Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Reservations for Muslims in govt jobs subject to SC verdict


Hyderabad, May 25: The Andhra Pradesh government on Tuesday announced that extension of reservations for Muslims in government jobs and education will depend on the outcome of a writ petition in the Supreme Court even as it extended reservations for various backward classes for a further period of ten years.
"Extension of reservations for Muslims under Group-E of the quota system will be subject to the outcome of the writ petition pending before the Supreme Court," State Information and Public Relations Minister D K Aruna said.
Briefing newsmen at the end of the state Cabinet meeting, chaired by Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy here today, Aruna said the Council of Ministers decided to extend reservations in jobs and education to backward classes by a further period of 10 years. The existing quota system would come to an end this month.
The upper age limit in respect of BC candidates has also been enhanced by five years, she added.
"The extension of reservations will be applicable to Groups A, B, C and D. In respect of Group E (Muslims), the government will act as per the orders of the Supreme Court," the Information Minister said.
Asked if the reservations for Muslims were being kept "on hold" pending disposal of the case in Supreme Court, Aruna initially replied in the affirmative. But, later upon prompting by officials, she said, "We will implement reservations for Muslims but depending on the Supreme Court verdict."
The Congress government had in 2006 started implementing five per cent reservation for Muslims in jobs and education but after the Supreme Court struck the policy down, the government reduced the quota to four per cent. Even this provision has been challenged and a case in this regard is still pending in the Supreme Court.
--PTI

We have seen many Headleys: Bal Thackeray


Wednesday, 25 May 2011


Mumbai, May 25: Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thakckeray was on Tuesday night dismissive of Mumbai terror attack accused David Headley's testimony in a Chicago court that a plot was involving his handlers in Pakistan's intelligence agency ISI and terror outfit Lashkar-e-Tayiba was hatched to kill him.
Headley reveals plot to kill Thackeray
"We are not afraid of Headley. We have seen many such Headleys," Thackeray said in a statement.
He alleged that it was "due to Congress governments in the state and at the Centre that they (Headleys) are encouraged".
Thackeray said a a few Shiv Sainiks are enough for his security.
"My stance has been in the country's interest and it will continue to remain so", he added.
Giving his testimony on the second day of the trial of 26/11 co-accused Tawahhur Rana, a Canadian of Pakistani origin, Headley, a Pakistani-American who who had surveyed Sena headquarters in Mumbai in 2008, testified there was a plot involving his handlers in ISI and LeT to assassinate Bal Thackeray.
Headley also talked about the hatred against Sena among his Pakistani handlers.
Meanwhile, Sena PRO Rajaram Rege, the man Headley mentions in his testimony, said the Pakistan-American had told him that he wanted to visit the Sena Bhavan, to which he replied that he cannot do that because it was not a tourism spot.
"This particular gentleman came with one person called Vilas Vorat and asked me he would like to see the Sena Bhavan. So, I clearly told him that this is not a tourism spot and so you can't see the Sena Bhavan," Rege said.
He said he was at that time was not holding any post in Sena then but was a member of the party.
Rege said that Headley described him as a PRO of Sena "was his version and not my version".
"So many people come to the Sena Bhavan for work. So, I didn't find anything wrong in that because he (Headley) came with Vilas Vorat," Rege said.
--PTI--
(Courtesy:siasat.com

Read More

Budget airline goes for a Peach of an image


Wednesday, May 25, 2011

By MIZUHO AOKI

Staff writer
The operator of Japan's newest budget carrier announced Tuesday the airline will operate under the brand name Peach The company also changed its name to Peach Aviation Ltd. from A&F Aviation Co.
The company said it chose the name based on the fruit's Asian origin and because it invokes a youthful, energetic and generous image. To embody the image, the carrier's aircraft will be painted pink and fuchsia.
Based at Kansai International Airport, the low-cost carrier plans to start domestic flights next March, connecting Fukuoka and Sapporo. International flights between Kansai International and Seoul are expected to start next May.
The company said it plans to increase the number of employees from the current 50 to around 200 by the end of fiscal 2011.
The company aims to hire competent staff regardless of their nationality, CEO Shinichi Inoue told a news conference in Tokyo in the afternoon
Inoue declined to disclose the planned ticket prices but said they will be substantially lower than those offered by major carriers.
News photo
Bearing fruit: Shinichi Inoue, CEO of Peach Aviation Ltd., holds a model of the low-cost carrier's aircraft during a news conference to announce the brand name in Osaka on Tuesday. He later spoke at a separate news conference in Tokyo. KYODO
"It'll be meaningless if we don't offer the prices that no one has seen," he said.
The Kansai-based carrier was founded in February with a total investment of some ¥30 million from All Nippon Airways Co. and Hong Kong's First Eastern Investment Group.
With Innovation Network Corporation of Japan joining the group in March, ANA, First Eastern, and INCJ now hold 33.4 percent, 33.3 percent and 33.3 percent of the carrier's shares respectively.
Peach Aviation will be the first Japanese low-cost carrier to operate from Kansai International.
Courtesy:japantimes

Apollo Hospital completes 100 liver transplants


Plans to open centres in other metros

— Photo: K.V. Srinivasan 

Milestone:Apollo Hospitals Chairman Pratap C Reddy (right), felicitating senior consultant Anand Khakhar (centre), at a function in Chennai. Managing Director Preetha Reddy is in the picture.

CHENNAI: Apollo Hospitals, Chennai, has completed 100 liver transplantation surgeries, crossing a milestone in the group's own performance, as well as in the larger context of the State and National transplantation programmes.

The programme was started in 2008, and so far 102 liver transplantation surgeries have been completed. Of these, 22 organs came from living donors, and 80 from brain dead donors. A total of 13 transplants have been done on foreigners, 11 from living donors, and 2 from cadavers. The smallest patient to receive a liver transplant was 7 months old and weighed 5.5 kg, according to Anand Khakhar, senior consultant liver transplant and hepato-biliary surgery, Apollo Hospitals. He added that the presence of a dedicated team and a centre for paediatric liver transplantation made the difference. Enthused by the success of the Chennai unit, the hospital chain was also opening special centres in Kolkata, Hyderabad, Bangalore, and Ahmedabad.

Liver failure is a potentially fatal condition in which the liver progressively stops performing, leading to episodes of jaundice, accumulation of fluid in the body, bloody vomiting, and confusion.
Some of the causes include excess alcohol consumption, Hepatitis (B and C) infections, and certain auto-immune conditions, Dr. Khakhar explained.

Prathap Reddy, chairman, Apollo Hospitals, said it was necessary to celebrate the gesture of a family that is steeped in grief, but has consented to allow the organs of their kin to be donated.
It was clinical, and service excellence with team work that had helped achieve the kind of records the hospital had managed to, he added.
The focus would now be equally on teaching and research sectors as well, Preetha Reddy, MD, Apollo Hospitals, said.

Courtesy call



— Photo: DIPR 

Warm greetings:N. Ram, Editor-In-Chief,The Hindu greeting Chief Minister Jayalalithaa at the Secretariat in Chennai on Tuesday:Photo DIPR
Courtesy:The Hindu


Congress sympathises with Karunanidhi



2011-05-24 18:10:00
Last Updated: 2011-05-24 18:43:57


New Delhi: DMK chief M Karunanidhi on Tuesday wound up an emotional visit to the capital after Congress sympathised with his plight but distanced itself and the government from the 2G case in which his daughter Kanimozhi is in jail.

The two-day visit, essentially to meet his daughter, coming in the wake of electoral debacle, was conspicuous by his not having a meeting with Congress President Sonia Gandhi, a privilege he enjoyed for the last seven years since DMK and Congress tied up in Tamil Nadu.

After a half-hour meeting with Karunanidhi in the hotel where he was staying, senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad told reporters that "all these goings on did not affect the relationship between Congress and DMK and in future also it will have no effect whatsoever".

Azad, who is in charge of Congress affairs in Tamil Nadu, said they discussed the election results in the state where the Congress-DMK alliance suffered a shattering defeat.

Courtesy:Sify:PTI

KERALA CROREPATI MLAs AND ASSEMBLY MINISTERS LIST 2011


The first list of ministers who are elected to become part of the Kerala
Government Council of Ministers in the 2011 Cabinet.

An analysis of crorepatis both in UDF and LDF is also listed here.


Shri Oommen Chandy Kerala Chief Minister

Shri P. K. Kunhalikutty Minister for Industries

Shri K. M. Mani Minister for Finance and Law

Shri K. P. Mohanan Minister for Agriculture and Animal Husbandry

Shri T. M. Jacob Minister for Food and Civil Supplies

Shri K. B. Ganesh Kumar Minister for Forest, Environment and Sports

Shri Shibu Baby John Minister for Labour

Shri Aryadan Muhammed Minister for Electricity

Shri Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan Minister for Revenue

Shri Adoor Prakash Minister for Health and Coir

Shri K.C. Joseph Minister for Rural Development and Registration

Shri A.P. Anil Kumar Minister for Tourism and Cultural Affairs

Shri C.N. Balakrishnan Minister for Co-operation

Shri K. Babu Minister for Excise

Shri V. S. Sivakumar Minister for Transport and Devaswom

Kum. P.K. Jayalakshmi Minister for Welfare of Backward Communities

Shri V.K. Ebrahimkunju Minister for Public Works

Shri P. K Abdu Rabb Minister for Education

Dr. M.K. Muneer Minister for Social Welfare and Panchayats

Shri P.J. Joseph Minister for Water Resources





UDF CROREPATIS

PARTY                 TOTAL No MLAs   CROREPATIS       PER CENTAGE

IUML                           20                     12                       60

INC                             38                       9                        24 

KC(M)                           9                      5                         56
  
RSPB                            1                       1                       100

KCB                              1                       1                       100

KCJ                               1                       1                       100

SJD                              2                        1                         50


LDF  CROREPATIS

NCP                          2                        1                            50

CPI (M)                  45                        4                             9

CPI                         13                        0                            0

RSP                           2                       0                             0

JDS                           4                        0                            0

IND                          2                         0                           0


Source:myneta