SHIRDI, Mar 16:  Maharashtra Government has served a show-cause notice to the trust managing Saibaba temple here for spending lakhs of rupees on a slew of projects without taking its permission, an RTI query has revealed.

Shri Saibaba Sansthan Trust, which spent the money on providing basic amenities like roads in Shirdi town, has been served the notice by Law and Judiciary Department, Sandeep Kulkarni, RTI activist who filed the query related to spending on projects by the temple managing body, said today.

The department has demaded clarification in this regard from the trust, said Kulkarni, who had also sought details of some other financial matters.

Sources in the trust confirmed receiving the notice.

Kulkarni said it has been observed that the existing management board (trustees) of the Sansthan, in the past too, had spent crore of rupees on various projects without taking permission from the Government.

The State Government appoints the board of trustees, who manage the famous temple in Western Maharashtra.

Sansthan has given its thousands of employees wages as per the 6th Pay Commission without taking permission from the Government, the RTI activist said.

In another violation of Government rules, Sansthan has distributed bonus to its employees, which is not permitted, Kulkarni maintained. (PTI)

CUTTACK, Mar 16:  Former Odisha DGP B B Mahanti was today quizzed by a special investigative team (SIT) of Kerala police probing impersonation and forgery charges against his German rape case convict son Bitihotra Mahanti.

Before questioning the retired IPS officer, the four- member Kerala police SIT met the present Director General of Police Prakash Mishra at the state police headquarters here and apprised him of the case following the arrest of a man Raghav Rajan at Kannur who police claimed was Bitihotra alias Bitti, Odisha police said.

Instead of questioning Mahanti at his residence, the Kerala police team asked him to come to the office of the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) here for interrogation.

The investigating team was seeking clarification whether Mahanti was aware about Bitihotra’s stay at Kannur in Kerala before his arrest on March 8, the police said.

The Kerala team, which yesterday visited three educational institutions in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack where Bitihotra studied during his school and college days, have come to the conclusion that the certificates produced in the name of Raghav Rajan are forged.

The certificates bearing same number have been forged and the name Raghav Rajan has been inserted in place of Bitihotra. The private university, college and school authorities have also informed the visiting police team that they never had any student in the name of Raghav Rajan.

Bitihotra, convicted for raping a German woman, had allegedly forged his certificates and worked as a probationary officer using the name Raghav Rajan at a public sector bank at Kannur in Kerala before being arrested.

Though police claimed that the person arrested was in fact Bitihotra, who had jumped parole in December 2006 from Alwar jail in Rajasthan, the person concered denied it claiming that he was Raghav Rajan, a son of Rajiv Rajan of Andhra Pradesh. (PTI)

PATNA, Mar 16:  BJP leader Arun Jaitley today attacked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh saying he frequently used the expression “India stands tall as a nation”, and alleged that it was the country that had been “dwarfed” under a “weak” PM.

“Prime Minister is often heard using the expression India stands tall as a nation. But, the fact is that the country has been dwarfed under a weak PM,” Jaitley said at the two-day state executive meet of the BJP which began here.

“Even a small nation in the Indian ocean Maldives defies India. Pakistani soldiers behead our army jawan and Parliament of that country condemns hanging of Afzal Guru … Despite all these the PM favours continuing dialogue with Pakistan delinking terrorists acts,” Jaitley said.

Stating that Ottavio Quattrocchi escaped from the country while recently Italian marines left the country giving a ‘wrong affidavit’ in the Supreme Court, he said it was for the people to decide whether the UPA government had held the country’s head high or dwarfed it.

Jaitley, the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha alleged that due to ‘indecision’ of the government foreign investments were not coming to the country.

“Investments of over Rs 7 lakh crore is hanging fire due to indecisive nature of the UPA government,” he said.

Referring to 2G and Commonwealth scam and more recently the purchase of helicopters, he blamed the UPA allies of shielding the ruling coalition despite differences on several issues.

“DMK is angry over the condition of Tamils in Sri Lanka. SP and BSP keep criticising Manmohan Singh government over issues, but vote for it at crucial moments,” Jaitley said.

Hailing the leadership of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his deputy and senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi, he referred to the state’s demand for special status and said “Centre should not do politics with economically backward states in terms of their growth.”

The BJP state executive committee meeting, the first under newly appointed state party chief Mangal Pandey, would discuss organisational issues ahead of 2014.

It was being attended by actor-politician Shatrughan Sinha, national spokesmen Shahnawaz Hussain and Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi and state ministers and leaders. (PTI)

BANGALORE, Mar 16:  India plans to launch its first navigational satellite in June, a top official of the Department of Space (DoS) said today.

The first Satellite of Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) constellation, IRNSS-1 will be launched by PSLV-C22, said DoS Secretary and Chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) K Radhakrishnan.

According to ISRO officials, IRNSS is an independent regional navigation satellite system, designed to provide position accuracy of better than 10 metres over India and the region extending about 1500 km around the country.

“It is designed to provide an accurate real time Position, Navigation and Time (PNT) services to users on a variety of platforms with 24×7 service availability under all weather conditions”, an ISRO official said.

IRNSS provides two basic services — standard positioning service for common civilian users and restricted service for special authorised users, the official said.

“We are planning for June launch”, Radhakrishnan told reporters after addressing a symposium on ‘Indian Remote Sensing Satellite (IRS) Series: A Saga of 25 years’.

IRNSS-1 would be tested in orbit for three-four months once it’s launched, he said. ISRO has planned to have a constellation of seven satellites under IRNSS.

Speaking at the event, marking the 25th anniversary of the launch of India’s first operational Remote Sensing Satellite IRS-1A, Radhakrishnan said India has planned 12 missions (both launch vehicles and satellites put together) in the next one year.

These include the Rs 450 crore Mars orbiter mission in October-November aimed at demonstrating India’s technological capability to reach Martian orbit and paving the way for future scientific exploratory missions, and GSLV-Mk III experimental venture.

The GSLV-Mk III is conceived and designed to make ISRO fully self-reliant in launching heavier communication satellites of INSAT-4 class, which weigh 4500 kg to 5000 kg.

Radhakrishnan said India’s remote sensing satellites are able to take images with a resolution of less than a metre (0.8 metres to be precise, according to an ISRO official). This means in those images, the official said, even ground features which are a little less than a metre wide can be recognised.

Radhakrishnan said ISRO proposed to launch remote sensing satellites with 0.6 metre resolution in two years and 0.25 metre in five years.

Former ISRO Chairmen U R Rao and K Kasturirangan spoke about the origin, growth and emergence of India as a world leader in the realm of satellite-based remote sensing in the past 25 years, at the two-day symposium, organised by Indian Society of Remote Sensing (ISRS) in partnership with other professional societies.

India today has 11 functioning remote sensing satellites, some of which are serving the country as well as the global community, according to ISRS.

India now has the largest constellation of remote sensing satellites in the civilian domain, dedicated to three main themes — land & water, cartography, oceanography and environment, including meteorology and weather monitoring, it was noted. (PTI)

NARAYANPUR, WB, Mar 16:  UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi today said a law will be passed soon to prevent crime against women in the country.

Gandhi, who was speaking after the foundation stone laying ceremony of Ghani Khan Choudhury Institute of Engineering and Technology here in the presence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, said the UPA government had taken various steps for the cause of women and establishing their rights.

“The UPA government has taken several steps for the betterment of women and to make them self dependent. With a fund of around Rs 1000 crores, we are planning to set up a Women Bank, which will be run by women and help women in their business ventures,” said Gandhi, who is also the AICC president.

“We are also constituting a Nirbhaya fund with Rs 1000 crore. This fund will be used to protect the honour and dignity of our mothers and sisters,” she said.

Gandhi’s remarks come against the backdrop of the Union Cabinet clearing a bill on Thursday providing for stringent punishment for rape, acid attack, stalking and voyeurism besides reducing the age of consent for sex to 16 years.

The bill, brought against the backdrop of the December 16 Delhi gangrape, provides for minimum jail term of 20 years for rape which may be extended to ‘natural life’ of the convict in jail or even death if the victim dies or is left in a ‘persistent vegetative state’

Referring to the proposed Food Security Bill, Gandhi said UPA was looking into passing it. “We are trying to pass the Food security bill so that poor people of this country don’t have to starve.

“Education is also an important sector in the growth of the nation. Our UPA government under the Manmohan Singh has given special attention to technical education and education. We have also taken measures to provide proper education to kids of rural India,” said Gandhi.

Steps have also been taken for the development of minorities, she added. (PTI)

NARAYANPUR, WB, Mar 16:  Congress President Sonia Gandhi today said that India needed to fight communal forces effectively for its economic and social development.

“Economic and social development of the nation should go hand in hand for which we need to fight communal forces strongly,” Gandhi said here at a programme in Malda district where Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was also present.

“We are a secular nation and this is our main strength and capital. The Congress party is fully prepared to protect the secular fabric of the country,” Gandhi said.

Stating that the UPA government had adopted a slew of measures for minorities and backward classes and to protect the dignity of women, she said programmes such as the MNREGA, JNNURM, Bharat Nirmaan, and providing social security for unorganised sector had also been taken up.

She said that the government would soon pass a legislation for protecting of women against crimes.

“In the budget, the government had announced setting up of an all-women nationalised bank which would extend credit to them with a seed capital of Rs 1000 crore.

“This shows how much the government is seized with the cause of women in maintaining their dignity. The budget had also sought to set up a Rs 1000-crore Nirbhaya Fund for women for the same reason,” she said.

“The UPA government is also looking at the backwards and minorities and steps are being taken to make them self-reliant. Sachar committee suggestions will be implemented and madrasas will extend special scholarships to women,” the Congress leader said.

“Prime Minister’s 15-point programme for minorities will be upgraded and this is being overlooked by the Prime Minister himself,” she said.

She said that the proposed Food Security Bill would also be passed soon.

Regarding education, she said that the government was giving special focus to technical education and many technical institutes had been opened across the country.

She was speaking at the foundation stone-laying ceremony of the Ghani Khan Choudhury Institute of Engineering and Technology in memory of late A B A Ghani Khan Chowdhury here.

Regarding the institute, she said that once it was fully operational, it would benefit the youth of Malda and neighbouring areas immensely in skill development and getting employment opportunities. (PTI)

MUMBAI, Mar 16: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) today moved a designated MCOCA court seeking more time to complete the probe of the 2006 Malegaon bomb blast case.

Following which, the court adjourned the hearing till May 3 and also extended the police custody of one of the recently arrested accused, Dhan Singh, till then.

Advocate Rohini Salian, appearing for NIA, told the court that the investigating agency has got new evidence after the arrest of Singh, hence, they should be given 90 days more  time.

The court, after hearing NIA’s argument, granted 45 days time and adjourned the hearing of the case.

While opposing the same before designated judge Y D Shinde, the defence counsel contended against granting more time to NIA and sought the dissmissal of the application. (UNI)

NEW DELHI, Mar 16:  A Delhi court today granted NIA four-day custody of two alleged Indian Mujahideen operatives to further interrogate them in connection with the Hyderabad twin blasts that left 16 dead.

During an in-chamber hearing, District Judge I S Mehta allowed the National Investigation Agency’s (NIA) plea seeking custody of Syed Maqbool and Imran Khan to confront them with another alleged IM operative Obaid-Ur-Rehman, who has been brought from Bangalore Central Jail and is in NIA’s custody till March 20 in connection with the case, sources said.

Maqbool and Imran were brought from Tihar Jail after the court had yesterday issued production warrants against them.

Sources said the NIA told the court that they need to confront both Maqbool and Imran with Obaid-Ur-Rehman as some conflicting statements have been given by them during their separate interrogation.

The two were earlier remanded to NIA’s custody for five days by the court during which they were taken to Hyderabad in connection with the blasts.

Rehman was remanded to NIA’s custody on March 13 after the agency had submitted that his custodial interrogation was required to unearth the entire conspiracy which led to the bombings. He was brought from Bangalore jail after the court had issued a production warrant against him.

The sources had said the NIA had told the court that Rehman was a key IM operative and he may give some vital information against the banned group’s members who were involved in the blasts.

The NIA had told the court that Maqbool and Imran had revealed some important facts about the blasts, the sources had said.

Maqbool and Imran were lodged in Tihar Jail after their arrest by Delhi Police in the August 2012 Pune blast case. The NIA had told the court that the duo recced Hyderabad’s Dilsukhnagar area where the blasts took place.

The court had also issued non-bailable warrants against IM founder Riyaz Bhatkal and nine other operatives of the banned group in connection with the Hyderabad blasts — Iqbal Bhatkal, Mohsim Chaudhary, Amir Reza Khan, Dr Shahnawaz Alam, Asadullah Akhtar, Ariz Khan, Mohd Khalid, Mirza Shadaab Beg and Mohd Sajid.

According to the sources, the NIA had told the judge that the conspiracy behind the Hyderabad blasts was hatched by the IM modules. The NIA said the blasts took place in Hyderabad on the alleged instructions of Riyaz Bhatkal.

The court gave the custody of Maqbool and Imran to the NIA till March 20 for unearthing the conspiracy hatched by the outfit for carrying out the twin blasts at Hyderabad.

“I have perused the application as well as affidavit and case diary. Hatching of conspiracy requires the investigation, therefore, both the accused are remanded to police custody for further period of four days i.E upto March 20,” the judge said.

Sources said during the hearing, Senior Public Prosecutor Ahmed Khan, appearing for the NIA, argued that further five days custody of Maqbool and Imran is required to unearth the intricate details of conspiracy with accused Obaid-Ur-Rehman who is also in their custody.

The police custody remand was opposed by Mehmood Pracha, counsel for accused, saying the agency’s application was not in proper format and no contents related to unearthing the conspiracy are mentioned in the plea, sources said.

He also argued that earlier also the NIA had taken five days custody of the accused on the same ground, they said. (PTI)

ALAPPUZHA, KERALA, Mar 16:  India still has a “great distance” to go in ensuring proper health care systems to its teeming population, President Pranab Mukherjee said here.

Addressing a gathering of medical professionals and students, he said the public sector health care system of the country is “limited” and it needs to spread further.

“Despite the progress made in our health care system, we still have great distance to cover. The public sector health service in our country is limited by its reach.

“Many in our population are dependent on the private sector for delivery of health services,” he said while inaugurating the golden jubilee celebrations of the government T D Medical College here.

The medical college established in 1963 has produced over 4,200 doctors during the five decades of its existence.

Delving into the country’s medical care system, Mukherjee, who is on a day-long visit to the state, said it should be such that no one is “denied speciality medical treatment due to high costs”.

“It is burdensome for poor people to access expensive medical treatment and many fall into the trap of poverty on account of that,” he said.

The President added that the quality of health care delivery by some of the health service providers in the country leaves “much to be desired”.

“We must correct this situation by expanding good quality, affordable public sector health care facilities.

“Our public expenditure on health care was 1.04 per cent of GDP during the eleventh five year plan period. This should rise to 2.5 per cent of GDP by the end of the twelfth plan period if we are to augment public health care in the country in a big way,” he said.

He emphasised on the age old proverb of ‘health is wealth’ and said the “well being of a nation is dependent on the well being of its people”.

“Unless the health of the people is secured, the productive potential of the country cannot be realised to the full extent,” he said.

“A sound health care system depends on the three pillars of availability, quality and affordability,” the President said.

Kerala Governor H R Bhardwaj, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, leaders of the Assembly, state cabinet ministers, Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi and Union Ministers of State K Suresh (Labour and Employment) and K C Venugopal (Civil Aviation) were present during the event.

Mukherjee appreciated Kerala’s role in providing a huge workforce of medical professionals to the country and praised the state for being “proactive in implementing national programmes for control and eradication of diseases”.

“Kerala is a big contributor to the pool of health care professionals, particularly doctors and nurses, in the country… The Kerala model of social development, where the government initiatives are matched by active civic participation, is indeed laudable,” he said.

The President also stressed on the need to have more institutions which provide medical education and training to young professionals.

“There is urgent need for more institutes of learning for imparting medical education. It is gratifying to note that six AIIMS like institutions are to be set up soon.

“It is also necessary to increase the capacity of our existing medical schools and nursing colleges and enhance the standard of education in all of them.

“I am confident that our public sector medical colleges will meet the twin challenge of greater quantity and better quality,” he said.

The mechanism of health insurance must be strengthened, he said, adding that the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana that gives “beneficiaries cashless in-patient treatment should provide access to comprehensive primary, secondary and tertiary medical care.”

“The benefits of this scheme should touch every one below poverty line,” he said.

A sustainable model of health care with the participation of all stakeholders was the need of the hour.

“We have envisaged infant mortality rate to reduce from 44 per 1,000 live births to 25 by the end of the twelfth plan period and the maternal mortality rate to reduce from 212 per one lakh live births to 100 during this period.

“These targets are within our reach, but for that comprehensive efforts are essential,” he said.

Increasing the density of medical professionals was aimed

in the twelfth five year plan.

“There were about 241 medical professionals — physicians, dentists, nurses, pharmacists and other professionals — per one lakh population in 2011-12.

“It is envisaged that this density of medical professionals will increase to 354 by the end of the twelfth five year plan period,” he said.

Mukherjee urged medical experts and major stakeholders in this domain to develop a technology-based “efficient health information system for universal registration of births and deaths, nutritional surveillance and disease surveillance.”

“A sound database should come handy for our policy makers to make timely interventions,” he said.

On the occasion, Governor Bhardwaj said it was “high time” that the health care sector is categorised as a priority one.

The President congratulated T D medical college on the golden jubilee and wished that the institution continues to do pioneering work for medical education in the state and in the country. (PTI)