NEW DELHI, Jan 13:
Government has speeded up the process for creation of anti-graft watchdog Lokpal and finalising manpower and infrastructure requirement for it.
“We are in the process of finalising all things. The chairperson, members and other staff for Lokpal will be appointed soon,” said a senior official of Ministry of Personnel, which provides administrative support for Lokpal.
The Personnel Ministry is also likely to seek additional grant from Finance Ministry to meet the administration related expenses, he said.
The Finance Ministry had earmarked Rs 19.73 crore for establishment related expenditure of the Central Vigilance Commission and a token provision for Lokpal in 2013-14 budget.
President Pranab Mukherjee had given assent to Lokpal and Lokayuktas Bill on January 1 this year. The Bill was passed by the Rajya Sabha on December 17, 2013 and by the Lok Sabha the next day.
The Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013 provides for the establishment of a body of Lokpal for the Union and Lokayukta for the states to inquire into allegations of corruption against certain public functionaries. It has under its purview even the Prime Minister with certain safeguards.
The Act has provision for chairperson and up to eight members for the Lokpal.
The Bill was introduced in Lok Sabha on August 4, 2011 by V Narayanasamy, Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions.
It was passed by the lower house at the fag end of the winter session of 2011. The Rajya Sabha could not approve the Bill following a debate on it as the house was adjourned before the voting.
Later, a select committee of the Rajya Sabha had suggested changes in the Bill, most of which were incorporated and approved by the Union Cabinet. Following the amendments, the Rajya Sabha passed the Bill.
The Lokpal legislation had become a bone of contention among ruling Congress, opposition BJP and civil society groups with each one of them wanting to make changes in it. (AGENCIES)

SRINAGAR : Three militants were killed in a fierce gunbattle with security forces in a village at Sopore in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district today.

The gunfight erupted in Bomai village, 55-km from here, after the security forces launched an operation to flush out militants hiding there, defence sources said.

Acting on intelligence inputs about presence of three to five militants in the village, the security forces cordoned off the area, they said.

As the jawans zeroed in on their target, the ultras hiding in the house fired at them and in the ensuing exchange of fire, three militants were killed.

The slain ultras were yet to identfied, the sources said, adding three AK 47 rifles were recovered from the scene.

The gunbattle was still raging in the village, the sources said. (AGENCIES)

NEW DELHI: India today declared itself a polio-free country for the third consecutive year without a single new case of the disease and termed it as a “monumental milestone”

“It is a matter of pride for the nation that not a single case of polio has been detected in the three years. This is one of India’s monumental and biggest milestone achieved, through a massive and sustained immunisation programme,” Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad.

“India accounted for half of all the cases of polio reported globally in 2009. Within four and half years, we have been able to eradicate the crippling disease,” Azad said adding that 36 months ago the last case was reported on January 13, 2011 when a two-year-old girl suffered polio paralysis in Howrah district of West Bengal. 741 cases were reported in 2009, 42 in 2010 and one case in 2011.

An official function to celebrate the occasion will he held on 11 February in which President Pranab Mukherjee, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj and WHO Director General Margaret Chan along with international NGOs will be present.

On the issue of risks of infection from neighbouring countries, Azad said “right from the beginning, we have vaccinating the children coming from Pakistan when they would cross the border. There are some other neighbouring countries from where people come here by air and we have already issued advisories a few months back that they will not be allowed to come unless they have been vaccinated in their respective countries.

He further said his next focus is going to on non-communicable dieses, that is cancer, diabetes and cardio-vascular diseases.

Polio or infantile paralysis, is a viral, infectious disease which spread from person to person, primarily via the fecal-oral route. Polio, which usually infects children under the age of five, can be prevented by vaccine and has been eliminated in most countries.

The disease still causes paralysis and death in some parts of the world including Nigeria, Pakistan and Afganistan.

India succeeded in its drive against polio through intense pulse polio immunisation under the Global Polio Eradication Initiative launched in 1988.

Under the initiative, over 17 crore children were vaccinated in each round of vaccination with the help of 24 lakh vaccinators. (agencies)

NEW DELHI, Jan 13:  Grant of MFN status to India and trade in petro products will be among the issues likely to figure in the meeting of the commerce ministers of India and Pakistan on January 18 even as the government here made it clear today that the meet could not be construed as resumption of dialogue process.

Prior to the ministerial deliberations between Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma and Pakistan’s State Minister for Commerce and Textile Khurram Dastagir Khan, the commerce secretaries of the two countries are also expected to meet on January 15 to set the agenda.

“Issues like removing non-trade barriers, MFN status to India, trade of power and petroleum products and opening of bank branches are likely to figure in the meeting of ministers,” a source said.

The trade liberalisation process between the two nations was impacted after the beheading of an Indian soldier in January last year.

Besides, Pakistan which has missed the deadline of granting Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status to India is also not going down well with officials here. Pakistan was to grant the status in December last year by eliminating the negative list of 1,209 items.

Meanwhile, Spokesperson of the External Affairs Ministry said, “There is a meeting of the commerce minister of India and Minister of State for commerce of Pakistan on the sidelines of a business conference. This possibly cannot be construed as resumption of India-Pakistan dialogue process.”

Khan is coming here for SAARC Business Leaders Conclave.

“Our understanding is that Pakistani authorities are willing to take substantive steps to show that they are in fact serious about moving ahead with the process of normalisation of trade.

“Therefore they (Pakistan) have requested a meeting between the commerce secretaries prior to the meeting of ministers which have been agreed to,” the spokesperson said.

The Indian government will take next step only after considering the outcome of the meeting, the Spokesperson said.

“We have always remained hopeful that the sequential road map will be implemented with Pakistan taking the first step and we will wait and see how it pans out in the coming meeting,” he added.

The Commerce Secretaries of India and Pakistan met last time in September 2012.

The bilateral trade between the countries stood at USD 2.60 billion in 2012-13. (agencies)

NEW DELHI : In a warning to Pakistan, Army Chief Gen Bikram Singh today said India will respond in equal measure if Pakistan breaks any rules as he revealed that 10 Pakistani soldiers had been killed in a recent military action.
He rejected the perception that Indian military has not retaliated against the beheading of its soldiers by Pakistani troops last year.
“Let me assure you that action has been taken… If I can invite the attention to the Geo TV report on December 23 which talked of their one officer and nine jawans being killed with 12-13 being wounded. This has happened due to firing of your soldiers on ground. They have done their bit,” he said addressing the annual Army Day press conference here.
Gen Singh said it is virtually a “mini war at the local level” whenever ceasefire violation takes place on the LoC.
“The soldiers are doing a stupendous job. The local units are doing a good job. The soldiers have reacted well and they have reacted well as required,” he asserted.
When referred to the repeated ceasefire violations by Pakistan on the LoC, the Army Chief said, “It depends, if rules are followed by our neighbours, we follow the rules. If rules are broken, then obviously we cannot stick to the rules. Even we are going to break the rules.”
At the same time, he said that through retaliation, the “endeavour is not to escalate the situation into operational or strategic arena. It is to deal with the same measure if not more and give a befitting response in a professional manner at place where we are fired upon.”
Gen Singh was asked about to comment on the notion among common people that though he had promised retaliation after the beheading of its soldiers in Mendhar sector, no action has so far been taken.
Last year on January 8, one Indian soldier was beheaded by Pakistan Army troops in a cross-border assault after which Gen Singh had said that the Indian Army reserves the right to retaliate at the time and place of its choice.
Elaborating on this statement, Gen Singh said he wanted to give the “freedom of action to local commanders to deal with the situation accordingly as they deemed appropriate.”
Commenting on today’s ceasefire violation, he said he has asked the Director General (Military Operations) Lt Gen Vinod Bhatia to look into the matter and talk to his Pakistani counterpart on the issue.
He said the particular violation in Poonch area today started after Indian troops detected movement of three terrorists trying to infiltrate into Indian side. “We will give them a befitting reply if infiltration is attempted.”
The chief said this was first incident of ceasefire violation after October 27 when the DGMOs of the two countries talked to each other and it will be taken up with Pakistan side.
On a mysterious video purportedly showing the head of Lance Naik Hemraj, who was beheaded by Pakistan Army last year, he said the force was verifying the authenticity of the footage and if it is correct, then it would be taken up at appropriate level.
He criticised the media for showing the video saying the soldiers should be portrayed only as heroes.
On the 2010 encounter of Machhil in Kashmir, he said the legal procedures have brought out charges against two officers and jawans and they are facing the summary General Court Martial.
He said the action taken by the Army in the Machhil case will send out a strong message in the service against staging fake encounters in future and it has reiterated the Do’s and Don’ts and ten commandments of the Chief of Army Staff on human rights issue.
“There is a zero tolerance policy towards human rights violations and this shows our commitment in this direction. We have the utmost respect for the law of the land and we will uphold it,” Gen SIngh said.
He refused to comment on the proceedings in the Pathribal case saying the matter was sub-judice and it was not appropriate for him to comment on it. (AGENCIES)

NEW DELHI : The Supreme Court today stayed the Madras High Court order to maintain status quo on the process of appointing 12 judges, saying it is a “serious matter” which will be taken up by the apex court.
The apex court also took exception to the conduct of a judge of the Madras High Court who on January 9 had walked in as a special bench was hearing a PIL against the proposed appointment of new judges and said the choice of probables was not fair.
“It is a very serious matter not only for the institution but also otherwise,” a bench comprising justices B S Chauhan and J Chelameswar observed while restraining a division bench of the High Court from further proceeding with the matter.
The apex court also put in ‘abeyance’ the January 9 direction of the High Court directing the Union Law Ministry to maintain status quo in respect of the list of 12 names forwarded by the Madras High Court.
It said the “gravity of the situation” has to be taken into consideration,” and the matter has to be withdrawn from the High Court and has to be heard here (apex court) by a three-judge bench.
The bench accepted the submission of Attorney General G E Vahanvati that such a serious matter cannot be heard in the atmosphere of commotion and alleged indulgence of a sitting judge who had walked into the courtroom during the hearing.
The apex court said if the sitting judge walked into the courtroom, he should have been made party to the petition filed by the Madras High Court before it.
“If he (the judge) has made a comment he should be made a party. You understand the implication. Unless he is made party he can’t say anything on his conduct,” the bench said.
Justice C S Karnan had taken everyone by surprise as he entered the courtroom and had said, “The selection is unfair. I am also a part of the judiciary. I want to file an affidavit in my own name. Please take note of it.” (AGENCIES)

SRINAGAR : Two unidentified militants were killed in a gunbattle in Sopore area of north Kashmir’s Baramulla district today, police sources said.
The encounter broke out between security forces and militants in Bomai village of Sopore, 55 kms from here, following an anti-militancy operation, the sources said.
As per intelligence inputs, a group of five militants were believed to have taken shelter in the village and an operation was launched to neutralise them, they said.
When the security forces moved towards the target houses, militants hiding there opened fire and in the ensuing encounter, two militants were killed, the sources said.
They said the operation in the village was going on. (AGENCIES)