NEWS IN BRIEF – MAY 01, 2012
1. BJP to oppose Cong candidate for President, Ready To Back Kalam If SP Endorses Him:
New Delhi: BJP on Monday opposed Congress’s bid for a consensus over the presidential elections, saying that it would not support any Congress candidate, but reached out to the non-UPA players for an understanding. [TOI p1]
2. Ansari, Pranab Cong Choices for President, BJP says no to both
choices presented by coalition leader to UPA constituents: NEW
DELHI : Congress has asked its coalition partners to choose either vice-
president Hamid Ansari or finance minister Pranab Mukherjee as the
UPA’s presidential candidate. With BJP ruling out support to any
Congress nominee, a contest is likely for the presidential poll. [ET p2]
3. Karunanidhi : A few names figured in talks with Antony : Chennai :A
day after he held discussions with the Congress emissary, Defence
Minister A K Antony, on the potential candidates for the Presidential
elections, UPA ally DMK’s leader M Karunanidhi said a few names were
indeed considered during the meeting on Sunday but refused to name
them.[IE p2]
4. Patil cleared record mercy pleas, half commuted to life : New Delhi :It
was at her prodding that the Home Ministry promptly did a “review’’ that
has resulted in President Pratibha Patil — as she ends her tenure —
having cleared a record number of mercy petitions.[IE p4]
5. Maha SP leader Azmi guilty of hate speech: Mumbai: A local court on
Monday convicted Samajwadi Party (SP) state president and MLA Abu
Asim Azmi and four others for making inflammatory speeches to incite
communal violence during a rally in 2000. Metropolitan magistrate
Sanjashree Gharat of the Mazgaon court sentenced Azmi, Waqar unnissa
Ansari, Lalbahadur Singh, Ehsanullah Khan and Ali M Shamsi to
6. two years’ imprisonment and fined them Rs 11,000 each. [TOI p1]
7. India to get more info on Swiss a/cs: New Delhi: India and Switzerland
have agreed on a more liberal interpretation of the identity rules under the
Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement, which will help Indian tax
authorities get more information on those illegally stashing wealth in Swiss
bank accounts. [TOI p10]
8. ‘Money power’ in polls yet to be tamed, says Quraishi : New Delhi :
Chief Election Commissioner S.Y. Quraishi on Monday admitted that the
use of money power was yet to be tamed in polls and stressed on the
need for meeting new challenges which undermine democracy, election
and voting.[The Hindu p9]
9. Vahanvati re-appointed Attorney-General : New Delhi : President
Pratibha Patil on Monday re-appointed Goolam E. Vahanvati Attorney-
General for two more years with effect from June 8. Mr. Vahanvati, 63,
was appointed to the post in 2009 for three years, and his term ends in the
forenoon of June 8.[The Hindu p9]
10. 2G: CBI to close Shourie probe: New Delhi: Almost 16 months after the
Central Bureau of Investigation registered a preliminary enquiry (PE) into
2G spectrum allocation during the tenure of telecom ministers since 2001,
the agency has decided to close the probe against BJP leader Arun
Shourie as it has not found any irregularities during his tenure. [TOI p10]
11. 103 killed as ferry, boat sink in Assam: Guwahati: A double-decker
ferry carrying over 250 passengers keeled over in a storm over the
Brahmaputra on Monday evening in Assam’s Dhubri district, with the
police confirming 103 of them drowned and around 150 missing till reports
last came in. [TOI p1]
12. Govt faces Oppn fire, Pawar watches from a distance : New Delhi
:Lok Sabha MPS led by Sharad Yadav on Monday demanded the
government takes immediate steps on a war-footing to address problems
faced by farmers due to patchy policies, slow procurement in face of a
bumper crop and a lack of storage space.[HT p13]
13. RS polls : J’Khand allies snub Gadkari : Patna :Jharkhand’s political
crisis arising from a severely-fractured Assembly struggling for the Rajya
Sabha polls deepened on Monday as the BJP-led coalition government’s
two allies — the JMM and the AJSU — snubbed BJP national president
Nitin Gadkari’s invitation for a meeting in Delhi.[AA p2]
14. BJP open to non-Congress candidate idea : New Delhi : On whether a
non-Congress candidate, like former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, would
be acceptable as a presidential candidate, Leader of the Opposition in the
Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj (BJP) said the BJP was open to the idea. “We
can have an understanding with non-Congress parties where we support
their presidential candidate and they support our vice-presidential
candidate,” she said, adding, “We will contest to win. We will work out the
arithmetic.”[AA p2]
15. Tweak statute to shield SC, ST promotion quota: Maya : New Delhi:
The Question Hour is sacrosanct and chairman of the Rajya Sabha is very
particular about its inviolability. But BSP supremo Mayawati on Monday
had her way as the chair bowed to her keenness to raise the Supreme
Court’s quashing of quota in promotion in Uttar Pradesh before the
Question Hour could begin. [TOI p12]
16. Adarsh scam: Ex-CM Chavan in dock for laundering: Mumbai: The
Enforcement Directorate (ED) has registered a case of money laundering
against former Maharashtra CM Ashok Chavan and the 13 others named
by the CBI as the accused in the Adarsh scam. [TOI p1]
17. CBI to complete Adarsh probe by June 15; court takes ED to task :
Mumbai: Enforcement Directorate counsel R V Desai on Monday
admitted before the Bombay high court that there is a prima facie case
under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act against the Adarsh scam
accused only when the bench, led by Justice Sharad Bobde, said, “You
must leave the conclusion to the courts.” [TOI p14]
18. PC bats for NCTC ahead of CMs’ meet : New Delhi: Ahead of the May
5 meeting of chief ministers, home minister P Chidambaram on Monday
raised the pitch for setting up of the National Counter-Terrorism Centre
(NCTC), arguing that such a body would help deal with hostage situations
better. [TOI p12]
19. Naxal Hostages States’ Headache: PC, NCTC would help tackle such
issues in the long run, says home minister: NEW DELHI : Home
minister P Chidambaram has dismissed suggestions that the Centre did
not adequately respond to the hostage crises in Odisha and Chhattisgarh.
He said dealing with such exigencies in Naxal-hit states was primarily the
responsibility of state governments.[ET p2]
20. 2 key edu Bills passed by RS as Sibal tones down : New Delhi: With
HRD minister Kapil Sibal at his conciliatory best to disarm the opposition’s
indignation against his legislative agenda, the Rajya Sabha on Monday
passed two key Bills to enable students of Indian Institutes of Science
Education and Research get their degrees and give eight new IITs their
status through an Act of Parliament. [TOI p12]
21. Cash-for-vote scam: Court raps Delhi cops: New Delhi: A trial court,
hearing the 2008 cash-for-vote scam case, on Monday pulled up Delhi
Police for the delay in supplying the transcript of the CD of the sting
operation to the accused. [TOI p13]
22. Abducted collector could be freed by tomorrow, Interlocutors
Representing Govt, Maoists Agree To Form Panel To Resolve Cases
Against Reds: New Delhi: Hopes for the release of abducted Sukma
collector Alex Paul Menon brightened on Monday after interlocutors
appointed by the Chhattisgarh government and those named by the
Maoists agreed on setting up a committee to review all cases, including
those of Maoists, against whom a probe or prosecution is pending. [TOI
p9]
23. BJP MLA booked in ’11 riots case : Dehradun: Uttarakhand police on
Monday booked BJP MLA Rajkumar Thukral for fanning communal
violence in Udham Singh Nagar on October 2, 2011, in which four people
were killed and 35 others, including 12 cops, injured. [TOI p9]
24. Telenor writes off 3.5k cr India assets: New Delhi: Norwegian telecom
major Telenor on Monday wrote off its remaining fixed and intangible
assets in India worth Norwegian Krone 3.9 billion (over $680 million or Rs
3,500 crore) saying “the uncertainty has increased significantly” following
the Supreme Court’s ruling in February to cancel Unitech Wireless’s 22
licences and the recent Trai recommendations on the re-auction of 2G
licences and spectrum. [TOI p1]
25. Reality Check for Rahul in Amethi, Cong workers tell Gandhi of
brokers; he promises to revamp the party in 3 months: LUCKNOW :
Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi was back in Amethi and Rae
Bareli to listen to voters, nearly two months after the Congress debacle in
Uttar Pradesh. Party workers were upfront and blunt in their criticism of
the Congress campaign style and the coterie around the Gandhi family
members, blocking out people from meeting their leaders. [ET p2]
26. New Divorce Law Loaded Against Women: Jaitley: NEW DELHI : A bill
seeking to make ‘irretrievable breakdown of marriage’ as a ground for
divorce appeared to be in trouble with MPs from within the ruling side as
well as the Opposition attacking the changes. [ET p2]
27. Clear SP Mukherjee Marg of obstructions: HC tells MCD: New Delhi:
Pulling up the MCD for non-compliance of its order, the Delhi high court on
Monday directed the agency for immediate removal of obstructions from
the lane marked for non-motorized vehicles(NMVs) on S P Mukherjee
Marg. [TOI p3]
28. No CWG flats for MPs, says Kamal Nath: New Delhi: The government
on Monday ruled out MPs being allotted the prestigious and high-cost
Commonwealth Games flats near the Akshardham complex in Delhi. [TOI
p4]
29. Cong, BJP spar over bailout for new civic bodies: New Delhi: The
Congress-led state government on Monday assailed BJP for the poor
financial condition of the civic bodies. In her quest to overcome the
debacle in the municipal polls and lay the groundwork for next year’s
assembly elections, chief minister Sheila Dikshit fielded three ministers to
counter BJP’s claim of the state’s Rs 1831 crore loan to the municipal
bodies being an “eyewash”. [TOI p5]
30. RTI activist gives ‘bribe’ CD to Speaker : New Delhi : Right to
Information activist has submitted a video CD to Lok Sabha Speaker
Meira Kumar, in which a BJP Lok Sabha MP has been allegedly shown
receiving cash and in return promising land to a private party.[HT p15]
31. Telangana disrupts Lok Sabha again : New Delhi : Pro-Telangana
chorus and the anger over Government’s failure to address farmers’ issue
dominated the Lok Sabha on Monday. The Government’s refusal to spell
out its stand on Telangana and complete silence on storage and
procurement problems faced by farmers led to a chaos in the House.
Slogan shouting, exchange of heated words and boycott was the order of
the day.[Pioneer Daily p5]
32. JD-U leader slams BJP for dumping Laxman : New Delhi : Even as
former BJP president Bangaru Laxman resigned from the party’s national
executive committee, leader of ally Janata Dal (United) Shivanand Tiwari
batted for him, attacking the BJP instead.[HT p15]
33. Ban & Seize: Cong MP Bill out to gag media : New Delhi :The private
member’s Bill that Rahul Gandhi’s close aide and Congress MP
Meenakshi Natarajan was scheduled to introduce in Parliament last week
lays down a draconian set of rules clearly aimed to gag and threaten the
media in the name of “protecting national interest”.[IE p1]
34. In sudden U-turn, Maoists agree to free Menon : Raipur : In an
unexpected U-turn, after five rounds of talks, negotiators from the Maoist
side are said to have agreed to ensure the “safe release” of collector Alex
Paul Menon “within 48 hours, that is, on or before May 2”.[IE p1]
35. For CAG, a lakh is a crore : New Delhi :For all the rigour that the
Comptroller and Auditor General demands from others, an embarrassing
oversight on its part has led to an inaccurate and outrageously inflated
figure finding its way into a report tabled in Parliament.[IE p1]
36. CP Joshi plays Union Minister of Rajasthan Road Transport : New
Delhi :Roads in Rajasthan are getting a lot of attention under Road
Transport and Highways Minister C P Joshi, the Lok Sabha member from
the state’s Bhilwara seat. Over the past year, Rajasthan has got more
national highways than any other state, and nearly 50 per cent more than
the next biggest beneficiary.[IE p1]
37. Councillors want more financial powers: New Delhi: The councillors of
North Delhi Municipal Corporation took oath of office on Monday as the
new civic body held its first meeting. The first annual budget was adopted
by the House and approved by the director of local bodies.[TOI p5]
38. Meera Aggarwal elected North Mayor : New Delhi : Senior BJP
councillor, Mrs Meera Aggarwal, and BJP councillor from Mundaka, Mr
Azad Singh, were elected unopposed as mayor and Deputy Mayor of the
newly created North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC).[The
Statesman p3]
LEGAL/CRIME NEWS
39. Govt sent 75 complaints against judges in past yr : New Delhi : At
least 75 complaints of corruption and misconduct against serving judges
of the Supreme Court and high courts were forwarded in the last one year
for “appropriate action” by the government to the Chief Justice of India
(CJI) and chief justices of concerned high courts.[HT p1]
40. Nupur Talwar sent to jail, trial begins on Thursday, Sessions Court
To Hear Her Bail Appeal Today: New Delhi: More than 14 months after
she was made an accused in the murder of her daughter Aarushi and
domestic help Hemraj, Dr Nupur Talwar was sent to Ghaziabad’s Dasna
jail as an under trial on Monday. Nupur surrendered before the designated
CBI court in Ghaziabad in the morning. Special judicial magistrate Preeti
Singh immediately took her into judicial custody. [TOI p1]
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
41. Qaida gets a new chief in Pakistan, 30-Yr-Old Farman Shinwari’s
Brothers Were Involved In Terror Acts In J&K: New Delhi: Al-Qaida in
Pakistan has a new chief, Farman Shinwari, Pakistani daily The News
International has reported. A few of his brothers have “fought” in J&K with
the erstwhile Harkat-ul-Ansar (later renamed Harkatul-Mujahideen).[TOI
p18]
