|
|
|
|
|
Return home, Rahul tells UP riot victims
No overpayment to hospitals under ECHS scheme
UN to go by standard procedures in granting accreditation to Devyani
|
|
|
|
No gender-biased remarks: Delhi HC to trial courts
Games integral part of officers’ duty, says HC
India, US mull setting up of portal to check cybercrime
Surat police take custody of Narayan Sai in bribery case
Jayanthi denies she was removed for holding up projects
BJP posters sans Advani, Vajpayee
Yeddy’s return: BJP top brass gives green signal
TMC, BJP in secret pact for LS elections: Buddhadeb
To combat human trafficking, NCW presses for special legislation
Eight held for forcing students to have sex
Nitish vows to restore Bihar's glory
AAP to fight LS poll in MP
Congress, BJP won’t be able to form govt, says CPI
|
|||||||||
|
Return home, Rahul tells UP riot victims
Malakpur, December 22 Rahul’s closely guarded visit to relief camps of Muzaffarnagar riot victims began early in the morning from Muslim-dominated Malakpur in UP's Shamli district where he held interactions with community members. "Those who engineer communal riots want that you should not go back. This benefits them. They want to keep you away from your villages. I know it is difficult and there is also fear there but we have to think beyond. This will not be good in the long run."The message goes out that you will not go back to your villages. Those fanning communal riots precisely want this to happen," he told the riot victims. However, there were clear voices from the riot victims that they do not want to go back to their homes as they fear they would be attacked again. Rahul also held interactions with riot victims at nearby Khurgan camp where Congress has put up medical camps. The Congress vice-president is scheduled to visit more than half a dozen camps in Muzaffarnagar and Shamli districts. One of the victims at the camp said this is the first time that a senior leader has visited them. Talking to Rahul, they said that unless the key conspirators behind the riots are sent back, they would not have the courage to go back to their homes. The death of children in relief camps due to cold wave has triggered a controversy in the state. AICC general secretary Madhusudan Mistry, who is accompanying Rahul Gandhi, alleged the state government has not bothered to provide even basic amenities like adequate foodgrain and drinking water in the camps. The issue of children dying in Muzaffarnagar camps was raked up in Parliament last week. The Supreme Court, had on December 12, taken "serious" note of deaths of over 40 children in relief camps for riot-affected people in Muzaffarnagar and directed the Uttar Pradesh government to immediately take remedial measures to meet the threat of winter. Following the court order, the Uttar Pradesh government had set up a high-level committee to look into the issue. An estimated 4,000 people are still living in the five relief camps in Muzaffarnagar and Shamli. Over 60 people were killed in the Muzaffarnagar riots that broke out in August. At the Bharnau relief camp, Rahul sat on the ground talking to children, who said that they are unable to go to their schools and that their education is suffering due to the situation. At the Barnali camp, a youth asked the Congress vice-president, "Are we are not Indians just because we are Muslims?" to which Gandhi said, "No, you are very much an Indian." As the interaction progressed with the victims and their representatives, AICC minority department chairman, Khurshid Ahmed Saiyed, who hails from Gujarat, exhorted them to gather courage and go back to their homes telling them that the situation must not be worse than Gujarat which had witnessed riots in the past. At Bharnau, the relief camp dwellers sat on the roads and sought more time from the Congress vice-president to explain their problems. On the way, Gandhi stopped briefly at many places to talk to the locals and asked what prevented them from returning to their villages and what specific steps could help them to go back to their homes.
— PTI Closely guarded visit
|
|
No overpayment to hospitals under ECHS scheme
Chandigarh, December 22 In October, DAD had claimed that a special audit drive undertaken by it to examine the bill processing procedures of the ECHS had revealed excess billing and irregularity of payments. Provisional figures compiled by DAD had calculated the excess payment around Rs 15 crore in the Western Command region. “All observations raised by the Principal Controller of Defence Accounts, Western Command, were thoroughly analysed by Regional Centre, Chandigarh, and it was noticed that most of the observations were due to incorrect interpretation of the policies,” Defence Minister AK Antony stated in Parliament in reply to a question by MP Tufani Saroj on Thursday. “Wherever observations of the Controller of Defence Accounts were conceded to, the overpayments have been duly deducted from the hospitals concerned and suitable warnings have been issued to them,” the reply added. Consequent to its findings, DAD had mulled undertaking an audit of the functioning and financial transactions of the ECHS across the country in a bid to revamp policies where required, fine-tuning procedures and streamlining the system. With an annual budget outlay of about Rs 1,500 crore, the ECHS has, in addition to its own 333 polyclinics, 693 civilian hospitals across the country that provide cashless treatment to its subscribers. The bills for the treatment and medicines are reimbursed to the hospitals by the Defence Ministry. Last year, nearly 9 lakh patients had been hospitalised under the ECHS. The scheme has a clientčle of nearly 44 lakh ex-servicemen and their dependants. The rates laid by the Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS) for various medical
procedures are the same for all categories of the ECHS beneficiaries and payments are made accordingly. The functioning of the ECHS has come under scrutiny several times in the past and ex-servicemen have complained of procedural hassles and non-availability of certain medicines.
|
|
|
UN to go by standard procedures in granting accreditation to Devyani
New Delhi, December 22 This was conveyed by the UN to the PMI on Friday when it received an official notification from India about the transfer of Devyani, who is currently at the centre of a diplomatic row between New Delhi and Washington over the manner in which she was arrested last week in an alleged visa fraud case. India has sent Devyani’s passport details as well as all other information about her to the UN headquarters, requesting that she be extended the same privileges and immunities which were available to other diplomats working for foreign missions accredited to the UN. India’s Ambassador to the UN Asoke Mukerji has met some top UN officials also in this regard. The move is aimed at getting a stronger diplomatic immunity for the 39-year-old diplomat. As India’s Deputy Consul General in New York, Devyani enjoys restricted diplomatic immunity from the prosecution. However, it is not clear if she would get immunity from the criminal charges levelled against her once she gets accredited to the UN. Meanwhile, in its latest travel advisory issued in the wake of the diplomatic stand-off with New Delhi, the US State Department has asked American citizens to be mindful of their personal security. “The US mission to India reminds citizens of our standing travel guidance and reiterates that spontaneous and planned demonstrations take place in India from time to time in response to world events or local developments,” it said. In an apparent reference to protests held outside the US Embassy in the wake of the Devyani incident, the advisory said even demonstrations intended to be peaceful could turn violent. The deadline for US diplomats and their families in India to surrender their ID cards will expire tomorrow. Following Devyani’s arrest, New Delhi had announced the withdrawal of ID cards issued to the US diplomatic staff, among other measures, to downgrade privileges of American diplomats. India hopeful of early resolution
NEW DELHI: “Something will happen,” said External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid on Sunday on the prospects of an early resolution of the stand-off arising out of the arrest of senior diplomat Devyani Khobragade in the US. Asked how hopeful he was of a resolution of the issue soon, Khurshid said, “World keeps moving forward, world never dies, world never stops. Something will happen.” On the US State Department welcoming his remarks on Indo-US ties, he said, “They (the US) must do something. Welcoming is not enough.”
— PTI
|
|
|
No gender-biased remarks: Delhi HC to trial courts
New Delhi, December 22 Taking suo motu cognisance of the remarks made by the court's trial judge while giving verdict in a rape case, a Bench of justices Pradeep Nandrajog and V Kameswar Rao said the observations are "prima-facie insensitive". The Bench further said that the "sweeping observations" against the girl are "not based on the evidence on record". "It is apparent that the remarks, which are general in nature, are not based on the evidence on record, appear to be the result of the experience of the judge... The judge has imparted his personal knowledge pertaining to females in the decision making," the Bench said. Referring to the judge's comment that women in the age group of 19-24 years voluntarily elope with their lovers, the bench said the remark is "not based on any empirical data". "The passage brings out the dilemma of the women in the Indian society. Caught between her ambition to choose a life partner and the pull of the patriarchal society, women are torn apart between her
personal ambition and the patriarchal society. So placed, she has to be treated with sympathy and care and not made the object of ridicule by styling her as a person who is in conflict with herself," the Bench said. Referring to another observation made by the judge, the bench said, "the second observation is a sermon as to how girls should conduct themselves in society". "Every individual is entitled to choose the social life which one wants to lead, and if in the process of choosing the social life which one wants to lead, somebody causes harm, no court can say that: You chose a way of life at your peril and thus the system will not hear your cry," it said. "The observations by the judge are prima-facie insensitive observations and are capable of influencing the police to take up women harassment cases lightly, resulting in an insensitive investigation and complete evidence not being brought before the court," the bench observed. Taking on record the administrative action against the judge by the Delhi High Court, it said, "Judicial pronouncements which are gender biased may be used as a standard by the police personnel and prosecutors in making decisions how they should investigate and prosecute cases." The trial judge in October had made general remarks while dealing with a case filed by a girl against a man, alleging that he had physical relations with her on the false pretext of
marriage. — PTI
|
|
|
Games integral part of officers’ duty, says HC
Chandigarh, December 22 A division bench comprising Justice Gita Mittal and Justice Deepa Sharma has, in orders passed a few days ago, quashed the directions passed by the BSF authorities rejecting the claim for grant of disability pension submitted by Ramesh Fonia, who, as a company commander was posted to a border outpost and had suffered injuries while playing volleyball with his men at the post. Directing that he be given disability pension along with arrears, the bench also imposed costs of Rs 20,000 on the respondents. In August 2006, Fonia had injured his knee during the game. A medical board had subsequently assessed his disability to be 59 per cent and observed that he was completely and permanently incapacitated for further service of any kind in the BSF. In September 2009, he was retired from the service on grounds of physical unfitness. In his petition, he claimed that he was never given a copy of the medical board’s proceedings and hence haven’t had a chance to appeal against the board’s findings. In reply to a query filed by him under the Right to Information Act, the BSF authorities stated that his injury was not attributable to the service as no one else, but the officer himself was responsible for the injury. The Bench observed that according to the BSF service manual, games are an integral part of the daily routine to be followed by the BSF personnel at the border outpost. The bench further observed that under the guidelines prescribed by the government for persons subjected to the disciplinary code of the Central Armed Police Battalions, a person is considered as on duty during the period of participation in recreation, organised or permitted by the service authorities. The case
A division bench quashed the orders passed by the BSF authorities rejecting the claim for grant of disability pension submitted by Ramesh Fonia, who, as a company commander was posted to a border outpost and had suffered injuries while playing volleyball with his men at the post in August 2006. Fonia had injured his knee. A medical board had subsequently assessed his disability to be 59 per cent and observed that he was completely and permanently incapacitated for further service of any kind in the
BSF.
|
|
|
India, US mull setting up of portal to check cybercrime
New Delhi, December 22 Indian police officers have focused on the requirements of cybercrime investigations and many issues and challenges faced by police forces in getting the required information, particularly from those having servers in the US. “We have suggested setting up of cooperation portal on cybercrime, where requests can be logged and tracked,” one of the police chiefs, who participated in the conference, said. The US police officers said they too have been facing similar challenges and hoped that such a portal would be helpful for law enforcement agencies of both the countries. There have been several instances in the past when Indian security agencies faced difficulties in tracking down perpetrators of cybercrime. Most of the prominent service providers like Hotmail, Google, Facebook and Twitter are based in the US and a general request takes anywhere between 15 and 80 days. Further, there is no guarantee that the required information would be provided. Besides, the Indian team also highlighted that in certain cases, some of the service providers
did not even remove hate speeches that were considered illegal content in India. In many instances, hate speech on various social media sites have resulted in communal violence in the country. Even in such important matters, the service providers have refused to remove content from their servers, Indian police officers said.
— PTI
|
|
|
Surat police take custody of Narayan Sai in bribery case
Narayan, who is accused of sexually assaulting a girl at his ashram during 2002 and 2005, is currently lodged in Lajpor jail here. "We have taken custody of Narayan Sai after obtaining a warrant and shown him re-arrested in the case of attempt to give bribe to police and others to weaken the original rape case," the police said. Narayan was remanded in judicial custody on Thursday by a local court following expiry of his 14-day custody in the sexual assault case. He is likely to be produced before the court tomorrow where the police might seek his remand in the bribery case. During the earlier remand period of Narayan, city crime branch had unearthed a plan, allegedly hatched by him, to bribe police, doctors and even judicial officers to make the rape case against him less stringent. The police had arrested six persons, including five aides of Narayan and a sub-inspector CK Kumbhani, on December 13 and seized Rs 5 crore from their possession. After evading arrest for nearly two months, Narayan was arrested earlier this month by Delhi policemen from the Delhi-Haryana border on December 3. He was brought to Surat on December 4. Two city-based sisters had lodged complaints against Narayan and his father Asaram of rape, sexual assault, illegal confinement and other charges. Narayan was booked under various Sections of IPC including rape, unnatural sex, molestation, wrongful confinement, unlawful assembly, rioting armed with deadly weapon, criminal intimidation and criminal conspiracy. In her complaint, the younger of the two sisters had accused Narayan of repeated sexual assaults between 2002 and 2005 when she was living at his Surat ashram. — PTI
|
|
|
Jayanthi denies she was removed for holding up projects
New Delhi, December 22 "No projects have been put on hold. No projects at all .... I quit the government 100 per cent for party work. No other reasons. The prime minister has appreciated my work," the Rajya Sabha MP said. Defending the decisions taken during her tenure, she dismissed complaints from the industry of delay in granting environment clearances but admitted that she was apprehensive about dam and hydro-electric power projects in the wake of Uttarakhand tragedy. Natarajan said there are "legitimate environmental concerns" and such projects need a careful appraisal. "Only 8 per cent projects come to the MoEF. 92 per cent of the projects are cleared by states. Nothing comes to me. There are no pending projects," Natarajan told PTI, rejecting reports that she had to quit the ministry because of putting on hold industrial projects. Regarding big ticket projects, she said in infrastructure like dams and hydro-power "all aspects have to be considered carefully after the tragedy in Uttarakhand. Therefore, we have to appraise the project very carefully if it involves thousands of acres of forest land." "These are legitimate environmental concerns and we were apprehensive on the basis of Uttarakhand. I have offered voluntarily to work for the party. All proceedings are on the website... they are very transparent," she added. Natarajan, a senior member of Rajya Sabha, hails from Tamil Nadu and was brought into the ministry two years ago. Rahul Gandhi had yesterday shared concerns of the industry over delay in green clearances during a FICCI event.
— PTI
|
|
|
BJP posters sans Advani, Vajpayee
Mumbai, December 22 While Modi and Rajnath Singh dominated the posters, photographs of senior leaders Atal Bihari Vajpayee and LK Advani and party ideologues Shayama Prasad Mookherjee and Deen Dayal Upadhyaya were conspicuously missing from the posters. While Modi and Rajnath’s pictures loomed large with a sketch of Parliament in the background, photographs of leaders like Gopinath Munde, Davendra Fadvanis, Vinod Tawde, Ashish Shelar, Nitin Gandkari, Eknath Khadse and BJP Maharashtra in charge Rajiv Pratap Rudy graced the two far ends. Though party leaders maintained that only the photos of those addressing the rally had been put up, eyebrows were raised on the “missing” senior leaders, considering that it was an event meant to mark the BJP’s strength in a state that holds a big chunk of 48 Lok Sabha seats. Question mark was also raised on the missing NDA ally-Shiv Sena - from the scene, though the official explanation was that since it was a BJP and not an NDA rally, there was no need to invite the ally.
|
|
|
BJP’s call for Jammu bandh gets tepid response on Day 1
Tribune News Service
Jammu, December 22 After the BJP, the Bahujan Samaj Party, Jammu State Morcha and other social organisations also rejected recommendations of the Justice Gandhi Commission that gave a clean chit to Kichloo in the Kishtwar riots. Justice Gandhi held an inquiry into the communal riots of August 9 that left three persons dead and scores injured in addition to arson and torching of vehicles and commercial establishments in Kishtwar. Meanwhile, BSP national general secretary Narindra Kashyap demanded constitution of a five-member judicial commission to re-investigate the case. Kashyap said: “Kichloo can’t be given a clean chit as he was in Kishtwar when rioters were on rampage.” BJP state president Jugal Kishore Sharma asked Justice RC Gandhi (retd) and the NC-led coalition government to reveal names of all 300 people who had submitted their affidavits before the one-man inquiry commission. Addressing a press conference, Sharma accused the inquiry commission of leaking only those affidavits which favoured Sajjad Ahmed Kichloo.
|
|
Yeddy’s return: BJP top brass gives green signal
"The central leadership has given the green signal...He (Yeddyurappa) will be back (in the BJP) soon," Eshwarappa told reporters here, as the party's state unit has in recent days been making no bones about its readiness to welcome the former party strongman back into its fold. Stating that the former Chief Minister had not made any demand for his return, he said, "Yeddyurappa has said he will come back to the party with a single point agenda - to make Narendra Modi Prime Minister, we welcome it." Yeddyurappa, who deserted the BJP and floated his own outfit, Karnataka Janatha Paksha (KJP) over a year ago, has also been giving indications about his homecoming. The KJP had garnered 10 per cent vote share in the May Assembly polls in Karnataka that saw the BJP's rout bringing down its first ever government in the South. The KJP had, however, managed to secure only six seats, failing to make a big impact as an independent entity. Eshwarappa said he had also discussed with the party central leaders the return of BSR Congress leader B Sriramulu, to the BJP, from which he broke away to form his own outfit. It secured four seats in the May polls. He said the party central leaders were yet to give the go-ahead for the return of Sriramulu, who has his own sphere of influence among the Valmiki community in the state. — PTI
|
|
TMC, BJP in secret pact for LS elections: Buddhadeb Kolkata, December 22 "There is a big fight in front of us. There is danger ahead. TMC has an understanding with Modi, but is not disclosing it. We won't allow BJP to set up a base in Bengal by holding TMC's hands," he said. The former CM was addressing a CPM rally in the erstwhile Marxist bastion of Hooghly district. TMC leader Mukul Roy said the recent bypolls and panchayat elections in Bengal have shown that his party can fight and win polls alone. "After Mamata Banerjee's visit to Lalgrah in 2010, CPM’s Sitaram Yechury and BJP's Arun Jaitley had jointly protested her visit in Parliament. Now, you are saying we are having a tie-up with BJP. People of Bengal are watching," Roy said.
|
|
|
To combat human trafficking, NCW presses for special legislation
New Delhi, December 22 Taking note of the increasing cases of human trafficking in Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal, the NCW has sent a list of recommendations to the ministries of Home Affairs and Labour to prevent such crimes. It has recommended drafting of a special legislation to combat human trafficking, especially that of women and children, by including its definition as per Article 3 of UN Convention, 2000, and protocol with the term “abuse of position of vulnerability”, which is missing in Section 370 of the IPC. The body also recommended extending the jurisdiction clause for any offence or contravention of human trafficking committed outside India. The NCW’s inquiry committee said the special act should also have a provision for police training and information exchange by law enforcement, immigration or other relevant authorities. The training should focus on methods used in preventing such cases and protecting the rights of the victims along with stepping up of security and control of identity documents. The committee also suggested setting up of a national nodal authority to coordinate all anti-human trafficking activities and said steps should be taken to ensure that the issues of missing persons were linked up with trafficking. In its recommendations to the labour ministry, the NCW said a national policy for domestic workers needed to formulated, which ensures their rights, including maternity benefits, which can be exercised comprehensively.
— PTI
|
|
Eight held for forcing students to have sex
Mangalore, December 22 The gang threatened to kill the students on their refusal to do so and videographed them in the act and tried to extort Rs 25 lakh from them, threatening to put the objectionable video on the internet, police said. On the students agreeing to give them Rs 3 lakh, the gang released the girl to bring the money, while holding the boy captive. The girl approached a lawyer and lodged a complaint at Konaje police station which led to the arrest of the eight men yesterday. "Three out of the eight men involved are history sheeters.
— PTI Case file
|
|
Nitish vows to restore Bihar's glory
Patna, December 22 "We will not only be able to restore Bihar's old glory but also add new dimension to it in the years ahead with the help of the people," he told a public meeting in the Garhpura village in Begusarai district after laying foundation stone and inaugurating development schemes worth Rs 344.58 crore. Paying tributes to Bihar's first CM Sri Krishna Singh whose political journey began from Garhpura village, Kumar recalled Singh for spearheading salt satyagraha during the freedom movement. He also launched a number of schemes in Singh's name before announcing that he would take it up with the Centre to name Garhpura railway station after Singh whose 125th birth anniversary was being celebrated throughout Bihar this year.
— PTI
|
|
Bhopal, December 22 “We will definitely contest the upcoming Lok Sabha polls in Madhya Pradesh and will be in a position to decide the number of seats we will be contesting in nearly a month's time," AAP State Secretary, Akshay Hunka told PTI. The party will be taking out rallies in all 29 Lok Sabha constituencies in the state between January 12 and 19 to identify the issues for the poll and also take people’s feedback on the problems faced by them, he said. During these rallies, the party will also form constituency-wise teams for the polls, he added. AAP today held a strategy session of its members in all districts of the state. — PTI
|
|
Congress, BJP won’t be able to form govt, says CPI
Bhubaneswar, December 22 "While the Congress will be unable to retain power at the Centre due to people's anger, BJP will fail to form government due to its inability to win required number of seats" CPI National Secretary AB Bardhan said here. — PTI
|
Jaipur
|
| 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 | |
Surat, December 22
Bellary, December
22
