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Archives for July 2015

Sourav Ganguly in panel to study Lodha Committee ruling

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Sourav Ganguly

Mumbai: The Indian cricket board on Monday named a working group comprising Sourav Ganguly, Rajeev Shukla, Anurag Thakur and Anirudh Chaudhry to study the Lodha Committee verdict and prepare the road map for the future of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

IPL chairman Rajeev Shukla, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary Anurag Thakur, BCCI treasurer Anirudh Chaudhry and former India captain Sourav Ganguly will share their recommendations with the IPL Governing Council (GC) within six weeks. All four are members of the IPL GC. “In accordance with the decision of the IPL GC to implement the Lodha Committee report, the four members will constitute the working group which will prepare the road map for the forthcoming edition of the IPL and related matters,” Thakur said in a statement.

“The committee will be assisted by BCCI legal advisor U.N. Banerjee. The committee will share their recommendations with the GC within a time frame of six weeks after consulting all the key stakeholders.” Shukla said the four-member group’s report to the IPL GC will then be forwarded to the BCCI working committee which will take the final decision in the matter. The IPL GC, at an emergency meeting here on Sunday, decided to abide by the Lodha Committee verdict and form a panel to study the ruling suspending two franchises and banning two team officials.

The Lodha Committee, headed by former Chief Justice of India R.M. Lodha (retired), on July 14 suspended IPL franchises Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals for two years while banning respective team officials Gurunath Meiyappan and Raj Kundra from any cricketing activity for life.

(IANS)

Karnataka government still for an apex court nod for BBMP poll postponement

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BBMP poll

Bengaluru: The state’s Congress government is still trying to postpone the BBMP Election. The calendar has been announced, but the government has not given up on getting the August 22nd election postponed.

Today, the apex court will be hearing a petition filed by the government that seeks explicit clarity on the deadline for holding elections, following its July 3 order extending polls by eight weeks.

Sources say the government will seek more time on the premise that it requires time to implement the recommendation of the BBMP restructuring committee. The committee recommended splitting the city into five corporations for better municipal administration.

Committee member V Ravichandar and Namma Bengaluru Foundation agreed that the bad move of postponing elections had the good motive of fixing the city’s crumbling governance.”The report is virtually useless if we don’t get time to implement its recommendations,” the minister said.

“I support the government wanting to postpone elections,” said TV Mohandas Pai, chairperson of Manipal Global Education Services. “For the past five years, we didn’t have a democratic institution. A mafia had captured the city. All this has to stop by having multiple corporations to help Bengaluru, in place of a single, monolithic institution like the BBMP.”

Namma Bengaluru CEO Sridhar Pabbisetty is firm on timely electoral process. “It is very important that we acknowledge that timely elections should have happened, and the derailment of elections has been schemed under various pretexts. To invoke the doctrine of mixed motives now would make the government’s earlier motives questionable,” he argued.

(Agencies)

Vyapam scam whistleblower Anand Rai transferred

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ANAND_RAI

Bhopal: Days after he lodged a complaint with CBI against senior BJP leader and former Union Minister Vikram Verma, Vyapam scam whistleblower and government doctor Anand Rai has been transferred from Indore to Dhar district.

Rai had lodged a complaint with the CBI alleging that Verma, using his influence and power, had got his daughter, pursuing MBBS in Santosh Medical College at Ghaziabad, transferred to Gandhi Medical College in Bhopal.

Rai, who was on deputation at the health department’s training institute in Indore, was transferred yesterday.

His wife Gouri, who is also a government doctor, too was transferred from civil hospital at Mhow in Indore to Ujjain district hospital last month.

However, unfazed by the transfer, Dr Rai today said that he is going to move the court to challenge his transfer.

“I am being hounded for lodging a complaint against Verma on July 17 and exposing the Vyapam scam. People involved in the wrongdoings were running the state,” he alleged.

Meanwhile, another Vyapam scam whistleblower Ashish Chaturvedi said he along with his colleagues will write a letter to Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan seeking that the transfers of Rai and his wife be revoked.

“If the government doesn’t do so, we are going to protest,” Chaturvedi said. The whistleblowers in MP are being hounded, he alleged.

“We won’t sit quiet against the corrupt government. President’s Rule should be imposed in Madhya Pradesh to replace Governor Ram Naresh Yadav and Chief Minister Chouhan, who are also allegedly involved in the Vyapam scam and holding highest posts in the state,” he said.

The CBI has registered at least 12 cases so far, following Supreme Court’s direction, to probe the scam.

Massive irregularities in various professional examinations and government job tests conducted by Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board or ‘Vyapam’ have been unearthed.

The scam allegedly involves several state government officials, former ministers and politicians.

At least, 55 cases have been registered by the MP police and 2,000 accused have been arrested, police said.

The Opposition Congress has alleged that at least 49 people associated with the scam have so far died under “mysterious” circumstances.

(PTI)

Shiv Sena leader compares Modi with Hitler

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Photo: Kunal Patil/ Hindustan Times

Photo: Kunal Patil/ Hindustan Times

Mumbai: Mumbai Mayor and Shiv Sena leader Snehal Ambekar compared Narendra Modi with Hitler and said they were quite similar.

In an interview with the Afternoon Despatch & Courier, the 43-year-old said, “I admire Narendra Modi for his self-reliant way of working. But at some level, I feel his rule is quite like Hitler…”

“This is bound to happen when power is concentrated in the hands of one man,” said Ambekar, a first-time municipal corporator.

Elected the city’s seventh woman and first Dalit woman mayor in September 2014, Ambekar has been seeking a red beacon for her vehicle.

The former Life Insurance Corp (LIC) officer claimed that her position in the city was akin to that of the chief minister.

“If a chief minister has red beacon, a mayor’s status is pretty similar in terms of a city,” she said.

Ambekar’s comments were the latest in a series of the barbs the Shiv Sena has fired at the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. Both parties are allies in the centre and in Maharashtra.

(Agencies)

Movie Review: ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’ is an emotional journey of an Indian man & a Pakistani Child

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Bajrangi Bhaijaan

Banner: Salman Khan Films & Kabir Khan Films
Producer: Salman Khan & Rockline Venkatesh
Director: Kabir Khan
Cast: Salman Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Harshaali Malhotra, Najeem Khan, Ali Quli Mirza, Deepti Naval, Om Puri, Sharat Saxena & Adnan Sami (Spl App)
Music: Pritam Chakraborty, Komail Shayan (KK) & Julius Packiam

Director Kabir Khan is known for his films like ‘Kabul Express’, ‘New York’ & ‘Ek Tha Tiger’. He seems to have a penchant for cross border problems which he keeps showcasing in most of his films including in his latest directorial offering ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’ too. But this this time he has succeded in delivering an endearing & a heart touching film.

A 6 year old speech impaired girl Shahida (Harshaali Malhotra) accompanies her mother from Pakistan to Delhi to visit a Muslim Shrine. On her way back to Pakistan Shahida aka Munni gets separated from her mother on the Indian border. Munni then bumps into Pawan Kumar Chaturvedi (Salman Khan), who is a staunch bhakt of Hanuman. After some initial hesitation Pawan takes the oath of Hanuman to return Munni back to Pakistan to deliver her safely in the hands of her parents. So off he goes to Pakistan without even having a Passport not to forget the Visa. He encounters a lot of problems on his way to and in Pakistan too. His trouble starts right from the Wagah border and then continues till the end, during which a local news reporter Chand Pasha (Nawazzuddin Siddiqui) and his cameraman (Najim Khan) also help him a lot.

Salman Khan

Except for a few exaggerated hicups & glitches director Kabir Khan does succeed in winning the cine goers heart especially in the 2nd half and post interval portions which is also punctuated with the right doses of humorous punches. Especially notable are the scenes of the trio of Salman Khan, Harshaali Malhotra & Nawazzuddin Siddiqui. That apart Salman Khan deserves a standing ovation for backing such an emotionally oriented sensitive film like ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’. A fair share of credit also goes director Kabir Khan and his entire team of the cast & the crew for totally living upto his highest expectations.

Performance wise the film clearly belongs to Salman Khan and the most sensatonal discovery namely Harshaali Malhotra. Yes! Sallu miyan for a change has delivered a very emotionally charged restrained performance, if only he could have resisted those few Dishoom Dishoom scenes. And the girl child Harshaali Malhotra seems to be God gifted. She is so expressive and simply outstanding. Nawazzuddin Siddiqui as usual is brilliant to the core. Sadly enough Kareena Kapoor Khan is not up to the mark as she had nothing much to do in this emotional drama. While the rest of the cast comprising of Najim Khan, Ali Quli Mirza, Deepti Naval, Om Puri, Sharat Saxena, Adnan Sami et al just fit the bill and lend an able & adequate support.

Tail Piece: ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’ initially sounds, like it is coloured with communal essence but as the film progresses it leaves you emotionally drained. Don’t miss ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’, a perfect festival (Ramzan Eid) & weekend gift for one & all.

Retired US general: Drones cause more damage than good

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Retired US Lieutenant General Michael Flynn calls for “different approach” on drones in interview with Al Jazeera.

Flynn acknowledged the US invasion of Iraq helped fuel the rise of ISIL [File]

Flynn acknowledged the US invasion of Iraq helped fuel the rise of ISIL [File]

by Al Jazeera

US President Barack Obama’s former top military intelligence official has launched a scathing attack on the White House’s counter-terrorism strategy, including the administration’s handling of the ISIL threat in Iraq and Syria and the US military’s drone war.

In a forthcoming interview with Al Jazeera English’s Head to Head, retired US Lt. General Michael Flynn, who quit as head of the Pentagon’s Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) in August 2014, said “there should be a different approach, absolutely” on drones.

“When you drop a bomb from a drone… you are going to cause more damage than you are going to cause good,” Flynn said.

Flynn was a senior intelligence officer with the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), which is responsible for the US military’s secretive and controversial drone program in countries such as Yemen and Somalia.

Asked by Al Jazeera English’s Mehdi Hasan if drone strikes tend to create more terrorists than they kill, Flynn, who has been described by Wired magazine as “the real father of the modern JSOC”, replied: “I don’t disagree with that”, adding: “I think as an overarching strategy, it is a failed strategy.”

“What we have is this continued investment in conflict,” the retired general said. “The more weapons we give, the more bombs we drop, that just… fuels the conflict. Some of that has to be done but I am looking for the other solutions.”

Commenting on the rise of ISIL in Iraq, Flynn acknowledged the role played by the US invasion and occupation of Iraq. “We definitely put fuel on a fire,” he told Hasan. “Absolutely… there is no doubt, history will not be kind to the decisions that were made certainly in 2003.”

“Going into Iraq, definitely… it was a strategic mistake,” said Flynn on Head to Head.

The former lieutenant general denied any involvement in the litany of abuses carried out by JSOC interrogators at Camp Nama in Iraq, as revealed by the New York Times and Human Rights Watch, but admitted the US prison system in Iraq in the post-war period “absolutely” helped radicalise Iraqis who later joined Al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) and its successor organisation, ISIL.

Calls for accountability

Flynn also called for greater accountability for US soldiers involved in abuses against Iraqi detainees: “You know I hope that as more and more information comes out that people are held accountable… History is not going to look kind on those actions… and we will be held, we should be held, accountable for many, many years to come.”

Publicly commenting for the first time on a previously-classified August 2012 Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) memo, which had predicted “the possibility of establishing a declared or undeclared Salafist principality in Eastern Syria (…) this is exactly what the supporting powers to the opposition want” and confirmed that “the Salafists, the Muslim Brotherhood, and [Al Qaeda in Iraq] are the major forces driving the insurgency in Syria,” the former DIA chief told Head to Head that “the [Obama] Administration” didn’t “listen” to these warnings issued by his agency’s analysts.

“I don’t know if they turned a blind eye,” he said. “I think it was a decision, I think it was a willful decision.”

Pakistan summons Indian envoy over ‘spy’ drone issue

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The Pakistan military maintains that the 'spy drone' is used for aerial photography. (Photo: Twitter)

The Pakistan military maintains that the ‘spy drone’ is used for aerial photography. (Photo: Twitter)

Islamabad: Pakistan today summoned Indian envoy to Foreign Office here claiming violation of its territory by an alleged Indian “spy” drone which was being used for aerial photography near the Line of Control (LoC).

High Commissioner T C A Raghavan was called to the Foreign Office today, an official of Indian mission said.

Pakistan Army yesterday claimed that the Indian drone was being used for aerial photography near the LoC in Bhimber area of Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) and was “brought down for violation of Pakistan’s territorial integrity”.

The Indian Army as well as the Indian Air Force, however, denied that any of their drone has been shot down or crashed.

Days after India and Pakistan agreed to re-engage, fresh strains surfaced in the ties yesterday after Pakistan Rangers violated the ceasefire twice by resorting to firing and mortar shelling in the Akhnoor sector in which a woman was killed and six others, including two BSF jawans, were injured.

(PTI)

CBI raid at Teesta’s house ‘vindictive’, say opposition MPs

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Teesta Setalvad

New Delhi: Expressing their solidarity with activist Teesta Setalvad, several opposition MPs including Ghulam Nabi Azad of Congress and Sharad Yadav of JD(U) today accused the Centre of “subjecting her to the worst kind of harassment” to silence voices of dissent.

In a joint statement, the opposition leaders said the recent CBI recent raid at her residence was a “blatant misuse” of the central agency for “vindictive reasons”.

Besides Yadav and Azad, who is the Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Motilal Vora of Congress, K C Tyagi of JD(U) and D P Tripathi of NCP endorsed the statement, which also bore signatures of Hannan Mollah of CPI(M) and Manoj Jha of RJD.

“We express our solidarity with Teesta Setalvad, Javed Anand and their colleagues who are being subjected to the worst kind of harassment by the (Narendra) Modi government,” they said.

Setalvad has been severely critical of the BJP government in Gujarat over the 2002 riots and her NGO has been pursuing criminal cases against the accused. The state government has accused her of working at the behest of its political opponents and charged her with misappropriating money. Anand is also an activist and her husband.

The leaders hailed Setalvad, saying she had been working courageously to expose the criminal involvement of BJP leaders in the Gujarat riots, in which mostly Muslims were killed, and asserted that they were determined to support her.

They said it was no co-incidence that the raid occurred a day before the case involving former Gujarat minister Maya Kodnani and Babu Bajrangi, both convicted, was to come up in the Gujarat High Court.

“The signatories are convinced that the Modi government is determined to silence voices of dissent like that of Teesta Setalvad… We appeal to it to end its vindictive actions,” they said.

CBI had on July 13 carried out searches at premises of social activist Setalvad and her organisation in connection with a case of alleged violation of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act in receiving funds from abroad without taking prior permission from the Home Ministry.

(PTI)

No single momentous invention from India in 60 years: Narayana Murthy

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N R Narayana Murthy

Bengaluru: There has not been a single invention from India in the last 60 years that became a household name globally, nor any idea that led to “earth shaking” invention to “delight global citizens”, IT czar NR Narayana Murthy said today.

“Our youngsters have not done much impactful research work despite being equal to their counterparts in intellect and energy in Western universities,” he said delivering the convocation address at the Indian Institute of Science here.

Listing out 10 major inventions that Massachusets Institute of Technology has created in the last 50 years that includes Global Positioning System, Bionic Prostheses and Microchip, Murthy said these happened because students and faculty at MIT “walked the untrodden path, asked the unasked questions and used their intellectual prowess to take huge leaps”.

“They demonstrated unusual courage to achieve the plausibly-impossible. The story is similar at many other western institutions of higher education,” he said.

He said almost all inventions such as cars, electric bulb, radio, television, computers, internet, Wi-Fi, MRI, laser, robots and many other gadgets and technology happened, “thanks to the research by Western Universities”.

He added: “On the other hand, let us pause and ask what the contributions of Indian institutions of higher learning, particularly IISc ans IITs, have been over the last sixty-plus years to make our society and the world a better place?

“Is there one invention from India that has become a household name in the globe? Is there one technology that has transformed the productivity of global corporations? Is there one idea that has lead to an earth shaking invention to delight global citizens?”

Co-founder of the country’s major IT firm Infosys said, “Folks, the reality is that there is no such contribution from India in the last 60 years. The only two ideas that have transformed the productivity of global corporations — The Global Delivery Model and the 24-hours workday — came from the company called Infosys.”

(PTI)

Regulate Internet calls, disallow Internet.org-like app: DoT

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Internet calls

New Delhi: A government panel on Net neutrality has proposed to regulate domestic calls made using Internet-based calling applications such as Skype, Whatsapp and Viber at par with phone call services offered by telecom operators.

The panel has opposed projects like Facebook’s Internet.org, which allow access to certain websites without mobile data charges, while suggesting that similar plans such as Airtel Zero be allowed with prior clearance from TRAI.

“In the case of Over-The-Top (OTT) VoIP international calling services, a liberal approach may be adopted. However, in the case of domestic calls (local and national), communication services by TSPs (telecom service providers) and OTT communication services may be treated similarly from a regulatory angle for the present.

The Committee is chaired by DoT Advsior for Technology A K Bhargava and members in the panel include A K Mittal, V Umashankar, Shashi Ranjan Kumar, G Narendra Nath and R M Agarwal.

Net neutrality implies that equal treatment be accorded to all Internet traffic and no priority be given to an entity or company based on payment to content or service providers such as telecom companies, which is seen as discriminatory.

The neutrality debate flared up in India after telecom operator Airtel launched a platform, Airtel Zero, that would allow free access of some websites on its network. However, the companies were asked to pay Airtel for joining the platform.

The panel discussed Facebook’s Internet.org and said that until April 2015, Internet.org users could have free access for only a few websites, and Facebook’s role as gatekeeper in determining what websites were on that list was seen as violating Net neutrality.

The panel said that “collaborations between telecom operators and content providers that enable such gate-keeping role to be played by any entity should be actively discouraged”.

At the same time, the panel approved allowing zero rating platform after telecom operators compared it with a toll-free number. It said there is a multitude of possibilities in designing tariff plans and everything cannot be validated in advance on parameters of Net neutrality.

The panel proposed “ex-ante determination” and “ex-post regulation” model for dealing with tariff plan, including zero rating.

Under ex-ante determination, the panel has proposed telecom operators to follow current practice of filing tariffs before the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India and the regulator should carefully vet it on scale of Net neutrality before giving its nod.

In line with demand from telecom operators, the panel has recommended that OTT players should be brought under regulation to comply with national security norms like telecom operators in the country do.

“National security is paramount, regardless of treatment of Net neutrality. The measures to ensure compliance of security related requirements from OTT service providers need to be worked out through inter-ministerial consultations,” the report added.

(PTI)

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