For a price, Left may bail out govt over BJP boycott of Chidu  New Delhi Nov 23,2011-Outflanked by the BJP, which is boycotting home minister P Chidambaram over his alleged role in the 2G scandal, the UPA government is turning to the Left parties to bail it out. But it appears that the Left parties will extract their pound of flesh in the form of a censure – or at least withering criticism – of the government in Parliament over the runaway inflation.Following the washout of parliamentary proceedings on Tuesday, the Congress’ trusted troubleshooter Pranab Mukherjee got into damage control mode with the Left parties, inviting CPI(M) leaders for talks.Media reports claim that the government is likely to leverage the Left parties’ discomfiture with the BJP’s personal attacks on Chidambaram to buy time for itself. CPI (M) leader Sitaram Yechury gave the government some wiggle room by noting the his party was not interested in targeting individual ministers, and that it did not support the BJP’s personal attack on Chidambaram.The government’s ability to leverage the division in Opposition ranks will be on test today. Yet, the Left parties themselves have given notice of an adjournment motion against the government on the runaway inflation. In his meetings with Left leaders, Mukherjee is believed to made a pitch that such a censure of the government would have unspecified “perils” and “consequences”. Read More..
Ishrat encounter fake, SIT tells Guj HC Ahmedabad, Nov 22, 2011: In a development that should come as a major shock to the Gujarat government, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) on Monday informed the High Court that Mumbai-based teenager Ishrat Jehan and three others were killed by police in a fake encounter in 2004. The report has now prompted the court to order that a fresh FIR be registered against the police officers involved in the shootout. The court will on Wednesday decide which central agency can carry out probe after the second FIR will be filed.The SIT told the court that 19-year-old Ishrat and Javed Sheikh alias Pranesh Pillai, Amjad Ali Rana and Zeeshan Johar were killed earlier than June 15, 2004, the official date of the alleged encounter. A division bench of Justice Jayant Patel and Justice Abhilasha Kumari ordered that a separate FIR under section 302 be filed in the police station concerned against the officers involved in the shootout. The report could spell trouble for 21 police officers, including four from the IPS, against whom an FIR is expected to be filed.The SIT had submitted its final report in the High Court regarding their findings on the encounter on November 18. Read More..
UPA to use bills to escape winter of discontent  New Delhi, Nov 21,2011 - With Assembly elections in key states round the corner, the Centre will strive hard to strike off the widespread perception that it suffers from ”policy paralysis” by lining up 23 proposed laws in the winter session of Parliament beginning Tuesday. The session may turn out to be tumultuous with the Opposition girding up its loins to target the scam-tainted Congress-led UPA government on contentious issues like corruption and price rise. The Left will move an adjournment motion on price rise on which the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance will finalise its strategy on Monday. Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj indicated that opposition parties might join hands to attack the government on the issue. The passage of the much-debated Lokpal bill will top the government’s agenda, with anti-graft activist Anna Hazare and his aides raising the pitch for setting up of the institution of ombudsman to probe into graft charges against public functionaries. Read More..
Indian spiritual guru found guilty of immigration fraud  New York, Nov 20 ,2011(PTI) An Indian spiritual guru has been found guilty by a federal jury of selling religious worker visas to Indians for over USD 30,000 each to enable them to enter the US fraudulently. Sagarsen Haldar (31) also known as Gopal Hari Das, identified himself as the president of a Hindu temple Gaudiya Vaisnava Society (GVS) in Milwaukee.A federal jury in the Eastern District of Wisconsin found Haldar guilty of conspiring to commit immigration fraud, under which he fraudulently obtained and sold religious worker visas to Indian nationals. He will be sentenced on February 24.According to evidence at the trial, Haldar conspired to sponsor more than two dozen Indian nationals to enter the US under the R-1 visas.The R-1 applications falsely stated that the individuals were religious workers who planned to be priests and perform religious work at the GVS temple.However, the Indian nationals had no religious training or experience and had no intention of working as priests once they arrived in the US.Haldar charged the Indian nationals as much as USD 30,000 each for giving them the visas. They made substantial cash payments to Haldar and his associates in India and paid the balance to Haldar once they arrived in the United States by working at convenience stores and other Milwaukee-area locations. Read More..
UP Chief Minister Mayawati wants UP split into four states  Lucknow, Nov 16,2011 : Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Tuesday advocated splitting India’s biggest state into four parts and said that her party would bring a resolution to this effect in the State Assembly during its session beginning November 21. Addressing a press conference here, Mayawati said the state Cabinet, at its meeting held on Tuesday, accorded approval to the division of UP into four states—Awadh Pradesh, Paschim Pradesh, Poorvanchal and Bundelkhand—”keeping in view the demand and aspirations of the people.”She said her government would send the resolution to the Centre for taking a positive action after getting it adopted by the Assembly. In an apparent bid to corner the United Progressive Alliance government at the Centre, she said her government had written to the Centre many times in this regard but the Union government had not taken any step in this direction so far.Mayawati said her party had always been in favour of smaller states as they could be governed in a better and efficient way and also ensure progress. According to the 2011 census, Uttar Pradesh has a population of over 19.95 crore with an area of over 2.40 lakh sq km. About 16 per cent of the country’s population reside in the state. Mayawati lambasted the Congress Read More..
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