Bengaluru, Karnataka:Traffic jams in a digitalworld, many roads inBengaluru came to astandstill as traffic curbsadded to the regular com-muting blues. One man ona motorbike said, "My login time is 8am. I amalready 45 minutes late. Ijust don't know what tosay."

The reason for the addi-tional jams on the city'salready crowded roadswas the visit of PrimeMinister Narendra Modiand German ChancellorAngela Merkel, who werein town to talk of workingtogether for a digitaltomorrow. PM Modistressed on the steps takenby his government to sim-plify doing business inIndia.

He told a gathering ofIndian and German busi-nesspersons at a NASS-COM organized event, "Ihave always said govern-

ment has no business todo business. At a time ofglobal slowdown, Indiarepresents a bright spotfor investment. While inBengaluru, I must addthat it is software of Indiathat will move hardwareacross the world."

Chancellor Merkel said,"Both countries facedemographic challengesof different kinds Indianeeds jobs for its skilledlabour. Germany needsskilled labour. I wouldwelcome it if free tradediscussions could contin-ue...Indian investors arewarmly welcomed inGermany. A free tradeagreement would workboth ways."

The business leaders inattendance seemed largelyupbeat after the meeting.

Chanda Kocchar, CEOof the ICICI Bank said,"The big takeaway is thatthey realized India is a big

CONTD. ON PAGE 2

MUMBAITemperature: 350CPrecipitation:52%Humidity:65%Wind: 15Km/hr

HAQSAADDAFIGHT FOR RIGHTWEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 07, 2015

MIM Chief Asaduddin Owaisi OpposesTaking Dadri Killing Issue to UN

21-Year-Old Memorises 70,000 PiDigits, Sets Guinness Record

Mufti Sayeed Asks Health Department toDraft Policy to Deal with Drug Menace

Kolkata, West Bengal: TheCalcutta High Court todayexpressed displeasure at hold-ing of rallies in the central dis-trict of the metropolis on week-days blocking traffic and direct-ed all political parties to be

CONTD. ON PAGE 2

Calcutta High Court ExpressesDispleasure at Holding ofPolitical Rallies on Weekdays

Chennai, Tamil Nadu: TheMadras High Court today askedthe Bar Council of India to abol-ish the three-year law degreecourses at the earliest and retainonly five-year courses in thestream on par with other profes-sional courses like medicine and

CONTD. ON PAGE 2

Madras High Court AsksBar Council to Abolish 3Year Law Degree Courses

New Delhi: National GreenTribunal has taken the govern-ments of Uttar Pradesh andMadhya Pradesh to task foracute air and water pollution inSingrauli and Sonebhadra dis-tricts where coal mines and ther-mal plants are operating, askingwhether the people there have

CONTD. ON PAGE 2

Green Panel Slams UttarPradesh, Madhya PradeshGovernment Over Pollution Level

Thimphu: West Bengal ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee -- whois on a four-day visit to Bhutan -today met King Jigme KhesarNamgyel Wangchuck and dis-cussed various ways of mutual col-laboration including medicaltourism.

"The meeting with his majesty was very cordial andwe discussed several issues including ways and means

CONTD. ON PAGE 2

Mamata Banerjee Meets BhutanKing, Discusses Medical Tourism

Baharampore, West Bengal:Congress today said it will nottake part in any re-poll whichwill be ordered by the WestBengal State ElectionCommission following allega-tions of violence and irregulari-ties in three civic bodies onSaturday.

"If the State Election Commission orders re-poll inany of the three civic bodies, Congress will not take

CONTD. ON PAGE 2

Congress Not to Take Part inWest Bengal Civic Re-Elections

Thiruvananthapuram: FormerISRO chairman G. MadhavanNair today praised PrimeMinister Narendra Modi's pro-people policies while suggestingthe discontent towards rivalfronts here may give a new group(BJP-led NDA) a chance to do

well. The 71-year-old Nair's praise came ahead of theupcoming local body elections in Kerala, where theBharatiya Janata Party is yet to open its account in thestate assembly. "The various pro-people policies ofPrime Minister Narendra Modi are certainly going to

CONTD. ON PAGE 2

Former ISRO Chairman Madhavan NairBats for PM Narendra Modi in Kerala

Chandigarh: Details of banktransactions running into crores,thousands of US and Canadiandollars and a large stock ofexpensive liquor have beenrecovered from the home of aPunjab bureaucrat, police havesaid. The stash was found after a

CONTD. ON PAGE 2

53 Bottles of Scotch inHome of Punjab OfficialAccused of Duping Farmers

New Delhi: In a pre-Budgetsubmission to the FinanceMinistry, Assocham todaysought a taxation friendly envi-ronment for the startups sayingthey should be freed fromrestrictions on shareholdingpattern as budding entrepre-neurs require fund infusion

CONTD. ON PAGE 2

Assocham Seeks TaxFriendly Environmentfor Startups

P4 P8P3

Weather ReportDELHITemperature: 360CPrecipitation:36%Humidity: 54%Wind: 19Km/hr

KOLKATATemperature: 310CPrecipitation: 67%Humidity:66% Wind: 18Km/hr

CHENNAITemperature: 350CPrecipitation:65%Humidity:44%Wind: 17Km/hr

New Delhi: PresidentPranab Mukherjee leavesNew Delhi on Saturdayon a six-day three-nationvisit to Jordan, Palestineand Israel, the first to thethree countries by anIndian head of state, dur-ing which a number ofdeals have been lined upin areas ranging fromculture to technology.

The first leg takes himto the HashemiteKingdom of Jordan at theinvitation of KingAbdullah-II Ibn AlHussein, during which heis scheduled to deliver aspeech at the Universityof Jordan and meet theIndian community,besides holding bilateral

discussions with theleadership there.

"The visit will be thefirst by an IndianPresident to Jordan in thelast 65 years since theestablishment of diplo-matic relations betweenthe two countries. PrimeMinister Rajiv Gandhi

visited Jordan in 1988," asenior External AffairsMinistry official said.

In Palestine, withwhich India shares tiesover a long period, MrMukherjee will meet hiscounterpart MahmoudAbbas, besides Prime

CONTD. ON PAGE 2

President Set for First State Visits toJordan, Palestine and Israel

Vol. 1 Issue: 413 Price: Rs.3:00 Reg. No: DELENG/2014/58212 Delhi Edition Pages: 8 Website: www.saaddahaq.in Email: news.saaddahaq@gmail.com

New Delhi: The Centretoday indicated that it was opento different options on the landbill issue but insisted that "wecan move forward" only afterthe Joint Committee ofParliament looking into thematter submits its report.

CONTD. ON PAGE 2

Open to DifferentOptions on Land BillIssue: Government

NEWS IN BRIEF

New Delhi: UnionHome Minister RajnathSingh today said anythreat to the secular fab-ric of the country wouldnot be tolerated, callingupon citizens to maintainsocial harmony.

Responding to ques-tions on the lynching of aman in a village in UttarPradesh's Dadri oversuspicion of havingeaten beef, Mr Singhsaid his ministry wouldlook into the state gov-ernment's report aboutthe incident.

"Any threat to the sec-ular fabric of the countrywill not be tolerated. It is

the duty of every citizento maintain social har-mony and I appeal to thepeople to uphold this,"Mr Singh said.

He was talking toreporters on the sidelinesof a function in New

Delhi to mark the 80thbirth anniversary of latefarmer leader MahendraSingh Tikait.

Sources said the HomeMinistry has received areport from the Uttar

CONTD. ON PAGE 2

In Bengaluru, PM Modi and ChancellorMerkel Discuss Digital Future Together

Threat to Secular Fabric Intolerable,Says Home Minister Rajnath Singh

India Tops Asia inSending Scientistsand Engineers to US:Study

Washington, UnitedStates: India tops all otherAsian countries for immi-grant scientists and engi-neers in the US, accountingfor 950,000 out of the con-tinent's total of 2.96 mil-lion, said a new report.

The figure is for the year,2013, showing an 85 percent increase from 2003,according to a report fromthe National ScienceFoundation's NationalCentre for Science andEngineering Statistics(NCSES).

In 2013, the latest yearfor which numbers are

CONTD. ON PAGE 2

New Delhi: All min-istries were todayasked to clearly men-tion detailed reasonsfor denial of informa-tion sought by peopleunder the Right ToInformation (RTI) Actby the Centre. Theyhave also been told tocite relevant sectionsof the RTI Act whiledenying informationunder the transparencylaw.

It has been observedthat different public

authorities provideinformation to RTIapplicants in differentformats. Though therecannot be a standardformat for providinginformation, the replyshould however essen-tially contain the name,designation, officialtelephone number andemail ID of the CentralPublic InformationOfficer (CPIO), saidthe guidelines issuedby Department of

CONTD. ON PAGE 2

Centre Issues Guidelines for GivingReplies Under Right to Information Act

New Delhi: VinayMohan Kwatra was todayappointed as Officer onSpecial Duty (OSD) inPrime Minister's Office(PMO) for three years. The1988 batch Indian ForeignService (IFS) officer ispresently working as JointSecretary in Americas orAMS division in ExternalAffairs Ministry.

He will be replacing IFSofficer Jawed Ashraf in thePMO.

The AppointmentsCommittee of Cabinet

(ACC) has approved the CONTD. ON PAGE 2

Chandigarh: Rail pas-sengers are likely to faceinconvenience as farmers'outfits in Punjab would beblocking rail traffic onOctober 7 and 8 at severalplaces in the state toprotest against SAD-BJPled government's "anti-farmer" policies.

As part of their plan tointensify their agitation,eight farmers' organisa-tions, including BKU Ekta(Dakunda), BKU Ekta(Ugrahan), BKU(Krantikari), Kirti KisanUnion will disrupt trainmovements for two days in

CONTD. ON PAGE 2

Mumbai: The brother ofthe victim of an allegedfake encounter who want-ed to drop his move tochallenge BJP presidentAmit Shah's acquittal inthe encounter killing casewas told by a court inMumbai today to "rethink"and come back.

"You appear to be undersome pressure," theBombay High Court toldRubabuddin Sheikh, thebrother of Sohrabuddin, acriminal who the CBIalleged was killed by theGujarat police in a fakeencounter when Amit Shahwas the state's home minis-ter.

Rubabuddin told thecourt today that he wantedto withdraw the appeal hehad filed challenging MrShah's acquittal in the casein December. He cited"lack of communicationwith lawyers."

Suggesting that the "U-turn" appeared to be drivenby pressure, the courtrefused to accept theappeal and gaveRubabuddin two weeks toreconsider the appeal.

CONTD. ON PAGE 2

Mumbai Court Refuses to DropAppeal Against Amit Shah

Vinay Mohan Kwatra Appointed Officer onSpecial Duty in Prime Minister's Office

Farmers to Block RailTraffic on October 7 and 8

Mumbai: The Shiv Senatoday demanded theCentre "show guts andattack Pakistan" in retalia-tion for the spate of terrorattacks carried out fromacross the border in therecent times which killedmany Indians.

In a sharp edit in theparty mouthpieceSaamana, the Sena - animportant constituent ofthe ruling NationalDemocratic Alliance(NDA) at the Centre - saidthat recently, four Indian

soldiers were martyred forkilling one terrorist inKupwara area of Jammuand Kashmir.

There have been similarencounters with terroristsin Udhampur andHandwara (Jammu andKasmir) and Gurdaspur(Punjab) with heavy losseson the Indian side.

"The tragedy is that theterrorists are proving to bemajor challenge to theIndian security forces...Some Pakistani ministers

CONTD. ON PAGE 2

Show Guts, AttackPakistan: Shiv SenaTells Centre

Bengaluru: What doesone feed two leaders fromtwo different continentsand culture who are hav-ing lunch with businessleaders to discuss a digitaltomorrow?

The solution of ChefKunal Kapoor ofBengaluru's 5-star hotelLeela Palace was a "vege-tarian and saatvik powerlunch" -- simple food thatsteers clear of warm

spices and promotescalmness. And ingredi-ents that are organic.

For the memorablelunch of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and

CONTD. ON PAGE 2

Pancakes and Uttapam on PM Modi,Chancellor Merkel's Saatvik Lunch Menu

2 NEW DELHI | WEDNESDAY | OCTOBER 07, 2015Fight for right

In Bengaluru..market. Many steps are being taken to

ensure ease of doing business."Kumaramangalam Birla, Chairperson of

the Aditya Birla Group said, "The Germanshad a candid conversation about the difficul-ties they had faced doing business in Indiabut were encouraged that Modi made ease ofdoing business a core issue as well as thetheme of Make in India. They seemed tocome away enthused."

Pancakes and...German Chancellor Angela Merkel, organ-

ized by NASSCOM, he decided to look toSouth for inspiration.

"I understand the Germans and how muchthey love Indian food," Mr Kapoor said.

The menu, he said, was very simple."I have made sure I have showcased my

India with Bangalorean and South Indianfood," he said. "There is a lot of stress onSaatvik, vegetarian food, because I believewe are big on vegetarian food and the worldis getting attracted to vegetarian food."

All the ingredients used, he said, wereorganic -- even the coconut milk and the tini-est of spices.

The highlights of the lunch are the pan-cakes, uthappam made of high-fibre drum-stick leaves and pickles and chutneys --including Gujarati choondoo pickle for MrModi. "Ms Merkel should definitely tastethat," he said.

A welcome drink of 'Sambharam' -- a but-termilk flavoured with lemongrass was tostart the meal. The other items included the'Murungaelai Adai', the drumstick leaf pan-cake, and Vazhapoo Vada (banana blossomfitters) served with fresh coconut chutney.

"We have a big platter of starters - smallportions - because it has to be an energizinglunch," he said. "We don't want the big guysto eat and sleep. We started making it a fewhours ago. The essence is freshness."

Make in India is here -- starting with itsunbeatable food.

Show Guts...and Hafiz Saeed keep threatening India at

will and get away... But we just laugh it off,"the Sena pointed out.

In the process, the country is losing on itsbrave soldiers while the terrorists are beinghonoured as 'martyrs' and freedom fighters inPakistan, with memorials erected after them.

Despite this, when Indian soldiers are bla-tantly killed on the borders, we are compelledto fight with Pakistan-supported terrorists,but we also continue to hold negotiationswith Pakistan, though it is simply not inter-ested in discussing terror activities.

It is amply clear that Indian forces can takeon the Pakistani terrorists and terror camps inPakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK), just likethe forces entered Myanmar and destroyedthe terror camps there.

Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha, who headsthe Indian Air Force, has declared that "weare only awaiting the political nod" for suchan action, making it clear that the Indianarmed forces are prepared for it, the Senapointed out.

"The need is political will -- where can youget this political will? We cannot borrow itfrom the US, UK, Germany or France... It hasto come from our own government," the Senasaid.

It urged the Centre to let the Indian forces"enter Pakistan once and set right the prob-lems" -- since merely offering wreaths on ourdead soldiers' bodies doesn't reflect manli-ness.

India Tops...available, 63 per cent of US immigrant sci-

entists and engineers were naturalised citi-zens, while 22 per cent were permanent resi-dents and 15 per cent were temporary visaholders.

Of the immigrant scientists and engineersin the US in 2013, 57 per cent were born inAsia, 20 per cent were born in North America(excluding the US), Central America, theCaribbean or South America, said the report.

The NCSES report found that immigrantscientists and engineers were more likely toearn post-baccalaureate degrees than theirUS-born counterparts.

In 2013, 32 per cent of immigrant scientistsreported their highest degree was a masters ascompared to 29 per cent of US-born counter-parts, and nine per cent reported it was a doc-torate compared to four per cent of US-borncounterparts.

The most common broad fields of study forimmigrant scientists and engineers in 2013were engineering, computer and mathemati-cal sciences, and social and related sciences.

Over 80 per cent of immigrant scientistsand engineers were employed in 2013, thesame percentage as their US-born counter-parts. Among the immigrants in the scienceand engineering workforce, the largest shareof 18 per cent worked in computer and math-ematical sciences, while the second-largestshare of eight per cent worked in engineering.

The three occupations of life scientist, com-puter and mathematical scientist, and social

and related scientist, saw substantial immi-grant employment growth from 2003 to 2013.Data presented in the NCSES report is fromthe 2013 SESTAT, an integrated data systemthat provides a comprehensive picture ofindividuals educated or employed in scienceand engineering fields.

Threat to...Pradesh government on the incident.On September 28, Mohammed Akhlaq, 50,

a resident of Bisara village of Dadri inGreater Noida near Delhi, was dragged out ofhis home and lynched following rumours thathe ate beef. His family denied the allegations.

Mr Akhlaq's 21-year-old son Danish wasalso left critically injured. He is recuperatingin hospital.

The Home Ministry had on Mondayexpressed concern over incidents havingcommunal overtones, including the Dadriincident, and directed state governments toact strictly against elements seeking toexploit religious sentiments.

Asked about the violence that erupted inVaranasi on Monday during a march of saintsand Hindu religious groups to protest againstbaton charge and ban on immersion of idolsin the Ganga, Mr Singh termed it as "veryunfortunate".

"Law and order is a state subject. I havespoken to the concerned authorities in UttarPradesh in this connection and they haveassured me that they were trying their best tonormalise the situation," Mr Singh said.

Varanasi is the Lok Sabha constituency ofPrime Minister Narendra Modi.

Curfew was clamped in four police stationareas in Varanasi and was lifted by Mondaymidnight.

At least 26 people have been arrested fortheir involvement in the violence that leftover 50 people injured, including a magis-trate and a circle officer.

Mumbai Court...In 2005, the CBI alleges, Sohrabuddin and

his wife Kauser Bi were pulled off a bus fromAndhra Pradesh by Gujarat police and killed.Tulsiram Prajapati a key witness to their kid-napping, was shot dead a year later.

Mr Shah was accused of ordering thekillings. He quit as Gujarat's home minister in2010 after he was arrested in the case and gotbail three months later. The case was trans-ferred from Gujarat to Mumbai in 2012.

In December, a court accepted Mr Shah'sdischarge petition and said that most of theevidence against him was "hearsay".

President Set...Minister Rami Hamdallah. The visiting

dignitary is to deliver a lecture at Al QudsUniversity there and inaugurate the Nehrusecondary school at Abu Dees.

The visit to Israel, in the last and final leg,also holds importance for bilateral ties thathave been warming up significantly in recentyears. Mr Mukherjee will interact withPresident Reuven Rivlin and Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu and address theKnesset, the Israeli parliament.

"India established diplomatic relations withIsrael in 1992 and since then the relationshiphas evolved into a multi-dimensional partner-ship," the External Affairs Ministry officialsaid.

Mr Mukherjee will also visit the HebrewUniversity where he will be presented anhonorary doctorate.

The President's delegation includes SocialJustice and Empowerment Minister ThaawarChand Gehlot and six members ofParliament, including KP Thomas ofCongress, Meenakshi Lekhi of BJP andAnupam Hazra of Trinamool Congress.

The vice chancellors of Jawaharlal NehruUniversity and Jamia Millia Islamia and thedirector of IIT Kharagpur are also to accom-pany the President.

In both Jordan and Israel, an importantcomponent of the visit is engagement withthe Indian community there. Around 10,000Indians reside in each of the two countries.While in Israel, some 9,000 of them are care-givers, in Jordan they are employed in variedsectors.

This apart, around 80,000 Jews of Indian-origin have shifted to Israel, the bulk of themduring the migration wave of the 1950s and1960s.

"There are about 25 garment factoriesacross Jordan owned by Indians with aninvestment of over $300 million and employ-ing over 10,000 people," an External AffairsMinistry brief said, adding that around45,000 Indian tourists visited Jordan in 2014.

According to officials, defence and agricul-ture have been the main pillars of India-Israelties since the relation were upgraded in 1992,even as they have now expanded to technolo-gy, education and homeland security.

In terms of bilateral trade, India hasexchanged merchandise worth $1.89 billionwith Jordan and $4.5 billion with Israel in2014.

Farmers to...the state."We are going ahead with our plan to block

rail traffic on October 7 and 8 at differentplaces in Punjab to press the Centre and stategovernment to accept our demands," BKU(Ugrahan) General Secretary Sukhdev Singh

Kokri said today.He said that farmers would disrupt rail

services at about 12 places includingRampura in Bathinda, Mansa, Sunam inSangrur, Moga, Beas, Phillaur in Jalandhar,Fazilka, Ferozepur, Patiala.

Among various other demands, farmers inPunjab have been demanding Rs. 40,000 peracre compensation for those whose crop gotdamaged by white-fly attack, Rs. 20,000 perfamily compensation for farm labour, Rs.4,500 per quintal rate for basmati PUSA 1509variety, and Rs. 5,000 per quintal for basmatiPUSA 1121 variety.

They are also demanding higher compensa-tion for cotton growers and remunerativerates for basmati crop.

Besides, they are seeking payments of sug-arcane dues by private mills, debt relief andRs. 5 lakh financial assistance to the family offarmers who committed suicide.

Acknowledging that their agitation wouldcause inconvenience to rail passengers, farm-ers' outfits have sought their (passengers)support.

Centre Issues...Personnel and Training."In the concluding para of the reply, it

should be clearly mentioned that the FirstAppeal, if any, against the reply of theCPIO may be made to the First AppellateAuthority within 30 days of receipt of replyof CPIO," it said.

The name, designation, address, officialtelephone number and e-mail ID of theFirst Appellate Authority should also beclearly mentioned," the guidelines said.

In addition, wherever the applicant hasrequested for "certified copies" of the doc-ument or records, the CPIO should endorseon the document "True copy of the docu-ment or record supplied under RTI Act",sign the document with date, above a sealcontaining name of the officer, CPIO andname of public authority, it said.

"Further in case the documents to be cer-tified and supplied is large in number,information on RTI application should besupplied by a designated PIO but the certi-fication of the documents, if need be, couldbe done by another junior gazetted officer,"said the guidelines issued by the DoPT,which acts as nodal authority for imple-mentation of the Right to Information (RTI)Act.

The RTI Act allows a citizen to seektime-bound reply on governance-relatedmatters from government departments.

Vinay Mohan...appointment of Mr Kwatra as OSD in the

PMO."In order to facilitate an overlap for smooth

assumption of charge, Mr Kwatra may beasked to report in PMO with immediate effectin order to familiarise himself with the workbefore Ashraf relinquishes charge," an orderissued by Department of Personnel andTraining (DoPT) said.

The ACC approved that Cabinet Secretarymay assess the suitability of Mr Kwatra tohold a Joint Secretary-level post inGovernment of India expeditiously, it said.

It approved that Mr Kwatra be designatedas Joint Secretary (JS) in the Prime Minister'sOffice after his empanelment to hold thesame level post in Government of India, theorder said.

The ACC has asked the DoPT to shift onevacant post of Director under it to the PMOand temporary up-gradate it to the JointSecretary-level till a regular JS-level vacancyarises in PMO, it said.

Mr Ashraf currently looks after the workrelated to External Affairs, space, atomicenergy, overseas Indian affairs, defence,NTRO and monitoring of PM's visit abroad,among others.

Mamata Banerjee...to forge collaboration in areas like irriga-

tion, potato farming, agro industry andtourism," Ms Banerjee told media persons inThimphu.

The two deliberated on medical tourism."People from Bhutan mostly go to Bangkok

for treatment which is very costly. We had adiscussion on medical tourism to Kolkatabecause there the cost of treatment is farcheaper," said Ms Banerjee.

The Chief Minister said the BhutaneseKing assured setting up an expert committeeto look into the issue of Bhutanese riverscausing floods in Bengal.

"The discussion also focussed on flood anddisaster management. The King assured set-ting up an expert committee to look into thecauses of Bhutan rivers causing flood inAlipurduar.

"The King assured (me) that the committeewill look into whether the causes are naturalor there are any technical problems," addedMs Banerjee.

On the second day of her visit, the ChiefMinister visited the Tara Devi temple on theoutskirts of Thimphu.

Accompanied by state ministers and gov-ernment officials, Ms Banerjee on Mondayheld discussions with Bhutanese PrimeMinister Tshering Tobgay and also participat-ed in a business conclave attended by indus-try captains from the Himalayan kingdomand West Bengal.

Former ISRO...be good for Kerala," Mr Nair told reporters

on the sidelines of a function inThiruvananthapuram.

"There is a lot of dissatisfaction and discon-tentment towards the rival fronts here, and ifthat's going to translate into votes, then thereis a chance for a new group (BJP led NDA) todo well," he said.

Mr Nair was commenting on the recentpolitical development of Hindu Ezhavaleader Vellapally Natesan and Prime MinisterModi meeting in Delhi last week. It clearedthe decks for the two to work together. MrNatesan, significanatly, is the general secre-tary of the powerful Sree Narayana DharmaParipalana (SNDP) Sangom that owes alle-giance to social reformer Sree NarayanaGuru.

It may be noted that Mr Nair was ISROchairman for six years till 2009. At the fagend of his career, there were some differencesbetween him and the then Congress-ledUnited Progressive Alliance government.

Mr Nair, twice honoured with the Padmaawards, however, ruled out his entry into pol-itics.

Congress Not...part in it," state Congress chief Adhir

Ranjan Chowdhury said."The atmosphere is not conducive for dem-

ocratic exercise," Chowdhury, also a formerUnion minister, said here in Murshidabad dis-trict.

The State Election Commission last nightsaid re-poll will be held in some booths ofBidhannagar and Asansol Corporations andBally in Howrah. The SEC has suspendedcounting of votes in the three civic bodies fol-lowing allegations of large-scale violence.

"It is a farce, not an election," the stateCongress president said.

Calcutta High...represented before it on November 27. A

division bench, comprising Chief JusticeManjula Chellur and Justice JoymalyoBagchi, directed West Bengal government topost advertisements in newspapers byNovember 19 in this regard.

An advocate had moved a petition beforethe high court seeking a ban on rallies in thecentral business district on weekdays.

The court had directed the petitioner toserve notice to all political parties to be rep-resented before it today.

However, none of the parties was represent-ed before the court.

Petitioner Akshay Sarangi told the courtthat he had served notice on 30 political out-fits in the state.

The bench then directed the state to publishadvertisements asking the parties to be repre-sented on November 27.

Madras High...engineering. The observation was made by

Justice N Kirubakaran while passing an inter-im order on a criminal original petition by SMAnantha Murugan, who was seeking a direc-tion to prevent intrusion of persons havingcriminal antecedents without studyingBachelor of Law Degree.

He said three-year law degree coursesshould be done away with to make the coursea serious one like other professional coursessuch as medicine and engineering.

The judge, in a 112-page order, also directedthe central government to consider positively,within six months, entrusting the functions ofthe Bar Council of India to an expert body.This should be headed by a retired SupremeCourt Judge permanently or till the Advocates'Act and the Bar Council Rules are revisited.

Besides, the committee should nominateacademicians, legal luminaries, prominentsocial workers, retired Indian AdministrativeService officers, police officers and doctors asmembers, the interim order said.

Justice N Kirubakaran, who gave 14 direc-tions to the Union of India and the Bar Councilof India, also said council should direct theState Bar Councils to withdraw the recognitionor approval given to various Bar andAdvocates associations for the past 20 yearsmaintaining one Court-one Bar Association,except in the case of older associations.

Green Panel ...the right to live.The green panel slammed the state govern-

ments after a committee set up by it to inspectthese areas submitted the report that heavyindustrial activities in the region were a majorsource of pollution in the area, causing animmense impact on the health of the peopleliving there.

It asked the two governments to inform bythe next date the steps they plan to take to tack-le the problem.

"This comprehensive report shows very seri-ous levels of pollution in the area in question.Don't the people of that area have a right tolive? You can't do this to the people.

There is no monitoring of emissions at all.Much efforts are required to tackle with envi-ronment hazards that could be drastic tohuman health," a bench headed by NGTChairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar said.

The Tribunal had last year constituted a corecommittee to monitor the potential hazards ofindustrial development in Singrauli area and

five sub-committees for quantification ofindustrial pollution and impact assessment ofwater, air, soil and health in and aroundSingrauli.

The committee informed the bench thatground water in the villages near Singrauli wascontaminated with high fluoride and mercuryconcentration.

"The level of mercury concentration inground water was found to be exceeding thelimit of 0.001 mg/litre in the samples collectedfrom Kirwani, Parasi, Harrahwa, Naktu,Sirsoti, Chilkadand, Parsavar-raja, Govindpur,Kusmaha, Khairahi, Jayant Colony, Jaitpur,MPCC colony, and Dibulganj villages," thereport said.

The green panel, after perusing the findingsof the committee, has directed the state gov-ernments to hold a meeting to find a solutionto the issue.

"Let the state governments and the respec-tive Boards hold a meeting in the meanwhileand inform us on the next date of hearing, thesteps that they propose to take for controllingair and water pollution apart from health haz-ard to the public," the bench said.

The tribunal was hearing a plea by advocateAshwani Dubey opposing power projects inSingrauli and Sonebhadra districts allegingthat serious ailments were being caused due topollution from coal mining and emissionsfrom thermal power stations.

53 Bottles of ...raid on Sunday night on the residence of

Punjab's sacked agriculture director MangalSingh Sandhu, who has been accused in amulti-crore spurious pesticides scam.

The scam of spurious pesticides allegedlysold from government authorised stores hascaused devastating losses to cotton farmers inPunjab's Malwa region. At least 12 farmershave killed themselves in the last 45 days.

After being indicted by a SpecialInvestigation Team, Dr Sandhu had been sentto three-day police remand yesterday.

In the raid, Bhatinda Police said they foundRs. 4.14 lakh cash hidden in Dr Sandhu's bed-room and nearly another lakh in foreign cur-rency.

Papers of six residential properties and plotspurchased between 1997 and 2015 with a mar-ket price of around Rs. 5 crores and details ofRs. 61 lakhs deposited in Dr Sandhu's bankaccount during last one year, were also found,police said.

They also said 53 bottles of expensive scotchwhiskey - more than eight times the permittedlimit - were also recovered from his home.

According to government sources, thebureaucrat's monthly salary a little over Rs. 1lakh.

Farmers in Punjab have launched protestsacross the state accusing Chief MinisterParkash Singh Badal's government of failingto crackdown on the alleged swindle.

Farmer unions are demanding the resigna-tion of state agriculture minister Tota Singhand higher compensation for damaged crops.

The government, which has accepted thespurious pesticides caused the damage, hasgiven supported the minister and announcedRs. 600 crores in compensation.

Assocham Seeks...during the initial phase."Restriction prescribed under Section 79 of

the Income Tax Act (IT Act) should not applyto the startup ecosystem where change inshareholding pattern is due to the infusion offunds by investors without change in themanagement of the company run by originalfounders," the chamber said in a presentationsubmitted to Revenue Secretary HasmukhAdhia.

Rigours of section 79 of the IT Act shouldbe restricted only in cases where the changein shareholding is effected with a view toavoid or reduce tax liability by way of arestructuring exercise, Assocham pointed out.

Besides, it said the tax authorities shouldtreat each taxpayer as a customer of the TaxDepartment and make adversarial approachbetween taxpayer and department a thing ofthe past.

Assocham Secretary General D S Rawatsaid taxpayers should be provided with facil-itating services to encourage them to complywith the taxation rules.

The chamber also suggested merger ofCentral Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) withthe Central Board of Customs and Excise intoa single Central Board of Revenue.

Administration functions should be sepa-rated from the law-making jobs, it suggested.

Other suggestions included carrying outimpact assessment studies of various tax pol-icy measures and trade flows trends.

Open to Different ..."We have no objection if a report comes

with consensus.This is what I have said earlier too," Union

Rural Development Minister ChaudharyBirender Singh said, when asked about thefate of the land bill, amid reports that theJoint Committee of Parliament looking intothe contentious legislation would resume itsmeetings only after the Bihar Assembly elec-tions. Asked repeatedly whether the NDAdispensation would push for changes in theUPA legislation despite allowing the landordinance to lapse, Singh said, "The JointCommittee of Parliament is still alive. Let thecommittee give its report.

From Page 1

Website: www.saaddahaq.in Email: news.saaddahaq@gmail.com