India asks US diplomats to return IDs
17122013
Diplomat row:
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In an escalating diplomatic row, India has asked the US to return IDs issued to all its consular officers posted in the country, a move which may be a precursor to reviewing immunity and benefits enjoyed by them as a protest to the treatment meted out to India’s Deputy Consul General in New York.
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“Government has asked the US to return the ID cards given to their consular officers posted in India,” Government sources told.
It is understood that the government intends to review the immunity and benefits enjoyed by US diplomats.
Significantly, the review comes after India reacted sharply to Deputy Consul General Devyani Khobragade being arrested and handcuffed in public in New York on visa fraud charges last week by summoning US Ambassador Nancy Powell and issuing a demarche in this regard.
The displeasure was also evident among leaders and officials of Indian government.
Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde today cancelled his meeting with a senior US Congressional delegation ostensibly as a mark of protest against the treatment meted out to Khobragade.
On Monday, Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar had cancelled her meeting with a senior US Congressional delegation due to the same reason.
National Security Advisor Shiv Shankar Menon, who also had a scheduled meeting with the five-member US team, did not meet them, apparently for the same reason.
The delegation comprised Congressmen George Holding (Republican – North Carolina), Pete Olson (Republican – Texas) David Schweikert (Republican – Arizona), Robert Woodall (Republican – Georgia), Madeleine Bordallo (Democrat – Guam).
39-year-old Khobragade, a 1999-batch IFS officer, was taken into custody last week on a street in New York as she was dropping her daughter to school and handcuffed in public on visa fraud charges before being released on a USD 250,000 bond after pleading not guilty in court.
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Srinagar experiences coldest night
17122013
Dal Lake Onto freeze
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Parts of the famous Dal Lake and other water bodies froze in Srinagar as the cold wave continued in Kashmir Valley where Srinagar city witnessed the coldest night of the season at minus 3.7 degrees Celsius.
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Srinagar city, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, witnessed the coldest night of the season as mercury dipped to minus 3.7 degrees Celsius as compared to Friday’s minus 3.5 degrees Celsius,a MeT Department official said in Srinagar.
The subzero temperature in the city for nearly a week now has resulted in partial freezing of Dal Lake and other water bodies.
Leh, in the cold desert of Ladakh, recorded a drop of over one degree in the minimum temperature from the previous nights seasons lowest of minus 13.0 degrees Celsius to settle at a low of minus 14.2 degrees Celsius.
This was the season’s lowest temperature in Leh which continues to remain the coldest place in the state.
The night temperature in the nearby Kargil town also decreased slightly to register a low of minus 10.8 degrees Celsius as against the previous nights minus 10.4 degrees C.
The minimum temperature in the tourist resort of Pahalgam settled at minus 6.6 degrees Celsius as against the previous nights minus 7.2 degrees Celsius.
The famous ski-resort of Gulmarg recorded a low of minus 2.4 degrees Celsius, an increase of three degrees from the previous nights minus 5.4 degrees Celsius.
Qazigund, the gateway town to Kashmir, recorded a minimum of minus 4.8 degrees Celsius as compared to minus 4.3 degrees Celsius the previous night.
Kupwara town in north Kashmir recorded a low of minus 4.3 degrees Celsius as against minus 5.1 degrees Celsius the previous night.
Kokernag in south Kashmir recorded a low of minus 3.6 degrees Celsius as against the previous nights minus 3.8 degrees Celsius.
The weather in Kashmir continues to remain dry except for a light snowfall at some places in the higher reaches on Wednesday and the MeT Department has said there would not be much change in it.
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Arab League chief to push for more cooperation in India
17122013
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The chief of Arab League Nabil el-Araby will arrive in India on Tuesday where he will meet top leaders and will sign a Memorandum of Cooperation to deepen economic and cultural relationship between the two.
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Araby will meet External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid and Vice President Hamid Ansari during his visit.
This will be Araby’s first visit to India since assuming the post of Secretary General of the Arab League.
Araby, former Foreign Minister of Egypt, was the Egyptian Ambassador to India in the early 1980s.
The new MOC and Executive Programme (EP) will represent a significant upgrade in the relationship between India and the Arab League.
Under the proposed EP, there will be an annual senior officials meeting in which senior diplomats from the 22 Arab members states will meet with their counterparts from India and every two years.
A Ministerial meeting between the Arab League and India will also be held under the new programme.
It also proposes an Arab-India Partnership Summit in the field of trade and investment, an Indo-Arab Cultural Festival, cooperation in the energy sector, agriculture, education and human resources, as well as the media.
A conference of the Presidents of prominent Indian universities with their counterparts in the Arab world is also being planned in Kuwait in 2014.
The Arab world is one of the largest partner of India with over USD 110 billion in trade
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Lal Thanhawla sworn-in as Mizoram CM
17122013
Lal Thanhawla, who steered Congress to a landslide victory in Mizoram, was sworn-in as Chief Minister by Governor Vakkom Purushothaman on Saturday.
He was sworn-in and administered oath of office along with his 11-member council of ministers at the Raj Bhavan in Aizawl.This is Lal Thanhawla’s second consecutive term and the fifth overall term as Chief Minister. Of the 11 Ministers sworn-in on Saturday seven are of cabinet rank and the rest are Ministers of state.
Two cabinet Ministers R Romawia and John Rotluangliana are new faces.
They served as speaker and deputy speaker respectively in the previous Ministry.
The other cabinet Ministers are R Lalzirliana, Lalsawta, H Rohluna, Zodintluanga and P C Lalthanliana.
The Ministers of state are Lalrinmawia Ralte, C Ngunlianchunga, Lal Thanzara and B D Chakma are Ministers of state.
Lalthanliana was a Minister of state in the previous Ministry, while Lal Thanzara, who is the brother of the Chief Minister, was a parliamentary secretary as was Lalrinmawia Ralte.
The other two ministers of state are fresh faces in the house.
Mizoram bucked the trend in the last round of assembly elections in five states with Congress retaining power by winning 34 of the 40 seats in the house, polls for which were held on 25th November.
Thanhawla first became the chief minister in 1984 when the party swept the polls defeating the then ruling People’s Conference Party led by Brig Thenphunga Sailo.
In the later part of 1986, he vacated the chair to enable erstwhile underground Mizo National Front leader Laldenga to be installed as chief minister in the MNF-Congress coalition interim government.
Thanhawla returned to power for a second time in 1989 when the Congress and MNF (Democrats) formed the government.
In 1993, he became Chief Minister for the third time when the Congress and Mizoram Janata Dal formed the government.
The Congress was defeated by the MNF in 1998 and in 2003. Thanhawla became Chief Minister for the fourth time in 2008.
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Kapil: Homosexuality ruling: Govt promises urgent steps
17122013
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The Govt on Thursday promised urgent steps to overturn the Supreme Court ruling declaring homosexuality as illegal amid indications that it could file a curative petition in the apex court.
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“We will have to change the law. If the Supreme Court has upheld that law, then we will certainly have to take firm steps. Change has to be made fast and any delay cannot take place. We will use all means available to make changes at the earliest,” Law Minister Kapil Sibal told reporters in New Delhi on Thursday in the wake of an uproar over the ruling.
Asked whether government could bring a legislation to amend section 377 of the IPC, he said at this stage “time is of the essence. We must decriminalise adult consensual relationships.”
Responding to questions on the options available with the government, he said “one of the opinion could be to bring it to Parliament at the earliest. The other opinion could be to approach the Supreme Court or take any other route. We will adopt the approach which will give us quick results.”
Finance Minister P Chidambaram said the Supreme Court ruling was wrong and all options would be looked at to set right the apex court order.
Terming the judgement “disappointing”, he said the court should have applied “current social and moral values” in the case.
He said the government should file a review or curative petition and that the matter should be heard by a five-bench judge.
Chidambaram, the former Home Minister, said the Delhi High Court judgement was a well-researched one which the Union government accepted and did not challenge in the Supreme Court.
He noted that the bench that gave the order, should have referred the matter to a five-judge bench and that the interpretation of law cannot be static.
When asked why the government did not amend section 377 while amending the rape laws in the wake of Delhi gang-rape incident, Chidambaram said the High Court judgment laid down section 377 only in a limited manner.
“They decriminalised homosexuality only among consenting adults and in private. Therefore, there was no need to amend section 377…section 377 can remain, because between two non -consenting adults it still remains a crime.
“So, there was no occasion to amend the section. And the amendment of the section was necessary only after the final announcement of the judgment. The case was pending in the Supreme Court and there was no occasion to amend it,” he said.
He said the government’s decision of not opposing the High Court judgement in the Supreme Court was also his party’s view.
Expressing similar views, Sibal said millions of people are effected by the judgement.
“And I don’t think we should expose those millions to section 377 of the IPC and we are very firm about this.”
He said in 21st century archaic laws of the nature that are reflected in section 377 should stay as part of the penal code.
“I think these laws must be reversed and contemporaty world do not accept the values of the 19th century.”
Responding to suggestions that flip flops by the government in the past had resulted in the SC verdict; Sibal insisted that there was absolutely no flip flop.
“In fact, the Attorney General appeared for us in the Supreme Court. He made elaborate arguments supporting the judgement of the High Court. He also filed written submissions and the Government of India took a very firm position that the judgement of the High Court needs to be sustained and this law is anachronistic and there is absolutely no flip flop as far as the Government of India is concerned.
“There will no flip flop in any event because we are absolutly firm on decriminalisation of adult consensual relationships,” he said.
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Updated on : 14-12-2013 08:32 AMEdit : Edit
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Centre’s approval not required in court-monitored probe: SC
17122013
Centre’s approval not required in court-monitored probe: SC
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The Supreme Court on Tuesday held that no approval from the Centre is required by CBI to prosecute senior bureaucrats in court-monitored corruption cases, strengthening the arms of the agency to go ahead against the officials without taking prior sanction from government.
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A three-judge bench headed by Justice R M Lodha cleared the deck for the agency to prosecute bureaucrats allegedly involved in coalgate scam without waiting for government’s sanction.
The bench passed the order in one of the applications filed in coal blocks allocation scam seeking its direction to do away with the provisions of prior sanction of the Centre in cases monitored by court.
“Sanction is not necessary under section 6A of the Delhi Special Police Establishment (DSPE) Act when the case under the Prevention of Corruption Act is monitored by court,” the bench said.
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SC ruled that same sex couples could face life in prison
17122013
Dear friends,
India’s top court has just ruled that same sex couples could face life in prison. But outrage is building and if we show how far the judges are out of step with society, we can help get a successful review of the case, and set love free again! Sign the petition:
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Two judges have just made same sex love illegal. ILLEGAL!! But if we act fast we can help reverse this backwards ruling.
Adults in India now face life imprisonment just because of who they love. Outraged, several groups are rushing for a review, and as one judge just retired, they could win. But only if enough people across India raise our voices before the review request is filed in the next few days.
Let’s help love conquer fear in India and demand that our justices recognise how far attitudes in India have come since the law was passed in 1860! Sign and share the petition below to make love legal, when 100,000 have signed we’ll take out prominent adverts to be sure we get the judges’ attention:
In 2009, the Delhi High Court made a landmark decision saying that sex between two consenting adults in private could not possibly be an offence. People rejoiced, hailing this as the beginning of a journey where love and identity would no longer be attacked.
But this week the Supreme Court shocked the country by overturning this ruling in an shocking and endorsing the 1860 colonial era law which says that gay sex is “unnatural, immoral and a reflection of a perverse mind.”
But this week the Supreme Court shocked the country by overturning this ruling in an shocking and endorsing the 1860 colonial era law which says that gay sex is “unnatural, immoral and a reflection of a perverse mind.”
How can love be a crime? This ruling is regressive and many fear the law will be used to target the some of the most vulnerable people in India. Now that one of the decision-makers is to be replaced, it’s possible the court would reverse its ruling. Sign the petition and embrace love!
In most of the world, gay rights have gone through a watershed decade. People everywhere are realising, if they hadn’t already, that love is love and deserves respect and protection. But this didn’t happen by accident — it happened because of conscientious communities like ours who called out injustice wherever we saw it. India is now the next frontier — let’s join together to stand up for love.
With hope and determination,
Meredith, Shreya, Alice, Alex, Dalia, Ricken and the entire Avaaz team
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