Downpour unleashes chaos in Muscat - Oman Daily Observer

VISITING Indian Defence Minister A K Antony is welcomed by his Japanese counterpart Yasuo Ichikawa
prior to their talks at the defence ministry in Tokyo yesterday. — AFP
Mamata Trinamool chief
again, eyes party expansion
KOLKATA — After being
unanimously re-elected the
national chairperson of the Trinamol
Congress, West Bengal
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee
yesterday said her party
will now strive to become a
national organisation and increase
its strength in Tripura
and Arunachal Pradesh.
Banerjee’s name was proposed
by party general secretary
and Minister of State
for Shipping Mukul Roy and
seconded by all the delegates
by show of hands at the Netaji
Indoor Stadium.
Around 2,600 party delegates
from West Bengal,
Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh,
the Andaman and Nicobar Islands,
Asom, Jharkhand and
LUCKNOW — The security of
women should be of prime concern
for law-enforcing authorities
as well as society, President
Pratibha Patil said here yesterday,
terming self-protection
"the best" and suggesting martial
arts training for girls in educational
institutions.
"An issue of deep concern
is the rising trend of crimes
against women, in rural areas
and in our cities. Families worry
about the lack of security for
women members of the family
in India of the 21st century.
"This deserves the fullest
attention of law and order authorities,
as also of all members
of society who must together
work to create a safe and secure
environment for women,"
Patil said, in her address at a
ceremony to mark 125 years of
the Isabella Thoburn (IT) College.
"To create stable societies,
Manipur attended the session.
“I am very happy to see all
my party workers here. A leader
doesn’t make workers, it is
the workers who make leaders.
It is you who have made
me,” Banerjee said after her
re-election.
This is the third time that
Banerjee has been elected Trinamool
chairperson. Earlier,
she was elected to the top post
in the organisational polls held
in 2001 and 2006.
“We need our presence in
four states to become a national
party. I am confident that
we can increase our strength
in Tripura and Arunachal
Pradesh,” she said.
After ending the 34-yearold
rule of the Left Front in
women need to be empowered.
Societies which understand this
are not only able to deal with
the changes needed for it, but
can mould change itself... The
concept of empowerment of
women would have a very big
impact on society.
Terming self-protection as
"the best protection", Patil advocated
martial arts training
in the girls’ colleges and educational
institutions. "I think
girls should be taught Judo and
Karate to protect themselves as
I believe self-protection is the
best protection.” Highlighting
the importance of education in
perspective of the social condition
of a nation, Patil said:
"The social condition of a
nation can be gauged by the
standing and status of its women,
which in turn depends on
their ability to take independent
decisions on various issues in-
the state, the Trinamool has
already launched its 'Mission
2013' against the communists
in Tripura — the last Left citadel
in the country.
The Trinamool currently
has five legislators in the Arunachal
assembly and provides
outside support to the Congress
government of the state.
“Right now, with altogether
26 MPs in the Rajya Sabha
and the Lok Sabha, we are
functioning as the control button
of the United Progressive
Alliance (UPA) government
at the centre," Trinamool Congress
MP Suvendu Adhikary
said at the meeting.
"We want whenever the
next Lok Sabha elections are
held, whether it is 2012, 2013
fluencing their individual lives
and the environment they live
in, as also to avail of opportunities
that exist to realise their full
potential.”
"It is a proven fact that there
is a strong co-relation between
women’s education and their
overall progress, including
their economic development.
If indeed, women are to find
their rightful voice, it would
be possible if they are properly
educated, and given training
in skill building, which equips
them to avail of income generating
options.”
Expressing concern over illiteracy,
lack of access to education
and deprivation, and social
prejudices and social evils
in the society, Patil called upon
the citizens of the country to
unitedly tackle such issues.
“A paradox of sorts exists
as far as women in India are
or 2014, we should strive to
play a much bigger role in the
next central government,” he
added.
Amid allegations of rampant
corruption among Trinamool
Congress cadres,
Banerjee yesterday asked her
partymen to be honest in financial
dealings and to avoid
"racketeers".
"Sometimes, I have heard
that in some places, a few people
carrying Trinamool flags
are extorting money. I want to
say they don’t belong to Trinamool
Congress. This is a ploy
of the CPM (Communist Party
of India-Marxist),” Banerjee
said after being re-elected the
party's national chairperson
here. — IANS
Teach girls self-defence methods,
urges President Pratibha Patil
concerned. On the one hand,
women have proved that they
can undertake all types of missions
and work. Yet, on the
other hand, it is equally true
that women face numerous
challenges and discrimination
emanating from social prejudices
and social evils," said
Patil while citing the practice
of dowry, and conditions of
widows.
“All these issues are very
much on the horizon, and need
to be handled by governments,
by society and by people themselves.”
The IT College, which
has the unique distinction of
the first Christian institution for
women in Asia, presently has
around 4,000 students enrolled
in different under-graduate,
post-graduate, vocational and
professional courses. It is affiliated
to Lucknow University
(LU). — IANS
Land scandals embroil RSS affiliates
BANGALORE — The
Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP)
land scandals in Karnataka that
have landed its first chief minister
in jail now seem to spread
to affiliates of the party’s mentor,
Rashtriya Swayamsevak
Sangh (RSS).
New Chief Minister D V
Sadananda Gowda, still struggling
to establish his authority
nearly three months after taking
over, has promised action
if land allotment to RSS affiliates
in Bangalore is proved
illegal.
"I have heard that reports
have appeared in media in Delhi
and here (about land allotment
to RSS and its affiliates).
If it (allotment) is unlawful,
action will be taken," he told
reporters here yesterday.
Gowda did not elaborate on
the action that will be taken.
"We will have to study it," he
said. The reports of alleged favours
to outfits of "Sangh Parivar"
— a term used to refer to
the RSS, its affiliates, BJP and
other organisations — came
as embarrassment continued
to mount on to the ruling BJP
over land deals or land grab.
One more law maker of the
BJP, S Muniraju, yesterday
came under police probe for
fabricating documents to grab
land belonging to a resident of
his constituency Dasarahalli
on Bangalore's outskirts.
The Lokayukta (ombudsman)
court judge N K Sudhindra
Rao ordered the police
to complete the probe by
November 19 and submit a
report. Muniraju is the sixth
ruling party law maker to be
embroiled in controversial
land deals.
Apart from Yeddyurappa,
other ruling party lawmakers
fighting illegal land deals cases
are former ministers Katta
Subramanya Naidu and S N
Krishnaiah Shetty.
Home Minister R Ashoka
and Industries Minister Murugesh
Nirani are being probed
for land grab. Yeddyurappa is
alleged to have violated norms
to allot prime land to RSS affiliates
in Bangalore and in
city outskirts when he was
chief minister.
He is now in jail in two
corruption and illegal land
deals cases filed against him
in January this year. He quit
on July 31 after the Lokayukta
(ombudsman) recommended
his trial for corruption in the
illegal mining scam. Yeddyurappa's
bail plea hearing
is resuming in the high court
here today.
Yeddyurappa is reported
to have allotted over 900
square metre land in upscale
Sadashivanagar in north
Bangalore to Rashtrotthana
Parishath, an RSS affiliate.
The land was meant for
civic amenities — generally
for parks or building for community
activity.
He is also alleged to have
allotted 10 acres of land near
Bangalore to a school affiliated
to the RSS.
A spokesperson of Rashtrotthana
Parishath denied illegality
in land allotments and
told reporters norms had been
followed.
Land in Bangalore has become
a precious commodity as
the city’s population has been
rapidly growing in the last two
decades, particularly after it
became the nation’s IT hub.
The population now stands
at 8.5 million and growing
every day. — IANS
15 INDIA
OMAN DAILY Observer
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2011
CBI summons Jagan
in illegal mining case
HYDERABAD — The Central Bureau
of Investigation (CBI), probing
the illegal mining case, has summoned
YSR Congress party chief Y S Jaganmohan
Reddy who is alleged to have
business links with former Karnataka
minister and jailed mining baron Gali
Janardhana Reddy.
The CBI has asked Jaganmohan
Reddy, popularly known as Jagan, to
appear before it tomorrow. CBI Joint
Director V V Lakshminarayana said
that the notice had been served to the
young businessman-turned-MP.
The federal agency, probing the
illegal mining by Janardhana Reddy's
Obulapuram Mining Company
(OMC), is likely to question him
about his alleged business links with
the mining baron.
Jagan, son of the late Andhra
Pradesh chief minister Y S Rajasekhara
Reddy, is already facing a CBI probe
over his alleged illegal assets. Janardhana
Reddy and his brother-in-law B
V Srinivasa Reddy are currently in a
jail here in the illegal mining case.
According to sources, the CBI officials
would question Jagan about the
investors in companies Red Gold and
R R Global and their links with OMC.
Jagan reportedly has stakes in Red
Gold and R R Global.
NEW DELHI — The Delhi High
Court yesterday issued notice to the
Delhi government on an NGO's plea
for direction to prohibit private schools
in the national capital from admitting
children less than four years of age in
pre-primary classes.
Accusing various unaided private
schools of admitting children below
four years in their pre-primary classes,
the NGO in it public interest litigation
(PIL) sought a direction to the government
to stop this practice.
Taking note of the PIL, a division
bench of Acting Chief Justice A K
Sikri and Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw
issued a notice to the Delhi government
returnable with its response by
November 23.
The court was hearing the petition
of NGO Social Jurist through its
counsel Ashok Agarwal. He referred
to the September 2007 court order that
directed the government to implement
the recommendations of the Ashok
RURAL Development Minister Jairam Ramesh speaks during the launch
of ‘India get your Business Online’ in New Delhi yesterday. Google India
announced the launch of a nationwide initiative to help small medium
businesses in India to get online with a free website. — AFP
Global firms line up with
offers for IIM-B grads
BANGALORE — Global consulting
and financial firms have queued up
with pre-placement offers and interviews
to hire the post-graduate programme
(PGP) course students of the
premier Indian Institute of Management-Bangalore
(IIM-B).
"Management consulting and international
financial firms have made
71 pre-placement offers and lined up
37 pre-placement interviews to our
final year PGP course students as the
placement season began this week on
a promising note," B-school career development
services chairman P D Jose
said yesterday.
The major consulting firms, which
made the offers include A T Kearney,
Bain & Co, Boston Consulting Group,
McKinsey & Co, Booze & Co, Global
e-Procure and Hay Group, reaffirming
the institute’s position as their preferred
destination. The final year batch
of the two-year PGP management
This is the first time since the arrest
of Janardhana Reddy and his brotherin-law
September 5 that Jagan would
be questioned by the CBI.
The CBI may also look into possible
links between the cases of Jagan
and Janardhana Reddy in the wake
of allegations that Janardhana Reddy
made investments into Jagan's firms.
These include Jagathi Publications,
which publishes the Telugu daily
Sakshi, and Indira Television, which
runs the Sakshi Television channel.
Staunch Jagan loyalist and legislator
K. Ramachandra Reddy is on the
board of directors of Brahmani Steels,
promoted by Janardhana Reddy when
Jagan's father was the chief minister.
After the arrest of Janardhana
Reddy, Jagan had denied any business
links with him. Textiles Minister
Shankar Rao, on whose petition
the Andhra Pradesh High Court had
ordered the CBI probe into Jagan's
wealth, has welcomed CBI summons
to Jagan in illegal mining case.
In another development, Jagati
Publications vice president Vijay Sai
Reddy yesterday appeared before the
CBI in the case relating to Jagan's assets.
The investigating agency questioned
him several times last month.
— IANS
Court notice to Delhi govt
on pre-school admissions
Ganguly Committee, which fixed four
years-plus as the age criterion for admission
to pre-primary class.
The admission to nursery — a class
before the formal pre-primary class —
at three-plus age was treated as admission
in the formal school system,
which was illegal, the petition said. It
blamed the government for its failure
to frame proper guidelines on the issue.
The state's inaction violated the
fundamental rights of children, the
petition said.
Different unaided recognised private
schools in Delhi were applying
different age criteria for admission of
children to pre-primary classes, said
the petition, seeking direction to the
government to ensure that all schools
followed a uniform system. The Delhi
School Education Act, 1973, provided
that a child who had not attained the
age of five years shall not be admitted
to Class 1 in a recognised school, said
the petition. — IANS
course has 375 students, including 78
women. Majority of them have undergone
summer internship at these firms
in their first academic year (2010-11).
International financial firms such
as Blackstone, Barclays Capital, Deutsche
Bank (London), Goldman Sachs,
J P Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Nomura,
RBS, Standard Chartered (global markets)
and UAE Exchange have extended
offers to the students.
“Most of these offers are made for
overseas locations such as Abu Dhabi,
Dubai, Hong Kong, London and Singapore.
General management conglomerates,
including the Aditya Birla
group & TAS, FMCG (fast moving
consumer goods) majors like Hindustan
Unilever Ltd, Proctor & Gamble
and Pepsi and multinationals Microsoft,
American Express and Philips
made pre-placement offers,” IIM-B
communications head N. Bringi Dev
said.— IANS
NEWS IN BRIEF
Khurshid stresses
on health insurance
PUBLIC private partnerships and wider
health insurance coverage will be the key
for making healthcare widely available in
India, Union Law Minister Salman Khurshid
said yesterday. Talking to reporters
after inaugurating a first-of-its-kind
robotic surgery section at Fortis Escort
Hospital, Khurshid said it was time for
India to make health infrastructure for
future.
“This is time for India to create facilities
like this. Access to quality healthcare
will be possible by health insurances, and
we are taking more steps to create better
healthcare through public private partnership,”
Khurshid said.
The International Centre for Robotic
Surgery (ICRS) at the hospital has
an advanced version of the Da-Vinci
robot, which allows more precision and
accuracy in surgeries. “The centre will
bring enormous benefits to patients in
India,” ICRS founding chairman Sudhir
Srivastava said.“The centre will also
train doctors to perform these complex
surgeries,” he added.
Illegal construction:
MCD must respond
THE Municipal Corporation of Delhi
(MCD) must respond to a petition against
it for failing to seal and stop illegal construction
in Chandni Chowk and nearby
city areas, the Delhi High Court said
yesterday.
Acting Chief Justice A K Sikri and
Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw, while issuing
a notice to MCD, asked its counsel
H S Phoolka to seek instruction from
the department. Phoolka must inform
the court by November 16. Phoolka
submitted to the court that the agency has
already taken action against some illegal
constructions in the walled city area.
Phoolka would file a detailed affidavit
on the issue by next date of hearing.
The court was hearing a public interest
litigation (PIL) filed by advocate Sanjeev
Sabharwal on behalf of Naval Kishore
Gupta, a resident of Chandini Chowk,
who alleged that large-scale illegal construction
has been going on in connivance
with MCD officials.
Different voices on
Uttarakhand Lokayukta
A DAY after the BJP government in
Uttarakhand passed legislation making a
Lokayukta (ombudsman), the Congress
spoke in different voices yesterday with
Law Minister Salman Khurshid hailing
the move and General Secretary Digvijay
Singh saying it was “nothing great”.
"It is good they have made a Lokayukta.
That is what we were saying, every
state should pass its own Lokayukta bill
and the centre should pass the Lokpal
bill," Khurshid told reporters on the
sidelines of an event here. "If some state
has done that, congratulations to them,"
he said.
Uttarakhand became the first state in
India to bring the chief minister under
the ambit of the Lokayukta. It was lauded
by Team Anna member Kiran Bedi who
said it was in "full spirit of the Lokpal".
Digvijay Singh, however, didn't think
so. He countered Team Anna's appreciation
and said it was proof of the team's
inclination towards the BJP.
Kerala orders CBI probe
into attack on teacher
THE Kerala government yesterday gave
its nod for a Central Bureau of Investigation
(CBI) probe into the brutal attack on
a schoolteacher on September 27 in Kollam
district.
Krishna Kumar, a schoolteacher, was
found severely injured around 10.45 pm
near Kottarakara town. Speaking to reporters,
Chief Minister Oommen Chandy
said there was a demand from the Left
opposition that the case be handed over
to the CBI.
"I got letters from Leader of Opposition
V S Achuthanandan, former CPI
(Communist Party of India) minister M
Ratnakaran and Kottarakara legislator
Ayisha Potti that this case be handed over
to the CBI and we have done that now,"
said Chandy. The injured teacher's school
is owned by Kerala Congress (Pillai)
leader R Balakrishna Pillai, whose party
is an ally of the Congress-led ruling
government.
Shehla murder to be
investigated further
WITH no headway in the two-month
investigation into the murder of RTI activist
Shehla Masood, the Delhi unit of the
Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) will
now probe the incident instead of the Bhopal
branch, sources in the premier agency
said yesterday.
However, as of now the investigative
officer will be Bhartendra Sharma of CBI
Bhopal, the sources said. Masood was
also India Against Corruption’s Madhya
Pradesh chapter head. Right to Information
(RTI) and green activist Masood was
killed near her home while she was sitting
in her car on August 16.
After her murder, some high profile
names from the political class and
bureaucracy did the rounds in connection
with it. From September 3, CBI’s Bhopal
officials had begun investigating. — IANS