NEWS IN BRIEF : OCT 15- 2011

NEWS IN BRIEF – OCT 15, 2011

1. India offers $500m in aid to Myanmar : New Delhi: Lending more substance to its Look East policy, India on Friday extended a credit line of

$500 million to Myanmar to help develop infrastructure in the countrywhich is seeing a civilian government after several decades.

2. 1st in 15yrs: Diesel demand growth outstrips petrol, Rise In Sales of Cars Using Cheaper Fuel:

New Delhi: Growth in demand for petrol has dropped below diesel for the first time in 15 years as high cost of living is prompting more and more people to opt for diesel cars to take advantage of the Rs 26 a litre gap between the price of the two fuels.

3. RTI shouldn’t hit govt work: PM : New Delhi: PM Manmohan Singh on Friday endorsed the concerns of his ministerial colleagues over Right To Information, saying the transparency enabler should not adversely affect deliberations in government and deter honest officials from expressing their views on file.

4. Petition filed against nuclear liability Act : New Delhi :A public interest litigation petition has been filed in the Supreme Court challenging the constitutional validity of the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act, 2010, that indemnifies nuclear manufacturers/suppliers and caps the financial liability of operators.[The Hindu p9]

5. PM calls meet on coal crisis at month-end : Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has convened a high-level meeting later this month to find a solution to coal supply disruptions being faced by power companies.[HT p1]

6. CAG off to Shimla retreat with secys, Jairam secures invite : New Delhi :Starting Saturday, about a dozen secretaries of the Government of India and a dozen drawn from various states —almost all of them dealing with matters relating to social sector and development — will be in Shimla for the 16th annual Retreat, organised by the Comptroller and Auditor

General of India (CAG).[IE p9]

7. CBI defends govt again in 2G case : NEW DELHI :The CBI, on Friday,again came to the defence of the government in the 2G scam case for notcancelling the letters of intent (LIOS) issued by former communications minister A. Raja by filing a brief note in the Supreme Court stating that any argument questioning the legal status of the LIOs was not a “soundargument“.[AA p4]

8. Anna Puts Off Anti-Cong Yatra Till Winter Session :

NEW DELHI :Stung by criticism that he was not allowing parliamentary processes on Lokpal to be completed, anti-graft crusader Anna Hazare has put off his

planned “yatra” against the Congress till the end of the winter session ofParliament. [ET p2]

9. Hazare silent on corruption in BJP states, says Digvijaya : NEW DELHI: A day after social activist Anna Hazare refuted charges that the

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) is backing the anti-corruption agitation led by him, Congress general secretary Digvijaya Singh on Friday wrote yet again to Hazare.[HT p15]

10. We Are Behind Anyone Who Is Against Corruption, Says RSS, Hazare not impressed with the support, says no RSS member was there at the agitation : NEW DELHI : Undeterred by the controversy over its support to Anna Hazare, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) on Friday reaffirmed that it will stand behind anyone campaigning against corruption. Senior RSS leader Manmohan Vaidya said “full support” would be given to all organisations and individuals who fight against corruption.[ET p2]

11. CBI: Govt couldn’t have cancelled 2G allocation : New Delhi: A day after the Supreme Court questioned the government’s failure to cancel spectrum allocations despite being aware of alleged irregularities, the CBI on Friday said issuance of letters of intent (LoI) and acceptance of licence fee made scrapping of the agreements legally untenable. [TOI p16]

12. LIC loan scam : Fresh CBI probe into DB reality : Mumbai :Nearly a year after it busted an alleged bribes-for-loans scandal involving LIC Housing Finance, some public sector banks and a host of private companies, the CBI has quantified the loans disbursed in the case at Rs 12,000 crore.[IE p1]

13. Team Anna rift? Hegde takes dig at Kejriwal : New Delhi/Pune: Cracks have appeared in Team Anna just a couple of months after they pushed the political class to agree to create a strong Lokpal and galvanized popular opinion against corruption, as members pursue their individual agendas. [TOI p1]

14. Anna Disowns Bhushan’s J&K Remarks, State is an integral part of India; we will decide later whether Bhushan will remain with our team or not, says Anna Hazare : NEW DELHI : Faced with embarrassment over Prashant Bhushan’s remarks advocating referendum for deciding the status of Jammu and Kashmir, Team Anna on Friday distanced itself from the lawyer-cum-activist’s remarks and maintained that the northern state was an “integral’’ part of India.[ET p2]

15. His views on Kashmir rankle Anna but Bhushan to stay in Team :

Pune :The blows rained on Team Anna member Prashant Bhushan by

thugs from the Sri Ram Sena had a distant echo in Ralegan Siddhi,

Maharashtra with Anna Hazare telling reporters on Friday that he did not

agree with Mr. Bhushan’s views on Kashmir.[The Hindu p1]

16. Anna shuns Bhushan’s K-idea : New Delhi/Pune: Team Anna member

Arvind Kejriwal’s opposition to the Kashmir plebiscite idea stressed that

the solution to the J&K problem, which was a complex one, had to be

found within the constitutional framework. [TOI p19]

17. Targeting Cong Not Correct, says Santosh Hegde : NEW DELHI :

Reflecting a rift within Team Anna Hazare, Justice Santosh Hegde has

disapproved of the anti-Congress campaign by fellow Arvind Kejriwal

during Hisar bypolls, saying it was not the right thing to do and “we jumped

the gun”. [ET p2]

18. Can’t get seat in DU, can make it to Ivy League : New Delhi: When

Moulshri Mohan applied to colleges, she received scholarship offers of

$20,000 from Dartmouth and $15,000 from Smith. Her pile of acceptance

letters would have made any teenager smile: Cornell, Bryn Mawr, Duke,

Wesleyan, Barnard and the University of Virginia. [TOI p1]

19. Advani’s yatra of desire, politics and perseverance : NEW DELHI:Is

BJP leader LK Advani, who embarked on his sixth rath yatra on Tuesday,

attempting yet another image makeover? The one time Hindutva hawk

had tried to project a moderate image when he praised Jinnah during his

visit to Pakistan in 2005. It was seen as an effort by him to make himself

acceptable to a wider section of people in order to be showcased as

NDA’s Prime Ministerial candidate.[HT p10]

20. Advani’s yatra to cover 11 district of Maharashtra : Mumbai : Veteran

BJP leader LK Advani will cover as many as 11 districts of Maharashtra

during his ongoing Jan Chetna Yatra, which will pass through the State in

two phases — once in the third week of October and second time in the

first week of November.[Pioneer Daily p7]

21. Not in race of PM post : Advani : Stana : Dismissing rival parties,

claims that he was using his nationwide yatra to promote himself as the

prime ministerial candidate BJP leader Mr L K Advani today said collective

decisions are taken in his party which does not believe in dynastic

politics.[The Statesman p5]

22. Advani’s Jan Chetna Yatra gains momentum :New Delhi : Former

Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani has every reason to smile. The initial

response to the veteran’s Jan Chetna Yatra against corruption has belied

scepticism that the best days of the 84-year-old leader were in the

past.[Pioneer Daily p1]

23. Cash for coverage scandal takes the fizz out of Advani’s yatra :

Bhopal : A cash-for-coverage scandal has taken the fizz out of Bharatiya

Janata Party leader L.K.Advani’s ambitious Jan Chetna Yatra against

corruption and black money with the BJP leaders in Madhya Pradesh

“attempting to bribe” journalists for favourable coverage of the yatra.[The

Hindu p1]

24. BJP suspends Satna leader cash to scribes : BHOPAL: Senior BJP

leader LK Advani has said the allegations of cash distribution among

journalists by party workers in Satna will soon be probed. Advani’s Jan

Chetna Yatra, held on the anti-corruption plank, ran into trouble after local

BJP workers allegedly distributed cash among journalists ahead of a press

conference on Wednesday.[HT p10]

25. After yatra bliss, BJP, JD-U face trust deficit : Patna : Even though

Bihar’s ruling BJP managed to get senior ally JD(U)’s support for L.K.

Advani’s rath yatra and ensured a strong start for it from Jayaprakash

Narayan’s birthplace, both the parties have now found quite a few reasons

for worry from certain incidents and perceptions concerning the

yatra.[Pioneer Daily p2]

26. Cash-for-votes: Clean chit for SP leader: New Delhi: The Delhi Police

on Friday told a city court that there is no evidence till now to show

Samajwadi Party leader Rewati Raman Singh’s involvement in the cashfor-

vote scam. [TOI p15]

27. Anna protests took the virtual world by storm, Topped Facebook In

August: New Delhi: Without social media, Anna Hazare’s anti-corruption

temblor in August could have lost some of its intensity on the political

Richter scale. Social media trends for the protest duration — August 14-31

— reveal that the popularity of Anna’s campaign touched a record high on

Facebook.com, the biggest social networking site. [TOI p7]

28. BJP demands CBI probe into Vodafone ‘scam’ : New Delhi : The BJP

today demanded a CBI probe into what it alleged was a fraudulent

Vodafone-Hutchison deal” during the tenure of Mr P Chidambaram as

finance minister despite strong objections by the ministry.[IE p5]

29. Panchayat member lodges police complaint against Varun

Gandhi:Pilibhit : A police Complaint was today lodged against Varun

Gandhi by a panchayat member who accused the BJP MP of

manhandling him as he protested ‘lack of development’ in the area.[The

Tribune p8]

30. Karnataka Govt Deflates BJP’s Anti-Corruption Rath, Invokes legal

issues to seek clarifications from Lokayukta on its report on illegal

mining: NEW DELHI : In a move that has the potential of blunting the

BJP’s ongoing anticorruption campaign, the Karnataka government on

Friday invoked legality issues to seek clarifications from the Lokayukta on

its report in illegal mining, which had triggered the ouster of BS

Yeddyurappa as the state’s chief minister. [ET p2]

31. Notice on Taj Mahal report: New Delhi : Taking suo motu cognizance of

a newspaper report that had claimed that the 17th Century monument Taj

Mahal might collapse in the next five years, the Supreme Court on Friday

sought a response from the Centre, the Archaeological Survey of India

and Uttar Pradesh government in two weeks.[The Hindu p5]

32. BJP’s protest rally to take away sheen : Noida: On the day of Uttar

Pradesh chief minister Mayawati’s visit to Noida, more than 100 BJP

workers, led by former minister and BJP leader Nawab Singh Naagar took

out a protest rally in the city, shouting slogans against the

“maladministration and corruption” characteristic of the incumbent Bahujan

Samaj Party (BSP) government. [TOI p1]

33. Lokayukta raids ex-PM’s son for graft : Bangalore: Homes and offices

of former prime minister HD Deve Gowda’s son were raided on Friday by

officials of the Lokayukta’s office who were searching for evidence in a

corruption case against him. [TOI p14]

34. K’taka BJP leader quits seat for CM : Bengaluru :Senior BJP leader N.

Shankarappa on Friday resigned as member of the Legislature Council in

Karnataka to pave way for chief minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda to enter

the Upper House. It is mandatory for a person who is sworn in as minister

to get elected to either the state Legislative Assembly or Council within six

months thereafter. [AA p2]

35. Sukhbir, Capt find common ground at meet : CHANDIGARH: In

Punjab’s polarised politics, the principal players on opposite poles seldom,

if ever, agree on anything. Friday was different. Punjab deputy chief

minister Sukhbir Singh Badal and state Congress chief Capt Amarinder

Singh -who regularly make headlines for ridiculing each other -shared a

common platform for the first time.[HT p12]

36. BJP to Go It Alone in 2012 UP Polls : Lucknow : Ruling out any tie-up

ahead of the Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, senior BJP leader

Rajnath Singh on Friday said the party would go it alone in the polls where

it will highlight issues of corruption and poor law and order in the state,

reports PTI from Agra. [ET p3]

37. BJP advocates for an effective Jan Lokpal : Lucknow : The party also

accused Chief Minister Mayawati of “looting” the State exchequer by

spending hundreds of crores of rupees on statues and monuments. During

their Jan Swabhiman Yatras on Friday, BJP’s former president Rajnath

Singh and vice-president Kalraj Mishra accused the State and Central

Governments for their all-round failures.[Pioneer Daily p6]

38. Eye on state polls, Maya taunts Opposition, Uses Dalit Prerna Sthal

Opening In Noida To Rebut Criticism And Attack Other Parties:

Noida: Chief minister Mayawati’s dream project – Dalit Prerna Sthal and

Green Garden – was inaugurated with much fanfare amidst Buddhist

chants, showering of flower petals and cheering by BSP supporters. [TOI

p6]

39. Jolt to paswan as Senior LJP leader resigns : Patna : Even as LJP

chief Ram Vilas Paswan on Friday made an ambitious bid seeking to

regain his lost support base in his former pocket-borough of Hajipur, he

met an unlikely jolt from a senior party colleague and fellow Rajya Sabha

member who offered to quit.[AA p2]

40. CIC seeks constitutional status for information commissions : New

Delhi : Amidst a raging debate over the status of the proposed Lokpal,

India’s Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) added another dimension

today by demanding a constitutional status for the information

commissions at the Central and state levels. He said if the Lokpal could be

a constitutional body, so could the information commissions.[The Tribune

p24]

41. Seat-sharing : RLD Cong parleys on : New Delhi :The Congress and

Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) are on the verge of finalising an agreement for

Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls with leaders of both parties locked in a hard

bargain over sharing seats.[Pioneer Daily p4]

42. Sitting BSP, SP MLAs denied tickets: LUCKNOW: Legislators

belonging to the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Samajwadi Party are

available at a discount on the eve of elections in Uttar Pradesh. These

sitting legislators who have been denied tickets by SP and BSP are finding

themselves on sticky wicket since there are no takers for them in other

parties.[AA p4]

43. Cong to prop up Dalit as PM : Maya to ‘vote base’ : Noida :With Rahul

Gandhi continuing his assiduous wooing of Dalits with visits to their

households, BSP supremo Mayawati on Friday betrayed her unease and

told a rally here in Noida that the Congress may try to foist a Dalit as prime

minister for “some time” to split her vote base.[IE p7]

44. Congress scared of my Dalit following : Mayawati, Says it may anoint

either Meira Kumar or Shinde as PM : Noida : Bahujan Samaj Party

(BSP) chief and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Thursday

claimed that the Congress was so scared of her Dalit following that it may

anoint Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar or Union Minister Sushil Kumar

Shinde, both Dalit leaders, as Prime Minister to split those votes in the

State Assembly elections next year.[The Hindu p1]

45. ‘Dalit icons not honoured, so BSP doing task’ : Noida: Inaugurating

Dalit Prerna Sthal and Green Garden in sector 95 on Friday, Mayawati

delivered a lengthy speech that was clearly aimed at the assembly

elections in Uttar Pradesh early next year.[TOI p8]

46. Relax norms to allow recognition of 700 schools, MCD tells ministry :

New Delhi :The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has written to the

Urban Development Ministry, asking it to relax norms for hundreds of

private schools in Delhi that are still not recognised. The education

committee of the civic body believes that the schools will be instrumental

in implementation of the Right To Education Act.[IE p6]

LEGAL/CRIME NEWS

47. Ayodhya verdict judge knocks SC doors for justice : NEW

DELHI:Justice (retd) Dharam Vir Sharma, who was a member of the

three-judge Allahabad high court bench which delivered the landmark

Ayodhya verdict on September 30, 2010, has knocked the Supreme Court

doors after being denied a seat in the National Green Tribunal.[HT p10]

48. Justice Ajit Bharihoke to retire on October 16 : New Delhi : Justice Ajit

Bharihoke of Delhi High Court will retire on October 16. Bharihoke, who

had conducted trials in several high profile cases, including Bofors pay-off,

St kitts forgery, urea scam and Lakhubhai Pathak cases and sentenced

former Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao to three years rigorous

imprisonment in JMM MPs bribery case, was appointed as the High Court

judge in May 2009.[Pioneer Daily p2]

EDITORIAL/OPINION

49. The Poll’s In Our Court, None of the above…and everybody below:

We the people demand the right to redress against false poll-eve pledges.

Hasn’t a Team Anna member placed us – along with Annaji – above

Parliament? Why, even the PM signals in a letter to Anna that he’ll

consider our right to reject election candidates.[TOI p8]

50. Understanding the Poverty Line, Classifying more people as poor is

no more virtuous than targeted remedial focus on a smaller group:

Amitabh Kundu: The popular outrage over the official definition of

poverty at abysmally low levels of daily income, of . 26 in rural areas and .

32 in urban areas, assumes the state will deny basic services to a

household whose income is above the figure. This is totally erroneous.

There is no mechanism in the hands of the government to ascertain

income or expenditure to identify the ‘poor’ on the ground. [ET p10]

51. Argue your case : BARKHA DUTT: Shakespeare’s version of hate was

that it was born in fear. But in an age of hyper-communication when 140

characters and a Twitter account is all it takes for us to be writers -hate

suddenly has many parents and incarnations. [HT p14]

BUSINESS NEWS

52. Lavasa hits green hurdle : New Delhi: The ministry of environment and

forests (MoEF) on Friday refused to give environmental clearance to the

first phase of Lavasa’s hill town project near Pune till all the pre-conditions

set by the state government are met.[FE p2]

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

53. Pranab Seeks France’s Help in Tracing Black Money : PARIS :

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Friday urged France to press on

tax havens to share past banking information that would help trace and

curb black money. [ET p3]