Curfew relaxed for nine hours in Vadodara

       Vadodara: As the situation is returning to normal here, the authorities have decided to lift up curfew from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. today, in all the six police stations. Vadodara Police Commissioner Deepak Swarup after reviewing the situation in the city has also decided to withdrawal army from Tuesday. Swarup confirmed that the city remained peaceful but a final decision to withdraw army would be taken today after monitoring the developments. The Army has already been withdrawn from Raopura and Karelibagh areas. Curfew in six areas of violence-hit Vadodara was relaxed for seven hours from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. for all the people on Sunday following a relatively improved situation in the city. Many shops remained opened despite it being Sunday, as traders tried to recuperate from the heavy losses incurred during the disturbances. Human rights activists have started a survey of religious places of Vadodara.

    The Vadodara police yesterday arrested Neelkanth Marathe alias Garagewala in relation to the burning alive of Rafiq Abdulgani Vora during the Vadodara violence. Neelkanth was one of the twelve accused in the brutal murder that took place on Tuesday night and was identified by Rafiq's brother Munna. On Tuesday night, a mob of around 1,500 people attacked Rafiq's Tata Sierra car, bearing number GJ-6-AA-8258 on Ajwa Road while he was on his way to home in the nearby Kismet Colony. The mob then torched the car, burning the 38-year-old businessman alive inside his car. An indefinite curfew was imposed across half of the city on May 1 after four persons were killed and 22 were injured in clashes between the police and the violent crowd. Trouble started when a Corporation team accompanied by a police contingent began demolishing the over 300-year-old Dargah of Sayed Sarsiddin Baba to widen the road near the Champaneri Gate. Objecting to the demolition of the mosque, agitated residents of the area threw stones on the municipal staff and the police, which in turn led to the baton charge, the firing of teargas shells and finally gunfire.

Rahul visits ancestral home in Allahabad (Go To Top)

      Allahabad (Uttar Pradesh): Rahul Gandhi, the scion of the Nehru-Gandhi family, visited his ancestral home 'Anand Bhavan' in Allahabad on Sunday. According to S.P.Mal, the caretaker of Anand Bhavan, the house built by his great great granfather Motilal Nehru, Rahul spent about 45 minutes going through the place. "He stayed here for about 45 minutes. He visited Swaraj Bhavan and Anand Bhavan. He visited almost all the rooms of the building. The workers here were very happy that he visited us," said Mal. The house was donated to the nation by Rahul's grandmother and former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1970. It has since been converted into a museum. Congress supporters strongly believe that Rahul, 35, will eventually go on to become India's prime minister. The over 120-year-old party has ruled India for 46 years since the country won freedom from British colonial rule in 1947. The Nehru-Gandhi family - not related to freedom movement leader Mahatma Gandhi - has had a stranglehold over the Congress since the beginning of the 20th century. Rahul's father (Rajiv Gandhi), grandmother (Indira Gandhi) and great grandfather (Jawaharlal Nehru) have together been prime ministers of the country for 37 of the 59 years since gaining independence from the British colonial rulers. Such has been their domination over the party and country that most Congress activists cannot think of a future without a Nehru- Gandhi descendant at the helm. Rahul, who studied development economics in Britain and worked as a financial consultant in London before returning to India to start a computer consultancy firm, made a surprise entry into politics. He contested elections in 2004 from the family's traditional constituency of Amethi in Uttar Pradesh to boost the Congress party's sagging political fortunes in the state and across the Hindu belt. He has since kept a low profile despite his party's surprise win in the national election, focusing mostly on Amethi, studying development, farming and micro-credit and meeting experts.

Patna HC rejects Sadhu Yadav's bail plea (Go To Top)

      Patna: The Patna High Court today rejected the anticipatory bail plea of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MP Anirudh Prasad alias Sadhu Yadav in connection with the multi-crore rupees flood relief scam. After hearing the defence counsel and the prosecution, Justice Chandramauli Kumar Prasad dismissed Yadav's anticipatory bail plea. Earlier on May 1, Justice Chandramauli Kumar Prasad had posted the hearing of Yadav's bail petition for today and had sought clarifications on the Delhi High Court order on the MP's petition. The Delhi High Court on April 24 rejected the petition of Yadav. Justice S K Agrawal rejecting his bail plea had said that Yadav should seek legal alternative from Patna High Court in this regard. The Delhi High Court had earlier granted anticipatory bail to Lalu Prasad's brother-in-law Yadav and stayed his arrest till April 24. Special Vigilance Court had on April 18 dismissed the anticipatory bail plea of Yadav, who was chargesheeted in the scam by the Vigilance Bureau on April 10 this year under various sections of the IPC and Prevention of Corruption Act. Yadav, Lok Sabha member from Gopalganj, has been charged with receiving 'slush money' from the alleged kingpin of the scam, Santosh Kumar Jha, in the fraud in which Rs 17 crore meant for providing relief to the flood-hit people of north Bihar in 2004 was swindled. Jha and Former Patna District Magistrate Gautam Goswami are lodged in judicial custody in the case. According to the Special Public Prosecutor (Vigilance) P P Singh, the bureau had sufficient evidence to prove the charge that Yadav had received 'ill gotten money' from the supplier of relief materials 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.

Power cut: Women block trains in Allahabad

       Kanpur: Angry over acute power crunch, about 300 women blocked trains in Allahabad on Sunday. The women sat on railway tracks and shouted slogans demanding quality power supply in the city. A number of trains got delayed because of the protest. The protestors threatened that if normal electric supplies were not resumed then they would step up their agitation. Allahabad city is facing huge power cuts every day. The current demand of Uttar Pradesh state is around 7,000-8,000 MW, while the supply is around 4,000-5,000 MW. To add to the woos of the people the temperature in the northern plains of the country is touching 45 degree Besides, Uttar Pradesh, several other northern states - Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, national capital Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan and Uttaranchal -- are facing power shortage. By one estimate, peak demand in India today exceeds electricity supply by 14 percent.

      The vast Indian countryside, where more than two-thirds of the country's 1.2 billion people live, accounts for no more than 13 percent of electricity consumption while some 40 percent of the country's electricity supply is lost due to theft. According to industry estimates, India needs an additional 100,000 MW of power in the next 10 years with an investment of $100 billion to meet soaring demand of an expanding economy. India has allowed foreign companies to invest in fully owned operations in the energy sector to overcome a peak electricity shortage of about 12.2 percent.

Live missiles from Ghaziabad factory (Go To Top)

       Ghaziabad: Ten missiles and several bombs have been recovered from a water tank at the Shankar Steel Factory in Ghaziabad's Kavinagar area after a raid conducted by the police today. The raid was conducted after the police received information about some explosive material at the factory. Seven of the ten missiles are live. The owner of the factory, Devesh Luthra, has been arrested, Senior Superintendent of Police, Ghaziabad Piyush Mordia said. A bomb disposal squad is presently defusing the missiles, he added. In October 2005, army personnel recovered several anti-tank and air-to-air missiles from the factory of Bhushan Steel Company here. Then, ten people were killed and eight injured when the consignment was being unloaded at the factory.

BJP strategy for Parliament session (Go To Top)

      New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is likely to chalk out the party's strategy here today for the Parliament session beginning on May 10. The meeting to be chaired by former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, would identify the burning issues to be raised in Parliament in the coming session. Almost all top BJP leaders would be participating in the meeting, including BJP President Rajnath Singh, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha L K Advani, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Jaswant Singh, BJP Deputy Leader in Rajya Sabha Sushma Swaraj and BJP Deputy Leader in the Lok Sabha Vijay Kumar Malhotra. Chief Whips and other senior leaders would also attend the meeting. The BJP plans to demand discussions on various issues which include rising prices, water and power shortage in northern India, sealing and demolition drive in Delhi and the probe into the Volcker report. BJP also plans to demand talks on Siachen and the killing of Hindus in Jammu and Kashmir. This would be the first major meeting of party leaders after the death of senior leader Pramod Mahajan. Separately, Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee will be meeting leaders of all political parties on Tuesday in a customary pre- session meeting, which will probably focus on convincing all of them to ensure a smooth session. With Assembly elections in four states and one Union Territory coming to a close on May 8 and results expected on the second day of the interim session (May 11), the debates in both Houses are expected to be stormy. The main Government business is likely to be confined to legislating on the office-of-profit issue and to play down the controversy surrounding the reservation of seats in higher educational institutions. The Treasury and Opposition benches are squaring up for a probable free-for-all on a number of issues. A number of political meetings can also be expected to take place next week.

Jaya Bachchan's plea dismissed  (Go To Top)
by Chandrika Jain

        New Delhi: The Supreme Court today dismissed Samajwadi Party leader Jaya Bachchan's petition challenging her disqualification from the Rajya Sabha on holding an office of profit. A Bench headed by Chief Justice Y K Sabharwal said that the law on this issue is settled since 1954. It is not whether the person actually received any remuneration or pecuniary gains, but whether the office he or she holds is itself of profit. Even Jaya Bachchan's lawyer Ajaz Maqbool endorsed the verdict given by the apex court while talking to the media persons. "In this view, the question whether the petitioner (Jaya Bachchan) actually received any pecuniary gain is not material..." the Bench said adding that "we do not find any merit in the petition." The court said that prior to contesting the election a person has to ensure that they are not holding any office with a profit- making body. The court said that it was mandatory for the person to vacate from any such office if held, irrespective of whether the person took money or not. The petition challenging her disqualification was filed by President APJ Abdul Kalam on the recommendation of the Election Commission for holding an office of profit as the Chairperson of Uttar Pradesh Film Development Corporation. Jaya Bachchan on the other hand had filed a petition seeking issuance of an appropriate writ saying the Presidential orders as well as Election Commission`s recommendation disqualifying her as member of Rajya Sabha should be declared as null and void. The petition contended that she had not earned any pecuniary gain by holding the post during her continuation as Member of Parliament, and hence, it was not an office of profit. Jaya Bachchan was disqualified as a member of Rajya Sabha on March 17. Her disqualification was with retrospective effect from July 14, 2004, ten days after her election on July 4, 2004, when she was appointed to the Film Council post.

Delhi announces early summer break (Go To Top)

       New Delhi: It is all cheers for the school going students with the Delhi Government asking the aided schools to announce summer break from May 10. The announcement comes in the wake of rising mercury level and heat waves sweeping across the capital. The NCT government is also issuing an advisory to public schools to declare their summer vacation in advance because of the increasing temperature, Education Minister Arvinder Singh Lovely told reporters after the Cabinet meeting here. Summer holidays in aided and public schools normally start after May 15 but the government schools are already closed for vacations from May 1.

Bush names Michael Hayden CIA chief (Go To Top)

        Washington: US President George W. Bush on Monday named Air Force General and a former head of the National Security Agency, Michael Hayden, as the new head of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Announcing Hayden's name as Porter Goss' successor, Bush described him as "the right man to lead the CIA at a critical moment". However, according to the BBC, Democrat and Republican legislators have expressed concern at having a military man head a civilian agency. Goss had resigned as the CIA chief on Friday.

US weapons systems for Pak (Go To Top)

        Washington: The United States has reportedly agreed to provide Pakistan's military with latest conventional weapons systems, besides the already promised F-16 fighter aircraft to fight terrorism. It has also agreed to hold a joint military exercises with Islamabad. According to a television channel report here, Pakistan's Defence Secretary Tariq Waseem Ghazi was quoted as confirming this news after the US-Pak Defence Consultative Group (DCG) meeting here. "The US has agreed to sell conventional weapons and latest weapon system to Pakistan so that the fight against terrorism can effectively move forward," Ghazi was quoted as saying by the TV channel. Ghazi said that the US-Pakistan joint military exercises would take place some time in 2007. According to the recent reports, Pakistan has scaled down its plans to buy 77 F-16s following last year's earthquake and sought about 25 used and second hand planes during the present round of talks. The DCG was revived in 2003 to periodically discuss Pakistan's defence requirements.

Dravid at second spot in batsmen ranking (Go To Top)

      Dubai: Indian skipper Rahul Dravid has moved to number two in the latest ICC Test rankings for batsmen with 842 rating points. Interestingly, Dravid's one-spot jump came after South African all-rounder Jacques Kallis slipped one place to the third spot following his below par performance with bat in the third Test against New Zealand in which he scored nine and 13. Australian skipper Ricky Ponting continues to top the list of Test batsmen with 931 rating points. Besides Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag are the only two Indians to figure in the top 20 Test batsmen. Sehwag, who has 702 rating points is on the 12th spot while with 670 points, Sachin is at number 17. In bowlers' table, Anil Kumble is the India's highest ranked bowler placed at ninth position with 731 rating pints. All- rounder Irfan Pathan is at number 12 with 674 points.

     Top ten Test batsmen: 1. Ricky Ponting (Australia) 2. Rahul Dravid (India) 3. Jacques Kallis (South Africa) 4. Inzamam-ul-Haq (Pakistan) 5. Matthew Hayden (Australia) 6. Brian Lara (West Indies) 7. Younis Khan (Pakistan) 8. Mohammad Yousuf (Pakistan) 8. Mike Hussey (Australia) 10. Marcus Trescothick (England).

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