north east online - north east india news: Aug 18, 2009

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Reserve Bank of India fears increase in prices

N
ew Delhi, Aug 18 (ANI): The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Tuesday said that prices are likely to go up this year due to erratic monsoon.

"Erratic monsoon may put pressure on inflation," said K C Chakrabarty, Deputy Governor, RBI on the sidelines of a meeting of the Regional Rural Bank chiefs.

On rescheduling of farm loans because of the uncertain monsoon this year, he said that is an issue for next year.

Earlier, an Empowered Group of Ministers (EgoM), headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, was set up by the Centre to tackle drought situation in nearly one-fourth of the country.

EgoM includes Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, Home Minister P Chidambaram, Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, and Power Minister Sushil Shinde.

Other members include Rural Development Minister C P Joshi, Petroleum Minister Murli Deora and Urban Development Minister Jaipal Reddy.

As many as 161 districts out of over 600 have been declared as drought-hit in the country.

The EGoM will take decisions and approve new and innovative schemes, besides examining the existing schemes for suitable modification.

The term of reference for the EGoM includes assessment and monitoring of the situation arising out of drought and deficient rainfall. (ANI)

Shahrukh Khan clarifies that his detention was not a drama

M
umbai, Aug 18 (ANI): Bollywood superstar Shahrukh Khan on Tuesday clarified that his detention at Newark International Airport in the US was not a drama.

Addressing mediapersons here after his return, Khan said, "I was asked bizarre questions by the airport officials. It wasn''t a drama. I don''t want publicity. But, I feel routine procedure was not followed there. We should not be treated on the basis of our colour or nationality."

Recalling the incident, he said he was not angry over what had happened there. However, he felt that the airport officials ''went a little overboard'' with the questioning.

Denying that he felt bad about the questioning, he said what really hurt him was the question they popped at him several times, "Your name is very common. Can anyone vouch for you to enter here?"

Rubbishing reports that he was trying to promote his upcoming movie ''My Name is Khan'', he said, "I hate people who rake up religious issues for their personal gains. I don''t want to sound pompous here but I don''t need publicity to promote my movie. I am too big a star for that."

The actor also said the incident would not prevent him from visiting the US again.
He said that if a ''tit for tat'' policy was to be followed, then he would love to be allowed to frisk Hollywood stars Angelina Jolie or Megan Fox.

Khan was detained for about two hours at the airport where he had arrived to attend a South Asian related event in Atlantic City.

Khan was released after Congress MP Rajiv Shukla spoke to the authorities in the US and the Indian consulate.

He was detained after his name flashed on a computer and was asked several questions about the purpose of his visit. (ANI)

Nepal PM arrives, hopes to strengthen ties with India

N
ew Delhi, Aug.18 (ANI): Nepal’s Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal arrived here on Tuesday on a five-day official visit, at the head of a 64-member delegation.

His spouse Gayatri Nepal, six cabinet ministers including the Foreign, Finance and Energy Ministers, high-level government officers, businessmen and journalists are accompanying him.

Speaking to reporters soon after his arrival, Nepal said: “It is a goodwill visit. There is no particular agenda before me. So, I think, this will strengthen relations between Nepal and India and will lead to a new height.”

This is Nepal’s first visit to New Delhi after assuming the office of Prime Minister.

On Wednesday, the visiting dignitary will lay a wreath at Rajghat, the memorial dedicated to Mahatma Gandhi, the Father of the Nation.

Prime Minister Nepal will then meet External Affairs Minister S.M.Krishna at the Hotel Oberoi. He will proceed to meet President Pratibha Devisingh Patil for about 30-minutes.

He will attend and address a business luncheon meeting hosted jointly by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (ASSOCHAM).

On Wednesday evening, he will call on Vice President Mohammad Hamid Ansari at the latter''s official residence and will meet UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi at her 10, Janpath residence.

Thereafter, he will proceed to Hyderbad House for delegation level talks with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. A signing of bilateral agreements will follow the meeting.

Although the Pancheshwar multi-purpose project will be discussed, no specific agreement will be signed. The main opposition CPN (Maoist) has warned the government not to sign any agreement related to the Pancheshwar project without a consensus.

On Thursday, Nepal will meet Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram. In the evening, he will address a meeting of intellectuals and academia at the India International Centre.

He will leave for a daylong visit to Mumbai on Friday and will return to Kathmandu on Saturday afternoon. (ANI)

Students torch 4 AC bogies of Shramjeevi Exp, no one hurt

P
atna, Aug 18 (PTI) A group of students today set afire four air-conditioned bogies of Patna-Delhi Shramjeevi Express at a station near here after being stopped by security personnel from forcibly occupying reserved seats.

The blaze caused partial damage to the coaches but no passenger was injured, East Central Railway PRO R K Singh said.

The four bogies-- 2 AC III tier, 1 AC II tier and 1 AC first class-- were set on fire by the students, who were agitated over being forced out by Railway Protection Force (RPF) personnel as they had no tickets and were trying to occupy reserved seats, he said.

The group, comprising about 15 students, which had boarded the train at Ara, was spotted by the RFP personnel, who forced them out of the coaches during a halt at Bihta station, around 35 kms from here, Singh said.

Five more labs to test swine flu samples in Delhi

N
ew Delhi, Aug 18 (PTI) Delhi Government has identified five laboratories to test samples of people suspected to have contracted swine flu, taking the total number of such facilities in the city to eight.

"Five more laboratories will start testing samples from today," Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit told PTI.

With this, the capital has eight laboratories where samples can be tested for the viral disease which has claimed around 30 lives across the country.

Presently, samples are tested at the National Institute of Communicable Diseases, AIIMS and Patel Chest Institute here.

Asked about some schools preferring to close down, she said there was no need for that. However, she said, she would warn people against being careless.

The Union Health Ministry has recently allowed state governments to involve private hospitals and laboratories for effectively tackling the spread of the disease.

Central team to assess drought situation in Bihar

P
atna, Aug 18 (PTI) An 11-member Central government team will arrive here tomorrow to make an on-the-spot study of the drought-hit districts of Bihar, state Disaster Management Principal Secretary Vyasji said.

The team led by joint secretary to the union agriculture ministry R K Tiwari would leave for the drought-hit areas by choppers to assess the situation, Vyasji told PTI.

Altogether 26 of the 38 districts of Bihar have been declared drought-hit. Districts under Magadh, Munger, Saran and Tirhut divisions are among the worst affected.

The central team which has been divided into three groups will visit different districts and hold meetings with senior officials, including district magistrates, he said.

After completion of district-wise assessments, the team will hold a meeting with top officials in the state capital and also meet Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on August 21.

India doing enough to combat global warming: PM

N
ew Delhi, Aug 18 (PTI) Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today rubbished criticism from developed nations that India was not doing enough to combat global warming, saying it fully recognised the importance of the issue.

He also said that domestic capacity should be strengthened to meet the challenges arising out of growing energy needs.

"We fully recognise not just how important this issue is to India but also our own obligation to address it," he said apparently referring to criticism from developed nations on the issue.

The Prime Minister was addressing a national conference of state ministers of environment and forests here.

"Our energy needs will increase sharply in the decades to come. We can and must walk a different road, an environment-friendly road," he said.

For this, Singh said, access to new technologies available with developed countries was required."We must also make own investments in environment-friendly technologies.

First Day of 3-Day General Strike Hits Life in Manipur

I
mphal, Aug 18 : Normal life was thrown out of gear in Manipur on the first day of a three-day general strike called by social organization in protest against the killing of a youth in a ‘fake encounter’.

Shops, business establishments and entertainment houses were closed while attendance in government offices was minimal, official sources said, adding vehicles were also off the road.

Apunba Lup, an umbrella organization of several social organizations, called the 72-hour strike demanding resignation of Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh on moral grounds and dismissal of the commandos involved in the ‘fake encounter’.

Chungkham Sanjit (27) was killed by police in the “fake encounter” on July 23 at a market place here.

A pregnant woman was also killed by stray bullets while five others were injured in the incident.

Former legislator's wife found begging in UP

G
onda, Aug 18: Prema Devi, widow of two-time legislator and also considered close to former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, was found begging in the streets of Gonda in Uttar Pradesh

Abandoned by her family, 80-year-old Prema Devi was spotted collecting money outside the District Women's Hospital in Gonda, about 200 km from the state capital Lucknow.

She told to reporters who spotted her that, life took a turn for the drastic after her husband Suraj Lal Gupta, who was a Jan Sangh legislator in the 1960s, died in 2007.

She also said, "He (son) changed completely after his father's death in 2007 and told me that I should make my own livelihood arrangements. A few days back, he made me leave the house when I spoke out against the sale of the ancestral house."

"We were taken by surprise and shocked to know that the wife of a former MLA now collects alms," Gonda Additional District Magistrate Sukhlal Bharti told to news agencies.

She also said, "We have ordered an inquiry into the incident and will make every possible arrangement to help her."

'Praising Jinnah is an insult to freedom fighters'

M
umbai, Aug 18: After facing the ire of BJP and the RSS, Jaswant Singh has now invited the contempt of Shiv Sena chief, Bal Thackeray. In his editorial piece published in Sena mouthpiece 'Saamana', Thackeray accuses the BJP leaders of insulting the freedom fighters by praising Jinnah.

Thackeray recalled LK Advani's 2005 comment stating 'Jinnah is secular' along with the latest controversy stirred by Jaswant Singh.

"Advani created an ideological confusion by lauding Jinnah. Jaswant Singh has added to it," he said.

He said that this kind of 'ideological confusion' seen in BJP has got the Hindus frustrated and the impact was seen in Lok Sabha elections.

"How can a person who demanded a separate state for Muslims be termed secular?" the Sena chief asked.

"If Jinnah was secular, then why did Advani leave Sindh Province in Pakistan and come to India?" he also questioned.

This comes amid the increased tensions in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the senior party leader, Jaswant Singh praising Mohammad Ali Jinnah and blaming leaders like Nehru and Vallabhai Patel for the India-Pakistan partition.

Jaswant Singh released the book ‘Jinnah: India-Partition Independence’ on Monday, Aug 18. The BJP leaders chose to skip the ceremony to show their disappoval.

No need to panic over drought: PM

P
rime Minister Manmohan Singh has said that there is no need to panic on the drought situation in the country. He said we have a better understanding of how to handle a crisis and that there is adequate stock of wheat and rice in our godowns.

Schemes like NREGA and Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana will help those affected, he said. Finance Minister Pranab Mukerjee said the Group of Ministers will meet on a regular basis and that the ground reality was that the drought has set in.

The Prime Minister made this statement after chief ministers of states that are facing drought headed to him to ask for central money to help the farmers in their state.

Meanwhile, Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar told NDTV that the rainfall situation in India's rice belt is worrisome. He also said nearly half of India's districts, 207 out of the 533 districts, are drought hit or is facing drought-like situation.

Assam Governor Syed Sibte Razi asked to quit?

AAssam Governor Syed Sibte Razi is under pressure to quit after facing corruption charges.

Sources say Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has asked the Assam Governor to quit and save the UPA government from embarrassment.

CBI raids are said to have affirmed reports of alleged corruption in the Jharkhand Raj Bhawan, when Razi was the state governor.

Razi has apparently told the Prime Minister that he needed some time to explain his side of the story to Sonia Gandhi.

Delhi-Patna Shramjivi Express vandalised

I
n an incident of vandalism on a train, students pelted stones and set an AC coach of the Shramjivi Express on fire on Tuesday.

The incident happened at the Bihta railway station near Patna after the students had an argument with Railway Police personnel over a chain pulling incident.

The Shramjivi Express runs between Delhi and Patna.

In another incident, there was tension in the town of Lakhisarai after the body of a 25-year-old youth was found beneath a rail overbridge. Angry crowds have blocked rail and road traffic.
A mob also vandalised a train, the Gaya-Howrah passenger train, which was halted at the Lakhisarai station. Police reportedly had to fire 12 rounds in the air to control the mob.

Japanese Enchephalitis claims 8 lives in Gorakhpur

Gorakhpur (UP), Aug 18 (PTI) Eight children have died due to Japanese Encephalitis here, taking the toll in the viral infection in the district since January to 160.

The fresh deaths took place in the last three days, officials at the BRD Medical College Hospital said today.

Over 10 people suffering from suspected encephalitis have been admitted to the hospital during the same period.

As many as 105 patients are undergoing treatment in the hospital.

The deadly Japanese Encephalitis fever is caused by a virus found in pigs and wild and transferred to humans by mosquito bite. It affects the brain and causes high fever and respiratory distress.

Japanese Encephalitis claims many lives in Uttar Pradesh each year.

Polling for 5 Assembly seats in TN begins

Chennai, Aug 18 (PTI) Polling for by-elections to five Assembly seats in Tamil Nadu, boycotted by the principal opposition AIADMK and its two allies, began here this morning.

Sixty candidates are trying their electoral fortunes in Bargur, Cumbum, Ilayankudi, Thondamuthur and Srivaikuntam.

AIADMK, MDMK and PMK are boycotting the polls claiming they would not be "free and fair" with the DMK ruling in the state and Congress-led UPA at the Centre. But CPI(M) and CPI are in the fray much to the dismay of their front head AIADMK.

Around 5,000 police personnel have been deployed to ensure that the polling process in peaceful.

The by-polls were necessitated by the resignation or death of MLAs in these constituencies. Former MDMK leaders Cumbum Ramakrishnan and M Kannappan quit the Vaiko-led party to join the DMK, in the process resigning as MLAs of Cumbum and Thondamuthur, respectively.

Auto strike in Delhi enters second day

N
ew Delhi, Aug 18 (PTI) Majority of capital's auto- rickshaw drivers refused to operate their three-wheelers on the second day of their two-day strike today to protest against government's crackdown on those operating without permits, licenses and pollution control certificates.

Drivers belonging to 17 unions, including Bharatiya Tipahiya Chalak Sangh, Capital Autorickshaw Drivers Union and Rashtravadi Tipahiya Chalak Sangh, are participating in the strike, which created trouble for commuters waiting for the three-wheelers.

Rashtravadi Tipahiya Chalak Sangh president Virender Pal said, "The two-day strike is meant to pressurise the authorities to understand our problems."

However, Delhi Transport Minister Arvinder Singh Lovely has yesterday said that government cannot compromise on norms prescribed by the government.

Bharatiya Tipahiya Chalak Sangh president Sobran Singh Rajput said their protest was not meant to harass public but to fight against the government's policies, which he claimed were "damaging" their livelihood.

* Former South Korean president Kim Dae-Jung dies

Seoul, Aug 18 (AFP) Kim Dae-Jung, who spearheaded South Korea's struggle for democracy and went on to win the presidency and the Nobel peace prize, died today aged 83, a hospital spokesman said.

"He was declared dead at 1:43 pm (local time)," a spokesman for Seoul's Severance Hospital told AFP.

"His heart began failing at 1:35 pm and stopped minutes later despite our efforts to revive it."

Kim, who was president from 1998-2003, was admitted to hospital on July 13 with pneumonia and other symptoms.

He held South Korea's first-ever summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il in 2000 and was awarded the Nobel prize later that year for his efforts.

north east online - north east india news