Poll dates any day, UPA clears building of 1 million houses

The UPA government today cleared a scheme to build a million “affordable” houses across the country over four years to bridge the glaring gap in home-ownership and kick start the sputtering economy. The scheme — to be notified next month — was cleared today, barely days before the Election Commission is expected to notify the elections and bring the code of conduct into effect.

A meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) gave the go ahead for construction of a million houses in partnership with the private sector over the next four years.

The scheme, though targeted at housing for middle and low-income families, will also have 2.5 lakh houses for the economically weaker section (EWS).

The houses will have a plinth area of 300-1,200 sq ft and will be sold at a predetermined price that is expected to be lower than the market price.

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Pak politics boils over: Nawaz barred from polls, brother ousted

Protests erupted across Pakistan today after the Supreme Court barred opposition PML-N chief and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif from contesting polls and declared the election of his brother Shahbaz, chief minister of Punjab province, as null and void, effectively dismissing him and setting the stage for renewed political confrontation in a country grappling with rising militancy.

Describing the verdict as a “diktat”, Sharif accused President Asif Ali Zardari of hatching a conspiracy against him and challenged him to hold a referendum on the judgment. Within hours of the ruling, Zardari imposed Governor’s rule in Punjab, the country’s most populous province, for a period of two months.

Supporters of the Sharifs took to the streets in hundreds, grappling with police and tearing down Zardari banners and posters.

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First time after ouster, former Nepal King coming to India

In what ostensibly appears like a private visit, former King Gyanendra and his wife Komal will tomorrow leave for a two-week long visit to India, their first after the monarchy was abolished from Nepal in June.

They will attend a family wedding in Bhopal. Prime Minister Prachanda was informed about the visit today, an official source said.

The Secretariat of the former King has kept the trip under wraps but Foreign Ministry sources told The Indian Express that the King has not been issued any passport which means the former royals will use their “citizenship” or simple travel documents to visit India.

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Eight Oscars: As Jamal said, ‘It was destiny’

Sometimes, things are just meant to be. Slumdog Millionaire’s takeover of this year’s Oscars was ordained. Or, as Jamal says in the film, “ It was destiny.” Everything conspired to make it a Slumdog Sweep this year. Someone up there had whistled up a Great Depression last year. The recession hasn’t receded. It’s only getting bigger. And scarier.

What America and the world are looking for is a story of hope. Of redemption. Of grit and survival. Of an underdog who becomes a topdog. Of a guy — to borrow an American analogy on this day when Hollywood awards its stars — who came in from the left field and hit one right out of it. Slumdog Millionaire fulfills that wish list.

It says, hey, never mind if it’s all doom and gloom. That your nether regions are being mangled by an ill-functioning shock machine. That your girlfriend needs rescuing from a really bad guy. That it will pass. And that it’s okay to believe in stories.

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Russians want another 700 million dollars for Gorshkov

Just as India grudgingly prepared itself to re-negotiate with Russia on its demand to more than double the original cost for aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov, Moscow has conveyed another shocker to New Delhi that the deal will cost another $700 million.

This makes the deal worth $2.9 billion, which is almost thrice the original amount agreed upon when the agreement was first reached on January 29, 2004 by the NDA Government for $974 million. While India did expect cost-escalation to the tune of $350-400 million in the course of refurbishing the old ship, Russia stunned India by proposing a $1.2 billion hike in November 2007 that pushed up the cost to $2.2 billion.

It took several rounds of official-level talks and then the visit by Defence Minister A K Antony to Moscow for the UPA government to consider Russia’s request. Finally, the Cabinet Committee on Security gave its approval in December, around the time Russian President Dmitry Medvedev was visiting India, to renegotiate the Gorshkov deal in view of the cost escalation.

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Naidu to approach Centre on Y S Rajashekhar Reddy’s ‘Satyam route of corruption’

After last week’s unruly scenes in the Andhra Pradesh Assembly, a battery of state Opposition leaders, led by former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu, arrived in New Delhi armed with thick bound volumes containing allegations against Chief Minister Y S Rajashekhar Reddy for distribution to the media. Naidu began his tirade against his successor in a crowded press conference where an audio-visual presentation was arranged as an expose on the “Raja of corruption”. Eventually, a technical snag left the presentation bereft of its visual element and only a loud commentary remained to go through the alleged corporate scams involving YSR and his family.

“If Satyam is the largest corporate scam in the country, the acts of the CM make his’ the largest political scam. Ramajingam Raju has confessed to his misdeeds and gone to jail and now it is the turn of the CM to do so,” Naidu said. After the press meet, Naidu said he and leaders of the TDP, TRS, CPI, CPI(M) will meet the President and the Prime Minister to “expose the manner in which the CM has floated front companies with jet speed and violated a host of Central laws”.

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Pak’s truce with Taliban rings alarm bells in New Delhi Creeping Taliban

The Pakistan government’s purchase of peace by acceding to the enforcement of Shariah in the Malakand division of NWFP — this includes the Swat Valley — has raised serious concerns in New Delhi on several counts — particularly the Pakistan Army’s apparent inability to squarely check the influence of Pakistani Taliban that is now beginning to reverberate even in the Punjab province.

Sources said it is tempting to conclude that the agreement marks nothing less than a “military surrender” even though some assessments from Pakistan suggest it could be a tactical retreat. Either way, the broad view in New Delhi is that the Pak Army has accepted its inability to go after Baitullah Mehsud’s Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in Waziristan without con ceding ground in Malakand.

The truce is based on the assumption that Sufi Mohammed, founder of the Tanzim Nifaz Shariat-eMuhammadi (TNSM), with whom the agreement has been reached, will deliver on his word that violence will end.

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Government plans tough new law to punish torture in custody

Almost 11 years after it signed the United Nations Convention against Torture and Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment, the Indian Government has finally initiated steps to have a law to check torture by making it a punishable offence.

Documents accessed by The Indian Express reveal that while the signatories to the UN Convention were only obliged to amend prevailing laws to make torture a punishable offence, the Indian Government has decided to go the whole hog and bring in a new law providing for stricter punishment for those involved in incidents of torture.

The maximum punishment prescribed is 10 years which, government officials say, is among the highest in the world. The draft legislation also makes inflicting mental torture a punishable offence.

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Lakhvi, Zarar in custody, chargesheet soon

Top Lashkar-e-Toiba commanders Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi and Zarar Shah have been arrested and remanded in 14 days’ custody of Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in connection with the terrorist attacks in Mumbai, Pakistani media reported on Sunday. Lakhvi, Shah and several others — media houses differed on the exact number — were produced before judge Sakhi Mohammed Kahut at an undisclosed location on Saturday, the reports said.

Rehman Malik, chief of Pakistan’s interior ministry had announced on Thursday that six people had been arrested for “planning, financing and abetting” the Mumbai attacks. Lakhvi and Shah had been “located and were under investigation”, Malik had said.

According to Dawn, FIA, which has completed its preliminary probe, is expected to file a chargesheet against the suspects at the end of the remand. Seven people, including Lakhvi have been remanded, Dawn said.

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From Pakistan, says Pakistan

Denail after denial later and barely weeks after it sacked its National Security Advisor for saying that the perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks could be from Pakistan, Islamabad took the first step today towards admitting the facts. Under intense international pressure for a response to the Indian dossier, Pakistan’s Interior Ministry acknowledged that the 26/11 terror attacks, that killed over 180 people, were launched from Pak shores and at least partly plotted on its soil.

Interior Ministry chief Rehman Malik told a news conference that criminal cases had been opened against nine suspects on charges of “abetting, conspiracy and facilitation” of a terrorist act. He said six of them were already in custody, including Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi and Zarar Shah, Lashkar-e-Toiba leaders named by India as the masterminds of the attack, and a person who sent an e-mail claiming responsibility for the attacks. Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone Pakistani terrorist captured in the Mumbai attacks, is one of those named in the FIR. Pakistan wants his confessional statement made during his interrogation in Mumbai, Malik said.

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Taliban storm Government buildings in heart of Kabul, kill 26

Taliban militants launched suicide bomb and gun attacks on Wednesday on three Afghan Government buildings, killing at least 26 people, in the worst and the most daring assault on the capital since 2001.

The Defence Ministry said eight suicide attackers also died in the near-simultaneous strikes on the prisons directorate, and justice and education ministries.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid, told AFP in a telephone call that 16 suicide attackers had entered Kabul and would carry out a wave of strikes, as the violence sowed panic across the city.

“So far we have registered 26 people killed and 55 wounded,” Health Ministry spokesman Abdullah Fahim said. Most were civilians, he said.

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Pathans take flight as India win

Growing up in Baroda, Yusuf and Irfan Pathan would have dreamt, perhaps, of winning a match for the country, against all odds. On Tuesday, as they leapt, pumped their fists and hugged deliriously after engineering a thrilling three wicket win, it seemed they were celebrating more than just a Twenty20 victory.

It was Yusuf who made an impact first, with the ball, when he stemmed the flow of runs with a couple of wickets just as Lanka were getting ready for a mighty assault. But there was work to be done still. Chasing 172, India were looking down the barrel after a flurry of wickets left them at 115 for 7 in 15.1 overs. However, Irfan unleashed a flurry of big shots to power the team past the finish line.

The win had looked unlikely after a horrid start saw them slip to 14 for two with both Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir back in the hut.

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Gujarat riots: senior cop in police remand for 5 days

Valsad Deputy Superintendent of Police K G Erda, who was arrested by the Special Investigation Team for dereliction of duty, abetment to murder and tampering with evidence in connection with the Gulbarg Society massacre in which 39 people were killed, was sent to police remand for five days by the Metropolitan Magistrate’s court here on Monday. The investigators had sought police custody of Erda for 12 days.

Incidentally, the punishment for abetment of an offence is same as for the offence itself.

According to Erda’s advocate Mitesh Amin, he has been accused of improper investigation in the case and of shielding some of the accused in the case. The charges against Erda include not getting blood samples of the dead and not calling the officials of the Forensic Science Laboratory and the Fire Brigade after the massacre.

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Month after United States sanctions,disgraced A Q Khan is free

Pakistan’s disgraced scientist A Q Khan, accused of running a clandestine nuclear proliferation ring, was today declared a free citizen by a court here amid reports of a secret pact with the government, five years after being placed under house arrest.

Shortly after the Islamabad High Court announced its order, 72-year-old Khan, wanted for questioning by US and other investigators,said he was“not obliged”to answer to any foreigner or anybody, except his government.

Relief for Khan, considered as the father of the country’s atomic bomb, came from the Chief Justice of the Islamabad High Court Sardar Mohd Aslam who said the scientist was a free citizen subject to certain security measures. “The petitioner (Khan) is a free citizen,” the judge said while disposing off a petition after hearing counsels for the government and the scientist in a closed-door session.

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Kerala terror module key in 11 accused for Bangalore blasts

The Karnataka police are set to announce they have cracked the July 25, 2008, Bangalore serial blasts case in which one person was killed.

This comes after the arrest of several persons linked to a Kerala-based terror module also involved in sending youths to Lashkare-Toiba training camps for fighting in Kashmir.

Key to the breakthrough is the January 19 arrest of Abdul Sattar alias E T Zainuddin, 57, an electronics engineer. Sattar, a Kerala native but based in Hyderabad where he was arrested, is accused of fabricating the bombs fitted with microchip timers that were used in the Bangalore blasts and in the failed Surat bombs also of July 2008.

Based on details provided by Sattar, the Bangalore police have named five persons accused in the Kerala case of sending youths to terror training camps as key accused in the Bangalore blasts case.

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500,000 Dollars is maximum wage Obama sets for firms taking taxpayer bailout

US President Barack Obama today announced a salary cap of $500,000 (Rs 2.44 crore) for top executives at companies that receive the largest amounts of bailout money, calling the step an expression not only of fairness but of “basic common sense.” Executives will also be prohibited from receiving any bonuses above their base pay, except for normal stock dividends.

The restrictions, which do not require Congressional approval, are far tougher than any imposed during the Bush administration. Critics have called it “draconian.” Last week, Obama branded Wall Street bankers “shameful” for giving themselves nearly $20 billion in bonuses as the economy was deteriorating and the government was spending billions to bail them out.

“This is America, we don’t disparage wealth,” the president said. “We don’t begrudge anybody for achieving success. And we certainly believe that success should be rewarded.”

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Four Indians among 15 held in Spain over al-Qaeda links

Spanish police have arrested 15 people, including four Indians and one Pakistani, suspected of forging passports and other documents for al-Qaeda, news reports said on Tuesday.

Cadena SER radio and other media outlets said at least 10 people were arrested in Barcelona. Police confirmed an operation was in progress but could not give details.

SER radio said the suspects were from North African countries. It said no explosives had been found and that police were searching for a printer used to forge passports. Else where, four Indians and one Pakistani were arrested in the eastern town of Mislata as part of same operation, a police spokeswoman in the regional capital of Valencia said. She spoke on condition of anonymity.

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Armyman, Tamil icon on field, war-torn Lanka plays cricket

From his hotel room in Colombo, Ajantha Mendis can see the cannons placed single-file by the sea in preparation for Sri Lanka’s 61st independence day celebrations. The artillery regiment to which the spinner belongs will participate in the parade in the capital on Wednesday.

As his brothers-in-arms rehearse their left-right-left steps to beating drums in the street below, the army gunner quietly goes through a meal of polroti, porridge and baked beans. The parade, to be held the day after his team’s do-or-die third game against the Indians, will be a show of strength for the army and Mendis’s regiment — some of whose units are currently pushing ahead in an intense final operation against the LTTE in the north.

If Mendis feels any emotion, it does not show. “My job is to play cricket right now, to bowl well,” he says simply.

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Naxals kill 15 cops, gouge out eyes, chop limbs in Maharashtra

Maharashtra's anti Naxalite campaign received its biggest jolt on Sunday when Maoists killed 15 policemen in an ambush in the border area of Gadchiroli.

They struck in the morning when a police party was investigating another incident that happened two days ago near Markegaon village in Korchi tehsil, where Naxalites had resorted to arson. All 15 policemen, including Sub-Inspector Bhupendra Gudadekar, were killed on the spot.

According to sources, the Naxalites attacked the police men who had survived with axes. “Hands and legs were severed and even eyes were gouged out,” they said.

The Naxalites were reportedly gathered in the area — which adjoins Chhattisgarh’s Rajnandgaon district — in huge numbers, with almost 300-500 of them spread over three-four spots.

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