Posts Tagged ‘New Delhi’
Written by admin on 06 February 2012
New Delhi, Feb 6 (IANS) In 10 days from now, India will formally induct the latest Russian military helicopters, Mi-17V5, into its service when Defence Minister A.K. Antony hands over the keys to the Indian Air Force.
India bought 80 of these choppers from Russia in 2008 for $1.34 billion, and the first lot of 21 of these helicopters has been delivered to the IAF since October last year. Six more of these choppers will join the fleet by end of March.
The IAF will use these helicopters for troops movement, special forces heli-borne operations, supplies, search and rescue, and casualty evacuation.
“The formal induction of the Mi-17V5 will take place at Hindon Air Base in Ghaziabad near here on Feb 17,” an IAF officer told IANS here Monday.
Once all the 80 helicopters are delivered by 2014, India may place an order for 59 more of these choppers at a cost of $1 billion.
Even as the defence ministry inducts these advanced military transport helicopters, the the home ministry too has decided to buy six of these for logistics in Maoist-affected districts of the country.
The IAF plans to base the first lot of these choppers at its Bhatinda base in Punjab and in Srinagar base in Jammu and Kashmir.
The Mi-17V5 is designed for cargo lift weighing about five tonnes, but can also carry 36 troopers. The helicopter has advanced multi-function cockpit display and upgraded engines.
The two engines of Mi-17V5 generate 2,200 horse power, about 300 hp more than the Mi-17IV variant. The upgraded engines can be started without much hassle by pilots at high altitude areas of over 6,000 metres or 21,000 feet.
Tags: Delhi, New Delhi
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Written by admin on 06 February 2012
New Delhi, Feb 6 (IANS) A human trafficking and prostitution asepct was being suspected in battered baby Falak’s case as more sordid details emerged Monday with the arrest of two more people. One of them was a woman who allegedly forced the child’s biological mother to re-marry and was responsible for the disappearance of Falak’s siblings.
The biological mother of Falak has been identified as Munni Khatoon. Police traced her and brought her to Delhi Sunday from Jhunjhnu district in Rajasthan. According to police, two of her children are untraceable.
Falak is fighting for life in the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).
Munni told police that she was married off to another man but was not allowed to keep her three children.
Following her disclosure, police Monday arrested Laxmi, who had taken Rs.2.7 lakh from Munni’s second husband for the marriage. Laxmi appears to have had a central role in the suspected sale of her two other children – a boy and a girl, police said.
Police also arrested Kanta Choudhary, who is believed to have convinced Munni to leave her first husband, Mohammed Shah Hussain, a criminal, to marry again. Munni is originally from Muzzafarpur in Bihar.
With the latest arrests, police have so far nabbed six people in the case.
As investigators tried to string together the sequence of events in the case, sources told IANS that police are probing a likely human trafficking and prostitution racket in the case.
The story hit headlines after Falak was admitted to AIIMS Trauma Centre Jan 18 by a teenager, who claimed to be her mother. Falak was in a critical condition as her head was smashed and she had human bite marks all over her body.
Deputy Commissioner of Police Chhaya Sharma told reporters that 22-year old Munni will have to undergo DNA test to prove that she is the biological mother of Falak.
Piecing together the events, the police officer said Munni has three children – a five-year-old boy, a three-and-a-half year old daughter and Falak – from her first husband. She got married in 2006 when she was barely 16 years old.
During questioning, Munni told police her son had been bitten by a dog last year and she was taking him to a doctor when she met a person identified as Shankar.
On some pretext Shankar took her phone number and started calling her. He also got to know that her husband has a criminal background and tried to convince her to leave him and to re-marry.
Munni after a while decided to leave her husband, but she distrusted Shankar.
Shankar then made her speak to Laxmi, who lives in Uttam Nagar in west Delhi.
Laxmi managed to convince Munni to re-marry. She told her that she also hails from Muzaffarpur and told Munni to visit her family to reassure herself. Munni met her family and was convinced. Laxmi also told her that she could take her three children along.
Munni came to Delhi with her kids in tow in August, the police official said.
“In Delhi, she stayed with Laxmi, who got her a job as a domestic help,” Sharma said.
The story did not end here.
According to Deputy Commissioner of Police Chhaya Sharma, Laxmi then contacted Saroj, who had helped in fixing one of her relative’s marriage. Saroj contacted another woman, Choudhary.
Choudhary, who is from Rajasthan, got Munni married to a 25-year-old man, whose name is yet to be revealed.
Sharma said the man paid money to Laxmi for the marriage. It is unclear whether money was distributed among others.
The marriage took place on Sep 1 last year.
Munni was forced to leave her children with Laxmi, Sharma said.
Falak is battling for life at AIIMS while the fate of her siblings is not known.
Police had earlier said that Laxmi through some one had got in touch with Rajkumar alias Dilshad, a taxi driver, to adopt Falak. Rajkumar, who was already married and has kids, left the two-year-old child with a teenager, whom he sexually exploited. He is on the run.
The teenager allegedly beat the child and later admitted Falak to the hospital.
Tags: New Delhi
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Written by admin on 06 February 2012
New Delhi, Feb 6 (IANS) The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) Monday denounced India’s vote for a UN resolution condemning the crackdown in Syria and called for diplomatic efforts to bring peace to Syria.
Recalling that India had abstained during a similar vote on Libya, the CPI-M said: “It was this resolution … which paved the way for the US and NATO to launch a military attack and effect a regime change there.”
It said the current resolution on Syria sponsored by the Arab League with Western backing would have led to a similar situation but for its veto by Russia and China.
“The explanation provided by the (Indian) government obfuscates the fact that a serious attempt is on to foment a civil war in Syria, and armed groups and weaponry are being sent inside with the help of NATO allies in the region.
“Further, the talk of intervention on the basis of democratic rights and liberties in Syria is hypocritical given the record of many Arab League members like Saudi Arabia who have the full backing of the West for their despotic regimes,” a CPI-M statement said.
The CPI-M urged the Indian government to declare “that it is against all efforts to destabilize the situation in Syria, and that diplomatic efforts be pursued for a solution”.
Tags: New Delhi
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Written by admin on 06 February 2012
New Delhi, Feb 6 (IANS) The high-decibel battle for the ballot in Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous and politically crucial state, starts Wednesday, when 55 assembly constituencies go to polls in the first phase.
A total of 1.70 crore people are eligible to vote in this round.
Campaigning for the first of the seven-phase polls ended Monday evening in districts like Pilibhit, Lakhimpur Kheri, Bahraich, Shravasti, Balrampur, Siddharth Nagar, Maharajganj and Kushinagar.
Among the important constituencies are Mahasi and Matera in Bahraich, Ayodhya in Faizabad, Sitapur, Kushinagar, Mubarakpur in Azamgarh and Gazipur.
Karnail Ganj will see two notorious criminals-turned-politicians contesting — Ajay Pratap Singh alias Lalla Bhaiyya of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Yogendra Pratap of the Samajwadi Party (SP).
In Basti, Abhishek Pal, son of Congress MP Jagdambika Pal, is in the fray, while veteran Congressman Amman Rizvi is contesting from Sitapur.
In Barabanki’s Dariyabad, Congress nominee Rakesh Verma, son of union Minister Beni Prasad Verma, is fighting against sitting SP lawmaker Rajiv Singh.
The districts in eastern Uttar Pradesh saw a Congress wave in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls.
The party emerged victorious in Barabanki, Gonda, Maharajganj, Faizabad and Domariyaganj Lok Sabha constituencies.
All candidates analysed by NGO Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) from Mehdawal constituency in Sant Kabir Nagar district have declared criminal cases in their affidavits before the Election Commission.
Kushinagar district has highest number of candidates (21 out of 42) who have declared criminal cases against themselves, said ADR.
Police sealed the 500-km-long India-Nepal border along eight districts Monday.
The Feb 8-March 3 assembly elections in the state are significant for bigwigs like Chief Minister and BSP supremo Mayawati, Samajwadi Party chief and former chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav and his son Akhilesh Yadav besides Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi.
The elections are being seen by pundits as a precursor to the bigger political battle of the 2014 general elections.
Personally, Rahul Gandhi is determined to revive the Congress in the state it ruled two decades ago.
While Rahul has been campaigning across the state, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will also address rallies there.
Rahul is a Lok Sabha MP from Amethi, while Sonia represents Rae Bareli in the lower house of parliament.
Congress star campaigner and Rahul’s sister Priyanka Vadra is already reaching out to the voters in family bastions of Amethi and Rae Bareli.
With the Dalit vote bank solidly behind her, Mayawati, who rode to power with an absolute majority in 2007, hopes to repeat the performance this time as well.
However, strong charges of corruption against her government, lack of development coupled with voters’ anti-incumbency sentiments could weigh Mayawati down, said experts.
Sensing a general dissatisfaction among people with the BSP due to these factors, the father-son duo of SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and Akhilesh are campaigning aggressively, with Mulayam positioning himself as a contender for the top executive job in the state.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), banking on its Other Backward Classes (OBC) leaders like Uma Bharti, too is hopeful of increasing its presence in the 403-member house.
Top BJP leaders like L.K. Advani, Sushma Swaraj, Rajnath Singh and party chief Nitin Gadkari are campaigning in the state to boost party prospects.
Counting of votes will be held March 6.
Tags: Delhi, New Delhi
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Written by admin on 06 February 2012
New Delhi, Feb 6 (IANS) On a plea for formulating a national policy for traffic management and air pollution checks, in keeping with the 2005 WHO guidelines, the Supreme Court Monday issued notice to the central government.
Justice Dalveer Bhandari and Justice Dipak Misra issued the notice on a public interest litigation (PIL) of Sanjay Kulshreshtra, who wanted the court to direct the government to formulate a policy so that personal four-wheeled vehicles on the roads are reduced in absolute terms by keeping a control on the sale of vehicles.
Kulshreshtra is a senior consultant pediatric surgeon working in Agra.
The PIL has sought direction for a strict Income Tax regulation mandating production of PAN card and income tax returns of the last year in the sale of personal four wheelers.
The petition sought that vehicles should be registered only in those cities that have been mentioned in the tax return and demanded withdrawal of tax benefits for second motorised four-wheeler to professionals.
The petitioner has also sought the formulation of policy and guidelines for the decongestion of roads mainly in order to curb the number of personal four-wheeler cars and other vehicles to control alarmingly increasing traffic hazards.
He said that traffic jams and traffic congestion was another alarming problem that could be directly linked to the vehicular explosion.
The petition said that safety and clean environment on the roads is a fundamental right of all citizens and an essential condition for safe and secure living and sustainable development of the society.
“In recent times”, the petition said, “especially during last two decades, thus is being observed that weaker sections on the road, like non-motorised vehicle owners and pedestrians, are losing their right to clean and safe roads as there is a tremendous rise among various road traffic related hazards in India.”
Kulshreshtra in his petition said that road accidents have become a major epidemic in the country, claiming 118,239 and 126,896 lives in 2008 and 2009 respectively.
Tags: New Delhi
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Written by admin on 06 February 2012
New Delhi, Feb 6 (IANS) With the Left criticizing India’s vote on the UN resolution on Syria, the government has clarified that it was opposed to any regime change in principle and has always advocated the resolution of the crisis through dialogue and inclusive political reconciliation.
The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) Monday condemned the government’s stand on voting for the Arab League-backed UN resolution on Syria.
“CPI-M demands that the Indian government declare that it is against all efforts to destabilize the situation in Syria and that diplomatic efforts be pursued for a solution,” the party politburo said in a statement.
The party slammed any intervention on the ground of protecting democratic rights and liberties in Syria as “hypocritical” and pointed to the record of many of the member states of the Arab League, like Saudi Arabia, which it stressed have the “full backing of the West for their despotic regimes.”
The party pointed out that a similar resolution adopted by the Security Council had paved the way for the US and the NATO to launch a military attack and to effect a regime change in Libya.
The current resolution on Syria sponsored by the League of Arab States, with the backing of Western powers, would have led to a similar situation for external intervention, it said.
Against the backdrop of this criticism, government sources Monday asserted that India never supported any regime change. “Regime change is not part of India’s foreign policy,” a senior official said.
India is also understood to have lobbied to drop a contentious clause seeking “automatic measures” by the international community in case of non-compliance. India also ensured that “explicit reference” to stepping down of President Bashar al-Assad was dropped from the resolution.
Pointing to India’s explanation of the vote put forward by New Delhi’s Permanent Representative to UN, the official said India favoured resolution of the crisis through talks between all parties and backed a Syrian-led democratic transition.
India and 12 other members of the Security Council, including the US, Britain and Pakistan, voted in favour of the resolution condemning Syria’s suppression of dragging protests against the Bashar Assad regime. Russia and China
vetoed it, saying it amounted to advocating a regime change.
The resolution calls for a “transition to a democratic, plural political system”, withdrawal of Syrian military and armed forces from cities and towns, and release of those “detained arbitrarily”.
“Our support for the resolution is in accordance with our support for the efforts by the Arab League for a peaceful resolution of the crisis through a Syrian-led inclusive political process,” Puri told the Council in New York Saturday.
India, Puri added, felt that the right of the Syrian people to peacefully protest should be respected.
Tags: New Delhi
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