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6 NATION BRIEFLY � Ranjit Sinha takes charge as the new ITBP director general in New Delhi on Thursday —PTI Nine killed in Jodhpur road accident Jodhpur: Nine persons, including three women and two children, were killed when the jeep they were travelling in collided with a truck on the Jodh pur –Jaisa - lmer highway on Thursday, police said. Five persons died on the spot whereas four others died on way to the hospital,” ASP Kesar Singh said. The injured have been admitted to Jodh pur hospital, he added. —PTI Pro-Bodoland faction stages protests in Assam Kokrajhar: Hundreds of supporters of the pro-talk faction of the National Demo - cratic Front of Bodoland - Progr essive (NDFB-P) on Thursday staged demonstrations in various parts of Ass - am and submitted a memorandum demanding a separate state. Protesters handed a memorandum to the distr - ict admi n i stration to be submitted later to the PM demanding a peaceful solution to the Bodo tangle. —PTI Ministry of home affairs now on Twitter New Delhi: After external affairs ministry, the ministry of home affairs has jumped onto the Twitter bandwagon and made it fully operational to provide regular updates. The Twitter account “mediamha” in the micro-blogging site started from Thursday. Though the Twitter account was launched in June, there were no regular updates except for an announcement of the appointment of R K Singh as the new home secretary. However, it is expected that the spokesperson would be posting tweets regularly from Thursday. —PTI R K Tiwari assumes charge as DGP in UP Lucknow: Senior IPS officer R K Tiwari assumed charge as DGP of UP late on Wedne - sday. Tiwari took over from Kara m veer Singh who retired on Wednesday. Tiwari will hold his post in addition to his present charge of DGP PAC. Official sources had hinted that Atul, another senior IPS officer, was set to become DGP. Tiwari, will hold the post of DGP for two to three mon ths. Thereafter, present special DGP, law and order, Brij Lal's way to the top post would be cleared. — BP Firm blames dengue for low output Bhubaneswar: Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd (MCL), one among Orissa’s eight staterun Coal India subsidiaries, has blamed dengue as one of the primary reasons responsible for its low output in August. MCL CMD A N Sahay said that coal production fell by 1.3 million tonne from last month’s production. Apart from a host of other reasons like heavy rain and strikes by contract workers, the mosquito-borne virus is blamed for reduced output. — BP BJP MLAs in Delhi Assembly suspended New Delhi: All the BJP MLAs in the Delhi Assembly were on Thursday suspended for thr ee days and marshalled out after they created a ruc - kus in the House dema nd ing a discussion on corruption. Twe nty-four MLAs, including Opposition leader V K Malh - otra, were marshalled out af - ter the House met for the se - c ond time during the day following a 30-minute adjo ur - nment forced by vociferous Opposition lawmakers.—PTI Pak troops violate ceasefire twice, three soldiers killed Srinagar/Islamabad: An Indian Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) and three Pakistani soldiers were on Thursday killed in a heavy exchange of fire in the Keran sector of north Kashmir after ceasefire was violated from across the border, officials said. Pakistan violated the ceasefire twice in the Keran sector as Indian troops foiled an infiltration bid after exchanging fire with militants that left the JCO dead. "There were two ceasefire violations in the Keran sector of Kupwara di - s trict from across the Line of Control (LoC) since 8 pm on Wednesday," def - ence spokesman Lt Colonel J S Brar said. The JCO, who was killed, was identified by the army as Naib Subedar Gurdayal Singh. Brar said the first ceasefire violation took place at 8 pm on Wednesday and the firing from other side of the LoC continued for nearly 50 minutes. The second ceasefire violation began at 11 am on Thursday and the exchange of fire was continuing till last reports came in, he said. Official sources said the Pakistani troops stationed at Saheli post opened unprovoked firing at the Shalapathri post on the Indian side of the LoC on Wednesday, leaving a soldier injured. The Pakistani troops used mortars and heavy weapons to target the Indian position, which retaliated. The ceasefire violations on Eid came after troops foiled an infiltration bid in the same area. Pakistani Army spo kesman Major General Athar Abbas told Geo News that three Pakistani soldiers were killed in the gunbattle. He claimed that Indian forces had fired across the border saying it was "unprovoked". He identified the soldiers as belong- ing to the irregular Mujahid battalion. Abbas said the soldiers had been moving between forward posts when they got lost in bad weather in the Neelam Valley. He said a meeting has been requested with local Indian commanders to investigate the violation. Reacting to the Pakistani Army's claim, Brar said there was no ceasefire violation from the Indian side on Tuesday night. "There was an infiltration bid by militants in the Keran sector which was foiled by our troops. We lost one JCO in the operation," Brar said. Chinese vessel confronts Indian naval ship Seema Guha New Delhi: The Chinese Navy’s growing assertiveness in the Asia-Pacific region has resulted in face-offs with Japan and other countries. But for the first time, an Indian naval ship also got a measure of the China’s blue water navy when it was confronted by a Chinese vessel on the disputed South China Sea. The incident occurred in July when the INS Airavat paid a friendly visit to the Vietnamese port of Nha Trang and was on its way to Hai Phong, its second port of call. It was challenged by a Chinese vessel. However, India has denied any confrontation. The Chinese have also not commented on the incident. The alleged face-off was first reported by London’s Financial Times. After talking to the naval command, Indian authorities have given a much more prosaic explanation. The navy has confirmed that when the INS Airavat was sailing from Nha Trang to Hai Phong and was around 45 nautical miles from the Vietnamese coast in the South China Sea, when it was contacted on an open radio channel by a caller identifying himself as the “Chinese Navy” and asserted: “You are entering Chinese waters.” No ship or aircraft was visible from the INS Airavat and there were no Chinese ships visible in the international waters. The Indian ship proceeded on her onward journey as scheduled.The international community has been noting with growing concern Beijing’s increasing assertiveness on both land and sea. The South China Sea which it claims as its own is also similarly regarded by Vietnam, Japan, Taiwan Malaysia and the Brunei. These claims and counterclaims have continued for decades, but Beijing now is much more aggressive in international waters. Not worried about China N-missiles: says air chief New Delhi: In the backdrop of US official reports suggesting that China was deploying nuclear-capable missiles along the borders with India, the Air Force on Thursday said it was not “worried” over these developments and has its own plans to deal with the issue. “These are all known, it is nothing that we are worried about. We have our own plans and we are moving ahead with our own plans. These are the realities we have to deal with,” air chief marshal NAK Browne told reporters on the sidelines of a CII event here. He was responding to a query on the US Pentagon reports suggesting that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army has deployed nuclear missiles along the borders. Asked that what could India learn from China in develop- � File photo of INS Airavat ‘26/11 might have led to Indo-Pak nuclear war’ Washington: The 2008 Mum - bai terrorist attack by the banned Pakistani militant outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) alm - ost started a war between India and Pakistan that might have resulted in some kind of nuclear conflict, former US ambassador to India Timothy Roemer has said. Roemer, who served as the US ambassador to India from July 2009 to June 2011, however did not divulge any further details of his conclusion that 26/11 could have led to a nuclear war between the two South Asian neighbours. “Those attacks killed 177 people in Mumbai two years ago. Six Americans were killed. And they almost started a war between Paki stan and India that might have resulted in some kind of a nuclear war. So this self-radicalisation issue is a critically important one,” Roemer said at a discussion on ‘Status of National Security and the Implementation of the 9/11 Commission’s Recomm endations’. The former US envoy said he feared a scenario in which a terrorist group gets hold of a nuclear weapon and an undetected self-radicalised or a cell in the United States. “We’re often asked a question, I think every one of us: What keeps you awake at night? And I would answer the question, two things: a terrorist group getting a nuclear weapon and a self-radicalized or a cell in the United States that is undetected and can pull off a catastrophic event here,” Roemer said. “Now, several months ago we had something that almost combined both. There was a person by the name of David Headley who was a terrorist living in Chicago who could travel between India, Pakistan and the United States seamlessly,” he said.—PTI JD(U) takes a dig at its NDA ally BJP for raising objections over J&K CM’s remarks on Afzal Guru Will not stop tweeting because of criticism: Omar Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah, whose outspoken views on ‘Twitter’ have been much talked about, on Thursday said he would continue to use the microblogging site despite some hostile posts which included personal attacks against him. “Just in case anyone is under the mistaken impression that I’ve been bullied off Twitter — sorry, but here I am and I’m not going anywhere,” Omar said in a tweet. The chief minister, who has come under severe criticism from Opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leaders for “excessive” use of Twitter, was earlier forced to abandon blogging on his National Conference party’s official website due to abusive language and personal attacks against him by some people. He had significantly reduced posting comments on Twitter in July citing writer’s block and then in August due to the overwhelming coverage of the fast against corruption by Gandhian Anna Hazare. “Since nothing is happening in the � NAK Browne ing its indigenous aerospace industry, the IAF chief said, “One thing that one could learn from them is that they don’t attempt to do everything themselves.” “Once you start the research and development and then wait and wait, then world other than Anna and I refuse to tweet about Anna(.) ergo I can’t tweet about anything,” he wrote then. However, Omar announced his return to the blogosphere on Wedn - you make it the test-tube model, it takes you 20-30 years (to finalise the project),” he said. Browne said that though India doesn’t have direct evidence, but “we still do know that despite all the sanctions and all other things, they (China) got a fair amount of technology from outside.” Browne said the Chinese were spending “a lot of money on R &D. In case of our PSUs, the existing levels are very low.” Asked about its plans to upgrade the Nyoma ALG into a fullfledged airfield, Browne said the proposal was with the Government. In the recent past, India has deployed its fighter aircraft including the frontline Su-30MKI in Ass - am and is in the process of upgrading its Advanced Lan - d ing Grounds in Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh. —PTI � People greet Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah (R) on the second day of Eid in Srinagar on Thursday —PTI Kolkata Friday September 2, 2011 www.thebengalpost.com Rajiv case: Centre steers clear of mercy petition controversy New Delhi: The Centre on Thursday steered clear of the controversy over Tamil Nadu Assembly asking the Pres - ident to reconsider the mercy pleas of Rajiv Gandhi’s killers but said as long as death sentence is legal, courts will continue to award it. “Since there are court proceedings, I can’t comment on anything concerning the dec - ision taken by the President or the resolution passed by the Assembly,” home minister P Chidambaram told reporters here. He was responding to questions on the adoption of a resolution by the Tamil Nadu Assembly requesting President Pratibha Patil to reconsider the mercy petitions of Rajiv Gandhi assassination case convicts—Muru - gan, Santhan and Perarivalan and the Madras High Court’s order staying their execution for eight weeks. “No comment as the matter is pending in the court. I can’t comment on the response (to be give to the court by the home ministry) unless the ministry receives the notice of the court on the writ petition and the contents of the writ petition,” he said. Chidambaram said there have been precedents when people have moved courts after rejection of mercy petitions of death row convicts by the President. “Yes, there have been earlier cases where after the decision of the President, people have gone to the courts. People have gone to court in Assam, people have gone to court in Delhi recently. I am sure that in the past also there would be cases where people have gone to courts after the President’s decision,” he said. Asked about the relevance of death penalty, the home Holy Procession � P Chidambaram minister said it was a larger question which has to be debated in a separate forum. Chidambaram said: “As long as there is a death penalty, courts will impose death penalty in what they call the rarest of the rare cases. So, the courts have imposed death penalty and all the mercy petitions were the cases where death penalty was imposed. “The only cases that come to us are death penalty cases. So, whether death penalty should be in statute book or not, on that of course there are two views. But, at the moment, we are talking about administering the law,” he said. The home minister gave a detailed presentation on the mercy petitions of the death row convicts since the NDA regime and said when the Opposition was in power, 14 mercy petitions were submitted to the President but not a single one was decided in those six years. Meanwhile, the daughter of Murugan, one of the three convicts on death row for their role in the killing of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, on Thursday appea - led to Congress President Sonia Gandhi to intervene and save her father's life.—PTI � Sikh devotees participate in a religious procession at Golden Temple in Amritsar on Thursday to mark the 407th anniversary of the Sri Guru Granth Sahib’s installation — PTI esday by tweeting “Talk about being back with a bang”. He was apparently referring to his tweets about Afzal Guru and the National Sports Deve - lopment Bill. Omar’s blogging has often generated controversies, including the latest row over his comments on the Tamil Nadu Assembly passing a resolution seeking mercy for three convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi murder case. In his controversial tweet, Omar had questioned the “muted” response to the TN Assembly’s resolution, asking if the reaction would have been the same if the Jammu and Kashmir legislature had passed a similar resolution for Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru. Meanwhile the JD(U) on Thursday took a dig at its NDA ally the BJP for raising objections over Omar Abdullah’s remarks on the issue of execution of Guru, asking why it had not raised eyebrows when the matter relating to Rajiv Gandhi’s killers had come up. “What Omar Abdullah is saying is correct. What is wrong in saying that there would have been an uproar if resolution had been passed on amnesty to Afzal Guru by the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly?” JD(U) spokesperson Shivanand Tiwari said. —PTI 2G: ED detects Fema violation of `10K crore New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday told the Supreme Court that Fema violation of around ` 10,000 crore has been committed by various telecom companies in 2G scam and around 200 bank acco unts are under suspect. The ED, which filed a fresh status report in a sealed cover, said show cause notices have been issued to six telecom companies for alleged violation of Fema and attachment of property was initiated under the Prevention of Mon - ey Laun dering Act. "We are attaching properties and issuing show cause notices as an ongoing pro - cess," senior advocate K K Venugopal told a Bench of justices G S Singhvi and A K Ganguly. He said the probe into the money trail has led the ED to Cyprus, Channel Islands, Singapore, Mauritius and Switzerland. The investigation by the financial intelligence unit has revealed there are 200 bank accounts which are suspected to be connected with the scam. He, however, assured the court to complete the task within three months after the Bench expressed reservation for granting six mo nths' time. While placing the CBI's status report, Venu go pal said the probe has es t ablished that some tel ec om companies ha - ve set up front companies un - der a "cor p orate veil" to get spectrum. Meanwhile, the SC was on Thursday told by the CBI that it "may exa mine" the then fin - ance mi n i ster Jasw ant Singh over all eged wro ng doings in the co mmu nic ations ministry in the BJP-led NDA government.Ven ugopal said that the investigating agency "may examine" Singh, who hea ded the empowered GoM wh en Arun Shourie was the communications minister. —PTI
Kolkata Friday September 2, 2011 www.thebengalpost.com NATION 7 BRIEFLY � Actor Priyanka Chopra interacting with a group of girls in Nanakpura, in Jaipur on Thursday —PTI Bhatta Parsaul case referred to state CID Lucknow: The UP government has referred the Bhatta Parsaul case to the state CID for investigation. The Natio - nal Commission for Sche - duled Castes in its report had said that in the May 7 incident which triggered a controversy, rape was committed there. The state government has denied there was any rape.—BP 2 killed, 45 injured in Kashmir road mishaps Srinagar: Two Nepalese nationals, working as porters with the army, were killed and 45 others injured in road mishaps in Kashmir. The in - ci dent happened near Chani Gund in Kargil on Wednes - day. At least 22 others were injured in over a dozen road accidents across the Valley during Eid celebrations on Wednesday.— PTI Wife can maintain adult offspring: HC Mumbai: The Bombay High Court has held that an es - tranged wife can seek maintenance from her husband for and on behalf of her adult daughter or son so long as the offspring is dependent on her. The ruling was delivered on August 26 on an appeal filed by Vijaykumar Chawla, a businessman. —PTI No group set up to deal with media: PMO New Delhi: Prime Minister's Office on Thursday rubbished reports that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has deci - ded to set up a group to deal with accountability issues related to the media. The iss - ue had come up at the Uni on Cabinet meeting on Tuesday with some ministers opining that media had not played a constructive role during the recent Anna Haz a re agitation and something needed to be done about it.—PTI Pak terrorists waiting to infiltrate LoC New Delhi: Several Pakistanbased terrorists are waiting at the launch pads across the Line of Control to cross over into Jammu and Kashmir, home ministry officials said on Thursday. “There is information that many terrorists are holed up in launching pads” Union home secretary R K Singh said. He was present at Union home minister P Chidambaram's press conference where the report card for the month of August was given.—PTI SC reserves order on black money probe New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday reserved its orders on the maintainability of the Centre's plea for recall of its July 4 order appo - in ting an SIT to probe the black money issue. A Bench of justices Altamas Kabir and S S Nijjar said it would pass appropriate orders on the maintainability plea on Sep - tem ber 20. —PTI ISRO to launch satellite Megha-Tropiques Chennai: The Indian Space Research Organisation on Thursday said it planned to launch Megha-Tropiques, an advanced weather and climate satellite, on board the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) later this month. The satellite would be laun ched this month-end on board ISRO's workhorse PSLV from spaceport Sriharikota, ISRO chairman K Radha krishnan told reporters on the sidelines of a function.—PTI Masood murder: Cops to quiz BJP MP Bhopal/New Delhi: BJP MP Tarun Vijay will be questioned by Madhya Pradesh police in connection with the killing of RTI activist Shehla Masood in Bhopal last month. A police team from the state will soon visit New Delhi in this regard, the police said on Thursday. "Although it has been decided to question Vijay in connection with Shehla's murder, no date has been fixed for the visit of the police team to New Delhi," said Bhopal Range IG Vijay. Yadav Vijay, who is also spokesperson of BJP, said he was a "very good friend" of Masood and that he was ready to share with any probe agency whatever information he had. Masood was shot at when she was in her car in front of her residence in the posh Koh-e-Fiza locality in Bhopal on August 16 when she was just about to head to a rally that was part of Anna Hazare's campaign against corruption. The Rajya Sabha MP said he and Masood had regularly exchanged notes and demanded that the culprits should be "booked and hanged." "I think that the whole things got politicised. We stand by the family of Shehla and every right thinking Indian will stand by them," he said in New Delhi. "Whatever information we have, we will be providing to all the investigation agencies, because we are as much concerned to get justice for Shehla," he added. Congress leader Digvijay Singh demanded that the Masood case be handed over to CBI. "The way Masood has been killed is painful....Now that Tarun Vijay's name has cropped up, I believe the CM should hand over the case to Delhi HC dismisses petition on Lokpal, says time not ripe yet New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Thursday dismissed a plea seeking a direction to declare as unconstitutional the government's move to refer four versions of Lokpal bills to Parliament's standing committee for consideration, saying the stage has not yet come where it "will invoke judicial review". A Bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justice Sanjiv Khanna dismissed the plea saying that introduction of bills and having debate on them are basically parliamentary procedure. "When the fundamental rights of the petitioner have not been affected, Article 226 of the Consti - tution cannot be invoked. We do not see any merit in the plea," the Bench said. The court said, “The writ petition is without any legal foundation. We decline to entertain it and the same is dismissed." Appearing before the Bench, advocate Manohar Lal Sharma contended that the four bills, introduced by the government on Lokpal issue, are "all money bills" as the expenses for the office of the Lokpal will be drawn from the Consolidated Fund of India and the President’s permission was required for introducing such bills. He claimed that he had sought to know � Shehla Masood � Anna Hazare from the ministry of parliamentary affairs if the President's permission was taken to introduce the Bill, but he was denied the information. Countering the petitioner's argument, additional solicitor general A S Chandihoke told the court that the bills are not money bills and it was the discretion of the Speaker to decide as Festive Fervour the CBI," the Congress general secretary said. A communication from the Madhya Pradesh government seeking a CBI probe into the killing has already reached the Centre. MP BJP President Prabhat Jha told reporters that Vijay may have known Shehla but this itself was not enough to say that he was involved in her murder. Prabhat said the MP government has already ask ed the Centre to initiate a CBI inquiry into Shehla's murder. “I only want that the guilty are not spared and the innocent in the case are not punished," he said. Vijay said he had talked to Masood last on August 16, the day she was murdered in Bhopal."She was the campaigner and convenor for Madhya Pradesh for India Against Corruption. It is very sad," he said. Vijay admitted that he knew Masood well and her event management company had organised the programmes in different cities to whether a Bill is a money bill or not. The Bench was hearing a PIL which alleged that the government had followed an "unprecedented" unconstitutional procedure by having civil society members in the drafting panel. It said the Bill was introduced under pressure from civil society members and political parties. Meanwhile, shouts of 'Vande Mata - ram' greeted anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare as he arrived at his home in Ralegan Siddharrived following his discharge from a Gurgaon hospital. “I am feeling well...recovering fast and am grateful to all who are wishing for my good health," Hazare, who is taking rest at the Bhakta Niwas in Padmavati temple at his native village. The 73-year-old Gandhian will take rest on Thursday and will interact with the people and the media on Friday his personal assistant said. A 'gram bhojan' has been organised for 10,000 people by the villagers on Friday in view to celebrate Anna's "victorious" return. The assistant said a meeting of Team Anna, including Arvind Kejriwal and Kiran Bedi, is scheduled on September 10 and 11 here to discuss the further course of action on the Lokpal Bill.—PTI � Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan along with his wife Satvasheela worships Lord Ganesha on Ganesh Chaturthi in Mumbai on Thursday on the occasion of the death and birth anniversaries of BJP ideologue Shyama Prasad Mookerjee. "Shehla Masood as an event manager and owner of Miracle Company had helped us and worked on several projects in Srinagar, Kolkata and New Delhi. We knew her. She was a brave RTI activist, a very good friend," he said. Vijay described Masood as a brave, strong activist whose murder has been politicised. He insisted that he would fight till the culprits are brought to book. "It (Shehla's murder) had hurt us very deepily. We knew her. We want justice for Shehla. Shehla's family is passing through a very difficult time. I think that the whole thing got politicised. We stand by the family of Shehla and every right thinking Indian will stand by them," Vijay said. He urged people close to Masood to come forward and share information with the investigating agencies. —PTI Anna’s protest undemocratic, says Tharoor at JNU New Delhi: Firing a salvo at Anna Hazare, former Union minister Shashi Tharoor has said how can a person "who never stood for elections" claim to be the voice of the people. Asserting that laws can be made only by Parliament, Tharoor, who is a first-time MP from Kerala, said: “We cannot have a small group of unelected people imposing their will on Parliament because in the long term the danger will be to you the people.” "I do not believe that we can conduct democracy either from Ramlila grounds or from television studios. Demo cracy must be conducted through both Houses of Parliament." The Congress MP said there are more than 500 MPs and thousands of people's representatives in state assembles who have gone out to seek votes of people and have to preserve the support they have got. "If such people cannot claim to represent the people of India, but somebody else, who never stood for elections but has lots of television cameras around him and a few thousand people in a Maidan.... Will he be the voice of the people? Is that democracy?," he said addressing a gathering at Jawaharlal Nehru University on Wednesday night. While stating that arresting Hazare was a "mistake" and that no government can disagree with the cause of the Gandhian. Tharoor stressed that the "question is the means". "Saying that I will starve to death thereby potentially unleashing disruption violence and anarchy in the country unless you pass a Bill. Is that democracy? That is the question we have to ask," Tha r - oor said during a questionanswer session with students. The lawmaker, however, wondered what is the guarantee that Lokpal will "magically" be something different from other agencies, which were created to fight corruption. He at the same time made it clear he admired Hazare, who has an "exemplary record of service to the country". —PTI Paradigm shift in outlook needed to make society a better place for girls PM writes to CMs over skewed sex ratio New Delhi: Viewing with serious concern the declining sex ratio, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has written to all chief ministers asking them act in a swift and concerted manner to check pre-natal sex determination which continues to be a "challenge" in most places. Singh has asked the chief ministers to provide personal leadership as he laid emphasis on spreading awareness on the issue by involving civil society, including religious and community leaders, besides political representatives as part of “policy and programmatic action” to end discrimination against females. The child sex ratio, measured as the number of girls between the ages of 0 and 6 years to 1,000 boys in the same age group, has declined from 927 to 914 in 2011 as per the provisional census 2011 data, he pointed out in his letter. “The disaggregated data for states and Union Territories (UT) reveal a picture that is even more alarming than the average child sex ratio for the country,” Singh said while highlighting the data of individual states. Asserting that discrimination and social prejudice against women needed to be tackled at all stages. He said: “We need strong action against pre-birth sex selection using modern diagnostic technologies and neglect of the girl child once she is born.” Noting that implementation of law on pre-natal sex determination "continues to be a challenge in most areas", he said "the need of the hour is to strengthen monitoring and inspection mechanisms for strict and effective implementation of the law by states and UTs." “I would earnestly request you to consider putting in place a concerted plan of action to strengthen the implementation of the PC (preconception) and PNDT (pre-natal sex determination) Act and involve all sections of society. In addition to strong implementation of the PC and PNDT Acts, there is a need to take a series of steps to make the society a better place for girls to be born, survive and prosper, the Prime Minister said. The sex ratio in some states has seen greater decline. Among these are Andhra Pradesh with an 18point drop, Chhattisgarh with an 11-point drop and Bihar with a 9point decline.—PTI PM meets Cabinet on Gujarat Lokayukta New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thurs - day held a meeting with his senior Cabinet colleagues in the backdrop of the controversies surrounding the appointment of Lokayukta in BJPruled Gujarat. Singh held consultations with finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, home minister P Chidambaram, law minister Salman Khurshid and defence minister A K Antony for 80 minutes at his residence. There was no official word on what transpired at the meeting. The meeting took place a day before BJP's scheduled meeting with President Pratibha Patil on Friday to press for the recall of state Governor Kamla Beniwal. The BJP has accused the Governor of appointing the Lokayukta in the state withoutconsulting the state government. Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi on Thursday wrote to the Prime Minister demanding Governor Kamla Beniwal be recalled over her controversial appo int ment of Lokayukta bypassing the state government and annulment of the appointment of the Lokayukta. The Governor had appo - inted justice R A Mehta as Gujarat Lokayukta last week. The BJP has sought to make a big controversy out of the issue by disrupting the func- �� tioning of both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha. Both Houses are likely to face disruption on Friday. Meanwhile, the Congress plans to counter the BJP's attack arguing that the law for the appointment of Lokayukta in Gujarat nowhere mentions that the Governor has to consult the Council of Ministers before making any appointment. The Congress also alleged the BJP was trying to create a controversy on the issue to deflect attention from chief minister Narendra Modi's “questionable deeds”.— PTI �� Manmohan Singh ��
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