News Days

New Direction - New News - New NeuzDaze

noreply@blogger.com (Kavitha Sreedhar) — Thu, 21 Mar 2019 04:27:00 +0000

New Direction - New News - New NeuzDaze

Hiranandani family dispute to be settled by middle of the year

noreply@blogger.com (Somdev Nath) — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 16:13:00 +0000

A dispute lingering in the family of prominent real estate developer Niranjan Hiranandani for over a year is heading for settlement by June under the mediation of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s wife Cherie and former Delhi High Court chief justice A. P. Shah, according to sources close to the family.

Hiranandani’s daughter Priya Vandrevala, who has been staying in London for seven years with her husband Cyrus and two sons, had last year initiated arbitration proceedings against her father and younger brother Darshan for having allegedly violated an agreement for real estate development in India.

The case is concerning Hirco Plc, a London Stock Exchange AIM market listed firm, which Hiranandani had floated along with his married daughter to raise money for Indian- specific real estate projects in 2006. Hirco Plc had also floated a subsidiary called Hirco Developments Pvt Ltd to construct and sell homes in India.

Hiranandani had last year resigned from Hirco as chairman and Priya also relinquished the executive role in the company in 2010 leaving it to be run by a professional board. Priya’s contention is that her father and brother are depriving her of making profits by not utilising the money raised by Hirco to buy land in India in violation of an agreement. The loss to her is estimated to be around $300 million.

Hiranandani refused to comment stating that the matter is under arbitration.

Blair’s wife is a reputed barrister from London. The sources said there was no agreement per say to deploy funds generated by Priya compulsorily but it is part of an understanding. A family friend told Mail Today that it was matter of great sorrow for Hiranandani as he never treated his children differently. “ He (Niranjan) is also a loving father and caring brother. It is sad that his children are squabbling over money.”

Lavasa gets conditional environment clearance

noreply@blogger.com (Kavitha Sreedhar) — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 07:21:00 +0000

The environment ministry earlier this week gave clearance to Lavasa, a private hill town project near Pune, thus paving the way for the developers to restart work.

The construction work at the project had been stopped since November last year after the ministry issued a show- cause notice to Lavasa for violation of environmental laws and not taking prior environmental clearance from the central government.

The ministry’s final clearance, subject to binding conditions on the developers, for Phase- I of the project came after the Maharashtra government filed a case under the environmental law against the developers and government officials who connived to give the go- ahead for the project.

The filing of a case termed ‘ credible action’ was one of the pre-requisites set by the ministry for clearance.

Billed as the first and largest hill city conceptualised in post- independence India, to be spread over 12,500 acres in the sylvan Sahyadri mountains along the contours of the Warasgaon lake was developed by Hindustan Construction Company led by Ajit Gulabchand.

The Rs. 2,824 crore project already has a built- up area of 681 hectares. It ran into controversies when Jairam Ramesh was the environment minister. The ministry set up an expert appraisal panel under K. T. Ravindran to assess the damage and suggest penal action.

The committee submitted its final report on October 25, which was accepted by the Jayanthi Natarajan- led environment ministry. According to the ministry’s 10- page order, as many as 47 conditions have been imposed upon the developers. The ministry has also ordered that a highlevel verification and monitoring panel comprising experts and government officials be set up.

The order also stipulates that five per cent of the total cost be used towards CSR to develop and help the neighbouring villages in community development and employment generation.

Anna backed NGO’s year long march for land reforms

noreply@blogger.com (Kavitha Sreedhar) — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 05:59:00 +0000

After their struggle for a strong Lokpal Bill, Gandhian activist Anna Hazare’s team will now focus on land reforms. Ekta Parishad, an NGO closely associated with Hazare, will launch a yearlong march to New Delhi from Kanyakumari on October 2, demanding that a model land reforms Act be passed in Parliament.

A study conducted by the Parishad says about 37.5 lakh acres of land has already been acquired for various industrial and mining purposes across the country. About six million families have been displaced during this acquisition, and 60 per cent of these families are tribals. As many as 92 villages have been erased from the map and 550 memoranda of understanding signed with various industrial units and mining firms, mostly in tribal belts, the study said.

Around 237 SEZs in 19 states, occupying 86,107 hectares, have already been approved by the Centre. “The total amount of land to be acquired across India for such SEZs is 1,50,000 hectares. This land — predominantly agricultural and typically multicropped — is capable of producing close to one million tonnes of foodgrains. If acquisition of cultivated land continues, it will endanger our food security,” the study said.

At least 10 lakh people who primarily depend upon agriculture for their survival, will face eviction in future. “ Experts say the total loss of income to the farming and farm-worker families is at least Rs 212 crore a year,” it said.

The study has also reported that major land struggles are taking place at 500 places across the country, which include agitations against land acquisition for the Yamuna expressway and Jaitapur nuclear power complex in Maharashtra. The march, to be led by Ekta Parishad chairman and Gandhi Peace Foundation vice- chairman P. V. Rajagopal would visit at least 1,000 such points. Rajagopal said the march, named Jan Satyagraha- 2012 , is modelled on the Dandi March.

“It is an uplifting event with a carnival atmosphere, the combined effort of people to stand up for their basic rights and speak on the way to build more equity in the governing structure,” he added.

Rajagopal, with a 25- member team, will visit about 350 districts across the country. “ People inspired by Ambedkar’s, Marxist and Gandhian ideologies are behind such struggles. Our effort is to coordinate these struggles and give them a national shape. Next year, we will come to Delhi with one lakh people demanding a comprehensive land reforms Act,” Rajagopal added.

Big B has done it again, KBC 5 gets rave TRPs

noreply@blogger.com (Somdev Nath) — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 15:35:00 +0000

Amitabh Bachchan’s fifth season of Kaun Banega Crorepati opened on August 15 with healthy ratings of 5.24 TVR. This is marginally better than the show’s opening TRP of 5 last year. With season 5 of KBC seeing a bumper start, Big B has eclipsed the showing of all other Bollywood stars who have made a small screen foray this season.

Bachchan has clearly stolen the show from Dharmendra’s India’s Got Talent season 3 (opening TRP of 4.6), Hrithik Roshan’s Just Dance (4) and Akshay Kumar’s Khatron Ke Khiladi — Torchar season 4 (3.2). KBC 5 has also opened far better than Shah Rukh Khan’s last show Zor Ka Jhatka, which saw a poor rating of 2.6.

Big B and Dharmendra, known to be thick friends since their Jai- Veeru days, are right now opponents on competing shows on rival channels. The original He- Man Dharmendra has presented a more emotional image on India’s Got Talent 3, shedding copious tears after almost every good performance.

KBC 5, too has opened to similar antics. In an early episode, the show spent considerable footage on revealing the life story of a contestant who hailed from a village with no water and electricity supply, to reveal the triumph of human will as the contestant scored well on the show.

Strategy in pipeline by Congress to take on Anna Hazare

noreply@blogger.com (Kavitha Sreedhar) — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 05:11:00 +0000

Congress President Sonia Gandhi has convened a meeting of the Congress Working Committee, the highest policy making body of the party, for damage control on the Lokpal Bill. Concerned over Anna Hazare team trying to discredit the UPA government in the eyes of public, she wants the party to firm up a strategy to take the civil right activists on by exposing the canard they are spreading.

The CWC meeting is also expected to endorse in toto the ministerial draft of the Lokpal Bill released on Tuesday at the end of the drafting committee meeting. This will be the first CWC meeting to be convened since its re-constitution in March. The earlier two meetings were confined to passing condolence resolutions on the demise of Arjun Singh and Arunachal Chief Minister Khandu Dorjee.

The Congress core group has been advising the government on the Bill's formulation by holding meetings from time to time, but latest CWC meeting will be the first to draft all party leaders for discussing the political fallout of the civil right activists' campaign.

Though the ministerial draft of the Lokpal Bill is silent on bringing the Prime Minister under its ambit, the CWC may suggest his inclusion with some riders to ensure any malafide complaints before the proposed ombudsman do not paralyse the government.

Rajinikanth takes u-turn, gives up to Jayalalithaa

noreply@blogger.com (Somdev Nath) — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 14:34:00 +0000

"If Jayalalithaa comes back to power, even God cannot save Tamil Nadu." This statement made by Tamil filmdom's demigod Rajinikanth in the first half of 1996 became an electrifying slogan in the Assembly elections that year leading to the AIADMK worst rout.

Now, for the reigning superstar of south India, the same Jayalalithaa has become a saviour of Tamil Nadu. " our victory has saved Tamil Nadu," is what the actor, who underwent a major operation at a corporate hospital in Singapore, told the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Wednesday when he spoke to her over phone.

Observers of Tamil Nadu politics are amused by the actor's flip- flop. In 1996, he had infamously crossed swords with Jayalalithaa upset that every time her convoy passed through the post Poes Garden in Chennai, where he too lived, traffic came to a standstill. Also, she had sacked a Minister as he had not countered Rajnikanth's charge that the " bomb culture" was growing in Tamil Nadu while participating in a film function. At that time, Rajnikanth was referring to pipe bombs being hurled inside ace director Manirathnam's house in Chennai.

Later, of course, he had made up with an angry Jayalalithaa and invited her to his daughters' wedding as well as arranged special previews of his films for her. At the same time, he was also maintaining cordial relationship with Jayalalithaa's political enemy number one and DMK president M Karunanidhi. During the last five years, he had met Karunanidhi at least on a half a dozen occasions.

Yet, to douse any speculation about him moving up close with the AIADMK leader, on Thursday he promptly called up Karunanidhi. According to a DMK press release, the actor called up told the octogenarian leader and advised him to take care of his health. So on whose side is Rajnikanth?

BJP desperate to setup Chidambaram date with Raja

noreply@blogger.com (Kavitha Sreedhar) — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 04:21:00 +0000

The BJP continued its tirade against Union Home Minister P Chidambaram for the second day on Wednesday. Party president Nitin Gadkari put his foot in the mouth once again and stated in a TV interview that "we are convinced of Chidambaram's involvement in the 2- G scam. We have evidence and we are sure he will go to jail." To buttress his case, Gadkari said, " Corporate lobbyist Nira Radia has stated in her statement to the CBI that Chidambaram had received kickbacks to clear the 2G spectrum. His signatures were present on at least 10 documents relating to these clearances and he also assured the Prime Minister in a letter that everything was OK with respect to the clearances.

Chidambram can't escape responsibility by merely burying an alliance partner (DMK)." Later, at a press conference at party headquarters, BJP spokeswoman Nirmala Sitharaman indicated that Gadkari's was not an off- thecuff statement. She asserted that Chidambaram was "jointly responsible (along with A Raja) for the decision to allocate spectrum in 2007 at 2001 rates" and his notes in this regard as the then finance minister were on every file Raja had pushed. She demanded that he should resign, as otherwise he would influence the CBI probe.

Chidambaram, however, asserted that the BJP was targeting him on the basis of an alleged conversation of Radia with one Raja who is not the arrested former minister A Raja but K Ramachandran Raja, an employee of Reliance. "I have made some inquiries. I have learned that the 'Raja' who figures in the conversation is one Shri K Ramachandran Raja, an employee of M/s Reliance Industries Limited," Chidambaram said, adding that he is sending a legal notice to this Raja, demanding an unconditional apology.

However, when journalist M J Akabar grilled Gadkari in 'Seedhi Baat' as to how the BJP could put Chidambaram in the dock - he shot back: "BJP has enough evidence against Chidambaram and is in the process of gathering more. The BJP members of Parliament will present the evidence to the CBI director and urge him to conduct a thorough inquiry, file an FIR and proceed firmly against the Home Minister." In reply to another question, the BJP president said Chidambaram was definitely culpable in the 2G scam and satirically added: " Tihar jail should create a special air conditioned 3- star facility to accommodate the Congress VIPs involved with him in this act of corruption."

Anna & Team focused amidst political tug of war

noreply@blogger.com (Somdev Nath) — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 16:37:00 +0000

The Congress and the BJP continued their slugfest on the civil society's role on the anti-corruption Lokpal Bill even as crusader Anna Hazare arrived for the Wednesday meeting pulling punches at the government questioning his locus standi.

Hazare, who is staying at the Maharashtra government's guest house, Maharashtra Sadan, chided those in the government are servants of people and should not conduct themselves as masters.

Congress spokesman Janardan Dwivedi shot back that " one person trying to impose own views is not democracy. Pranab Mukherjee's outburst against Hazare and company posing as civil society's voice trying to reject the democratic process of elected Parliament and Legislatures run the country.

" Whosoever comes through democracy process is welcome and that is why Congress, BJP and other parties contest elections. There is no other process as only those elected constitute Parliament and Assemblies which alone can decide whether to pass a Bill or not," Dwivedi added, appealing the Hazare group to come above personal agenda in the national interest.

" Nothing wrong in civil society highlighting issues. After all, the government is a representative of the citizens and are answerable," Hazare retorted even as BJP spokesman Prakash Javadekar took offence at the government and the Congress abusing Hazare and Baba Ramdev and Congress spokesman Manish Tewari talking of " tyranny of the unelected."

IT department failed to trace 35% of tax demand raised

noreply@blogger.com (Kavitha Sreedhar) — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 05:11:00 +0000

The October report of the CAG on the 2G scam, suggesting a national loss of Rs 1.76 lakh crores, had created a political upheaval, but the CAG's another report, tabled in March this year, on the much bigger loss of Rs 2.3 lakh crores to the exchequer has gone unnoticed.

The IT Department has been able to collect only 65 per cent of the total tax demand raised in assessment up to 2009-10, while a phenomenal Rs 2.3 lakh crores has not been collected, the CAG report noted, questioning the lethargy in the recovery of such large dues.

It points out that no special laws are needed for the recoveries as the Income Tax Act itself has enough teeth to deal with the defaulters.

The government early this month set up a high- powered committee to examine involvement of independent agencies to track down such tax dodgers and recover the tax arrears from their assets. The involvement of such agencies was justified on the ground that the Income Tax Department does not have enough staff to take these cases to logical conclusion.

The CAG report, however, says this justification given in response to its draft report is not valid as "uncollected demands are rising despite clear provisions in the Income Tax Act to enforce collection and recovery of outstanding demand through attachment and sale of assessee's movable and immovable property.

It points out that the Income Tax Act provides for appointment of a receiver for management of the defaulting assessee's properties and even gives the tax recovery officer powers to arrest such defaulters and prosecute them instead of allowing them to vanish in thin air by selling their assets and shifting base to other states and the department washing its hands off by declaring them as "untraceable" in the files.

Top colleges all set to become universities

noreply@blogger.com (Somdev Nath) — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 05:54:00 +0000

Even while the Supreme Court is seized of the deemed universities status granted to many institutions during the UPA- I government, the University Grants Commission is toying with an idea of giving the university status to reputed colleges in India to let them give own degrees.

The move is to promote the university- level research that has almost become defunct as some 400 universities in existence are not able to do anything more than affiliating the colleges and conducting of examinations.

The UGC has sent to the Human Resources Development Ministry a list of 500 colleges that can be declared autonomous universities right away on the basis of the faculty and basic infrastructure.

It hopes that the university status to the colleges will start a competition among them for imparting quality education to get recognition to their degrees and promote them to become centres of research.

There are some 31,000 colleges on the UGC list and hence only 500 of them passing the muster itself puts a question mark on the mushroom growth of colleges and their recognition by the commission. Its sources said all these colleges will be put on notice to come up to the UGC standards within three years or else they will be disaffiliated from universities and converted into vocational training institutes.

Adarsh Society: Land belonged to Army as per new revelations

noreply@blogger.com (Kavitha Sreedhar) — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 06:43:00 +0000

In a significant twist to the dispute between the Maharashtra government and the Ministry of Defence (MoD) regarding the ownership of the controversial Adarsh CHS land, Defense Estate Officer (DEO) Gita Kashyap has submitted 'documents' to the inquiry commission stating that the land belonged to the army.

The 'document' is a Survey of India Plan of 1957 of the Backbay Reclamation area which clearly shows that a military office existed on a small portion of land (on which Adarsh building today stands) in Block VI which was in possession of local military authorities (LMA) since 1941. In the light of the above revelation, Kashyap pointed out that in spite of the land being in possession of the army since 1941, the state government had not asked it for any rent for use of land and that there was no question of it being reclaimed.

The matter came to light during Kashyap's cross-examination by the commission's counsel, advocate Dipan Merchant earlier this week. Merchant was referring to a letter dated April 6, 1941 addressed by the then Military Estate Officer to the Station HQ to which this 1957 plan was attached.

The letter refers to some digging going on at the plot and states, "it is not known whether the work is being done by the MES or some encroacher with a view to encroach upon the land which is under the possession of the Defence department." In another statement that could prove to be a major set back for the state government, which is claiming ownership of the land, Kashyap said that as per the letters and documents available, the land in question was in use of the Federal government from as far back as 1941.

Kashap stated, "the property in question was neither on lease nor on licence and no rent has been paid nor had the state government had asked for the same. But the army was in possession of the land in question as per the records." However, Kashyap stated that she was not aware about exact the date from which the army was in possession of the land.

A statement in the same letter further reads, "This portion of the land where the defence building exists is original and no reclamation has been involved. As the buildings existed since 1941 or even earlier, any contemplation of reclamation was only considered beyond this area, which was swampy as indicated by the survey map of 1957."Kashyap stated that this particular statement was indeed correct.

Minutes of a meeting that was held between then subarea commander and senior government officials on the land ownership question on July 20, 1975, were also presented before the panel along with a series of letters written dealing with land ownership. The minutes stated, " the portion of the land was in use for Defence purpose since 1941 even prior to the enactment of the constitution so the question of encroachment of state government land does not arise."

Stage is set for demotion of Dayanidhi Maran

noreply@blogger.com (Kavitha Sreedhar) — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 20:16:00 +0000

Instead of dropping Textile Minister Dayanidhi Maran embroiled in the telecom scam, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is planning the next best of shifting him to an inconsequential ministry like ministry of statistics or ministry of science and technology, Top sources in Congress said the same downgrade is in store for another DMK minister M K Azhagiri now heading the high- profile ministry of fertilisers and chemicals, for non- performance.

DMK supremo M Karunanidhi has been hinting at the upcoming changes in the cabinet reshuffle the Prime Minister is planning towards the end of this month. His reaction is anxiously awaited. He may take it as an assault on his family since after putting in jail his MP daughter Kanimozhi as Azhagiri is his eldest son and Maran a grandson.

Until the Tamil Nadu assembly elections, Karunanidhi was insisting on even filling the vacancy caused by resignation of telecom minister A Raja, who is now in custody in Tihar, with a DMK man, but he is not in a position to dictate the PM any more. The Congress has no problem if Karunanidhi reacts by asking both to resign than to suffer humiliation.

The party's understanding is that he can not afford to pull out of the ruling alliance of UPA at a time when Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa is out to take political revenge against him.

Sources in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) said Dr Manmohan Singh prefers to tackle Maran only at the time of reshuffling the ministry instead of acting on the increasing demand to drop him for getting embroiled in the Aircel scam.

The Prime Minister's stand is that nothing has been yet proved against Maran except for allegations and he would wait for the next step by the CBI probing the charges or any strictures by the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on the 2G scam.

It is still better if Maran refuses downgrade of his status in the ministry and resigns on his own, the Congress sources said.

If the CBI names Maran as an accused in the 13th charge- sheet on the telecom scam it plans to file by June 30 as indicated by its chief Amar Pratap Singh, his arrest becomes inevitable and thus his continuation in the Union Cabinet will become untenable.

The CBI has already registered a preliminary inquiry into the arm-twisting of the Aircel owner for two years until he sold equity to a party of Maran'' s choice to secure the mobile telephony licences for 14 circles.

Singh told the JPC on Tuesday that the CBI has so far filed 12 charge- sheets and five supplementaries and it is now seized of preliminary inquiry into the Aircel scam and other issues, hoping to complete the inquiry by June- end to file new charge-sheets.

Haryana Board (HBSE) class 8th, 12th & Open result today

noreply@blogger.com (Somdev Nath) — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 23:53:00 +0000

Students of Haryana Board of School Education (HBSE) are going to have a busy morning today as the board would release the results of class 8th, 12th and Haryana Open School results today at around 7:00 am today i.e. 9th June. Board has already announced the results of class 10th where students had to spend lot of time on their computers to check their results as the board official website stopped working due to the heavy load on the server.

The board is now about to release the results of class 8th, 12th and open school on the same which might land up the students in the same situation, however students can check the results on various results portals as well. S C Ahluwali, GM of BSNL, made the official announcement before the declaration of results that students can the results via BSNL mobile & landline. To get the results via SMS of class 8th type HR08, for class 12th type HR12 and for Open school type HOS and send to 56666 from their BSNL mobile for which they will be charged Rs. 2 or call 12501122 from the BSNL landline to get the instant results.

Earlier, girls again left the boys behind in the class 10th results whether it is the passing percentage of bagging the top spots in the merit list. The passing percentage of the girls were impressive 5 percent higher than the boys, also the top 4 spots were secured by the girl students from different districts. The wait is about to get over to see whether the boys would be break the jinx and leave the girls behind in class 8th and 12th results.

Midnight Drama: Political brawl continues, lessons to be learnt

noreply@blogger.com (Somdev Nath) — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 17:21:00 +0000

A delicious irony of midnight crackdown on Baba Ramdev and his supporters is that both the “perpetrator and the victim” are reeling under its impact. While the prime minister has defended police action, even the lathi- charge, the general impression is that the action has aggravated government’s agony in stead of salvaging it. The question being asked in political circles is that why the prime minister and Sonia Gandhi were keeping mum when party’s senior leader, Digvijay Singh, was calling Ramdev a “maha thug”.

The impression one gathers after talking to politicians of different hues is that both the sides have to learn lessons from this gory episode. As for Baba, eyebrows were being raised over the manner in which huge money was being spent on arrangements at Ramlila Maidan. Not only this. Baba himself had come by a chartered plane to begin his statyagraha. Now, doubts are being expressed in some quarters over the allegations about police atrocities being leveled by Baba and his supporters. Fingers are also being raised at the anti-political stance taken by Baba.

The truth is that the sharing of his platform by known hardliners like Ritambara had led to full- throated backing of the BJP and the RSS. Again, there is enough evidence to suggest that Baba had not done his home work well. He wanted death sentence for corrupt people but already debate is on in the country over the continuance of death sentence. Ideally, taking a cue from Anna who had legal luminaries with him, Baba should have consulted some economists.

There is a lesson for the government too. Observers feel that it should have not acted in such a hurry. After the contents of Acharya Balkrishan’s letter were made public, the sting in Baba’s agitation had been diluted. His protest could have lost its steam in a day or two. By resorting to police action, the government gave it a fresh lease of life. The government also failed to realize the fact that if it had allowed Baba’s fast to continue, the Anna camp, which is now united with him, would have broken away.

The government has also to realize the fact that the role of civil society players is going to increase as one after the other scam is getting exposed and the government is not able to tackle the fallout. The result is that, the moral outrage against the government is growing fast.

New beginning for Uma Bharti in BJP

noreply@blogger.com (Kavitha Sreedhar) — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 15:16:00 +0000

The return of firebrand former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Uma Bharti to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday may be an attempt of the party leadership to make its circle of leaders more inclusive, but apparently in this new beginning she will have to work hard to make her position felt in the forthcoming election campaign in the state.

Bharti is a Lodhi by caste and considered to have some influence in the Bundelkhand region that includes parts of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. Her return has not enthused some leaders in the party anyway. While an announcement about her return to party fold was widely accepted during the recent National Executive meet of the BJP in Lucknow, it was held back at the last moment because of the Ramdev episode taking the centre stage, and the continuing reservation of some party leaders, especially those from Madhya Pradesh itself.

However, by making it specific that Bharti will be involved fully in the Uttar Pradesh affairs and specially improve the party's prospects in Bundelkhand region, the party has sought to allay any fears that leaders in neighbouring Madhya Pradesh might be harbouring.

After Ramdev Baba episode, Lokpal bill is in dire straits

noreply@blogger.com (Somdev Nath) — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 09:10:00 +0000

The government on Monday rejected Anna Hazare group's demand for televising proceedings of the joint Lokpal Bill drafting committee, asserting that it was ready to go ahead with the Bill with or without participation of the group in future meetings.

It also took offence to abuses heaped on Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal, saying this kind of discourse is not expected from someone claiming to represent civil society. (Swami Ramdev had called Sibal a liar and accused him of conspiring and cheating.) " We reject in the strongest possible terms these allegations.

This kind of language is just not acceptable. We also deal with civil society but never experienced such abuses. We hope that in future this kind of discourse will not be conducted in public," Sibal told a press conference after attending the Lokpal drafting committee meeting, held here despite the group's boycott. He also took on record BJP President Nitin Gadkari's observations questioning how a few nominated members of civil society were riding roughshod over Parliamentarians' rights.

Gadkari had further asked the government not to undermine the Constitution and institutions of democracy by involving the civil society in drafting the Bill as " laws are to be made by Parliamentarians." Rejecting the five issues raised by senior advocate Shanti Bhushan, co- chairman of the Lokpal committee, as " extraneous" to the drafting job, he said drafting of the Bill can not be done by posing questions and answers and that is why the committee was constituted to resolve issues through discussions.

However, if the group continues to boycott the meeting, the five ministers on the committee will continue to work on the draft, make it ready by June 30 and bring it before Parliament in the monsoon session, irrespective of the group's participation, he said.

The panel's next sitting is on June 15 and it is up to the group to attend or not, he said. Sibal taunted the group, saying that, on one hand, it wanted to complete the drafting by June 30 and, on the other hand, it tried to delay the drafting by boycotting the meeting. " The committee's mandate is to sort out issues and give a good draft and not keep exchanging letters," he asserted.

As regards many parties and chief ministers resenting the committee chairman Pranab Mukherjee seeking their views on some ticklish issues on the Lokpal Bill, the telecom minister said the government does not take opinion of parties while drafting Bills. It had done so only because it felt that this was an important legislation and hence why not seek their opinion, since the government was already taking into account the civil society's views.

Demands increasing to cease the minister quota in MHADA scheme

noreply@blogger.com (Kavitha Sreedhar) — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 15:02:00 +0000

No response for the elected representatives quota in the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) lottery have fumed the housing activists of the city and they have now demanded scrapping of the quota and the same should be made available to general public.

MHADA had kept 78 flats reserved under the elected representatives quota that includes the current or former MPs, MLAs and MLCs, however only 14 flats received 30 applicants, while 64 flats remained unsold.

Out of that two leaders have won two houses so they would be forfeiting one house each thus leading to a surplus of 66 flats and raising questions on the reserved quota for them. Housing activists of the city have expressed their displeasure over the same claiming that the city is in desperate need of affordable housing and such reservations should be done away with.

"There is no need to have a special quota for the elected representatives and it should be scrapped immediately and also is any member of the family of an MP, MLA or MLC has a flat in the city, their application should be disqualified" said social activist Medha Patkar. Some activists have also targeted the increasing assets of the MPs and MLAs and hence demanded that they don't require any cheap house as they could afford expensive houses as well.

"The elected representatives do not deserve any special quota as most of them already have flats, even if not in their names but in the name of their kin" said Krishnaraj Rao, an RTI activist. He has alleged that they are already being given many privileges and pampered by the government. " I have came across a research that showed 400- 500% increase in assets between the time of two elections, hence they don't need an affordable house" added Rao.

Meanwhile MHADA would be consulting their legal department, as there is no clear directive in the MHADA Act, 1976 about what should be done in such a scenario.

Chidambaram in line of fire for changes made in the arms licensing

noreply@blogger.com (Somdev Nath) — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 12:20:00 +0000

The government is empowered to promulgate Ordinances to tackle urgencies without waiting for the time taken in Parliament amending or enacting an Act. Instead, Home Minister P Chidambaram resorted to an executive order to tighten the arms licensing policy bypassing a Bill or Ordinance.

His ministry has been pulled up by the home ministry-related standing committee, headed by BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu, for the directives issued to states "in the garb of advisories" to enforce the regulations months before two enabling amendments were tabled in Parliament.

It asserted that implementation of a new policy through advisories "amounts to exercise of power by the executive beyond the constitutional mandate." It accused the ministry of enforcing the new policy without amendments to the Arms Act, 1959, and the Arms Rules, 1962. The advisories contained an 11-point list of instructions to " come into force with immediate effect."

" The committee deprecates this attitude of the ministry of home affairs in general, and the home minister in particular ignoring a six-decade-old parliamentary practice and convention of first laying policy documents in Parliament and then making them public." The changes brought in the arms licensing had come in criticism and Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh even led a delegation to the Prime Minister to protest at the arbitrary decisions of Chidambaram.

The policy was finalised on April 5, 2010 while the budget session was on, but it was not brought to Parliament till May 7 when the session ended. In between, on April 6, the ministry issued the advisories on "grant of licences for acquisition/ possession of arms." The Arms (Amendment) Bill, 2010, was introduced in the Lok Sabha on August 25 while the Arms (Amendment) Rules, 2010 were tabled in the Lok Sabha on August 10, 2010, and in the Rajya Sabha the next day.

Grand arrangements made, Baba Ramdev satyagraha begins today

noreply@blogger.com (Kavitha Sreedhar) — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 03:44:00 +0000

Yoga guru Baba Ramdev appeared cracking up as a negotiating senior Union minister claimed signals from him to convert his indefinite fast from Saturday into one or two days of ''Satyagraha'' to register the nationwide revulsion against corruption and then wind up.

He has sought a "face-saving" government package of concrete and time- bound written assurances to put before the mass of people arriving here to join his mega demonstration to take their vote, the minister said. After a Congress core group meeting at the PM's House chaired by Sonia Gandhi approved a draft document as response to his demands, senior ministers huddled at Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee's residence for two hours to discuss how to bail out the Yoga guru, without damaging his credibility.

Their prime concern is that the Anna Hazare- led civil society group is trying to close ranks with the Baba, defeating the government's strategy to divide them after the group back- stabbed it despite the government yielding to sit with it to frame the anti-corruption Lokpal Bill.

The importance accorded to the Baba with what he sees as "positive" responses has moved him to consider rolling back the pressure he has built on the government, but he conveyed that he would consider limiting the show to one or two days instead of calling it off, particularly when thousands have set off for Delhi and he has already spent lakhs on the paraphernalia.

The document readied by the Prime Minister and senior ministers and approved by Sonia Gandhi at the core group meeting on Thursday evening may not meet Ramdev's demands "100 per cent" as he wants and yet the government does not want to antagonise him by saying that his demands in the garb of fighting corruption are completely irrational.

The senior ministers meeting at Mukherjee's residence discussed how to convince Baba that the document is the proof of the government's commitment to tackle the very issues he had raised. Subodh Kant Sahay, who has emerged as the key negotiator owing to his long equations with the Baba said the government's difficulty is that his demands involve a host of policy issues unlike the specific demand Hazare put for a joint drafting committee on the Lokpal Bill that could be accepted.

Ramdev, who is spending the night at the Ramlila Grounds close to New Delhi station, has made grand arrangements for the people joining his massive show.

MHADA lottery winners eligibility to be thoroughly examined

noreply@blogger.com (Kavitha Sreedhar) — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 16:41:00 +0000

The 3849 lucky winners of Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) lottery houses will now have to wait for the eligibility test to make sure their dreams of having an affordable home in the city come true. The banks would now be sending letters to the winners and the winners would have to submit the required documents between July 15 and July 30.

"As soon as the winners submit the documents to the bank, the bank would submit the same to MHADA and we will scrutinize it further and the final list would be returned to the bank," said Amarjit Manhas, chairman, Mumbai board, MHADA. Once the eligibility is proved the winners of the readymade flats would have to deposit pay the entire amount in 90 days.

The time period would be extended by another 45 days, however after that the application would be disqualified if he is not able to pay. While for the people who have won under construction houses, the payment would be done in installments.

The applicant would have to pay 10 per cent of the total amount after winning the flat, pay 40 per cent after the concrete construction of the home is ready, pay 25 per cent after the entire project is complete and pay 25 per cent final installment while taking the possession.

While for the losers the Earnest Money Deposit (EMD) would be returned within a week by the electronic clearance system. The bank will have to take the permission from the Reserve Bank of India and then they will return the amount.

Pakistan follows China laid path on Siachen issue

noreply@blogger.com (Kavitha Sreedhar) — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 15:49:00 +0000

Much to the shock of the Indian delegation, Pakistan played the China card in the Defence Secretary- level talks on Tuesday, wanting Beijing included in further talks on the Siachen dispute. The talks ended without any breakthrough.

In a "non- paper" placed on table on the second and last day of the talks, Pakistan argued that the northern part of the 2600- sq km Siachen glacier abuts the Shaksham valley under the Chinese control and hence the need to take Beijing on board. A " non- paper" in diplomatic parlance is an unofficial presentation of the stated policy of a government.

Defence Minister Pradeep Kumar is reported to have immediately rejected the demand to inject China in the talks over Siachen, asserting that "it is just not acceptable." He was quite forthright that India can not accept such a suggestion since the mountainous Shaksham valley of 5800 sq km is part of Jammu and Kashmir that had been illegally occupied by Pakistan since 1948 along with other parts of the state and ceded to China in 1959. The Indian side was expecting the Pakistan document to visit the extent of agreement both sides had reached until the dialogue broke down because of 26/ 11 as never before Pakistan had ever tried to involve China in resolving the dispute.

The Siachen Glacier is under India's control since April 1984 when its troops had beaten the Pakistan Army by a day to occupy the icy heights ranging from 16000 to 22000 feet along the Saltora range of Jammu and Kashmir.

Since the two sides agreed to a ceasefire in the area from November 2003, Pakistan has been insisting on India pull out from the glacier heights to demilitarise the area. In the last round of talks over three years ago, the dispute had narrowed down to both sides agree for the pull- out but India wanting first authentication of the 110- km Actual Ground Position Line (AGPL) and it was on this point that the talks broke down.

Govt all set to go ahead with its war against black money

noreply@blogger.com (Somdev Nath) — Tue, 31 May 2011 15:51:00 +0000

Unfolding its determined war against black money, the government on Monday created an entirely new Directorate of Income Tax (Criminal Investigation) with its sub-offices in 8 cities under the Central Board of Direct Taxes to tackle the tax evasion and investments of illicit funds in various sectors.

A Finance Ministry notification setting up the new directorate known as DCI says it will handle criminal matters with financial implication punishable as an offence under the Income Tax and Wealth Tax Act. So far, this task was performed as one of its numerous responsibilities by the Income Tax Department.

Formation of a separate directorate is part of a 5-fold strategy adopted by the government to tackle the menace of illicit funds that are known loosely as black money. This strategy includes joining global crusade against black money, creating an appropriate legislative framework, setting up institutions for dealing with Illicit Funds, developing systems for implementation and imparting special skills to staff for effective action.

The new directorate is the third major step the government announced in three consecutive days, starting with creation of a high- powered panel headed by the CBDT chairman on Saturday to recommend within six months how to curb generation of black money and engaging three top class institutions to assess the real worth of the black money.

Vilasrao Deshmukh under the scanner for Adarsh scam

noreply@blogger.com (Kavitha Sreedhar) — Mon, 30 May 2011 16:00:00 +0000

He was no where in the picture when the controversial Adarsh scam broke in November last year. But now, a month after the inquiry commission began probing the multi-crore housing scam, affidavits submitted by top babus, politicians and officials are all pointing an indirect finger at Union Rural Development minister Vilasrao Deshmukh. Ironically, ousted for being involved in the scam, former Chief Minister Ashok Chavan has not been named in any of the affidavits filed so far.

First to pin the blame on Deshmukh was suspended State Information Commissioner and prime accused Ramanand Tiwari, who told the commission that it was Deshmukh who had approved all proposals pertaining to the 31- storey apartment building in up- scale Colaba. The society's proposal seeking deletion of the land reserved for BEST and changing it to residential type was forwarded to Deshmukh. Only after his approval, a notification dated March 3, 2006 was issued deleting the BEST reservation, Tiwari said in his affidavit clearly pointing out that it was Deshmukh who gave the go ahead for allowing Adarsh to use the additional FSI. Tiwari's son Omkar owns a flat in the society.

Another former CM and current Union Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde also threw the ball in Vilasrao's court, washing his hands of the Adarsh controversy. Through his affidavit submitted before the Commission, Shinde made a veiled but pointed reference to his predecessor. On the question of the deletion of the reservation of the BEST plot and its conversion it to a residential one to favour Adarsh, Shinde said, " the notification (dated April 10, 2001) is prior to my taking over as chief minister." Denying any role in the Adarsh scam, State Water Resources minister Sunil Tatkare also passed the blame on to Deshmukh.

Tatkare, who was the minister of state for urban development intermittently from 1999 to 2004, pointed out he had no powers to take decisions in the Adarsh case, as he was a junior minister and all powers vested with the Chief Minister.

Medha Patkar follows Anna Hazare path, for good

noreply@blogger.com (Kavitha Sreedhar) — Sat, 28 May 2011 06:13:00 +0000

Medha Patkar's follows the path laid by Anna Hazare and her fast seems to be bringing an impact on the government as Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan spoke to her over the phone on Thursday midnight and agreed to many of her demands. However Patkar has not broken her fast claiming the language in the Government resolution (GR) was less than what was promised by the CM. Patkar is on indefinite hunger strike since eight days, demanding major changes in slum rehabilitation policy and inquiry on projects where there have been complaints of forgery.

CM has agreed for inquiry of alleged forgery in Ganeshkripa Society and 15 other Slum Rehabilitation projects across Mumbai city with members of civil society and a time- bound investigation. The government officials presented drafts of two GRs; one of them was about the inquiry committee on Ganeshkripa Society and the second was about 15 other projects where we have found forgery. " The language was twisted in a way that was not favoring the inquiry.

There were certain mistakes in terms the number of members in the committee. We rectified all of them and sent it back for notification," said Simpreet Singh, member, National Alliance of People's Movement. Singh also alleged that there has been pressure from the builder lobby on the CM. " There were differences in what CM and Sachin Ahir, housing minister collectively told us and what was mentioned in the GR. It seems builders have applied pressure and the Court and government have been misguided by the builders but we don't want such scene to repeat."

Demands

1. Two committees to be constituted: one, four member committee for the Ganesh Kripa Society and another five member Committee for 15 SRA projects across the Mumbai.

2. The committee for Ganeshkripa would submit its report to the state government by June 15 and till then no demolitions should take place.

3.The second committee to review other projects would submit interim report in three months time and final report in six months time.

4. 25 settlements to be declared as slums officially in three months time and provision of basic facilities like water, electricity and sanitation in these areas.

5. A meeting on June 10 with government officials to discuss about the implementation of Rajiv Awas ojana (RA) that would allow slum dwellers of rehabilitation without considering any cut- off date for eligibility that was promised by Chief Secretary Ratnakar Gikwad.