The Indian Panorama

Year: 2015

  • RSS MOUTHPIECE SHOWS POK AS PAK TERRITORY; GOVT TO PROBE

    RSS MOUTHPIECE SHOWS POK AS PAK TERRITORY; GOVT TO PROBE

    NEW DELHI (TIP): The publication of a map in RSS mouthpiece ‘Organiser’ depicting a part of Jammu and Kashmir as part of Pakistan, today evoked consternation in Rajya Sabha, with the Opposition asking whether the government approved it.

    An embarrassed government promised to investigate the matter saying this was not its stand and neither of the Sangh. The matter was raised by Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad when the House met for the day, saying a map published in the ‘Organiser’ depicted Pak-occupied Kashmir (PoK) as part of Pakistan.

    “Jammu and Kashmir is the crown of India and numerous sacifices have been made to maintain it as the crown,” he said. Observing that the BJP and RSS have been in the forefront of protests whenever a foreign magazine showed PoK as part of Pakistan, Azad wanted to know from the government if it approved of the ‘Organiser’ map.

    Responding on behalf of the government, Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said Jammu and Kashmir was an integral part of India and “we will investigate” the article in ‘Organiser’.

    This is “not the view of the Sangh, neither the BJP’s and nor that of the government,” Prasad said.

    Despite the Minister’s reply, Congress members continued to press the issue, with S Chaturvedi wanting to know what action the government proposes to take against the author. Deputy Chairman P J Kurien said the Minister has made a categorical statement that Jammu and Kashmir is part of India and nobody can change it.

  • FRESH TROUBLE FOR MAJITHIA

    FRESH TROUBLE FOR MAJITHIA

    CHANDIGARH (TIP): Punjab revenue minister Bikram Singh Majithia received about Rs 35 lakh as “election fund” from Jagjit Singh Chahal, the arrested pharma company owner and the kingpin of the synthetic drugs racket, according to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) chargesheet filed in the Patiala court on March 2.

    “Between 2007 and 2012, I gave Rs 35 lakh in cash to Majithia in seven or eight instalments. I used to hand over the money to Majithia in the drawing room of his 43, Green Avenue, residence in Amritsar,” Chahal said in signed statements in Punjabi made before Niranjan Singh, the Jalandhar-posted assistant director of the ED, on February 9 this year.

    The statements, made under Section 50 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act and permissible in the court as evidence, are part of the ED’s voluminous chargesheet.

    However, it’s noteworthy that the ED chargesheet does not directly name Majithia in this case of money-laundering. Nor has the ED produced any corroborating evidence yet to establish the veracity of Chahal’s allegations.

    Significantly, Majithia had appeared before the ED on December 26 last year in connection with the drug racket. Strangely, it is after summoning Majithia that the ED again recorded Chahal’s statement on February 9, 2015, in which the latter has alleged that he gave the money to the minister. It is, however, not clear whether Chahal had made the same allegation against Majithia in his earlier confessional statements before the ED.

    Majithia was questioned by assistant director Niranjan Singh, who was later transferred to Kolkata. In an interim order, the Punjab and Haryana high court has stayed Singh’s transfer.

    According to the ED documents, Chahal told ED, “Eh sariyan rakman main Majithia saab di kothi ch ja ke usde drawing room which dittiyan. Jaan ton pehlan, main usde PA Kartar Singh, jo ki usda sarkari PA hai, de naal telephone the gal kar ke Majithia saab de naal meeting da sama le lenda si (Before going to meet Majithia, I used to take appointment from his PA Kartar Singh).”

    One of the primary accusations against Chahal who owned pharma companies was that he was allegedly manufacturing banned precursor chemicals — ephedrine and pseudoephedrine — which were being diverted illegally for the production of synthetic drug ICE.

    The ED chargesheet says another accused and Amritsar businessman Maninder Singh alias Bittu Aulakh, stated before the central agency that Majithia was “involved” in sand mining business.

    In response to the ED’s question about the “business of Majithia and his business associates”, Aulakh on January 13 this year had told ED, “He (Majithia) runs a distillery in Uttar Pradesh. His trusted man for sand mining is Kanwarjit Singh alias Rosy Barkandi of Muktsar.”

    On the other hand, Chahal said, “Bittu Aulakh, Majithia and Bonny Amarpal Ajnala, SAD MLA, together deal in the business of sand mining.”

  • MOBILE TOWERS NO HEALTH THREAT: RAVI SHANKAR PRASAD

    NEW DELHI (TIP): Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad  said on March 13 that  fears of mobile towers being hazardous to health are not true, adding that reports from the World Health Organisation do not substantiate the claim.

    Replying to supplementaries in the Rajya Sabha, Prasad said government is talking to private telecom companies for reinforcing infrastructure.

    “For infrastructure, we need towers, if we don’t have permission to install towers, then infrastructure will not improve,” Prasad said responding to a query on call dropping and other problems.

    “Right now, there is a campaign going on in the country that it (mobile towers) emits health hazard. I have myself examined it at some point of time, I will come with further details to this house. This entire campaign is not very substantial,” Prasad informed Rajya Sabha.

    “There have been proper studies of WHO… there are 30 reports. I got my committee established, and I want to assure the house proper infrastructure for towers ought to be allowed,” the minister said.

    Prasad also said that the government is working to enhance the infrastructure for MTNL and BSNL and several new towers will be erected.

    “The health of BSNL and MTNL is not good. As long as public sector is not strong competition will not be healthy,” the minister said.

    “25,000 new towers will be erected by BSNL, MTNL is also building 800 to 900 more towers in Delhi and Mumbai,” he said.

    The minister also said that there were some “powers” that kept MTNL and BSNL unhealthy.

    “BSNL till 2004 was in Rs.10,000 crore profit. Why is it in loss now, the question must be raised. MTNL was in Rs.800- 900 crore profit, why did it go in loss? They were not allowed to expand,” Prasad said.

    “There were powers which wanted BSNL and MTNL to stay unhealthy so that the competition is not there,” he added.

  • Katju dares Rajya Sabha to punish him

    Katju dares Rajya Sabha to punish him

    Hours after the Rajya Sabha unanimously adopted a resolution condemning him for calling Mahatma Gandhi a British agent and Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose a Japanese, the former Supreme Court judge, Justice Markandey Katju remained defiant and dared the upper house to punish him.

    “A humble advice to the Rajya Sabha. O wonderful news ! The Rajya Sabha ( the upper House of the Indian Parliament ) has passed a resolution condemning me !

    “But of course that is not enough. I must also be punished for what I said about that fake who is called the Father of the Indian Nation, and that agent of the Japanese fascists,” Katju wrote on his Facebook page, in an act of defiance.

    A mere censure is no punishment. So some of them wanted to strip me of the perks and facilities I have as a retired Supreme Court Judge. But then again that will require amendment of the rules, because after all I am indeed a retired Supreme Court Judge.

    “May I make a humble suggestion to the Hon’ble Members of the House ( because evidently they have run out of ideas ). Just pass a resolution that immediately on my return to India I will be arrested and hanged, drawn and quartered.without any trial. Na rahe baans na baje baansuri ,” Katju wrote, sharing a timesofindia.com’s story on his Facebook page.

    Earlier, the Zero Hour in the Rajya Sabha saw members from opposition and treasury benches coming together to condemn Justice Katju’s remarks in his blog with the entire House later unanimously adopting a resolution by a voice vote.

  • Lok Sabha condemns Justice Katju for Gandhi, Netaji statements

    Lok Sabha condemns Justice Katju for Gandhi, Netaji statements

    NEW DELHI (TIP): The Lok Sabha on March 12 condemned the controversial remarks of retired SC judge Markandey Katju against Mahatma Gandhi and Subhash Chandra Bose, underlining that their contribution to the freedom struggle was without parallel.

    “The whole country revers the Father of the Nation and Netaji. The sacrifice and contribution made by these two stalwarts in the country’s freedom struggle is unparalleled,” Speaker Sumitra Mahajan said in a resolution. “This House condemns his remarks,” it said.

    The Lower House witnessed a vociferous demand from members, led by RJD’s Pappu Yadav, that the former Press Council of India chairman be censured for his slander. Congress member Mallikarjun Kharge and AIADMK functionary P Venugopal sought a resolution condemning Katju while Trinamool MP Kalyan Banerjee demanded that a criminal case be filed against the former judge for “hate speech”.

    Rajya Sabha had passed a resolution on March 11 condemning Katju.

  • Five killed after boat catches fire in China

    BEIJING (TIP): At least five people were killed and 10 others rescued after a fishing boat caught fire on March 11 in waters off eastern China.

    The fire broke out in the engine cabin of the boat around 7.00am in Zhoushan City, officials said.

    A total of 15 fishermen were on board, state-run Xinhua news agency reported. The cause of the fire in under investigation.

  • Airport shut as Costa Rica volcano spews more ash

    SAN JOSE (TIP): San Jose’s international airport was forced to close and several villages were evacuated after clouds of ash from the newly active Turrialba volcano reached the Costa Rican capital, authorities have said.

    Flights were suspended because of poor visibility at the airport yesterday, which is about 80 kilometres (50 miles) from the volcano, while pedestrians in the capital shielded their eyes to prevent ash going into them.

    A number of schools sent students home and the country’s emergency bureau ordered the evacuation of villages within two kilometres of Turrialba.

    Turrialba erupted twice on Sunday, followed by a burst of activity Wednesday and then again yesterday.

    Before now, an expulsion of ash and magma from the volcano in October was its most significant activity in over a century.

  • China approves 1st nuclear power project since 2011

    BEIJING (TIP): China is reviving growth of its nuclear power industry with approval of its first new project since Japan’s 2011 Fukushima disaster.

    A unit of state-owned China General Nuclear Power Corp. says the Cabinet’s planning agency has approved construction of two additional reactors at a generation station in the northeastern province of Liaoning.

    China is the world’s biggest energy consumer and nuclear power plays a key role in government plans to curb surging demand for imported oil and gas.

    Beijing suspended approvals of new nuclear plants after a tsunami in March 2011 crippled the Fukushima plant’s cooling and backup power systems, causing partial meltdowns in the worst nuclear disaster since the 1986 Chernobyl catastrophe.

    The moratorium was lifted last year.

  • Jewels worth $11m stolen in French highway heist

    PARIS (TIP): About 15 armed assailants attacked two vans carrying millions of euros worth of jewels on a French highway March 11, forced out the drivers and sped away, according to police.

    Gendarmes and other authorities are combing the Burgundy region southeast of Paris for the attackers, after the latest in a string of big jewel heists in France in recent years. No one was injured in the attack on the A6 highway connecting Paris and Lyon, and the drivers of the two vans were left at the scene unharmed, a police official said. The perpetrators escaped in four cars and the two vans, which police found burned and abandoned in a forest near the site of the attack, the official said. The jewels remain missing. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to be publicly named.

    In November, two gunmen robbed a Cartier jewelry boutique in a tony and tourist-filled Paris neighborhood, fled police in a chase across the Seine River, took a hostage _ and then surrendered.

    In 2013, the Cannes Film Festival was hit by two high-profile thefts. First, a gunman walked into a jewel show at the Carlton International Hotel, stole $136 million in loot, and disappeared down a side street. Then, two armed men made off with a haul of luxury watches on the same promenade. Last month, eight people were convicted in connection with one of the most spectacular jewel thefts in recent French history at a Harry Winston boutique in Paris. In the 2008 hold-up, three cross-dressing gunmen stole about $92 million in goods.

  • 22 years after divorce, man faces claim from wife

    LONDON (TIP): A penniless British woman seeking financial support from her millionaire ex-husband 22 years after their divorce was told by Britain’s Supreme Court on Wednesday that she could pursue her claim, a ruling with implications for other British divorcees.

    The judgment could open the door for other people to seek financial settlements in Britain’s family courts decades after the breakdown of their marriages.

    “This is definitely a judgment that will be referenced in the future in other cases where an individual becomes rich in the years after they divorce,” said Marilyn Stowe, senior partner at the firm Stowe Family Law.

    She said people should try to agree a final settlement at the time of their divorce if they wanted to avoid being pursued years down the line when they may be much wealthier.

    Dale Vince and Kathleen Wyatt were both poor when they married in 1981. They had a son and lived an itinerant lifestyle together until 1984, when they broke up. They were formally divorced in 1992.

    After their separation, Vince joined the traveller community and spent about a decade living from hand to mouth in a converted ambulance, attending New Age festivals and anti-nuclear arms protests.

    In the early 1990s, he began experimenting with green energy. He started at the Glastonbury music festival where he fixed a windmill to the top of an old pylon, installed batteries at its foot, plugged in four large mobile telephones and offered festival-goers a wind-powered phone service.

    From these modest beginnings, Vince, now 53, eventually built up Ecotricity, a green energy business worth an estimated 57 million pounds ($86 million).

    Meanwhile, Wyatt, now 55, and her four children continued to live what the court described as “an unsettled lifestyle”, subsisting on state benefits and earnings from low-wage jobs.

    Wyatt launched legal action in 2011 asking for 1.9 million pounds from Vince on the basis that she had brought up the couple’s son alone with no money from Vince.

    Her claim was struck out by the Court of Appeal in 2013, but Wyatt took her case to the Supreme Court which ruled that she had a chance of obtaining a modest settlement.

    The Supreme Court was not being asked to rule on whether Wyatt should receive money from Vince or not, but rather on whether her case should have been considered fully rather than struck out summarily on the basis it was too late. The Supreme Court said Wyatt’s claim faced “formidable difficulties” but she did have childcare arguments on her side. The case will now continue in a lower family court.

  • Ajay Jayaram reaches quarterfinals of Swiss Open

    BASEL (SWITZERLAND) (TIP): Indian shuttler Ajay Jayaram inflicted a straight-game defeat on Tzu Wei Wang of Chinese Taipei to reach the quarterfinals of USD 120,000 Swiss Grand Prix Gold badminton championship here on March 12. Jayaram, who had won the Dutch Open last year, prevailed over 13th seed Wang 21-17, 21-16 in a 35-minute men’s singles match to set up a clash with Japan’s Kazumasa Sakai. Interestingly, the 27-year-old from Bangalore had beaten Wang early this month in the qualification round of All England Championship in Birmingham.

    Jayaram had notched up a hard-fought 21-7, 21-23, 21-19 win over Belgium’s Yuhan Tan to reach the pre-quarterfinals on Wednesday night. Anand Pawar, however, went down fighting 21-19, 19-21, 15-21 to Sakai in another pre-quarterfinal match that lasted for 57 minutes at St. Jakobshalle stadium.

  • INDIA, SRI LANKA SIGN 4 PACTS DURING MODI VISIT

    INDIA, SRI LANKA SIGN 4 PACTS DURING MODI VISIT

    COLOMBO (TIP): India and Sri Lanka on March 13 signed four bilateral pacts — agreement on visa, customs, youth development and building Rabindranath Tagore memorial — during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s first tour to the island country.

    Modi’s visit to Sri Lanka is the first stand alone bilateral tour by an Indian Prime Minister since 1987.

    “I am delighted to be in Sri Lanka,” PM Naredra Modi said.

    “India is ready to help Trincomalee become a petroleum hub,” PM Narendra Modi said at the joint press meet with Lankan President M Sirisena.

    Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that fishermen’s issue between India and Sri Lanka has both livelihood and humanitarian dimensions and it will take some time to reach an amicable solution on this.

    “We will cooperate in developing a Ramayana trail in Sri Lanka and a Buddhist Circuit in India,” Modi said.

    “Our trade has seen impressive growth over the past decade,” the PM said.

    PM Modi also said that India will extend visa-on-arrival to Lankan citizens.

    The PM said that he was eagerly looking forward to early commencement in the Sampur coal power project in Sri Lanka.

  • New AAP sting: Alleged tape shows Kejriwal refusing seats to Muslims

    New AAP sting: Alleged tape shows Kejriwal refusing seats to Muslims

    NEW DELHI (TIP): After a sting operation claimed that AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal had talked of poaching Congress MLAs to form the government in Delhi, a new tape has emerged in which he allegedly said that the Muslims have to vote for them to stop the Narendra Modi wave.

    In the conversation– allegedly recorded before Delhi assembly polls- -Kejriwal is reportedly heard saying that Muslims won’t expect AAP to field many candidates from their community beacause they were looking to the party to defeat Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

    “If the party thinks that we field 11 Muslim candidates, then forget it. The question is not that AAP is giving 11 seats to people from the Muslim community. Muslims are looking at us in a way that if anyone can stop the Modi rath, then it is only Aam Aadmi Party,” a voice alleged to be that of Kejriwal is heard saying.

    “This is the hope that Muslims have from us. They don’t have any hope that more Muslim candidates will be fielded. Do a survey of 2000, 3000 and 5000 people. Do a survey of Muslims. What is the priority?

    “Today, no one is able to stop the Modi rath in the country. They are forming governments in states one after the other. Today, Muslims are looking at us…if anyone can stop the Modi rath. Congress is over. It has given up. It is not contesting polls. They are asking us to field 11 seats,” Kejriwal is heard saying in the tape.

    The tape has reportedly recorded when Kejriwal was in conversation with the members of the AAP minority wing and according to an AAP activist they had demanded 11 seats for Muslims which had been rejected.

    Member of the minority committee, Shahid Azad was quoted as saying in an Indian Express report that the minority wing had met on 24 November 2014 and decided there should a proportional representation of Muslims in ticket distribution and that they should be consulted before tickets were allotted. “

    “But Arvind Kejriwal did not respect processes and the voice of minorities within his party. Many people in the room were recording this conversation which happened in the month of December,” Azad is quoted as saying in the report.

    The AAP has also attempted to defend Kejriwal’s stand on the matter by saying that his statements showed that the party was against communal politics of giving seats to Muslims purely because of their religion.

    For the AAP and Kejriwal, the timing of the tape couldn’t be worse. Coming after two recordings that claim the AAP was trying to woo the Congress MLAs to switch sides in order to avoid elections, the new tape accuses the AAP chief of not heeding the voice of the minorities in his party.

    For a party that had hoped to capitalise on its dramatic success in the Assembly elections this year, none  of the tapes that are being aired in public augur well for its national convenor, who is also its best recognised face. He may have managed to hold  on to the post by ousting dissidents like Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav, but as we’ve pointed out earlier the stings and the manner in which the party has been treating internal dissent may have weakened the party just at the moment when it seemed invincible. Kejriwal has been far too busy scrambling to deal with the internal war to make any meaningful headway on his actual job, ie governing Delhi. And it remains to be seen how long the public will be patient with a party that seems perpetually on the verge of chaos.

    ‘BHAGORA’ TAG RETURNS TO HAUNT KEJRIWAL

    As images of a calm Arvind Kejriwal doing yoga streamed in from Bengaluru, hundreds of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) volunteers were left wondering why the AAP convener and Delhi chief minister didn’t return to the Capital to battle horse-trading charges levelled against him after the surfacing of an audio tape. The tape purportedly has Kejriwal telling former party MLA Rajesh Garg last year to poach six Congress legislators to form the government in Delhi.

    Social media was flooded with questions from both supporters and opponents, many of whom revived the ‘bhagora’ (deserter) tag thrust on the AAP leader last year when he quit the government within 49 days.

    “He was working when he had high fever and a racking cough last year. The party is going to pieces in his absence right now and he needs to be here. Only he can contain the mess now,” said an AAP volunteer who has been working with the party for close to a year now.

    In the tape, the Delhi chief minister can be purportedly heard saying they had tried to poach the Congress legislators many times but hadn’t succeeded, the latest in a string of embarrassments for the party.

    “I am a staunch AAP supporter and even campaigned for the party in these elections but the party has failed to address these allegations convincingly. Arvind needs to come back and tell us the truth,” said Mohd Aslam, a resident of Jungpura.

    Kejriwal left for Bangalore on March 5, a day after senior leaders Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan were ousted from the party’s powerful political affairs committee. According to AAP spokespersons, the chief minister is undergoing naturopathy for elevated blood sugar levels.

    Party spokesperson Sanjay Singh, meanwhile on March 12, ruled out any tests to verify the authenticity of the tape. “Authentication is needed when something wrong is being said. Is there any mention of money or cabinet berths being offered? We agree that some of us met Congress leaders to discuss the possibility of government formation. We wanted to stop the BJP,” Singh said.

  • MASARAT ALAM RELEASE: CONGRESS SMELLS A PDP-BJP FIXED MATCH

    MASARAT ALAM RELEASE: CONGRESS SMELLS A PDP-BJP FIXED MATCH

    NEW DELHI (TIP): The Congress on March 12 slammed the Modi government over the release of Masarat Alam, saying the way the entire episode unfolded smacked of a “fixed match” between BJP and PDP, coalition partners in the Jammu & Kashmir government.

    The party warned that the BJP government at the Centre would be squarely responsible if the situation in the Kashmir valley deteriorated after Alam’s release.

    Congress expressed skepticism over the Centre’s observation that J&K will have effective surveillance over the separatist’s activities. It tried to corner the ruling party over the statement of home minister Rajnath Singh in Parliament that the state had conveyed that Alam’s activities were under watch and legal action would be taken if anything adverse was noticed.

  • AMIT SHAH REVAMPS BJP NATIONAL EXECUTIVE

    AMIT SHAH REVAMPS BJP NATIONAL EXECUTIVE

    NEW DELHI (TIP): The first meeting of BJP’s new national executive finalised on March 12 by party president Amit Shah is expected in the first week of April in Bangalore.

    Shah finalised the party’s 111-member national executive, which includes top party leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and former prime minister AB Vajpayee besides a host of top party leaders.

    All the eight chief ministers of BJP-ruled states and two deputy chief ministers, including that in Jammu and Kashmir where the party shares power with PDP, besides 24 former chief ministers and three former deputy chief ministers are permanent invitees to the national executive.

    The BJP chief has also made 40 senior leaders from across the country special invitees to the national executive.

    The new list comes ahead of the party’s national executive meeting and party’s restructuring by Shah.

    Among those who are part of the new national body include party veterans LK Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi, besides Union ministers Rajnath Singh, Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley, M Venkaiah Naidu, Nitin Gadkari, Ananth Kumar, Thawarchand Gehlot, Jagat Prakash Nadda, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Kalraj Mishra, Narendra Singh Tomar, Harsh Vardhan, Bandaru Dattatreya and Radha Mohan Singh. However, HRD minister Smriti Irani and minority affairs minister Najma Heptulla are among the prominent faces who have been dropped from party’s national executive . Even Mathura MP Hema Malini and BJP’s Mumbai spokesperson Shaina NC did not find mention in the list.

    Others include Yashwant Sinha, Vinay Katiyar, CP Thakur, Jual Oram, SS Ahluwalia, Vijay K Malhotra, besides Hukumdev Narayan Singh, L Ganeshan, Lalji Tandon, O Rajgopal, Tathagat Roy, Gulab Chand Katariya and Subramanyam Swami.

    Ministers Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Dharmendra Pradhan, Rajeev Pratap Rudy, Prakash Javadekar, (Gen) VK Singh, Suresh Prabhu, Birendra Singh, Piyush Goyal and Nirmala Sitharaman are also part of the new executive.

    Other leaders like Varun Gandhi, Tapir Gaon, Vijay Goyal Satpal Maharaj, Vishnubhushan Harichandan, Vijay Mahapatra and PK Krishna Das, V Shanmughanathan, are also its members.

    Party’s firebrand leaders like Yogi Adityanath and Navjot Singh Sidhu are part of the executive, while another such leader Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti is a special invitee.

    All the BJP chief ministers Shivraj Singh Chauhan, Raman Singh, Vasundhra Raje Scindia, Anandiben Patel, Raghuvar Das, Devendra Gandadharrao Fadnavis, Manohar Lal Khattar and Laxmikant Parsekar, besides deputy Chief Ministers Fracesco De D’souza and Nirmal Singh are also invitees. Besides, all Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council party leaders, state presidents of all states, all General Secretaries (Organisation) will be special invitees in National Executive.

  • SWINE FLU TOLL REACHES 1,587, BUT SHARP FALL RECORDED IN DEATHS FROM DISEASE IN MARCH

    SWINE FLU TOLL REACHES 1,587, BUT SHARP FALL RECORDED IN DEATHS FROM DISEASE IN MARCH

    NEW DELHI (TIP): India’s swine flu outbreak appears to be waning, with the week ending March 8 recording a sharp fall in weekly deaths, which had plateaued at around 270 since February 8, shows surveillance data from states.

    India reported 199 deaths last week, which is down by almost 25% over the numbers recorded over the past three weeks.

    Till March 11, 27,888 cases and 1,587 deaths have been reported from all 36 states and UTs except five, shows data from the Union Ministry of Health. Over the past 24 hours, 20 deaths were reported from across India.

    “Swine flu cases have registered a downward trend over the past 10 days, with deaths also declining during this period. The Union Ministry is in constant touch with states and is providing them the necessary support,” Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare Jagat Prakash Nadda.

    The only states/UTs untouched by swine flu with no cases or deaths are Arunachal, Meghalaya, Sikkim, Tripura and Lakshwadeep.

    People between the ages of 31 and 60 years accounted for two in three deaths, shows an analysis of 832 deaths for which data is available. Children under 12 years were the least affected in the current outbreak, accounting for 4% of overall swine flu deaths.

    The swine flu outbreak devastated five states, with Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Telangana accounting for 78% of the total deaths till March 8.

    Again, more than three in four infections (76%) were reported from five states: Rajasthan, Gujarat, Delhi, Maharashtra and Telangana.

    Delhi has emerged as the best-performing state in controlling infection – while the state 3,658 cases, only 10 deaths have been reported from Delhi and the NCR.

    Surveillance data shows that virus shows no gender bias and has affected an almost equal number of men and women: of the 832 deaths studied, 425 were men (51%) men and 407 (49%) women.

    Swine flu spreads through droplets expelled when an infected person coughs or sneezes or by touching surfaces contaminated by the droplets. You can protect yourself by staying away from infected persons, frequently washing hands with soap, and cleaning surfaces with disinfectant or warm water regularly.

    Symptoms include high fever, extreme breathlessness, lethargy, pain in the chest, loss of appetite and nausea or vomiting.

    Three pharma companies in India – Hetero, Natco and Strides Acrolab – are manufacturing oseltamivir, the drug used to treat swine flu. Having the anti-viral prescription drug oseltamivir (better known by one of its brand names, Tamiflu) shortens the duration and severity of illness if the taken within 48 hours of the symptoms appearing. It also makes people less contagious and prevents them from infecting others. Oseltamivir also protects against other strains of influenza, such as influenza A (H3N2) virus, which accounted for 87.5% influenza A cases in the northern hemisphere.

  • Sunanda murder probe: Pak journalist likely to be quizzed

    NEW DELHI (TIP): Delhi Police will question Pakistani journalist Mehr Tarar as part of its investigations into the alleged murder of Congress leader Shashi Tharoor’s wife Sunanda Pushkar.

    Delhi Police Commissioner Bassi said on March 12 that an official communiqué will be issued in this regard. Tarar has refused to come to India for the probe, but has said she will be willing to cooperate.

    “If necessary, Mehr Tarar will be questioned. We will try and get in touch with her because she is a relevant person who can throw some light into the case,” Bassi told media.

    To a query about Sunanda’s viscera report, Bassi added: “We have told the forensic laboratory of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the United States to examine the viscera report as soon as possible.”

    Deputy Commissioner of Police (South) Prem Nath had personally handed over Sunanda’s viscera samples to the concerned FBI officials in the US, the first time Delhi Police has sent viscera samples abroad for examination.

    Tarar told media that she was not ready to come to India, but would be happy to answer questions.

    “I would like to answer any question Delhi Police have for me, but I will not come to India for the probe,” Tarar told a news channel over telephone. The special investigation team (SIT) probing the case has so far questioned at least 15 people, including Tharoor, his staff members, close friends of the couple and the staff of south Delhi’s Leela Palace Hotel where Pushkar was found dead on January 17 last year.

    Pushkar had an open spat on Twitter with Mehr Tarar over her reported affair with Shashi Tharoor, which the Lahore-based journalist has denied.

  • No minorities in India, all culturally, DNA-wise Hindus, says RSS

    NAGPUR (TIP): There are no minorities in India where all people are “culturally, nationally and DNA-wise Hindus,” senior RSS leader Dattatreya Hosabale said on March 13. “Whom do you call minorities? We don’t consider anybody to be a minority. There should be no minority concept in the country because there is no minority.”Mohan Bhagwatji (RSS chief) has said it 20 times that all those born in India are Hindus. Whether they accept it or not, they are culturally, nationally and DNA-wise the same,” Hosabale told reporters as the three-day conclave of Akhil Bhartiya Pratinidhi Sabha, the top decision-making body of RSS, was underway. He was responding to a question on whether RSS would open its door for the religious minorities and women.

    “In Sangh Shakhas, the so called minorities that you say are already there…they are volunteers,” Hosabale, RSS joint general secretary, said.Women, he said, were there in Rashtra Sevika Samitis and actively involved in the activities of RSS. “They (women) are indeed not there in the Shakhas, but are everywhere else. They are involved in the Seva activities and are active, even full time volunteers. Several of them are even in the Pratinidhi Sabha,” he said.

  • POLICE HUNT FOR SUSPECTS AFTER OFFICERS SHOT IN MISSOURI CITY

    POLICE HUNT FOR SUSPECTS AFTER OFFICERS SHOT IN MISSOURI CITY

    FERGUSON (Missouri): The shooting of two police officers during a protest rally in Ferguson, Missouri, sparked a sweeping manhunt for suspects on Thursday and ratcheted up tensions in a city at the centre of a national debate over race and policing.

    US President Barack Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder condemned the attack on the officers, who were treated for wounds at a local hospital and released.

    “What happened last night was a pure ambush,” Holder said at a press conference. “This was not someone who was trying to bring healing to Ferguson; this was a damn punk.” 

    The two officers were part of a security detail at a rally being staged in front of the Ferguson police station when they were hit by gunfire.

    Demonstrators had gathered to demand sweeping changes in the St. Louis suburb after the release of a scathing US Justice Department report that found that deep-rooted racial bias within its mostly white police force. The report grew out of the shooting in August of an unarmed black teenager by a white police officer.

    While condemning the wounding of the officers, organizers vowed more protests on Thursday night.

    “We deplore all forms of violence,” said Reverend Osagyefo Sekou, who was in the crowd when shots rang out. “But we also deplore the findings of the Department of Justice report and the suffering and the misery that this community has endured.” 

    To prevent further violence, St. Louis County police and the state’s Highway Patrol will take over security from the mostly white Ferguson force during any demonstrations.

    The state took a similar step in November after two nights of rioting that followed the announcement that a grand jury would recommend no charges in the killing of 18-year-old Michael Brown. Outrage over the officer’s use of deadly force and how the justice system handled it touched off a nationwide wave of protests.

    Thursday’s shooting left a 41-year-old St. Louis County police officer with a shoulder wound and a 32-year-old officer from nearby Webster Groves Police Department with a bullet lodged near his ear, St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar said.

    Two Missouri congressman offered a $3,000 reward for information leading to an arrest.

    In one video taken at the chaotic scene after the gunfire, a witness can be heard commenting, “Acknowledgement nine months ago would have kept that from happening.” 

    The shooting came less than three months after a man ambushed two New York City patrolmen, seeking to avenge the killings of Brown and an unarmed black man in New York.

    The White House sent a Tweet that read: “Violence against police is unacceptable,” a message echoed by Brown’s family. “We reject any kind of violence directed toward members of law enforcement,” they said in a statement.

    Investigators wasted no time in bringing people in for questioning but all of them were later released and no arrests were made, the St. Louis County Police said.

    The shooter used a handgun and shell casings had been recovered, Belmar said.

    Police and protesters appeared to disagree about where the shots originated. Belmar, who said police did not return fire, asserted the gunshots came from the middle of the crowd.

    “I don’t know who did the shooting … but somehow they were embedded in that group of folks,” Belmar said.

    Protesters at the scene insisted the shots came from further away. “The shooter was not with the protesters. The shooter was atop the hill,” activist DeRay McKesson said on Twitter.

    Tom Jackson, the police chief, was the latest in a string of Ferguson officials who have quit after the Justice Department report. It found that the city used police to issue traffic citations to black residents to boost its coffers. The harassment created a “toxic environment.” 

    The shooting reignited a months-long debate over the use of force by police against minority groups. Among the trending Twitter hashtags was #BlueLivesMatter, a reference to the blue uniforms often worn by US police and a play on the #BlackLivesMatter slogan popularized by Ferguson protesters.

    “A police officer can get away with killing someone on video. Black ppl are often blamed for crimes they didn’t commit. But #BlueLivesMatter,” read a Tweet from Keziyah Lewis.

  • PAKISTANI-BORN BROTHERS PLEAD GUILTY IN FLORIDA TERROR PLOT

    PAKISTANI-BORN BROTHERS PLEAD GUILTY IN FLORIDA TERROR PLOT

    MIAMI (TIP): Two Pakistani-born brothers pleaded guilty on March 11 to charges of plotting a terrorist explosives attack against New York City landmarks and assaulting two deputy US marshals while in custody.

    The pleas were entered Thursday in Miami federal court by Sheheryar Alam Qazi, 32, and Raees Alam Qazi, 22. The pair has been in federal custody since late November 2012 after Raees Qazi returned from New York by bus following an aborted attack, possibly involving bombs made of common chemicals and Christmas tree lights.

    Assistant US attorney Karen Gilbert, reading from a factual statement signed by both brothers, said Raees Qazi had unsuccessfully attempted to enter Afghanistan to join Islamic extremists while visiting Pakistan in 2011. After that, she said, he decided to become a “lone wolf” who would find a way to attack the US from within.

    In one meeting with a confidential FBI informant, Gilbert said, Raees Qazi said he had been in contact with al-Qaida operatives and added, “the leaders know what they are talking about so when they call on Muslims in the West to stay in the West, there’s a reason for that.” 

    Sheheryar Qazi’s role was to provide financial and emotional support for his younger brother’s quest to launch a terror attack, Gilbert said.

    “Although Sheheryar Alam Qazi likely did not know all the details of the planned operation, he encouraged his brother to succeed in his task,” she said.

    Both brothers were avid followers of lectures by Anwar al-Awlaki, an American-born radical Muslim cleric who was killed by a US drone strike in Yemen in September 2011, according to the statement. Raees Qazi also admitted logging on to Internet sites linked to al-Qaida to research bomb-making techniques and other ways of launching attacks with common items.

    US district Judge Beth Bloom set sentencing June 5 for both men. Raees Qazi faces up to 35 years in prison, while Sheheryar Qazi faces a 20-year maximum. Raees Qazi’s maximum sentence is higher because he pleaded guilty to an additional material support count. Key evidence includes FBI wiretap and other communications intercepts. Earlier in the case, defense lawyers sought access to information about the brothers collected under the once-secret National Security Agency surveillance program revealed by one of its contractors, Edward Snowden.

  • Talks under way on ending UN sanctions on Iran

    Talks under way on ending UN sanctions on Iran

    UNITED NATIONS (TIP) : Major world powers have begun talks about a United Nations Security Council resolution to lift UN sanctions on Iran if a nuclear agreement is struck with Tehran, a step that could make it harder for the US Congress to undo a deal, Western officials said.

    The talks between Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -the five permanent members of the Security Council – plus Germany and Iran, are taking place ahead of difficult negotiations that resume next week over constricting Iran’s nuclear ability.

    Some eight UN resolutions – four of them imposing sanctions – ban Iran from uranium enrichment and other sensitive atomic work and bar it from buying and selling atomic technology and anything linked to ballistic missiles. There is also a UN arms embargo.

    Iran sees their removal as crucial as UN measures are a legal basis for more stringent US and European Union measures to be enforced. The US and EU often cite violations of the UN ban on enrichment and other sensitive nuclear work as justification for imposing additional penalties on Iran.

    US Secretary of State John Kerry told Congress on Wednesday that an Iran nuclear deal would not be legally binding, meaning future US presidents could decide not to implement it. That point was emphasized in an open letter by 47 Republican senators sent on Monday to Iran’s leaders asserting any deal could be discarded once President Barack Obama leaves office in January 2017.

    But a Security Council resolution on a nuclear deal with Iran could be legally binding, say Western diplomatic officials. That could complicate and possibly undercut future attempts by Republicans in Washington to unravel an agreement.

    Iran and the six powers are aiming to complete the framework of a nuclear deal by the end of March, and achieve a full agreement by June 30, to curb Iran’s most sensitive nuclear activities for at least 10 years in exchange for a gradual end to all sanctions on the Islamic Republic.

    So far, those talks have focused on separate US and European Union sanctions on Iran’s energy and financial sectors, which Tehran desperately wants removed. The sanctions question is a sticking point in the talks that resume next week in Lausanne, Switzerland, between Iran and the six powers.

    But Western officials involved in the negotiations said they are also discussing elements to include in a draft resolution for the 15-nation Security Council to begin easing UN nuclear-related sanctions that have been in place since December 2006.

  • US probing report Secret Service agents drove car into White House barrier

    WASHINGTON (TIP): The US Secret Service said on March 11 that two agents were under investigation after an incident last week in which they were reported to have driven a government car into White House barricades after drinking at a late-night party.

    The Washington Post reported on Wednesday that one of the agents involved in the alleged March 4 incident was a top member of President Barack Obama’s protective detail.

    The Post quoted current and former government officials familiar with the incident as saying officers on duty wanted to arrest the agents and give them sobriety tests. But a supervisor ordered the agents be sent home, the officials told the paper.

    A Secret Service spokeswoman said in a statement the agency was aware of the allegations against the two agents and that “if misconduct is identified, appropriate action will be taken based on established rules and regulations.” 

  • Obama won’t lock in spending cuts: White House budget director

    WASHINGTON (TIP): US President Barack Obama will not accept action by Congress that “locks in” sequestration spending constraints, White House budget director Shaun Donovan said on March 12 as Republicans prepare to release their budget plans.

    “The president has been very clear. He will not accept a budget that locks in the sequester going forward and he will not accept a budget that severs the vital link between defense and non-defense,” Donovan told a news conference at the Capitol.

    Although the president doesn’t sign the non-binding budget resolution from Congress, he does have the ability to veto spending legislation. Asked if Obama would veto spending bills that conform to the $1.1 trillion across-the-board spending caps for this year, Donovan said those would be reviewed as they are written later this year.

  • CIA gave cops secret technology to spy on cell phones

    WASHINGTON (TIP): Empowered by a technology developed by the CIA, the US Justice Department uses secret airborne devices that mimic cellphone towers to track American citizens while hunting criminal suspects, a media report has said.

    The CIA and the US Marshals Service of Department of Justice has developed this technology in what the Wall Street Journal called “a high-tech hunt for criminal suspects”.

    But those gadgets, known to law enforcement officials as “dirtboxes,” also scoop up data from tens of thousands of unsuspecting mobile users, the paper’s unnamed sources said.

    The programme operates specially equipped planes that fly from five US cities, with a flying range covering most of the US population, it said.

    Planes are equipped with the devices trick cellphones into reporting their unique registration information, it added. The surveillance system briefly identifies large numbers of cellphones belonging to citizens unrelated to the search. The practice can also briefly interfere with the ability to make calls, these people said, according to the daily. According to a CIA spokesman quoted in the news report, some technologies developed by the agency have been lawfully and responsibly shared with other US government agencies.

    “How those agencies use that technology is determined by the legal authorities that govern the operations of those individual organizations–not CIA,” the CIA Spokesman said.

  • Pakistan tried to strike a deal with Osama?

    Pakistan tried to strike a deal with Osama?

    WASHINGTON (TIP): President Obama on Wednesday nominated career diplomat David Hale as the US ambassador to Pakistan amid continuous misgivings about the country’s commitment to fight terrorism, fueled by new disclosures that Islamabad tried to strike a deal with al Qaida and Osama bin Laden even as Washington was trying to hunt him down. Revelations in the Long War Journal, based on files recovered by US forces from Osama bin Laden’s compound in Abbotabad, which were presented as evidence in a terrorism trial in New York, show the Pakistani intelligence establishment reaching out in 2010 to al Qaida through its jihadist proxies to cut a deal in which terrorists will spare Pakistan of attacks in exchange for immunity in Waziristan and other areas they are present in.

    One of Pakistani intelligence’s emissaries was Fazlur Rehman Khalil, the longtime leader of Harakat ul Mujahedin (HUM, who was used to send al Qaida a letter.

    ”We received a messenger from them bringing us a letter from the Intelligence leaders including Shuja’ Shah, and others,” a bin Laden aide writes to the “Sheikh” as he calls bin Laden. ”They said they wanted to talk to us, to al Qaida. We gave them the same message, nothing more.”

    Shuja Shah is believed to refer to Ahmed Shuja Pasha, a former ISI chief who was received in Washington around the same time in the belief that he and the Pakistani intelligence establishment were fighting al Qaida.

    Despite copious accounts of Pakistani perfidy and terrorism sponsorship that US officials often talk about in private, successive US administrations routinely issue certifications about Pakistan’s fight against terrorism for public consumption. The Long War Journal disclosures in fact indicate that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s brother Shahbaz Sharif, went to the extent of seeking protection for Punjab (his home province) from terrorism without worrying too much about other provinces. Pakistan’s current foreign policy advisor Sartaj Aziz too has recently suggested Islamabad had no reason to fight with terrorist groups that were anti-American but did no harm to Pakistan.

    The Obama administration is sending Hale into this complicated scenario. Indicative perhaps of Washington’s new policy of detaching Pakistan from South Asia as seeing it as a middle-east problem, Hale’s diplomatic experience is mostly in West Asia. He is currently the US ambassador in Lebanon, and previously served as the special envoy for Middle East peace from 2011-2013 and deputy special envoy for Middle East peace from 2009-2011. He was also the U.S ambassador to Jordan and has served in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.