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Western UP: Battle on as vote banks polarised
Hold clubbing of allowances
for PF deduction, EPFO told
CBI likely to chargesheet Khobragade, her father in Adarsh Housing scam
‘Leaders saw Ayodhya as their road to success’
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Can pregnant docs join Army? HC to decide
Murder accused shares dais with Bihar CM, arrested later
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Western UP: Battle on as vote banks polarised
New Delhi, April 5 The 10 constituencies in the Jat, Gujjar, Muslim-dominated sugarcane fields of western UP also includes the ground zero of most recent communal riots in the country —
Muzzafarnagar. Trends indicate that more than development issues, the maximum focus of the discourse in the region is around Muzaffarnagar and resultant communal
polarisation. Muzaffarnagar riots have polarised Hindu votes, including Jats, in favour of the BJP, leaving the Muslim votes divided between the Congress party and the Bahujan Samaj Party. Amid these changing political equations, the main loser is expected to be the ruling Samajwadi Party. Expected split in the Jat-Muslim combine is likely to favour the BJP and the BSP, thus turning the coming elections into a real acid test for SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and son
Akhilesh. It is to be seen how Ajit Singh-ruled Jat party, the Rashriya Lok Dal, which is partnering the Congress this time, counters the Jat migration to the
BJP. Singh is hoping that the Centre’s decision to grant reservation for Jats may work in favour of the RLD-Congress alliance. The Congress is also hoping to gain support from all those who do not want Modi at the Centre and also the anti-incumbency against the SP. “There are no other issues in these elections. It is a fight between those who want Modi and those who do not want Modi,” analysts say. Though generally upper castes - Brahmins, Banias, Thakurs/Rajputs - are considered the traditional voters of the BJP, Other Backward Castes - like Kurmi, Gujjar, Lodh and Jats - are expected to support the party due to Modi’s OBC credentials. Mayawati has worked her strategy around the BMD (Brahmin-Muslim-Dalit) formula, carefully dividing candidates accordingly. She has given 21 seats to Brahmins to target the community, which is believed to be upset over sidelining of leaders like Murli Manohar Joshi and Kalraj Mishra by BJP president Rajnath Singh. It will be interesting to see how UP regions - Ghaziabad Gautam Buddh Nagar and Meerut - part of the NCR react to the AAP challenge. Traditionally, the middle class is not considered as the Congress party’s supporters. While interiors can still be swung on the basis of caste and communal factors, the urban middle class residing in Vasundhra, Vaishali, Indirapuram, Noida and Ghaziabad is unlikely to take lenient views on issues like corruption, inflation, economic slowdown in the
UPA-II.
Intriguing contests in the making
* All eyes on 10 seats of Saharanpur, Kairana, Muzaffarnagar, Bijnor, Meerut, Bagpat, Ghaziabad, Gautam Budh Nagar, Bulandshahr (SC) and Aligarh *
3 Bollywood stars in the fray — Nagma (Meerut) and Raj Babbar (Ghaziabad) are fighting on Congress tickets and Jaya Prada (Bijnor) is contesting on the RLD ticket *
Saharanpur is in the limelight after Congress’ Imran Masood’s hate speech against Modi *
Ghaziabad is the high-profile constituency with triangular contest among VK Singh (BJP), Raj Babbar (Cong), Shazia Ilmi
(AAP)
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Hold clubbing of allowances
for PF deduction, EPFO told
New Delhi, April 5 "The EPFO has got a letter from the Labour Ministry asking it not to go ahead with clubbing of allowances with basic pay. The EPFO will soon issue a notification," a source said. According to experts, the move would have increased the savings of organised sector workers under schemes run by the EPFO. It would also have reduced the take-home pay of the subscribers and increased the financial burden on employers. The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) had issued a circular on November 30, 2012, redefining the meaning of "basic wages" for the purpose of PF deductions and said, "All such allowances which are ordinarily, necessarily and uniformly paid to the employees are to be treated as the basic wages." The EPFO also proposed to limit enquiries into PF deposits made by companies to a period of seven years. However, the notification was put in abeyance and the EPFO set up a committee to look into the matter and recommend further action to the Labour Ministry. The committee had supported the idea of enhancing social security benefits under the EPF scheme run by the
EPFO. Putting the 2012 circular in cold storage would also mean that the EPFO can seek information from employers about PF deposits made on behalf of workers without a time limit. The circular had said, "No inquiry or investigation shall ordinarily go beyond seven years, i.e., it shall cover the period of default not exceeding preceding seven years." The open assessment, inquiries and investigations serve no real purpose, the circular said, adding, "Such inquiries often don't result in identification of beneficiaries and only tend to harass the employers and establishments." — PTI
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CBI likely to chargesheet Khobragade, her father in Adarsh Housing scam
New Delhi, April 5 Sources said the agency has got evidence which show that the flat was allegedly purchased by her using false declaration and by hiding information about the flat alloted to her under government quota and the land possessed by them. Her father Uttam Khobragade, a Maharashtra cadre IAS officer, is a former CEO of Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA). As part of its investigation, the CBI is probing alleged illegal beneficiaries and benami property holders in the housing scam. Controversial diplomat Devyani, India's then deputy consul general in New York, was arrested by the United States authorities in December last year over alleged visa fraud which triggered a diplomatic row between the two countries. She was transferred back and is now posted in India. Under the CBI scanner are nearly 25 alleged illegal beneficiaries who were allotted flats in the Adarsh Housing Society which was said to be constructed in violation of norms. Retired High Court Judge J A Patil's report on the alleged scam has opened a can of worms bringing out alleged irregularities in the allotment. The agency sources said they have got documents showing that Devyani had allegedly been allotted a flat in another government housing society in Oshiwara in 2005. Sources said according to the rules of the Defence Estate, members cannot get flats in two housing societies which get land on concessional rates. Patil report had termed 25 out of 102 members of the housing society as ineligible. — PTI
False declaration for flat
*n Sources said the agency has got evidence which show that the flat was allegedly purchased by her using false declaration and by hiding information about the flat alloted to her under government quota
* Devyani's father Uttam Khobragade, a Maharashtra-cadre IAS
officer, is a former CEO of Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority
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‘Leaders saw Ayodhya as their road to success’
Chandigarh, April 5
Admonishing Advani, Vajpayee and Joshi, Justice Liberahan called them “pseudo-moderates" and referred to them as “icons” of the movement.
“It cannot be assumed even for a moment that LK Advani, AB Vajpayee and MM Joshi did not know the designs of the Sangh Parivar,” said the one-man Commission in its findings. The Commission added it was “unable to hold even these pseudo-moderates innocent of any wrongdoing...this Commission has no hesitation in condemning these pseudo-moderates for their sins of omission”.
The Commission also indicted Uma Bharti, RSS ideologue K Govindacharya and Shankar Singh Vaghela --- all three, along with Kalyan Singh, are no more connected with the BJP or the
RSS.
Other prominent political leaders indicted by the Commission included Shiv Sena's then chief Bal Thackeray, BJP's then leaders Pramod Mahajan and Vijayraje Scindia. Among the bureaucrats named in the report were then Principal Secretary (Home) in UP Prabhat Kumar, then IG (Security) AK Saran and then SSP of Faizabad DB Roy.
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Can pregnant docs join Army? HC to decide
Chandigarh, April 5 The issue assumes significance because qualified doctors joining the AMC as short service commissioned officers are eligible till the age of 45 years, need not be unmarried. On induction they are not obliged to undergo military training immediately, but can undergo a three-month training capsule within two years. In her petition before the High court that came up for hearing today, a 39-year old woman doctor said married women till the age of 45 are eligible for short service commission in the AMC for which she was selected and declared medically fit and asked to report for duty to a hospital in February. However, since she was carrying a child when she reported for duty, which she herself disclosed, the hospital administration after seeking clarification from higher authorities refused to let her join on the grounds that pregnancy amounted to deterioration of health. She has contended that since short service AMC officers are initially simply posted to a military hospital and can attend a basic military course much later, conception of a child made no practical difference. She has also pointed out that the government has no objection on conceiving of a child even a day after reporting for duty but had a problem only since she conceived a child before reporting for duty. The petition also states that since married women are eligible to apply, pregnancy, being an incidence of womanhood, could not be made a disqualification unless it involved strenuous training in a service academy. It is also stated that reproductive process of a woman could not be held mortgage to the duration of the selection process and the right to have a child could not be shackled by the chance-based or fortuitous length of the process of such selection.
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Murder accused shares dais with Bihar CM, arrested later
Gaya (Bihar), April 5 Javed Khan, former councillor of Gaya Municipality, against whom an arrest warrant issued by a Gaya court was pending since December, presided over the election meeting of Kumar here yesterday. The warrant was issued in connection with the murder of a property dealer Naushad Khan in April last year. After the rally, when a hue and cry was raised about a fugitive sharing dais with the CM, the police came into action and arrested him later in the evening. Khan, whom the Chief Minister also addressed during his speech, was produced before Chief Judicial Magistrate KK Singh who sent him to 14 days judicial custody. The incident provided the Opposition an opportunity to target the ruling party. — PTI
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Berhampur (Odisha) At least six persons, including a woman, were killed and 10 injured in two separate road accidents in Ganjam district on Saturday. While three persons, including a woman, were killed and six injured when a tractor in which they were travelling overturned at Gopapur, three persons died and four sustained injuries when a truck rammed into a tempo at Dhenkishala. — PTI Jagdalpur
(Chhattisgarh) Troubled over alleged harassment by health officials, a doctor attempted self-immolation in front of Bastar district's Kanker police station. Mahesh Sharma, a doctor, poured kerosene over himself on Friday night at around 9 pm and was about to set himself ablaze, but the Civil Surgeon intervened and foiled his attempt. — PTI Coimbatore A 45-year-old man, Abdul Rahman, has been taken into custody and gold biscuits worth about Rs 50 lakh seized from his possession at the airport here, the police said on Saturday. — PTI
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