Nitesh Rane's statement on Gujaratis would be examined: RR Patil

NAGPUR: Maharashtra home minister RR Patil today said the government will examine the controversial statement by youth leader Nitesh Rane regarding Gujaratis living in Mumbai, and take action if he was found guilty.

Nitesh, meanwhile, contended today that his tweet did not target every Gujarati living in Mumbai.

Patil, who was here to pay homage to Babasaheb Kedar, a cooperative movement leader who passed away yesterday, said every citizen of the country has the right to live anywhere in the country, irrespective his origins and language.

The state will initiate appropriate action if Nitesh was found guilty, Patil said.

Nitesh, son of state industries minister and Congress leader Narayan Rane, recently said on twitter that Mumbai-based Gujaratis who admire the performance of Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi were free to go back to their native state.

He today clarified in Mumbai that he did not target every Gujarati. "I only said those who feel Narendra Modi is doing a good job can move there (Gujarat)," he told reporters.

"My remarks were not aimed against all Gujaratis but only about those who feel there is more development in Gujarat."

"I have taken a political stance ... I have stated clearly that people living in Mumbai who feel that Gujarat is developing better than us (Maharashtra) or those who feel that Modi is developing Gujarat better than us, why don't they go there," Nitesh said.

"I didn't say that all Gujaratis are like that. I didn't say we will drive (Gujaratis) out (of Mumbai)."

08.20 | 0 komentar | Read More

Ishrat case: Order on Pandey's advance bail plea reserved

AHMEDABAD: The special court for CBI cases here today reserved its order on the anticipatory bail plea of additional director general of police Prithvi Pal Pandey, an accused in Ishrat Jahan fake encounter killing case, till August 6.

The special court is hearing his application afresh on the directions of the Gujarat high court which has restrained the CBI from arresting the senior IPS officer till August 6.

Judge Gita Gopi is likely to pass the order on Tuesday. Earlier, Pandey's lawyer Nirupam Nanavati argued "CBI has been chasing Pandey and wanted to send him behind the bars by hook or by crook ... Despite the high court directing CBI not to arrest Pandey till August 6, the central investigation agency filed an application seeking his judicial custody."

CBI's branding of his client as a proclaimed absconder (in the chargesheet of Ishrat case) was totally illegal as Pandey appeared before the concerned court as per the orders of the Supreme Court, Nanavati said.

"It is not an error or mistake. It is a deliberate design so as to deprive Pandey of any discretionary order from seeking justice," he said. "CBI does not want to humiliate only my client (alone) but they want to humiliate the entire police brass of the Gujarat", he added.

"Why have they not proceeded against those officials who have more serious allegations against their name," Nanavati said referring to omission of names of Intelligence Bureau officials Rajinder Kumar and the then Ahmedabad police commissioner KR Kaushik in the chargesheet.

Contending that there was no material against Pandey, Nanavati said he was acting on IB inputs and if IB inputs were to be questioned, there may be a serious law and order problem in the country.

But CBI counsel Ejaz Khan pointed out that the investigation agency had taken over the Ishrat case only on the directions of the Gujarat high court.

"It is mischievous to term this as (result of) political rivalry. We have not come here as a political rival to any one. We are investigating the case on the directions of the Gujarat high court," Khan argued.

Khan said the act committed by some of the accused police officials was "beyond the imagination of a fiction writer".

Rubbishing the claim that the probe against Pandey had some ulterior motive, Khan said "he chose a wrong way which does not befit a senior police officer. He approached all forums for quashing FIR, staying his arrest, among other prayers. He should have come before a judicial officer and marked his presence."

Pandey was admitted to a city hospital last Sunday after he complained of chest pain and other medical problems.

Without custodial interrogation, the truth will not come out and anticipatory bail will adversely affect the investigation, the CBI lawyer said.

The 1982-batch IPS officer was joint commissioner of police (crime), Ahmedabad, when Mumbai-based Ishrat, her friend Javed Shaikh, alias Pranesh Pillai, and their associates Amjad Ali Rana and Zeeshan Johar were gunned down by crime branch sleuths on June 15, 2004 at the city's outskirts.

Crime Branch had then claimed that the four were terrorists and on a mission to kill Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi.

According to the CBI chargesheet, the encounter was fake in nature.

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34 students fall ill after drinking water in their school in Bihar

PATNA: Schoolchildren falling sick after drinking contaminated water from hand pumps continued for the third consecutive day today. At least 34 more students fell ill in different parts of Bihar.

At least 24 children complained of vomiting and stomach ache after drinking water from a hand pump located in the government middle school Biraul in Darbhanga district.

Besides the children, a teacher and the cook of midday meal in the same school also complained of vomiting and stomach ache, the in charge of midday meal Sardul Hassan said.

He said all of them were taken to Biraul primary health centre.

Hassan said the hand pump has been sealed for probe. A report from Jehanabad said that 10 students fell sick after drinking water from a hand pump in the premises of a primary school at Nonhi Mathia under Kako block of Jehanabad district.

Sub-divisional officer Manoranjan Kumar said the ailing children were taken to Jehanabad Sadar Hospital where all of them have been reported to be out of danger.

He said the hand pump has been sealed and its water sent for tests.

In Samastipur, five sulphas tablets were found from the hand pump installed in a government school in Pagra village in Dalsinsarai block.

Sub-divisional officer of Samastipur Varun Kumar Mishra said that on the complaint of the school principal he reached the school and on opening the hand pump, five sulphas tablets were found inside it.

Panic spread in a government middle school in Lalganj block of Vaishali after red coloured water came out of the hand pump installed in the school premises.

On hearing the news, the sub-divisional officer reached the school and after water sample was collected, the pump was sealed.

After the tragic death of 23 children at a Chhapra school after eating midday meal, there has been a spate of complaints of children falling sick after drinking water from hand pumps in their school across the state.

More than 55 children had fallen ill at Sitamarhi yesterday.

Expressing grave concern over the incidents, chief minister Nitish Kumar has asked the administration and locals "to keep an eye over elements indulging in such dastardly act of mixing poison in hand pumps".

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Subramanian Swamy visits Mumbai eatery targeted by Youth Congress workers

MUMBAI: Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy on Saturday visited Aditi Hotel in central Mumbai, which was forced to down its shutters by Youth Congress activists last month for carrying an anti-UPA government footnote on its cash bill.

"I have come here to express my solidarity with the hotel and the management, who bore the brunt of the attack by the Youth Congress workers," Swamy said.

"The bill footnote was a piece of satire and in no way should have provoked such a reaction," said the former Union minister, who also relished what he called "super vada sambar and super coffee" at the eatery in Parel.

Jagdish Shetty, national general secretary, Janata Party, said Swamy's visit was a symbolic one to express his solidarity with hotelier Srinivas Shetty.

The trenchant message on the cash bill in protest of the imposition of service tax on AC restaurants read: As per UPA government, eating money (2G, Coal, CWG scam) is a necessity and eating food in an AC restaurant is a luxury.

Though the UPA government was involved in one scam after another that involved billions of rupees, the common man was burdened with taxes, Shetty said.

This visit was to express the anger and resentment of the common man against corruption in the UPA government, he said.

A group of Congress workers had staged a protest outside Aditi restaurant near KEM Hospital at Parel on July 22 and forced it to shut down over the postscript.

The news of the closure of the restaurant had generated massive outrage both online and off it. Among those who condemned the Congress actions was Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi who tweeted that the incident was the "height of intolerance".

The incident had also figured in the monsoon session of state legislature, which ended yesterday.

Swamy was elected to the Lok Sabha from Mumbai in 1977 and 1980 and represented Mumbai North East constituency comprising suburbs of Chembur, Ghatkopar, Kurla, Vikhroli, Bhandup and Mulund.

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Six fined over Malaysia 'exorcism' death, report says

KUALA LUMPUR: Six family members who suffocated a Malaysian toddler to death by piling on top of her for hours in a suspected exorcism ritual have been fined but avoided jail, a report said on Saturday.

Chua Wan Zuen, aged two, died after being pinned down under a blanket in August last year with eight people, including her parents, crushing her for several hours in an attempt to drive away evil spirits.

A district court in northern Penang state on Friday fined the girl's parents, uncle, aunt and grandmother 10,000 ringgit ($3,000) each after they pleaded guilty to causing Chua's death by negligence, The Star reported.

Her 21-year-old cousin was fined 5,000 ringgit, while another cousin, 16, was released on probation, it said.

All seven originally pleaded not guilty but in the course of the trial admitted to committing the offence at their home in the northern town of Bukit Mertajam.

An Indonesian maid, who police said had joined the seven others in the ritual, was not charged and testified against the ethnic Chinese family.

The parents were also fined an additional 5,000 ringgit each on a second charge of exposing their daughter to physical harm.

The offence is punishable by up to 10 years in jail, while negligently causing death carries a penalty of up to two years in prison.

If the family fail to pay the fines, they could be jailed for up to seven months in the parents' case or less for the others.

Court officials and lawyers could not be reached on Saturday for comment.

Malaysia is a predominantly Muslim country, but has large non-Muslim ethnic Chinese and Indian minorities.

Seeking the advice of faith healers is common in Malaysia, but violent rituals are rare.

In 2008, a Malaysian couple were beaten to death by family members in a bizarre ritual to cure them of a smoking habit and illnesses.

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Aam Aadmi Party welcomes Telangana, says it will pave way for other 'smaller states'

MUMBAI: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has issued a press release stating that it had always maintained that a new state of Telangana should be announced without further delay. It has also emphasized that the new state must belong to all people living in the present region of Telangana, without any discrimination. The state must effectively protect the rights of minorities, install a mechanism to guarantee the security of residents from Andhra and Rayalaseema and provide for equitable sharing of water with Seemandhra.

Aam Aadmi Party believes that the creation of the separate state of Telangana will help end the bitterness and perceptions that have grown over the years among the Telugu-speaking people and pave the way for addressing the real issues and everyday concerns of ordinary people in both Telangana and Andhra.

AAP on principle supports the formation of smaller states in India as a significant step towards bringing the locus of political power closer to the people. Demands for making governments responsive and accountable, need for redressing administrative inefficiency, and popular aspiration for a better life have set the stage for a new phase which entails the probable reorganization of states.

08.21 | 0 komentar | Read More

Water in Sardar Sarovar dam touches highest 129.2 metre-mark

VADODARA: Water level in the Sardar Sarovar Dam at Kevadiya in Narmada district on Friday crossed the record 129.2 metre-mark and is expected to rise further owing to heavy rains in Narmada river catchment areas in neighbouring Madhya Pradesh.

According to N T Mathew, Executive Engineer of Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Limited (SSNL), this is the first time that Narmada dam has started overflowing at this height. Until now, the highest water level at the dam was 129.06 metres in 2012 and 127 metres in 2007, he said.

The official said that the water level may breach the 129.8 metre mark anytime after this evening following release from Indirasagar dam, Omkareshwar dam and others in MP. Mathew told that the dam is overflowing because of heavy rains in catchment areas of MP following which about 12 lakh cusecs of water is being released from various dams. Due to overflowing, the submersible bridge located at Gora near SS dam site has gone under water and has been closed for vehicular traffic, disconnecting over 20 nearby villages.

Also, several villages of Tilakwada and Nandod Talukas located on the banks of Narmada, have been alerted, said MS Ranjan Bala, additional district collector, Narmada district.

In Bharuch, on the Golden bridge, Narmada was flowing only four feet short of the danger mark. In view of this, 39 villages in three talukas of Jhagadiya, Ankleshwar and Bharuch have been alerted, officials said.

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Congress' Telangana decision lacks conviction, BJP says

HYDERABAD: Alleging that Congress is always guided by political interests, BJP on Friday demanded that the party get the Bill for formation of separate Telangana approved by Union Cabinet in the next few days.

Talking to reporters here, BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar demanded that the Centre expeditiously get the Bill on Telangana cleared by Union Cabinet in the next three-four days and then push for further necessary action.

"People have doubts about Congress actions, when they will actually do it. First Digvijay Singh (Congress AP in-charge) said four months, (Ghulam Nabi) Azad said five months, (home minister Sushil Kumar) Shinde said six months," he said.

"On December 9, 2009, they made an announcement that the process of formation of Telangana will be initiated. If they would have gone ahead with that plan, hundreds of lives (in Telangana) would have been saved. Let me also mention that Congress has not taken the decision with conviction. It has taken under political compulsion," he said.

Javadekar, who is also a member of Parliament, felt the Congress-led UPA government can bring the statehood Bill now if it has political will and that the law ministry would have a draft Bill.

"The government must declare how it would like to go ahead with building a new capital post-bifurcation and also announce a package for development of Rayalaseema region in view of its backwardness," Javadekar demanded.

Congress would have also assuaged the feelings of people of coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema and addressed their concerns about various things, including Hyderabad, if the ruling party had conviction, he maintained.

BJP, a strong votary of smaller states, believed in peaceful co-existence of two states (in AP) with mutual respect for feelings of others, Javadekar added.

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Cabinet okays 10% IOC disinvestment; to fetch Rs 3,695 crore

The author has posted comments on this articlePTI | Aug 2, 2013, 08.11PM IST

NEW DELHI: The Cabinet has cleared the proposal for sale of 10 per cent government stake in Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), which may fetch around Rs 3,695 crore to the exchequer at the current market price.

"The CCEA has approved the disinvestment of 10 per cent paid-up equity in the IOC. The disinvestment will be through Offer for Sale (OFS) method in the domestic market," an official statement said.

The IOC scrip closed at Rs 192.90, down 1.46 per cent on the BSE. At the current market price, the sale of the 19.16 crore shares would fetch Rs 3,695 crore to the exchequer.

Government holds a 78.92 per cent stake in IOC and following divestment the stake would come down to 68.92 per cent.

The disinvestment department has already selected five merchant bankers — Citibank, HSBC, UBS Securities, SBI Capital and JM Financial — to manage the stake sale of the oil major.

IOC, the nation's largest refiner, has a paid up equity capital of Rs 2,428 crore as on March 31, 2013. It posted a net profit of Rs 5,005 crore in 2012-13, up from Rs 3,954 crore in the previous year.

The company's profit peaked at Rs 10,221 crore in 2009-10. IOC sells fuel at below-market prices, for which it is partially compensated by the government.

It is primarily engaged in refining, transportation and marketing of petroleum products and petrochemicals with an installed refining capacity of 54.2 million metric tonnes.

The company is also now venturing into exploration and production of crude oil and distribution of natural gas.

The government's disinvestment target through PSU stake sales in the current financial year is Rs 40,000 crore.

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No merger with BJP, will strengthen own party: Yeddyurappa

MYSORE: KJP chief BS Yeddyurappa on Friday set to rest all the speculations on KJP merging with BJP or his joining BJP and said his goal is to build KJP in the state as a strong regional outfit and take on both Congress and BJP in the future elections.

But at the same time he said no party for him is "untouchable" in the elections and his option on KJP's alliance with other parties is open. "We have an open mind on alliance politics and KJP will take a decision which suits its interests best," he claimed, denying he has been approached by BJP leaders asking him to join the party. At present, as the KJP organizational set up is weak, it is talking about alliance politics; once KJP becomes strong it will chalk out its own action plan for elections, he said.

Yeddyurappa said he is seeking the support of various parties to win council by-polls and at an appropriate time he will disclose which party will support KJP. However, party has decided not to field its candidates in the by-poll to Lok sabha from Bangalore rural and Mandya constituencies. At an appropriate time he will decide to which party KJP should support in these two constituencies, Yeddyurappa added.

Later addressing a workers' meeting, BSY said country politics is at a crossroads and in all states regional outfits are strongly emerging on the political scene and people are also of the opinion that regional parties protect their interests better than national parties. "After 2014 general elections KJP will emerge on the national political scene," he disclosed, ruling out the merger of KJP with BJP. "My sincere appeal to workers is not get perturbed by reports of KJP-JP merger as all these are rumours," he reiterated.

Shoba Karandlaje ruled out KJP's merger with BJP. She said BJP cheated BSY and in the process people elected Congress. BSY never approached BJP with an application in his hand to join BJP.

"Yeddyurappa maybe indispensable for BJP and BJP is not indispensable for the former," she added.

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