Mayawati hits back at Sonia
Lucknow, Oct. 15: A day after Congress president Sonia Gandhi fired a salvo at UP Chief Minister Mayawati, the latter returned fire. Addressing a press conference here on Wednesday, Ms Mayawati hit out at the Congress for indulging in politics over development and accused the Centre of discriminating against UP. Terming Mrs Sonia Gandhi’s statement that she was prepared to go to jail as “nautanki and drama”, the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister said if her government had so wished, Mrs Gandhi would not have been able to hold a roadshow in Rae Bareli on Tuesday, and her wish to go to jail would have been fulfilled for defying prohibitory orders.
“The Congress is worried only about Rae Bareli, but I am worried about the whole of Uttar Pradesh. For the Congress, Rae Bareli and Amethi is Uttar Pradesh, and they cannot look beyond this. It has been said we are indulging in politics at the cost of development, but the Congress and Centre should do some introspection before hurling allegations,” Ms Mayawati said.
The Chief Minister added that the Congress had thought of setting up the rail coach factory in Rae Bareli only when Lok Sabha elections were just a few months away.ῠ “The Congress has been in power since 2004. Why did they not think of it then? It is clear all this natak (drama) is aimed at getting votes with false assurances of employment.” Ms Mayawati went on: “If the intentions of the Congress are noble, why don’t they set up the rail coach factory in Bundelkhand or some other underdeveloped region? The Congress has been in power at the Centre for 48 years and in UP for 44 years after Independence, and one can see what development has taken place. Even Amethi and Rae Bare
Congress threatens to stop Maya tour
New Delhi, Oct. 15: After Congress President Sonia Gandhi’s rally at Rae Bareli was scuttled, Congress on Wednesday threatened that its workers would prevent Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati’s ‘Bharat bhraman’ if she did not desist from “vendetta” politics.ῠ “Congress is an organisation which is present in every village of the country…Leave alone the Congress president, if she threatens even a Congress worker and does not desist from her vendetta politics, the workers will prevent her ‘Bharat bhraman’ (movement in the country),” Congress spokesman Manish Tewari warned the BSP leader.
“The entire political paradigm of Mayawati is based on fear and revenge… She has built monuments from Delhi to Lucknow and they tell their own story,” Tewari said.ῠ He alleged Mayawati was gripped by “political pettiness” and a “desire for revenge”.ῠ Tewari claimed a former director of the Central Bureau of Investigation, a UP cadre IPS officer, faced the ignominy of his pensionary benefits being stopped by her.ῠῠ
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Muslim drivers removed
New Delhi, Oct. 15: Two Muslim drivers working with Kerala police were removed from the carcade of BJP leader L. K. Advani during his visit to Calicut that concluded on Wednesday.ῠ According to official sources, a team of elite National Security Guards arrived at Calicut on Tuesday and screened the list of personnel deployed by Kerala police for Advani, who is a Z-plus category protectee.
The NSG team found names of two Muslim drivers in the carcade and demanded immediate withdrawal of the two, the sources said. The two drivers were told that they had been taken off from the roster duty without being assigned any reason.
The matter was raised with Union home secretary Madhukar Gupta by minister of state for external affairs E. Ahamed who expressed his displeasure over such action.ῠ Gupta informed Ahamed that Director General NSG J. K. Dutt has been asked to immediately probe the matter and take appropriate action against those responsible.ῠῠ
Decision will be good: Army
New Delhi, Oct. 15: As the committee headed by external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee is looking into the armed forces’ grievances over their new pay scales, the Army on Wednesday said any decision by the government on the issue would be for the good of the country and the Services.ῠ “The pay anomalies issue is currently with the Cabinet and I am sure it will take care of it. Whatever it decides, it will be for the good of the country and the armed forces,” vice-chief of the Army, Lieutenant-General M. L. Naidu, said on the sidelines of an Army Postal Service Awards ceremony here.
“They (the committee members) are our national leaders and they will keep all issues in mind before taking a decision. It (pay issue) is not a matter of our expectations,” Naidu said, replying to a query on the course of action the armed forces would take if all their expectations are not met by the Mukherjee committee.
CPOs, CPMFs seek parity in pay scale
New Delhi, Oct. 15: After the three armed forces, it is now the turn of the central police organisations (CPOs) and paramilitary forces (CPMFs) to raise a pitch for “parity” in pay scales with their military counterparts.ῠ With the government setting up a ministerial committee to consider the armed forces’ plea, the CPOs too have decided to seek a political intervention to resolve issues concerning their pay scales.
The chiefs of ITBP, BSF, CRPF and SSB will meet home secretary Madhukar Gupta to submit a memorandum seeking a political decision on the lines of Mukherjee committee.ῠῠ
‘ATTF behind Agartala blasts’
Agartala, Oct. 15: The mystery behind the October 1 serial blasts here that left 100 injured has been solved with the police zeroing in on the outlawed All Tripura Tiger Force (ATTF) and arresting the mastermind, the CID claimed on Wednesday.ῠ Two arrested overground ATTF activists, Shanti Debbarma and Angad Santhal, first provided the lead during interrogation that 25-year-old Bikash Debbarma belonging to the outfit masterminded the blasts, CID sources said.
Based on the information provided by the duo, police raided a rented house on October 11 at Bhati-Avoynagar here and seized bomb-making material and the cover of SIM cards used in the blasts, but Bikash had already escaped. He was subsequently arrested from Khowai in west Tripura district on October 13, the sources said.
Bikash and another insurgent of the ATTF were trained by Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) and DGFIi, the intelligence wing of the Bangladesh army at Munshighat, near Chittagong two months ago, the sources said.ῠ The explosives used were supplied from ATTF base camps in Sylhet district. They were transported by a collaborator of ATTF from Sidhai area, bordering Sylhet, 40 km from here and taken to the house rented by Bikash, according to the sources. Bikash used a mobile phone to trigger the blasts himself, the sources added.ῠῠ
Victim mum, accused at large
Panaji, Oct. 15: The German girl, who was allegedly raped by the son of Goa education minister Atanasio Monseratte, has refused to co-operate with the investigating authorities in the case, police said on Wednesday.ῠ “The police approached the girl with a woman activist and counselor but she refused to cooperate. She has also refused medical examination,” a senior police official said. The 14-year-old German was allegedly raped by 21-year-old Rohit, who has been missing from his residence at Taleigo and Miramar here since Tuesday.
Police have already booked a case against him under Goa Children’s Act and various sections of Indian Penal Code (IPC) for rape and sending lewd SMSes to the minor girl.ῠ Advocate Aires Rodrigues, counsel for German researcher Fadela Fuch, who lodged the complaint on October 2, said the girl’s refusal for medical examination or deposition before the police does not hamper the case.
“Goa Children’s Act is very stringent. The onus lies on Rohit to prove that he is innocent and not on the girl that Rohit is guilty,” Rodrigues said.ῠ “Rohit has consistently sent SMSes to the girl. It is for him to justify them,” he added. Rodrigues, who is a legal advisor and a social activist, is recuperating in hospital after he was attacked by a gang of masked hooligans on Monday night. The lawyer, however, said the girl’s deposition was important to make the case strong as every part of evidence was vital.
“The mother is facing trauma as she has been brought under pressure by some people to withdraw the case. The child is scared. This is a very sensitive issue,” he said. He has demanded that a senior lady police officer should be made in charge of the case.
Rodrigues talking to the media from his hospital bed, however, demanded that the police should be allowed to inquire impartially into the entire episode. The lawyer also stated that Goa Chief minister Digamber Kamath had called him up to inquire about his health and assured him saying that “law will take its own course.”
Written with pen dipped in poison
The White Tiger is a modern-day fairy tale written with a pen dipped in poison; it turns the rags-to-riches tale on its head. The novel is written as seven letters to the Chinese Premier who will shortly visit Bengaluru to gain first-hand experience of the entrepreneurial spirit of new India.
The author of the epistles is Balram Halwai alias Munna, son of a rickshaw puller from the coal belt region of Dhanbad, now a successful businessman in Bangalore. The letters, written in the dead of night from a chandeliered room, tell a frightening tale. As the protagonist announces early in the book, “Don’t waste your money on those American books” about business success; “I am tomorrow”.
The novel begins with a young boy working in a tea-stall in a forsaken village. He watches an iniquitous and violent world in which he must survive. Death strikes indifferently and the orphan Balram leaves his blighted existence to become a driver for a rich family. Here his learning begins and his cunning sharpens as he observes the machinations of the rich. This is the core of the book - the “education” of Balram.
Kanimozhi quits RS
Chennai, Oct. 15: DMK Rajya Sabha member Kanimozhi on Wednesday submitted her resignation from the Upper House to party chief and her father M. Karunanidhi in line with the decision of an all-party meeting to put pressure on the Centre to call for a ceasefire in Sri Lanka.ῠ Her resignation comes a day after the all-party meeting on the issue of Sri Lankan Tamils passed its resolution that all members of Parliament from Tamil Nadu would quit within a fortnight to press the demand.
Kanimozhi said that it was for the party to take an “appropriate decision at appropriate time” on her resignation.ῠ She said in Tuesday’s resolution given two weeks’ time to the Centre to take steps to bring pressure on Sri Lanka for a ceasefire in the Tamil-speaking northern part, where the island army is on a final push against the LTTE. Highly placed DMK sources said that as the resolution was applicable to Rajya Sabha members also, Kanimozhi handed over her resignation to Karunanidhi.
Lanka war a cause for concern: Manmohan
New Delhi, Oct. 15: As Tamil MPs mounted pressure on the Centre over the incidents in Sri Lanka, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday said the situation in the island nation was a cause for “serious concern” and asked Colombo to find a negotiated settlement rather than looking for a “military victory”.ῠ Underlining that the human rights of ethnic Tamils in Sri Lanka must be respected, Singh said India had conveyed its views to the island government, including at the time when National Security Adviser M. K. Narayanan called Sri Lanka’s deputy high commissioner last week.
“Situation in Sri Lanka remains a cause of serious concern for India. We are concerned over escalating hostilities, losses suffered by civilians and increasing number of displaced persons,” Singh said in reply to a question at a press conference after the India-Brazil-South Africa (IBSA) Summit here. “We always believe that situation in Sri Lanka does not call for military victory,” he said. ῠ
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Powering Chandrayaan-1
Bengaluru, Oct. 15: Spacecraft are powered by energy from the sun, collected by one or more solar panels mounted on their sides, and converted into electric power. Chandrayaan-1, too, is powered by a single solar panel that will generate 700 Watts of power while in moon orbit.ῠ But there are times when the spacecraft is on the opposite side of the moon from the sun or when the moon is in eclipse when the sun would not be shining on the solar panel.
For those times, the spacecraft carries a lithium-ion battery - the same kind that you find in today’s laptop computers.ῠ What are the things that one has to think about when building a power system for a spacecraft such as Chandrayaan-1?
First, with respect to the solar panel, one has to decide whether one panel is enough or two are required to be mounted on either side of the spacecraft’s body. Considering Chandrayaan-1’s total power requirement, its orbit, ease of operation and the desire to avoid too many mechanical systems, Isro scientists have decided that a single high-performance solar panel is enough.This single solar panel is mounted on one side of the spacecraft, canted in such a way that the panel is always turned towards the sun while Chandrayaan-1 goes about in its orbit.
Another important consideration - indeed the most important one whenever anything has to be launched into space against the gravitational pull of the earth - is weight. The ordinary solar photovoltaic panels that we use in daily life for such things as solar water heating are made of silicon cells. One can build a solar panel for the spacecraft using the same technology, but silicon-based panels are currently still inefficient - they convert only 13-15 per cent of the energy they receive into power.
Chandrayaan-1’s solar panel, on the other hand, uses GalliumArsenide cells that are laid over a Germanium surface. Their efficiency is higher, at about 26 per cent. That means the spacecraft now carries a solar panel that is only half the size - 1m by 1.15m — that it would have been if it were made of silicon cells, and therefore considerably lighter, says Mr. A.D. Dharma, deputy director of the Isro Satellite Centre in Bengaluru, who is in charge of Chandrayaan-1’s power systems and integration.
When the sun is not shining on the solar panel - either because the spacecraft is on the other side of the moon from the sun or because the moon is in an eclipse - the lithium-ion battery takes over and supplies power to the spacecraft and the instruments. This has to be, of necessity, a very high quality, high performance battery - Isro cannot afford for it to fail. Which means that the battery’s ability to charge to full power should not decline for so long as the Chandrayaan-1 mission lasts.
That’s a tall order. The lithium-ion battery in your laptop is designed to last for about 1,000 charge and discharge cycles. The one on Chandrayaan-1 is guaranteed to last at least 10,000 cycles, because that’s about the number of times that the battery will charge and discharge during the two year mission, without a decline in its ability to charge up fully. It is especially challenging because the battery will be exposed to long charging periods, when it could overcharge itself, and long discharging periods, when it may not be able to supply the spacecraft with power for as long as is needed. Isro cannot afford for either to happen.
Nun traced to Kerala church
Bhubaneswar, Oct 15: The 29-year-old nun who was allegedly raped in K. Nuagaon in Kandhamal district of Orissa on August 25 is believed to have been provided shelter in a church in Kerala, police sources revealed here on Wednesday.ῠ “The nun who left Orissa for Delhi after the incident later moved to Kerala”, highly placed sources in the crime branch here said.
The sources however refused to disclose the exact place where she is currently staying. The sources indicated that the nun sought refuge in a church in Kerala and that she was receiving all “medical and psychological” attention in the church. “We have been assured by appropriate authority that the nun would return to Orissa soon to cooperate in the investigation”, a senior CB official requesting anonymity here said. The CB police is also confident that one of the three arrested in connection with the rape case from Palaghat in Kerala on October 11 and brought here on Tuesday, is the prime accused as his features match the descriptions provided by the victim on August 26. The CB team returned from Kerala with three accused- Mitu Patnaik, Muna Ghadei and Saroj Ghadei.
The Kandhamal police had earlier arrested five others in connection with the case. Father Thomas Chellan, the lone witness in the rape case, reportedly refused to cooperate with the “Orissa police”, when a team of CB officials established “telephonic contact” with him in Kottayam in Kerala. “Thomas Chellan declined to cooperate in investigation by Orissa police”, CB DySP Jayashree Kundu who had gone to Kerala to bring the three accused, said here.
Passenger dies in aircraft
Malappuram/Kasaragod, Oct. 15: A passenger coming from Muscat to Kerala by an Oman Airways flight died after he suffered a cardiac arrest before the plane landed at Karuppur International airport here on Wednesday.ῠ The person was identified Abdur Rahim, 34, a native of Chokli in Kannur district, airport sources said.
Abdur Rahim was in a wheel chair as he was coming for treatment to Kerala. Some of his relatives were accompanying him, they said.ῠ He died some 20 minutes before the aircraft touched down, they said. Meanwhile in another incident in Kasaragod a youth was stabbed to death allegedly by a group of three persons at Kambam this evening triggering tension in the area, police said. Rafeeque, 22, was seriously injured in the attack and later succumbed to injuries, police said.
Holy text no guide to gay ban: HC
New Delhi, Oct. 15: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday pulled up the Centre for relying on religious texts to justify the prohibition on gay sex in the country and asked it to come up with scientific reports to justify it. The remarks came when the Additional Solicitor-General P.P. Malhotra was referring to an article condemning gay sex by quoting the Bible. “We should not accept religious literature instead of scientific report,” a bench headed by Chief Justice A.P. Shah said.
“These are not scientific reports. These are articles quoting the Bible, which is a propaganda. Your arguments should be based on scientific reports. Show us scientific reports which justify criminalisation of such acts (gay sex),” the Bench observed.ῠ The Bench asked the government to place before it the reports of the World Health Organisation on the issue of health hazards arising out of criminalisation of gay sex. “We are not taking it (religious literature). We will be going by your report submitted by the Naco. We would rely on Naco’s report. You can counter it by some scientific report. Show us what WHO says. We can rely on those scientific reports,” it said.
“I am not saying that you cannot quote Bible but show us scientific report. The entire article you are referring to quotes the religious text. This is the opinion of a traditional religious body. Its a religious view of a certain body which cannot be relied upon,” the Chief Justice said, adding that this is just one sided version of a religious body.ῠ The National Aids Control Organisation, in its affidavit filed on behalf of Union Health Ministry, had said that gay sex among consenting adults should be decriminalised.
The court observed that if the government goes by the religious text referred by it then all such people (homosexuals) in the country would be put behind the bars.ῠ Naco, in its affidavit, has not favoured enforcement of penal provisions against consenting homosexual adults. “Enforcement of Section 377 can adversely contribute to pushing HIV positive persons underground which would make such risky sexual practises go unnoticed,” the affidavit said.
B-school beckons postmen
New Delhi, Oct. 15: Postmen and front-line officers of India Post are set to undergo a management training programme in a leading B-school to bring about a change in their attitude and to develop a professional approach in selling products and services successfully.ῠ An understanding has been reached between Ministry of Communication and Information Technology and Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar (XIMB) in this regard, with both working for over three months to design the course module.ῠῠ
Bell, Boeing quit IAF bid
New Delhi, Oct. 15: Two US chopper manufacturers, Bell and Boeing, have opted out of the Indian Air Force’s tenders for attack helicopters, giving a severe blow to India’s effort to get six global companies to participate in the bids. “The US companies have refused to submit their bids for two very different reasons and have already explained their decision to the Indian defence top brass,” a Defence Ministry official said here on Wednesday.
India had released the tenders - Request for Proposals (RFP) in defence parlance - in May this year for 22 combat helicopters to augment its fleet of around 30 Mi-25 and Mi-35 attack helicopters. Of the six global players asked to submit their bids within three months, India received proposals from the Russian Kamov and Mil, Italian-British AgustaWestland and French Eurocopter.
Boeing, after showing initial interest in the bids, refused to submit it later, as it wanted more time to prepare a concrete proposal meeting all qualitative requirements of IAF. It sought an eight-week extension of the deadline, originally set for August 23 this year.ῠ However, the Defence Ministry refused to provide such a long time, considering that India wanted to complete the procurement of the 22 attack helicopters before May 2011. The government, on receiving the request from Boeing first agreed to extend the deadline by another 30 days to reset the last date for submission of the bids in September.
SC: Control obscenity, violence on television
New Delhi, Oct. 15: The Supreme Court on Wednesday gave vent to its strong disapproval of obscenity and violence being telecast on country’s TV channels and said it has become impossible for families to sit together and watch the programmes being dished out.ῠ A three-judge bench of Justices B N Aggrawal, G S Singhvi and Aftab Alam granted three weeks’ time to the Union Government to submit its views on the fate of the proposed broadcasting bill aimed at regulating the content in the electronic media.
Though Justices Aggrawal and Singhvi castigated the Government for failing to rein in the channels, Justice Aftab Alam struck a note of caution hinting that more than regulation, there has to be some self-introspection by the content providers.ῠ “It’s a very delicate issue. What people should watch I personally feel that I should not be a guardian. But it has to be addressed,” Justice Alam observed even as the other two judges slammed the government for ‘dilly dallying’ on the proposed Bill.
The observations came during the hearing of a PIL filed in 2000 by an NGO Common Cause seeking strict Government regulation to check obscenity and violence shown on TV channels.ῠ According to Justice Alam, “some of the programmes are interesting, while some are indifferent and others are detestable,” but the other two judges had a totally different view.
“Mr Solicitor can you please tell us if there is even one single day in the 365 days where a family can sit together and watch the programme?” Justice Singhvi queried Additional Solicitor General Gopal Subramaniam.
The bench asked the solicitor general whether there was even a single day where a family can together watch the TV without an assault on their ‘basic values.’ῠ The apex court regretted that violence and other obscenity was being glorified by the television channels which is the most powerful instrument in the world.ῠ “Today television in the most powerful instrument in the world capable of influencing the minds of the people,” Justice Singhvi observed.
Deccan Chronicle