Lalu Prasad Yadav found guilty in fodder scam case along with 44 others; Yadav taken into judicial custody

Sep 30,  7:12 PM A Special CBI Court in Ranchi today held RJD Supremo and MP Lalu Prasad guilty in a case related to the fodder scam. 44 others found guilty in the case include former Chief Minister of Bihar Dr. Jaganath Mishra. The quantum of punishment would be pronounced on 3rd October. 37 including Lalu Prasad found guilty in the case have been taken into judicial custody . Lalu Prasad taken to Birsa Munda Central Jail in Ranchi. Among the convicted, eight persons, including two politicians -Vidya Sagar Nishad and Dhurv Bhagat, one IAS officer and four suppliers,who have been sentenced to between one to three years of imprisonment are applying for bail later in the day. They have also been fined 50 thousand to 50 lakh Rupees. Lalu Prasad and otheres are accused in five cases of Fodder Scam. AIR Ranchi Correspondent reports that the present case relates to illegal withdrawal of 37 crores and 70 lakhs rupees from Chaibasa government treasury. The Correspondent says that the infamous fodder scam came into light because one thousand cores of rupees were illegally withdrawn from various government treasuries, mostly from districts that are now in Jharkhand. Here withdrawals were made exceeding allocations by many times and by producing fake bills. This happened by prolonged criminal collusion of government officers of Animal Husbandry department and contractors and suppliers with the blessings and connivance of political masters. The scam was followed by few activists, among whom Mr. Saryu Rai is most notable. Meanwhile, RJD Chief Lalu Prasad's son Tejaswi Yadav has said that an appeal will be filed against today's judgement of the Special CBI Court. Speaking to the media at Ranchi, he also said that the matter would be taken to the people's court during elections. SC sets aside K’taka Govt's decision to remove SPP G. Bhawani Singh from DA case against Jayalalithaa Sep 30,  2:2 PM The Supreme Court today set aside Karnataka Government's decision to remove Special Public Prosecutor G. Bhawani Singh from the disproportionate assets case against Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, J. Jayalalithaa. Terming the decision as malafide, a bench of justices BS Chauhan and SA Bobde also asked the Karnataka High Court and the state government to consider extending tenure of the special trial judge as per the law. The bench also said that the trial court's record runs into nearly 33,000 pages and the recording of statements of witnesses has also been completed. The apex court, on September 25, reserved its verdict on the issue of appointment and sacking of SPP Singh in the case and also on the AIADMK Chief's plea for extension of the tenure of the trial judge who is scheduled to retire today. Bhawani Singh was appointed as the SPP following the resignation offormer Advocate General B V Acharya, who was the prosecutor in the case from February 2005 till August 2012. AIADMK Chief is accused of amassing Rs 66.65 crore between 1991 and 1996 when she was the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. India to Pak: Stop ceasefire violations & terror activities against India Sep 30,  12:19 PM New Delhi wants to give Pakistan a chance to stop ceasefire violations and terror activities against India. This was stated by External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid while referring to the meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart, Nawaz Sharif, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session in New York yesterday. In an interview Salman Khurshid said that while seeking trust of Sharif, India will verify the actions on the ground before taking any step further on resuming the stalled dialogue process. He said, the terrorism emanating from Pakistan must be eliminated, and it should not be allowed to grow and destroy the sapling of creative constructive relationship. Khurshid said, there is a reasonable element of hope that the discussion will not go waste and it will lead to some improvement . At the hour-long meeting with Sharif yesterday, Dr. Singh had made it clear that ending ceasefire violations on the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir is a pre-condition for resumption of bilateral dialogue. Khurshid, who was part of the Indian delegation, said, Dr. Singh had a frank and friendly discussion with Sharif. He flagged every issue of concern, including Mumbai attack, Jamaat-ud-Dawa and its chief Hafiz Saeed, and LoC. He said, to restore ceasefire at the LoC, Dr. Singh preferred his own view that now this should be done at the level of DGMO, Directors General of Military Operations. President calls on Asia pacific nations to work towards development Sep 30,  3:37 PM President Pranab Mukherjee today called on Asia pacific nations to jointly work towards enhancing socio-economic development of the region. Inaugurating the 19th meet of the Centre on integrated rural development for Asia and the Pacific CIRDAP, Mr. Mukherjee urged member nations to share with each other, best and proven practices in good governance to reduce poverty, enhance flow of resources and rural development within the region. Pointing out, the Asia Pacific region is ridden with poverty, Mr. Mukherjee asked policy makers to focus on vital areas of food security, education, employment, health, nutrition and sanitation. Mr. Mukherjee also asked policy makers to join hands to address the common challenges of increasing productivity of land, energy security and also address the impact of climate change.  National News Back  Investment in rural youth needed to increase farm productivity,says Minister Sep 29,  8:21 PM The Minister of state for Rural Development, Pradeep Jain Aditya said that investment in rural youth is needed to enhance on-farm and off-farm productivity. Addressing the inaugeral session of the 6th Regional Policy Dialogue of the Centre on Integrated Rural Development for Asia and Pacific in Delhi today, Mr.Jain emphasized on the need to generate employment opportunities in rural areas to check migration to towns. The theme of the 6th Regional Policy Dialogue, ‘Role of Youth in Rural Development’ showcased best practices from member countries where youth development activities have bee implemented successfully. Centre to review preparations for implementation of National Food Security Act Sep 30,  7:09 PM The Center will review preparations for implementation of National Food security Act with the State Food Ministers in a meeting in New Delhi tomorrow. The meeting will discuss criteria to be adopted for identification of beneficiaries by the States, issue of fresh ration cards, women empowerment under the Act and doorstep delivery of foodgrains. Setting up of Grievance Redressal Machinery at district and state levels, computerization of Targeted Public Distribution System and creation of additional storage capacity of foodgrains will also be taken up during deliberations. Our Correspondent reports that the Act gives right to poor people to receive 5 Kg foodgrains per month per person at highly subsidized prices. Food Security Law has already been enacted in Haryana, Himachal, Rajsthan, Uttranchal, Mizoram and Delhi. Textile Ministry seeks textile sector’s linkage to MNREGA scheme Sep 29,  9:09 PM Textiles Ministry has sought the sector's linkage to Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act orMNREGA. The move is expected to help attract skilled workers to the industry that is facing shortage of manpower. Talking to a news agency, Textiles Minister Kavuru Sambasiva Rao said, he recently wrote a letter to Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh proposing to link the employment guarantee scheme to the textiles sector to minimise the problems of skilled labourers. Rao said the ministry wants to train 15 lakh people in the textiles sector in the next three years which will help in making textiles exports globally competitive. He added that the government has already allocated 1,900 crore rupees for skills development in the sector .