Daily Times India

Raipur, March 10 (IANS) Bharat Aluminium Company Ltd (BALCO) has encroached about 650 acres of government land at Korba town in Chhattisgarh, the state assembly was informed Wednesday.

“BALCO has illegally encroached about 650 acres of government land but Chhattisgarh High Court had recently given its rulings in favour of the BALCO. The state government is yet to take a view whether it should move the Supreme Court or not,” Revenue Minister Amar Agrawal told the assembly in reply to a question by Leader of Opposition Ravindra Choubey.

Vedanta Resources Plc, a London Stock Exchange listed company, has 51 percent stake in BALCO while the remaining 49 percent is held by the central government.

Korba is based some 240 km from state capital Raipur.

New Delhi, March 10 (IANS) India Wednesday rejected reports that it was winding up its operations in Afghanistan and stressed that its commitment to the development of the war-torn nation remains “undiluted”.

External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vishnu Prakash said it was “baseless and factually incorrect” that India was issuing an advisory to its citizens in Afghanistan to return home and was planning to scale down it’s presence in the country.

“India’s commitment to development partnership with Afghanistan remains undiluted,” Prakash said in a statement, amid media reports suggesting that the government was winding up all missions in Afghanistan in the wake of terror attacks in recent months targeting Indians and Indian facilities.

The external affairs ministry had last week clarified that Indian medical missions in Afghanistan have been functioning normally, barring the one in Kabul.

The other missions in Herat, Kandahar, Jalalabad and Mazar-e-Sharif were functioning normally, the ministry said. India also has consulates in these cities.

National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon toured Afghanistan last week following the Feb 26 Kabul terror strike that killed seven Indians. He also stressed “India will not scale down operations” in that country.

Chandigarh, March 10 (IANS) Punjab Health and Family Welfare Minister Laxmi Kanta Chawla Wednesday asked Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati to quit politics for opposing the Women’s Reservation Bill in the Rajya Sabha.

“Both the leaders have no moral right to contest any election in the future. At least women should be strong enough in showing them the door. They should not be forgiven for harming the interest of the whole nation and in particular of the women,” said Chawla.

Terming both these politicians as “opportunists”, Chawla said: “After remaining in politics for so many years and enjoying full power, they do not want to share power with other women. I urge all women to beware of the nefarious designs of such women who were constantly harming the interests of their counterparts.”

“It is unfortunate and rather shameful that after attaining freedom more than 60 years ago, the male-dominated society has not given adequate dignity to women,” she said.

By Tarak Sarkar

Totpara (Jalpaiguri), March 10 (ANI): The endogamous marriage system practiced by members of Toto tribe in West Bengal may lead to the extinction of their clan since the children are reportedly born with several genetic defects. (more…)

Chennai, March 10 (IANS) Thirty-seven candidates, 25 of them independents, have filed their nominations for bypoll to Pennagaram assembly constituency in Tamil Nadu slated for March 27.

However, the byelection is essentially being seen as a four-cornered contest among ruling DMK’s P.N.P. Inbasekaran, PMK’s G.K.M. Tamilkumaran, AIADMK’s R. Anbalagan and DMDK’s Kaveri Varman.

The Election Commission will scruntinise the nominations Thursday and the last day for withdrawal of candidature is March 13. Counting of votes will be on Mar 30.

The run-up to the bypoll attracted the entire nation’s attention with around 20,000 voters ordered to be added to the electoral list just before the declaration of the bypoll schedule.

As per the revised tally, the Pennagaram constituency has around 208,000 voters.

Meanwhile Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister M.K. Stalin will campaign in Pennagaram for Inbasekaran for three days starting March 23.

New Delhi, March 10 (IANS) The armed forces are short of a staggering 14,448 officers, parliament was informed Wednesday.

“There has been a shortage of officers in the armed forces. The shortage of officers in the army is around 11,500 and in the navy, the shortage is 1,606,” Defence Minister A.K. Antony said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha.

The air force is short of 1,342 officers, he added.

“The shortage is partly attributable to accretions in the armed forces from time to time, tough selection procedures, difficult service conditions coupled with perceived high degree of risk involved in service career,” he said.

New Delhi, March 10 (IANS) The Supreme Court Wednesday refused to accord urgent hearing to a plea to derecognize major political parties for launching welfare schemes in the name of their leaders and issuing advertisements enhancing their poll prospects at the cost of the public exchequer.

A bench of Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, Justice R.M. Lodha and Justice B.S. Chauhan refused to immediately hear the lawsuit saying it would be heard only on March 22, the date already slated for its hearing by the registry.

The lawsuit, filed by a Delhi resident Manoj Agnihotri, termed itself as a “sequel to another” lawsuit filed by advocate Ravi Kant.

Kanth’s petition, pending with the court, has sought derecognition of Bahujan Samaj Party on the ground that the party chief and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati has proceeded to stuff every nook and corner of the state with statues of various Dalit leaders, largely herself and her political mentor Kanshi Ram.

The statues installed by Mayawati government in the state included those of her party’s political symbol elephant, besides those of some statues of Dalit icon Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar and his wife.

Appearing for Agnihotri, senior counsel Anil Diwan pleaded to the court to hear his client’s lawsuit along with Ravi Kant’s, which is listed for hearing Thursday. The court turned down his plea.

Agnihotri, in his lawsuit, contended there are as many as 100 educational institutions, 6 major ports and airports, 66 government awards of various categories, 45 sports tournaments and trophies, 39 hospitals and 74 roads and building are all named after one or the other members of the Nehru-Gandhi family.

There are several government schemes too, which are run in the name of Nehru-Gandhi family members, alleged the petition, saying that no political party, including BJP and Samajwadi Party and others, is immune from the malaise of naming government welfare schemes after their leaders.

–Indo-Asian news Service

rax/tb

Chennai, March 10 (IANS) Third-seeded Saurav Ghosal and Dipika Palikal kept their composure to beat Alan Clyne and Frania Gillen of Scotland 9-11, 11-6, 11-8 in 48 minutes to enter the mixed doubles final of the Chennai Open squash doubles championship here Wednesday.

In the final Thursday, the Indian pair takes on top seeds Mohd. Ali Anwar Reda of Egypt and Rachael Grinham of Australia, who defeated England’s Chris Simpson and Jenny Duncalf 9-11, 11-6, 11-5.

Other results (semi-finals):

Men’s Doubles: Jonathan Kemp (Eng)/Stephen Coppinger (South Africa) bt Saurav Ghosal/Harinder Pal Sandhu (India) 5-11,11-10,11-9; Harry Leitch/Alan Clyne (Sco) bt Chris Small/Lyall Paterson (Sco) 11-7,11-3.

Women’s Doubles: Jenny Duncalf (Eng)/Rachael Grinham (Aus) bt Dipika Palikal/Joshna Chinappa 11-9,11-9; Donna Urquhart/Kasey Brown (Aus) bt Jaclyn Hawekes (NZ)/Samantha Teran (Mex) 11-6,11-7.

Guwahati, Mar 10 (ANI): Holi, the festival of colors, was celebrated with enthusiasm in northeast along with rest of the country recently. (more…)

Kolkata, March 10 (ANI): Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday staged a road blockade here against rising prices of essential commodities and 10 percent reservation to the Muslim community under other backward category, by the West Bengal government. (more…)