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Current Events :
NEW DELHI: A European middleman allegedly tipped off AgustaWestland on October 20, 2003 about a crucial specification change a month before the then NDA government officially recommended the alterations that benefitted the controversial defence firm.
Italian court documents being examined by the CBI allegedly show middleman Guido Haschke allegedly alerted AgustaWestland officials about the possibility of the government reducing the mandatory flying altitude — known as the service ceiling — of VVIP choppers from 6,000 metres to 4,500 metres.
The alleged communication took place a month before a meeting chaired by then Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s principal secretary Brajesh Mishra on November 19, 2003.
The revelation might add more fuel to an ongoing battle between the government and Congress over the controversial 2010 deal as the documents indicate middlemen had access to the corridors of power before the Congress-led UPA administration took over. Haschke allegedly got the information from cousins of former air force chief SP Tyagi, who was then a senior officer.
The Central Bureau of Investigation and the enforcement directorate are probing Tyagi for allegedly accepting bribes via his cousins to approve the tweaking of the service ceiling, which he did on March 14, 2005. All the accused have denied allegations.
“I did say the Tyagi family gave me the preliminary information that the operational requirement would be lowered… in the tender document, it would be lowered,” Haschke allegedly told Italian prosecutors.
Asked if he transmitted the information to AgustaWestland, Haschke reportedly said, “Well, yes, of course.” A subsidiary of Italian defence major Finmeccanica, the British firm AgustaWestland allegedly paid around ` 375 crores as bribe to bag a deal for supplying 12 VVIP helicopters to the Indian Air Force. The charges compelled the then UPA government to scrap the ` 3727 crore agreement in 2014. “All relevant information will be examined and verified. Tyagi and his three cousins will be asked about them,” said the source. Haschke is wanted by the CBI an ED.
The revelation comes amid the BJP’s offensive against top Congress leaders, including party chief Sonia Gandhi with allegations that they were paid off to benefit AgustaWestland.
One of the charges leveled by the BJP is that the helicopter service ceiling was changed to benefit the British firm.
This is significant as AgustaWestland was disqualified in 2002 when India conducted the first round of tendering to select an ideal VVIP chopper. The firm’s chopper could not met the 6, 000 m service ceiling benchmark as its EH -101 could fly up to only 4,572 m.
Naib Subedar Arokia Rajiv Asian Games Bronze Medal winner broke 12 Years old records in 400m by setting the track ablaze during Federation cup on 29 Apr 2016 at New Delhi . Naib Subedar Arokia Rajiv clocked 45.47 sec against the Old record set by KM Binu with 45.48 sec at Athens Olympics in 2004. Rajiv becomes eligible to be named with foursome including legendary Milkha Singh, Paramjit singh and KM Binu who have held the National Record in their names in last 56 yrs of Indian Athletics history. He is now preparing to qualify for the forthcoming Rio Olympics to further earn glory for #IndianArmy and the Nation #MissionOlympics
19-year-old Gurmehar pieces together her dream for peace in our times
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Rachna Khaira
Tribune News Service
Jalandhar, May 2
“I still remember the fateful day of August 7, 1999, when my father Captain Mandeep Singh’s body, draped in the Tricolour, arrived at our place. Everyone cursed Pakistan for ‘killing my dad for no reason’. I, too, cursed the ‘Muslims’ and wanted to kill everyone of them living here in India,” said 19-year-old Gurmehar Kaur who, with her sense of purpose, has left everyone speechless in a recent video posted on the YouTube, wherein she is seeking peace between India and Pakistan.The video, directed by Mumbai-based ad film maker Ram Subramanian, was also shared by many in Pakistan with Urdu subtitles. How come this sudden change of thought? “You cannot live with hatred all through you life! With time, I realised that it is not the country or the people but the circumstances that make you form an opinion,” said the national lawn tennis player who, after her father’s death, began to hate everything that she could associate with Pakistan. “I used to get frantic on seeing green colour, mosques and even began to hate men for some strange reason, which I could not understand till date. Once when I was five-year-old, I even picked a wooden stick from a nearby shop and ran after a woman who was clad in Burqa at a local market in Saharanpur,” said Gurmehar.The little wonder has also written a short book in the memory of the fateful day of August 7, 1999, when her father’s body, draped in the National Flag, arrived at her place. “Everyone was crying and cursing Pakistan for killing my dad. I was barely three and I pointed towards the coffin and asked my inconsolable mother what was that. She replied it was a ‘dream’ and I would keep on calling a coffin as ‘a dream’ in my first picture dictionary for the next few years,” recalls Gurmehar. Why made her appear in the video? “During the recent terrorist attack on the Pathankot airbase in January this year, I happened to see the funeral videos of Lieutenant Colonel Elambulassery Kalarikkal Niranjan and his widow KG Radhika, accompanied by their 18-month-old daughter. It was like watching my own story once again. I saw myself crying in his daughter Vismaya. I posted a message on the Facebook which was read by Ram Subramanian; a Mumbai-based creative art director and my Facebook friend. He invited me to Mumbai and after hearing my story, planned to shoot a video instantly,” said the girl. She said it took almost a week to shoot the video. “Though we put the video on the YouTube, it did not get many views initially, but then there were some likeminded people in Pakistan associated with our ‘Profile for Peace’ campaign and hash tagged it. We even made ‘I love Pakistan’ and ‘I love India’ frames on the social site and exchanged it with our Pakistani counterparts,” said Gurmehar. She said she was happy that the video had received over million likes and was shared by people from both countries.
What next? “I want to make every single effort that could help bring peace between both the countries. There are already so many Gurmehars and Vismayas on both sides of the fence and we do not want more who would have to live their lives without their fathers. We all look alike, have similar tastes and understand each other’s language. There is no reason to be enemies and I will make every one understand this,” signs off Gurmehar.
The Adarsh Housing Society scam, in the works for a full decade, is still to run its full course. The Bombay High Court has ordered the demolition of the housing complex in a tony part of Mumbai and inquiry against politicians, ministers and officers involved in allowing its construction. But the accused have three months to appeal in the Supreme Court. What is new about a demolition order? City administrations routinely chip away at protruding balustrades while courts keep ordering the pulling down of an offending extra floor or two. Mumbai has seen high-profile cases like allocating prime plots for a song to the evergreen BCCI administrator-politician Rajiv Shukla’s wife or to Hema Malini, Bollywood star turned ruling party MP. Adarsh Housing was different because of the roll call of people in high offices who colluded to corner flats meant for Kargil war widows. It was also bipartisan; politicians across party lines effected “blatant violations” that showed “greed, nepotism and favouritism”. As a result the six-story building usurped land earmarked for a bus depot and morphed into a 31-floor skyscraper on land barred for construction of any kind whatsoever. The Central Bureau of Investigation was also overwhelmed by the power list of the ineligible and the courts had to jolt it from inactivity.Public trust in those holding public offices is so low that not many believe the building would ever come under the sledgehammer. Some are even asking for it to be converted into a government hospital or orphanage. Their altruism may be in order but law-breakers must not be allowed to escape because such blatant violation of the coastal regulation zone must pay the ultimate penalty. The sight of ball and cranes assaulting the tower should serve as a stark reminder to all those planning similar capers. At the same time, the government must allot a suitable plot of land for the 60-odd war widows and speed up the probe against politicians and bureaucrats identified by the court.
Brig Nalin: Know the Kargil heros, who got flats booked in adarsh building
Here’s a list of flat owners in the Adarsh Society:
1. Shri RC Thakur
2. Brigadier MM Wanchu
3. Commander Rajiv Pilo
4. Commander AS Balakrishnan
5. Surg Capt PS Tampi
6. Shri Parmanand K Hinduja
7. Shri Sudhakar Laxman Madke
8. Smt Sushila Shaligram
9. Admiral Madhvendra Singh, PVSM, AVSM, VSM
10. Shri JM Abhyankar
11. Shri PV Deshmukh (Was secretary in Urban
Development department)
12. Shri Gajanan S Koli
13. Shri Amol V Kharbhari
14. Shri Kiran Bhadange
15. Shri Kanhaiyalal Gidwani (Congress MLC)
16. Shri Kailash K Gidwani (Son of Congress MLC
Gidwani)
17. Shri Amit K Gidwani (Son of Congress MLC Gidwani)
18. Shri Arun P Pawar
19. Major Ashish Tandon
20. Lieutenant Commander A Puran Kumar
21. Major General VS Yadav
22. Lieutenant General PK Rampal
23. Colonel Amarjeet Singh
24. Lieutenant Colonel PH Ram
25. Brigadier AC Chopra
26. Lieutenant Colonel RK Singh
27. Commander John Mathew
28. Major General Tej Kishen Kaul, PVSM, AVSM, VSM
29. Lieutenant General GS Sihota
30. Brigadier MD Singh
31. Commodore Gopal Bharati
32. Brigadier Romeshchander Sharma
33. Lieutenant General Shantanu Choudhry
34. Vice Admiral Madanjit Singh
35. Brigadier Tara Kant Sinha
36. Captain AP Singh
37. Lieutenant Commander Chunnilal
38. Shri Rajesh Shantilal Bora
39. Dr Arun V Dawle
40. Shri Sampat R Khidse
41. Shri Anand S Bharose
42. Smt Seema Vyas (wife of former collector Pradeep
Vyas)
43. Shri Kanishka J Phatak (son of former Municipal
Commissioner Jairaj Phatak)
44. Miss Supriya V Maske
45. Shri Shriniwas D Patil
46. Shri Shivajirao C Deshmukh
47. Shri Shah Dhaval Rajesh
48. Ms Kavita S Godbole (related to Cong MLC Gidwani)
49. Commander Harbhajan Singh (Retired)
50. Shri Malav J Shah
51. Shri Rajesh Kumar Das
52. Shri Aditya B Patil
53. Ms Sumeela Sethi
54. Shri Chandrashekar R Gaikwad
55. Shri Shivajirao Shankar Kale
56. Shri Krishnarao D Bhegade
57. Dr Sanjay Radkar
58. Shri Arun S Adate
59. Shri Jitendra S Awhad (NCP MLC)
60. Miss Soniya S Kholapure
61. Shri Vishwas B Chougale
62. Shri Raghunath M Bhosale
63. Shri Suresh Prabhu (Shiv Sena)
64. Shri Uttam Ghakare
65. Major NW Khankhoje
66. Shri Nivruti G Bhosale
67. Shri Amar Singh Waghmare
68. Lieutenant General Tejinder Singh, VSM
69. Shri Krishnajirao Rakhmajirao Desai (alias) Babasaheb
Kupekar (Former Speaker of Maharashtra Assembly)
70. Shri Ranjit Chintamani Sangitrao (son of bureaucrat)
71. Devyani Khobragade (daughter of former BEST GM
Uttam Khobragade)
72. Lieutenant Commander Gurumukh S Grewal
73. Smt Seema Vinod Sharma (Relative of Ashok Chavan)
74. Shri Jagdish Ambika Prasad Sharma
75. Shri Sajjan Singh Yadav
76. Shri Kedari Vishal Kishore
77. General Nirmal Chander Vij, PVSM, UYSM, AVSM
78. General Deepak Kapoor, PVSM, AVSM, SM, VSM, ADC
79. Smt Idzes Angmo Kundan (former city collector,
currently working in Secretariat)
80. Shri Onkar Tiwari (son of Ramanand Tiwari, then
secretary of Urban Development Department)
81. Shri Balasahib Yeshwantrao Sawant
82. Shri Sadusing Fulsing Rajput
83. Mr Mukundrao Govindrao Mankar
84. Mr Sanjoy Shankaran (son of former Chief Secretary D
K Sankaran)
85. Mr Paramveer Abhey Sancheti
86. Mr Suresh Gulabrao Atram
87. Ms Sheetal Vinod Ganju
88. Mr Anil Kumar Thakur
89. Mr Bhavesh Ambalal Patel
90. Mrs Bhagwati Manoharlal Sharma (Ashok Chavan’s
late mother-in-law)
91. Mr Madanlal Milkiram Sharma (Ashok Chavan’s
relative)
92. Mr Satyasandha Vinayak Barve
93. Major General Ram Kanwar Hooda
94. Mr Dhondiram Ganpati Waghmare
95. Colonel KJS Khurana
96. Ms Raorane Rupali Harishchandra
97. Shri Siddhartha Sonu Gamre
98. Shri Girish Pravinchandra Mehta
99. Shri Manilal K Thakur
100. Petty Officer Sushil Chand Sharma
101. Shri S B Chavan
102. Captain Praveen Kumar
103. Dr (Mrs) Archana Tiwari
[10:04, 5/1/2016] 18 M Brig Nalin: Full list of Adarsh beneficiaries. You can see some very honourable members of civil and fauj. Greed is universal Irony is a major sab with 5, years service ADC to Cdr area.
S No 93. Irony is Maj Gen hooda
Ex Goc mumbai and earlier 24**
Has written series of booklets check corruption at your level ”
For jco , NCOs ,QM, mess secy , stn Cdr , bn Cdr and so on with modern day checks and balances
S no 77 Devyani khobragade the famous IFS who was searched by US few years back. And the presstitutes painted her as holier than a cow
S no 63 suresh prabhu
Now railway minister !!
Tribune News Service
Dehradun, May 1
In a major initiative to curb forest fires, two Indian Air Force (IAF) Mi 17 helicopters today sprayed water in severely fire-affected forest areas in the state. A helicopter was pressed into service in the Garhwal region and another in the Kumaon region. The raging fire has so far affected more than 23,000 hectares of forests in Uttarakhand.A helicopter deployed in Nainital lifted water from the Bhimtal lake to spray it in the affected forests. The other helicopter at Srinagar Garhwal took water from the Koteshwar dam for the purpose.Significantly, police personnel from Uttar Pradesh also reached Uttarakhand today to help douse forest fires. Personnel from the National Disaster Relief Force, the State Disaster Relief Force, the Forest Department, the Pranteey Rakshak Dal and other civil and police units from Uttarakhand are already working round the clock to douse the flames.Chief Conservator of Forests BP Gupta, who is also the nodal officer for forest fires, said Pauri, Tehri, Uttarkashi, Rudraprayag, Almora, Pithoragarh and Nainital districts have been declared sensitive vis-à-vis forest fires. He said 1,082 forest fire incidents had taken place in the state till date this season. The loss due to the environmental tragedy has been pegged at Rs 2 lakh.Meanwhile, Additional Chief Secretary S Ramaswamy convened a meeting of forest officials today to review the efforts being undertaken to extinguish forest fires. The officials concerned informed that 40 master control rooms had been set up and around 6,000 persons were working round the clock to curb forest fires.Besides Rs 8 crore released from the compensatory afforestration fund, an additional provision of Rs 14 crore has been made keeping in view the gravity of the situation. Ramaswamy said besides short-term efforts, long-term initiatives were required to deal with such challenges. Efforts were needed for water conservation, he added.Meanwhile, the MeT department has forecast rain in Uttarakhand in two or three days. If rain occurs, it will be a great relief to the forest fire-hit state.
Vibha Sharma
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, May 1
While environmentalists and activists are largely blaming the timber and land mafia for raging “manmade” forest fires in Uttarakhand and now Himachal Pradesh, they also fault the poor management of such expected “cyclic” events.The lack of compliance of general management practices required to pre-empt such eventualities, which are now being further aggravated by climate change events — low rainfall, high temperatures and erratic wind patterns — are among the reasons why, they say, the hill states are facing the environmental catastrophes.Dr Yogesh Gokhale, an ecologist with TERI, says ideally the forests floors should have been cleared of accumulated pine needles — a readymade combustion source — well in time, meaning well before the hot and dry season approaches.“Fires have obviously been triggered by manmade circumstances like a burning beedi or a deliberate action. Therefore, forest floors should be cleared of pine needles with the help of early controlled burning,” he adds.Since the shortage of forest staff is a perpetual problem, participation of local people and van panchayats should be encouraged for early detection, reporting and management of forest fires, the TERI ecologist says, adding while local participation may not be of much use if the act is deliberate, if land or timber mafia is involved or villagers themselves have started the fire to ward off wild animals, it may come useful in case of inadvertent cases.Meanwhile, to manage the accumulated pine needles— one of the major causes of forest fires — ecologists advocate promotion of manufacture of pine needle briquettes—the freely available renewable energy source, Pine needles are an excellent form of energy and can be used to prepare biomass briquettes. Pine needles are a good source of environment-friendly fuel as they have combustion characteristics very similar to firewood, he says.
Mumbai, April 29
Holding that the scam-tainted 31-storey Adarsh Housing Society was illegally constructed, the Bombay High Court on Friday directed the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests to demolish the tower in Colaba area of South Mumbai and sought criminal proceedings against politicians and bureaucrats for “misuse” of powers.
However, on a plea made by Adarsh Housing Society, a Division Bench stayed its order for 12 weeks to enable it to file an appeal in the Supreme Court, despite opposition by the Maharashtra government.
The demolition should be carried out at the expense of petitioners (Adarsh society), ruled the court.
The court also asked the Centre and Maharashtra Government to consider initiating civil and criminal proceedings against bureaucrats, ministers and politicians, if not already done, for various offences in acquiring the plot on which Adarsh society stands and also for misuse and abuse of powers.
However, it noted that the courts concerned shall decide the cases on the basis of evidence on record and in accordance with law, undeterred by the observations or findings made by the high court in this judgment.
The order was delivered in an open court by a Bench of Justices R.V. More and R.G. Ketkar on a bunch of petitions filed by Adarsh society challenging the demolition order of the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests and a title suit filed by the Defence Ministry claiming that it owned the land on which the 31-storey society building was constructed.
The court further asked the Centre and state government to consider taking departmental proceedings in accordance with law against bureaucrats.
“The disciplinary authority shall take decision in accordance with law without being influenced by the findings of the high court,” said the bench.
The bench placed on record its appreciation for the complainant Simpreet Singh, a member of National Alliance of People’s Movement. “But for this intervention, perhaps the gross violation by the petitioners (Adarsh Society) would have been detected,” said the Judges.
The court also asked the Adarsh Society to pay Rs 1 lakh as cost to each of the six respondents, including Bharat Bhushan, Director of Ministry of Environment and Forests, Nalini Bhat, Adviser and Competent Authority, MoEF, Sitaram Kunte, former Commissioner of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and three others. — PTI
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, April 22
A captured Pakistani terrorist, who is allegedly involved in an attack on an Indian Army camp in Jammu and Kashmir on November 2015, has confirmed to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) that the voice in an audio clip, which claims that Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) carried out the Pathankot Air Force Station attack, is of one of its leaders, Abdul Rauf Asgar.The audio clip of Asgar, who is the brother of JeM’s chief Maulana Masood Azhar, was posted on one of the outfit’s websites. The confirmation by the alleged terrorist is one of the many fresh evidences India has collected in its investigation into the Pathankot attack.The other fresh evidences include the names, addresses and parentage of four terrorists. India had only given the name of one of the terrorists in the first Letter Rogatory (LR) — a letter of request for evidences — sent earlier to Pakistan.The NIA has also gathered the mobile phone numbers of another handler of the terrorists, the details of the credit card and its holder, which were used to pay for two JeM websites and related email-ids.
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, April 20
The Navy will further open more opportunities for women and allow them as pilots on its fleet of reconnaissance planes.Starting 2017, women officers can choose to join as pilots of Maritime Reconnaissance planes, the Navy said today. The Navy operates the Boeing P8I, Dornier 228 in a reconnaissance role along the sea line of communication, or sea trading routes, carrying billions of dollars of cargo. The Navy protects these from pirates.On April 15, a Boeing P8I had scarred off possible pirates who were chasing a merchant vessel in the Arabian Sea. The Boeing had made low pass over the pirates’ boat in high seas which forced them out of fear to stop.In the Indian Air Force, women already fly helicopters and transport planes and the first women fighter pilots are under training.Women will also be allowed in the Naval Armament Inspectorate cadre from 2017. Thus, a total of eight branches/cadres will be opened for women officers in the Navy.Several first-time initiatives have been taken by the Navy in the past few months towards empowering women officers. Recognising the importance of providing equal opportunities to women officers, seven women officers from the batch of Short Service Commission officers of the Education branch and Naval Constructor cadre, who joined in 2008-09, have been granted permanent commission.The Navy is also finalising the policy for women officers to serve on select warships that have appropriate facilities for women. A crew of six Naval women officers, including the skipper, is meticulously preparing for the first, all-women, circumnavigation of the world in 2017 by an Indian team, in an indigenously built ocean sailing vessel, Mhadei II.Meanwhile, the Navy commanders’ conference starts tomorrow in New Delhi. It will be inaugurated by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and the entire top brass of the Navy would discuss key issues such as shortage of submarines and naval helicopters.
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, April 19
The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has started the reconstruction of military assets in Jalandhar cantonment that had to be demolished due to the expansion of the National Highway No. 1 passing through the city.The new buildings will replace the ones that had to be removed for paving the way for the highway.The first such building being constructed is the Junior Commissioned Officers Mess of one of the units of the Vajra Corps.“A number of other structures, which are being demolished, will be constructed at appropriate sites in due course of time,” a statement issued here today said.The foundation stone for the reconstruction work was laid today by Major General Sanjiv Bajaj, General Officer Commanding, Jalandhar sub area.The ceremony was attended by a number of senior officials, including Brigadier RPS Sandhu, Station Commander Jalandhar, Kamal Kishore Yadav, Deputy Commissioner, Jalandhar, and Vipin Sharma, Project Director, NHAI.The construction of a security wall by the NHAI is about 65 per cent complete and work is in progress to complete the remaining portion.The work on the NH-1 expansion is likely to commence once the construction of the security wall and guard posts is completed by the NHAI.This will alleviate the problem of traffic congestion at the Rama Mandi Chowk and PAP Chowk.The Army authorities, district administration and the National Highway Authority of India have been working in close coordination to expedite the widening of the national highway and ensuring the security of the cantonment.
