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Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan hold Swaraj Samwad

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Dissident AAP leaders Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav at a news confrence at Press Club in New Delhi. (Arvind Yadav/ HT Photo)

Dissident AAP leaders Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav at a news confrence at Press Club in New Delhi. (Arvind Yadav/ HT Photo)

New Delhi: The convention of rebel AAP leaders Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan began this morning with volunteers from across the country terming it a day of “new beginning” even as the Arvind Kejriwal-led party warned of action against those attending the event.

Yadav and Bhushan had announced their decision of holding the dialogue, ‘Swaraj Samwad’, to discuss the future course of action after their expulsion from AAP’s top echelons, triggering speculations of floating a new party.

Before the session began at around 10 a.m, Yadav told reporters “I am sure we would witness something new here”.

“It’s a day of new beginning. AAP Constitution gives an ordinary member of the party, the freedom of expression which no other party gives and if the workers are using that freedom I am sure the party would respect it. I am not sure if the party has changed its own constitution,” he said.

At the convention, key leaders who were seen on stage include the four expelled members from AAP’s National Executive–Yadav, Bhushan, Anand Kumar and Ajit Jha–Timarpur MLA Pankaj Pushkar and several Lok Sabha candidates from various states.

“Our party is new. Different people have different opinions on discipline. I believe that today’s meeting is in line with the ideals of our party,” Pushkar said.

One hour into the meeting, an audio message of Admiral L Ramdas’s, who was recently removed from the post of party’s internal Lokpal, was played out from the stage.

In the message Ramdas said that a samwad cannot be seen as an “anti party activity” and that people must be allowed to speak in a democracy.

“I don’t belong to any particular faction of AAP. For me there is just one AAP…the party’s principle and image has been hurt most in the strong arm tactics that have been used and we have miserably failed as a party which was formed on the principles of swaraj,” he said adding his apology for not being present in the meeting that is underway in Gurgaon.

In a veiled threat, senior party leader Sanjay Singh said AAP’s all-powerful Political Affairs Committee (PAC) and its National Executive (NE) would decide the next move in this regard after the meeting.

“Swaraj Samwad is not a party function. The PAC and NE will decide on what action needs to be taken after the meeting,” Singh said.

(Agencies)

21 couple participate in 'thali' removal festival convened by Dravidar Kazhagam

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thali-removal

Chennai: Anticipating legal intervention the Dravidar Kazhagam preponed its thali removal festival by three hours against the scheduled time of 10 am.

As many as 21 couples participated in the programme convened at Periyar Thidal wherein the women discarded the thalis and pledged to lead a life of gender equality.

It may be recalled that when Dravidar Kazhagam had announced that they would conduct the thali removal festival the police had imposed ban on the event stating that it would disrupt the law and order situation. Many Hindu organisations and religious leaders too had expressed their opposition about the event. However, a division bench of the Madras High Court comprising of Justices Satish K. Agnihotri and M. Venugopal had granted an interim stay on a single judge’s order, which quashed the police ban on Tuesday, April 14.

Dravidar Kazhagam had gone ahead with the event on Tuesday and when the police communicated the stay order issued by the division bench all the functionaries were asked to disperse peacefully.

(Agencies)

#NetNeutrality: Flipkart walks away from Airtel Zero platform

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net-neutrality

New Delhi/Bengaluru: E-commerce giant Flipkart on Tuesday said it is “walking away” from the platform Airtel Zero and is committed to the larger cause of net neutrality.

“We at Flipkart have always strongly believed in the concept of net neutrality, for we exist because of the Internet,” a statement issued by the e-commerce company said.

“We will be walking away from the ongoing discussions with Airtel for their platform Airtel Zero. We will be committing ourselves to the larger cause of net neutrality in India. We will be internally discussing over the next few days, the details of actions we will take to support the cause,” the statement added.

Bharti Airtel recently launched Airtel Zero, an open marketing platform that will allow customers to access mobile applications at zero data charges.

Flipkart stated that over the past few days, there has been a great amount of debate, “both internally and externally, on the topic of zero rating, and we have a deeper understanding of the implications”.

In a series of tweets, Flipkart co-founder Sachin Bansal said he was all for #Net Neutrality.

“I spend time/money helping start-ups in India. I will never support things which suffocate innovation,” Bansal claimed in a tweet.

Observing that zero rated apps for limited time were not against net neutrality, Bansal said such apps could not be sustained for long as costs and competition were very high.

“Zero rating only reduces data costs for users. Fears of a telecom big brother emerging are unfounded. Choice wins. Always,” Bansal tweeted.

Following criticism by twitterati of its proposal to tie-up with Airtel, Flipkart said it was committed to the larger cause of net neutrality.

The company also said it will be working towards ensuring that the spirit of net neutrality is upheld and applied equally to all companies in India irrespective of the size or the service being offered and there is absolutely no discrimination.

Net neutrality means that governments and internet service providers should treat all data on the internet equally – therefore, not charging users, content, platform, site, application or mode of communication differentially.

Amid a huge hue and cry in social media over net neutrality, Communications and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said on Monday that a panel examining the issue will submit its report by the second week of May to help the government take a comprehensive decision on the contentious issue.

The entire process of a committee of experts going into the pros and cons of the issue will benefit the government in making comprehensive decisions, he said.

“This is the reason we are doing it independent of TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India),” Prasad added. The six-member panel, which will conduct the study and submit its report, has been set up the department of telecommunications (DoT).

In March, telecom regulator TRAI released a paper inviting comments from users and companies on how over-the-top services should be regulated in the country.

It has asked stakeholders to send suggestions by April 24 and counter-arguments by May 8.

Congress leader Ajay Maken also said that his party supports net neutrality and Internet freedom must not be compromised.

N. Chandramouli, chief executive officer, Trust Research Advisory, publishers of the Brand Trust Report, said: “From a brand point of view we can already see it is impacting and hampering the equation with telecom brands such as Airtel, decided in December 2014 that they would charge more for calls made through services like Skype and Viber, but had to roll back the decision after outrage on social networks.”

(IANS)

Government notifies new law on judges' appointment

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Supreme Court India

New Delhi: Government on Monday brought into force a controversial law to appoint members to the higher judiciary, two days before a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court hears a clutch of petitions challenging the National Judicial Appointments Commission Act.

The notification bringing into effect from on Monday the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) Act along with a Constitutional Amendment Act (99th Amendment Act) to give constitutional status to the new body was issued by Department of Justice in the Law Ministry.

A bunch of petitions moved by the Supreme Court Advocates on Record Association (SCAORA), Bar Association of India and some individual lawyers challenging NJAC and the Constitition amendment will come up for hearing before the Constitution Bench on Wednesday.

Functionaries in the Law Ministry said with the notification, technically the collegium system has come to an end. But, at the same time, they said the new body may take some time to come into into being.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will now have to call Chief Justice of India H L Dattu and Congress’ Mallikarjun Kharge, the leader of single largest opposition party in Lok Sabha, to nominate two eminent persons to the NJAC.

The NJAC will have to ratify the rules governing its functioning in the first meetings before they are notified. The draft rules are ready with the government.

Under the collegium system, which came into existence in 1993 after a Supreme Court judgement, five top judges of the apex court recommend transfer and elevation of judges to Supreme Court and 24 High Courts.

The government can return the recommendation to the collegium under this system. But it has to accept the recommendation if it is reiterated by the collegium.

The collegium system had come under fire for lacking transparency by politicians and some eminent jurists, who contended that judges appointing judges without any say of the Executive has led to complaints of nepotisim and favouritism.

But successive CJIs have defended the system saying it has stood the test of time and was working without any hitches.

On April 7, a Supreme Court bench while referring the matter to a larger bench had refused to stay the implementation of the National Judicial Appointments Commission Act.

Law Minister D V Sadananda Gowda had last week said the government would like to have a “united show” in running the new body to recommend appointment and transfer of Supreme Court and High Court judges with the judiciary as it will be headed by the Chief Justice of India.

He said from nominating two eminent persons to the NJAC to ratifying the rules, the CJI has an important role.

NJAC was signed into an Act by President Pranab Mukherjee on December 31, 2014.

According to the new Article 124 A inserted in the Constitution, two eminent persons will be nominated to the Commission as members by the committee consisting of the Prime Minister, the Chief Justice of India and the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha or where there is no such LoP, then the leader of single largest Opposition party.

One of the eminent persons will be nominated from among the persons belonging to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes, minorities or women.

The eminent persons will be nominated for a period of three years and will not be eligible for renomination.

The NJAC will be headed by the Chief Justice of India. Two senior-most apex court judges, the two eminent persons and the Law Minister will be the members of the high-level panel. Secretary, Justice in the Law Ministry will be the convenor of the NJAC.

President Mukherjee’s signing the two bills into a law paved the way for the scrapping of the 20-year-old collegium system.

Once new system comes into place, the task of selecting and transferring Supreme Court and high court judges will finally shift from the collegium to a committee headed by the Chief Justice of India.

The NJAC Act provides for the procedure to be followed by the NJAC for recommending persons for appointment of judges of the Supreme Court, and Chief Justice and other judges of the 24 high courts.

The Constitutional Amendment Act grants constitutional status to the composition of the proposed commission. It was done following demands by jurists and judges who felt that without a constitutional status, the composition could be altered by a future government by an ordinary legislation.

A government bungalow at Mathura Road here has already been earmarked for NJAC and there are plans to appoint initial staff from the existing strength of the three departments — Legal Affairs, Legislative and Justice — of the Law Ministry.

An earlier attempt by the then BJP government in 2003 to scrap the collegium system had failed. The then Law Minister Arun Jaitley had moved a bill in this regard but the Lok Sabha was dissolved when the bill was pending with the Parliamentary Standing Committee.

(PTI)

Haryana govt to give Cabinet Minister status to Ramdev

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Baba Ramdev

Chandigarh: The Haryana government today decided to give “status equivalent to Cabinet Minister” to Ramdev, who has been appointed as the state’s brand ambassador to promote yoga and ayurveda.

“Ramdev, Brand Ambassador for promotion of yoga and ayurveda in Haryana, will be given status equivalent to Cabinet Minister,” Haryana’s Health and Sports Minister, Anil Vij tweeted today.

Vij had earlier said a herbal forest would be developed in the state where plants of thousands of species of ayurvedic herbs would be grown under the supervision of Ramdev.

The emphasis on yoga and ayurveda would lead to an amalgamation of tradition and modernity and inclusion of yoga in the school syllabus would turn Haryana into a model state based on Indian values and traditions, Vij had said.

Yoga would be made a compulsory subject in Haryana’s schools for which ‘yogshalas’ will be constructed in all the towns and about 6,500 villages of the state under the guidance of Ramdev, he said.

Notably, last month, Haryana Assembly had witnessed uproarious scenes as the BJP government came under sharp attack from opposition Congress for allegedly “going out of way to please Ramdev by making him the brand ambassador” for promotion of yoga and ayurveda in the state.

(PTI)

Four policemen die as Maoists trigger blast in Chhattisgarh

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dandewada

Dantewada: Four policemen were killed and seven injured on Monday when Maoists triggered a massive explosion in Chhattisgarh’s Dantewada district, police said.

The terror strike took place just hours after a trooper was killed when armed Maoists attacked a BSF camp in Chhattisgarh’s Kanker district.

In the latest attack, four Chhattisgarh Armed Forces (CAF) personnel were killed and seven others were wounded in the deafening blast that targeted their anti-landmine vehicle.

The attack took place at Cholnar camp of the CAF in Dantewada district, some 400 km south of state capital Raipur.

“It’s a massive blast. I guess it could be about 50 kg IED (Improvised Explosive Device) used to trigger a blast near a bridge. The anti-landmine vehicle was shaken up by the blast and 4 CAF jawans succumbed to injuries,” Kamal Lochan Kashyap, superintendent of police, Dantewada, told reporters at the attack site.

The policemen were returning back to the Cholnar camp after area domination drive. The injured policemen were rushed to NMDC Ltd-owned hospital at Bacheli.

Chhattisgarh has witnessed a string of attacks since April 11.

(Agencies)

Indian growth engine re-energised: Modi

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narendra-modi-angela-merkel

Hannover: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said his government had “re-energised” the Indian growth engine and that the country wants to become a manufacturing hub to serve its domestic market as well as exports.

“We have re-energised the Indian growth engine. The credibility of our economy has been restored. India is once again poised for rapid growth and development. It is the only emerging economy where growth rate is rising. The prospects are even better,” Modi said in an Op-Ed piece in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

He said that “Make in India” requires urgent creation of new infrastructure. “The substantial enhancement in financing in the federal budget for highways, railways and energy is a step in this direction. Work has begun on the development of Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor.”

Modi, who is on a two-day visit to Germany, said that through “our ‘Act East’ and ‘Link West’ policy, India has the potential of becoming the middle ground for East and West as a manufacturing hub that serves both our vast domestic market and becomes a base for global exports and general well-being”.

He said: “My government has pledged a stable and transparent tax regime, reducing corporate taxes and implementing a single Goods and Services Tax in 2016.”

The prime minister said he visualised India as a “key engine of global growth”.

Modi said: “Our democratic principles and practices are guarantors of stability. We have a free media and an independent judiciary that allows all opinions to be aired without fear.”

The prime minister said that India believed in “Rahein Saath Badhe Saath” (stay together-grow together).

“There is no other way forward. Mankind’s progress in this century depends on cooperation and collaboration. Conflict is unthinkable. So is poverty which (Mahatma) Gandhi called the worst form of violence,” he said.

The Indian prime minister, who is in Germany as part of his three-nation sojourn, said: “Our focus is not merely economic growth but an inclusive development.”

Observing that international support and collaboration are equally critical to achieving India’s objectives, he said: “I have therefore sought to build a foreign policy which is an integral part of our national development strategy.”

“My interactions with leaders of United States, Russia, France, Japan and China have all aimed at creating enduring partnerships with shared stakes in global development and well-being.”

(IANS)

Chittoor encounter case: Two survivors to appear before NHRC

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Chittoor_encounter

New Delhi: The two survivors, who escaped the fierce exchange of fire between Andhra Police and alleged woodcutters in Chittoor district last week, are likely to appear before the National Human Rights Commission in Delhi on Monday, April 13.

According to reports, the two eyewitnesses boarded the evening flight to Delhi from Chennai to meet the NHRC. However, the third survivor, due to lack ID documents, could not travel.

The third survivor, Illango, had claimed that he was pulled out of a bus along with other villagers near Tiruttani by Andhra police before being detained.

Meanwhile, Andhra Police in Nellore has arrested 63 Tamil smugglers suspected to b part of the 20-member group killed in Seshachalam forest, as per ANI.

National Human Rights Commission on Thursday issued a notice to Telangana government seeking

a report over the killing of five under-trials, who were allegedly associated with SIMI and other radical groups, in police custody.

“Prima facie, it appears that this is an instance of blatant use of disproportionate force resulting in loss of lives of 5 undertrials who were in judicial custody and gross violation of human rights”, NHRC said in a statement.

The Commission has issued notices to the Chief Secretary and the Director General of Police, Telengana, calling for reports within two weeks.

It will further take up the matter in its camp sitting to be held at Hyderabad on April 23.

The notices were issued after the Commission took suo motu cognizance of media reports that Telengana police have shot dead five undertrials alleged to be associated with SIMI and other radical outfits when they were being brought by them to Hyderabad in connection with a court case on April 7.

According to media reports, the incident took place when the vehicle carrying the undertrials crossed Warangal district border and reached the outskirts of Tangupuru village in Aler Mandal of Nalgonda district.

“One of the undertrials asked the police to halt the vehicle for a toilet break. While getting back to the van, he allegedly snatched an INSAS rifle from a policeman and fired two bullets at a Sub-Inspector sitting in the front row, who ducked and escaped. Sensing danger, other Constables immediately opened fire resulting in the instant death of five undertrials,” the statement said.

The Commission has also observed that from the news report, it transpires that at the time of the incident, at least four of the undertrials were inside the van guarded by the accompanying policemen.

(Agencies)

Karnataka state government drops ordinance on BBMP

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Vidhana Soudha

Bengaluru: Following a meeting with various ministers from Bengaluru, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has decided to drop it’s controversial ordinance for constituting three new municipal bodies in Bengaluru in place of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP).

According to the media reports the ministerial panel has decided not to re-submit the controversial ordinance to the Governor but have decided to convince the court.

The ordinance sought to constitute three new local bodies in Bengaluru to replace the BBMP by amending the Karnataka Municipal Corporation Act.

The opposition parties including BJP and JD(S) opposed the bill stating the ordinance was aimed at delaying the polls to the civic body.

It is said that the Governor Vajubhai Rudabhai Vala denied giving consent to the ordinance keeping in mind the upcoming BBMP elections.

A single judge bench of Karnataka High Court had ordered to hold BBMP polls before May 30. Now the government has filed a writ appeal against the order before a divisional bench.

(Agencies)

Police launch search operations to hunt down convict who walked out of jail

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Parappana Agrahara

Bengaluru: Search operations were launched by the police to hunt down the 29-year-old murder convict who walked out of the highly secured Bangalore Central Prison at Parappana Agrahara on Friday after eluding security personnel.

Manjunath, housed in the D2 barracks, walked out of the prison by posing as a visitor.

Based on the complaint filed by the Prisons Department, the South division police have formed a team to arrest Manjunath. Police suspect that he could have escaped to Chitradurga, his home town.

Police have also questioned Manjunath’s relatives. “We have some clues on his whereabouts and are tracking him,” said Rohini Katoch Sepat, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Southeast d ivision).

Suspecting the involvement of insiders, a police officer said that another convict, Anand Kumar, who attacked a policeman in NIMHANS on Saturday, had procured a knife and chilli powder from inside the prison.

(Agencies)

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