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Indian nurses in Iraq safe: MEA
Mumbai MLA threatens to strip woman, booked
New postings for top officers of IAF
Emotional intelligence test a must for IAF aspirants, says study
Visually impaired to now get access to ‘talking’ books
No gallows for cop who burnt wife, 4 kids: SC
Phoolka turns down Tytler’s apology
Army Chief in China for 4 days Zinta clarifies on complaint against Wadia
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Sunanda death case: Govt seeks report on forensic doc's allegation
New Delhi, July 2 Besides, Home Minister Rajnath Singh is believed to have been briefed by the Delhi Police Commissioner about the probe into the death of Sunanda Pushkar. During the meeting today, Commissioner BS Bassi is said to have apprised the Home Minister about the findings so far in the inquiry and the steps being taken by police for its early completion. "After I became the Health Minister, Dr Sudhir Gupta of AIIMS had written to our department regarding his promotion. But after TV channels yesterday said he had made a specific allegation, I have written to the AIIMS Director seeking a detailed information in this regard," Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said. The allegation by Dr Gupta, who heads the Forensic Science department of AIIMS, has added a new twist to the mystery surrounding the death of 52-year-old Sunanda. Sunanda was found dead in a 5-star hotel in South Delhi on the night of January 17, a day after her Twitter spat with Pakistani journalist Mehr Tarar over an alleged affair with Tharoor. Gupta refused to comment on his reported allegation, saying he has already stated the facts before the "competent" authorities. "I don't want to comment on this issue. It is a legal matter, a serious issue, I cannot share with the media. I am a government servant. Whatever I wanted to say, I have said at a competent place," he said. The autopsy report had mentioned more than a dozen injury marks on Sunanda's both hands and an abrasion on her cheek which suggests a "use of blunt force", besides a "deep teeth bite" on the edge of her left palm. Viscera samples were preserved after the autopsy at AIIMS and were sent to CFSL for further tests.
Tharoor calls for ‘definitive’ end to probe
Former Union minister Shashi Tharoor on Wednesday sought a speedy inquiry for a “clear and definitive conclusion” as to the cause of death of his wife Sunanda Pushkar. “I reiterate my request to bring this protracted inquiry to a clear and definitive conclusion at the earliest, so as to put all speculation to rest,” Tharoor said on Facebook. — PTI
AIIMS rejects doc’s claim
NEW DELHI: AIIMS on Wednesday debunked the controversial claim by the head of AIIMS' forensic medicine department that pressure was brought on him to manipulate the postmortem report on Shashi Tharoor's wife Sunanda Pushkar. AIIMS spokespersons Amit Gupta and Neerja Bhatla said there was no evidence that any pressure from outside was put on him (Sudhir Gupta) to alter the autopsy report.
Tharoor, doctor will be examined if needed: Delhi Police
New Delhi: The Delhi Police on Wednesday said it would "examine" Dr Sudhir Gupta and former Union Minister Shashi Tharoor if needed. "Whatever will happen in this case in the future I can't tell you right now but want you to know that investigation in the case is going on. Whatever is necessary is being done. If it will be necessary to examine Dr Gupta, he will be,” said Delhi Police Commissioner B S
Bassi.
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Govt raises export price of onion to check hoarders
New Delhi, July 2 Apart from raising the minimum export price (MEP) of onion to $500 a tonne to discourage exports, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) empowered state governments to impose stock holding limits on onion and potato to stop hoarding. Apparently, this is the first time when vegetables have been brought under the stock holding limit. The limit essentially means that states cannot hold stocks beyond a prescribed limit, which will also be set by them. If traders are found holding more than the limit set by the states, they can be fined and also prosecuted. Currently, stock limit provisions exist for foodgrains and cereals. Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the move came following suggestion by some states. The government also hiked the MEP of onions to $500 per tonne to arrest the domestic price rise and improve supplies. Aa statement issued by the Commerce Ministry stated that the decision was taken due to rising retail and wholesale prices and delayed monsoon. It means that onion priced below Rs 30 per kg will not be allowed for export. The price is intended to act as a deterrent, making onion purchase from India unviable for the importer considering that cheaper options are available in other parts of the world.
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Indian nurses in Iraq safe: MEA New Delhi, July 2 "We have reasons to feel extremely satisfied over the facilitation phase in Iraq," MEA spokesman Syed Akbaruddin said. He said tickets of nearly 530 Indians had been booked so far to return home by commercial flights. The documents of another 850 were being processed. Passports of some 800 Indians were being processed in Karbala, Basra and Najaf. The spokesman said there were immigration issues with many Indians that were being sorted out in consultations with the Iraqi authorities. Many Indians had overstayed in Iraq and their problems were also being addressed. The Indian Community Welfare Fund was being used for the purpose. He said there were many who were wavering. At one point, they would say they want to return to India but hours later they would say they would stay back.
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Mumbai MLA threatens to strip woman, booked
Mumbai, July 2 In her complaint, the 50 year-old woman alleged that Sawant (64) threatened to beat her up and strip her in public. She alleged that there was no immediate provocation for the MLA’s outburst which occured when she was on her way home after alighting from a bus. The MLA has denied the allegations that he had abused the woman. Sawant told reporters that he was having a loud argument with another group of people on the redevelopment issue and the woman who was passing by misunderstood the situation.
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Heavy rains disrupt life in Mumbai
Mumbai, July 2 Fire officials said two children were washed away in the Mithi river, which flows through the city. Search teams were still trying to locate the children, though the police said chances of their survival were bleak. Road and train traffic was disrupted as major roads and train tracks were flooded. The control room of the Mumbai Municipal Corporation’s disaster management cell warned that the usual trouble spots such as Hindmata, Sion, Milan Subway, Andheri Subway, Kurla, Subhash Nagar and RC Marg in Chembur would be closed for traffic till the rain water subsided. A few flights were also delayed, officials said. Seven flights had to be diverted to other airports. The Met Department has predicted heavy rain in the next 48 hours.
3 drown in Brahmaputra
Guwahati: Three youths were feared drowned in the Brahmaputra in the Chunchali area of Guwahati. The youths had reportedly gone there to bathe. Three teams of the National Disaster Response Force and State Disaster Response Force personnel made efforts all day to recover the youths.
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New postings for top officers of IAF SEVERAL postings involving the IAF top brass have come into effect. While Air Marshal PP Reddy has taken over as Chief of Integrated Defence Staff to the Chairman Chiefs of Staff Committee, a triservice body headquartered in the Capital, Air Marshal Ramesh Rai has been appointed as the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the training command at Bangalore. Commissioned in June 1977, Reddy commanded a MiG-27 squadron and a fighter base in the Kashmir Valley. He has also served as the chief test pilot at Aircraft and Systems Testing Establishment and air adviser at High Commission of India, London. Prior to this appointment he was the Director General (Inspection and Safety) at Air HQs. Rai, a Jaguar pilot of the December 1976 batch was earlier serving as the Senior Air Staff Officer at Central Air Command. He was commanding Air Force Station, Bidar when Hawk jet trainers were inducted. Reddy has been replaced by Air Marshal S Neelakantan, a fighter pilot of the December 1977 batch who had commanded the IAF contingent in Congo as part of UN Peace Keeping Mission in 2006-07. Air Marshal Anil Khosla of the December 1979 batch who has commanded a Jaguar squadron and Jaisalmer and Ambala airbases, has taken over from Rai. He specialises is maritime air operations. Recalling the battle
for Tiger Hill It was on July 4, 15 years ago that India won its most significant victory in the Kargil conflict – the Capture of Tiger Hill. Described by many as the turning point of the 1999 border conflict fought on the icy heights along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir, the battle was also among the costliest in terms of casualties during the entire operation to regain control of territory occupied by Pakistan. Tiger Hill, or Point 4660 is the highest peak in the Mushkoh-Dras-Kargil axis and overlook a wide swath of area along the Srinagar—Leh National Highway, including strategic military installations like the 56 Brigade Headquarters. Three infantry battalions – 18 Grenadiers, 8 Sikh and 2 Naga were involved in the attack. With the Nagas on the left flank, the Sikhs on the right and the artillery providing support fire, the Grenadiers launched their assault from the rear after scaling steep cliffs in the dark. By early morning the peak had been captured after heavy fighting. Hav Yogendra Yadav of the Grenadiers was decorated with the Param Vir Chakra, one of the four awarded during the conflict.
Veterans issue legal notice over OROP
Irked over non-implementation of the One Rank, One Pension (OROP) scheme four months after its announcement, ex-servicemen have served a legal notice to the Ministry of Defence, the three Service Chief and the Principal Controller of Defence accounts, demanding the scheme be implemented within a month, failing which they would move the appropriate court of law. The notice served by Chandigarh-based All India Ex-servicemen’s Welfare Association points out that apart from the former finance minister’s interim budget speech, the President and the newly elected Prime Minister have, in their respective address to Parliament, reiterated the government’s commitment to implement OROP. However, despite promises by top dignitaries and several meetings chaired by the defence minister and appropriate orders being passed, OPRP has not been implemented.
Nubra Warriors mark 27th anniversary
Deployed in one of the world’s harshest operational environment, the IAF’s 129 Helicopter Unit, the Nubra Warriors marked its 27th anniversary on July 1. The unit is among the IAF and Army Aviation outfits that provide logistic support to troops deployed on the world’s highest and coldest battlefield, the Siachen Glacier. The unit was raised at Hindon in 1987 on Mi-17 helicopters and within six days ferried five aircraft to Sri Lanka for Operation Pawan, carrying out a total of 1987 sorties. Immediately on return, it was tasked to deploy at Thoise in Ladakh for Operation Meghdoot. It was the first Mi-17 unit to undertake convert to armed support role with retrofitted rocket pods. Besides air to civil authorities for anti-terrorist operations and flood relief missions, it also participated in the Kargil conflict, carrying out rocked attacks on enemy positions in Tololing. —
Vijay Mohan
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Emotional intelligence test a must for IAF aspirants, says study
Chandigarh, July 2 This will help the IAF recognise the potential aviators at the entry level, allocate fighter, transport and helicopter streams and adopt suitable training programmes to improve occupational performance. The research states that the demands for excellence in piloting skills, physical health and psychological adaptability have become even more stringent and the emotional expression for survival and adaptation to flying career has become crucial. Emotional intelligence has been defined as the ability to perceive and express emotions, assimilate in thought, understand and reason the emotions and regulate it in the self and others. It also involves the ability to regulate one’s emotions to use them to make good decisions and to act effectively. The IAF selection process for pilots includes personality and psychological assessment besides pilot aptitude tests and medical examination. The research at IAM, undertaken by four specialists, involved 60 trained IAF pilots with an average age of 30 years who were assessed on well-being, self-control, emotionality and sociability. These factors affect the decision-making process.
Test and findings
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Visually impaired to now get access to ‘talking’ books
New Delhi, July 2 In a move that holds out the promise of a revolution in the lives of millions of print impaired in the country, India yesterday became the first country in the world to ratify the crucial Marrakesh Treaty, which facilitates access to published works for a set of beneficiaries known worldwide as the VIPs (persons who are blind, visually impaired, or print disabled). Administered by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), the treaty has so far been signed by 79 WIPO member states. It will have to be ratified by 20 to come into operation, with India making a welcome beginning yesterday. What the ratification of the treaty by India means is that the country makes it obligatory on publishers to make available all kinds of books – educational, novels, literature etc – in accessible formats for the VIPs. Disability rights activist Javed Abidi explains the shift saying, “This is a huge step forward. In simple terms, it means if a visually impaired, who’s a fan of John Grisham, wants to buy the author’s latest work, the publisher is legally bound to make the work available to him in accessible format. The treaty’s ratification is welcome, but we hope it does not go the UN Convention on Rights of Persons with Disability (UNCRPD) way. The UNCRPD was ratified in 2007, but we still don’t have a law.” “Currently in India, less than 0.5 per cent of all published works are available in accessible formats like Braille, audio etc. With India signing the treaty, publishers should feel responsible enough to ensure that the VIPs are not denied access to literature and books,” he said. Under the treaty, the beneficiaries are those affected by a range of disabilities that interfere with the effective reading of printed material. The treaty will apply to work in the form of text, notation and/or related illustrations, whether published or otherwise made publicly available in any media, including audio books.
India ratifies Marrakesh Treaty
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No gallows for cop who burnt wife, 4 kids: SC
New Delhi, July 2 The wife, Urmila Devi, and two elder daughters – Mamta and Puja — had died of burn injuries, while the youngest girl, Sudha, and the boy, Pankaj, survived the brutal act of the constable, Amar Singh Yadav. Yadav had decided to kill them as the wife had filed a case and got 50 per cent of his salary deducted for running the family as he had affairs with two women and was ignoring her and the children. A Bench comprising Justices SJ Mukhopadhaya and Dipak Misra acknowledged that Yadav had committed the crime “in a most cruel and inhuman manner” and that his wife and the two children had fallen victims to his “avaricious conduct and lust.” “Still, the case does not fall within the four corners of the principle of the rarest of the rare cases,” the apex court ruled.
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Phoolka turns down Tytler’s apology New Delhi, July 2 The court, which was scheduled to pass an order on whether fresh charge of criminal intimidation be added against Tytler, posted the matter for August 2. Phoolka has alleged that Tytler, in a TV interview, defamed him and threatened to kill him. He refused to accept the unconditional apology tendered by Tytler to settle the matter. Phoolka refused to accept Tytler’s offer, saying “any compromise” in a serious matter like this would send a wrong message to the people.
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Army Chief in China for 4 days
Beijing, July 2 During his four-day visit, General Singh would hold talks with top officials in the People’s Liberation Army and meet Chinese Vice-President Li Yuanchao tomorrow. The visit is of great significance as it contributes to healthy and steady development of Sino-India relations as well as the ties between the two armed forces and create a good atmosphere, the Chinese Defence Ministry said in an e-mail response to a questionnaire from PTI. Relations between the two armies and the regional security situation will come up for discussion during General Singh’s visit. — PTI
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Zinta clarifies on complaint against Wadia
Mumbai, July 2 “Why did I report a personal matter to the police? Personal matter? Seriously? For the record this relationship was ended by me in 2009 and I don’t ever recall having gone to the police on any personal matter irrespective of what happened then. But now it’s been six years since the break up so this is not a personal matter,” Zinta said in her post. — TNS
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The government today sought a detailed report from the AIIMS on the reported allegation by a senior forensic doctor that he was pressured to manipulate the report of the autopsy of Sunanda Pushkar.
SEVERAL postings involving the IAF top brass have come into effect. While Air Marshal PP Reddy has taken over as Chief of Integrated Defence Staff to the Chairman Chiefs of Staff Committee, a triservice body headquartered in the Capital, Air Marshal Ramesh Rai has been appointed as the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the training command at Bangalore.
The government today took two important steps to control the prices of onion and potato to improve domestic supplies and put a curb on hoarders believed to be blocking supply in anticipation of poor rainfall affecting the new crop.
