Daily News (In Short)-7-July-2015

#* Vyapam scam: SC to hear plea seeking CBI probe into scandal, deaths

The Supreme Court will hear on Thursday a plea by Congress leader Digvijaya Singh and three whistle-blowers seeking an apex court-monitored CBI probe into the Vyapam scam and the string of mystery deaths related to the examination and recruitment scandal.
An apex court bench headed by chief justice HL Dattu on Tuesday said these petitions would be taken up on July 9 along with two others seeking removal of Madhya Pradesh governor Ram Naresh Yadav so that he could be prosecuted for his alleged involvement in the scam.

Singh and the three whistle-blowers - Ashish Chaturvedi, Anand Rai and Prashant Pandey - while demanding for a SC-monitored CBI probe said they have no faith in the state agency Special Task Force that is probing the scam.

Read: Vyapam scam casts shadow: What next for MP CM Shivraj Chouhan

The multi-crore scam in Madhya Pradesh got murkier on Monday with a mysterious third death linked to the scandal but the Centre ruled out a CBI probe despite mounting pressure amid allegations of witnesses being deliberately eliminated.

Opposition parties called for the resignation of chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and demanded a Supreme Court-monitored CBI probe as the investigation into one of the country’s biggest corruption scandals spread to Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.

#* Woman Dies in Uttar Pradesh After Accusing Cops of Setting her on Fire

LUCKNOW:  At a hospital in Uttar Pradesh's Lucknow, a woman with severe burn injuries screamed in agony as she told reporters that she had been set on fire by two policemen. Nitu Dwivedi, the mother of a journalist, died this morning. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav has ordered an investigation into her allegations against the police.

"No one helped me...They all watched. These people used to harass me often. They did it four times. The fifth time, they poured petrol over me and did this," she told a magistrate and reporters.

She alleged that she had been abused, humiliated and then set on fire when she refused to pay a bribe of Rs. 1 lakh to free her husband, who had been picked up on Saturday night for questioning in case of a firing in a village in Barabanki.

The policemen, who have been suspended, claim she had tried to immolate herself. According to them, when she came for her husband Ram Narain, the police station in-charge, Ram Saheb Singh Yadav, and sub-inspector Akhilesh Rai, chased her away. In a fit of rage, they alleged, she set herself on fire at the gates of the police station.

The woman's husband has questioned that version. "The police took me away and said a murder case had been lodged against me. They told my wife to get money and pick me up. I don't know how much they wanted. I was sitting outside when she ran out, engulfed in fire. I and some others tried to save her. These people must have set her on fire. Who else could have done it?" Mr Narain said.

The woman's son works with a Hindi daily. Anticipating trouble over the incident, the police have posted additional personnel in the area.

In June, a journalist died in Shahjahanpur after he was allegedly set on fire by policemen. It was alleged that the murder was ordered by a state minister who was upset about the reporter's exposes on him. A forensic examination, however, said later concluded that the burn was self-inflicted.

#* Amartya Sen says Modi government ousted him from Nalanda University

New Delhi: Months after he withdrew his candidature as chancellor of Nalanda University, Nobel laureate Amartya Sen has now said that the Narendra Modi-led government wants to seize direct control over academic institutions.
Sen has candidly written about his exit from Nalanda University in a 4,000-word essay, which will be published in August issue of the New York Review of Books.

Ahead of the publication of the essay, Sen talked to a newspaper and hit out at the government for "extraordinarily large" interference in academia.

In an interview to Times of India, the Nobel laureate also expressed his worries about cut in budgets for health and education.

"I have never been anti-industry but no country can become an industrial giant with an uneducated and unhealthy labour force," Sen said.

Talking to the daily, Sen said: "I was certainly ousted from Nalanda”.

"Some members of the Board, especially the foreign members were keen on carrying on the battle for me but I stepped aside as I did not want to be an ineffective leader. The government may have held up finances or statues had I continued."

"Nalanda not a one off incident. Nothing in this scale of interference has happened before. Every institution where the government has a formal role is being converted into where the government has a substantive role."

Sen further noted that the government refused to ratify the director's appointment at the TIFR. Also, A Sethumadhavan was asked to resign as the Chairman of National Book Trust and an RSS ideologue was appointed instead, added Sen.

Dr Lokesh Chandra, who was appointed as the new president of Indian Council for Cultural Relations last year, believes that PM Modi was a greater personality that Mahatma Gandhi, said Sen.

Yellapragada Sudershan Rao, the current Chairperson of the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR), has not done any historical research and instead is someone who has written an article saying the caste system was wrongly blamed for being exploitative when it did a lot of good for India, claimed Sen.

"The Delhi IIT Director, Raghunath Shevgaonkar resigned, the IIT Bombay Board chairman, Anil Kakodkar, expressed that he could not help the government in anything in the future, for the IIMs they have introduced a bill where instead of having indirect power of withholding the signature which they did in my case or they did in Trivedi's case, now they would directly like to appoint the director. That's the new bill. Instead of having effective power, this becomes direct control."

Taking on the government for failing to understand that a market economy needs successful public services, Sen said: "India spends 1.2 percent of GDP on public healthcare, China spends 3 percent. Now even that 1.2 has been cut to 1 percent. There is confusion in India is wanting high growth rates like China but overlooking that China has improved public services dramatically. It has pretty much guaranteed healthcare for all, they have everyone in school, they have complete coverage. That has been the Asian pattern of development. You do it together: market economy and the state's role. The market economy needs a complentarity with the public services."

He further described NDA's Land Acquisition Bill as "comprehensively wrong".

What has gone wrong with this government is the fundamental understanding that human beings are at the centre of development, Sen said.

Notably, Sen on February 20 withdrew his candidature as chancellor of Nalanda University, alleging that the government does not want him to continue to head the prestigious multi-country initiative.

Sen, whose term as chancellor ends in July, was unanimously picked by the Nalanda University governing board at its last meeting January 13-14 this year.

He will be replaced by George Yeo, former foreign minister of Singapore.

#* Google’s Android App Might Get ‘Did You Mean’ Suggestions

Anyone using Google will testify that the ‘Did You Mean’ is a handy little tool to have around. The tool, based on statistical machine learning, offers suggestions based on an intelligent algorithm that detects possible typos, and you won’t be forgiven if you aren’t intrigued by the scale and performance of the algorithm.
But importantly, all of you would have used this feature only while searching on your PC web, and not on the mobile. Google is probably looking to change that. Similar to how it works on Google’s web version, the feature has been observed by a bunch of users in the drop-down interface of Google’s native android, before hitting the ‘Enter’ key.

However, the search giant seems to be applying this feature to its Android app in a rather unique manner. “Did you Mean” results on the Android app show up before pressing the ‘enter’ key itself, unlike in the case of PC Web where the suggestions are provided after the search is complete.

Google has been aggressively recreating its search (it’s core business) functions to maintain market leadership (even though it has a gargantuan 71% share already and its next closes competitor Bing, lingers at roughly 10%). In a bid to sound more socially relevant, Google’s search results now throw up links to your favorite brands’ social media profiles and even display real-time tweets.

Little changes like these may seem unimportant, but it is these little tools that improve the overall search experience. As of now, no official statement/confirmation has been received from Google’s side, but this feature, if rolled out across the rest of the platform, would surely prove to be an indispensable part of our lives, as is the case with most technological innovations these days.

I haven’t got the feature yet, but if you have, please share your experience with us in the comments section below! Meanwhile, we have mailed Google for more info on this, and will update this story once we get a response.

#* Germany refuses to let Greece off hook

The crisis in the eurozone was set to escalate on Monday night after the Germans said they could not write off Greek debts without offering financial assistance to Ireland, Spain and Portugal.
George Osborne, the Chancellor, on Monday urged Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, to consider backing down to ensure there was not a “disorderly exit” from the eurozone.
He said “the situation risks going from bad to worse” and warned that “Britain will be affected the longer the Greek crisis lasts and the worse it gets”.He suggested Britain could fly planeloads of euro notes to Greece to assist stranded tourists.
The Chancellor urged the Greek government and its European creditors “to be open to new offers and to be ready to sit round the table”.
However, in the wake of Greece’s decisive “no” vote in Sunday’s referendum on creditor proposals, the Germans believe that a new debt relief deal is impossible as other countries across the EU will then demand a bail-out.
Sigmar Gabriel, Germany’s deputy chancellor, said the single currency would not be able to cope if it had to give financial assistance to other countries across the EU if they found themselves in similar economic turmoil to Greece.Mr Gabriel said plans for humanitarian aid for Greece must now be drawn up amid fears the country could run out of fuel and food.
Mrs Merkel clashed on Monday with François Hollande, the French president, who wants Greece to be offered a generous deal.
Greek banks were pushed closer to the brink of collapse last night after the European Central Bank (ECB), the lender of last resort, demanded they put up more collateral in exchange for emergency loans. Paper is already running out in Greece and books may stop being published.
William Hague, the former foreign secretary, said that the Greek crisis was only the “beginning” and warned that the struggling economies of Italy and Spain could end up causing problems “for which Greece has only been a minor rehearsal”.
The leaders of all of Greece’s political parties last night backed far-Left leader Alexis Tsipras as he prepared to travel to Brussels to present a new proposal to the country’s creditors.

#* Zilla Parishad polls shows BJP losing ground among Maharashtra voters

The recently held Zilla Parishad polls in Bhandara and Gondia districts of Maharashtra indicates that the BJP is losing ground among voters in the state, while the performance of Congress and NCP, which were decimated in the Lok Sabha and Assembly polls, has improved.

The Nationalist Congress Party led by Sharad Pawar has emerged as the strongest party in the Gondia ZP poll after it won 20 seats, followed by the Congress, that won 16. In Gondia, NCP has gained 7 and the Congress has gained 6 seats this time. In 2010, NCP had won 13 seats out of total 53 whereas the Congress had 10 members. The BJP numbers have declined from 27 to 17 seats, thereby losing out on 10 seats. Shiv Sena could not win even a single seat in Gondia ZP election. In 2010 poll, Sena had won one seat.

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