Sunday holiday for public sector; Paid off for UAE private sector

Ministries and Federal Departments will remain closed on Sunday, 11th of Rabi Al Awwal, 1435 Hijri, corresponding to January 12, 2014, to mark the birth anniversary of the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH).

The public holiday was announced according to a circular issued today by Humaid bin Mohammed Obaid Al Qattami, Minister of Education and Chairman of the Board of the Federal Authority for Human Resources (FAHR). The decision has been made based on Clause 5 of Article 100 of Cabinet Resolution No. 13/2012.

Al Qattami extended greetings to President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan; Vice-President and Prime Minister of UAE, and Ruler of Dubai, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum; and Their Highnesses the Supreme Council Members and Rulers of the Emirates, people of the UAE and Muslim countries all over the world on the auspicious occasion.

The private sector is to get a one day paid holiday to mark the birth anniversary of the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH), according to an official announcement from the Ministry of Labour.Saqr bin Ghobash Saeed Ghobash, Minister of Labour, has issued a circular which advises that all workers in the private sector who have Friday only as their weekend, will receive Saturday, January 11, 2014, as an official paid holiday.Similarly, all workers in the private sector whose weekend falls on Friday and Saturday, will receive Sunday, January 12, as their official paid holiday.Ghobash extended greetings to President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan; Vice-President and Prime Minister of UAE and Ruler of Dubai, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum; and Their Highnesses the Supreme Council Members and Rulers of the Emirates, people of the UAE and Muslim countries all over the world on the auspicious occasion.

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Centre clears Tesco’s retail plan

New Delhi: The Foreign Investment Promotion Board on Monday approved UK-based Tesco Plc’s proposal to enter the Indian multi-brand retail segment in joint venture with Tata Group company with an initial investment of $110 million (about Rs 680 crore).

Tesco proposal entailing investment of $110 million has been cleared, sources said after the FIPB meeting held here.

After the approval, Tesco will pick up a 50 per cent stake in Trent Hypermarket Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Trent Ltd, a Tata group company. Tesco is the first global retailer to apply for multi- brand retailing after the government allowed 51 per cent FDI in the segment in September last year.

Trent Hypermarket runs 16 outlets in the southern and western regions with support from Tesco. The UK retailer plans to sell 14 categories of products, official sources said.

The items to be sold at its stores include tea, coffee, vegetables, fruits, meat, fish, dairy products, wine, liquor, textiles, footwear, furniture, electronics and jewellery.

The FIPB, headed by economic affairs secr-etary Arvind Mayaram, considered 12 items including Tesco’s FDI proposal. India allows FDI in most of the sectors through automatic route, government approval is required in certain sectors sensitive for the economy.

Reacting to the FIPB nod to the $110-million proposal in the Indian multi-brand retail segment  that will allow Tesco to work on practicalities of setting up a joint venture with Tata group firm Trent, UK-based Tesco said:“Tesco is pleased that the FIPB has agreed to our proposal. This will now allow us to work on the practicalities of setting up the joint venture with Trent. Any such announcement will be made in the usual way."

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Thank you but no thanks, Pervez Musharraf tells Pakistan government

Islamabad: Former military ruler Pervez Musharraf has rejected 'with thanks' the government's offer to bring his ailing mother to Pakistan from Dubai, one of his aides said on Monday.

"Thank you very much but don’t try to fool people," Aasia Ishaque, Musharraf's spokesperson, said when she was asked about his reaction to the offer made by the government on Sunday.

The government said it was willing to bring Musharraf's 95-year-old ailing mother from Dubai in a special aircraft or an air ambulance as a humanitarian gesture so that the two could be reunited.

The government also offered to provide her medical treatment.

"The government is trying to fool the people of this country. Musharraf has enough resources to bring back his mother if her health permits," Ishaque told reporters.

"The offer clearly shows that the government now knows that Musharraf is not going to run away despite all the pressure." Advising the government to "concentrate on the miseries of the people", she said Musharraf will remain in Pakistan and fight "politically motivated" cases against him.

The 70-year-old former army chief, who is facing a plethora of cases, cannot travel abroad as he is included in the Interior Ministry's Exit Control List (ECL).

Musharraf's petition to have his name removed from the ECL, so that he could fly to Dubai to visit his mother, was rejected by the Sindh High Court.

Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid said on Sunday that the independent judiciary will decide Musharraf's fate.

The former army chief is set to appear in a special court on January 1 to face charges of high treason for imposing emergency in 2007.

He is the first general to face trial for treason. If convicted, he could get life imprisonment or the death penalty. 

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Maharishi Vidya Mandir group chairman arrested on rape charges

Chairman of Maharishi Vidya Mandir School Group, Girish Chandra Verma being produced in district court after being arrested for allegedly raping a woman teacher, in Bhopal on Monday - PTI

Bhopal: Chancellor of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi Vedic University, Girish Chandra Verma was arrested for allegedly sexually exploiting a former woman employee for several years, police said today.

Verma, also the chairman of Maharishi Vidya Mandir School Group, was arrested last evening on the complaint filed by the victim about nine months back, they said.

He was arrested amid high drama as his security guards offered stiff resistance against police action. Verma was picked up from his sprawling 10-acre ashram on the Bhojpur road here and taken to the Jehangirabad police station for recording his statement, officials said.

He had earlier been summoned to the Mahila Thana in Bhopal for questioning two days back, police officials said. City Superintendent of Police Saleem Khan said Verma has been charged under sections 376 (rape) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of IPC

Exactly a year ago, a 23-year-old physiotherapy student was gang raped on a moving bus in Delhi. That led to a national outrage with people questioning inefficiency of the government to provide security to women. There was such anger with protests across the nation that anyone would have thought it would be the last rape in the nation. That wasn't to be. Safety of women in the national capital was questioned, and in fact that was one of the reasons why chief minister Sheila Dikshit and the Congress suffered a humiliated defeat at the hands of political newcomer Arvind Kejriwal and his party Aam Aadmi Party. Political implications apart, the December 16 gang rape made headlines in international media, exposing how insecure women are in India. Despite the magnanimity of the most brutal rape of the country, very little has changed in one year.The conviction rate for rape is a mere 27 per cent which is why rapists aren't scared.The four accused in the December 16 rape case, gym instructor Vinay Sharma (20), bus cleaner Akshay Thakur (28), fruit-seller Pawan Gupta (19) and Mukesh Singh (26) were awarded death penalty as the court felt it was a rarest of rare cases. Main accused Ram Singh was found dead in jail while another is a minor.Notwithstanding pressure, the Central government in April amended the Anti-rape bill, which now provides life-term or death sentence for rape convicts. According to the new law, an offender can be sentenced to rigorous imprisonment that is not less than 20 years. The law also fixed age for consensual sex at 18 years. One thing that has changed is, none will take things lying down. But it doesn't mean that the incidents have gone down. Shockingly, a rape is reported every 20 minutes in India. A young girl's sexual harassment complaint resulted in the arrest of Tehelka editor Tarun Tejpal. The girl was bold enough to report against her boss, putting her career at stake. Neither death sentence nor new law has acted as a deterrent. The number of rape cases in Delhi have almost doubled. Till November this year, 1,450 cases of rape cases were registered against 706 in 2012. There is an element of positivity about it, as police say that more women are coming forward to report rapes. But as Indian women are known for, not all aren't comfortable reporting about rape.The only mistake of a 23-year-old software engineer, who was kidnapped and raped in a cab Hyderabad, was that she trusted the cab drivers to take her to her hostel. But she ended up being raped.Unlike the Tehelka journalist, this girl was scared to report it, she filed a false complaint that there was an attempt to rape her. But the incident came to light when the police arrested the cab drivers, who admitted to raping her.Rapes are tarnishing the image of the country as a whole. Internationally, India is perceived as the rape capital with governments of foreign countries warning women against travel to India.A photojournalist was gang raped when on duty in Mumbai. That wasn't the first time for the accused, who thought when others didn't complain why would she? Experts debate if raping is a psychological problem? Most of the rapists won't have any remorse or guilt feeling. In many cases, they deny the crime or feel what they did wasn't wrong.There is a need for a systemic social change and the solution doesn't lie in the law, but in changing the mindset of people.

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Subrata Roy moves SC seeking permission to go abroad

New Delhi: Sahara Group chief Subrata Roy, who has been restrained from going abroad for failing to refund Rs 20,000 crore investors money, on Thursday moved the Supreme Court seeking its permission to go overseas for business purposes.

A bench of justices K S Radhakrishnan and J S Khehar said that it would hear his plea on January 9 when the main case for handing over title deeds of Rs 20,000 crore of group's unencumbered properties to SEBI would be taken up for hearing.

Senior advocate C A Sundaram, appearing for Roy, submitted that his client has some business overseas and he is needed there. He submitted that Roy would come back to country within three days of the notice period.

The bench, after hearing his arguments, said that it would consider the plea on January 9 and also asked the SEBI to respond on the nature of title deeds handed over to it by the group.

Tightening the noose around Sahara group for not refunding Rs 20,000 crore investors money, the Supreme Court had on November 21 last year barred Roy from leaving the country and also restrained it from selling any of its properties.

The apex court had said its order for handing over title deeds of Rs 20,000 crore unencumbered properties to SEBI was not followed by the group in "letter and spirit" and prevented Roy along with other directors of the group Vandana Bhargava, Ravi Shankar Dubey and Ashok Roy Choudhary from leaving the country. 

In his application, Roy pleaded the apex court to consider his plea sympathetically and allow him to visit UK and USA.

Three contempt petitions filed by SEBI against Roy, the two firms--Sahara India Real Estate Corp Ltd (SIREC) and Sahara India Housing Investment Corp Ltd (SHIC)--and their directors are pending before the court.

It had on August 31 last year directed the Sahara group to refund Rs.24,000 crore by November end.

The deadline was further extended and the companies were directed to deposit Rs 5,120 crore immediately and Rs 10,000 crore in first week of January and the remaining amount in first week of February.

The group, which had handed over the draft of Rs 5,120 crore on December 5, has failed to pay the rest of the amount.

The two companies, their promoter Roy and directors Vandana Bhargava, Ravi Shankar Dubey and Ashok Roy Choudhary were told to refund the collected money to the regulator.

Earlier, the Group agreed to hand over documents of its 71 properties which it claimed to be worth Rs 20,000 crore as security with the SEBI for refunding investors money.

The court had granted time to SEBI to verify the genuineness of the property deeds submitted by the company and posted the case for the next hearing on January 9.

Sahara said the properties submitted are spread across cities such as Mumbai, Cochin, Noida, Ajmer, Aligarh, Haridwar, Muzaffarnagar, Raipur, Amritsar, Jhansi, Kanpur and Faridabad. 

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Siddara­maiah gives DK Shivakumar, Baig a ‘re-berth’

Roshan Baig and D.K.?Shivakumar.

Bangalore: The state will kick off the new year with the induction of two new ministers, senior Congressmen D.K. Shivakumar and R. Ros­han Baig, set to be sworn in at Raj Bhavan on Wed­n­esday evening, in the teeth of opposition from Chief Minister Siddara­maiah, who would have preferred a cabinet expansion after 2014 parliamentary polls.

With Shivakumar bereaved – his father passed away on Tuesday – there is however speculation, that the Vokkaliga leader will take the oath of office at a later date.

The move, comes after the Congress high command overrode Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on his concerns that the induction of the two stalwarts would divide the party in the run up to crucial parliamentary polls in May 2014.

Shivakumar had played a stellar role in winning the parliamentary bypoll for his brother D.K. Suresh from Bangal­­ore Rural, and had expected to be rewarded with a cabinet berth sooner.  

In the 34-post cabinet, five seats are still lying vacant. Moves to bring in Manohar Tehsildar and H.Y. Meti, a fellow Kuruba MLA to fill in the vacancies, may not see fruition as the party high command has only sanctioned the induction of the two stalwarts. Two senior legislators may be appointed parliamentary secretaries. 

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Pope hasn’t abolished sin: Vatican

Vatican City:  The Vatican felt compelled on Tuesday to deny that Pope Francis had “abolished sin”, after a well-known Italian intellectual wrote that he had effectively done so through his words and gestures.

The singular exchange began on Sunday when Eugenio Scalfari, an atheist who writes opinion pieces for the left-leaning La Repubblica newspaper, published an article titled Francis' Revolution: He has abolished sin. Scalfari, treatise-like article said that Francis believed sin effectively no longer existed because God’s mercy and forgiveness were “eternal”. 

Vatican spokesman   Federico Lombardi told Vatican Radio that “this affirmation that the Pope has abolished sin” was wrong.   

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