Congress leaders in ‘depression of defeat’, need treatment: BJP

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March 9, 2014

BJP on Sunday attacked Congress leader Digvijay Singh for his barbs at Narendra Modi over his marital status, saying his comments reflected the “depression” creeping in the ruling party leaders over their “certain” defeat in Lok Sabha polls.

Congress leaders have sunk into “depression of defeat”, party spokesperson Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said, and cited Rahul Gandhi’s “baseless” allegation that RSS was behind the murder of Mahatma Gandhi to claim that the ruling party leaders are deliberately raking up irrelevant issues to mislead people.

Singh had attacked the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate over his marital status yesterday.

“I want to ask him if there is slightest respect for women in his heart, why does he leave blank the column where his wife’s name should be written in the election form. Why does not Modi say so if he is not married or he has left her?… How somebody, who cannot respect and take care of his wife, will look after the nation,” the Congress general secretary had said.

Naqvi said the personal attack is nothing but an indication of their state of mind. Taking a jibe, he said, “What will be their condition after defeat in election when they are in such state now. Congress leadership should make arrangements for their treatment”.

He also took potshots at AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal for the Z category security accorded to him, saying the “international leader” does not accept anything, but the things, whether it is a house or a chartered plane, are forced on him.

He accused Kejriwal of overstaying in government accommodation given to him when he was Delhi Chief Minister.

CBI to start probe in HAL bribery scam

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Afternoon Voice

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March 9, 2014

CBI in the next couple of days will register a preliminary enquiry into alleged bribery in a Rs. 10,000 crore deal for supply of aircraft engines to state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited by London-based Rolls Royce.

The agency had received a complaint from the Defence Ministry to look into the supply of aircraft engines to HAL and is scrutinising the documents, highly placed sources said.

Defence Minister A K Antony has ordered a CBI probe into the allegations. They said a preliminary enquiry may be initiated by Wednesday on the basis of which a decision could be taken to register the FIRs in the cases. “We will co-operate fully with the regulatory authorities and have repeatedly made clear that we will not tolerate misconduct of any sort,” a Rolls-Royce spokesman has said.

Sources said the role of a London-based arms dealer, who had been probed by the agency in different cases, is also under scanner and if evidence of his role emerges, he might be made an accused in the FIRs.

They said the arms dealer who is already in the list of “undesirable contact” issued by the agency to government officials has been probed in the past but since no evidence had emerged the cases were closed.

The scandal relates to deal in the supply of engines for Hawk trainer and Jaguar fighter aircraft between 2007 and 2011 and an internal probe by the vigilance wing of HAL has prima facie established the charges, the sources said.

The allegations surfaced in the form of a letter received by HAL recently claiming that bribes were paid to officials in HAL and other departments concerned to bag contracts.

BSF gives list of 66 terror camps to Bangladesh

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Afternoon Voice

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March 9, 2014

The BSF has handed over a list of 66 camps of north-east insurgents to the Border Guard Bangladesh, seeking actions against them.

“We have requested our counterparts in Bangladesh for cooperation in dismantling the camps of insurgents from the region. We have handed over a list of 66 camps that exist in Bangladesh,” Sudhir Kumar Srivastava, IG, BSF Assam Frontier, told reporters here on Sunday.

The list was handed over at the 3-day bi-annual Inspector General level meeting of border management and coordination held from March 6 at the headquarters of Meghalaya Frontier of the BSF here.

The camps belonged to ULFA and NDFB (anti-talks) of Assam, PLA and KYKL of Manipur, NSCN (IM) of Nagaland besides those of the Tripura’s NLFT and Meghalaya’s HNLC and ANVC-B, the BSF official said.

Brig General Habibul Karim, Region Commander North East Region, who led a 20-member delegation from Bangladesh, had assured actions against those camps located all along the northern parts of Bangladesh, Srivastava said.

The inspectors general of Meghalaya, Assam, Tripura, Mizoram and Cachar frontiers of BSF officials attended the meeting along with an official representative of the Ministry of External Affairs.

“The meeting was held in a cordial atmosphere and discussed many issues like better border management, tackling smuggling of banned cough syrup Phensydyl and fake currency and reducing border crimes and dacoities,” he said.

BSF also requested for early solution of disputes regarding erection of barbed wire fencing in some patches of the border, especially the single row fencing, he said.

Tripura, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Assam share a 1,880-km border with Bangladesh.

Bengal’s development model better than that of Gujarat: Mamata

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Afternoon Voice

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March 9, 2014

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is not ready to give credit to Narendra Modi for development work in Gujarat and feels her own model is much better and has paid good dividends. In the ‘development-versus-development’ debate, she says there is a “huge difference” between the models pursued by her and Modi because of circumstances.

“Let me answer your question directly. Did Mr. A, or Mr. B, have the Junglemahal (naxal) problem to resolve? We have brought peace there. Did Mr. A or Mr. B have the Darjeeling-like problem to resolve? Darjeeling is now smiling. Did Mr. A or Mr. B inherit a debt burden for his state of over Rs. 2 lakh crore,” she said.

“Inspite of overcoming all these, we have been on the path of development,” added Mamata who became the Chief Minister in August 2011.

She was responding when asked if she sees a difference between the models of development being pursued by Modi and her own.

Seeking to justify how her model of development was better, the Trinamool Congress leader said, “Let me talk facts and show how the two states (West Bengal and Gujarat) cannot be compared.”

She suggested that Gujarat has had sustained development without facing any problems while West Bengal “had to rise from bottom upwards” as it had been “ruined for over 34 years by the Communists”.

In West Bengal, she said, every parameter had gone down. There was “flight of capital” from the state, 50,000 factories had been closed down and one crore people had been rendered unemployed.

“This was the story of West Bengal when my government took over. Other states have had sustained development for many decades,” she contended.

“What West Bengal is doing today, India must do tomorrow. These are not hollow words,” Mamata insisted.

To buttress her point, the Chief Minister listed “some concrete examples” like setting up of fair price medicine shops, web-based procurement policy of medicines and ‘Kanya Shree’ scheme.

“My state also now has a PPP policy, an IT policy, a Textile policy. We have done more in 34 months than what the Communists have done in 34 years,” she maintained.

These schemes, she said, could be replicated by other states for their betterment. Mamata said that before she came to power, the work culture in her state had been ruined.

Nandan Nilekani joins Congress, will contest from Bangalore South

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Afternoon Voice

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March 9, 2014

Former IT Czar, co-founder of Infosys and Aadhar founder chairman Nandan Nilekani has officially joined the Congress at a simple ceremony in KPCC office in Bangalore on Sunday.
The Congress has fielded him as its candidate against five time BJP MP and its national general secretary HN Ananth Kumar from the prestigious Bangalore South Lok Sabha seat.
Nilekani will be making his political debut in this election. The 58-year-old Congress leader was born and brought up in Bangalore.
Nilekani was given ticket against BJP’s Ananth Kumar even before he joined the Congress.
An alumnus of IIT Bombay, Nilekani co-founded Infosys with six others. NR Narayanamurthy is the main founder of Infosys.
Nilekani was inducted into the party by KPCC president Dr G Parameshwar. Transport minister and senior Congress MLA from Bangalore city, B Ramalingareddy was also present at the programme.
After joining the Congress, Nilekani updated his Facebook page. He wrote “It’s official! I went to the KPCC office to complete the formalities of joining the party. I have been officially inducted into the party and congratulated by the KPCC president and senior officials. I followed this with a visit to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s house, where I received a warm welcome.
“Its heartening to see the energy and the passion of the people on the ground. This is not just about me – the demand is for more energy and vision in the public space. I deeply believe that the more people with a passionate agenda, get involved, the more we will see the kind of politics we dream of.
“Let’s get it done”.
Later he met chief minister Siddaramaiah at his residence. Nilekani’s candidature has added colour to Lok Sabha elections in Karnataka. Considered a Brahmin stronghold, Bangalore South is witnessing a mega fight between two Brahmins after a long time.

Women empowered!?

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Afternoon Voice

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March 9, 2014

The International Women’s Day was celebrated on 8th March. I learnt about it through the morning newspaper. No celebrations were held at home. My mother was busy performing her regular chores as usual. I wondered then for whose sake this day is observed? I thought about conducting a quick survey. I sent text messages to some 30 women from my contact list wishing “Happy Women’s Day. Let women become more powerful”. I received only three replies! I wondered! What about others!? Aren’t they celebrating Women’s Day? Don’t they think that celebrating Women’s Day is necessary!? Or is it that they find it insignificant since the celebration of women’s day never changes their lot. In fact, all the women whom I had sent messages are well educated. Still, there is no happiness in celebrating Women’s Day! Then what is the status of uneducated, illiterate women existing in our society?

It is rightly said that “If you educate a woman it is like making the whole family educated!” In fact, some results have shown that education of women has improved their health conditions, has improved their child care practices, it has enhanced their social mingling. The concept of Self Help Group has worked wonderfully and one of the best examples is SEWA (Self Employed Women’s Association). We do see many women working in different fields, some of which were traditionally male dominated!

But the question remains that “whether education has changed the attitude of men towards women!?” The results seem to be dismal. The treatment of women in households has not really changed. The culinary works still remain the domain of women in the houses. Even in nuclear families where both husband and wife are employed, women have to perform domestic chores and then head towards office. Husbands still continue to pick up the newspaper in the morning and sit on a chair waiting for tea to arrive at their place. Sipping of tea and newspaper reading continues until it is the time to get ready to go for office! By then breakfast is expected. The shoes have to be polished and they do not know where is their pant or shirt, leave alone belt, socks, watch and purse! The laptop should be kept inside the bag and tiffin should be ready (if lunch is unavailable in the office)! If these tasks are not performed efficiently, husbands start grumbling about their wives inefficiency to get the things done on time!
They will again start blaming their wives if they miss the bus or get stuck in the traffic. There is no consideration at all for their wives who also have to get ready to go for office! On returning home in the evening, a cup of tea is expected to be ready! If wife is late to return from the office, she will notice that the kitchen is in a bad shape where so many vessels are being misplaced, unlided sugar and tea powder bottles, milk kept in the vessel without lid, some biscuit packets opened lying here and there and some powder on the floor with no hint from where it fell! Generally, she doesn’t dare to question this adventurous act. If she does, then the readymade reply will be “I didn’t find the vessel to prepare tea. I had to search for a long time to find it. Why don’t you keep those in such a place where it can be easily traceable!” She will think it would be wise to remain quiet as these arguments are never ending!

The most expected quality for women still remains “her ability to cook”. Many educated men do consider it as one of the ‘most important’ thing to be asked while choosing a bride for them! I wonder how cooking has become so important criteria undermining a woman’s educational qualification, work profile and so on, even though they are well educated! Glass ceiling effect is not a new phenomenon. Very few women have been able to break the glass ceiling! Recently Christine Lagarde, head of the International Monetary Fund, told the assembled global elite at World Economic Forum that she had been opposed to quotas until a moment early in her career. During that period, Christine was informed that she would not achieve progress as she was a woman. “I soon realised that unless we had targets, if not quotas, there was no way” to make headway, she said. This is a clear sign of educated men still considering women to be less capable of performing their tasks!

It has become very common to read reports about rape incidents in newspapers. Many of us have become more desensitized to such reports. If we analyse these reports, we realise that intimate partners are involved in many rapes! Many well educated men who hold prominent positions are involved in such cases.

Right from Supreme Court judges to journalists, professors, doctors have been alleged of indulging in sexual assault! Uneducated, illiterate men add to these numbers! That means education has failed to bring attitudinal change in men. The overpowering nature of men still continues even though the structure of society is changing! Unless there is attitudinal change, real women empowerment will not happen even if successive governments bring more and more legislations!

Akshara Damle

HC grants bail to former Ulhasnagar MLA in murder case

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Afternoon Voice

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March 7, 2014

he Bombay High Court on Friday granted bail to former Ulhasnagar MLA Suresh (Pappu) Kalani in an appeal filed by him against conviction in a 15-year-old murder case, despite opposition by Maharashtra Government.

The bail was granted by a bench headed by Justice Naresh Patil who asked Kalani to furnish a surety of Rs. one lakh and report to Kalyan police once in a fortnight. Kalani was restrained from entering Ulhasnagar town.

65-year-old Kalani and three others were found guilty by a Thane court on November 29 last year and given life sentence for the murder of BJP worker Inder Bhatija in 1999.

Special public prosecutor Vikas Patil opposed Kalani’s bail saying he had created a terror in Ulhasnagar town. Kalani was allegedly involved in many crimes after he was given bail by the Supreme Court during the trial in this case.

This only showed that he has disregard for judiciary and acted on his own whims and fancies, the prosecutor argued.

Kalani’s lawyer Niteen Pradhan submitted that there was no direct evidence to show the role of Kalani in Inder Bhatija’s murder. Moreover, two major witnesses, the father and the wife of the deceased, had turned hostile, he said.

Inder’s brother, Ghanashyam, was earlier murdered on February 27, 1990 near the Pinto Resorts in Ulhasnagar of Thane district. Inder, who had witnessed the murder, was also shot dead on April 27, 1999 despite having police protection.

According to police, both the murders were a fall-out of long-standing political and criminal enmities. Police had conducted trial against accused, Pappu Kalani, Bacchi Pandey (50), Baba Gabrial (52), Mohamad Asrat Sheikh (45), Narendra Ramsinghani and Richard.

While Bacchi, Baba and Mohamad were held guilty of murder under section 302 IPC and conspiracy, Kalani was convicted only for conspiracy (section 120-B of IPC). Ramsinghani and Richard were acquitted for want of evidence.

Although Kalani has been convicted for Inder’s murder, the trial in Ghansham’s murder case is pending in Thane Court.

Kalani was president of Ulhasnagar Municipal Council and Congress MLA at one time. Later, he floated his own party.

He has been Congress MLA from Ulhasnagar twice, while in 1995 and 1999 Kalani was elected as an independent. In 2004, he won as candidate of Republican Party of India.

Another disaster hits Indian Navy; Commander dies in INS Kolkata mishap

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Afternoon Voice

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March 7, 2014

Just weeks before Indian Navy’s most modern destroyer, INS Kolkata, was to be commissioned, the warship was hit by an accident at the Mazgaon Dock in Mumbai on Friday claiming the life of a Commander and hospitalisation of two dockyard employees.

In the 11th incident in seven months stalking naval assets, INS Kolkata (officially called Yard 701) was undergoing fitments and trials when the mishap occurred in its engine room.

Commander Kuntal Wadhwa, 42, lost his life after he inhaled carbon dioxide that was leaking from a malfunctioning unit just a little afternoon while undergoing trials in the Mazagon Dockyard Limited (MDL), officials said.

“Navy officer Kundal Wadhva, 42, was declared dead before admission in St. George Hospital at 1317 hours. He was a resident of Colaba and his relatives are coming from Thane,” Additional CP Krishna Prakash said in Mumbai.

Prakash said that at about 1245 hours during fire fighting testing, the CO2 bottle neck opened accidentally, releasing the gas.

“Aslam Gafar Kazi, 51, worker of MDL suffered from suffocation and was admitted to the ICU in Prince Ali Hospital Mazagaon,” the police officer said.

The statement of Kazi, a resident of city’s Malad (East) area would be recorded soon.

A Mazgaon Docks Limited spokesperson said the destroyer was among three similar ones being built at the shipyard located in south Mumbai.

“Yard-701, being built by Mazagon Docks Limited, while undergoing machinery trials in Mumbai Port Trust had a malfunction in its carbon dioxide unit, leading to gas leakage,” the spokesperson added.

The 6,500 tonne warship, the largest after an aircraft carrier and amphibious warfare vessels, was undergoing testing. It was to be commissioned on March 27.

The mishap took place just nine days after fire and smoke incident on INS Sindhuratna off the Mumbai coast, in which two officers lost their lives and seven sailors were taken ill.

People-friendly schemes to benefit Congress-led government: Prithviraj Chavan

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Afternoon Voice

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March 7, 2014

Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan has said the Congress-led government will reap benefits of its successfully implemented schemes for the people, during the upcoming general elections. “The Congress-led government introduced Food Security Bill. It brought RTI. The MNREGA is a classic example of providing employment to the needy and downtrodden and the party has always ensured that the poor and needy are uplifted and brought into the mainstream,” Chavan said while addressing a rally last evening at Bhiwandi.

These schemes, which have been implemented successfully and have benefited people in the state and country, will speak for itself and bring in victory for the Congress, he said highlighting the government’s achievements.

However, the opposition parties including BJP and Shiv Sena have no such schemes and programmes for the citizens of Maharashtra and the country, he said. These parties did nothing than promoting differences among the citizens for their sake, Chavan alleged.

The chief minister said he had come to seek people’s votes for the government at the Centre and will also strive for their support during the state Assembly elections, slated later this year.

BJP leaders meet Raj Thackeray, seek support for Council polls

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Afternoon Voice

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March 7, 2014

The tension within the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance is likely to escalate further as the BJP today sought MNS’s support for the biennial elections to the Maharashtra Legislative Council, slated for March 20.

Senior BJP leader Nitin Gadkari’s recent meeting with MNS president Raj Thackeray had created a stir in the political circles, with Shiv Sena registering a strong protest.

Today, state BJP leader Vinod Tawde and Mumbai BJP chief Ashish Shelar met Raj at his residence in Dadar in central Mumbai.

Tawde said, “We met the MNS president to seek his party’s support for the Legislative Council elections. Our two candidates need 58 votes to win, but we are falling short of 12 votes. We have requested him to support BJP.”

The tenure of Tawde, an MLC and the Leader of Opposition in the Upper House, and that of his senior colleague Pandurang Phundkar is ending on April 24. Tawde has expressed his interest in contesting the Assembly elections this time.

“Most likely we will retain the same candidates (Tawde and Phundkar) for the council election. A formal decision in this regard will be taken soon,” a BJP source said.