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Modi calls Rahul a ‘specimen’
Modi will ruin nation: Mamata
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Clinching proof to arrest Modi in Ishrat case: Sibal
Close shave for Ahilesh, wife as bird hits chopper
Priyanka has lowered political discourse: Jaitley
Deemed varsities: UGC, Centre spar in SC over inspection
SC notice to Centre on CBI appointments
Will sort out net porn menace this week, Centre tells SC
Prez's clemency power shouldn’t be questioned: Centre to SC
CBI Special Director’s appointment on hold
People free to move court directly against false affidavits: Poll panel
‘Green Nobel’ for Indian activist
EU bans import of Indian Alphonso, four veggies
Pak troops violate ceasefire again
Five Navy men held for molestation
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Modi calls Rahul a ‘specimen’
Kheralu (Gujarat), April 28 Modi lampooned Rahul for dishing out "falsehoods" in his speeches about vast job vacancies and the institution of the Lokayukta in his state. He also alleged that the Congress has so far sent 100 emissaries to his home town of Vadnagar to find out if he ever used to sell tea or not. "If you want to relieve stress, listen to Rahul's speeches. As per his mathematics, there are 27,000 crore jobs lying vacant in Gujarat. How can this be possible when the total population of Gujarat is six crores? What kind of ‘namuna’ (specimen) has the Congress brought?" asked Modi during his rally in Kheralu town under the Patan Lok Sabha constituency. Labelling the Congress vice-president as "ignorant" about Gujarat, Modi said, "Rahul recently claimed in his speech that Gujarat doesn't have Lokayukta. But he should be knowing that Gujarat does have Lokayukta and its first report has been tabled in the Assembly. Rahulbhai, if you don't have that much knowledge, what would happen to India?" Modi said. He also accused Congress president Sonia Gandhi of heaping injustice on Gujarat over the issue of Narmada dam for her 'political gains'. "Sonia claimed that the people of Gujarat are deprived of drinking water. I want to tell you that during Congress regime, water was sent to Saurashtra region through trains. Now, we have laid huge pipelines for that," Modi said during his final lap of canvassing in the state. Without naming Sonia's political adviser Ahmed Patel, Modi claimed that 'malicious' advice is being given to her. "(The) Government of 'mother-son duo' and their political adviser ruined this country. Why didn't you give permission to build gates on Narmada dam? It could have given four times more water to Gujarat. But, their adviser warned them that if gates are installed, then Congress will lose their ground in Gujarat for the next 50 years," alleged Modi. Modi also lambasted Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in his address. "The Congress knows that a tsunami is coming. But our PM can't see it. That is not surprising because he can't see India's problems too, such as inflation and corruption," alleged Modi. — PTI
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Modi will ruin nation: Mamata
Kolkata/New Delhi, Apr 28 The no-holds barred attack against the BJP PM candidate came even as the ruling TMC demanded a public apology from him for doubting the integrity of Banerjee over the sale of her paintings and also complained to the Election Commission against him. Rebutting the charge by her Gujarat counterpart that she had done more damage to West Bengal in 35 months of rule than the Left Front in 35 years, Banerjee also said that she did not need 'gyan' on development from the "architect of riots". "If he comes to power, India will plunge into darkness. We do not need gyan (lecture) on development from the architect of riots," Banerjee, the Trinamool Congress supremo, said on Twitter. "The man who is being projected as PM candidate, if he comes to power, India will be ruined." she added. On Modi's allegation that she was indulging in vote-bank politics and spreading the red carpet for Bangladeshis, Banerjee told reporters that he did not know history. — PTI
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Clinching proof to arrest Modi in Ishrat case: Sibal
Ahmedabad, April 28 The hard-hitting attack by Sibal came on the last day of campaigning for the single-phase polls in Gujarat to be held on April 30. Joining Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, party vice-president Rahul Gandhi and other leaders in attacking Modi's development model, Sibal said, "many models are being talked about in the country now, but this is an encounter model of Gujarat". Elaborating about "clinching evidence" Sibal said, "There are call records of talk between accused police officer DG Vanzara and the then minister of state for Home Amit Shah at the time of encounter and before the encounter that took place on June 15, 2004. "There are statements of police officers under CrPC 164 pointing fingers at them," the minister said. — PTI
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Close shave for Ahilesh, wife as bird hits chopper
Lucknow, April 28 Yadav was accompanied by his wife Dimple Yadav, the MP from Kannauj, and Public Works Department Minister Shivpal Singh Yadav. He was returning from Saifai after attending the funeral of his uncle Ratan Singh Yadav when the incident took place. Officials said an eagle hit the front window pane of the private chopper at an altitude of 3,000 feet, 12 km away from the Lucknow airport. The pilots of the helicopter, however, managed to safely land the chopper at the airport. Several ambulances, fire tenders and officials were rushed to the airport, said officials. Last week, former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati too had a narrow escape at the Lucknow airport when the rear wheel of the private plane she was travelling in got stuck during landing. — PTI
Mid-air scare
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Priyanka has lowered political discourse: Jaitley
New Delhi, April 28 "She has compared the BJP to 'panic-stricken
rats'...Mrs Vadra has lowered the quality of the political discourse by her comments...If any of my family members started referring to my opponents as rats and reptiles, I surely will be a worried man," the BJP leader wrote on his
blog. Priyanka had yesterday said that the BJP was "baffled and running around like rats. I knew that they will repeat their bunch of lies. There is nothing new in it but let them say whatever they want to. I am not afraid of anyone and will continue to speak against their negative, destructive and shameful politics." On her remarks that she was not afraid of anyone, Jaitley said, "The Vadras are right that they need not be scared of anyone. They should only be scared of the law. Be the Vadras be ever so high, the law is above them. The law spares none, be it the rich, the famous or the related." The war of words between the BJP leaders and Priyanka Gandhi started yesterday when she referred to the Opposition party as "panic-stricken rats". — PTI
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Deemed varsities: UGC, Centre spar in SC over inspection
New Delhi, April 28 Arguing for the UGC before a Supreme Court Bench comprising Justices KS Radhakrishnan and Vikramajit Sen, senior counsel Rakesh Dwivedi said the UGC had a meeting on March 25-26 and decided to do a fresh inspection of the 44 institutions as the commission’s earlier report was at variance with the recommendations of the PN Tandon committee particularly on the approach. While the UGC had inspected these universities more than five years ago, new regulations were introduced in 2010. For assessing the standard in the light of the new factors, UGC had to inspect the colleges for which time was required, the commission pleaded. Appearing for the Centre, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Indira Jaisingh questioned the need for fresh inspections. The government representative who attended the UGC meeting in March strongly opposed the proposal for revisiting the universities. The court had also asked the UGC on January 21 to submit its report within two months obviously by avoiding physical inspection. Further, the government had given all the data relating to these institutions to the UGC so that no further physical verification would be required, the ASG contended. Nevertheless, the government wanted to file its response to the UGC plea for which time was required as the minister was “busy for obvious reasons,” she said without the identifying the ongoing the Lok Sabha election as the reason. The court, however, granted just a week’s time and posted the next hearing for May 2. In the January 21 order, the SC had said that though the UGC advice would not be binding, the Centre should give “due weight” to its recommendation as the commission “is an expert statutory authority.”
On warpath
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SC notice to Centre on CBI appointments
New Delhi, April 28 A three-member Bench headed by Chief Justice RM Lodha directed the government to file its response by May 9, the next date of hearing on the PIL filed by Vineet Narain on whose earlier petition the SC had directed the Centre to set up the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) to ensure that the CBI functioned independently as an anti-corruption agency without any political interference. According to the PIL, the Centre recently appointed IPS officer Archana Ramasundaram as Additional Director of CBI despite the fact that the five-member committee, comprising the CVC, two CVC members and Union Secretaries of Home and Personnel, had recommended that RK Pachnanda for the post. There was no point in having the committee if the Centre intended to bypass it, senior advocate KK Venugopal pleaded while arguing for the petitioner. The PIL has sought quashing of the appointment of the Additional Director, besides a directive to the Centre to fill up all CBI vacancies in the rank of the Superintendent of Police and above strictly on the basis of the recommendations of the committee, set up under the provisions of the CVC Act and the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act 1946 governing the functioning of the investigation agency. The petitioner said he had approached the SC to bring to its notice the government’s attempt to “tamper with the independence and autonomy of the CBI by adopting a procedure for appointment of its officers which is in blatant contravention of the provisions of law and the spirit of the SC verdict of 1988.”
Row over Addl Director’s selection
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Will sort out net porn menace this week, Centre tells SC
New Delhi, April 28 The hearing on a PIL on the issue should be adjourned till then, he pleaded without specifying the steps the government was planning to take. Accepting the plea, the Bench posted the next hearing for May 2. The ASG made the commitment despite the fact that the Union Telecom Secretary had filed an affidavit only a couple of days ago, explaining the technical and legal problems involved in blocking such sites. In response to a court order, the secretary contended that blocking pornography on the internet would involve filtering all the material, including emails, and this would slow down search results and electronic communication, besides coming in the way of accessing educational sites and transacting business. Further, there would be legal impediments in shutting out contents hosted from servers in foreign countries where net porn was legal. Even if such material was blocked, technology was available to bypass the filtering process through encryption and view pornography, it was contended. The SC has made it clear that it would order blocking of such sites if the government was reluctant to crack down on net porn, particularly those featuring children. It pointed out that the Internet Service Providers (ISPs) had told the court that they could block pornographic sites either at the instance of the government or the judiciary. Also, several countries were blocking objectionable sites on the net on a regular basis. “Why can’t you control and regulate websites,” it had asked. According to the PIL filed by advocate Kamlesh Vaswani, some of the websites had graphic scenes of violence, brutality and deviant and destructive acts that would corrupt children, posing a grave threat to public order. “Most offences committed against women, girls and children are fuelled by pornography. The worrying issue is that the severity and gravity of such images is increasing,” the petitioner contended pleading for a ban on such contents on the net.
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Prez's clemency power shouldn’t be questioned: Centre to SC
New Delhi, April 28 "The power to grant clemency is an attribute of sovereignty. The court ought not to inquire into the merits of the exercise of the prerogative," the government said in its affidavit filed in the apex court. The response was filed in compliance with the apex court's order which had on November 18 issued a notice to it on a PIL challenging former President Pratibha Patil's decision to commute death sentence of five condemned prisoners in child rape cases. "The manner of consideration of a mercy petition lies within the discretion and prerogative of the President of India. The court in the exercise of its judicial powers must give due deference to the decision of another Constitutional authority. It is submitted that the exercise of power by the President is beyond the pale of question," it said. It said in case of a decision being rendered in favour of or against the convict, the courts in exercise of the powers of judicial review ought not to nullify the decision of another Constitutional authority. "If the courts are to nullify the effect of President's order after such a decision is taken by him, it would amount to sitting in appeal over the decision of the President and substituting it with a judicial decision, which could never be the intention of Constitutional makers," it said. The apex court had in November last year agreed to hear the
PIL, filed by journalist Pinki Virani, questioning the then President's decision to commute the death penalty in the cases of extreme brutality. — PTI
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CBI Special Director’s appointment on hold
New Delhi, April 28 “It has been decided to put on hold the process of appointment of Special Director in CBI for the next government,” a source said. However, the names for appointment of one Deputy Inspector General (DIG) and five SPs were cleared during the meeting, the sources said. The meeting was chaired by Central Vigilance Commissioner Pradeep Kumar and two Vigilance Commissioners - JM Garg and Rajiv - Home Secretary Anil Goswami, Department of Personnel and Training Secretary SK Sarkar and CBI Director Ranjit Sinha, they said. As per rules, the name of one officer shortlisted during the meeting has to be sent to the Appointments Committee of Cabinet headed by the Prime Minister for further orders. Among the three officers considered eligible for the post of Special Director, Mishra has a longest tenure till February 2016. Balasubramaniam and Gupta would be retiring by May 2015. — PTI
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People free to move court directly against false affidavits: Poll panel
New Delhi, April 28 The EC said while earlier the aggrieved persons could approach the returning officer with a complaint against a candidate for concealing information or making a false declaration in the election affidavit, now it is open to people to move a petition before the appropriate court on the issue directly. The EC circular issued to chief electoral officers of all states last week comes in the wake of the poll panel being flooded with complaints against various candidates for making false disclosures in their affidavits. In most of the complaints, the EC has been requested to either direct the returning officer to move court against the candidate or issue directions to magistrates concerned to take cognisance of false affidavits. In June 2004, the EC had said if complaints are filed before the returning officer on false affidavit, the official would approach the court for action against the candidate if prima facie the allegation was found to be true. The rules relating affidavits were amended in August 2012 allowing any person to move court directly under section 125 A of the Representation of the People Act against a candidate for filing a false affidavit or concealing information. The poll panel said after 2012 amendments, "there is no stipulation that complaints under that section (125A) have to be made by the public servant (returning officer)." Earlier this month, the Congress had approached the Election Commission over the issue of the marital status of Narendra Modi seeking action by the poll body against the BJP leader for allegedly "hiding" facts in election affidavits filed by him in the past. — PTI
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‘Green Nobel’ for Indian activist
Gare village (AP), April 28 For a decade, Agrawal, who has no formal legal training, has been waging a one-man campaign to educate illiterate villagers about their rights in fighting pollution and land-grabbing by powerful mining and electricity companies. He's won three lawsuits against major corporations and has spearheaded seven more pending in courts. "When I started this fight, I knew I'd be a target. It will happen again. Let it happen. I'm not going anywhere,'' the soft-spoken yoga enthusiast said in an interview this month in the city of Raigarh, where he hobbled around his modest home with a cane and a metal brace screwed into his shattered femur. On Monday, Agrawal, 60, will be recognised in a ceremony in San Francisco as one of six recipients of this year's $175,000 Goldman Environmental Prize, often called the "Green Nobel.'' Among the other winners are former corporate lawyer Helen Slottje who fought fracking, pumping chemicals and water underground to break open shale rock formations, in New York state and South Africa's Desmond D'Sa who closed down one of the country's largest toxic dumping sites. The award was established in 1990 with a grant from philanthropists Richard and Rhoda Goldman. — AP
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EU bans import of Indian Alphonso, four veggies
London, April 28 The recent decision by the grouping's Standing Committee on Plant Health came after 207 consignments of fruits and vegetables from India imported into the EU in 2013 were found contaminated by pests such as fruit flies and other quarantine pests. The temporary ban, proposed by the European Commission, includes mangoes, eggplant, the taro plant, bitter gourd and snake gourd, and prohibits the import to tackle the “significant shortcomings in the phytosanitary certification system of such products exported to the EU”. Though the prohibited commodities represent less than 5 per cent of the total fresh fruits and vegetables imported into the EU from India, the potential introduction of new pests could pose a threat to EU agriculture and production, the committee noted. UK’s Defra (the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) that is backing the ban said it was necessary due to pests, which could threaten the country's 321 million pound salad crop industry of tomato and cucumber. The UK imports nearly 16 million mangoes from India and the market for the fruit is worth nearly 6 million pounds a year. A revision of the ban will take place before December 31, 2015. Businesses claimed they will lose hundreds of thousands of pounds due to the ban. Wholesalers and retailers in Indian-dominated regions of the UK have opposed the ban, which comes into effect on May 1, saying it will hit them hard. “This is Euro-nonsense and bureaucracy gone mad. Indian mangoes have been imported to Britain for centuries. I am furious with the lack of consultation with those who will be affected by the ban,” said Indian-origin MP Keith Vaz, who has written to the European Commission president after his constituents in the city of Leicester made a plea. He has also written to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to ascertain if the Indian government was consulted on the matter. “Leicester held the first UK Mango Festival last year and it was an outstanding success. I, and many millions of British people, have eaten these mangoes and they certainly don't seem to have had an effect on us. If this ban goes ahead we will have to cancel this year's festival,” Vaz added. A shopkeeper in Leicester said the ban could see city retailers' profits fall by thousands of pounds. Rajesh Pabari said he can make 9,000 pounds from selling the mangoes during their eight-week growing season. — PTI
Pest trouble
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Pak troops violate ceasefire again
Rajouri, April 28 The incident cannot be termed an infiltration bid as the troops didn’t notice any movement of militants in the area. A grenade was first thrown on the targeted post around 7 pm yesterday and it was followed by an exchange of small arm fire for a few minutes. Defence sources said the Pakistan army resorted to unprovoked ceasefire violation in the Keri sector using small automatic weapons around 5.15 am today. Indian troops retaliated and the firing went on till 6.30 am. “Our troops returned the fire using similar caliber weapons. There was no loss of life or property on our side,” said Lt Col Manish Mehta, Jammu-based defence spokesman. It was the fourth truce violation in Rajouri and Poonch districts by the Pakistan army this year. Sources said more than 150 fully equipped militants had been waiting at forward launching pads to get a chance to sneak into the Indian territory. “Their every effort has been foiled by the Indian troops so far and there was a remote possibility that any infiltration attempt may succeed in Rajouri and Poonch districts,” sources added. The entire Line of Control in both districts is being looked after by Rajouri-based Infantry Division. Its GOC has been directed by the higher authorities to deal with any situation by taking spot decisions, sources said.
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Five Navy men held for molestation
Mumbai, April 28 The police said the incident happened at the Hawaiian Shack pub in suburban Bandra where the woman accompanied by her husband and a friend were dancing. They were accosted by the five men who misbehaved with the woman, the police said. The five have been identified as: Maheshwar Mahendra Singh (26), Tirthlal Dilpanath (25), Ashish Jai Kishan (29), Shyam Bhandare (29), and Chandan Mishra (26). All of them are class IV-level officers of the Indian Navy attached to the electronics department.
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Kheralu (Gujarat), April 28
