NEW DELHI, Feb 7: The ruling National Conference and its ally in Jammu and Kashmir, Congress, today said action should be taken against State minister Shabir Ahmad Khan if the molestation charges against him are found to be true.

“If it (charges) are true, action must be taken as per the law,” Union Minister and National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah told reporters outside Parliament House.

He said crimes against women like molestation and rape are not acceptable and “we are all against any such thing.”

Union Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said that if the complaint is found to be true, action will be taken according to the law.

“If this is true action will be taken and he will not be minister anymore. One has to find whether it is true or not. If it is found true, action will be taken and the law will take its own course,” Azad said.

Jammu and Kashmir Minister Shabir Ahmad Khan was yesterday booked by police on molestation charges following a complaint by a lady doctor. (PTI)

NEW DELHI, Feb 7: India does not have the capability to check the presence of malwares or snooping virus in weapon systems acquired by the defence forces from foreign countries, DRDO said today.

“It is very difficult to access in an integrated system whether there is malware because we at first place we don’t know what is there. Nobody is giving you the source code for all the equipment which is there.

“So that challenge will remain and we will have to see what can be done in such environment or what level of assessment can be done,” DRDO chief Avinash Chander told a press conference here.

He was asked whether India has a capability to check for malware or snooping devices in military systems acquired by it from abroad such as American C-17 and C-130J Super Hercules aircraft.

Asked whether such a scenario makes India’s military equipment vulnerable to hacking, he said, “In today’s world, you have to make sure that your critical systems are secure even if you are interfacing with the not so secure systems.

“The core is protected but the peripherals have to be used as they are. That technology is being developed.”

On steps been taken by the defence research body to tackle the escalating cyber threats to defence communication equipment, Chander said, “We have launched our own programme to secure local area networks, and controlled networks.

“We are working on secure mobile systems and developing our own Avdhani processors so that we have total control. We have own routers and operating systems and analysis systems.”

He said DRDO was working with many other agencies in the country to create a secure environment for controlled networks. (PTI)

NEW DELHI, Feb 7: Asserting that Telangana is something that has already been promised, the Government today asked all parties to settle the issue finally as factions for and against bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh continued disruption of Parliamentary proceedings.

“Let us see. This is something, which is already promised,” Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde told reporters outside Parliament.

He was asked whether the Union Cabinet will clear the Telangana bill in its meeting this evening so that it can be brought before Parliament for passage.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath said disruptions over Telangana are not a Congress versus other parties issue.

“This issue is not about Congress MPs. It’s a question of Seemandhra MPs versus TDP MPs. My appeal is to all members is that they have to understand that if the issue is not solved in the 15th Lok Sabha, it will have to be settled in the next.

“Even then there will 17 MPs from Telangana and 25 from Seemandhra. This matter can only be put to rest by Parliament and by vote because there will always be members from Telangana and from Seemandhra. You can oppose it but opposing is different from obstruction. Disrupting Parliament proceedings weakens democracy and Parliamentary system,” Nath told reporters.

To a question as to whether the bill is expected to come to Parliament next week, Nath said, “We can always expect.”

CPI-M leader Basudev Acharia alleged that the no-confidence motion notice by Congress members shows that the disruptions are happening at the behest of the ruling party itself.

“They (Congress) do not want Parliament to run. They did not want the anti-corruption bills to be passed. Had they been serious about passing the anti-corruption bills, they could have brought it much earlier. We will not allow the passage of any bill in the din without a debate,” he said. (PTI)

KOLKATA, Feb 7: The Rajya Sabha polls for West Bengal, held today for five seats, were marked by surprises and defections from Opposition camp, putting ruling Trinamool Congress in an advantageous position.

In the poll for five seats, Trinamool fielded candidates in four seats, the Left Front in one and Congress along with the Left nominated Independent A S Malihabadi.

Three Left MLAs Sunil Mondal of Forward Bloc, Atanu Deb Adhikary and Dasarath Tirkey, both from RSP, and Congress legislators Sushil Roy and Emani Biswas (rpt Emani) voted in favour of Trinamool’s Ahmed Hasan.

The Congress MLA from Sujapur Abu Naser Khan Chowdhury, who had yesterday vowed to vote in favour of Trinamool, however, did not do so today.

Commenting on the developments, Trinamool General Secretary Mukul Roy said, “There are known Left leaders who have now voted for us for ideological reasons. We thank them.”

CPI(M) leader Abdur Rezzak Mollah retorted, “It is better that such elements, we had earlier inducted in the party, can now be identified.”

CPI(M) Politburo member and Leader of the Opposition Surya Kanta Mishra yesterday said that three Left MLAs Sunil Mondal of Forward Bloc, Dasarath Tirkey and Atanu Deb Adhikari of RSP could not be contacted.

“We have been trying to get in touch with them, but have failed to establish any contact,” Mishra had claimed. (PTI)

NEW DELHI, Feb 7:  The Central Government is planning to develop Buddhist religious sites in the country for religious tourism, the Lok Sabha was informed today.    In a related report laid on the table of the House, Minister of State for Tourism (Independent Charge) K Chiranjeevi said the Ministry of Tourism (MoT) has already identified areas to be developed as Buddhist circuits in the country with the help of Central/state governments and private stake holders.    These areas would be developed in three different Buddhist circuits – The Dhamayatra or the Sacred circuit, Extended Dharamyatra or extended sacred circuit or retracing Buddha’s footsteps and Buddhist Heritage Trails.    The first one will be a five-seven day circuit and will include visits to Gaya (Bodhgaya), Varanasi (Sarnath), Khusinagar, Piparva (Kapilvastu) with a day trip to Lumbini in Nepal, the report said.

The second one will a 10-15 days circuit and will include visit to Bodhgaya (Nalanda, Rajgir, Barabar caves, Pragbodhi Hill, Gaya), Patna (Vaishali, Lauriya Nandangarh, Lauriya Areraj and other areas.

The third circuit will include areas like Ladakh, Srinagar and Jammu, Dharamshala and Sanghon, it added.    Mr Chiranjeevi said while identifying the designated circuits, efforts were being made to plug infrastructure gaps by rail, road linkage and provide better amenities to tourists. (UNI)

NEW DELHI, Feb 7:  A parliamentary committee has recommended that retirement age should be increased from 60 years to 65 years, citing the increase in ageing population and their productivity.

In its report tabled in Lok Sabha today, the committee also advocated a host of benefits to the geriatric population, including upping their income tax exemption limit and setting up of super-speciality hospitals in all states exclusively for them.

“The committee would like the Ministry (Social Justice and Empowerment) to seriously consider the various options which would include reviewing the age of retirement, re-employment opportunities for the retired persons… And setting up a Directorate of Employment and Rehabilitation for Senior Citizens,” it said.

It asked the government to look at the continuity of employment up to 65 years of age.

The Standing Committee headed by Hemanand Biswal noted that the population of senior citizens is expected to rise to 12.4 per cent by 2026 against 7.5 per cent in 2001 and the numbers of those above 60 and 80 years of age would see a whopping increase of 326 per cent and 700 per cent respectively by 2050.

The senior citizens should get a pension of at least Rs 1,000 per month, it said, adding that the criteria for it may be universalised for all non-income tax payers.

It has also reiterated its earlier recommendation that old-age homes be set up in all districts of the country.

It has urged the Finance Ministry to periodically raise income tax exemption keeping in view the increasing cost of living and prohibitive cost of healthcare for senior citizens.

The committee also recommended that the government should try to adopt best practices from the Scandinavian countries, which are noted for their welfare facilities for the elderly population. (PTI)

AHMEDABAD, Feb 7:  Former Special Director of Intelligence Bureau (IB) Rajinder Kumar, who was charged by CBI with murder and criminal conspiracy in Ishrat Jahan encounter case, today approached a special court and sought a copy of the supplementary charge sheet.

However, the court directed him to come next week stating that the charge sheet copy filed by CBI was being verified.

Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had yesterday charged Rajinder Kumar with murder and criminal conspiracy in the 2004 encounter case, while accusing three other serving officers of criminal conspiracy and other offences but left out Amit Shah, a close aide of Chief Minister Narendra Modi, who was under the scanner in the case.

Kumar, through his advocate, approached the court today to obtain a copy of charge sheet.

Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate H S Khutwad of CBI court told Kumar’s counsel that the charge sheet was under verification process and directed him to come on Monday.

Nearly a decade after Ishrat was murdered along with her friend Javed Sheikh, alias Pranesh Pillai, in Gujarat and two others, believed to be Pakistani nationals, CBI filed a supplementary chargesheet naming Kumar, who was Joint Director of IB posted in Gujarat at that time.

He was charged with 120-B (criminal conspiracy) for 302 (murder) and other sections of the Indian Penal Code besides various provisions of the Arms Act.

Along with Kumar, those named in the charge sheet are serving officers T Mittal, M K Sinha and Rajiv Wankhede who have been booked for criminal conspiracy, wrongful confinement, kidnapping and wrongful concealment besides various sections of the Arms Act.

CBI went ahead with the charge sheet against the IB officers notwithstanding the denial of sanction of prosecution by the Law Ministry which had stated that the evidence was not enough.

CBI alleged in its supplementary charge sheet that Kumar handed over arms and ammunition to Singhal of Gujarat police who onpassed the weapons to Deputy SP Tarun Barot through Nizamuddin Sayeed. These arms and ammunition were allegedly used in executing the crime.

In its first charge sheet filed in the case on July 3 last year, CBI had named the four IB officers but not identified them as suspects, while terming the encounter as fake and a joint operation by IB and Gujarat Police.

IPS officers D G Vanzara, P P Pandey, Girish Singhal, besides Barot, N K Amin, J G Parmar and Anaju Chaudhary had been named as accused.

CBI had said Ishrat and others were in the custody of Gujarat police before being killed and, in fact, she and Javed had been interrogated by Kumar at a farmhouse on the outskirts of city where they were kept in confinement.

All the four were taken to the encounter spot near Kotarpur Waterworks blind-folded on June 15, 2004 before being shot dead in cold blood, CBI had said. (PTI)

NEW DELHI, Feb 7:  India’s indigenous military development programme is set to achieve a major boost as the 5,000 km-range Agni-5 ballistic missile along with INS Arihant nuclear submarine is expected to be ready for induction into the armed forces next year, DRDO said today.

Addressing a press conference at the biennial Defexpo show, DRDO chief Avinash Chander said India has the capability to take out satellites in space through its missile programme but it was in favour of the peaceful use of space.

“It will take two-three more trials for the completion of the development trials and these are expected be completed within one year. We are going to do the trials from canisters this year. After few trials it will be ready for induction,” he said.

The three stages, solid propellant missile has already been test-fired twice from a mobile launcher from the launch complex-4 of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) and have been highly successful.

The indigenously developed missile Agni-V is capable of striking a range of more than 5000 km. It is about 17 m long and 2 m wide with launch weight of around 50 tonnes.

Unlike other missiles of indigenously built Agni series, the latest one ‘AGNI-V’ is the most advanced version having some new technologies incorporated with it in terms of navigation and guidance, warhead and engine.

In the Agni series, India at present has Agni-1 with 700 km range, Agni-2 with 2000 km range, Agni-3 and Agni-4 with 2500 km to more than 3500 range.

On the trials of INS Arihant, Chander said the vessel will be launched for sea trials within a month or two and these are expected to be completed within this year.

Recently, Navy officials had said that after the trials of the Arihant are completed, it would be ready for induction into operational service.

Chander said during the sea trial phase, the Arihant would be firing the indigenously-developed BO-5 missiles, which have a range of around 700 km, which is fully integrated with the Arihant. (PTI)

NEW DELHI, Feb 7:  The Reserve Bank is yet to take a decision on limiting the number of free transactions at ATMs, as proposed by Indian Banks’ Association (IBA), Parliament was informed today.

“The RBI has received a proposal from IBA to limit free transaction on ATMs and also to increase the ATM charges. No decision on the proposal has been taken,” Minister of State for Finance Namo Narain Meena said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.

In November 2013, the government advised banks to review the existing security arrangements at their ATMs in terms of instructions issued by RBI on security measures in branches and ATMs, he said in a separate reply.

To improve asset quality of banks and reduced NPAs, Meena said, the government has also advised public sector banks (PSBs) to take a number of new initiatives to increases the pace of recovery.

It includes appointment of nodal officers for recovery, to conduct special drives for recovery of loss assets and to constitute a board level committee for monitoring of recovery.

To ensure effective and expeditious recovery of defaulted loans of banks and financial institutions, the Enforcement of Security interest and Recovery of Debt Laws (Amendment) Act 2012 has been enacted, he said. (PTI)