Odisha, Boosting its air defence shield and revalidating operational efficacy, India today test fired successfully its indigenously-developed surface-to- air Akash missile from the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur, about 15 km from here. "The user-specific trial, which formed part of the country's routine air defence exercises, was successful," said a Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) official associated with the Akash missile project. To revalidate the technology and operational efficacy of the missile, defence forces conducted the trial with logistic support provided by the ITR, the official said. The Akash weapon system was inducted into the armed forces in 2008. The missile, which has a strike range of 25 km with a warhead of 60 kgs, was test fired from a mobile launcher from launch complex-III of the ITR at about 1108 hours, defence sources said. "During the trial, the missile was aimed at intercepting a floating object supported by a pilotless target aircraft, flown from launch complex-II, at a definite altitude over the sea," the sources said. Akash, an anti-aircraft defence system, can simultaneously engage several targets with Rajendra radar ...
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New Delhi, Pradeep Shukla, senior IAS officer and former principal secretary (health) of UP government, allegedly pocketed crores in the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) scam. Documents available with TOI show that around Rs 4.50 crore was allegedly paid to Shukla, one of the main accused in the scam, and a few other officials of Uttar Pradesh Project Corporation Limited (UPPCL) by private companies, including Surgicoin Equipment Pvt Ltd, to bag the contract to set up modular operation theatres and air condition handling units in 36 hospitals in the state. Shukla was arrested by the CBI on Thursday. He allegedly used his official position to help Surgicoin bag the contract and was given Rs 1.25 crore as advance. In this particular contract, Rs 26.66 crore was given to Surgicoin for upgradation work and there was a loss of Rs 25 lakh per hospital to the exchequer as the tenders were invited in a manner to suit the company. The advance bribe money was allegedly collected by a Delhi-based conduit of Shukla - Ashok Vajpayee. "Girish Malik and Manvender Chaddha of Surgicoin approached Shukla and requested him to influence UPPCL officials so that upgradation work was ...
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Bhubaneswar, India Friday tested a ballistic missile interceptor from a defence base in Odisha to create a shield against incoming enemy missiles, a senior defence official said. The indigenous Advanced Air Defence (AAD) interceptor missile was fired from Wheeler Island off the state coast near Dhamra in Bhadrak district, about 170 km from here. It successfully destroyed an incoming ballistic missile - a modified variant of the Prithvi fired from the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur on sea in Balasore district, about 70 km away from Wheeler Island. "The interceptor directly hit the target and destroyed it," S.P. Dash, director of the test range, told IANS. The interceptor was fired a few minutes after the target missile was fired. ...
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Bangalore, The government will promote Indian systems of medicine, including ayurveda, siddha and unani, and therapies like yoga and naturopathy through its National Rural Health Mission (NRHM). "The government will give impetus to yoga and naturopathy through the Indian system of medicine to prevent and cure various forms of ailments under the rural health mission, union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare S. Gandhiselvan said here late Thursday. Unveiling 'Arogya Expo 2012', a five-day trade fair showcasing health products made from natural remedies, at Bangalore Palace grounds in the city centre, Gandhiselven said Indian yoga and naturopathy had become popular worldwide. "As part of the NRHM, Indian medicines will be used at primary health and community centres to address health problems of the people in rural areas across the country. Similarly, use of yoga and naturopathy will be encouraged to benefit from their unique and holistic healing methods," Gandhiselvan said. Admitting that for a population of 1.2 billion, the number of practitioners of Indian medicine and homeopathy at about 600,000 was inadequate, the minister said that the government ...
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New Delhi, The Indian Army successfully test-fired its nuclear capable Agni A1-06 strategic ballistic missile from the test range at Wheeler Island off the Odisha coast on Thursday morning. The missile was launched from a Road Mobile Launcher System and reached the target point in the Bay of Bengal. It was tracked by radar andtelemetry stations located along the coastline. Two Naval Ships located near the target point tracked the missile in the terminal phase of the flight. The missile, indigenously developed by DRDO, is already in the arsenal of Indian Armed ...
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Beijing, Some 1.3 million Chinese will compete for 18,000 civil servant posts in various government departments over the next two days, Xinhua reported. On Saturday, candidates will give exams for posts in the China Banking Regulatory Commission and for vacancies requiring foreign language efficiency. On Sunday, they will take the general exam. About 88,000 applicants are from Beijing. The city has adopted various measures to prevent cheating in the exams. For the first time, devices were installed near the exam sites to block mobile phone signals so that candidates will not be able to use them for ...
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Armed Forces were requested to prepare a comprehensive coherent policy paper on induction of Women, which has been submitted to the Ministry in August 2011. The policy paper has been considered by the Ministry keeping in view the role and responsibility of the Armed Forces in defending the nation and protecting the territorial integrity of the-country. Based thereon, a Government letter has been issued on 11th November, 2011 inter-alia laying down policy on induction and employment of women in Armed Forces as under: (i) Women Officers may continue to be inducted as Short Service Commission Officers` (SSCOs) in Branches/Cadres where they are being inducted presently in the three Service`s; (ii) Women SSCOs will be eligible for consideration for grant of permanent commission along with Men SSCOs in specific Branches in the three Services viz. Judge Advocate General (JAG) and Army Education Corps (AEC) of Army and their corresponding branches in Navy and Air Force; Naval constructor in Navy and Accounts branch in Air Force, as specified in Ministry`s letter No:12(i)/2004-D(AG)Pt.Il, dated 26th Septembet,2008;` (iii) In addition to the above, in the Air Force, women SSCOs will ...
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Chandigarh, February 2 (Doaba News Service)- The Punjab and Haryana High Court has found fault in the selection of six IAS officers from the PCS. The affected include two Deputy Commissioners. They will continue at their present postings till the fresh decision is taken to carry out selections. The officers are Gopal Krishan Singh; Dharam Dutt; Sukhjit Singh Bains; Yashveer Mahajan; Inderjit Singh and Karamjit Singh. Allowing a petition by PCS officer Parveen Kumar, the high court today quashed the combined eligibility list of the state civil services officers dated August 7, 2008. Justice MM Kumar and Justice Jitendra Chauhan also quashed notification dated August 13, 2008, issued by the Union Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, (Department of Personnel & Training), “making appointments of the members of the state civil service of Punjab to the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) for the select list years 2007”. In his petition, Kumar had asserted that he was born on February 17, 1952. On April 23, 1986, he was inducted into the Punjab Civil Service (executive branch). He attained the age of 55 years on February 17, 2007, and his date of superannuation ...
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Jalandhar, February 2 (Doaba News Service)- Ignoring the guidelines of the Union Ministry of Rural Development, the Punjab Government has failed to appoint ombudsman under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) even after five months. The Union Government had asked the Punjab Government to appoint ombudsman for the redressal of grievances of the job card holders, engaged in different projects under the NREGA, in the state. In an order dated September 7, 2009, Amita Sharma, Joint Secretary (NREGA), had directed different states and Union Territories to appoint ombudsmen so that the grievances be redressed in a time-bound manner. The Union Government has also directed the states to set up offices of the ombudsmen within three months from the date of issuance of the order. The government has also said that expenditure incurred for this purpose would be met out of the provision for the administrative expenditure under the scheme. The union government had decided to appoint the ombudsmen after massive grievances arose with regard to the implementation of the scheme across the country. Talking to The Tribune, DR Karnus Raju, NREGA Commissioner, Punjab, claimed that ...
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Chandigarh, January 29 (Doaba News Service)- Farmers in Punjab are in danger of being charged full tariff for running their tubewells from March. The Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission (PSERC) has informed the state government that it will invoke Section 65 of the Electricity Act, 2003, in case the government does not pay the entire subsidy due to the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) by the first week of March. The government owes the PSEB Rs 1,038 crore as of January 1 this year. Besides this the government has not paid Rs 386 crore due to the PSEB on account of excess interest paid by the board on government loans as well as interest levied on the delayed amount of subsidy for the previous years. The PSERC in a letter to the government recently has made it clear that it will invoke Section 65 of the Electricity Act, 2003, as well as charge penal interest on the delayed amount of subsidy in case the government does not liquidate its entire liability towards subsidy payment to the board by the first week of March. Section 65 of the Electricity Act states that in case subsidy is not paid as directed by the commission, the order of the government for giving ...
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Chandigarh, January 24 (DNS)- War against drugs in Punjab has started showing encouraging results as this border state alone accounted for 60 per cent of country’s total seizures made under the NDPS Act during the past six months. Recoveries have only been a tip of the iceberg as the malaise has penetrated the state much deeper. How many of those arrested with contrabands are convicted will depend upon judicial scrutiny of all these seizure cases. Interestingly, spurt in seizures followed announcement of a performance-appraisal system by the Deputy Chief Minister, Sukhbir Singh Badal, a couple of months ago. And many of the enterprising district police chiefs were quick to get on the bandwagon of those trying to impress the new Home Minister with huge seizures that till a few months ago were a rarity. Otherwise, not many of serious cases of heinous crime have been solved that expeditiously as have been the narcotics smuggling cases. Though aberrations and wrongful projections of performances may not be ruled out in the race to capture special cash prizes given to outstanding performers, there has been a considerable change in the attitude of the police towards drug ...
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Amritsar, January 22 (Doaba News Service)- There is immense scope for improvement of bilateral ties in fields of nuclear technology, education, pharmaceutical goods and trade with India. Canadian MP from the Mississauga-Erindale constituency Bob Dechert stated this while on a visit to the Golden Temple yesterday. “We are working for better relations with India,” he said. He was honoured by SGPC officials, led by SGPC publicity wing in charge Bhai Ram Singh, with siropas and pictures of the Golden Temple. “I feel myself to be amidst a celestial atmosphere at the Golden Temple. It is an epitome of spirituality,” said Bob. Expressing concern over rising number of unscrupulous travel agents in India, particularly Punjab, Bob said his government was likely to come out with a list of genuine travel and educational consultants, so as to save gullible people desirous of going to Canada from any inconvenience. However, Bob said Punjabis were welcome to Canada since they have contributed a lot towards the improvement of the economy of his country. ...
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Jalandhar, January 22 (Doaba News Service)- Hold your breath for a while. The Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB), which is in dire fiscal straits, wants a whooping increase of about 51 per cent in the existing tariff across the board for all consumers to meet its aggregate revenue requirement (ARR) for the next fiscal year (2010-11). For the current fiscal year, the increase in the tariff, ordered by the Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission (PSERC) was in the range of 10-12 per cent for various categories of consumers to generate a revenue of Rs 759 crore to meet its ARR. The PSEB has pegged a cumulative revenue gap of Rs 6,575 crore in the petition submitted to the PSERC for the next fiscal year and has prayed to the commission to raise the tariff accordingly to realise the amount from the power consumers. The commission has sought objections from the public on the petition. How the commission would deal with such a huge increase in the tariff, it remains to be seen. Already, there is a difference of opinion in the PSEB and the commission over the consumption of power in the farm sector. The commission had last year reduced the projected consumption in the farm ...
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Jalandhar, Jan.22 (DNS)- Keeping alive the tradition of Academic Paper Presentation, teachers of CT Public School participated today in the sixth phase. It not only created aplomb but also updated the teaching faculty and enhanced their knowledge in numerous specific fields. At the very outset, Mrs. Anuradha Sharma presented her paper on “Educational Reforms”. She spoke on the Reforms made for class X by the Human & Resource Development Minister, Mr. Kapil Sibal and enlightened the teaching faculty regarding the changes done by him in catering quality education to the students throughout India, and how they can be benefited by these reforms. There after, the next academic papers were presented by Miss Pooja Sharma from English Department. She spoke on the topic Library – and its uses in modern era. Miss Pooja made the audience aware regarding the role of library, its usage by teacher and taught, its history, computerization of library, clipping management, its functioning etc. She accentuated up on the role of librarian in schools and colleges, as librarian is a one who can inculcate reading habits amongst the student community. The Principal of the school, Mrs. ...
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Chandigarh, January 19 (DNS)- Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal yesterday asked the Financial Commissioner, Taxation, the Financial Commissioner, Development, and the Secretary, Mandi Board, to carry out a joint study to make recommendations for slashing the tax liability on cotton ginning mills. An assurance to this effect was given by Badal to a delegation of the Punjab Cotton Factories and Ginners Association led by its president, Bhagwan Bansal, at a meeting at Punjab Bhawan here today. Responding to the demand to waive the market fee and Punjab infrastructure development cess on cotton, the Chief Minister assured the delegation that the demands would be examined by the joint committee before taking a final decision in this regard. The CM also directed the Excise and Taxation Department to keep a strict vigil on the illegal buying of cotton by traders of ...
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Chandigarh, January 19 (DNS)- Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today asked the Deputy Commissioners to be liberal while considering the pending cases of the fresh applicants of 1984 riots- affected families, who could not apply for seeking relief under the 'rehabilitation package' announced by the Government of India. Chairing a high-level meeting to review the progress of implementation of the rehabilitation package to provide relief to the victims of 1984 riots here at Chief Minister's residence yesterday morning, Badal directed the Deputy Commissioners to consider all fresh cases of these applicants with an open mind so that they could be given adequate relief as per the Centre's policy. Badal directed the officers to consider suitable documents as sufficient proof of residence submitted by these claimants. The Financial Commissioner Revenue informed the Chief Minister at the meeting that the Punjab government had invited fresh applications from the victims of 1984 riots who could not apply earlier due to some unavoidable circumstances, positively by January 31, 2010. ...
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