New Delhi, Jul 3 (PTI) Just 4.6 per cent of all rural households in the country pay income tax while such households with salaried income are close to 10 per cent, the first Socio Economic and Caste Census released in eight decades said today.

The percentage of Scheduled Caste (SC) households paying income tax was 3.49 per cent while Scheduled Tribe (ST) tax-paying rural households were mere 3.34 per cent, the Socio Economic and Caste Census 2011 said.

Releasing the Census, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the data will help in better targeting of government policies.

“The enormity of schemes and reaches that all governments have, this document will form a basis of helping us target groups for support in terms of policy planning,” he told reporters here.

He said the document will reflect the reality of India and be a very important input for all policymakers both for the central and state governments.

This is the first Census released after 1932 and contains various details with regard to specific regions, communities, caste and economic groups and measures the progress of the households in India.

“It is after 7-8 decades that we have this document after 1932 of the caste census. It is also a document which contains various details … who are the ones who have qualitatively moved up in terms of life, which are the ones both in terms of geographical regions, social groupings which in future planning needs to be targeted,” Jaitley said. .

New Delhi: The Kandahar hijack was “goofed up” as no one wanted to take a decision fearing loss of life, according to former RAW chief AS Dulat.

Dulat, who was a member of the Crisis Management Group handling the 1999 hijack of the Indian Airlines IC 814 plane, said they could not decide that the plane should not leave Amritsar.

“Let me say, we goofed up… what was upper most in everybody`s mind was security of the people,” Dulat said on the Kandahar hijack during an interview on a news channel on Thursday.

“So instead of giving out clear instruction to Punjab police, which was incharge on ground there… nobody was willing to say this plane should never be allowed to leave Amritsar. That nobody said, because nobody was willing to take that call. Everybody thought what will happen if people die,” he said.

The former RAW chief also said that initially the terrorists wanted 105 terrorists to be freed.

“It happened on 30th December, finally a call was taken to release three militants… Initially, they wanted 105 then it came down to 35, to 15 and finally our team that had gone to Kandahar managed to bring it down,” he said.

He also said two of the three terrorists were in Jammu and Kashmir and then chief minister Farooq Abdullah was angry about letting them go.

At least 30 persons were killed after a series of landslides, triggered by overnight torrential rain, hit different parts of the Darjeeling hills.

According to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, 22 persons died in popular tourist destination Mirik, while 6 in Kalimpong and 1 each in Sukhia and Gorubathan. “Eight persons are missing after the landslide — 6 in Mirik and 2 in Kalimpong,” Ms Banerjee said.

Following heavy torrential rain, the loose land mass washed away and came down along the steep, rocky walls. In the process the rocky land mass had either swamped the wooden houses on the slope or fell on areas with human habitation. Mirik block and Kalimpong subdivision bore the brunt.

According to locals, a school student was killed in Lava, Kalimpong, while 19 others were killed at various locations in Mirik. Four persons were reportedly killed in Mahendra village. Many also died in Tingling Limbu village in Mirik. According to locals, at least 15 people are reported missing at 8 Mile and 11 Mile areas in Kalimpong, PTI reported.

Death toll to rise

A resident of Darjeeling and Editor of Himalayan Times, Sandip Jain told The Hindu that the death toll is expected to climb sharply.

“So far we are getting reports from towns but the death toll is going to increase as rescue workers reach rural areas,” said Mr Jain. In several parts of the hills electricity and internet and telephone connections are down. “The immediate task should be to restore road connectivity along with electricity and telephone connectivity,” Mr. Jain added. Mr Jain said that the majority of those killed in Mirik are tea garden workers.

Locals recovered the bodies and rescued the injured, put them in hurriedly made bamboo stretchers and carried them to the nearby health centres. “The hospitals and the local health centres are working overtime to accommodate patients who have now started coming from far-flung areas,” said Jorao Tamang of Kalimpong. Acute shortage of medical or para-medical staff and facilities has also been reported by the locals.

Ms. Banerjee said that rescue operations were called off in the evening due to inclement weather and would resume on Thursday morning. Travelling by road and train from Farakka in North Central Bengal, Ms. Banerjee arrived in Darjeeling and has promised Rs7,00,000 for the deceased family. She along with S.S Aluwaliah and Central Minister for the North East MRittiju have visited the affected areas. A lot of relief materials is expected to be distributed in the affected zones.

The leader of Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha (GJMM) Bimal Gurung, who also heads Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA), visited the hospital to meet the people injured in the incident.

Nepal quake impact

“Landslides in Darjeeling hills are not uncommon during monsoon but the recent earthquake in Nepal had affected the internal rock structure of the hilly region. The increased magnitude of the landslides and the large region it covered is a reflection of that,” Tuhin Ghosh, a Jadavpur University faculty member and an expert in disaster management, told The Hindu.

In the plains also heavy rainfall resulted in parts of Jalpaiguri district being inundated. The water released from the Teesta barrage added to the woes of people.

The Jalpaiguri district administration has sounded a red alert as the Teesta and Torsa rivers touched danger levels.

New Delhi, Jun 28 (PTI) A Delhi court has acquitted nine persons, accused of beating their relative after he refused to transfer a plot of land in their name, saying his deposition was suffering from serious lacunas and he had motive to falsely implicate them.

Metropolitan Magistrate Dhirendra Rana let off the accused persons, saying that lacunas in complainant Girdhari Lal’s deposition had shaken the foundation of the prosecution case.

The accused acquitted in the case include Kishore, Ravi, Devi Dayal, Ramesh, Deepak, Mukesh, Heera, Monu and Parkash, all residents of west Delhi.

“Law is settled that a person can be convicted on the basis of single and sole testimony but that deposition is to be weighed by the court and court has to segregate chaff from the grain,” the court said.

“The deposition of this witness (Lal) is suffering from various and serious lacunas which has shaken the foundation of the prosecution case,” it said.

The court also said that it was highly unnatural and improbable that Lal, after being beaten by nine persons, received only simple injuries during the incident.

“Complainant (Lal) has a motive to falsely implicate the accused persons on account of property dispute pending between them. Presence of motive to falsely implicate when kept in light with the facts… gains significance in this case,” it said.

According to the prosecution, the accused persons asked Lal to transfer the plot in their names and when he refused the same, they beat him up with iron rod, sticks, hockey etc.

and he suffered simple injuries.

The FIR claimed that there was property dispute between the complainant and accused persons and parties were related to each other.

Mumbai: A local train on Sunday rammed into the dead end at Churchgate railway station here, leaving a woman seriously injured and disrupting suburban train services on the Western line.

The fast train coming from Bhayander rammed into the dead end on platform no.3 of Churchgate station at around 11.25 AM when the motorman could not stop the local.

As a result, the first coach of the train jumped onto the south-end concourse of the platform and was seen lying in a tilted position.

The reason for the motorman not being able to halt the train was yet to be ascertained.

“It would be premature to speak about the cause of the accident. The exact reason can be ascertained only after proper investigation,” Western Railway’s (WR) chief PRO Sharat Chandrayan said.

WR General Manager SK Sood and Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) Shailendra Kumar along with other senior officials reached the spot and launched restoration operation of the suburban services.

“We are enquiring with the motorman, L S Tiwary, who received mild injuries, and as per the normal procedure, we would also be checking whether he was under the influence of alcohol,” said another senior official involved in the process of investigation.

The impact of the train’s collision with the platform’s dead end was so huge that the wheels of the first coach got hanged into the air, ripping apart all the technical equipment in its lower part and also the overhead wire.

After the incident, services originating from and terminating at platform no.3 were suspended till the restoration of services, Chandrayan said.
The injured woman was admitted to hospital, he said.

The mishap affected the train services which were running late by almost an hour.

“I boarded the train at Vile Parle station at 12.15 PM which reached Churchgate at 2 PM when it should have ideally reached by around 1 PM,” said Manisha Rege, a media professional.

Commuters were seen clicking pictures at the site from their mobile phones.

“It looked like a scene from a Bollywood film. I wonder what would have happened to those who were in the first coach,” said commuter Kirti Khot at the railway station.
PTI

A team of 190 trained commandos and officers of the elite Special Security Group (SSG) of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) will provide a Z-plus security cover to Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat.

The elaborate security cover means that Bhagwat will enjoy a level of security next only to those of the Prime Minister and the President.

It would also make Bhagwat the only non-constitutional and non-political figure to be protected with such a security blanket.

Following heightened security threats to Bhagwat, the Union home ministry had ordered the CISF to take over the responsibility of protecting him, said a source.

In 2006, the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) had made a failed attempt to attack the RSS headquarters in Nagpur. A review done by security agencies indicate that Bhagwat is also on the hit list of many terror outfits, said a police officer.

So far, the Maharashtra police and the State Reserve Police Force (SRPF) were providing round-the-clock security to Bhagwat and the RSS headquarters in Nagpur. However, from June 10, the CISF will take over the entire security detail, said the source.

The 190-member-strong team will be permanently stationed in Nagpur. An officer of the rank of Assistant Commandant will head the team and will be assisted by six other officers. All others in the team will be specially trained commandos.

These commandos will be drawn from SSG, which is trained on the same level as the black cat commandos of the National Security Guard (NSG).

According to sources, these commandos are military-trained and are experts in dealing with the most sophisticated weapons. They are also trained in martial arts and unarmed combat.

The commandos will be armed with MP5 and AK-47 rifles. They will also carry Glock pistols.

A team of 45 commandos will escort and guard Bhagwat round-the-clock and whenever he is travelling. There will also be a custom-built BMW, which will be bullet-proof and bomb-proof, and equipped with mobile jammers. His entourage will include four SUVs, which will carry armed commandos and state-of-the-art surveillance and security equipment.

When Bhagwat is scheduled to travel outside Nagpur, a team of 20-22 personnel will first travel to the destination a couple of days ahead and take over security. The team will sanitise the entire area and secure it. When Bhagwat reaches the destination, the commandos will escort and guard him till he returns.

Sources informed that a proposal to upgrade Bhagwat’s security was sent to the home ministry a year ago, and, finally, the home ministry has cleared it now.

CISF is a premier paramilitary force in the country. It has been entrusted with the duty to secure and guard some of the most vital installations in the country, including airports, seaports, Delhi Metro, government buildings, heritage structures like the Taj Mahal and nuclear power plants. It also guards about 40 high-risk individuals.

Darjeeling- A Kolkata court on Saturday issued arrest warrants against Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) president Bimal Gurung and 22 other leaders, giving the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) 20 days to execute the warrants. The development is likely to send ripples across political circles in the Darjeeling hills, where the Morcha enjoys overwhelming dominance.

Madan Tamang was hacked to death at Upper Clubside in the heart of Darjeeling town on May 21, 2010 when he was overseeing preparations for a public meeting. On May 29 this year, the CBI charged the 23 leaders with murder, criminal conspiracy and rioting with deadly weapons.

Normally, a charge sheet is followed by a prayer by the investigating agency seeking specific proceedings against those charged. In this case, the CBI charge sheet was not accompanied by such a prayer.

The court asked the CBI’s investigating officer to appear before it on June 6 (Saturday) and spell out what action was sought – summons or arrest warrants. On Saturday, the CBI counsel sought arrest warrants, which were issued by the court.

Those charged include Gurung, who is also the chief of Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA), his wife Asha, GJM MLA from Kalimpong Harkabahadur Chettri, assistant general secretary of GJM Binoy Tamang, GTA chairman Pradeep Pradhan and deputy chief executive of GTA Colonel Ramesh Allay, among others.

On August 21, 2010, prime accused in the case Nickole Tamang had disappeared mysteriously from Pintail village near Siliguri, where he was held by the CID for interrogation. His wife Pema Tamang moved a habeas corpus writ petition before the Calcutta High Court that her husband be traced. He is yet to be found.

The high court had then directed the CBI to take up the Madan Tamang murder case as well as the Nickole Tamang disappearance case.

T

Ballia (UP), Jun 7 (PTI) A local court has awarded 13 years imprisonment to a man and his parents in connection with a 13-year-old dowry death case.

Additional district Judge, Amarpal yesterday awarded 13-year imprisonment to Dhananjay Pandey, his father Babban and mother Manki devi, for killing his wife Rekha over dowry.

According to victim’s father, her husband and in-laws were demanding dowry and when their demands were not met they killed Rekha by strangulating her on May 17, 2002.

Kathmandu, Jun 7 (PTI) A mild tremor was felt in Kathmandu Valley and other districts of Nepal this morning as life is limping back to normal in the quake-hit country.

A 4.6-magnitude tremor was recorded at 11.02 am with epicentre at Sindhupalchowk district, according to National Seismological Centre.

With this, a total number of 301 aftershocks with 4 and more magnitude have been recorded after the April 25 earthquake that killed nearly 9,000 people and displaced thousands others.