TESTR

NOIDA/DELHI
THE HINDU WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2015
SOUTHERN REGION
9
ASKS PEOPLE TO HAVE MORE CHILDREN
Naidu’s remark stirs up hornets’ nest
Ravi Reddy
HYDERABAD: Andhra Pradesh
Chief Minister N. Chandrababu
Naidu has drawn flak from
political parties for his remark
calling people to have
more children.
Mr. Naidu on Monday said
a ‘demographic crisis’ loomed
large over Andhra Pradesh.
Interacting with people at
Bramhanagudem, Unagatla
and Chagallu on the last leg of
his two-day programme in
West Godavari district, he expressed
fears of the ageing of
the country following a sharp
decline in the birth rate.
The family planning programme
with “one or none”
slogan resulted in population
growth coming to a standstill
leading to a reversal of the
demographic profile of the
State of late, he said. Quoting
Karnataka first
in country to
give universal
health coverage
Nagesh Prabhu
BENGALURU: Karnataka on
Tuesday became the first in
the country to provide universal
health coverage with
the launch of two schemes,
the Rajiv Arogya Bhagya for
APL households and the
Jyothi Sanjeevini for government
employees.
The health coverage is estimated
to cost the government
Rs. 120 crore annually.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah,
who launched the
schemes, said APL family
members would be entitled
for a health check costing up
to Rs. 1.5 lakh a year.
In special cases, if the expenditure
exceeds Rs. 1.5
lakh, the government could
sanction an additional sum of
Rs. 50,000, he said. The
scheme proposes to cover 449
surgical procedures and 50
follow-up packages.
Beneficiaries can avail
treatment in 160 hospitals,
including 14 hospitals outside
the State.
The government employees
will get cashless treatment
in 124 empanelled
private hospitals under the
Jyothi Sanjeevini scheme.
Vigilance books
5 officials in
Titanium case
Special Correspondent
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Vigilance
and Anti-Corruption
Bureau (VACB) on Tuesday
booked five Travancore Titanium
Products (TTP) officials
on the suspicion of corruption
in the setting up of an effluent
treatment plant at the public
sector industrial unit.
In a First Information Report
(FIR) filed in the court of
the Vigilance Enquiry Commissioner
and Special Judge
here, the VACB named as accused
former managing director
Eapen Joseph, chief
manager Santosh Kumar, executive
director A.M. Bhaskaran,
former chief manager
Thomas Mathew, and former
chief commercial manager
Gopakumar Nair.
The allegation was that the
accused had conspired together
to appoint M/s. MECON,
Ranchi, as consultant, causing
undue pecuniary advantage to
the private firm and consequent
loss to the public sector
entity.
Ramadoss appears
before judge
Special Correspondent
CHENNAI: The PMK founder,
S.Ramadoss, on Tuesday appeared
before the Principal
Sessions Judge (PSJ), Chennai,
in connection with a case
of alleged defamation against
him. Earlier, the City Public
Prosecutor had filed a complaint
before the court on behalf
of the Food Minister,
R.Kamaraj, that Mr.Ramadoss
had defamed the Minister.
The matter pertained to
the procurement of pulses.
Dr.Ramadoss issued a statement
and it was carried in a
Tamil eveninger on November
17 last year.
Contending that the statement
defamed the Food Minister,
the CPP filed the
complaint on his behalf.
CM
YK
Chandrababu Naidu
the latest official data, Mr.
Naidu said the ratio of births
and deaths looked similar and
if this situation continued,
the State would end up with
BJP may seek permission
to prosecute Siddaramaiah
B.S. Satish Kumar
Siddaramaiah
BENGALURU: The Bharatiya Janata
Party is expected to file a
petition before Karnataka
Governor Vajubhai R. Vala
this week seeking permission
to prosecute Chief Minister
Siddaramaiah over his alleged
involvement in the denotification
of land acquired for the
formation of Arkavathi Layout
in Bengaluru.
However, contrary to the
belief that the BJP itself may
file such a petition, the party
is likely to get an individual
either from its cadre or from
outside to approach the
Governor.
There were expectations in
the political circles that leader
of the Opposition and former
Chief Minister Jagadish
Shettar or BJP State president
Pralhad Joshi would file
TCS revokes employee
termination order
K.T.Sangameswaran
and Sangeetha Kandavel
CHENNAI: The Tata Consultancy
Services has revoked
the order terminating a
woman employee following
which the Madras High
Court on Tuesday dismissed
as infructuous a petition
filed by her.
Sasirekha Thangavel Natarajan,
working as an Assistant
Consultant in Tata
Consultancy Services Ltd.,
Chennai, since March 2011,
said that her employer had
issued a termination order
dated December 22 last
year stating that she would
be relieved on January 21.
She moved the High
Court challenging the termination
order. On January
13, Justice M. Duraiswamy
granted an interim injunction
for four weeks restraining
the company from
removing the employee.
When the matter came up,
the company counsel submitted
that TCS had revoked
the order dated
December 22. He also produced
the order and the
court placed it on record.
Mr.Justice Duraiswamy
said that since the company
had revoked the letter
which was the subject matter
of the writ petition, he
did not find any reason to
keep the petition pending
further and dismissed it as
infructuous.
A senior official in TCS
told The Hindu, “The fact
that she was pregnant was
not made known to us during
her exit. As per our Tata
Group’s policy we always
ensure that pregnant women
are taken care off.’’
The company also issued
a statement saying, Ms Sasi
Rekha has stated in the affidavit
before the Madras
High Court that she is pregnant.
This fact was not
made known to TCS by Ms
Sasi Rekha during the exit
process.
CHENNAI: “Perumal Murugan
should return and pen more
enlightening pieces with
strong social themes for the
generation next,” was the
united call from those who
gathered at Valluvar Kottam
on Tuesday morning to express
solidarity for the author.
The protesters also
condemned the reactions by
State authorities in the case.
Mr. Murugan’s novel Madhorubhagan
released in 2010
was criticised by a few caste
outfits that cried foul over the
portrayal of a temple ritual in
Tiruchengode in the 1930s. In
January, the author was
forced to tendering an apology
and also offered to remove
the alleged
controversial portions from
book. He abstained from
writing after the incident.
Scholars, senior journalists,
free thinkers and political
leaders voiced in support
of Mr. Murugan and lashed
out on Namakkal police and
local Revenue officials alleging
ill treatment of the author
and termed it a cowardice act
suppressing freedom of
expression.
While participating at the
Tuesday’s protest, Communist
Party of India’s senior
leader R. Nallakannu, condemned
the role played by
the State authorities in withdrawing
a fine work that
talks about freedom on women
in society and atrocities in
the name of caste. “This is a
clear case of freedom of expression
being crushed and it
is ridiculous that such an act
against a work of fiction is
initiated after four years,” he
less number of youth, resembling
the precarious condition
of Japan, he cautioned.
It was time people come
out of the earlier mindsets
vis-à-vis the size of families
and have two to three children
as the young generation
held the key to realisation of
his smart village/town mission.
Claiming that he was the
one who took the lead in the
past in his capacity as Chief
Minister in implementing
birth control measures, Mr.
Naidu said it was time to revisit
such policies.
‘Naidu pleasing
Sangh Parivar’
At a press conference here,
CPI national general secretary
Suravaram Sudhakar Reddy
said Mr. Naidu’s remark
was surprising, to say the
least, and amounted to pleasing
the Sangh Parivar. “Anyway,
Mr. Naidu will not be
allowed to exist politically till
the 2019 general elections.
He is simply wasting his
breath, but coming from the
Chief Minister of a State, it
raises eyebrows about his political
motives,” Mr. Narayana
said.
He wondered if it meant
that India’s family planning
programme no longer had
any importance.
Lok Satta founder president
N. Jayaprakash Narayan
said Mr. Naidu’s call to young
couples to have more children
is outrageous. Andhra
Pradesh’s birth rate is 17.5
and population is growing at 1
per cent PA.
(With additional reporting
by G. Nagaraja in Eluru and
Suresh Krishnamoorthy in
Hyderabad)
the petition. However, party
sources said they wanted an
individual rather than the
party or its leaders to do the
formalities due to the “legal
nitty-gritty”.
Sources denied that such a
decision had been taken to
prevent embarrassment to
party national vice-president
B.S. Yeddyurappa, who is facing
denotification cases.
“Any person who files such
a petition will have to be
physically present at the
courts regularly and monitor
the legal process. This may
not be possible for a political
leader and hence, we want the
formalities to done by an individual,”
sources said.
added.
Addressing mediapersons
after the event, Viduthalai
Chiruthaigal Katchi leader
Thol Thirumavalavan said
that the actions are not
against a single writer but
totally against freedom of expression.
“When a pen is broken,
more pens such rise and act
against such injustice. Perumal
Murugan should return
SC grants Janardhan Reddy bail
Krishnadas Rajagopal
NEW DELHI: The Supreme
Court on Tuesday granted
bail to former Karnataka
Minister G. Janardhan Reddy
in an illegal mining case
involving Obulapuram
Mining Company (OMC) on
the condition that he does
not visit any of the mining
zones in Karnataka or Andhra
Pradesh.
A three-judge Bench, led
by Chief Justice of India H.L.
Dattu and comprising Justices
A.K. Sikri and Arun Mishra,
took on record the
submission by the CBI that it
had no objection to the court
granting bail to Mr. Reddy as
the investigation is
complete.
Additional Solicitor-General
Maninder Singh submitted
that the CBI had already
filed a charge sheet and supplementary
charge sheet in
the case.
“Since the investigating
CHENNAI: The unexpected decision
of Union Finance Minister
Arun Jaitely to call on
former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa
on Sunday has sent
shockwaves through the Tamil
Nadu BJP unit, some
leaders of which want the
party to reconsider decision
to contest the Srirangam bypoll.
The high-profile meeting
between the two leaders,
which Mr. Jaitely termed as a
“courtesy call,” took the Tamil
Nadu BJP by surprise at a
time when it was gearing to
field a candidate in the bypoll.
The constituency was of
significance as it was vacated
by Ms. Jayalalithaa following
her conviction in the disproportionate
assets case.
A senior BJP leader lamented
that the BJP Central
“Perumal Murugan should write more’’
Staff Reporter
Writers express their solidarity with novelist Perumal Murugan in Chennai on
Tuesday. - PHOTO: M.PRABHU
to writing and offer more
works to the society without
fear,” Thirumavalan added.
Organised by the Karuthurimai
Padhukappu Kootamaippu,
Tamil Nadu Kalai
Ilakiya Perumandram and
the Tamil Nadu Progressive
Writers and Artists Association,
the protest meet also
witnessed the launch of a
signature campaign in support
of Perumal Murugan.
G. Janardhan Reddy
leadership was now acting
like that of the Congress,
which hardly ever consulted
the Pradesh committees before
making important decisions.
“None of us were
informed that Mr. Jaitely
would meet the AIADMK
leader. We have been mounting
severe criticism on the
AIADMK government over
the last four months. All that
has crashed with this one
meeting,” the leader said, requesting
anonymity.
A state general secretary of
the BJP said the idea of contesting
the Srirangam by-poll
was to send a strong message
to the electorate that the party
wanted to be a formidable
alternative to the two Dravidian
parties. “But now that a
senior Union Minister has
met Ms. Jayalalithaa, it has
reiterated a notion that the
two parties were always
Nine killed as bus falls into gorge
Staff Reporter
DHARMAPURI: Nine persons,
including two women and
two children, were killed after
a State Transport Corporation
bus swerved off the
ghat road near Hogenakkal
and fell into a 100-foot-deep
gorge on Tuesday.
G.Nagammal (50), M.Shivashankatri
(10) both of-
Kammalapatty in Palacode,
K.Vengatammal (50), Kaliappan
(55) both of Alakappadu
in Dharmapuri; M.
Sahadevan (50) of Mallapuram
in Pennagaram, C.Manivannan
(50) of
Dharmapuri, M. Manikandan
(10), Sudhakar of Krishnagiri
(38) were killed on the
spot. Duraisamy (50) of
Dharmapuri died at the
Dharmapuri GH.
Over 40 passengers were
rushed to Pennagaram and
Dharmapuri Govenrment
Hospitals with injuries.
The Tamil Nadu State
Chevening
scholarship for
Indian students
to go up
S. Prasad
PUDUCHERRY: There will a fourfold
increase in funding for
Chevening scholarships for
Indian students over the next
two years making India the
largest recipient in the world,
said Andrew Soper, Minister
Counsellor (Political and
Press), British High Commission.
Addressing mediapersons
here on Tuesday on the eve of
inauguration of the Great
U.K. education seminars, Mr.
Soper said the British Council
was giving an opportunity to
750 Indian students to
achieve scholarship worth
around 1.51 million pounds
(approximately Rs. 151 million).
The U.K. attracts over
400,000 overseas students to
its institutions annually, of
which almost 30,000 are
from India, he said.
India, which has the second
largest Chevening programme
after China, will see
an increase from 0.6 million
pounds to 2.4 million pounds
funding for the 2014-2015
and 2015-16. Mr. Soper said
the U.K. government’s global
scholarship programmes
aims to make India the largest
recipient in the world over
the next two years.
agency has no objection, we
are granting bail to Reddy,”
Chief Justice Dattu recorded
in the court order, dictated
after a brief hearing.
Senior advocate Dushyant
Dave, counsel for Mr. Reddy,
submitted that his client had
been in jail for over three
years and agreed with the
court’s caution to co-operate
in the trial before a special
court in Hyderabad.
The court acceded to the
conditions put by the CBI, including
that Mr. Reddy
would surrender his passport,
not influence witnesses
and refrain from visiting Ballari
district in Karnataka, and
Anantapur and Cuddapah in
Andhra Pradesh. It further
ordered Mr. Reddy to furnish
two sureties of Rs. 10 lakh
each as condition for bail.
In a hearing in December,
Mr. Reddy had drawn the
court’s attention to the long
time he has spent in jail. He
had sought bail in view of his
poor health, among other
reasons.
Mr. Reddy had approached
the apex court challenging a
2013 High Court order rejecting
his bail petition.
The petitioner and his
brother-in-law B.V. Srinivas
Reddy, managing director of
OMC, were arrested by the
CBI on September 5, 2011,
from Ballari and brought to
Hyderabad. He, along with
others, is facing five other
cases.
friends,” the functionary said,
calling the timing of the
meeting as most “unfortunate.”
The leader added that not
only would it be difficult to
face the voters in Srirangam,
the party organisation too
would be demoralised by this
“constant shift in position.”
“On Sunday morning, our
national president gave a very
positive signal about contesting
the by-poll. In the evening,
a senior leader goes and
meets Ms. Jayalalithaa. All of
us are totally confused. There
has to be some clarity on what
our position in the State
should be,” the leader pointed
out.
The growing opinion in the
party since Sunday was that
entering the fray in Sririangam
should be avoided. Rather,
a candidate of one of the
allies could be supported. But
The bus which fell into a deep gorge near
Hogenakkal on Tuesday. — PHOTO: SPECIAL
ARRANGEMENT
Transport Corporation bus
from Bommidi to Anjetti
left Dharmapuri town at
11.40 a.m with over 60 passengers.
The driver lost control
while negotiating the
narrow hill road about sixkm
down the Forest Department
check post in Hogenakkal.
It swerved off the
Sabarimala
temple closes
Radhakrishnan Kuttoor
PATHANAMTHITTA: The Ayyappa
Temple at Sabarimala was
closed on Tuesday after the customary
darshan for the representative
of the Pandalam
Palace, Kerala Varma Raja,
marking the end of the twomonth
Mandalam-Makaravilakku
pilgrim season.
Head priest (Melsanthi), E.N.
Krishnadas Namboodiri,
opened the temple at 5.30 a.m.
Tantri Kandararu Rajeevararu,
assisted by the Melsanthi, performed
the Ashtadravya Maha
Ganapati homom. Later, the
Melsanthi closed the sanctum
sanctorum and handed over the
keys to the royal representative
The royal-designate and his
entourage descended the holy
18-steps (Pathinettampady)
and returned the keys to the
Melsanthi at the Lower Tirumattom,
in the presence of the
Devaswom Executive Officer
and Administrative Officer.
Jaitley meet confuses Tamil Nadu BJP
Sruthisagar Yamunan
UDF likely to show
KC(B) the door
Girish Menon
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The
‘Oust Balakrishna Pillai” movement
in the United Democratic
Front (UDF) gathered momentum
on Tuesday with ruling
coalition leaders arriving at a
general agreement that the Kerala
Congress (B) leader should
be shown the door without further
delay. At the end of daylong
discussions UDF convener
P.P. Thankachan held with senior
leaders here, including telephone
conversations with
leaders of some coalition partners
who were not in the State
capital, it has become almost
certain that the Kerala Congress
(B) will be expelled from
the ruling coalition when its
high-power committee meets
on January 28.
Kerala Congress (M) leader
and Finance Minister K.M. Mani
is adamant about ousting Mr.
Pillai from the ruling coalition
and has hinted that he would be
forced to keep away from UDF
meetings if a decision was not
taken immediately.
Mr. Thankachan held discussions
with Chief Minister Oommen
Chandy, Indian Union
Muslim League leader and Industries
Minister P.K. Kunhalikutty,
Home Minister Ramesh
Chennithala in Thiruvananthapuram,
besides following it
up with phone calls to SJ(D)
leader M.P. Veerendrakumar,
and Mr. Mani himself.
The current mood in the UDF
is quite different from last
month when KC(B) MLA K.B.
Ganesh Kumar, Mr. Pillai’s son,
came out with corruption allegations
against Public Works
Minister P.K. Ebrahim Kunju
and his staff. According to UDF
leaders’ evaluation, the controversial
telephone conversation
that Mr. Pillai had with Thiruvananthapuram-based
hotelier
Biju Ramesh has given a different
dimension because Mr. Pillai
has not only made new
corruption charges, but also appears
to be part of a conspiracy
against Mr. Mani. Another reason
why UDF leaders are keen
on taking quick action against
Mr. Pillai is because of the nuisance
value he will have being
part of the coalition.
DEATH
ANNIVERSARIES
this line seemed unviable on
Tuesday with the PMK openly
declaring that it would neither
field a candidate nor
would support anyone in the
by-poll.
Sources in the DMDK, the
other ally in the NDA, said the
district unit of the party
wanted to contest the byelection
alone. But time is
running out to take such a decision.
“The last date for filing
nominations is January 27. A
decision like this has to be
taken at least a month earlier
so that you can prepare the
ground. The opinion in the
party is that it is too late now
to make any impact. But the
final decision would be taken
by our party president,” a
DMDK MLA said.
Both the DMK and the
AIADMK have already announced
their candidates.
ghat road and rolled into a
gorge.
According to police, the
narrow stretch overlooking
an Anjenayar temple had already
witnessed two accidents
an year ago. After a
five-hour-long operation,
the fire service personnel
hauled out the wreckage.
DEATH
DEATH
ANNIVERSARIES
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