|
|
|
|
|
IM co-founder Bhatkal had bomb-making lab in Goa?
HRD Ministry removes AAP’s Yogendra Yadav from UGC
Pawar rules out package for Vidarbha; farmers cry foul
Assets
case |
|
|
We want to replicate Russian model of defence ties: US
UP
Riots
BJP plans return of Yeddy, Marandi
India-Canada first strategic dialogue on September 22
SC raps Centre, says coal not for charity
Ashwani meets Japanese PM
Lifestyle-related cancer cases up 3% in five years
PIL seeks NIA probe into Dabholkar murder
Top politicos pad up for Mumbai cricket body office
Manna Dey in hospital again
|
|
IM co-founder Bhatkal had bomb-making lab in Goa?
"The NIA, during the search of the house, found bomb-making equipment," Parrikar told reporters. Earlier in the day, the owner of the house which Bhatkal and his associates had rented told PTI that some acid bottles and other things were recovered by the NIA there. Bhatkal -- arrested on August 28 from India-Nepal border -- and two others stayed in this house from November 2011 to December 2012. Later they left, without informing the landlord Dynaneshwar Chari. "We had kept aside the acid bottles during the cleaning of the house after Bhatkal left," Chari told PTI. Parrikar conceded that Goa was being used by criminals as a hide-out during the "cool-off" period after the crime, and added that locals should be careful when renting out houses. "Identity proof should be taken and sent to police for verification," Parrikar said. "We have noticed that many wanted people from other parts of the country are staying in Goa during the cool-off period. If anyone is found giving shelter to such criminals, he will be considered as being involved," he said. The NIA sleuths on Saturday night brought Bhatkal to Goa by a chartered flight from Delhi and left on the same night after visiting the house in Anjuna, and also Chimbel, a slum area near Panaji, police sources said. The NIA picked up one person from Indiranagar Chimbel slum for interrogation. A second-hand motorcycle which Bhatkal used during his stay was also recovered, they said. The information submitted by Chari at the time of renting his house does not mention Bhatkal. According to him, another man, who provided a Pune address, rented it, and Bhatkal joined him later. Chari also said that he did not remember the name of the person who had rented the house. — PTI
|
|
HRD Ministry removes AAP’s Yogendra Yadav from UGC New Delhi, September 18 Easing Yadav out of the commission, apex regulator for all general colleges in the country, the government cited Yadav's political affiliation as the reason for his removal saying his continuation in the top academic position would lead to politicisation of the UGC setting a wrong precedent. Yadav is set to challenge the removal in court saying he would do so for the ethic of the issue. HRD Minister MM Pallam Raju today took the decision to remove Yadav after analysing the response from Yadav who was issued a show-cause notice a fortnight ago to explain why he should not be removed from the UGC full commission membership given his political status. Questioning the timing of the notice, Yadav said former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had in his time appointed two political persons as vice-chancellors of universities.
|
||
|
Pawar rules out package for Vidarbha; farmers cry foul
The region which faces perennial drought was hit by floods this year due to heavy downpour in July that destroyed crops. Pawar, who undertook a three-day tour to get first-hand information on the problem, told reporters in Nagpur on Monday that there was no need for a special package. "Farmers who lost their crops may be compensated under existing schemes," Pawar was quoted as saying. He went on to add that the Central Government was in the process of sending a fact-finding team to access the extent of damage to the crops due to heavy rain. Pawar's visit has already raised the hackles of farmer organisations in the region. Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti (VJAS) said Pawar's visit was aimed at scoring political points instead of bringing relief to farmers. "Farmers are still committing suicide despite the Prime Minister promising to write-off debts," Kishore Tiwari, who heads VJAS, said. According to Tiwari, a request by farmers’ organisations that Pawar visit the families of farmers who committed suicide went unheeded. "Pawar's visit is like rubbing salt in our wounds," he said.
|
||
|
Assets
case Suresh Dharur/TNS
Hyderabad, September 18 The special CBI court here, which heard the arguments from both sides, reserved its order for September 23. Imprisoned for the last 16 months in the illegal assets case, Jagan had last week filed a bail petition after the completion of the four-month time-frame set by the Supreme Court in May this year for the CBI to complete the investigations. The apex court had allowed the Kadapa MP to move the bail application in the trial court after the completion of the probe. The CBI counsel informed the court that the investigation into the case had been completed, but opposed the grant of bail saying he could influence the trial.
|
||
|
We want to replicate Russian model of defence ties: US
New Delhi, September 18 "Yes, that is exactly the same kind of thing where two industry teams are involved in whole product life cycle where the product is both co-produced and developed. That is a new way for the US and India. We do not have the history that Russia does. We are trying to replicate that...," US Deputy Secretary of Defence Ashton Carter said here. India is yet to respond to the proposals made by the US on joint production of equipment. It was in July 2012 the then US Secretary of Defence Leon Panetta had first proposed joint-production and termed it as Defence Trade and Technology Initiative. However, since then nothing has moved forward. Sources on the Indian side said: "The US proposals are being examined and added joining hands for co-production would need a political call." So far India has joint production agreement only with Russia and off-late with Israel for production of long range missiles. Carter today admitted that "we do not have the history of Russia as supplier (to India). Our systems were segregated to a long time. Now we have to find ways to make our systems mesh. We believe that is our destiny". "It is absolutely India's choice," Carter qualified his remarks while talking to reporters. Since the 2008 civilian nuclear deal India has purchased defence equipment from US worth billions of dollars, but relations between the two sides have floundered and the observers on either side will be looking at the Manmohan Singh-Barack Obama meeting in US later this month. Carter said: "We (the US) have worked very hard to clarify and made changes in export controls for India. We have worked to allow US researchers to work with Indian partners. A system allowed only for UK and Australia. We have counter terrorism and maritime issues to work together". He said the matters can be decided by the PM and the President. On being pointed out is the US was looking at BrahMos type cooperation, Carter said yes. BrahMos is hyper-sonic missile jointly developed by Russia and India. Earlier in the day, Carter visited the Indian Air Force pilots who, on August 20, landed the US-built special operations plane the C-130 J at the 16,000-feet high Daulat Baig Oldie landing ground in northern Ladakh. Till now IAF pilots had been using the Russian-built AN -32 for operations at DBO. On being asked if the rapid acquisition of strategic missiles by India and China could trigger an arms race, Carter said: "On strategic missiles with both India and China, I would say they both have technological capability to field such missiles. The US does not believe that Asia Pacific should be the scene of any competition or arms racing, let alone conflict. It is not in interest of any body".
|
||
|
UP
Riots Bijay Sankar Bora/TNS
Guwahati, September 18 Talking to the media at the airport here after arriving to meet party leaders of Northeastern States during a two-day conclave, Singh said the UP government was responsible for the Muzaffarnagar riots. He alleged that the failure of the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre to act against the UP Government in the wake of the riots indicated a nexus between the two parties. The BJP president said the UPA government must intervene in the investigations especially after a sting operation by a news channel.
|
||
|
BJP plans return of Yeddy, Marandi
New Delhi, September 18 Sources say BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi wants the two leaders with strong individual standing and vote banks back but Advani continues to be opposed to the idea of “corruption-tainted leaders” in the BJP. Advani is of the opinion that the move will not augur well for the party as it wants to nail the Congress in the next general election using the anti-corruption plank. But sources say it is a matter of time before the two leaders are back in the BJP fold along with bag and baggage. Yeddyurappa has also intensified efforts to return to the party and even dispatched an emissary to meet senior leaders - Advani, Rajnath Singh and Arun Jaitley - to build a consensus on merging his Karnataka Janata Party (KJP) with the saffron party. Sources say Modi wants both Marandi and Yeddyurappa by his side in order to retrieve the lost ground in Jharkhand and Karnataka. If Rajnath’s attempt to get them back in the BJP does not fructify the way Modi wants, the party has an alternative plan - to make the parties floated by the two leaders after separation from the BJP to join the NDA alliance. Their parties can be made to merge with the BJP after the Assembly elections, sources say.
|
||
|
India-Canada first strategic dialogue on September 22
New Delhi, September 18 External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid is leaving here for Canada on September 21 to co-chair the strategic dialogue with his Canadian counterpart John Baird, MEA spokesman Syed Akbaruddin said. The decision to annually hold the strategic dialogue was taken during Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s visit to India in November last year. The dialogue between India and Canada is significant considering the presence of a large Indian community in Canada. India and Canada have already concluded an agreement to implement their civil nuclear deal that will allow Canadian companies to export uranium and atomic reactors to New Delhi after a gap of 36 years. The two countries are also negotiating a comprehensive economic cooperation agreement. After participating in the strategic dialogue, Khurshid will leave for Ottawa where he will have talks with many other Canadian ministers. He is also expected to meet representatives of the Indian community there.
|
||
|
Centre tells states to crack down on onion hoarders
The National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India
(NAFED) has recommended the government further hike the minimum export price
(MEP) of onion to $900 a tonne. Last month, the government had re-imposed the MEP on onion at $650 a tonne to curb shipments and control rising prices. Due to fixing of export floor price, onion shipments in August had come down substantially to 29,000
tonnes. There is a lot of talk about the rise in onion prices. However, when prices fall, no one shows any concern for the farmers. When farmers are getting more money for their produce we should not complain. Why don't you ask the traders this? The government is not the one selling onions.
New Delhi, September 18 Onion prices in wholesale and retail markets in most parts of the country saw sharp increase since July and apart from hoarding, the government also attributed the shortfall to heavy rainfall and flooding in key growing areas. Like any other commodity, onion prices depend on production and demand and supply chain. That onion storage gets depleted by August-September. Every year, prices tend to peak around September-November and fall during January-March. Officials in fact say that hike in onion prices is part of a well-practised exercise carried out by “politically connected cartels” year after year. Consider this: The shortfall in production due to rains is only about 4 per cent. Onion is not a licenced commodity and government organisation NAFED steps to act like a channelising agency only when scarcity is reported. Due to this complete lack of control over production and marketing, traders use the window between September and October to make a killing. “Harvesting of early kharif crop in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu is going on. October is expected to see a bumper onion crop. Therefore traders are hoarding to make a killing in the next 15 days after which the new stocks will arrive,” they say. Experts also blame the hike on this complete lack of coordination between farmers of the different regions. According to P Chengal Reddy of farmer organisation CIFA, increase in prices of vegetables due to short-supply can be easily addressed by setting up a controlling mechanism for monitoring production at the central level. “Production is spread in vast areas. Due to weather conditions or change in coverage area, production of a particular crop may decrease or increase. If there was a coordination body where farmers could register themselves, the government would not only be able to manage productivity but also address marketing, including export-related issues,” says an analyst. The government claims to have taken measures to check prices of onion and improve domestic supplies of the politically sensitive commodity. These include allowing their imports and restricting exports. While states have been asked to take action against traders and speculators creating artificial price increase of onion taking advantage of seasonal shortage, the government is also expected to increase the MEP to $650 a tonne to discourage exports, which have increased substantially in the past few years. Around 27.5 lakh tonnes of onion were stored in the country for consumption in 2013 but with 90 per cent of stored onions of last year’s crop exhausted, only about 3-4 lakh tonnes are available.
|
||
|
SC raps Centre, says coal not for charity
New Delhi, September 18 A Bench headed by Justice R M Lodha asked the Centre to satisfy that pick and choose policy was not adopted by it to favour some companies and level playing field was there for other firms also. "It is not for charity. It cannot be given for charity," the Bench said. Attorney General GE Vahanvati replied that coal blocks was allocated for promoting social welfare policy. "Decision was backed by the social welfare policy and coal block was not allocated for commercial exploitation. Once the block is allocated, the companies cannot sell it but they have to use it for power generation and the power generated has to be sold to government electricity board," the AG replied. He clarified that revenue maximisation was not the idea behind the coal allocation and it was done to promote investment in other sectors which were facing hurdles for shortage of power. — PTI
|
||
|
Ashwani meets Japanese PM
New Delhi, September 18 At a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Tokyo, Prime Minister’s Special Envoy Ashwani Kumar said India was honoured and privileged to welcome the Japanese Emperor and the Empress, which would be their first ever visit to India. Kumar also reiterated the invitation extended to Prime Minister Abe to visit India for the annual summit.
|
||
|
Lifestyle-related cancer cases up 3% in five years
New Delhi, September 18 In the last five years, the incidence of lifestyle related cancers rose by two to three percent becoming the fastest rising cancers in all the categories. Risk factors for these cancers are the rising consumption of tobacco, alcohol, reduced intake of high-fibre foods such as vegetables and fruits and late marriages leading to late first pregnancies, late start of breastfeeding and fewer children. To address these and other pressing concerns around the rising cancer burden, top oncologists of the country on Tuesday announced the schedule of the first-ever Indian Cancer Congress that will be organised from November 21 to 24 in the capital to bring together leading researchers in the field and share new knowledge. Four top oncology associations of India -- the Association of Radio Oncologists of India, theIndian Aasociation of Surgical Oncology, the Indian Soociety of Medical and Paediatric Oncology and the Indian Society of Oncology -- will come together for the event which will see the participation of top cancer specialists from the world over. The Congress is being held in the backdrop of latest evidence that only about 20 per cent of all cancers in the country are being detected early despite the fact that 70 per cent of all cancers are preventable. Dr GK Rath, chairman of the organising committee of the congress and Director and Head of the Department of Radiation Oncology at AIIMS, said, “As many as 40 per cent of all tobacco related cancers; 20 per cent of all infection related cancers and 10 per cent of lifestyle related cancers are preventable. We can say safely that 80 per cent of cancers can be cured if detected early as against just 20 per cent if detected late. However, just 2.4 per cent of all new cancer cases detected per year are actually detected in early stages where the cure is easier.” Dr Rath said awareness around prevention of cancers was critical and risk factors needed to be avoided. To avoid lifestyle related cancers such as breast cancers which are on the rise, oncologists called for early marriages, early first pregnancy, increased breastfeeding and breastfeeding at a younger age among other things. “Late marriages are a risk factor for breast cancer. The incidence of this cancer is more in women who marry after 30 years and bear children after that age as against those who marry before 30 years,” Dr Harit Chaturvedi, Chairman, Max Institute of Oncology and organizing Secretary for the Congress said.
|
||
|
PIL seeks NIA probe into Dabholkar murder
Mumbai, September 18 Accusing the Pune police of carrying out a flawed probe, the petition said that Dabholkar had been receiving threats for quite some time and the Maharashtra Government was aware of this. The Pune police could have prepared a threat perception report and monitored his movements, it said. The government need not wait for the person's approval for providing him/her with security, and about 90 per cent of the persons who are provided security do not really need it, it adds. Dabholkar was shot dead in Pune on August 20 by some unidentified persons. The PIL claims that Pune police have come across some information about the possibility of involvement of astrology practitioners, against whom Dabholkar was about to start an agitation. It suspected that these people were in touch with Hindu right wing extremists who blamed Dabholkar for hurting Hindu religious sentiments, it says. — PTI
|
||
|
Top politicos pad up for Mumbai cricket body office
Mumbai, September 18 On Monday, the Mazgaon Cricket Club announced that it would be represented by Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan in the MCA, which would make him eligible to contest the body's elections next month. BJP leader Gopinath Munde is likely to front Stylo Cricketers, according to the buzz here. However a clear picture will emerge only later this evening. MCA officials say several new faces including Maharashtra Navnirman Sena MLA Nitin Sardessai and Umesh Joshi, son of senior Shiv Sena leader Manohar Joshi, are among those representing various clubs. This time, say observers, Chavan could strike a deal with either BJP leader Gopinath Munde or Pawar himself.
|
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Letters | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | E-mail | |
Panaji, September 18
Mumbai, September 18