| FIA
calls off August 18 private airlines strike New
Delhi: In a major respite to air passengers, the Federation of Indian Airlines
(FIA) on Sunday called off its proposed strike announced earlier by the private
airlines to protest against high airport charges and high taxation on ATF prices.
The strike was called off by the FIA on behalf of airlines, including Kingfisher,
Jetair, GoAir, Spicejet and Indigo. According to reports, the FIA officials said
that the decision to call off the proposed strike was being been taken in view
of public sentiment and potential inconvenience that the suspension of flights
could have caused to thousands of passengers, and following the willingness of
Government to have proper dialogue. The FIA on Sunday said that it hoped to hold
a productive discussion with the Government, which might lead to a solution of
the problems presently being faced by the aviation industry. Earlier, MDLR Airlines,
Paramount Airlines, Spice jet and IndiGo had withdrawn their participation in
the protest and decided not to suspend flights on August 18. Following reports
of the strike, Union Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel had warned the private
airlines which were participating in the strike of punitive action for causing
inconvenience to passengers. 22
lakh Maharashtra Govt staff to go on strike from Monday Top Mumbai:
Nearly 22 lakh employees of Maharashtra State Government, belonging to Maharashtriya
Rajya Sarkari Madhyavarghi Sangatna will go on indefinite strike from Monday demanding
the implementation of the recommendations of the sixth pay commission. The teaching
and non-teaching staffs of secondary schools and junior colleges are also expected
to join the call. The teachers of the universities and colleges in the state are
on indefinite 'cease work' protest from July 14, demanding the assurance from
government in writing. Convenor of the Sangatana, R.G.Karnik, said the all the
employees of the state government would cease work from Monday. The Sangatana
is demanding the implementation of all kinds of allowances, which are linked to
Central Sixth Pay Commission scales, and other benefits should be extended to
the State Government employees. All employees of the state government including
teaching staff of primary, secondary and junior colleges should get the same scales
as are prescribed for teachers in central institutions without any cut. The Coordination
Committee of Teacher's Organizations, Bombay (CCTOB) alleged that the government
is trying to suppress the employees. "Although new scales have been announced,
all of us stand to lose heavily because HRA (house rent allowance), CLA and transport
allowance will now be calculated on the basis of old scales and each teacher and
non - teaching staff will be losing upto tens of thousands of rupees on this account
every year," CCTOB said. In February Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan announced
that his government would implement the recommendations of the sixth pay commission
with effect from 2006 and with that decision the state will face an additional
burden of Rs 8091 crore every year and it has to give Rs 16,370 crore as the arrears
in next five years. But then Chavan announced that the government would take decision
on HRA and transport allowance later. ONGC
to start major oil drilling off Kochi coast Top Kochi:
The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) is all set to start a major oil drilling
off Kochi coast from today. Most of the preliminary exploratory drilling confirmed
the presence of hydro-carbon, carbohydrate and other chemicals. According to scientists,
geological samples obtained under the sea matched seismic and geo-chemical studies
and the chemical study results stand positive for further drilling. ONGC CMD R
S Sharma and other directors have already arrived in the city to announce the
drilling. The top officials will first visit the site with the help of helicopters
and later a formal announcement will be made. For this purpose, a rig, which can
drill up to a depth of 6,500 metres, is already in place off the Kochi coast.
SC/STs
needed only 18 pc in test to win IIT entrance Top Mumbai:
The entrance test result released by the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)
shows that students belonging to SC and ST category who even scored a mere 18
per cent made it to the top technology institutes of the country. Though a minimum
of 35 percent is essential to be promoted to a higher class under almost every
Indian school board or university, but in IIT entrance the students who scored
even 18percent made it to the top technology schools. The IITs were forced to
make various concessions to fill SC and ST seats from this year. Entry levels
were lowered to half of what the last general category student scored. So, as
the last general category student admitted to the IITs scored 178 out of 480,
the cut-off for an SC and ST student was brought down to 89 that is half of 178.
Till last year, the cut-off for SC and ST students used to be 60% of the score
of the last general category student. But even this did not help the IITs to fill
up the quota seats, which are nearly 1,100 out of 2,500 seats for reserved category
students. IITs opened up the preparatory programme, a yearlong bridge course to
equip these students for the competitive level of these top institutes. In a report
on the performance of the SC and ST students in IIT, given by two former Directors
of IITs, P. V. Indiresan, and N.C.Nigam, says "Nearly 50% of the reserved seats
remain vacant as SC/ST students are unable to secure the minimum threshold marks.
Of those admitted, almost 25% are asked to leave due to poor performance." According
to Amiya Kumar Pani Chairman of Joint Entrance Examination 2009, the qualifying
score for them slipped marginally from 180 last year to 178 this time, despite
two more IITs opening their gates and the pool of seats going up. Subject-wise
qualifying marks, however, climbed a few notches this year after the IITs altered
the manner in which they computed cut-offs. Justifying the change the IIT-Guwahati
Director Gautam Barua said, the methodology of drawing up qualifying scores by
stating that for some years now, the IITs had been trying to arrive at a value
that was reasonable. Maharashtra
to challenge Pragya verdict Top Pune:
Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan has said that his government would challenge
the verdict given by the Special Court to drop the charges under Maharashtra Control
of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) framed against the 11 accused of the Malegaon blast,
in the Supreme Court. On Friday, a Special Court in Mumbai, dropped provisions
of the MCOCA invoked against Sadhvi Pragya Singh, Lt Col Prasad S P Purohit and
other accused of September 2008 Malegaon bomb blast. The Court in its verdict
observed that none of these accused are part of an organised crime group. The
court also ordered the trial will be heard in a regular Nashik court and that
the accused can now become eligible for regular bail. Addressing a rally here
on Saturday night Chavan said, "We would initiate MCOCA against those involved
in terrorist activities irrespective of caste and religion of the accused." The
government would not remain a mute spectator to the menace of disruptive tactics
of terrorist elements, Chavan said. Earlier, Chief of Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS)
K P Raghuvanshi had said the ATS, which has obtained a four-week stay, would challenge
the special court's order in higher court. The Malegaon blast investigations were
the first instance of an official probe which charged a Hindu terrorist group
with involvement in serial blasts. Musharraf's
fate to be decided by Parliament: Gilani Top Islamabad:
Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has said that the final decision
regarding the fate of former President General Pervez Musharraf would be taken
by Parliament. Commenting on the Supreme Court's verdict that declared Musharraf's
November 3, 2007 actions as 'extra-judicial and unconstitutional', Gilani said
Parliament is the appropriate forum to take decisions of national interest. "They
(Supreme Court) have given their verdict. I have been saying from day one that
parliament is the forum which has to take these decisions. Let parliament decide,"
Gilani said. When enquired about his own view on the verdict, Gilani said he did
not hold a personal opinion on the issue. "My party will have an opinion and the
party will never support a dictator," The Daily Times quoted Gilani, as saying.
Replying to a question, he said in the presence of a free media, strong political
forces and an 'active judiciary', people's expectation has grown, and that the
Parliament has to act very maturely on the issue. Gilani also rejected reports
of altercations between him and President Asif Ali Zardari. "There are no differences
between me and President Asif Ali Zardari, it was a false impression being presented
by the media," he said. When enquired about scrapping the 17th Amendment, Gilani
said it would require support from other political parties as well, as the Pakistan
People's Party and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz together do not have the required
two-thirds majority to scrap the Act. Pentagon
considering to block Facebook, Twitter Top Washington:
The Pentagon is planning to ban Facebook, Twitter and other social media at US
Department of Defense sites. The prospective ban isn't due to fears that troops
might divulge secure information over the sites, or to worries about bad PR. "The
mechanisms for social networking were never designed for security and filtering.
They make it way too easy for people with bad intentions to push malicious code
to unsuspecting users. It's just a fact of life," Wired's Danger Room quoted a
source at U.S. Strategic Command, as saying. A recent example is how Guy Kawasaki's
Twitter feed was hacked. Somone broke in and posted a link to his feed, that took
visitors to a site that installed a Trojan, which was used to take over users'
devices. The news comes just a day after PBS' MediaShift blog named chairman of
the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mike Mullen as one of the best users of Twitter among
public officials. |
