Archives for December 2018

The much-awaited expansion of the six-month-old H D Kumaraswamy-led coalition Cabinet in Karnataka was carried out at Raj Bhavan on Saturday evening.    

Governor Vajubhai Vala administered the oath to CS Shivalli, MT Nagaraj, Tukaram, PT Parameshwar Naik, Satish Jarakiholi, Timmapur, MB Patil and Rahim Khan as Cabinet Ministers.

4 DCp’s, 10 inspectors, 20 SP’s and about 300 constables were deployed around Raj Bhavan to maintain the law and order.

Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy, former CM Siddaramaiah and DCM Parameshwar were also present.

Agencies

Nasheman News : Himachal Pradesh, Kerala and Tamil Nadu have come out as the front runners in implementing the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) targets, as per a NITI Aayog report released on Friday.

The government’s premier think tank has developed the country’s first SDG India Index to document the progress made by India’s states and Union Territories towards meeting SDG targets and released a baseline report for 2018.

Along with the three states, the UTs of Chandigarh and Puducherry were also among the front runners on the SDG India Index with a score between 65 to 99 on a scale of 0 to 100, where 100 signifies that it has achieved the 2030 national targets.

“The SDG India Index baseline report 2018 highlights the progress being made by states and UTs in moving towards multiple targets of the SDGs, in the true spirit of cooperative and competitive federalism,” NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar said.

The SDGs are ambitious global development goals that address key aspects of universal wellbeing across different socio-economic, cultural, geographical divisions and integrate the economic, social and environmental dimensions of development.

“By ranking its states and UTs, India has become the first country to create a composite SDG index to measure progress on SDG targets at the sub-national level,” NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said.

The Index has been developed in collaboration with the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), Global Green Growth Institute and United Nations in India.

“Himachal Pradesh ranks high on providing clean water and sanitation, in reducing inequalities and preserving mountain ecosystem. Kerala’s top rank is attributed to its superior performance in providing good health, reducing hunger, achieving gender equality and providing quality education.

“Chandigarh leads because of its exemplary performance in providing clean water and sanitation, affordable and clean energy, generating decent work and economic growth and providing quality education,” the report said.

While most of the states and UTs, 28 in all, were in the ‘Performer’ category with index scores being between 50 and 64, only three states Assam, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh were in the bottom-most category of ‘Aspirant’ having a score between 0 to 49.

The Index tracks progress of all states and UTs on 62 priority indicators selected by NITI Aayog, which in turn is guided by MoSPI’s National Indicator Framework comprising 306 indicators and based on multiple-round consultations with ministries and states.

The indicators will be further refined and additional indicators will be added with improvement in data collection, reporting processes and methodology, the report said.

“NITI Aayog is also exploring potential for disaggregating data and developing capacity for real time monitoring and measuring incremental progress,” it added.

Nasheman News : At least eight people were killed in twin suicide car bomb blasts near Somalia’s Presidential Palace in the capital on Saturday, the police said.

A police officer told Xinhua news agency that the two coordinated blasts could have caused a higher number of deaths and injuries. “So far, we know that at least 8 people killed in the blasts but the death toll could rise,” he said.

Somali militant group Al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the latest attack.

Eyewitnesses said the explosions were so huge that they shook a wide radius. 

“There were massive car bombs, causing panic among the residents. We don’t know the number of casualties but we heard several people died,” Mukhtar Abdi, a witness, told the agency.

Earlier reports said Mogadishu’s Deputy Governor Mohamed Abdulahi was injured in the explosion while some of his bodyguards were killed.

A senior reporter from Universal Television died during the blast, but the fate of his colleagues was yet to be established.

Nasheman News : Controversial retired IPS officer DG Vanzara on Friday asserted that had it not been for the “genuine encounters” by the Gujarat police, Pakistan might have been successful in its design to assassinate the then chief minister and now Prime Minister Narendra Modi and turn the state into another Kashmir.

In a statement after the special CBI’s court’s judgement in the Sohrabuddin-Tulsiram Prajapti encounter case in Mumbai on Friday, Vanzara, who was earlier an accused in the case, said the police personnel of Gujarat, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh were made scapegoats in the “political war” between the then BJP government in the state and the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre.

“The CBI court’s judgement acquitting all the 22 accused police officers in the Sohrabuddin encounter case has only corroborated the claims I had been making right from the beginning that none of these encounters was stage-managed but were all genuine to annihilate the Pakistan-sponsored terrorists who had been coming to Gujarat with the mission to kill Modiji. 

“But for the encounters, it might have become difficult to ensure the safety of Modiji and Pakistan by now would have succeeded in turning Gujarat into another terrorist-ridden Kashmir,” he said.

Vanzara, who was initially a prime accused in the Sohrabuddin-Kausar Bi alleged fake encounter case but was exonerated by the special CBI court three years back, held some “anti-national elements” were responsible for turning the genuine encounter incidents into fake ones to assist the terror groups and harass the honest police officers.

He claimed that the Gujarat police had accurate information about the movements of the Pakistan-sponsored terrorists and acted swiftly to “ensure the safety of the country and protect the life of the then chief minister who was under constant threat.”

Meanwhile, Gujarat Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel hailed the CBI court’s judgment and accused the former UPA government of trying to tarnish the Modi dispensation in Gujarat in the name of “fake encounter.” 

Patel also promised to consider restoration of the genuine promotions and other benefits due to the accused police officers in the last 13 years because of the pending case, now that they had been acquitted of all the charges.

N Christian Michel, the alleged middleman arrested in the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal case, was produced before a Delhi court Saturday.

Special Judge Arvind Kumar allowed the Enforcement Directorate to interrogate Michel inside courtroom for 15 minutes after the agency sought his custodial interrogation.

ED also sought to arrest the British national in a money laundering case.

The court had reserved the order on Michel’s bail plea on December 19 and had sent him to judicial custody till December 28.

Michel is among the three alleged middlemen being probed in the case by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the CBI. The others are Guido Haschke and Carlo Gerosa.

PTI