Unwelcome praise? BSY lauds Sonia, blasts BJP :- 14.5.12-TOI

Bangalore: This is a compliment Sonia Gandhi
could have done without. Former Karnataka chief minister B S Yeddyurappa on Sunday launched into praise for the Congress chief to put the BJP leadership on notice.
    Yeddyurappa said that unlike BJP leaders who leave their colleagues to stew in their own juices when they are in trouble, the Congress chief stands by her comrades in a crisis. Speaking at a function organized by fellow Lingayats, the increasingly rebellious BJP strongman said, “I have to praise Sonia Gandhi. When she came to Tumkur, Congress leaders were seen united and supportive.”
    Not stopping at this, he took a dig at his own party stating that in BJP, people would be waiting for a person to face some problem. BSY’s praise makes Cong, BJP squirm
Bangalore: “In our party, our leaders will be happy only after some kind of punishment is handed out, and that is the difference with Sonia Gandhi. In the BJP, people will be waiting for a person to face some problem and then put him down, and grab his position.”
    The compliment must have left the Congress squirming as the party had cited alleged corruption on Yeddyurappa’s watch to mock BJP’s support for the antigraft campaign. It also underscored the growing anger of the Lingayat chieftain who helped BJP form its first government in the south, but who has increasingly been resentful of factional rivals in Karnataka and their backers in central leadership who, according to him, have tried to cash in on his legal troubles.
    The public expression of disappointment reflects a clear hardening of Yeddyurappa’s stand for a leadership change in the state, which can complicate the BJP’s task to repair its house in Karnataka ahead of the coming electoral challenges.
    The former chief minister, whose legal troubles were considerably compounded last week when the Supreme Court ordered a CBI inquiry into whether he allowed companies mining concessions in exchange for monetary favours for his relatives, has been pressing for an early meeting of the Karnataka legislature party to flaunt his support among MLAs and to show that chief minister Sadananda Gowda does not have the majority with him. Eight ministers belonging to the Yeddyurappa faction have resolved to quit as part of the pressure tactics .

Declare Haqqanis as terrorists: Lawmakers :- 13.5.12-TOI

Washington: A bipartisan group of powerful US lawmakers has asked secretary of state Hillary Clinton to “immediately designate” the Pakistan-based dreaded Haqqani network as a foreign terrorist organization.
    The lawmakers, who have written a letter to Clinton in this regard, include senate intelligence committee chairman Dianne Feinstein and cice chairman Saxby Chambliss and house intelligence committee chairman Mike Rogers and Ranking Member Dutch Ruppersberger.
    The lawmakers pointed out that it was clear that the Haqqani network, based in Pakistan’s North Waziristan, continues to launch sensational and indiscriminate attacks against United States interests in Afghanistan, and poses a continuing threat “to innocent men, women, and children in the region”.
    “Last week, our travel to Afghanistan for meetings with president (Hamid) Karzai, ambassador (Ryan) Crocker, general (John) Allen, and many military, intelligence, and state department officers serving in Afghanistan reaffirmed concerns substantiated by intelligence and our oversight work,” the lawmakers wrote.
    The letter said there is little question that the Haqqani network meets the criteria for designation as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO) — it engages in terrorist activity that threatens the security of US citizens or the national security of the US.
    On November 1, 2011 the state department wrote that it was engaged in the “final formal review” on whether to designate the group as an FTO

‘Cut $50m for every American killed’:- 13.5.12-TOI

US Accountability Bill Proposes Rider To Pak Aid

Washington: Alleging that Pakistan has for decades leveraged radical terrorist groups to carry out attacks in India and Afghanistan, a US lawmaker has introduced a bill that proposes to deduct $50 million from the US aid to Islamabad everytime an American is killed “as a result of actions of ISI”.
    Congressman Dana Rohrabacher introduced the Pakistan Terrorism Accountability Act of 2012 on Friday in Congress.
    The legislation would require the department of defence to list all Americans killed by terrorist groups operating with impunity inside Pakistan and Afghanistan and supported by elements of the Pakistani government.
    For each person killed, $50 million would be subtracted from US foreign assistance to Pakistan, a requested $2.2 billion, and given to the victim’s family. Rohrabacher is chairman of the house foreign affairs oversight and investigations subcommittee.
    “For too long America has funded the Pakistani government, giving it free money, while elements of the ISI and Pakistan’s military operate radical Islamic groups that are actively murdering Americans. Americans will not accept this,” Rohrabacher said.
    “Pakistan has for decades leveraged radical terrorist groups to carry out attacks in India and Afghanistan,” he said. “Pakistan helped to create the Taliban and Pakistan’s intelligence service hid Osama bin Laden from the US for years. Today, one of the most dangerous and sophisticated groups killing American troops in Afghanistan is the Haqqani network, which is closely operated by the Pakistani government,” Rohrabacher alleged.

Fluoride level reaches danger mark in RR dist :- 13.5.12-TOI

Hyderabad: In what could worry lakhs of residents in Ranga Reddy district, a recent survey undertaken by the rural water supply (RWS) department has found that fluoride content in the ground water is much above the safe limits prescribed by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) i.e. 2 milligrams per one litre of water. But fluoride levels have reached danger mark in as many as 2,600 water sources in RR district.
    There are about 13,000 water sources in 700 gram panchayats in the district from where water is supplied either from borewells or tanks. More than 9,000 water samples from 37 mandals were taken and around 2,600 samples had an excess of 1.5 mg fluoride per litre.
    RWS officials said the fluoride levels were high particularly in Saroornagar, Hayatnagar and Shabad mandals. Neighboring Nalgonda district recorded a high fluoride level of 10 mg.
    “The main reason for the increase in fluoride content is lack of rains. Water is not being generated naturally, which in a way is leading to excessive presence of fluoride,” reasoned Venkata Ramana, executive engineer, RWS.
    The problem is further compounded as the proposed supply of Krishna or Manjeera water to the district has not materialized yet. Manjeera water supply has been put on hold following a row over the connection fee charge to the metro water works department. As a result, the district is totally dependent on ground water. Officials have identified 108 villages where the ground water level has gone to abysmal depths.
    RWS officials also pointed out the mushrooming of mineral water plant units in the district. In addition to Nalgonda and RR districts, RWS officials said that Khammam district is also hit by high fluoride levels in water.

‘Halfway homes’ to allow prisoners to live with kin :- 13.5.12-TOI

Hyderabad: Jails are set to be a home away from home? If all goes well, inmates of the open air prison, Anantapur, can call over their families to stay with them for a few days. They will have a room with a verandah and also a kitchen where they can cook food of their choice.
    A plan has been drawn up to construct, what is called, halfway home’ so that inmates can continue to have strong family ties while they are serving a prison term for their crimes. Earlier, such a facility had been planned for the open air jail at Cherlapalli. For the open air jail at Anantapur, a foreign NGO showed interest to fund construction of rooms for the families of prisoners.
    With the state government also showing inclination for such an experiment, prisons department authorities have chalked out a plan for facilitating prisoners to stay with their families for about three days. The jail is spread over 1400 acres and, presently, accommodates 200 prisoners though there is enough space for 235. The inmates mostly work in 750-acre agriculture land. Apart from tending to mango orchards, they raise groundnut crop and grow vegetables.
    “As it is prisoners with good behaviour are sent to open jails. If they are allowed to have strong family ties, it could help in their further reformation. It may take some time for the rooms to be constructed with monetary help from NGOs,” Addl IG, prisons, B Sunil Kumar said.
    The inmates are quite excited about the proposal. Anantapur open air jail superintendent I Srinivasa Rao told TOI that the `reunion homes’ as the proposed rooms in the jail will also be referred to as, will provide the inmates an opportunity to spend quality time with their families.
    During the ‘mulakat’ prisoners can only spend some time with a visitor but the halfway home’ or a ‘reunion home’ will only make the family bond stronger. The experiment will be somewhat like the system reportedly existing in the jail at Singaner in Rajasthan. In the Singaner jail, prison inmates live with their families and work in the prison fields. In the Anantapur jail, families can only visit the inmates for a few days.