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K’taka’s request for talks an “attempt to impede” court proceedings TN Minister

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The Tamil Nadu government on Monday said Karnataka’s request for talks on the Mekedatu issue “is an attempt to impede” proceedings in the Supreme Court and asked it not to go ahead with the DPR on the project and also any other construction in the Cauvery river basin without its nod.

Law Minister C Ve Shanmugham was responding to Karnataka Water Resources Minister DK Shivakumar, who had last week written to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami seeking an appointment with him to discuss the proposed project and reach an amicable solution.

Shivakumar had said the project would help in regulating the judicious release of water so that excess water is not allowed to flow from the Mettur dam in Salem in Tamil Nadu into the sea needlessly as has had happened this year.

He had wanted to discuss with Palaniswami, the “misconceptions” over his state’s proposal for a dam.

In his letter to Shivakumar on Monday, Shanmugham reiterated Tamil Nadu’s stand that any construction or even preparation of a Detailed Project Report for the construction of a new reservoir, project “is a clear violation” of the February 16, 2018 apex court judgement on the Cauvery dispute involving two states.

“The request of the Government of Karnataka to discuss the Mekedatu Project with the Government of Tamil Nadu is an attempt to impede proceedings pending on the application filed on November 30, 2018 by Tamil Nadu and also contempt proceedings initiated against you and others in the Supreme Court on December 5, 2018 and the matter has now become sub-judice,” he told Shivakumar.

The apex Court on December 5 admitted Tamil Nadu’s plea against the nod granted to Karnataka for preparing a DPR for the proposed balancing reservoir-cum-drinking water project at Mekedatu across the Cauvery river.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi had allowed the state’s plea which had said the permission was in utter disregard of the apex court’s February 16 verdict on the Cauvery dispute observing that no state can claim “exclusive ownership” of inter-state river water.

In his letter Monday, Shanmugham said the Karnataka government “in violation” of the February 16 verdict, had obtained permission from the Central Water Commission to go ahead for preparation of a DPR for the Mekedatu project, without informing and getting the concurrence of Tamil Nadu and other co-basin states.

It had not informed the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA), he added.

Shanmugham urged Shivakumar not to proceed in any manner with the preparation of a DPR for the Mekedatu project and not to take up any construction activities at any place in the Cauvery Basin of Karnataka without the prior consent of the Tamil Nadu government.

Any construction or even preparation of a DPR is a “clear violation” of the February 16 apex court verdict, he said.

“Hence, I request you to desist from a preparation of a Detailed Project Report for Mekedatu project,” he said and urged the upper riparian state to comply with the February 16 judgement of the apex court in “letter and spirit.”

In its February 16 verdict, the Supreme Court had hiked Karnataka’s share of water from Cauvery by 14.75 tmcft and reduced Tamil Nadu’s quantum while compensating it by allowing extraction of 10 tmcft groundwater from the river basin.

Maintaining that the issue of drinking water has to be placed on a “higher pedestal”, the top court enhanced Karnataka’s share from 270 tmcft to 284.75 tmcft on account of water for drinking and domestic requirements, while lowering Tamil Nadu’s share of water from 419 tmcft to 404.25 tmcft.

Karnataka had recently proposed a reservoir on Cauvery at Mekedatu, which has been steadfastly opposed by the Tamil Nadu government, besides all opposition parties in the state, expressing fear that it would affect farmers dependent on the river for irrigation.

TNM

 

PMO accepts Surjit Bhalla’s resignation from Economic Advisory Council

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi has accepted the resignation of economist Surjit Bhalla as part-time member of his Economic Advisory Council (EAC), the PMO said on Tuesday.

Bhalla resigned from his post on December 1. A senior official in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said his resignation would take effect from the same date.

The announcement of his resignation comes a day after Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Urjit Patel resigned from his post. However, Bhalla said in a Twitter post that he had resigned from his post on December 1.

“In his request, he had stated that he would be joining some other organisation,” the PMO official said.

Headed by NITI Aayog Member Bibek Debroy, other part-time members of the EAC-PM include economists Rathin Roy, Ashima Goyal and Shamika Ravi.

IANS

BJP backs Karnataka farmers’ stir on day one of Belagavi Assembly session

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The BJP has accused the state government of being ‘anti-farmer’ for not ensuring payment of the loan waiver scheme announced in July.

“We joined hundreds of farmers at the protest rally near the state legislature building (Suvarna Soudha) in support of their demands, including loan waiver, fair price for sugarcane growers and relief aid for them and their families in drought-hit districts,” tweeted BJP’s state unit president BS Yeddyurappa.

The protest demonstration amid tight security in the state’s northwest city coincided with the opening of the 10-day winter session of the state legislature in Belagavi, about 500km northwest of Bengaluru.

“Though the JD-S-Congress coalition government announced in July that it would waive farm loans, thousands of farmers are yet to be freed from the debt burden even five months after the decision” said BJP leader and lawmaker R. Ashok on the occasion.

The BJP, which won 104 seats in the May 12 assembly elections, also taunted state Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy for assuring the sugarcane growers of compelling the mill owners in setting their arrears and getting fair and remunerative price (Rs 2,750 per quintal or 100kg) as fixed by the central government but betraying them.

“The sugarcane farmers were told on November 21 that their demands would be met by December 4 and hence should call off their agitation. They suspended the agitation in the hope of getting their demands met. Even a week after, no demand was met yet,” Yeddyurappa lamented.

The BJP also slammed the government for not providing relief aid to the farmers and rural people in 17 districts across the state, which are reeling under drought, though the central government had sanctioned funds.

“We condemn the anti-farmer policies of this fledgling government which is yet to settle down and perform to deliver even six months after coming to power through a post-poll alliance to keep the BJP out of power,” said Yeddyruappa in the tweet.

Though the legislature assembly and council began the session, the proceedings were adjourned for the day as a mark of respect, after the members paid tributes to three leaders who died last month in Bengaluru.

TNM

Bengaluru firm develops device for water rescues, SDRF purchases it

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A Bengaluru firm has developed a vehicle that can be used to carry out rescue operations in water, such as take the first rope across a stream during floods. Two such units have already been purchased by the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF).The vehicle, termed unmanned multi-purpose craft, has been developed by AlphaMERS Ltd, a firm engaged in providing solutions in disaster response.

The craft costs just under `1 lakh and, looks like a small aircraft and is double the size of a drone. It can move on water, and is propelled by an electric motor, which is powered by a battery. Currently, the craft is manoevered manually by a person on land via two ropes attached to the craft. The material used is aluminium, making the device very light.

Executive Director of AlphaMERS D Chandrasekhar, said the device can be used to rescue people before they drown. “We are working on building a separate device, similar to a lifebuoy, to be attached in front of the craft. So a drowning person can grab it and be pulled ashore by the rope attached to the craft,” Chandrasekhar said.

The firm is also creating a radio-controlled craft, which will be manoeuvred by a remote. This will increase the craft’s range, which is currently restricted by the length of the ropes, and also improve the craft’s navigation.
Chandrasekhar said he is in touch with SDRF members, and sometimes consults them on ideas for innovations. The idea for this innovation came from the firm itself, and was immediately chosen by SDRF.
TNM

Congress suspects EVM manipulation in Telangana

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 With the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) headed for a landslide victory in the state’s Assembly elections, the Congress on Tuesday voiced the suspicion that the Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) were manipulated.

State Congress chief Uttam Kumar Reddy demanded that 100 per cent counting of Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) be taken up.

He asked all Congress candidates to submit letters to returning officers concerned for counting of paper trails.

Congress, which headed the four-party People’s Front, was leading in just 21 constituencies while the TRS was ahead in 87.

‘Jallianwala Bagh massacre was preceded by reign of terror by the British’

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 As the country gears up to observe the 100th anniversary of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre of innocent, unarmed Indians by ruthless British forces, the events before and after the April 13, 1919, killing of hundreds clearly indicate that the British rulers of that time were unnerved by the unrest in Punjab in general and Amritsar in particular, which led them to do something which could “teach a lesson” to the Indians.

“Though Brigadier General Reginald Dyer (who ordered his troops to fire on people who had gathered at the Jallianwala Bagh on the fateful day and killed hundreds) was blamed for the action, there is hardly any documented evidence to show how he landed in Amritsar on that day as he was posted in Jalandhar (earlier Jullundur),” author and columnist Kishwar Desai told IANS in an interview here.

Desai, who has penned a book “Jallianwala Bagh, 1919: The Real Story” recently, said that her extensive research on the happenings around the massacre revealed that the British rulers were quite unnerved by the unrest in Punjab and Amritsar.

“Prior to the killings at Jallianwala Bagh, there had been signs of increasing unrest in Punjab. These signs were being interpreted as sedition, even though causes of the unrest were varied. Indeed, it is impossible to understand what happened on 13 April 1919, without an examination of the barbarism unleashed in Punjab under the regime of the then Lieutenant Governor Sir Michael O’Dwyer to suppress the so-called rebellion,” Desai, who is the chair of The Arts and Cultural Heritage Trust that set up the world’s first Partition Museum at Amritsar’s Town Hall, points out in her book.

The author said that the idea to write this book and to bring out “some facets which had not been researched in detail so far” came after she chanced upon a photograph of the burnt-down Town Hall building of Amritsar. This happened in April 1919.

Further investigation and research, according to Desai, led to more evidence of the British atrocities on Indian subjects just before the Jallianwala Bagh incident and the violence that erupted in Amritsar on April 10 in which many people, including five Europeans, were killed. Properties, including the Town Hall, were targeted to protest against the British atrocities.

Disputing the commonly held narrative that the people who had gathered at the Bagh on the fateful day for an anti-Rowlatt Act meeting were outsiders who had come to Amritsar for the Baisakhi festival, Desai points out that the meeting was attended mostly by local residents of Amritsar and no more than 25 per cent of them were from outside.

“And it is very likely that the massacre was a carefully planned one, not spontaneous one as has been often made out. In all likelihood, no women were present,” Desai states in the book, adding that O’Dwyer, who was nearing retirement at that time, and others in power, were upset over the emerging importance of Punjab in the freedom struggle and retaliated with a reign of terror where people were whipped in public, bombed, incarcerated, forced to crawl, starved, beaten, caged and even executed.

“The massacre on 13 April was part of a policy of oppression unleashed by O’Dwyer against the frequent ‘hartals’ (strikes) or the ‘Satyagraha Movement’ (launched by Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi)… in fact, the civil administration of Punjab had already declared Amritsar a war zone (around April 11) and regarded the residents as their enemies,” Desai points out in the book.

Dyer, who had arrived in Amritsar from Jullundur on the evening of April 11, had ordered his troops to fire on the gathering inside Jallianwala Bagh on the evening of April 13, 1919. The official death figure was put at 379 while nearly 1,200 were injured. The death toll is often disputed, with claims (Indian National Congress Report) that over 1,000 innocent people were killed.

“Not a very well-known entity” when he arrived in Amritsar, Dyer had a “fairly humdrum career” till he “hit immortality as a mass murderer”, the new book says.

IANS

HC questions BBMP’s action against hotel an illegal hoardings

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The Karnataka High Court on Monday questioned Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike’s action of registering a criminal case against hotel Le Meridian for not removing an alleged illegal hoarding though there was a stay order granted by the court in 2016.

The hotel had filed a petition questioning the registration of a First Information Report by the High Grounds police on October 1, 2018 based on a complaint lodged by the BBMP.

It was also contended in the petition that the BBMP itself had told a division bench of the court, which is monitoring the BBMP’s actions against illegal hoarding, that the civic body will not remove hoardings protected under stay orders from courts.

Justice P.S. Dinesh Kumar, before whom the petition came up for hearing, has adjourned further hearing till December 14 at the request of the BBMP counsel.

 

Identity of rape victims must be protected in all stages : SC

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The Supreme Court on Tuesday said that the identity of rape victims has to be protected at all stages of the case including during trial.

File image of Supreme Court. PTI

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A bench of Justices Madan B Lokur, S. Abdul Nazeer and Deepak Gupta said that the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) reports and other documents related to such cases would be handed over to the trial court in a sealed cover without disclosing the identity of the victims.

Speaking for the bench, Justice Gupta advised the media to avoid sensationalising rape cases for the purpose of increasing the TRP and ordered that identity of minor rape victims cannot be disclosed even by their families.

The court verdict came on a PIL by advocate Nipun Saxena who had moved the court seeking steps for the safety of women in public places.  The petition was filed in the aftermath of the 16 December, 2012, Delhi gangrape case.  “The media has not only the right but also duty to report” the cases of sexual assault but “should refrain from interviewing the victim”, it said.

PTI

MNF crushes Congress, set to win Mizoram

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 The Mizo National Front (MNF) is all set to capture power in Mizoram after a decade, having established leads in 21 of the 40 assembly constituencies, while the ruling Congress is ahead only in places, poll officials said here on Tuesday.

Mizoram is the last bastion of the Congress in the northeast that comprises eight states, including Sikkim.

The ruling Congress is leading in only five constituencies and trailing in almost all the other constituencies, which it had won in the 2013 polls.

Counting is underway on all seats.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is heading ahead in one constituency.

Mizoram Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla, who contested from two constituencies — his home turf Serchhip and Champhai South – is trailing in Champhai South seat where MNF candidate T.J. Lalnuntluanga is leading by 100 votes after the fifth round of counting.

MNF candidates are leading in 21 constituencies, including Tuichang, East Tuipui, Kolasib, Champhai South seats.

Buddha Dhan Chakma, a former minister of the Congress government who just before the November 28 polls joined the BJP, is leading in Chakma tribals dominated Tuichawng constituency over his MNF rival.

Six candidates belonging to various local parties are leading in as many constituencies.

IANS

Mercury drops in Uttarakhand after fresh bout of snowfall

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 With a fresh bout of snowfall in Uttarakhand, the mercury has dropped in the hill state and many neighbouring areas as well, an official of the regional Met Department said on Tuesday.

The trend is likely to continue for the next few days and rains are also likely at some places in the hill state. An official said while the upper ranges in the state were witnessing heavy snowfall, the plains were in grip of cold and fog.

The fresh spell of rains and snowfall, the regional Met office informed, the temperature is likely to fall by at least 2-3 degrees celsius.

Badrinath, Yamunotri, Gangotri and Kedarnath have overcast sky on Tuesday and the shrines have been receiving intermittent rains over the past 24-hours. The winter cold has picked up pace in Tehri, Uttarkashi, Rudraprayag and Chamoli districts.

The state capital Dehradun has also witnessed increase in cold weather conditions in the past 24-hours but a sunny day has saved people here from the bite of the increasing cold.

In the hill stations of Nainital and Mussourie, the temperature in the last 24-hours has been recorded five degrees below normal.

IANS

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