north east online - north east india news: Feb 16, 2010

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Court to decide whether Muslim girl can marry at 14

The Bombay
High Court will soon decide which of the two -- Muslim Personal Law or Prohibition of Child Marriage Act (PCMA) -- are applicable in case of the marriage of a Muslim girl who is 14 years of age.

A petition seeking the custody of the 14-year-old girl has been filed before the Bombay High Court by one Zakia Begum, a resident of Aurangabad.

Zakia's daughter was to marry last December, but her uncle filed a complaint with police, stating that Child Marriage Restriction Act (now replaced by PCMA) is being violated.

Police then took the girl in custody and produced her before Child Welfare Committee. She is now in a remand home.

Zakia moved the High Court arguing that police's action was illegal because Muslim law allows girl to marry after onset of puberty. However, additional public prosecutor Usha Kejariwal on Tuesday argued that PCMA was applicable to all citizens.

The question has arisen because of apparent conflict between the Muslim Personal Law and the PCMA. In the Muslim law, a girl can marry after attaining puberty. PCMA prohibits child marriages, irrespective of religion as under it a girl below 18 is a child.

Kejariwal during the argument also cited a judgement of Andhra Pradesh High Court, which says that a Muslim person who participates in marriage of a minor boy or girl can be prosecuted; but marriage itself cannot be voided on the ground of age. In Zakia's case marriage has not taken place.

However, petitioner's lawyer advocate Prakash Wagh said that he was challenging constitutional validity of Prohibition of Child Marriage Act.

Division bench of Justices Ranjana Desai and Mrudula Bhatkar directed Wagh to make Child Welfare Committee (on whose instructions police had stopped the marriage) a party to the case.

"We will lay down a law (in this regard)...If this (marriage of minors) is allowed, tomorrow 12-year-old girls will be married off," judges said.

Advocate Wagh requested the court to hand over custody of girl to her mother. However, the court refused the request, adjourning hearing to March 15.

Create new railway zone for NE: Gogoi

Ahead of the railway budget, Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has sought an exclusive railway zone for the northeastern region.

If Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee considers this demand, parts of West Bengal and Bihar would be de-linked from the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR).

In a letter to Banerjee, Gogoi pointed out that a separate railway zone would be in the interest of the Northeast and its peoples. “One of the major causes of backwardness of the region is lack of connectivity, and the proposal, if considered, would go a long way in helping it develop.”

Besides the eight northeastern states, the NFR caters to the northern half of West Bengal and a slice of eastern Bihar. This railway zone has been expanding in the Northeast of late with an ambitious plan to connect all the state capitals.

As of now, only two state capitals – Guwahati (Assam) and Agartala (Tripura) are connected by railway. And barring Meghalaya and Sikkim, the other states have railway heads just beyond the boundary with Assam.

The last railway station in Mizoram is Bairabi, barely 10 km beyond the State’s boundary with southern Assam. Likewise, Manipur has Jiribam while Murkokseleng and Bhalukpong are two railheads in Arunachal Pradesh on different alignments.

Border town Dimapur has Nagaland’s only railway station although there’s a railhead to Tuli further west, which had some traffic before the shutter came down on a paper mill there.

PM assures change of Arunachal tribe's name

The name of a tribe in Arunachal Pradesh will be changed soon with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh giving an assurance to the state government in this regard.

The name 'Gallong' of a tribe would be changed to 'Galo'. The assurance was given to a four-member government delegation in New Delhi yesterday.

"The change of name will be made by amending the ST/SC Order of 1954 in the budget session of Parliament beginning February 22," said Takam Sanjoy, MP, who led the delegation.

Among other demands presented to the prime minster was the construction of a concrete road between Gongo to Gogamukh, half of which was completed by the North Eastern Council (NEC), he said.

The road will be the shortest lifeline from Itanagar to upper Subansiri which is a strategic route from the defence point fo view, the Lok Sabha MP representing Arunachal West seat said.

Haiti president: 3 years needed to move rubble

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti -It will take three long years to clear the rubble left by Haiti's devastating earthquake, said President Rene Preval who admitted even he's still afraid to sleep under concrete in case another quake strikes.
In a rare exclusive sit-down interview, Preval told Associated Press Television News on Monday that Haiti faces a long reconstruction process that will result in fewer people living in the capital, Port-au-Prince.
"It will take 1,000 trucks moving rubble for 1,000 days, so that's three years. And until we move out rubble, we cannot really build," Preval said.
Sitting in the airport police station that serves as the country's temporary government headquarters, Preval calmly laid out the difficulties of rebuilding an impoverished country amid aftershocks and the threat of more earthquakes.
He said the government has destroyed some hastily rebuilt structures in the capital, but he said that until alternative housing plans can be completed, the government's ability to regulate reconstruction will be limited.
Asked about residents' assertions that local corruption has interfered with the international aid effort, he replied: "It is possible that there have been irregularities."
"However," he said, "I should point out that the government isn't the direct manager of most of this humanitarian assistance."
He referred further questions to relief organizations and local and international governments engaged in food distribution.
International aid groups have taken pains to at least make Haiti's government the titular head of the relief. But district mayor's offices in Port-au-Prince have been put in control of some food coupon distribution, and some irregularities have been reported.
The president, whose five year term is scheduled to end next year, has rarely spoken publicly with his own people in the weeks since a magnitude-7 earthquake pummeled Haiti's capital city on Jan. 12.
More than 200,000 people were killed. The presidential palace and his own private residence were destroyed, as were most government buildings and the headquarters of a 9,000-member U.N. peacekeeping force that guarantees his security.
Since then, Preval said Monday, he has been staying with friends until a "light, earthquake-proof" structure can be built to replace his home.
"Like you, I am nervous to be under cement," he said.
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Monday said his country will spend up to $12 million to build Haiti's government a temporary base to replace official buildings damaged in the quake.
Despite Haitians' desperate need for shelter, many abandoned houses that survived the quake still stand empty because nobody is quite sure they can withstand another quake.
At least 54 aftershocks have shuddered through Haiti's shattered capital since Jan. 12. They have toppled weakened buildings faster than demolition crews can get to them, sending up new clouds of choking dust. On Monday, three children were killed when a school collapsed in the northern city of Cap-Haitien. It wasn't clear what caused the collapse, which occurred after a late-night tremor and heavy rains.
"I tried sleeping in the house for a night, but an aftershock came and I ran outside," said Louise Lafonte, 36, who beds down with her family of five in a tent beside her seemingly intact concrete house. "I'm not going inside until the ground calms down."
That may be awhile. Seismologists say more, damaging aftershocks are likely and there's even a chance of another large quake following quickly after the initial catastrophe in the capital of 3 million people.
In 1751, a large quake hit the island that Haiti shares with the Dominican Republic. About a month later, another one destroyed Port-au-Prince.
A magnitude-7.4 quake that killed more than 18,000 people in northwestern Turkey in 1999 was followed three months later by another of magnitude-7.2 only 100 kilometers (60 miles) from the initial epicenter.
"There are many other examples like that of two significant earthquakes following each other," said Eric Calais, a geophysicist at Purdue University who said he warned the Haitian government two years ago that the country was vulnerable to a major quake.
The prospect of another quake is on the minds of planners trying to rebuild the country and on those trying to prevent more deaths.
U.N. inspectors have advised people to stay away from dozens of structures.
The U.S. Geological Survey estimated at the end of January that there was a 90-percent likelihood of at least one more magnitude-5 quake in the coming month, a 15 percent likelihood of one of magnitude-6 or greater, and a 2 percent possibility of a shock as great, or bigger, than the Jan. 12 quake.

Nokia and Intel join hands for Linux-based MeeGo Platform

With Nokia and Intel joining hands to launch a mobile operating system, Symbian foundation the major OS provider for Nokia phones will have reasons to panic. The companies have joined hands to merge their mobile operating systems into Meego, a Linux-based, open operating system called MeeGo is a Linux-based open operating system for wide range of electronic devices including smartphones, laptops and TV sets and help these to integrate seamlessly. The new operating system would include the best features of Moblin core and the UI(user interface) toolkit from Maemo. First version of the OS will be shipped during the second quarter.

Renée James, senior vice president and general manager at Intel's Software and Services Group, expects the first devices with the operating system to arrive during the second half of 2010.

The operating system will be build to support both Intel's Atom processor and ARM microarchitecture. In the coming weeks, MeeGo's source code and build system and developer tools will be released.

The Linux Foundation would host the MeeGo code. The developers interested in building app for the OS will require to use the Qt framework. The use of Qt will allow the users to develop the application once and run it on multiple platforms.

Nokia is the first company to announce device for MeeGo. However, other hardware partners and operators are anticipated to follow the suit.

There has been an increasing rivalry between companies producing operating systems for mobile devices. Nokia mobile phones majorly rely on Symbian platform, which it is upgrading this year in order to make it more user-friendly,

It remains to see how Symbian's market share is effected as Nokia prepares to launch a smaller number of advanced devices based on its Maemo operating system.

Two Britons detained with suspicious gadgets

NEW DELHI - Two British nationals staying at the Radisson Hotel near the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) here have been detained after they were found with suspicious gadgets and are being questioned, police said Tuesday.

Stephen Hampston and Steven Martin were detained by the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and Delhi Police Monday for possessing some high tech gadgets, maps and binoculars.

“They checked into the hotel on Feb 13 and hotel authorities informed us after they found their activities suspicious. We are questioning them,” a police officer said.

The two were carrying sophisticated gadgets that can be used to capture details of air traffic. They have told police that aircraft spotting is their hobby and they use the gadgets for that only, he added.

“We are also trying to find out people who they were in touch with in the national capital or other parts of the country.”

Officials from the British High Commission have got consular access and met the duo.

Police are verifying their passport and travel details and also examining the gadgets. Security agencies are also examining their mobile phones and laptop.

Delhi has been on high alert since Saturday after a blast in Pune left 10 people dead and many injured.

Last week, a US national was detained at the Indira Gandhi International Airport when security agencies found a knife in his baggage.

Pune Police confirms use of RDX in German Bakery blast

PUNE - Pune Police on Tuesday confirmed that RDX was used in the blast that ripped the German Bakery in Koregaon Park area here on Saturday at around 7 p.m.

Pune Police Commissioner Satyapal Singh said today that RDX was used in the blast at the German Bakery after receiving the preliminary report from the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL).

The death toll in the German Bakery blast has now reached ten as 24-year-old Abhishek Saxena from Lucknow succumbed to his injuries last night, added Singh.

Singh further said, “According to the Forensic Science Laboratory report received last night, the material used for the explosive was a combination of RDX, Ammonium Nitrate and Petroleum hydrocarbon oil.

“However, the quantity used has not been determined yet. Also the trigger mechanism is being investigated yet,” he added.

Meanwhile, the police claim to have got vital clues from the CCTV footages even as they detained two persons with suspected links with the Indian Mujahideen terror outfit.

Singh said, ” We have the CCTV footages. We have got some vital information from it.”

Singh had on Monday said that the investigation into Saturday’s blast was progressing in the right direction, but declined to provide any details of the lead obtained so far.

Union Home Secretary G K Pillai has said, “We cannot rule out or rule in the possibility of the involvement of foreign hands in Pune blast.”

The Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) footage of a five star hotel opposite to the German Bakery shows two suspects and has also captured images of these 2 men. The footage shows one of them holding a bag and the other talking on a cell phone.

Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) has taken the possession of the footage and is monitoring the images along with the National Investigating Agency (NIA) from Delhi.

Meanwhile, the daughter of the owner of the German Bakery, where the blast took place has claimed that the bakery has its own CCTV footages.

The bomb, which has claimed ten lives and wounded at least 57, is seen as the first major attack on India since the 2008 Mumbai massacre and appeared to target Indian and foreign tourists. (ANI)

AIIMS entrance exam 2010 results out

Bangalore, Feb 16: All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) has announced the results of the AIIMS All India PG Entrance test for admissions into medical and dental colleges for the academic year 2010.

The results of the AIIMS entrance exam 2010 are available on official website of the AIIMS.

The All India Post Graduate Medical and Dental Entrance Examination or AIPGMEE 2010 was held on Jan 10.

The eligibility criteria for a candidate to appear for the admission test included completion of MBBS/BDS degree from a recognized Medical/Dental College or from a foreign degree which includes in the schedules to the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956.

The aspiring medicos who appeared for the exam and cleared it will be soon called for counselling, where they would be allotted MS or MD seats in government colleges across the country based on their ranks.

north east online - north east india news