Lambi to witness battle of Badals

SAD releases first list of 48 candidates

TURF WAR

n CM Parkash Singh Badal to contest from Lambin CM’s brother Gurdas Badal likely PPP candidaten Sukhbir Badal’s name  not in the first listn Darbara Singh Guru, principal secretary to  CM (he resigned today) and PS Gill, former DGP, figure in the list.n Out of 117 seats, SAD will contest 94 leaving  23 to ally, BJPn Speaker Nirmal Singh Kahlon, 10 Akali ministers among nominees

Chandigarh, December 23
The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) has released its first list of party nominees for the forthcoming Assembly elections in the state.

Putting all speculations to rest, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal will recontest the Lambi constituency. He has sent out a clear signal that there was very little possibility of a rapprochement with estranged nephew Manpreet Badal and that Lambi would see a battle within the family.

Badal’s nomination at the beginning of the 48-member list that was released today is in line with the party’s recently adopted strategy of projecting the Chief Minister as the party’s chief ministerial candidate instead of his son and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, who is the president of SAD.

Out of the 117 seats, SAD will contest 94. Alliance partner BJP will put up candidates for the remaining 23. Today’s list was on expected lines and contained names of many important leaders of the party.

The first list contains 14 new faces. The candidates on the seats swapped between the SAD and the BJP, namely Amritsar (East), Garshankar, Batala and Ludhiana (West), have also reportedly been finalised, but have been withheld on the request of the BJP that does not want to foment trouble in the party ahead of the BJP’s Jalandhar rally tomorrow.

As a result of the switch, the BJP gets Ludhiana (West) and Amritsar (East) while SAD will contest from Garshankar and Batala.

The list released today includes the names of Punjab Vidhan Sabha Speaker Nirmal Singh Kahlon and 10 out of the 12 Akali ministers in the Parkash Singh Badal Cabinet. Education Minister Sewa Singh Sekhwan’s name does not figure in the first list, but party sources confirmed that he was tipped to contest from Batala. Capt Balbir Singh Bath will be the only minister not to get re-nominated on any seat. Sukhbir Badal’s name also doesn’t figure in the first list.

The first list also includes the names of all three SAD parliamentary secretaries. In all, six women figure in the list of 48 which includes Kuldip Kaur Tohra, daughter of late Gurcharn Singh Tohra. Incidentally, she is the only person from the erstwhile Tohra faction that finds a mention in the list.

Ludhiana (West), which had been promised to Maheshinder Singh Grewal, has been given by SAD to BJP former president Rajinder Bhandari.

Twenty-four out of the 48 names released today are those of sitting party MLAs and nine ex-MLAs. In the list, five names are for reserved seats, while 43 are of the general category.

Storm over sub-quota for minorities

BJP warns of civil war as govt pushes ahead with 4.5% share in jobs within OBC pie

New Delhi, December 23
Even as the BJP and Vishwa Hindu Parishad ominously warned the government that its decision to fix a sub-quota for minorities within the quota for OBCs had the potential of triggering a ‘civil war’, the government pushed ahead with formalities to notify the Union Cabinet decision, so that the quota can come into effect from January 1, 2012. Backward castes and communities belonging to the five listed religious minorities of India — Muslims, Sikhs, Buddhists,Christians and Parsis — will be entitled to 4.5 per cent sub-quota within the existing 27 pc reservation currently available to OBCs for appointment and admission to central government institutions. Even Sikh OBCs will benefit. Since the sub-quota has been carved out for five nationally declared minorities, backward OBCs from these minorities will get the benefit even if they are a majority in a given state. So OBC Sikhs who figure in Central OBC list for Punjab will get benefit under this sub quota,” Supreme Court advocate H.S. Phoolka clarified today. The ‘pre-poll gimmick’ has sharply divided political parties, with the BJP describing it as ‘divisive’ and Left Parties saying it is ‘inadequate’. The Congress claimed the UPA has merely fulfilled a pre-poll promise while the Samajwadi Party demanded a higher quota for both OBCs and Muslims on the basis of their population.

Indeed, sources in the government said that the 4.5 pc sub-quota could be revised upwards after the Government receives the final figures of Census 2011 and the Caste Census currently in progress. The current sub- quota is an interim measure based on the OBC population estimates the Mandal Commission had extrapolated based on the 1931 Census data.

The sub quota will specially benefit Muslim OBCs from states like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar where the population of Muslim OBCs has been on the rise. In case of UP, the growth in Muslim OBC population (as per National Sample Survey Organisation rounds which Sachar Committee used) was 17.6 pc in five years.

ਭਾਰਤੀ ਔਰਤ ਵਲੋਂ ਅਨਪੜ੍ਹ ਪਤੀ ਨੂੰ ਇੰਗਲੈਂਡ ਮੰਗਵਾਉਣ ਦੀ ਅਪੀਲ ਖਾਰਜ

ਬਰਮਿੰਘਮ, 23 ਦਸੰਬਰ (ਪਰਵਿੰਦਰ ਸਿੰਘ)-ਭਾਰਤ ਜਿਹੇ ਅੰਗਰੇਜ਼ੀ ਨਾ ਬੋਲਣ ਵਾਲੇ ਮੁਲਕਾਂ ਦੇ ਆਵਾਸੀਆਂ ਨਾਲ ਸਖਤੀ ਕਰਦਿਆਂ ਬਰਤਾਨਵੀ ਹਾਈ ਕੋਰਟ ਨੇ ਉਹ ਕਾਨੂੰਨੀ ਚੁਣੌਤੀ ਖਾਰਜ ਕਰ ਦਿੱਤੀ ਜੋ ਆਪਣੇ ਜੀਵਨ ਸਾਥੀਆਂ ਨਾਲ ਰਹਿਣ ਲਈ ਯੂ.ਕੇ. ਆਉਣ ਵਾਲੇ ਲੋਕਾਂ ਦੇ ਅੰਗਰੇਜ਼ੀ ਬੋਲ ਸਕਣ ਦੇ ਸਮਰੱਥ ਹੋਣ ਦੇ ਨਵੇਂ ਇਮੀਗ੍ਰੇਸ਼ਨ ਨਿਯਮ ਵਿਰੁੱਧ ਦਾਇਰ ਕੀਤੀ ਗਈ ਸੀ। ਬਰਤਾਨਵੀ ਨਾਗਰਿਕ ਰਸ਼ੀਦਾ ਚਾਪਤੀ (54) ਤੇ ਉਹਦਾ 57 ਸਾਲਾ ਭਾਰਤੀ ਪਤੀ ਵਲੀ ਚਾਪਤੀ ਇਸ ਕੇਸ ਦੇ ਤਿੰਨ ਦਾਅਵੇਦਾਰਾਂ 'ਚੋਂ ਇਕ ਜੋੜਾ ਸਨ।ਇਸ ਜੋੜੇ ਦੇ ਵਿਆਹ ਨੂੰ 37 ਵਰ੍ਹੇ ਹੋ ਚੁੱਕੇ ਹਨ ਤੇ ਇਨ੍ਹਾਂ ਦੇ 6 ਬੱਚੇ ਹਨ ਪਰ ਉਹ 15 ਸਾਲ ਤੋਂ ਲੈਸਟਰ ਤੇ ਭਾਰਤ ਵਿਚਾਲੇ ਵੰਡੇ ਰਹੇ ਪਰ ਵਲੀ ਚਾਪਤੀ ਅੰਗਰੇਜ਼ੀ ਬੋਲਣੀ-ਪੜ੍ਹਨੀ ਨਾ ਜਾਨਣ ਕਾਰਨ ਬਰਤਾਨੀਆ ਪੁੱਜਣੋਂ ਅਸਮਰੱਥ ਹੈ। ਚੁਣੌਤੀ 'ਚ ਕਿਹਾ ਗਿਆ ਸੀ ਕਿ ਨਵੰਬਰ 2010 'ਚ ਲਾਗੂ ਹੋਇਆ ਨਵਾਂ ਨਿਯਮ ਨਸਲ ਤੇ ਕੌਮੀਅਤ ਦੇ ਆਧਾਰ 'ਤੇ ਪੱਖਪਾਤ ਹੈ ਪਰ ਜਸਟਿਸ ਬੀਟਸਨ ਦਾ ਕਹਿਣਾ ਹੈ ਕਿ ਇਹ ਨਿਯਮ ਸਹੀ ਹੈ ਤੇ ਪਰਿਵਾਰਕ ਜ਼ਿੰਦਗੀ ਦੇ ਅਧਿਕਾਰ 'ਚ ਦਖਲਅੰਦਾਜ਼ੀ ਨਹੀਂ ਹੈ। ਅਦਾਲਤ 'ਚ ਸ੍ਰੀਮਤੀ ਚਾਪਤੀ ਦੇ ਵਕੀਲਾਂ ਨੇ ਦਾਅਵਾ ਕੀਤਾ ਸੀ ਕਿ ਇਹ ਨਵਾਂ ਨਿਯਮ ਜੋੜੇ ਦੇ ਮਾਨਵੀ ਹੱਕਾਂ ਦੀ ਉਲੰਘਣਾ ਸੀ। ਇਹ ਲੋਕਾਂ ਦੀ ਨਾਗਰਿਕਤਾ ਤੇ ਨਸਲ ਦੇ ਅਧਾਰ 'ਤੇ ਵੀ ਭੇਦਭਾਵ ਵਾਲਾ ਕਾਨੂੰਨ ਹੈ। ਪਰ ਅਦਾਲਤ ਨੇ ਮੰਨਿਆ ਕਿ ਭਾਸ਼ਾ ਦੀ ਜਾਣਕਾਰੀ ਦੀ ਸ਼ਰਤ ਜੋੜੇ ਦੇ ਮਾਨਵੀ ਹੱਕਾਂ ਦੀ ਉਲੰਘਣਾ ਨਹੀਂ ਤੇ ਨਾ ਹੀ ਇਹ ਨਾਗਰਿਕਤਾ ਘੱਟ ਗਿਣਤੀ ਫਿਰਕੇ ਜਾਂ ਅਯੋਗਤਾ ਦੇ ਅਧਾਰ 'ਤੇ ਭੇਦਭਾਵ ਕਰਦੀ ਹੈ। ਸ੍ਰੀਮਤੀ ਚਾਪਤੀ, ਵਾਸੀ ਲੈਸਟਰ, ਜੋ ਖੁਦ ਅੰਗਰੇਜ਼ੀ ਦੀ ਥੋੜ੍ਹੀ ਬਹੁਤ ਜਾਣਕਾਰੀ ਰੱਖਦੀ ਹੈ ਨੇ ਟਰਾਂਸਲੇਟਰ ਦੀ ਮੱਦਦ ਨਾਲ ਕਿਹਾ ਕਿ ਉਸ ਨੂੰ ਇਸ ਫੈਸਲੇ ਨਾਲ ਕਾਫੀ ਨਿਰਾਸ਼ਤਾ ਹੋਈ ਹੈ।

US call centre Bill has slim chance of becoming a law

A Bill that seeks to bar US firms that outsource call centre jobs from receiving federal grants and loans has created uproar in India, but is nowhere close to becoming a law.

The Bill, introduced by Congressman Tim Bishop, a New York Democrat, has been referred to four committees in the House of Representatives: Energy and Commerce, Oversight and Government Reform, Armed Services, and Education and the Workforce. Bishop introduced the legislation earlier this month.
The US Call Centre and Consumer Protection Act is cosponsored by two Republicans, Congressmen Dave McKinley of West Virginia and Michael Grimm of New York, and two other Democrats, Congressmen Mike Michaud of Maine and Gene Green of Texas.
“We are hopeful that the hearings may be forthcoming next year due to the legislation's bipartisan support,” Bishop’s spokesman Oliver Longwell told The Tribune.
Congressional sources said the Bill stands little chance of becoming a law. The Bill requires overseas call centre employees to disclose their location to consumers in America and gives customers the right to be transferred to a US-based call centre on request. The Bill has the support of the 700,000-member Communications Workers of America.
“It is common sense that we should not be rewarding companies that ship jobs overseas, while millions of qualified Americans are looking for work,” Bishop said. “Taxpayer dollars should only be used to give incentives to good corporate citizens who create American jobs,” he added. The Bill would also require the US Department of Labour to monitor firms that send call centre jobs overseas.
These firms would be ineligible for any direct or indirect federal loans or loan guarantees for five years. Customer service/call centre employment in the US has dropped from 5.2 million in 2006 to 4.7 million in 2010 as the US firms have relocated operations overseas in a bid to cut their own costs, according to the Communications Workers of America.
India has been one of the main beneficiaries of outsourced jobs. Outsourcing has become a contentious practice as the US economy has stalled.
“If you are frustrated by dealing with call centres that are located overseas and having to worry about the security of your personal information, this Bill will give you a choice to deal with American workers who must comply with American laws,” said Michael Gendron of Communications Workers of America.

THE FINE PRINT

• No direct or indirect federal loans or loan guarantees for five years for American firms that outsource call centre jobs
• Bill designed to limit identity theft threat at foreign call centres
• It requires overseas call centre employees to disclose their location to consumers in the US and gives customers the right to be transferred to a US-based call centre on request

Kim Jong Il Dead at Age 69

The secretive leader of North Korea, Kim Jong-il, is dead at the age of 69.

A tearful announcer dressed in black appeared on North Korean state television Monday morning and announced Kim Jong Il's death.

She says Kim passed away on Saturday, from what she described as a “great mental and physical strain.”

The official report says the North Korean leader had a heart attack while on a train during what it called a “field inspection.” It says every possible measure was taken to save his life, but that an autopsy on Sunday confirmed the cause of death.

 Kim is believed to have suffered a stroke in 2008 and has appeared visibly frail in the  limited number of photos recently released.

North Korea is a Communist country and has so far maintained a system of hereditary succession. Kim inherited North Korea's leadership from his father Kim Il Sung, who died in 1994. In September 2010, Kim Jong Il named his youngest son Kim Jong Un as his successor.

Peking University international relations professor Zhu Feng calls Kim's death “surprising.”

“North Korea is not just some sort of failed state, but North Korea is also a dangerous state because it has the nuclear weapon," said Zhu. "So, then the sudden passing away of their top leader will certainly produce great worry, uncertainty and even instability.

Shortly after the announcement of Kim’s death, South Korea put its military on “high alert” and President Lee Myung-bak convened his national security council.

The White House said President Barack Obama had been notified and U.S. officials are in touch with their South Korean and Japanese counterparts.

China and North Korea have traditionally described their friendship as being as close as “lips and teeth.” But Zhu says Chinese leaders had mixed feelings about Kim Jong il.

"On the one hand of course, he is a strong man and he continued to just rule his country. But on the other hand, we also see on his rule [although] North Korea's economy was calm, North Korea's international behavior was provocative,” he said.

Zhu says Chinese leaders were most concerned with Kim's nuclear ambitions.

North Korea has announced that the official funeral for Kim will be held on December 28. Heir apparent Kim Jong-un has been named as the head of the funeral committee.