”, as these are known in Mumbai. “Taxi drivers themselves are for scrapping old taxis. However, we will like the government to give us soft loans in order to buy new vehicles,” said AL Quadros, head of the Mumbai Taximen Union. “The government did not give us enough time to scrap old taxis. The decision was taken last May,” Quadros added. Even before the government decided to scrap the vintage Premier Padmini taxis, several taxi drivers had already begun switching to newer vehicles like Hyundai Santro. “Passengers are also reluctant to hire Fiat taxis. They will hire one only if nothing else is available. So, I switched to a Santro,” says Gurdial Singh, 76, who plies a taxi between suburban Mumbai and the city. Singh purchased a Santro three years ago and got it fitted with an air-conditioner. “Businessmen, including diamond merchants and stock brokers, are ready to pay a little more for the AC facility,” he said. “The government decided to scrap old taxis as these caused a lot of pollution. The newer vehicles have better emission standards and also offer a comfortable ride,” says VN More, Transport Commissioner. Defending the decision to scrap old taxis immediately, he said the government had conceded to the taxi drivers’ demand of increasing fares by 40 per cent. “Passengers also need to travel in clean and comfortable vehicles since they are paying more,” he said. Vintage cabs
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BSF to get Rs 3,665 cr to
develop infrastructure
Chandigarh, August 4 The development projects include construction of 111 barracks and 10,300 residential quarters for accommodating troops, 210 office buildings and allied working facilities and two composite hospitals. The funds were approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs yesterday, under the 12th Five Year Plan estimates. This will address one of the main concerns of the BSF for providing infrastructure at training centres and various establishments. The BSF, like other Central armed police forces under the Ministry of Home Affairs, requires additional infrastructure as the forces is undergoing significant expansion. Over the past few years, 29 battalions, along with corresponding Sector Headquarters and Frontier Headquarters, have been raised. The BSF has a strength of about 2.4 lakh personnel, including a miniscule proportion of recently inducted women constables, which make up about 180 battalions. It is primarily responsible for the peacetime management of the Indo-Pakistan and Indo-Bangladesh international borders. It has also been mandated for counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism operations and disaster management. In addition to its existing duties, the Central government is also considering handing over the management of the Indo-Myanmar border, currently being guarded by the Assam Rifles, to the BSF. This will involve raising 45 battalions deployed under 12 Sector Headquarters that will make up four Frontier Headquarters. The BSF will also be increasing the strength of its women constabulary, many of whom are deployed on border-guarding duties and manning check-points along the border. In a new move, the force has decided to induct woman officers to head units comprising women constables. To cater to the needs of women personnel, the BSF has set up special accommodation, dining facilities and essential amenities exclusively for them at different border outposts (BOPs) and some other field and training establishments where women constables are deployed. The BSF has 609 BOPs on the Indo-Pakistan and 802 BOPs on Indo-Bangladesh border. In order to reduce the inter-BOP distance for effective surveillance of border areas, a move to construct additional 509 BOPs, including 383 along the Indo-Bangladesh border and 126 along the Indo-Pakistan border, at an estimated cost of 1,832 crore is under way. This project is expected to be completed next year. Funds for upkeep
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Mumbai teenager leaves red-light zone for US degree
Mumbai, August 4 Shweta Katti, 18, left for America on Thursday to study at the liberal arts Bard College, where she hopes to read psychology. Afterwards she wants to return to India and help other young women in her community. "It's my childhood dream. I didn't think it would finally happen," she told AFP before leaving Mumbai, where she grew up in a brothel. Katti's determination won her a place this year in Newsweek's list of 25 " Young Women To Watch" aged under-25, alongside Pakistani schoolgirl and activist Malala Yousufzai who was shot in the head by the Taliban. It is a long way from Katti's early childhood experiences of abuse and harassment in Mumbai's notorious Kamathipura neighbourhood. "You would see everyday someone beating up a woman, the police coming unexpectedly at anytime, and women selling their bodies — they were not happy," Katti said. — AFP
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Now, a course on love at Presidency University
Kolkata, August 4 "The new course on love will deal with its sociological implications and will begin from the next semester in January," Malabika Sarkar, Vice-Chancellor of Presidency University said. "The course will be taught by the university's sociology department. It will basically deal with the theoretical aspects of love," Sarkar said. The varsity began an initiative July to introduce students to a variety of topics, irrespective of their major subject, becoming the first university in the country to offer interdisciplinary courses. Under this programme, science students can get a taste of liberal arts, and those delving into humanities can take up a science subject. "This is the first such initiative in the country. In the traditional Indian university education system, honours students are required to take up two pass subjects... We have replaced the pass subjects," professor Somak Raychaudhury, head of the varsity's physics department had said earlier. Raychaudhury said the decision to juxtapose the two branches was taken as students do not take pass subjects seriously. "So, instead of forcing pass subjects on students, we decided to break them up and have a list of 10 papers. While the science students are needed to take at least two arts papers, it is vice versa for students of humanities," the professor explained. — IANS
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Human activities increasing risk of calamities: Study
New Delhi, August 4 A team of scientists from the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology has warned that a rise in human activities around the area like pilgrimage and tourism would increase the risk of such disasters occurring in the future. Kedarnath is encircled by channels of the Mandakini and Saraswati rivers, which meet near the town. The study, led by scientist DP Dobhal, well-known for his work on the Himalayan glaciers, says overcrowding of people and constructions have obstructed the natural flow of the Saraswati, which now flows just behind Kedarnath town. Similarly on downstream near Rambara and Gaurikund, houses were constructed on loose soil, making them prone to natural disasters and landslides, it said. Dobhal, who has been named in the Time magazine list of 'Heroes of Himalayas' in 2007, said heavy rains on the June 16 evening flooded the catchment area of the Saraswati and the Dudh Ganga resulting in the overflowing of channels which triggered erosion and subsequent silting up in the rivers. This resulted in huge volumes of water along with loose soil and debris from glacial moraines forming a slush which moved with unprecedented energy towards Kedarnath town and washed off its upper parts where Sankaracharya samadhi, the Jal Nigam guest house and the Bharat Seva Sangh Ashram are located. "While reconstruction efforts are going on in the region, the government must ensure that construction should take place away from the temple at a safe location. Strict environment guidelines should be followed and a database of pilgrims climbing towards the temple should be maintained to avoid such mis-happenings," Dobhal told PTI. The study says another factor was the collapse of Chorabari Lake because of the torrential rains on June 17, which contributed to the floods and washed away regions like Gaurikund, Sonprayag and Phata. — PTI
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Bring parties under RTI: Justice Hegde
Bangalore, August 4 Speaking to PTI here, Hegde, who was a key member of team Anna movement, said one has to look at the activities of political parties holistically and it's clear that whether they are in power or not, they are dealing with public issues. The former Karnataka Lokayukta, who uncovered a huge illegal mining scam in the state, was reacting to the Union Cabinet's August 1 decision to provide immunity to political parties from RTI by giving its nod to amend the transparency law to keep them out of its ambit by declaring that they are not public authorities. Hegde said political parties are certainly involved in administration one way or other. "Fact remains that they are part of a body which controls administration one way or other". Noting that political parties are powerful organizations, he pointed to instances of their interference, giving the recent suspension of an IAS officer in Uttar Pradesh as an example. When challenged on such issues, governments claim they have the power to take such decisions. "Who's the government? It's the political party in power", he said, adding that opposition parties also control activities of their ruling counterparts. "I am of the considered opinion that political parties are public bodies; they have a large say in the administration and so, they must be answerable to the people. Transparency is a must in their case also. Transparency is foundation of democracy," Hegde stressed. He criticised political parties for their stand that they are "all-powerful" but are not answerable to people, and that transparency is not applicable to them. Noting that it's no secret that huge sums of money is spent on elections, Hegde said, "People would like to know where they get money from ... India or abroad ... which industries gave the money ... what are the benefits industries got out of that?" — PTI
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Four officials of chit fund company held
Balasore (Odisha), August 4 All the four persons had come from West Bengal yesterday to Jaleswar when police got information about their visit to the town and arrested them, a senior police official said. Criminal cases are pending against the four ponzi company officials in Baliapal police station in Balasore district in connection with irregularities and alleged cheating of people, he said. The four were identified as Milan Kumar Banerjee, Senior General Manager, Bidyut Kumar Bala, General Manager, Sudhir Chandra Bera and Sumit Dasgupta, executives of Roofers Infrastructure and Investment company, police said. — PTI
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Jharkhand CM expands ministry, six fresh
Ranchi, August 4 Governor Syed Ahmed administered the oath to Champai Soren, Simon Marandi, Hazi Hussan Ansari, Jaiprakash Bhai Patel (all JMM), Suresh Paswan (RJD) and Geetashree Oraon (Congress) at Raj Bhavan here. Speaking to the media later, the chief minister said he would undertake another Cabinet expansion soon. Soren said his government's aim was to step up development by inducting three more ministers to take his cabinet's final strength to 12. As per constitutional provision Jharkhand can have a maximum of 12 ministers including the Chief Minister. Hemant Soren-led UPA government (JMM, Congress, RJD and some smaller parties and Independents) had taken oath on July 13. — PTI
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SP shifted after he reopens history sheet of Cong MLA’s father
Jaipur, August 4 The transfer of Superintendent of Police, Jaisalmer, Pankaj Choudhary to Kishangarh in Ajmer as Police Training Services Commandant by the state government triggered an outrage in Jaisalmer district where a bandh was observed in protest. Jaisalmer is about 575 km from here. "As an officer of the state police department, I will soon be shifting to the new place," Choudhary said.
Choudhary said he had reopened history-sheets against several persons, including the one against Gazi Fakir, 78-year-old father of Pokhran Congress MLA Saleh Mohammed, on July 31 after a spurt in crime in the golden The transfer comes at a time when the Uttar Pradesh government is facing flak over the suspension of IAS officer Durga Shakti Nagpal on July 27 for taking on the sand-mining mafia in Noida. Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot said the transfer is "routine" and that nothing be read into the shifting since it was part of the reshuffle of IAS and IPS officers. Choudhary said a history-sheet was opened against Fakir for the first time on July 31, 1965. The police file, however, went missing in 1984, he said, adding the history-sheet was reopened six years later in 1990, but it was closed again in May 2011 by an ASP-rank official when he had been holding charge as SP. "These were facts that raised questions and 48 hours after I re-opened the file I have been tranferred," he added. The IPS officer said there could be a link between his reopening the history sheet of Fakir and his transfer. "But I believe it was a government order that has to be followed. Such orders can come at any time," the officer said. A bandh was observed in the tourist town of Jaisalmer against alleged "untimely" transfer of the IPS officer. Businessmen, hoteliers, and tour operators led the shutdown and held a rally demanding revocation of the transfer order, the police said. The protesters alleged that the "honest and dedicated" officer, who had cracked down on crime, had been deliberately transferred under political pressure to Kishangarh in Ajmer as Police Training Services Commandant, said Kailash Meghwal, in-charge of special police branch. Saleh Mohammed said the entire matter was suggestive of a "political conspiracy" by rival BJP and RSS members to weaken his political hold and defame his father. This was the fourth time that a Jaisalmer SP had opened the history sheet of Fakir, Saleh said. — PTI
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Air Cmd Jasjit Singh passes away
New Delhi, August 4 Jasjit Singh (79) was discharged from a hospital in Gurgaon last week. His funeral at Brar Square crematorium in Delhi Cantonment was attended by a large number of friend and admirers, including serving officers. Jasjit Singh, who headed the Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses, was over the past few years overseeing work of the Centre for Air Power Studies (CAPS), that is dedicated to modern and futuristic trends in air power. Besides being a prolific writer of books on a range of strategic and security issues, he was a regular contributor to journals dedicated to these issues.
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Shinde operated upon for lung ailment
Mumbai, August 4 According to his daughter, Praniti, Shinde was admitted to the hospital on Saturday evening and the surgical procedure was performed on him this morning. Praniti, an MLA, did not elaborate on Shinde’s illness. She, however, added the procedure was planned in advanced. “He will be in the hospital for the next few days. There is absolutely no cause for concern,” Praniti told reporters at the hospital. Shinde, 72, will be in the ICU for three days.
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TRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao today voiced his opposition to any proposal making Hyderabad a permanent joint capital of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh or a Union Territory.
Mumbai, August 4
