0815 HRS

21st April, 2013

THE HEADLINES:

• Brutal rape of five year old girl in Delhi evokes wide spread condemnation; Home Minister assures action against erring policemen.
• A local court in Uttar Pradesh awards death sentence to a couple in an honour killing case.
• Indians settled abroad emerge as saviours of a slowdown-hit Indian economy, says the World Bank.
• India and Bangladesh sign three agreements to set up joint venture projects in Bangladesh.
• And in Sports;Assam tops the medal tally with four golds in 20th National Archery Championship.

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Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde has assured action against policemen found guilty of trying to hush up the rape case of a five year old girl in Delhi. Talking to reporters in New Delhi, he said an inquiry has been launched to find out if there was any lapse on the part of the police.

Very serious incidents are taking place. We shall have to be more alert to check such crimes. As far as action against Police is concerned, we are on the job.

The 25-year old accused in the case, Manoj Kumar has been brought to Delhi after his arrest in Bihar. The Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights has issued a notice to the police asking it to explain why the parents of the five year old rape victim were harassed in the police station when they had gone there to register a case. The Commission also asked the police to explain the delay in registering the case. An official said that the Commission shall also ensure that the child gets appropriate compensation from the state for her rehabilitation.

Meanwhile, the brutal rape case has evoked widespread condemnation. President Pranab Mukherjeee has called for urgent steps to bring the perpetrators of the crime to justice. Vice President Hamid Ansari has expressed deep sadness at the incident. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has described the incident as shameful and the behaviour of senior police officers against protesting women as unacceptable. Information & Broadcasting Minister Manish Tiwari has called for police reforms to check such incidents.

Briefing reporters Congress spokesman Janardan Dwivedi said that Congress President Sonia Gandhi has asserted that mere words will not be enough and stringent steps should be taken.

Smt Sonia Gandhi has conveyed it to the authorities and the Government that only words are not enough . Tougher action should be taken and an atmosphere be created that no body can dare to commit such crimes.

BJP leader Sushma Swaraj has demanded capital punishment in child rape cases and those involving brutality and barbarity.

"This mental disease needs a shock treatment and not just an ordinary bill. I want that there should be a provision that these people should be hanged. There should not be any delay in this."

Minister for Women and Child Development Krishna Tirath has said that the people will have to give serious thought on how to deal with such issues.

Such behaviour is very indecent and I feel that people themselves should think over the issue and police should be alert.

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In Madhya Pradesh, the four-year-old rape victim of Ghansour area of Seoni district has been airlifted to Nagpur in a critical condition. The girl was raped by a 35 year-old man on the 17th of April. The accused, who belonged to Bihar is at large and police teams have been sent to various places to nab him. The residents of Ghansour observed a bandh on Saturday in protest against the incident.

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In an honour killing case, a couple has been awarded the death sentence by a local court in Badaun of Uttar Pradesh. Prosecution sources said the Additional district judge S N Tripathi held Mastan and his wife Shakeela gulity of killing their daughter Chandni and Idris and pronounced the verdict on them. The court also imposed a penalty of 25,000 rupees each on the convicts. Mastan was opposed to the relationship of the victims following which the were killed on the night of June the 29th last year. Later, a case was lodged by the family members of Idris against Mastan and his wife Shakeela.

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The second phase of the budget session of Parliament begins tomorrow. The NDA top brass which held a meeting yesterday at the residence of its working president L. K. Advani said it will raise issues including the coal mines allocation scam and the brutal rape of a five year old in East Delhi. It has also given notice of raising the JPC draft report on the 2G scam. Briefing reporters Mr. Advani said that the BJP feels hurt by the fact that Atal Behari Vajpayee and others have beenn named in the report.

I am deeply hurt and surprised to hear from our members in JPC that there are serious remarks against Sri Atal Bihari Vajpai, Jaswant Singh and Arun Shourie and that because of them the country has suffered the loss of hundreds of millions.

Information and Broadcasting Minister Mr. Manish Tewari said that the report will come up for consideration at the next meeting of the JPC.

The draft report has been sent to the members after that a meeting of joint parliamentary committee will be held and any one can put forward his point of view in that meeting. The report will then be adopted and brought before the Parliament where it will be discussed.

The BJP has been demanding the resignation of Law Minister Ashwini Kumar in the wake of repots that he summoned the CBI chief to tone down the report on the coal scam. The Congress has rejected the charge. The Congress President, Mrs Sonia Gandhi held a meeting with senior party leaders yesterday.

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In West Bengal, at least nine persons were killed and ten others injured in a road accident near Borjora in Bankura district this morning. According to official sources, the mishap occurred when a vehicle in which they were traveling overturned and hit a lamp post following loss of control over it. The vehicle was going to Purulia from Burdwan. The injured have been admitted to a local hospital.

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In Madhya Pradesh, the State Government has decided to provide wheat at one rupee per kilogram and rice at two rupees per kilogram to Antyodaya and BPL families from June this year. Our Bhopal correspondent reports that the state has eight lakh Antyodaya and 56 lakh BPL families.

Food grains at such special concessional rates will be provided under the Annapurna scheme. Each Antyodaya family gets 35 kilogram food grains every month while 20 kilogram food grains are provided to each BPL family under the scheme. In another important decision, the State Government has decided to provide iodized salt to BPL and Antyodaya families at the rate of one rupee per kilogram in all 313 development blocks of the state from June this year. Shariq Noor, AIR News, Bhopal.

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 For news updates, follow us on Twitter @ airnewsalerts. For regional and national news of AIR download All India Radio News app on any android based mobile phone".

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Indians settled abroad have emerged as saviours of a slowdown-hit Indian economy as well as an increasingly cash-strapped National Exchequer. According to data released by the World Bank on Friday, India is the largest recipient of remittances in the world, netting 69 billion US Dollars in 2012. Remittances from abroad would help India bridge the current account deficit. Overseas affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi expressed satisfaction over the fact that remittances have been steadily rising in the past few years. He also said the Government has taken a number of steps to encourage this inflow of funds.

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The National Thermal Power Corporation of India and Power Development Bangladesh have signed three agreements as part of the process of setting up of the biggest ever joint venture project of a 1320 Megawatt coal based power plant at a cost of 1.6 billion US Dollars. The two sides signed three agreements in Dhaka yesterday. Union Power Secretary, Mr. P. Umashankar who led the Indian delegation at the signing ceremony said that the project is the largest ever foreign investment in the power sector in Bangladesh and the first power plant being built by the NTPC outside India with super critical technology. We have a report from our correspondent:

The signing of the three agreements in Dhaka marks a major milestone for the setting up 1.6 Billion US Dollar coal based Thermal power plant under the joint venture Bangladesh India Friendship Power Company. Both NTPC and Bangladesh Power Development board will hold a equity share of fifty percent each in the project. The 1320 Megawatt Thermal power plant project which is expected to be set up and made operational by 2018 will be built with latest supercritical technology in addition to being equipped with the most modern environmental protection equipment. This is Senthil Rajan for AIR News, Dhaka.

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Former Pakistan President and military ruler Pervez Musharraf has been ordered held for two weeks by an anti-terrorist court until the next hearing in a case related to his 2007 decision to sack and detain several judges. After yesterday's order, the Islamabad administration declared that Musharraf's residence could serve as a sub-jail, meaning the ex-president could be held there under house arrest.

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The death toll in yesterday's devastating 7.0-magnitude earthquake in southwest China's Sichuan province has risen to 161. More than 5700 people are injured. The Sichuan Government said at least 10,000 homes have been destroyed in the quake.

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A strong 6.1-magnitude earthquake struck off the eastern coast of Russia early today. According to the US Geological Survey, the quake struck 98 kilometers southeast of the city of Severo-Kurilsk near the sparsely populated Russian-administered Kuril Islands, at a depth of 20.2 kilometers.

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Assam has topped the medals tally in the 20th National Archery Championship held at Raipur in Chhattisgarh, bagging four gold medals. Our correspondent reports that the Services Sports Control Board won the Men's team event while Assam won the team event in the women’s category. The Board's Ukar Thappa became champion in the individual category in the men’s event while Anjali Brahma of Assam won the women’s title.

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In the IPL Twenty-20 cricket tournament Royal Challengers Bangalore beat Rajasthan Royals by seven wickets at Bangalore yesterday.

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NEWSPAPER  HEADLINES

Public protests on Delhi streets against the brutal rape of a five year old girl even as the accused was arrested from Bihar dominate the front pages of most papers. "Delhi rape accused arrested, claims he had an accomplice" reports the Indian Express in its front page lead. The Hindustan Times, citing statistics of the National Crime Record Bureau for the period 2001-2011, writes "Shocking: 336% rise in child rape cases in India in 10 years".

Changes in the Defence Procurement Procedure approved by the Defence Ministry are keenly noticed in the press. The Tribune says that the key feature of this new policy is that "Indian arms and ammunition manufacturers are to get top priority. The Asian Age writes "foreign vendors to be last resort".

Widespread protests in Bengal over the shutting down of operations by the Saradha Group in which thousands of investors lost their savings are prominently noticed in the press. "Trinamool Congress Government in doci, chit fund scam burns Bengal" writes the Pioneer while the Hindu quotes senior Trinamool Congress leader Mukul Roy as saying "Trinamool has nothing to do with deposit raising companies".

Most papers take note of reports of a Chinese incursion into Ladakh. The Times of India reports "Cautious Government says two countries have varying perceptions of Line of Actual Control". The Indian Express writes "Bid on to resolve face off over Chinese troop camp in Ladakh".

And finally, the Times of India says that innovator Sumit Dagar has developed a unique smart phone which can convert any SMS or e-mail into braille and thus help visually challenged people to to read them.