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12 THE HINDU WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 27, 2014
NOIDA/DELHI
NEWS
NEW DELHI: Union Finance
Minister Arun Jaitley has
expressed hope that
Parliament will pass the
Insurance Bill for raising the
foreign direct investment
(FDI) limit to 49 per cent by
the end of this year, the rst
major economic reform
proposed by the Narendra
Modi Government.
Hopefully by the end of
the year the amendments to
the Insurance Act will get
approved by Parliament and
then notied, Mr. Jaitley
said at a function for the
release of the Pension Fund
Regulatory and Development
Authority (PFRDA) annual
report and website launch
here on Tuesday.
There is an intrinsic link
between insurance and the
pension sector. The FDI
limits in the Insurance Act
automatically applies to the
pension sector.
The UPA Government had
originally proposed raising
the FDI cap back in 2008
when it introduced the
Insurance Laws
(Amendment) Bill. However,
opposition from political
parties, including the BJP,
did not allow the Bill to be
taken up in the Rajya Sabha.
The Modi Government
introduced a fresh
Insurance Laws
(Amendment) Bill in
Parliament earlier this
month. It proposes a rider
that management control
rests in the hands of an
Indian promoter alongside
the eased FDI cap.
After the introduction of
the Bill, the government
moved 97 amendments
because of which it could
not be passed.
Special Correspondent
Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley with
R.V. Verma, chairman, Pension Fund Regulatory
and Development Authority, in New Delhi on
Tuesday. PHOTO: S. SUBRAMANIUM
Insurance Bill may be cleared by year-end
MUMBAI: Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu
Prasad, who has been admitted to a hospital
here, will undergo multiple cardiac surgeries
on Wednesday, doctors said.
Mr. Prasad has been diagnosed with aortic
stenosis. He will undergo two operation
procedures aortic valve replacement
(AVR) and aortic repair said Vijay DSilva,
medical director, Asian Heart Institute, in a
statement on Tuesday.
Mr. Prasad was admitted to the hospital
on Monday for a detailed medical
evaluation. Laluji is fundamentally a
healthy person, as can be seen fromthe
intense campaigning he has done, Dr.
D'Silva said.
The former Bihar Chief Minister
is under the observation of
cardiac surgeon Ramakant
Panda, who is known for
conducting surgery on the
former Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh.
No heart surgery
is simple, said Dr.
Panda.
Lalu to undergo two
cardiac surgeries today
Omar Rashid
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday
asked the Special Investigation Team,
headed by former CBI Director R.K.
Raghavan, to le a proper application for
vacating the interimorder passed in 2010
restraining the trial court in Ahmedabad
frompronouncing judgment in the Gulberg
Society massacre case pertaining to the
2002 Gujarat riots.
A Bench of Justices H.L. Dattu, Ranjana
Desai and M.Y. Eqbal passed this brief order
after amicus curiae Harish Salve brought to
the notice of the court that the stay was
granted in October 2010 and the accused had
been languishing in jail for over 10 years.
Mr. Salve submitted that of the nine cases,
six ended in conviction. The pronouncement
of judgment was stayed in the Gulberg
Society case and in the British nationals
killing and the Narora Gaon cases, as some
more time was required to complete the
trial.
Justice Dattu told Mr. Salve that the court
had received letters fromthe Gulberg
Society case accused that they had been in
jail for more than 10 years.
SIT asked to le proper
plea in Gulberg case
J. Venkatesan
SRINAGAR/R. S. PURA: Over
5,000 families have been
affected and about 15,000
people had ed their villages
on the Indian side because of
ring fromPakistan. While
occasional ring is a feature
of life in the border villages,
the intense shelling over the
past two weeks has
completely disrupted life in
the border areas of R.S. Pura,
Arnia and others.
I didnt know whether to
console my children or cry
myself, Bimla Devi told The
Hindu. Nobody wants to die,
nobody. Why have we been
left to die, as if our lives
meant nothing.
It is written in our
destinies to suffer, said
Yashpal Singh ( 50). We have
spent three difficult nights.
Our life is difficult but we will
strive for a better future for
our children. Their lives
should not be dark like ours,
with no education, no
doctors, no future.
The villagers have been
demanding ve marlas of land
away fromthe range of
mortar shells and bullets, but
so far no land has been given
to them. According to them,
local BJP MLA Shyam
Choudary has not visited
themeven though their
misery is public knowledge.
In the Boys' Higher
Secondary School, women
fromBidipur Jata village on
the border, sit around with
pretty much nothing to do.
Children y kites and run
after each other, and all of
themwait for the impending
night and fret at the
destruction it will bring.
We should have been in
our elds right now with our
cattle, cooking in our houses,
but look at our situation, Sita
Devi said. We can't go back,
we can't take our children
there. This is our life but we,
too, deserve a better life.
Zahid Raq
An Army jawan distributes food to people of border
villages who have been affected by Pakistani
shelling, at Salehar village in Jammu on Tuesday.
PHOTO: PTI
Why have we been left to die, ask displaced villagers
MUMBAI: The Shiv Sena snubbed its
alliance partner, the Bharatiya Janata
Party (BJP), on Tuesday over the
results of the Assembly by-elections
announced on Monday, saying
elections could not be won on any
wave alone.
People voted for [Narendra] Modi
in the Lok Sabha [election] to improve
governance. Political equations in the
case of State-level elections are
different, and we will have to study
Bihar and Karnataka election results
to learn that, said an editorial in the
Sena mouthpiece, Saamna. The voters
had shown that the voting pattern in
the Lok Sabha was different from that
in the Assembly elections. Everyone
[including Sena and the BJP] has to
analyse this seriously, the editorial
said.
Referring to the coming Assembly
poll in Maharashtra, the Saamna
editorial said the Sena-BJP alliance
would have to work tirelessly to bring
in a change. People do want change
but any wave alone wont help you
win the election, it said.
The BJP Maharashtra unit,
however, said the Bihar by-election
result would have no impact on
Maharashtra.
Staff Reporter
A wave alone cant lift
poll fortunes: Sena
MUMBAI: The Mumbai police have stepped
up security outside Bollywood superstar
Shah Rukh Khans residence in suburban
Mumbai after an alleged threat call was
made to his office by gangster Ravi Pujari,
the police said on Tuesday.
According to the police, the call, which
was received on Saturday, was answered
by his staff and the caller identied
himself as underworld gangster Ravi
Pujari. The caller warned that the actor
should not work with Bollywood
producer-brothers Ali and Karim
Morani. KarimMorani, an accused in the
2G scam, is considered close to the actor.
However, the zonal DCP, Satyanarayan
Chaudhary, denied that the actor
received threat calls fromthe
underworld. The gangster wants
overseas rights of his upcoming lm.
There is a threat to the promotional
events relating to the movie and
therefore security has been
extended to the actor, a
senior officer told The
Hindu.
The alleged call was
received on the same day after
three unidentied men red
ve rounds outside Ali
Moranis residence in
suburban Mumbai.
Rashmi Rajput
More security for
SRK after threat call
elections to be completed
next year, a substantial sec-
tion is opposed to Congress
vice-president Rahul Gand-
his democratisation meth-
ods in the Youth Congress
and the Congresss rock-bot-
tom electoral showing has
made it harder for him to
have his way.
It is, therefore, also not yet
clear whether there will be
just a reshuffle of Central
functionaries or whether the
long-awaited generational
shift will be visible in the new
appointments or, whether,
there will be a mix.
No heads have rolled
Indeed, thus far, no heads
have rolled nor has anyone
been held accountable for the
partys poor electoral show-
ing and the offer of resigna-
tion made by Congress
president Sonia Gandhi and
Mr. Gandhi was rejected by
the Congress Working Com-
mittee (CWC) that met soon
after the elections.
There has also been no real
open discussion yet: the CWC
had authorised Ms. Gandhi to
take the next steps, and she
appointed former Defence
Minister A.K. Antony to head
a committee to analyse why
the Congress fared so poorly
in the polls. The committee
met party representatives
fromall States and submitted
its report to Ms. Gandhi, but
it clearly has only cathartic
value.
Senior functionaries say its
contents are for her eyes on-
ly and she is authorised to
use the inputs in it to make
changes. As in the past, even
party seniors are unlikely to
see anything beyond a bland
executive summary of the
report.
Debate on 3 subjects
Of course, with the BJP not
just in power, but with a full
majority, three subjects are
being discussed informally
in party circles: in the wake of
the Hindu consolidation that
was seen in the recent elec-
tions, the need to rearticulate
secularism; to clarify its po-
sition on caste-based quotas
as the partys efforts to give
reservation to Jats and Ma-
rathas bothwell-to-dodom-
inant communities has
been criticised inside the par-
ty; the need to reconnect with
party workers and reactivate
the organisation; and wheth-
er to adopt the coalitionroute
or rebuild the party from
scratch.
The partys minor success
in the Bihar by-polls where it
contested along with the
Rashtriya Janata Dal and the
Janata Dal (United), together
winning six of 10 seats, has
placed this issue on the cen-
trestage again.
A chintan shivir has been
spokenof and this, too, is like-
ly to take place only at the
end of the year to grapple
with these issues.
NEW DELHI: Changes in the
Congress starting witha re-
shuffle of Central party func-
tionaries in the wake of the
electoral rout it faced in the
recent Lok Sabha election
are likely to take place only
after polls in Maharashtra,
Haryana, Jammu and Kash-
mir and Jharkhand are over,
senior party sources have
said, even as a plan to reju-
venate the party is being
drawn up.
The Central leadership is
delaying changing Central
functionaries, party sources
said, because it expects to
performpoorly inthe upcom-
ing State elections and does
not want to make changes
twice in six months. Second,
ahead of the organisational
Congress reshuffle likely after polls in States
Plan to rejuvenate the party being drawn up, after the LS poll rout
Smita Gupta
After the Hindu
consolidation seen in
the recent elections,
party sees need to
rearticulate
secularism
MUMBAI: Concerned over the
incidence of British Muslim
men leaving the country to
join the extremist group ISIS
in Syria and Iraq, Britain
Deputy Prime Minister Nick
Clegg on Tuesday said the
best antidote to the crisis
was the British Muslim com-
munity themselves.
Mr. Clegg said the cases of
British men joining the ISIS
was part of the security is-
sues faced by his country and
they needed toworkwiththe
international community to
inhibit the military ambitions
of ISIS.
He said his country was
working to stop and discour-
age Britishcitizens fromleav-
ing the country to join the
radical Islamist forces. How-
ever, inthe long runthe impe-
tus lay with the Muslim
community, he suggested.
The Muslims within the
U.K. are best placed and best
learned to identify those who
are susceptible to the extre-
mist ideologies. We need to
empower them (the Muslim
community), Mr. Clegg said.
He stated he was shocked
and revolted by the barbar-
ic, brutal and medieval mur-
der of U.S. journalist James
Foley. British authorities
have identied a British rap-
per belonging to the Muslim
community as the main sus-
pect in the beheading.
Mr. Clegg, who was in
Mumbai, was responding to
questions put to him by stu-
dents at St. Xaviers College.
Mr. Clegg set aside doubts
that there existed an embar-
go on Indian students study-
ing and working in the UK.
There are no numerical lim-
its. You are welcome to study
and work in England, he
said.Brushing aside the fears
of Indian students regarding
the reported hate crimes
committed against them in
Britain, Mr. Clegg said the
students should not be dis-
mayed by the reports. Britain
has clear norms and laws
against such violence, he
said.
Strengthening ties
Mr. Clegg, who is on a tour
of India, described his meet-
ing with Prime Minister Na-
rendra Modi as useful and
interesting. He said they
covered a range of topics in-
cluding commerce, econom-
ics, investments,
environment and education.
He said the two countries
were working to celebrate
and nourish the links be-
tween them. The British gov-
ernment has supported a
new project under which
25,000 British students will
travel to India over the next
ve years.
British Muslims best antidote to Brits
joining ISIS, says U.K. Deputy PM
Omar Rashid
Nick Clegg
COLOMBO: The Tamil National
Alliance (TNA) has sought In-
dias help in the return of Sri
Lankan refugees fromIndia.
There are over one lakh
refugees in Tamil Nadu living
in 115 camps. We have re-
quested the Indian govern-
ment to pressure the Sri
Lankan government to re-
lease their [refugees] land in
the north which has been tak-
en over by the Army, said
senior TNA parliamentarian
Mavai Senathirajah, who was
part of the TNA delegation
that met Prime Minister Na-
rendra Modi in New Delhi
recently.
The populationof Sri Lank-
as Northern Province de-
clined considerably after the
war and thereturnof refugees
was crucial, he said. They
have to come back and be re-
settled intheir ownlands with
secure livelihoods.
During the countrys civil
war that spanned nearlythree
decades, several thousand Ta-
mils went toIndia seekingref-
ugeand havesincebeenthere.
The Organisation for Eelam
Refugees Rehabilitation (Of-
ERR), which has been work-
ing with the refugees in India
for the past 30 years, recently
wrote to External Affairs
Minister Sushma Swaraj on
the issue, expressing concern
over the delay in facilitating
their return. The two gov-
ernments should consider
evolving a Memorandum of
Understanding (MoU) for the
return of the refugees,
OfERRs treasurer S.C. Chan-
drahasansaid.
The TNA drew the atten-
tionof Mr. Modi totheArmys
alleged land-grabbing in the
north, heavy militarisation
and safety of women.
It was a very useful discus-
sion, Mr. Senathirajah said
referring to the meeting that
was initiallyallocated 30min-
utes but went on for over an
hour. Mr. Modi advised the
TNA to work with minority
groups, including Muslims
and Indian-origin Tamils in-
habiting the islands Central
Province, he said.
Meanwhile, the TNAs New
Delhi visit appears to have
ruffled a few feathers in Col-
ombo. The Sunday Times, in
its political columnthis week,
reported that President Ma-
hinda Rajapaksa was angry
that the TNA had not intim-
ated the government about
the visit.
TNA seeks Indias help in return of refugees
Meera Srinivasan
CHENNAI/NEW DELHI: M. Manu
Neethi Cholan, Registrar of
Companies, who was arrested
in Chennai on Tuesday, took
Rs. 10 lakh from M.A.M. Ra-
maswamy, chairman of the
Chettinad Group of Compa-
nies, to declare an expected
takeover of the group at its
annual general body meeting
onWednesday null and void, a
press release fromthe Central
Bureau of Investigation said.
The Anti-Corruption
Branch of the agency inter-
cepted the car in which Mr.
Cholan was travelling after
collecting the money. The
cash and the car were seized.
CBI officials searched his
residence and offices inChen-
nai. Several incriminating
documents, Rs. 20 lakh in
cash and a hard disk were
seized. The Chettinad House
in Chennai was also searched.
In New Delhi, CBI Director
Ranjit Sinha said that about a
month ago, the agency re-
ceived inputs that attempts
were being made to bribe the
Registrar.
Investigations helped the
CBI lay a trap and arrest the
officer soon after he received
the bribe allegedly from Mr.
Ramaswamy, 82. Although
the industrialist was made an
accused, he was not arrested
considering his age.
The CBI said preliminary
ndings suggested that the in-
dustrialists adopted son was
planning to stage the
takeover.
Registrar took
bribe to stall
Chettinad Group
takeover: CBI
V.S. Palaniappan &
Devesh K. Pandey
NEW DELHI: Only a political and
diplomatic solution can end
the frequent arrests of Tamil
Nadu shermen by the Sri
Lankan Navy, the Supreme
Court observed on Tuesday.
A three-judge Bench of
Chief Justice R.M. Lodha
and Justices Kurian Joseph
and RohintonNarimanmade
this observation while dis-
posing of writ petitions led
by former DMK MP A.K.S.
Vijayan and Deputy Speaker
of the Lok Sabha M. Tham-
bidurai seeking the courts
intervention to solve the
issue.
The petitioners sought a
direction to the government
to take steps to secure the
release of shermen lan-
guishing in Sri Lankan jails
and to prevent attacks on
shermen on the sea.
The CJI told counsel for
the petitioners: These are
matters in which court can-
not intervene. Canwe askthe
Sri LankanNavy not toarrest
Indian shermen who stray
into their waters? These are
all political issues and you
raise them in Parliament.
There may be hardship and
we are undermining the
problem. We cant give a
mandamus to resolve the is-
sue as it falls within the do-
main of the government.
Attorney-General Mukul
Rohatgi said: One petition-
er is a Deputy Speaker, the
other is a former MP. These
arrests happen everyday and
are matters to be sorted out
by Parliament.
When Additional Advo-
cate-General Subramonium
Prasad, appearing for Tamil
Nadu, submitted that the
majority of such incidents
occurred when Tamil Nadu
shermen went near Ka-
chatheevu area for shing,
the AG retorted: Kachath-
eevu became part of Sri Lan-
ka in 1974. We have to go to
war with Sri Lanka if we
want to retrieve this island.
Raising the issue in Parlia-
ment will be far more
effective.
The CJI told counsel:
Since there is a new dis-
pensation at the Centre, you
make a representation to the
government with all the is-
sues you have raised in these
petitions.
The AG said he would ar-
range a meeting of MPs with
the External Affairs Minister
Sushma Swaraj.
Disposing of the writ pet-
itions, the CJI said if such a
representation was made
with full details, including
the issue relating to payment
of compensation to families
of shermen and protection
by the Coast Guard, the gov-
ernment should consider it
appropriately.
Find political and diplomatic
solution to shermens arrests: SC
J. Venkatesan
These are matters in
which court cannot
intervene, make a
representation to
government, court
tells counsel
NEW DELHI: If the ammuni-
tion reaches the hands of
terrorists, they will use it
to kill innocent people,
Justice Dattu told Attor-
ney-General Mukul Rohat-
gi in the Supreme Court on
Tuesday about the illegal
sale of arms and ammuni-
tion by an Army official.
It said the very act of an
Army officer breaking the
law to sell his gun for prot
in a disciplined force is
shocking, Justice Dattu
said.
Referring to a case of il-
legal sale of non-standard-
pattern weapons and im-
ported ammunition by
high-ranking officers of
the Southwestern Com-
mand in Ganganagar dis-
trict of Rajasthan near the
India-Pakistan border,
Justice Dattu said, If this
is happening in one Com-
mand, what is happening
in the other eight Com-
mands ... are they [guilty
officials] going scot-free?
These are not cadets, but
high-ranking officials in-
volved. This [Rajasthan
case] must be the tip of the
iceberg. I think we will
have toenlarge the scope of
this inquiry to include the
nine Commands.
He asked the Attorney-
General to get instructions
from the government and
give a reply on September
16, the next date of hearing.
The Bench wants the
governments stand, by the
next hearing, on the pro-
spects of re-convening the
Army proceedings in the
Rajasthan case so that the
guilty Army officials can be
handed a punishment t-
ting the gravity of their
offence.
Krishnadas Rajagopal
Breaking of law by Army
officers shocking: court
NEW DELHI: Three-time Mad-
hya Pradesh Chief Minister
Shivraj Singh Chouhan and
party general secretary J.P.
Nadda are the new members
of the parliamentary Board
of the Bharatiya Janata Par-
ty. Party president Amit
Shah will be the chairman of
the all-powerful body.
Others on the 12-member
Board are Prime Minister
Narendra Modi; his Cabinet
colleagues Rajnath Singh,
Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swa-
raj, M. Venkaiah Naidu, Ni-
tin Gadkari, Ananth Kumar
and Thawar Chand Gehlot;
and Ramlal.
Mr. Chouhan and Mr.
Nadda are also new entrants
in the partys central elec-
tion committee. Among the
notable exclusions from the
panel is rebrand Uttar Pra-
desh leader Vinay Katiyar.
The panel strength has been
pruned from 18 to 15.
Mr. Shah will chair the
election committee, too.
The other members on the
panel are Mr. Modi, Mr.
Singh, Mr. Jaitley, Ms. Swa-
raj, Mr. Naidu, Mr. Gadkari,
Mr. Kumar, Mr. Gehlot, Mr.
Ramlal, Jual Oram, Shah-
nawaz Hussain and Mahila
BJP chief Vijaya Rahatkar
(ex-officio).
Reacting to the Congress
charge that the BJP had rel-
egated its seniors to an old-
peoples home, Mr. Hus-
sain, BJP spokesman, said,
Let the Congress bother
about its seniors.
Chouhan, Nadda on BJP board
Gargi Parsai
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court
on Tuesday granted three
weeks time to BSP supremo
Mayawati to le her reply on a
plea seeking direction to CBI
to lodge fresh FIR in a dis-
proportionate assets case
against her.
When the matter came up
for hearing before a three-
judge Bench of Chief Justice
R.M. Lodha and Justices Kur-
ian Joseph and Rohinton Na-
riman, senior counsel Shanti
Bhushan, appearing for the
petitioner, explained to the
court the genesis of the case.
Senior counsel K.K. Ven-
ugopal, appearing for Ms.
Mayawati, sought time to re-
ply to the petitioners aver-
ments. The Bench, while
taking note of the CBIs affi-
davit, granted three weeks
time to Ms. Mayawati for l-
ing a reply and three weeks for
a rejoinder and directed the
matter to be listed thereafter.
Mayawati gets three weeks
to reply on assets case
J. Venkatesan