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Geelani absolved in Parliament attack case

     New Delhi: Delivering the final judgement in the December 13, 2001 Parliament attack case, the Supreme Court today partially changed the Delhi High Court verdict and converted the capital punishment of Shaukat Hussain into imprisonment of 10 years. The Apex Court, however, upheld the death sentence awarded to Mohammad Afzal and acquittal of Delhi University lecturer SAR Geelani and Afshan Guru. A two-judge Bench of the apex court comprising Justices P V Reddi P P Naolekar, delivered the verdict on the appeals filed by Shaukat Hussain Guru and Mohammad Afzal as also on the Delhi Police appeal against granting an acquittal of Delhi University lecturer S A R Geelani and Afsan Guru. The Bench had reserved its verdict in the case over two months ago after hearing it on a day-to-day basis for nearly six months. The Delhi High Court, in its judgement, had acquitted Geelani and Afshan but maintained the capital punishment, awarded by the trial court, on the other two. The trial Court had awarded capital punishment to Geelani, Shaukat Hussain Guru and Mohammad Afzal and five-year prison term to Afshan Guru after holding them guilty in the case. Several security personnel and Watch and Ward staff of Parliament were killed when the suicide squad comprising five men attacked Parliament on December 13, 2001.

Moderate quake strikes Nicobar Islands again (Go To Top)

     New Delhi: An earthquake of moderate intensity struck the coast of Nicobar Islands in the Bay of Bengal early this morning, Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) said here. According to the department, the tremor measured 5.4 on the Richter Scale and was recorded at 5.14 a.m.(IST). The epicentre was at 6.9 degrees North Latitude and 92.4 degrees East Longitude. So far, around half a dozen quakes have hit the Nicobar Islands after the December 26, 2004 tsunami wave attack, ranging from a moderate 5.3 to a strong 7 on the Richter Scale. The strongest tremor occurred on July 24, 2005, and measured 7.2 on the Richter Scale.

Mamta resigns Lok Sabha membership, Speaker rejects (Go To Top)

     New Delhi: Trinamool Congress MP Mamta Banerjee on Thursday resigned from the Lok Sabha after dramtically throwing papers at Deputy Speaker Charanjit Singh Atwal. The hand written application addressed to Chatwal, however, was not accepted by Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, who said that it was not properly formatted. Rejecting Mamta's resignation bid, Chatterjee said that the letter should have been addressed to him and not to the Deputy Speaker. He also said that hand written resignations were unacceptable. Earlier in the day, Mamta Banerjee threw a tantrum in the Well of the House by hurling papers at Chatwal when the latter did not permit her to speak on an adjournment motion regarding irregularities in the voters list in West Bengal. Banerjee, who is the only MP of the Trinamool Congress representing West Bengal, wanted to speak on the issue, but Atwal refused permission, saying that the Speaker had already denied her this permission because, as per rules, there could not be two adjournment motions in the same day. The first adjounrnment motion was presented by BJP President, L.K.Advani.

Siddaramaiah not to step down as Deputy Chief Minister (Go To Top)

     Bangalore: Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister and JD (S) leader Siddaramaiah has refused to budge, asserting he would not yield to the demand for stepping down from the post of the Deputy Chief Minister. He said that the State Assembly Speaker will decide whether he enjoys the confidence of party MLAs or not. The Speaker is likely to convene a meeting of JD (S) legislature party. The JD (S) has submitted a letter to Assembly Speaker Krishna conveying the party's decision to remove Siddaramaiah as the party's leader in the state Assembly and appoint MP Prakash in his place. Earlier, senior Janata Dal (Secular) leader and Minister M P Prakash took over as the party's leader in Karnataka State Assembly, replacing the ousted rebel leader and state Deputy Chief Minister S.Siddaramaiah. Prakash was unanimously chosen by party MLAs as the next leader in the Assembly during a meeting chaired by JD (S) President and former Prime Minister H.D.Deve Gowda. The meeting was attended by 60 MLAs.

     Briefing news persons about the deliberations, Deve Gowda said that the action taken against Siddaramaiah was completely democratic, and added that the latter had been sacked for participating in the backward classes rally at Hubli last week. Gowda's supporters, who clearly outnumber MLAs with Siddaramaiah, have already insisted that the latter should be dropped from the ministry as also two other ministers H C Mahadevappa and Satish Jarkiholi loyal to him. Official sources said that Karnataka Chief Minister N.Dharam Singh has asked the above three to submit their resignations immediately. Singh, who left for Hyderabad this morning, is to chair a meeting of his cabinet tomorrow where it is expected the resignations will be formally accepted, clearing the way for Prakash to become the next Deputy Chief Minister of the state. The move has escalated the crisis in the JD(S), which is the ruling coalition partner in the state. Siddaramaiah's relations with Gowda soured recently, particularly after he defied him and attended a convention of backward classes, minorities and Dalits at Hubli a fortnight ago. He is at loggerheads with the JD (S) supremo Deve Gowda on whose behest his son and JD (S) working president Kumaraswamy has stepped up efforts to oust Siddaramaiah from the party.

India launches world's cheapest PC (Go To Top)
by Ashok Dixit

     New Delhi: India on Thursday achieved another first in its Information Technology (IT) revolution by launching what the government claimed was the world's cheapest personal computer -- priced at US dollars 225. The Minister for Communication and Information Technology, Mr. Dayanidhi Maran, presented the indigenous made personal computer to UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Maran has been at the forefront of a campaign aimed at making information technology available to the lowest economic strata of Indian society and in this context, he had issued instructions to officials in his ministry to come up with a computer friendly to the masses. Launched by the IT firm HCL Infosystems, the world's cheapest computer is priced at Rs.9,900 (225 dollars) and includes all the basic features required for a first-time user. Bringing down the prices of personal computers to below the Rs.10,000 mark (227 dollars) has been the government's aim for some time. Maran personally told media persons here that he had personally tested the computer and was satisfied with it, saying that it met the basic needs and could be upgraded in the future. HCL Infosystems Chairman Ajai Chowdhury said that the huge demand for low-cost computers would make the initiative to make cheaper computers cost-effective. The world's cheapest computer's specifications are as follows: Processor (1GHz), Memory (128 MB RAM), Hard Disk Memory (40 GB) and Monitor (15 inch colour). This is not the end as Maran will be visiting Kolkata on Friday to launch another cheaper computer which is expected to be Rs.200 (USD 4.5 ) cheaperthan the HCL version. This computer is being manufactured by the Xentis Infotech Group. At present, India has 15 million computers and five million net connections. The government wants to raise this number to 75 million computers and 45 million net connections by 2010. In 2004-05, MAIT, the apex body for the hardware industry, reported PC sales at 3.6 million, a growth of 20 percent over sales recorded in 2003-04.

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