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Asaram Bapu’s supporters attack police, seven injured

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Asaram Bapu

New Delhi: Police on Monday said they had registered a case of rioting against supporters of spiritual guru Asaram Bapu who attacked police personnel overnight here, injuring seven policemen.

According to police, the police personnel were injured when some 2,000 people demanding Asaram Bapu’s release stoned the Parliament Street police station in the heart of the city on Sunday night.

A few police vehicles were also damaged in the protest. No arrests have been made yet, a police officer told IANS.

Asaram Bapu, lodged in Jodhpur Jail in Rajasthan after his arrest in 2013, has been accused of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl. He has denied the charge.

(Agencies)

Assembly polls for Tamil Nadu, Puducherry begin

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polls

Chennai: With the Election Commission having made elaborate arrangements for free and fair voting, assembly polls in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry began on Monday amid tight security.

In Tamil Nadu, 233 seats would go to polls, with voting for Aravakurichi constituency having been deferred.

Kerala would see polling for its 140 seats assembly. In Puducherry, 30 seats would go for polls.

The polling started at 7 a.m. and would end at 6 p.m.

All non-sensitive booths would have a policeman each for providing security and central paramilitary force personnel would give security cover for the sensitive and hypersensitive booths.

Meanwhile, the election authorities are bracing for the possibility of unusual rains today.

An unseasonal low pressure area has formed over the South West Bay of Bengal and adjoining Srilanka, that is set to bring heavy to rather very heavy rainfall from today for two days in many places in the state, especially in southern and coastal districts, as predicted by the Meteorological Department in Chennai.

The Election Commission has made additional efforts in the polling booths to provide cover for the voters to come and exercise their franchise without getting drenched in the possible rain.

In another development, the AIADMK and the DMK had, through email, responded to the show-cause notices issued by the Election Commission about the violation of its guidelines on promises of freebies as made in the manifestos of the two parties.

The notices were issued seeking clarification on the ways and means of fulfilling the promises of the huge dole outs by the two parties.

The Income Tax officials had asked the authorities in Tirupur to move the three trucks carrying Rs. 570 crore to the chest of the State Bank of India (SBI) in Coimbatore for issuing search warrant under the IT Act for further probe.

The sleuths of the tax body along with the team of officials delegated by the Election Commission are probing the transfer of the huge sum from Coimbatore.

The bank claimed that it was a normal transfer of cash, though the investigators say original documents to substantiate the transfer were lacking. The three trucks were detained by the Election Commission flying squad near Tirupur.

The Election Commission introduced many innovative measures during this election in Tamil Nadu, including getting booth slips through the helpline number 1950 in electronic mode, knowing the queue status before polling booths through smart phone apps and getting navigation help through Google maps to locate the booths by the voters by feeding their election identity card number in the apps.

For the first time in the electoral history of India, more than 1.64 crore voters made a pledge on last Tuesday that they would not accept or give money for voting, as money power in election is a big menace in the region.

Thousands of youth volunteers at grass-root levels are also being pressed into service to help the election authorities to ensure ethical voting and to remind people to come out and exercise their franchise today.

The Kerala Government has made elaborate arrangements for smooth and peaceful conduct of polls.

In all, 2.56 crore electors including 1.33 crore females are expected to cast votes.

A total of 1, 203 candidates including 109 females are in the fray. There are 21,646 polling booths across the state.

Special arrangements have been made for sensitive and vulnerable polling stations, especially in Kannur district.

Over 9 lakh voters will exercise their franchise in Puducherry today. Voting will take place in 930 polling stations spread over four regions of the Union Territory.

5,382 officials are deputed for polling duties. Over 6,000 police personnel including the central para military forces will provide security for assembly polls.

Meanwhile, the Election Department introduced a mobile application which would give all information regarding today’s poll to voters. The app would provide details of EPIC Cards, polling booth location, constituency-wise voters list and even the number of voters in queue at any polling station at a given time.

The Commission has identified 148 polling stations and deployed micro observers and Central forces for additional security.

(ANI)

Britannica COO jumps to death from 19th floor

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Britannica

Gurgaon: A top executive of Encyclopedia Britannica allegedly committed suicide by jumping from the 19th floor of a building in DLF Phase-III here, police said.

47-year-old Vineet Whig, COO of Britannica, committed suicide yesterday and a note was found from his pocket stating that he was fed up with his life, Hawa Singh, PRO, Gurgaon Police said.

Whig lived in Block-D of DLF Belvedere Park with his wife, two sons, a daughter and his father who suffered a heart attack after receiving the news of Whig’s death.

The body was found in the ventilation shaft of Block-C by sweepers when they went to clean it at 9 AM yesterday.

They informed the society security control room which told the family and thereafter the police was informed at 9.45 AM, Singh said.

According to the family, Whig went for his morning walk but did not return home on his usual time, Singh said, adding, they did not find anything suspicious as sometimes he would get late.

The top executive had also worked with IT giant Wipro before joining Britannica.

“CCTV footage is being examined to verify the details and ascertain the sequence of events,” Singh added.

(Agencies)

PM’s Somalia remark will impact BJP’s prospects in Kerala : Antony

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Narendra Modi

Thiruvananthapuram: Congress leader A K Antony today said Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s controversial Kerala-Somalia comparison will impact the prospects of BJP, which has been pulling out all the stops in its bid to open its account in Kerala Assembly.

“Modi had compared Kerala to Somalia, which is infamous for starvation deaths and sea pirates. The pride of Keralites has been hurt,” Antony told reporters after exercising his franchise at a booth here.

“The Prime minister had an opportunity to apologise for the remark, but he did not do that,” the former Defence Minister said, adding the remark would affect the BJP’s prospects.

Modi, while addressing an election rally here, had compared the infant deaths in some tribal areas in the state with that to Somalia.

However, BJP defended the Prime Minister, saying people were “twisting facts” and he had only highlighted the plight of the tribal community in the state and his desire was to improve their living conditions.

Expressing confidence that Kerala will create history by voting to power the UDF government again, Antony said the Marxist-led LDF will have to sit in the opposition for the next five years and BJP will not open its account.

This will be a vote against the politics of violence and communalism and it will be a vote for peace, he said.

The attack on RMP candidate K K Rema at Vatakara will prove dangerous for the LDF, he added.

(PTI)

Two journalists shot dead in 24 hours

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journalists

Patna: Two journalists have been shot dead in Bihar and neighbouring Jharkhand in the last 24 hours.

On Friday evening, Rajdev Ranjan, a journalist with over 20 years of experience and the bureau chief of the Hindi daily Hindustan, was shot dead in Bihar’s Siwan district.

Five shots were fired at him at extremely close range near Siwan’s railway station.

Mr Ranjan was dead by the time he was brought to the local hospital. The Bihar Police says the motive for the killing is unclear, and that he had no personal enmity with anyone.

Meanwhile, in Jharkhand’s Chatra district, a journalist was shot dead by unidentified people on Thursday night. 35-year-old Akhilesh Pratap Singh worked for a local news channel, and was gunned down near the panchayat secretariat of his village.

Chief Minister Raghubar Das condemned the incident and asked Director General of Police DK Pandey to arrest the attackers at the earliest.

(Agencies)

R K Pachauri summoned as accused in sexual harassment case

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R K Pachauri

New Delhi: Former TERI chief R K Pachauri was today summoned as accused by a Delhi court which took cognizance of a charge sheet filed against him for allegedly sexually harassing and outraging the modesty of an ex-colleague.

“The court is satisfied that there is sufficient material to proceed against accused R K Pachauri under sections 354-A, 354-B, 354-D, 509 and 341 of IPC. Cognizance taken accordingly … Let the accused be summoned for the next date i.e. July 11,” Metropolitan Magistrate Shivani Chauhan said.

Delhi Police had on March 1 filed an over 1,400-page charge sheet in the court against Pachauri under sections 354-A (sexual harassment), 354-B(assault or use of criminal force to woman with intent to disrobe), 354-D (stalking), 509(word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) and 341 (wrongful confinement) of the IPC.

“Charge sheet perused. Heard. There are allegations against the accused that he made sexually coloured remarks upon the complainant on several occasions. He touched the complainant inappropriately despite a clear expression of disapproval from her side. He sent inappropriate SMSes and WhatsApp messages to the complainant,” the Metropolitan Magistrate said.

The charge sheet arrayed 23 prosecution witnesses, many of whom are present and former employees of TERI.

Pachauri was granted an anticipatory bail in the case on March 21, last year. On February 13, last year an FIR was registered against Pachauri on charges of sexual harassment under IPC sections 354, 354(a), 354(d) (molestation) and 506 (criminal intimidation).

(Agencies)

 

Prominent Ministers to be dropped in the much anticipated Karnataka cabinet reshuffle

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Siddaramaiah

Bengaluru: According to unconfirmed reports doing rounds in the media, prominent ministers in the state, including Film star-turned-politician and Housing Minister MH Ambarish, Primary & Secondary Education Minister Kimmane Ratnakara, Transport Minister R Ramalinga Reddy and Wakf minister Qamar ul Islam are likely to be dropped from the Cabinet.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who met the national Congress leadership, early this week discussed the long-pending Cabinet reshuffle and appointment of a new president for the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee. The post is currently held by G. Parameshwara, Home Minister.

The Chief Minister has said the Cabinet reshuffle would take place by May-end.

UP school principal divides class on caste basis, removed

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caste

Hathras: A principal in Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras district worked out his own “caste arithmetic”, segregating students of Class IX on the basis of their caste and appointing class teachers on a similar basis, prompting authorities to remove him.

Acting on complaints that Radhey Shyam Varshney, Principal of Seth Phulchand Bagla Inter College, a government- aided institution, had segregated students on the basis of their caste — Scheduled Caste, Backward and General — District Magistrate Avinash Krishna Singh ordered a probe by the District Inspector of Schools (DIoS).

After the matter was found to be true, the principal was removed.

Varshney had also appointed same caste teachers in the class and three of them, working as class teachers, have also been removed from their respective posts.

As per Varshney’s scheme of things, a general category teacher was appointed for a classroom having general students. Likewise, a a scheduled caste teacher was chosen for a classroom with SC students, and an OBC teacher for OBC students.

“We had received a complaint of discrimination against Principal of Seth Phulchand Baagla Inter College for separating classes on the basis of caste. We conducted an inquiry and found that three sections — A, B, C — of Class 9 had difference in ratio over the distribution of General, SC and OBC students,” Singh said.

“Section A had more of General category students as compared with OBC and Schedule Caste, in the same way section B had more OBC students and similarly section C had more SC students,” he said.

Some students had alleged that discrimination was being done in the class on basis of caste in seating arrangements and admissions in the college.

They had complained that the absurd practice was going on since April 1, the day new session started.

“We are planning to take strict action…We have advised the college administration to distribute the students evenly in the class and this should be done urgently,” the DM added.

(PTI)

Progressive groups demand scrapping of Bangalore Blue-print Action Group

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BBPAG

Bengaluru: Around 120 people representing various progressive civil society organisations, trade unions, workers federations, resident welfare associations, artistes, street vendor associations, environmental groups, etc. came together in protest against Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s 28th April 2016 decision to form the Bangalore Blue-print Action Group (BBPAG).

Terming it as a Club of Rich and Famous, protestors demanded that the Chief Minister must defer to the Constitution of India and immediately scrap this BBPAG. The Chief Minister was asked to comply with the Constitutional 74th Amendment (Nagarpalika) Act, 1992 and set up the District/Metropolitan Planning Committees and make them functional within three months. The Chief Minister was also asked to immediately take steps to made Ward Committees functional as directed by the High Court of Karnataka over two years ago.

The protest took place at the headquarters of Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike. Responding to the protests, Hon’ble Mayor Manjunath Reddy stated that he appreciates the meaning and depth of the concerns raised, and that he would communicate them to the Chief Minister. However, he declined to step out of the extra-Constitutional BBPAG stating:

“I cannot go against the Government. The Government gives funds to BBMP. If I go against the Government, then BBMP may stop receiving funds.”

This fear expressed by the Mayor clearly indicates how Mr. Siddaramaiah, celebrating his third year in power, is curbing autonomy and independence of Local Governments in blatant violation of the Constitution of India.

A copy of the representation received by the Mayor, endorsed by various progressive groups and organisations, is enclosed along with a note on the importance of implementing the Nagarpalika Act in totality. The main demands are:

We demand that the Karnataka Government must take immediate action to:

  1. Constitute Area Sabhas and Ward Committees in all Municipal Corporations and Municipal Councils, and also ensure such oversight bodies are instituted in smaller urban areas/Nagar Panchayats (with population less than 300,000). All proceedings of such bodies must at all times be public. (The constitution of Ward Committees is also required per the directions of the Hon’ble High Court of Karnataka in W. P. No. 46523/2012 c/w W.P. 24739/2012, an order that stands violated for over a year now.)
  2. Constitute, by a transparent and accountable process, District/Metropolitan Planning Committees, taking care to ensure representation from trade unions, public sector bodies, farmers organisations, civil society organisations, pourakarmika unions, street vendors associations, small traders associations, students, home keepers, public health networks, womens groups, human rights networks, child rights networks, environmental networks, sociologists, ecologists, informal sectors, teachers, economists, urban and regional planners, etc., while also including a representative from the IT/BT sector, as non-voting, advisory members of such bodies. Proceedings of this Committee must be public at all times, and its outcome must shape land use plans per the Karnataka Town and Country Planning Act, 1961.
  3. Ensure these bodies are established and made functional in every respect within the next three months.
  4. Ensure that every District/Metropolitan Planning Committee produces its Draft District/Metropolitan Development Plan by the end of 2016, and the same is taken up for consideration in 2017 Budget.

Kumble re-appointed ICC cricket panel chief, Dravid made member

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Photo: PTI

Photo: PTI

Dubai: The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Friday re-appointed former India skipper Anil Kumble as its cricket committee chairman while his teammate Rahul Dravid was added as a member of the panel along with Sri Lanka’s former skipper Mahela Jayawardene.

Kumble, who was appointed the chairman in 2012 was given a three-year extension at the top post, the ICC said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Dravid and Jayawardene have been appointed to the committee, adding even more cricketing experience to the list of eminent people already on the committee.

Dravid and Jayawardene have played 1,161 international matches between them from 1996 to 2015, and each has been appointed for a three-year term. They will attend their first meeting at Lord’s on May 31 and June 1, three weeks before the ICC annual conference takes place in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Dravid has been elected by the current Test captains as current player representatives, replacing former Lankan captain Kumar Sangakkara, who has completed his final three-year term.

Jayawardene has been appointed as a past player representative and takes over from former Australia captain Mark Taylor, who has also completed his final three-year term.

Former Australia off-spinner and ex-Chief Executive of Federation of International Cricketers’ Association (FICA), Tim May, has also been elected by the current Test captains as current player representative, replacing Laxman Sivaramakrishnan, who has completed his three-year term.

Richard Kettleborough, three-time ICC Umpire of the Year, has been appointed as umpires’ representative in the committee and replaces Steve Davis, who retired last year.

ICC general manager cricket, Geoff Allardice, who also administers the ICC Cricket Committee meeting, said, “I want to thank Mark Taylor, Kumar Sangakkara, Laxman Sivaramakrishnan and Steve Davis for their significant contribution to this committee.”

(IANS)

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