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271 days ago
The contract was signed by Lavalin and KSEB on February 10, 1997, even without government approval and ignoring the E Balanandan Committee report received a week ago, which had recommended only replacement of essential parts at a cost of Rs 100.5 crore. Vijayan and his men, CBI says, with the intention of giving undue favours on SNC Lavalin, entered into a non-binding MoU on April 25, 1998, which kept SNC’s escape route open, thereby causing a huge loss to the exchequer. No government order had been issued authorising Mohanachandran, the first accused, to sign the MoU. But with the concurrence of the minister and A Francis, former joint secretary in the power department and now the tenth accused, the steps taken by a section officer to get a government order issued was reversed, saying that the minister’s approval was sufficient. Contrary to the MoU, SNC Lavalin unauthorisedly and illegally appointed their own consultant, Technicalia Consultants Pvt Ltd., Chennai, with the active ...282 days ago
Troubles with the censor board are not the only ones plaguing the producers of "Raaz – The Mystery Continues". For, with two of the team members getting food poisoning (Vishesh Bhatt and the visual effects supervisor), the hard disk, which would be absolutely fine when "Chandni Chawk to China" was edited, crashing every time they began editing "Raaz", and then finally with the director Mohit Suri too falling sick, Suri has ended up wondering if the film is cursed! Well, this film sure looks like it's got all it takes to turn out to be a capital horror flick! ....Continue289 days ago
Though clashes continued for the next two days, police remained inactive. And the paramilitary forces that were called in were assigned to the barracks! Meanwhile, Cabinet Minister Ashok Bhattacharya’s fiery speech against GJMM during an anti-GJMM meeting on January 18 was incendiary. It was only after the paramilitary forces expressed displeasure with the police’s handling of the situation, was the Duars Bandh called off from January 19 and GJMM women wing’s rally was allowed to be held at under heavy police bandobast. Earlier, ABAVP had vowed to resist this meeting. It was in protest against police’s tacit support to the Marxist-backed unregistered outfits that the GLA plastered Dambar Chowk in Kalimpong and Kurseong with posters calling for “direct resistance with sophisticated arms”. And GJMM apparently has warmed to the idea. Binoy Tamang, publicity secretary of GJMM, hinted his party may take a lead from Netaji and raise an army abroad and, if necessary, garner support from ...296 days ago
Last week, I’d promised to offer concrete logic as to why we ought to consider vegetarianism as a serious lifestyle choice, and here’s what I’m going to try… I could tell you how great a strain a non-vegetarian diet places on the planet’s stretched resources; how each morsel of meat you put in your mouth, turns the heat up a notch on the global temperature scale, but I won’t… I could also tell you about the cancers and the cholesterol, possible by-products of your violent dietary habits, but I won’t… ..for then all I’d have told you is why it is wrong to kill to eat, but what I really want you to know is why it is right NOT to kill… I could tell you about the unimaginable suffering that a living creature endures as it’s dragged onto the conveyor belt that conveys it from birth to your plate, which I will, but that suffering isn’t half the reason why you might consider ignoring another helping of a blood-meal…. It was an early winter morning and the sunbeams had drilled ...326 days ago
An assemblage of 2,000 odd European and American constabulary, customs agents, law lords and prosecutors are poised to start work all through Kosovo from the current month. The European Union’s Rule of Law Mission (EULEX) in Kosovo – the Albanian majority region that broke away from Serbia in February this year – is proposed to take over from a UN management that has run the establishments since 1999. Deployment has been deferred in the midst of hostility by Kosovo Serbs and Serbia who perceive the mission as a sign of Kosovo independence that they ferociously discard. "I expect to start EULEX mission Kosovo-wide from the beginning of December," said Yves de Kermabon, the head of EULEX. "I am waiting for the EU to give me the political guidance I need." However, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon succeeded in roping in Serbia with a six-point plan under which police, customs officers and judges in Serb-run areas of Kosovo would stay under a UN umbrella even ...
