NEWS IN BRIEF – FEB 23, 2013
1. Centre sent 4 alerts to Andhra just before Hyderabad blasts, Last
Warning Issued 8 Hrs Prior To Strike: New Delhi: Faced with
allegations of intelligence failure, home minister Sushilkumar Shinde told
Parliament on Friday that the Centre had issued aseries of alerts to
authorities in Hyderabad about a possible terrorist reprisal against the
hanging of Afzal Guru. The first advisory went out on Saturday, alerting
states on the threat issued by the United Jihad Council to launch a fresh
terror campaign against India. [TOI p1]
2. Cong kicked out of comfort zone, Post-Guru Relief Turns Short-
Lived: New Delhi: The Hyderabad blasts have shattered the comfort that
the Congress drew from the hanging of Afzal Guru, relieved at having
taken out a key issue from the BJP menu that could have been used
against the UPA. [TOI p10]
3. Kasab, Afzal hanging will revive jihad in J&K: Taliban: Islamabad:
Within weeks of US-led Nato announcing its withdrawal plans from
Afghanistan by 2014, the Punjabi Taliban, which works under Tehrik-e-
Taliban Pakistan, vowed that the next battlefield for all ‘mujahideen’ will be
Indian Kashmir. [TOI p11]
4. Opposition MPs skewer Shinde over Hyd attack: New Delhi: The
opposition posed tough questions to home minister Sushilkumar Shinde
over alleged intelligence failure and incomplete inputs regarding the
Hyderabad twin blasts, dismissing his dry and factual account as
inadequate and unconvincing. [TOI p13]
5. Ensure there are no more blasts : Jaitley: New Delhi : The government
should ensure that the Hyderabad blasts are the last such incident faced
by India, said Bharatiya Janata Party leader Arun Jaitley. ‘It is sad that the
first day of budget session was chosen to give the grim reminder that India
is very high up on terror radar. [Millinnium Post p6]
6. Oppn Accuses Govt of being Casual About Terrorism: NEW DELHI :
The Opposition and parties that lend outside support to the government
criticised the Centre’s ‘casual’ approach in confronting terror. These
parties said the ‘never again’ promises after the blasts was not enough
and that it should show the political will to tackle the menace.[ET p2]
7. Sushma: Did Owaisi speech influence Hyderabad blasts? : New Delhi
: The possible role of Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen MLA Akbaruddin
Owaisi’s hate speech in instigating or motivating the twin blasts in
Hyderabad was raised by leader of opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma
Swaraj who posed the question to home minister Sushilkumar
Shinde.[TOI p13]
8. Hyderabad received three alerts after Afzal hanging : New Delhi : A
specific intelligence alert was sent out to several states, including Andhra
Pradesh, on February 16 by the Intelligence Bureau, indicating that cities
which had been struck by terror in the past could be hit again.[HT p11]
9. 16 dead, bombs used timers ‘similar’ to those in Aug’12 Pune
explosives : Hyderabad : Investigators probing the two blasts in
Hyderabad’s Dilsukhnagar area suspect that the bombs were made of
ammonium nitrate and used a fuel-oil booster, a quartz timer and
aluminium casings. The timers are thought to be similar to those used in
the low-intensity bombs that went off in Pune last August, they said
Friday.[IE p1]
10. ‘For good policing, keep politics out’ : New Delhi : There has not been
a single terror attack in the US since the 9/11 tragedy in 2001, while India
had to suffer 11 strikes since the 26/11 Mumbai attacks in 2008 — one in
every five months across five cities, claiming 60 lives.[HT p1]
11. Maoist blast kills 6 cops in Gaya : Patna: Eight people, including six
policemen, were killed in a landmine blast triggered by Maoists at
Majhauliya village in Bihar’s Gaya district on Friday. [TOI p1]
12. BJP rift behind Jaitley call record case ? : New Delhi : Detractors of
Arun Jaitley within the BJP and a controversial former cricket administrator
could be behind the operation to procure the politician’s call details,
suspect investigators. A senior Delhi Police official said, “The former
cricket administrator is one of the suspects in the operation… Some leads
have emerged.” But he did not wish to identify the suspect so as not to
jeopardise further investigation.[HT p1]
13. Special cell hits password wall in Jaitley call case : New Delhi : The
‘closeness’ of Anurag Singh, the man accused of accessing the call details
of leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley, with the Delhi Police’s
special cell is proving costly for the elite unit.[HT p2]
14. Custody extended of men held for Jaitley call records : New Delhi : A
city court on Friday extended the police custody of the three private
detectives arrested on charges of retrieving the call detail records of BJP
leader Arun Jaitley. Metropolitan Magistrate Purshottam Pathak extended
police custody of Neeraj, Anurag and Nitin till February 25 after the Delhi
Police Special Cell told the court that the men were needed to decipher
the “massive amount of encrypted data”, which had been recovered from
their e-mail ids and cellphones.[IE p3]
15. Modi tries hand at social engineering: Gandhinagar: That dalits are
not even allowed entry into temples in some pockets of Gujarat has not
stopped the Narendra Modi government from coming up with the
revolutionary idea of training ‘safai kamdars’ or manual scavengers in
karmakand (Hindu religious rituals). The move was endorsed by the state
budget presented in the assembly earlier this week, a couple of days after
BSP chief Mayawati announced her prime-ministerial ambitions. [TOI p14]
16. Rajnath Singh wants India to scale down ties with Pakistan :
Hyderabad : Bharatiya Janata Party national president Rajnath Singh on
Friday wants India to scale down its diplomatic ties with Pakistan “for the
time being” in the wake of the twin bomb blasts at Dilsukhnagar here. [The
Hindu p12]
17. LS polls: Gadkari in `safe seat’ dilemma? : NEW DELHI: Former BJP
president Nitin Gadkari is said to be in a double-mind whether to fight the
next Lok Sabha elections from Nagpur or Mumbai (North). On the other
hand, the fence-sitter MPs are in touch with the rival parties to ensure their
victory. According to sources, Mr Gadkari feels Mumbai (North) could be a
“safe” seat for him than Nagpur, which continues to remain the stronghold
of the Congress.[AA p2]
18. Coordination committee meet of UPA Feb 16 : New Delhi : A meeting
of the UPA coordination committee will be held on February 26 to finalise
the strategy of the ruling coalition in the three-monthlong Budget Session
of Parliament which began on Thursday.[AA p2]
19. Agusta denies paying bribes to clinch deal: New Delhi: The defence
ministry is keeping all its options open after AgustaWestland on Friday
once again claimed that it had not paid bribes to bag the Rs 3,546 crore
contract for 12 VVIP helicopters. [TOI p14]
20. Agusta replies, says VVIP copter deal clean : NEW DELHI: Italianowned
UK-based company AgustaWestland on Friday told the ministry of
defence it had not paid any bribes to secure the deal — inked three years
ago — for acquisition by India of 12 AW-101 helicopters for VVIP use.[AA
p1]
21. Sharad tells govt to reveal names of ‘beneficiaries’ : New Delhi :
Demanding that the beneficiaries of bribes in the AgustaWestland VVIP
helicopter purchase case be revealed immediately, JD-U leader Sharad
Yadav on Friday said asking the CBI to investigate the case was like
dropping the entire issue in a black hole. [IE p5]
22. Govt may rope in KVS for PPP project : New Delhi : Government has
decided to nominate Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan, which runs over
1000 schools across the globe, as model school organisation for its
ambitious project to establish 2500 model schools under the PPP
mode.[AA p3]
23. IB to probe into threat calls to Naqvi : New Delhi : The government is
learnt to have directed the Intelligence Bureau (IB) to investigate the threat
calls received by BJP vice-president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi.[IE p5]
24. Pvt companies, PSUs can set up banks, says RBI : New Delhi :
Almost three years after it was first promised in the union Budget of 2010-
11, the Reserve Bank of India has allowed all private and public sector
companies to apply for bank licences, paving the way for business houses
such as the Tatas, Aditya Birla group, L&T, ADAG, Mahindra & Mahindra
and Reliance to throw their hat into the ring. [TOI p1]
25. Victim complains against Kurien, cops refuse to act : Kochi : In yet
another curious development in Kerala’s infamous Suryanelli serial rape
scandal, the police on Friday refused to register a case on the basis of a
fresh complaint the victim submitted seeking a probe against Rajya Sabha
Deputy Chairman PJ Kurien. In the complaint, she stated that Kurien had
raped her in February, 1996 when she was 16 years old.[Pioneer Daily
p6]
26. Cabinet berth for Sukh Ram’s son in Himachal : Shimla : The twomonth-
old Himachal Pradesh Cabinet will be expanded on Saturday with
the induction of a new face. Anil Sharma, former Minister of State and son
of former Union Communication Minister Sukh Ram, will be inducted as
Cabinet Minister while one post will remain vacant.[The Hindu p5]
27. Nagaland Cong candidate and MLA passes away : Kohima : Congress
candidate and MLA of Tuensang Sadar-II Assembly constituency, P.
Chuba Chang died here on Friday morning, party sources said. Chang
died following a brief illness at a hospital in Kohima, Nagaland Pradesh
Congress Committee general secretary (admn) Medokul Sophie said.[AA
p2]
28. Congress refuses JMM’s olive branch : Ranchi : The JMM’s step-down
on the matter of leading a new Government in Jharkhand has not softened
the Congress’ stand on analliance. State Congress president and Rajya
Sabha member Pradeep Balmuchu said the leadership issue will crop up
only when the party high command gets ready to form
a Government. “Till
date, the Central leadership has not opened its mind over it,” he
said.[Pioneer Daily p4]
29. Aadhaar: CM sets March 31 deadline, Says UID Will Be Must For
State Services: New Delhi: Enrolling people for the Aadhaar Unique
Identity number project may be proving a challenge but chief minister
Sheila Dikshit is determined to wrap up work next month. [TOI p2]
30. Aadhaar cards dumped in Faridabad drain : Faridabad : In an
apparent case of administration’s negligence, over thousands Aadhaar
Card (Aam Admi ka Adhikaar) were found dumped in a drain near a
graveyard in Sector -22 of Faridabad. The cards were found scattered by
some children who were playing near the drain on Thursday, some elderly
people of the locality informed the police.[Pioneer Daily p2]
31. Civic body bouncer to DDCA: Pay up or no test match at Kotla : New
Delhi : The property tax, or the non-payment of it, is back to haunt the
Feroze Shah Kotla stadium, putting in limbo the fourth test match between
India and Australia. The fourth cricket test is scheduled to be played at the
stadium between March 22 and March 26.[IE p4]
LEGAL/CRIME NEWS
32. Geetika case: Kanda fails to turn up, charges to be heard on Mar 2:
New Delhi: A sessions court will on March 2 hear the arguments for
framing of charges against former Haryana minister Gopal Goyal Kanda
and his aide Aruna Chaddha, accused in the Geetika Sharma suicide
case. [TOI p7]
EDITORIAL/OPINION
33. A Challenge Ignored Too Long, Hyderabad shows that the need of
the hour is consensus building, not vote-bank politics: Ajit Doval : In
security, knowledge is an asset only if it leads to an action. When you
have the knowledge but failed to act, you have plenty more to explain.
Home minister Sushilkumar Shinde’s statement that the government had
information about a potential terrorist attack does not mitigate the failure to
prevent the Hyderabad blasts. [TOI p20]
BUSINESS NEWS
34. Premji Gifts 12.3kcr of Shares to Foundation: BANGALORE : Azim
Premji has given away shares worth . 12,300 crore to fund a non-profit
education initiative close to his heart. The transfer comes three days after
he became the first Indian to sign up for the Giving Pledge initiative by the
world’s richest families to donate at least half of their wealth to charity. [ET
p1]
