NEWS IN BRIEF – APR 18, 2012
1. Antony acts on Gen’s plaint, fast-tracks arms acquisitions, Border Infra, Rly Lines To Get Boost For Quick Troop Mobility: New Delhi:
With an eye on both China and Pakistan, the government on Tuesday approved a slew of measures to fast-track acquisition of weapons as well as boost infrastructure development along the borders for faster mobility of troops and equipment. [TOI p9]
2. ED files 14 cases in NRHM scam: Lucknow: The Enforcement
Directorate (ED) on Tuesday filed 14 cases in connection with the National
Rural Health Mission (NRHM) scam being probed by the CBI. The ED
action will spell fresh trouble for former family welfare minister Babu Singh
Kushwaha and former principal secretary (family welfare) Pradeep Shukla,
apart from over 40 public servants, contractors, businessmen and
politicians. [TOI p9]
3. Nitish, Akhilesh back govt on Ganga,CMs Support Centre To Counter
Civil Society’s Call For Closure Of River Hydel Projects: New Delhi:
The UPA narrowly escaped another ‘Team Anna moment’ at the Prime
Minister-chaired National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA) meeting
on Tuesday, with CMs Nitish Kumar and Akhilesh Yadav coming in handy
to counter the agitated civil society representatives, who were demanding
immediate closure of hydroelectric projects on the tributaries of the Ganga
in Uttarakhand. [TOI p10]
4. Adarsh is state govt land: Probe : MUMBAI: The judicial commission
probing the Adarsh scam has ruled that the land on which the housing
society was built belongs to the Maharashtra government and wasn’t
reserved for Kargil war heroes or defence personnel.[HT p1]
5. Judiciary can’t regulate press freedom: Jethmalani: New Delhi:
Former law minister, MP and senior advocate Ram Jethmalani on
Tuesday told the Supreme Court that it would be unconstitutional to curtail
or regulate press freedom through judicially evolved guidelines because
Parliament alone was competent to undertake this exercise through
legislative route. [TOI p10]
6. CBI quizzes BEML chief for 8 hrs on Tatra scam: New Delhi:
Chairman and MD of Bharat Earth Movers Ltd (BEML) V R S Natarajan
was put through almost eight hours of grueling questioning by the CBI on
Tuesday over the alleged Tatra procurement scam. The agency also
questioned Ravi Rishi, owner of the Vectra group which supplies Tatra
trucks, and V Mohan, a former director of BEML. [TOI p10]
7. CAG indicts ministers for land misuse : MUMBAI: The Comptroller and
Auditor General (CAG) has in a report named education institutes
promoted by five politicians including two former chief ministers for
misusing government land. The country’s top accounting body also rapped
the Maharashtra government for offering unwarranted favours to Lavasa
Corporation’s Rs.2,800 crore hill city residential project near Pune.[HT
p10]
8. Singhvi taken off Cong duty roster, his ex-driver takes CD blame :
New Delhi: Even as the Congress today decided to take spokesman
Abhishek Manu Singhvi off the party office’s duty roster for the time being
in view of the CD controversy, his former driver claimed that he was the
one who had distributed a “distorted” video to take revenge on Singhvi.[IE
p1]
9. Azam khan picks man expelled from SP for Haj panel : Lucknow :In a
surprise move, Uttar Pradesh Minority Welfare Minister Azam Khan has
nominated Khwaja Haleem, who was expelled from the SP by Chief
Minister and state party president Akhilesh Yadav for anti-party activity
last month, as a member of the State Haj Committee.[IE p3]
10. 11 new judges apointed in Allahabad HC : Allahabad :The Allahabad
High Court on Tuesday got 11 new judges, taking its strength up to 82.
According to HC registry officials, all 11 were administered oath of office
by Chief Justice S R Alam on Tuesday. The newly appointed judges
include present HC Registrar Vishnu Chandra Gupta, Mohammad Tahir
(District and Sessions Judge, Allahabad), Mushaffey Ahmed (DSJ,
Bareilly), Arvind Kumar Tripathi (DSJ, Varanasi), Saeed-ur-Zaman-
Siddiqui (Trade Tax Tribunal, Lucknow) and Aditya Nath Singh (Judicial
Training Research Institute, Lucknow).[IE p4]
11. Bhatkal plot to kill Bhagwat : Ahmedabad : Mohd Abrar, the alleged
Indian Mujahideen (IM) operative who was wanted for the 2008
Ahmedabad serial blasts, has reportedly told interrogators from the
Maharashtra Police that Riyaz Bhatkal, alleged to be a top IM mastermind,
had hatched a plot to kill RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat.[IE p8]
12. Release MLA today, may withdraw cases against jailed Maoists :
govt : Bhubaneswar :Chances of the release of abducted BJD MLA
Jhina Hikaka from Maoist captivity brightened on Tuesday after the Orissa
government said it would consider withdrawal of cases against Maoists
and Chasi Mulia Adivasi Sangh (CMAS) activists in suitable instances if
the MLA is released by 5 pm on Wednesday.[IE p8]
13. Petrol price hike can’t wait any longer : OMCs : New Delhi : Fed up
with the Centre’s “indecision” on allowing an increase in fuel prices in the
face of the rising international crude prices, the oil marketing companies
(OMCs) on Tuesday virtually threatened to increase petrol prices by Rs.
8.04 a litre.[The Hindu p1]
14. JMM sticks to Sanjeev Kumar as its RS nominee : Ranchi :The
Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) on Tuesday re-nominated Sanjeev Kumar
as its candidate for the May 3 Rajya Sabha elections from the state. The
polls held on March 30 for two seats had been countermanded by the
Election Commission.[IE p4]
15. Gehlot for phone-tapping, Modi wants to mine Sir Creek : CM ideas
lost in the din : New Delhi :Naveen Patnaik argued for a resource tax on
mining companies, Ashok Gehlot wanted the power to tap phones in other
states, and Narendra Modi urged the Centre to exploit the hydrocarbon
reserves in the Sir Creek area. The suggestions offered by chief ministers
at Monday’s meeting on internal security were varied and innovative but
most got lost in the noise around the debate on federalism.
16. CAG slams Maha govt on Lavasa, ‘Project Driven By Pvt Interest’:
Mumbai: The Maharashtra government is under the scanner for lack of
transparency in facilitating planned hill city of Lavasa in state’s Pune
district. The CAG report has slammed the state “for failing to adhere to
regulations, amending existing laws for the project, disturbing the already
ecologically fragile environment and violating green norms’’. [TOI p16]
17. Exodus hits RLD top leader quits : Lucknow : There is trouble in Jat
land and an exodus is gradually building up in the Rashtriya Lok Dal. After
former MP Anuradha Choudhury parted ways with RLD president
Choudhary Ajit Singh on the eve of Lok Sabha elections, citing the alliance
with the Congress as a reason for her departure, it is now senior party
leader and former minister Kokab Hamid who has severed his ties with the
RLD.[AA p2]
18. Vibrant Gujarat just a myth, says Congress, With An Eye On State
Polls, Party Launches Attack: New Delhi:With an eye on the Gujarat
assembly election due at the end of the year, Congress is preparing to
chip away at chief minister Narendra Modi’s development plank by
challenging the “vibrant Gujarat” slogan. [TOI p19]
19. SP deploys MP Nanda to woo Didi on Prez polls: Kolkata: Former
West Bengal fisheries minister and Samajwadi Party’s Rajya Sabha MP
from UP Kiranmoy Nanda called on CM Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday to
discuss fielding a non-Congress, non-BJP candidate for the polls with
support from like-minded regional partners.[TOI p13]
20. TOP BJP leaders attend meet with RSS gen secy : New Delhi : The BJP
top brass on Tuesday met RSS general secretary Suresh (Bhaiyyaji) Joshi
to discuss issues, including recent Assembly poll debacle, Rajya Sabha
seat row in Jharkhand including party’s earlier decision to back an
independent candidate rather than field its own and organisational
matters.[AA p2]
21. Saini’s appointment : Court puts Punjab, CBI on notice : Chandigarh
:Punjab’s attempts to scuttle the move of a human rights organisation to
challenge IPS officer Sumedh Singh Saini’s appointment as the Director
General of Police today failed to find favour with the Punjab and Haryana
High Court.[The Tribune p1 ]
22. BJP strikes gold in MCD elections, Cong stunned, Sweeps 2 Of 3
Civic Bodies, Is Largest In Third: New Delhi: The BJP struck gold on
Tuesday in the MCD (Municipal Corporation of Delhi) elections, winning
two of the three civic bodies and emerging close to a majority in the third.
The results indicated that voters were simply not impressed by the
Congress party and chief minister Sheila Dikshit’s promise of
“development and good governance”. [TOI p1]
23. RBI cuts rates, home & car loans to be cheaper, Move To Rev Up
Economy, Push Spending: Mumbai: Home and auto loans are expected
to become cheaper with the Reserve Bank of India cutting interest rates
on Tuesday for the first time in three years by a morethan-expected half a
percentage point aimed at boosting the sagging economy. [TOI p1]
24. Now, Trinamool red flags digital TV deadline: New Delhi: Mamata
Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress appears set to open another front against
the Centre — this time over the June 30 deadline for changing the delivery
of cable TV to digital. West Bengal government’s urban development
minister Firhad Hakim claimed here on Tuesday that the deadline was
fixed “without consulting states”. [TOI p1]
25. Voda notice to govt on tax law: Mumbai: Telecom giant Vodafone
stepped up its offensive against Indian authorities on the Rs 11,000 crore
tax dispute and threatened to launch arbitration proceedings against the
proposal to tax all international mergers by amending the law
retrospectively. [TOI p1]
26. CAG: Land violations cost Maharashtra 951 crore: Mumbai: The
comptroller and auditor general (CAG) in its report for 2010-11 has said
misuse of land in Maharashtra has resulted in a revenue loss of Rs 400
crore. The amount is the highest cited by CAG in the last six years of the
state’s auditing history. The total for 2005-06 to 2009-10 is Rs 551 crore.
[TOI p1]
27. Sun sets in the East for Sheila’s Cong, Party Bags Only 19 Seats of
64: New Delhi: Chief minister Sheila Dikshit’s ambitious project of
trifurcating MCD and her decision to carve out a separate municipality –
smaller than the North and South corporations – with 64 wards in the east
has backfired very badly. [TOI p3]
28. BJP rides anti-Cong wave, Beats Rebels, Infighting; Banks On
Women, Fresh Candidates: New Delhi: As the ballot boxes opened on
Tuesday morning to see how the capital had voted to give shape to the
three new civic bodies, an anti-Congress wave became evident across
wards. BJP soared high despite over 85 rebels and much infighting and
resentment among workers over ticket distribution. The party also
managed to fight of anti-incumbency as the ruling dispensation in unified
MCD.[TOI p4]
29. People angry with Congress: Gadkari: New Delhi: Buoyed by the
results in the Delhi civic elections, BJP chief Nitin Gadkari himself
addressed the media on Tuesday to instill confidence among party
workers demoralized since the recent hiding in the Uttar Pradesh
polls.[TOI p4]
30. Reflects country’s anti-Congress mood : New Delhi :The Bharatiya
Janata Party believes that its victory in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi
elections is a reflection of the anti-Congress mood across the country and
hopes to build on the momentum for the Delhi Assembly elections due by
early next year.[The Hindu p1]
31. Bidhuri’s NCP wins six wards in hung South Corporation: New Delhi
:With the Bharatiya Janata Party falling quite short of the halfway mark in
the South Delhi Corporation area, the focus is now on the Nationalist
Congress Party whose six candidates have won from this part of the city,
and whose Delhi Election Committee chairman Ramvir Singh Bidhuri
ensured the victory of all four candidates backed by him in Badarpur
Assembly segment and one in Harkesh Nagar in the adjoining
Tughlakabad segment.[The Hindu p2]
32. HC denies Jaya Jaitley permission to visit Fernandes : New Delhi
:Former Defence Minister George Fernandes’ close political associate
Jaya Jaitley was on Tuesday denied permission by the Delhi High Court to
visit the ailing leader.[Pioneer Daily p2]
33. Lokpal is a desirable act, says CVC : New Delhi :As political parties
continue to debate the Lokpal Bill, Central Vigilance Commissioner
Pradeep Kumar on Tuesday said it is a “desirable” act to curb
corruption.[Pioneer Daily p4]
34. BJP keeps MCD, says price rise, graft big poll factors : New Delhi : In
an election that many saw as a referendum on the UPA and Sheila Dikshit
governments’ inability to control corruption and price rise, the Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday retained control of the Municipal
Corporation of Delhi (MCD), winning 137 of its 272 seats.[HT p1]
35. ‘BJP victory is a referendum on Sheila govt’: New Delhi: With the
BJP’s resounding victory in the municipal elections, state party president
Vijender Gupta has silenced all his critics. Against all odds — trifurcation
of MCD, a large number of dissidents and anti-incumbency — BJP has
managed to get a clear majority in the North corporation and defeat
Congress in chief minister Sheila Dikshit’s bastion, east Delhi. [TOI p5]
36. Rebels set to play kingmaker, Support Of Independents Crucial In
South Corporation: New Delhi: Independents and smaller parties played
an important role in shaping the municipal poll outcome this time.
Together, these two groups won 57 seats, which is more than a fourth of
the number won by Congress and BJP together. Independents, mostly
rebels from Congress and BJP, won 24 seats — four in North Corporation,
14 in South Corporation and six in East Corporation. BSP won 15 seats,
followed by Rashtriya Lok Dal (5) and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP)
winning six seats. [TOI p5]
37. SP cashes in on UP magic, opens tally with two seats : New Delhi
:The charm of the resounding victory it had scored in the recent Uttar
Pradesh assembly rubbed on to Samajwadi Party’s (SP) prospects in the
Delhi civic polls with the UPbased party opening its account in the national
Capital with two seats.[HT p7]
LEGAL/CRIME NEWS
38. Alert after Ayodhya judge gets threat: Faizabad: Security in Ayodhya
was beefed up after the district judge here received an anonymous letter
threatening to blow up the Ram Janmabhoomi complex, police said on
Tuesday. The handwritten letter was received by the office of district judge
Ram Vraksh Yadav through post on Monday. Cops are yet to obtain all the
facts regarding the origin of the letter.[TOI p15]
EDITORIAL / OPINION
39. NCTC can’t work without States support : Rekha Saxena :A
backgrounder to the current controversy on the Union Government’s
intention to establish the National Counter-Terrorism Centre in pursuance
of the report of the MM Punchhi Commission on Centre-State relations
must include an outline of extraordinary and anti-terror laws on the statute
book. [Pioneer Daily p9]
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
40. NRI frontrunner in NYC civic polls: Chennai: The little-known
Vadukachimathil hamlet in the southern district of Tirunelveli in Tamil
Naduis eagerly awaiting the New York City council elections. They hardly
stand to gain, but a victory for son of the soil, 36-year-old Hill Krishnan aka
Thirumalai Krishnan, who is contesting for the 51-member council of New
York City, would be something for them to boast. [TOI p22]
41. Pak minister warns of Taliban push into India, offers help:
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan interior minister Rehman Malik on Tuesday
cautioned India that it should watch out for a surge in extremist activities
amid fresh intelligence that the Taliban could be planning to enter the
country.[HT p1]
