Punjab to acquire 12,500 acres in Patiala district

Patiala, October 30
With a view to develop industry and boost the manufacturing sector, the Central government and the Punjab government along with private investors will acquire 12,500 acres of land in 33 villages of Ghanaur and Rajpura tehsil, to set up a National Manufacturing and Investment Zone.
Since 1980, manufacturing in India has only contributed 15 to 16 per cent to our GDP growth whereas in other Asian countries, it has been around 25 to 35 per cent. The government is looking to set up these zones with a view to boost the manufacturing sector and bring its share in the GDP up to around 25 per cent in the next ten years.
General Manager of District Industrial Centre Harjinder Singh Pannu said they had already sent a report to Chandigarh in this regard. “We held meetings with village residents to find out what they thought about the project. Villagers seem to have no objections to it. Their only concern is that they should get good compensation for their land and that the government should ensure their rehabilitation. They have sought jobs from the government once the zone was developed. The land would be acquired only after their consent,” he said.
Asked why the government chose this particular area in Patiala district, he said the area had good connectivity, which was a must for the development of industry. The airport is nearby and the area is very close to the GT road, he added.
Meanwhile, residents of as many as 33 villages of Ghanaur had decided to formulate a committee to protect the interests of the people. The villagers refused to divulge anymore information on the subject.
Project details Govt to set up a National Manufacturing and Investment Zone
Since 1980, manufacturing in India has only contributed 15 to 16 per cent to our GDP growth
Step taken to bring the contribution of manufacturing to around 25 per cent in the next ten years
Residents of 33 villages of Ghanaur to formulate a committee to protect the interests of the people

Ex-Barnala MLA Malkit Keetu shot dead

Monday, October, 29 2012 - 08:31

SANGRUR: Ex Barnala MLA Malkit Singh Keetu has been shot dead allegedly by his nephew Harpreet Singh. The incident took place around 9 am on Monday morning after the two had some altercation.

Keetu was a prominent Akali leader and an MLA from Barnala. He was also the president of the Punjab Truck Union. Although various factions of the truck union have fierce rivalry among themselves, police have ruled out that angle to the murder.

Hapreet is believed to have been inclined towards Congress while Keetu was a staunch Akali. The two are said to have had an altercation over their respective political affiliations. Further details are awaited.

Immigration: Canada should follow U.S. lead in locking up its borders

It is a truism that we all (except for a statistically insignificant Native American segment) are immigrants. Whether our families came here centuries ago or just deplaned at Pearson International Airport, we are "immigrants." Somehow that sociological irrelevancy is supposed to make citizens more understanding of those seeking to live in our country, regardless of how they got here. We are the fortunate — just lucky to have beaten the rush and consequently should be humble over our sanguine circumstances and more respectful of the "rights" of those arriving without benefit of hidebound visa bureaucracies.
Sorry about that.
What is it that dewy-eyed human comfort stations don't understand about illegal?  That is I-L-L-E-G-A-L, as in having no right to be here — Having broken the law by their presence and having no respect for the designated procedures and regulations of the country whose bounties they seek to receive.  They are trespassers, queue jumpers, and by definition criminals.
The very first requirement for a nation state is to secure its borders.  This is not the 18^th century when unfettered wanderers could blithely cross the North American continent.  Effective border control is the essence for addressing the immigrant issue.  Hence, efforts — that could be much stronger — across the U.S. southern border are imperative not just to thwart economic migrants but more importantly to combat massive drug smuggling. There should be comparable concern in Canada. Having a border sufficiently porous to permit terrorists to enter Canada and then slip/side into the United States benefits neither country. The U.S.-Canada border is no longer a wink-and-a-nod transit zone, but it is still far from secure with illegal drugs and weapons moving south and north respectively.

Nor should Canadians be dismissive about the 12 million (but who's counting?)  illegals in the United States. Were there to be a comparable number, say 1.2 million, in Canada, one expects that Ottawa would not be amused. It is an immense problem in every dimension that has virtually paralyzed California's finances by attempting to provide social services for these illegals.
We need to set aside the anguished cases of illegal immigrant parents facing separation from legal citizens. We need to ignore these "oh so sad" stories of small child-with-life-threatening-illness used as anchors to rationalize permitting parents to stay. Just who asked these individuals to enter our country illegally? And then to have children?
The only "right" those arriving illegally should have is to be taken to the border humanely and returned to their countries of origin.
Indeed, it is very hard to find diplomats that have issued visas who sympathize with "illegals." They have seen the patient efforts of foreign citizens working through the regulations, adhering to mandated requirements, taking medical exams and language tests, and waiting/waiting/waiting for their opportunity to arrive. Every illegal immigrant has done the equivalent of giving a "Trudeau salute" while sneering "Sucker!" to those that have played by the rules. If for no other reason than keeping the faith with legal immigrants, we must be punctilious about finding and expelling illegal immigrants.
It is absurd that the United State should have a "wet foot; dry foot" rule permitting any illegal boater-rafter that reaches dry land to stay. It is absurd that any individual reaching a Canadian customs post can claim refugee status — and accorded government subsidies while the claim is processed — an effort often taking years.
But we need to be honest.  The immigration dilemma didn't explode overnight.  For a generation there has been a silent conspiracy between Republicans that wanted cheap labor for farms and industry and Democrats that wanted these individuals unionized so eventually they would become voters.  But it is a canard that if there were no illegals, economies would grind to a stop.  With over 8 percent official unemployment, there are individuals that can do the "jobs that citizens won't take."  You either pay to get these jobs done; if they are important enough to do, money will be found to do them.  Or if they are not done, so what?  Every California lawn doesn't need its own manicurist.  Every middle-class working woman doesn't need a nanny/housekeeper.  And real labor shortages will prompt greater efficiencies and technological innovation.
Such an approach hardly implies "shutting the door."  But immigrants are a distinct societal expense, and should be accepted only to the degree that they benefit our economies.  It is a rare privilege to gain access to a first world, human rights respecting democracy.  We should not hesitate to limit access strictly.

Read also: New citizens improve Canada and benefit the economy

Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal demands drought relief package

Chandigarh, October 19

Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal today said if Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi really loved Punjab, he should "force" the Prime Minister and the Agriculture Minister to release the central package promised to the state.

He was apparently referring to the assurance given by Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar that the Centre would sympathetically consider giving relief to Punjab farmers for the extra cost borne by them to raise their paddy in near-drought conditions.

Addressing a press conference here, along with ministers Bikram Majithia, Sikander Singh Maluka and Sarwan Singh Phillaur, Sukhbir said a high-powered team led by Agriculture minister Sharad Pawar had visited the state and promised a package for the loss suffered by the farmers which had been calculated at Rs 5,112 crore.

Sukhbir said the SAD would raise the issue in the winter session of Parliament and urged Punjab Congress MPs to express their feelings on the issue to the party high command "if they have the guts."

Asked whether the Agriculture Minister had told the state that it would no longer need its paddy, he said this might be the case but the Centre should not be a fair weather friend. " "Only two years back the Centre had expressed its gratitude to Punjab for filling the national coffers in time of drought."

Sukhbir said the Punjab farmer needed money for diversification which could only happen gradually. He said the Centre could support the state farmers by giving them minimum support price (MSP) for alternative crops.

FARIDKOT ABDUCTION CASE

Sukhbir promises action against erring officers
Chandigarh, October 19

Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal today said the government would take stern action against police officers who had shown laxity in the Shruti abduction case even as he accused the Congress of giving a political hue to the abduction case.

The Deputy CM was talking to mediapersons here. He was accompanied by state police chief Sumedh Singh Saini. He claimed that he was closely monitoring the case and that the main accused, Nishan Singh, would be arrested “at any cost”.

He said the Home Department was examining the conduct of officers involved in the investigation and that action would be taken against anyone found to have committed lapses.

Saini admitted that there had been laxity in the investigation in the initial stage. He said two police officers (then Deputy Inspector-General Paramraj Singh Umranangal and Senior Superintendent of Police Gurinder Singh Dhillon) had been transferred for their lack of sensitivity in handling the case involving a minor.

“We have received directions from the government to be sympathetic to the girl and her parents”, he said, indicating there was no pressure on the police to help the accused as claimed by the Congress.

Sukhbir said his government was fighting a war against drugs and had put peddlers on the backfoot with record seizures in the last six months. He said the survey quoted by Rahul was conducted in 2006 when Capt Amarinder Singh was Chief Minister. Moreover, it was a sample survey of drug addicts and 70 per cent were young boys and girls.

The Deputy CM said for the first time, he had appointed an Inspector-General of Police (IGP) as head of the anti-narcotics cell. Similarly, a special operations cell had been opened in Amritsar which had the authority to check narcotic activities all over the state.

He said drugs, including heroin and smack, had been seized in large quantities and his government had urged the Congress-led Rajasthan Government to stop the open sale of poppy husk.

Reward for info on key accused

Chandigarh: Sukhbir Badal has announced a reward of Rs 5 lakh to anyone facilitating the arrest of Nishan Singh, the main accused in the Shruti abduction case. Nishan Singh,19, is at large. Search teams have been sent to Rajasthan and Nepal to track him down.

The Deputy Chief Minister has also directed the authorities to attach the properties of Nishan Singh's family. 

Hijack scare as AI pilot presses the panic button

Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 19
The woman pilot of an Abu Dhabi-Kochi Air India flight set off the hijack alarm in panic after agitated passengers allegedly stormed the cockpit here today. Six passengers were detained for questioning.

Passengers of Air India Express flight 4422 entered into a heated argument with the pilot after it was diverted to the capital due to poor visibility at Kochi, causing a delay by nearly nine hours, airport sources said.

Some passengers forced their way into the cockpit at which the pilot pressed the alarm button, setting off a flurry of activity with airport security personnel surrounding the plane with 200 passengers on board, airport officials said.

Six passengers were detained and questioned by CISF personnel when the plane landed at Kochi. They were later let off. The passengers were questioned after Commander Rupali Waghmare complained that some passengers had barged into the cockpit and threatened her with dire consequences if she did not take the flight to Kochi.

The flight landed in Kochi with a new crew. The co-pilot, who travelled to Kochi as a passenger, identified the six and they were questioned. The police said no FIR was registered.

Passengers claimed that they were treated badly and asked to leave by road to Kochi. This infuriated them and they refused to disembark at Thiruvananthapuram.

“When we protested, attempts were made to foist false cases on us,” one of the passengers said.

Tanya, another passenger, said it was a “terrible situation as there were a lot of women and children on board. We were not given food.”

Mystery Of William Coyman's Death On Train Platform, And $180,000 Bag Of Cash Solved

NEW YORK -- The mystery began when a Boston ex-con dropped dead on a New York train platform with a backpack stuffed with $180,000.

It has ended with the government getting most of the money.

The former bank robber-turned-aspiring-movie producer who tried to claim it is back to prison.

And the source of the money? Prosecutors won't comment, but a defense attorney and a Philadelphia entertainment promoter say it was connected to a failed concert deal.

The 75-year-old bagman was William Coyman, a longtime resident of Boston's Charlestown section who had been a fixture at a union local once known for organized crime ties and for shaking down movie producers in New England. He died of a heart attack in New York City.

Just what Coyman was doing with so much cash was unclear. His family told investigators he had been delivering the money for a company called 180 Entertainment, which listed a Philadelphia home as its business address.

Federal prosecutors went to court in February and asked to keep the money, saying they suspected it was related to narcotics trafficking. They had little hard evidence, except that a drug-sniffing dog had detected something in Coyman's luggage. But they cited Coyman's decades-long criminal record, which included prison time for a department store heist.

Another Charlestown native and ex-con, Joseph Burke, filed legal papers claiming the cash.

Now 48, Burke went to prison in 1988 after admitting to sticking up at least 18 banks and armored cars in several states. He got more time tacked onto his sentence when he was caught trying to organize a cocaine ring from behind bars. He was finally released on a combination of probation and parole in 2010.

When The Associated Press first wrote about Coyman and his mysterious $180,000 package in May, Burke's lawyer declined to tell the AP what the cash was for or where it was headed.

He also wouldn't discuss 180 Entertainment. But public records show that the company's business address was a house owned by a friend of Joseph "Skinny Joey" Merlino, the onetime boss of the Philadelphia Mafia. Merlino and Burke were incarcerated together at a federal prison in Terre Haute, Ind., in 2009 and 2010.

Last month, a federal court in New York approved a settlement in which Burke agreed to forfeit $143,984 of the money found on Coyman. He got to keep the remaining $35,996. Federal prosecutors in New York declined to comment on the settlement.

No criminal charges were filed in connection with the cash, but Burke was sentenced to eight months in jail for violating the terms of his probation.

His offense: In March, Burke flew to Europe to meet with another old prison buddy, Zvonko Busic, a Croatian nationalist who served 32 years for hijacking a jet and planting a bomb that killed a New York City police officer.

In a brief interview with the AP last week, Burke's lawyer, Steven DiLibero, insisted there was nothing nefarious about his client's visit to the former terrorist, now 66. The men had simply become close friends in prison.

Burke and Busic were both in the federal prison in Lewisburg, Pa., from 1989 to 1995, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons. They also spent time together at the prison in Terre Haute from 2007 to 2008, when Busic was paroled.

A more complete explanation of the trip came from Burke's partner in 180 Entertainment, Anthony Fedele.

Fedele, a former business associate of the late Philadelphia music producer Stephen Epstein, told the AP in a phone interview Tuesday that he was interested in transitioning into the movie business, and had gotten interested in Burke after hearing about him from Merlino, a longtime friend.

The two talked. Fedele was impressed. They decided to make movies together and thought that Busic would make a good film subject.

"This guy has a great story. And it would be a great story to get out there," Fedele said. "It has love, romance, tragedy, triumph, you name it."

In 1976, Busic, his American-born wife and two accomplices seized a TWA jet leaving New York and ordered it to fly to Paris in an attempt to draw attention to Croatian nationalists who wanted independence from communist Yugoslavia.

The hijackers used fake dynamite to take the jet, but the group also had put a live explosive in a locker in Grand Central Terminal. The device later detonated accidentally while police officers were examining it at bomb squad facility in the Bronx, killing a police officer.

Fedele said Burke had persuaded Busic to give them the film rights to his story.

Unfortunately, the ex-con never cleared the trip with his probation officer. The investigation into Coyman's death caused additional complications.

As for the $180,000 in cash, Fedele insisted it was not drug money and didn't have anything to do with organized crime or with Merlino.

Burke had been working on a concert-promotion deal, but it had fallen through, and he was trying to return the cash to a North Carolina business associate, said Fedele and DiLibero, Burke's lawyer.

Why didn't Burke just send a check?

"He went to jail when he was 23, so, his process is ... He does things the way he would have done them back then," Fedele said. "Joe has a primitive way of thinking."

The Federal Bureau of Prisons said Burke's projected release date is December. Fedele said he still hopes to find a producer willing to make an independent film about Busic, although he acknowledged that any movie about a protagonist responsible for the death of a police officer is a challenge.

"There are some sensitive things. I'm figuring it out," he said.

As for Burke, Fedele said, "He's going to be out in a few weeks, and we're going to get back to work."

Maruti Alto 800 wait gets over; ready to hit the road today

New Delhi: India's largest car maker Maruti Suzuki is gearing up to regain lost ground in the small car segment with the launch of a completely new version of its erstwhile best-selling model Alto on Tuesday.

The new version, called as 'Maruti Alto 800', is likely to be priced at around 2.5-3 lakh, allowing it to compete with Tata Nano and Hyundai EON.

The company will launch the all-new Alto 800 on Tuesday (October 16) and is set to replace the existing Alto as the company seeks to overcome tough market conditions, especially high petrol price and interest rates that have hurt small cars sales.

It is also offering CNG option in the new Alto 800.

The company is banking on Alto 800's improved fuel efficiency of 22.74 kmpl, which is 15 percent higher than the previous model, to be one of the key factors to create customer pull, apart from its new design and other features like improved gear shift and more leg room for rear passengers.

Let’s have a look at some of the interesting facts about new Maruti Alto 800.

-Car Variant: The car will come in six variants — three in CNG and three in Petrol.

-Mileage: Petrol variant is expected to give a mileage of approximately 23 kilometre per litre while the CNG version will give a mileage of around approximately 31 kilometre per litre.

-Interiors: Fashionable and trendy, the car is likely to sport stylish headlamps, better headroom and legroom.

-Colours: The car will come in six vibrant colours.

-Price: The petrol version is likely to be priced between Rs 2.5 lakh and Rs 3 lakh while the CNG version will be priced between Rs 3 lakh and Rs 3.5 lakh.

Sales of the Alto have declined 34.83 percent in the April-August period to 89,000 units as compared to 1.22 lakh units in the year-ago period. The model has been MSI's best selling model for many years until Swift overtook it earlier this year.

Last year, the company had sold 3.08 lakh units of Alto and the year before it stood at 3.4 lakh units.

Hit by the declining sales of its smaller cars, specially Alto, MSI's share had gone down below 40 percent in the Indian passenger vehicles market which stood at 10,49,961 units in the April-August period this fiscal.

Launched in 2001, the Alto sold a total of 20 lakh units in the domestic market and exported another 2.47 lakh units.

MSI and its vendors have spent Rs 470 crore in developing the new Alto 800, which is based on the platform of the previous model.

Italy's secret anti-mob weapon

ROME (AP) — A woman who dares to cooperate with police in the fight against a dreaded Italian mob network is murdered, her body dumped in a barrel of acid in the countryside near Milan. Her 17-year-old daughter steps forward and testifies, helping to send six people to prison for life.

The lurid 2009 murder and the court verdict delivered in April gave a rare peek into Italy's secretive witness protection program, which marked its 20th anniversary this year and is considered Italy's single most important window into the secretive world of organized crime. Hundreds of mobsters have been given new identities in exchange for information that helped put longtime fugitive leaders behind bars, including the "boss of bosses" Salvatore Riina.

The use of insiders has combined with the seizure of mob assets to help Italy achieve a once unattainable goal: crippling the Sicilian Cosa Nostra. "It has advanced immensely the fight against organized crime," said Felia Allum, a British academic who studies organized crime.

Italy's famed anti-Mafia prosecutors Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino had fought in the 1980s to establish the two anti-mob weapons, arguing that criminals needed some incentive to step forward and turn state's evidence. They were killed by mob bombs within two months of one another in 1992, but not before they'd laid the foundations for a crime-fighting system that has largely tamed, if not defeated, the Mafia.

Living under state protection does take exact a heavy toll on witnesses. A major problem is that most mobsters in the program are from Italy's underdeveloped south, and they are generally exiled to what they see as a hostile environment in the prosperous north, because it's easier to hide them there. There have been suicides. Some return to crime when their collaboration with the state comes to an end.

"They are given a new identity and a lump sum of money to start their new life but they are not helped as much as they should be to reintegrate back into society," said Allum. The dead woman in the 2009 murder, 36-year-old Lea Garofalo, had left the government program "feeling uneasy" about her protection, her lawyer Vincenza Rando said, adding that she was subjected to unwanted sexual advances from her police guards. "She didn't feel well protected and risked it on her own."

Garofalo's daughter Denise felt that her mother's decision had cost her life, so she decided to put her trust in the program. She was the key witness in the trial and now lives with a new identity in an undisclosed location. The contrasting fates of mother and daughter underscore how critical it is for witnesses in mob cases to obtain new identities. Without one, experts say, turncoats like Lea Garofalo become sitting ducks for inevitable revenge killings.

Denise Garofalo is one of nearly 4,700 people in the program -- about 1,000 so-called "collaborators" who have turned state's evidence and the rest family members, according to a document obtained by The Associated Press on figures up to 2010. It is believed to be the second largest program after that of the United States. Most have been witnesses in cases against the Sicilian Mafia, the Neapolitan Camorra and the Calabrian 'ndrangheta --the crime syndicate in the Garofalo case.

Prosecutors say that no one who has followed the protection rules has been harmed. Those who stray do so at their own peril, like the son of a Camorra boss who returned to his hometown and was slain. Changing immigration patterns and the spread of international terrorism have led authorities to open the program to eastern Europeans, North Africans and several other nationalities, according to the Interior Ministry report to parliament.

Lazhar Ben Mohamed Tlil, a Tunisian who became an Islamic militant and was trained in Afghanistan to kill Americans, entered the witness protection program after providing information to Italian investigators about several detainees at Guantanamo, his court-appointed lawyer, Davide Boschi, told The Associated Press.

The lawyer has said that Tlil, considered an important witness by both Italians and Americans, would not talk to prosecutors without firm guarantees of a new identity, documents, a job, medical coverage and a visit to his parents in Tunisia.

An Interior Ministry report to parliament acknowledged criticism of the way the program works due to a "large, unexpected influx of people" into the program recent years. Witness protection costs some €100 million (more than $100 million) a year. It often fails to help former criminals return to normal life. And foreigners in the program face tough bureaucratic roadblocks to creating decent lives in Italy.

Still, criminal experts give the program high marks despite the headaches it faces in determining who may be lying, creating new identities and trying to hide the turncoats in Italy, where authorities have fewer options than in the much larger United States.

"By demonstrating that its institutions are standing as one in facing the Mafia, Italy is setting an example for the world against organized crime," Interpol Secretary-General Ronald K. Noble told a convention on organized crime in Sicily over the summer.

Until Italy established the program in the early 90s, the most famous witness, Tommasso Buscetta, needed to be sheltered abroad. He helped convict some 350 mobsters in the 1980s before being given a new identity in the United States in the American witness protection program.

While the release of criminals with blood on their hands has been contentious, Alfonso Sabella, a former Palermo prosecutor defended Italy's witness protection program in an interview with the Turin newspaper La Stampa.

It was, he said, a "necessary choice — when it was clear that the Mafia couldn't be brought to its knees through traditional means."

Pussy Riot members face tough life in penal colony

Imprisoned women wait to be escorted for work at a women's prison outside the city of Orel, central Russia. Two members of the punk band Pussy Riot will serve their sentence in a penal colony far from Moscow 

MOSCOW (AP) — It's a far cry from Stalin's gulag, but the guiding principle of the Russian penal colony -- the destination of two members of punk band Pussy Riot -- remains the same: isolate inmates and wear them down through "corrective labor."

Maria Alekhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova will have to quickly learn the inner laws of prison life, survive the dire food and medical care, and risk bullying from inmates either offended by their "punk prayer" against President Vladimir Putin or under orders to pressure them.

"Everyone knows the rule: Trust no one, never fear and never forgive," said Svetlana Bakhmina, a lawyer who spent three years in a penal colony. "You are in no-man's land. Nobody will help you. You have to think about everything you say and do to remain a person."

Alekhina, 24, Tolokonnikova, 22, and Yekaterina Samutsevich, 30, were convicted of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred for an impromptu performance in Moscow's main cathedral as Putin headed into an election that handed him a third term as Russia's president. The women insisted their protest was political. But many believers said they were deeply offended by the sight of the band members dancing on the altar in balaclavas.

Imprisoned women stand during a morning inspection at a women's prison in a town of Sarapul, central Russia. Two members of the punk band Pussy Riot will serve their sentence in a penal colony far from Moscow that is like what a former inmate describes as a "nasty Girl Scout camp.”

An appeals court released Samutsevich on Wednesday, but upheld the two-year prison terms of the others. The presiding judge said that "their correction is possible only in isolation from society." In colonies for women, inmates live in barracks with 30 to 40 to a room. They begin the day by shuffling outside for compulsory exercises at daybreak, in temperatures as low as minus 30 degrees Celsius in winter. After roll call and a breakfast of gruel, they spend seven to eight hours a day at work, usually hunched over sewing machines working on uniforms and other clothing.

Since there is only one women's penal colony near Moscow, female prisoners from the capital are commonly sent to Mordovia, a swampy, mosquito-infested province on the Volga River. Defense lawyers said Alekhina and Tolokonnikova would be transported to a penal colony within two weeks, after receiving copies of their sentences. The location was not yet known.

Despite the harsh conditions, many prisoners nonetheless prefer the colonies to the pre-trial detention centers, where they are kept in cramped, sometimes spectacularly unhygienic cells and only allowed out for an hour a day. The three Pussy Riot members were held in such a center since their February arrest.

Russian inmates are kept in a system that Russia's own justice minister has described as "monstrously archaic" and whose purpose has changed little for hundreds of years. Czarist Russia sent prisoners to remote Siberian colonies where labor was in short supply; the system was inherited and expanded by the Soviet Union, which worked millions of prisoners to death in the gulag. Russia incarcerates more people than any country in the world bar the United States and China, according to the International Centre for Prison Studies.

There have been other high-profile penal colony inmates in Putin's Russia. Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the imprisoned head of the Yukos oil company, served part of his 14-year sentence in an Eastern Siberian colony. Once Russia's richest man, he served his time making mittens. Arrested in 2003, Khodorkovsky was convicted in two cases seen as punishment for challenging Putin's power.

Bakhmina, who once worked for Khodorkovsky, said you have little free time to yourself in the prison colony, where guards often compel prisoners to attend classes or participate in cultural activities. In a U.S. diplomatic cable released by WikiLeaks in 2010, former Ambassador William Burns recalled visiting a women's prison where inmates put on a "bizarre fashion and talent show" for American officials.

"Boredom doesn't exist in the colony. It's too good a concept for it. You just regret the time you spend," Bakhmina said. "A normal person can't even imagine that environment — you have to get used to it and people have to get used to you. It takes several months, maybe half a year. It's all about how you behave — you have to not be conceited and respect other people."

Prisoners are typically paid the equivalent of about $10 a day, which they can use to buy food, cigarettes, and toiletries. Those whose families don't send them supplies scrape through on the unofficial labor market, cleaning up the facilities or doing work for wealthier inmates. Cigarette packs are the colony's internal currency.

Alekhina and Tolokonnikova, both university graduates, are unlikely to have much in common with their fellow inmates. "I didn't think there even were people like 90 percent of the people I met," Bakhmina recalled. "I never had any idea there were so many drug addicts, or so many people with speech impediments."

Spouses are allowed three-day conjugal visits four times a year. Prisoners who show especially good behavior can even be given two weeks' leave outside the camp. Bakhmina became pregnant while serving her term and was released several months after giving birth to a daughter. She saw her two older sons only twice during her three years in the penal colony, afraid it would be too traumatic for them to see their mother imprisoned.

Mothers with children under the age of 3 can keep them in centers on penal colony grounds, or in the case of one colony in Mordovia in their barracks. Alekhina's 5-year-old son and Tolokonnikova's 4-year-old daughter will live with relatives.

The two punk band members can be punished with up to 15 days in solitary confinement for minor infractions such as failing to make their beds or to put their hands behind their backs at roll call or to greet guards quickly enough.

Perhaps the greatest danger for the band members, however, will be posed by their fellow inmates. Physical violence, while a danger, is relatively rare in comparison to men's colonies. But the psychological pressure can be greater, said Vitaly Borshchyov, head of the Public Monitoring Commission, a human rights organization that works with the government to improve prison conditions.

"Colonies are all-consuming for women," he said. "Having a large group of women together in a single space is a recipe for tension and conflicts. You might get beaten up, sexually humiliated or forced to be someone's lover, especially if you're a young woman."

The Pussy Riot members' lawyers and supporters also fear that Orthodox believers may attack them, either inspired by the extremely negative coverage of their protest on state television or egged on by state officials.

"When things get worse on the outside, it gets transferred into the colonies," said Lev Ponomarev, a Soviet dissident who runs the Defending Prisoners' Rights foundation. "Scoundrels think they can get away with more. The authorities are totally indifferent."

The band members have vowed to remain defiant. "We will not be silent," Alekhina told the appeals court Wednesday. "And even if we are in Mordovia or Siberia we will not be silent ... however zealously you try to smear us."

Dutch woman in Colombia rebel delegation in talks

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — The commander of Colombia's main rebel group says its delegation at peace talks set to begin Wednesday in Oslo will include as a spokeswoman a young Dutch combatant who joined the insurgents nearly a decade ago.

Tanja Nijmeijer, 29, of the Netherlands, an alleged member of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, FARC. Timoleon Jimenez, better known as Timochenko, the FARC leader, said on Monday, Oct. 15

Timoleon Jimenez, better known as Timochenko, said in pre-recorded remarks broadcast Monday by several Colombian media outlets that the rebel delegation was heading to Norway "with the emotion of being one step closer and deeper toward dialogue."

The talks mark the fourth attempt since the early 1980s to end a nearly half-century-old conflict that has claimed tens of thousands of lives. An agenda set during six months of secret talks in Havana calls for agrarian reform, full political rights for the rebels and guerrilla disarmament once an agreement is signed.

A news conference is planned for Wednesday to formally mark the start of the talks. Timochenko said "unforeseen delays" had postponed the talks' launch by a few days. He blamed the delay on bureaucracy in the government's case and heavy rains in the case of his Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.

"In the one case, it was rising rivers, while the other was affected by the state's pachydermic attitude in making decisions," said Timochenko. "But we're one our way and that's what's important." The FARC leader said 34-year-old Tanja Nijmeijer would be among rebel spokespeople in Oslo, where the talks are to be held at an undisclosed location before moving later in October to Cuba.

Nijmeijer gained fame when she complained of disillusionment in a diary found in 2007, four years after she joined the FARC. In 2010, however, the Dutch woman appeared in a video distributed by the FARC pledging allegiance to the Western Hemisphere's last remaining major insurgency.

Since the last round of peace negotiations were held a decade ago, a U.S.-backed military buildup has badly battered the rebels. At about 9,000 fighters, they are roughly half their 2002 strength. The military has killed three of their most senior leaders since 2008.

Timochenko, 53, complained that the government had not provided guarantees that all delegates the FARC named to the upcoming talks would be permitted to attend. He named, in particular, Ricardo Palmera, the best-known of the rebels' five chief negotiators.

Palmera, 62, is serving a 60-year prison sentence in a maximum-security U.S. prison, convicted of conspiring to kidnap three U.S. military contractors who were captured by the FARC in 2003 when their surveillance plane crashed after mechanical failure.

He is held in solitary confinement at the so-called Supermax prison in Florence, Colorado. His lawyer, Oscar Silva, told The Associated Press that the U.S. government bars him from receiving visitors and that he can only speak with Palmera, with no opportunity for confidential discussing, during hearings for a Colombian trial in which Palmera participates by videoconference.

In addition to the U.S. sentence, Palmera has been convicted in Colombia of the kidnapping of the former mayor of the northeastern regional capital of Valledupar, where he was a well-heeled banker before joining the rebels.

Colombia's chief prosecutor, Eduardo Montealegre, says Palmera could be permitted to participate in the talks via teleconference. He told The Associated Press on Monday, however, that the Colombian government had not yet asked the U.S. government for that accommodation.

Timochenko called Palmera's participation "decisive" given his expertise in agrarian economics. The FARC is classified as an international terror group by the U.S. State Department. All but one member of its six-member ruling Secretariat are wanted by the United States on drug trafficking charges, with $5 million rewards out for each.

Colombia's government made no public statement about the impending talks, though one official told the AP on Monday morning that its delegation had not yet arrived in the Norwegian capital. The official said that Wednesday's news conference would mark the talks' official start.

He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

Chitkara University closed for six days

Rajpura, October 10, 2012 - The management of Chitkara University has decided to close the varsity for six days as a precautionary measure following protest by students over the death of a BCom student, Rohan Singla, on Monday.

Mohit Chitkara, vice-president of Chitkara Educational Trust said they have closed the university for six days. The university will reopen on Monday. He said this has been done to maintain peace on the campus.

The university has also decided to appoint more hostel wardens. Sources said the university has now decided to appoint a chief hostel warden, a warden, an assistant warden and a caretaker in the university who would remain on the campus 24 hours a day. This was seen as a step to maintain discipline among students.

On the appointment of hostel wardens, Mohit Chitkara said they have sufficient number of wardens and more appointments were being made to maintain discipline and peace on the campus.

Though the body of the deceased was handed over to the family, resentment prevailed among the students over the lack of medical facility on the university campus. Some of the students on the condition of anonymity said that they do not want to disturb peace on the campus and added that the authorities should make arrangement for providing medical treatment to the students in case of emergency.

Following death of a BCom student, the students of the university held a massive protest on campus and blocked the Rajpura-Chandigarh road on Monday evening.

Asha Bhosle’s daughter Varsha commits suicide

Mumbai: Legendary singer Asha Bhosle’s daughter Varsha who was suffering from depression, committed suicide on Monday. 

She shot herself in the head, police said. The incident occurred around 12.30 p.m.

A singer and columnist, Varsha, 56, shot herself in the temple with a pistol of Belgian make at her residence in 'Prabhu Kunj' apartments on posh Peddar Road in South Mumbai.

She has not left behind any suicide note, Additional Commissioner of Police (South) Krishna Prakash said, adding police are trying to find out in whose name the pistol was registered.

She was alone in the house at the time of the incident, police said.

Prakash said Varsha's maid servant Deepali Mane knocked on the door of Bhosle's house around 10 am but no one answered.

Worried, she contacted Asha Bhosle's driver who told her that Varsha might be sleeping. After some time the maid went to the flat again but nobody opened the door.

The driver then entered the flat through Asha's elder sister Lata Mangeshkar's adjacent flat and found Varsha lying in a pool of blood on a sofa. Police were called in and Varsha was taken to a nearby hospital where she was declared brought dead, the officer said.

Varsha had married a sports writer and public relations professional but the couple divorced in 1998, sources close to the family said.

Prakash said police had learnt that Varsha wanted to start an orphanage with famous fashion photographer Gautam Rajadakshya, who passed away last year.

Varsha, who was said to be very close to Rajadhyaksha, was distraught after his death and was under medication for depression.

Asha Bhosle, who is away in Singapore, has cut shot her stay and taken a flight back, sources close to the family said.

Meanwhile, the body has been taken to J J Hospital for post mortem, police said. 

Varsha had attempted suicide in September 2008 by consuming a dangerously high dose of sleeping pills.

The Bhosle family had kept mum on the reason behind the suicide attempt then. But it is being believed that a private problem had been troubling Varsha for long.

Maruti opens pre-launch bookings for the new Alto 800

NEW DELHI: India's largest carmaker is resorting to the pre-order gambit to stoke consumer interest in the upcoming festive period and thereby make up for muted sales in the fiscal year so far. Maruti's sales have been subdued largely because of a suspension in production following worker unrest in its plant in Manesar in Haryana.

Alto 800

The interest quotient for the yet to be launched Alto 800 seems to be high. In a unique effort, Maruti Suzuki India has started pre-launch bookings of the car which is slated to hit the market on October 16.

Dealers say that the new-look Alto comes with an array of changes. The most notable of these is a new 796 cc petrol engine that delivers a fuel economy of 22.7 kmpl, some 15 per cent higher than the engine of the old Alto. The revamped Alto also has a more contemporary exterior design, and the interiors have been overhauled with dual tone upholstery. While airbags have been added as a safety device, the scooped-out front seats give an additional 15 mm of rear leg space, and the tall boy design increases headroom by another 15 mm. MarutiBSE 0.53 % may also offer a CNG variant, what with many buyers opting for cheaper fuel options in entry-level compact cars.

"We have got 100 Altos for delivery and are expecting more arrivals once the car hits the market on October 16, which marks the beginning of the Navaratra's festival. The new car carries many contemporary features to generate incremental sales in the festive season," said a Maruti dealer in Delhi who did not want to be named.

Pradeep Saxena, executive director, TNS Automotive, a marketing research firm, says Maruti Suzuki is attempting to create a pre-launch buzz for the Alto with the pre-order strategy. "Timing is critical for the success of any product in a crowded car market. Maruti will also build up enough stock at its dealerships to cater to the anticipated high demand during the festive season," explains Saxena.

Alto, Maruti's quintessential car has been India's bestseller for 10 years in a row. It was also the world's most widely sold compact car in 2010. However, sales have taken a beating in the past couple of years as demand shifted to diesel cars and feature-rich premium hatchbacks. Sales dropped to its lowest ever for a month, to 10,500 units in August. According to the company Alto sales declined by 35% to 89,000 units in the April to August 2012 period compared to 1.22 lakh units in the same period a year ago.

You can visit the official Alto 800 page http://www.marutisuzukialto800.com/ to book your order by paying a booking amount of Rs 5000.

As per reports, the following could be the main highlights of the car.
Car Variant: The car will come in six variants—three in CNG and three in Petrol.

Mileage: Petrol variant expected to give a mileage of approximately 23 kilometre per litre while the CNG version will give a mileage of around approximately 31 kilometre per litre.

Interiors: Fashionable and trendy, the car with stylish headlamps, better headroom and legroom.

Colours: The car will come in six vibrant colours.

Price: The petrol version is likely to be priced between Rs 2.5 lakh and Rs 3 lakh while the CNG version will be priced between Rs 3 lakh and Rs 3.5 lakh.

Blue Star architect General Brar attacked in London

Lt Gen KS Brar targeted outside a hotel; discharged after treatment
London - Lt. Gen. (retd.) K.S. Brar, who led “Operation Blue Star” 28 years ago to flush out pro-Khalistan militants in the Golden Temple, was attacked in central London on Sunday night by four knife-wielding assailants, inflicting injuries on him.

Lt. Gen. Brar (78), who enjoys Z-category protection, was returning to his hotel from a dinner along with his wife. A television channel quoted her as saying that three bearded men attacked and tried to slash his throat. But she would not jump to the conclusion that they were Sikhs. He was rushed to a hospital from where he was discharged on Monday after a surgery and his wounds were stitched. Sources said the incident took place on Old Quebec Street near Hyde Park.

The couple are in London on a private visit. He was attended by the London Ambulance Service (LAS).

The Military Attaché in the Indian High Commission here visited the hospital and enquired about his condition.

Scotland Yard told that investigations were on but no arrests had been made so far. A Yard spokesman said: “Officers and the LAS attended the scene and discovered a man, aged in his 70s, suffering from an injury believed caused by a knife.” 

This is a popular area in central London, filled with pubs, restaurants and large department stores. Lt General Brar is thought to have been coming out of a restaurant when he was attacked. Lt Gen Brar, a Z-category protectee, was reportedly stabbed by four bearded men. He was with his wife when the incident took place.

A spokeswoman for the Indian High Commission said, "He (Lt General Brar) was on a private visit and was attacked by some people. He was injured, hospitalised and has been discharged."

The Indian High Commission has refused to comment on who might be responsible for the attack. But there is inevitable speculation that the perpetrator is linked to Khalistani extremists who have become more active in recent months in the UK. They have not forgiven Lt General Brar for his role in flushing out the extremists from the Golden Temple way back in 1984, which resulted in the death of extremists leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale. Also killed in the operation was retired Major General Shabeg Singh, Lt General Brar's former superior officer who had joined the militants.

Brar was commanding 9 Division based in Meerut in 1984 when he was asked to cancel his pending leave and help co-ordinate Operation Bluestar, together with Lt Generals Krishnaswamy Sundarji, then head of Western Command, and Ranjit Singh Dayal.

Operation Bluestar was controversial because of the casualties involved and also because of the decision to enter the premises of the Golden Temple just after Guru Arjan's martyrdom day.

Justifying the operation, Lt General Brar later was quoted as saying, "It is very easy to say that we could have laid siege, we could have postponed it for a day or two, or carried out the Operation without the loss of life.

It is only we, who were there at that time, who know what our limitations and needs were."

Bluestar got underway on the night of June 5, 1984, when six infantry battalions and a squad of commandos under General Brar's command stormed the premises of the Golden Temple. Four out of the six commanders were Sikhs and they were repeatedly asked not to fire in the direction of the Hamindar Sahib even if they received fire from that direction.

It took six days and the use of several tanks to complete the operation, resulting in damage to the Akal Takht, which has subsequently been rebuilt.

Commenting on the damage, Lt General Brar later said, “It is unfortunate that there were so many casualties, as well as destruction, which we tried to avoid to the maximum. I am a Sikh myself, and I can assure you that there was no indiscriminate killing during the operation, and at all times our endeavour was to save life and property."

He added, "We tried to avoid the operation totally by requesting the inmates to surrender so that there would be no bloodshed, but it seems that they were determined not to do so. As you know, the charisma of Bhindranwale was such that the people had almost begun to accept him as the 11th Guru and were prepared to sacrifice their lives at his call."

Lt General Brar has family members living in London. Among them was a maternal uncle, who died of cancer in 1997 and who initially opposed his nephew's role in Operation Bluestar. General Brar visited his dying uncle in hospital and said in a subsequent interview that his uncle had "tears rolling down his cheeks" and now understood his actions.

Sources said External Affairs Minister SM Krishna, who is in New York, called up the Indian High Commissioner J Bhagwati to know about the condition of Lt Gen Brar, who has been on the hit-list of various extremists and militant organisations.

No word on perpetrators

The Indian High Commission has not commented on who might be responsible for the attack on Lt Gen Brar

But there is speculation that the perpetrator is linked to Khalistani extremists

Brar’s injuries were said to be not serious. He was hospitalised and later discharged

Key Bluestar Planner

Lt Gen Brar, then a Maj Gen and GOC 9 Division, helped coordinate Operation Bluestar, together with Generals Krishnaswamy Sundarji, then head of Western Command, and Ranjit Singh Dayal. Bluestar was controversial because of the casualties involved and also because of the decision to enter the Golden Temple complex just after Guru Arjan's martyrdom day.