Month: July 2012

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Dehradun/New Delhi, July 27 (ANI): Veteran Congress leader N.D. Tiwari still was in denial mode today even after his DNA report matched with those of Rohit Shekhar, and termed the entire episode a well-planned conspiracy to malign his image.
Tiwari’s spokesperson read out his message before mediapersons in Uttarakhand’s Dehradun city.
Tiwari, who has also served in the past as the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh, is presently in his hometown in Dehradun.
The Delhi High Court today said the DNA report confirms Tiwari as Shekhar’s biological father.
Earlier, Justice Reva Khetrapal decided to open Tiwari’s DNA report along with those of paternity suit petitioner Rohit Shekhar and his mother Ujjwala Sharma at 2.30 p.m. today, to declare the result in open court.
Justice Khetrapal, however, did not give permission for handing over copies to any party.
Eight seven-year-old Tiwari had earlier on Thursday moved the Delhi High Court to keep his DNA test report confidential till the conclusion of the hearing in the paternity suit.
He filed the appeal seeking the court to protect his right to reputation, and alleged that the single-judge bench, which ordered that the DNA report be made public, has adopted a “shortcut” to decide the suit and it would cause grave injustice to him.

Read more / Original news source: http://manipur-mail.com/tiwari-alleges-paternity-suit-a-well-planned-conspiracy/

Mail News Service
New Delhi, July 27: The Cabinet Secretary today reviewed the relief and medical arrangements in the camps in Assam where people have gathered due to the recent clashes. Two teams comprising physician, gynaecologist, paediatrician, public health specialists, resident doctors and nurses have been airlifted from Delhi at 5.15 PM today. They will support the state government’s efforts to provide relief and immediate medical help to the people in the relief camps. The high level meeting chaired by the Cabinet Secretary reviewed all the other arrangements in a video conference with the Chief Secretary of Assam to ensure that food and other supplies were available in adequate measures.
(ANI) adds defending Assam Government over it’s handling of the ethnic violence in the state, Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh has accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of attempting to communalise the issue.
“The BJP has been trying to communalise the situation in Assam from the very beginning, by raising the issue of illegal migrants. In fact, there are Muslim illegal migrants, and there are Hindu illegal migrants also,” he said.
“Unfortunately, the BJP only talks of Muslim illegal migrants, and the perception that has come to people’s minds in the country is, that there are only Muslim illegal migrants,” he added.

He further said that Assam is a ‘sensitive’ state, and that the state government had initially tried to quell the rioting with just the local administration’s help.
“( Assam ) is a very sensitive state. A single word out of place triggers a reaction. It is important to note that this is not the first incident of violence between Bodos and Muslims, but the fourth one. Every state government first ensures that the local administration is used to quell any such disturbance. When they see that the local authorities are ineffective, paramilitary forces and the Army are called in,” he added.
Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, however, said the situation is improving in violence-hit areas of the state, and expressed the hope that everything will be normal in the next two to three days.
“The situation is improving and I hope in the next two-three days the situation will be normal. And I have reviewed the whole situation. I met my administration, my police force, CRPF and the army also,” Gogoi said.
Gogoi also announced an ex-gratia of six lakh rupees each to the next of the kin of those killed in the violence.
Indefinite curfew and shoot-at-site orders are in force in Kokrajhar district, while night curfew is on in Chirang and Dhubri districts. Nearly two lakh people have taken shelter in 150 relief camps. Over 44 people have been killed in the violence so far.
Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, who is a Rajya Sabha MP from Assam , will visit ethnic violence-hit Kokrajhar District on Saturday to take stock of the volatile situation.
According to police officials, the latest wave of violence was sparked last week when unidentified men killed four youth in the state’s Bodo tribe-dominated Kokrajhar District near the borders of Bangladesh and Bhutan .
In retaliation, armed Bodos attacked Muslims, suspecting them to be behind the killings.

Read more / Original news source: http://manipur-mail.com/cabinet-secy-reviews-relief-camps-in-assam/

New Delhi , July 27 (ANI): The Supreme Court on Friday rejected the government’s request to defer its July 23 order, limiting government’s discretionary quota for Haj pilgrims till next year.
A two- judge bench of Justice Aftab Alam and Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai refused to oblige the Centre on its plea to defer its order till next year.
The government was represented by Attorney General G. E. Vahanvati and counsel Harris Beran. Vahanvati made the submission at the fag end of the hearing of a bunch of petitions by private tour operators (PTOs), who have challenged certain norms fixed by the government for the operators.
Earlier, on July 23, the apex court had drastically reduced the government’s discretionary and dignitaries quota seats for Haj 2012 pilgrims to 300 from the proposed 5,050 seats, and had hoped they would be alloted on “reasonable basis”. The court, on Friday, maintained that there could be no monopolisation, and asked the Centre to frame a fresh PTOs policy for Haj pilgrimage from next year onwards. “It shall not be the monopoly of a few operators. We hope that the next Haj policy will be framed keeping in view the concerns of this court,” the bench observed.
Agreeing that the present policy was not fair, the apex court asked the AG to come out with a new policy next year to facilitate “fresh players”.
“We know that the present policy is not perfect. But we do not want to interfere with this years policy,” Justice Alam observed. The bench, however, said there were lot of scopes for improvement in the government’s present policy by taking into consideration the suggestions and complaints made by various tour operators.
who have been knocked out of the business on account of certain norms prescribed by the government.

As per the government norms, only those PTOs who had annual turnover of Rs.1crore for the year 2009 and 2010 were eligible for ferrying pilgrims.

The apex court said it will consider next year’s Haj policy for private tour operators in November.

The apex court had on July 23 limited the number of seats to be allocated under dignitaries quota by the President to 100, the Vice President to 75, the Prime Minister to 75 and the External Affairs Minister to 50.

The bench had said 200 seats would be reserved for the Haj Committee of India (HCOI) as against the proposed 500.

After limiting the seats under dignitaries quota and the HCOI, the bench had said that remaining seats would go to the Haj committees of various states and union territories.

Read more / Original news source: http://manipur-mail.com/sc-rejects-centres-plea-to-relax-its-order-on-haj-quota/

SHILLONG, July 27 NNN: After the banned outfit Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC) came into action in the state to mark its re-emergence, the state administration has beefed up security in all parts of Shillong before August 15 to avoid any untoward incident.
The district administration has pulled up its socks and a thick blanket of security has been installed in all major locations in the city.
“Night patrolling and surveillance have been intensified to ensure full proof security along the state for the people,” a senior police official said.
He also added that police check points and gates have been installed in the nooks and corner of the district to ensure peace and tranquility.
“Nakas have been set up at sensitive areas and frisking are being carried out,” official said.
With HNLC coming with an opening warning and claiming that ‘They (HNLC) are Back’ through a social site, the administration is not taking any chance, official said.
It can be mentioned that HNLC were almost wiped out of the state by the police but recent claiming and activities have put the administration into high alert.
It can be mentioned that on July 02, the outfit opened fired at a police station in the city and showed its activeness.
They then on July 21 the outfit shared a heavy exchange of fire with the police at Kongong village, Jaintia Hills district.
Formed in 1992 and proscribed on November 16, 2000, HNLC’s main objective is to transform Meghalaya as a province exclusively for the Khasi tribe and free it from ‘domination’ by the Garo tribe. Another objective is to fight against the presence of ‘outsiders’, as the HNLC feels that Khasi youth are deprived of the fruits of development in the state.

Read more / Original news source: http://manipur-mail.com/hnlc-back-in-action/