Bhuj CJM issues bailable warrant against Aamir Khan

BHUJ, Mar 28: A local court here has issued a bailable warrant against Bollywood actor Aamir Khan and four others in the "chinkara filming case" filed by the Gujarat Forest Department.

Bhuj Chief Judicial Magistrate S B Patel has also issued warrants against film "Lagan" director Ashutosh Gowarikar, Aamir’s erstwhile wife Reena Dutt and two other unit members of the film. The court has ordered Aamir and others to appear before it on April 15.

According to the complainant, during the shooting of "Lagan" in Kunaria village in Bhuj, they had filmed a scene on "chinkara" which is against the Wildlife Conservation Act.

After an NGO complained to the authorities about the "chinkara" featuring in the film, the forest department had issued several notices over the last five years to the actor and others to explain their position.

The Gujarat Forest Department had sent numerous notices to the actor, producer and others but failed to get any reply. The department then approched the CJM court to issue arrest warrants against them under the Wildlife Conservation Act. (UNI)

Kiran Bedi’s coins ‘Jai Shiksha, Jai Krishi’ slogan

NEW DELHI, Mar 28: Magsaysay award winner Kiran Bedi today coined a new slogan ‘Jai Shiksha, Jai Krishi (Hail Education, Hail Agriculture),’ stressing the need for improving the quality of education and making it accessible to one and all in India.

"Jai Shiksha, Jai Krishi slogan is very appropriate now as as we need to make education accessible to one and all in the country, and to ensure a significant growth of the agriculture sector in India," she said here.

No doubt, Ms Bedi said the slogan coined by former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri ‘Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan’ in 1960s was relevant even today. "But, the future and security of Jai Jawan is already guaranteed now," she added.

The first woman Indian Police Service officer in India was delivering an address at the convocation of Lal Bahadur Shastri Institute of Management (LBSIM), Delhi here.

She also called upon the people to skip a meal on every Mondays as had been propagated by late Shastri to ensure that India does not import wheat and rice from other countries.

Ms Bedi urged all management schools across the country to introduce internships on governance for the students so that they could put forth their views on the subject.

Giving statistics about the status of education in post- independence India, she said the number of universities has risen from 20 to 378 since 1947.

Similarly, the number of colleges has gone up from 500 to 18064 but lamented that the percentage of student enrollment had not witnessed much improvement as the figure has shown an increase from one lakh to 112 lakh during the past 60 years.

Ms Bedi, who sought voluntary retirement from service in November last year, called for improvement in the enrollment and making quality education accessible to one and all in the country.

She also lamented the huge percentage (90 per cent) of school dropouts in India, saying the Government should make allout efforts to ensure that the anomalies were corrected.

"If India has to be a developed nation, it should first put its house in order," said Ms Bedi, who also served the United Nations as Police Advisor in the Peacekeeping Department and was conferred the UN medal for outstanding services.

She said the Government of India wanted to control higher education, but did little to increase the number of vocational schools in the country.

Citing China as an example, Ms Bedi said the Asian economic giant had 500,000 vocational schools.

Ms Bedi had sought premature retirement almost two years ahead of her superannuation following disappointment over denial of the post of Delhi Police Commissioner to her.

At that time, she was holding the post of Director-General of the Bureau of Police Research and Development.

Before seeking voluntary retirement, Ms Bedi had gone on a protest leave for four months over the appointment of her junior Y S Dadwal as Police Commissioner of Delhi.

She had termed as "regretful" the decision to appoint Mr Dadwal on the top post, saying "it was not fair to the system".

Ms Bedi had then said that she wanted to do something creative, dynamic and challenging, and her focus would be academics and might also opt for a teaching job.

The convocation was also addressed by late Shastri’s son and senior Congress leader Anil Shastri. (UNI)

Haryana Assembly censures Chautala
for misleading house

CHANDIGARH, Mar 28: The Haryana Assembly today censured former Chief Minister Om Parkash Chautala on a 1987 farm loan waiver scheme of the then state government and a similar scheme of the Central government of 1990.

A resolution censuring Mr Chautala was moved by Parliamentary Affair minister Randeep Singh Surjewala after a House Committee report on the two loan waiver schemes was tabled in the asembly.

The resolution was adopted by a voice vote after a walk out by the opposition Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) members, who claimed the that the report was biased.

Mr Chautala, a sitting MLA, was not present in the house. (UNI)

CPI rules out formation of third alternative before next polls

HYDERABAD, Mar 28: Ruling out possibility of formation of a third alternative before the next elections, the CPI today said it would go for "state-specific" alliances with various political parties.

"I do not think it (third alternative) will come into existence so early. It is our longer perspective to build a third political alternative based on common struggles on people’s issues," party General Secretary A B Bardhan said at a programme "Meet the Press" organised by Andhra Pradesh Union of Working Journalists (APUWJ).

Whether the third alternative could become a reality before the 2009 elections, he said, "If it comes before elections, I will be happy. If not, we will go for state-specific alliances taking into account the political situation in the states."

On being asked whether his party’s honeymoon with the UPA was over, the CPI leader said, "there never was a honeymoon. We have been extending conditional outside support to the Government on the basis of Common Minimum Programme (CMP)."

On his recent breakfast meeting with UNPA convener and TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu here, which fuelled speculation over Third Front, Bardhan said, "there was no dialogue on electoral understanding. At the moment, we are focusing on common struggles on public issues like price rise and farmers’ plight."

Bardhan, who was re-elected the General Secretary for the fourth consecutive term at the party’s 20^{th national congress which concluded here yesterday, said the Left would work with other secular and democratic forces to prevent BJP from coming to power.}

^{"We will try to forge state-specific electoral pacts to ensure the defeat of communal forces," he said.}

^{Viewing the third alternative as a long-term goal, he envisaged a key role for the left parties in building such a force as an alternative to Congress and BJP.}

^{"It is very important for the left parties to have a much better coordination and unity than what it is now as it will go a long way in forging the third alternative," the CPI leader said.}

^{The CPI, which fought the 2004 polls in AP in alliance with Congress, is still undecided on whether to go with the ruling party or TDP.}

^{"We think both (Congress and TDP) are secular parties. Let the elections be announced and we will see. We will decide depending on the political situation after internal discussions," Bardhan said.}

^{He did not see any contradiction in his party attacking the UPA Government on several issues even while continuing the support.}

^{"Where is the question of duality here? We are not part of the Government. Since our support is conditional, we have the right to support those issues which are in tune with the CMP and oppose those that go against it."}

^{The party veteran said his party would continue to oppose the Indo-US nuclear deal as it imposed "serious conditions on sovereignty and independent foreign policy."}

^{The Chief Minister was reacting to the comments made by Congress members alleging that the Government’s response remained lukewarm even as the law and order situation has deteriorated in the state.}

^{Senior Congress member and former chief minister K L Chisi yesterday drew the Government’s attention towards killing of senior official near Chizami in Phek district, attempt on life of another engineer in the same district and looting of NST bus passengers and reported outraging the modesty of two women by the armed men near Chakabama in Kohima district on March 24. (PTI)}

Govt to lure faculty with attractive package

NEW DELHI, Mar 28: Government has a bag full of goodies to attract distinguished and renowned faculty for its proposed world-class and Central universities.

To deal with the faculty requirement of the 14 world-class universities and 16 Central universities apart for the new IITs and IIMs, Government has lined up a host of measures which includes an attractive pay package.

Giving details of the measures, Secretary Higher Education R P Agarwal said Indians teaching aborad will be offered Ramanujan fellowship.

The fellowship would offer Rs 5 lakh for five years as research grant to them. Apart from this, they would be given a pay package of Rs 60,000 that would now be revised keeping the sixth pay commission in mind.

The acclaimed faculty teaching in India would be given the Bose fellowship. There would also be grants for paper presentation for all the faculty members, Agarwal said.

To strengthen the science stream, the research grant in the field would be increased.

"In India, only 2.9 per cent people are into research. Where as in US the percentage is 15 and in UK the figure is 25 per cent. Canada tops the list with 36 per cent and all these research work is done through their university system only in these countries," Agarwal added.

A M M Sharma committee has been formed to look into the requirements of the science field. As per its recommendations, P.H.D and M.Phil fellows will now be appointed even if they don’t clear the National Eligibility Test (NET).

A National Mission that was due to take off last year to connect through Internet all the faculty of universities and colleges will now be launched, Agarwal said.

Faculties would be appointed on contract basis to offer them flexibility. Guest faculty of various important subjects will be invited from India and abroad.

To retain talent, government has also proposed to revise the pay package of Junior Research Fellows and Senior Research Fellows.The Junior Research Fellows will get Rs 12,000 and house rent allowance (HRA) instead of Rs 8,000 where as Senior Reseach Fellows will now be paid Rs 14,000 and HRA.

The committee has proposed that the retirement age of teaching staff is raised to 65 years from 62. Academic colleges would be revamped and there would be comprehensive training programmes for teachers for knowledge upgradation. (PTI)

International Court of Justice hails India’s role

NEW DELHI, Mar 28: The President of the International Court of Jutice, Judge Rosalyn Higgins, has lauded India’s contribution to the resolution of disputes.

"Great contributions have been made by the Indian members of the Court in the resolution of disputes over the years," she told Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal, who is on a two-day bilateral visit to the Netherlands, where the UN’s highest judicial organ is located at the Hague.

During his visit, Mr Sibal will sign an agreement in science, technology and innovation with Dutch Minister for Economic Affairs Maria van der Hoeven, an official release said here today. (UNI)

Entry fee for tourists visiting Jallianwala Bagh soon

AMRITSAR, Mar 28: Tourists visiting the historic Jallianwala Bagh Memorial here may soon have to pay an entry fee if the Union Ministry of Culture accepts a propasal by the Trust looking after the monument.

The secretary of the Jallianwala Bagh Memorial Trust, S Mukherji, told PTI that the trust has written a letter to the Union Ministry of Culture that entry fee be charged for tourists visiting the historic memorial.

"We are going to introduce a light and sound show which will recreate the firing on a gathering of defenceless men, women and children on April 13, 1919 by British soldiers under the command of Brigadier Reginald Dyer at the Jalianwala Bagh, near the Golden Temple, for those visiting the site of the massacre," he said.

The work for the light and sound show has already started and it is being installed at a cost of around Rs five crore, Mukherji said.

"Even the whole memorial will get a facelift soon. We will have a big museum in the memorial which will house many new exhibits. Renovation work is also in full swing in the memorial," he said.

The annual budget of the Trust is only Rs 25 lakh but after the installation of the light and sound show the expenditure will rise manifold. "So to cope with the rise in expenditure we have asked the ministry to consider introducing an entry for those visiting the memorial".

"All the historical monuments in the country have an entry fee, the only exception being the Jallianwala Bagh Memorial entry for which is free for visitors," the secretary said.

"If an entry fee is charged then people will realise the importance of the memorial where 1,956 innocent people were killed," he said. (PTI)

Top SIMI leaders remanded in police custody till April 11

DHAR, MP, Mar 28: Former SIMI chief Safdar Nagori and 12 other key leaders of the banned outfit, who were arrested from Indore and this neighbouring district during a major crackdown against it, were remanded in police custody till April 11 by a court here today.

Nagori, who has been absconding since the outfit was banned in 2001, Shibly Peedical Abdul, wanted in connection with the Mumbai train serial blasts of July 2006 and setting up terror groups in Bangalore, and 11 other members of the group, were brought to the court by the sleuths of Special Task Force (STF).

According to the Madhya Pradesh Police, a large cache of weapons and inflammable SIMI literature were seized from them during the raids in Indore and Dhar districts of the state.

They have been charged by the Police with various sections of the Indian Penal Code including section 122 (collecting arms with intention of waring a war against the Indian Government) and section 153A (promoting enmity between classes) and sections 25 and 27 of the Arms Act.

Tight security arrangements were made as they were produced in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) S S Thakur, who passed the remand order.

Among others nabbed during the two-day raids by the Police that began on Wednesday, were Safdar Nagori’s brother Kamruddin Nagori, chief of the outfit’s operations in Andhra Pradesh, and Hafiz of Karnataka.

Workers of Bhartiya Janata Yuva Morcha staged a protest against the banned outfit outside the court premises where large number of people were gathered.

Police sources said intelligence agencies had been keeping a tab on the movement of the SIMI leaders for quite sometime before they were arrested.

Shibly is considered a prize catch as he is alleged to be part of the conclave which had met in Ujjain ahead of the Mumbai serial blasts that left over 180 people dead and hundred others injured in July 2006.

Some of the activists were arrested from Pithampur in Dhar district, a few km away from an Army range.

Describing the operation as a "big achievement" for the police, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said in Bhopal yesterday that "weapons and computers have been found...From arrested persons. Investigations are on into SIMI’s plans to expand its network in the state".

Karnataka DGP K Srinivas said over phone from Bangalore that a team of policemen has been despatched to Indore to interrogate Shibly and some others. (PTI)

Security tightened across Uttarakhand
after threatening letter

DEHRA DUN, Mar 28: A letter purportedly written by Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba outfit to Haridwar Railway station superintendent threatening to blow up vital installations across Uttarakhand has triggered a security alert in the state.

The hand written letter by LeT was sent through post in the name of Haridwar Railway station superintendent Samarendre Goswami, who after reading the contents of the letter informed railway police authorities.

In the letter signed by one Karim Ansari, who claimed to be the self-styled area commander of the terrorist outfit, LeT threatened to attack Haridwar bus stand, Rishikesh railway station, cinema halls, religious shrines and other crowded places across Uttarakhand besides Haridwar railway station and Har-Ki-Pauri, police officials today said.

The organisation has threatened to blow up the places on April 15.

"We have beefed up security at all vital installations all over Uttarakhand following the recovery of LeT’s letter," an official said.

Police have launched investigation to verify the contents of the letter and are trying to know the place from where the inland letter was posted from. (PTI)