0815 HRS
18 th October, 2013
THE HEADLINES:
- Government to set up intermediary godowns for foodgrains across the country to check leakages.
- Supreme Court orders a CBI probe into six issues relating to corrupt practices that surfaced after the analysis of Nira Radia's taped conversations.
- Alleged middleman in the Agusta Westland VVIP Helicopter deal, Guido Ralph Haschke arrested by Swiss authorities.
- 66 people killed in a series of blasts in Iraq.
- Aditya Mehta becomes first Indian to enter the Semi Finals of a Snooker Ranking event; Beats Pankaj Advani in the Indian Open.
- Saina Nehwal and RMV Gurusaidutt storm into the quarterfinals of the Denmark Open Super Series Badminton tournament.
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The government will set up intermediary godowns for foodgrains across the country to check leakage. Addressing reporters in New Delhi yesterday, Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh said that MNREGA will help state governments set up permanent ware-houses at the block and Panchayat levels across the country.
"We have agreed to improve the ware-houses at the block and Panchayat levels of any state that wants to link it with MGNREGA."
Mr. Ramesh added that 450 crore rupees may be allocated for the first year for this purpose.
Food and Public Distribution Minister Prof. K V Thomas said the intermediary food grain godowns will help in checking unnecessary wastage of food meant for crores of people. The Minister suggested that the states should modernise and strengthen the public distribution system for proper implementation of the food security bill.
The states will take initiative from the NREGA scheme so that the Food Security Bill is implemented, and we have been stressing the point that Food Security Bill can be successfully implemented by us only if one strengthens and modernise the PDS system.
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Observing that tapped telephonic conversations between Nira Radia, politicians and others, prima facie revealed deep-rooted malice, the Supreme Court yesterday ordered a CBI probe into six issues relating to corrupt practices being adopted for private gains.
On the basis of analysis of the telephonic conversations of Radia which was done by an apex court-appointed committee, the bench directed the CBI to complete its probe within two months. It also asked it to file a report in the Supreme Court. However, the bench while reading out the order did not elaborate on the issues to be looked into by the agency. The court posted the matter for further directions on December 16.
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The Notification for the first phase of Assembly elections in Chhattisgarh will be issued today. The last date for filing of nominations is the 25th of this month and the scrutiny will be completed the next day. The contestants can withdraw their names till October 28. Chief Electoral Officer Sunil Kujur said, the timing for voting for the first phase had been fixed between from 7 AM and 3 PM. Our correspondent reports that in the first phase, the constituencies in the most naxal affected region of Chhattisgarh will go to the polls on the 11th of next month. These include all the 12 constituencies of Bastar division and six constituencies of Rajnandgaon division. The rest of the 72 constituencies will vote in the second phase on November 19. Counting of votes for both the phases will be held on the 8th of December.
Chief Election Commissioner VS Sampat will arrive in Chhattisgarh this evening on a 2-day visit, to review the election preparations in the state.
Meanwhile, special security arrangements have been made in the Naxal affected areas of Madhya Pradesh in view of the upcoming assembly election. Deputy election commissioner of the state Vinod Zutshi reviewed the preparations for the assembly elections yesterday.
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In Madhya Pradesh, the CBI yesterday questioned mining baron Sudhir Sharma in Bhopal for more than seven hours. He was grilled in connection with alleged payment made by his company to officials of the Indian Bureau of Mining as mentioned in the Income Tax’s appraisal report. The CBI had registered a preliminary inquiry on the 17th of last month on the basis of a complaint received from the Income Tax department. According to the appraisal report, Sharma’s company had allegedly paid more than 12 lakh rupees to government officials.
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The Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh has said that relations between India and Hungary have remained on a steady course over the years through the tumult and change in Europe and the world. In his speech at the banquet, hosted in honour of the visiting Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban in New Delhi last night, Dr. Singh said the two countries can find great opportunities in each other and also be each other's bridge to Europe and Asia. Mr. Orban extended his support to India's bid for a permanent seat in an expanded United Nations Security Council while lauding the country's economic growth amid the global slowdown.
We Hungarians support India's ambitions of obtaining permanent membership in the United Nations Security Council. This is not just the point of the present Hungarian Government but that was earlier and that will be in the future. Its a very much national point of view of Hungary.
Earlier, India and Hungary signed six pacts in various sectors, including Health, Defence, Science and Technology, Sports and Cultural exchange. The pacts were inked after delegation level talks between Dr. Singh and Mr. Orban. In his media statement, the Prime Minister said, the two countries stressed the need to create a global framework to fight terrorism.
We both recognise that terrorism and extremism pose a common threat to modern democratic societies like India and Hungary. We noted the need to create a global normative framework against terrorism and agreed to deepen our cooperation in this regard."
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The Tamil Nadu State Q branch police has arrested 35 members of the ship MV Seaman Guard Ohio, which is berthed at the Tuticorin Port, after it was spotted for unauthorized entry in Indian waters last Saturday. The Q branch police have also seized the weapons that were onboard the Ship. The officials said that there were no valid documents aboard the ship even though it had an arms license of the US government.
The ship which had state of the art equipments to navigate had also carried 31 assault rifles and more than 5000 rounds of ammunition. Several cases have been booked under the provisions of the Arms Act 1956, Essential Commodities Act 1995 and Motor Spirit and High Speed Diesel order 2005.
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Swiss authorities have arrested the alleged middleman in the AgustaWestland VVIP helicopter deal, Guido Ralph Haschke, on charges of bribery. An Italian news website reported that Haschke could be brought to Italy by next week in case he prefers not to appeal against extradition proceedings before the Swiss Federal court.
The 3,600-crore rupee VVIP Agusta Westland helicopter supply contract is under probe by Italian and Indian agencies for alleged kickbacks paid to Indian officials to clinch the deal.
The CBI, which carried out the probe in India, had named 13 individuals, including former IAF Chief SP Tyagi and European middlemen Carlo Gerosa, Christian Michel and Guido Haschke, in the FIR as accused, in connection with the alleged bribery.
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In Iraq, at least 66 persons were killed and more than 160 injured in serial bomb blasts targeting mainly the Shiite neighborhoods and ethnic minority communities in Baghdad and other parts of the country yesterday. No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks. The UN envoy to Iraq, Nickolay Mladenov has condemned the attacks, saying it requires urgent action. More from our West Asia Correspondent:
Nine car bomb explosions were reported across the Iraqi capital in quick succession after sunset last evening as families were heading out to parks, coffee shops and restaurants on Eid-ul-Adha holidays. In Husseiniyah, back to back car bombs took place killing at least 11 and while 27 others were injured. Two parked car bombs exploded near an outdoor market and shops in the mixed Shiite and Christian neighborhood of Garage al-Amana, killing eight and wounding 15 others. In Mosul, a suicide bomber blew up his explosives-laden car among houses in an ethnic minority village in Shabak of Al-Mouafaqiyah killing 15 while 69 others were injured. Atul Tiwary, AIR News, Dubai.
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US President Barack Obama has called for comprehensive immigration reform and listed it as one of his top priorities. The comprehensive immigration reform has been passed by the Senate and needs to be approved by the House of Representatives, before it is signed into law by the US President. It grants path of citizenship to around 11 million undocumented people and accelerates the immigration process of professionals from countries like India and China. Listing immigration as his second top priority after jobs, Obama called for fixing the broken immigration system.
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Maharashi Valmiki Jayanti is being observed today. A number of functions and rallies are being organised across the country on the occasion. The ancient sage Valmiki is the author of the epic Ramayana. He is referred to as Adi Kavi or the first poet as he composed the world's first Sanskrit poem.
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Cueist Aditya Mehta has created history by becoming the first Indian to make it to the semi-final stage of a Snooker ranking event. At the Indian Open in New Delhi last night, 28-year-old Aditya defeated eight-time World champion Pankaj Advani, 4-3, in one of the longest-played quarter-final matches on the professional circuit. For a place in the finals, Aditya will play Stephen Maguire, who beat Michael White 4-3, in the other quarter-final.
Meanwhile, World Number One Neil Robertson of Australia has crashed out of the tournament. He suffered a shocking 2-4 defeat against World Number four China's Ding Junhui.
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India's ace shuttlers Saina Nehwal and RMV Gurusaidutt have stormed into the quarterfinals of the Denmark Open Super Series Badminton tournament at Odense. In the Women's Singles pre-quarterfinals last night, fourth seed and defending champion Saina brushed aside Scotland's Kirsty Gilmour in straight games 21-12, 21-7. Saina will clash with Ji Hyun Sung of Korea today, for a place in the semi-finals.
In the Men's Singles, Gurusaidutt entered the last-8 stage, after beating compatriot Ajay Jayaram, 21-15, 21-16. Guru will meet China's higher seeded Pengyu Du in the quarters today.
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NEWSPAPER HEADLINES
The Supreme Court's directions to the CBI to probe some serious issues arising out of the taped telephonic conversations of corporate lobbyist Nira Radia dominate front page headlines. "Radia tapes:CBI to probe industry-babu nexus now" reports the Hindustan Times.
The CBI is likely to question some more people as it further investigates the coal block allocation scam case, report the papers. The Tribune writes "CBI may quiz Odisha CM in coal scam". The Hindustan Times reports "Patnaik, PMO officers under CBI scanner".
Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi kicking off the party's election campaign in Madhya Pradesh with a rally at Shahdol is highlighted in all the papers. The Indian Express writes "Rahul says Sonia cried when she couldn't vote for food security bill".
Most papers highlight the finalising of the draft Border Defence Cooperation Agreement which Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is likely to sign on his visit to China next week. "Cabinet nod for new border pact with China" reports the Times of India.
The Center's poser to the government regarding why private FM radio stations cant broadcast news in a PIL challenging government control over radio news is prominently noticed in the Pioneer, the Asian Age, the Hindu and the Times of India.
The Hindustan Times notices the media coverage guidelines for the forthcoming assembly elections issued by the Election Commission. The commission prohibits the telecast of election related issues on TV and other media 48 hours before polling begins.
All the papers highlight a world Health Organization report that says in 2010 about 223,000 deaths from lung cancer worldwide resulted from air pollution.
The elusive mountain creature ,the Yeti, has always held sway over popular imagination. Now some answers seem to be trickling in about who actually it was. The Times of India writes that genetic testing has led scientists to believe that it was a cross between a polar bear and brown bear.
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The Reserve Bank will shortly issue 10 rupee denomination banknotes with the rupee symbol bearing the signature of new governor Raghuram Rajan. As per an RBI notification, it will issue these bank notes incorporating the rupee symbol on the obverse and reverse, without inset letter in both the numbering panels, in the Mahatma Gandhi Series-2005 bearing the signature of Rajan.
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