Daily News (In Short)-21-July-2015

#* BJP veteran drops letter bomb, demands Lokpal within party

In his letter to party chief Amit Shah, former Himchal Pradesh CM Shanta Kumar referred to allegations in "some states".

In the first sign of discontent in the BJP, senior leader Shanta Kumar has dropped a letter bomb demanding a Lokpal’ in the party to tackle the cases of corruption like Vyapam which has “made all of us bow our heads in shame”.

The BJP veteran from Himachal Pradesh in his letter to party President Amit Shah also referred to allegations in “some states”, hinting to the controversy in Rajasthan surrounding Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje over Lalit Modi and Maharashtra where there are allegations of corruption against BJP Minister Pankaja Munde.

The 80-year-old former state Chief Minister has pressed for setting up an “ethics committee” which should act like a Lokpal to “keep a check on leaders in the government“.

“I have written the letter and I stand by every word of it. Our party has made glorious achievements. It won with glory, formed government and ran it for a year with glory.

After that stains have started to appear in places. With achievement, your head is held high. Stains cause pain in the heart,” he said on Tuesday.

Mr. Kumar said he has expressed his view and pain to the party president.

His two-page letter, written in Hindi and dated July 10, was posted on the Kangra MP’s Facebook and Twitter accounts on Monday.

Mr Kumar’s letter stated that when the Jan Sangh was formed, the emphasis was on “value-based politics“.

“Gradually, we came to power, and became a ruling party...people started making compromises with those values, and here began the politics of power,” he said in his letter.

However, Mr. Kumar praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Gujarat model of governance, which he said was an important factor for the overwhelming support the party received during the Lok Sabha polls.

“This was a historic victory under Narendra Modi because of his image and work in Gujarat,” he wrote.

"Stand by what I wrote"

In a latest development Mr. Shanta Kumar on Tuesday said he stands by the letter he wrote to BJP president Amit Shah saying the Vyapam scam had damaged the party’s image.

“The Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) journey has been a long one, during which it has achieved a lot, making members proud of it. However, when such incidents happen, it taints the party and hurts its members,” Shanta Kumar told reporters, referring to the Vyapam scam.

“I have just expressed my views through the letter. I stand by whatever I have written,” he added.

#* Hopeful that more and good decisions will be taken, says PM Modi as monsoon session begins

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday voiced hope that the Monsoon Session of Parliament will be fruitful and that promises made by "some political parties" during the last session to allow work on priority will be kept. Underlining that the all-party meeting on Monday was held in a "good atmposphere", he said the government's effort has always been to take collective decisions to push the country ahead in the path of development.
Image courtesy: FirstpostImage courtesy: Firstpost
"In the last session, some political parties had given the assurance that in the next session, some work will be done on priority. I am hopeful that good decisions and more decisions will be taken in this session," he told reporters in the Parliament complex on the first day of the Monsoon Session.
Modi thanked the MPs for their support during the Budget Session and hoped that all parliamentarians will contribute towards good quality debates and support the business and proceedings. Setting the stage for confrontation in Parliament, an all-party meeting called here yesterday had ended in a deadlock over controversies related to Lalit Modi and Vyapam scam even as the Prime Minister offered to discuss all issues.
The Prime Minister chose the occasion to remind parties that smooth running of Parliament is a "shared responsibility" though the government has to take initiative for it.
He appealed to them to utilise Parliament time for discussing all issues. While Congress has made it clear that it will not allow Parliament to function unless BJP leaders facing allegations quit, the government has asserted that there will be no resignations and that it will not give in to any ultimatum.

#* Micromax launches Yu Yureka Plus in India, priced at Rs 9,999

Micromax on Monday launched its third smartphone under the Yu brand. Yureka Plus, said to be the next-generation version of Yu Yureka smartphone, is priced at Rs 9,999.
 
The device runs on Cyanogen OS 12, based on Android 5.0.2 Lollipop. It features dual-SIM support, with slots for Micro-SIM cards (4G+3G). Yureka Plus also features Cat. 4 4G LTE connectivity.
 
The new smartphone's first flash sale will be held on Amazon India on Friday, ay 12 noon. Registerations for the sale opened on Monday.
 
Yu Yureka Plus has a 5.5-inch full-HD (1080x1920 pixels) IPS display, with Gorilla Glass 3 for protection. The smartphone runs on a 64-bit octa-core Snapdragon 615 SoC (MSM8939) clocked at 1.5GHz, coupled with Adreno 405 GPU, and 2GB RAM. 
 
It has a 13 MP autofocus camera with an LED flash. A front-facing 5 MP fixed-focus camera is also on board. 
 
Yu Yureka Plus comes with 16GB inbuilt storage and microSD card support (up to 32GB), with a 2500mAh battery.
 
The device will be available in white and moondust colours.

#* Singapore’s Temasek Holdings invests around $14 in Just Dial

This is not the first time for Temasek to invest in Just Dial Ltd but for the second time. Just Dial Ltd, “Which runs the India-specific local business listings site Justdial.com and is slowly morphing into an e-commerce marketplace,” says the report in VCCircle.

Singapore-based Temasek started to invest outside Singapore only in 2002-2003. It does not want to be called fund-raising as it funds from its own money and has its own balance sheet and pays taxes like a company. It makes investment through its own divestments or earning through dividends. Ravi Lambah, co-head of India, Africa and West India said, “When we started investing outside Singapore , we played for economic growth. So,first we went to China and then gradually moved to India. Initially, we did not have enough resources so we started with banks, as they are seen as proxy for economic growth.”

#* India villagers behead woman for 'witchcraft'

An elderly Indian woman accused of practising witchcraft has been stripped naked and beheaded by villagers in the state of Assam, police say.
They said that 63-year-old Purni Orang had been blamed for illness in the tribal settlement.
Seven people, including two women, have been arrested over her killing.
Police in Assam say nearly 90 people, mostly women, have been beheaded, burnt alive or stabbed to death after such accusations over the last six years.
Branding women as witches is particularly prevalent among tribal communities and tea plantation workers in the state.
People in a village in Sonitpur district were falling sick, and some of them "blamed Purni Orang for their condition", local police official Samad Hussain told BBC Hindi.
"After that they branded her a witch and killed her," Mr Hussain said.
In October, an Indian athlete Debjani Bora was severely beaten after being branded a witch in Assam.
Experts say superstitious beliefs are behind some of these attacks, but there are occasions when people - especially widows - are targeted for their land and property.

#* Mumbai: Major fire near Linking Road brought under control

A major fire erupted in one of the shops at Bandra west, Linking Road on Tuesday morning. The fire reportedly began at a shoe store on Linking Road. Because leather and plastic items caught fire, the flames spread quickly.
The fire has been brought under control, the fire officials have informed. No one is reported to be injured or trapped as the fire started when the shops were yet to open for business.

Fire which erupted in the basement shop of the shopping center that also houses a KFC outlet in the three storey structure covered the area in smoke and eight fire engines, four water tankers and 1 ambulance were rushed to the spot.

The city was lashed by heavy rains on Tuesday morning.

#* Japan annual defence paper shows increased worry over China

Japan emphasised China as a threat in escalating regional tensions in this year's annual defence report even as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government tries to convince the public of the need to pass legislation to give Japan's military a greater role.
The report, approved on Tuesday by the Cabinet, was delayed for more than a week as Abe's ruling party panel demanded mention of additional examples of China's "one-sided" maritime activities, such as undersea gas and oil development in the East China Sea.

Abe's ruling coalition has been pushing to pass highly contentious legislation allowing Japan's Self-Defense Force to fight for foreign militaries even when it is not under attack, while expanding its role in international peacekeeping.

China by far topped Japan's list of security concerns, taking up one-third of a chapter on global security trends covering eight countries and regions.

The 429-page white paper underscored that Japan's security risk had worsened overall and cited continuing missile and nuclear threats from North Korea and terrorist threats from the Islamic State group as examples.

The report raised concerns over China's recent reclamation work in the South China Sea, saying it had escalated regional tensions. The defence ministry report also added a new section that also refers to maritime activities elsewhere.

China has been building artificial islands in the vast, resource-rich area, alarming neighboring nations.

"China, particularly over conflicting maritime issues, continues to act in an assertive manner, including coercive attempts to change the status quo, and is poised to fulfill its unilateral demands high-handedly without compromise," the report said. "Japan is strongly concerned about China's actions, which we need to keep watching closely."

#* Net Neutrality Not on Our Radar Yet: Competition Commision

The Competition Commission of India said it is not looking into the issue of Net neutrality as of now because sectoral regulator Trai is yet to finalise its views on it.
 
"We are not concerned about Net neutrality at this point of time as the sectoral regulator is yet to firm up its mind... But we are keeping a watch on it and will act if it is found to be anti-competitive," CCI member MS Sahoo told reporters on Monday.

Net neutrality implies that equal treatment be accorded to all Internet traffic and no priority be given to an entity or company based on payment to content or service providers such as telecom companies, which is seen as discriminatory.

The neutrality debate flared up in India after telecom operator Airtel launched a platform, Airtel Zero, that was supposed to allow free access of some websites on its network. However, the companies were asked to pay Airtel for joining the platform.

The Competition Commission of India looks after anti-competitive practices of companies and various agencies.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has meanwhile started the consultation process on the issue of Net neutrality.

Last week, a Department of Telecommunications (DoT) Committee opposed platforms like Facebook's Internet.org that allow access to certain websites without mobile data charges, while suggesting that similar plans by Bharti Airtel be allowed with prior clearance from TRAI.

Asked whether the big e-commerce companies like Flipkart and others were abusing their dominant position, Sahoo said no anti-competitive practices could be found per se against them.

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