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Manipur CM escapes unhurt as militants open fire

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ibobi-singh

Imphal: Manipur Chief Minister Ibobi Singh today escaped unhurt when suspected militants opened gunfire as he was getting out of his helicopter at the Ukhrul helipad, CID officials said.

A jawan of the Manipur Rifles was injured in the firing which took place when the Chief Minister stepped out of the helicopter and was being greeted by government officials, the officials said.

The CM’s helicopter immediately took off and left for Chingai but could not land at the remote village due to protests, the official said.

The Chief Minister then cancelled his programmes and flew back to the state capital where he called an emergency cabinet meeting, the source said.

The CM had several programmes lined up at Hunphung village and at Chingai village in Ukhrul district. Ibobi was to travel to Hunphung to inaugurate the 100 bedded Ukhrul district hospital besides a power sub-station, the sources said.

Civil Society organisations had called a curfew and put up a road blockade along the three km route to Hunphung from the helipad, the sources said, adding that two vehicles had also been set ablaze by the protesters.

Earlier, a jawan of the Indian Resserve Battalion sustained splinter injuries in a bomb attack by suspected militants on the newly constructed hospital in the wee hours today before its scheduled inauguration, police said.

Two bombs were fired at the hospital either from a lethod gun or rocket launcher, the official said. At remote Chingai village, Singh was scheduled to inaugurate a power sub-station, a BDO office and a bank building. Tension prevailed in the area, the official said.

(PTI)

Tata Sons sacks Mistry as chairman; Ratan Tata returns

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53rd Annual General Meeting of Tata Global Beverages

Mumbai: In a dramatic development that took the corporates and others by surprise, Cyrus Mistry was today sacked as Chairman of Tata Sons and was replaced by Ratan Tata, from whom he had taken over the reins of the over USD 100 billion salt-to-software conglomerate four years ago.

The surprise announcement came after the Board of Tata Sons met here and decided to replace 48-year-old Mistry and appoint Ratan Tata, 78, as interim head.

The board named a five-member search committee, which includes Tata, to choose a successor to Mistry within four months.

Mistry was chosen as Tata’s successor in November, 2011, and was appointed Deputy Chairman of Tata Sons, whose board he had entered in 2006. He was made chairman on the basis of his representation from Shapoorji Palonji, the largest shareholder in Tata Sons.

There were no reasons given for the change of leadership of the man who was brought in with much fanfare but it is believed that Tata Sons was unhappy with Mistry’s approach of shedding non-profit businesses, including the conglomerate’s steel business in Europe, and concentrating only on cash cows.

“Tata Sons today announced its board has replaced Mr Cyrus P Mistry as Chairman of Tata Sons. The decision was taken at a board meeting held here today,” a Tata Sons statement said.

Tata Sons is the main holding company of the group. CEOs at the operating company level of the group have not been touched in the rejig, company sources said.

The board constituted a selection committee comprising Tata, TVS Group head Venu Srinivasan, Amit Chandra of Bain Capital, former diplomat Ronen Sen and Lord Kumar Bhattacharya. All of them, except Bhattacharya, are on the board of Tata Sons.

“The committee has been mandated to complete the selection process in four months,” it added.

Mistry, who was chosen by a five-member panel in 2011 to succeed Ratan Tata, took over the reins of the conglomerate when the veteran industrialist retired on December 29, 2012, when he turned 75.

After taking charge, he had to face some challenging situations such as the decision to sell Tata Steel UK in the wake of mounting losses. The Tata group is also engaged in a legal battle with Japan’s Docomo over the split of their telecom joint venture Tata Docomo.

In an interview with an in-house magazine, Mistry had recently stated that the group “should not be afraid of taking tough decisions for the right reasons, with compassion” amid “challenging situations” confronted by some of the group’s businesses that would require hard and bolder decisions on pruning portfolio.

This was in contrast to steps taken by Ratan Tata, who led the group into some notable acquisitions, starting from Tetley by Tata Tea for USD 450 million in 2000, to steelmaker Corus by Tata Steel in 2007 and the landmark Jaguar Land Rover in 2008 for USD 2.3 billion by Tata Motors.

During Ratan Tata’s tenure, the group’s revenues grew manifold, totalling USD 100.09 billion (around Rs 475,721 crore) in 2011-12 from a turnover of a mere Rs 10,000 crore in 1991.

Born on July 4, 1968, Mistry completed his graduation in civil engineering from London’s Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine and followed it up with a masters in Management from the London Business School.

(PTI)

Haji Ali Dargah decides to grant access to women

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haji-ali-mosque

New Delhi: Women will be granted access to the sanctum sanctorum of the Haji Ali shrine in Mumbai on par with men, the Dargah Trust told the Supreme Court today and sought four weeks to make the requisite infrastructural changes.

A bench comprising Chief Justice T S Thakur and Justices D Y Chandrachud and L Nageswara Rao granted time to the trust and disposed off its appeal against the Bombay High Court order asking it to give equal access to women also.

Senior advocate Gopal Subramanium, appearing for the trust, said an additional affidavit has been filed on behalf of the Dargah trust saying it is willing to allow women inside the shrine.

The apex court, on October 17, had extended the stay granted by Bombay High Court to facilitate an appeal against its decision to lift the ban on entry of women near the sanctum sanctorum of the Dargah in Mumbai.

Earlier, the Supreme Court had expressed hope that the Trust, which had challenged the high court judgement, “will take a stand which is progressive”.

Subramanium, had also assured the bench that he was on a “progressive mission” and said all holy books and scriptures promoted equality and nothing which is regressive in character should be suggested.

The bench had also remarked that “if you are not allowing both men and women to go beyond a point, there is no problem. But if you are allowing some to go beyond a point while others are not, it is a problem.”

The counsel, appearing for a women’s group which has challenged the practice of the Trust not to allow women near the sanctum sanctorum, had submitted that the position was different before 2011 than what it is today.

The Trust moved the apex court challenging the Bombay High Court order lifting the ban on women from entering the sanctum sanctorum of the renowned Muslim shrine in South Mumbai.

The High Court on August 26 had held that the ban imposed by the Trust on women from entering the sanctum sanctorum of the Haji Ali Dargah, contravened Articles 14, 15 and 25 of the Constitution and said women should be permitted to enter the sanctum sanctorum like men.

The High Court had allowed a PIL filed by two women, Zakia Soman and Noorjehan Niaz, from NGO Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan, challenging the ban on women’s entry into the sanctum sanctorum of the dargah from 2012.

It had granted a six-week stay on the order on a request by the Dargah Trust to enable it to appeal before the Supreme Court.

The high court had held that the Trust had no power to alter or modify the mode or manner of religious practices of any individual or any group.

The High Court in its 56-page judgement had also noted that the “right to manage the Trust cannot override the right to practice religion itself”.

It had said the trust has not been able to justify the ban legally or otherwise. Hence it cannot be said that the prohibition was an essential and integral part of Islam and whether taking away that part of the practice would result in a fundamental change in the character of the religion or belief.

It had also refused to accept the Trust’s justification that the ban was imposed for safety and security of women, in particular, to prevent sexual harassment at places of worship.

The Trust had claimed that the ban was in keeping with an order of the Supreme Court wherein stringent directions have been issued to ensure that there is no sexual harassment to women at places of worship.

The court had noted that the aims, objectives and activities of the Haji Ali Dargah Trust were not governed by any custom or tradition and held that it was a public charitable trust and hence, open to people all over the world, irrespective of their caste, creed or gender.

The Maharashtra government had earlier told the court that women should be barred from entering the inner sanctorum of Haji Ali Dargah only if it is so enshrined in the Quran.

 

(Agencies)

Renowned bariatric surgeon now in Bengaluru

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Dr G Moinoddin MS, FMAS, FALBS (MUMBAI) FBS (AHMD) F.ENDO,FRLCRS (SOUTH KOREA) Consultant Baraitric and Laparoscopic Surgeon.

Dr G Moinoddin
MS, FMAS, FALBS (MUMBAI)
FBS (AHMD)
F.ENDO,FRLCRS (SOUTH KOREA)
Consultant Baraitric and Laparoscopic Surgeon.

Dr G Moinoddin is the Head of Bariatric and Laparoscopic Surgery at Sparsh Infantry Road Hospital. He Specialises in minimally invasive Bariatric,Metabolic surgeries and Advance Laparoscopic Surgeries.

He has done his graduation from Sri Venkateswara Medical College Tirupathi,post graduation in surgery from P.E.S medical college Kuppam, Andhra Pradesh.

img-20161024-wa0042

Extensively trained in Bariatric and diabetic surgery in a high volume centre in Mumbai under Dr.Muffazal Lakdawala world renowned Bariatric Surgeon and had been part of around 1000 Bariatric and Advance Lap Surgeries and Revision Bariatric Surgeries.

He got trained in Ahmedabad under pioneers of bariatric surgery Dr Mahendra Narwaria and Dr Sanjay Patolia for in an exclusive bariatric and diabetic centre.

Did his robotic and advance laparoscopic training under Dr Seon Hahn Kim (Korea University) Seoul, South Korea.

Got his minimal access training at prestigious Saifee Hospital, Mumbai which is affiliated to Maharastra university of health sciences.

Specialised in performing Laparoscopic Sleeve Gastrectomy, Laparoscopic Mini Gastric Bypass, Laparoscopic Rou N Y Gastric Bypass and Gastric Ballon procedures with High Success rates.

His main focus is metabolic surgery for the cure of Type 2 Diabetes in obese patients and other obesity-related disorders like sleep apnea, dyslipidemia, sub clinical hypothyroidism, polycystic ovarian syndrome in infertile women, hypertension.

Website: http://moinbariatricsbangalore.com/
Phone: 9920662598

Indian doctor accused of crimes, becomes president of World Medical Association

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ketan-desai

New Delhi: The World Medical Association (WMA), the top medical-ethics body, on Friday installed an Indian doctor facing corruption charges as its president, despite controversy surrounding his appointment while legal cases are pending.

A statement released by the WMA said Dr. Ketan Desai delivered his inaugural speech as president on Friday at the association’s annual assembly in Taiwan. He will serve in the position for 2016/17.

After he was first selected in 2009 as a future president of the WMA, Desai faced conspiracy and corruption allegations. Desai has denied any wrongdoing in connection with the pending cases. He did not respond to questions from Reuters sent via email.

When Reuters asked the WMA this week for an update on Desai’s legal situation, spokesman Nigel Duncan said the association had nothing more to say.

“I don’t think there’s anything we want to add to what we have already said,” Duncan said. He did not answer questions about Desai’s legal cases or what the ethics body had been told about them in recent months.

In one case filed in New Delhi in 2010, Desai faces charges of corruption and criminal conspiracy for allegedly being involved in a conspiracy to obtain a bribe of 20 million rupees ($450,000 at the time) from a medical college. In return, investigators allege Desai helped the school get permission from the Medical Council to add more students. When contacted last year, the college, which is not a defendant in the case, declined to comment.

Desai was arrested in the Delhi case and jailed in 2010 pending a possible trial. He was later released on bail. That year his inauguration as the WMA president was suspended. In 2013, the WMA decided to lift the suspension after receiving assurances from the Indian Medical Association, which Desai once headed.

The Indian Medical Association did not respond to queries from Reuters this week.

A Reuters investigation published in July last year showed that the Indian Medical Association had incorrectly told the WMA that charges against Desai had been withdrawn. Representatives of major doctors organizations accepted the information as fact. The Indian Medical Association said last year that it never misled the WMA. (reut.rs/1LZx8BM)

The WMA had said it took questions raised in the Reuters article “very seriously” and would look into them. Later, in October 2015, the WMA upheld its decision to appoint Desai as president, without giving reasons.

A source at India’s Central Bureau of Investigation said this week that the New Delhi case was still active though it was on hold due to a pending appeal in the Supreme Court. The source said Desai still needs to appear before the district court judge during hearings.

A court document dated Aug. 3 shows Desai, a urologist by training, submitted an application to seek an exemption from a personal appearance in court that day due to an illness. The next hearing is scheduled for Nov. 4.

Proceedings in a separate case, alleging Desai was involved in a conspiracy to have the Medical Council of India allow a private medical school to add more students, were put on hold last year by a district court in northern Uttar Pradesh state until investigators obtain government permission to prosecute. Desai’s counsel in the case, Purnendu Chakravarti, said this week there was no change in the status of the case.

An overburdened and under-resourced Indian judiciary system means court cases can drag on for years in the country.

Based in France, the WMA sets ethical standards for physicians worldwide and represents millions of doctors. Known for its pioneering work in ethics, its members include the American Medical Association and the British Medical Association.

(Reuters)

Rs 2.4 cr cash found in car on Karnataka secretariat premises

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vidhana soudha

Bengaluru: Unaccounted cash of about Rs 2.4 crore stashed in a box in a persons car was found on the premises of Vidhana Soudha — the state secretariat– here, police said on Friday.

The cash was unearthed by the Vidhana Soudha security officials during a routine security check this afternoon, a Cubbon Park police station official said.

The owner of the car, Siddharth, was being questioned, the official said.

“Right now we are not in a position to say anything on this count. We have brought Siddharth to the Cubbon Park police station and we are interrogating him,” the official added.

To a question whether the unaccountable money was meant to be handed over to a minister as was being speculated, the police official said, “We are also looking into it… the interrogation is on.”

(Agencies0

MNS imposes Rs five crore fine on films with Pak actors

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javed-miandad-bal-thackeray

Mumbai: Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) has imposed a fine of Rs five crore on films with Pakistan actors, say media reports.

MNS chief Raj Thackeray made the announcement on Saturday after meeting Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis and as a condition for allowing films with Pak actors to release in India.

The meeting was also attended by Bollywood personalities such as Karan Kohar, Mukesh Bhatt, Sidharth Roy Kapur, Sajid Nadiadwala and Vijay Singh. Thackeray said the money would go to the Army welfare fund.

He, however, added that producers would have to give it to him in writing that they would not cast Pak actors in future.

Karan Johar’s ‘Ae Dil Hai Mushkil’, which features Fawad Khan, has run into opposition from MNS.

(Agencies)

Karnataka HC summons Vijay Mallya to appear on Nov 24

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Vijay Mallya

Bengaluru: The Karnataka High Court, on Thursday, summoned beleaguered liquor baron Vijay Mallya to appear before it on November 24 for allegedly violating an undertaking given by him and his companies, not to transfer their equity shares in United Breweries to Diageo Plc.

A division bench comprising justices Jayant Patel and Aravind Kumar gave the direction on petitions by a consortium of banks. The banks have accused Mallya of violating the undertaking given by him and his companies, including Kingfisher Airlines, not to transfer their equity shares in United Breweries Holdings Limited (UBHL) after Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT) had restrained Standard Chartered Bank, with which the shares had been pledged, from handing over the same to Diageo Plc. The DRT, in its order last year, had restrained Standard Chartered Bank from transferring to Diageo Plc or anyone else, the equity shares of United Breweries Holding Limited (UBHL) pledged by Mallya and his son Siddharth with the bank. In their pleas, the banks alleged that despite the earlier order by DRT, Standard Chartered Bank was in the process of transferring to Diageo Plc the equity shares.

Diageo Plc, the world’s largest spirits maker, which acquired control of United Spirits (USL) in 2012, had issued a guarantee to Standard Chartered Bank for a $135 million (around Rs 877 crore) loan to Watson Limited, a firm affiliated to Mallya, to release certain UBHL shares that were to be acquired as part of the deal. The company, in a statement earlier, had said the risk had arisen due to default by Watson in May and DRT preventing sale or any other transfer of such UBHL shares in June as part of the enforcement process pending further orders following the petition by bankers.

The banks had also said that the very pledging of the shares by Mallya was illegal. Mallya, whose now-defunct group company Kingfisher Airlines owes over Rs 9,000 crore to 17 banks, had left the country on March 2 and is in the UK. He has been declared a proclaimed offender by a special PMLA court in Mumbai on a plea by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with its money laundering probe against him in the alleged bank loan default case.

(Agencies)

Kabaddi player Rohit detained in Mumbai over wife’s suicide

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kabaddi-player-rohit-kumar

New Delhi/Mumbai: National-level kabaddi player Rohit Kumar was today detained in Mumbai while his father surrendered in Delhi in connection with the alleged suicide by his wife Lalita who had accused him and her in-laws of harassment.

Rohit, who is in the navy, was detained by a team of Delhi Police in Mumbai at noon, said Dependra Pathak, Joint Commissioner of Police (South-West) in Delhi

Rohit’s father, Vijay Singh, also surrendered around noon at the Nangloi police station in the national capital and was questioned, said a senior police officer.

Vijay was a sub-inspector in Delhi Police and had been dismissed from service, he said.

Lalita had allegedly committed suicide on October 17 at her parents’ house in Nangloi and in her suicide note as well as audio and video clips left behind she had alleged that her in-laws “harassed” her for minor issues and Rohit asked her to go away from his life.

A case was registered against Rohit and his parents and two Delhi Police teams had been formed to arrest Rohit and his parents.

Rohit’s parents had left their home in Kanjhawla and gone into hiding after Lalita committed suicide.

(PTI)

Teesta moves Supreme Court seeking ban on use of ‘Hindutva’ in polls

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Teesta Setalvad

New Delhi: Social activistTeesta Setalvad has moved theSupreme Court to intervene in the ongoing debate over nexus between candidates and religious leaders and sought a ban on the use of “Hindutva” interchangeably with Hinduism in elections.

 

Setalvad along with retired professor and theatre activist Shamsul Islam and journalist Dilip C Mandal moved a joint intervention application before a 7-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice T S Thakur requesting reconsideration of a December 1995 SC judgement that had ruled that `Hindutva’ was a way of life and could not be equated with any religion.

The current petition would affect BJP directly as the party has held up the SC ruling in support of its claim that it is not seeking votes on religious lines and is rather advocating a cultural identity and nationalism.

The court had ruled that the use of Hindutva during elections could not be held to be a corrupt practice to invite disqualification of a candidate: a determination which was celebrated by the BJP which swears by Hindutva, calling it a cultural concept derived from the civlisational ethos of the country . The pending petition related to disqualification of a candidate for using speeches of Bal Thackeray and Pramod Mahajan seeking votes in the name of Hindutva and Hindu Rashtra in the 1990 Maharashtra assembly elections. The HC had disqualified the candidate for falling foul of Section 123(3) of Representation of the People Act, which bans use of religion, caste, community and language as a tool to garner votes.

Disputing the SC’s 1995 ruling that `Hindutva’ is a way of life, the applicants requested the court to decide -“Whether a candidate who contests on the ticket of a political party which in its manifesto appeals to `Hindutva’ as being the political agenda of the party , is not thereby guilty of corrupt practice within the meaning of Section 123 in as much as he has consented to and subscribed to the manifesto of that party?” Setalvad and her co-applicants said that the ruling “had the effect of encouraging political parties to use religious appeals for garnering votes under the colour of the proposition that Hindutva is not a religion but a way of life”.

“This has had devastating consequences leading to demands of homogenisation and assimilation of minority communities and SCST in the `Hindutva’ way of life.Hindutva has become a mark of nationalism and citizenship. Such an interpretation has curtailed the faith in secularism, which is a basic feature of the Constitution,” the petition said.

Setalvad, a known opponent of RSS and BJP who has accused PM Narendra Modi of complicity in 2002 Gujarat riots, and two others severely criticised the NDA government’s governance, alleging that since coming to power, it has made free thinkers and those upholding Constitutional values feel insecure and put “India at crossroads”.

“For the past two years, articulation of a narrow, supremacist variety has engendered a deep feeling of insecurity for minorities, free thinkers, atheists and all those who uphold the Constitutional ideal of an India meant for all, irrespective of caste, creed, gender, politics or faith. The applicants, who are public intellectuals committed to peace, social harmony and social justice, seek to put certain key perspective before the Supreme Court,” it said.

“India is at crossroads today , at the educational and cultural level, and in terms of interpretation of the law, too, narrow and supremacist interpretation of history , culture, social studies and the law threaten how the fundamentals of Indian nationhood are, in future conceived and built,” the petition said.

“Tendencies to approach these rich and vast areas of the social sciences through narrow interpretations of `faith’ and `mythology’ threaten to stifle academic pursuit and scientific temper essential to a modern nation in the 21st century . Disturbing portents in Indian public life -seeking to justify customs and practices on the ground of their being from the `Shashtras’ or `Sharia’ -are equally worrisome and condemnable,” it said.

They also requested the SC to decide two other important questions -“Whether subscribing to the manifesto of a political party which calls for formation of a `Hindutva State’ is not deemed consent on the ground of religion of the candidate?” and “Whether an appeal by a candidate for a `Hindutva State’ is not an appeal for a theocratic state and therefore, ultra vires the basic feature of the Constitution?”

(Agencies)

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