Raj Thackeray names new party

     Mumbai: Raj Thackeray, who left the Shiv Sena a few months ago, today announced the name of his party as Maharashtra Navnirman Sena. On the occasion, he said that the framework of the policies of his new party would be announced on March 19. Addressing press persons in Mumbai today, he admitted that he had left Shiv Sena because of differences with his cousin Udhav Thackeray, who is the son of Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray. Raj further said that his new party would work for the welfare of Maharashtra.

    Firm on his aim to create a new Maharashtra, Raj had in a statement issued last Thursday said that there was a need of young, independent new political party in the state. "Many people asked me whether I was going to start all over again. I believe that every generation has to start on its own to satisfy its need to change the world. In fact, if the new generation gets everything on a platter they cannot keep pace with the ever-changing world. The young guns are seen learning from the experience of the old to create their own world. And herein lies my own inspiration of creating a new Maharashtra," he had said. Raj resigned from the Sena party post on November 27 last year and on December 18, he gave up the primary membership of the party. The rebel leader stated that the time gap between December 18 and March 19 was inevitable. "I have always taken crucial decisions in my life with thoughtful approach and firm mind. I wanted to travel all over the state to understand people's problems. Throughout the tour, people asked me when I was going to make the announcement of the party. Time has come to answer that question now," added Raj.

Anticipatory bail for Sadhu Yadav  (Go To Top)
by Ajay Kumar

     Patna: The Patna High Court today granted anticipatory bail to Lalu Prasad's brother-in-law and Lok Sabha Member Sadhu Yadav in connection with a multi-crore-rupee flood relief scam. After furnishing a bail bond of Rs 10,000, Justice Chandramauli Kumar allowed bail to Yadav. The court directed Sadhu Yadav alias Aniruddh Prasad, to surrender before the trial court within a week. The court also directed him that until the charge-sheet is filed; he will not go abroad. Special Vigilance Court on February 25 had reserved its order on the petition for anticipatory bail. The order was reserved by the designated Vigilance Judge R N Prasad on conclusion of arguments by Sadhu's Counsel Janardan Rai and Special Public Prosecutor (Vigilance) P P Singh. On opposing the petition for bail, P P Singh said the court had already issued an NBW on February 12 against Yadav on the request of the vigilance bureau which had grilled him in December 2005, about his links with Santosh Jha and other accused in the case. It was the first NBW against a politician in the scam which came to light last year. Jha and Former Patna District Magistrate Gautam Goswami are lodged in judicial custody in the case related to cheating of Rs 17 crore meant for providing relief to flood-hit people in several districts of north Bihar in the year 2004. Goswami was conferred 'Young Asian Hero' award for his role in providing aid to flood victims last year before the Bihar government ordered a vigilance probe into the scam on April 26 following allegations of misappropriation of relief funds. Singh said the bureau had sufficient evidence to prove the charge that Sadhu Yadav had received 'ill gotten money 'from the supplier of relief materials and alleged kingpin of the fraud Santosh Kumar Jha, who had transferred Rs 6 lakh to the account of yadav at the Patna secretariat branch of the State Bank of India in January 2005. When asked about the money then in reply Yaday had retained that the takings were from the sale of a car.

Pilotless 'Lakshya' successfully test-flown (Go To Top)

     Balasore: The indigenously built Pilotless Target Aircraft (PTA) 'Lakshya' was successfully test flown at around 11 a.m. from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) Chandipur, near Balasore today. Indian Air Force (IAF) test fired the short range missile successfully, said the Defence sources. Lakshya is equipped with advanced support system to help it perform tactful aerial exploration in the battlefield, including target acquisition. A team of officials from Kalaikunda IAF base in neighbouring West Bengal came to Chandipur and under their inspection the test was undertake. The six-foot long Lakshya is fitted with a digitally controlled engine that can be operated from the ground using a remote. 'Lakshya' had been designed by Aeronautical Developmental Establishment, Bangalore. Lakshya is a surface/ship launched high subsonic reusable aerial target system, remotely piloted from ground. It provides training to the gun and missile crew and to air defense pilots for weapon engagement. India is also developing it as an air or land-launched variant cruise missile system capable of carrying a 350 kg payload to a range of 600 kms. It was initially projected to enter service by 1998. By April 2002 the PTA Lakshya had been inducted by Indian Air Force and Indian Navy. The Lakshyas developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) are fully operational with the users. Training of pilots in air-to-air weaponry and target practice of surface-to-air missile batteries and guns is a regular peace time drill of all the three services namely the army, navy and the air force. In such training, certain amount of live firing practice is essential against realistic airborne targets for proper perception of actual threat parameters likely to be encountered. For this purpose, use of recoverable PTA with towed sub-targets had long been considered the most cost effective option. The PTA was also required for evaluation and development trials of new surface-to-air and air-to-air weapon systems.

MPLADs scheme to continue (Go To Top)

     New Delhi: The Centre today said that the controversial Member of Parliament Local Area Development (MPLAD) scheme will continue to stay albeit with certain improvements to prevent its misuse and corruption. Replying to a question raised in the Rajya Sabha, Statistics and Programme Implementation Minister G.K. Vasan said: "There is no proposal to close down the MPLAD scheme at all. In fact, the Ministry is trying to improve the standard of the scheme". The scheme which enables a Parliament member to suggest schemes for implementation in his constituency was recently in the news for all the wrong reasons. With increase reports of corruption and misuse of the funds, CPI (M) leader Brinda Karat today demanded bringing the funds directly under the supervision of the State Governments to which a large number of MPs protested. Vasan emphasized, that the Government has no intention to bring amendment in the law so as to regulate the scheme and added that provisions like submission of utilisation certificate and other formalities, would ensure more transparency. He also said that the no religious bodies such as temples, mosques or churches could be funded by this scheme and urged the members to use the annual rupees two crore fund under the scheme to be spent on providing clean drinking water, public health and sanitation and developmental work for socially depressed classes of society. On Wednesday, Vasan had rejected the proposal for demanding a hike in the fund raised by few members. Currently, the Supreme Court is hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) asking the Court to scrap the scheme since it is misused a lot. The petitions, filed by the Panther's Party Chief Bhim Singh and NGO Loksevak Sangh, claims that about Rs 5,000 crore of public money leading to creation of public assets is going completely waste. However, Centre had said to the Court that there are certain flaws that could be rectified so as to make the scheme more effective.

    Currently, a seven-member inquiry committee has been constituted to go into the allegations of corruption against six MPs in the MPs Local Area Development (MPLAD) Scheme. The alleged members include C P Singh, F S Kulaste and Ramswaroop Koli (all BJP), Churchill Alemao (Congress), P N Yadav (Samajwadi Party), Sakshi Maharaj (Independent supported by SP). Besides these alleged corruption cases against the members of Parliament, Election Commissioner Navin Chawla too was recently wrapped up in the controversy over an allegation that private trusts run by his family had received donations from Congress MPs through the scheme.

Mascot of Commonwealth Games (Go To Top)

     New Delhi: 'Sheru', the Tiger, would be the mascot for the 2010 Commonwealth Games to be hosted by India in the national capital New Delhi. Suresh Kalmadi, chairman of the Organising Committee of the Games announced this at a glittering function in the city on Thursday. Kalmadi released the logo of the game with the mascot at a 15- minute audiovisual presentation. "In the last three years, we have been scouting for designers. Not one, but several designers have contributed in designing Sheru," he said. Popularity of tiger was one of the reasons for choosing it as a mascot, he said. "It is very popular. Songs could be penned on the concept of a friendly tiger. Also we have "save the tiger" project. All these factors were taken into considerations," Kalmadi added. New Delhi was chosen as a venue to stage the 2010 Games in 2003 in preference to a bid from Hamilton in Canada. The Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) had last year opted for New Delhi by an overwhelming 46-22 margin over its only rival, in a major boost for sports in the world's second most populous nation. The Games will be staged in India for the first time and in Asia for only the second time. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, held them in 1998. With a population of more than 1.2 billion, India is the largest country in the Commonwealth. The 2010 Commonwealth Games will be India's first big international sports event since the 1982 Asian Games. New Delhi hosted the inaugural Asian Games in 1951 and again in 1982, but lost its bid for 2006 to Doha, the capital of the tiny Persian Gulf state of Qatar, gaining just one vote in addition to its own. Millions of dollars are being spent upgrading the city's overloaded infrastructure. The event will also draw tens of thousands of tourists, competitors, officials and journalists, giving a major boost to the economy. New Delhi had failed in its bid to host the 1994 edition, which went to Victoria, Canada but had argued this time that the Games should be taken out of Britain, Australia and Canada which have hosted most of them since they were launched in 1930.

Indian attack stalls English run machine  (Go To Top)

     Mohali: Indian bowlers blazed through the English batting line up even as Kevin Pietersen led England to a spirited fight back in the first day of the second Test match at Mohali. Earlier, rain and poor light marred the day's play. Bad conditions led to stoppage of the game by as much as 155 minutes. In the morning England won the toss and decided to bat first. Among the Indian seamers, Irfan Pathan scalped two wickets before veteran spinner Anil Kumble and debutant paceman Munaf Patel took one wicket each to reduce England to 163 for four. At stumps, declared nearly an hour before scheduled close due to bad light, Collingwood was batting on 19 while stand in skipper Andrew Flintoff was on four. Pathan dealt the first blow off the fifth ball of the 11th over when he had Andrew Strauss caught by wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni for 18 before returning to send back Alastair Cook (17) in his very next over. The Indians, playing with five bowlers, struck at the moment when Pietersen was blazing with an aggressive half-century. He was however, dismissed, scoring only 64 runs. The 25-year-old was caught and bowled by debutant paceman Munaf Patel, having miscued leggie Anil Kumble to be caught at shortleg in Nagpur. At Nagpur also, Pietersan was dismissed at 87, just 13 runs short of a century. "I'm really cussed getting out. I was furious getting out at 87 (in Nagpur) and I'm pretty disappointed getting out today," he said at the post match conference. Earlier, India made two changes in the team, dropping VVS Laxman and Mohammad Kaif. Munaf and leg-spinner Piyush Chawla earned their first India caps. Chawla became India's second youngest test player after making his debut aged 17 years 75 days. Sachin Tendulkar is the youngest after playing his first test as a 16-year-old. England made one change, calling in medium pacer L Plunkett in place of Ian Blackwell.

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