As the most audacious General during World War II, George S Patton’s death in a car accident has raised questions if it was an assassination. There were attempts on his life and the General hardly took notice of them. But the US Army remains unbudging that its inquiry held Patton’s death was due to injuries suffered in an accident when a army truck hit his Caddilac limousine. However, some searching questions about the manner in which the accident occured remains unanwered. 
There was no formal inquest, no attempt to speak to Patton in the hospital about his version of events, and no inquiry was conducted after his death. Seeking more information about the death of his friend, Gen Geoffrey Keyes, commander of the seventh Army immediately launched a probe of his own into the accident. But Keyes report too went missing. The only report that remained in circulation was a curious document that was allegedly written in 1952 and signed by PFC Horace Woodring, Gen Patton’s driver. 
When asked about it in after 27 years in 1979, Woodring swore that he had never made any statements or signed his name to any such report. He believed the paperwork was completely fabricated. 
Attempts by the authors of the book “Killing Patton” — Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard — to find the official accident report were unsuccessful. If it does exist it is well hidden. The cover up was complete. In 1979, Office of Strategic Studies Jedburgh Douglas Bazata made the astounding assertion that he was part of a hit team that lay in wait for Patton’s limousine. He claimed after the crash he fired a low velocity projectile into the back of Patton’s neck to snap it. 
When Patton did not die immediately, the general was murdered by the agents of NKVD, the Russian security in charge of political assassinations and espionage, by using an odorless poison. Bazata also swore that Wild Bill Donovan of the OSS paid him $ 10,000 Dollars plus another $ 800 in expenses for his role in Patton’s death. But many believe Bazata’s story is far fetched. No projectiles were ever found, and surely Woodring, Patton’s driver, and Gen Hap Gay who was accompanying Patton would have seen an assassination team. 
The authors believe the death of Gen Patton should be reexamined by American military investigations. Although the trail is ice cold, technological advances could solve some of the puzzles. There is no doubt that Patton died a hero, and history certainly honours that to this day. But the tough old general did not go out on his own terms, and there are many unanswered questions surrounding his death. These questions deserve to be addressed.  He had some premotion about his impending death. A few weeks before leaving his daughters in Washington, Patton said something that disturbed them greatly. “Well, I guess this is goodbye. I won’t be seeing you again.” His daughters protested “It’s crazy”. Constantly wanting to attack the “krauts” as the Allied forces called the Fuhrer’s Nazis, the only competition he had came from the British commander Gen Bernard Law Montgomery for whom the overall allied commander Gen Dwight Eisenhower had a soft corner. Montgomery silenced the Nazi desert fox Gen Erwin Rommel and secured a major breakthrough. 
It was on September 28, 1945 when Patton had 85 days to live that he is summoned with prejudice to meet his boss Eisenhower or ‘Ike’ as he was widely known. Because of foul Autumn rains, Patton had driven seven-and-a-half hours to reach Ike’s massive industrial office complex that now serves as his headquarters. 
During the journey, Patton was thinking of the words to speak to save his career once again. The meeting between Patton and Ike borders on volcanic. Ike is “nasty and showoffish” Patoon thinks. Given his propensity to shoot off his mouth before the media, Patton has made a mess of things yet again going on record as stating that being a member of the Nazi party is no different from being a member of the Republican or Democratic party. 
“To get things done in Bavaria after the complete disorganisation and disruption of four years of war we had to compromise with the devil a little. We had no alternative but to turn to the people who knew what to do and how to do it,” he told a small gathering of the press in his office, defending his use of former Nazi officials in the rebuilding of Germany. 
But the truth is Patton no longer has a career worth saving. He is restless and bored. His behaviour borders on depressive some days, with the best remedy being a hunting expedition or time on horseback. Patton desperately misses the war. He also believes that the Russians are America’s new enemy, and should be treated as such. 
This was also the view of Britain war time Prime Minister Winston Churchill. Patton stands alone. Indeed, American troops are either going home or being sent to the Pacific to fight the Japanese, leaving fewer and fewer GIs to fight the “Mongols” as Patton calls the Russians. 
Even more disturbing to Patton is that all his peers are going home to bigger and better jobs. While Patton spends his days reluctantly getting rid of the Nazi presence in Bavaria, Ike will soon be the Army chief of Staff, Gen Omar Bradley is already in Washington, heading the new Veterans Administration, and of course Gen Courtney Hodges is of to fight in the Pacific.  
It seems there is no place for Patton in a peacetime army. “Your greatest fault,” Eisenhower tells Patton “is your audacity”. The words are meant to sting but both men know that Patton considers audacity his greatest asset. He has no choice as he walks out of Eisenhowver’s office. Later on he tells an aide over dinner that he’d like to resign from the Army so that he can go home and say “what I have to say.” But powerful people do not want this to happen. Patton knows too much — and saying what he knows would be a disaster. He must be silenced. 
At 6 AM  on December 9, 1945 Patton who has barely a dozen days to live has awakened. Official Army orders are directing Patton to return home where he has arranged to take 30 days leave and celebrate Christmas with his family. After that he plans to leave the military. On this particular day Patton decides to go pheasant hunting outside Manheim but enroute visits the Roman fort near Sallburg. 
He starts at 9 AM and at 11.45 AM a military truck crashes head on with Patton’s Cadillac. At 12.43 PM Patton arrives at the US Army 130th Station Hospital. In the right backseat Patton is thrown forward his head slamming violently into the steel partition between Woodring’s driver’s compartment and the backseat. His nose breaks. He feels a sharp pain at the back of his neck. 
After checking on his staff, Patton says in a weak voice “I believe I am paralysed.” Military Police Lt Peter K Babalas is on the scene and opens the back door and finds himself staring at George Patton being supported in an upright seated position. He was having trouble breathing. He asked that his arms and shoulders be rubbed hard. His face is growing pale and his feet are extremely cold. 
“I don’t want a damned thing,” he tells the attending Doctor. Allied authorities are given the top secret information that one of America’s great heroes is incapacitated. Doctors believed Patton will survive his injuries and should be able to travel soon. They were proved wrong.           

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday inaugurated India’s longest bridge – the 9.15 km long Dhola-Sadiya bridge, over the River Brahmaputra, in Assam.  
This was his first engagement on the third anniversary of his swearing-in as the Prime Minister. 
The bridge will enhance connectivity and greatly reduce travel time between Assam and Arunachal Pradesh by nearly four  hours. After unveiling a plaque to mark the inauguration, the Prime Minister travelled, and walked on the bridge for a few minutes.  
Later, addressing a public meeting at Dhola, the Prime Minister said that the inauguration of the bridge marks the end of a long wait for the people of this area. He said the Union Government has decided to name the Dhola-Sadiya bridge after the great musician, lyricist and poet, Bhupen Hazarika who hailed from Assam.   The Prime Minister said infrastructure is extremely important for development, and the effort of the Union Government is to fulfil the dreams and wishes of the people. He said this bridge enhances connectivity between Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, and opens the door for economic development, on a big scale.  
He said the eastern and north-eastern parts of the country have the greatest potential for economic development, and this bridge is just one element of the Union Government’s vision in this regard.  
The Prime Minister said the bridge will bring about a positive change in the lives of the common people. He said the Union Government is placing great emphasis on the development of waterways as well.  
The Prime Minister said enhanced connectivity between the North-East and other parts of the country is a priority for the Union Government, and work has been greatly speeded up in this regard. He said that good connectivity in the North-East will also link the region with the economy of South-East Asia. The Prime Minister also spoke of the immense tourism potential of the North-East. 

Marking the third anniversary of his government, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday vowed not to go back on the government’s fight against black money and said he was ready to pay any price for that campaign.

“The first decision of our government was against black money… All those who have black money and benami property, their children drive most expensive motorbikes in the world… If that money has been earned through corruption, we will get it out and return it to the people,” Modi said on Friday.

“I know we will have to pay the price for this, I am ready to pay any price, but I will not go back on my promise to the people,” Modi said, adding that the people of India wanted honesty.

Speaking at Guwahati, the Prime Minister said that there was a time when people talked only about ‘Kala Dhan’ (black money) but under the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government, people are talking about ‘Jan Dhan’ the government programme for opening zero balance accounts for the poor.

The Prime Minister added that soon people will talk about Digi Dhan or digital money.

Attacking opposition parties over the issue of demonetisation, Modi said opposition leaders tried hard to fuel anger among the common people, but it did not work as people supported the government.

“It was a tough decision and politicians at that time said a lot to fuel anger among people… Despite the efforts, people were not misled and they had faith in the government and the Pradhan Sevak (Prime Servant),” Modi said.

The Prime Minister also said that he was in Assam to mark three years of his government, while the previous governments were focused only on Delhi.

“Earlier there was a tradition that Delhi was most important on such occasions,” Modi said.

“For us, every corner of India is Delhi, that is our culture,” he said.

Modi said that in the course of on a single day, in the form of the bridge over river Brahmaputra and an Agricultural Research Institute in Goghmukh, Assam got projects worth Rs 3,500 crore.

He also said the government is working towards doubling farmers’ income by 2022, and for that project Rs 6,000 crore will be provided. He said that Foreign Direct Investment would be invited for setting up food processing units, so that farmers can earn more through value addition to their produce.

The Prime Minister was in Assam to inaugurate the strategically crucial and India’s longest 9.15-km river bridge connecting Assam and Arunachal Pradesh near the China border on the third anniversary of the BJP government.

(With Inputs from IANS)

New Delhi  Former Punjab top cop K.P.S. Gill, who is credited with having played a big role in eliminating terrorism from Punjab, died here in a private hospital. He was 82.

Gill, a former Director General of Punjab Police, was suffering from end-stage kidney failure and significant ischemic heart disease.

“He had been recovering from peritonitis but died of sudden cardiac arrest due to cardiac arrhythmia”, said a statement from Sir Gangaram Hospital where he was undergoing treatment. He died at 2.55 p.m.

He was admitted to the hospital on May 18.

Gill, who was known as ‘supercop’, was DGP of Punjab Police between 1988 and 1990 and came back to the post again in 1991 and held it till retirement in 1995. 

The ‘Supercop’ who pacified Punjab and his controversial career 

Hailed by many as a “Supercop” who ruthlessly stamped out terrorism from Punjab in the 1990s, K.P.S. Gill had an equal number of detractors who slammed his “high-handedness” and alleged human rights violations in his campaign against Khalistani militancy.

The stern-looking, impressively-moustachioed Gill, who was brought to the state from the northeast in 1984 after “Operation Blue Star”, was no stranger to controversy — ranging from the incompetence charge levied against him by one of his predecessors to the infamous incident involving woman bureaucrat Rupen Deol Bajaj in 1988.

Even after his retirement, he figured in the headlines for both the right and wrong reasons. Eagerly sought as security advisor by various states, and even neighbouring countries like Sri Lanka, facing militancy, he remained critical of prevailing security policies — or lack thereof. 

His stewardship of the Indian Hockey Association also came under a cloud after the national team failed to qualify for the Olympics for the first time in 2008. Adding to the indignity, he was denied permission to attend the 2012 London Olympics after a successful canvassing by a Britain-based human rights group. 

But it was his police career that defines Kanwar Pal Singh Gill.

Born in Ludhiana in 1935, Gill did his masters in English from Shimla’s St Edmunds. Joining the Indian Police Service in 1958 and being posted to the Assam-Meghalaya cadre, he spent the next quarter century in the northeast. But there also he got embroiled in controversy to the extent that, in 2003, then Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi declined a proposal to make him the state Governor. 

Gill, who headed the Assam Police when the anti-foreigners agitation was at its height, seemed to have put off many people there with his brusque style. He was also charged with beating a prisoner to death but was exonerated in the case by the Supreme Court.

It was Punjab that made his name. Deputed to the state in the wake of the situation spiralling out of control after Operation Blue Star, which he confessed had also hurt him, Gill did not get on very well with the new police chief Kirpal Dhillon.

Breaking his silence on his subordinate in his book “Identity and Survival: Sikh Militancy in India 1978-1993”, Dhillon, who was brought in from Madhya Pradesh but eased out most unceremoniously after an year in the post, accused both his successors Julio Ribeiro and Gill of “strategies that tended to promote a culture of illegitimate, brutal and possibly venal policing among their subordinates”.

Dhillon, in his 2013 autobiography “Time Present and Time Past”, went further, blaming Gill’s decisions and “perceived incompetence” for Sant Longowal’s assassination soon after the signing of the August 1985 Punjab Accord with Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. It was this event that lay behind Dhillon’s removal.

After coming to prominence with “Operation Black Thunder” in 1987 when armed Khalistani militants, who again ensconced themselves in the Golden Temple, were made to surrender without any damage to the structure, Gill became Punjab Police chief in 1988 — when the situation was at its nadir with thousands attending the rituals of killed militants. 

However, he only hit his peak in his second tenure in the post that began in 1991, when the new Congress government, headed by Beant Singh, gave Gill a free hand and he, in turn, unleashed his subordinates.

Bounties were placed on militants, kidnappings reportedly curbed by identifying those responsible and picking up their relatives, and under “Operation Night Dominance” the entire police force brought out at night to challenge the terrorists with innovations like armoured tractors to chase them across crop fields. 

Inevitably, there were extra-judicial killings, innocents got caught in the crossfire, a few human rights activists went missing in suspicious circumstances and his comments and actions — offering to help the Uttar Pradesh Police clean up the Terai of Sikh militants and the killing of suspected terrorists in Kolkata — riled many. 

But by 1993 and 1994, there was more peace in Punjab than had been seen in the previous two decades. There was a last high-profile sacrifice before the militancy was wiped out — that of Beant Singh, blown up by a human bomb in the Secretariat at Chandigarh in September 1995, shortly before Gill’s retirement.

After his retirement, Gill set up his institute on security matters and was consulted by various states, including Narendra Modi’s Gujarat in the wake of the 2002 riots, and Maoist-affected Chhattisgarh in 2008, but he never made the same spark. 

Toulouse, France, Â– Airbus has delivered the first A320neo to Vistara, a Delhi based full service airline and joint venture between Tata Sons Ltd. and Singapore Airlines (SIA). The delivery is the first of seven aircraft to be leased from BOC Aviation. The aircraft sports a unique A320neo Vistara star symbol livery on its underbelly.

The CFM powered aircraft is configured in a three class layout with 158 seats (8 business class, 24 premium and 126 economy class). Vistara has taken inputs from its growing number of frequent fliers and redesigned the cabin with even more comfort and relaxing features such as mood lighting and increased seat pitch.

Vistara currently operates 13 A320 aircraft on domestic India routes. The increased range of the NEO provides greater reach as Vistara spreads its wings internationally in the future.

The A320neo Family incorporates the very latest technologies including new generation engines and Sharklets, which together deliver more than 15 percent fuel and CO2 savings from day one and 20 percent by 2020 as well as 50 percent noise reduction. With more than 5,000 orders received from 92 customers since its launch in 2010, the A320neo Family has captured some 60 percent share of the market. With this delivery, Airbus has delivered more than 110 A320neo aircraft to 24 operators.

The much touted slogan of “acche din aane wale hain” continues to elude the Narendra Modi government on completing three years in office on  Friday, May 26, 2017. The focus on development through “sab ka saath, sab ka vikas” has been poor. It has also been found lacking on the human development front. 

The Centre has geared up for a fortnight long publicity blitzkrieg with ministers and BJP leaders travelling all over the country outlining the policy successes and vision in the run up to the next general elections in 2019.

Modi himself will set the ball rolling from Guwahati in Assam far away from the national capital where it is in power for the first time. Needless to say all the encomiums will be for Modi and Modi alone.  

The BJP led NDA has struggled to achieve success on crucial development spheres like farmer incomes and job creation. Modi has demonetised high currency notes in an effort to clean the system. Economists are divided on its merit besides the confusion and suffering it caused to the poor. 

A confident Modi laid the opposition low and rode to power in 2014 on the theme of development for all. For the first time the Lotus party formed in 1980 secured a majority on its own in the Lok Sabha. In the last three decades no single party crossed the magic figure of 272 for a simple majority in the 543-member House of the people. 

Modi’s decisiveness is not in doubt though he cannot be singled out as the only Head of Government having that quality. Initially, the catchy slogan of “aache din aane wale hain” caught the imagination of the people but after a year-and-a-half it started irritating the people as none of the multitude of promises made during the 2014 election campaign was nowhere near fruition.   

The BJP is on a high after its stunning victory in the recent assembly elections in crucial Uttar Pradesh. 

The Prime Minister’s dream of transforming India as the ‘skills capital of the world’ Â– generating adequate jobs in the process – seems to have run out of steam. The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship in its report expressed serious concern about the huge shortage of “qualified trainers”. It recommended reorientation of the programme to “concentrate on quality of training” and focus on the twin objectives of meeting skills required by industry and employment of the youth. Other reports suggest that less than 12% of those trained under Skill India programme got jobs. 

This shows that the promise of massive job creation has been largely belied. Modi has had to undertake a delicate balancing act with the RSS which as BJP’s mentor wants to establish a Hindu Rastra. This is irrespective of what the Constitution might say. 

On his part Modi has assured going strictly by the provisions of the Constitution in ensuring the rights of every citizen. 

The increasing incidents of intolerance in various parts of the country is a matter of serious concern. Wanton lynching of people to death by alleged gau rakshaks in different parts of the country including the crucial state of UP where the BJP won a stunning victory recently, is causing palpable fear and insecurity not only among the minority Muslims but the Dalits as well.

Taking strong exception to rising intolerance in the country, Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said Lawlessness aided and abetted by the state has become the new India of today. 

There is intolerance galore which has become the new normal with innocents being targeted, he added.  

Last Sunday the national capital witnessed a gathering of the apolitical Dalit force under the umbrella of the Bhim Army led by a young lawyer Chandrasekhar which has disowned Mayawati and her BSP. 

They were protesting the excesses against them by the upper castes which was on the rise in Uttar Pradesh after Yogi Adityanath became the chief minister. Saharanpur had witnessed the third eruption of Dalit rage amid an open pursuit of majoritarian politics.  

Apart from the Muslims the Dalits are seeking the cooperation of the Yadavs, Valmikis and other OBCs as they see a common adversary in the upper caste led BJP.  

Consequently, BJP ruled states are becoming unsafe to live following cow vigilante groups attacking people mercilessly for transporting cows and buffaloes even with valid papers. The law and order machinery is vary of coming down hard against these so called vigilantes. 

The discriminating believe the RSS might be living in a different world altogether. It wants to implement its three point agenda of building a Ram temple, having a uniform civil code and abrogating Article 370 of the Constitution according special status to Jammu and Kashmir. 

Being from the RSS stock, can Modi side step the mentor as evidenced during his chief ministership of Gujarat. That might be a difficult proposition as RSS activists have been made chief ministers in the states where the BJP has won assembly elections since it regained power at the Centre three years back. 

This is being viewed as outflanking the Prime Minister by hardliners along with the RSS keeping a close watch on Modi. It assumes significance with the BJP strong man keen on making a determined bid for a second consecutive term as Prime Minister.   

Former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee remained free from the RSS calling the shots. 

This was because the 26-party disparate coalition of the NDA with the BJP in the vanguard from 1999-2004 had adopted an agenda of governance which scrupulously steered clear of the RSS agenda.

( T R Ramachandran is senior journalist and commentator. The views are personal.) 

New Delhi – It is still hazy to see the desperation of the union government to imposing the Aadhaar Card mandatory when matters related to Aadhaar Card are already sub judice. The constitutionality of Aadhaar is yet to be decided by the Supreme Court, however, the enrolment of Aadhaar has reached the mark of more than one billion. Recently, the government declared Aadhaar mandatory to file Income Tax Return (ITR) while the Supreme Court is opined not to treat Aadhaar mandatory, but voluntarily. Now it is imperative of the government to confide the citizens that the Aadhaar information- demography and biometrics-are in safe hands, a debate which has been heating up, and the contempt of the court’s decision by the government is for greater good. But the uproar against the speculation of identity revelation threat and possible misuse of Aadhaar details by the government-corporate nexus, plausible reasons to doubt the security of privacy, which is a fundamental right of Indian citizen. Ironically, after the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley defended the ‘Aadhaar Money Bill controversy’ filed by former congress MP Jairam Ramesh in the court, the Supreme Court is in dilemma and yet to decide whether ‘Right to Privacy’ is a fundamental right or not.Why Aadhaar Card Mandatory?Nandan Nilekani, the co-founder of Infosys and the ideologue of Aadhaar, said that Aadhaar will change the PDS system in India since it ensures no ghost or fake beneficiaries to avail unentitled benefits of the various welfare schemes and subsidies. Nilekani also says that there might be margin of error up to 5 per cent in distributing the subsidies or benefits of various welfare schemes to the masses. The top-honcho technocrat has also defended Aadhaar that any breach of privacy of citizens is not possible as the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) is efficient to secure the public data under CIDR. The government claims that the corruption-mounted Public Distribution System (PDS) in India is reformed due to the introduction of the 12 digit unique identification number. More than 40000 crore have been saved in the form of exchequer due to curb of fake and ghost beneficiaries in the PDS system. Now if we believe Nilekani claim of 5% error, then more than 5 crore beneficiaries would be losing their benefits due the error in the biometric identification. The Infosys co-founder later said that if there is a margin of error then ‘One Time Password’ (OTP) comes in. However, he didn’t define what if there is a congestion of network in the remotest Indian villages where phone signals are rare? Standing on the PDS shop waiting for food grains and network, is certainly not an ideal way to avail the benefits of the government welfare schemes. In 2011, activist and writer Ruchika Gupta said in an interview to Tahalka, “The UID cannot address the bulk of delivery problems in the two of the biggest social sectors programmes like MGNREGA and PDS. Linking UID with social sector legislation is completely baseless.”

PAN Card Linked with Aadhaar Card?The government has directed the Reserve Bank of India to make Aadhaar mandatory for Income Tax Return filing. Currently, there are approximately 24.37 crores PAN holders in India, however 3.8 crore people file income tax return every year. There have been cases of people owned not more than one but 100 PAN Cards with them. PAN cards in India are mostly used by the citizens as a proof of identity. The government believes that PAN card linking with Aadhaar will curb the tax evasion. 

How Safe Is Your Data In This Panopticon Model Of Mass Surveillance?

In the late 18^th century, the well-known English social reformer and jurist Jeremy Bentham wanted to build a ‘panoptican’ for a mass surveillance of the prisoners in England. He advocated designing an institutional building be used to keep an eye on all the jail inmates by a single watchman. Very similarly, India is witnessing the biggest surveillance program ever under the name of single identity and availing benefits of governments’ schemes. Another logic behind enrolment of Aadhaar is the ‘national security’. National security? How can any government ensure national security backing Aadhaar, when international companies have been hired in consortium to collect residents’ biometric and demography details? In 2010, Accenture, Mahindra-Satyam Morpho and L1 identity solutions were pooled in by UIDAI for leveraging de-duplication exercise of Aadhaar and data collection.  L1 Identity Solutions’ top brasses are the former Director CIA George Tenet and former Homeland Security deputy secretary Adm James. With its headquarters in Connecticut, this company is one of the biggest defence contractors specialised in facial recognition and biometrics. L1 Identity Solutions and Accenture work in a close affinity to US intelligence agencies. This is an age of information. Corporate houses and big telecom players are dying to get details of consumers. Obvious are the concerns about the safety and security of the people’s data. It is feared that the database can be used for various marketing and business purposes.

 
CIDR, A Single Database Of People’s DataCentral Identities Data Repository (CIDR) is a data management and storing agency in India which is initiated for the Aadhaar project. It is regulated by the statutory body of Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI). This centralised database is probably one of the biggest repositories on this planet.In 2010, experts had claimed that more than a thousand government sites and portals were attacked more than 4000 times by China alone in one year. In April 2011, 77 million Sony Playstations and digital media delivery service Qriocity were hacked which resulted into a shutdown of the network for a week. The London School of Economics also reported that a central database of vulnerable to hacking and other terrorist and cyber crime activities. Recently Wannacry Ransomware virus hits the globe. More than 99 countries were affected. Building one single repository for billions of Aadhaar Card data seems to be a big risk in the most vulnerable country where dat breach is at most. 
Data Leak CrisisUIDAI has so far spent approximately 5982.62 crores for more than a billion enrolments of Aadhaar Cards. 1615.34 crores have been spent between the financial year 2015-2016. Centre for Internet and Society, Bengaluru-based organization (CIS) has learned that data of more than 130 million Aadhaar card holders has been leaked from four government websites. They are National Social Assistance Programme, National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, Chandranna Bima Scheme and Daily Online Payments Reports of NREGA. It also includes Bank details and other confidential details of millions of residents.
What is Next?The Lok Sabha has passed the Aadhaar Bill as Money Bill. Mukul Rohatgi said in the Supreme Court that according to Article 110 of the constitution, there is use of consolidated funds of India so the bill is a Money bill. Chief Justice Khehar said, “Your object might be good but whether it is a ‘Money Bill’ or not is the question.” Justice Ramana referred to a 2014 judgment passed by the Apex court that courts had no jurisdiction over procedurals matters of legislative.” In response P. Chidambram, the counsel for Jairam Ramesh said, “This petition is not about a procedural matter. There has been substantive infraction.”

An Indian woman who alleged she was forced and duped into marrying a Pakistani man was repatriated to her country through the Wagah border on Thursday, a day after the Islamabad High Court permitted her to travel home.
 Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj welcomed Uzma Ahmed to India, minutes after she crossed into India from the Wagah border in Amritsar.   “Uzma – Welcome home India’s daughter. I am sorry for all that you have gone through,” Sushma Swaraj tweeted.  Uzma travelled to Lahore from Islamabad and was accompanied by Indian Deputy High Commissioner J.P. Singh, who bid her farewell at the border. She had stayed in Pakistan for 25 days.  Uzma, who was escorted by Pakistani security personnel till the Wagah border crossing, was debriefed by Indian officials for a while.  The woman claimed she was forced to marry Buner resident Tahir Ali at gunpoint. During the court hearing, Pakistani judge Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani asked Uzma if she wanted to meet her husband in the chamber but she refused the offer, saying she did not want to talk to him.  The High Court ordered that Uzma can go back to her country and the case will be processed in her absence.  Uzma had taken refuge at the Indian High Commission in Islamabad because she felt threatened, and wanted to return to her country of birth.  Ali had filed a petition claiming that she was being forcibly kept at the Indian High Commission and that the marriage was not under coercion.  Uzma, who belongs to New Delhi, and Ali “fell in love” in Malaysia, after which she travelled to Pakistan on May 1, via the Wagah border.

Lucknow – A special CBI court in Lucknow, which is conducting daily hearing of the 1992 Babri demolition case, on Thursday directed BJP leaders L.K. Advani, Uma Bharti and Murli Manohar Joshi to appear personally before it on May 30.
  The BJP leaders had moved court seeking exemption from personally appearing in the court for the hearing of their role in the conspiracy to raze the Babri Masjid on December 6, 1992.

NEW DELHI: Being a unique nation with a huge population to feed, India cannot emulate the model of other countries in managing its water resources and dealing with environmental issues, a top Government official said here on Wednesday. 

“India cannot look at the model of countries as it is a unique country with a huge population to feed. The country is looking at what can be the best method in environment and water management,” Amita Prasad, Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Environment said. 

Speaking at a symposium “Too much or Not enough, Managing Water in a Changing Climate” organised jointly by the Canadian High Commission and the Press Club of India.  She said that there were several environmental issues  and wetland was one of them.The government was carrying out real time monitoring and maintaining data of wetland sources whether it were tanks, reservoirs or canals, Ms Prasad said.    

She said that conserving water does not need big technologies and small technologies need to be given priority. Citing example of sugarcane crop which needs lots of water, she said that several sugarcane growing areas have switched to drip irrigation, adding that such type of irrigation needs to be adopted on a large scale. 

Replying to question on adopting traditional methods of water conservation, Ms Prasad felt that traditional knowledge was being ignored. It was time that such storehouse of knowledge was protected and put to use.

Earlier, Dr Mark Johnson, an Ecohydrologist from Canada made a detailed presentation on managing water in the scenario of changing climate.

Speaking about the depletion of ground water in several parts of India, Dr Johnson said that Northern India was showing depletion in ground water.

He also cited the World Health Organisation report which stated that two billion people were drinking contaminated water. He said that food production was having the largest human impact on environment and agriculture was the biggest water user.