2100 HRS. 

16th May, 2013

THE HEADLINES:

• Cricketer S Sreesanth and 13 others arrested on charges of IPL spot-fixing, sent to five days police custody by a Delhi Court.

• Prime Minister asks Planning Commission to formulate a draft Bill on Dispute Resolution in public contracts.

• Government raises OBC creamy layer annual income limit to 6 lakhs.

• Actor Sanjay Dutt surrenders before Mumbai TADA court to serve his remaining sentence in 1993 Mumbai serial bomb blasts case.

• IOC decides to lift the ban on Indian Olympic Association.

• Indian Duo of Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna advance into the quarterfinals of the Italian Open Tennis Tournament.

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Arrested Indian pacer S Sreesanth and 13 others, including two other cricketers of Rajasthan Royals franchise, were today sent to police custody for five days by a Delhi court for being quizzed in connection with the IPL spot-fixing scandal case.

Early today Sreesanth and his IPL teammates who were arrested in Mumbai, were brought to the Saket district court complex in New Delhi with 11 Mumbai and Delhi based bookies.

They were produced at the residence of Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Lokesh Kumar Sharma inside the Saket court complex. Media was barred from entering the magistrate's residence which was under a thick security blanket.

Earlier, Delhi Police arrested Sreesanth and two of his Rajasthan Royals teammates on charges of spot-fixing. Briefing reporters in New Delhi, Delhi Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar told media about the modus operandi of the match fixers.

The modus operandi that was being adopted, there was an agreement between the bookies and the players that in certain overs, they would give away certain amount of runs. The Bookies also gave the players directions that they have to indicate that they are ready to give away those very runs.

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The Board of Control for Cricket in India, BCCI has suspended all the three players charged with spot-fixing in the IPL pending inquiry. After the arrest of the three cricketers, BCCI President N. Srinivasan said that the punishment handed down them would be a sufficient deterrent for others. Srinivasan told reporters from Kodaikanal in a video conference in Mumbai that the sport is clean and incidents like these cannot sully the game.

There are so many of instances in the history of Cricket where such actions have been taken place and some people have committed mistakes. That does not mean that the game of cricket should be stopped - No . We will take all steps to root out this kind of corruption.

Reacting on the incident, former Indian wicket-keeper Syed Kirmani said, it is unfortunate and shocking that cricketers of such repute are involved. He said, there should be a strong penalty and their records, whatever they have achieved, should be erased.

Another former cricketer, Kirti Azad said, if strong measures are not taken, incidents like these will continue.

Former Indian captain, Sourav Ganguly said, the three accused cricketers should be banned for life, if found guilty.

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The Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh has asked the Planning Commission to formulate a draft Bill on Dispute Resolution in public contracts in consultation with all stakeholders and Ministries. He said dispute resolution in large public contracts is an area of growing concern and the first steps is to improving the institutional arrangement for dispute settlement.

Following the rapid expansion of Public Private Partnerships which have already attracted investment of a few lakh crore of rupees in different sectors, there are concerns about the dispute resolution mechanisms in place. As a result of this expansion, contractual disputes have been rising steadily and it has now become essential to consider an institutional arrangement that would address such disputes expeditiously.

The Planning Commission will conceptualise this further and present a draft bill for consideration of the Government.

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Government has revised the creamy layer criteria for Other Backward Classes (OBC) from 4.5 lakh rupees to 6 lakh rupees to avail benefits of reservations in government jobs and admission to central educational institutions. The decision was taken by the Union Cabinet this evening. The increase in the income limit is in tune with increase in the consumer price index and would enable more persons to take advantage of reservation benefits extended to the OBCs.

The Union Cabinet today also gave its approval for the construction of a Rashtriya Smriti at the Samadhis Complex near Ekta Sthal in New Delhi. The Place will be established to perform last rites of departed national leaders namely Presidents, Vice Presidents, Prime Ministers, former Presidents, Vice Presidents, Prime Ministers and such other leaders as decided by the Cabinet. In the past, separate memorials for departed national leaders were created near Rajghat which covered a large space.

The Cabinet also approved the establishment of the Gandhi Heritage Sites Mission with the objective of conserving and restoring the heritage sites associated with Father of the Nation.

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The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved additional allocation of over 61 lakh tonnes of foodgrains to Above Poverty Line (APL) families through PDS for the current financial year. The additional allocation of food grains at APL issue prices will ensure a minimum allocation of 15 kg per APL family per month in 22 States and 35 kg per family per month in 13 States. About 597 lakh tonnes foodgrains comprising 354.68 lakh tonnes of rice and 242 lakh tonnes of wheat is available in the central pool.

The CCEA has also approved up gradation of existing facility and creation of a new facility at Visakhapatnam Port Trust for iron ore handling in two phases. The estimated cost of the project is over 845 crore rupees. The project will be implemented under Private Public Partnership mode.

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Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting Mr. Manish Tewari has said that the Akali-BJP government in Punjab had pushed the state into a vicious debt trap and ridiculed the state government for describing it as a productive debt. He warned that it is a cause of serious concern as the state is dangerously heading towards bankruptcy.

Addressing a public meetings in support of the party candidates contesting Block Samiti and Zila Parishad elections in his Ludhiana Parliamentary constituency, today, Tewari pointed out, the state debt according to its own Finance Minister is likely to cross one lakh crore rupees by the end of this financial year and it was continuously increasing at an alarming rate.

The Minister said that given the rate at which the state is borrowing, the total debt will cross one lakh fifty thousand crore rupees by the end of the term of the present government. This will be impossible to be paid by any government,Mr Tiwari said.

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In Arunachal Pradesh, voting for the municipal and panchayat elections held today. The voting was by and large peaceful except a few stray incidents. Information received till the filing of this report said around 50 per cent turnout was recorded in the two municipal segments of Itanagar and Pasighat while the poll percentage for the panchayat elections was recorded at around 60 percent. The polling was held under tight security. Voting for panchayat bodies in 20 polling booths in remote Kurung Kumey district could not be conducted as choppers were not able to transport men and materials to these areas due to bad weather.

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The Karnataka Chief Minister K. Siddaramaiah today called on the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh in New Delhi. Talking to reporters after the meeting, Mr Siddaramaiah termed it as a courtesy call. During his stay in the national capital, Mr Siddaramaiah is expected to hold consultations with central leadership on the composition of his Cabinet.

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In Uttar Pradesh, the CBI has interrogated ex-minister and Kunda MLA Raghuraj Pratap Singh Raja Bhaiyya consecutively on the second day today in connection with the Kunda violence. Three persons including a police DSP were killed in the violence. Raja Bhaiyya's cousin and MLA Akshay Pratap Singh and suspended SHO of Hathigawan police station Manoj Shukla have also been grilled by CBI today at its Pratapgarh camp office.

AIR Lucknow correspondent reports that Balipur village head Nanhe Yadav, his brother Suresh and DSP Ziaul Haq were killed on March 2 in Kunda Pratapgarh. Four FIRs have been registered in this connection so far.

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Film actor Sanjay Dutt today surrendered before Special TADA Court in Mumbai. He will serve the remaining three and a half year sentence for illegal possession of the arms in 1993 Mumbai Bomb Blasts. Since he has already served 18 months in the past, he will now spend 42 months in prison.

Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt was accompanied by his wife Manyata and film maker Mahesh Bhatt. As soon as the 53-year-old actor appeared before the court, the formalities began for his surrender. The court commenced the process for the identification of Dutt, whose conviction was upheld by the Supreme Court recently. As soon as Dutt's vehicle arrived near the court, it was surrounded by people, including press photographers. Police had maintained strong bandobast in the court premises as well as at the actor’s residence in Bandra suburb in the wake of threat to his life. The Supreme Court, in its March 21 verdict, awarded five years’ imprisonment to the actor for illegal possession of arms. The apex court, on May 14, refused to grant him more time to surrender.Parnika Hedavkar, AIR News, Mumbai.

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In Bangladesh, twelve people are reported to have been killed as Cyclone 'Mahasen' crossed the country’s coast today triggering strong winds of up to 90 kilometres per hour in the coastal districts. Cyclone Mahasen has left behind a trail of destruction in the coastal districts damaging several thousand thatched houses and crops on vast tracts of land as it crossed the Bangladesh coast in the morning.

"Mahasen" is likely to hit some parts the Churachandpur and Tamenglong Districts of Manipur. A crash message issued this afternoon by the State Principal Secretary, Relief and Disaster Management says that the cyclonic storm with wind speed of 55 to 65 kilometers per hour is likely to hit the two hill district of the state tonight.

Manipur Government has started taking up precautionary measures to meet any eventuality arising out of the cyclonic storm Mahasen. Government has ordered to close down all educational institutions in the state tomorrow. District administrations of Churachanpur and Tamenglong have also been put on alert. Heavy rain in almost all parts of the state is said to be a precursor of the natural disaster. Ibomcha Sharma, AIR News, Imphal.

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International Olympic Committee (IOC) has decided to pave the way to lift the ban on Indian Olympic Association (IOA). In a statement Union Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports, Mr Jitendra Singh said it is expected that Indian sportspersons will soon be able to join the Olympic movement.

A road map has been finalized in consultation with IOC and the delegation of National Sports Federations (NSFs) in a meeting at Lausanne, Switzerland. During the meeting with IOC , issues related to principles of good governance, transparency and accountability were discussed.

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The Indian duo of Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna today stormed into the quarterfinals of the Italian Open Tennis tournament in Rome. In the Men's Doubles pre-quarterfinal fixture, the sixth seeded Indian duo defeated the British team of Jonathan Marray and Dominic Inglot, in straight sets, 6-2, 6-3. Earlier, in the same category, the Indo-Austrian team of Leander Paes and Jurgen Melzer had crashed out, after losing in the pre-quarterfinals.

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India, Brazil and South Africa (IBSA), women's forum has recommended strengthening of institutional mechanisms and adequate resources to curb violence against women.

A resolution adopted at the end of the three-day IBSA forum in New Delhi today suggested promotion and enforcement of interdisciplinary measures to ensure that all workplaces are free from discrimination