Tuesday 30 April 2013

India ready to give full medical assistance

India ready to give full medical assistance to Sarabjit: Govt

New Delhi, India is ready to provide full medical assistance to death row convict Sarabjit Singh, lying in coma in a Lahore hospital after a brutal assault, the Government said today. "It is our endeavour and we will do hatever in our hands to make sure that all proper medical treatment is given to Sarabjit Singh -whether it is Pakistani doctors or medical experts from foreign countries. We are also ready to provide full medical assistance, if there is a need for any assistance from our side," Minister of State for Home R P N Singh said.  Talking to reporters outside Parliament House, he said Sarabjit was in "a very serious condition" and his family members' demand that he should be brought back to the country is an issue which the Government can take up with Pakistani authorities through diplomatic channel.

"It is something we can talk to them diplomatically," he said when asked about the demand. "...First priority is that he should recover. He should be looked after. Whatever medical treatment he needs, it should be provided to him. We are in constant touch to make sure his safety and health," Singh said, terming as "extremely unfortunate" the assault on Sarabjit in Kot Lakhpat Jail. Sarabjit, 49, sustained several injuries, including skull fracture, when six prisoners attacked him in Kot Lakhpat Jail on Friday and doctors said his chances of survival are slim. He was convicted of alleged involvement in a string of bomb attacks in Punjab province that killed 14 people in 1990 and mercy petitions were rejected by the courts and then President Pervez Musharraf.

Athlete Kavita Raut gets married

Nashik, Apr 29 Asian Games medallist Kavita Raut, a long-distance runner tied the knot on April 29th. Raut, who hails from Harsul village, got married to Mahesh Tungar, an engineer with Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company. Talking to reporters, she said she would continue as a long-distant runner even after the marriage. Raut also said it was her dream to take part in the Olympic Games.

BCCI

BCCI to pick final squad for Champions Trophy on Saturday

 Mumbai:  The final Indian squad for the ICC Champions Trophy, to be held in June in England and Wales, is to be picked by the national selectors here on May 4, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced on Monday.

The five-man selection panel headed by Sandeep Patil will prune the list of 30 probables already selected to half its size for the June 6-23 tournament.

The selectors had dropped senior players Virender Sehwag and Harbhajan Singh when they picked the probables on April 6, but have the option to choose players from outside the list, according to an ICC source.

India and South Africa are scheduled to kick off the contest on June 6 at the Sophia Gardens at Cardiff, Wales in a Group B match.

India are to take on the West Indies at the Kennington Oval in London on June 11 and then conclude the four-team group engagement on June 15 against arch-rivals Pakistan at Edgbaston, Birmingham.

Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Sri Lanka form Group A.

The top two teams from each group would progress to the semi-finals scheduled on June 19 and 20 at the Kennington Oval and Sophia Gardens respectively with the winners advancing to the June 23 final to be played at Edgbaston.

The list of 30 Indian probables: Murali Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan, Gautam Gambhir, Unmukt Chand, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, Manoj Tiwary, Ajinkya Rahane, A Rayudu, Kedar Jadhav, MS Dhoni, Wriddhiman Saha, Dinesh Karthik, R Ashwin, Amit Mishra, Ravindra Jadeja, Jalaj Saxena, Parvez Rasool, Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ashok Dinda, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Irfan Pathan, Vinay Kumar, Paveen Kumar, IC Pandey and Sidharth Kaul.

Monday 29 April 2013

IPL playoffs

IPL playoffs shifted to Delhi from Chennai

 New Delhi:  The Indian Premier League Governing Council has shifted the first two playoff matches out of Chennai in order to allow respective teams with Sri Lankan players, freedom to choose their best playing eleven.

The Qualifier and Eliminator matches will now take place at Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium in Delhi.

"The play-offs have been shifted to Delhi from Chennai," a top IPL official told PTI.

The first Qualifier was originally scheduled at the Chepauk on May 21 and the Eliminator on the following day. The matches will now be held on the same dates at Kotla.

According to IPL sources, Bangalore and Pune were also in the reckoning but the Governing Council opted for Delhi as the venue for the two matches.

The decision comes in the wake of mounting pressure from various franchises, who were adamant that not having the option to pick their Sri Lankan players reduces their strength considerably at MA Chidambaram, Chepauk.

The Tamil Nadu government had barred Sri Lankan players or match officials to play or officiate in Chennai in the wake of the anti-Sinhalese sentiments prevailing in the state. The Governing Council had then decided to go ahead with the matches in Chepauk but without Sri Lankan players.

Sania Mirza and Bethanie Mattek-Sands

Sania Mirza and Bethanie Mattek-Sands enter Stuttgart WTA semis

Stuttgart:  Sania Mirza and Bethanie Mattek-Sands defeated Liezel Huber and Janette Husarova to enter the women's doubles semifinal at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix here.

The Indo-American pair got past the American-Slovak combination 7-5, 6-4 in the quarterfinals played on Friday.

Sania-Bethanie next play Germany's Angelique Kerber and Andrea Petkovic on Saturday night.

Bethanie is also enjoying a great run in the singles event where she faces Li Na of China in the semifinals. The American defeated local hope Sabine Lisicki 6-4, 6-2 in the quarterfinals.

"I played Sabine last year at the French Open and she's been playing well again this year," Mattek-Sands was quoted as saying by WTA website. "She's had some good results and has a lot of confidence. I knew I had to play well.

"I had some good support out there from the crowd, even though I was playing a German girl - and I'm looking forward to the same tomorrow. To be in the semis after coming back from match point down in the qualifying is a pretty good feeling, and obviously beating Sara yesterday was a great win for me.

"This has definitely been one of the best weeks of my career."

Monday 22 April 2013

Direct Cash Transfer Scheme

New Delhi: Centre's ambitious direct cash transfer scheme will help in better targeting of subsidies and reducing delay in delivery of benefits besides curbing wastages and leakages, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said here today.

Addressing the 8th Civil Services day, Singh said his government has made sustained efforts to curb corruption and enhance transparency and accountability in public works.

He also said the government needs to make full use of new and modern technology not only in delivery of public services but in governance in general.

"A good example of such use is the Aadhar programme for providing all the residents of our country a unique identity, and also the Direct Benefits Transfer scheme based on Aadhar numbers that our government launched a few months back....

"It will lead to better targeting of subsidies and reducing delays in the delivery of benefits such as scholarships and pensions to the intended beneficiaries. It will also help in curbing wastages and leakages, and result in greater financial inclusion," Singh said.

The Direct Benefits Transfer (DBT) scheme now covers 121 districts of the country.

"I think it is also important to recognise the fact that the programmes like the Direct Benefits Scheme also give a sense of empowerment to the people, increase their faith in the processes of governance and therefore have a far larger positive effect than can be measured by the direct advantages they give," he said asking the bureaucrats, involved directly or indirectly in its implementation, to ensure the scheme is a success.

The DBT scheme provides for cash transfer of subsidy from the government directly to an Aadhar-linked beneficiary's bank account.

"Our government has also made sustained efforts to curb corruption and enhance transparency and accountability in the work of public authorities. There are several legislative initiatives that we have taken in this regard, for example the Right to Information Act, the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Bill and the Whistleblowers Protection Bill.

"These are intended to also help in improving the standards of delivery of public services in our country," the PM said.

Singh said there was a need to take special care of socially and economically backward people of society in order to provide access to quality education and health services at affordable costs, safe drinking water, sanitation and so on to the citizens.

"We must recognise that we have a lot of work to do to bring the delivery of some of our public services up to international standards," he said.

Citing the Right of Citizens for Time Bound Delivery of Goods and Services and Redressal of their Grievances Bill, 2011, which is under consideration of Parliament, Singh said the proposed law when enacted will give citizens the right to receive specified goods and services in a time bound manner.

"I would also like to mention in passing the need for strengthening the implementation of our flagship Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, which by most accounts has been a success," Singh said.

He said there was a need for much greater attention for management of urbanisation.

"Management of urbanisation is an area which requires much greater attention on the part of our planners. It is estimated that in 20 years time, nearly 50 per cent of our population will be living in urban areas.

"We have to ensure that our towns and cities provide public services of a high quality to their residents. To that end, much greater attention has to be paid to the modernisation of the processes of municipal governance. Our Civil Services also should be better equipped with skills for managing urbanisation and urban spaces," he said, stressing on training of government servants for capacity building.

Addressing the bureaucrats, the Prime Minister emphasised on ways for effective management in dealing with natural disasters.

Owing to its peculiar geo-climatic conditions, India has always been vulnerable to natural disasters such as floods, droughts, cyclones, earthquakes and landslides. Climate change is likely to further exacerbate the frequency and intensity of these natural disasters, Singh said.

"In addition, unsafe building practices in rapidly growing urban settlements also constitute a major challenge for those charged with the responsibility of managing disasters. Handling disasters requires a multi-disciplinary approach and specialised skills acquired over a long period of time...

"We ought to identify best practices, document them properly and disseminate them widely so that we are prepared when a disaster hits us," he said adding that pre-disaster issues of prevention, mitigation, and preparedness of a natural or man-made calamity is of equal importance.

The PM also gave away awards to bureaucrats for their excellent work in public administrations which included education initiatives in Naxal-hit Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh and efforts to liberate people from manual scavenging in Budaun district of Uttar Pradesh.

Sikkim gets PM's award for excellence in Public Administration

DELHI: Sikkim was on Sunday given Prime Minister's award for excellence in public administration for extraordinary and innovate work done for rural development.

The country's highest award for excellence in public administration was presented by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Sikkim's secretary for rural development and management DR Nepal at a function held here on Civil Services Day.

"Sikkim is the only state in the northeast to get this highest award for excellence in public administration for the year 2011-12," an official release said.

The state has been conferred with the national level prestigious award for its initiative "Excellence in Rural Management and Development in challenging physical environment of the Sikkim Himalaya" and for achieving visible contribution made in improving the quality of life of the rural people in the state.

Sikkim is the first and only "Nirmal Rajya" in the country to achieve hundred per cent success under Total Sanitation Programme in 2008.

At least 87.2 per cent of the household have access to toilets within their homes (2011 census) as compared to 36.3 per cent in the year 2001.

In Sikkim, poverty has reduced from 30.9 per cent (2004-05) to 13.1 per cent (2009-10) which is significantly lower than national average of 29.8 per cent in 2009-10.

The 17.8 per cent rate of poverty reduction in Sikkim is second best in the country.

A significant BPL population of 90,000 persons have been brought above poverty line during these years in the state and the rate of poverty reduction is 3.6 per cent which is double than national average of 1.5 per cent.

The accessibility to tap water has been increased from 70.3 per cent in 2001 to 85.3 per cent in 2011

North Korea has moved two more missile launchers

SEOUL: North Korea has moved two more missile launchers to its east coast, where preparations are apparently under way for a missile test as tensions simmer on the peninsula, a report said Sunday.

Expectations had been high that Pyongyang would carry out a test to coincide with celebrations marking the birth of North Korea's late founding leader Kim Il-Sung on April 15 but it did not materialise.

The North Korean military last week moved two launchers believed to be for Scud missiles to the northeast province of South Hamgyong, Yonhap news agency said, citing a senior Seoul official.

"We have discovered the North has moved two additional TELs (transporter erector launchers) to the east coast... after April 16," the official was quoted as saying, adding Seoul and Washington were closely monitoring the site.

A spokesman for Seoul's defence ministry was not immediately available to confirm the report.

Previously, the North was reported to have moved seven missile launchers to its coast facing the East Sea (Sea of Japan) in apparent preparations for a test that would further escalate tensions.

Angered by fresh UN sanctions triggered by its third nuclear test in February and joint South Korea-US military exercises, the North has for weeks been issuing threats of missile strikes and nuclear war.

But despite the passing of the Kim Il-Sung anniversary, a Seoul defence ministry spokesman said Thursday that the possibility of a test involving shorter-range Scud, mid-range Musudan, or long-range Rodong missiles remained.

April 25 could be another possible date for a missile launch, the report said, quoting military officials in Seoul. That is the founding anniversary of the North's military.

The Musudan -- seen as most likely to be tested -- has an estimated range of 2,500 to 4,000 kilometres (2,500 miles), enough to reach South Korea and Japan and potentially US military bases on the Pacific island of Guam.

US President Barack Obama has expressed doubt over the North's capabilities, saying last week he did not believe Pyongyang could yet arm a missile with a nuclear warhead.

Wednesday 17 April 2013

Syrian Government Airstrike

 Beirut: A Syrian government airstrike on a town in the country's northwest killed at least 12 people today, shattering store fronts, setting cars ablaze and sending a giant plume of black and gray smoke over the horizon.

President Bashar Assad's air force has been one of his biggest assets in the 2-year-old civil war and he has used warplanes and helicopters to try to check rebel advances, although the regime also frequently hits civilian areas.

A Human Rights Watch report this week accused the Syrian government of committing war crimes by using indiscriminate and sometimes deliberate airstrikes against civilians, killing at least 4,300 people since the summer.

Today's air raid struck the town of Saraqeb in Idlib province, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights activist group. The Observatory said four of the 12 people killed in the attack were members of the same family.

Many others were wounded and the death toll was expected to rise, the Observatory said.

Amateur videos posted online showed a giant plume of black smoke, and people in cars and on motorbikes rushing to help the wounded. A group of men can be seen carrying a wounded man covered in gray dust. Another man in the video rushes with a bucket of water to help extinguish cars in flames. Rubble and twisted metal littered the street.

The video appeared genuine and corresponded to other reporting by The Associated Press of the events depicted.

Rebels have wrested much of the countryside of Idlib and other provinces in northern Syria from regime forces, although government troops still control many military bases in the region from which they launch attacks, including airstrikes on opposition-held areas.

South of Saraqeb, Syrian government troops trying to relieve a besieged military base ambushed a rebel checkpoint, killing at least 12 opposition fighters.

The Observatory said the government forces surprised the rebel fighters on the outskirts of the village of Baboulein. The Observatory, which relies on a network of local activists on the ground, said many opposition fighters were also wounded in the attack.

Observatory director Rami Abdul-Rahman said the assault was part of government efforts to resupply the embattled military base at Wadi Deif outside of the town of Maaret al-Numan, which is just north of Baboulein on the Damascus-Aleppo highway.

Rebels have been trying for months to capture the large base at Wadi Deif, from which regime troops regularly pound the now largely abandoned town of Maaret al-Numan with artillery fire. The regime must push convoys through rebel-held territory to prevent the base from running short of troops and supplies.

On Thursday, activists said rebels shot down a helicopter carrying food and supplies to the base, killing the pilot and three other soldiers.

In the northern city of Aleppo, a government air raid on the disputed Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood killed at least three people and wound 16 others, the Observatory said. It added that doctors treating the wounded said many showed symptoms of inhaling toxic gas, such as severe vomiting and irritation to the nose and eyes.

Poland Unveils Giant Statue Of John Paul II

Poland Unveils Giant Statue Of  John Paul II

Czestochowa: A giant statue of the late Pope John Paul II billed as the world's tallest has been unveiled in southern Poland.

Archbishop Waclaw Depo unveiled the statue of the Polish pontiff today in the southern city of Czestochowa, the home of this predominantly Catholic nation's most famous pilgrimage site, the Jasna Gora monastery.

The white fiberglass figure rises about five stories, or nearly 14 meters, on a hill overlooking the city.

It was funded by a businessman, Leszek Lyson, in gratitude for what he believes was an intervention by the late pontiff in saving his drowning son.

John Paul, who led the Roman Catholic church for 27 years before dying in 2005, remains a respected figure in his homeland.

Saturday 13 April 2013

Kingfisher Airlines

Fire breaks in Kingfisher Airlines godown near Bangalore International Airport

 An accidental fire broke out in a Kingfisher Airlines godown at Kannamangala village near Bangalore International Airport on late Friday morning. According to preliminary reports there were no casualties reported in the incident. The fire broke around 11.20 am in the godown where airplane spareparts worth crores of rupees were stored and almost all the materials have been reportedly gutted in the fire.

The people who noticed smoke emanating from the godown alerted the fire and emergency services and immediately around three fire tenders were rushed to the spot to douse the fire. When the fire officials realised the fire had spread the entire godown, they rushed more vehicles to the spot. The fire came under control only after 2.30 pm and the officials are still at the spot.

By preliminary investigation police said, there were no sufficient fire safety measures in the godown.

Police said, there were some employees in the godown, but none of them sustained any injuries. However, the exact cause for the fire is yet to be ascertained as the officials suspect it would be a fire due to short circuit in the electrical connections inside the godown building. There was a panic for more than three hours at the spot till the fire came under control.

The International Airport police who are at the spot said they were yet to receive any complaint in writing. "Only when the case is registered we would be able to tell the exact value of the total materials gutted in the fire," said a police official.

Software engineer found dead in US

Software engineer from Andhra Pradesh who went missing in US found dead

 Hyderabad: An Indian software engineer in the US, who went missing while on a vacation last week, has been found dead, the American police said.

PV Sarath Kumar, 35, worked with TCS and lived with his wife in Chicago. He was from Guntur in Andhra Pradesh and had moved to the US seven years ago.

Last week, he went on a trip to the Niagara with the visiting family of his cousin. On the way back, at Washington DC, the family noticed he was missing and thought he had missed boarding the bus after a stop for coffee.

When no news came of him, his anxious parents in Guntur filed a police complaint. They were worried that he may have been harmed.

Sarath's wife Manjula did not go on the trip with him.