TIMES NATION

THE TIMES OF INDIA, HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 14, 2015

MATHURA MONKEYS POSE GRAVE RISK, SAYS HEMA,

SEEKS PERMISSION TO STERILISE 2 LAKH SIMIANS

SC seeks help
to track down
missing kids
Amit.Chaudhary
@timesgroup.com

New Delhi: Expressing deep

concern over the failure of
government to put in place a
proper mechanism to trace
missing children, the Supreme Court on Tuesday
sought assistance of premier
institutes FMS of Delhi University and Tata Institute of
Social Sciences, Mumbai to
find thousands of children
who go missing every year.
The court also asked National Police Academy (NPA),
Hyderabad, to evolve a training module for police officers
who handle such cases to sensitise them towards child rights.
A bench of Justices Madan
B Lokur and U U Lalit
slammed the Centre for not
appointing chairperson and
other members to the National Commission for Protection
of Child Rights saying that
government is not bothered
about child rights.
No chairman has been appointed for the commission. I
checked the website and not a
single person has been appointed , the bench said.

FIRST VICE-CHAIRMAN OF THE NEWLY CREATED

NITI AAYOG ARVIND PANAGARIYA TAKES CHARGE

NC to support PDP in
J&K govt formation

UN chief
urges India to
lead climate
change fight

Omar Writes To Guv Pledging Alliance With Rival

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Rohan.Dua@timesgroup.com

New Delhi: UN Secretary

General
Ban
Kimoon on
Tuesday
asked India
to take a
leadership
role in reaching
a
meaningful climate change
pact in Paris later this year.
I count on the leadership of
India in our efforts to address
the climate change issues ... As
one of the critically important
member-states of the UN and
and fastest growing economies,
India should be responsible to
address climate change so that
they will soon have universal
and meaningful climate change
agreement in Paris in December, Ban Ki-Moon said.
His remarks came while he
visited Indias first Net Zero
Energy consuming building
Indira Paryavaran Bhawan
which is constructed in such a
way that it can meet most of
its annual energy requirements through solar power.
Union environment minister Prakash Javadekar showcased the secretary general
the features of the green
building which has Indias
largest roof-top solar panel.

Chandigarh: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on

Tuesday seized documents
of alleged benami property
deals, estimated to be worth
Rs 300 crore, from the homes
of Chandigarh lawyer Mukesh Mittal and his aides.
Mukesh is the estranged nephew of Punjab BJP minister Madan Mohan Mittal.
Sources in the ED said
they also have details of shell
companies which had modest drivers and clerks as directors. The agency detected
documents of alleged illegal
transactions from these
companies based in Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh
and Punjab during a ninehour exhaustive raid at four
locations including Mukeshs Sector 18 residence in
Chandigarh.
ED booked Mukesh
under the Section 50 of Prevention For Money Laundering Act (PMLA), that
deals with undisclosed

PTI

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Jammu: Former Jammu &

Kashmir chief minister
Omar Abdullah on Tuesday
wrote to governor N N Vohra pledging his National
Conference (NC)s support
to archrival Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that has
emerged as single largest in
the state assembly.
He said he was offering
the support in the larger interest of the states people.
Omar urged Vohra to consult his party before taking
any final decision.
An NC spokesman said
that Jammu provincial
president Devender Singh
Rana handed over Omars
letter to the governor fol-

NEW TWIST: Ex-J&K CM Omar Abdullah presides over National

Conference partys meeting with senior leaders in Srinagar on Tuesday

lowing the partys core

group meeting in Srinagar
on Monday.
the political impasse
in the state, due to indecisiveness of the PDP has led
to imposition of the gover-

nors rule and placing of the

state assembly in suspended animation despite an
overwhelming participation of the people of Jammu
& Kashmir in the electoral
process, the letter said.

Shankarbigha dalit massacre:

16 yrs on, all 24 accused freed

Political dissent,
decent humour ok
online: Centre to SC

50 Witnesses Failed To Identify The Accused

New Delhi: People cannot be

prosecuted for expressing
political dissent and posting
decent humor materials on
social networking sites, the
Centre told the Supreme Court
on Tuesday while placing a
compilation of offensive
materials which cannot be
allowed as they offended
people sentiments and
religious belief.
"Political dissent and
decent humour cannot be
prohibited," Additional
Solicitor General (ASG) Tushar
Mehta told a bench comprising
Justices J Chelameswar and R F
Nariman. TNN

Jehanabad: A Jehanabad
court on Tuesday acquitted
all the 24 accused in the infamous Shankarbigha massacre case. The court of additional
district
judge
Raghavendra Prasad Singh
cited lack of evidence as the
reason for acquittals. The
judge said 50 witnesses deposed in the court but none
identified the accused.
Heavily-armed activists
of the outlawed Ranvir Sena, a private militia of the
upper caste, had raided a
house at Shankarbigha,
126km from Patna, on the
eve of Republic Day, 1999.

Satyendra.Kumar
@timesgroup.com

They broke into huts and

fired indiscriminately at
sleeping men, women and
children around 10.30pm.
The attack took place after Brahmeshwar Singh
had declared that his army had planned a genocide
much larger in scale than

NO JUSTICE?
the one in LakshmanpurBathe to avenge the killing
of seven upper caste men by
Maoists in Rampur in November 1998.
The dalits bodies were
left in the fields by the villagers who prevented the
police to remove these until
then CM Rabri Devi visited.

Rabri pledged to bring the

guilty to book. Apart from
monetary compensation,
she also announced a special court to try the accused,
following which 24 of Ranvir Sena men were identified. Those 24 would now
walk free.
The killings were a part
of a series of massacres that
blotted Bihar throughout
the 1980s and 90s with other
districts where such violence occurred being Arwal
and Kansara in 1986, Golakpur (1987), Malibigha (1988),
Lakhawar (1990), Sawanbigha (1992), Aiara (1994),
Khadasin (1997), Lakshmanpur-Bathe (1997) and Chouram and Rampur (1998).

Magadh University, Bodhgaya

Communique
In the light of the direction of the Hon'ble High Court, Patna in
CWJC No. 9167/12, the interview for the post of Principals under
Magadh University Services is to be commenced from 20-25 January
2015. The detail programmes may be seen on the website of the
University www.magadhuniversity.ac.in
Eligible candidates who do not receive interview letter may also
appear for the interview according to the programme placed on the
website.
Candidates may verify their points obtained in academics from
the website and claim their grievances, if any, before interview failing
which the University will not be responsible.
By order of the Hon'ble Vice Chancellor
Sd/- Registrar
Magadh University, Bodhgaya

`5k fine for throwing

puja items into Yamuna
New Delhi: Throwing puja
offerings into the Yamuna, a ritual
for many Delhiites, will now invite
a fine of Rs 5,000. Dumping
construction debris on the banks
will cost Rs 50,000 while real
estate developers are barred from
carrying out any construction on
the floodplains. These are part of
the 27-point plan Mailey se
Nirmal Yamuna Revitalisation
Plan 2017 pronounced by the
National Green Tribunal (NGT)
on Tuesday. TNN

ED books Punjab
BJP mantris kin for
money laundering
sources of income.
Madan Mittal told TOI,
Their (Mukeshs) family
and I have not spoken to each
other since 2006. A high-voltage drama was witnessed
outside Mukeshs house on
Tuesday as he stormed out of
his house in front of ED
sleuths, alleging that they
were not accepting his affidavit.
Mukesh said, This is a
random investigation based
on a property dispute case of
my client G S Sahwney. ED officials are forcefully taking
away documents pertaining to
him and my other clients. I am
absolutely clean. They are not
investigating the men against
whom we are fighting the
case. Chandigarh cops accompanying ED sleuths
whisked him inside.
Sources said they were
scrutinising the balance
sheets and annual returns of
the companies in which
Mittal and his family members were directors along
with his clerks.

Jet fuel price at its

lowest since 2011
From P1
New Delhi: IndiGo, Indias
largest airline by domestic
market share, is offering
all-inclusive fares starting
from Rs 1,647 for the DelhiLucknow sector. The airline has also lowered its allinclusive one-way fares for
90-day advance bookings.
Under this scheme, the
fares from Delhi to Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and
Ahmedabad are down to Rs
3,051, Rs 3,906, Rs 4,273 and
Rs 3,005, respectively.
A month or two earlier,
things had come to such a

pass that the aviation ministry initiated a move to cap

maximum domestic economy fares at Rs 20,000. Airlines had refused to drop
fares even when oil prices
were cut by a record 12.5%
in a go earlier this month.
Price of jet fuel which accounts for half of an airlines operating cost is
now the lowest since February 2011.
An airline official said
fares are always slashed in
the lean travel months of
mid-January to April and
July to September to fill up
seats.

Modi govt
sacks DRDO
chief 16 mths
before term
Rajat.Pandit@timesgroup.com

New Delhi: The Modi government has sacked DRDO chief

and missile scientist Avinash
Chander, who is also the scientific adviser to the defence minister, almost 16 months before
his tenure approved by the previous UPA regime was to end.
The move is seen as an attempt by the Modi government to usher in systemic reforms in DRDO which has a
vast empire of 52 labs, 7,800
scientists and over 530 R&D
projects worth over Rs 48,000
crore but has a long history
of failing to deliver cuttingedge weapon systems to the
armed forces in time.
Chander had retired in
November last year on turning 64 but, in keeping with the
order passed by the UPA regime in May 2013, was scheduled to continue as DRDO
chief till May 2016 on a contractual basis.
But on Tuesday, an official
notification said that the Appointments Committee of the
Cabinet had approved the
termination of Chanders
contract with effect from
January 31. Chander himself
was clueless. I have not received any letter or order terminating my services till now.
I cannot comment on the reasons but its the governments
prerogative. I joined DRDO in
August 1972 and would consider the missile programme my
biggest achievement, he told
TOI on Tuesday. But sources
said DRDOs tardy performance and unwillingness to reform and the growing greying
profile of its scientists, was
seen as an obstacle to the governments Make in India policy. India has the dubious tag
of being the worlds largest
arms importer, with its armed
forces getting over 65% of
their requirements from
abroad, which also makes it
strategically vulnerable.