Mirage crashes after wheels fall off, pilots
safe
Gwalior:
An Indian Airforce Mirage 2000 fighter today crashed
soon after ta ke off from the Maharajpur airbase in the
morning. The mishap occurred in the morning when the fighter
was returning to Gwalior Air Base on detection of some technical
problem soon after take off. Realising that the plane won't
make it to the runway, the two pilots on board the plane
decided to bail out and reportedly landed safely. District
authorities claim that prima facie it appeared that one
of the aircraft's wheel fell off soon after take off. "Preliminary
information shows that the wheel of the Mirage aircraft
fell off immediately after it took off from Maharajpur Air
Force base here," Additional District Magistrate RK Jain
was quoted as saying.. At the time of mishap, the plane
was on a joint sortie with the Singapore Air Force. Officials
however claim that the joint exercise named 'Ankush' has
not been affected by the incident and will continue as per
schedule till October 27. Incidentally, this was the second
crash involving a Mirage in the past three weeks, the previous
one having taken place on September 23 after developing
similar problems.
Congress
party faces test in powerhouse Maharashtra (Go
To Top)
New
Delhi: The financial powerhouse state of Maharashtra
goes to the polls on Wednesday in the first major electoral
test for Congress party since its national election victory
five months ago. Opinion polls show Congress and its allies
narrowly ahead of the BJP-Shiv Sena and favourites to retain
power in the state. "I think what is at stake is the image
of BJP, much more than the image of Congress party. The
reason for it being that the BJP had performed much below
expectations in the Lok Sabha elections as a whole and therefore
this is its first test to disprove the view, if it can,
that the poor performance or relatively poor performance
in the Lok Sabha elections was a sign of a trend. Now BJP
would very much like it to happen that it recovers well
enough in Mumbai," said political analyst Pran Chopra.
Security
beefed up ahead of Wednesday's polls in Maharashtra (Go
To Top)
Mumbai:
A thick security blanket was thrown over Maharashtra
today ahead of the provincial polls on Wednesday. Extra
forces of paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force and
civil defence personnel have been deployed for the conduct
of the polls often marred by violence in the past. Special
security arrangements have been made in Mumbai and the naxalite-infested
Vidarbha region. Javed Ahmed, Joint Commissioner of police,
said they were keeping a strict vigil in the city as many
former underworld dons, were contesting the polls. "We have
actually got in a fair number of CPMF (Central Paramilitary
Forces) from the government of India and I think closer
to the date we would be getting in more and so we have more
outside forces for helping us conduct the elections on 13
(October)," said Ahmed. In addition to the 2,250 CRPF personnel
to be posted in sensitive areas, 7000 homeguards and 150
police officers have arrived from various police units in
the country. Arun Gawli, former underworld don, alongwith
many other former dons, is contestimg the elections.
Congress
sweeps Arunachal polls (Go
To Top)
Itanagar:
Congress party in Arunachal Pradesh today stormed back
to power by securing a majority in the state polls held
last Thursday. Congress won 35 out of the 60 assembly seats
with the independent candidates taking 13 and the Hindu
nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) securing just nine
seats. A Congress Legislative Party meeting, which could
not be held earlier due to heavy rains, will now be convened
on Thursday to decide on the leader. "See, the selection
of the leader for the CLP (Congress Legislative Party) will
be decided by one or two important points. One is the opinion
of the elected representatives. Second after getting the
opinion of the elected representatives we will consult the
Congress president and the high command and then we will
decide about the chief minister. This is the practice, which
we have been following and we will do that in Arunachal
Pradesh," said Ramesh Chennithala, Congress party's high
command leader in-charge of the state. Gegong Apang, the
likely candidate for the state chief minister's post, rejoined
Congress soon after former ruling National Democratic Alliance
was voted out of power, eight years since quitting the party
and forming Arunachal Congress in 1996.
Armed
struggle will continue: PWG (Go
To Top)
Hyderabad:
The People's War has said that its armed struggle will
continue. This announcement at a press conference comes
just three days before the People's War is scheduled to
start talks with the Andhra Pradesh government. Earlier,
five top Naxal leaders of the People's War and Janasakhti
arrived in Hyderabad today to participate in the peace talks
with Andhra Pradesh government on October 15. The Naxal
leaders, accompanied by about 35 unarmed activists, were
accommodated in the Manjeera government guest house. The
leaders arrived by road after attending a public meeting
in Guntur district last night. The 35 unarmed youth would
provide the inner security cordon to Naxal leaders during
their stay in the city.
Trinamul
Congress hails Fernandes' move (Go
To Top)
by Gautam Ghosh
Kolkata:
Trinamul Congress has hailed NDA convener George Fernandes'
attempts to strengthen and expand the coalition despite
the Congress' bid to woo its partners as evident from Haryana
Vikas party chief Bansi Lal's decision to dissolve his parrty
and join the Congress. Trinamul Congress chairperson and
lone party MP from West Bengal Mamata Banerjee has ruled
out her outfit's merger with the state Congress even after
the return of a few functionaries like former MP Nitish
Sengupta, former legislator Tarun Adhikari and Sukhendu
Shekhar Roy to the parent party yesterday, Banerjee, who
has been under pressure from a section of legislators to
rethink the party's stand vis-a-vis the Congress in the
wake of the BJP's current organisational disarray, feels
there is no question of joining hands with the Congress
as long as the party allows the Marxists to call the shots
at the Centre and persecute their political opponents in
Bengal.
"The decision of some former party MPs to go back to the
Congress will not weaken us. Our party workers, determined
to fight the CPI(M), are its real source of strength," she
observed. Fernandes, who has been maintaining a personal
rapport with the beleaguered Trinamul Congress leader since
her party's debacle in the Lok Sabha polls, yesterday floated
"the Rashtriya Swabhiman Manch" to strengthen and expand
the NDA. The politicians, who are reported to have joined
the broad-based anti-Congress platform, include former Prime
Minister Chandra Shekhar and Janata party leader Subramaniam
Swami. Ms Banerjee feels Chandra Shekhar can help rope in
Samajwadi party supremo and Uttar Pradesh chief minister
Mulayam Singh Yadav who has no love lost for the UPA chairperson
Sonia Gandhi.
According
to informed source, the Trinamul Congress leader is well-aware
of the steady erosion in the BJP's support base after the
Lok Sabha elections and expects a realignment of political
forces after the Maharashtra Assembly polls. She feels the
BJP may start facing serious problems in the event of the
Congress- NCP combine returning to power in the state. Ms
Banerjee believes that Fernandes' newly launched Manch will
then serve as an alternative platform to fight the "unholy
nexus" between the Congress and the Marxists. The Trinamul
Congress chairperson is also wary of the outcome of Assembly
by-elections in three constituencies, Shyampukur, Jorabagan
and Entally held on October 9. The results are expected
on October 16 when the outcome of the Maharashtra polls
will also be known. Ms Banerjee knows that she will be under
greater pressure to rejoin the parent party if her nominees
are relegated to the position of a poor third in the by-elections,
conceding the second position to the Congress.
Banerjee has been facing a major problem in toning up her
organisation in view of some former MPs' reluctance to participate
in the party programmes. Two former party MPs, Sudip Bandopadhyay
and Nitish Sengupta, have already returned to the Congress.
While an ailing Ranjit Panja has decided to keep away from
party meetings in view of its chronic infighting in North
24 Parganas, Krishna Bose, former MP from Jadavpur, does
not appear interested in organisational work. All this,
coupled with Ms Banerjee's current health conditions, has
created an air of uncertainty in the party and affected
its workers' morale. Ms Banerjee, who was seriously injured
in an accidental fall at her public rally in Midnapore on
August 9, has been advised by her doctors not to undertake
long journeys. Naturally Trinamul Congress workers in different
districts have been seriously handicapped by the restrictions
imposed on the party leader's movement. The Bengal Marxists,
on their part, have been trying to execute their game-plan
of wooing the state Congress leaders and politically isolating
Trinamul Congress functionaries. This strategy proved partly
successful during the Lok Sabha polls when the state Congress
was able to raise its tally from three to five, while the
number of Trinamul Congress members in the Lower House was
reduced to one from eight. The state Congress has since
then been claiming itself to be "the real opposition in
Bengal."
Indo-US
talks begins (Go
To Top)
New
Delhi: India and the United States kicked off discussions
on the second phase of the Next Steps in Strategic Partnership
(NSSP), covering high technology trade, civilian nuclear
and space programs as also on spepping up defence cooperation.
National Security Adviser J.N Dixit and Foreign Secretary
Shayam Saran initiated the second round of the Indo-US Next
Steps in Strategic Partnership (NSSP) and held extensive
discussions with a high-profile American delegation led
by US Under Secretary of State for Commerce Kenneth Juster
here today. Reports said the talks will cover high technmology
trade, civilian nuclear and space programmes and stepping
up defence cooperation. The second round of talks are taking
place almost after the first round, which took place before
the September 21st meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh and President George W.Bush in New York. Those talks
were deemed as successful as it had resulted in the US easing
restrictions on supply of equipment and technology for India's
civilian space and nuclear programmes, which included removing
ISRO from a prohibition list, clearing a major obstacles
in Indo-US strategic ties.
Cows
die of neglect at a shelter in Gorakhpur (Go
To Top)
Gorakhpur:
A cow shelter in Gorakhpur has turned a killer with
several animals dying of hunger. The shelter in Maharajganj
district, which shares it's borders with Nepal houses more
than 700 cows. The shelter, which is bursting at the seams,
employ only nine workers, making it difficult for them to
clean, feed or bathe the cows. This adds to the woes created
by unhealthy living conditions. "The cows here are more
than the number that the shed can take. There is a provision
of keeping only 200 cows. But the cattle heads have increased,
the number of stray animals have gone up. Even the muncipality
has also started dumping cows. Nobody in the village wants
to keep old cattle. Here those cows which are sick, old
and invalid are brought in," said Mahesh Ram, a worker at
the cow shed. As availability of fodder is low, a large
number of cows are dying of hunger.
Starvation
deaths stalk in UP (Go
To Top)
Bouriya
village (UP): There is an eerie silence in Uttar Pradesh
Bouriya village that reported five starvation deaths in
the last three months. The administration's apathy has added
to the woes of the region which is also facing severe drought.
The starvation deaths came even after the Supreme Court
instructed the state government to take steps to guarantee
the right to food to people in impoverished areas. Villagers
of Bouriya in Balia district, who are in a state of shock
flinch at the very mention of the tragedy. Locals say the
monsoon rains, though reasonably good this year, evaded
their region and repeated pleas to the authorities for artificial
irrigation went unheard. Tara, recently widowed, said her
seven-year old son died asking for food and medicines. "My
son was very sick for the last one month. He was not eating
anything. He died asking for food and medicine," she said.
"He did not get medicine or food. His mother used to beg
from house to house to feed her children," said Ram Batai,
Tara's neighbour. Tara is not alone in her grief. There
has been reports of starvation deaths in all the other villages
in the district. The district administration denied that
the deaths occured to poverty. They put the blame on lack
of proper distribution of the food grains among the people.
"The incident which you are mentioning is of the village
where the maximum number of villagers are of labour class.
Almost all of them are below the poverty line and have not
received their card for below poverty line. Proper investigation
will be made and be it any level of officer, they will not
be spared," said Vinod Malik, District Magistrate of Balia.
