India Abroad - August 5, 2011

THE WEEK THAT WAS
2G case: Raja’s flip flop
Former Indian telecommunication minister Andimuthu
Raja told a Delhi court that he did not seek to implicate
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and then finance minis-
ter Palaniappan Chidambaram in the 2G case. Raja, who
had earlier stated that the two were aware of the sale of
equity by 2G spectrum licensee telecom firms, blamed the
media for misquoting him.
Lokayukta report: Minefield for
Yeddyurappa
Kashmir: Army man held for
misbehaving with schoolgirl
An Indian army trooper was detained July 25, for
allegedly misbehaving with a schoolgirl in north Kashmir’s
Wanigam village. The girl alleged that he made indecent
remarks while she was on her way to school. The incident
led to protests in the area by locals, who took to the streets
and blocked the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad highway.
Can’t rule out another Kargil war:
Ex-army chief
Karnataka Lokayukta Justice Santosh Hegde's
report, July 27, on illegal mining in the state, indict-
ed Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa, among others
and recommended his prosecution under the
Prevention of Corruption Act. The report has brewed
a political storm in
the state, with the
chief minister refus-
ing to quit.
Yeddyurappa told
senior Bharatiya
Janata Party leaders
Arun Jaitley and
Rajnath Singh, who
were sent to the
state to choose his
replacement, that
he enjoyed the sup-
port of 73 lawmak-
ers in the state
assembly and would
only quit if the high
command accepted
his demands. Apart
from seeking a full
say on who should
succeed him, he also
wants an assurance
that he will lead the
party in the next
election. B S Yeddyurappa
Boy held for chief minister’s
fake Facebook profile
Admitting that the Kargil intrusion was a result of intelli-
gence failure, former Indian army chief (retired General) Ved
Prakash Malik has said that a repeat of the 1999 war can’t be
ruled out as long as the Pakistan army continues its proxy
war against India. Malik, who was in Srinagar, Kashmir, to
participate in the 12th anniversary of the war, said the Indian
army and other security forces had to remain alert to ensure
that another Kargil does not take place.
Kalmadi diagnosed with dementia
Suresh Kalmadi, the sacked Commonwealth Games
Organizing Committee chairman, who is lodged in Delhi’s
Tihar jail in connection with the multi-million dollar CWG
scam, has been diagnosed with dementia. He was taken to
a state hospital after he complained of dizziness, depres-
sion and anxiety. Kalmadi has dismissed allegations that he
is using dementia as an excuse to evade prosecution in the
Commonwealth games scam.
Bangladesh honors Indira Gandhi
Slain former Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi was
honored July 25 with Bangladesh’s highest state award for
her contribution to the country’s liberation war against
Pakistan in 1971. Congress party president Sonia Gandhi,
the former premier’s daughter-in-law, received the
Bangladesh Swadhinata Sanmanona from Bangladesh
President Zillur Rahman at a ceremony in Dhaka.

A teenager was arrested from Indore for creating a
fake profile of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj
Singh Chouhan on Facebook, and uploading cartoons
and controversial photographs. The Bhopal police
acted on a complaint filed by the chief minister, and
caught the boy with Interpol’s help after Facebook’s
India office refused to reveal information, citing priva-
cy policies.
$600 million of US funds
ended up in Taliban hands
Funds from a whopping $2.6 billion military transporta-
tion contract in Afghanistan was diverted to a murky net-
work of subcontractors and into the hands of the Taliban, a
year-long probe has found. Roughly $600 million of the
contract program called Host Nation Trucking had been
spent before authorities were alerted to the scandal, a
source told CNN .
Meghalaya cops
turning militant

After yet another police constable deserted the force and
joined the Garo national Liberation Army last week, the
Meghalaya home department has ordered a probe to find
out why policemen are deserting the department and join-
ing militant groups. The police deserters during telephonic
conversations with the media have alleged ‘discrimination
and harassment’ faced by lower rank officials at the hands
of seniors.
E-voting makes inroads in India
In a low-key, but potentially revolutionary experiment,
Gujarat became the first Indian state to experiment with e-
voting this April. The initiative came from Chief Minister
Narendra Modi in January 2010, when he directed K C
Kapoor, Gujarat’s election commissioner, to find ways to
take ‘voting to the next level so that more people were
encouraged to vote.’ Kapoor’s answer: E-voting. The phe-
nomenon has not caught on even in technologically-
advanced countries, barring a few precedents like Estonia
(since 2005), the London municipal polls and the
European parliament.
India inks civil nuclear pact with South
Korea
India has signed a civil nuclear cooperation deal with
South Korea, allowing a framework for Korean companies
to participate in atomic power plant projects in the coun-
try. The agreement was signed after a meeting between
President Pratibha Patil with her South Korean counter-
part Lee Myung-Bak.
Will oppose Right to Education Act:
Deoband
AJAY VERMA/REUTERS
A candlelight vigil during Vijay Diwas, in Chandigarh, July 26. The Indian army commemorates the memory of more than 500 soldiers killed in the
Kargil War in 1999 on this day

Terming India’s Right to Education Act as an ‘attack’ on
the sovereignty of madarssas and other minority institu-
tions, the Islamic seminary Darul Uloom Deoband has said
it will oppose it. ‘The seminary will strongly protest the
move to snatch rights of madarssas through RTE and it is
with the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, which is
already opposing it,’ newly-appointed vice chancellor
Maulana Abul Qasim Nomani said.

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