N A T I O N

With general election 2014 only a few months away...
Battle of ballot in 5 states
AAP gets sting footage copy; to respond to EC’s inquiry
New Delhi, November 23
The Election Commission today gave the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) a copy of the raw footage of the recent sting operation in which its leaders were allegedly seen resorting to unfair means. The footage had been submitted to the poll panel by the news portal Media Sarkar. Its copy was today handed over by the Delhi Chief Electoral Office to a delegation, comprising senior AAP members, at 2.30 pm on a request put up by the party last night.

Campaigning ends in Madhya Pradesh
Bhopal, November 23
The campaign for the 2013 Madhya Pradesh Assembly poll ended this evening with the parties gearing up to maximise gains in the interim crucial hours till polling on November 25. The day will decide the fate of 2,583 candidates for the 230-member Assembly.

Enthusiasm picks up on weekend
Panjim, November 23
The enthusiasm at the 44th edition of the International film Festival of India (IFFI) only picked up on the weekend as most film shows, even late night ones, went full house. Food for thought was provided by ‘chai and chat session’. To draw attention to the film ‘Sala Budha’, only the second feature film in Sambalpuri dialect directed by Sabyasachi Mohapatra to be shown on Sunday, a music and dance troupe put up a small cultural performance at the IFFI venue at the Old GMC building.

Lok adalat disposes of 30 lakh cases in a day
New Delhi, November 23
The first National Lok Adalat held across the country today disposed of a record 30 lakh cases covering cheque bounce, civil suits, motor accident claims and service and family matters. With this, the number of pending cases (estimated at over 30 million) in the country has come down by about 10 per cent.

ISRO tests antenna for link with Mars orbiter
Bangalore, November 23
With only seven days to go before the crucial operation of giving the final push to the Mars orbiter to help it out of earth’s orbit and head toward the 300-days voyage to Mars, ISRO today tested the high-gain antenna (HGA) that will be used for communication with the spacecraft in deep space.

Victim alleges intimidation by Tarun Tejpal’s family
New Delhi, November 23
The sexual assault case against Editor-in-Chief of Tehelka Tarun Tejpal today took a new turn with the victim alleging intimidation at the hands of the aggressor’s family. In a late evening statement, she said a member of Tejpal’s family visited her mother’s house yesterday night asking for Tejpal to be protected.

N-capable Dhanush missile test-fired
Balasore, November 23
India successfully test-fired its nuclear-capable Dhanush ballistic missile from a naval ship off Odisha coast on Saturday. "Strategic Forces Command (SFC) successfully tested the Dhanush missile today from a naval ship," said MV K V Prasad, Director of the Integrated Test Range, Chandipur near Balasore.

Gujarat may set up panel to probe snooping case
Ahmedabad, November 23
In a bid to silence critics, the Gujarat Government is believed to be considering setting up an inquiry commission to probe into the alleged snooping of a woman by the state police at the behest of Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

Deputy jailer shot dead in Varanasi
Lucknow, November 23
In a brazen act of violence, four motorcycle-borne criminals today sprayed Varanasi district jail’s deputy jailer Anil Tyagi with bullets near the Mahavir Mandir under Cantonment police station.

26/11: Lawyers of Pak accused step down
Islamabad/Lahore, Nov 23
In a development that could delay the trial of seven Pakistanis charged with involvement in the Mumbai attacks, two lawyers defending the accused have separated themselves from the case for "personal reasons". Defence lawyers Khwaja Haris Ahmad and Riaz Akram Cheema will no longer represent the accused, including Lashkar-e-Taiba commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, who have been on trial for over four years. The move came days ahead of the fifth anniversary of the brazen attacks. "I have separated myself from the Mumbai case for personal reasons," said Cheema today. He said Ahmad had earlier separated himself from the case and handed it over to him. — PTI

With general election 2014 only a few months away...
Battle of ballot in 5 states

AAP gets sting footage copy; to respond to EC’s inquiry
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, November 23
The Election Commission today gave the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) a copy of the raw footage of the recent sting operation in which its leaders were allegedly seen resorting to unfair means. The footage had been submitted to the poll panel by the news portal Media Sarkar. Its copy was today handed over by the Delhi Chief Electoral Office to a delegation, comprising senior AAP members, at 2.30 pm on a request put up by the party last night.

AAP member Prof Yogendra Yadav said, “We have received the footage that measures about 50 GB today. We will review it in a day or two.”

“We have examined the CD and the EC has been apprised about all the facts related to the case. It has seized the relevant material and it will decide the matter. We have given a raw copy of the CD to AAP members to allow them a level-playing field to respond to the allegations,” confirmed senior Delhi election officials.

While the party is yet to give a time frame to examine the sting operation tapes for any decision on its indicted members, the ball now seems to be in the court of the Election Commission of India. But there appears to be no existing guidelines or provisions even under the Representation of the People Act 2010 for it to decide on such a matter.

Nonetheless, Article 324 of the Indian Constitution gives the mandate to the EC to have overall superintendence, direction and control of the preparation of the electoral rolls for and the conduct of all elections to Parliament and to the Legislative Assemblies among others.

The Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP had on Friday asked the EC and the Delhi election office to examine the veracity of the sting tapes and sought a clarification on whether its candidates — as shown in the sting tapes —qualify for a violation of the Model Code of Conduct. The party had also asked the EC to stop the telecast of the footage on TV channels.

Campaigning ends in Madhya Pradesh
Vibha Sharma
Tribune News Service

BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi at a rally in Mandsaur, Madhya Pradesh, on Saturday. PTI

Bhopal, November 23
The campaign for the 2013 Madhya Pradesh Assembly poll ended this evening with the parties gearing up to maximise gains in the interim crucial hours till polling on November 25. The day will decide the fate of 2,583 candidates for the 230-member Assembly.

While the BJP is eyeing a third term, for the Congress, it is a do-or-die election to break the jinx of the past two terms. In the hours till the polling booths open to voters on Monday, leaders and cadres of political parties will focus their energies on mobilising maximum votes among the 4.66 crore electorate.

While star campaigners carried on with their whirlwind tour on the last day of campaigning, senior BJP leaders Ramlal, Arvind Menon and Prabhat Jha — in the party headquarters here — made strategies with cadres via audio bridge.

Meanwhile, the Congress is hoping to gain from the emergence of Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia as a unifying factor among the various warring factions. The young Congress leader, who is addressed as Maharaja here, enjoys good support that is visible in his rallies.

While the Congress targeted the state government over the lack of development and corruption charges against some ministers, the BJP’s main attraction was Chouhan and his development and social welfare schemes. Lead campaigners from both the parties, BJP’s prime ministerial nominee Narendra Modi and Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, also toured the state extensively.

However, Chouhan and Jyotiraditya are both grappling with internal challenges. Ten years in power have resulted in a high level of anti-incumbency against local BJP MLAs and ministers. Ticket distribution was another problem with many leaders turning rebels against the party candidate. Though Chouhan himself enjoys good ratings, local factors and leaders may prove to be a bane.

44th international film festival of India
Enthusiasm picks up on weekend
Nonika Singh
Tribune News Service

Artistes perform during the promotion of film 'Sala Budha' at Panjim in Goa on Saturday. A Tribune photograph

Panjim, November 23
The enthusiasm at the 44th edition of the International film Festival of India (IFFI) only picked up on the weekend as most film shows, even late night ones, went full house. Food for thought was provided by ‘chai and chat session’. To draw attention to the film ‘Sala Budha’, only the second feature film in Sambalpuri dialect directed by Sabyasachi Mohapatra to be shown on Sunday, a music and dance troupe put up a small cultural performance at the IFFI venue at the Old GMC building.

And how best to promote cinema from the Northeast, which incidentally is the focus at this IFFI comprising 19 films, was the topic of debate at an interaction with actors and makers from the region. Seema Biswas, Manju Borah and Adil Hussain shared their views. Eminent filmmaker Borah agreed that a film must stand out on its own and shouldn’t need crutches and tags like cinema from the Northeast to be propelled forward.

Both Biswas and Hussain held that to them only the script matters most and they can’t promise that they will act in films from their region just for the sake of the cinema of the Northeast. At the same time it was revealed that Hussain has acted in two Assamese films recently and Biswas is closely looking at some scripts. But she reiterated that she may not act in an Assamese film for 10 years if it doesn’t appeal to her sensibilities and conversely might do 10 films in her mother tongue in one year if these meet her creative expectations. Critic and curator Utpal Borpujari said the cinema in the Northeast will complete 80 years in 2015.

In yet another enlightening interface, Polish film director Agnieszka Holland whose retrospective is the key highpoint of the IFFI made many interesting observations. Not just about her cinema that is largely political underlining decaying ideals and crisis of identities but also about other filmmakers.

Talking about her films often slotted as ‘cinema of moral anxiety’ she remarked that she didn’t like the label for her movie and that of other makers put in the same category were not just about moral dilemmas but also political and social. Her movies like the Burning Bush with strong biblical allegory and ‘Angry Harvest’ and ‘In Darkness’ that earned nominations for the Academy Award for best Foreign Language Film, she asserted are not direct militant statements but answer many existential questions.

On young filmmakers, she said rather cryptically that they don’t have real experience and often their first film is their best.

Lok adalat disposes of 30 lakh cases in a day
Legal Correspondent

Chief Justice of India Justice P Sathasivam during the inauguration of Lok Adalat at Supreme Court in New Delhi on Saturday. PTI

New Delhi, November 23
The first National Lok Adalat held across the country today disposed of a record 30 lakh cases covering cheque bounce, civil suits, motor accident claims and service and family matters. With this, the number of pending cases (estimated at over 30 million) in the country has come down by about 10 per cent.

“A world record in disposal of cases amicably has apparently been created in today’s National Lok Adalat,” the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA), which organised the exercise through state and district-level legal services authorities, said.

Reports received from high courts and taluk courts had confirmed disposal of 28.26 lakh cases by 6 pm and final figures “are yet to come” as Benches were still sitting, it said. Chief Justice of India P Sathasivam, who inaugurated the event in the morning, said 39 lakh cases were being taken up as part of the exercise.

Maharashtra managed to reduce the number of pending cases by 5.66 lakh, followed by Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal with 4 lakh cases each. Delhi brought down the pendency by 3 lakh cases, including about 100 in the Supreme Court.

No Lok Adalat could be held in Madhya Pradesh today in view of the assembly elections. However, nearly 8 lakh cases would be taken up in the state on November 30 under the scheme, the NALSA said.

In his inaugural address, CJI P Sathasivam, however, cautioned the presiding members of the lok adalats against letting “unscrupulous parties to commit fraud or forgery.” Since the awards of the lok adalats were final and binding on all the parties to the dispute and could not be challenged in any court, “the presiding members owe an implied obligation to ensure that the parties fully understand the terms of the settlements,” he said.

ISRO tests antenna for link with Mars orbiter
Shubhadeep Choudhury
Tribune News Service

Bangalore, November 23
With only seven days to go before the crucial operation of giving the final push to the Mars orbiter to help it out of earth’s orbit and head toward the 300-days voyage to Mars, ISRO today tested the high-gain antenna (HGA) that will be used for communication with the spacecraft in deep space.

ISRO personnel tested the antenna in an anechoic chamber in the Indian Deep Space Network (IDSN) facility at Byalalu, near Bangalore. The anechoic chamber is a room designed to completely absorb reflections of electromagnetic waves. The room is also insulated from exterior sources of noise. The combination of these two aspects ensures that the area simulates a quiet open-space of infinite dimension which is ideal for testing antennas designed for communication with objects in deep space.

Even though the 2.2 m diameter HGA system is not expected to be required to be used immediately, ISRO officials are constantly testing the readiness of various equipments of the spacecraft and its ground control.

Ideally, the HGA, which will transmit and receive commands, telemetry and data between spacecraft and the IDSN, will swing into action only when the spacecraft has been already inserted in the Martian orbit sometime in September next year.

Mars Orbiter Mission’s communication system uses S-band microwave signals to communicate with the earth. Besides, the HGA, there is also a medium-gain antenna for communication between earth and the Mars orbiter. Because of the huge distance separating earth from Mars’s orbit, the signal will require at least 42 minutes to travel either way.

The equipment

• The high-gain antenna will be used for communication with the spacecraft in deep space
• It will transmit and receive commands, telemetry and data between spacecraft and the Indian Deep Space Network

Victim alleges intimidation by Tarun Tejpal’s family
Aditi Tandon
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, November 23
The sexual assault case against Editor-in-Chief of Tehelka Tarun Tejpal today took a new turn with the victim alleging intimidation at the hands of the aggressor’s family. In a late evening statement, she said a member of Tejpal’s family visited her mother’s house yesterday night asking for Tejpal to be protected.

“On the night of November 22, a member of Tejpal’s immediate family came to my mother’s house in New Delhi asking my mother to protect him and demanded to know who I was seeking legal help from and what I wanted as the result of my complaint of sexual molestation against Tejpal that was made to the Tehelka management earlier this week,” the victim said adding she would cooperate with the Goa police in the case.

She says: “The visit of Tejpal’s family member to my mother has placed tremendous emotional pressure on her, me and my family at an intensely traumatic time. I fear this may be the beginning of a period of further intimidation and harassment.”

She appealed to Tarun Tejpal and those close to him not to approach her or her family.

The victim has been close to Tejpal’s family as evident from her first email complaint against him to Tehelka Managing Editor Shoma Chaudhary where she said: “I need time to process the fact that Tejpal had done this….I have known him since I was a child, he had worked closely with my father and after my father’s accident he had always been a paternal figure to me… was responsible for offering me my first job, and was always just a phone call away whenever I needed his advice on a story or life. His daughter…and I are very close friends.”

The victim’s account says she confided in Tejpal’s daughter about the alleged assault and quotes the latter as saying, “When I was 13, I saw him do the same thing to a woman…”

Meanwhile, Tejpal today hired top law firm led by Raian Karanjawala for defence with the firm saying Tejpal would cooperate in the probe and give a statement to the police.

N-capable Dhanush missile test-fired

Balasore, November 23
India successfully test-fired its nuclear-capable Dhanush ballistic missile from a naval ship off Odisha coast on Saturday. "Strategic Forces Command (SFC) successfully tested the Dhanush missile today from a naval ship," said MV K V Prasad, Director of the Integrated Test Range, Chandipur near Balasore.

The surface-to-surface Dhanush, a naval variant of India's indigenously developed 'Prithvi' missile, was test fired at around 11.10am from a location at Bay of Bengal by the SFC of the defence force.

The single-stage, liquid propelled Dhanush has already been inducted into the armed services and is one of the five missiles developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) under the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP), defence sources said.

"The trial was conducted by the SFC of the Indian defence force in co-operation with DRDO," a defence official said.

Dhanush missile is capable of carrying conventional as well as nuclear payload of 500 to 1,000 kg and hit both land and sea-based targets. — PTI

Gujarat may set up panel to probe snooping case
Manas Dasgupta

Ahmedabad, November 23
In a bid to silence critics, the Gujarat Government is believed to be considering setting up an inquiry commission to probe into the alleged snooping of a woman by the state police at the behest of Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

Sources in the Chief Minister’s office said a final decision would be taken after Modi returned at the end of his whirlwind tour of poll-bound states and spared time to look into the affairs in his home state.

A series of meetings are currently underway in the state secretariat in this connection and allegations of phone tapping in 2007-09. Government officials feel the setting up of a commission of inquiry would help stall investigation into the snooping and phone-tapping scandals by any other agency as well as mud-slinging in the public domain.

Deputy jailer shot dead in Varanasi
Tribune News Service

Lucknow, November 23
In a brazen act of violence, four motorcycle-borne criminals today sprayed Varanasi district jail’s deputy jailer Anil Tyagi with bullets near the Mahavir Mandir under Cantonment police station.

The incident occurred while Tyagi was getting out of his car to go to his gym. Two out of the four waiting assailants fired at him with 9mm pistols at point-blank range. Eyewitnesses said the attackers then came to check if Tyagi had been killed before fleeing from the spot on their motorcycle.

The police did not rule out the involvement of associates of jailed mafia dons of eastern UP lodged in the Varanasi jail for the criminal conspiracy of murdering Tyagi. District officials said Tyagi had been posted in Varanasi district jail for the last five years.