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BJP may invite Sena to join govt
Health Minister calls for cracker-free Diwali
CBI chief liable for contempt, SC told
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Mining can go on in cancelled coal blocks: SC
Subramanian is new Chief Economic Adviser
Modi hears negative reports first, seeks action
ISRO launches navigation satellite
Cong to plan response ahead of poll results
Cab secy reviews Ebola preparedness
Unidentified men assault Delhi ACP
40 grenades found at Burdwan
All citizens of the country are Hindus, says RSS
Shah may attend RSS conclave
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BJP may invite Sena to join govt
New Delhi, October 16 Senior BJP leaders indicated this a day after exit polls predicted favourable tidings for the saffron party in Maharashtra and Haryana. The BJP’s aim behind going alone was to shed its tag of playing a “second fiddle” and use it as an advantage in other states such as Punjab and Bihar, say party sources. But in Haryana, the BJP may not go for a post-poll alliance. Sources say the BJP parted ways with the Shiv Sena in Maharashtra to dispel the notion that the BJP was a junior partner to Sena. “Once results are declared and it is established that we are capable of winning the election on our own, there is no reason why an old ally (Sena) should sit on Opposition benches. Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray continues to be an NDA partner at the Centre. Shiv Sena leader Anant Geete is a minister in the Modi Cabinet,” said a BJP leader. Shiv Sena leaders say they will make their next move after October 19 when the results are out, but BJP leaders feel their point has been proved as Thackaray has allowed Geete to continue as a minister. The Shiv Sena would have walked out of the ministry if it wanted to send a strong message against the BJP, said a BJP leader. Considering that the decision to go alone was based on the need to ascertain supremacy as an individual player, political observers believe that once this is established, there will be no need for old allies to continue acting tough with each other. “Besides, the BJP also has to take care of other factors such as its numbers in the Rajya Sabha, where it needs help to push through the legislative business,” said another BJP leader. BJP leaders say the party’s ultimate plan is to evolve a “super NDA” where regional parties are welcome to join on BJP’s terms and conditions. Having tasted blood with the brute majority in the Lok Sabha, the Narendra Modi-Amit Shah duo thinks it is “doable” in states, BJP leaders say. “A success in these elections will help the BJP negotiate terms with other partners. For example in Punjab, the BJP may go alone in Assembly elections. The idea is simple: Fight with us on our terms, if not we go our separate ways. If required, we can come together later,” a BJP official said. The situation is different in Haryana. Kuldeep Bishnoi’s Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC) cannot claim to enjoy the same status as the Shiv Sena. Bishnoi’s association with the BJP is short as compared to its 25-year-old relationship with the Sena. Political observers say the break-up in Maharashtra may work to the benefit of both the BJP and the Sena. If the BJP does manage to win a majority on its own, it would have proved its point that it was no longer a party benefiting from the Sena’s strength.
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Health Minister calls for cracker-free Diwali
New Delhi, October 16 In an email to LG, Vardhan said noise and pollution-free Diwali was becoming a norm in many parts of the country and a Supreme Court order of July 2005 had banned bursting of fire crackers in residential areas. “The implementation of the apex court’s order is practically absent in Delhi. Some states have been successful in ensuring quietness during Diwali revelries. I hope under your directions, Delhi will turn the corner from this Diwali,” he added. Vardhan unequivocally rejected the position of apologists, saying, “Many excuses have been offered by administrations of the past for Delhi’s general disregard (of the Supreme Court’s order). The reasons advanced vary from “cultural” to “police insufficiency”. These are all unacceptable.” Earlier, Vardhan had announced that he would set up an expert group to recommend nationwide measures to prevent noise pollution. He wrote to the LG, “Firecrackers which sell under a variety of names lead to noise pollution which causes many physical diseases to people of all ages.
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2G SCAM R Sedhuraman Legal Correspondent New Delhi, October 16 Senior advocate Anand Grover, whose views had been sought by the SC on the issue, has also suggested withdrawal of the court’s September 15 order asking the Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL), the petitioner in the 2G case, to disclose the name of the whistleblower who had given the guest entry register to substantiate the allegation against Sinha. The SC had passed the order on Sinha’s plea that under the SC rules the court could go into such allegations only if the whistleblower’s identity was revealed. Since Sinha had already admitted in interviews to the media that he had in fact met the accused or their representatives, “no purpose will now be served” by insisting on the name of the whistleblower, Grover said. Grover is the SC-appointed Special Public Prosecutor for 2G trial. “On the contrary...it may have a chilling effect on this case by obstructing the potential flow of information, which may reveal, inter alia violations of orders passed by this court. It may also have implications on all such other sensitive cases, which depend significantly on information provided by whistleblowers,” he said. The purpose of the SC rule on whistleblower disclosure was only to ascertain if it was safe to act on such evidence. “Ordinarily, the court will adopt the least restrictive course to fulfil the purpose,” Grover reasoned.
‘Sinha’s meetings with accused improper’
The special public prosecutor in the 2G case told the Supreme Court that it was ‘definitely improper’ for CBI Director Ranjit Sinha (pic) to frequently meet accused in the 2G case and these meetings could not be a matter of Sinha’s right to privacy
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Mining can go on in cancelled coal blocks: SC
New Delhi, October 16 A Bench headed by Chief Justice HL Dattu made the remark on a complaint by advocate ML Sharma, whose PIL was instrumental in the cancellation of the coal block allocations, that the companies have scaled up their mining three to four times since the September 24 SC order. The SC had allowed six months on the Centre’s plea that state-owned Coal India Ltd would require time to ensure that coal supplies were not disrupted by cancellation of allocations.
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Subramanian is new Chief Economic Adviser
New Delhi, October 16 In first major Secretary-level shuffle by the Narendra Modi-government, Finance Secretary Arvind Mayaram has been transferred out of the Finance Ministry as Tourism Secretary. Earlier, Revenue Secretary Rajiv Takru had been transferred to the Ministry of North East Affairs. Mayaram, who was senior most among the four Secretaries in the Ministry of Finance with dual roles as Finance and Economic Affairs Secretary, was appointed by the UPA government and has a full year before he retires on October 31, 2015. He has been replaced by his 1978 batch-mate Rajiv Mehrishi, who is currently the Chief Secretary of Rajasthan. Mehrishi retires in August next year and will have 10 months at the Ministry of Finance. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet approved the appointment of Subramanian as CEA for three years. The post of CEA had been lying vacant since Raghuram Rajan left the Finance Ministry to join the Reserve Bank as Governor in September 2013. Subramanian has been advising the government in different capacities and has been a member of the Finance Minister’s Expert Group on the G-20. He was the Dennis Weatherstone senior fellow at the Washington-based Peterson Institute for International Economics. In all, 20 new appointments were made yesterday, one-third being at the Secretary level. Anil Swarup, a 1981-batch IAS officer of UP cadre, has been appointed as the new Coal Secretary. Swarup, who is Additional Secretary in the Cabinet Secretariat, has been Officer on Special Duty in the Ministry of Coal and will take over as Coal Secretary when incumbent SK Srivastava retires on October 31.
Finance Secy Mayaram shifted
High-profile position
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Modi hears negative reports first, seeks action
New Delhi, October 16 However, PM Narendra Modi is turning out to be different from others, wanting to know more about the “negative” reports about his government as and when he reaches office. The next step is to seek immediate action from the ministers about whose ministries the negative reports emerged. Adopting a CEO-style of functioning, Modi is particular about the collation of the negative reports being made available on his office table before he reaches. Sources said as a result of the PM’s approach, the country’s official department of information, Press Information Bureau, had to form a special team whose main job is to scan all newspapers, websites and news channels for negative news about the government. Sources said a team of six Indian Information Service (IIS) officers has been set up unofficially to work on this front. By 7.30 am these officers, whose area for scanning has been divided into newspapers, news channels and websites, have to either send in an SMS to a centralised number or send an e-mail to a centralised e-mail id with all the negative news that they have come across. The news is then collated into sets and dispatched to the PMO for them to be reviewed by the Prime Minister and his team of officials. Sources said besides one set for the Prime Minister, four other similar sets with negative news are prepared, which are sent to Prime Minister’s Principal Secretary Nripendra Misra, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Cabinet Secretary Ajit Seth and Prime Minister’s public relation officer Jagdish Thakkar, a low-profile man originally from the Gujarat information department. Reports suggest that all four then meet the PM to take stock of the “negative” news, with the PM then seeking details from his team of ministers about the appearing news items. Modi is said to be so particular that he also gives instructions for taking prompt corrective action, details of which should also reach him in a separate report from the concerned ministries. Meanwhile, reports said the PMO has set October 25 as the deadline for bringing the entire government workforce under the bio-metric attendance regime. The decision comes after some “babus” ignored the earlier punctuality message sent by the PMO.
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ISRO launches navigation satellite
Bangalore, October 16 This was the 27th consecutively successful flight of the PSLV. The ‘XL’ configuration of the rocket was used for this mission. The same configuration of PSLV was successfully used six times before. Minister of State (Space) Jitendra Singh witnessed the launch from the Mission Control Centre at Sriharikota. After a 20:18 min flight by the rocket, the 1,425-kg satellite was placed into an elliptical orbit of 282.56 km perigee and 20,670 km apogee. The solar panels of the IRNSS-1C were deployed automatically after the satellite was placed into the intended orbit and ISRO’s Master Control Facility (at Hassan, Karnataka) assumed its control. In the coming days, four orbit raising manoeuvres will be carried out from the ground control to position the satellite in the geostationary orbit at 83 degree east longitude. The IRNSS-1C is the third of the seven satellites constituting the space segment of the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS). The IRNSS-1A and the IRNSS-1B, the first two satellites of the constellation, were launched in July 2013 and April 2014 respectively. Both satellites are functioning satisfactorily from their designated geosynchronous orbital positions.
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Cong to plan response ahead of poll results
New Delhi, October 16 Convened by Congress general secretary in charge of communications Ajay Makan, the meeting this Saturday will prepare a formal strategy and “central party line” which all leaders would be required to follow whether or not poll results are as per the party’s expectations. All national spokespersons of the Congress and all its media panelists have been asked to attend the meeting as they would be attending media discussions on Sunday and fielding queries on Congress’ performance, good or bad. The Tribune has learnt that Congress president Sonia Gandhi and party vice-president Rahul Gandhi have already met party leaders dealing with the two states and received a feedback on electoral prospects in Haryana and Maharashtra. The feedback submitted is not good, it is learnt and the party is preparing a formal defence for the same with Sonia likely to make a statement on Sunday. The Congress has also worked out its strategy in the event of a poor performance on Sunday. The party is expected to compare the Sunday results with its performance in Lok Sabha elections in both the states and also judge the BJP by the same yardstick. “Considering Congress won only one in 10 LS seats in Haryana and two in 48 LS seats in Maharashtra, whatever performance our candidates post on Sunday will be certainly better than what we did in the same assembly segments on May 16. It is equally natural for anyone to see how the BJP fares in the latest results and compare its standing with the LS results,” a source said.
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Cab secy reviews Ebola preparedness
New Delhi, October 16 The meeting came close on the heels of the WHO warning that in the next two months the Ebola cases could rise to around 10,000 per week. At the meeting attended by the Secretaries of health, aviation, foreign affairs and other departments concerned, Seth held a video conferencing with the Chief Secretaries of states to review the preparedness and response to Ebola. Many states asked for protective equipment to deal with the suspected cases and the government said 50,000 protective equipment gears would be dispatched to a few states soon. Seth also urged the chief secretaries to follow medical protocols in respect of the screening for Ebola. Civil aviation authorities were asked to continue making in-flight announcements on the disease and its symptoms and also ensure that the proformas ready for suspected cases are duly filled.
No case in India so far
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Unidentified men assault Delhi ACP New Delhi, October 16 The incident took place when ACP Amit Singh of the Special Cell was on his way to his office in Lodhi Colony around 4.30pm. Three suspects have been detained by the police, while Amit Singh was rushed to the AIIMS trauma centre. According to eyewitnesses, Singh had tried to intervene when a motorcyclist and a car driver were involved in an altercation following a road accident. “The ACP, who was passing by, stopped to intervene. Though he was on duty, he was in civil dress and Special Cell officers normally do not wear uniform. The group of men started assaulting Singh,” said a senior police official. — PTI
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40 grenades found at Burdwan
Burdwan/New Delhi, Oct 16 The recovery was made when the investigators were searching the house of Rejaul located at Mathpara on Badsahi Road near Khagragarh where the accidental explosion on October 2 killed two persons. During the search, the NIA men found some sacks from which one hand grenade fell on the floor, the police in Burdwan said. National Security Guard (NSG) personnel, who are assisting the NIA in the case, were immediately called in. — PTI
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All citizens of the country are Hindus, says RSS
Lucknow, October 16 "In the eyes of the RSS all those living in India are Hindus. The RSS does not discriminate on the basis of caste and religion," all-India publicity in-charge of RSS Manmohan Vaidya said. He was speaking on the eve of its three-day conclave. — PTI
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Shah may attend RSS conclave
Lucknow, October 16
Shah briefly met party workers before heading to Saraswati Kunj campus in Nirala Nagar. Shah is scheduled to meet office-bearers and leaders of the RSS and the
VHP.
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Finance Secretary Arvind Mayaram (pic) has been transferred out of the Finance Ministry and appointed Tourism Secretary. He was the senior most among the four Secretaries in the Ministry of Finance with dual roles as Finance and Economic Affairs Secretary. Mayaram, who has a full year before he retires on October 31, 2015, was appointed by the UPA government
Former IMF economist Arvind Subramanian (pic) was the Dennis Weatherstone senior fellow at the Washington-based Peterson Institute for International Economics
