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Pak should not bother about Malegaon blast accused: Antony
BrahMos test-fired
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Kalyan’s Exit
Get going on minority panels, states told
Pranab leaves for Kabul today
EC to discuss general polls
Punjab inks pact with UN tourism body
Brain-dead jawan saves three lives
Armed Forces Pay
Belgaum row rages on
Purohit main conspirator: Chargesheet
Coming: 29 more BSF battalions
Jaipur literary fest begins today
13 schoolkids, teacher die in head-on crash
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Pak should not bother about Malegaon blast accused: Antony
New Delhi, January 20 Antony was talking to reporters here on the sidelines of a function organised by the National Cadet Corps (NCC). On the Army and its state of preparedness, Antony said our armed forces were in a state of preparedness. They are prepared to meet any challenge, any eventuality and any threat. He also downplayed reports of a Pakistan military build-up across the border. At the moment, the government was concentrating on diplomatic efforts. There is no question of our armed forces lowering their guard, he said. Antony was surprised at suggestions made in on Pakistan seeking extradition of Col Purohit, saying it is an internal matter and Islamabad should not be concerned over it. The case is under examination by the anti-terror squad. We are investigating it, how can Pakistan be concerned with that? Antony asked The investigation is our responsibility and we are doing it, Antony said in reply to a query on a Pakistani suggestion that Purohit should be extradited in connection with the Samjhauta Express blast case. Pakistan’s interior ministry chief Rehman Malik’s had commented: “If the Indian demand for handing over the accused in the Mumbai attacks persists, then the accused of the Samjhauta Express case might be asked for.” Sixty-eight people were killed in the February 2007 blast on board the Delhi-Attari Express that links up with the Lahore-bound Samjhauta Express. Antony avoided any comment on a reported statement the Lashkar-e-Taiba’s statement that it would shun violence if the Kashmir problem was solved. Terrorism has nothing to do with Kashmir. Kashmir is an integral part of India. We will not entertain any intervention from any quarters, Antony asserted. |
BrahMos test-fired
Jaisalmer, January 20 The test comes in the midst of heightened tension between India and Pakistan, following the Mumbai terror attacks. Defence Minister AK Antony told reporters in New Delhi that the test was pre-planned and not directed against any country. The missile, capable of touching a speed of 2.8 times that of sound, was launched during the trial in its vertical mode, DRDO officials said. Currently, the Army has one regiment armed with the BrahMos missile, which is different from the version that was test-fired today. The present round of trials was earlier scheduled for January 17, but was postponed till today. However, the DRDO sources did not specify any reasons for the delay. BrahMos is a missile that India is developing in collaboration with Russia and is named after the Brahmputra river and Moscow.
— PTI |
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BJP in damage control mode
Faraz Ahmad Tribune News Service
New Delhi, January 20 Kalyan Singh sent in his resignation by fax to BJP president Rajnath Singh and about the same time three former BJP MPs from Karnataka AT Sangliana, Manjunath Kunoor and Manorama Madhuraj accompanied by AICC in charge of Karnataka Prithviraj Chauhan announced their decision to join the Congress party at its headquarters 24, Akbar Road here today. The process of migration of MPs and leaders from one party to another in the election season is a common phenomenon. However, in the current scenario the BJP and its prime minister-in-waiting LK Advani anxiously awaiting the results of general elections to don the mantle, appear to be immediately affected by this exodus. Formally, the BJP denied Kalyan Singh’s charge that he was ignored and humiliated in the party. Party spokesman Rajiv Pratap Rudy said, “Among the leaders who have rejoined the BJP none has been given so much respect as Kalyan Singh. He was made the party vice-president, he was given charge of UP in the 2004 general elections, he was projected as the party’s chief ministerial candidate in 2007 UP Assembly elections, though in that election the party fared poorly getting only 51 seats.” He maintained, “We heeded to all his demands and desires and agreed to anything he asked for. Rudy did not specify but he was obviously referring to the recent decision of the BJP to get Kalyan Singh’s confidant Kusum Rai elected to Rajya Sabha despite opposition from a large section of the party. |
Get going on minority panels, states told
New Delhi, January 20 Considered a drain on the resources, minority commissions have not yet been set up by as many as 14 states - a fact that the National Commission for Minorities today took a strong note of, asking the defaulting states to immediately set up commissions. Punjab, Haryana, Himachal, Jammu and Kashmir and Gujarat are among states with no minority commissions despite a sizeable population of minorities. The NCM further asked the states to implement the Model Act for State Minority Commissions to set them free of government controls and accord some amount of dignity to the serving members. While the chairman in the NCM has a cabinet rank and a salary more than Rs 1 lakh, members have MoS ranks and near similar salaries. But in states, there are no uniform rules on ranks for chairmen and members. “In some states, minority commission members are not being paid at all. They are simply not being recognized. Moreover, governments dissolve and constitute them on will. The Model Act proposes to end this arbitrariness,” said Mohd Shafi Qureishi, NCM chairperson, during the day-long annual conference of the state minority commissions at Vigyan Bhavan today. The Model Act discussed today proposes the maximum strength of seven for state minority commissions, and three-year tenure so that no state government can change the members at will. “The states shall provide the commission with a secretary and pay the members fixed and regular salaries and allowances,” says the Act. |
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Aam aadmi, drugs on agenda: Sukhbir
New Delhi, January 20 Corruption, he admits, is a huge challenge and would have to be weeded out for social and economic growth to register and sustain itself at all levels. Even before assuming charge, Sukhbir today said he would go all out to cut red tape in the delivery system for common man, and would not hesitate to implement fresh practices. “We can look at abolishing unnecessary procedures that trouble the common man; outsourcing and privatising some services discharged until now by the government servants. I am assuming office with an open mind and a promise of effective delivery mechanism for the poorest of the poor in Punjab,” the Shorimani Akali Dal (SAD) president told The Tribune on the eve of his elevation as Punjab’s Deputy Chief Minister. He plans to enforce administrative reforms by the end of 2009. Rubbishing talks of disgruntlement in the state BJP unit, which recently voiced its unhappiness over his elevation, Sukhbir said there was no problem on any issue between the SAD and the BJP, and the traditional seat-sharing arrangement between the two allies would continue for the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls. “We are not seeking more seats from the BJP. We will have 10 and they will have three, as always,” said the son of Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, who will tomorrow add another chapter to dynastic politics in India. Back to the reform agenda - junior Badal said fighting drugs would be as important to him as ensuring reforms. “I am deeply aware of the problem. For the fruits of growth to stay, we have to go after drug peddlers and punish them immediately,” he said. Over 70 per cent youth in Punjab are currently on drugs, by conservative estimates. The incidence of injecting drug use - a major carrier of HIV - is also rising, .with UNAIDS data showing that HIV prevalence among Punjab’s injecting-drug users is now more worrisome than in the North East; it is as high as 13.80 per cent as against the national HIV prevalence of 0.28 per cent. Conscious of this challenge, Sukhbir said an anti-drug department would be set up parallel to the State Vigilance Department to tackle drug peddling on war footing. |
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Pranab leaves for Kabul today
New Delhi, January 20 His first foreign visit after the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack, Mukherjee is also expected to formally handover to the Afghan authorities the Zaranj-Delaram road, which would provide landlocked Afghanistan and central Asia access to the Arabian Sea, through the Iranian port of Chabahar. The road link would reduce Afghanistan’s dependence on Pakistan for overland access to central Asia and provide an alternative route for Indian goods to that country. The visit comes within 10 days of Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai’s tour of India to express solidarity with the people of this country in the wake of the audacious strikes in Mumbai. |
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EC to discuss general polls
New Delhi, January 20 All political parties, states, and senior civil, and police officers will be invited to this. To begin with, the commission will be holding a discussion with all recognised seven national and 40 state-level parties on various issues connected with the elections. |
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Punjab inks pact with UN tourism body
New Delhi, January 20 The Secretary-General of the UNWTO Francesco Frangialli and the Principal Secretary Tourism Geetika Kalha signed the agreement that is to implement the priority recommendations of the tourism master plan that was approved in November 2008. The agreement will address issues related to improved tourism organisation and governance; the development of a promotional brand, development of tourism circuits and a sound, effective and targeted marketing strategy. |
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Brain-dead jawan saves three lives
New Delhi, January 20 It was the noble gesture of the family of a brave young soldier, rifleman Vijay Singh, who was declared brain dead, after sustaining a head injury in a road accident. Vijay Singh’s family and especially his grandfather, who is himself is an ex-serviceman, saved three lives and restored vision to two blind persons. The liver was transplanted in a fifteen-year-old boy suffering from advanced cirrhosis of liver. One kidney was given to mother of a serving soldier suffering from renal failure and the other kidney was handed over to the Organ Retrieval and Banking Organisation (ORBO) for transplantation at AIIMS, New Delhi. The total number of such multiple-organ donations has risen to 17 since the inception of the Armed Forces Organ Retrieval and Transplantation Authority (AORTA) in April 2007, the organisation based at Army Hospital Delhi that handles all activities related to organ donation in the Armed forces. This has resulted in 18-liver donation from dead persons making it the highest such transplantations done by a single institute in the country. |
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Decision on pending issues soon: Govt
New Delhi, January 20 The government has already taken decisions on the “genuine grievances” of the defence personnel “one after the other” even after the pay commission report was implemented, Defence Minister AK Antony told reporters. “Because, we are very clear and particular that we must give the best available equipment to the Armed forces on the one side, and regarding their welfare and their pay, whatever is their genuine demand, we are always willing to give,” he said. — PTI |
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Belgaum row rages on
Mumbai, January 20 According to the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation, bus services to Karnataka were suspended from Monday after Kannada activists, in protest against the remarks by Bal Thackeray and other Maharashtra politicians, stoned Belgaum is a major transit point and buses plying between Bangalore and Mumbai pass through this border town. Today, the situation worsened with buses from the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) being set afire in Aurangabad as protests against Karnataka spread to different parts of Maharashtra. KSRTC also immediately cancelled bus services to Maharashtra. “Buses from Karnataka have been vandalised in Latur,” a police official said. Reports of vehicles with Karnataka registration number being attacked also poured in from other areas like Pune and Nagpur. Both organisations ply around 200 buses between the two states, ferrying scores of people from the low and middle-income categories who move up and down to earn their livelihood. According to reports from the border regions of the two states, the situation was worsening with even private buses plying between the two states being targeted by violent activists. Several buses have been stoned in both states and private bus operators in Mumbai were advising passengers to postpone their trips. Reports from Karnataka said that trucks with Maharashtra number plates were burnt and even a Bank of Maharashtra branch at Dharwad was attacked by Kannada activists. |
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Purohit main conspirator: Chargesheet
Mumbai, January 20 The 4,000-page chargesheet filed by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) before the Special MCOCA court here, stated that Purohit floated right-wing group Abhinav Bharat in 2007 with an intention to “propagate a separate Hindu rashtra with its own constitution”. According to the document, the Army officer collected “huge amounts” to the tune of Rs 21 lakh for himself and Abhinav Bharat to promote his “fundamentalist ideology.” Ajay Rahirkar, treasurer, disbursed the amount of the group to various others accused to procure explosives for committing unlawful activities.
— PTI |
Coming: 29 more BSF battalions
Guwahati, January 20 BSF DG Mahendra Kumawat, who is on a visit to the frontiers in the North East, today informed that it was for the first time since inception of the BSF in December, 1965, that such a large number of battalions were being raised at one go. He said at least a dozen of the newly raised battalions would be deployed along the India-Bangladesh border in the North East. “As raising of these new battalions will take at least two years, more forces will be deployed along the frontiers in the North East by withdrawing personnel from theatre in other parts of the country,” he informed. Regarding the situation along the Pakistan border, Kumawat said, “We are fully vigilant along the Pakistan border and are ready to face any situation.” The BSF guards 2,300 km of the total 3,078 km border with Pakistan. |
Jaipur literary fest begins today
Jaipur, January 20 The festival beginning tomorrow till January 25 will see a galaxy of literary persons, including those from the USA, the UK, Australia, South Africa, Malaysia, Mali, Sierre Leone, Algeria, China, Pakistan and Bangladesh among others. One of the main highlights is the release of a book on Amitabh Bacchhan, which the Big B will be releasing himself on January 23. Entering its fourth year, the festival will be hosting some of the best-known national and international writers, including Vikram Seth, Pico Iyer, Simon Schama, Colin Thubron, Patrick French, Tina Brown, Mohammed Hanif, Rajiv Chandrasekaran, Coleman Barks, Chetan Bhagat, Charles Nicholl, Hari Kunzru, Michael Wood, Nandan Nilkeni, Paul Zacharia, Prasoon Joshi, Shashi Tharoor, Sunil Gangopadhyay, Tarun Tejpal, Wendy Doniger, UR Ananthamurthy, among many others with music from DJ Cheb I Sabbah and Paban Das Baul. The outburst of creativity in diverse Indian languages will be represented by writers from Bengal, Assam, Kerala, Punjab, Rajasthan. There are no reserved spaces for grandees; there is no greenroom or specially roped enclosure for the authors-they will mingle with the crowds and eat with them on a first-come, first-serve basis. The festival programme includes readings, talks, literary lunches, debates, performance, children’s workshops and interactive activities held in the beautiful heritage property, Diggi Palace in central Jaipur. |
13 schoolkids, teacher die in head-on crash
Jaipur, January 20 The children and the lone teacher were returning home from school when the accident occurred near Ramji-Ka-Gole village at Gudhamalani, District Collector Ravi Jain said. All the children were below 15 years and were students of Dayanand Saraswati School, he said adding the driver of the 16-wheeler truck, used to carry vehicles, fled from the scene.
— PTI |
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