Man chained for 20 years: NHRC asks Odisha to file status report

NEW DELHI: Concerned over the report of a mentally challenged man chained for 20 years in Odisha, the National Human Rights Commission on Monday asked the state government to file a status report within four weeks.

Terming it "violation of human rights of the mentally ill person", the commission asked the state chief secretary and the district magistrate of Jagatsinghpur to submit a report within four weeks.

"The commission has observed that the content of press report, if true, raise a serious issue of violation of human rights of the mentally ill person," a NHRC statement said.

Commission's special rapporteur Damodar Sarangi forwarded the media report about 27-year-old Sanjaya Gudiya of village Kiyada of Jagatsinghpur district allegedly chained by his parents for last 20 years.

According to the report, Gudiya is mentally ill and his parents were unable to provide medical treatment to their son.

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PIL in Allahabad high court for supervising probe against Salman Khurshid's trust

LUCKNOW: A public interest litigation (PIL) was filed in the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court on Monday requesting the court to supervise the inquiry being done by the economic offence wing (EOW) of the Uttar Pradesh (UP) police into the alleged anomalies in the working of a trust headed by union law minister Salman Khurshid.

The PIL has been filed by social activist Nutan Thakur in which she has demanded registration of a case on the basis of the charges levelled against the Zakir Hussain Trust run by Khurshid and his wife Louise. In the PIL, Thakur expressed doubt over free and fair inquiry into the allegations under present political circumstances, hence she has asked the court to supervise the probe. The PIL admitted and will be heard on October 17.

The PIL was filed even as the EOW began its probe into the alleged misappropriation of funds by Dr. Zakir Hussain Memorial Trust. The agency has started collecting documents at various levels, including state, divisional and district headquarters as a part of the investigation. Four teams, three under the Kanpur sector and one under the Meerut sector, have been constituted for probe in 17 districts where irregularities are suspected. Significantly, the order of probe was issued on July 3 but EOW has reacted now when the matter has snowballed into huge controversy.

Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav hit out at India Against Corruption (IAC) activist Arvind Kejriwal for raising questions over a free and fair probe into the case.

"So, how can we comment before the investigations are complete, and how can one say the inquiry is fair or not before the report is made public?" Akhilesh Yadav said.

He said that the investigation in connection with this case began when the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) government was in power in the state and SP government has continued the inquiry.

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No question of isolating Salman Khurshid within the govt: Ambika Soni

NEW DELHI: Backing Salman Khurshid, two senior Union ministers on Monday said there was no question of the law minister being isolated within the government following allegations of misappropriation of funds by an NGO headed by him.

"There is no question of isolation or not backing (Khurshid)," information and broadcasting minister Ambika Soni told reporters here after a meeting of the Group of Ministers on Media.

Khurshid, who also attended the meeting, refused to answer any questions and left waving a thumbs up sign to waiting reporters.

"There is no question of distancing. He (Khurshid) has made it clear that there is nothing wrong. There is no question of distancing (from him)," health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said.

Soni said she had nothing more to add to what Khurshid had said at a press conference yesterday.

Social justice minister Mukul Wasnik had made a statement on the Dr Zakir Hussain Memorial Trust and the state funds it has been receiving since 2003, she said.

"As far as recent issues are concerned, an investigation is being conducted by the Uttar Pradesh government," Soni said.

She appeared to brush aside activist-turned-politician Arvind Kejriwal's latest set of allegations against Khurshid.

"I cannot take on all the questions Kejriwal is making round the clock. He has been making quite a few charges and changing the charges by the hour," Soni said.

Soni also indicated that the charges made by Kejriwal were non-serious and were not backed by evidence.

"It depends on what inquiry you are talking about. If people having sit-ins suddenly start making charges, there must be some proof of it, some gravitas," she said when it was pointed that that Congress too had demanded resignations of BJP ministers facing inquiries.

Soni said that the Uttar Pradesh government was conducting a probe into the issue and the Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment was abreast of the developments.

Soni said Khurshid has a reputation which was something to be proud of and has a legacy which most would like to have.

"He himself has come clean and decided to take the legal course forward. So, when a person is not afraid of anything,he has all the answers to all the charges being made. He has said that now his lawyers will take care of the rest," Soni said.

The GoM also discussed the Supreme Court's refusal to stay the government's decision to allow FDI in retail.

Soni said government's programmes on sensitising the people of its decisions would continue.

The I&B minister said the issue related to a PIL against use of UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi's pictures in government advertisements was also discussed.

The issue is expected to come up for hearing in a court on October 18 and the government has kept all the documents in this regard ready for submission in court, she said.

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US duo Roth and Shapley win Nobel Prize in Economics

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences cited the two economists for "the theory of stable allocations and the practice of market design".

STOCKHOLM: Americans Alvin Roth and Lloyd Shapley were awarded the Nobel economics prize on Monday for research that helps explain the market processes at work when doctors are assigned to hospitals, students to schools and human organs for transplant to recipients.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences cited the two economists for "the theory of stable allocations and the practice of market design".

Roth, 60, is a professor at Harvard University in Boston. Shapley, 89, is a professor emeritus at University of California Los Angeles.

"This year's prize concerns a central economic problem: how to match different agents as well as possible," the academy said.

Shapley made early theoretical contributions to the field of study, and Roth took it further by applying it to the market for US doctors.

"Even though these two researchers worked independently of one another, the combination of Shapley's basic theory and Roth's empirical investigations, experiments and practical design has generated a flourishing field of research and improved the performance of many markets," the academy said.

The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences was the last of the 2012 Nobel awards to be announced.

It's not technically a Nobel Prize, because unlike the five other awards it wasn't established in the will of Alfred Nobel, a Swedish industrialist also known for inventing dynamite.

The economics prize was created by the Swedish central bank in Nobel's memory in 1968, and has been handed out with the other prizes ever since. Each award is worth 8 million Swedish kronor, or about $1.2 million.

Last year's economics prize went to US economists Thomas Sargent and Christopher Sims for describing the cause-and-effect relationship between the economy and government policy.

The 2012 Nobel Prizes in medicine, physics chemistry and literature and the Nobel Peace Prize were announced last week. All awards will be handed out on December 10, the anniversary of Nobel's death in 1896.

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PM's Hyderabad visit brings K Chandrashekrara Rao, M Kodandaram closer

HYDERABAD: In the premise of the PM's Hyderabad visit, the warring Telangana protagonists are mending fences and TJAC chairman M Kodandaram and TRS chief K Chandrashekrara Rao spoke over phone, on Sunday, for the first time after they had fallen apart following differences over organizing Telangana agitation. And the sources said the two leaders would meet recently to chalk out further course action, while they agreed upon staging a token protest on Tuesday on the arrival of Manmohan Singh.

A highly placed source in Telangan Political Joint Action Committee (T-JAC) said Kodandarama and KCR had almost patch up and they had to meet on Sunday, but the meeting didn't happen because of the demise of a KCR's relative.

"The differences have been ironed out and it is decided to take forward the movement under KCR's leadership. Kodandaram had called him and the two discussed about the token protest on the PM's visit, while the long term plans are to be planned in an official meeting," said the source.

According to KCR's plan, the Telangana protagonists including TRS leaders and TJAC activists will watch the UPA government till last week of October as the TRS president is said to have expecting the reshuffle of the union cabinet around that time and a forward movement on Telangana following the exercise.

"We are expecting a positive dynamics towards the end of this month, if it is otherwise we launch a massive agitation," said B Vinod Kumar, a politburo member of TRS.

As November 1 happens to be the state formation day of AP, apart from observing a black day, the TRS is planning to re-launch the T-movement in the month of November and steering committee is expected to be convened in the presence of KCR prior to it.

On his part, Kodandaram said, "We are united and we will put an united fight to realize Telangana as the union government is not honest on the issue. The government has gone back on its promise and we have to fight it out."

On Tuesday's protest, he said black balloons would be released on air as a mark of protest against the prime minister's procrastination on Telangana. While the TJAC activists will release the balloons at India Park, the TRS MLAs will stage a sit-in at the venue.

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India, Bangladesh to hold Home Secretary-level talks from tomorrow

NEW DELHI: Cooperation in combating terror, repatriation of ULFA leader Anup Chetia and early conclusion of an extradition treaty will top the agenda at the two-day India-Bangladesh Home Secretary-level talks in Dhaka from tomorrow.

Home Secretary R K Singh will also discuss with his Bangladeshi counterpart Manjur Hussain issues related to infiltration, smuggling of goods and human trafficking, official sources said.

During his visit, Singh will also travel to Akhaura located along the border with Tripura before returning to Dhaka for continuing his dialogue with the Bangladeshi delegation.

At Akhaura, both the sides will review the work of the construction of a new Land Customs Station (LCS) which is being set up by India.

Both the sides will also discuss issues related to smuggling of narcotics, identification of vulnerable illegal crossing spots along the border and progress of confidence building measures between the border guarding forces and civilian authorities of the two countries.

A meeting of Joint Working Group at the level of officials was held today to do spadework for the secretary- level talks.

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India, Bangladesh to hold home secretary-level talks from tomorrow

NEW DELHI: Cooperation in combating terror, repatriation of ULFA leader Anup Chetia and early conclusion of an extradition treaty will top the agenda at the two-day India-Bangladesh Home Secretary-level talks in Dhaka from tomorrow.

Home Secretary R K Singh will also discuss with his Bangladeshi counterpart Manjur Hussain issues related to infiltration, smuggling of goods and human trafficking, official sources said.

During his visit, Singh will also travel to Akhaura located along the border with Tripura before returning to Dhaka for continuing his dialogue with the Bangladeshi delegation.

At Akhaura, both the sides will review the work of the construction of a new Land Customs Station (LCS) which is being set up by India.

Both the sides will also discuss issues related to smuggling of narcotics, identification of vulnerable illegal crossing spots along the border and progress of confidence building measures between the border guarding forces and civilian authorities of the two countries.

A meeting of Joint Working Group at the level of officials was held today to do spadework for the secretary- level talks.

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Mumbai National Security Guard hub building develops cracks; commandos forced to exit

NEW DELHI: In a setback to operational preparedness of NSG commandos based in Mumbai, the counter- terror unit has been forced to abandon its newly built concrete premises as cracks were found in the structure, rendering it unsafe for use.

A squad of 241 'black cat' troopers and support staff, deployed at the newly created hub in the western metropolis to enable the commandos to take swift counter-terror and counter- hijack missions, has been left with no choice but to occupy "semi-permanent and pre-fabricated" accomodation in the same complex, officials said.

The Mumbai National Security Guard (NSG) hub is located in Marol in suburban Andheri on a 23-acre land given by the Maharashtra government for stationing the crack commandos.

"The commandos are back to square one as the building has been declared unsafe for living following the appearance of big cracks. They are now living in semi-permanent structures even as they have to stay continuously alert to undertake any operation anytime," they said.

The building, which has developed cracks, was meant for housing, training and other operational requirements of NSG commandos. The facility was inaugurated in February this year by then Home Minister P Chidambaram, three years after the hub was conceived in the aftermath of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks of 2008.

The NSG headquarters here, according to the officials, has now rushed to Mumbai a team of engineers drawn from IIT- Roorkee, architectural experts and force officials to study the 'big cracks' that developed soon after its inauguration earlier this year.

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Gunmen kill 20 worshippers at mosque in northern Nigeria

KADUNA: Gunmen opened fire on Muslim worshippers as they were leaving a mosque in northern Nigeria on Sunday, killing at least 20 people, a local official said.

The attack happened in a remote village called Dogo Dawa, in Kaduna state, said Abdullahi Muhammad, the traditional ruler and councillor of Birnin Gwari, a local government area next door to the village.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack. Like much of northern Nigeria, Kaduna is plagued by an insurgency led by radical Islamist sect Boko Haram. They usually attack security forces, government officials or Christians, but have hit Muslim clerics and mosques in the past, especially ones that do not follow their hardline brand of Islam.

Kaduna also lies close to Nigeria's volatile "Middle Belt", where Nigeria's mostly Muslim north and largely Christian south meet, and where tensions over land and ethnicity often erupt into violence.

But Abdulladhi said the attack was most likely carried out by a local criminal gang.

"We are suspecting a reprisal attack by gangs of armed robbers who lost some of their members after a recent exchange of fire with the villagers and the vigilantes," he said.

"The village had been terrorized by an armed group operating from camps in the forest. These armed men mostly attack villages and motorists along the busy Kaduna to Lagos highway."

The state police commissioner Olufemi Adenaike confirmed the incident, but said he could not yet confirm the death toll.

The Islamist insurgency in northern Nigeria and weapons flooding in from its neighbours on the threshold of the Sahara have aggravated levels of violence in the region. Armed robberies and local disputes degenerating into deadly shootouts are increasingly common across the impoverished north.

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Manipur rebels call for strike, government sounds alert

IMPHAL: The central government has sounded a security alert in Manipur about possible terror strikes in view of the general strike seven powerful secessionist outfits have called, an official said Sunday.

"There is a possibility of the rebels attacking security forces to prove their strength. Therefore, we have sounded a security alert to all our forces. But we are ready to meet any eventuality," Imphal West district police chief Konsam Jayanta Singh told IANS.

The Coordination Committee - an umbrella grouping of seven major separatist outfits in Manipur - fighting for an independent state for the majority Meitei community in the state, has called for an 18-hour general strike starting from Oct 14 midnight. The outfits are protesting the erstwhile princely state of Manipur's merger agreement with the Indian Union 63 years ago.

Manipur joined the Union of India in October 1949 after a merger agreement was signed between the government of India and the then Maharaja of Manipur Sep 21, 1949, which came into force from Oct 15, 1949.

More than 5,000 security personnel, including from Manipur Police, the army, Assam Rifles and other central paramilitary forces, have been pressed into service to thwart any untoward incident during the general strike.

In the last few months, rebel groups have triggered over 20 improvised explosive device (IED) blasts, killing and injuring security forces and civilians.

There are more than 20 rebel armies active in Manipur, a state bordering Myanmar, with demands ranging from secession to greater autonomy.

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