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Polio camp goof lands 114 kids in hospital; Mamata orders probe
2G scam: JPC meet on Sept 23 set to be stormy
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New Oz govt committed to uranium export to India
Nimesh panel report tabled
PM, Sonia’s UP visit secular tourism: BJP
PM’s chair small for Rahul Gandhi: Cong Andhra ex-CM Naidu worth only
Rs 42 lakh! Storm damages apple crop in Himachal
A first: Annual performance appraisal for IIT Directors
Naroda-Patiya massacre
In B’desh jail, ULFA founder keen on returning to India
COAL SCAM
SC nod to diesel subsidy abolition for bulk consumers
Dilip Kumar in hospital, stable
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Polio camp goof lands 114 kids in hospital; Mamata orders probe
Kolkata, September 16 The incident happened at a polio camp at a village in Hooghly district yesterday. “The Chief Minister has ordered an inquiry into the incident,” said B Satpathy, Director (Health Services). Satpathy said the four health workers were suspended after apparent negligence was detected on their part, but added that the wrong administration of the hepatitis B vaccine had no adverse impact on the children, who were discharged from the Arambagh sub-divisional hospital today. While a Hooghly report quoting official sources said 114 children were admitted to the hospital, Satpathy said 67 children were taken to the hospital after being mistakenly administered the hepatitis B vaccine instead of pulse polio drops. Fourteen other children were later taken to the hospital as their parents panicked after hearing the news. Those suspended included a supervisor who was in charge of distribution and arrived at the camp late. Satpathy said a health department team, including doctors, was sent to the houses of the affected children “and all of them were found to be in good condition”. Describing the incident as “unfortunate and unwarranted”, Satpathy said the hepatitis B vaccine was injectable, “but had no adverse effect on health when administered orally”. A large number of parents had taken their children to the polio booth at Khatul village under Arambagh sub-division on pulse polio day yesterday, sources said. The anomaly was detected by one of the parents who alerted the health workers and villagers, but by then most of the children had already been administered the hepatitis B vaccine. Angry villagers later locked up the health workers, the Block Development Officer (BDO) and the Sub-Divisional Officer (SDO) who arrived at the scene to pacify them. Hooghly District Magistrate Manmeet Nanda said two others, including an anganwadi worker, had also been suspended.
— PTI wrong vaccination
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2G scam: JPC meet on Sept 23 set to be stormy
New Delhi, September 16 The exchanges between the JPC chairman and the Opposition members are expected to be sharper as Chacko last week purportedly circulated among the panel members a 106-page note written, four months ago, by prime accused and ex-Telecom Minister A Raja. With Chacko looking to press for the adoption of the draft report, which he has circulated, the Opposition members are questioning the timing of circulation of the note by Raja. “The meeting has been convened for September 23. The procedure states that after the draft report is circulated, a meeting is called to adopt it. I do not know whether some members could demand a discussion. But I am open to it,” JPC chairman PC Chacko has said. However, what is irking the Opposition members is that despite a long extension given to the JPC, Raja was not called even once for a hearing due to shortage of time, but the chairman, on the other hand, has chosen to circulate the detailed 106-page note, in which he made startling revelations about meetings with the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister between December 2007 and January 2008 in the run-up to the 2G spectrum scam. Repeated demands by members and pleas by Raja that he be given a hearing as witness before the JPC were denied. Opposition members also resent that while he did not allow the JPC members to cross-examine Raja, the JPC chairman himself spoke to former Telecom Minister individually. JPC members feel that a cross examination could have brought to light collusion of top politicians and government officials in the scandal. JPC members feel that in circulating Raja’s four-month-old note at the last moment, the chairman was trying out a face-saving measure to avoid criticism. But with the chairman’s office now having circulating Raja’s detailed note, the Opposition members led by BJP’s Yashwant Sinha and Communist Party of India leader Gurudas Dasgupta are likely to demand the rewriting of the entire report, which has been described as “a mischievous cover-up of the uncomfortable dimensions of the 2G scam,” by the Left leader. Speaking to The Tribune, Dasgupta said Raja should have been called to face the queries of the members. The differences
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New Oz govt committed to uranium export to India
New Delhi, September 16 Talking to a select group of journalists, he said Australia had made it clear to New Delhi that it wanted an assurance that the uranium supplied by it would be used only for civilian purposes and not for military purposes. “This (condition) has been accepted by India... there is no argument on that,” he said. The two sides had already held two rounds of talks on the safeguard agreement and the third round was expected before the end of this year. “The talks have gone off very well so far. We want to conclude the negotiations as quickly as possible so that the agreement could be signed.” He, however, declined to specify a time line for concluding the nuclear pact. In December 2011, Australia decided to reverse its ban to sell uranium to India after the then ruling Labour Party’s national conference favoured the move despite India being a non-signatory to the NPT. Australia currently holds about a third of the world’s recoverable uranium resources. Suckling said the new Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott was committed to intensifying relations with India in diverse fields, including defence and trade. “We are likely to see focus on a free trade agreement (FTA) with India,” he added. In the field of defence, it is learnt that Australia wants the relationship with India to move beyond merely a regular dialogue. Australia produces world-class
anti-improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and would like India to cooperate in this particular area. Meanwhile, the Australian envoy said both India and Australia had put behind them the incidents of racial attacks on Indian students in the kangaroo-land that had significantly brought down the number of Indians studying in Australian universities. “The Australian authorities took a whole lot of steps to ensure the safety of Indian students and this has been acknowledged by India also.” He said the number of Indian students in Australian educational institutions registered a 16 per cent growth last year. Key deal
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Sino-Indian border row not insurmountable: Khurshid
New Delhi, September 16 He said the relationship between India and China was significantly valuable not only for the two countries but also for how the world would be shaped in the years to come. Khurshid was inaugurating the first India-China media forum along with Chinese Minister of State Council Information Office Cai Mingzhao here this morning. Prominent journalists from India and China attended the meeting and shared views on how media could bring the two countries together. Khurshid said India wanted increased Chinese involvement in the infrastructure sector. At the same time, India was looking for greater market access in China for Indian pharma and IT companies for the growth of a more balanced trade between the two countries. The minister hastened to add that there would be moments of ‘hyper sensitivity’ when it would become important for the two countries to convey to each other what was important for either side. In this connection, he also emphasised the role of the media to prevail over their desire to report more aggressively. The Chinese minister said the fact that India and China were developing simultaneously illustrated that the world was big enough for the two countries to develop at the same time. “It suggests that we have each found a development path that suits our respective national conditions. We should walk hand in hand to continue along the paths that suit our own national conditions.” Friendly and pragmatic cooperation between India and China was in the fundamental interests of both nations and also a blessing for Asia and the world, he added. Meanwhile, at a meeting between Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari and the visiting Chinese minister, it was agreed that the two countries would initiate steps to include media cooperation as part of 2014 celebrations being observed to commemorate ‘friendly exchanges’ between the two countries. India and China agreed to proactively consider steps to promote high-level media exchanges and facilitation between the two nations. What Khurshid said
Chinese minister’s reply
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HC defers hearing on Asaram’s bail plea
Jodhpur, September 16 The high court, which started the hearing of the case today, also directed the prosecution to produce the case diary in court on the next hearing. In a jam-packed court room, senior advocate Ram Jethmalani, who appeared as defence counsel, argued that the FIR, the scene of crime, age of the girl and the entire case itself was fabricated. Jethmalani also mentioned that the girl (victim) was afflicted with a chronic disease "which draws a woman to a man" and said this was subject to police investigation. After completion of arguments by the defence, Justice Nirmal Jeet Kaur deferred the proceedings till September 18 and directed the prosecution to put up the case diary in the court on the next date. One of the prosecution counsels, Pradhyumn Singh, said that since the defence completed its arguments today, the prosecution would carry out its arguments on the next hearing. He said that there were two case diaries, one each of the investigations in Chhindwara and Ahmedabad, and both would be produced before the court according to its directive. Meanwhile, Asaram and his aide Shiva appeared before the District and Sessions Court today, which extended their judicial custody till September 30. During their appearance, Asaram personally requested the judge to accept his request of allowing his personal female doctor to treat his "chronic neurological disease" referred to by him as "trinadi shool". When asked about the disease, he told the judge that it is a disorder which deprives him of a sound sleep. Judge Manoj Kumar Vyas, however, refused to consider the plea in the absence of defence counsel.
— PTI Unholy mess
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Ruckus in UP House over riots
Lucknow, September 16 As soon as the session started, the entire Opposition was up on its feet raising anti-government slogans, displaying banners. BSP members wore paper caps bearing anti-government slogans. Legislators of the BJP, the Rashtriya Lok Dal, the BSP and the Congress entered the well and continued squatting there even after the Speaker initially adjourned the house for 15 minutes. Commotion continued when the proceedings resumed. The Speaker carried out the business of tabling some Bills amidst the din. Leader of the House Swami Prasad Maurya was called to initiate the debate under the notice given by him, but the House continued to be in disorder, forcing the Speaker to announce adjournment for the day. The House would now meet on Wednesday as tomorrow is a holiday on account of Vishwakarma Puja. Later speaking to reporters, RLD MP Jayant Chadhury demanded a CBI probe into the riots. He also demanded adequate compensation for the dead and displaced. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Mohammad Azam Khan refuted reports that the government was considering withdrawing the National Security Act against some of the accused.
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Nimesh panel report tabled
Lucknow, September 16 The 237-page report has raised doubts over the claims of the Special Task Force (STF) regarding the arrests of the duo from Barabanki. While the report had been submitted to the state government on August 31, 2012, it was finally tabled today. The Rihai Manch had been building pressure for its release following the mysterious death of 30-year-old Khalid Mujahid on May 18 this year while on his way back from a court appearance in Faizabad. Ordering a CBI inquiry into the death, CM Akhilesh Yadav had accepted the report in the Cabinet meeting of July 4 and had assured to table the Nimesh Commission report during the next session of the Vidhan Sabha. The report has recommending action against the senior police officers and staff who played an active role in the arrests. The commission had been set up on March 14, 2008, following a hue and cry over the arrest of the duo.
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PM, Sonia’s UP visit secular tourism: BJP
New Delhi, September 16 The saffron party urged the Centre to take appropriate action and not indulge in “vote-bank politics” in Uttar Pradesh - the state that sends as many as 80 MPs to the Lok
Sabha. BJP leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi insisted that leaders of his party had no plans of “secular tourism” to “harvest votes from riot-hit fields” of Uttar
Pradesh. “One month after the communal violence, UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav visited the area yesterday. Today, the Prime Minister, super PM (Sonia Gandhi) and ‘yuvraj’
(Rahul Gandhi) went there for secular tourism,” Naqvi said criticising both the SP government in the state and the Congress-led Centre for “not taking any action to control the situation”. “Had such a riot taken place in a
BJP-ruled state, the Congress would have created an uproar,” he said alleging that both the Congress and SP were “together” and were only indulging in a “mock battle”. Notably, BJP leaders, who wanted to visit Muzaffarnagar soon after the incident, were stopped by the authorities.
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PM’s chair small for Rahul Gandhi: Cong New Delhi, September 16 Rushing to dismiss the Modi versus Rahul Gandhi projection at the national stage in the run-up to the 16th Lok Sabha poll, party spokesperson Bhakta Charan Das today said the Prime Minister’s chair was “small for Rahul Gandhi, a national leader unlike Modi”. Das made this reference invoking Rahul’s pro-tribal, pro-Dalit remarks made at a rally in Udaipur last week. “Such remarks can only come from a leader who has risen above petty electoral politics. The chair of the Prime Minister becomes smaller before such persons,” the spokesperson said. The Congress’ line is — For Rahul Gandhi, becoming Prime Minister is not as much as an issue as becoming a champion of the rights of the poor. “Becoming the Prime Minister is far easier than becoming the leader of the oppressed and taking all sections along and becoming a national leader with national thought,” Bhakta Charan Das said trying to deflect focus from the Modi-Rahul debate. The Congress leader, however, made a significant departure from Congress’ point of view projected last week by another spokesperson — Renuka Choudhary — who had said India was a parliamentary democracy where elections were fought on ideologies and not on personalities. Post Modi’s highly successful Rewari rally yesterday, the Congress today said it could not predict what would happen in the future on the issue of naming a prime ministerial candidate adding that the right decision on the issue would be taken at the right time. "I cannot tell what will happen in the future. The Congress has in the past made many PMs and supported some. In the 2004 General Election, we had not declared our PM candidate. In the future, we will know whether and when the PM candidate will be declared,” Das said.
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Andhra ex-CM Naidu worth only
Rs 42 lakh! Hyderabad, September 16 For the third consecutive year, Naidu made public the details of the properties owned by him and his family members. The personal assets of Naidu, who was the Chief Minister from 1995 to 2004, are valued at Rs 42.06 lakh, up from Rs 31.97 lakh last year. His wife Bhuvaneswari, who heads the family’s business venture Heritage Foods, owns assets worth Rs 33.05 crore. Her assets were worth Rs 24.57 crore last year. Naidu’s son N Lokesh is worth Rs 4.92 crore, down from Rs 6.62 crore last year. Lokesh’s wife Brahmani, daughter of Naidu’s brother-in-law and Telugu film star Nanadamuri Balakrishna, has assets worth Rs 3.30 crore, against Rs 2.09 crore declared last year. While announcing the details of his movable and immovable properties at a press conference here, the former Chief Minister challenged his political rivals to emulate him in the interest of transparency in public life.
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Storm damages apple crop in Himachal Shimla, September 16 The impact of the storm was more severe on the orchards where the twin attack of mite and fungi had already caused premature defoliation of the trees. In many orchards, trees were uprooted and branches torn away. “The trees were laden with fruit in the evening. But in the morning, I found the whole orchard littered with fruit, branches and leaves. Almost 40 to 50 per cent of the crop has been destroyed,” said Pawan Kumar, a leading grower from Chaithla village who is also a director of HIMFED. Such storms are unusual after the monsoon...and hailstorms are common in early summer, he adds. The high hill areas produce the best apple and despite the outbreak of disease towards the second half of the season, the crop had been very good. Unlike the crop in the lower hills, the size and colour of the fruit was also good. Most of the dropped fruit gets damaged and it will have to be either sold to government procurement agencies under the market intervention scheme (MIS) or be marketed in 60 kg bags instead of 20 kg cartons in which good quality fruit is sold. double whammy
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A first: Annual performance appraisal for IIT Directors
New Delhi, September 16 The move comes close on the heels of a strong observation made by Finance Minister P Chidambaram during a recent Cabinet meeting where he questioned IITs’ over-reliance on Central funding and asked why India’s top technical institutions had failed to generate their own funds. The Centre gives every IIT a block grant (under non-plan component) at an average of Rs 200 crore annually. Additionally, the Centre has a scheme under which it offers a matching grant in case a given IIT generates more than 30 per cent (around Rs 60 crore a year) of the non-plan component funds (Rs 200 crore). No IIT has, however, yet been able to raise funds to the extent of over 30 per cent of the block grant annually and the scheme has failed to take off. To instill accountability in IIT Directors, the IIT Council under the chairmanship of HRD Minister MM Pallam Raju today agreed that all IIT Directors must be evaluated annually on parameters like funds raised through consultancy and industry collaboration, faculty recruited and PhDs produced. Chairmen of all IIT Boards of Governors (BoG) cleared the idea and evaluation will begin from this year. HRD Minister Raju said, “In these changing times, the expectation from IIT Directors is not merely academic. It is much more. We will look at the magnitude of resources a particular director can generate, how much ability he has to bring in strong research grants by industry linkage and consultancy. The idea is to consciously push the IITs towards financial self-sufficiency.” At the meeting of the IIT Council today, the government asked individual directors to make a success of the matching grant scheme. No change in IIT-JEE entry criteria The Council of Indian Institutes of Technology on Monday said there would be no change in the IIT-JEE criteria for selection of candidates in IITs for the next year. The IIT Council on Monday ratified the decision taken by the Joint Admission Board of IITs earlier. IITs will select the top 1.50 lakh students from the all-India engineering examination conducted by the CBSE for entry to non-IIT technical colleges. These short-listed candidates will take JEE Advanced, which the IITs will conduct later.
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Naroda-Patiya massacre
Kodnani was sentenced to 28 years in jail by the special fast track court in August last year in the gruesome Naroda-Patiya massacre case in which 96 persons were killed in the 2002 Gujarat riots. Others sentenced to various jail terms in the same case included life imprisonment “till death” to the former state Bajrang Dal convenor Babu Bajrangi, 31 years jail term to seven others and 24 years to each of the 22 others convicted. While delivering the judgment, special court judge Jyotsna Yagnik had observed that death penalty would have been desirable in one of the worst human tragedies of 2002 but she was giving the convicts only jail terms because of the “global trend” against sentencing criminals to death as deaths undermine human dignity. The state government, however, in April this year had decided to permit the SIT to appeal in the High Court against the lower court’s order seeking death penalty against Kodnani, Bajrangi and at least four others. The state government had also appointed a panel of three advocates to pursue the case in the HC but the decision caused intense protest from the Sangh Parivar and some of the close allies of the NDA. Not only the Vishwa Hindu Parishad was immediately up in arms against Chief Minister Narendra Modi, the Shiv Sena, one of the closest allies of the NDA, had described the decision as “a deadly attack on Hindus.” An editorial in its mouthpiece ‘Saamna’ said: “There is a feeling that Modi is a protector of Hindus. Seeking death penalty for Kodnani and Bajrangi is a deadly attack on Hindus who have different expectations from Modi,” it said. Though an official spokesman of the government said the decision against giving permission to appeal against Kodnani was taken in accordance to the advice of the advocate general Kamal Trivedi, the BJP sources said the decision apparently had been taken to please Advani as seeking higher punishment for his strong supporter would not to go down well with the patriarch of the BJP when Modi was requiring everyone’s blessings to fulfill his prime ministerial ambitions.
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In B’desh jail, ULFA founder keen on returning to India
Chetia was arrested in Dhaka in December 1997 for entering the country illegally and served seven years in jail. After his release, Chetia sought political asylum in the country. He is currently lodged in the Kashimpur jail in Bangladesh awaiting action on his asylum plea. Making a communication to the media for the first time in 16 years, the ULFA general secretary said he had no intention to die in a Bangladesh jail and that he wanted to spend the rest of his life in Assam. In a letter sent to a media house in south Assam, the ULFA leader said: “Seeking political asylum in Bangladesh was a political strategy in which I have succeeded since the Government of India has repeatedly failed in its attempt to get me extradited. But now I want to go back to Assam (India).” The letter purportedly written by the ULFA leader in Bengali was sent to the media house through a person released recently from the Kashimpur jail. The name of the courier has been kept secret for security reasons. “All people want to protect their independent identity and it is the birth right of everybody. When the state tries to suppress the aspirations for self-determination, frustration often leads to armed rebellion by the people. That is what has happened in Assam in the form of ULFA,” Chetia stated in the letter. The Central Government is trying to get Chetia back so that he can take part in the ongoing talks with the ULFA faction led by Arabinda Rajkhowa, who also wants Chetia’s presence in the talks. Vital to talks
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COAL SCAM
New Delhi, September 16 Having constituted a high-profile committee consisting of officers from the various ministries involved to locate the missing files, the Coal Ministry has apparently informed the investigating agency that some of the files were still not traceable. The ministry would now wait for direction from the apex court before going ahead with further action. Senior ministry officials not wanting to be identified said that ministry will take action in accordance with the directions of the Supreme Court and as per the law and within the timeline prescribed for the ministry. While hearing the case on 29th August, the Supreme Court had directed the CBI to give a list of documents, files and information sought by it, within five days to the Coal Ministry which in turn, was to furnish them within two weeks. Assuring Parliament earlier, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had said: "If the government is unable to locate some of these papers within the stipulated time, then as directed by the court a report will be filed with the CBI for appropriate inquiry/ investigation". He further said that in its order dated August 29, the court has directed that within five days the CBI shall provide a comprehensive list of documents and records which remain outstanding and, thereafter within two weeks the government will hand over the available papers to the CBI.
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SC nod to diesel subsidy abolition for bulk consumers
New Delhi, September 16 “We have to change our mindset. Transport corporations can’t continue to depend on subsidy for sustenance. They have to find other ways and means to sustain,” the Bench remarked and explained that the cost could be passed on to the users. “We can’t ignore the fact that oil is imported and the value of the rupee is going down, impacting the current account deficit. Economy is not in a good shape and ultimately it has to survive for which a balanced approach is necessary,” the apex court reasoned. The SC passed the order on appeals filed by the Indian Oil Corporation which had pleaded that the Railways should abide by the government decision instead of questioning it. The court pointed out that funds could be utilised better for social sector schemes for the common man and ensuring the country’s energy security, rather than giving subsidies to the bulk consumers.
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Dilip Kumar in hospital, stable
“On 13th of this month, he had viral fever for one day and today he felt a little discomfort and we decided to bring him to hospital and right now he is conscious. He had undergone open heart surgery 14 years ago,” actor’s wife Saira Banu told reporters outside the hospital. Kumar (90) was brought to Lilavati Hospital in suburban Bandra (West), at around 9 pm yesterday. “He is under the care of a cardiologist. He had complained of breathlessness,” a doctor said.
— PTI
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Maoists escape after encounter 2 SAP jawans killed in Maoist attack
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Ahmedabad, September 16
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Mumbai, September 16
