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Funds were not given as bribe, says VK Singh
Former Army Chief General VK Singh (retd) at Gurgaon on Tuesday.
Tribune photo: Sayeed Ahmed
Sibal slams Modi
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Modi not adopting GST Bill: Ramesh
Advani, Modi to share stage at Bhopal today
Apex court upholds
assured career progression for Army doctors
Mumbai Attack
YSR Congress president YS Jaganmohan Reddy greets his supporters after he
was released from the Chanchalguda Jail in Hyderabad on Tuesday. — PTI
Kharif rice output pegged lower at 92.32 MT
Cong likely to have zonal presidents in Maharashtra
Raise NSA snooping issue
with US: Dasgupta to PM
India begins joint army exercise with Nepal
Indian and Nepalese soldiers interact during the joint military exercise in Pithoragarh district of Uttarakhand on Tuesday. A Tribune photograph
Punjab, Haryana farmers seek hike in MSP
NE minister skips govt function
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Funds were not given as bribe, says VK Singh
Gurgaon, September 24 “I have never said that the politicians were bribed. The money given to them was not for their personal or political use, but to engage people in constructive activities,” said General Singh while addressing mediapersons. “I did not commit any mistake. When I had said some politicians were given money, it was not meant for their personal purpose or political purpose. It was not for lining their pockets or for bribe. If somebody says a minister was given a bribe, it is totally wrong. “It was meant solely for stability... to win hearts and minds of people, to wean people away from separatist activities under the overall umbrella of ‘sadbhavna’ (harmony),” he said. The former Army Chief also sought a probe into the leak of the confidential report and action against those responsible for it. General Singh said the leak of the secret Army report to the media seemed to be a bid to divert people’s attention from the “burning issues”. On the creation and functioning of an Army’s intelligence unit, he said it was meant to serve the national interest and disbanding it would defeat the purpose. “Some people who say that the unit was my private army should discard such ideas. This unit was functioning under the DG, Military Intelligence. I am not here to micromanage things. I commanded 12 lakh men.” Asked to reveal the names of politicians who benefited from Army’s funds, Singh said: “Probably that politician would not even know. Why are we talking about it? There is an anonymity that has been put into it. It will reveal the working of the unit.” He said he wanted to have a case of treason against people who were involved in leaking the report and did not want to be blamed for the same by discussing the functioning of the unit openly. “I will not speak on the intelligence operations…. whatever is not in the interest of the country, I will not speak on the issue,” Gen Singh said. On why he started the controversy by making the claim, he said: “I did not start this whole game. It was started by people who leaked the report.” (With PTI inputs)
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Sibal slams Modi
New Delhi, September 24 Sibal held the BJP responsible for his party's failure in passing a number of Bills among the 13 promised in its 2009 manifesto. He listed the success of the UPA-I and II in passing various legislations, including the Right to Information Act, 2005, Right to Education Act, 2009 and the flagship schemes of Right to Food Bill, 2013 and Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation Bill 2013, awaiting the President's approval. Sibal defended the Centre's stance on the latest amendment to the RTI Act exclusion of political parties and 8(4) of Representation of People Act that the Supreme Court had struck down recently. "Disruption is the policy of the NDA government and the BJP has scuttled all Bills on the way so that it can blame the UPA government before elections. We have made it possible through several laws, with the Food Security Bill being the landmark one but what does Modi have. "There is a person called 'Nirantar Virodhi' (Narendra Modi). Have you heard anything positive from him? I spoke about our government (UPA's) education policy, but has he ever spoken about education. "He projects himself as hero and us (Congress and UPA) zero. This is what Narender Modi or 'nirantar virodhi' is," said Sibal, while addressing students at St Stephen's College in the National Capital. "He (Modi) says he wants to make India Gujarat but we wish to make Gujarat India," Sibal said.
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Modi not adopting GST Bill: Ramesh
Ahmedabad, September 24 Talking to mediapersons here, Ramesh said the Centre was keen that the measure should be adopted with the consent of all states. While every other state had supported the move, Gujarat under Modi was the lone exception due to which the Bill could not be adopted in the past nine years. Ramesh said not only he, but even BJP leaders were at a loss to understand why Modi was opposing the GST Bill when it was originally mooted by the then Atal Bihari Vajpayee government in 2002.
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Advani, Modi to share stage at Bhopal today
New Delhi, September 24 Though Advani had a tęte-ŕ-tęte with his once-protégé at the birthday bash of Ram Jethmalani and later on, also praised the newly anointed PM candidate at a rally in Chhattisgarh, there is a whole lot of speculation on what his “body language and public demeanour” will be at the September 25 rally in the Madhya Pradesh capital. Party sources confirmed that Advani would attend and also speak positive things about Modi. For Modi, it will be a significant moment because he will sharing the limelight with the state Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who is believed to have nursed similar aspirations for the top job of the country. Chouhan is aiming to wrest Madhya Pradesh for the third time and if he manages that, he will join the special club of BJP’s three-time CMs of which the Gujarat CM is the sole member as of now. According to sources, it is one of the reasons why the Modi camp wanted the announcement on the PM candidate made before the Assembly elections. The meeting will be attended by the BJP’s top leaders, including Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley. Ever since his softening of stance against Pakistan at Rewari, the party is keen to colour Modi’s Hindutva image with that of a secular nationalist.
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Apex court upholds
assured career progression for
Chandigarh, September 24 The 6th Central Pay Commission had recommended the system of four time-bound progressions in grade pay for all doctors in the organised and unorganised medical services under the Central government. The Army Medical Corps was recognised as one of the services under the central government. Thereafter, on Cabinet approval, the scheme was implemented for all the Central government doctors and the respective ministries were asked to issue instructions to this effect. While initially the Ministry of Defence
(MoD) was inclined to implement the scheme, the then Armed Forces Principal Personnel Officers Committee
(PPOC) was of the opinion that Army doctors should not get the benefit of the DACP till anomalies related to other personnel were resolved. It was also stated by the Army that it may lead to an anomalous situation wherein doctors may start getting higher pay than officers of similar ranks in other cadres. The scheme was then held back though the Air Force, Navy and the Director General of Armed Forces Medical Services strongly supported it. The affected AMC officers then approached the Armed Forces Tribunal on the grounds that anomaly resolution of other cadres could not be a basis to hold back a scheme approved by the Cabinet and that doctors in all services were already getting a higher pay than other officers which did not affect inter-se seniority with other cadres. In July 2011, the AFT had held in no uncertain terms that non-implementation of the DACP was clearly detrimental to AMC officers and directed the government to implement it within three months. The
MoD, however, appealed against the decision in the apex court,
contending that the Armed Forces were not in favour of granting these
benefits to AMC officers and that the AFT had interfered in policy of
the government. The SC, however, dismissed the government’s appeal
yesterday clearing the decks for DACP’s implementation.
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Pak panel to inspect mobile, dinghy used by terrorists
Mumbai, September 24 Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate PY Ladekar, who presided over the proceedings, asked Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam, representing the Centre, to produce the dinghy, its Yamaha engine, cell phones and global positioning system (GPS) before the panel tomorrow. When the court asked the prosecutor whether the government had any objection to producing these articles, Nikam replied in the negative and said those were lying at the Arthur Road Central prison and would be produced tomorrow. At one stage, the court expressed its annoyance at why the commission had not informed in advance about its plans to examine the articles used by the 10 LeT terrorists. On their way to Mumbai, the terrorists had hijacked an Indian fishing boat ‘Kuber’, which they abandoned on reaching near the city shores and used the dinghy to arrive at the coast on November 26, 2008, before unleashing violence that left 166 people dead. Two doctors, Shailesh Mohite and Ganesh Nithurkar, who had conducted autopsies of nine terrorists, gave a brief account of the post-mortems performed by them. “Mohite had informed the court that he had conducted post mortem on terrorist Abu Ismail, a companion of Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, on November 26, 2008,” Nikam said. The Pakistani Commission, the purpose of whose visit is to cross-examine the witnesses, chose not to do so. Asked why they did not cross-examine the witnesses, who deposed before the panel today, Nikam said, “perhaps they did not wish to dispute the injuries caused to terrorists and also did not want to disagree about the number of casualties.” Two remaining witnesses-Magistrate R V Sawant-Waghule, who had recorded the confession of Kasab, and the Investigating Officer Ramesh Mahale would depose tomorrow. — PTI
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Jagan walks out of jail to rousing reception
Hyderabad, September 24 The dramatic scenes were witnessed as the 40-year-old MP stepped out of the Chanchalguda Central Prison with a rapturous crowd raising slogans hailing his leadership. It took nearly five hours for his convoy of vehicles to reach his home, a distance of nearly 15 km. The road outside the jail witnessed a near-stampede situation with thousands thronging to see their leader.
Pro-Jagan slogans rent the air. His drive to his residence at Lotus Pond in Banjara Hills turned into a spontaneous rally. Waving at huge gatherings on either side of the road, Jagan hung out from the car's front window to accept the people's greetings. The crowds were so exhilarated that on occasions they forced the convoy to a halt, ensured that he got off from his vehicle and hugged them before proceeding on his way. The police made tight security arrangements to prevent any untoward incident but could not contain the surging crowds as they cheered Jagan when he left the jail in a bulletproof vehicle. On Monday, the special CBI court granted conditional bail to
Jagan, directing him not to leave the city without the permission of the court.
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Kharif rice output pegged lower at 92.32 MT
New Delhi, September 24 Battling again for genetically modified (GM) crops, the minister said: "Wherever feasible and considered advisable by our scientists, based on field trials and otherwise, we should not hesitate in introducing GM crops to reap the benefits of scientific research in this area." On pulses and edible oils, he said more efforts were required to bridge the demand-supply gap. He said agriculture grew at just 1.9 per cent in 2012-13 fiscal due to drought in some states, but the sector would revive this year thanks to strong monsoon precipitation. Till now, the monsoon rainfall has been 4 per cent higher than the normal. Releasing the first forecast of foodgrain production during the kharif season, Pawar said: "Rice output is estimated slightly lower at 92.32 MT. But, I am confident that we will definitely make it up". He also said the government's initial foodgrain production estimates were normally conservative as there is always 5-10 per cent difference in output figures of first and final forecasts. "With favourable weather condition, I am confident that kharif production will be substantially higher than what has been estimated at present. And there will be highest foodgrain production in the entire 2013-14 crop year. Definitely, there will be a rebound in agriculture growth," Pawar said. As per Agriculture Commissioner JS Sandhu, estimate for rice output had been kept lower as deficient rains in Bihar, Jharkhand and North East have affected the kharif crops. According to the first estimates, the overall foodgrain production will rise marginally to 129.32 MT in the kharif season of 2013-14 from 128.20 MT the last season. Higher pulses and coarse cereals output is projected to lift the overall foodgrain production.
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Cong likely to have zonal presidents in Maharashtra
New Delhi, September 24 Rahul reached Nagpur today where he held extensive meetings with the state Congress leadership. He would also hold meetings with workers and district and block-level leaders of the party in Pune tomorrow. With him are AICC general secretary in charge of Maharashtra Mohan Prakash and Maharashtra state Congress president Manikrao Thakre. Importantly, Rahul will also be joined tomorrow in Pune by Ajay Makan, in charge of the Congress' Communications Department. Sources said there was likelihood of the Congress dividing the state into zones headed by vice-presidents, as recently done in Punjab. Congress leader from Punjab and Punjab Congress spokesperson Sukhpal Singh Khaira was actively involved in the ground work for Rahul's Nagupr and Pune visits. The thinking in the party is that zonal division of the state Congress would help the party micro manage issues in the run up to elections next year. For long, there has been heartburn in the state Congress unit with CM Prithviraj Chavan and Thakre not on very good terms with one another.
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Raise NSA snooping issue
with US: Dasgupta to PM
New Delhi, September 24 In an open letter to the Prime Minister, CPI Parliamentary Party leader Gurudas Dasgupta said: “I implore upon you to find out from the American Government, particularly from President
Obama, why it is being done. If it is being done, I am deeply concerned about the dignity of the nation, sovereignty of the country, security and safety of the state and the privacy of the citizens. I hope the Government of India will find out enough justification to enlighten the nation if the news, as appeared, is right or wrong, true or false.” The Prime Minister is scheduled to meet President Obama in Washington on September 27 at a bilateral summit meeting. Reacting to reports, the CPI leader said whistleblower and Edward Snowden had disclosed that India was among the countries under the scanner of
NSA. He had said access was being made through Google and Microsoft, etc.
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India begins joint army exercise with Nepal
Pithoragarh, September 24 “Over 900 Indian and Nepalese troops are taking part in the joint exercise being conducted in the mountainous terrain of the border areas shared by both countries,” said an Indian Army spokesperson. He claimed it would lead to better cooperation between the two countries. “The joint military exercises between India and Nepal were initially held at the platoon level. It has now reached the company level. This shows how both countries are heading towards a higher level of cooperation in sharing military methodology,” the spokesperson said. At the end of the exercise at different locations in Uttarakhand, the Army jawans from both countries would present cultural programmes on the night of October 6.
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Punjab, Haryana farmers seek hike in MSP
New Delhi, September 24 The farmers, under the banner of Bharti Kisan Union, gathered at Gurdwara Bangla Sahib and marched towards Parliament. But they were stopped near Parliament Street by the police. Later, they sat on a dharna at Jantar Mantar. They raised slogans against the Union Government for its alleged anti-farmers’ policy. Addressing the agitating farmers, BKU president Balbir Singh Rajewal said the Union Government’s treatment with the farmers was inappropriate. It always fixed low and un-remunerative minimum support price (MSP) of agriculture products.
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NE minister skips govt function
Bangalore, September 24 Pawan Singh Ghatwar, who heads the DONER and has no other responsibility except looking after this particular ministry, gave the function a go by. Thankfully, Ghatwar happens to be a senior Congress leader from Assam. Such indifference by an “outsider minister” would have instantly attracted attention of separatist and other parochial outfits operating in these states. No particular reason was cited for Ghatwar’s absence other than that the “minister was held up due to official work”. A director of DONER read out the minister’s short and insipid address. A joint secretary of DONER, who belongs to the Indian Forest Service (IFS), ran the show in the absence of the minister. HT Sangliana, a native of Mizoram and an IPS officer of Karnataka cadre who has also served as a Lok Sabha member and as vice-chairman of the National Commission for Minorities, was persuaded by the organisers of the conclave to become the chief guest in place of
Ghatwar.
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Former Army Chief Gen VK Singh today sought to clarify his earlier statement on provision of funds to certain political leaders of Jammu and Kashmir by saying the money was not given as bribe and was meant for constructive purposes.
The two-week 5th joint military exercise of the Indian and Nepalese armies started here today. The exercise, which involves general combat warfare, mountain warfare, anti-insurgency operations in hill terrain and relief and rescue operations at the time of natural disasters, will conclude on October 6.
Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said a record foodgrain production was expected in full 2013-14 crop year (July-June) along with a rebound in agriculture growth.