VMYF News Digest: January 2013

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Tycoons funding anti-warming sceptics?

Audit Finds Donors Tied To Fossil Fuel Industry Trying To Cast Doubts On Climate Change

Steve Connor

    Asecretive funding organization in the United States that guarantees anonymity for its billionaire donors has emerged as a major operator in the climate “counter movement” to undermine the science of global warming, The Independent has learnt.
    The Donors Trust, along with its sister group Donors Capital Fund, based in Alexandria, Virginia, is funnelling millions of dollars into the effort to cast doubt on climate change without revealing the identities of its backers or that they have links to the fossil fuel industry.
    However, an audit trail reveals that Donors is being indirectly supported by the American billionaire Charles Koch who, with his brother David, jointly owns a majority stake in Koch Industries, a large oil, gas and chemicals conglomerate based in Kansas.
    Millions of dollars has been paid to Donors through a thirdparty organization, called the Knowledge and Progress Fund, with is operated by the Koch family but does not advertise its Koch connections. Some commentators believe that such convoluted arrangements are becoming increasingly common to shield the identity and backgrounds of the wealthy supporters of climate scepticism — some of whom have vested interests in the fossil-fuel industry.
    The Knowledge and Progress Fund, whose directors include Charles Koch and his wife Liz, gave $1.25m to Donors in 2007, a further $1.25m in 2008 and $2m in 2010. It does not appear to have given money to any other group and there is no mention of the fund on the websites of Koch Industries or the Charles Koch Foundation.
    The Donors Trust is a “donor advised fund”, meaning that it has special status under the US tax system. People who give money receive generous tax relief and can retain greater anonymity because, technically, they do not control how Donors spends the cash.
    Anonymous private funding of global warming sceptics, who have criticized climate scientists for their lack of transparency, is becoming increasingly common. The Kochs, for instance, have overtaken the corporate funding of climate denialism by oil companies such as ExxonMobil.
    One such organization, Americans for Prosperity, which was established by David Koch, claimed that the “Climategate” emails illegally hacked from the University of East Anglia in 2009 proved that global warming was the “biggest hoax the world has ever seen”. Robert Brulle, a sociologist at Drexel University in Philadelphia, has estimated that over the past decade about $500m has been given to organizations devoted to undermining the science of climate change, with much of the money donated anonymously through third parties. THE INDEPENDENT

Mild tension in Nizamabad

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Nizamabad: Tension prevailed at the railway gate area here when two groups belonging to different communities clashed with each other on Friday noon. Police used mild force to bring the situation under control and section 144 was clamped to prevent further trouble.
    During the celebration of Milad-un-Nabi, a group of motorcycle-borne youths reportedly made several rounds of the railway gate area by holding flags. The locals objected to when they made a show of strength at the statue of Chatrapathi Shivaji.
    As they did not relent, the locals chased the youths up to the railway level crossing and also beat up a few of them. In a retaliatory move, the youths along with 50 others rushed towards the statute and attacked
    some locals. Following
this, a large group of locals once again chased away the youths.
    Meanwhile, the police, who rushed to the trouble spot resorted to lathicharge to disperse the mob and brought the situation under control. A large contingent of police was deployed in the area and prohibitory orders were imposed, according to Nizamabad town DSP J Rammohan Rao.

26/11: Headley jailed for 35 yrs

He Deserved Death Penalty, Says US Judge

Chicago: Pakistani-American LeT terrorist David Headley was on Thursday sentenced to 35 years in jail by a US court for the Mumbai terror attacks with the judge expressing his unhappiness over the prosecution seeking alighter term.
    The 52-year-old Headley had entered into a plea bargain with the US investigators under which he escaped death sentence.
    But many were left surprised when the US prosecutors did not seek life sentence for Headley.
    Headley was ordered to serve 35 years, followed by five years of supervised release by US District Judge Harry Leinenweber.
    There is no federal parole and defendants must serve at least 85 percent of their sentence.
    “Mr Headley is a terrorist,” the judge said while imposing the sentence in a packed court.
    Leinenweber also said, “He commits crime, cooperates and then gets rewarded for the cooperation. No matter what I do, it is not going to deter terrorists. Unfortunately, terrorists do not care for it. I do not have any faith in Mr Headley when he says that he is a changed person now. I do believe that it is my duty to protect the public from Mr Headley and ensure that he does not get into any further terrorist activities. Recommending 35 years is not a right sentence.”
    Asked if he wanted to make a statement, Headley, said, “No, your honour”...
    In pleading guilty and later testifying for the government at the trial of co-defendant and school friend Tahawwur Rana, Headley admitted that he attended training camps in Pakistan operated by Lashkar-e-Taiba, on five separate occasions between 2002 and 2005.
    In late 2005, Headley received instructions from three members of Lashkar to travel to India to conduct surveillance, which he did five times leading up to the Mumbai attacks in 2008 that killed approximately 166 people, including six Americans, and wounded hundreds more.
    “The sentence I impose, I'm hopeful it will keep Mr Headley under lock and key for the rest of his natural life,” Leinenweber said. AGENCIES
THE MAN WHO LAID THE GROUND FOR 26/11
DAVID COLEMAN HEADLEY (52)
    He conducted meticulous scouting missions during his
8 visits to India—videotaping and mapping targets—so that the LeT attackers who had never been to Mumbai adeptly found their way around
Maximum sentence faced: Life Sentence US authorities asked for:
30 to 35 years
    Was motivated in part by his hatred of India going back to his childhood
    Born Daood Gilani in the US in 1960 to a Pakistani diplomat and American woman. After parents divorced, went to live with mother in the US
    Was charged on 12 counts, including conspiracy to bomb public places in India
including the November 26, 2008 Mumbai attacks, and aiding and abetting the murder of 6 US nationals during 26/11
    Ater his 2009 arrest in Chicago, Headley made a deal with the US to spill secrets about his jihadi life and the 26/11 attacks in exchange for not being given the death penalty or being extradited to India
    He then testified against Tahawwur Rana, a Chicago businessman who was convicted and sentenced to 14 years in jail last week for providing aid to LeT and backing a failed plot to attack a Danish newspaper
    As he revealed Rana’s name to the FBI, Headley said, “That probably is going to be good a plus for me. Also for you.”

Hyd youth beats blindness to become CA

The 23-Yr-Old, Who Lost His Vision At The Age Of 11, Is First In India To Achieve The Feat

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Hyderabad:In a rare show of courage and zeal, a 23-year-old Hyderabadi youth, who lost his vision completely at the age of 11, has cleared this year’s chartered accountant exams to become the first-ever visually challenged person to achieve this feat in the country.
    J Rajasekhar cleared the CA exam, the results of which were announced on Monday in just his second attempt, a Herculean task even for any normal and healthy person of his age.
    Blessed with a sharp brain and aided by the latest software for the visually challenged, Rajashekhar made relentless efforts for five years to reach his goal.
    “There were many, including my mother, who thought that it was impossible for a person like me to clear the examination but I never felt discouraged,” said Rajsekhar, who learnt to do mental math at an early age.
    “I used to study for hours at a stretch for the exams not just to clear it but also to prove that a visually challenged can accomplish whatever he wants,” he added.
    He is now being flooded with congratulatory messages from not just his family or friends but also from his peers who see in him their role model.
    After taking the CA entrance examination, Rajasekhar pursued a degree in Bachelor of Commerce through long distance mode while working at a CA firm.
    “During these three years, I used to try and understand accounts and auditing and record them in my digital voice recorder to keep on listening to them,” he said.
    “I would do the same with my soft copy of notes given to me by my coaching centre and try and calculate as much as possible in my brain” he added.
    Rajashekhar was provided with a volunteer to write the final examination, which included six theory and two practical subjects.
    He comes from an agriculture family from Guntur and was diagnosed with brain tumour when he was in school which eventually affected his optic nerve leaving him completely blind.
    “I want to start my own CA firm and also travel,” says Rajashekhar. “For those like me who want to become chartered accountants, I will some day start a training institute. If I can even help and inspire a few, I would be very happty.”
    The management of Devnar School for the Blind which funded his education and accommodation, appealed to people not to discriminate but encourage the visually challenged to achieve their goal.
    “Now there are good opportunities for the blind in private as well as government sector. One should not treat them as a burden but provide them with equal rights so that they can contribute to society and the country in their own way,” said Saibaba Goud, founder of Devnar School for the Blind.

Ex-CM Chautala, son sentenced to 10 years in jail

Two IAS Officers Among 8 Others To Get 10-Yr Terms

Smriti Singh TNN

New Delhi: Former Haryana chief minister Om Prakash Chautala, 78, and his son Ajay Chautala were on Tuesday sentenced to 10 years’ rigorous imprisonment for illegally recruiting over 3,000 junior basic trained teachers 12 years ago, with a special CBI court brushing aside their plea for leniency on the ground that the case had hurt them politically and diminished them in the public eye.
    As thousands of supporters of the INLD chief clashed with Delhi Police outside the court, special CBI judge Vinod Kumar held that the “enormity” of the offence of the fatherson duo was enhanced by the “brazenness” with which they resorted to illegal rights, depriving the eligible candidates of their constitutional rights.
    In all, the special judge sentenced 55 convicts, including two IAS officers, to varying jail terms. Besides the Chautalas, the court awarded jail terms of 10 years each to eight others, including a woman and two IAS officers — Vidya Dhar who was Chautala’s Officer on Special Duty and Sanjiv Kumar, the then director of primary education, who had claimed to be the whistleblower in the case. Sher Singh Badshami, who like the Chautalas is a sitting MLA and had worked as the ex-Haryana CM’s political advisor, was also given 10 years. The judgment bracketed Chautala with Jayalalithaa and Shibu Soren, two other former CMs who have been convicted for alleged irregularities.
    Chautala had cited his failing health as he is a diabetic, and has 70% disability in his right leg besides suffering from various other ailments. Chautala’s counsel also claimed that he had clean antecedents. Stressing that Chautala had been the CM of Haryana for five terms, the counsel argued “if he would have committed anything wrong, public would not have voted for him”.
    Sentencing former Haryana CM Om Prakash Chautala to 10 years in jail, special CBI judge Vinod Kumar said, “I find no reason not to believe the aforesaid submissions… but the relevant points for considering the sentence are the circumstances attending the offence.”
‘NO REASON FOR LENIENCY’
    Former Haryana CM O P Chautala and son Ajay get 10 yrs’ jail for illegally recruiting over 3,000 teachers 12 yrs ago
    Chautalas’ plea for leniency, on ground that it was difficult for them to face society after conviction, struck down by special CBI judge Vinod Kumar
    Father-son duo, both MLAs, will be disqualified as legislators unless they appeal within 3 months
    Eight others get 10-yr term, including 2 IAS officers— Sanjiv Kumar, then primary education director (whistle blower in the case) & Chautala’s former OSD Vidya Dhar. Another MLA, Sher Singh Badshami, also jailed for 10 yrs
    Lighter sentences (4-5 yrs) for 45 others for ‘being truthful’ during trial
    Court says the illegally selected teachers should be sacked Job scam swept all Haryana districts
Favoured Teachers To Lose Jobs
New Delhi: He, however, allowed for leniency for those who acted under pressure.
    Out of power for eight years now, the Chautalas used to lord over Haryana. In fact, Chautala had acquired leverage on decision-making far beyond the boundaries of his tiny state after his doting father ‘Tau’ Devi Lal rode on his image as a farmer leader to become the deputy Prime Minister in the Janata Dal government in 1989. When Devi Lal moved to the Centre, Chautala controlled Haryana before losing the next polls. Although controversies forced him to resign, he would retain his vice-like grip through proxies before taking the charge himself. In the process, he became the Chief Minister five times.
    Congress cited his alleged move to keep tabs on political moves of Rajiv Gandhi to bring down the Chandrashekhar government in 1991 leading to the mid-term polls and the appointment of Manmohan Singh as the finance minister: a development that unleashed economic liberalisation. The court’s order can have repercussions for the political career of the fivetime former CM and his son, though the fact that they are sitting MLAs would protect them from the law designed to bar those convicted from contesting elections. Under the Representation of the People Act, a person convicted of any offence and sentenced to more than two years imprisonment shall be disqualified from the date of conviction and for a further period of six years after his release. However, this does not apply in case of sitting members of legislatures if they decide to challenge their convictions within three moths in High Court.
    An appeal in High Court will result in the suspension of conviction until the appeal is dismissed by the High Court.
    Others who were given 10-year jail terms are Madan Lal Kalra, Durga Dutt Pradhan, Bani Singh, Ram Singh and Daya Saini. Apart from them, one convict has been handed five years and the remaining 45 were given four years imprisonment.
    The court also imposed a fine of Rs 2,000 on Chautala and Sanjiv Kumar, Rs 1,000 on Ajay Chautala, Vidhya Dhar and Sher Singh, and Rs 1,200 on the other five sentenced to 10 years imprisonment. A fine of Rs 400 was imposed by the court on the remaining 45 convicts, including 16 women.
    The court further said that the teachers who got illegally recruited 12 years ago should not be allowed to remain in job. “It has very clearly come on record that the favoured candidates were given 17 or more than 17 marks in the interviews…. Hence, such candidates should not be allowed to remain in job,” the court said while citing a Himachal Pradesh HC judgment on a similar issue. “Regarding the remaining, it would be appropriate if the districtwise merit list on the basis of the Supreme Court list is prepared (the original list),” the court said.
    In its 34-page order, the court said that the enormity of the offences could be seen from the fact that the conspiracy took in its sweep almost all the districts of Haryana.

Cops to dig out old cases to nail MIM

Many Party Leaders Facing Criminal Cases, NBWs

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Hyderabad:The Kiran Kumar Reddy government on Tuesday launched a no-holds barred offensive against the MIM, instructing the Hyderabad police to crack down on those MIM legislators and corporators against whom criminal cases have been booked and against whom non-bailable warrants (NBWs) are pending. The informal instructions came even as the bail applications of the Owaisi brothers were rejected in two separate courts.
    A circular, issued by Hyderabad police commissioner Anurag Sharma to all zonal DCPs on Tuesday afternoon, specifically asked them to draw up a list of MIM MLAs and corporators against whom there are registered cases and NBWs pending. The DCPs were asked to submit the details to additional CP (crimes) Sandeep Shandilya. As per the information gathered by the cops till now, at least 20 MIM leaders are facing criminal cases while NBWs are pending against at least one MIM MLA and five corporators. Over the next few days, the city cops hope to unearth more. “We will move against these leaders after Milad-un -Nabi (the Prophet’s birthday),” a police source disclosed.
    There are BJP and TDP corporators too against whom criminal cases have been registered and NBWs are pending, but there were no instructions by Sharma to his DCPs to collate information about them. Apart from the Owaisi brothers, the list of MIM MLAs and corporators against whom criminal cases have been registered include Syed Ahmed Pasha Quadri, Ahmed Balala, Mumtaz Khan, Afsar Khan, Muazzam Khan, Virasat Rasool Khan and mayor Mohammed Majid Hussain.
No relief for Owaisis
    Tuesday was a bad day for the Owaisi brothers. While, the Sangareddy court dismissed the bail application of Hyderabad MP Asaduddin in a case pertaining to rioting and assault of an officer in 2005, the Adilabad court exte

LeT chief latches on to Shinde’s remark

BJP Goes For His Jugular; Digvijay Supports Him

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Lahore/New Delhi: Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) chief Hafiz Saeed latched onto home minister Sushilkumar Shinde’scommentson “saffron terrorism” being fomentedby BJP andRSS training campstoclaim chargeslevelled againstLeTwith regardto26/11werefalse.
    Thecontroversy over Shinde’s remarks atthe Jaipur Congress meeting refused to die down as the Lashkar boss – accused by India of masterminding theterror attackson Mumbai–said “Indian propaganda” against Pakistani organisation stoodexposed.
    According to a PTI report, Saeed said: “India triedtoinvolveusin theMumbai attacksbut after a passage of five years, nothing has been established against us.” He further demanded that Pakistan take steps to declare India a “terrorist state”.
    An angry BJP, already demanding Shinde’s resignation, said his “irresponsible remarks” have caused immense damage to India while the RSS said the home minister was a “darling of terrorists” asLashkar hadcongratulatedhim.
    “Naturally Saeed made use of Shinde’s comments. As home minister, he must realise that he cannot play to the gallery. Shinde has behaved in an absolutely irresponsible manner,” said BJP spokesperson PrakashJavadekar.
    Saeed’s intervention is embarrassing for the government as it has always taken the line that terror has no religion, either Islamic, Hindu or any other. Shinde’s grandstanding seems to have landedthe governmentin a spot ashespecifically spoke of “saffron terrorism” and linked RSS and BJP to blasts in Malegaon, Mecca Masjid and Samjhauta Express.
    Shinde found the support of his party colleague Digvijaya Singh who said the allegations he has been levelling for years have been proved right by the home minister. Parliamentary affairs minister KamalNathsaidtheBJP reactions areintendedtoturnthefocus awayfrom itsinternalbickering.
    BJP and RSS, however, show no intention of letting Shinde get away and on Monday mounted ascathing attackcalling for a nation-wide protest on January 24 and warning to take it up in a big way when Parliament meets for the Budget session. Shindeisleader of theHousein Lok Sabha.
    Asked if BJP will boycott Shinde as they had finance minister P Chidambaram over the 2G spectrum, BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasadsaid, “The party has yettoworkoutitsstrategy on this.” While RSS took on Shinde, calling him a “darling of real terrorists” and noting that Lashkar has “congratulated” the home minister for the remark.
    Describing Shinde as a “lightweight” home minister, Prasad demanded an unconditional apology from Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh over Shinde's allegation.
    “Sushilkumar Shinde mustbesacked andthe Prime Minister and Sonia Gandhi must tender an unconditional apology,” Prasad said. “BJP shall not tolerate this repeated insult of Hindu and saffron traditions of India,” he said, adding, the party has never linked religion with terror as terroristshad no religion.
    RSS spokesperson Ram Madhav took strong exception to Shinde's “insensitive” remark, calling it “unpardonable” andsaiditcould alsoinfluence investigations in Malegaon and Samjhauta blastscases.
    “Today, Jamaat-ud-Dawa congratulated Shinde. Now, he has become the darling of real terrorists. It is Shinde who is helping our enemies by such statements. Now, even the LeT has welcomed his statement I am told,” Madhav tweeted.
    Senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley said, “Shinde has to prove what he has said otherwise he has to withdraw the remark or apologise.” JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav fumed over Shinde's comment and said that terror has no religion and asked the home minister to act if he has any such knowledge. “Itisthe government's responsibility to providesecurity.Thehome minister'sjobistoensure peace and notissuestatements,” hesaid.

Asad jailed for ’05 rioting

Surrenders Before Sangareddy Court; Bandh In Old City, T Dists

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Hyderabad: MIM supremo and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi surrendered before a local court in Sangareddy in Medak district – not more than 25 kms from the state capital – on Monday morning in connection with a case of rioting and other charges registered in 2005.
    Named as accused number one in the case, Asaduddin was remanded in judicial custody till February 2 by special judicial first class magistrate Maruti Devi and lodged in the district jail at Sangareddy. A bail application moved by the MP is slated to be heard on Tuesday. His younger brother Akbaruddin Owaisi is accused number two in the case and has already been produced before the magistrate here on a prisoner transit warrant by the Nirmal police in Adilabad where he is in judicial custody. A non-bailable warrant had been pending against the duo but with the MIM part of the ruling UPA at the Centre, the police had not bothered to execute it.
    Asaduddin’s surrender and subsequent arrest had its repercussions across the state beginning with Sangareddy where a spontaneous bandh was observed. Large parts of Hyderabad’s Old City shut down immediately even as additional forces were rushed. MIM activists took out rallies and enforced a bandh in Adilabad, Nizamabad, Karimnagar and Warangal districts. While the MIM has officially not called for a bandh to protest the arrest of Asaduddin, normalcy is likely to be affected in Old City and other parts of the state on Tuesday as well. Sources, however, said that the MIM is not going to precipitate trouble in an organized fashion.
    What could be worrisome for the cops is that Milad-un-Nabi, the Prophet’s birthday, falls next Friday (Jan25) and a general outpouring of anger over the recent developments involving the MIM leaders among the Muslim community could shake the fragile peace in Old City and elsewhere in the state. “Hyderabad city in particular and the state in general will be on a high alert in the coming days,” said a top police official.
    The arrest of Asaduddin was on the cards ever since the police suddenly woke up to the 2005 case pending against the Owaisi brothers a few days after the younger brother and MLA was arrested by the Adilabad police on January 8, for a hate speech he delivered at Nirmal a fortnight back. Police sources claimed that they did intend to arrest Asaduddin, but wanted to do so after Milad-un- Nabi. “We did not want to trigger anger and unrest in the minority community at the time of Milad-un- Nabi,” a police source said. But sensing the police game, Asaduddin on his own accord drove down to Sangareddy and presented himself before the magistrate at around 10 am on Monday. The Hyderabad MP immediately moved a recall petition against the non-bailable warrant issued in the case against him in 2010, but the court dismissed it and remanded him in judicial custody. Asaduddin then moved a bail application which is slated to be heard on Tuesday.
    Meanwhile, five MIM activists each were arrested in Adilabad and Nizambad respectively by the local police for trying to enforce a bandh to protest Asaduddin’s arrest even as Akbaruddin’s judicial remand in Adilabad is slated to end on Tuesday.
Bid to torch bus
    Driver of an APSRTC bus going to Emmiganur, suffered burn injuries when unidentified miscreants threw petrol into the bus and set it ablaze near Bahadurpura on Monday night. Police are suspecting that the incident has something to do with the arrest of Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi. At about 11.30 pm, a group of 15 unidentified miscreants stopped an RTC bus going to Emmiganur from Hyderabad near Kishanbagh X Roads in Bahadurpura. As soon as the driver, Krishnaiah slowed down, the miscreants threw petrol from the driver's window and set it ablaze. The driver suffered burns on his hands and face. Krishnaiah was rushed to a nearby hospital and his condition is out of danger. TNN

On Day 4, Algeria crisis ends

Special Forces Storm Facility; 7 Hostages, 11 Militants Killed

In Amenas (Algeria): Algerian special forces stormed a natural gas complex in the middle of the Sahara desert on Saturday in a “final assault” that ended a four-dayold hostage crisis, according to the state news agency and two foreign governments. At least 19 hostages and 29 militants have been killed.
    The report, quoting a security source, didn’t say whether any hostages or militants remained alive, and it didn’t give the nationalities of the dead. It said the army was forced to intervene after a fire broke out in the plant and said the militants killed the hostages. It wasn’t immediately possible to verify who killed the captives.
    Seven hostages and 11 militants were killed in Saturday’s operation, adding to the previous tally of 12 captives and 18 kidnappers.
    The In Amenas plant is jointly run by BP, Norway’s Statoil and Algeria’s stateowned oil company. The governments of Norway and Britain said they received confirmation the siege was over.
    The entire refinery was mined with explosives and set to blow up, the Algerian state oil company Sonatrach said in a statement, adding that the process of clearing the explosives had begun. The Algerian media reported that the militants had planned to blow up the complex.
    The siege transfixed the world after al-Qaida-linked Islamist militants stormed the complex, which contained hundreds of plant workers from all over the world.
    Algeria’s response to the crisis was typical of the country’s history in confronting terrorists — military action over negotiation — and caused an international outcry from countries worried about their citizens. Algerian military forces twice assaulted the areas where the hostages were being held with minimal apparent negotiation — first on Thursday and then on Saturday.
    The latest deaths bring the official Algerian tally of dead to 19 hostages and 29 militants, although reports on the number of dead, injured and freed have been contradictory throughout the crisis.
    Militants originally said they had seized 41 foreign hostages.
    The al-Qaida-linked militants attacked the plant Wednesday morning. They crept across the border from Libya, 100 kilometres away, and fell on a pair of buses taking foreign workers to the airport. The buses’ military escort drove off the attackers in a blaze of gunfire that sent bullets zinging over the heads of crouching workers.
    A Briton and an Algerian, probably a security guard, were killed.
    Frustrated, the militants turned to the vast gas complex, divided between the workers’ living quarters and the refinery itself, and seized hostages, the Algerian government said.
    The gas flowing to the site was cut off. On Thursday, Algerian helicopters opened fire on a convoy carrying both kidnappers and their hostages, resulting in many deaths, according to witnesses.
    In their final communications, the militants said they were holding seven hostages: three Belgian, two Americans, a Japanese and a Briton. They had even threatened to kill them if the Algerian army attacked.
    The militants initially said their operation was intended to stop a French attack on Islamist militants in neighbouring Mali — though they later said it was two months in the planning, long before the French military intervention. AP
DESERT SIEGE
Four days on, hostage crisis in the Algerian gas plant was ended by the special forces in a final assault on Saturday. Terror outfit Al Mulathameen was behind the kidnapping drama HOW THE CRISIS UNFOLDED
Jan 16| Gunmen attack 2 buses carrying gas fi eld workers towards In Amenas airfi eld. A Briton and an Algerian killed
    The militants drive to the installation at Tigantourine, take
Algerian and foreign workers hostage in the residential area and the main gas facility
    Algerian army surrounds abductors Jan 17| Algerian forces attack as militants try to move some captives from the facility; some hostages escape, others killed Jan 18| Algerian forces retake living quarters, the hostages and their kidnappers ensconced in the refi nery
    Around 100 of the 135 foreign workers and 573 Algerians freed, offi cials say Jan 19| Special forces launch fi nal assault on the gas plant
    7 hostages, 11 militants killed
    It is not clear if all the kidnappers are dead or whether the hostages have been freed TOTAL RECALL An Algerian man who escaped says captors armed with AK-47s, machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades; they told him they only wanted to keep foreigners hostage
Another rescued man says
hostages forced to wear explosives on their bodies; some hid under beds and on rooftops
    In Amenas plant in Algeria. It is jointly run by BP, Norway’s Statoil and Algeria’s state-owned oil company. The site of the gas plant spreads out over several acres with dozens of buildings

    I saw fi ve inside
    the plant, but I don’t know how many others were outside. From their accents I understood one was Egyptian, one Tunisian, another Algerian and one was speaking English or a foreign language—IBA EL HAZA | A DRIVER AT BP GAS PLANT
    I stayed hidden
    for nearly 40 hours in my bedroom. I was under the bed. I had food, water; I didn’t know how long I would be there —
ALEXANDRE BERCEAUX | A
FRENCH EMPLOYEE

Raids on MLA kin-run Urdu channel’s office

Several Hard Discs, Data-Storing Devices Seized

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Hyderabad: As the management of 4TV, an Urdu channel operated by the family of Malakpet MLA Ahmed Balala, declared that they do not have the footage of the controversial speeches given by MIM MLA Akbaruddin Owaisi in Nizamabad and Nirmal anymore, the Osmania University police on Saturday afternoon raided the channel’s office in Gulzar Houz and seized a few storage devices.
    Around 2.30 pm, the OU police raided the 4TV office and seized several hard discs and other data-storing devices from there. Initially, the channel authorities resisted the searches at their office, but the OU police led by additional inspector K Madhu Mohan Reddy produced a search warrant. 4TV managing director Zaffar Balala was present at the office when police conducted the raid.
    “What was the need for you to come to the office? We would have given you the material needed. The channel’s image will be dented if news spread that police have conducted raids”, he said.
    The investigators informed the 4TV management that searches were being conducted as per section 91/160 of the CrPC, which permits police to seize material needed for investigation. The investigators wanted to check if there was any tampering of evidence by the channel authorities since they had earlier informed police that the footage of Akbaruddin’s speeches at Nirmal and Nizamabad was no more in their records.
    Police also brought village revenue officer Gopal Reddy to conduct a ‘panchnama’. At one point of time, some associates of the channel questioned police why they were targeting 4TV leaving aside other television channels.
    OU police started investigation on the direction of the Nampally criminal court after admitting a private petition filed by businessman Venkatesh Goud. It was 4TV and a few other Urdu channels which had telecast Akbaruddin Owaisi’s speeches live.

Now, men seek shield against women

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Hyderabad: The Delhi gangrape and murder of 23-year-old Nirbhaya underscored the plightof women in India butthe city on Saturday witnessed a demonstration where distraught men protested saying they arebeing victimisedby the fairer sex. Demanding gender neutral laws, they sought amendment of Section 498 A (punishment of subjecting a married woman to cruelty) of the Indian Penal Code, dowry and child custody rights laws besides abolishing maintenanceliability on husbands.
    Dozens of men from diverse age groups representing the NGO, SaveIndian Family Foundation (SIFF) claimed Section 498Awasenactedto makeiteasier for the wife to seek redress from potential harassment by the husband’s family, but is increasingly being misused by women andtheir families.
    Protesters, mostly software professionals shouting “No arrests, no maintenance, only shared parenting,” assembled near Indira Park while some distributed fliers to people who had gatheredtheretowitnesses this demonstration with amusement. “Every relationship has its own share of ups and downs. However, with every passing year, men are slapped with false dowry and maintenance cases if the demands of the wife or her family are not met,” said P V S S Ramakrishna,city-basedsoftware professional. He emphasised that SIFF is not against women and quoted National Crime Records Bureau data that states that 62,433 married men committed suicides compared to 32,582 marriedwomen in 2011.
    Women activists said while therehavebeen casesof misuse but they are very negligible. On the other hand, the male protesters said police harassment starts soon after the complaint islodgedwithout any investigation and men are put behind bars along with their families. Innocent men are put behind bars and there are several cases when NRIs were deported to India andhavelost plum jobs, protesters said. “Citing mental torture, my wife took away my 3-year-old child and I haven’t seen him for the last 3 years except on one occasion for about an hour,” said Sachin Kshirsagar, a software professional based in Chicago and currently in Hyderabad to attend the court proceedings. “My wife was having an affair. When I intimated her family about her continuing the relationship, they took her side. I couldn’t do anything. After six years of marriage I collected enough evidence and went to the court to file for divorce about a year ago,” said Partha Sadhukhan, another IT professional.
    In another case, when Arun Sharma (name changed) got to knowthathischildwas actually born out of wedlock, he went to court. The court ordered maintenance to be given to the wife and the child and divorce is yet to be granted. “While the husband toils to prove his innocence, the wife enjoys the husband’s hard-earned money in the name of maintenance,” Shah Ali Ahmed, convener, SIFF, that organised similar protests in various parts of the country on Saturday.According to Partha, women are increasingly misusing dowry laws for money. “Extortion is the only reason. They want money,” he said. He further said that the foundation is protesting against the gender biased nature of laws and want to make them gender neutral so that innocents are not punished. They claimedthattheconviction rate in marital dispute cases is 2% and that the rest of the 98% cases arefalsecases.

Rahul Is Cong VP, Set For ’14 Showdown With Modi

Finally Sheds Reluctance, Calms Sonia And Party

Subodh Ghildiyal TNN

Jaipur: The Congress on Saturday promoted Rahul Gandhi to the post of party vice-president, pitchforking him as the party’s candidate for the Prime Ministership in 2014, and virtually setting the stage for a presidential-style contest with Gujarat CM Narendra Modi.
    The decision ends the tense uncertainty in the Congress over whether Rahul was ready to assume the larger responsibility, relieving Sonia Gandhi and the party of the anxiety that they had to endure as he took his own time to decide; often giving conflicting signals. It may also mean an end to Manmohan Singh’s surprisingly long innings as Prime Minister and may act as an impetus to the saffron legions clamouring for the projection of Narendra Modi as their candidate for PMO.
    In his acceptance remark, Rahul told Congress Working Committee (CWC) members, some of whom were colleagues of his father Rajiv and grandmother Indira: “I have travelled the country widely in the last eight years and I believe we can transform the country.”
    Defence minister A K Antony moved the proposal at a CWC meet on the second day of the chintan shivir, saying it represented the sentiment of party workers. Sonia and Rahul indicated their agreement. Manmohan Singh then hugged him while some other members offered garlands.
THE BIG PLUNGE
Rahul Gandhi has finally taken the step for which everyone was waiting. As No. 2 in the Congress, he has been, for all practical purposes, pitched as the prime ministerial candidate of the party in the next polls. A SWOT analysis of the young leader
STRENGTHS Is young, has no taint despite Cong being in power for 2 terms Is sincere, gritty and focused. Has ability to get involved with the nitty-gritty as was seen in his conducting Cong organizational polls Likes challenges. Even when Cong’s chances were slim in UP, he didn’t shy away from the fight; rather took on the odds head on Is the mascot of Gandhi family – always an advantage in India
WEAKNESSES Appears a reluctant leader. The fact that it took him so long to give his nod might be seen as a sign of diffidence It is still uncertain if he’s a winning option. After the 2009 elections, he hasn’t notched any big victory for the party Isn’t a great orator but has improved a lot in recent months
OPPORTUNITIES Opposition is in disarray. The main opposition, BJP, appears fragmented and regional outfits are divided along ‘secular-communal’ fault lines
There are signs of the economy bottoming out. While the US economy is reviving, the signal of reforms has got the markets all excited
If he plays his cards right, can connect with country’s restless youth
THREATS May be pitted in the polls against Modi, an energetic campaigner with a strong pull among sections
Will bear the brunt of a two-term incumbency against UPA and Cong
Spell of insulation from govt’s bad moves will now go. Will get kudos for right decisions but take flak for blunders
Another eruption like Nirbhaya could become a big handicap in the run-up to the polls Cong looks at Rahul as ultimate weapon
Jaipur: The legup for Gandhi scion, as indicated in TOI on January 18, in hierarchy marks only another generational change in the Congress’s history, fourth from the Gandhi family after Indira, Rajiv and Sonia.
    Congress general secretary Janardan Dwivedi said no decision had been taken on giving Rahul the command of Lok Sabha polls. However, while Sonia will continue to be the party chief, Rahul’s promotion, for all practical purposes, marks a change of baton and may quicken the arrival of a new team in the AICC. That Sonia decided to keep herself aloof; at least formally so, may only accelerate the transition.
    The deliberations at the chintan shivir clearly reflected the conclusion that Rahul is the only weapon the party is left with in a political season where it, handicapped as it is by incumbency, is having to contend with discontent triggered by inflation and general sense of economic decline as well as corruption, and fuelled by social media and an assertive civil society.
    Rahul had so far resisted the formal No. 2 tag to the point of exasperating party leaders and triggering speculation about the possible reasons for the reluctance to step up to the plate. His elevation looked imminent when he was asked along with three other leaders to look after party affairs when Sonia had to go abroad for medical reasons. But the expectation that he was ready to take the helm was belied, with the party’s debacle in UP last year on his charge only contributing to his hesitation.
    However, Rahul’s response this time to a determined persuasion effort had assured party leaders that he was ready to take up the gauntlet. In any case, the anticipation, reported by TOI on January 19, reached a crescendo, eclipsing every discussion on socio-economic, political and organizational challenges for which the chintan shiver was supposedly called.
    The Congress chief had on Friday made it clear that youth and the urban middle class were the party’s priorities for 2014: a reflection of the worry that the urban constituencies and the middle classes who were crucial to Congress’s back-to-back Lok Sabha wins, particularly the one in 2009, had drifted away.
    Rahul’s remark ,expressing confidence that the country could be transformed, appeared to be aimed at the same constituency: referred to as aspirational India, which is disillusioned by the non-fulfillment of the promise held out by the UPA. The assertive tone, coming from someone who had appeared so reluctant to immerse himself in party affairs, did not escape his audience.
    The new role for Rahul is also likely to be the spur for the BJP to end its ambivalence over what to do with Narendra Modi. Although the BJP leadership has come around to give a second term to Nitin Gadkari, there is recognition in the party that it cannot allow even an perception of a Rahul-Gadkari matchup: a concern which will have repercussions both for the NDA and the possibility of the UPA getting new allies.

Kumbh mystique draws Harvard dons

Praveen Dass TNN

    Besides the millions of pilgrims, ashsmeared ascetics, doe-eyed starlets and wide-eyed tourists that usually flock to the Mahakumbh Mela in Allahabad, there is a new class of visitors the religious gathering has attracted this year: academics and students from Harvard University.
    Intrigued by the sheer scale and complex dynamics of the mela, a group of top Harvard dons have been quietly working on a big multi-disciplinary project to study its various aspects. The effort, dubbed ‘Mapping India’s Kumbh Mela’, is underpinned by the desire to figure out just how tens of millions of Indians gather peacefully in one spot to celebrate this ancient rite of religious passage.
    “There’s no doubt that the mela is an incredible, even astonishing, human undertaking. Just the organizational logistics involved in managing so many people over a few months in one spot is tremendous. Our project seeks to understand this unique phenomenon better,” says Diana Eck, a key faculty member associated with the project.
    Eck’s students will examine various rituals, groupings and traditions as well as the slow-bubbling sense of environmental awareness she terms the ‘Green Kumbh’. Academics intrigued by Kumbh mela’s size
Tarun Khanna of Harvard Business School is fascinated by the massive temporary township — he calls it a ‘popup megacity’ — that springs up on the sandy banks of the converging rivers. It is spread over 1,940 hectares this year.
    “To make an inexact but useful comparison, consider how large, bustling cities like Istanbul or Lagos took several decades to go from populations of 1 million to 10 million.
    “At the Kumbh, it’s quite amazing for scholars like us to observe such speedy migration into a city like this. It makes for a unique, rapidly moving laboratory — and offers us a special opportunity to study everything from the process of organization to the interplay of commerce and technology,” he says.
    Project members examined the pop-up city being erected just as they will continue to study it when the township is deconstructed in March. They will also study a whole host of logistical activities during the festival.
    Public health researchers will spread out in Allahabad to examine how the sanitation infrastructure holds up, and how the hundreds of medical clinics across the township will function.
    Much of this will tie into one of Harvard’s great expectations from the event: ‘Big Data’.
    Now a big buzzword in some academic circles, the big data that will be generated from the Mela is something that may lead to entirely new conclusions, say these researchers.
    Meena Sonea Hewett, associate director of the South Asia Institute at the university, which is helping coordinate this project in association with the Harvard Global Health Institute, points to one interesting aspect --- mapping the use of cellphone networks at the mela.
    Data like this could help researchers better understand geographic patterns with pilgrims, for instance. As Khanna stresses, “It could become one of the biggest datasets around; it’s something even physicists and public health experts might find useful in many ways.”
    Khanna also emphasizes that a few findings are certainly going to end up in some of his business school’s famous case studies.
    “We’ll look to roll them out in our classrooms soon, and then across the world”.

Shinde links RSS, BJP camps to ‘Hindu terror’

BJP Wants Sonia To Apologise

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Jaipur/New Delhi: Union home minister Sushilkumar Shinde on Sunday kicked up a storm by accusing the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the BJP of conducting training camps promoting Hindu “terrorism” in the country. The main opposition party hit back, saying the remarks were an attempt to divide the nation, and sought an apology from Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
    “They are talking about infiltration but we have this report that whether it is BJP or RSS, their training camps are promoting Hindu terrorism,” Shinde said at the Congress conclave in Jaipur. “We are keeping a strict eye on it. The Samjhauta Express blast, Mecca Masjid (blast), Malegaon blast — they are planting bombs and blaming minorities for it. We need to be careful for safety of our country.”
    This is probably the first time that a senior member of the government has publicly sought to link terrorism with religion. The government has been chary of using terms like Islamic terrorism. Shinde directly linked BJP and RSS with groups like Abhinav Bharat, which is charged with the Malegaon and Samjhauta blasts.
    Earlier, when P Chidambaram was home minister, there were angry exchanges between him and BJP MPs in the Rajya Sabha after the Congress leader said the government was going to pursue a zero tolerance policy against both jihadi and Hindu terrorism. The BJP sought to know why he refrained from using the term “Islamic terrorism” even though he used the words Hindu terrorism during his reply to the debate on the internal security.

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

’12 bloodiest year for Shias in Pak

    There are guns ablaze and bombs aplenty across the border these days. The targets vary, but one fissure that goes back some decades is a particularly vile brand of sectarianism that pits Sunni against Shia across Pakistan’s terrain.
    The US-based, Human Rights Watch records 2012 as the bloodiest year for the Pakistani Shia community with over 400 targeted deaths; some 120 of these were in Balochistan. Commenting on the issue, HRW’s Pakistan specialist, Ali Dayan Hasan told Dawn, “As Shia community members continue to be slaughtered in cold blood, the callousness and indifference of authorities offer a damning indictment of the state, its military and security agencies.”
    Sectarianism is not new to Pakistan though strategies of attack have become increasingly brutal. However, some responsibility must fall on the average citizens of our complex polity. Though civil society groups are active in small constituencies, its not deep enough to create serious civil unrest.
    Sadly, over time, various forces in Pakistan have collaborated in the downfall of this rich and important tradition. Such a series of anti Shia atrocities reflect the sentiments of a larger public, much as Aung San Su Kyi’s deliberate silence on the mistreatment of the Rohingyas in Myanmar reflects the quiet assent of the country’s larger population.
    One tragic impact of the Shia-Sunni conflict is its influence on the average individual’s psyche, giving large space for the birth, rebirth and flowering of pitiful biases. I recall, a paranoid relative asking my mother if she was really going to send my sister and me to a majlis at a friends’ house. The frantic woman told us not to eat anything that was offered to us, especially the kheer, “You know they spit in their food and they serve it to you.”
    I couldn’t erase the image of my friends’ mother with a black dupatta on her head hovering over a pot of kheer and spitting her heart out, smiling evilly as she thought of her innocent Sunni guests gulping down mouthfuls.
    One other memory dates back to 1986, a verbal tug-ofwar in a sunless fourth grade classroom of a Karachi Convent school where allegiances were being struck along sectarian lines.
    The backdrop must have been some urban sectarian gun battle but the discussion evolved into segregation, along sectarian lines, in the classroom. Most of us were thoroughly uneducated on the finer points of dissent between Sunni and Shia communities; we were merely spreading Home Gospel. I do remember thinking that I was ashamed that ‘grownups’ could stoke such petty fires and impose them on us, their children.
    Many Pakistanis still don’t realize that the man they worship for creating their nation, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, was a Shia himself. One only has to know this to read the bloody events of our current times as a signal that the country has been hijacked by ideologues of a deranged politico-religious variety. But now, what do we do about that?
    The author is a New Delhibased Pakistani journalist

School massacre spurs Obama to roll out tough gun control measures

Washington: President Barack Obama proposed a new assault weapons ban and mandatory background checks for all gun buyers on Wednesday in a bid to channel national outrage over the Newtown school massacre into the biggest US gun-control push in generations.
    Rolling out a wide-ranging plan for executive and legislative action to curb gun violence, Obama set up a fierce clash with the powerful US gun lobby and its supporters in Congress, who are expected to resist what they see as an encroachment on constitutionally protected gun rights.
    Obama presented his agenda at a White House event in front of an audience that included children from around the country. “While reducing gun violence is a complicated challenge, protecting our children from harm shouldn’t be a divisive one,” Obama said.
    Just days before his second inauguration, the president appears determined to champion gun control with a concerted drive for tighter laws and other steps aimed at preventing further tragedies like the one at Newtown on December 14, 2012. The proposals stem from a review led by Vice President Joe Biden, who on orders from Obama met advocates on both sides.
    Obama’s plan calls on Congress for a renewed prohibition on assault weapons sales that expired in 2004, a requirement for criminal background checks on all gun purchases, including closing a loophole for gun show sales, and a new federal gun trafficking law — long sought by big-city mayors to keep outof-state guns off their streets.
    He also announced 23 steps he intends to take immediately without congressional approval. The most politically contentious piece is Obama’s call for a renewed ban on military-style assault weapons, a move that Republicans, who control the House of Representatives, are expected to oppose. REUTERS
2 die in Kentucky college shooting
    Agunman firing into a vehicle killed two people and wounded a juvenile on Tuesday in the parking lot of an eastern Kentucky community college. The campus was locked down for more than an hour while police searched the two buildings of Hazard Community and Technical College in Hazard, Kentucky to ensure there was no further danger. AP
Student opens fire at St Louis college
    Astudent armed with a pistol opened fire at a St Louis college on Tuesday, shooting a school employee and then turning the gun on himself, police said. Both are expected to survive the incident at the Stevens Institute of Business & Arts. The student, in his early 20s, shot a man in his 40s, believed to be a school administrator. REUTERS
Gun lobby: Prez an elitist hypocrite
    America’s powerful pro-gun National Rifle Association (NRA) has described President Barack Obama as an “elitist hypocrite” for providing Secret Service protection to his daughters but saying he was “skeptical” about deploying armed guards in schools. The provocative TV advert was released by the NRA ahead of Obama’s proposed announcement on gun control PTI

Chautala, son, 51 others sent to jail for job scam

Smriti Singh TNN

New Delhi: Twelve years after the illegal recruitment of 3,200-odd junior teachers in Haryana, the law caught up with former chief minister Om Prakash Chautala, his son Ajay and 51 others on Wednesday with a special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court convicting them of acts of corruption and cheating.
    The high-profile trial ended with Chautala behind bars as judge Vinod Kumar held the 78-year-old Indian National Lok Dal leader the “main conspirator” behind the scam that grabbed nationwide notice for its scope and brazenness. Chautala and others, including two IAS officers, were sent to Tihar Jail.
    The conviction has implications for Haryana politics as the ruling Congress government has been at the receiving end of corruption allegations about illegal land allotments to influential persons. The conviction of a major opposition figure for corruption levels the playing field somewhat.
    Those sent to jail were convicted of offences of cheating, forgery, using fake documents and conspiracy under the Indian Penal Code and abuse of their official position under the Prevention of Corruption Act. The court will announce the quantum of sentence on January 22. Whistleblower jailed too
New Delhi: Commenting on the blatant manner in which the appointments were manipulated, the court noted that Chautala had called the then director of education Sanjiv Kumar to change the list of successful candidates as the government had gained majority and did not need to accommodate the interests of MLAs from supporting parties.
    While Kumar was seen as a whistleblower, he was made aco-accused and has been convicted in the case. The former CM’s son, Ajay, is currently an MLA and is also facing trial in a disproportionate assets case.
    In course of arguments, the CBI claimed each aspirant teacher paid a bribe of Rs 3-4 lakh and that Chautala, who held the education portfolio, gave written instructions to Kumar to replace original list.
    The court held that in 2000, Chautala senior and his son conspired with others to illegally recruit 3,206 junior basic trained (JBT) teachers. Initially, 62 accused were named but six died during the trial while one was discharged.
    Ajay Chautala was then an MP, who was in regular touch with Kumar over the recruitment lists. Among the 55 convicted are Sanjiv Kumar, Chautala's former OSD Vidya Dhar, both IAS officers, political adviser to then Haryana CM Sher Singh Badshami and 16 women officials.
    The scam came to light after Kumar, a 1989 batch IAS officer, filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court alleging that the Chautala had resorted to corrupt practices while recruiting teachers in 2000. SC handed the case to the CBI, which over the course of a four-year probe, raided Chautala’s premises and grilled him and his sons. After the investigations, the CBI also made Kumar an accused in the case. The prosecution alleged that the convicts had appointed 3,206 JBT teachers in the state during 1999-2000. In its chargesheet, the agency claimed that its probe established that a conspiracy on making a second list was hatched at Haryana Bhawan in the capital by calling the chairpersons and members of the district-level selection committees of 18 districts.
    The court said that first IAS officer R P Chander, a CBI witness, who was the then director of primary education, had given a proposal for declaring the results of successful candidates in April 2000, but he was transferred the next day itself. Subsequently, IAS officer Rajni Shekri Sibal, also a CBI witness, was brought in at Chander’s place and she was asked by accused Badshami and Vidya Dhar to change the award lists in the presence of Ajay, it said.
    “When Rajni recommended compilation of results vide her note sheet of June 20, 2000, she was also transferred and Sanjiv Kumar was appointed in her place,” the court said.
    The defence counsel claimed Sibal was testifying falsely as she was a close relative of Union telecom minister Kapil Sibal and had links with Congress leaders. Dismissing the contention, the court said, “Had she (Sibal) been playing in the hands of Congress leaders, nothing stopped her from directly implicating the CM. She was an officer senior enough having an opportunity to meet the CM off and on... Therefore, the allegation against her that she is playing in the hands of Congress leaders namely Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Kapil Sibal does not hold.... I am of the opinion that she is not only a truthful witness but Ifind that she was the only person who had enough courage to withstand the political pressures exerted upon them.”
    Regarding the role of the then MP Ajay Chautala, the court said he was in constant touch with Sanjiv Kumar in 2000 when the fake award list was being prepared. “Ajay had a stake in the parliamentary constituency of district Bhiwani and the final result shows that the candidates selected from that district far exceeded the vacancies of that district. Thus, Ajay Chautala stands fully proved to be conspiring in this scam,” it said.
LONG ARM OF LAW CATCHES UP 1999-2000 | Haryana govt appoints 3,200 junior basic teachers 2003 | PIL filed before SC against then CM Chautala alleging corruption in the appointments. IAS officer Sanjiv Kumar also files petition. CBI says Chautala accepted Rs 3-4 lakh from each candidate and asked Kumar to replace the original list Nov 25, 2003 | On SC directive, CBI registers case of criminal conspiracy, cheating & forgery Jun 6, 2008 | CBI files chargesheet Jan 16, 2013 | CBI court convicts Chautala, son Ajay and 53 others, including whistleblower Kumar. Sentence to be pronounced on January 22

Ajay Chautala

Om Prakash Chautala

The matter is not related to corruption. No money exchanged hands. We appointed teachers on merit. The truth will come out — ABHEY CHAUTALA

Cops dig out old cases to ensnare Akbaruddin

Hyderabad/Adilabad:
The Kiran Kumar Reddy government appears to have decided to go after MIM MLA Akbaruddin Owaisi in full zeal. As an indication of this, the Medak police stepped up the gas on Wednesday and sought custody of the MLA to quiz him over an old case dating back to 2005. Based on a petition filed by the Sangareddy police on January 11, a local court in Medak on Wednesday directed that Akbaruddin be produced before it on January 17. Accordingly, a Medak police team armed with a PT (Prisoner Transfer) left for Adilabad on Wednesday to take custody of him. Akbaruddin was sent back to judicial custody in Adilabad in the early hours of Wednesday after five days of custody with the Nirmal cops.
    In the meantime, a local court in Nizamabad directed the cops to produce Akbaruddin before it on or before January 19 regarding a hate speech that he allegedly delivered in Nizamabad town on December 8, last year. In Anantapur, the local police is preparing to seek custody of Akbaruddin to quiz him about an alleged hate speech he delivered in the district on December 18, 2012. Following the alleged speech, the Anantapur II Town police station registered a case under sections 153 A (promoting enmity between two groups) and 121 of the IPC against Akbaruddin on January 5, 2013. Apart from these, Hyderabad cops of Mangalhat, Tappachaputra, Vanasthalipuram, Kushaiguda and Osmania University police stations are either preparing reports on the directive of courts and readying to seek his custody. This follows cases being registered against the MIM MLA. Akbar moves bail petition Cops To Produce Akbar Today In Patancheru Court
Hyderabad/Adilabad: “If the cops have their way, then Akbaruddin will have to keep answering charges at various places one after the other,” said police officials, hinting that the sudden zeal shown by the police could not have been without a ‘directive’ from the state government.
    The case before Sangareddy police pertains to an incident that took place in 2005 when district officials led by then collector Anil Kumar Singhal were removing encroachments that included a place of worship in Muttangi in Patancheru area of Medak district. At this time MIM leaders including Asaduddin, Akbaruddin, Afsar Khan, Pasha Qadri and Mozam Khan allegedly obstructed and pushed the collector aside. Following complaints filed by the district administration, the Patancheru police registered cases under 295 A (hurting religious sentiments) 147 (punishment for rioting), 290 (punishment for public nuisance), 184 (obstructing sale of property offered for sale by authority of public servant), 341(punishment for wrongful restraint) and 506 (intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against the accused.
    The Owaisi brothers appeared before the court once in 2009 since they were contesting the elections, but did not do so after that. Later, the police issued non-bailable warrants against Asaduddin and Akbaruddin but did not execute them. Now, two years later, the Medak police on January 11 decided to press charges against Akbaruddin. Medak superintendent of police G Vijay Kumar told TOI on Wednesday that following the court directive, Akbaruddin will be produced in a local court in Patancheru on January 17 and that a police team has left for Adilabad to bring the accused. “We moved the petition only against Akbaruddin since an NBW is pending against him,” Vijay Kumar said. When questioned about Asaduddin, who is also allegedly facing NBW in the same case, Vijay Kumar said: “As of now, we are focusing only on Akbaruddin.”
    Meanwhile, Akbaruddin’s advocates on Wednesday filed a bail petition for him in the Adilabad sessions court. The petition has been posted for hearing on January 24. On the other hand, the directions on two petitions filed - one by the Nirmal police seeking a date to record the voice sample of MLA to compare it with the voice recorded in CDs containing his hate speech - and another by Akbaruddin to be provided special category prisoner status – were posted to January 18 after hearing the argument from both sides.
    Stating that Akbaruddin had been unwell and even vomited during interrogation on January 14, the MLA’s advocates wanted the court to direct jail authorities to provide corporate medical treatment to him. Akbaruddin cooperated with the police team during the interrogation, they said and added that district superintendent of police, Sarvashresta Tripathi had also questioned Akbaruddin in three phases.

Facebook may lower self-control

New York: Facebook and other social networks may promote your self-esteem but they can also lower your self-control both on and offline, US researchers say.
    The study demonstrates that users who are focused on close friends tend to experience an increase in self-esteem while browsing their social networks, but afterwards these users display less self-control. Greater social network use among this category of users with strong ties to their friends is also associated with individuals having higher body-mass indexes and higher levels of creditcard debt, according to the study.
    “To our knowledge, this is the first research to show that using online social networks can affect self-control,” said researcher Andrew T Stephen from the University of Pittsburgh. “We have demonstrated that using today’s most popular social network, Facebook, may have a detrimental affect on people’s self-control,” he said.
    The study includes the results of five separate studies conducted with a total of more than 1,000 US Facebook users. In the researchers’ initial study, participants completed surveys about how closely they’re connected to friends on Facebook. They were then split into two groups: one group that wrote about the experience of browsing Facebook and another group that actually browsed Facebook.
    Both groups then completed a self-esteem survey.
    The participants with weak ties to Facebook friends did not experience an increase in self-esteem, but those with strong ties to friends had an enhanced self-esteem. The second study concluded that browsing Facebook only increased participants’ self-esteem when they were focused on the information they were presenting to others. PTI

Indians migrated to Oz 4,000 yrs ago, genes show

Kounteya Sinha TNN

New Delhi: Indian genes had got mixed with that of Australian aboriginals more than 4,000 years ago — centuries before the Europeans colonized Down Under.
    Dingo, the Australian wild dog, may have also been an Indian export besides stone tool technologies that changed the way Australian aboriginals lives their lives. Latest scientific evidence published on Tuesday has found that Australian aboriginal and Indian genes were mixed.
    A study by researchers of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, has now confirmed evidence of substantial gene flow between Indian population and Australia aboriginals about 4,000 years ago.
    Interestingly, the study also suggests that this migration coincided with several changes in the archaeological record of Australia, which include a sudden change in plant processing and stone tool technologies, with microliths appearing for the first time, and the first appearance of the dingo in the fossil record.
    Speaking to TOI from Germany, lead researcher Irina Pugach said, “Since we detect inflow of genes from India into Australia at around the same time, it is likely that these changes were related to this migration.”
    She explained, “We have estimated the amount of Indian contribution to Australian genomes at around 10%, but this number doesn’t tell us anything about how many individuals might have migrated. This number depends on the size of the Australian population at the time, and we don’t know how big it was. “The amount of Indian ancestry could have become inflated through the process known as genetic drift, especially if the Australian population was small.”
    “Out of the populations considered in the study, Dravidian-speaking groups are the best match to be the source populations for this migration, but this does not mean the ancestors of these groups actually were the source population. It is possible, that there is another group which we didn’t sample yet. Another possibility is that this group doesn’t even exist anymore,” she added.
    Australia holds some of the earliest archaeological evidence for the presence of modern humans outside Africa, with the earliest sites dated to at least 45,000 years ago, making Australian aboriginals one of the oldest continuous populations outside Africa.
    For more log on to www .timesofindia.com

Indians migrated to Oz 4,000 yrs ago, genes show

Kounteya Sinha TNN

BJP ridicules PM’s delayed reaction

New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s warning on Tuesday that India would be forced to pause the peace process if Pakistan persisted with its brazen disregard for the killing of Indian soldiers and brutalization of their bodies failed to bring him respite from criticism from the BJP. The principal opposition, which had attacked the government, particularly the PM, for not being tough, reacted to Singh’s remarks by asking why it took him so long to hold out the warning to Pakistan, and stressed that it was the pressure from BJP which had forced the government to change its stand.

Tension along LoC runs high as Pak violates ceasefire again

Five Ceasefire Violations In Sectors, Which Are Also Traditional Infiltration Routes, Since Monday’s Flag Meeting

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Jammu/New Delhi: The meandering 778-km-long Line of Control (LoC) remains redhot, with Pakistan violating the ceasefire at least five times after the brigadier-level flag meeting was held at the Chakkan-Da-Bagh crossing point in Poonch district on Monday afternoon.
    “Pakistan came to the flag meeting with a prepared script... He (the Pakistani brigadier) read out from a prepared text and denied everything. Even after the flag meeting, there were three ceasefire violations. They fired from small arms as well as mortars,’’ said Lt-General K T Parnaik, who as the Northern Army Command chief is responsible for the LoC as well as J&K.
    The senior officer said Pakistan chose to remain in “denial mode” during the flag meeting despite all evidence that Pakistani Army’s SSG commandos had intruded well into Indian territory in the Mendhar sector and beheaded Lance-Naik Hemraj of the 13 Rajputana Rifles, apart from mutilating the body of Lance-Naik Sudhakar Singh, on January 8. This comes a day after Army chief General Bikram Singh said he had instructed all battalion commanders on the LoC to retaliate “aggressively and offensively’’ if the Pakistani Army provokes them by violating the ceasefire or pushing militants into J&K. The fresh ceasefire violations since Monday afternoon were reported from the Mendhar, Balnoi and Uri sectors, which are also traditional infiltration routes.
    “We did not respond because they were not effective... We do not believe in reacting in haste and anger... We have lot of options and plans. We will react in time,’’ said Lt-Gen Parnaik.
    “We accused them of carrying out the barbaric act... We insisted that the head (of Lance-Naik Hemraj) be returned. We also drew their attention to the frequent firing in the area,’’ he added.
    Apart from registering a strong protest about the “dastardly act’’, the Indian delegation at the flag meeting also presented a file with photographs to show landmines planted by Pakistani troops in forward areas inside Indian territory.
FB ‘like’ leads to sedition charges Kochi: Clicking ‘like’ on Facebook pages of a few Pakistanis he befriended in Dubai has landed K H Muhammed Ali in deep trouble. In the FIR filed in Sept 2012 by Kochi police, he has been accused of ‘liking’ an FB page titled ‘I love Pakistan’ and his profile has a dog clothed in Tricolour. Among other charges, he has been booked for sedition under Section 66A of IT Act, 2000). On Tuesday, he challenged the FIR at the Kerala HC. TNN
BSF jawan shoots mate, kills self Amritsar: A BSF constable shot six bullets into a fellow constable before shooting himself dead in Bhikhiwind, Punjab, on Monday. Constable Sunil and victim Mahesh, who were posted with the 163rd Battalion of BSF in Bhikhiwind, were from Rewari and had joined the force in 2007. On Monday night Sunil returned to the camp from the border and shot Mahesh dead. While a preliminary probe pointed to a love triangle, BSF officials are yet to confirm it. TNN

Law perceived as impotent, says minister

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi: Law minister Ashwani Kumar on Saturday conceded that the recent outrage over the December 16 gang rape here was the result of an erosion of faith in the judicial delivery system. “Law is perceived as impotent in the face of grave injustice, leading to an unacceptable erosion of faith in the justice delivery system and rule of law,” he said.
    The government is contemplating structural changes aimed at ensuring a credible and citizen-friendly judicial process, the minister suggested. He was speaking at a seminar here. The minister said the “public outrage after the Delhi tragedy is not only against the depravity of a few but is also against the perceived inadequacies in the way we administer procedural laws.”
    Kumar said judicial reforms have acquired urgency in view of the challenges defined by new technologies, globalization and insatiable aspirations of people. “It should be our endeavour to ensure that law works for everyone and the vast majority is not deprived of the protective shelter of law.”
    “Transformational
changes in society have brought to the fore the perennial debate on the relationship between law, public morality and social change. Tragic events in the recent past that have shaken national sensitivities have hastened the process of introspection,” Kumar added.
    He said the government in the recent past had taken steps in the direction of structural reforms and was contemplating many more, for advancing the cause of quality and expeditious justice. The proposal to create an All India Judicial Service is at an advanced stage of consideration. This will hopefully improve the quality of judges at the subordinate level, he said.