0815 HRS

08th April, 2013

THE HEADLINES:

• Number of judges to be doubled in next 5 years to ensure speedy disposal of cases.

• Nine persons including Assistant Municipal Commissioner remanded to 14 days police custody in Thane building collapse case.

• CBI takes up probe into rhino killing at the Kaziranga National Park inAssam.

• Sri Lankan Court to take up the case of 56 Indian fishermen held by Lankan Navy today.

• Reigning world champion Rupesh Shah wins the Asian Billiards Championship at Indore.

• And, Sunrisers Hyderabad defeat Royal Challengers Bangalore in the super-over in the Indian Premier League Twenty-20 cricket tournament.

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The number of sanctioned posts of judges will be doubled to nearly 37 thousand in the coming five years. With this decision, the judge - population ratio will increase from 15.47 per million to 30 judges per million population. Releasing a "comprehensive agenda for legal and judicial reforms" after a conference of chief justices of high courts and chief ministers, Chief Justice of India Altamas Kabir and Law Minister Ashwani Kumar said that the Prime Minister has approved in principle the decision to increase the judge-population ratio. More fast-track courts would be set up to try cases involving heinous crimes and offences against the elderly, women and children. Justice Altamas Kabir was addressing a joint press conference in New Delhi with Mr. Ashwani Kumar. The minister said additional funds for infrastructure will be released under a centrally sponsored scheme on 75: 25 basis. He said, a committee will be set up to deal with petty and small crimes.

We have now decided to set up a small committee to be nominated by Hon'ble the Chief Justice that will actually show the way how in petty small criminal cases, the individual liberties of the accused are not incarcerated and they are not compromised and they don't have to suffer and languish in jails for petty offences for completely avoidable reasons.

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Finance Minister P Chidambaram has criticised the BJP for not supporting the UPA government's efforts to pass a resolution in Parliament on the Sri Lankan Tamilsissue. Addressing a public meeting in Chennai, Mr. Chidambaram explained the initiatives that the Congress took for passing a resolution in Parliament. He said, the government convened an all-party meet to discuss the issue, but the BJP, the Left Parties, Janata Dal, Akali Dal, Shiv Sena, and the Telugu Desam opposed passage ofthe resolution.

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A Nationalist Congress Party corporator and an Assistant Municipal Commissioner are among the nine people arrested so far in the Thane building collapse case.Thane Police Commissioner K.P. Raghuvanshi said that the builders bribed public servants, including the civic authorities, police and an elected corporator, in lakhs,to ensure that the construction work continued without any hindrance. He said investigation in the case is an at initial stage and that more people are likely to be arrested.

Investigations are on in full swing. The Maharashtra government and the police have taken a strict stand on the incident. All those who are responsible and against whom we will receive evidences, will be investigated.

As the death toll in the mishap on Thursday rose to 74,

Hira Patil, the local corporator from Mumbra; Deepak Chavan, the suspended deputy commissioner of Thane Municipal Corporation, Babasaheb Andhale, an assistant municipal commissioner, along with six others were remanded to police custody by aholiday court till April 20th.

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The Central Bureau of Investigation, the CBI has taken up the probe into the killing of rhinos in Assam. State Environment and Forest Minister Rockybul Hussain said that the Union Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions has sent a communication in this regard. However, details of the number of cases taken up by CBI and the time-frame for the investigation are yet to be known.

For better surveillance of the Kaziranga National Park, the National Tiger Conservation Authority of the Union Environment and Forests Ministry will undertake test flights of unmanned aerial vehicles over the sanctuary from today.

More from our correspondent:

Opposition parties and several civil society organisations have been demanding CBI inquiry to nab the kingpin behind the rhino poaching in Assam.Poachers killed 22 rhinos last year while another 16 have been killed during the last three months. Last year,Assam government urged the Centre to conduct a CBI inquiry into the killing of rhinos and dethroning its horn .It is believed that due to the soaring price of rhino horn in international market,insurgent groups were also involved in rhino poaching. Security forces and forest department have arrested around 150 poachers during the last 15 months. MANAS PRATIM SARMA, AIR NEWS, GUWAHATI.

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A Sri Lankan Magistrate's Court will today take up the case of the 56 Indian fishermen held by the Lankan Navy. 30 more Indian fishermen were arrested Saturday night, taking the number of Tamil fishermen arrested in two days to 56.

The latest arrests were made north of Talaimannar in North Sri Lanka and the fishermen have been handed over to the police for being produced before the court. The Consulate General of India in Jaffna are in touch with the local authorities to secure an early release of all the fishermen.

Fishermen in Rameswaram have started an indefinite strike from today urging the release of Tamil fishermen lodged in a Sri Lankan jail. Our correspondent reports that out of the 56 fishermen, 49 hail from Rameshwaram.

At present 49 Tamil fishermen from Rameswaram are lodged in Sri Lankan jails for fishing in Lankan waters. 30 fishermen in five boats hailing from Rameswaram were apprehended by Sri Lankan Navy when they were fishing near Kachatheevu island. Earlier 19 Tamil fishermen from Rameswaram were arrested and lodged in Lankan jail. The Rameswaram fishermen had resumed fishing recently after 17 days of continuous strike urging the release of Tamil fishermen lodged in Lankan jail. With tears in their eyes fishermen are saying they cannot do anything for their livelihood as Lankan Navy are attacking them the moment they enter international waters. K Devi Padmanabhan K Devi Padmanabhan, AIR News Tiruchirapalli.

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Rural development Minister Jairam Ramesh says, the West Bengal government has failed to spend the money earmarked for centrally sponsored schemes. Addressing a rally near Siliguri in West Bengal, the Union Minister alleged that the Trinamool Congress led government does not want timely rural polls in the state. Mr. Ramesh said that the state government will not get Central assistance in various rural development fields if Panchayat elections do not take place on time.

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The 2nd India Water Week 2013 begins today. The theme of the week is Efficient Management of Water: Challenges and Opportunities. It will be inaugurated by President Pranab Mukherjee in New Delhi. The 5 day long sojourn is aimed at addressing technical and policy issues of the water sector.

A Water Expo will also be held simultaneously to showcase technology, latest developments and solutions in improving efficiencies in agriculture, irrigation, water supply and the power generation sectors.

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The state of Uttar Pradesh will be awarded for its remarkable progress in implementation of a Flagship programme of the central government known as the National Health Insurance Scheme, NHIS or the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojna. The state has been elected the "most improved state" under NHIS, a government spokesperson said yesterday.

Our correspondent reports that the award would be handed over to the CEO, NHIS at a function in Thiruvananthapuram.

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South Korea has said that North Korea may test-launch a missile this week. Kim Jang-Soo, chief national security adviser to President Park Geun-Hye, said a test-launch or other provocation could come before or after Wednesday, the date by which the North has suggested that diplomats leave Pyongyang.

North Korea, incensed by UN sanctions following its nuclear and missile tests and by South Korean-US military drills, has issued a series of threats of nuclear war in recent weeks. Meanwhile, in a veiled criticism of its long-time ally, North Korea, new Chinese President Xi Jinping has warned that no one should be allowed to create chaos for selfish gains.

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Reigning world champion Rupesh Shah has won the high quality final match of the 12th Asian Billiards championship 2013. The championship was held at Indore in Madhya Pradesh. This is India's 10th Asian Billiards title and Rupesh is a new entrant to this elite club.

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Sunrisers Hyderabad defeated Royal Challengers Bangalore in the super-over last night, to register their second consecutive victory in the ongoing Indian Premier League Twenty-20 cricket tournament. Opting to bat first, Bangalore posted 130 for 8 in the allotted 20 overs. Bangalore Skipper Virat Kohli top scored with 46, with a valuable contribution of 44 by Moises Henriques. Chasing 131 for victory,Hyderabad needed 7 runs in the final over, but they managed to make just 6, which led to the season's first super over.

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The News Services Division of All India Radio in its weekly "PUBLIC SPEAK" programme tonight, will bring you a discussion on "Digitization of Cable TV." This can be heard on FM Gold Channel and additional frequencies at 9.30 p.m. Information and Broadcasting Secretary Uday Kumar Verma will be present in our studio to answer queries from listeners. Listeners can ask questions on telephone number: 011-2331-4444. This programme is also available on Doordarshan DTH.

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NEWSPAPERS HEADLINES

Conference of Chief Ministers and Chief Justices that was held in Delhi yesterday is noticed prominently by the Press. The Statesman writes "Singh alerts judiciary on gender issues", in his inaugural address.

The Financial Express reports that the Finance Ministry has decided to beef up the proposed Amnesty Scheme for service tax evaders, by empowering officers to reject an amnesty request and to initiate an investigation into tax evasion if the admitted tax evaded amount is suspected to be 'untruthful'.

"Price of Cancer drugs set to fall" writes Hindustan Times and goes on to say that Cancer drugs will cost almost 25 % less if the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority implements a new formula that calls for a Price Cap.

In an innovative eco-friendly step, the National Highways Authority of India is considering to use Municipal Solid Waste as the sub-base material for augmentation of highway gradients, reports the Pioneer.

According to the Tribune, 3 students of IIT Kharagpur have embarked on a "Teach for Kashmir" mission, aimed at increasing the presence of Kashmiri students in various IITs in the country under which they plan to provide an intensive two-month 'free of cost' training programme for IIT aspirants from Kashmir.

The Pioneer informs us that the National Investigation Agency is likely to give a clean chit to Liaquat Shah, who was arrested by the Delhi Police as a suspected terrorist. The NIA found no reason to disbelieve Shah's story that he had come toIndia to avail the J&K Governments' rehabilitation policy, says the paper.

And finally, The Times of India says that researchers in Washington have designed a unique 'oxygen-emitting' pillow. Made of aloe cells the pillow provides safety from harmful germs by absorbing carbon monoxide and releasing oxygen.