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MHA gets report on Andaman boat tragedy
AP ministers turn against CM over draft Telangana Bill
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Binny gives Kejri 10 days to act
Modi govt abetted 2002 riots: Rahul
Cong set to offer pvt sector job quota to SC, STs in poll manifesto
BJP overlooks Javadekar, Nirmala for RS polls
Attach property of 21 accused, says court
One man’s porn is another man’s art, ISPs tell SC
SC to take up plea on Bhullar today
DRDO to test missile defence system next month
Hollande’s ex-partner visits Mumbai
India, Japan discuss Chinese posturing
SC notice to AP, Odisha
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MHA gets report on Andaman boat tragedy
New Delhi, January 27 "It is a factual report about the incident. The magisterial probe ordered by the Lieutenant Governor of Andaman and Nicobar Islands will come out with a detailed report and fix the responsibility if any," a Home Ministry official said today. The magisterial inquiry by Additional District Magistrate (South Andaman) would establish the exact cause and pinpoint if there was violation of safety guidelines, besides fixing responsibility, said Lieutenant Governor of Andaman and
Nicobar Islands Lt Gen (retd) AK Singh. The owner of the overcrowded boat which capsized in the Andaman and Nicobar islands was among the three persons detained today even as a Union Minister said there were no life jackets and divers on board the vessel. Six more people were rescued from the waters last night taking to 29 the total number of people who were rescued. The victims included eight men and 13 women, P Johar, Deputy Commissioner, South Andaman district said. Of the dead, 16 were from Tamil Nadu, three from Maharashtra, and one each from West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh. All the 16 victims from Tamil Nadu were from the temple town of Kanchipuram. A total of 32 tourists from Kanchipuram were on the ill-fated boat. Eyewitnesses told PTI that before the boat capsized, they heard the sound of a blast. Fishermen fishing nearby also heard the sound and immediately rushed to the scene, the eyewitnesses said. They alleged that there was about an hour's delay before the marine rescue team could reach the spot. — PTI
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AP ministers turn against CM over draft Telangana Bill
Hyderabad, January 27 For the first time in the history of the Assembly, Ministers stormed the well to register their protest. Ten ministers from Telangana were joined by the government whips and members from other opposition parties to protest against Chief Minister’s notice to the Speaker Nadendla Manohar, seeking permission to move a resolution rejecting the Bill. The Telangana members demanded that the Speaker reject the Chief Minister’s notice since it was aimed at stalling the constitutional process to carve out separate Telangana state. Amid uproarious scenes, the Speaker adjourned the House twice to restore order. But the trouble continued, forcing the Chair to adjourn the House for the day without any discussion on the AP Reorganisation Bill, 2013, referred by the President Pranab Mukherjee. The Assembly is required to complete the debate on the bill and return it to the President by January 30. The Chief Minister’s dramatic decision to move an official resolution, seeking to reject the bill and also to request the President no to allow its introduction in the Parliament, has triggered political furore in the state. Invoking the Rule 77 of the Assembly business procedures, Chief Minister has proposed a resolution which says, “The assembly resolves to request the President not to recommend the AP (Reoganisation) Bill for introduction in Parliament as it seeks to bifurcate the state without any reason or basis." Now, the ball is in the Speaker’s court whether to allow such a resolution to be moved by the Leader of the House. Given the numerical majority of the Seemandhra region, such a resolution is bound to be passed by the House. In the 294-member Assembly, Telangana accounts for 119 members while Rayalaseema and coastal Andhra regions, jointly referred to as Seemandhra, have 175 legislators. Such an eventuality could rob the Centre of its moral authority to push the bill in the coming session of the Parliament, beginning February 5. The draft Bill was sent to the Assembly by the President on December 12, seeking its views on it. The UPA leadership has already made it clear that the opinion of the Assembly was not binding on the Centre as Parliament alone has the power to create new states. Deputy Chief Minister Damodar Rajanarasimha and Panchayat Raj Minister K Jana Reddy, both senior Congress leaders from Telangana, led the protest, demanding rejection of Kiran’s notice.
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Binny gives Kejri 10 days to act
The 39-year-old MLA said he would continue to support the AAP government on “public-related” issues despite being expelled from the party and decided to end his stir for now as Lt Governor Najeeb Jung and Anna Hazare had suggested that "some days" should be given to the new dispensation to fulfil the promises. “If Kejriwal government fails to bring Anna's Janlokpal Bill in the given time, I would begin protest across the country,” Binny told mediapersons at Jantar Mantar. In the morning, the Laxmi Nagar MLA met Lt Governor Najeeb Jung and demanded action against controversial Law Minister Somnath Bharti for his alleged role in the South Delhi rape episode. “Action must be taken against Bharti. The Law Minister assaulted and misbehaved with African women during the midnight raid. The LG has assured me that law is equal for everyone and let law take its course,” Binny said after meeting the LG. The MLA, who was expelled from the party last night for publicly making “false statements” against the party and its leadership, said he would not withdraw support from the government. “I am giving support to the government on issues related to public.” — PTI
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Modi govt abetted 2002 riots: Rahul Pitted against Modi in a virtual Presidential-style contest in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, Gandhi said he was not scared of him and claimed that Congress will defeat BJP. Making a direct attack on Modi, he said: "The fact of the matter is that innocent people died in 1984 and innocent people dying is a horrible thing that should not happen. The difference between Gujarat and 1984 was that the Government of Gujarat was involved in the riots." In an interview to a TV channel, Gandhi said, "... he was the Chief Minister when the Gujarat riots happened... the government in Gujarat was actually abetting and pushing the riots further." Seeking to differentiate the role of governments during the anti-Sikh riots in Delhi and 2002 in Gujarat, he said: "The simple difference is that in 1984, the government was not involved in the massacre of people. In Gujarat it was." He insisted that the Congress government in 1984 "was not aiding and abetting the riots" but had tried to stop the violence. On how he could attack Modi on the Gujarat riots, Rahul said: "It is not me. It is a large number of people who saw actively the government of Gujarat being involved in the riots. I mean, people saw it. I am not the person who saw it. "Your colleagues saw it. Your colleagues told me. They saw the administration actively attacking the minorities." On whether he would apologise for the 1984 riots, Rahul said: "First of all, I wasn't involved in the riots at all. It wasn't that I was a part of it." At the same time, he admitted that "some Congress men were probably involved in 1984 anti-Sikh riots and they have been punished for it". Asked if he was avoiding a direct face-off with Modi by not becoming the prime ministerial candidate of his party, the Congress vice-president said: "To understand that question, you have to undestand a little bit, who Rahul Gandhi is and you get an answer to the question to what Rahul Gandhi is scared of and not scared of." — PTI
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Cong set to offer pvt sector job quota to SC, STs in poll manifesto
New Delhi, January 27 The SC/ST input for the Congress Party's Lok Sabha manifesto includes an ambitious recommendation - that of a legislation to set aside private sector jobs for SCs and STs in proportion of their population in the country which is 16.2 per cent and 8 per cent, respectively. AICC SC cell chairman K Raju told The Tribune: "We all know that affirmative action by the private sector has not worked despite several attempts by the Congress and the PM's endeavour to engage the industry on this front. We are proposing a legislative route for job reservations for SC/ST persons in private sector firms. There would have to be practical criteria for fixing such quotas. For instance, we can say that a company worth Rs 1,000 crore and comprising 1,000 employees must set aside a certain percentage of jobs for the marginalised sections. But a recommendation is called for." The proposed legislation is learnt to be part of the SC Panel's input on SCs/STs and OBCs which Raju has finalised for submission to Defence Minister AK Antony by February 5. He said the Congress manifesto could be expected by mid February. Antony had asked all leaders looking after Congress' open manifesto discussions to forward their recommendations by February 5. Congress' SC cell documents show that the single biggest demand of all SCs was a law to provide for job reservation in the private sector. SC youth, empowered by UPA's scholarship schemes, are graduating much more than ever before. But there are no jobs for them, Congress leaders said. K Raju added that the proposed Equal Opportunities Commission Bill would have provisions for the development of “Diversity Index”. "The Commission can create incentive and disincentive for the private firms addressing the issue of diversity in jobs. The Commission would also look into the current status of diversity in Indian jobs and provide us with valuable data on where the gaps lie. We have no data on SC employment in private sector at present," Raju said.
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BJP overlooks Javadekar, Nirmala for RS polls
New Delhi, January 27 Sources say the decision has the imprint of the state Chief Minister Narendra Modi and is designed to improve party’s caste equations in the region. From Chhattisgarh, the party has adjusted Ranvijay Singh Judev, nephew of BJP Bilaspur MP Dilip Singh Judev who passed away last year, to keep his Jashpur followers in good humour. The official release of the names has also put an end to the speculation that veteran leader LK Advani may be adjusted in the Rajya Sabha to remove “obstacles” from Modi’s path to the top post. The party was apparently trying to persuade ageing leaders to make way for younger faces in the Lok Sabha. Modi and party president Rajnath Singh were keen that leaders above the age of 75 such as Advani should be sent to the Rajya Sabha and the plan also had the blessings of the party’s ideological mentor
RSS.
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Attach property of 21 accused, says court
Lucknow, Janaury 27 At the request of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the cases, Muzaffarnagar Chief Judicial Magistrate Narender Kumar ordered attachment proceedings against the accused under Section 83 (attachment of property of person absconding) of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The SIT had found the involvement of the 21 accused in four incidents of looting and burning down of houses under the Phugana police station area of Muzaffarnagar on September 8. The communal violence in Muzaffarnagar and adjoining districts during August-September 2013 left 64 dead and more than 50,000 displaced. Former Samajwadi Party leader and Rajya Sabha MP Amar Singh today hit out at the Akhilesh Yadav government for letting the riot survivors die of cold while they enjoyed at the Saifiai Mahotsav.
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One man’s porn is another man’s art, ISPs tell SC
New Delhi, January 27 The ISPs neither created content nor did they own, promote, modify or edit it, an association of ISPs said. “They are merely authorised service providers who provide their customers access to the Internet.... blocking content without the authority of law would tantamount to pre-censorship and unfairly limit the fundamental rights of the customers and may expose them to liability under civil laws,” the association said. The ISPs gave the information in their response to the SC notice on a PIL seeking a court order to block websites with pornographic content. “It is impossible for them to carry out pro-active monitoring of the content in the absence of any mandate by the Department of Telecommunication,” it said. At the same time, there was no definition of pornography. “Would medical or AIDS awareness websites be pornography? Would photographs of Khajuraho be so termed? One man’s pornography is another man’s high art,” the association contended. A Bench headed by Justice BS Chauhan today adjourned the hearing in the case for three weeks, granting time to DoT to file its response to the PIL plea.
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SC to take up plea on Bhullar today
New Delhi, January 27 The curative petition would be placed before Chief Justice P Sathasivam and Justices RM
Lodha, HL Dattu and SJ Mukhopadhaya through circulation for taking a decision as to whether notice should be issued to the Centre and the Delhi government or dismiss the plea. The court would also go into the need for holding the arguments in the open court in the event of its decision to entertain the petition. The curative petition has given as many as 74 grounds for commuting the death sentence. Chief Justice P Sathasivam has already agreed to consider the petition in the light of a Supreme Court verdict last week (January 21), holding that terrorists could not be treated as a special category for the denial of commutation of death sentence on account of the delay in the rejection of their mercy petitions by the President. In her petition, Kaur has pleaded that the SC verdict against Bhullar “seeks to send to the gallows a man who has consistently been found by a number of eminent and renowned psychiatrists and doctors that he is too severely mentally ill.” Further, the ruling by a two-member SC Bench that cases of terrorists “stand on an altogether different plane” was contrary to the view of a larger Bench, Kaur contended in her petition. The petitioner noted that there was a delay of more than eight years in the rejection of Bhullar’s mercy petition and medical examinations had shown that he was suffering from mental illness. The January 21 ruling of the SC had come on petitions filed by 15 death-row convicts, citing delays in some cases and mental status in others. The court reduced the sentence to life term for all of them. In doing so, the three-member Bench headed by the CJI had specifically gone into Bhullar’s case and held that the 2013 SC verdict against him was bad in law as it had created a distinction between terrorists and other death-row convicts.
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DRDO to test missile defence system next month
Chandigarh, January 27 Dr VG Sekaran, Director General Missiles and Strategic Systems, today said the major challenge in the BMD system was the reaction time, where speeds were very high and reaction period very short. Time frame in ballistic missile defence was a critical factor, he added. He was delivering a talk on Aerospace Technologies and Applications at Panjab University. The DRDO has been developing the BMD system for the past several years and has carried out several tests of the interceptors missiles. It is a two-tiered system consisting the Prithvi Air Defence (PAD) missile for high-altitude interception and the Advanced Air Defence (AAD) Missile for lower altitude interception. Dr Sekeran said that DRDO is also actively engaged in research in hypersonic technology. He said it was a complex and expensive field that had thrown up a lot of challenges and problems and there was also a possibility of the country entering into a collaboration with a foreign agency for joint research. A major focus area for the DRDO, he said, was unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), where the DRDO had been able to develop cutting-edge technologies. Work was now on to develop a twin-engine variant of the indigenous Rustom UAV, the single-engine version of which was already in service. The new UAV would have a much higher range and payload capacity.
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Hollande’s ex-partner visits Mumbai
Mumbai, January 27 She refused to take questions regarding her split with Hollande. The French President split with Trierweiler after his affair with a movie actress hit the headlines. Officials at the LTMG Hospital said the foundation would work with the hospital to train anganwadi workers and set up a nutritional programme for poor children. She later told reporters that hospitals in poorer countries did not have the same facilities like those in the Western world.
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India, Japan discuss Chinese posturing
New Delhi, January 27 India’s NSA Shivshanker Menon met Shotaru Yachi, Secretary General of the National Security Secretariat of Japan, to discuss security-related matters concerning the region, sources said. The decision to launch the dialogue was taken during talks between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe on Saturday. Both Menon and Yachi are considered close lieutenants of their respective PMs. The two countries have decided to institutionalise the meetings between their NSAs in the backdrop of growing posturing by China in the region. Menon also happens to be India’s point man for crucial talks with China on boundary dispute. The Indian and Japanese NSAs have reportedly discussed Japan’s participation in India-US joint ‘Malabar’ exercise and India’s proposal to buy Japan’s US-2 aircraft. India also extended support to Japan in its ongoing feud with China over freedom of navigation in the East China Sea. China recently set up Air Defence Identification Zone (ADIZ), asking every country to alert the ADIZ in advance while overflying the territory. Abe’s trip to India has evoked lot of interest in China with some Chinese publications featuring his presence as Chief Guest at the Republic Day celebrations prominently.
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SC notice to AP, Odisha
New Delhi, January 27 The alleged incident took place in Belpada village in Kalahandi district of Odisha when the two victims refused to work in a brick kiln in Chhattisgarh’s Raipur district. The two were being taken back to their homes for recovery of the advance paid to them at the time they were hired. The contractor had hired the victims along with 10 others for Rs 14,000 each for a brick kiln in AP. Subsequently, he forcibly took all of them to Raipur. The other 10 escaped.
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New Delhi, January 27
New Delhi, January 27
