MONTH THAT WAS
RTI paper shows cops in poor light
Mumbai: A Right to Information Act (RTI) document unearthed by a non-government organisation Praja has brought to light startling statistics of the poor performance of the city police force. The 89 odd police stations in the city have collectively failed to contain crime in the last two years, the document said. Stating that in comparison to last year 2010 saw a rise in the number of cases of murder, molestation, housebreaking, chain-snatching, theft and vehicle-lifting, founder Nitai Mehta said at a press conference, “In the past two years till March 2010, there are 364 and 303 cases of rape and molestation respectively registered with the Mumbai police.
While the number of rape cases between April 2008 and March 2009 came down by 64, this year the number of molestation cases has risen. Molestation cases between April 2008 and March 2009 were 105, but between April 2009 and March 2010 the same has risen to 198”.
Sonia stops car to help injured siblings
Raebareli: In a humane gesture, Congress President Sonia Gandhi asked members of her cavalcade to attend to an injured brother-sister duo who fell off their motorbike while trying to give them way on a highway. The siblings sustained minor injuries after they fell off their motorcycle while trying to stop it on a roadside in Bhairampur area when Gandhi’s cavalcade was coming from opposite direction, police said. Gandhi stopped there and ensured their first-aid before leaving the place, they said.
ISI untrustworthy, Saudi officials told Holebrooke
Islamabad: Saudi Arabian intelligence officials considered Pakistan’s Inter-Services intelligence (ISI) ‘untrustworthy’ and “thought 10 times before sharing any sensitive information with them”, a Pakistani daily reported, quoting an American diplomatic cable released by Wikileaks. In a meeting with US Special Representative Richard Holbrooke May 16, 2009, Saudi Arabian intelligence’s Major General Khalid al-Hamadan said they had to think a lot before deciding to share with the ISI any information related to terrorist activity, reported the Urdu daily ‘Jasarat’. Several terrorists, arrested in the kingdom, had been found to have links to Pakistan, but the Saudi intelligence agencies had never got any “sufficient” response about them from the ISI, al-Hamadan said. According to another leaked cable, on a meeting between US Vice President Joe Biden and then British Prime Minister Gordon Brown March 27, 2009, Brown said it was difficult to convince Pakistan to crack down more firmly on terror. He also questioned the strength of Pakistan President Asaf Ali Zardari's resolve, and told Biden army cheif General Parvez Kalyani was vary of both Zardari and Sharif brothers (former prime minister Nawaz and Punjab Chief Minister Shanbaaz).
IAS officer sent to judicial custody
New Delhi: A court sent suspended IAS officer Ravi Inder Singh, accused of leaking sensitive information, to judicial remand for 14 days, rejecting the plea of police which wanted to quiz for three more days. Special judge Sangeeta Dhingra Sehgal also posted the hearing on his bail application. The IAS officer, who was working as a Director Internal Security in Ministry of Home Affairs, was produced in court after the end of his six-day police remand. He was arrested by the Special Cell of the Delhi police after two days of extensive interrogation in detention. The police sought his further remand on the ground that they were yet to recover two out of the four mobile phones that he was allegedly using to maintain contacts with authorised persons.
Sordid state of Byculla zoo
Mumbai: A visit by Standing Committee chairman Rahul Shevale to Veermata Jijabai Udayn (also called a Byculla zoo) in the aftermath of the death of a young hippopotamus has revealed some shocking facts. Lack of proper maintenance, unhygienic conditions, heaps of debris lying inside cages, has turned the once centerpiece of city attraction into a shabby state.
Jassi, a sever-year-old female hippopotamus died at Byculla zoo, having been treated for respiratory problems for the past few days. In April last year, the zoo had also lost a five-year-old hippo, Shakti, who died of cardiac failure. Several complaints have been raised about the lack of proper care of animals at the Byculla zoo.
Shevale visited the zoo along with NCP corporator Mangesh Bansod and was appalled to find the poor conditions there. “We found that the animals are not been treated carefully. About 200 trucks of debris material was also found lying in the zoo,” Shevale said. He directed the civic officials to immediately remove the debris and to ensure that animals are looked after properly.
“The pod erected for elephants in the zoo was found leaking and the water inside was filled with moss. Lack of hygienic conditions in animal enclosures was also shocking,” he added. Shevale instructed the civic officials to clean animal enclosures and maintain cleanliness in the zoo.
Byculla zoo houses 175 mammals of 18 different species, 34 reptiles across 7 species and 495 birds of 38 species. The BMC has undertaken the make over project of the zoo, but it has been struck because of certain issues with the Mumbai Heritage Conservation Committee for more than two years.
Turin School’s burqa ban &
Can we blame Shiv Sena!
Rome: A government official in industrial northern Italian city of Turin has asked the local school board to stop fully-veiled women from picking up their children at school because it makes it difficult to identify them as the students’ true parents. The request by Maurizio Marrone-a member of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s conservative People of Liberty party- was prompted after Marrone and other mothers had seen some women dressed in full burqas picking up their children from an elementary school in Turin’s Barriera di Milano working class neighbourhood. Marrone went on to call the wearing of the burqa, the traditional dress of fundamentalist Islamic women, “damaging to the dignity of women”. Marrone also claims the burqa “slows down the process of integration” for immigrants.
Professional tax on lawyers
Mumbai: The Supreme Court has upheld the authority of Maharashtra State Tax on professionals, trades, callings and employment’s Act and the rules made thereunder that lawyers have to pay their professional tax. In a full house meeting of the Bar Council of Maharashtra and Goa held three weeks ago, it was resolved that if lawyers fail to pay their professional taxes, they would be facing a penalty of 50 per cent of the tax amount.
70 incidents of near-miss in 3 yrs
New Delhi: Nearly 70 incidents of near-misses were reported in the country in the past three years, the government told Lok Sabha and said that the reasons behind the October 23 plane crash at Mangalore airport were being examined. The civil Aviation Ministry, in a written reply to questions, said that nearly 70 incidents of air proximity (near misses) were reported in 2007, 2008 and 2009.
Mumbai: A Right to Information Act (RTI) document unearthed by a non-government organisation Praja has brought to light startling statistics of the poor performance of the city police force. The 89 odd police stations in the city have collectively failed to contain crime in the last two years, the document said. Stating that in comparison to last year 2010 saw a rise in the number of cases of murder, molestation, housebreaking, chain-snatching, theft and vehicle-lifting, founder Nitai Mehta said at a press conference, “In the past two years till March 2010, there are 364 and 303 cases of rape and molestation respectively registered with the Mumbai police.
While the number of rape cases between April 2008 and March 2009 came down by 64, this year the number of molestation cases has risen. Molestation cases between April 2008 and March 2009 were 105, but between April 2009 and March 2010 the same has risen to 198”.
Sonia stops car to help injured siblings
Raebareli: In a humane gesture, Congress President Sonia Gandhi asked members of her cavalcade to attend to an injured brother-sister duo who fell off their motorbike while trying to give them way on a highway. The siblings sustained minor injuries after they fell off their motorcycle while trying to stop it on a roadside in Bhairampur area when Gandhi’s cavalcade was coming from opposite direction, police said. Gandhi stopped there and ensured their first-aid before leaving the place, they said.
ISI untrustworthy, Saudi officials told Holebrooke
Islamabad: Saudi Arabian intelligence officials considered Pakistan’s Inter-Services intelligence (ISI) ‘untrustworthy’ and “thought 10 times before sharing any sensitive information with them”, a Pakistani daily reported, quoting an American diplomatic cable released by Wikileaks. In a meeting with US Special Representative Richard Holbrooke May 16, 2009, Saudi Arabian intelligence’s Major General Khalid al-Hamadan said they had to think a lot before deciding to share with the ISI any information related to terrorist activity, reported the Urdu daily ‘Jasarat’. Several terrorists, arrested in the kingdom, had been found to have links to Pakistan, but the Saudi intelligence agencies had never got any “sufficient” response about them from the ISI, al-Hamadan said. According to another leaked cable, on a meeting between US Vice President Joe Biden and then British Prime Minister Gordon Brown March 27, 2009, Brown said it was difficult to convince Pakistan to crack down more firmly on terror. He also questioned the strength of Pakistan President Asaf Ali Zardari's resolve, and told Biden army cheif General Parvez Kalyani was vary of both Zardari and Sharif brothers (former prime minister Nawaz and Punjab Chief Minister Shanbaaz).
IAS officer sent to judicial custody
New Delhi: A court sent suspended IAS officer Ravi Inder Singh, accused of leaking sensitive information, to judicial remand for 14 days, rejecting the plea of police which wanted to quiz for three more days. Special judge Sangeeta Dhingra Sehgal also posted the hearing on his bail application. The IAS officer, who was working as a Director Internal Security in Ministry of Home Affairs, was produced in court after the end of his six-day police remand. He was arrested by the Special Cell of the Delhi police after two days of extensive interrogation in detention. The police sought his further remand on the ground that they were yet to recover two out of the four mobile phones that he was allegedly using to maintain contacts with authorised persons.
Sordid state of Byculla zoo
Mumbai: A visit by Standing Committee chairman Rahul Shevale to Veermata Jijabai Udayn (also called a Byculla zoo) in the aftermath of the death of a young hippopotamus has revealed some shocking facts. Lack of proper maintenance, unhygienic conditions, heaps of debris lying inside cages, has turned the once centerpiece of city attraction into a shabby state.
Jassi, a sever-year-old female hippopotamus died at Byculla zoo, having been treated for respiratory problems for the past few days. In April last year, the zoo had also lost a five-year-old hippo, Shakti, who died of cardiac failure. Several complaints have been raised about the lack of proper care of animals at the Byculla zoo.
Shevale visited the zoo along with NCP corporator Mangesh Bansod and was appalled to find the poor conditions there. “We found that the animals are not been treated carefully. About 200 trucks of debris material was also found lying in the zoo,” Shevale said. He directed the civic officials to immediately remove the debris and to ensure that animals are looked after properly.
“The pod erected for elephants in the zoo was found leaking and the water inside was filled with moss. Lack of hygienic conditions in animal enclosures was also shocking,” he added. Shevale instructed the civic officials to clean animal enclosures and maintain cleanliness in the zoo.
Byculla zoo houses 175 mammals of 18 different species, 34 reptiles across 7 species and 495 birds of 38 species. The BMC has undertaken the make over project of the zoo, but it has been struck because of certain issues with the Mumbai Heritage Conservation Committee for more than two years.
Turin School’s burqa ban &
Can we blame Shiv Sena!
Rome: A government official in industrial northern Italian city of Turin has asked the local school board to stop fully-veiled women from picking up their children at school because it makes it difficult to identify them as the students’ true parents. The request by Maurizio Marrone-a member of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s conservative People of Liberty party- was prompted after Marrone and other mothers had seen some women dressed in full burqas picking up their children from an elementary school in Turin’s Barriera di Milano working class neighbourhood. Marrone went on to call the wearing of the burqa, the traditional dress of fundamentalist Islamic women, “damaging to the dignity of women”. Marrone also claims the burqa “slows down the process of integration” for immigrants.
Professional tax on lawyers
Mumbai: The Supreme Court has upheld the authority of Maharashtra State Tax on professionals, trades, callings and employment’s Act and the rules made thereunder that lawyers have to pay their professional tax. In a full house meeting of the Bar Council of Maharashtra and Goa held three weeks ago, it was resolved that if lawyers fail to pay their professional taxes, they would be facing a penalty of 50 per cent of the tax amount.
70 incidents of near-miss in 3 yrs
New Delhi: Nearly 70 incidents of near-misses were reported in the country in the past three years, the government told Lok Sabha and said that the reasons behind the October 23 plane crash at Mangalore airport were being examined. The civil Aviation Ministry, in a written reply to questions, said that nearly 70 incidents of air proximity (near misses) were reported in 2007, 2008 and 2009.
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