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Tuesday, April 12, 2011

No message from Sonia in Congress' mouthpiece


New Delhi:  The latest issue of Congress Sandesh once again does not have Sonia Gandhi's usual message to party workers.

This is the second successive issue of the party mouthpiece, which has not carried Gandhi's message.

Generally, all issues of Congress Sandesh started by Gandhi, over a decade ago, carries a letter addressed by her to Congressmen conveying the party stand on key issues in public domain.

The party mouth piece, which has an editorial in place of Gandhi's letter has, however cautioned against infighting and rebel candidates without mentioning them.

"The key to success of the Congress would obviously be to listen to the call of the Congress President Sonia Gandhi to fight unitedly. Everyone cannot be given a seat but the party's decision should be considered as final and no one must challenge this. Whosoever so is chosen by the party must get the unstinted support of all Congress workers," the editorial said.

The editorial comes in the backdrop of a large number of rebel candidates from contesting in West Bengal as the party could not accommodate them because it got only 65 of the 294 seats under the alliance with Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress.

It later fielded candidates on two more seats, which were given to SUCI under alliance with Trinamool Congress.

The party has in its mouthpiece also lambasted the Opposition parties for raking up their issues during the budget session.

"The Opposition parties have once again gone ahead and wasted the budget session due to their lack of commitment to Parliamentary democracy," the editorial said and blamed the BJP holding up the functioning of the Budget session by "unsubstantiated Wikileaks reports that the whole world has ignored and later came back to haunt BJP itself".

"The budget session is the most important session, when the allocation for various ministries and various programmes is made. This should have been discussed and debated in Parliament....it is indeed a matter of regret that BJP did not let this happen."

"The BJP should answer the public as to why it failed to discuss such an important issue and instead wasted the tax payers' money by forcing constant adjournments in Parliament," the editorial said.

It also hailed the Union Budget as "good and balanced" which put "UPA government's goals of inclusive growth at the forefront."

The party mouthpiece has strongly batted for the Goods and Services Tax saying a united tax would help pave the way for India to become a truly single market.

"This act would allow a free movement of goods and services between states and thus help overcome the bottlenecks of the supply side," it said.

The editorial also expressed confidence that the party and its allies will emerge victorious in elections in Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal.

The editorial also said it hoped that that opposition governments in states would not use political ideology as a way of holding back GST.

The editorial of Congress Sandesh also urged the party workers to reach out to the grass-roots and propagate the many schemes and policies that the UPA government has put in place for the benefit of aam admi.

At the AICC briefing Congress spokesperson, Abhishek Singhvi said that party is looking forward positively and with a sense of victory and confidence at the elections.

"We know for sure that the writings on the wall is clear in the Left-ruled Kerala and West Bengal and people want to give a befitting reply to their misrule in these states," he said.

While acknowledging anti-incumbency factor in Tamil Nadu, he said the alliance with Congress has huge support and hence it was confident of putting its best
foot forward.

He hoped that the government's efforts to sign agreements with extremist groups and bring peace in Assam will return the party to power for the third time.

Don't spread panic on superbug, says Sheila Dikshit


New Delhi:  Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit today appealed people in the city not to panic in the wake of reports that drug resistant bacteria was found in Delhi's public water supply and said water agency Delhi Jal Board (DJB) had rejected the findings of international scientific journal 'Lancet'.
     
"Delhi Jal Board has very categorically said that this is not the case. I am in touch with the CEO and he said that it is not so. So please don't spread panic when there is no (need to) panic," Dikshit said replying to a question.
     
International medical journal 'Lancet' reported that deadly superbug NDM-1 (New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase 1) producing bacteria were found in 51 out of 171 samples taken from water pools and two out of 50 tap water samples in the city.
     
The Delhi Jal Board has already dispelled concerns following the report and said the water being supplied by the agency was "safe" for drinking.
     
DJB CEO Ramesh Negi had said that the water supplied by the agency conforms to the standards prescribed by Bureau of Indian Standards.
     
One of the authors of the Lancet study Mark Toleman has accused the government of "suppressing the truth" about the presence of a drug-resistant bacteria in Delhi's public water system by "threatening" and "abusing" its own scientists.
     
Asked about the Lancet report, Health Minister A K Walia said the report by international medical journal is not based on any epidemiological or clinical evidence.
     
A report by MCD's Public Health department had last month said that 18 per cent of water supplied by the Delhi Jal Board is unfit for drinking and every fifth person in the city is consuming contaminated water.
     
Dikshit, who is chairperson of DJB had, earlier, rejected the MCD report also. The DJB supplies around 850 MGD (million gallon per day) of water across the city.

Government indulging in 'helicopter politics', alleges BJP


New Delhi:  BJP today alleged that the Union Government was indulging in "helicopter politics" by preventing its senior leaders from using choppers for campaigning in poll-bound Kerala on the pretext that Prime Minister is using the same air route.

Alleging that it was Congress party's arrogance at work, BJP said though use of chopper, the route to be taken and other details are "much-notified and announced well in advance", its senior leaders Sushma Swaraj and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi were prevented from using their helicopters.

"Modi's helicopter was to fly from Bangalore to Calicut but was not allowed to take-off for five and a half hours. As a result his public meetings were delayed and people had to wait for hours," BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman said.

She said the details of the helicopter trips to be made by Swaraj on Saturday and Modi later were provided before-hand, yet the authorities resorted to this measure.
     
"These are not instant or impromptu decisions. These attempts to stop us are a result of total frustration of the Congress.... It is preparing for a mass-scale defeat," Sitharaman said.
     
She asked the ruling party to adopt a "more democratic" approach to electioneering.
     
Swaraj had to face a similar problem on Saturday when a helicopter, which was to fly from Thiruvananthpuram to Kochi to take her further to some public meetings, was not allowed to fly as the Prime Minister was using the same air route.

She expressed her resentment through a tweet, saying this was "not fair".

Later today, the Election Commission clarified its stand on the issue.

"When we were told we immediately said there was no reason for stopping the chief minister. There is no need to stop a normal commercial flight. So he was allowed to take off," Deputy Election Commissioner J P Prakash told reporters.
 

'Shubho Nobo Borsho' says Clinton


Washington:  "Shubho Nobo Borsho!" said US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as she greeted Bengalis across the globe on the occasion of the New Year.

"Shubho Nobo Borsho!" Clinton said in her message to the Bengali community.

"As you celebrate this special day, know that the United States stands with all Bengalis everywhere as we work for a more peaceful and prosperous future."

"On behalf of President (Barack) Obama and the people of the United States, I send my best wishes to all Bengali-speaking people around the world as you celebrate Poila Boishakh in the coming days. I wish all Bengalis prosperity and happiness in this new year of promise and possibility," Clinton said.

The Secretary of the State also said it is an opportunity to honour the rich history of Bengali culture with music, drama and traditional foods. She believed Bengali artists, scientists, politicians and entrepreneurs have positively influenced American culture.

"Bengali-Americans will join their fellow Bengali family and friends to celebrate the many accomplishments of the Bengali people," she added.

Cash-for-votes: Former Chief ElectionCommissioner wants Special Investigation Team for probe


New Delhi:  Former Chief Election Commissioner JM Lyngdoh and 13 others have moved the Supreme Court for constituting a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the cash-for votes scam.

In his petition, Lyngdoh urged the apex court to direct the government to set up an independent SIT to probe the allegations and try to complete the investigations within six months.

He also pleaded that the chief of the SIT should be given absolute powers and independence to choose the best officers for the probe.

The petitioners were also quoted as saying that information from the WikiLeaks cables could be used as corroborative evidence.

The petition filed through counsels Prashant Kummar and Anurag Sharma on behalf of Lyngdoh alleged that though the entire nation was shocked by the spectacle of three BJP MPs displaying wads of currency notes in Parliament as bribe money to vote in favour of the UPA during the 2008 trust vote, no action has so far been taken against the guilty persons.

It also says that though the incident had occurred on July 22, 2008, neither the Delhi Crime Branch which registered an FIR nor the chairman of the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) headed by Kishore Chandra Deo, which inquired into the allegation, had so far taken any tangible step to initiate action against those responsible for the scam.

A bench of Justices Aftab Alam and R M Lodha asked senior counsel Rajeev Dhawan to place on record the FIR relating to the case so that the matter could be considered for hearing.

Dhawan told the bench that they could not collect the copy of the FIR, as despite their best efforts like invoking the RTI Act, the government was not willing to provide the copy.

However, the bench remarked "You have approached a wrong person. Why don't you approach the court concerned"?

The senior counsel then agreed to avail the option and sought two weeks adjournment, to which the bench agreed.

On July 22, 2008, three BJP members had placed Rs. 1 crore worth cash in the Lok Sabha alleging that it was given to them by floor managers of the UPA government to secure their support during the no-confidence motion after Left parties withdrew their support over the Indo-US nuclear deal.

The BJP leaders had claimed that the floor managers had approached them through a Samajwadi Party leader.

The allegation was levelled by BJP MPs Ashok Argal, Faggan Singh Kulaste and Mahavir Bhagora.

Google adds smartphone 'check-in' deals


Google has added a Latitude feature that lets people using iPhones or Android-powered smartphones get rewarded for loyalty to shops or restaurants.

The feature that Google rolled out across the United States late Thursday lets people unlock discounts by regularly using location-sharing Latitude applications to check in at a select set of establishments.

"Checking in lets you share the places that you visit and add context to your Latitude location for friends and family," Google Maps software engineer Douglas Graham said in a blog post.

"At the same time, you can keep a history of where you've been while gaining status at the places you visit the most."

Google partners included clothing stores of American Eagle Outfitters, RadioShack consumer electronics shops, and fast-food chains Quiznos and Arby's.

People can check-in places using location-sensing capabilities in smartphones, with deals improving as they advance from "Regular" visitors to "VIP" status and then "Guru" level.

Businesses involved with Latitude check-ins can create their own ranks for frequent visitors. For example, Quiznos has a "Champion of Taste" rank.

Information about the program and companies involved was available online at google.com/latitude/check-in.

In February, Google began letting smartphone users check into spots on the go as the Internet star jumped into the hot location-based services arena with Facebook, Foursquare and Gowalla.

The check-in feature was added to a Latitude service that lets people with GPS-enabled Android smartphones share their whereabouts with selected friends.

Facebook last year released a Places and Deals applications that let members use smartphones to share their whereabouts with friends and get rewarded with notifications regarding deals at nearby shops or restaurants.

Facebook Places marked the firm's first step into location-based services that have been catching on with the popularity of smartphones.

Celebrity tracker 'app' for Android smartphones



Startup Scoopler was inviting owners of Android-powered smartphones to install an application that promises to alert them every time a celebrity is sighted nearby.

The free JustSpotted software was available online at the Android Market.

"There is no other application that gives you real-time alerts like this with thousands of spottings on our website every day," Scoopler co-founder AJ Asver told AFP in an email.

"If you are in a metropolitan area, you are going to be pleasantly surprised by how close you are to the celebrity world."


JustSpotted.com launched in October with an online map that pinpoints celebrity whereabouts in real time based on public updates from social networking star Facebook and microblogging service Twitter.

JustSpotted members also contribute sightings.

While branded by some as a potential resource for stalkers, JustSpotted billed itself as "celebrity friendly" and said stars can make deals to use the service to promote their images or messages.

"We have not had any complaints from celebrities," Asver told AFP. "We've actually been approached by people about promoting upcoming films."

He said that a version of JustSpotted tailored for iPhones was undergoing an Apple approval process and was expected to be available in the App Store by the end of the month.