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Court summons ex-secy HC Gupta, 5 others
Plea against Gen Suhag admitted in SC
Apex court
rejects PIL against Shankaracharya
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SC to hear Jaya’s plea on Oct 17
3-D vulnerability maps can help prepare better
CPI inflation dipped to 6.46% in Sept
Govt to amend PNDT Act to cover new gender selection methods
Vizag will take many weeks to recover
3-D vulnerability maps can help prepare better
Love jihad falls flat as UP girl says she eloped Maharashtra Votes 2014
Urban voters hold the key in Mumbai and Pune
BJP hopes for repeat of NaMo magic
Shah’s ‘mouse’ remark to backfire on BJP: Shiv Sena
NIA gets custody of three blast accused
No decision yet on declaring tea as national drink:
Govt
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Court summons ex-secy HC Gupta, 5 others
New Delhi, October 13 The agency was seeking closure of a case involving Madhya Pradesh-based Kamal Sponge Steel and Power Limited (KSSPL), its officials and some unknown officials of the Ministry of Coal in a coal scam case. The CBI report appeared to be more of a “defence” given by accused and there was “hardly any understanding” of the facts while seeking closure of the case, the court said. “I may state that the investigation as has been carried out in the present matter is not only sketchy in nature but seems to have been carried out while first deciding the end result and thereafter to carry out the investigation and prepare the final report accordingly. In fact no investigation worth the name has been carried out in the present matter,” Special CBI Judge Bharat Parashar said. Besides Gupta, the court summoned Coal Ministry’s then Joint Secy KS Kropha, then Director (Coal Allocation-I section) KC Samaria, Managing Director of KSSPL Pawan Kumar Ahluwalia, Chartered Accountant Amit Goyal and the firm as accused for October 31. — PTI
CBI probe ‘sketchy’
* The special court observed that the probe carried out by the CBI was “sketchy” and its conclusion “apparently wrong”. It refused to accept the closure report *
The agency was seeking closure of a case involving MP-based Kamal Sponge Steel and Power Limited, its officials and some Coal Ministry officials in a coal scam case *
All accused were summoned for the offences punishable under Sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant) and 420 (cheating) of the IPC
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Plea against Gen Suhag admitted in SC
New Delhi, October 13 Lt Gen Dastane has challenged the appointment, alleging favouritism by ignoring material facts against Lt Gen Suhag, including the disciplinary and vigilance (DV) ban slapped on him in April 2012 by the then Army Chief Gen VK Singh. In response to the SC notice on the petition, the Centre had filed an affidavit defending its decision to elevate Lt Gen Suhag with effect from August 1, 2014 and terming the disciplinary proceedings against him as “premeditated, vague and illegal.” Gen VK Singh, who is now a minister in the NDA government, had initiated action against Lt Gen Suhag for his alleged “failure of command and control” while carrying out an intelligence operation when he was Dimapur-based 3 Corps Commander. An apex court Bench headed by Justice TS Thakur granted leave to the petitioner, which means that the Bench has admitted the plea for detailed hearing.
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Apex court
rejects PIL against Shankaracharya
New Delhi, October 13 A Bench headed by Justice TS Thakur rejected the plea, observing that the petitioner had other judicial remedies instead of approaching the SC through a PIL. In the
PIL, chief trustee Ramesh Joshi said the Sankaracharya who had a large following across the globe had made the ”reckless and defamatory comment” that Sai Baba was not a saint and as such no one should worship him. This had affected the religious sentiments of the millions of devotees of the Sai Baba and threatened to create anarchy and pose law and order problems. “No person is entitled to make such allegations against a saint of this country,” affecting the fundamental rights of Sai Baba’s followers to worship the saint they had faith in, the PIL had pleaded. Such remarks amounted to religious fanaticism and declaring a war on a certain class of religion, it contended. The petitioner had named the Centre, Maharashtra (where Shirdi is located) and a section of the media as respondents, pleading that the SC direct the two governments to intervene to maintain law and order and restrain the media from holding debates on the issue thereby escalating the problem.
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SC to hear Jaya’s plea on Oct 17
New Delhi, October 13 Appearing for
Jayalalithaa, senior advocate Fali Nariman sought an urgent hearing “sometime this week” of his client plea. At this, a Bench headed by Chief Justice HL Dattu posted the matter for Friday. The AIADMK chief has cited her poor health and age as the reasons for seeking bail. She has approached the SC following the rejection of her bail plea by the Karnataka High Court on October 7. Jayalalithaa is lodged in a Bangalore prison after being convicted and sentenced by a special court in the 18-year-old case for possession of assets worth about Rs 54 crore, which was much higher than her declared income. The trial court also slapped a fine of Rs 100 crore on her, going by the present market value of her assets. Justice AV Chandrashekhara of the Karnataka HC had rejected the bail petition, citing SC rulings that corruption amounted to violation of human rights and as such convicts in graft cases did not deserve bail or suspension of sentence.
The ground: Poor health
* Jaya has cited her poor health and age as the reasons for seeking bail * The AIADMK chief approached the SC following the rejection of her bail plea by the Karnataka HC on October 7 * She is lodged in a Bangalore prison after being convicted and sentenced by a special court in the 18-year-old disproportionate assets case
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3-D vulnerability maps can help prepare better
New Delhi, October 13 Ajit Tyagi, former director general, IMD, said the new vulnerability maps should be drawn keeping in mind development needs of the place, low-lying areas, existing infrastructure and population so that whenever a cyclone warning is issued area-specific plans are automatically activated. In 2009-10, the IMD conducted a study —“Cyclone hazard prone districts of India” — on the degree of cyclone hazard proneness of India’s coastline districts, frequency and intensity of landfalling cyclones and other hazards such as rainfall, wind and storm surge. It was meant to form the basis on which the NDMA and states were to plan and upgrade vulnerability maps for cyclones. “Vulnerability of the place has not been taken into consideration. Therefore, the composite cyclone risk of a district which is the product of hazard and vulnerability needs to be assessed separately through a detailed study,” said the report authored by GS Mandal and M Mohapatra. On the basis of past incidents, the study categorised Vishakhapatnam and Srikakulam in the P2 (high) category in cyclone proneness. P1 (very high), P3 (moderate) and P4 (low) were the other three categories. The report said two Andhra districts (the worst affected by Hudhud) were also “very high” in wind and cyclone and flood-zone categories. “The results give a realistic picture of degree of cyclone hazard proneness of districts, as they represent the frequency and intensity of landfalling cyclones along with all other hazards such as rainfall, wind and storm surge... Therefore, it is proposed that this classification of coastal districts based on hazard may be considered,” the study recommended.
Coastline in danger
* India’s 7,516-km coastline is affected by cyclones with varying frequency and intensity *
Thirteen coastal states and union territories (UTs) are affected by tropical cyclones *
Four states (Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and West Bengal) and Puducherry (UT) on the east coast and Gujarat on the west coast are more vulnerable to cyclone hazards
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CPI inflation dipped to 6.46% in Sept
New Delhi, October 13 Aditi Nayar, senior economist, ICRA, said the headline CPI at 6.5% brought optimism in light of the near-stagnation in industrial output in July-August 2014. Nayar said softening of prices of various commodities, including crude oil and unregulated fuels (at domestic rates), would benefit the CPI trajectory in the near term. Moreover, a favourable base effect would lend itself to a further moderation in the food CPI inflation until November. Advance estimates for food production indicate a substantial shortfall in production of kharif crops in 2014 as compared to 2013, such as pulses (14%), coarse cereals (14%) and oilseeds (12%), which remains a key risk for month-on-month hardening of food prices in the near term. “We expect that the RBI will achieve its target of restricting the CPI inflation below 8% by January 2015. However, the possibility of a repo rate cut in 2014-15 is bleak,” Nayar said. — TNS
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Govt to amend PNDT Act to cover new gender selection methods
New Delhi, October 13
Health Minister Harsh Vardhan has decided to set up an expert group to examine new methods being used for gender determination.
He said this while addressing members of the reconstituted Central Supervisory Board, the highest body overseeing the implementation of the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act, 1994 (PC&PNDT Act).
"While misuse of ultrasound machines is still prevalent because it is cheap, newer medical technologies are increasingly being used in the name of genetic testing," he said.
The use of simple blood tests that give away the sex of the foetus represents a new dimension to gender-specific foeticide. At IVF-ART clinics, couples are given the option of accepting or rejecting a foetus depending on its sex. Very little is known about recent innovations for sex selection," Vardhan said.
He said he would form an expert group to identify the approaches and formulate responses in the form of an amendment to the Act.
"Despite having the Act for 20 years, sex ratio has now closed in favour of the girl child. The boy to girl child ratio was 964 to 1000 in 1971, but the Census 2011 has shown it to have fallen to 918," Vardhan said.
Vardhan will write to states on the need for ensuring better functioning of state and district appropriate panels empowered under the PC&PNDT Act to supervise and book offenders.
The meeting today was co-chaired by Minister for Women and Child Development Maneka Gandhi.
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Vizag will take many weeks to recover
New Delhi, October 13
Flights may remain grounded for weeks as the civil airport building in Visakhapatnam city is ripped apart. Naval satellite Rukmini's ground-based downlink has snapped, railway lines have been uprooted, towers which carry power lines have collapsed, roads have suffered damages, telecom lines are missing and standing crops in hundreds of acres have been flattened.
All this is a part of the assessment made by New Delhi-based central agencies. The Navy's long-range reconnaissance planes the Boeing P8-I today beamed live aerial pictures of the damage and the extent of flooding of the cyclone hits areas. These pictures were also reviewed by the National Crisis Management Committee head by Cabinet Secretary Ajit Seth this afternoon. Prime Minister Narendra Modi met the top brass of the officialdom and will be flying-off to the coast city for an on-the-spot assessment. He will be landing at INS Dega, the Naval air base.
INS Dega was made operational today but only for military planes as its air space controlling radar, instrument-based landing systems and runaway aids are damaged.
The Prime Minister, instructed top officials of the Union Government to continue to work closely with the affected states to ensure that there are no bottlenecks in relief and rescue work. He also emphasised the need to document leanings from this cyclone, and to put in place more precise drills and disaster management plans involving all stakeholders.
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3-D vulnerability maps can help prepare better
New Delhi, October 13
Ajit Tyagi, former director general, IMD, said the new vulnerability maps should be drawn keeping in mind development needs of the place, low-lying areas, existing infrastructure and population so that whenever a cyclone warning is issued area-specific plans are automatically activated.
In 2009-10, the IMD conducted a study —“Cyclone hazard prone districts of India” — on the degree of cyclone hazard proneness of India’s coastline districts, frequency and intensity of landfalling cyclones and other hazards such as rainfall, wind and storm surge. It was meant to form the basis on which the NDMA and states were to plan and upgrade vulnerability maps for cyclones.
“Vulnerability of the place has not been taken into consideration. Therefore, the composite cyclone risk of a district which is the product of hazard and vulnerability needs to be assessed separately through a detailed study,” said the report authored by GS Mandal and M
Mohapatra.
On the basis of past incidents, the study categorised Vishakhapatnam and Srikakulam in the P2 (high) category in cyclone proneness. P1 (very high), P3 (moderate) and P4 (low) were the other three categories.
The report said two Andhra districts (the worst affected by Hudhud) were also “very high” in wind and cyclone and flood-zone categories.
“The results give a realistic picture of degree of cyclone hazard proneness of districts, as they represent the frequency and intensity of landfalling cyclones along with all other hazards such as rainfall, wind and storm surge.
“The categorisation of districts with degree of proneness also tallies with observed pictures. Therefore, it is proposed that this classification of coastal districts based on hazard may be considered,” the study recommended.
Coastline in danger
* India’s 7,516-km coastline is affected by cyclones with varying frequency and intensity
* Thirteen coastal states and union territories (UTs) are affected by tropical cyclones
* Four states (Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and West Bengal) and Puducherry (UT) on the east coast and Gujarat on the west coast are more vulnerable to cyclone hazards
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Love jihad falls flat as UP girl says she eloped Lucknow, October 13 The Meerut madarssa teacher case, which shook Uttar Pradesh two months ago and started a fresh Hindutva campaign against so-called love jihad, has turned out to be a damp squib. The woman, a resident of Kharkhauda village, escaped from her “parents' captivity” yesterday and reached the ‘mahila thana’ in Meerut where she lodged a complaint alleging that her family was conspiring to kill her. She recorded her statement before the city magistrate in which she admitted that she had willingly eloped with a man from another community. She also charged her parents with forcing her to give false statements after accepting money from political leaders. She refused to return to her parents and demanded the police protection. She was sent to the Nari Niketan. The madarssa colleague with whom she had eloped and his entire family has been in jail for the past two months. However, the woman’s family has alleged that she had taken a U-turn after pressure from the boy's family which had threatened to kill her. An 18-year old girl had admitted before a magistrate in a Muzaffarnagar court last month that she had eloped with her boy friend from a different community on her own.
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As poll dust settles, heat is on ‘achhe din’
Shiv Kumar Tribune News Service
Mumbai, October 13 Addressing his last rally in rural Palghar in the outskirts of Mumbai, Modi stuck to his theme of attacking the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party. The PM refrained from attacking BJP’s former ally, Shiv Sena, even though the regional party had turned shrill against it in recent days. The BJP is relying entirely on Modi’s charisma since it does not have strong local leaders in the wake of the death of Gopinath Munde earlier this year. Wednesday’s election will be the first real multi-cornered contest in the state in the last 25 years after the BJP split with the Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party snapped ties with the Congress on Election-eve.
The last phases of the campaigning turned acrimonious with the BJP targetting the Congress and the NCP while every other outfit taking on the saffron party. All the parties have taken out media advertisements with the BJP promising good governance and stability in the state. The Shiv Sena, on the other hand, took out front page advertisements hitting out at the BJP’s promise of ‘achche din’ during the Lok Sabha polls. “Our solutions are not bitter pills after promising good days,” Shiv Sena said in advertisements in major papers this morning. All the parties also took on the BJP for airing Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speech at New York’s Madison Square Garden in the US last month in all the major channels on Sunday. In a complaint filed with the Election Commission, the Congress alleged that the speech was run on many channels without indicating that it was a commercial. The Congress also accused the BJP of misusing a speech made by Modi in his capacity as Prime Minister. However, the BJP, in its rejoinder, said the Madison Square Garden event was a private function and had nothing to do with the government. BJP spokesman Vinay Sahasrabuddhe said the telecast was paid advertisement and would show in the BJP’s accounts.
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Urban voters hold the key in Mumbai and Pune
Mumbai, October 13 Following delimitation after the 2004 Assembly elections, the number of seats in the four urban regions of Maharashtra has risen to 95 from 78. Thirty-six such seats are in Mumbai. Maharashtra has 288 Assembly segments. Political observers say the battle for Maharashtra is being fought in these 95 seats where the BJP and the Shiv Sena are banking on the anti-incumbency vote against the former Congress-NCP combine. The BJP is also banking on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s magic to prevent a split in its core urban vote bank. “The response to Narendra Modi’s rallies has shown that his appeal is intact,” BJP leader Vinod Tawde, who is contesting from the Borivali seat, said. On the other hand, the Shiv Sena believes that the Marathi-speaking voters, who are a majority in around 75 of these seats, will help it sail through. “The BJP won in Thane because of Shiv Sena’s support. Marathi people constitute 70 per cent of Thane’s population and they are angry at the BJP for betraying them,” Pratap Sarnaik, the Shiv Sena MLA from the Ovala-Majiwada constituency in Thane said. The Shiv Sena also went to town against the BJP’s advertisements which portrayed Maharashtra as a backward state. On its part, the BJP has fielded many Marathi-speaking candidates who have strong base among voters. However, it may be anybody’s game in the five-way contest in many segments. The two saffron parties are wooing the urban voters through social media such as Twitter and Facebook. The Congress and the NCP are almost invisible on this front. For the first time, the Shiv Sena is matching the BJP tweet for tweet and post for post giving it a profile that is far different from the rough and tumble style of politics it is known for. The BJP leaders point out that its erstwhile ally holds just four of the 36 Assembly seats in Mumbai and five of the 18 seats in Thane. Shiv Sena leaders retaliate saying the 2009 elections were an aberration since Raj Thackeray and his breakaway MNS wooed voters with the regional card.
Deciding factor
* Voters of around 100 segments in the Mumbai, Thane, Pune and Nashik belt to decide fate of parties *
The number of seats in these urban regions have risen to 95 from 78 after delimitation *
The BJP and the Sena are banking on the anti-incumbency vote against the former
Congress-NCP combine.
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BJP hopes for repeat of NaMo magic
New Delhi, October 13 These Assembly elections are also a test of the popularity of BJP’s star campaigner Narendra Modi as these are the first Assembly elections after Modi took over as the PM. BJP leaders are confident of emerging as a single largest party and also forming the government in the two states. Sources said a lot depends upon last-minute booth management and concentrated personal campaigns at which both the BJP and its ideological fountainhead RSS and their dedicated cadres “excel at”. With the support of deep-rooted cadre base, especially in Maharashtra, local RSS leaders will now focus energies on mobilising maximum votes with word of mouth and modern technology aids like audio bridge. Tested by the BJP for the first time in the Gujarat bypolls, the technology was used to connect with many phone users at the same time. According to leaders, cadres have been told to mobilise each and every vote at all booths, “even the C-grade where party votes may be negligible” Political observers believe that the BJP emerged as a front runner only after the PM hit the campaign trail in Haryana and Maharashtra. In both the states, the BJP may emerge as the single largest party, but may fall short of the half way mark in the 288-member Maharashtra Assembly and 90-member Haryana Assembly. They said in Maharashtra the five-cornered contest may give the BJP a certain edge over its rivals due to the division of anti-saffron votes. Likewise in Haryana, the multi-cornered contest is likely to benefit the party. However, the fact that BJP went into these elections without a chief ministerial candidate is believed to be a disadvantage, especially in Haryana “where a deep divided house may cause confusion among votes,” political observers added. The PM was the only face that was projected as the leader. In Maharashtra, the fear is that the saffron votes may get divided among players of the same lineage – the BJP, Shiv Sena and MNS. The BJP’s decision to go it alone in Maharashtra and Haryana is a high-risk move which party president Amit Shah took. Armed with PM’s appeal, he wanted to get the BJP out of second-fiddle status, especially in Maharashtra. Incidentally, these elections also saw the complete relegation of party veterans LK Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi to the sidelines. The two senior leaders did not participate in the campaign, even though some senior BJP leaders promised they would.
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Shah’s ‘mouse’ remark to backfire on BJP: Shiv Sena
Pune, October 13 Pointing to BJP president Amit Shah’s oblique reference to the estranged ally with the “mouse” analogy at a rally in Aurangabad last week, he said “This mocking at the Sena is sure to backfire.” “Our cadres, enraged over it, have accepted the challenge of winning the election independently and the barb has actually galvanised them into a frenzied campaign mode on the last leg of elections” he added. He asked voters “to see through the design” of certain political parties which have summoned groups of activists from other states to come and campaign in Maharashtra, mobilising support of their respective communities residing here. — PTI
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NIA gets custody of three blast accused
Kolkata, October 13 The NIA team visited the village and after interrogating several local people located the car in front of a madrasa. The NIA was trying to find out the whereabouts of the retired Army officer. The city metropolitan magistrate today remanded the three suspects to the NIA custody. The Central investigating team was looking for six other suspects, including four local TMC leaders, who had been at large after the explosion on October 2 in which two terrorists were killed on the spot.
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No decision yet on declaring tea as national drink:
Govt
Guwahati, October 13 Attending a meeting of stake holders of the tea industry, she said, "The government is weighing pros and cons as such a step may hamper growth of other beverages such as coffee." She said the government had identified five countries — Egypt, Iran, USA, Kazakhstan and Russia — as new focus area for promotion of export of tea. Tea exports from India have remained stagnant since Independence at around 200 million kg. She said the government was not going to compromise in its efforts to ensure minimum wages to tea workers under the Minimum Wages Act. "The government is ready to address the issues of tea garden owners, but there will be no compromise on facilitating minimum wages to workers," she said. Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, who was present at the meeting, reiterated his government's demand for declaration of tea as the 'national drink' in order to give an impetus to the consumption and promotion of Assam tea. He said, "The contribution of Assam tea to the total volume of tea export has reduced from 57.2% in 2008 to around 40% in 2013. It indicates that the high quality Assam tea has not been promoted sufficiently in foreign markets." Gogoi said, "The declaration of mango as the national fruit has not restricted the growth of apple or other fruits. Similarly, declaring tea as the national drink will not affect the growth of other beverages and they will always have their own respective market shares."
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The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has successfully tracked and assessed Hudhud — both in terms of intensity and landfall. However, the increasing frequency of such intense events and massive destruction caused by Hudhud and its predecessor Phailin have stressed the need for an upgraded hazard profile map of India—detailed, area-specific and having a 3-D vulnerability model based on hazard classification.
