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Govt: ‘Force-feed’ incident
regrettable
Convey govt’s bold moves to people, Modi tells MPs
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7 IAF men die in UP copter crash
Investment Scam
Special court constituted to try coal scam
cases
Have sought reason for ouster as Puducherry Lt Guv, says Kataria
Sonia skips Cong meet as MPs fail to arrive
China told to stop meddling in PoK: Govt
No case for Cong to claim Oppn leader's post: AG
Army Chief pays tribute to martyrs
Vaghela questions Modi’s silence on price rise
India already a Hindu nation: Goa Dy CM
Cong sweeps Uttarakhand Assembly bypoll
School principal booked for sexual abuse
Congress, NCP under pressure to keep alliance Siachen
glacier
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Govt: ‘Force-feed’ incident
regrettable
New Delhi, July 25 Making a statement on this issue in the Rajya Sabha, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said: “I would like to inform this House through Hon’ble Chairman that the incident was regrettable and unfortunate.” “I would also like to inform that our government is committed to safeguarding religious freedom guaranteed by the Constitution to its citizens,” he said. The Home Minister made a statement in the House on the demand of the members who had earlier created a ruckus on the issue, which had also been raised in the Lok Sabha. The minister also asked members of the Upper House that “we should all make constant efforts for maintaining religious harmony in our country.” Giving the factual details of the incident, the Home Minister said that as per the report received from the Maharashtra government: “On July 17 at around 11.30 am a few MPs from Maharasthra expressed their objection to the quality of food being served by the IRCTC at the New
Maharashtra Sadan in Delhi. Thereafter, they demanded immediate discontinuation of IRCTC services there.”
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Convey govt’s bold moves to people, Modi tells MPs
New Delhi, July 25 He reminded them that the clear mandate earned by the BJP was a big responsibility. A message that emerged from the PM-MPs meeting that discussed variety of issues, including those related to party organisation and government functioning, was that MPs should be ready to work as karyakartas (party workers). Sources said the PM also made it clear that everyone should abide by the party’s decisions and not solicit tickets for relatives or friends in the coming Assembly polls. The top leadership has also taken the party’s defeat in the Uttrakhand by-polls seriously. Though BJP leaders here are attributing the Congress’ win to “local issues”, they agree it is a wake -up call, keeping in mind the coming Assembly elections in four key states. “We will analyse the development. There are other concerns as well. The top leadership is also working on a media strategy to help build
better defence to tackle tricky issues next time,” they say. The meeting took place at a time when the BJP is preparing for the Assembly elections in Haryana and Delhi—where it has to decide the future course of action. Some MPs, who attended the meeting, said the PM also sought their opinion on Parliament and the functioning of the government. Local and national matters regarding the organisation were also discussed at the meeting, which is being termed as the
first part of Modi’s attempt to bridge the gap between his MPs and the government. The sources say the PM will also hold informal meetings with his MPs in batches.
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7 IAF men die in UP copter crash
The IAF aircraft had on board two pilots and five air warriors. There are no survivors, he said. The chopper had taken off from Bareilly at 1553 hours and crashed around 1657 hours, the spokesman said. The IAF has ordered a Court of Inquiry and teams have been rushed to the crash site in Sitapur. A Wing Commander, Squadron Leader, Junior Warrant Officer, Sergeant and an LAC along with two Corporals were killed in the crash. Sidhauli Sub Divisional Magistrate AK Srivastava said the chopper was engulfed in fire as it crashed in Manipurwa in Ataria area. Sitapur District Magistrate JP Singh said the helicopter was heading towards Allahabad when it crashed. Sitapur is nearly 160 km from Bareilly and over 90 km from Lucknow.
— PTI
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Help Sahara chief sell properties, SC tells govt
Legal Correspondent
New Delhi, July 25 A Bench headed by Justice TS Thakur asked Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar to explore all options to provide facilities to Roy for holding talks across the table as well as through video conferencing so that he could sell properties to mobilise the bail amount of Rs 10,000 crore by way of cash and bank guarantee in equal measure. The Bench acknowledged that it would not be fair to stall the negotiations by refusing to facilitate it after asking the group to pay up Rs 10,000 crore for letting Roy and two of his directors on bail.
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Special court constituted to try coal scam
cases
New Delhi, July 25 A Bench headed by Chief Justice RM Lodha asked the relevant authorities to make the appointments within two weeks. The special court of ASJ Parashar would exclusively handle the CBI cases in the coal scam. Cheema has been Advocate General of Punjab and CBI’s special prosecutor in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots cases in Delhi. He has also represented Chief Ministers Virbhadra Singh of Himachal Pradesh and Bhupinder Singh Hooda of Haryana and former Haryana CM OP Chautala in various cases. The Punjab and Haryana High Court had appointed him as amicus curiae in the cash-for-job scam case. Cheema told The Tribune that it was a great honour to have been chosen as the special public prosecutor by the highest court of the country. “I will do my duty to the best of my ability,” he said. The apex court passed the order while hearing PILs seeking cancellation of about 250 allotments of coal blocks made by the UPA government between 2004 and 2012 — 101 for the steel sector, 97 for the power industry, 10 for cement and 37 for “commercial use.” Among the petitioners are former Secretaries, including Cabinet Secretary TSR Subramanian, and Common Cause, an NGO, alleging that the Centre had gone for massive allocation of the scarce natural resource to a select private companies at no cost in a completely arbitrary and non-transparent manner, causing a huge loss to the public exchequer running into tens of lakhs of crores of rupees. Among the other petitioners are former Chief Election Commissioner N Gopalaswami, former Union Secretaries Ramaswamy Iyer and Sushil Tripathi and Admirals (retd) RH Tahiliani and L Ramdas, who has been the Navy Chief. The CBI has already filed several chargesheets against companies and individuals in these cases in various CBI courts. Now, these would be transferred to the special court for expeditious disposal.
Cheema is CBI's counsel
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Have sought reason for ouster as Puducherry Lt Guv, says Kataria
New Delhi, July 25 Addressing mediapersons, Kataria said he had sought an appointment with Mukherjee to ascertain the reason for his ouster from the Constitutional post. In response to a question, he said: “The order from Rashtrapati Bhavan regarding his ouster said: ‘I cease to be Lieutenant Governor’.” He said he was also ascertaining whether Rashtrapati Bhavan fell within the ambit of the RTI Act to seek information relating his ouster. Kataria, who once headed the Punjab Congress and is a former Rajya Sabha MP, said: “Firm stand against corruption and efforts to provide fair and transparent government are what led to my ouster. I do not fit in the present system.” “I am against corruption whatever government it may be; I have been penalized and I do not mind”, he said. He alleged that when he took charge of Puducherry, “plundering and loot” was the order of the day. “Corruption, extortion, chain snatching, country bombs, sexual harassment leading to suicide by victims were rampant. The administration was at the lowest; there was no rule of law,” he added. Chief Secy had offered 'bribe' Virendra Kataria alleged that the Chief Secretary of Puducherry had offered him money as a “share” in the corruption sweepstakes. This, he claimed, happened during the UPA regime at the
Centre.
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Won’t allow injustice on
basis of language: Govt
New Delhi, July 25 Singh said the government was looking at the issue with all seriousness and sensitivity. “The government is not in favour of any injustice to students on the basis of language,” he told the House which was adjourned twice during Question Hour following the Opposition’s demand for a clarification by the Prime Minister or the Leader of the House on the issue. Demanding a timeline for resolution of the issue, Opposition members raised concerns over falling success rate of language students in the UPSC exam. Singh also appealed to the aspirants to be “patient” and also sought Parliament’s help to send the message. “The government and the Prime Minister are more concerned than the agitating students and are trying to find a satisfactory solution,” he said outside the House. The aspirants are protesting against the pattern of Civil Services Aptitude Test (C-SAT) in the UPSC exams that they believe gives an unfair advantage to English-speaking students. The protests were intensified after the Union Public Service Commission issued admit cards on Thursday for the preliminary entrance exam scheduled for August 24. The agitating aspirants tried to march towards Parliament but were stopped by the police who later took them into preventive custody. They were stopped outside Central Secretariat metro station from where they were taken to Parliament Street Police Station. Singh said the issue of admit cards was not linked to the exam pattern and it would have no bearing on the government’s decision as it was being done as per the UPSC schedule.
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Sonia skips Cong meet as MPs fail to arrive
New Delhi, July 25 Inquiries by The Tribune revealed that Sonia, the chairperson of the Congress Parliamentary Party
(CPP) in both Houses, came to the Parliament House Complex at 9 am today to preside over the meeting of the 25-member joint parliamentary committee of the Congress. This committee has recently been formed as a special sub-group of the CPP to decide on issues to be flagged in Parliament. When Sonia arrived, she found that none of the 25 MPs had turned up for the meeting. The Congress president left and was not seen in the Lok Sabha thereafter though party leaders insisted she was not miffed at this development. Importantly, the scheduled meeting of the party’s joint parliamentary committee took place later at 10 am without Sonia and Leaders of Opposition in the two Houses—- Mallikarjun Kharge and Ghulam Nabi
Azad—- led the discussions. Sources in the Congress termed the events as a “faux pas” blaming them on “miscommunication” of timing of the meeting to Sonia. “We were informed that the meeting is at 10 am and we came at 10 am. The Congress president arrived at 9 am and left as she had another meeting to attend,” said one of the MPs, a member of the joint committee, adding that the Chief Whips in the Houses – Jyotiraditya Scindia in the Lok Sabha and Satyavrat Chaturvedi in the Rajya Sabha – should have ensured proper information of the scheduled meeting. Another MP, who attended the meeting, later said nothing except miscommunication of timings should be read into today’s developments. “The Congress president left as she had incorrect information about the timing. There was a communication gap. She is not miffed,” he said. Congress insiders, however, admitted that such miscommunication was a serious lapse on part of the organisers of the meeting and should have been prevented.
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China told to stop meddling in PoK: Govt
New Delhi, July
25 Jaitley said the government paid “close attention” to Chinese activities in
PoK. “The government has conveyed its concerns to China and has asked them to cease such activities,” he informed Parliament in a written reply on the issue of Chinese activities in
PoK. Jaitley said issues were discussed by the government at meetings with Chinese counterparts and "entire gamut of bilateral, regional and global issues were discussed”. The presence of Chinese Army troops had been first witnessed in 2010 as there were reports of presence of about 11,000 Chinese troops in Jammu and Kashmir's Gilgit-Baltistan region held by Pakistan, but Beijing said there was no wrong-doing. As of now, their number was estimated to be around 5,000 by the Indian Army. In 2011, New Delhi had conveyed its concerns to China over the presence of its troops in PoK and its activities in that region. In May 2011, India’s leading strategic affairs think-tank, the Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses
(IDSA) warned if the current pace of Chinese penetration was sustained, the Dragon may completely take over Gilgit-Baltistan (in
PoK) by 2020. On China having shown Arunachal Pradesh and parts of J&K as its own territory, Jaitley said: “The fact that Arunachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir are integral and inalienable parts of India has been clearly conveyed to the Chinese side on several occasions, including at the highest level.” China disputes the international boundary between India and China. In the Eastern Sector, China claims approximately 90,000 square kilometre of Indian territory in Arunachal Pradesh. Indian territory under the occupation of China in Jammu & Kashmir is approximately 38,000 square
kilometre. Pakistan illegally ceded 5,180 square kilometres of Indian territory in PoK to China.
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No case for Cong to claim Oppn leader's post: AG
New Delhi, July 25 The AG has said the Congress is not eligible as it does not have the required 10% (55 seats) in the 543-member Lok Sabha, the sources said. The Congress has only 44 seats. To back his opinion, the AG has said there is no precedence where a party was given the LoP position --- the status of a Cabinet Minister --- without meeting the criteria of 10% seats since the days of first Lok Sabha when G V Mavlankar was the Speaker, they said. Even during the time of Rajiv Gandhi, Congress with over 400 seats had refused to grant LoP status to the TDP for the same reason, the AG has told the Speaker. The AG is also learnt to have rejected the contention that LoP status could be given to the Leader of Congress-led UPA coalition as there is no such precedence. The UPA has 60 members in the
House. Lok Sabha Secretariat officials refused to make any comment, saying a decision in the matter was yet to be taken.
Mahajan, who has been facing the tough situation on taking a call on the tricky issue, has said that she would consult legal and constitutional experts besides experienced persons in firming up a decision. Reacting to the development, the Congress, which has recently upped the ante over the issue, hoped that the Speaker will "not be misguided" by the opinion of the AG.
— PTI
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Army Chief pays tribute to martyrs
Srinagar, July 25 The Army Chief was received by General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Army’s Northern Command Lieutenant General DS Hooda and General Officer Commanding of Leh-based 14 Corps Lieutenant General BS Negi. Addressing mediapersons, General Singh said: “The present government is committed towards ensuring that aspirations of our soldiers are met.” He said the Army was “fully capable of safeguarding the nation’s sovereignty and territorial integrity”. The visit was marked by a wreath laying ceremony at the Kargil War Memorial, built in the foothills of the Tololing hill which was the scene of one of the fiercest battles of the 1999 war, said a defence spokesman. General Singh also interacted with the next of the kin of the slain soldiers, officers, war widows and gallantry award winners. “The event and venue is of a special significance to the General who has not only been the Corps Commander of the Corps at Srinagar but was also the official spokesmen of the Army during the Kargil war,” the defence spokesman said.
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Vaghela questions Modi’s silence on price rise
Gandhinagar, July 25 On the last day of the Budget session of the state Assembly today, Congress members came to the House carrying banners and wearing garlands of vegetables to highlight the price rise of essential commodities, particularly vegetables. Vaghela said BJP leaders, including Modi, had been criticising the former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for his “silence” on the price front. “Why the most talkative leader has become silent on the price front after assuming the office of the Prime Minister?” he asked. Claiming that VAT charged on petrol and diesel by the Gujarat Government was the highest among all states in the country, Vaghela asked why the state government was not ready to reduce VAT on the petroleum products.
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India already a Hindu nation: Goa Dy CM
Panaji, July 25 “India is a Hindu nation. There is no doubt about it. It was a Hindu nation and always stay a Hindu nation,” D’Souza, a senior BJP leader, said reacting to the controversy triggered by his Cabinet colleague Dipak Dhavalikar. Dhavalikar, whose party Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party is an ally of state’s ruling BJP, had yesterday said he was confident India will develop as a Hindu nation under Prime Minister Modi. D’Souza said: “People are free to make controversies out of anything. India is a free country.” "India is a Hindu nation. There is no doubt about it. It was a Hindu nation and always stay a Hindu nation… India is Hindustan. All Indians in Hindustan are Hindus, including me. I am a Christian-Hindu." — Francis D’Souza, Goa Deputy CM — PTI
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Cong sweeps Uttarakhand Assembly bypoll
Dehradun, July 25 Harish Rawat won the Dharchula seat by defeating his rival BD Joshi of the BJP by 20,604 votes. Rawat polled 31,214 votes against Joshi, who garnered 10,610 votes. Harish Rawat has now fulfilled the constitutional requirement of entering the state Assembly as an MLA. Soon after the party's triumph, he thanked the people of Dharchula for reposing faith in him and the party and promised to meet their expectations. The bypoll outcome has dealt a massive blow to the BJP, which was hoping of repeating its LS polls performance.
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School principal booked for sexual abuse
Guwahati, July 25 A case has been registered against the principal of Asom Jatiya Vidyalaya, Rajib Sharma, at the Noonmati police station for subjecting a student of the school to sexual harassment, said Guwahati city SSP Ananda Prakash Tiwari. “This is a very sensitive and serious case and police is handling the case with carefully and the chargesheet would be filed in the court on Monday. If charges are found true, the punishment for such offence may be upto five years in jail,” the police official said.
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Terming the recent Maharashtra Sadan incident in which some Shiv Sena MPs tried to force-feed a fasting minority community employee of IRCTC as “regrettable” and “unfortunate”, the government today said that it did not believe in any discrimination and was committed to safeguarding religious freedom of every citizen in India.
Seven IAF personnel, including two officers, were killed today when an advanced light helicopter (ALH) Dhruv helicopter, in which they were flying from Bareilly to Allahabad, crashed in Sitapur in Uttar Pradesh.
The pilot of the chopper had given a ‘May Day call’ (emergency call) before the crash and lost radio and radar contact after that, IAF spokesperson said in Delhi.
Sitapur (UP)/New Delhi, July 25