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Lt Gen Campose is Army Vice Chief
Navy to get indigenous anti-sub warship today
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China's defence spend more than India, Japan, S Korea combined
Govt: No finality on rural posting for PG medical students
Time to invest in India: German bizmen
Defamation charge: Court summons Rahul Gandhi
AI, Indigo flights come close to collision in WB
Debt
waiver scheme
Family, friends bid farewell to Zohra
Hamid Ansari confirms Rail Budget leak
Pune blast terror attack, hints ATS
Naxal held with 7-kg IED
Puducherry LG sacked
Govt: Captive workers in Iraq unharmed
Onion, potato essential commodities in Gujarat
25 children taken ill after lizard found in mid-day meal in Bihar’s Siwan dist
Budget is 95% rehash of our policies: Cong
Pay minimum wages under MNREGA: SC
Make UU Lalit SC judge: Collegium
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Lt Gen Campose is Army Vice Chief
New Delhi, July 11 Lt Gen Campose will be replaced by Lt Gen KJ Singh as new Chief of the Chandimandir headquartered Western Command. The Ambala-based 2 Strike Corps, the Jallandhar-based 11 Corps and the Yol (Dharamsala)-based 9 Corps are under the command. Lt Gen Campose was commissioned in the 9 Gorkha Rifles in 1974 but was seconded to the Mechanised Infantry in 1982. He has commanded an Independent Armoured Brigade and an Infantry Division along the Line of Control in J&K and a Corps in the Western Sector. He has headed a UN Peace Keeping mission in the former Yugoslavia and Northern Iraq. His replacement at Chandimandir, Lt General KJ Singh, has just finished his tenure as GoC of the Sukna (Darjeeling)-based 33 Corps. He is from the Armoured Corps. Before being posted to Sukhna, he had commanded the Hisar-based 33 Armoured Division. He has done tenures in the insurgency-hit areas with Assam Rifles and with the United Nations Peace Keeping Force in Angola. He has been an Instructor at the School of Armoured Warfare and Directing Staff at the Higher Command Wing of the Army War College.
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Navy to get indigenous anti-sub warship today
Kolkata, July 11 The super-sophisticated front line warship will be formally handed over by Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Ltd
(GRSE) chairman and managing director Rear Admiral (Retd) A K Verma to the Navy at a ceremony in GRSE's Fitting Out
Jetty, defence PRO TK Singha said. INS Kamorta, first in its class of four ASW corvettes being built by GRSE under Project-28 for the Navy, is the first warship ever
built in the country with almost 90 per cent of indigenous content. It is also the first warship manufactured in India with indigenously developed special grade high-tensile steel produced by state-owned Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL). Armed with stealth features, it is the first warship equipped with the new trainable chaff launcher -
Kavach. The hull of the ship encompassed the bulk of sensors and weapon systems that were also indigenously manufactured by various Indian Industries. The foldable hangar door fitted for the first time with a rail-less helicopter traversing system is also a noteworthy first on any Indian naval ship, and would give helicopter operations from the corvette deck a significant edge over existing platforms of other warships. — PTI
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China's defence spend more than India, Japan, S Korea combined
New Delhi, July 11 On March 5, Beijing announced a budget of $131.57 billion that is more than the collective spend of $117. 02 billion by India, Japan and South Korea. China has uneasy relations with the three countries. China's close military ally, Pakistan announced a budget of $7 billion for defence in June this year. Japan has an allocation of $45.86 billion for defence, while South Koreans have listed $33 billion for the same. China increased its defence budget by 12.2 per cent, a kind of warning signal to India, Japan and the ten-nation Association of South East Nations (ASEAN) - some of which are locked in disputes with Beijing in the hydrocarbon-rich South China Sea. In an indication of rising budget spends, the IHS Jane's Annual Defence Budgets Review, in February 2014 assessed "China, Japan and India were spending roughly 21 per cent of the total expenditure among the top 10 spenders." Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, while addressing the Communist Party-controlled National People's Congress (NPC) on March 5 (at the budget announcement) said: "We will resolutely safeguard China's sovereignty, security and development interests… place war preparations on a regular footing and build China into a maritime power". China's stress is on high-technology weapons. And it is already nuclear armed and has tested anti-satellite weapon.
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Govt: No finality on rural posting for PG medical students
Need 200 acre per AIIMS: Vardhan
New Delhi, July 11 The UPA government had in 2013 approved mandatory one-year rural posting for MBBS doctors seeking post graduation from the 2015-16 session. The decision taken was --- MBBS students applying for admission to post-graduate medical courses from academic year 2015-16 would have to undertake a compulsory rural posting at a public health centre for one year after they finish their PG test. The then Health Minister (Ghulam Nabi Azad) had told Parliament on December 17, 2013 that the government had approved the rural posting proposal and the MCI would soon notify it. During the question hour in the Lok Sabha, Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Friday said no final decision had so far been taken on mandatory rural posting for PG medical students. “There was definitely a proposal by the previous government to send these doctors, after they have finished their post-graduation, to rural health facilities. But, as per my information, the proposal was not pursued by the earlier government because of opposition from doctors. Now we are reviewing the whole situation. We are in the process of discussing this issue in our meetings with ministry officials, Indian Medical Association and other related groups,” Vardhan said. The government is now thinking of sending the postgraduate students to rural health facilities while they are pursuing their postgraduation medical studies. “During PG studies, we propose to send students to these places. I am sure in the future, we shall be able to resolve this issue. It will help in improving our manpower situation at the primary health centres,” Vardhan said leaving the contours of the move vague but indicating that the posting may not be mandatory or as long as a year or even scheduled after students complete PG studies. The IMA had opposed the rural posting move saying it would make the already long medical education longer and discourage students from joining MBBS . Against globally required norm of one doctor for every 1000 patients, India has one doctor for 2,000 patients.
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Time to invest in India: German bizmen
New Delhi, July 11 The German business delegation, which included Ulrich
Grillo, president of the Federation of German Industries (BDI), Juergen
Fitschen, Co-CEO of Deutsche Bank and president of the Association of German Banks as well as Dr Hubert
Lienhard, chairman of the Asia-Pacific Committee of German Business (APA), was of the view that with the measures announced by Jaitley in the Budget, the Indian economy was going in the “right direction”. They pointed out that due policies of the previous Congress-led UPA government, investment in India was on the hold. The feedback from India was not very positive. But they were quite impressed after their meeting with Jaitley and said the Budget was on the path for changing the perception of doing business in India. Addressing mediapersons in the presence of German Ambassador Michael Steiner, the three said the German companies had money and were willing to invest in India, but the positive atmosphere had been missing. “We are optimistic and confident that the Narendra
Modi-led government can put things into action. His past performance speaks of it as well,” the three said. Germany and India share deep economic relations. Germany is India’s biggest trading partner in Europe and ranks among the top 10 countries of origin of FDI in India. The Indo-German Chamber of Commerce has more than 7,000 members, making it the largest German chamber of foreign trade worldwide. This is fourth business delegation to have called upon the Modi government in the past less than two months. Another business delegation would be in Delhi tomorrow to call upon Modi government officials. Earlier, business delegations from France, Britain and China had also called upon Jaitley and other Indian government officials. The Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Global Markets and Director General of the US and Foreign Commercial Service, Arun M Kumar, will lead a US economic delegation, including senior officials of the Department of Commerce, the Office of the United States Trade Representative, and the Department of State, to New Delhi from tomorrow. The delegation will discuss with senior officials of the Union government a broad array of topics aimed at growing the US-India commercial relationship. The German delegation officials pointed out that while there were 6,000 German companies in China, there were only 1,500 in India, a clear reflection of lack of trust of the German business community in Indian government’s policies. They, however, said after the meeting with the Finance Minister their trust level was very high and the measures announced in the Budget were a very positive and had given clear “signals” to the foreign businesses to invest in India.
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Defamation charge: Court summons Rahul Gandhi
Thane, July 11 The court's directive came on a case filed by secretary of Bhiwandi unit of RSS Rajesh Kunte, who claimed the Congress leader had "distorted history" and "defamed" the organisation by alleging that "RSS people had killed Mahatma Gandhi", Kunte's lawyer Ganesh Dharghalkar said. Judicial Magistrate First Class (JFMC) S V Swamy ordered summons to be issued against Rahul under Section 500 of the Indian Penal Code (defamation) for allegedly accusing RSS of killing Mahatma Gandhi, while addressing an election rally at Sonale village on March 6. — PTI
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AI, Indigo flights come close to collision in WB
New Delhi, July 11 The Air Traffic Control (ATC) had given clearance to both the aircraft, according to Indigo airline spokesperson. The Air India flight 879, carrying 120 passengers, was descending and the Indigo Bagdogra-Delhi flight 6E472 with 130 passengers on board was given clearance to climb the 30,000-foot height, Indigo spokesman said. As they came close to each other violating the 1,000m separation, the pilots of the Indigo plane and the Air India aircraft, however, manoeuvred themselves to avoid a near-miss, the spokesperson said. Once the Captains received "clear-of-conflict" message, they manoeuvred back to normal situation, he added. The DCGA is conducting an inquiry into the incident. — PTI
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Debt
waiver scheme Aditi Tandon Tribune News Service
New Delhi, July 11 Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today spoke at length in the Lok Sabha about large-scale irregularities in the implementation of the scheme, saying many auditors were currently facing action. “Cases pertaining to 757 auditors have been referred to the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, which is looking into these. Around 430 cases of irregularities have already been detected and 22 FIRs lodged. The Government has recovered Rs 627 crore by way of probe,” Jaitley said, responding to a related question by Hatkanangle MP Raju Shetti of the Swabhimani Paksha Party. The Agricultural Debt Waiver and Debt Relief Scheme was announced by the Congress-led UPA government in the Budget 2008-09. The RBI was nodal agency for its implementation and the scheme was to be rolled through scheduled commercial banks, urban cooperative banks and local area banks. NABARAD, meanwhile, was the nodal agency for regional rural banks and cooperative credit institutions were also involved in the scheme meant to benefit 3.73 crore farmers with waiver worth Rs 52, 259 crore. CAG’s performance audit of the scheme between April 2011 and March 2012, however, found several irregularities of exclusion and inclusion of farmers following which the government last year directed all lending institutions to re-verify the claims and fix responsibility of bank officials. Importantly, the government has no data related to whether any bank official was terminated for involvement in the fraud. Jaitley said the extent of irregularities were too widespread to know the nature of action erring officials faced. Mahtab wanted to know whether bank officials had been terminated for compromising farmers’ interests or whether simple suspension was all they faced. The government, however, told the House of the nature of irregularities detected in the scheme. “Complaints involve the number of ineligible farmers who got debt waivers; record tampering and exclusion of genuine beneficiaries,” Jaitley said.
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Delhi becomes world’s most populous city after Tokyo
United Nations, July 11 The 2014 revision of the World Urbanisation Prospects launched yesterday said that India is projected to add the highest number of people to its urban population by 2050, ahead of China. The Indian capital is expected to retain the spot of the world's second most populous city through at least 2030, when its population is expected to rise swiftly to 36 million. Tokyo topped UN's ranking of the most populous cities in 2014 with 38 million inhabitants and while its population is projected to decline, it will remain the world's largest city in 2030 with 37 million people. Mumbai, which ranks sixth on the list of the world's most populous cities in 2014, is projected to become the fourth largest city in 2030 when its population would grow to 28 million from the current 21 million. Tokyo and New Delhi were followed by Shanghai with 23 million, and Mexico City, Mumbai and Sao Paulo, each with around 21 million inhabitants in 2014. The report said that the largest urban growth will take place in India, China and Nigeria between 2014 and 2050, with the three countries accounting for 37 per cent of the projected growth of the world's urban population. By 2050, India is projected to add 404 million urban dwellers, way more than China's projection of 292 million. Nigeria will add 212 million to its urban population. India's current urban population is 410 million people and this will grow to 814 million by 2050. China currently has the largest urban population of 758 million. India and China account for 30% of the world's urban population. The two Asian giants along with the United States, Brazil, Indonesia, Japan and Russia currently account for more than half of the world's urban population. About 54% of the world's population currently lives in urban areas and this proportion is expected to increase to 66 per cent by 2050, with the maximum increase taking place in the urban areas of Africa and Asia. The world's urban population is now close to 3.9 billion and is expected to reach 6.3 billion in 2050, according to the UN report. The rural population of the world has grown slowly since 1950 and is expected to reach its peak in a few years. Approximately 3.4 billion people currently live in rural areas around the world. However, sometime after 2020, the world's rural population will start to decline and is expected to reach 3.2 billion in 2050. India currently has the largest rural population at 857 million, followed by China (635 million). — PTI
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Family, friends bid farewell to Zohra
New Delhi, July 11 The last rites of the 102-year-old actress, who died yesterday, were performed at the Lodhi Road crematorium by her son Pawan in the presence of her daughter Kiran and grandchildren. Former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit, Shabana Azmi, Javed Akhtar, theatre personality MK Raina and Prasar Bharti CEO Jawahar Sircar were among those who turned up to pay their last respect. Zohra’s body was kept in an open area for sometime for her admirers before being taken for the final rites. Azmi remembered the actress for her vivacious personality. “I worked with her for the first time in a play in 2002. She was around 90-year-old at that time. She was always punctual at the rehearsals. She was thorough professional and always had a smile on her face. She always used to crack jokes,” Azmi said. Akhtar said it was not possible to write the history of 21st century theatre without Zohra Sehgal. “She had contributed a lot to every field where she had worked be it dance, theatre or cinema. She had a cheerful personality,” Akhtar said. “She was punctual and highly professional. She was always prepared with her dialogues,” said Raina. — PTI
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Hamid Ansari confirms Rail Budget leak
New Delhi, July 11 He added that the matter should be looked into to ascertain if norms of official secrecy had been infringed upon. However, while indicating that it was not the first such instance, he rejected the Breach of Privilege notices from six members alleging the Railway Budget leak. This resulted in Opposition members creating a ruckus, even demanding the resignation of the Railways Minister, following which Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu assured that the government would take action after ascertaining the past precedence in such instances. Ansari said: “It is unfortunate that contents of the Budget Speech of the Railway Minister were reported in the media. This needs to be looked into to ascertain if norms of official secrecy were infringed. — TNS
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Pune blast terror attack, hints ATS
Pune, July 11 "Prima facie the blast seems to be part of a terrorist attack. In this connection a case has been registered with Vishrambaug police," a brief statement issued by the Anti-Terrorism Squad said. A case has been registered under sections 307 (attempt to murder), 324 (voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means), 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy), besides various sections of the Explosives Act and Unlawful Activities Prevention Act. The statement said evidence collected from the blast site has been sent for chemical and forensic examination and reports are awaited. Statements of eye-witnesses are being recorded, it added. The ATS has formed ten teams to crack the case in coordination with the district police. — PTI
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Puducherry LG sacked
New Delhi, July 11 A late night announcement by Rashtrapati Bhavan said: "The President has directed that Virendra Kataria shall cease to hold the office of the Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry." "Lt Gen Ajay Kumar Singh (retd), LG of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, will discharge the functions of the LG of Puducherry in addition to his duties," a Rashtrapati Bhavan press communique said. Kataria (81), a former Punjab Congress president and former Rajya Sabha member, was appointed the Puducherry LG in July last year, replacing another former Congressman from the state Iqbal Singh, also a former Rajya Sabha MP.
Nagaland Guv quits
Governor Vakkom B Purushothaman, who held additional charge as the Tripura Governor, resigned on Friday protesting that he was not consulted on his transfer as governor from Mizoram to Nagaland. Purushothaman, an 86-year-old veteran Congress leadertold reporters in Thiruvananthapuram: "My secretary has sent my resignation letter to Rashtrapati Bhavan." — Agencies
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Lanka briefs India on rehab of war displaced
New Delhi, July 11 External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj today held talks lasting over two hours with her Lankan counterpart GL Peiris, dominated by issues like repatriation of fishermen, bilateral economic relations. According to MEA spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin, Swaraj thanked Lanka for adopting a “fast-track approach” for the repatriation of Indian fishermen. A total of 805 Indian fishermen have been repatriated during the past seven months. Of them, 249 have been sent back in the past two months, including 37 released today. The two leaders felt that the fishermen issue should be addressed in a humanitarian manner. Both Swaraj and Peiris were of the view that there was a tremendous scope for boosting economic and commercial ties between the two nations. Swaraj accepted an invitation to visit Colombo for a meeting of the joint commission between the two countries. Asked if India supported the UN’s bid to send an international observer group to Lanka to oversee the reconciliation steps taken by Colombo, the spokesman said India was not in favour of a ‘punitive approach’ being adopted against Colombo. This was primarily the reason why New Delhi had abstained from voting on an anti-Lanka resolutions at the UN Human Rights Council meet in Geneva in March.
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Govt: Captive workers in Iraq unharmed
New Delhi, July 11 On the charge of families of these construction workers that the government was not doing, the spokesperson said, “We do understand the travails of the families.” But it must also be appreciated that the government was dealing with an immensely difficult situation. “It is a zone of conflict.”
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Onion, potato essential commodities in Gujarat Gandhinagar, July 11 Replying to a question on a calling attention motion, Chudasma said the decision was taken in keeping with the Central government's advice to the state governments affected by the delay in monsoon to cover the two items under the essential Commodities Act to check hoarding and the consequent price rise of the two commodities. Monsoon normally hits Gujarat by June 10 but this year there is no sign of rains even a month after the target date. "Monsoon is late this time. To check price rise, we have decided to put potato and onion under the Gujarat Essential Articles Dealers (Regulation) order of 1977, which is in accordance with Essential Commodities Act 1955," Chudasma told the House.
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25 children taken ill after lizard found in mid-day meal in Bihar’s Siwan dist
Patna, July 11 The children were admitted to a government hospital in Siwan and are said to be out of danger, said Durgesh Kumar, a district official. The children complained of uneasiness after eating the meal at the Sonbarsa middle school in Maharajganj block, the district official said. Samples of the meal were collected by police. The official said some children informed school authorities that a dead lizard was found in the meal served to them. “It may or may not be true. I have asked a district official to probe the incident and submit a report as soon as possible,” said Siwan District Magistrate Sanjay Kumar Singh. The doctors who examined the children did not find any sign of poison in their bodies. Last week, at least 54 children fell ill in Sitamarhi district after eating the mid-day meal. A dead snake was found in the meal served to them. A few months ago, a dead rat was found in the mid-day meal served to a student of a primary school in Patna. In the past, dead lizards, frogs and insects have been found in the meals served to students in the state. Last year, 23 students died after eating poisonous meal at a primary school at Dharmasati Gandaman village in Saran district. A forensic report confirmed the presence of toxic insecticide strains in the cooking oil used for making the food at the school. — IANS
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Budget is 95% rehash of our policies: Cong
New Delhi, July 11 “The Budget pays a great compliment to the Congress. It is 95 per cent rehash of our schemes. It has nothing new to offer and is mostly pedestrian except for the raise in FDI cap in defence and the promise of Rs 10,000 crore for start-up entrepreneurs,” Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said. The party questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the promises he made to the people before elections and said: “There is no mention of the promised good days in the Budget. In fact it is inversely proportional to Modi's promises." Taking note of the fact that most of the 40 new schemes announced by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley yesterday were either a recast of old Congress schemes or foundationally similar to what the UPA ran, Singhvi said the Budget was otherwise “directionless and displayed no future vision either on the side of the Right or the Left or the
Centre.”
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Pay minimum wages under MNREGA: SC
New Delhi, July 11 A Bench comprising Justices SJ Mukhopadhaya and SA Bobde dismissed an appeal filed by the Centre challenging the Karnataka High Court ruling in 2009 that all workers were entitled to minimum wages under the scheme based on the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA), 2005. After filing the appeal in 2012, the Centre issued a notification on February 13, 2014 stating that wages under the scheme would not be less than the amount prescribed under the Minimum Wages Act. — TNS
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Make UU Lalit SC judge: Collegium
New Delhi, July 11 The collegium forwarded the recommendation to the Law Ministry for necessary action after taking Lalit’s consent for being considered for the appointment, official sources said. Lalit (58) has argued the cases of several politicians, including Punjab’s former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, Gujarat’s former Home Minister Amit Shah, who is now BJP president, and General VK Singh when he was the Army chief, besides Bollywood actor Salman Khan. He has been appointed as the special public prosecutor for the 2G scam trial. If the recommendation was accepted by the government, Lalit would be the sixth advocate to be directly appointed as a judge of the SC. Recently, former Solicitor General RF Nariman was appointed as a judge of the SC.
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Kolkata, July 11
New Delhi, July 11
New Delhi: A day after Finance Minister announced four new AIIMS like institutions for Andhra Pradesh, Vidarbha, west Bengal and Purvanchal, Health Minister Harsh Vardhan told states to spare at least 200 acre land per AIIMS to enable the government to set up world class institutions with all possible facilities.
