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50 injured as train derails in Assam
SC willing to defreeze Sahara bank accounts
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Kejri: Should’ve consulted public before quitting
EC cautions media against print, broadcast of opinion polls
Congress managers working to find Modi-poll survey link
Gauhati will put Rahul’s selection method to test
EC censures Shah, Azam
Saradha scam: Sudipta’s wife, son arrested
IAF copter ferries Ladakh kids, teachers to school
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50 injured as train derails in Assam
Guwahati, April 16 Railway officials informed that five coaches derailed while four coaches capsized in the mishap. The train was travelling from Dimapur railway station in Nagaland to Kamakhya station in Guwahati. The derailment damaged about 100 meters of railway line leading to cancellation of eight trains on the route besides hitting the schedule of other trains. The Dibrugarh-New Delhi Rajdhani Express had to be detained at Lumding, railway officials said. Nineteen passengers were seriously injured and were rushed to various hospitals, including Gauhati Medical College Hospital (GMCH), while remaining 33 injured were discharged after providing first aid at Morigaon Civil Hospital. The cause of the derailment is being investigated. Senior railway officials rushed to the site to supervise rescue operations and restoration of the railway track. The NF Railway have set up helpline phone numbers at Dimapur (03862-228404), Lumding (03674-264848/49/50) and Guwahati (0361-2731621/22/23). A special train carrying about 170 passengers of the ill-fated train left Jagiroad station at 8.10 am for Guwahati railway station. Train services are likely to resume on the track tonight.
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SC willing to defreeze Sahara bank accounts
New Delhi, April 16 "We are willing to pass an order. You (Sahara) tell us you want to raise money. Tell us about the property and bank accounts. You have not given us so far," a Bench comprising Justices KS Radhakrishnan and JS Khehar said. The Bench, which had last year frozen all bank accounts of companies and restrain them from selling any properties without its approval, made the remarks as senior advocate Rajiv Dhavan, appearing for the Group, said it is difficult to raise the money under these conditions. At the end of the day-long hearing, the counsel said the company will identify the properties along with the bank accounts and will inform the court and seek defreezing of bank accounts. He said raising money has become a difficult proposition as the chief of the Group, Subrata Roy and two senior officials are in jail. "People sitting in jail under the court's order cannot do business," Dhavan said and added that "in order to make things workable there must be variation in order." "Your lordship has been rigid about this case, certainly making it difficult to argue," he submitted. Further, he complained that Roy and two others are in jail on the basis of order which does not appear to be legal and the apex court transgressed its power. "It is a civil liberty issue of gross proportions," the senior advocate said and added that "the March 4 order is grossly and entirely illegal and draconian which concerns the entire Bar." — PTI
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Scindias rule the roost in Guna
Guna (MP), April 16 The election in this constituency is almost one-sided due to the deep-rooted influence of the princely clan in the area. People in Shivpuri, the most backward district of Scindia's constituency, still vote for "Raj Mahal", instead of any political party or candidate. "Nobody can defeat Raja Saheb," is the general perception of voters in this area. The whole royal family pitches in during the election season to ensure victory of their candidate, irrespective of the parties they represent. Paternal aunts of Jyotiraditya who are top leader of the BJP, like legislator and Cabinet minister in BJP-ruled state government Yashodharaje Scindia and Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhararaje, make sure that no strong candidate is pitted against him in the constituency. However, the nationwide factor of anti-incumbency has not left the constituency untouched. The constituency is also witnessing a budding breed of independent voters who look forward to vote to end the imperial slavery. "We hardly saw him campaigning during elections earlier, but this time he visited almost every village here," said Shamoul Das a farmer of Charch village. His name on the banners that earlier used to read as "Shrimant Maharaja Jyotiraditya Scindia" has now been reduced to "Maharaja Jyotiraditya Scindia", hinting at subdued effect of royal lineage. Shivpuri district is marred with problems like absence of sewerage and lack of proper water supply. There is not even a single industry operating in the area and the highways are at their worst. Though, Scindia has initiated some projects, including laying of sewerage and the Jal Awantan Yojna for regular water supply, these have been in limbo for years due to political fight between the state government and the
Centre.
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Kejri: Should’ve consulted public before quitting
Varanasi, April 16 Kejriwal and his Cabinet quit Feb 14 after failing to pass the Jan Lokpal bill in the Delhi assembly because of opposition from the Congress and the BJP. "We should have consulted people before resigning the way we did before forming the government, which we didn't do," he added. "It was a communication problem." Kejriwal, who was the Chief Minister for 49 days, agreed that the decision did not go down well with the people. — IANS
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EC cautions media against print, broadcast of opinion polls
New Delhi, April 16 In a communication to heads of media organisations and Chief Electoral Officers, the EC raised objections to the broadcast of an opinion poll by a new channel on April 14 even as the multi-phase General Election was in progress. It said the opinion poll in question also included results of 111 Lok Sabha constituencies where balloting took place on April 7, 9, 10, 11 and 12. Hence, it becomes the dissemination of result of exit polls with respect to the constituencies concerned. Although it did not name any
organisation, the opinion poll was run by NDTV. In an unequivocal observation, it said that the act of telecasting and publishing of the same by newspapers was against the grain of Section 126 A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951. The Act lays down: “No person shall conduct any exit poll and publish or publicise by means of the print or electronic media or disseminate in any other manner whatsoever the result of any exit poll during the period.” The EC said the prohibited period for this purpose is explained as “the period may commence from the beginning of the hours fixed for poll on the first day of poll and continues till half an hour after the closing of the polling in all the states and union territories”. It laced its communication against the publication of exit poll with moral overtones invoking the concept of “level playing field” to ensure free and fair elections. The EC’s intervention is in the backdrop of strong reservation in
non-BJP quarters regarding the results projected in the opinion poll which appear to be loaded against them.
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Congress managers working to find Modi-poll survey link
New Delhi, April 16 Some senior ministers in the government are learnt to be engaged in tracking the origin of the poll surveys predicting a landslide win for the BJP, and hence motivating voters in a clear direction. Commerce Minister Anand Sharma, also a spokesperson of the Congress, said, “The surveys are clearly motivated. That explains why these are projecting results to create a deliberate impression that the BJP is winning by a landslide. They are saying the BJP has won already whereas the BJP is not even contesting all 545 seats of the Lok Sabha. It is only contesting around 445.” Congress circles were abuzz today with talks that a senior functionary of Apco Worldwide, the lobby and PR firm working for Modi, has a role in Hansa Research, the firm that partnered with a TV channel recently to predict a huge 275 seat win for the BJP in the ongoing elections. Anand Sharma said, “There is evidence of surveys being motivated to influence trends in the upcoming phases. Who can otherwise make such predictions in a country where the picture changes from state to state and province to province.” In the coming days, as election dates draw near, the Congress is likely to come out with some evidence in this connection, sources said. Meanwhile, Congress managers saw their victory in EC’s latest order today directing print and TV houses to desist from publishing results of exit polls as these interfered with the fairness of the elections and violated the provisions of the Representation of People Act, 1951.
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Gauhati will put Rahul’s selection method to test
Gauhati, April 16 Manash Borah, a businessman and son of Assam’s Social Welfare Minister Akon Bora, emerged winner in race for the party nomination for the Gauhati constituency by polling 410 votes out of the total 823 votes cast by party office-bearers in February. He emerged winner from among seven aspirants. His selection as party candidate surprised many in the party ranks given that he is a greenhorn in active politics and not known to have a mass support base in the constituency. He is now facing an uphill task to wrest the Gauhati seat from the BJP which has fielded its sitting MP and national vice-president Bijoya Chakraborty — a minister in the erstwhile BJP-led NDA government. Bijoya Chakraborty, who has represented the Gauhati Lok Sabha seat for two terms, is being made to toil because of the intensive electioneering by the resourceful Congress candidate who has been aided by senior party leaders including Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and, of course, his father Akon Bora. Senior leaders in the Congress seemed very concerned about ensuring Manash Borah’s win in the election as he is virtually a Rahul Gandhi choice. The electoral arithmetic for both the BJP and Congress in respect of the Gauhati Lok Sabha seat has been made complicated by the regional Asom Gana Parishad (AGP). It has fielded a formidable candidate, Birendra Prasad Baishya, a former Union minister. There are 18 candidates in the fray for the Gauhati Lok Sabha constituency having over 18.8 lakh voters. The election will be held on April 24 along with five other constituencies in Assam.
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Sibal moves EC against Swamy for code violation
New Delhi, April 16 The minister said that Swamy's claim that one of the companies in which his wife has a stake is an exporter of cow meat is intended to evoke religious sentiments "and thus violative of the model code of conduct". Sibal said the value of the shares held by his wife in the private unlisted companies is in accordance with law and is disclosed in her wealth tax returns. — PTI
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EC censures Shah, Azam
New Delhi, April 16 The EC's decision came days after it had banned the two leaders from campaigning in Uttar Pradesh during the ongoing Lok Sabha elections. While censuring the two, the EC also condemned their statements after going through their responses to the show cause notices issued to them. The ban imposed on the two politicians will continue. — PTI
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Saradha scam: Sudipta’s wife, son arrested
New Delhi/Kolkata, April 16 Sen's wife Piyali and son Shubhojit were arrested by sleuths of the central probe agency after they were questioned for around two hours with regard to alleged dubious transactions that led to the Ponzi scam in which hundreds of investors across West Bengal, Odisha and Assam were duped of their money. "They have been arrested under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act and will be produced in a court tomorrow. They had been absconding for long," sources said. — PTI
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IAF copter ferries Ladakh kids, teachers to school
In what is a major help for schoolchildren of the remote Zanskar-Padam region of Ladakh in Jammu and Kashmir, the Indian Air Force has adopted a few villages and is providing helicopter services for the children and teachers, saving them the treacherous ‘chaddar trek’ over the Zanskar river that freezes in winter.
The 114 Helicopter Unit at Leh, working jointly with Rigzin Spalbar, Chief Executive Councillor of the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council, has ensured that the students and teachers are airlifted -- twice a year -- in an IAF helicopter to reach their schools at Leh and back home to the Zanskar-Padam region. Earlier, the ‘chaddar’ trek over the frozen Zanskar river was the only and a dangerous way for children and teachers of the area to reach Leh. The valley remains cut off from the main road access for more than eight months in a year.
Top-level changes soon
in Northern Command
New commanders will soon assume charge of all the three corps in Northern Command, the Army’s most-active operational command. Lt Gen K Himalaya Singh will be taking over as General Officer Commanding (GOC), 16 Corps, at Nargota this week. Commissioned into 2 Rajput, he had commanded 27 Rajput during the 1999 Kargil war for which he was decorated with the Yudh Seva Medal. He also commanded 25 Infantry Division at Rajouri before moving as Chief of Staff (COS) of the Bhopal-based 21 Corps, a strike formation. The GOC of 21 Corps and a cavalry officer, Lt Gen Amit Sharma, moved as COS, South Western Command, Jaipur, a few days ago. Sources said that Major General BS Negi, who commanded the Uniform force in Jammu and Kashmir and is presently GOC, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh Area, is tipped to take over as GOC, 14 Corps, at Leh. Major General Subroto Saha, who commanded the 22 Infantry Division and is serving as Additional Director General Military Operations at the Army Headquarters is tipped to take over as GOC, 15 Corps, in Srinagar. Both officers are from the Assam Regiment and have been approved for the rank of Lieutenant General. The incumbent GOC, 15 Corps, Lt General Gurmeet Singh is expected to move as Director General Military Intelligence at the Army Headquarters.
Army’s youngest command turns nine
South Western Command, the seventh and the youngest command of the Indian Army, turned nine on April 15. Also known as the Sapta Shakti Command, the Jaipur-based formation has jurisdiction over parts of Rajasthan, Punjab and Haryana, which have a high density of serving and retired armed forces personnel. Created to rationalise troop deployment and plug operational gaps along the western frontier, South Western Command has the unique distinction of being the test bed for the implementation of the Army’s TacC31 (Tactical Command, control, communication and Intelligence) system. Over the past few years, the command has developed world-class training infrastructure at Mahajan Field Firing Ranges which are utilised in joint exercises with friendly foreign countries like Russia, USA, UK, France, Thailand and Kazakhstan in addition to routine training of the Indian Army.
International recognition for DRDO lab
The Defence Institute of Psychological Research (DIPR), Delhi, has been recognised as an affiliate member of the International Military Testing Association (IMTA) for a duration of three years. Affiliate membership bestows international recognition and acclamation to DIPR and military testing in India. IMTA is an international organisation that promotes various kinds of military testing and has more than 30 countries as affiliate members. DIPR, a Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) laboratory, provides psychological support to the armed forces in selection, training, effective man-machine interface and motivation to enhance mental health and operational efficiency of the armed forces. The laboratory has been a member of IMTA since 2010 and will be hosting the annual convention of IMTA in 2016. (Vijay Mohan and Ajay
Banerjee)
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In what is a major help for schoolchildren of the remote Zanskar-Padam region of Ladakh in Jammu and Kashmir, the Indian Air Force has adopted a few villages and is providing helicopter services for the children and teachers, saving them the treacherous ‘chaddar trek’ over the Zanskar river that freezes in winter.
What else had the BJP expected if not the fact that all our leaders will join the ideological battle? Had they expected us to go on
vacation?