C M Y K
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Dimapur
24 October 2008
NEWS FILE Cong tries to raise issue of SC order on Godhra
NEW DELHI, OCTOBER 23 (AGENCIES): Congress members today tried to raise in Rajya Sabha the issue of Supreme Court ruling that charges under POTA could not be brought against Godhra train carnage accused, but were not allowed to do so. As soon as the House met for the day, Praveen Rashtrapal (Cong) raised the ruling of the Apex Court earlier this week. He was, however, countered by BJP members particularly those from Gujarat. As both sides traded charges and counter-charges, Chairman Hamid Ansari pleaded for the Question Hour to be taken up. Order was soon restored in the House and the listed agenda was taken up. The Apex Court had held that the findings of the state POTA Review Committee to drop charges against the train carnage accused under the repealed anti-terror law would be binding on the government and the designated court.
German Rape Case: Another Goa minister in line of fire PANAJI, OCTOBER 23 (AGENCIES): The German minor rape case saw a new twist on Thursday when her mother told Goa Police that a second person, nephew of Goa PWD Minister, Churchill Alemao, allegedly sexually abused her daughter. The revelation was made a day after Goa’s PWD Minister Churchill Alemao accused the state police of unnecessarily harassing Rohit while addressing a press conference. On Wednesday, the German mother gave her written consent for the medical examination of her minor daughter, who was allegedly raped by Goa Education Minister Atanasio Monserratte’s son, Rohit. This was confirmed by the German lady’s lawyer Rodrigues who said, “The mother has written to the Superintendent of Police giving her consent for the medical examination of the girl.” Police had decided to review the case as girl’s statement was not forthcoming and she was also reluctant to get herself medically examined despite persistent efforts by NGO and psychiatrists. “The letter written to SP clearly states that the mother has no objection for the medical examination. She has also said that since the offences are grave, the police investigation should be expedited in the case,” Rodrigues said. The state police have booked Rohit, 21, of raping, outraging modesty, abetting the crime and sending lewd messages to 14-year-old German girl. The complaint was registered on October 2 and two days later mother’s statement was recorded. The police would have had to drop some sections against Rohit, as they could not be proved sans medical examination.
Landmine by Maoists blows up medical team
C M Y K
NATIONAL
Friday
MIDNAPORE, OCT 23 (CNN-IBN): Three people were killed in multiple landmines triggered by suspected Maoists in West Midnapore district of West Bengal. Maoists are suspected to be involved according to Inspector General of Police (Law and Order), Raj Kanojia. The blast occurred at 2:30 pm on Wednesday afternoon at Belpahari when a medical van was targeted. The doctor in-charge of the Belpahari primary health centre, Dhaniram Mandi and a nurse, Bharati Majhi were driving to a primary health centre at Chawkisole village under the Belpahari police station, near the Jharkhand border when the landmines exploded, Home Secretary Asok Mohan Chakraborty told reporters. The van was making its way back from a pulse polio workshop. All three were killed in the blast and the vehicle was detroyed. PTI reports that according to a report from the district, villagers said they had informed the police in the morning that the wires were lying on the road and that landmines could have been planted, but no action was taken. District police are investigating the case. Senior police officials were at the spot. Police also add that they suspect more attacks by naxals.
No plan to ban small cars to ease traffic woes in big cities NEW DELHI, OCTOBER 23 (PTI): Government on Thursday ruled out banning small cars to ease traffic problem in big cities and said it was instead focusing on augmenting the public transport system. “I don’t think I can do that,” Urban Development Minister S Jaipal Reddy responded to Manohar Joshi’s (Shiv Sena) query during Question Hour if the Government will consider banning small cars to ease traffic congestions in cities like Mumbai. “We are (instead) trying to lay emphasis on public transport system,” Reddy said adding Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) had already been sanctioned in 10 cities besides Metro Rail projects. To encourage greater use of public transport and non-motorised mode of transport, BRTS projects in Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Surat, Indore, Bhopal, Pune/Pimpri-Chinchwad, Vijayawada, Vishakhapatnam and Jaipur have been approved. Central Government was providing assistance for Delhi Metro Rail project and same model assistance was being provided or proposed to be provided for Kolkata, Bangalore and Chennai Metro. Assistance for Hyderabad and Mumbai Metro is being provided or proposed to be provided as Viability Gap Funding, he said. Urban transport, he said, was primarily a state subject but the Central Government was extending assistance to states under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission. Nine pilgrim towns with less than one million population have been included in the list of mission cities where the Centre was funding projects to ease urban traffic congestion, he said.
The Morung Express
Manmohan to meet Pak PM in Beijing today
BEIJING, OCTOBER 23 (ANI): Manmohan Singh is scheduled to meet his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani here on Friday on the sidelines of the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) summit. The two leaders will meet to review the progress being made to promote bilateral understanding and co-operation to resolve disputes including Kashmir, the Daily Times quoted a senior Pakistani official as telling a foreign news agency. The two leaders will likely meet at the Great Hall of the People in the afternoon, after the summit’s opening session. During his two-day stay in China, Pakistani premier will also meet the prime ministers of Malaysia and Italy and the German chancellor. Besides, he is also likely to have a brief meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao and premier Wen Jiabao. Gilani will lay the foundation stone of the Pak-China Friendship and Cultural Complex that will serve as an important milestone to consolidate the two countries’ ties in the cultural sector. Meanwhile, Indian and Pakistani officials will hold counterterrorism talks in New Delhi later this week to build trust and allay security concerns between the two rivals, the Indian Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday. “As decided by the prime minister of India and the president of Pakistan ... the Special Session of the Joint Anti-Terror Mechanism with Pakistan, will be held on October 24 in New Delhi,” the Indian ministry statement said. Relations between the two countries were strained in July after New Delhi accused Islamabad’s military intelligence agency of involvement in a deadly suicide bombing of its embassy in Kabul. The joint anti-terrorism group was set up in 2006 after train bombings in India’s financial capital Mumbai in July of that year. India claimed Pakistan had a hand in the bombings, which killed 186 people.
Japan opposition pushes Indian PM on nukes
TOKYO, OCTOBER 23 (AFP): Japan's main opposition party on Thursday pressed Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to work to eliminate nuclear weapons as New Delhi seeks cooperation on civilian atomic energy. Singh was wrapping up a three-day visit to Tokyo where he signed a major loan agreement and pledged to expand military links in a sign of growing cooperation between the two Asian nations. However, Japan has been hesitant about cooperating with India on nuclear energy. As the only nation to have suffered nuclear attack Japan only reluctantly backed India's landmark nuclear technology deal with the United States earlier this month. "We hope that India maintains transparency of its nuclear sector and contributes to efforts towards an elimination of nuclear weapons," Yukio Hatoyama, secretary general of the main opposition Democratic Party, told Singh. India refuses to sign the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, arIndian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh disembarks from a plane upon ar- guing it is unfairly excluded. Singh replied that India rival at Beijing Capital Airport in Beijing, China Thursday, October 23, starting his official visit to China. He will also attend the seventh Asia-Europe hoped to develop nuclear power to cut the greenhouse gas Meeting (ASEM) to be held on October 24-25. (AP Photo)
emissions blamed for global warming, according to an opposition official who attended the talks. Japan also champions nuclear power. Singh, speaking Wednesday at a joint news conference with Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso, said it was India's "sincere desire to strengthen and develop our cooperation with Japan in civilian nuclear energy." "But I do recognise the sensitivity of this issue in Japan and therefore ... we will move at a pace at which the Japanese government and people are comfortable with," Singh said. Aso has advocated building relations with the fellow democracy to offset frequent tensions with China. Both Aso and Singh were heading later Thursday to Beijing for an Asia-Europe summit. Hatoyama met Singh after a cancellation by Japan's chief opposition leader Ichiro Ozawa, who for the second time this month said he was too ill for public events. Ozawa's health has increasingly become a concern for the opposition, as it makes gains in its goal of ousting Aso's conservative Liberal Democratic Party, which has been in power for all but 10 months since 1955.
28 killed in Rajasthan cracker factory blast Bihar violence: CM calls all party meet
NEW DELHI, OCTOBER 23 (AGENCIES): An accidental explosion ripped through an illegal fireworks factory in Rajasthan, killing at least 28 people, including 10 children, just days before Diwali. Police also said that at least 20 others were hurt after the explosion on Wednesday in Deeg, 30 kilometres from Bharatpur. "We now have a death toll of 20 people, but it could rise as many are seriously injured," Police Inspector General (Rajasthan) R Narsimha Rao said. The injured have been admitted to Deeg hospital, he said, adding rescue operations are on. The blast comes days before Diwali. Months before the fes-
tival, illegal fireworks factories spring up across the country and almost all of these employ children, a child rights' group said. Poor children clandestinely work at these makeshift factories, which are often in people's homes, and almost every year there are fatal accidents. Police said an accidental fire caused the Wednesday blast inside the illegal factory. "The impact of the blast was huge and it brought down at least five houses in the area," Rao said. Rescue officials were trying to remove debris from the area to check if there were more survivors. "There could be more people trapped inside," Rao said, adding that a probe was underway
to see how the illegal factory had sprung up in the area. Swapan Mukherjee of Free the Children India said the factories often hired children as "children come cheap (as labours).” “We have come across cases where they are just given a meal a day for 18-20 hours of work, others are paid one fifth of a dollar,” he added. There are at least 1,500 such illegal factories around each of India's major cities, Mukherjee said. Last year, four children died and dozens were hurt in a similar blast in West Bengal. At least 10 people have been arrested. A Divisional Commissioner will be conducting an inquiry into the incident.
NEW DELHI, OCTOBER 23 (AGENCIES): Bihar’s Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Thursday called an all party meet after protests against MNS chief Raj Thackeray entered third day in the state. The protesters today led off their campaign in Bihar Sharif which prompted police to canecharge the mob, leaving more than 12 people injured. Later, the violence spread to Motihari railway station where angry students pelted stones at railway property and put reservation counter on fire. Students also brought all local trains to halt. With festive season of Diwali and Chhat round the corner, the passengers were stranded on platforms as most of the trains were either cancelled or were not on time. Due to the escalation in violence, all trains from Patna and Danapur have been cancelled. Only Patna-Gaya route is operational. "As a precautionary mea-
sure, all the trains originating from Patna junction, under Danapur division of East Central Railway (ECR), were cancelled this morning but with the situation showing signs of improvement, the timings of cancelled trains have been rescheduled," said R K Singh, Public Relation Officer of Danapur Division. Janata Dal (U)’s women wing also held protest against Raj Thackeray in Patna. Meanwhile, student organisations in the state have called for one-day bandh in the state. Yesterday, angry protesters vandalised railway property in Bihar and set ablaze six bogies of different trains at Barh, Athmalgola and Sasaram. The protesters also disrupted railway traffic on the Howrah-Delhi main line via Patna and the Grandcord line via Gaya. Nearly 20 trains under Danapur railway division were stranded at different stations.
Demand for ban on Bajrang Dal sparks uproar in RS
Conducting polls in Chhatisgarh a big challenge: CRPF
NEW DELHI, OCTOBER 23 (AGENCIES): A strong demand for ban on Bajrang Dal and Hindu Jagran Manch was on Thursday made in the wake of reports that some Hindu groups were allegedly involved in the Malegaon and Modasa blasts, triggering noisy scenes in the Rajya Sabha. As Brinda Karat (CPI-M) made a forceful demand for the ban, she was immediately countered by BJP members who demanded strong action against SIMI. Raising the matter during Zero Hour, Karat pointed to newspaper reports claiming that Hindu extremist outfits had a hand in the Malegaon incident in Maharashtra and in Modasa in neighbouring Gujarat. She said according to the Anti Terror Squad (ATS) of Maharashtra, Bajrang Dal was involved in the incidents. The CPI(M) members said though the country was united in the fight against terrorists, there should not be two yardsticks for dealing with the menace. Whenever there was a terror attack, only a particular community was branded as terrorists, she said while demanding ban on Bajrang Dal and Hindu Jagran Manch. This provoked BJP and amid shouts and counter-shouts, the House was adjourned for ten minutes. Earlier, as the Zero Hour began, some Congress members, including Rashid Alvi and Jayanthi Natarajan, wanted to raise the issue. However, Deputy Chairman K Rahman Khan did not allow them saying they should give a proper notice.
NEW DELHI, OCTOBER 23 (AGENCIES): In the wake of recent naxal attacks, the CRPF on Thursday said conducting Assembly elections in Chhattisgarh would be a “big challenge” for the force which has suffered numerous casualties in the recent times. “Conducting elections in the state would be a big challenge for the force. We will do whatever is needed,” CRPF Director General V K Joshi told reporters after inaugurating a blood donation camp here. Out of the 90 Assembly constituencies in the state, the elections on 39 seats would be held on November 14. The rest 51 constituencies will go to polls on November 20. The CRPF, which has its several battalions posted in the state, has recently come under a spate of attacks from the left-wing extremists. On October 20, suspected naxalites ambushed a CRPF contingent killing at least 12 jawans in Bijapur district of the state while a Deputy Commandant of the force's 41 battalion alongwith three other troops were killed in a landmine blast on September 29 in Bastar. “We are concerned about the incidents of naxal violence in the state. All combat steps would be taken,” Joshi said. Talking about the significance of blood donation, Joshi said that such an activity is very important as “everyday the force sees incidents where donation of blood is necessary for our injured jawans.” More than 2.5 lakh CRPF personnel donated blood at the force's detachment hospital here.
A protestor, third left, gestures to a woman passing by, as others throw stones towards policemen in Srinagar, Thursday, October 23. Kashmiris clashed with government forces during protests against the arrest of two separatist leaders, including Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front chief Mohammed Yasin Malik, for holding an anti-election rally. (AP Photo)
From Z to Y, Raj’s security scaled down NEW DELHI, OCT 23 (CNN-IBN): The Maharashtra government has decided to scale down the security cover provided to MNS chief Raj Thackeray. This after the security scrutiny committee headed by Chief Secretary recommended his security be reduced to Y status. Under Z-level security the MNS chief was entitled to four carbine-wielding policemen and a personal officer moving around with him. However under Y category, he can have only a few policemen, besides his party workers for protection. But even before the government could implement
this, Raj lashed out at the Deshmukh administration, and was quoted as saying, "I can protect myself. I don't need government security”. Meanwhile, Shri Jagad Guru Shankarcharya Puri of Orissa now has described the actions of Raj Thackeray as dangerous for Hindutava. “It seems Thackeray is keen to move fast in politics and is therefore playing with the sentiments of innocent people, which is not good for humanity. It is harmful for the larger interest of Hindutava and Hindu religion. Thackeray should be sincere with the masses and the people who love him".
Congress seeks change of guard in Orissa BHUBANESHWAR, OCTOBER 23 (AGENCIES): With months to go for the next Assembly Elections polls, the battle has begun in the Orissa unit of the Congress party. The party stands divided in three factions and the Orissa Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) president Jaidev Jena, a lesser known leader from the stock of the beleaguered Congress, is in a perceptible desperation to shave his chair. According to the reports from New Delhi, a group of Congress MLAs, drawn from all the fighting factions held a meeting with party high command Sonia Gandhi. During the meeting, the leadChild laborers sit at a police station after they were taken away from a factory during a ers urged Sonia to realise the raid by policemen and activists of Bachpan Bachao Andolan, or save childhood move- pressing need for a change in ment, in New Delhi, Thursday, October 23. 34 child laborers were rescued from a local the OPCC leadership, or else the party would suffer serious embroidery factory. (AP Photo)
debacle under Jena's stewardship in the upcoming elections. Reportedly, the high command has assured them to do the needful at the earliest. Does it mean a change in OPCC top post? If yes, then who will be the next in charge? The question will be difficult to be dealt with for the party high command as well. However, such an indication from Sonia has already taken a lot of steam out of Jena who was in search of a protective embrace from Ajay Makan (in charge of Orissa Congress), while rallying for peace in Kandahamal With the disappointment of failing to match the alliance tally of wins in the recent local body polls, Jena seems disqualified. However, one can not stop him and his cronies from patting each others’
back on the issue of Kandhamal for which Orissa’s Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has had enough of the lashings from all over the country and abroad. However, this consolation might be very shortlived. Be it Kandhamal or floods, Naveen rebuffed all calculations in the local body elections to claim an emphatic win over the opponents. Jena appears on the edge clearly but his small coterie had, meanwhile, trotted out statistics to prove that the results of the 2008 local body polls were far better than the ones of 2007, which, in fact, is debatable. But the million dollar question is who will replace Jena? The obvious name that rings in the mind is J B Patnaik, the former Chief Minister and presently the leader of the opposition.
J B Patnaik is perhaps the only leader in Orissa to have slammed the longest innings as the CM. But his 14year rule (1980-94) had been stained with more failures and personal ridicules than accolades. An accomplished writer and a man of letters, J B Patnaik, had all the time been seen in the pursuit of a political goal where his literary qualities were made subordinate. Therefore, blunders in his long rule earned him a scoreboard that somehow appears too blotted till date. He rejected offers for gubernatorial posts and wanted to stay put in state politics despite the fact that even if he is now a tired octogenarian who would fit more into the formats offered to him by the Centre than in Orissa politics, where he can risk a tight-rope
walk given his sullied political image. Even Rahul Gandhi's criticism for him during the last Assembly and subsequent by-polls was so evident. Almost at 85, Patnaik, in fact, has become a feature of the political pantheon of Indira Gandhi era and may not be in comfort with the present dispensations. That leaves the Congress high command to choose someone else but surely one who owes allegiance to JB camp. However, any other man than JB, when compared with Naveen Patnaik, would appear pigmy. Ironically, it is a piquant situation for the Congress. Despite the factor of unacceptability that JB suffers in electoral terms, he is still a rallying point and would not give up easily as the high command expected him in last few years.