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SC
cautions states on POTA misuse Post-poll
debacle, Cong woos OBCs Madhumita
case: CBI chargesheets Tripathi Notice
to Gujarat Govt on NRIs’ death Bhutan
hands over 7 militants to India Samata,
JD (U) merge amid splits The role Army mules played in
Kargil |
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BJP for review of CAS implementation Uma govt to bring out 3 white papers Talks
on trilateral project on Dec 23
‘Nakkeeran’
Editor gets bail in POTA case Telgi
scam: CBI registers 2 cases CBI arrests 8 in stamp-paper scam Varsities
to face action for selling spurious seeds Panel
to discuss aviation report
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SC cautions states on POTA misuse New Delhi, December 19 “The main objection against POTA is that it is being misused against political opponents...The politicians in democracy can take a particular view. We may go into this question in a pending petition (on misuse of POTA),” a Bench comprising Mr Justice S. Rajendra Babu, Mr Justice A.R. Lakshmanan and Mr Justice G.P. Mathur said. The observation was made by the court while rejecting the Tamil Nadu Government appeal against yesterday’s Madras High Court order granting bail to Tamil Nationalist Movement leader P Nedumaran after 17 months incarceration under POTA. The high court had granted him bail in view of the apex court’s interpretation that a moral support to a banned organisation would not be an offence under POTA. He was booked under the Act for expressing his views in favour of banned LTTE of Sri Lanka by the Jayalalithaa government. When Tamil Nadu Government’s counsel T L Wishwanath Iyer mentioned the appeal for the cancellation of the bail before the Bench, Mr Justice Babu said: “We don’t want to interfere in the high court order... the state government is taking things too far.” Nedumaran’s petition, raising the issue of “misuse of POTA”, which was earlier separated by the court from the other petitions on which it on Tuesday laid down the definitions of various sections of the Act, is still pending before it. |
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Post-poll debacle, Cong woos OBCs New Delhi, December 19 In a belated move, the Congress first chose Ms Jamuna Devi, a tribeswoman, to head its legislature party in Madhya Pradesh. Today, it named Mr Subhash Yadav, an OBC, as president of the MP Pradesh Congress Committee (MPPCC). In the neighbouring Chhattisgarh, it again zeroed in on tribesman Mahendra Karma as leader of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) while
Mr Ramanuj Yadav has been retained as president of the state party unit. The AICC got an opportunity to make these “politically correct” changes as outgoing Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh Digvijay Singh had declared prior to the results that if defeated, he would not hold any party post for the next 10 years. Former PCC chief
R.K. Malaviya had resigned, owning moral responsibility for the party’s rout in MP. In Chhattisgarh, the suspension of former Chief Minister Ajit Jogi necessitated a change in the CLP leadership. The placement of tribesmen and OBCs in these key party posts stems from the belated realisation that the BJP owed its success in Madhya Pradesh to the projection of Ms Uma Bharati, an OBC, as Chief Minister and the silent and systematic manner in which it wooed the tribesmen. While the OBCs have never voted for the Congress, it is the tribesmen along with the upper castes and Scheduled Castes who have constituted its traditional vote
base. This is among the issues being currently addressed by the five-member committee, headed by senior leader Pranab Mukherjee, asked to study the reasons for the party’s performance and suggest corrective measures for the Lok Sabha polls. Although the committee is slated to submit its report next week, it has, so far, identified poor political management as among the major reasons for its rout. |
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Madhumita case: CBI chargesheets Tripathi Lucknow, December 19 The CBI has named six persons — Tripathi and his wife as conspirators of the crime, Santosh Rai as accused, Rohit Chaturvedi as accomplice, and Yag Dutt, a suspended police inspector as a person who helped in scuttling the probe. The chargesheet was filed before the Judicial Magistrate (I) Kumari Rita Gupta, as the Special Judicial magistrate (CBI) court was vacant following the promotion of Special Judicial Magistrate R.M. Yadav. The defence counsels objected to the filing of the chargesheet in the court of Kumari Gupta, pleading that it did not have the jurisdiction in the matter. They said the special court was had been created to hear CBI cases. The magistrate, however, rejected their contention and said the chargesheet would be sent to the court having jurisdiction. The counsel for Tripathi said the CBI filed the chargesheet in a hurry to prevent the court from granting bail to Tripathi. The CBI was asked to file chargesheet within 90 days and the time limit expired today. |
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Notice
to Gujarat Govt on NRIs’ death New Delhi, December 19 A Bench comprising the Chief Justice, Mr V.N. Khare, Mr Justice S.B. Sinha and Mr Justice S.H. Kapadia, directed the Gujarat Government to submit its reply by
January 30. The court also sought a report from the state government’s counsel, Mr Mukul Rohtagi, on the status of accused persons in 10 riot cases, the transfer of which outside the state was sought by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and some other petitioners. Mr Rohtagi was asked to furnish the details about the exact number of accused named in the FIRs, how many of them were chargesheeted and how many had been granted bail. West Yorkshire-based NRI Imran Mohammed Salmim Dawood had alleged that the Gujarat Government had not
pursued investigation into the murder of his relatives properly. Meanwhile, the state government sought vacation of the stay on the Godhra train carnage case trial, stating that there was no allegation of mishandling of the case and the trial proceedings were likely to be over soon. |
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Bhutan hands over 7 militants to India New Delhi, December 19 Talking to reporters on the sidelines of the CII seminar on “Army-Industry
Partnership” here, the Chief of Army Staff also said that the first batch of seven captured insurgents had also been handed over to the Indian Army. “We expect that more batches of North-East insurgents captured by the Bhutanese Army would be handed over during the next few days”, he said. Key underground leaders were among the insurgents handed over to India, General Vij said maintaining that the militants were reeling under the pressure mounted by the Bhutanese Army and the Royal Guards. The Army Chief said the operations would go on for some time and that the entire exercise was being conducted by the Royal Bhutan army, with India only providing logistic support. |
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Samata, JD (U) merge amid splits New Delhi, December 19 The merger, which was being tipped as the beginning of the unification of the Janata parivar for strengthening of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), took an unexpected turn when the
JD (U) suffered a split and two Samata MPs opposed the move. Hours before the merger, Lok Sabha Speaker Manohar Joshi recognised a splinter
JD (U) group comprising Mr Devendra Prasad Yadav and Mr Shashi Kumar, who walked out of the party to form "JD
(U) Democratic". In a parallel development, two Samata MPs Brahmanand Mandal and Raghunath Jha have preferred to remain in the original Samata Party and not go with the decision to merge the party with the
JD (U). Mr Mandal told newspersons that the merger decision of "a few leaders was not only illegal, but wholly undemocratic .... This was being done only with an eye on the coming Lok Sabha elections, for their own selfish ends to salvage their falling electoral fortunes and to build up a pressure group and lobby within the NDA". He, however, maintained that his party would remain within the NDA. The
JD (U) Democratic on the other hand has convened a meeting in Patna to decide its future stand. Earlier, at a separate press conference here, Mr Devendra Yadav released a Lok Sabha notification recognising him and another MP Shashi Kumar as "JD
(U) Democratic Party" in the House. With today’s split, the JD (U) is left with four MPs and along with the eight Samata Party MPs, who are in agreement with the merger, the unified
JD (U) will now have a combined strength of 12 members in the Lok Sabha. This excludes Mr Mandal and Mr Jha. |
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The role Army mules played in
Kargil Chandigarh, December 19 The trained mules, which exhibited exemplary performance during ‘Operation-Vijay’ in May 1999, were bred at the Hisar Equine Breeding Stud of the Remount and Veterinary Corps. The Corps celebrated its 40th Raising Day today. The entire supply of horses and mules to the Indian Army is made by the two Equine Breeding Studs, located at Hisar and Babugarh in Uttar Pradesh. The Corps made available the desired number of trained mules in a record time to provide logistic support to the fighting forces in extreme weather conditions in the treacherous and inhospitable terrain of Kargil. Men in these areas as well other areas, which were inaccessible by mechanical transport, had to completely rely on these trained mules for maintaining supplies to the forces, especially on the borders or the International Border in mountainous region. Apart from meeting the mule requirement of the Indian Army, the stud was breeding horses and possessed two prized imported Hanoverians, a Gaylord and a Volcano, each costing about Rs 20 lakh. Often referred to as the unsung heroes of not just the Kargil war, but other numerous campaigns in Iraq and Persia (1943), Italy (1942), Burma (1941), Jammu and Kashmir (1947), NEFA and Ladakh (1962), Indo-Pak conflicts in 1965 and 1971, at the Siachen glacier and with the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) in Sri Lanka, the men in uniform too were candid enough to admit that had it not been for the support of these animals, their task could have remained unaccomplished. The horses and mules after attaining the age of six months, were sent off to the two Remount Training Schools and Depots, located at Saharanpur and Hempur. The mules and horses were supplied to the Indian Army, para military forces, police and even the President’s Body Guards. The history and heritage of the Remount and Veterinary Corps, dated back to 1779, when the regulations for controlled breeding of animals and mounting of the Imperial Army in India were adopted. The Army Veterinary Department was established in 1884 to perform military veterinary duties and it was at the end of the First World War that the Army Veterinary Corps was formed on December 14, 1920. It was finally in 1960 that the Corps finally came to be known as Remount Veterinary Corps. The Equine Breeding Stud (EBS), Hisar, which remains one of the major units of the RVC, was raised after the Chinese aggression in 1962. It was the Punjab Government which gave 1,826 acres of land in Bir Scrub Jungle for the setting up of the stud. The stud in Hisar was designed to hold a breeding stock of 1,400 equine and carried out scientific breeding. The RVC was also breeding, rearing and training dogs for guard duties, tracking, infantry patrol, mine detection, avalanche rescue and sniffing of explosives. |
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BJP for review of CAS implementation New Delhi, December 19 “If the TV channels and operators are fleecing and threatening the consumers, then the government should review the law,” BJP Parliamentary Party spokesperson V.K. Malhotra told newspersons here. Asserting that the Bill pertaining to CAS was passed in both Houses of Parliament with a hope of
benefiting the consumers and to discipline the cable operators and TV channels, Mr Malhotra said the government should ensure that the consumers’ interest is protected. |
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Uma govt to bring out 3 white papers Bhopal, December 19 The Kumbha — locally known as Simhastha — is slated for April-May next year. The preparations for accommodating a large number of pilgrims and providing them basic amenities have been going on for quite some time. Ms Bharati is, however, not satisfied. Speaking on the motion of thanks to the Governor’s address in the state Assembly last evening, she said the previous Congress government had shown grave negligence in making arrangements for the Simhastha. She said the government would bring out a white paper on the Simhastha preparations. |
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Talks on trilateral
project on Dec 23 New Delhi, December 19 The ministerial meeting will be preceded by meetings of two separate task forces on technical and financial matters related to the project. It was in April 2003 that the members of the technical task force had completed the field survey of the highway and agreed on a route alignment at the technical level. Myanmar Foreign Minister U. Win Aung and Thailand Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai will head their respective delegations. |
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‘Nakkeeran’ Editor gets bail in POTA case Chennai, December 19 A Division Bench, comprising Mr Justice P. Shanmugam and Mr Justice A.K. Rajan, granted the bail on the condition that he should execute a bond of Rs 10,000 and two sureties for a like sum to the satisfaction of the special court trying POTA cases. The Bench gave the verdict allowing a habeas corpus petition filed by the journalist’s brother.
— UNI |
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Telgi scam: CBI registers 2 cases New Delhi, December 19 The CBI has, meanwhile, arrested Ganga Prakash, the suspended General Manager of the Nashik-based India Security Press in connection with the “security lapses” at the currency and stamp paper printing press. He has been arrested from Hyderabad. Fixed deposits worth lakhs of rupees, besides Rs 1.86 lakhs in cash, have been allegedly seized from the residential and official premises of Prakash, who was named in the FIR earlier. The cases were registered after sleuths of the CBI’s anti-corruption unit carried out nationwide raids. The raids were more focussed on Nashik and Mumbai, the sources said adding the raids are still on and the CBI hopeful of a major breakthrough in the multi-crore stamp paper case. |
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CBI arrests 8 in stamp-paper scam
New Delhi, December 19 The investigating agency arrested suspended General Manager Ganga Prakash, retired mechanic N A Bhusare, Works Manager Mahendra Singh, Assistant Controller of Stamps P.P. Konkane and Head Clerk D.S. Shaligram (all from ISP) in Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra. Central
Railway Senior Commandant R.P. Pawar, Inspector B.K. Tiwari, Constable
Sarvar Khan (all RPF officials) were also nabbed in different places
of Maharashtra for helping Telgi to steal stamp papers worth Rs 23
crore during transit from ISP, Nashik to different states, said CBI
spokesman here today. Accused Prakash was arrested from his house in
Hyderabad, he added.
— UNI |
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Varsities to face
action for selling spurious seeds New Delhi, December 19 Union Agricultural Minister Rajnath Singh has ordered strict action against those who sell spurious seeds, including agricultural universities. The minister, who held a review meeting of National Seeds Corporation, ordered that sellers of spurious seeds be identified and strict action, including lodging of FIR, be taken against them. There are legal protection to farmers, including compensation to them whose crop have been destroyed or resulted in poor yield due to spurious seeds. |
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Panel to discuss aviation report New Delhi, December 19 Addressing the committee meeting here today, Minister of State for Civil Aviation Rajiv Pratap Rudy assured the members that the report would first be placed in front of the committee before being sent to Union Cabinet. Several
members observed that since the recommendations of the committee had
far-reaching consequences, they needed to be deliberated by the
members. The meeting would be held early next month to expedite the
process for a Civil Aviation Policy. Today’s meeting was called to
discuss the sub-committee report on the Indian Airlines. Participating
in the discussion, members pointed out that the government should
expedite the decision to purchase new aircraft for Indian Airlines as
the delay was leading to a fall in its market share. |
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Stratification of
Christians may face hurdles
New Delhi, December 19 The
Minister quoted the Registrar- General of India’s opinion that
stratification among Christians on the basis of caste could lead to an
international controversy and it might be misunderstood as if “India
is imposing its caste system among Christians and that such
reservation is not justifiable.”
— TNS |
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