N A T I O N
2G: BJP makes JPC dissent note public
New Delhi, October 10
Going against parliamentary norms, the BJP today made public its dissent note to the draft report adopted last month by the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) set up to examine matters relating to allocation and pricing of 2G spectrum.
Apex court judge GS Singhvi opts out of 2G cases
Justice GS Singhvi, who has been heading the Supreme Court Bench monitoring the CBI investigations in the 2G spectrum scam for the past three years, has opted out of hearing these cases, citing the workload arising from the need to dispose of several important cases before his retirement on December 12.
Ration scam: Lt Gen's conviction upheld, sentence reduced
Chandigarh, October 10
The Chandigarh Bench of the Armed Forces Tribunal has upheld the findings and consequent conviction by general court martial (GCM) of the Army's former Director General Supplies and Transport Lt Gen SK Sahni for alleged irregularities in the procurement of dry rations.
obituary: RS TALWAR
A gentleman officer and an institution
A genial, soft-spoken person, RS Talwar, who passed away at New Delhi today after a brief illness, was not just an upright officer during his days in the civil services, but enjoyed respect of his peers even after retirement, a rarity in these times.
Paper trail on EVMs to cost Rs 1,690 cr: EC
Cabinet clears Bill to give statutory status to UIDAI
Congress counters Naidu, Jagan on Andhra division
CHOGM, 13th amendment on Khurshid's Lanka agenda
Differences crop up with Russia over fighter jet deal
PM honours kin of Kedarnath crash bravehearts
Cong hangs on to Lalu
Ordinance junked, Rahul heads to Modi bastion
Gujarat Assembly, minus Oppn,
re-adopts tweaked Lokayukta Bill
BJP uses verdict to target Congress, JD-U
India to sign trade pact with ASEAN
Brunei, October 10
Unveiling a road map to boost economic ties, India today pledged to sign an agreement with the 10-member ASEAN bloc on services and investment by this year-end and to reach an accord on FTA by next year.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh shakes hands with Ambassador of India to Indonesia Gurjit Singh upon his arrival at the Jakarta airport from Brunei on Thursday. — PTI
Tackling crime against women
Make moral education must for students, teachers: Haryana
At a meeting of the country's highest decision-making body on education, Haryana today offered a novel solution to check crime against women. The state Education Minister said introduction of moral education as a compulsory subject at all levels of instruction would address the issue.
Modi's Bihar rally
Prez 'shortens' visit to avoid clash
President Pranab Mukherjee has cut short his scheduled visit to Patna because it was clashing with Narendra Modi's "Hunkar rally" due on October 27, the BJP has said.
Lead party, govt: Cong tells Rahul
A day after Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi predicted a "government of the youth" in 2014, leaders in the party urged him to assume the future leadership at all possible levels. This comes at a time when PM Manmohan Singh is firmly in the saddle.
Lapses in dealing with J&K attacks: Shinde
Following two terrorist incidents — one in Samba and the other in Keran along the Line of Control (LoC) in J&K— the government has admitted that there were lapses and decided to take corrective measures.
Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde at a press conference in New Delhi on Thursday. PTI
Cyclone threat: Odisha seeks armed forces' help
Bhubaneswar, October 10
The very severe cyclonic storm "Phailin", expected to make landfall at Gopalpur in Odisha, moved closer to the state and lay about 600 km southeast of Paradip, as the government sought the help of defence forces to boost its preparedness, official sources said tonight.
3 engg students hack principal to death
Chennai, October 10
The principal of a private engineering college in Tamil Nadu was today hacked to death on the campus by three students for suspending one of them, the police said.
NCP, Cong arrive at truce in M'rashtra
Mumbai, October 10
After angry exchanges of words last month, leaders of the ruling Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in Maharashtra have arrived at a truce.
MoS Railways gets pre-arrest bail in murder case
Kolkata, October 10
Minister of State for Railways Adhir Chowdhury was yesterday granted anticipatory bail for 10 days by Vacation Bench Judge Siddhartha Kanjilal at the Behrampore district court. He could now visit his home district and perform political activities till the normal hearing on his bail petition on October 29.
Vibha Sharma/TNS
The language of the draft report shows it has not been prepared by the JPC secretariat, but the government. The entire report has been manipulated by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Finance Minister P Chidambaram and Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal.
— BJP leaders
BJP representatives in the JPC said they were being forced to follow a route contrary to the convention because they apprehended that committee chairman PC Chacko would "edit and mutilate the dissent note like he had done with the draft report to suit the UPA".
"The language of the draft report shows it has not been prepared by the JPC secretariat, but the government. The entire report has been manipulated by Prime Minister (Manmohan Singh), Finance Minister (P Chidambaram) and Telecom Minister (Kapil Sibal)," BJP leaders Jaswant Singh, Gopinath Munde, Ravi Shanker Prasad, Harin Pathak and Yashwant Sinha said.
The 36-page dissent note to Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar alleges "brazen" attempts to shield Manmohan Singh and Chidambaram.
Disclosing parliamentary papers before these are tabled in the House amounts to contempt, but the BJP says it is doing so because Chaco "has flouted all rules". The covering letter says the apprehension was that the dissent note may be mutilated by Chacko. "We urge you to ensure it is not tampered with and forms part of the JPC report on 2 G scam," they asked the Speaker. The BJP move is, in fact, a challenge to the Congress to ask for action against it.
The note, detailing the "scam", says repeated requests to examine political witnesses in the UPA-namely A Raja, Dyanidhi Maran, Sibal, Chidambaram and Manmohan Singh-were determinedly stonewalled by Chacko.
Sinha said the JPC last met on February 12 and after that not a single meeting was held to discuss the nature of the report.
"Chacko waited till the retirement of DMK's Tiruchi Siva from the Rajya Sabha and for numbers in the committee to become favourable for the ruling alliance before calling a meeting on September 27 for consideration and adoption of the draft report," he said.
Terming the September 27 meeting a "farce", he said members of the ruling alliance "ganged up" to adopt the report without any consideration.
The report exonerated the PM and the FM of any wrongdoing and blamed the then Communications Minister A Raja, a DMK leader, for being solely responsible for the controversial allocation.
Raja was accused of "misleading" the PM and "belying" the assurances given to him. The report on the controversial allocation, which the Comptroller and Auditor General said resulted in a presumptive loss of Rs 1.76 lakh crore to the country, will be placed before Parliament during winter session.
Standing by CAG's figure of Rs 1.76-crore loss, the BJP says the failure of the 2G Spectrum auction in 2012 was "manipulated" by the government to prove the national auditor wrong.
Notably, the auction in November 2012 virtually flopped with just Rs 9,407 crore being garnered in the process, contrary to the high valuation by the CAG in its damning report. The government had put on auction the Spectrum freed after the Supreme Court cancelling 122 mobile permits issued by Raja to nine telecom companies in 2008.
R Sedhuraman
Legal Correspondent
Accepting his request, Chief Justice P Sathasivam has constituted a special Bench comprising Justices HL Dattu and KS Radhakrishnan to hear the 2G cases. Justice Radhakrishnan was part of the Bench headed by Justice Singhvi.
A Bench of Justices Singhvi and SJ Mukhopadhaya would have to deliver its judgment before December 12 on a bunch of appeals against the Delhi High Court verdict decriminalising homosexual acts among consenting adults.
Justice Singhvi is also hearing a suo motu case related to the thrashing of a 22-year-old Dalit woman by policemen in Tarn Taran on March 3 and a PIL over the anti-Dalit violence in Mirchpur in Hisar district on April 21, 2010, besides unauthorised occupation of government bungalows and quarters by former ministers and lawmakers and retired employees.
In the 2G case, a Bench comprising Justices Singhvi and AK Ganguly (since retired) had directed the CBI on December 16, 2010, to conduct a thorough probe into various aspects of the scam mentioned in the reports of the CVC and the CAG and submit status reports periodically.
Vijay Mohan/TNS
2005: Lt Gen SK Sahni's case for alleged irregularities in the procurement of dry rations comes to light
February 18, 2011: A GCM holds him guilty on six out of nine charges
March 4, 2011: He moves the Armed Forces Tribunal and is granted bail
October 2013: AFT upholds his conviction, reduces sentence
However, the Bench has reduced the quantum of the sentence from cashiering and three years rigorous imprisonment to dismissal from service.
The Tribunal's Bench comprising Justice VK Ahuja and Lt Gen HS Panag ruled that the Bench did not find any reason to disagree with the findings of the GCM and the charges had been substantiated and adequately proved.
Observing that he had failed to perform his duty and could not escape responsibility in this respect, the Bench ruled that since he had remained in custody of military authorities for about 10 months during the course of the trial, the sentence of imprisonment and cashiering was too harsh and hence was modified to dismissal from service.
While Lt Gen Sahni, who was on bail, has been spared the ignominy of a prison term in a civilian jail, he may still not be entitled to service and pensionary benefits unless special government sanction for the same is accorded.
A GCM presided over by Lt Gen Jatinder Singh had, on February 18, 2011, held him guilty on six out of nine charges of professional impropriety levelled against him under provisions of the Army Act.
Though several Lt Generals have faced disciplinary proceedings and have been awarded varying sentences, this was for the first time that an officer of this rank was sentenced to imprisonment.
He faced charges under Sections 52 and 63 for intent to defraud and acts prejudicial to military discipline. These include reversing the tendering process of procurement of pulses, overlooking recommendations of sampling of stocks, omitting to ensure detailed investigations into lapses, failing to ensure checks against the presence of toxic substance in supplies and not freezing such stocks to prevent consumption by troops and failing to ensure timely completion of contracts.
The charges also included the failure to initiate recovery of the cost of 979 metric tonnes of sub-standard rations, of which about 220 tonnes was reportedly consumed by the troops.
The GCM had taken place in Jalandhar and Lt Gen Sahni had been recalled from retirement for the purpose and placed under close arrest in military custody. Subsequent to the GCM's sentence, he had moved the tribunal and had been granted bail on March 4, 2011.
General Sahni's case had come to light in 2005 along with that of Lt Gen SK Dahiya, also an Army Service Corps officer of the same seniority. Gen Dahiya, who along with several other officers was held blameworthy for lapses in the procurement of frozen meat for troops, had faced administrative action.
A court of inquiry into both these cases was conducted by Headquarters, Western Command, Chandimandir.
He distinguished himself in the civil services and retired as Chief Secretary of Punjab. Later, He befittingly succeeded the late Dr M.S. Randhawa, as a member of The Tribune Trust in 1986.
Educated at the famous Government College, Lahore, Talwar had a distinguished academic career. Talwar was with the Royal Air Force as an officer, prior to joining the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) at the end of World War II. In the IAS, he was assigned to the Punjab cadre. The state then comprised modern day Haryana and also Himachal Pradesh.
He had a long stint in the field and remained the Deputy Commissioner of Gurgaon, Rohtak and Jallundur districts. He also served as Commissioner, Patiala Division, Joint Secretary, Union Ministry of Commerce and the Secretary, Industry Department, before becoming the Chief Secretary of Punjab. Post retirement, he lived in a modest house in New Delhi.
An avid golfer, he was also the President of the Chandigarh Golf Club. All along he held the reputation of being an officer of unimpeachable integrity. This is reflected by the condolences that poured in within hours of his death from his colleagues, many of who had either served with him or heard of him.
Former Chief Secretary of Haryana, B.S. Ojha said that Talwar was a warm hearted and courteous person, who never lost his cool. He played a very good mentor for young IAS officers who worked as his juniors. Ojha recalled that on the first day of his joining as IAS officer in May 1960 in Punjab, the first officer he met was Talwar, "who gave very useful tips to me".
Rajan Kashyap, a former Chief Secretary of Punjab, who was a Joint Secretary when Talwar was Chief Secretary in the 1970's, remembered him as "very upright who could take a stand against politicians". Kashyap went on to recollect: "He was a very strict officer and a civil servant's civil servant. I am saddened"
Ramesh Inder Singh, another former Chief Secretary of Punjab, said: "He was a well known figure in the civil services. That he was remembered years after he had retired, speaks volumes about the man".
Former Punjab Chief Minister and senior Congress leader, Captain Amarinder Singh, in a message recalled his old association with him and said that it was "a personal loss" to him. "He was the best Chief Secretary Punjab had and his contribution to the state will always be remembered," he added.
His last public function as President of the Tribune Trust was where Prime Minister Manmohan Singh released a book: "The Tribune 130 years witness to history". Talking fondly of The Tribune, Talwar had then very aptly said: "The newspaper, during the 130 years of its existence, has been a witness to the tumultuous history of the subcontinent, chronicling events and guiding its readers through historic changes while voicing their concerns. After Independence also, The Tribune has continued to retain its distinctive character and preserve its autonomy, objectivity, fairness and liberal and independent way of thinking, whatever the odds".
The 11th ASEAN-India Summit, attended by heads of government of the member states and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, welcomed India's "Look East" policy and the decision to set up a separate mission for the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and a full-time resident Ambassador for the region.
Addressing the summit, Manmohan Singh said India was ready to sign an FTA with ASEAN on services and investment to boost their bilateral trade to $100 billion by 2015, from $76 billion last year.
"India stands ready for the signature of the India-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement on Services and Investment by the end of this year and its early implementation. This will complement our agreement on goods and bolster our economic partnership," he said.
Initiatives had also been taken by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) to revitalise the ASEAN-India Business Council and to set up an ASEAN-India Trade and Investment Centre, he added.
ASEAN members said they were heartened to note that bilateral trade surpassed the target of $70 billion and reached $76 billion.
"We (ASEAN) look forward to signing the ASEAN-India Trade in Services and Investment Agreement by the end of 2013 and its operationalisation by July 2014," they said in a statement.
"We note with satisfaction the progress of negotiations on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) that would build upon the ASEAN+1 Free Trade Agreements, including the ASEAN-India FTA," the statement said.
The secretariat for ASEAN, a 10-member bloc of countries, including Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, is based in Jakarta.
Announcing a separate mission for ASEAN countries, Manmohan Singh said, "In keeping with our substantial achievements, the recent elevation of our ties to a strategic partnership and the rich potential of our cooperation, I feel it would be appropriate for me to take this opportunity to announce that India will soon set up a separate mission to the ASEAN in Jakarta with a full time resident Ambassador."
He said India-ASEAN engagement had reached the threshold of the third decade and both sides had established a comprehensive agenda of cooperation and a wide-ranging framework to pursue it.
ASEAN members also welcomed India's announcement of a separate mission for the region as an illustration of the intensification of the ASEAN-India strategic partnership. — PTI
Aditi Tandon/TNS
'no detention' norm
The CMs of Himachal and Tripura who hold education portfolios have told the HRD Ministry that they won't follow the no-exam, no detention norm of the RTE Act and will detain students who fail in tests. They wrote to the ministry that their state assemblies had passed resolutions to that effect. The CABE sub-committee on the issue headed by Haryana Education Minister has decided to suggest RTE amendments to delete "no-detention till Class VIII" clause and let states conduct exams.
Speaking at the 62nd meeting of the Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE), Haryana Education Minister Geeta Bhukkal said: "Moral education for students and teachers must be made mandatory at all levels of education right up to university."
"Every day we hear of teachers sexually assaulting students; girls being raped. The reason is lack of cultural values. The only solution is compulsory moral education at all stages of education," Bhukkal said.
It was also decided to find ways of introducing National Service Scheme (of the Youth Ministry) as an elective subject in colleges and universities.
Bhukkal proposed moral education must also be included in the school and college curricula on the lines of NSS under which student volunteers do community tasks.
She said, "Moral education for teachers is needed as traditional relationship of trust between students and teachers is crumbling. Once teachers have their values in place, they will know how to treat girl students."
Bhukkal found support from state education ministers of Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand, Bihar and Chhattisgarh.
Uttarakhand Education Minister Mantri Prasad Nathani said: "We have no national character. No one has any sense of responsibility to the nation and this lack of character is causing a social crisis with women being targeted. Moral education in schools and colleges is a must."
The Ministry of HRD has taken a note of the recommendations that are in line with the thinking of HRD Minister MM Pallam Raju who had stressed on value education right upon assuming office last October.
Raju skipped the CABE meet as he has resigned in protest against the formation of Telangana. His junior minister Jitin Prasad chaired the meeting in his absence.
J&K Higher Education Minister Mohd Akbar Lone also spoke on similar lines saying children were ignorant about values and that was why they were "vulnerable".
Education ministers of 13 states attended the meeting. Among the absentees were: Punjab, Delhi, MP, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu.
quick return
The President will visit Patna on October 26 for a convocation and return the same day to Delhi
Narendra Modi's 'Hunkar rally' will be held on October 27
Senior leaders from the party Rajiv Pratap Rudy and Shahnawaz Hussain today met the President to apprise him about the clash of dates between his and Modi's functions.
"The President told us that he would visit Patna on October 26 for a convocation and return the same day to Delhi," Hussain said.
"BJP leaders will be there in Patna on October 26 to welcome the President. It is a honour for Bihar to welcome the President on one day and the future Prime Minister of India the next day," Rudy was quoted as saying.
While the BJP appeared to be claiming victory, sources say the President's function on October 27 was put off because of unrelated reasons.
"The President had indicated before leaving on his Europe tour that he would not be there in Patna on October 27," they said.
Modi's debut rally in Bihar — the domain of arch-rival Nitish Kumar — is being viewed with great interest across the political spectrum. The BJP has hired trains and buses to ferry supporters while its leaders have been touring the state to mobilise people.
However, the date of the rally — October 27 — had become a bone of contention with the BJP accusing the Bihar Chief Minister of arranging the presidential function to sabotage Modi's event where "lakhs of people of Bihar" were expected to attend.
Party leaders said that because Nitish was "afraid of Modi", he was trying his best to spoil Modi's event "where the attendance is expected to surpass all past records".
The Presidential visit meant security hassles for people wanting to attend the rally, they said. Also, according to the protocol, no plane is allowed to land till the President's special plane and helicopter makes in and out trips from Patna.
But while the BJP accused its former ally of indulging in machinations to ensure that Modi's rally falls flat on its face, the Bihar Government insisted it had nothing to do with the President's visit organised by an autonomous institution.
On the one hand, Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde rushed to voice the "desire of everyone that Rahul becomes the next Prime Minister of India", on the other, the Congress officially declared that it was hoping that the Nehru-Gandhi scion would take up leadership of both the party and the government.
Speaking on the behalf of the Congress, national spokesperson of the party PC Chacko said, "We expect he will take up leadership of the Congress and later of the government and the administration.
"Rahul Gandhi should take over future leadership of the party as well as the country. That is the reigning feeling of the Congress rank and file."
The remarks of the Congress came a day after Rahul at Rampur reposed faith in the power of the youth to turn around the destiny of India by forming the next government.
As to why the party was then shying away from openly projecting Rahul as the Congress' prime ministerial candidate, Chacko cited the old "it's not the party practice line".
Ajay Banerjee/TNS
In the Keran sector, where the army operation ended yesterday after two weeks, five soldiers were injured. In Samba, 11 people, including a Lieutenant Colonel, had died on September 26.
Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde today said a preliminary inquiry had indicated lapses. "Some lapses were there... an inquiry is on. We had information about possible infiltration attempts in the entire belt (Indo-Pak border). We are making corrections based on our experiences," Shinde said here addressing a press conference. There was enough to suggest there would be a major infiltration attempt, he said.
The Samba sector is with the BSF as it is part of the international border with Pakistan, and Keran is with the Indian Army as it is on the LoC. Defence Minister AK Antony has been briefed by the Army Chief and he is expected to hold a meeting on the matter.
Officials in Delhi are shocked as to how the three terrorists sneaked into India on September 26, attacked the Hira Nagar police station and then stormed an Army camp.
A source said a quick reaction ream was sent from Samba Brigade towards the police station, even as the terrorist were moving towards the Army camp. The J&K Police did not raise an alarm, while the Army could not pick up that terrorists had moved to another target.
"The system Phailin over east central Bay of Bengal moved northwestwards slightly, intensified further and lay centred at about 600 km southeast of Paradip and 700 km southeast of Gopalpur," the latest bulletin issued by the IMD said.
It would continue to move northwestwards and make landfall close to Gopalpur on the Odisha coast and north Andhra Pradesh by the evening of October 12 in the shape of a very severe cyclonic storm with a maximum wind speed of 175-185 kmph, it said.
"Our past experience indicates that despite the state government's preparedness, impact of a very severe cyclonic storm requires support of the defence forces to mitigate the effects of extreme weather events," Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said in a letter to Defence Minister AK Antony.
The Defence Ministry has responded immediately to the state government's request. Special Relief Commissioner PK Mohapatra said the Defence Ministry had confirmed that some helicopters would be kept ready at Barrackpore in neighbouring West Bengal and would be ready to fly out by Sunday morning.
He said Odisha did not have a place to station helicopters therefore these would fly in from Barrackpore. — PTI
The attack took place in Vallanadu of Tuticorin district, about 650 km from Chennai. All three student attackers were arrested. LRD Suresh, 53, principal of the Infant Jesus College of Engineering and Technology, was fatally attacked for suspending a fourth-year student, P Pichaikannan. — IANS
Shiv Kumar/TNS
On Wednesday, Sharad Pawar told party workers that both outfits needed to pull together in order to win the Lok Sabha and state Assembly elections which are due next year. "Both leaders and workers of the two parties need to work together after burying all differences," Pawar was quoted as telling NCP leaders.
Congress leaders on their part say they are prepared to work with their ally despite the recent war of words. "Our central leaders have told us to work with the NCP and prepare for the elections," an office-bearer of the Mumbai unit of the Congress said.
Last month, Pawar wondered if Chief Minister Prithiviraj Chavan's hands suffered from paralysis when he was required to sign important files.
Subhrangshu Gupta/TNS
Chowdhury was recently chargesheeted at the Behrampore court for his alleged involvement in the killing of local TMC worker Sheikh Hossain on May 11, 2011.
An arrest warrant was also issued against the minister, but he had been evading arrest by staying put in the ministerial bungalow in the Capital.
A few days ago, an anticipatory bail petition was presented in the court so that Chowdhury could visit his home district and participate in official and political activities.