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Archives for May 2015

Rahul attacks government on real estate bill, calls it pro-builders

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Rahul Gandhi

New Delhi: Firing yet another salvo at Narendra Modi government, Rahul Gandhi today claimed it had diluted provisions of Real Estate Regulatory Authority Bill making the legislation pro-builders from being pro-buyers.

After meeting several NCR flat buyers today, the Congress Vice President, who has been attacking the Centre over land bill issue and the plight of farmers, said that he had learnt that it is not just farmers and tribals but also the middle class people that are “suppressed” on matters related to land.

Assuring homebuyers that he would stand by them, Gandhi said that it was due to lack of transparency, the buyers were left in a quandary.

“They are told that you will get the flat on a particular day but for years they don’t get the flat. They are told the super duper area of the flat would be so much but what is delivered is different,” he said.

He said that someone was promised that the flat will have a good view, but a few months after the flat was delivered, another building came up and the view was blocked.

He said the government was trying to destroy the Bill which Congress led UPA had brought to regulate the real estate sector.

“Main dilution is that there was clear transparency. The carpet area that you sign is what would be given. They have diluted and from pro-buyer, made it pro-builder,” he said.

Attacking the government, he said, “What it is doing against farmers and tribals, it is also doing against the middle class”.

“I have assured them that the way I stand with farmers and tribals I stand with them also,” he told reporters.

(Agencies)

Voting in Karnataka could be made compulsory

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COMPULSORY-VOTING

Bengaluru: Karnataka is scheduled to make voting compulsory. According to reports, the government proposes to penalize citizens for not voting, and incentivize voting by providing rewards.

A senior official in the rural development and panchayat raj ministry said the state government has floated the idea of making voting mandatory in panchayat elections with a tentative fine of up to Rs 500 or two-day imprisonment for those who don’t vote.

It is also said that the government may ask applicants to show certificates of voting while issuing ration cards or driving licences. However, citizens who have genuine reasons for being unable to vote will be exempted. People who choose the NOTA option will get voting certificates.

All these proposals are, however, still in a nascent stage and may not apply for the upcoming gram panchayat elections in May. “We are still in the process of framing rules for the new legislation which will take some time. We have decided to seek suggestions from an expert committee in implementing the new rules,” rural development and panchayat raj minister H K Patil told a daily newspaper.

As of now, he said, the government is readying the voting certificates that will be issued to all voters who get their fingers inked in the gram panchayat elections.

(Agencies)

Only grabbing headlines: Arun Shourie attacks Modi government

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Asked if the Modi government had done enough to put India on growth path, Mr. Shourie said that it was “all hyperbole.”

arun-shourie

Arun Shourie, a Minister in the Vajpayee Cabinet, hit out at the Narendra Modi government on Friday, saying its economic policy was “directionless” while the social climate was causing “great anxiety” among the minorities.

Mr. Shourie said the one-year rule of Modi was “good in parts”, his transformation as Prime Minister was good in foreign policy, but the promised turnaround in the economy had not happened.

“The government seems to be more concerned with managing headlines than putting policies in place. The situation is like the many pieces of a jigsaw puzzle lying in a mess with no big picture in mind about how to put them together,” he told a private news channel. Mr. Shourie, who is not active in BJP these days, said despite promises, the fears of foreign investors on retrospective taxes and incentives for manufacturing have not materialised on the ground. “They (investors) require stability and predictability,” he said, adding that the concern expressed by banker Deepak Parekh on the situation on the ground should be seen as a “wake-up call“.

Asked if the Modi government had done enough to put India on growth path, Mr. Shourie said that it was “all hyperbole.”

“Such claims are meant to grab headlines but lack substance,” he said. “The government is talking big on economic matters, but nothing is happening on the ground. Delivery is missing,” he added.

In an apparent reference to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, he said the government lacked a stable approach in dealing with investors and that “lawyerly arguments” would not convince them. He was also critical of handling of the tax issues which was keeping foreign investors away. “First it alienated them but now it has made them laugh. You come out as bullies.”

(PTI)

ICC rejects Israel's claims of bias in war crimes investigation

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ICC chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda told reporters that the court will carry out an "unbiased" inquiry into the war crimes accusations. (AFP/File)

ICC chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda told reporters that the court will carry out an “unbiased” inquiry into the war crimes accusations. (AFP/File)

by Press TV

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has rejected Israel’s claims that the court may carry out a biased investigation into the Tel Aviv regime’s war crimes during its devastating military aggression against the Gaza Strip last summer.

ICC chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda told Israel’s Haaretz newspaper on Friday that The Hague-based court will launch an “unbiased” inquiry into the case. The court will consider evidence brought by Palestinians against Israel “independently and impartially without fear or favor,” Bensouda said, adding that her “office will be guided by a policy of investigating and prosecuting those most responsible for the commission of mass crimes.”

The Israeli regime launched a 50-day deadly war on Gaza last summer that ended in August 2014 with a truce. The aggression left about 2,200 Palestinians, including 577 children, dead and over 11,100 others injured.

In April, Palestinians formally joined the ICC, a membership that enabled them to bring war crimes charges against Israeli officials.

Tel Aviv reportedly claims that institutions like the ICC are biased against Israel and thus prone to unfairly target the regime. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the regime will allow the Israeli soldiers to appear at the ICC and face potential war crime charges.

Joining the ICC also opens up the possibility for Palestinians to challenge Tel Aviv’s illegal settlement expansion in the occupied territories besides taking the regime to task for its war crimes during the 2014 military aggression against the Gaza Strip.

In January, the ICC opened a preliminary examination into Israel’s war crimes against Palestinians. Israeli Prime Minister, however, denounced ICC’s decision as “absurd,” claiming that the move runs against the international law.

Disease outbreak threatens Nepal's earthquake survivors

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Medical workers try to prevent spread of disease in quake’s aftermath, with clean water and toilets in short supply.

Disease Nepal earthquake

by Al Jazeera

Survivors of Nepal’s major earthquake are facing the threat of a disease outbreak due to a severe shortage of clean water and toilets.

Al Jazeera’s Subina Shrestha, reporting from the village of Dukuchap in Lalitpur area, said on Friday that locals were suffering from diarrhoea, stomach cramps and other diseases that could turn into epidemics if the cause of the problem was not stopped in time.

“The water is thick and smelly, but we have to drink it,” Kalpana Tamang, a Dukuchap village resident, told Al Jazeera.

Dr Kishore Rana, a major general in the Nepalese army, said that in a number of villages the health centres and hospitals have been ruined and the areas depended on mobile medical teams – often foreigners.

“Our plan is for other medical teams that can come here and stay here for a longer duration – three to six months,” he said.

“We’ll be sending these teams to the areas were health posts and hospitals have been destroyed.”

Shrestha reported that “even at the best of times, the health system in Nepal has been rather poor”.

“For this village of Dukchap, the only health post is half an hour further up and the only thing they have is paracetamol.”

Essential medicines

The World Health Organization (WHO) said that a quick assessment of Nepal’s worst-hit districts has found some hospitals damaged or destroyed, but most were coping well with no extra staff or beds required.

According to the WHO, there was a need for essential medicines, equipment and materials.

The organisation said it was focused on preventing the possible spread of diarrhoeal diseases among at least 2.8 million displaced people, especially those living in 16 makeshift camps in the capital, Kathmandu.

The death toll from Saturday’s earthquake has reached more than 6,200 people. Almost 14,000 have been injured and thousands are still missing.

Many of the monuments and temples in Kathmandu Valley, which was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979, for seven distinct locations, were destroyed in the earthquake.

Search and rescue teams continue their operation, clearing debris from crushed buildings and the centuries-old temples as well as getting aid to remote locations.

The government has announced it will give every family, which has had a member killed in the earthquake, about $1,000 in compensation.

Baltimore set for 'victory rally' as officers charged

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Thousands expected to attend march, celebrating charges against six police officers over custodial death of a black man.

(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

by Al Jazeera

A march planned by activists to protest the death of a black man in police custody is now being dubbed as a “victory rally” after criminal charges were slapped against the officers involved.

The march on Saturday follows a decision by Baltimore’s top prosecutor to file criminal charges against the six police officers involved in Freddie Gray’s death.

The officers turned themselves in at the city jail on Friday afternoon. All were later released on bonds of between $250,000 and $350,000.

Maryland State Attorney Marilyn Mosby said on Friday that Gray’s arrest was illegal and unjustified, and that his neck was broken because he was handcuffed, shackled and placed head-first into a police van.

Mosby’s announcement triggered celebrations across the same Baltimore streets that were hit with unrest just four days earlier, when Gray’s funeral led to riots and looting.

People danced in the streets, chanting “Freddie” to celebrate the charges. Some were later arrested by police, however, for refusing to disperse after a curfew went into effect at 10pm for the fourth night.

The thousands of protesters who are expected to attend over the weekend will now do so to celebrate the decision by Mosby to charge the officers with felonies ranging from assault to murder.

Gray’s death from spinal injuries a week after his April 12 arrest became a rallying cry against brutality and social inequality in the city.

Swift decision

The swift decision by Mosby, who has been in the position only since January, to charge the six officers caught many by surprise in a city hit on Monday night by its worst civil unrest in decades.

The police had no reason to stop or chase after Gray, Mosby said. “They falsely accused him of having an illegal switchblade when in fact it was a legal pocketknife.”

The officer who drove the police vehicle in which Gray was taken after his arrest was charged with second-degree murder, which could put him in prison for 30 years if convicted.

Mosby, who rejected the police union’s call for a special prosecutor, earned praise from protesters and Gray’s family.

“We are satisfied with today’s charges,” Gray’s stepfather, Richard Shipley, told a news conference. “These charges are an important step in getting justice for Freddie.”

But a lawyer hired by the union insisted the officers did nothing wrong. Attorney Michael Davey said that Mosby has committed “an egregious rush to judgment”.

“We have grave concerns about the fairness and integrity of the prosecution of our officers,” Davey said.

Dawood Ibrahim wanted to surrender: former Delhi Police chief

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Neeraj-Kumar-Dawood-Ibrahim

New Delhi: Former Delhi police commissioner Neeraj Kumar has claimed that underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, the mastermind of the 1993 serial blasts in Mumbai that claimed around 300 lives, wanted to surrender but the CBI did not agree to it.

Neeraj Kumar also claimed to have spoken to Dawood Ibrahim three times in June 1994.

“I spoke to a jittery Dawood three times in June 1994… He seemed to be toying with the idea of surrendering but had one worry – his rival gangs could finish him off if he returned to India. I told him his safety would be the responsibility of the CBI,” Neeraj Kumar has told Hindustan Times.

“Dawood was worried that his rivals may kill him if he would come back. I played along and told him that the CBI would take care of his safety if he were to return but before we could actually talk terms of surrender, my bosses in the CBI told me to back off,” Neeraj Kumar says in the HT interview.

In June 1994, Neeraj Kumar was with the CBI and he was leading the agency’s probe into 1993 Mumbai blasts.

Reacting to Neeraj Kumar’s claims, former CBI director Vijay Rama Rao said, “No such offer of surrender came from Dawood Ibrahim. If it’s the case, it was not brought to my knowledge.”

“Let all facts come out. Without entire facts be known, it would be premature and incorrect to say anything,” BJP leader Nalin Kohli said.

Last December, the Modi government, in bilateral talks with Pakistan, had sought custody of Dawood Dawood Ibrahim.

Intelligence sources also said that Dawood is a special guest staying in Pakistan’s much guarded defence area and so much is the secrecy that Pakistan sees that Dawood and his kin fly to Saudi Arabia for pilgrimage in charter flights.

(Agencies)

Zaheer Khan returns with Virender Sehwag's scalp as Delhi Daredevils spank Kings XI Punjab

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Zaheer_Khan

New Delhi: Zaheer Khan made an impressive comeback from a year-long hiatus complementing Nathan Coulter-Nile brilliantly as Delhi Daredevils spanked Kings XI Punjab by 9 wickets at the Ferozeshah Kotla on Friday.

Chasing a paltry target of 119, Daredevils romped home with 6.1 overs to spare as openers Mayank Agarwal (52 not out) and Shreyas Iyer (54) put on a comfortable 106-run partnership for the first wicket to seal the issue in style.

The home team could not have asked for a better performance from their bowlers in their last home match as they restricted Punjab to 118 for eight after winning the toss.

Coming into bowl in a competitive match after 363 days, Zaheer removed Virender Sehwag (1) off the second ball and Manan Vohra (1) in his very next over as he finished with figures of 2/17 from four overs. After Zaheer blew the top two away, Coulter-Nile caused a lot of damage in the middle and lower order with figures of 4/20 in four overs as it deservingly earned him man-of-the match award.

There was not much KXIP could have done after putting on board such a total and Delhi easily crossed the finishing line without much fuss.

(Agencies)

Punjab Minister kicks up row, says Moga victim's death God's will

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MOGA-RAPE

Moga: Punjab Education Minister Surjit Singh Rakhra today triggered a controversy by making an insensitive comment that the death of the teenage girl, who was molested and thrown off a bus belonging to the ruling Badal family, was God’s will. ‘Nobody can stop accidents. Whatever happens does so by God’s will.

“We can always meet with an accident. We will do more for the people….What has happened is unfortunate. You cannot go against nature’s will,” he said.

Rejecting government compensation and demanding action against the owners of the vehicle, family members of the girl have refused to perform her last rites.”There is no headway on this issue (on the cremation),” Moga SSP Jatinder Singh Khehra said.

The body of girl has been kept in a mortuary at Singhawala village here.All attempts by the state authorities to persuade the bereaved family to cremate her proved futile after they rejected a compensation of Rs 20 lakh, a government job for her mother, her free treatment and holding trial of the case in a fast track court.

The family was insisting that the owners of the bus, Orbit Aviation, be booked in connection with the offence and its road permits be cancelled, a demand vociferously supported by AAP.

“I want justice. I want justice for my daughter. FIR should be registered against those whom the bus belonged to,” victim’s father had said yesterday.

When he was asked whether he wanted registration of FIR against Sukhbir Badal, he had said, “FIR can be lodged against him (Sukhbir) after all he is a human being.””Is there nobody in the world who can lodge FIR against him (Sukhbir),” he had questioned yesterday.

The 13-year-old victim and her mother were thrown off the moving bus by a group of men, including the conductor, after they resisted molestation attempts on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Punjab Congress led by its chief Partap Singh Bajwa has given a call for ‘Rail Roko’ agitation for an hour starting at noon to protest against the “deteriorating” law and order situation in the state and to draw attention to the farmers’ problems.

“The deteriorating law and order situation will be part of the ‘Rail Roko’ agitation whose main focus will be the demands of the farmers,” he said.

Congress Spokesperson Randeep Surjewala charged that the family has refused to cremate the victim as the police is pressuring them to arrive at a compromise.

“Ministers of Akali Dal-BJP government are giving out insensitive statements. This is inhuman and completely reflects the arrogance of power that has surpassed the basic tenets of humanity,” he said.

SAD MLA Joginder Singh Jain accused the opposition parties of adding fuel to the fire.

“The government has taken all action possible within its limits till now. The opposition parties including AAP and Congress are simply adding fuel to the fire.

They are misleading the family and bringing disrepute to the girl’s modesty,” he said.

As far as the compensation issue is concerned, he said “It has been given as ex-gratia and not as a bribe. The opposition is watching the drama        and doing nothing. They (family) have not refused to take compensation from us. Infact they were the ones who demanded money and a job.”

“We got a special exemption from the government to give a job in the corporation to their 16-year-old son,” he said.

(PTI)

Agra Muslims who were lured to convert to Hinduism, revert to Islam

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Conversion_Agra

Meerut: A group of Muslims in Agra, who converted to Hinduism on Christmas last year became Muslim again on Friday.

About 17 members of ‘Nat’ community, an extremely backward community in Mahuar Lathiya village in Achnera block, who became Muslim, alleged that a Hindutva group leader had pressured them to become Hindu and had promised them a piece of land.

All those who reconverted belong to the same family and used to live in a settlement of fellow ‘Nat’ community on a public land.

Fifty-year-old Rahmat, the eldest of the group, told the media that Ali Mohammad had pressured the rest of the family members after the Hindutva leader had allegedly promised them a piece of land. After they had become Hindu last year, they faced boycott by their fellow community members.

They didn’t get invitation for marriages and other community functions of the closely knit Nat community in the village.

(Agencies)

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