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EASTnews COAST EDITION FRIDAY, JULY 18, 2014 india
INDIA NEWS
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Vaidik-Hafiz meet stirs row
Ramdev aide claims he met Hafiz Saeed — mastermind of the Mumbai terror attack — as a journalist; government distances itself from Vaidik, seeks report from the Indian High Commission IANS, NEW DELHI
Who is Ved Pratap Vaidik?
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acing opposition heat, a cornered government on July 15 denounced yoga guru Ramdev aide Ved Pratap Vaidik’s meeting with Pakistani terrorist Hafiz Saeed and sought a report from the Indian High Commission in Islamabad. The government’s disapproval of the meeting with a man wanted in India came as an unrelenting opposition took on the Narendra Modi government in both Houses of Parliament, leading to repeated disruptions. For the second consecutive day, Vaidik claimed he met Saeed — the mastermind of the Mumbai terror attack and one of three terrorists India freed in 1999 after an Indian Airlines planed was hijacked — as a journalist.
NEW DELHI: Ved Pratap Vaidik is a journalist, scholar, political analyst and freelance columnist. He had been with Press Trust of India as the founder-editor of its Hindi news agency Bhasha. Born: December 30, 1944 (age 69), Indore Education: Jawaharlal Nehru University
Political advisor to Baba Ramdev and closely associated with RSS-linked think-tank Vivekananda International Foundation (VIF) Claims he met Hafeez Saeed — the mastermind of the Mumbai terror attack and one of three terrorists India freed in 1999 after an Indian Airlines planed was hijacked — as a journalist in 1999.
Ved Pratap Vaidik, right, with Hafiz Saeed during a meeting in Lahore.
Both on July 14 and July 15 afternoon, the government only distanced itself from the controversial meeting saying it had nothing to do with it. It came out with a strong condemnation on July 15 evening. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj told the Rajya Sabha: “The government totally disapproves of
this meeting of Ved Pratap Vaidik... The government condemns this meeting with the Mumbai terror attack accused.” She said the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government had nothing to do with the meeting and had “nothing to hide”. “We have sought a full report from the Indian high com-
missioner in Pakistan. Once the report comes, we will share it with the House.” Despite their majority, Bharatiya Janata Party members and their allies were mostly quiet in the Lok Sabha as the Opposition MPs shouted slogans. The Opposition was more vocal in the Rajya Sabha.
Earlier, Sushma Swaraj and her cabinet colleagues tried to distance the government from the fallout of the Vaidik-Saeed meet. “Categorically and unequivocally, I would like to state that the government has nothing to do with Vaidik’s trip to Pakistan or his meeting with Hafiz Saeed there,” she said.
Ashok Khemka is likely to get central deputation IANS, CHANDIGARH/NEW DELHI
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shok Khemka, an IAS officer of the Haryana cadre who had cancelled the mutation of a land deal involving Congress chief Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law Robert Vadra, may be deputed to the union government in two-three weeks, a central official said on July 15. However, the Haryana govern-
ment maintained that it has not received any communication in this regard. “It seems that Khemka would come on central deputation in two-three weeks,” an official of the Department of Personnel and Training told IANS in New Delhi. Sources in Chandigarh also said Khemka has been cleared to be a joint secretary in the central government, but the Haryana government refused to comment on the issue. “We have not received any communication in this regard so far. We cannot comment on this,” a senior bureaucrat told IANS in Chandigarh. Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda was also dismissive about the issue. “This is an administrative matter,” he told the media in Chandigarh on July 15.
Shakti Mills gang rapes: Juveniles get correctional sentences IANS, MUMBAI
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he Juvenile Justice Board on July 15 awarded correctional sentence to two juveniles for the 2013 Shakti Mills gang rapes of a photojournalist and a call center employee. The duo has been awarded three years’ correctional sentence to be spent at a borstal school in Nashik where they will learn good behavior, according to Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam, who defended the two victims.
Clinton serves food to children in Jaipur IANS, JAIPUR
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ormer U.S. president Bill Clinton on July 16 visited a kitchen here run by an NGO to oversee a lunch programme that feeds over one million school children daily across India under the mid-day meal scheme. The kitchen here is northern India’s largest run by Akshaya Patra Foundation. It feeds almost 150,000 people in Jaipur, including 125,000 school children studying in 1,100 government schools in Jaipur
district daily under the scheme. This was Clinton’s third visit to Jaipur. “Clinton visited the areas where rotis and curry were being cooked and the places where pulses were cleaned and stored. He also saw the rice cleaning machine and was really impressed by it,” said Madhu Pandit Dasa, chairman of the Akshaya Patra Foundation. He said Clinton was impressed by the roti-making machines and was surprised that how food reaches on time in all the schools where mid-
day meals are served. Akshaya Patra Foundation’s kitchen in Jagatpura on the outskirts of Jaipur is fully mechanised and even rotis are cooked in two machines. Each of the machines is capable of producing 40,000 rotis in an hour. “We have 450 people, including dieticians, who prepare the menu for a month in advance. Based on requirements, vegetables, dal (lintels) and other things are purchased,” R. Govinda Dasa, Jaipur unit president of the foundation, told IANS.
The JJB found the two minor guilty of gang rape, criminal conspiracy, molestation and other sections of the Indian Penal Code. While one of the accused juvenile was nabbed for gang rape of a woman photojournalist, the other was arrested for a similar crime against the 19-year-old call center employee. In April, the Sessions Court in Mumbai had awarded death sentences to three convicts involved in both the gang rapes while two of their associates were give life sentences.
India tops global poor list: UN NEW DELHI: India tops the list of countries with the largest share of global extreme poor though the poverty rate in southeast Asia as whole saw a substantial fall from 1990 to 2010, a new United Nations report said. The poverty rate in southeast Asia fell from 45 percent in 1990 to 14 percent in 2010. Although poverty remains widespread in south Asia, progress in the region has been substantial, the Millenium Development Goals Report 2014 said. However, India had the largest share of global poor at 32.9 percent, more than countries like China, Nigeria and Bangladesh, said the report which was released here on July 16. India also had the highest child mortality rate worldwide in 2012 with 1.4 million children dying before reaching their fifth birthday, it said. In 2012, south Asia accounted for 2.1 million of the 6.6 million deaths in children under five worldwide. India had the highest child mortality rate worldwide, the report said. The eight MDGs, with a number of sub-targets covering a range of poverty, hunger, health, gender equality, education and environmental indicators, were agreed by all countries as an outgrowth of the UN Millennium Summit in 2000, most with a due date of 2015. — IANS
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