DesiVartha.com

Operation X: It took only 15 minutes to execute Kasab
Views ::63

A special inspector general of police in Maharashtra and 16 handpicked men oversaw Operation X leading to the death by hanging of Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Kasab on Wednesday. The process was quietly initiated shortly after President Pranab Mukherjee rejected Kasab's mercy plea on November 5, official sources said.

The chosen team's mission was to hang and bury the 25-year-old Kasab in complete secrecy in Pune's Yerawada Central Jail, where he would be moved from Mumbai.

Once home minister Sushilkumar Shinde signed the file from the President's office on November 7 and sent it to the Maharashtra government the next day, the police team took charge.

Only a handful knew that Kasab would hang on November 21 morning.

These included Mumbai Police Commissioner Satyapal Singh, earlier the Pune police chief, and Meeran Borwankar, who heads the Yerawada jail, and those at the helm in the state intelligence department and Mumbai CID.

Yerawada is one of the two jails in Maharashtra--the other being Nagpur Central Jail--where hanging facilities are available. Pune's proximity to Mumbai played a role. An expert hangman was summoned.

On November 12, Kasab had been told of his impending hanging by a jail staff in Mumbai. According to chief minister Prithviraj Chavan, Kasab was quietly shifted from Mumbai to Pune on November 19.

He was taken on a special flight late at night to reach Pune early November 19 and whisked off to the Yerawada jail. He requested that his mother be informed, and indicated he had no last wish. He did not want to make a will or any final testament.

As state home minister R.R. Patil put it, after completing all legal niceties, Kasab was executed at 7.30am on Wednesday. Just 15 minutes later, the Operation X chief conveyed to the state home department that the task was "successfully completed". (IANS)

Molestation In Assam Vs Nude Pics In Playboy
Views ::235 A major ruckus is happening right now at a national level. This is the gruesome incident of molestation in Guwahati, Assam where a bunch of youngsters molested a young girl. While the heat is yet to die down, there is another ironical side to it which has its origin in India only.

On one side, there is this hungama about molestation, on the other side there are girls like Sherlyn Chopra going totally nude for playboy. The shameful incident on one Indian girl is creating nationwide buzz but at the same time when another Indian girl exposes herself completely no one is talking.

It is not to say Sherlyn should also get into headlines but the point is, more than having a uniform code of approach towards few things, the concentration of many is more on creating sensation. All this hungama will only make sense when all the molesters are arrested and punished severely for the rest of their lives. As for Sherlyn�well, it�s her choice so no comments. .

Councillor held for attack on minister's cavalcade
Views ::103 Muzaffarpur: A local councillor was arrested on Monday in connection with the alleged attack on the cavalcade of Bihar Revenue and Land Reforms Minister Ramai Ram in April this year.

Acting on a complaint lodged by the minister's aide Shashi Ranjan, Gupteshwar Prasad Singh alias Mukesh was arrested from Malshahi Nawada village in the district, police said.

The minister's cavalcade was attacked on April 20 by Singh and his supporters. Meanwhile, irate locals gheraoed the police station for several hours demanding Singh's immediate release but were later pacified by the police officials.
.

Man detained with live cartridges outside Nitish's residence
Views ::106 Patna: A man was detained on Monday outside Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's official residence after the security personnel, during the routine frisking of the visitors, found six live cartridges from his possession, police said.

During routine frisking of the visitors going to participate in Nitish Kumar's 'Janata Durbar' at his residence, Jitendra Kumar Rai was detained after he was allegedly found to have carried the cartridges along with him, SSP Amrit Raj said.

Rai, a native of Siwan district, was taken to the Sachivalaya police station for interrogation during which he claimed that he owned a licensed pistol.

The police was verifying Rai's license for pistol, the SSP said, adding that the latter runs a private clinic at Siwan town and had come to the Kumar's Janata Durbar with a complaint.

Meanwhile, Nitish Kumar declined to comment on the issue, saying that he was unaware of the development.
.

Akhil Gogoi discharged from hospital
Views ::115 Nalbari(Assam): Team Anna member Akhil Gogoi was discharged on Monday from hospital, where he had been admitted after being allegedly attacked by miscreants on Friday, while he claimed that he had been forcibly evicted from there.

Authorities at the Shaheed Mukunda Kakoti Hospital here said the peasant leader had been released as he had recovered.

Gogoi had earlier said that he wished to be in the hospital till the time all the six accused named by him were arrested.

The Team Anna member blamed the government of turning "a blind eye to the plight of the common people" who had lost their homes in the ongoing flood.

Meanwhile, official sources said the leader is being taken to Guwahati under tight security. A police contingent is accompanying the RTI activist, who is also the general secretary of Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti.

Gogoi was attacked by some miscreants while he had gone to visit flood-hit areas in Punni village under Dharampur Assembly constituency, represented by Assam Agriculture Minister Nilamoni Sen Deka.
.

Assam Chief Minister's son formally joins Congress
Views ::116 Jorhat: Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi's son Gaurav Gogoi on Monday officially joined the Congress at a brief and simple function here.

The 30-year old only son of the three-time Chief Minister was inducted into the party fold in Jorhat, the home town of the Gogois, in the presence of his uncle and Kaliabor MP Dip Gogoi, senior Jorhat district level Congress leaders and party workers at the Jorhat Assam Pradesh Congress office here.

Gaurav had applied for the party's primary membership on May 18 and his formal joining was kept simple due to the devastating flood that has created havoc in the state.

Speaking on the occasion, the junior Gogoi said that he was committed to work for the development of the people of his state and ''there is no other party like the Congress''.

''I have faith in myself that I can serve Assam and its people by joining the oldest party of the country'', he said.

Gaurav, who had campaigned for his father in the last 2011 assembly polls, had extensively travelled throughout the state during the last one and a half years.

A post-graduate in Public Administration from New York University, Gaurav has evinced keen interest in the agriculture and rural development sector of the state.

Gaurav left for the flood-affected areas of Nematighat and Jhanjhimukh to attend health camps organised by the party for flood victims.
.

Wild elephants kill one, damage crops and houses
Views ::96 Guwahati: A woman was killed by a herd of wild elephants while two other groups destroyed houses and cropland creating panic in different parts of Assam, official sources said Monday.

A 55-year old woman, identified as Golapi Baglari, was trampled to death by a herd of elephants in No-4 Amjuli village in Udalguri district when she was sleeping in her hut last night.

In another incident, a herd of five elephants damaged three houses, paddy fields and trampled tea plants in some small tea gardens in No:4 Rongbong village in Numaligarh area of Golaghat district.

A herd of 12 elephants strayed out of Dibru-Saikhowa National Park and created panic in Rohmoria, Kanaigaon and Mohanbari area of Dibrugarh district damaging crops and small tea gardens in the area.
.

Assam flood toll rises to 122
Views ::119 Guwahati: The overall flood situation in Assam remained grim with the death toll rising to 122 and large scale destruction of infrastructure, cropland and wildlife reported from different parts of the state.

A woman drowned in a tributary of the Brahmaputra in Barpeta district today taking the casualty figure to 122, official sources said.

So far 106 deaths had been reported due to floods and 16 due to landslides triggered by heavy rains, while 16 others were said to be missing.

Though the Brahmaputra and its tributaries were maintaining a receding trend, vast tracts of land were still inundated in 27 of the affected districts, the sources said.

An estimated population of 22 lakh has been affected in the worst ever flood in recent years causing large-scale devastation in 2809 villages with more than 2.55 lakh hectares of cropland completely inundated.

The agriculture sector has been severely affected by the current wave of flood with 50 per cent of crops lost in the flood-affected districts.

The current wave of flood has caused large-scale destruction in the world-famed Kaziranga National Park where more than 560 animals, including 14 rhinos, have perished.

The situation in the world's largest river island Majuli in Jorhat district was also grim with almost the entire island under water.

Assam Governor J B Patnaik reviewed the flood situation in Kamrup, Darrang, Sonitpur and Nagaon, while the Chief Minister visited severely affected Barpeta district.

Road services have been affected at 2847 places, while rail tracks damaged by landslides in the Lumding-Badarpur Railway division were yet to be restored.

An estimated five lakh people have taken shelter in 630 relief camps and 150 medical teams have been deployed to provide medical aid, while 30 camps have been set up for succour of cattle, the sources added.
.

Power transmission tower damaged in IED blast
Views ::84 An improvised explosive device (IED) allegedly planted by anti-talk faction of ULFA exploded at Borpathar in Assam's Sibsagar district on Sunday, damaging a power transmission tower of NEEPCO.

Police said three IEDs, weighing nearly a kg, were planted on the power transmission tower and one of them exploded this morning damaging the tower.

The other two IEDs were later defused by the army bomb squad, the police said.

The tower transmits electricity from Assam Power Generation Corporation Limited's Lakwa Thermal Power Station (LTPS) at nearby Maibella.

The police suspect ULFA anti-talk faction had caused the explosion to threaten the pro-talk faction of the outfit chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa, who hails from the area.
.

Kidnapped Assam forest officials released
Views ::77 Diphu (Assam): Chief Conservator of Forest Abhijit Rabha and Range Officer Ranjan Barua, who were abducted by KPLT militants, have been released near a highway at Bokolia in Assam's Karbi Anglong district.

Police said Rabha and Barua were released by the abductors late Monday night and they were rescued by the police officers of Bokolia police station.

Both of them were taken to a hospital in Diphu for treatment. Rabha is suffering from diabetes.

Assam government yesterday said that Karbi Peoples Liberation Tiger (KPLT) militants were behind the abduction of the two forest officers. They were missing for the past four days.

Rabha's mother Dipali and Barua's wife Herumai had appealed to the abductors for release of the two officials on humanitarian grounds.

The abductors had reportedly demanded a ransom of Rs one crore but details of whether they were released after payment of ransom amount is unclear.

The two officers were kidnapped on March 3 when they were returning from Sighasan Hills where they had gone with a 60-member delegation, including some Japanese botanists to conduct a forest department survey.

The delegates returned safely but the officials were abducted.
.

Assam records reduced maternal death ratio
Views ::105 Guwahati, Jan 29 : Assam's Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR), which was the highest in the country till last year, has drastically reduced, state Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said Sunday.

An increase in institutional child deliveries in the state has led to this, he said.

"In Assam, the institutional deliveries have gone up. This led to decrease in the rate of MMR. In 2006, there were only 66,000 institutional deliveries in Assam while we have recorded 420,000 institutional deliveries in the state last year," Sarma said.

He said he expected that the state would register about 470,000 institutional delivery till March 2012.

Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) and MMR had continued to worry the state government till last year despite the achievements made under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM). While the IMR was 58 per 1,000, the MMR in Assam was over 400 per 100,000 live births - the highest in the country, where the national average was 250 last year.

The new MMR rate will only be known in March, but is estimated to be much lower.

Alarmed by the high IMR and MMR last year, the central government had written to the state health department to take effective steps as well as to conduct a proper study to trace the real causes for the high MMR in the state.

The development comes as union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad is in the state to review the performance of the NRHM. The union minister is likely to inaugurate a health scheme here Monday.
.

India-Bangla trade must grow faster, says Pranab
Views ::106 Petrapole (West Bengal), Jan 21 : Stressing the need to further improve trade and commerce with Bangladesh, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee Saturday said India's decision to allow duty-free entry to a large number of items from it would help correct the trade imbalance.

"The political relations between the two countries are improving. There is now a need for faster growth of trade and commerce," Mukherjee said at this India-Bangla border post in West Bengal's North 24-Parganas district.

In November, India permitted duty-free entry of a large list of products from Bangladesh to substantially correct the trade imbalance.

"Overall, we export more to Bangladesh and import less from them," he said.

Bangladesh Finance minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith said India has reciprocated the Sheikh Hasina government's efforts to improve bilateral ties.

The two ministers attended the function where a car pass system was introduced for truck drivers and helpers engaged in export-import activities between the two countries.

It will facilitate easy loading and unloading of goods in the border areas and prevent unauthorised persons from crossing the borders.
.