Manhunt for India Maoists after ambush kills 26 police

Paramilitary commandos in central India launched an operation Wednesday to flush out a group of Maoist rebels who killed 26 police officers in a jungle ambush.

"The security forces have entered the jungle on a manhunt for the outlawed Maoist commanders and rebels," said Ram Niwas, the head of anti-Maoist operations in Chhattisgarh state.

Tuesday's ambush was the third major rebel attack on security personnel in Chhattisgarh in as many months.

The police officers were returning from a road-opening ceremony when they were ambushed by as many as 100 Maoist fighters who opened fire with automatic weapons from a hilltop, officials said.

A total of 26 officers were killed in a three-hour gun battle.

The government launched a major offensive last year to tackle the worsening left-wing insurgency, but since then the Maoists have hit back -- triggering widespread criticism of officials and politicians.

The rebels have fought for decades throughout east and central India against state and government rule, drawing support from landless tribal groups and farmers left behind by the country's economic development.

The Maoists had massacred 76 policemen in Chhattisgarh in a similar assault in April, and last month a Maoist landmine attack on a bus killed 24 civilians and 11 police.

Maoist saboteurs were also blamed for derailing a Mumbai-bound passenger train from Kolkata last month, killing nearly 150 people.

The scale of recent rebel strikes has highlighted the government's struggle to find an effective strategy against the insurgency, leading to calls for the army and air force to be drafted in.

But until now, the government has insisted that paramilitary and state police forces are capable of flushing the Maoists out of their jungle bases.

Source http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hzKts5dxzcJfi6nMYKm2P-NQwcEw

Man who stole Rahul Gandhi's phone held

Theft of a mobile handset in the Capital is considered little more than a nuisance and the victim is usually compelled to buy a new one due to lack of enthusiasm in the police department to recover the lost article. But if the target bears the Gandhi surname, things begin to happen.

An employee of Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) was arrested on Monday for stealing All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary Rahul Gandhi's mobile.

Sources at the airport said soon after he told his securitymen about the missing handset, a manhunt was launched and the culprit was apprehended the very next day.

The incident took place on the night of June 25 when Rahul had arrived from London on an Emirates flight after his Europe visit. He was there to celebrate his birthday that falls on June 19. This was the second consecutive year when Rahul celebrated his birthday outside India, sources said.

According to sources, Rahul Gandhi came to know about the theft only after he had reached home. "He informed the officials of the Special Protection Group, which guards him. The SPG then contacted the CISF, which in turn started a quiet investigation and reviewed the close-circuit TV footage and list of people working at the airport when the incident occurred," sources said.

The technical surveillance carried out by the CISF helped them detect the lost mobile phone. "The CISF personnel identified two baggage handlers who were working for a private firm as suspects and questioned them. One of them accepted that he had stolen the phone from the baggage and handed it over to the security personnel," the sources said.

No case was lodged, as that would have brought the matter into limelight. Police officials at the airport said they did not have any clue about the incident.

No official from the airport or from the security agencies was prepared to be quoted on anything about the incident.

The mobile phone reportedly contained personal and official numbers and other information crucial to Rahul. Sources further said that no tampering of any sort has been reported with the phone. Meanwhile, the private agency has removed the person from his job. Incidentally, this is the fifth incident of its kind that has been reported from the Delhi airport in the last three months, sources said.

Dinkar Shetty, President, Air Passenger Association of India, has said that such incidents have become very common. "One of the reasons behind this is that most of these people at the airport are working on contract basis. Also agencies are careless while recruiting people," said Shetty.

Shetty suggested that airport operators should increase surveillance. "A major part of every airport in the country remains under inadequate observation. The operators should increase the surveillance to thwart such cases," he said.

Read more at: http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/man-who-stole-rahul-gandhi-s-phone-held-34583?cp

Source http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/man-who-stole-rahul-gandhi-s-phone-held-34583

Read more at: http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/man-who-stole-rahul-gandhi-s-phone-held-34583?cp

17 yrs in jail for an Indian beater in Australia

An Indian man has been jailed for 17 years in Melbourne for brutally bashing his wife to death.

Melbourne, Jun 29: Sukhmander Singh,an Indian national was sentenced to 17 years imprisonment by the Victorian Supreme Court for the murder of his wife Mohinder Kaur.

Mohinder was beaten to death with a wooden stake by Singh on Valley Lake Boulevard at Niddrie on May 7, 2009. Mohinder used to abuse his wife almost every day and beating would happen almost once a week.

The couple had four children and their daughter Sarabjit Kaur, 21, was studying in Melbourne.

Justice Terry Forrest said that Singh's conduct towards his family improved significantly after he arrived in Melbourne in early Mar 2010. However, his behaviour deteriorated and he attacked his wife in last May 2010 while taking a stroll on Valley Lake Boulevard in Niddrie suburb in Melbourne's northwest.

Judge Terry Forrest said that there is no soft corner for Sukhmander Singh, who killed his wife Mohinder Kaur and abused her for years.

Source http://news.oneindia.in/2010/06/29/17-yrs-jail-for-a-indian-beater-in-australia.html

I am innocent: Model Viveka's boyfriend

Model Viveka Babajee's former boyfriend Gautam Vora, who moved the Mumbai Sessions Court for anticipatory bail today, has told NDTV that he is not the reason for the 37-year-old woman's death.

"I am innocent... I am not the reason for her death," Vora said. Mumbai Police have summoned Vora, a stock broker, for questioning in connection with the model's suicide. The police say Vora had been dating the 37-year-old model for a few months.

Viveka hanged herself from a ceiling fan in her flat in the posh Mumbai suburb of Bandra on Friday. A mobile phone, a laptop, a diary and a few letters addressed to Gautam Vora were among the things recovered from her residence. The last entry in a diary recovered by the police reads, "I Kill".

Police sources say the former Miss Mauritius fought with Vora on June 24, just a day before her death. The last two calls from her mobile phone were to a woman friend and to her family in Mauritius and she reportedly told them that she was "going far, far away."

The police are examining Viveka's diary to see if they can find anything to reveal whether she committed suicide of her own accord or was pushed to the edge. Police sources say she had tried to commit suicide at least once before.

But Vora, scion of one of the city's oldest stockbroking families, has denied being romantically involved with her.

In his application to the court, Vora has said he that had met Viveka at a function and that they kept in touch on the social networking website Facebook and had become good friends. He insists that they were only friends and that the model was already depressed when he met her. "I never expected her to commit suicide," he has said.

On what had happened last Thursday, when the police say Viveka and Vora fought, his statement to the court reads, "Met her on 24th June. We had a few drinks and she was smoking a lot...She was suffering from a bad patch in her life due to financial losses and troubled relationships and the death of her father...I asked her not to smoke and drink so much and left around 9 pm."

Viveka killed herself the next day.

The case is a throwback to the suicide of another to model Nafisa Joseph in 2004, the result of love gone awry.

Sources say at this point, the police are unlikely to charge Gautam Vora with abetment to suicide only on the basis of Babajee's diary entries. That's because they say the couple had been dating only for a few months. Also, Viveka had attempted suicide before. Much will now depend on what her family and Vora himself tell the police.

But away from the media glare, the model's friends and family paid her a quiet homage. Her Facebook account has been flooded with messages from friends who described her as caring and insightful. (With PTI inputs)

Read more at: http://www.ndtv.com/article/cities/i-am-innocent-model-viveka-s-boyfriend-34409?cp

Source http://www.ndtv.com/article/cities/i-am-innocent-model-viveka-s-boyfriend-34409

Read more at: http://www.ndtv.com/article/cities/i-am-innocent-model-viveka-s-boyfriend-34409?cp

Separatist leaders detained in Kashmir

A CRPF jawan patrols a street during a strike called by separatists groups in protest against the killing of two civilians allegedly in CRPF fire, in Srinagar.

Many separatist leaders, including Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, were detained Monday in summer capital Srinagar to thwart the proposed separatist march to Jammu and Kashmir's Sopore town where a youth was killed in firing on Sunday.

Farooq was placed under house arrest in his uptown Nigeen residence where pro-independence Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front chairman Yaseen Malik was also detained, an official source said.

Senior Shia leader Aga Syed Hassan was also detained in his house in Central Badgam district.

No restrictions were imposed in Srinagar though heavy deployment of police and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) were made.

Markets, business establishments, schools and colleges remained shut here, though no separatist group called for a shutdown Monday in the wake of heightened tension in Sopore town Sunday evening in which another youth was killed in CRPF firing.

The authorities had declared that schools and colleges in the valley will remain shut for two days - Monday and Tuesday.

Source http://www.hindustantimes.com/jandk/Separatist-leaders-detained-in-Kashmir/564213/H1-Article1-564209.aspx

Kolkata: Lawyers ransack Chief Justice's court room

Sharmishtha Chatterjee outside the court.

Lawyers of the Calcutta High Court ransacked the Chief Justice's court room today demanding an apology from him over the allotment of a room to Assistant Court Officer. The lawyers have gone on strike after they were forcefully evicted from the disputed room by the police.

The trouble has been brewing in Kolkata since Thursday evening over a decision by the Chief Justice that the courtroom be turned to an office for lawyers and court employees. The Bar members, on the other hand, believed they needed more rooms.

"A group of around 60-70 lawyers staged a demonstration inside the court room against the allotment of a court room to the ACO. The agitating lawyers did not vacate the room till late in the night," Joint Commissioner of Police (Headquarters) Jawed Shamim said.

Rana Mukherjee, secretary of the Bar Association had questioned that despite a shortage of court rooms, why was the room allotted to the ACO. (With PTI inputs)

Source http://www.ndtv.com/article/cities/kolkata-lawyers-ransack-chief-justice-s-court-room-33837

Read more at: http://www.ndtv.com/article/cities/kolkata-lawyers-ransack-chief-justice-s-court-room-33837?cp

OUAT 2010 Entrance Examination Results Out

Orissa University Of Agriculture And Technology (OUAT) has declared the results for 2010 entrance examination for the undergraduate courses.

The results have been published on the official website of OUAT. Students can login to www.ouat.ac.in to view their merit list.

The detailed information regarding Admission Counselling is also available on the above mentioned website.

The Orissa University of Agriculture &Technology established in 1962 with only two Colleges of Agriculture and Veterinary Science, has made impressive record of service in the cause of quality education. In the pace of decades the University has grown with seven colleges and one Centre for Post-Graduate studies with different departments.

Source http://www.india-server.com/news/ouat-2010-entrance-examination-results-28938.html

Three arrested in Delhi honour killing case

The three suspects in the Delhi honour killing case in which a couple and a woman were murdered on Sunday in the Ashok Vihar area of the national capital were arrested by a team of Uttar Pradesh Police in Ghaziabad on Thursday.

The three accused - Ankit Chaudary, Mandeep Nagar and Nakul Khari - were on the run since the triple murders were committed on Sunday. The trio will be handed over to the Delhi Police for investigation.

"The arrested persons are Ankit Chaudary, Mandeep Nagar and Nakul Khari. They were arrested from Ghaziabad this afternoon. We have confiscated a car from them. They are being interrogated right now and have confessed to their crime," said Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Uttar Pradesh, Brij Lal.

They have been arrested for the murder of their sisters Monica and Shobha and brother-in-law Kuldeep. The three were killed for allegedly for bringing dishonour to their families by marrying outside their community. According to the police, Shobha was murdered first followed by Kuldeep and then Monica.

Police are trying to recover the pistol used to commit the gruesome crime.

Police have also taken Mandeep's uncle and a cousin into preventive custody. The two had on Wednesday justified the killings in their family.

However, one of the accused Ankit claimed that they were innocent.

"We have not done anything? We are being framed. Don't know why?" said Ankit.

Monica, a Gurjar, had married Kuldeep, who was a Rajput, and their families did not approve of the alliance. Both of them belonged to Wazipur village of Delhi. Shobha on the other hand was in involved in a relationship with a boy belong to another caste and had reportedly helped her sister elope with a man belonging to another caste.

Delhi Police had on Wednesday released the pictures of the accused and announced cash rewards of Rs 50,000 each for clues to the whereabouts of the three accused.

Source http://ibnlive.in.com/news/three-arrested-in-delhi-honour-killing-case/125210-3.html

Chief Minister’s call to Tamil scholars

Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi on Thursday gave a call for translating all the literary treasures of Tamil into other Indian and world languages.

Inaugurating the Tamil Internet Conference (TIC) and the seminar of the World Classical Tamil Conference here, Mr Karunanidhi said the writings on Tamilology and the Tamil race in Greek, French, German and other languages should be translated into Tamil. Books and documents on Tamilology available in any part of the world should be converted into electronic format and arrangements should be made to provide universal access to these treasures.

Emphasising that Tamil should be used in every field, the Chief Minister said dictionaries of different kinds and encyclopaedias of different fields should be produced.

He appealed to scholars and other participants of the seminar and TIC to advise the State government on the future course of action to be taken in this regard.

Giving an exhaustive account of the findings of different historians, scholars and literary personalities on the antiquity of the Dravidian race, the Chief Minister said if the 4th Century BC were to be taken as the starting point of the Sangam age, the Dravidian civilisation could be known from the Sangam literary works. He quoted V.R. Ramachandra Dikshithar who had, in his book, mentioned that the civilisation of Tamils had spread in the Mediterranean region, Kumari continent, Indus Valley, Egypt and Sumeria.

'A repository of noble ideas'

Finance Minister K. Anbazhagan said the Tamil language was a repository of noble ideals. It had various forms of literature including devotional literature.

Presiding over the inauguration of the seminar, K. Sivathamby, Chairperson of the Academic Committee of the World Classical Tamil Conference, said that as done in universities of the United States, universities in Tamil Nadu too should publish information on various research works in Tamil. The State government should ensure that such information is available in the public domain.

Pointing out that Tamil, a civilisational language, contained philosophical thoughts of different religions, Prof. Sivathamby said research should be taken up on fundamentals and various elements of the Tamil society.

Largest collection outside Tamil Nadu

Gregory James, Director of the Language Centre, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, emphasised the need for promoting high-quality linguistic scholarship, nationally and internationally.

Ulrike Niklas, Tamil Professor at the University of Cologne, said the Tamil Department’s library in the University had a collection of over 50,000 titles and this was the largest outside Tamil Nadu.

V.C. Kulandaisamy, vice-president of the International Association of Tamil Research said that a debate had arisen in certain quarters of the U.S. and Europe over the antiquity of Tamil. Some scholars were of the view that all Indian languages got the status of a ‘literary language’ only because of their association with Sanskrit. More research should be carried out to re-establish that Tamil was a distinct language with a long history.

Source http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/tamil-nadu/article483908.ece?homepage=true

Karunanidhi's 380-crore dream Tamil conference

As the first world Tamil conference, after the language was granted a classical status, commences in Coimbatore on Wednesday, the venue has turned into a spectacle.

A whopping three hundred and eighty crore rupees have been pumped in and the event brings together around four thousand Tamil scholars and over a lakh visitors from the Tamil diaspora around the world.

"As a Tamil I'm very proud," said one of them. "It's nice, fantastic, and very good for the people of Coimbatore," added another one.

It is Chief Minister Karunanidhi's dream project and to make sure the historic event draws enough audiences, schools and colleges in Tamil Nadu have been shut. There is a special casual leave for government employees and the entire state machinery is camping in the textile city.

Prisoners in the state might get lucky as five hundred of them are likely to be released. But lawyers are keeping their fingers crossed they are demanding the right to argue in Tamil in the Madras High Court.

Expressing his doubts, political commentator Cho Ramaswamy said," Are they going to contribute to the growth of Tamil? Are they going to speak sense? They want a big crowd. CM wants a big crowd, that's all."

While Coimbatore will be in the grip of the world Tamil conference fever over the next few days, political commentators will watch every word of Karunanidhi whether he speaks about his retirement plans as announced last year.

Read more at: http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/karunanidhi-s-380-crore-dream-tamil-conference-33329?cp

Source http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/karunanidhi-s-380-crore-dream-tamil-conference-33329

Read more at: http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/karunanidhi-s-380-crore-dream-tamil-conference-33329?cp

Rs 1,500cr to bury ghost of Bhopal

The ministerial panel on Bhopal recommended a fresh Rs 1,500-crore package on Monday to help the gas victims and their families. It also proposed making a fresh bid to seek then Union Carbide chief Warren Anderson’s extradition from the United States to stand trial in India.

The Group of Ministers (GoM) headed by Home Minister P Chidambaram decided as well to file curative petitions in the Supreme Court against its 1996 judgment diluting the criminal charges against Union Carbide officials and the 1989 SC verdict that cleared the company of all its civil liabilities in lieu of its $470 million (Rs 3,000 crore) compensation package.

This is the first time in over 25 years that the government has implicitly acknowledged the $470 million settlement was unfair to the victims and committed itself to fund a rehabilitation package of Rs 1,500 crore of taxpayers’ money.

The GoM has made “significant recommendations,” Chidambaram said before sending the report to Prime Minister Manmohan said, to be put up for cabinet approval on Friday.

Next of kin of the dead would be entitled Rs 10 lakh, the permanently disabled to Rs 5 lakh, the temporarily disabled to Rs 1 lakh and those afflicted by cancer and other serious ailments to Rs 2 lakh.

Source http://www.hindustantimes.com/india/Rs-1-500cr-to-bury-ghost-of-Bhopal/561373/H1-Article1-560933.aspx

Couple found dead in Delhi; honour killing suspected

Where's the honour? A TV grab of Kuldeep and Monica who were shot
dead in east Delhi on Sunday night

A man and woman who married four years ago against the wishes of the woman's parents were found murdered in the Indian capital amid speculation that it might be an 'honour killing'.

While 26-year-old Kuldeep was found shot dead in his car Sunday evening, his wife Monica, 23, died after being attacked by a sharp object at their home in north Delhi's Ashok Vihar area.

Kuldeep and Monica married in 2006. Monica's parents were bitterly against the alliance as they belonged to different castes.

The police said Kuldeep's family was blaming Monica's family, specifically her brothers, for the double murder.

'We suspect the case to be of honour killing but we cannot confirm it now. We suspect that a close member of the family would have murdered Monica, as the murderer made a friendly entry to the house and the neighbours never overheard any noise from her house,' Deputy Commissioner N.S. Bundela said.

'A few suspects have been identified but we cannot reveal their name as we have not started our investigation properly,' he said, adding that a clear picture will emerge only after getting the post-mortem report.

Source http://sify.com/news/couple-found-dead-in-delhi-honour-killing-suspected-news-national-kgvp4ggjjgi.html

Indian ministers to submit Bhopal tragedy report

P Chidambaram told reporters that the GoM would submit a report on the Bhopal tragedy to Prime Minister on Monday.

Indian ministers probing the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy amid renewed outrage over the world's worst industrial disaster were due Monday to submit a new report to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

The panel of ministers met last week after a court gave prison sentences of just two years to eight Indian executives found guilty of negligence.

The disaster unfolded when a pesticide plant in Bhopal city owned by US company Union Carbide spewed around 40 tonnes of toxic gas into surrounding residential areas.

According to the government, 3,500 lives were lost in the immediate aftermath. Activists and rights group say 25,000 people died in the years that followed.

The ministers' panel convened after the court sentencing on June 7 caused widespread public fury -- much of it focused on American former CEO Warren Anderson who fled India soon after the disaster.

Topics likely to be included in the report include compensation levels for Bhopal victims and continued pollution caused by delays in cleaning up the factory in the central state of Madhya Pradesh.

Television reports said ministers may again seek the extradition of Anderson -- though such efforts are thought unlikely to succeed.

"We are not optimistic but hope the government does not disappoint us. Mistakes have to be rectified," Satinath Sarangi of the Bhopal Group of Information and Action told AFP.

Source http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hEW8AFK6MOaiEb3UhKfws_PttUAA

Indian Army test fires Prithvi-II missile

India successfully test-fired an indigenously developed, nuclear-capable, short range ballistic missile, the Prithvi-II, from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur, off the Orissa coast on Friday. The missile blasted off from a mobile launcher at launch complex-3 in the ITR at around 6:50am, defence sources said.

"The trial of Prithvi-II, conducted by the Army, has gone through nicely," ITR director SP Dash said.

With a maximum striking range of 350 km, Prithvi-II is capable of carrying a pay-load of 500 kg.

The test was a user trial by the Army's specialised group "strategic force command" (SFC), sources said. The surface-to-surface missile has already been inducted into Indian armed forces and is part of the inventory of all three services. The Indian Navy fields a version that goes under the designation Dhanush.

The entire trajectory of the missile was tracked by a battery of sophisticated radars and electro-optic sensors positioned in different locations with data fed to telemetry stations for post-launch analysis, sources said.

The trial was conducted in the presence of Army officials and scientists as part of an exercise to well acquaint the personnel with various aspects of the sophisticated missile, it was informed.

Source http://www.domain-b.com/defence/general/20100618_indian_army.html

CBI names 3 PCPA activists as suspects in Gyaneshwari Express derailment

Photos of Umakant Mahto, Manoj @ Bapi Mahto and Asit Mahto who are wanted in the Gyaneshwari Train Case by the CBI.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) today named three activists of the Maoist-backed People's Committee against Police Atrocities (PCPA) as key accused in the case relating to the May 28 derailment and collision involving the Howrah-Kurla Gyaneshwari Express in West Bengal.

As many as 148 people were killed and about 150 others injured in the incident, which the authorities suspect was the handiwork of Maoists or one of their front organisations.

A press release issued by the CBI here today said the agency had declared a reward of Rs one lakh each for information leading to the arrest of the three "prominent accused" - Umakant Mahto, resident of village Banksole, Manoj alias Bapi Mahto, resident of village Rasua and Asit Mahto, resident of Krishnanagar.

Posters in English, Bengal and the local Alchiki language, with the pictures of the three suspects, were released today and will be displayed at prominent places for seeking information about them.

The press release said information about the suspects could be made available round the clock on telephone numbers 09674433351, 09051444405, 09051061000 and 033-23596119 or sent to fax number 033-23348713. The information can also be sent by e-mail to hobsckol@cbi.gov.in or by mail to Special Crime Branch, CGO Complex, A-Wing, DF Block, Salt Lake, Kolkata-64.

The release said the Director of CBI had also constituted a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) to look into the professional investigation of the incident, which had also resulted in the loss of property worth crores of rupees.

The investigation involves close coordination and cooperation between several organizations, agencies and individuals, it said.
The JIT comprises three officers of CBI, three officers of State Police, two officers of Railway Protection Force, one officer of Railway Board and two forensic experts for carrying out the investigation in a time-bound manner. Mr Keshav Kumar, IGP & Joint Director, CBI, is the head of the JIT.

As many as 13 coaches of the superfast train had derailed around 1.30 am on May 28 near Kharagpur and three of them were rammed within minutes by a speeding goods train coming from the opposite direction.

Authorities said the derailment was an act of sabotage by Maoists, whose outfits had declared a "Black Week" in the region. Officials said the driver of the passenger train had reported hearing a loud noise before the Howrah-Kurla superfast train passed the spot.

Television pictures showed about 18 inches of the track missing at the spot where the derailment took place, apparently cut.

The incident occurred between the Khemasoli and Sardiya stations on the Kharagpur-Tatanagar section, about 135 km from Kolkata.

Source http://netindian.in/news/2010/06/17/0006881/cbi-names-3-pcpa-activists-suspects-gyaneshwari-express-derailment

100 trucks with supplies to reach Manipur Saturday

A convoy of about 100 trucks carrying essentials will roll into Manipur Saturday, where a road blockade has cut off food and medical supplies for more than two months, officials Thursday said.

'We expect the first convoy with food, medicines and fuel to arrive in Manipur by Saturday evening if everything goes according to plans,' Manipur government spokesman and senior minister N. Biren Singh told IANS.

The trucks would be escorted by the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and Border Security Force (BSF)along the two national highways 39 and 53 linking Manipur with the rest of India.

'Some 20 companies of paramilitary forces would be deployed for escorting the convoys into Manipur,' the minister said.

The modalities for opening the supply routes was taken at a meeting between Home Secretary G.K. Pillai and top civil officials of Manipur and adjoining Nagaland in New Delhi Wednesday.

'We are hopeful of the siege coming to an end by Saturday unless something untoward happens,' the minister said.

The apex tribal body that enforced the indefinite economic blockade, the Naga Students Federation (NSF), Tuesday lifted the blockade, although some splinter groups are still continuing with their agitation.

Several Naga groups had blocked highways into the state, which borders Myanmar, to protest against a Manipur government ban on separatist leader Thuingaleng Muivah from visiting his birthplace in Manipur.

The blockade began April 11 and has led to severe shortages of food and medical supplies, leading to soaring prices.

With food stocks and hospital supplies running low, residents, medical staff and businesses were waiting impatiently for the vital supply routes to reopen and for trade to resume.

'We are waiting anxiously for food to come in soon as prices of all essentials have shot up at least 10-15 times,' said housewife Anuradha Devi in the Manipur capital Imphal.

The state government banned Muivah's trip to his home village, saying it could stoke unrest. On May 6, up to six tribal protesters are said to have been killed and 70 injured during demonstrations over the ban.

Source http://sify.com/finance/100-trucks-with-supplies-to-reach-manipur-saturday-news-default-kgroObhfdjh.html

Mallya set to enter Rajya Sabha again

Vijay Mallya, Chairman UB group paying the money during filiing of the nomination for the Rajya Sabha seat as an independent candidate supported by JD- S leaders H. D. Kumaraswamy ,H. D. Revanna and Bandeppa Kashempur in Bangaloer on 6th JUNE, 2010.

Liquor baron and former MP Vijay Mallya is all set to be elected to the Rajya Sabha as an independent once again thanks to the support he has received from the Janata Dal (Secular), and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as well, which has a big chunk of surplus votes.

In all likelihood, Mr. Mallya is expected to poll more votes than the official candidates of the BJP and the Congress, as in 2002 when he polled 51 votes while the requirement for a victory was 45 of the first preference votes. The others who are set to be elected are senior BJP leader M. Venkaiah Naidu , former MP Ayanur Manjunath and senior Congress leader Oscar Fernandes. .

PTI adds

BJP has convened its legislature party meet tomorrow to discuss its strategy for the Rajya Sabha polls.

The party has fielded its senior leader M. Venkaiah Naidu, for the third successive term and State unit spokesman Ayanur Manjunath, who had sacrificed his claim for Shimoga Lok Sabha seat last year in favour of Chief Minister B. S. Yeddyurappa’s son B. Y. Raghavendra.

The sources said the BJP would issue a whip to its MLAs.

Congress which is staking claim for the second seat has fielded senior leader T. V. Maruthi, besides former union minister Oscar Fernandes.

KPCC President R. V. Deshpande told reporters that the party’s strategy for Rajya Sabha election would be firmed up at its legislature party meeting tomorrow.

Y. S. V. Datta, JD-S spokesman said, “We will not issue whip. But our MLAs will go in a group and cast their votes.”

Against the backdrop of Mr. Mallya getting BJP support, Congress has to be content with the victory of Oscar Fernandes and does not appear to be in a position to drum up support for Maruthi. The ruling BJP, however, is in a position to ensure facile victory of Naidu and Manjunath.

In the 224-member Assembly, BJP has 116 members, Congress 74, JD-S 27 and Independents six. One seat is vacant.

Source http://beta.thehindu.com/news/states/karnataka/article458036.ece

EAMCET 2010 Results Announced & Available on: www.yrox.in

Andhra Pradesh EAMCET Results announced today, JNTU said. Student may eagerly waiting for results. Engineering Agriculture and Medicine Common Entrance Test is conducted by JNT University Hyderabad on behalf of APSCHE. This examination is the gateway for entry into various professional courses offered in Government/Private Colleges in Andhra Pradesh. This site provides important information and links.

Get Results Here: http://yrox.in/apps/eamcet-2010/

Source http://live.iencyclopedia.org/2010/06/eamcet-2010-results-announced-available_16.html

Nine months after dismissal, Jaswant Singh to be back in BJP

Veteran BJP leader Jaswant Singh has reportedly been asked to re-join the party, nine months after he was dismissed for writing a book on Mohammed Ali Jinnah.

Reports indicate that the top brass of the party have decided to declare his dismissal in August 2009 void. Singh was unceremoniously expelled after the party’s chintan baithak in Shimla which was held after the BJP’s debacle in Lok Sabha elections in May.

Last week, the BJP president Nitin Gadkari met Singh at his residence in Delhi. However, sources close to him had said there was still some ground to be covered before Singh was taken back.

BJP president will officially announce the decision of the party shortly in the parliamentary committee of the party.

This decision comes at a time when the Rajasthan unit of the party is in turmoil with many of its MLAs expressing displeasure over the party’s choice of candidates for Rajya Sabha polls. The party has reportedly kept all its MLAs ini a resort in Jaipur to avoid rebellion. The same has been denied by it though.

Singh had earned the ire of top BJP leadership by writing the book on Jinnah in which he praised the Pakistan founder as a patriot.

He also criticised the party for taking action againsr him without reading his book. He also panned the election strategy of BJP and had said a lot was wrong with the party.

A few weeks earlier, though, he had said that BJP was in his blood.

Source http://www.zeenews.com/news634218.html

Manmohan asks Bhopal GoM to report to cabinet in 10 days

Concerned over the uproar on the Bhopal gas leak judgment, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday directed the Group of Ministers (GoM), headed by Home Minister P Chidambaram, to report to the cabinet within 10 days on all aspects relating to the tragedy.

Manmohan Singh directed that the GoM "may meet immediately to take stock of the situation arising out of the recent court judgement, to assess the options and remedies available to the government on the various issues involved and to report to the cabinet within 10 days", a statement from the prime minister's office (PMO) said in New Delhi.

The GoM, set up to look into all issues relating to the Bhopal disaster, was reconstituted recently with Chidambaram as the head of the panel.

The empowered GoM also comprises Health and Family Welfare Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, Law Minister M Veerappa Moily, Minister for Urban Planning S Jaipal Reddy, Minister for Road Transport and Highways Kamal Nath, Tourism Minister Selja, Minister for Fertilisers and Chemicals Minister M K Alagiri, Minister of State in the PMO Prithviraj Chavan and Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh.

Madhya Pradesh's minister in-charge of rehabilitation will be a permanent invitee to the panel.

This came in the light of accusations from the Opposition which has been attacking the Congress for having allowed Warren Anderson, the CEO of Union Carbide Corp in 1984, escape from the country within days of Bhopal gas tragedy and for having done little to secure justice for the families of more than 15,000 people who died in the gas leak and lakhs who were injured or maimed for life.

Anderson visited Bhopal on December 7, four days after the lethal methyl isocyanate gas leaked from the Union Carbide pesticide plant. He was received at the airport by Bhopal’s district collector and superintendent of police and driven to the company’s guest-house where he was arrested but let off within a few hours. He was then flown on a state government plane to New Delhi, from where he flew to the US after two days.

The Congress party on Friday strongly rejected a former prime ministerial aide PC Alexander's indication that the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had helped Warren Anderson escape from the country.

Alexander reportedly stated that Gandhi and then Madhya Pradesh chief minister Arjun Singh were directly in touch with each other over the escape of Anderson from the country barely days after the world's biggest industrial disaster in Bhopal Dec 2-3, 1984.

A District Magistrate's Court in Bhopal had on June 7 convicted all eight accused in the Bhopal gas case on grounds of negligence under Section 304 (a) for the tragedy. But they were granted bail soon after.

Anderson, the chairman of Union Carbide Worldwide, has been designated an absconder.

On Sunday Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi attacked Congress President Sonia Gandhi over her "silence" on the Bhopal gas tragedy.

Source http://www.hindustantimes.com/newdelhi/Manmohan-asks-Bhopal-GoM-to-report-to-cabinet-in-10-days/557848/H1-Article1-557464.aspx

Two teens drown off Mumbai's Juhu Beach

Two teenagers drowned off Mumbai's Juhu beach during high tide.

The victims, aged 16 and 17 years, had come to the beach with a relative and were swept into the sea.

"There is no security here; you can't spot a single policeman in the area. They just came, but were not here in the morning. I don't think the children were given any warning because they would have not gone so deep into the sea if they had been warned," said Colin d'Cruz, a relative of one of the victims.

The bodies of the two are yet to be recovered.

Meanwhile, vigilance along the beach has been beefed up after the incident.

"We need more lifeguards here and we also need a lot of equipment which we do not get," said Krishna Waghela, a lifeguard.The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has not paid heed to my demands. I have been demanding for a year that there should be 100 lifeguards along the coastline, who will be deployed in two shifts of eight hours each so that everyone is taken care of," said Congress MLA Ashok Jadhav.

"We want to provide people with the assistance such as tubes, bags and other things, which are useful for young children. There are just 3-4 lifeguards right now. Six or seven more are working for NGOs. But this is not sufficient and the BMC is answerable for all this," he added. (ANI)

Source http://sify.com/news/two-teens-drown-off-mumbai-s-juhu-beach-news-national-kgomubiajha.html

PM asks Group of Ministers on Bhopal to meet immediately

The nine-member Group of Ministers (GoM) appointed to look into the impact of the controversial Bhopal gas tragedy verdict, as well as other aspects of the industrial disaster, has been asked to meet immediately by the Prime Minister, reports PTI.

The GoM, headed by Home Minister P Chidambaram has reportedly been asked to submit a report within 10 days.

In December 1984, a gas leak from the Union Carbide Plant in Bhopal poisoned the entire city. Bhopal lives with the impact with long-term health problems for thousands of residents.

Last Monday, India was outraged after a court in Bhopal announced its verdict and sentence in the world's worst industrial disaster. "Two years for 20,000 lives" was how the sentence was summarized by the media and activists who have spent 25 years fighting for justice. Seven Indian executives of Union Carbide were sentenced to two years in jail, they were granted bail immediately.

The real sting of the verdict lay in the refocusing of attention that Warren Anderson, the American who headed Union Carbide Corporation at the time of the tragedy, was allowed to leave India, and has never returned to face trial. Anderson flew into Bhopal on December 7, 1984, was charged with culpable homicide not amounting to murder, and was flown out in hours on the official plane of the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister, Arjun Singh.

Anderson's getaway - and the perceived lack of a serious attempt to have him extradited from America - have embarrassed the Congress, which was in power at the centre and in Madhya Pradesh in 1984. Senior ministers like Pranab Mukherjee have gone on record recently to suggest that India will make fresh efforts to push for Anderson to be sent here.

The GoM is meant to inspect, among others, the Anderson issue, as well as who should be made to pay for the gigantic clean-up required at the now-defunct Carbide plant, where thousands of tons of toxic waste continue to endanger Bhopal's safety. In 1999, Union Carbide was bought by Dow, which has resolutely held that it cannot be held liable for any outstanding dues for Bhopal. Activists have challenged that view in court, and the matter has still not been decided.

Source http://www.ndtv.com/news/india/pm-asks-group-of-ministers-on-bhopal-to-meet-immediately-31596.php?u=1248

35 feared drowned as boat capsizes in north India

At least 35 people are feared drowned after a boat capsized on the Ganges river in northern India early Monday, police said.

The crowded vessel was carrying 60-70 people traveling to a temple for a religious function, according to local police official Shivendra Yadav.

Passengers on the boat, which was meant to carry about 30 passengers, were mostly women and children from Ujveria village in Uttar Pradesh state, who were going to visit a temple across the river, Yadav said.

"As the boat entered the midstream it failed to take the weight of the people and collapsed," Yadav said.

About 25 people managed to swim to safety. Yadav said rescuers had recovered 12 bodies so far and were still working in the area.

The incident took place in Ballia, 250 miles (400 kilometers) southeast of Lucknow, the state capital of Uttar Pradesh.

Boat tragedies are common in the impoverished state. Vessels used to ferry passengers are generally rickety and overcrowded and people seldom use life jackets.

Source http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g6lY314X19P1nhAjUmUNcQF0bFAwD9GARV2G0

Bhopal disaster: The ignored warnings

Twenty six years after the world's worst industrial disaster, questions are being raised about the negligence that led to the catastrophe - how rules were changed and safety was completely ignored by the Union Carbide management.

For three years, Bhopal journalist Rajkumar Keswani kept warning the administration that the Union Carbide plant was unsafe. His article, 'Bhopal sitting on a volcano', published just months before the tragedy, and warning letters to the then Chief Minister Arjun Singh were ignored.

In fact Arjun Singh assured the Assembly that he personally inspected the Carbide plant and nothing was wrong.

But clearly that was not the case.

Some facts below show how repeated warnings about safety were ignored ahead of the disaster and how the tragedy could have been averted:

In 1979, zonal regulations in Bhopal were changed so that Carbide could set up a plant, manufacturing deadly pesticides in the heart of the city's most densely populated areas.

In December, 1981, a gas leak at the Union Carbide plant killed one worker.

In January 1982, another gas leak led to 25 workers being hospitalized. Workers protested that there was design defect in the plant that made it unsafe but the protests were ignored.

Two years later, Union Carbide sent its US experts to do an audit. The team noticed leaking tanks, 11 of which were in the MIC unit where the leak occurred.

In September 1982, UCIL de-linked the alarm from the siren warning system so that only their employees would be warned and not neighbouring residents.

A year later, another leak from the plant in which 100 residents had to be hospitalized.

March 4, 1983, Bhopal lawyer Shahnawaz Khan served a legal notice on UCIL

April 29, 1983, in a written reply, UCIL's Works Manager denied the allegations as baseless.

Between 1983 & 1984, the safety manuals were re-written to permit among other things switching off the units that cooled the MIC gas and prevent chemical reactions.

December 3, 1984, gas leaks with no warning given to the residents of the leak or what precautions to take.

Clearly Union Carbide knew of these dangers, their own employees had been protesting. But what was worse was the fact that the government ignored such serious warnings.

Keswani and thousands of others in Bhopal have the same view. "I have published a report in the state as to how many of the relatives of the politicians and bureaucrats were employed by the Carbide and apart from that, the Union Carbide had a beautiful guesthouse which was being used by several people like Mr. Arjun Singh, Mr Madhav Rao Scindia. At one instance the Congress party held a convention in Bhopal and used it as a place of stay for several Ministers. That only shows what kind of clout they had," he said.

"Those were the times when a multinational company coming to India was greeted with open arms, they were given all kinds of concessions and treated like demi-gods. There was absolutely no question of anybody going against a powerful corporation like Union Carbide. Union carbide was one of the biggest chemical companies in the world," he added.

Source http://www.ndtv.com/news/india/bhopal-disaster-the-ignored-warnings-31054.php

Read more at: http://www.ndtv.com/news/india/bhopal-disaster-the-ignored-warnings-31054.php?cp

Teenage sailor Abby Sunderland found alive and well

Teenage sailor Abby Sunderland, who was feared to have been lost in high seas in the middle of the treacherous Indian Ocean, has been contacted and is alive and well.

Abby Sunderland, 16, looks out from her sailboat, Wild Eyes

A massive international search and rescue operation was launched yesterday when the 16-year-old set off two emergency beacons thousands of miles from land after losing satellite phone communication with her support team in America.

The French territory of Reunion Island, off Madagascar, sent three ships to her aid and Australia deployed a Qantas passenger jet from Perth to search for her from the sky.

After a four-hour flight to Abby’s last known location more than 2,000 miles from both Africa and Australia, the plane crew spotted her boat in an upright position and made contact with her via radio.

The teenager was inside the boat and uninjured with a heater and at least two weeks worth of food. However, the mast had broken off the boat, disabling the craft and effectively ending her record attempt.

A fishing boat is heading to pick her up and is expected to reach her in about 40 hours.

Her father Laurence Sunderland told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation: “She’s fine, the boat’s afloat and she’s on it. It’s huge, fantastic, exciting news.

“She wasn’t rattled by the abating conditions that she had during her daytime,” he said.“Everything seemed to be fine but the calls were dropping in and out.”

Abby’s support crew had feared that she had become separated from her boat, or that the boat had been flipped upside down in the water, with Abby trapped inside, possibly injured.

The young sailor hit trouble when her 40ft sloop Wild Eyes encountered bad weather in the frigid southern Indian Ocean. She had been battling 25ft waves with 35-knot winds when she lost contact with her family and support crew and her boat had suffered two knockdowns. She was speaking on a satellite phone and said she would call straight back but did not. At the time, the closest ship was 400 miles away.

While news that she is safe will come as a huge relief to friends and family, sailing experts have warned that she should not have been in the dangerous southern seas at all.

Ian Kiernan, an Australian sailor who has circumnavigated the globe, said her voyage had not been planned properly and that she had been "foolhardy” to enter the Indian Ocean during winter when weather conditions could deteriorate swiftly.

Marty Still, an Australian who built the boat used by teenage sailor Jessica Watson to sail round the world earlier this year, said that Abby’s team had chosen the wrong type of craft for the perilous crossing. He said that her boat had been built for speed, not safety, and would be difficult for one person to sail alone.

But the harshest criticism came from America. A columnist in the Los Angeles Times accused her parents of “child abuse” for allowing their daughter to go ahead with her voyage and described the mission as "outrageous, ridiculous, incomprehensible insanity".

TJ Simers wrote: “Why is any 16-year-old allowed to place herself in harm’s way? Why would any parent allow such a thing?

"I just don’t understand the idea of risking life. This kid’s going to be out there all by herself. Death is a possibility. Bad weather. Are you kidding me? Who’s responsible for this? She’s a kid.”

However, the Sunderlands have defended the decision to let Abby go.

“Could there be a tragedy?” Marianne Sunderland said in an interview with the ABC before she set off.

“Yeah, there could be. But there could be a tragedy on the way home tonight, you know, or driving with her friends in a car at 16. You minimise the risks.”

Debate about the wisdom of allowing young people to attempt dangerous sailing trips in order to claim world record titles continues to rage.

Last year a court intervened to prevent a 13-year-old Dutch girl from attempting to become the youngest person to sail solo around the world.

Abby set sail from Los Angeles on Jan 23 in an attempt to become the youngest person to sail around the world alone without stopping. Her brother Zac briefly held the record at age 17.

She completed the trip’s most difficult section, rounding the southern tip of South America, known for treacherous winds and waves.

But she then ran into equipment problems, losing the use of her main autopilot, and had to stop for repairs in South Africa in April.

She decided to continue with her round-the-world voyage anyway, leaving Cape Town on May 21 and reaching the halfway point of her journey on Monday.

After having to abandon her non-stop attempt she said: “I will definitely keep going and whether or not I will make any more stops after this I don’t know yet.

“I admit I was pretty upset at first, but there is no point in getting upset. What’s done is done and there is nothing I can do about it.”

Source http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/7820110/Teenage-sailor-Abby-Sunderland-found-alive-and-well.html

NIA concludes questioning of Headley, faces no restrictions: US

Indian investigators have concluded questioning of Mumbai terror attack plotter David Coleman Headley with the US Justice Department saying the team faced "no restrictions" during the seven-day probe of the Pakistani-American.

The direct access given to the four-member team of National Investigating Agency (NIA to interview 49-year-old Headley after protracted negotiations was described by India and US as "useful and successful" in the efforts by the two countries to meet the challenge of terrorism.

The team led by Loknath Bahera has headed back home after the Lashkar-e-Toiba(LeT) operative, who has confessed to his involvement in the Mumbai terror attack on November 26,2008 in which 166 persons were killed, anwsered its questions.

"Headley and his counsel agreed to the meetings (with the Indian investigators) and Headley answered the Indian investigators' questions over the course of seven days of interviews. There were no restrictions on the questions posed by Indian investigators," said a statement from the US Justice Department.

The statement also said that both India and the US have agreed not to disclose the contents of the interviews to protect the confidentiality of the investigations being conducted by the two countries.

The team arrived in the US on May 31 and their face-to-face interviews with Headley began on June 3. Headley is being being held in the federal lock-up Metropolitan Correctional Centre in Chicago.

US Ambassador Meera Shankar told PTI, "This (the questioning) took place over several days, beginning from June 3, 2010, and the team is now returning to India on the conclusion of a useful visit.

"The Government of India attaches importance to this in investigating the full dimension of this heinous act of terrorist violence. The support and cooperation extended by the US authorities is appreciated and is in keeping with the commitment of the two countries to strengthen their cooperation in meeting the challenge of terrorism," she said.

The Justice Deparatment said, "As part of the cooperation and partnership between the US and India in the fight against international terrorism, Indian law enforcement officials were provided direct access to interview David Coleman Headley."

In a separate statement issued by the US Embassy in New Delhi, the US Ambassador to India Timothy Roemer hailed the cooperation between the Indian team and their American counterparts throughout this process.

Roemer, who had said the Obama Administration is burning midnight oil to allow India access to Headley, is currently in Washington.

"The Headley interviews were historic in the nature of security cooperation. This strategic partnership is significant, substantive, and highly successful," Roemer said, adding, "this strategic partnership is significant, substantive, and highly successful."

Source http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/NIA-concludes-questioning-of-Headley-faces-no-restrictions-US/articleshow/6036358.cms

India moves to make it easier for couples to divorce

The Indian government has proposed a new law which will make it easier for couples to get divorced.

It has ordered that the country's Hindu marriage act should be altered to allow irretrievable breakdown of marriage as grounds for divorce.

Up until now, a divorce would in most cases be granted by the courts only if there were mutual consent.

Correspondents say that marriage breakdowns are becoming more common and India's divorce rate is increasing.

Minister of information Ambika Soni said that the proposed change in the law would help an estranged partner get a divorce "if any party does not come to court or wilfully avoids the court".

Last year the Supreme Court said the judiciary should strive to keep married people together, but it also ruled that couples who had completely split should not be denied a divorce.

'Raw deal'

The latest proposed amendment, passed by a cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, will include irretrievable breakdown of marriage as a legal justification for divorce for the first time.

"In today's day and age it may be a welcome step but it will only really help urban women," Kamini Jaiswal, a Supreme Court advocate, told the AFP news agency.

"Rural women will still get a raw deal as they are more oppressed by their husbands.

"Divorce is definitely more socially acceptable in urban India," she said. "I have seen a rapid rise in divorces, but in order to obtain a divorce it can take anywhere from six months to 20 years."

Official figures on the divorce rate are unavailable but experts say that roughly 11 Indian marriages in every 1,000 end in divorce. The rate in the United States is about 400 in every 1,000.

Source http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/south_asia/10284416.stm

India, Sri Lanka to step up trade pact talks

India and Sri Lanka have agreed to intensify talks on a comprehensive trade pact which will be a step forward from the current free trade agreement.

This decision was mentioned in the India-Sri Lanka joint declaration released Wednesday after the meeting of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh with visiting Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

"They agreed that it would be timely to build on this achievement through a more comprehensive framework of economic cooperation, best suited to the two countries," said the declaration.

The proposed Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) has been in the pipeline for over two years, but it has not moved forward.

"In this context, they directed the concerned officials of the two countries to hold intensive consultations towards developing a framework for sustainable economic partnership between the two countries and addressing outstanding issues," said the document.

Besides, a CEOs' forum will be launched "to involve the public and private sectors in a dialogue to generate ideas to deepen and broaden the bilateral economic relationship in all its aspects and to help chart the future course of business and trade interaction between the two countries".

There was also emphasis on closer economic integration between the two South Asian countries to improve the lives of their peoples.

"In this context, they agreed to cooperate closely to nurture a favourable environment to forge closer economic and trade linkages," added the declaration.

India had signed its first ever Free Trade Agreement with Sri Lanka in 1998 that came into force March 1, 2000.

"Recognising the considerable benefits from greater economic cooperation between the two countries, the two Leaders noted the progress achieved under the India-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement," it said.

Since the signing of FTA, trade has moved rapidly, calculated at $2.02 billion in 2009. India is also the fourth largest investor in Sri Lanka.

Source http://smetimes.tradeindia.com/smetimes/news/indian-economy-news/2010/Jun/10/india-sri-lanka-to-step-up-trade-pact-talks16864.html

Maoist menace: Army may be brought in

The army may be brought in to deal with the Naxal menace in the dense forests of Dantewada in Chhattisgarh, media reports said.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would be chairing a Cabinet Committee on Security on Thursday, which would decide on an updated anti-Naxal policy. The meeting would discuss whether the Army should be brought in or not.

The committee at the meeting would consider a series of measures to curb the Naxal memace. The union home ministry is demanding that Dantewada be declared a disturbed area and Armed Forces Special Powers Act be imposed in the area. This will facilitate the army's moving in.

According to reports, the ministry wants more than 30 Chetak and MI 17 helicopters, deployed in the area to take on the rebels.

Despite the army earlier expressing reservations in getting involved in the Maoist issue, it has agreed to help with advisory roles.

"Once the government finally takes decision that decision applies to all arms of government, and armed forces also," defence minister A K Antony said.

Source http://sify.com/news/maoist-menace-army-may-be-brought-in-news-national-kgkmmgjbdbc.html

Questions over Warren Anderson's getaway

Perhaps the biggest fallout of this week's verdict in the Bhopal gas tragedy has been the refocusing of attention on Warren Anderson, and the fact that he has not been tried for his role as the senior-most executive of the company that caused the world's biggest industrial disaster.

Anderson, who was Chief Executive Officer of Union Carbide Corp in 1984, flew into India after the gas leak from a Carbide plant choked Bhopal on the 2-3 of December. He was charged with culpable homicide not amounting to murder. Yet, just four days after the tragedy, Anderson flew out of Bhopal on the official plane of Arjun Singh, who was at the time the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh.

The Chief Secretary at that time called me to the room and told me to arrange for the departure of Warren Anderson," said the then collector of Bhopal, Moti Singh.

"Mr Anderson, Keshav Mahindra and BR Gokhle came by service flight from Mumbai to Bhopal and they were taken into our custody at the airport. We put them inside Union Carbide guest house, Shamara Hills, after arrest and at around 2 pm, the Chief Secretary called police chief and me and told us to release Anderson and send him to Delhi by plane. Accordingly we went to that place, did the formalities, and he was released on bail and sent to Delhi by plane, Moti Singh added.

From Bhopal, Anderson flew to Delhi where he met with President Giani Zail Singh for a cup of tea.

In the years since then, the government now offers, it has tried to get America to extradite Anderson, who lives in New York state.

On Tuesday, BR Lall, who headed the CBI's investigation into the Bhopal tragedy April 1994 to July 1995, told NDTV that he had received a letter from the Ministry of External Affairs, asking him to drop proceedings connected to the extradition request for Anderson.

Not true, says K Vijaya Rama Rao, who was the Director of the CBI at that time. "At no stage... neither the MEA nor the CBI... gave up efforts to extradite Anderson. MEA is sharing with us their difficulties which are very simple that is the unwillingness of US to extradite him to India."

Reacting to the issue, the External Affairs Ministry today said that it has time and again requested for Anderson extradition, which has been turned down by the US for want of more "evidential links".

Sources in the government say a US court flatly rejected the extradition of Anderson in 2003.

Commenting on the issue of Anderson's extradition, Congress party today said that Warren Anderson should be extradited. "Anderson's extradition process should be completed," said Congress spokesperson Jayanthi Natarajan.

Source http://www.ndtv.com/news/india/questions-over-warren-andersons-getaway-30769.php?u=1815

Read more at: http://www.ndtv.com/news/india/questions-over-warren-andersons-getaway-30769.php?u=1815&cp