The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Tribune ex-Prez Talwar cremated
Veera Talwar, wife of former President of The Tribune Trust RS Talwar, along with her two sons Rana Talwar (left) and Amar Talwar at the Lodhi Road crematorium in New Delhi on Friday. New Delhi, October 11
The mortal remains of RS Talwar, former Chief Secretary of Punjab and former President of The Tribune Trust, were consigned to flames at the Lodi Road crematorium today. The funeral was attended by members of his family and a large number of friends.

Veera Talwar, wife of former President of The Tribune Trust RS Talwar, along with her two sons Rana Talwar (left) and Amar Talwar at the Lodhi Road crematorium in New Delhi on Friday. Tribune photo: Mukesh Aggarwal

In Nitish domain, Modi will sell his OBC credentials
New Delhi, October 11
The BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate is expected to prominently display his OBC (Other Backward Class) credentials when he lands in Patna on October 27 for what will be his debut rally in the domain of arch rival Nitish Kumar. Using his caste trump card, Modi will be targeting the sizable vote bank, currently in hold of leaders like Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad Yadav.

Rhino poachers on a rampage in Assam
Guwahati, October 11
Poachers has struck in the planet’s highest one-horned rhino density area, Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary, located about 35 km away from here to the N-E direction.

Armed forces gear up for relief ops
New Delhi, October 11
Bracing for what will entail one of the biggest rescue and relief effort of the country, the three armed forces have prepared planes, warships, helicopters, small boats and doctors to tackle the impact of cyclone Phailin that is expected to hit the Orissa and Andhra coast tomorrow evening.

Group of Ministers on Telangana meets
New Delhi, October 11
The newly re-constituted Group of Ministers (GoM) on Telengana met today with an assurance that the concerns of keeping Andhra Pradesh as one entity would be addressed with "fairness and objectivity".

13 die in Bihar mishap
Saharsa, October 11
At least 13 pilgrims died and 20 injured today when a tractor fell into a ditch in Sukhasan village in Bihar's Saharsa district. The accident took place this evening when the tractor, returning from a temple at Karu Sthan, overturned and fell into a roadside ditch, Superintendent of Police Ajit Kumar Satyarthi said.
There were 40 people on board the tractor and the injured people have been admitted to sadar hospital. — PTI

Naidu shifted to hospital
New Delhi, October 11
On the fifth day of his hunger strike against the creation of Telangana, TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu was forcibly evicted by police from Andhra Bhavan here and shifted him to a hospital where he continued his fast. Naidu supporters vandalised the place, raising slogans against Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, burning her effigies and hurling slippers at the banners of Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy. — PTI

2 Army officers, jawan injured in scuffle
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, October 11
In another sign of changing social mores in the Indian Army, another officer-jawan fracas has been reported, this time from Meerut. Two officers and a jawan of the 10th Sikh Light Infantry (SLI) battalion have been injured in an incident that occurred last evening.

The incident has occurred just two months after the Army assured the Defence Ministry that 'corrective steps' had been taken following three similar incidents in the recent past.

In turn, the Defence Minister AK Antony informed the Parliament on August 8 this year: "Measures like better man management and adequate grievance redress mechanisms have been put in place to address the causative factors (of tensions between officers and jawans)".

Army officials here confirmed yesterday's incident saying a court of inquiry has been ordered. Sources said the incident occurred when a boxing match between two companies of the battalion ended in fracas. Tempers ran high when the decision of the referee - a person from the same regiment - was disputed by one of the boxers. A battalion has four companies and sporting events such as boxing, athletics, basketball and volleyball are conducted to keep the men fit.

The 10th Sikh Light Infantry is nowadays based in Delhi. It had been sent to Meerut for training and was located at place Debathua, some 15 kms from Meerut.

Sources said both the injured officers are Major. One of them is the Second-in-Command of the battalion. The commanding officer had reportedly left the boxing area when the incident occurred.

One version, corroborated by two sources, is that during the boxing match one of the boxers was losing and he wanted to forfeit the match which was not appreciated by the officer in charge of his company.

The incident has come about just two months after Antony, while replying to Parliamentarians, termed the previous cases as 'aberrations' and assured these "do not indicate declining discipline and leadership standards in the Army".

This year alone, punishment has been handed in three separate cases which occurred in the past couple of years.

In March this year, an Army Court of Inquiry recommended disciplinary action against 168 personnel, including four officers, 17 junior commissioned officers and 147 jawans, for the unprecedented clash that took place between officers and jawans in the 226 artillery regiment at Nyoma in south-eastern Ladakh in May 2012. Those facing action include the commanding officer of the unit.

Fourth incident this year

The incident has occurred just two months after the Army assured the Defence Ministry that ‘corrective steps’ had been taken following three similar incidents in the recent past

Antony, while replying to Parliamentarians, termed the previous cases as ‘aberrations’

He had remarked that these “do not indicate declining discipline and leadership standards in the Army”

This year alone, punishment has been handed in three separate cases which occurred in the past couple of years

	Justice Dewan to bestow on son what he couldn’t win in legal battle Saurabh Malik/TNS Chandigarh, October 11 Former Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court Justice Shanti Sarup Dewan is all set to bestow on his son Suvir what he could not win in a legal battle. Available information suggests Chief Justice Dewan has expressed willingness to bequeath through will one-third share in his Sector 11 house to Suvir. The remaining share will be divided between his two daughters. Chief Justice Dewan has also refused to accept from Suriv Rs 50,000 costs ordered by the Punjab and Haryana High Court to be paid to the elderly couple. Suvir, meanwhile, has complied with the Supreme Court orders and vacated the Sector 11 house. The developments took place less than a week after the Supreme Court refused to come to Suvir’s rescue. An advocate, Suvir was staying on the first floor of the house with his family; and was using a portion of the ground floor to run his office. Justice Dewan and his wife Romilla were also staying on a part of the ground floor. The crux of the dispute between the father and son is the house. Chief Justice Dewan has been claiming that it was his self-acquired property; and had executed a Will disinheriting Suvir from all his moveable or immovable assets. Suvir, on the other hand, has been arguing that it was Hindu Undivided Family property as shown in the income tax returns. As such, he argued his sisters had no right in the property. Taking up the matter, a Division Bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court on September 25 asked Suvir to vacate the house and pay Rs 50,000 to the elderly couple towards cost of litigation in 15 days. The Bench had ruled: “Other than the oblique motive to grab the property at Chandigarh and keep possession of the same against the wishes of the owner, there can be no other reason,” the Bench had asserted. “In fact, it was quite clear during the course of arguments that not only the respondent (Suvir Dewan) wants to deprive the appellant (Justice Dewan) to deal with his property as per his wishes, but wanted to grab the whole property for himself denying the share of his sisters”. The Bench had passed the orders after Chief Justice Dewan, 85, and his 74-year-old wife moved the court about four months ago, asserting “they deserve to live a life of dignity and honour”.
	SC commutes death sentence in triple murder case R Sedhuraman Legal Correspondent New Delhi, October 11 The Supreme Court has commuted the death sentence of a man in a triple murder case, saying life term would be sufficient as no civilised society had faith in extracting an eye for an eye or a tooth for a tooth. Gudda, alias Dwarikendra, had butchered his pregnant wife, their five-year-old son along with his wife’s suspected paramour in Satna district of Madhya Pradesh after inviting them to his house for lunch on May 28, 2007. The assailant suspected his wife had an affair with the man. Upon being attacked with a knife, the victims tried to escape by running down the stairs, but Gudda chased and killed them. The trial court of Additional Sessions Judge at Satna had sentenced him to death on September 7, 2010 which was upheld by the MP High Court on January 16, 2012. Explaining the logic behind commuting the death sentence, a three-member Bench headed by Justice HL Dattu said Gudda had pre-meditated to kill only the man, Sunil Gupta. But after hacking the victim, he decided to kill the other two in order to destroy evidence. Also, Gudda was 35 years old and had no previous criminal background and as such he could be reformed. The Bench, which included Justices SJ Mukhopadhaya and MY Eqbal, also advised the judiciary to stay away from painting such brutal murders with the “rarest of the rare” colour in a haste to justify the death sentence. Since all murders were inhuman and only some were more so than others, the degree of brutality should be ascertained in each case in contrast with other cases by applying the criteria laid down in the Bachan Singh case and further streamlined in the Macchi Singh case, the Bench explained. “We are of the considered view that the brutality as evinced by the appellant herein would not fall within the ambit of the rarest of the rare cases so as to exercise the discretion of imposing capital punishment,” the SC said. Case History Gudda, alias Dwarikendra, butchered his pregnant wife, their 5-year-old son and wife's suspected paramour in Satna district of Madhya Pradesh on May 28, 2007 The trial court sentenced him to death on September 7, 2010 and the Madhya Pradesh High Court upheld the sentence on January 16, 2012 The Supreme Court said life term was sufficient as no civilised society had faith in extracting an eye for an eye or a tooth for a tooth It further advised the judiciary to restrain from painting such cases with the 'rarest of the rare' colour
	Congress to form panels to empower Dalits Aditi Tandon/TNS New Delhi, October 11 The Congress high command has decided to form committees at all levels across the country to help the Dalits access their entitlements under various right-based laws passed by the UPA government. An exercise to this effect has started in the All-India Congress Committee (AICC) headquarters where the newly appointed chief of the party’s Scheduled Caste cell K Raju is busy giving direction to heads of state Congress SC panels on how to go about making inroads into Dalit households and help them take control of their rights. A full schedule has been worked out for the remaining year ahead of next Lok Sabha elections. The developments follow Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s recent lesson that “the SCs in India need the escape velocity of Jupiter and not Earth, if they have to break free and rise”. The Dalits form around 16.2 per cent of India’s population and are a formidable electorate in UP, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and even Chhattisgarh. As part of its Dalit empowerment agenda, the Congress yesterday called party SC cell chiefs from Punjab, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh (Mahendra Singh, Shankar Yadav, Eshwar Bhai makwana and Kuldeep Singh, respectively) to give them lessons in building Dalit leadership at the state, district, block, village and panchayat levels. Gradually such meetings will be held with all state Congress representatives. A training workshop for select party persons from all over India is being planned already to show them how support is to be provided to Dalits. In the process, the party plans to form Dalit empowerment committees at all levels - 2.5-lakh panchayat level panels; six lakh village-level committees; 600 district-level panels right up to the state level.
	Tribune ex-Prez Talwar cremated Tribune News Service New Delhi, October 11 The mortal remains of RS Talwar, former Chief Secretary of Punjab and former President of The Tribune Trust, were consigned to flames at the Lodi Road crematorium today. The funeral was attended by members of his family and a large number of friends. Talwar (94) passed away at a Gurgaon hospital on Thursday after a brief illness. Among those who attended the funeral included Naresh Mohan, Trustee, The Tribune Trust, Punjab MP Naresh Gujral, former MP Tarlochan Singh, former Delhi Police Commissioner YS Dadwal and Justice Rajinder Sachar (retd). On behalf of The Tribune Trust, Naresh Mohan paid a floral tribute. Members of the Tribune employees’ unions also laid wreaths. The “kriya” ceremony will be held on October 13 from 5 pm to 6 pm at Chinmaya Mission, 89, Lodhi Road, New Delhi. Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has mourned Talwar’s demise.
	In Nitish domain, Modi will sell his OBC credentials Vibha Sharma/TNS New Delhi, October 11 The BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate is expected to prominently display his OBC (Other Backward Class) credentials when he lands in Patna on October 27 for what will be his debut rally in the domain of arch rival Nitish Kumar. Using his caste trump card, Modi will be targeting the sizable vote bank, currently in hold of leaders like Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad Yadav. Positioning himself as an OBC face is something that Modi is now working on. His appeal among upper middle and business classes won him Gujarat consecutively but the last Assembly elections saw him using his caste to offset the wayward Patel votes. “Modi never tried too hard to encash his OBC lineage because of his RSS background where he was taught not to play up his caste affiliations. But the situation is different now and what better place than Patna to showcase his status,” a BJP leader says. Modi belongs to an OBC segment, ghanchi community of oil-pressers (teli), and the BJP is banking on selling his story along with the development story of Gujarat to maximise gains in extremely caste sensitive regions. For instance, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar that send 120 MPs to the Lok Sabha and where electoral politics is majorly guided by caste combinations. So far in his rallies, Modi has revelled in his humble background but refrained from wearing his caste badge. His major rallies at Rewari, Bhopal and Delhi saw him selling his humble background as “a son of a poor family”.
	Rhino poachers on a rampage in Assam Bijay Sankar Bora/TNS Guwahati, October 11 Poachers has struck in the planet’s highest one-horned rhino density area, Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary, located about 35 km away from here to the N-E direction. A full-grown one-horned rhino was shot dead by a group of poachers in the sanctuary on Tuesday triggering mass protests in the area where protesting public today blocked the highway passing by the sanctuary for hours demanding immediate arrest of the poachers and action against forest staff who failed to prevent the poaching incident. The poachers, however, failed to take away the horn which was recovered by the forest staff hours after the killing of the rhino. Protesting public today burnt effigy of State Environment and Forest Minister Rakibul Hussain. The incident occurred within 24 hours of recovery of carcass of another poached rhino from Agoratoli Range in Kaziranga National Park (KNP) in eastern Assam on Monday. The horn of the rhino was taken away by the poachers. With this, total 26 rare one-horned rhinos have fallen prey to rampaging poachers in the KNP, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. With the killing of the rhino in Pobitora Sanctuary, the toll of rhinos killed by poachers during the last 10 months has gone up to 35.
	Armed forces gear up for relief ops Tribune News Service New Delhi, October 11 Bracing for what will entail one of the biggest rescue and relief effort of the country, the three armed forces have prepared planes, warships, helicopters, small boats and doctors to tackle the impact of cyclone Phailin that is expected to hit the Orissa and Andhra coast tomorrow evening. The National Disaster Relief Force (NDRF) and the Coast Guard have also joined in the operations as the cyclone is being dubbed “very severe”. Defence Minister AK Antony has directed the three Services — Army, Air Force and the Navy — to be in complete readiness. Two IAF IL-76s have been despatched to Bhubaneswar with NDRF teams and equipment. Other IAF assets are on standby at various bases, including Raipur, Nagpur, Barrackpore, Ranchi and Gwalior. The IAF has committed two C-130-J Super Hercules aircraft and 18 helicopters. The Eastern Air Command has been tasked to coordinate the entire relief operation with a Task Force being positioned at Barrackpore, West Bengal. Visakhapatnam-based Eastern Naval Command has kept multiple Indian Navy diving teams with inflatable rafts in standby mode at important locations. Besides, Navy has put Chetak and UH-3H helicopters on standby for launching rescue and relief operations.
	Group of Ministers on Telangana meets Tribune News Service New Delhi, October 11 The newly re-constituted Group of Ministers (GoM) on Telengana met today with an assurance that the concerns of keeping Andhra Pradesh as one entity would be addressed with "fairness and objectivity". Since the GoM has no time frame to submit a report, it is being speculated that the process to bifurcate Andhra Pradesh and create the new state of Telengana would be slowed down. The next round of discussion is slated for October 19. Defence Minister AK Antony and Finance Minister P Chidambaram could not attend the meet today. Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shidne chaired the meeting today. Ghulam Nabi Azad, M Veerappa Moily, Jairam Ramesh and V Narayansamy are the other members of the GoM. A press statement issued after the meeting said the GoM “would like to assure people of Andhra Pradesh that their concerns would be addressed with objectivity”. The statement said the GoM also discussed “the approach to be adopted by it…would take opinion of stakeholders on all important subjects while formulating its recommendations”. The GoM finalised different nodal ministries and departments of the central government which will prepare status reports to be submitted to the GoM on subjects in the terms of reference, the statement said.