Don’t rock the boat, Sena told
Don’t rock the boat you are sailing in, Lok Jan Shakti Party President Ramvilas Paswan, a long-term NDA partner, has advised Shiv Sena a day after its outburst that the “NDA is almost dead”.Reacting to the reshuffle on Sunday evening, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut had said the NDA existed only on paper and allies were remembered only during the presidential election or in Parliament.Mr. Paswan said while you were in the NDA, you should talk about it instead of criticising it. “Look at NDA today, it is spread out to the entire country. Today, Narendra Modi Cabinet has people from almost all States, be it Kerala or Odisha. You don’t rock the boat that you are travelling in,” Mr. Paswan told The Hindu.He said as an NDA ally he never had any problems working with the BJP. “No one has ever dictated anything to me or interfered in my work.”Mr. Paswan is hopeful that the JD (U) will be accommodated in the Union Cabinet soon.On August 19, at their party’s National Executive meeting JD (U) officially joined NDA. As the next logical step it was expected that the party will be given space in Union Cabinet. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar clarified on Sunday, saying that there were no talks with BJP leadership on this issue.JD (U) lost out in the game, according to senior BJP leaders for punching above its weight. They demanded two cabinet berths, while Shiv Sena, with far numerous MPs in three years has got only one seat in Cabinet. Shiv Sena has 21 MPs while JD (U) has only 10 MPs, after rebellion of Sharad Yadav and Ali Anwar in Rajya Sabha.JD (U)’s omission gave opportunity to RJD Chief Lalu Prasad Yadav to taunt Nitish Kumar. Reacting sharply to Mr. Prasad’s comments, Mr Paswan said, “Hundred Lalu Yadavs put together aren’t equal to one Nitish Kumar. Currently he is unemployed and has nothing better. All this is mere posturing.”
Madhya Pradesh-based 35-year-old businessman Sumit Rathore on Saturday adopted monkhood in the Jain religion in a ceremony held in Gujarat’s Surat while his 34-year-old wife Anamika has “postponed” her initiation after the State administration intervened on behalf of their three-year-old child.The couple’s sudden announcement to renounce worldly life, including their three-year-old daughter and businesses valued at about ₹100 crore, to embrace Jain monasticism triggered a controversy, with several organisations and individuals seeking the government’s intervention to prevent them from leaving the child without carrying out the necessary procedures for guardianship.Kutch-based paediatrician Dr. Rajesh Maheshwari was among the first people to tweet Union Minister of Women and Child Development Maneka Gandhi and the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), asking them to stop the couple in the interests of their child.Subsequently, Gujarat State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (GSCPCR) directed the civil administration in Surat to ensure that, without following the proper procedure to appoint guardians for the child, one of the parents should not be allowed to take the initiation.Ceremony held“Today, the ceremony was held in which only Sumit has taken the deeksha (initiation) while his wife will follow after legally appointing the guardian of their daughter,” Surat District Collector Mahendra Patel told The Hindu.He added that Anamika’s parents had submitted an affidavit stating that they would take care of their granddaughter but this was not carried out legally by the parents.Anamika’s father Ashok Chandaliya, a former Neemuch district president of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), said before the ceremony was held in Surat, “I am not against my daughter Anamika becoming a nun.”Sumit’s father Rajendra Singh, who runs a factory manufacturing gunny bags for packaging cement, also echoed a similar view and claimed that family members did not wish to discourage the couple from “pursuing their spiritual path.”Sumit and Anamika decided to renounce the material world for spiritual pursuits when their daughter was just eight months old, Sumit’s cousin Sandip Rathore claimed, adding the couple waited for more than two years for the sake of their child.
Nagpur: Former Maharashtra cabinet minister and senior leader Satish Chaturvedi was expelled from the Congress for alleged anti-party activities on Friday.The expulsion order issued by the State unit Congress secretary Ganesh Patil states Mr. Chaturvedi was accused of “putting and encouraging” rebel candidates during the 2017 municipal elections in Maharashtra.“You encouraged and openly supported rebel candidates against the official party candidates during the 2017 municipal elections in Nagpur. We have received reports that you openly flouted the party discipline by campaigning for rebel candidates and by supporting them. An inquiry was conducted over the allegations against you. You were also served a notice by Nagpur district Congress Committee on January 23, 2018. But you neglected this notice and refused to come clean on the allegations against you,” the letter issued by Ganesh Patil reads.“Taking into account all the allegations and an inquiry, the state Congress president has decided to cancel your primary membership of the party and expel you from the Indian National Congress,” the letter added.No contactMr. Chaturvedi could not be contacted despite repeated attempts on Friday.However, while speaking to this reporter last month, he had claimed that the Nagpur District Congress Committee had no authority to send him any notice.The expulsion of Mr. Chaturvedi is being considered as a win of the Nagpur DCC led by Vikas Thakare and his mentor and former Nagpur MP Vilas Muttemwar.The Nagpur unit of the Congress is divided into two factions — one led by Mr. Muttemwar and the other by Mr. Chaturvedi, and former Maharashtra cabinet ministers Nitin Raut and Anees Ahmad.The Muttemwar group had also accused Mr. Chaturvedi of being involved in an ink throwing incident on Maharashtra Congress chief Ashok Chavan during the municipal elections last year.Mr. Chaturvedi, however, had denied the allegations and said that the Congress unit of Vidarbha region should be separate from Maharashtra unit.
Workers found two bombs belonging to the World War II era when they were digging a pond at a village in Nadia district of West Bengal. The bombs are 50 inches in length and 38 inches in diameter, a police officer said on Tuesday.“The two bombs seem to be of the World War II period. We have informed the Army for necessary action,” the officer said. The pond was being dug at the Chhoto Chupria village under the Hanskhali police station area. The police recovered the cylindrical bombs and kept them under a pile of sand on the compound of the Hanskhali police station.Army men inspect bombsArmy men came from Kolkata, around 100 km from Hanskhali, and inspected the bombs on Monday, he said adding that the bombs would be taken away after the authorities concerned gave permission.An official of the Nadia district administration said that in the early 1940s an area which is now Kalyani city used to be known as Roosevelt Town and an U.S. airbase was located there. Kalyani is around 40 km from Hanskhali. It is possible that the two bombs belonged to that airbase, the police officer said.
Hours before Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to Baghpat on Sunday afternoon to inaugurate the Eastern Peripehral Expressway, a local farmer, Udayveer Singh, 60, collapsed and died while protesting against the increase in power tariff and the delay in clearance of dues for sugar cane supplied to sugar mills.Udayveer was staging a sit-in at the sub-divisional office of Baraut in Baghpat area, along with 50 others, demanding payment of hundreds of crores of dues. The farmers sat on a dharna with Udayveer’s body kept on a slab of ice, about 30 km from the spot where the Prime Minister announced financial support of ₹5.50 a quintal to cane farmers. Surendra Singh, one of those leading the agitation, told The Hindu that the BJP had promised in its election manifesto that its government would clear the dues in 14 days from the beginning of the crushing season.“The crushing season is about to end now. But the dues across the State is worth ₹12,000 crore. The other severe problem farmers face is that of power tariff hike. The Yogi Adityanath government revised the power tariffs twice in the last two months. It has raised our input cost on the crops to unimaginable limits,” Mr. Singh said. He alleged that the State government remained indifferent to the farmers’ problems. “Udayveer, along with us, was protesting for the past several days. No one from the local administration was ready to listen to our problems. and it led to his death. Now the administration is all out trying to be seen as sensitive to our problems. That is the tragedy. No one listens to you when you are alive,” he said. Additional District Magistrate Lokpal Singh initially announced a compensation of ₹5 lakh for Udayveer’s family and increased it to ₹12 lakh as the outrage over his death grew.
The Punjab police on Tuesday said they busted a gang of heroin smugglers near the Ramdas sector of the India-Pakistan border in Amritsar and arrested four persons.The intelligence wing of the Punjab police seized 14.8 kg of heroin, valuing approximately ₹74 crore in the international market, along with a .30-bore pistol from the accused.Those arrested include Tarwinder Singh (ex-serviceman, who served as a sepoy in the Army for 16 years before retiring in 2016) and Sukhraj Singh from Amritsar, Gurlal Singh and Sarabjit Singh from Tarn Taran.During the investigation, the suspects allegedly divulged the name of one Border Security Force constable posted at the border and two other associates involved in the smuggling racket, the police said.“The BSF authorities have been informed about the constable’s alleged collusion and conspiracy in the drug smuggling,” said a police spokesperson.
Four militants were killed and one soldier lost his life in an ongoing exchange of fire in south Kashmir’s Pulwama and Kulgam. Two CRPF jawans were injured in a grenade explosion near an encounter site.Preliminary reports suggest three militants were encircled by the Army’s 1RR, the CRPF and Special Operation Group in Kulgam’s Redwani during an operation launched on Monday night.”Three militants have been killed. However, the bodies are yet to be retrieved. The operation is on,” said a police official. In the Pulwama operation, a militant was killed in Reshipora area of Tral on Tuesday morning. Initial reports suggest that he could be a member of Zakir Musa led-group Ansar Ul Ghazwatul Hind.
M.G.V.K. Bhanu, a retired IAS officer who was the secretary of former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, joined the Congress in Assam on Monday.He is likely to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections from Tezpur, the area he had served in his initial days as a Deputy Commissioner.A 1985-batch IAS officer of the Assam-Meghalaya cadre, Mr. Bhanu retired on July 31 as an Additional Chief Secretary. He had earlier served as Director in the Union Tourism Ministry, and Chairman of Tea Board of India.“I had made up my mind to join politics after my retirement. Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s honesty, sincerity and straightforward nature attracted me to the party,” Mr. Bhanu told The Hindu after joining the Congress along with 10 others at the party’s State unit HQ in Guwahati.Mr. Bhanu calls Assam his home, though he hails from Navabupalem in West Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh. He has applied for a ticket from the Tezpur seat, currently represented by BJP’s Ram Prasad Sharma.“One of the reasons [for picking Tezpur] is I am constructing my house there. As Tea Board Chairman, I had focussed a lot of attention on Sonitpur district (within the Tezpur LS seat) where about 70,000 tea plantation workers are originally from Andhra Pradesh,” he said.Mr. Bhanu was considered one of the most influential, and controversial – bureaucrats, in Assam. He was close to former CM Tarun Gogoi, and decided on key appointments in Assam. He went on a five-year deputation to become the secretary to the newly-appointed CM Y.S.R. Reddy in 2004.
(Science has made this 2006 feature looking at the history of place and grid cells freely available)Research on how the brain knows where it is has bagged the 2014 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine, the Nobel Committee has announced from Stockholm. One half of the prize goes to John O’Keefe, director of the Sainsbury Wellcome Centre for Neural Circuits and Behaviour at University College London. The other is for a husband-wife couple: May-Britt Moser, who is director of the Centre for Neural Computation in Trondheim, and Edvard Moser, director of the Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience in Trondheim.In the 1970s, O’Keefe discovered the first component of this positioning system, a kind of nerve cell that is active when a rat is in a certain place in a room. Trying to learn more about how individual brain cells could control behavior, he recorded signals from individual nerve cells in a rat’s brain as the animal moved around a room. He noticed that a specific cell in the brain region called the hippocampus would signal each time the rat was in a specific part of the room. Different cells corresponded to different places, and O’Keefe concluded that these “place cells” allowed the rat to construct a mental map of the environment. The hippocampus stores multiple maps, based on the activity of place cell activities.Sign up for our daily newsletterGet more great content like this delivered right to you!Country *AfghanistanAland IslandsAlbaniaAlgeriaAndorraAngolaAnguillaAntarcticaAntigua and BarbudaArgentinaArmeniaArubaAustraliaAustriaAzerbaijanBahamasBahrainBangladeshBarbadosBelarusBelgiumBelizeBeninBermudaBhutanBolivia, Plurinational State ofBonaire, Sint Eustatius and SabaBosnia and HerzegovinaBotswanaBouvet IslandBrazilBritish Indian Ocean TerritoryBrunei DarussalamBulgariaBurkina FasoBurundiCambodiaCameroonCanadaCape VerdeCayman IslandsCentral African RepublicChadChileChinaChristmas IslandCocos (Keeling) IslandsColombiaComorosCongoCongo, The Democratic Republic of theCook IslandsCosta RicaCote D’IvoireCroatiaCubaCuraçaoCyprusCzech RepublicDenmarkDjiboutiDominicaDominican RepublicEcuadorEgyptEl SalvadorEquatorial GuineaEritreaEstoniaEthiopiaFalkland Islands (Malvinas)Faroe IslandsFijiFinlandFranceFrench GuianaFrench PolynesiaFrench Southern TerritoriesGabonGambiaGeorgiaGermanyGhanaGibraltarGreeceGreenlandGrenadaGuadeloupeGuatemalaGuernseyGuineaGuinea-BissauGuyanaHaitiHeard Island and Mcdonald IslandsHoly See (Vatican City State)HondurasHong KongHungaryIcelandIndiaIndonesiaIran, Islamic Republic ofIraqIrelandIsle of ManIsraelItalyJamaicaJapanJerseyJordanKazakhstanKenyaKiribatiKorea, Democratic People’s Republic ofKorea, Republic ofKuwaitKyrgyzstanLao People’s Democratic RepublicLatviaLebanonLesothoLiberiaLibyan Arab JamahiriyaLiechtensteinLithuaniaLuxembourgMacaoMacedonia, The Former Yugoslav Republic ofMadagascarMalawiMalaysiaMaldivesMaliMaltaMartiniqueMauritaniaMauritiusMayotteMexicoMoldova, Republic ofMonacoMongoliaMontenegroMontserratMoroccoMozambiqueMyanmarNamibiaNauruNepalNetherlandsNew CaledoniaNew ZealandNicaraguaNigerNigeriaNiueNorfolk IslandNorwayOmanPakistanPalestinianPanamaPapua New GuineaParaguayPeruPhilippinesPitcairnPolandPortugalQatarReunionRomaniaRussian FederationRWANDASaint Barthélemy Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da CunhaSaint Kitts and NevisSaint LuciaSaint Martin (French part)Saint Pierre and MiquelonSaint Vincent and the GrenadinesSamoaSan MarinoSao Tome and PrincipeSaudi ArabiaSenegalSerbiaSeychellesSierra LeoneSingaporeSint Maarten (Dutch part)SlovakiaSloveniaSolomon IslandsSomaliaSouth AfricaSouth Georgia and the South Sandwich IslandsSouth SudanSpainSri LankaSudanSurinameSvalbard and Jan MayenSwazilandSwedenSwitzerlandSyrian Arab RepublicTaiwanTajikistanTanzania, United Republic ofThailandTimor-LesteTogoTokelauTongaTrinidad and TobagoTunisiaTurkeyTurkmenistanTurks and Caicos IslandsTuvaluUgandaUkraineUnited Arab EmiratesUnited KingdomUnited StatesUruguayUzbekistanVanuatuVenezuela, Bolivarian Republic ofVietnamVirgin Islands, BritishWallis and FutunaWestern SaharaYemenZambiaZimbabweI also wish to receive emails from AAAS/Science and Science advertisers, including information on products, services and special offers which may include but are not limited to news, careers information & upcoming events.Required fields are included by an asterisk(*)Place cells “set in motion an entire field” within neuroscience, says Loren Frank, a neuroscientist at the University of California, San Francisco. “Hundreds, if not thousands” of neuroscientists interested in how the brain perceives, remembers, and plans movement through space flocked to study the hippocampus’s role in spatial memory after O’Keefe’s original find, adds Lynn Nadel, a neuroscientist at the University of Arizona in Tucson, who collaborated with O’Keefe on a 1978 book about place cells.Three decades later, May‐Britt and Edvard Moser were trying to figure out more about how the place cells work, when they discovered another set of cells in a neighboring part of the brain, the entorhinal cortex. Those cells, called “grid cells,” play a role similar to the grid on street maps that can help locate a specific street or point of interest. In a series of three papers in Science and Nature between 2004 and 2006, they laid out how the brain uses the grid cells to help animals find their way, even in the dark. “We’re over the moon about this discovery,” O’Keefe told Science in 2006 in a feature story on the history of place and grid cells.”The discoveries of John O´Keefe, May‐Britt Moser and Edvard Moser have solved a problem that has occupied philosophers and scientists for centuries—how does the brain create a map of the space surrounding us and how can we navigate our way through a complex environment? How do we experience our environment?” the Nobel Committee says in its statement.Recently, researchers have begun to manipulate these navigational neurons. A team earlier this year altered the positive and negative associations that mice had formed with specific locations, by triggering hippocampal place cells with lasers while simultaneously stimulating other brain cells. And although grid and place cells remain a focus of fundamental neuroscience research, there are hints of clinical relevance: The hippocampus and entorhinal cortex are among the first brain regions damaged in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s, One of the first symptoms in Alzheimer patients is that they lose their way and become disoriented easily.Although the Nobel committee’s choice was a surprise to few in the neuroscience community, it still caught the Mosers and O’Keefe off-guard. O’Keefe latter was plugging away on grant proposals at home when he got the call. When May-Britt received the call from the Nobel Committee informing her of the prize this morning, her husband was on an airplane flying to Munich, she told Nobelprize.org in an interview. Upon landing, the news finally made it to him, he said in an interview: “Finally I found out, because there were 150 emails and 75 text messages that had come in the last two hours.”For more on Nobels in science, click here.
There are no takers for high-end luxury cars, which are hired as status symbols to bring brides home from weddings, as the flow of non-resident Indians to Punjab is drying up this season. Related Items
The NRI travel guide to hottest spots Delhi during the winter. Related Items
When Ganesh Neelanjanmath arrived in Canada from India as an international student in 2010 to pursue a course in project management, he had a strong feeling of loneliness as he walked out of the airport . He was “all alone” in a new country, trying to find his way through much that was foreign to him.Read it at Hindustan Times Related Items
In September 2007, The Barbary Coast News, a cheerleading website for the tony neighborhood in San Francisco’s financial district, raved about Opulent Lite investment manager Neil Godbole’s two penthouse condominiums on 733 Front Street, which he was busy combining and transforming into a “2,500-square-foot-bachelor-dream-castle in the air,” as he toyed with “a veritable candy land of architectural and design ideas.” Neil Godbole’s penthouse is described glowingly in Sotheby agent Frederick Allardyce’s promotionalliterature and merited an independent website, where the property can still be viewed in its resplendent glory at www.sfwaterfrontpenthouse.com.“I like modern, open space,” Godbole told the website, “so we’re knocking out walls, repositioning the kitchen and building in a 800-square-foot, sound-proof music studio with a console, vocal booth, recording studio and stage area.”The Barbary Coast News was so enamored by the over-the-top project that it followed up eight months later in May 2008, which turns out, in retrospect, to be a period when Godbole’s hedge fund was teetering financially. The website published an effusive report on the completed “dream bachelor pad” with its “spectacular views of the Bay, the Financial District and the City,” as well as a “library, a soundproof recording studio, and a chat area” with “its own wine bar and sink.” The article raved that Godbole had “used the Internet to scour the world for the latest, most imaginative solutions,” including a “new TV lift that drops the screen out of the ceiling,” gushingly noting that, “The TV screen, recessed into the ceiling, drops down on command and likewise retracts when Neil tires of his toy.”After Opulent Lite was liquidated, Neil’s “special paradise” was placed on the market with an asking price of almost $4.4 million “because Neil had no current income and could not afford the negative cash flow,” according to his attorney Jahan Raissi. Sotheby’s promotional literature painstakingly detailed the apartment’s many high end, custom fixtures, such as Caesar Stone quartz countertops, Bosch, Thermador, and Sharp appliances, Danze kitchen faucets, Elkay Elum cabinetry, Ann Saks Glass Tiles, Wall Mounted Luminaire lighting system, etc., etc. Following Little India inquiries, Godbole prodded The Barbara Coast News to remove its effusive tributes to his opulent home and lifestyle from its website. Publisher Connie Hazel said, “Neil prefers not be in the limelight and we’ve obliged him.”They may not be the only gloating features he is dodging on the web. A column, titled “Growing Up in US,” authored by Godbole in the Spandan newsletter of Karhade.net, a Marathi sub ethnic website, is also no longer accessible. In the article, Godbole, who graduated from the University of California in Los Angeles, in 2002 with a bachelor’s degree in cognitive science and is an occasional music impresario, writes that he was “basically jobless” when “through my father, I was introduced to the world of finances and trading.” Sotheby’s announcement of the sale of Neil Godbole’s apartment. In 2005 when he was just 25, Godbole was brought in as investment manager of Opulent Lite, a second hedge fund launched by his father, Vishwas Godbole, in October 2004. His sister Nina Kulick, who sells totes, baby gear and paper goods online under Goosebury Press, served as general partner of the hedge fund. As investment manager of the fund, which peaked at over $29 million, Neil Godbole wrote, “You can call me a stock market voyeur.” He prattled about the flexibility of his home workplace and schedule, “which allows me to enjoy a good portion of the day doing anything I like, at a time when there are almost never any crowds.” He concluded wistfully, “I generally work from home, and I can even work while traveling. Last month I executed transactions from a cruise ship via a satellite internet connection from Alaska!”In his spare time, Godbole starred in several spoofy You Tube home videos under the penname Neip, including Neip – The Marathi Bull, Neip Goes Boating, Neip – The Drunk Marathi Dude, and Neip – Maharashtrian on Crack. The last video has been posted on several websites, such as Punjabi Lok Virsa, with the teaser, “This is a video of my buddy Neip acting like he is on crack … well maybe he really is … you never know with Neip.”Godbole and Opulent Lite are currently being sued for fraud, negligence and breach of fiduciary duties by investors, who lost almost half their money after the fund restated almost $12 million in losses in February 2009. The investors accuse Gobole of trading in rollover options when they may not have been authorized under the investor prospectus.In the Spandan article, authored long before his current troubles surfaced, Godbole spoke gravely about his professional responsibilities: “I am hired by a fund which is comprised of investment partners wishing to invest their money in a particular way in adherence to an agreed upon prospectus….. Since I handle client money, I have a fiduciary (moral and ethical) responsibility when overlooking and conducting trades….”The investor claims may well turn on how well Godbole lived up to his self-described obligations.Meanwhile, the hedge fund he managed has been liquidated and Godbole has moved out of his lavish Front Street penthouse. An examination of records at the San Francisco Office of the Assessor-Recorder reveals that the condominium was created from two separate units, one bought by Neil on July 31, 2007, for $950,000 and the other by his parents Vishwas and Aarati Godbole on the same day for $2.5 million. Neil transferred his ownership interest in the apartment to his parents prior to its sale for almost $3.85 million on March 24, 2010, resulting in nearly $1 million in equity proceeds after discounting almost $2.5 million in outstanding mortgages on the property.Opulent LossAs two Bay Area hedge funds melt down, nearly 100 Indian investors sue former Navin Mail CEO & Founder Vishwas Godbole and his children for orchestrating a $20 million fraud…. moreAccording to Raissi: “The proceeds from the sale of the property resulted in Neil receiving the same net amount as he would have received if he was the direct seller of his unit to the new buyer. The intermediate transaction between Neil and Vishwas was only to facilitate the transfer of both units to a buyer who wanted the sale recorded on a single grant deed.”A few years earlier, Neil Godbole transferred another home he owned at 541 Darien Way, San Francisco, which is valued at $1.7 million, according to Zillow, to his sister and brother-in-law Nina and Aaron Kulick on May 31, 2007, in what the grant deed listed as an “interfamily transfer.” As a result, he does not seem to own any property, according to San Francisco Assessor-Recorders records. He is presently renting a more modest pad, valued at $1.5 million, located just six blocks from his surreal, Front Street “bachelor-dream-castle in the air” in San Francisco’s financial district. The Barbary Coast News (thebarbarycoastnews.com) removed references to Neil Godbole on one article and removed a second gushing profile of his penthouse at his request after Little India inquiries. Little India Printed Feature Opulent Loss Related Items
Related Items
An Indian-origin doctor has been accused of mishandling post-mortem reports and is under police investigation to check if charges of any criminal offence need to be brought against him.Khaleed Ahmed, who worked as a histopathologist for Pennine Acute NHS Trust at the Royal Oldham Hospital in Manchester, carried out an undisclosed number of post-mortem tests for the north Manchester Coroner’s office, the Telegraph reported.Several inquests in which Ahmed’s tests would have been crucial are now being kept on hold, after a review of 38 post-mortem examinations done by Prof. Simon Kim Suvarna found “major professional deficiency,” the Manchester Evening News reported.Pennine Acute initiated an audit to inspect the quality of Ahmed’a NHS work after concerns were raised by a senior coroner in May 2017. Suvarna began reviewing a sample of his 38 post-mortem reports, and pointed out “multiple and significant deficiencies with Dr Ahmed’s reports that exist at many levels,” according to MEN.The review revealed that he committed errors such as recording the wrong cause of patients’ death, misidentifying organs and even potentially mixing up bodies, the Daily Telegraph reported.Suvarna’s review would help in understanding if Ahmed’s reports for the ongoing inquests should be considered.According to his review, Ahmed failed to identify the patient’s name in his reports. He has also been accused of indicating wrong reasons of death as well.“Starting with the external examinations, it would appear that Dr Ahmed has not confirmed the patient’s identity, which is a major professional deficiency.“Such identification is standard practice across the United Kingdom,” the report said, according to the publication.Suvarna’s report also reveals that he added “minimal” commentary on bodily organs which were operated and diagnosed for cancers previously, and failed to “identify and appreciate the significance” of several body organs which could have been the key factor for the reports.The final “summary text” is missing in many cases, the report said, adding that concerns arise “that the wrong slides have been considered,” the publication quoted.“The overall failure to correctly interpret macroscopic, histological and other data has meant that the final cause of death in most cases reviewed was incorrect,” the review states.“Dr Ahmed’s reports are inadequate and do not even meet the standards that are expected for pathology students to pass the autopsy component of the final exam.“It is clear the cases reviewed are but a fraction of Dr Ahmed’s work, which go back over many years.“I have significant doubts with regard to the validity of all of this man’s reports while he was working as a consultant in Manchester,” MEN cited the review as stating.A spokesperson for Greater Manchester Police (GMP) said: “GMP is assessing what, if any, criminal offences may have been committed in relation to findings presented to the coroner.”Ahmed studied medicine in Bengaluru in 1989 and no longer works for the trust. The General Medical Council said he is still licensed to practice as a histopathologist, the Dailymail reported. Related ItemsBritainUnited Kingdom
The motorcycle allegedly owned by Member of Parliament Pragya Singh Thakur, which was used for installing a bomb that killed six and injured 101 in the 2008 Malegaon blast, was identified by a witness in court on Monday.A panch witness identified the motorcycle in the presence of special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court judge Vinod Padalkar and lawyers for the accused in the case. Two motorcycles and five bicycles allegedly used in the blasts were brought on a truck and parked below the city civil and sessions court premises.On October 30, 2018, the special court had framed charges of murder, abetment and conspiracy for the blast against Lt. Col. Prasad Purohit, Ms. Thakur, Sameer Kulkarni, retired major Ramesh Upadhyay, Sudhakar Chaturvedi, Ajay Rahilkar and Sudhakar Chaturvedi. The court had said, “Abhinav Bharat organisation (alleged to be behind the blast) was formed with the common object to spread terror. All the accused conspired, from January 2008, to plant a bomb with RDX on a motorcycle on September 29, 2008.”The Maharashtra Anti Terrorist Squad chargesheeted Ms. Thakur in 2009 on the ground that it was her motorcycle that was used to plant the bomb. The chargesheet said Ms. Thakur’s men had acted at her instance and she had full knowledge about her motorcycle being used for the blast.However, the NIA had found evidence against her to be the weakest and said evidence against her was not substantial. In its supplementary chargesheet, the agency also said the motorcycle, which was registered in her name, was used by an absconding accused, Ramchandra Gopalsingh Kalsangra, known as Ramji.On April 25, 2017, the Bombay High Court, while granting bail to Ms. Thakur, relied upon statements of witnesses to show that she was not in possession of the motorcycle. “Even assuming that the motorcycle was found at the place of the incident, the fact that she was the registered owner by itself cannot be sufficient in the light of material placed on record,” the court said.
The Odisha Society of the Americas (OSA), a forum of non-resident Odias, has urged Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to set up a well-integrated modern public library system in the State by implementing the Odisha Public Library Act, 2001.The OSA has offered to assist the government by linking up with domain experts and extend other support for creating a public library ecosystem in the State.“Public library is the most democratic public institution that will promote literacy, including early childhood literacy, digital literacy, skill development, employment, entrepreneurship and social inclusion,” said OSA president Lalatendu Mohanty.Expressing happiness over the State government’s announcement to set up a panchayat library-cum-infotainment centre in each gram panchayat to cater to the needs of people of the rural areas, the OSA said it would help create a knowledge-based society.“To start with, Rajiv Gandhi Seva Kendras should be used for rural libraries. In urban areas, municipalities can provide existing or new infrastructure from the city budget. The pre-existing private libraries with excellent track record should be adopted based on their interest. All school libraries need to be converted into digital libraries at the panchayat level with custodians and librarians in place for better management of the library system,” the forum recommended.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday expressed concern over the rising trend of farmers in Bihar setting agricultural residue on fire and warned the cultivators burning stubble that they will be deprived of the facilities provided by the State government. Underscoring the adverse impact of stubble burning on the environment, he instructed agriculture department officials to launch a campaign to end the practise. “Farmers burning stubble (crop residue) in their fields will be deprived of facilities being given by the State government,” Mr. Kumar said while inuagurating a two-day international conference on “Crop Residue Management” here. The event was organised jointly by the State’s Agriculture Department and Bihar Agriculture University, Sabour (Bhagalpur). The State government is providing every possible help to the farmers in the State, he said adding power is supplied to them at a rate of 75 paise per unit. In addition, the State is giving ₹60 as subsidy on every litre of diesel. Earlier, the practise of stubble burning was prevalent in Delhi and Punjab causing bad impact on Delhi’s environment, he said while adding that the custom has now gained prevalence in some parts of the State.‘Adverse impact’ “Farmers need to be convinced that stubble burning not only has its adverse impact on productivity but also has its effect on environment…Farmers need to be convinced that the proper use of stubble will increase their income too,” the Chief Minister said. Kisan Salahkars (agriculture advisors) and representatives from agricultural institutions should convince the farmers about the ill-effects of burning stubble/crop residue and create awareness among them against it, he said.
Olive Ridley turtles have begun to arrive at Odisha’s Rushikulya rookery coast in Ganjam for their annual mass mating season that precedes the mass nesting that takes place here. Rushikulya rookery is a major nesting site for the Olive Ridleys along the Indian coast.Despite the congregation of large numbers appearance of large congregations for the mass mating season, the turtles Olive Ridleys had not appeared preferred for the mass nesting here at this coast in 2019.However, in 2018, there was double mass nesting was reported on this coast in February and April, with the total nesting figures reaching over 4,73,000.A few mating Olive Ridley pairs were spotted at sea by a patrolling boat of Forest officials, at a distance of around six kilometres from Purunabandha near the Ruhsikulya river mouth, on Tuesday afternoon. “Our patrolling team located three to four mating pairs at a single spot, while some singular mating pairs were located near by,” said Khallikote Forest Range Officer, Dilip Kumar Martha.According to the Forest officials, hundreds of Olive Ridleys have started to congregate for mating in deep sea, beyond the spot where the mating pairs were found. Usually, the mass mating of Olive Ridleys picks up in December and continues till the month of January. After this period, mating male turtles return while the females remain for the mass nesting season.Meanwhile, the Forest Department has started the groundwork to keep the beach prepared to welcome the marine guests for mass nesting in February, next year. A 10-member team from the Forest Department is patrolling the sea near Rushikulya rookery to ensure the safety of the arriving Olive Ridleys and to also check the entry of fishing trawlers in the area.The Forest Department has set up six on-shore camps in the five kilometre stretch of the mass nesting beach, from Purunabandha to Prayagi near the Rushikulya river mouth. Two persons have been deployed at these camps to regularly document the condition of the beach, protect the surrounding area, inform of any debris deposited by the sea, restrict the entry of predators like stray dogs and search for possibility of turtle carcasses that float to the coast.With the help of the locals and various social organisations, this stretch of the mass nesting coast is being cleaned every alternate day, Mr. Martha said.
The Orissa High Court on Tuesday ordered the Superintendent of Police of Sambalpur district to provide adequate security to the litigants and advocates who approach the local district and sessions court for their case hearing. Adjudicating on a PIL filed by advocate Shivsankar Mohanty, a Division Bench headed by Chief Justice K.S. Jhaveri passed the order on Tuesday. Mr. Mohanty said that the order assumes significance in view of the fact that the agitating lawyers of Sambalpur are meeting on Wednesday to chalk out their next course of action.In 2018, Mr. Mohanty had filed the PIL with a prayer seeking the High Court’s intervention in facilitating the litigants and the “willing” advocates to argue their cases in the district court. He had pointed out in his petition that the lawyers of Sambalpur Bar Association were on a strike since September 2018 and were preventing the district judge and other judicial officers from attending the courts. The protesting lawyers had also paralysed the functioning at all the judicial and revenue courts in the district, Mr. Mohanty had said.Additional bench demandThe lawyers of Sambalpur district are reportedly demanding establishment of an additional bench of the Orissa High Court somewhere in the western Odisha. Similarly, the lawyers of Ganjam district are also on strike since long demanding another bench of the High Court somewhere in the southern part of the State. Mr. Mohanty in his petition claimed that the requirement of approval under Article 10 of the Orissa High Court order in 1948 does not authorise the State government to take any decision on setting up additional benches of the High Court.The petitioner also relied on a judgment delivered by the Orissa High Court in 1991 wherein it had said: “The State Legislature has no authority to enact law as regards the seat or seats of the High Court or to change the principal seat of the High Court from its present location.”The petition had also said that any attempt by the State government to establish benches of the High Court elsewhere other than the principal seat would be viewed as a violation of the theory of separation of powers or infringement in the independence of the judiciary.Ruling to facilitate hearings in district courts where advocates have been on strike since last year