It was a tragic Wednesday for many

  

Many people had turned up outside the travel agency office at Kalasipalya on Wednesday even before the shutters were up in the morning. Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy

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Andhra Pradesh

Hyderabad

Karnataka

Bangalore

disaster and accident

fire

road safety

social issue

death and dying

transport accident

road accident

Relatives and friends of victims throng Jabbar Travels office at Kalasipalya

The usually busy streets of Kalasipalya were even more chaotic on Wednesday morning with people mobbing the tiny office of Jabbar Travels on Tipu Sultan Palace Road hours after the bus that left Bangalore on Tuesday night caught fire near Kothakota in Mahabubnagar district on the way to Hyderabad, charring to death 45 persons, including a one-year-old infant.

LONG WAIT

Relatives and friends of the passengers on the bus frantically waited outside the office along with mediapersons and curious onlookers for updates on the tragedy. Some had come to confirm whether their relatives were indeed among the victims.

Many had turned up outside the travel agency even before the shutters were up in the morning.

Several Bangaloreans had learnt about the news soon after it was flashed on television news channels minutes after the incident.

The chaos outside the travel agency subsequently led to slow-moving traffic as well on the main road with a large number of police personnel being deployed to control the crowds.

CORDONED OFF

All sides surrounding the travel agency were cordoned off with ropes by the police to prevent the mob from entering the office.

Amid the commotion, Jameel Jabbar, a partner of Jabbar Travels, tried assuring the relatives that the Volvo bus had been in good condition and had a fitness certificate apart from being covered by insurance.

One of the colleagues of a deceased victim came to the travel agency, demanding to see the booking that had been made and the ticket issued. However, when it was not handed over to him, he walked off in a huff.

The list provided by the agency had 37 names which were registered through prior booking while the remaining eight persons had been picked up at other points in the city such as Mehkri Circle, Anand Rao Circle and Hebbal.

However, as the travel agency only registered the names and the contact numbers of the passengers and not their addresses, they are yet to ascertain how many passengers were from the city.

Driver may have picked up more people: operator

  

TOPICS

Andhra Pradesh

Hyderabad

Karnataka

Bangalore

disaster and accident

fire

road safety

transport accident

road accident

Was the Volvo multi-axle bus that was involved in the accident in Mahabubnagar district overloaded? While Jabbar Travels representatives claimed that the capacity of the bus was 44 to 47, authorities concerned said that 45 bodies had been recovered. Apart from this, there were five survivors, excluding the driver and the cleaner, taking the total of passengers on the bus to 50.

Shakeel Jabbar, owner of Jabbar Travels, said the bus was not overloaded. He said that the bus was packed when it left here. He did not rule out the possibility of the driver having accommodated more passengers from other pick-up points.

“The fitness certificate was renewed on October 5 this year and is covered by insurance. The bus is leased out by Diwakar Travels and we run the service. We are trying to ascertain the cause of the accident,” he added.

The agency said that two buses operate from the city to Hyderabad every night. However, there were some last-minute changes and details of one trip were merged with the other, making it difficult to trace all passenger details.

Agency sources said that apart from Kalasipalya, from where the bus began, passengers were also picked up from Hebbal (one person), BTM Layout (one person) Koramangala (two people), Marathahalli (three people), Majestic (one person), Anand Rao Circle (12 people) Domlur (three people), Mehkri Circle (one person) and Bellandur.

Survivors recount tales of horror

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  The HinduOne of the accident victims of the ill-fated bus, Jai singh, which caught fire and killed 45 passengers in the Hyderabad-bound private bus from Benguluru at Palem near Kothakota (Mahubnagar), getting treatment at the Apollo DRDO Hospital in Hyderabad on Wednesday. Photo: G. Ramakrishna
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  The HinduA grieving sister of the bus victims near the charred bodies at the accident site, near Palem (Kanimetta) village, Kothakota Mandal in Mahabubnagar district on Wednesday.

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India

Andhra Pradesh

disaster and accident

fire

transport accident

road accident

Jai Singh, a glass fabricator from Uttar Pradesh would not have dreamt that his new assignment in Hyderabad will have a tragic start. The 40 year-old-man managed to escape from the bus that got gutted in Mahabubnagar district with minor burns but the incident has shaken him terribly.

“I woke up to commotion in the bus and just jumped out of it,” said Singh, who is admitted to the Apollo DRDO Hospital at Kanchanbagh. He was on his way to take up a new job in Hyderabad. In the past, he was settled in the Bangalore and recently got a contract to take up work at the company in Hyderabad.

However, four others passengers - B. Rajesh, Shrikar, Mazher Pasha and B. K. Yogesh Gowda -- suffered serious burns and according to the doctors the condition of two of them is critical.

Yogesh Gowda, a golf coach with the Hyderabad Golf Association (HGA), used to come regularly to the city and stayed at Tolichowki. On Monday night, Gowda took the ill-fated bus from Bangalore. “He is very friendly and soft spoken,” is how his friends described the sports coach who suffered almost 45 per cent burns.

For Srikar, an IT professional, the return journey to Hyderabad was to take up a new job here. The 30 year-old resident of BHEL township was coming home after collecting documents from his previous employer.

“He got a job at a private company in Hyderabad and was to join it shortly,” his relatives said. B. Rajesh, a software professional, went to Bangalore on some assignment and was returning.

“He called us last night and said he would be in the city on Wednesday morning,” said his wife, Sailaja, who works as a school teacher.

Mazher Pasha suffered 22 per cent burns and authorities are making efforts to contact his relatives.

Dr. S. Samiullah, administrator of Apollo DRDO Hospital said: “The injured are under observation and the condition of two of them is critical.”

UPA will lose power after polls: Jayalalithaa

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The HinduTamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa. File photo.

Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Tuesday declared that the Congress-led UPA would not remain in power after the Lok Sabha polls next year.

“The present dispensation at Centre will go after the elections and everything will change. We will then throw away the Goods and Services Tax (GST),” she told the Assembly, amid thumping of desk by treasury benches. Lashing out at the Centre for bringing in a Bill to enact GST, which she said would take away the revenue generated by the State government through commercial taxes.

“Commercial tax is the only source of revenue to a state government. It does not have any other sources of revenue. The Goods and Services Tax seeks to deprive the State government of this revenue also,” she said, responding to Panruti S. Ramachandran, deputy leader of the Opposition.

Ms. Jayalalithaa said her government had been consistent in its objection to the GST, whenever the Centre talked about introducing the Bill.

“Even in the recent meeting of Finance Ministers at Delhi, our Minister for Commercial Taxes attended and opposed the Centre’s move. We are not just opposing some selective provisions of the bill. But opposing the Bill as a whole,” she said.

Ms. Jayalalithaa said if the Centre went ahead with its plan and enacted the law, its impact would not last long. “We will throw it away after the elections,” she said.

I-T raids on offices of film personalities

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Apart from actor Santhanam's (in picture) residence, raids were conducted at the residences of Tamil and Telugu producers. File photo

TOPICS

Andhra Pradesh

Hyderabad

Tamil Nadu

Chennai

corporate crime

economic offence/ tax evasion

Income-Tax officials carried out searches in 29 places including a house in Hyderabad and 23 places in Chennai on Thursday. The searches were conducted in offices and premises belonging to film producers R.B. Chowdhry, Gnanavel Raja, A.M. Rathnam and actor Santhanam.

IT Additional Commissioner confirmed this and said, "The companies used unaccounted cash for cinema production."

Keywords: Income Tax raids, film personalities, unaccounted money

Saina slips to seventh spot in BWF ranking

  

The HinduThe second-round exit from French Open Super Series proved costly for Saina Nehwal as she continued her downward slide, slipping one more spot to be placed at world number seven in the latest BWF ranking released on Thursday. File photo

TOPICS

sport

badminton

The second-round exit from French Open Super Series proved costly for Saina Nehwal as the Indian badminton ace continued her downward slide, slipping one more spot to be placed at world number seven in the latest BWF ranking released on Thursday.

The Olympic bronze medallist shuttler had slipped to world number six last week after failing to defend her title at Denmark Open.

The 23-year-old had lost to World No. 6 Ji Hyun Sung in the quarterfinals of the Premier tournament after she slipped and hurt her ankle in the third game.

But last week in Paris, Saina had lost in the second round to Korea’s Yeon Ju Bae at French Open, where she had reached the finals last year.

The Hyderabadi, who has been bothered by injuries and could not win a title this season, currently has 62010 points in her kitty. She is ranked second in the Super Series ranking, which is considered for deciding the line-up for the year-end BWF Super Series Final in December.

Among others, P.V. Sindhu has improved one place to be back at her 10th spot with 52352 ranking points, while men’s singles player Parupalli Kashyap lost one place to slip to world number 12.

RMV Gurusaidutt improved two places to break into the top 20. He is now the second best Indian at 19th spot, while Ajay Jayaram is next at 26th place. Rising shuttler K Srikanth also jumped three places to be at 27th spot in the latest ranking.

Syria destroys chemical weapons equipment

  

TOPICS

World

Syria

defence

biological and chemical weapons

diplomacy

United Nations

Syria has completed destruction of critical equipment for producing chemical weapons and filling munitions with poison gas, the global chemical weapons watchdog said Thursday.

The announcement by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons came one day ahead of the Nov. 1 deadline set by the Hague-based organisation for Damascus to destroy or “render inoperable” all chemical weapon production facilities and machinery for mixing chemicals into poison gas and filling munitions.

Destruction of the equipment means that Syria can no longer produce new chemical weapons. However, Damascus still has to start destroying existing weapons and stockpiles. The country is believed to have around 1,000 metric tons of chemicals and weapons including mustard gas and the nerve agent sarin.

In a statement, the OPCW said its team is “now satisfied that it has verified and seen destroyed all of Syria’s declared critical production and mixing/filling equipment.”

It added that, “no further inspection activities are currently planned.”

Completion of the initial stage of destruction is a significant milestone in an ambitious timeline that aims to destroy all of Damascus’ chemical weapons by mid-2014.

Inspectors said earlier this week they had completed their first round of verification work, visiting 21 of 23 sites declared by Damascus. Inspectors were unable to visit two sites because of security concerns, underscoring the risky nature of a mission to destroy Syria’s chemical arsenal in the midst of an ongoing civil war.

Syria has submitted a plan for the total destruction of its chemical weapons that has to be approved next month by the OPCW’s executive committee.

In a further sign of progress in the mission, a group of eight OPCW inspectors returned to the organization’s headquarters Thursday.

“On behalf of the OPCW, I thank you and all of our colleagues from the Joint OPCW-UN Mission who remain in Syria for your outstanding service,” Director-General Ahmet Uzumcu said in comments released by the OPCW. “I salute the fortitude and courage you’ve all demonstrated in fulfilling the most challenging mission ever undertaken by this organisation.”

‘Tribals have better sex ratio, female work participation than others’

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demographics

population and census

social issue

dalits

social issues (general)

social issues (general)

social conditions

education

Despite having lower literacy rates than “others”, scheduled caste households have higher sex ratios, and tribals the highest of all, newly released Census data shows.

While census data is not yet available by religious group, the primary data of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes was made available by the office of the Registrar General of India and Census Commissioner on Monday.

The data shows that although the numbers are improving, scheduled castes, who comprise 16.6% of the population, and scheduled tribes, who make up 8.6% of the population, have lower literacy rates than the Indian average. The literacy rate for female STs is still under 50% and just 57% for SC women, while the numbers are slightly higher for men.

Yet despite the common belief that education will improve attitudes to female children, the data shows that India’s least educated social groups are those with better sex ratios. The child sex ratio (girls for every 1000 boys aged 1-6) is 957 for STs and 933 for SCs as compared to 910 for “others”. In urban areas, the child sex ratio of the non-scheduled caste, non-tribal population is just over 900, meaning there are 100 less girls for every 1000 boys.

Better sex ratios among tribals could reflect a combination of positive and negative factors; cultural gender parity as well as lack of access to pre-natal diagnostic technology. Dr. Abhay Bang, the award-winning doctor and social activist from Gadchiroli in Maharashtra who is a member of the central government’s new High-Level Committee on Status of Tribal Communities, says that both factors could co-exist. “It is true that there is no social bias against women in tribal communities such as there exists among the middle castes, especially landed ones. Women can ask for a divorce, and in many communities, money is paid to the girl’s family at the time of marriage,” Dr. Bang told The Hindu. Simultaneously, most tribal communities either do not know of pre-natal sex determination, or do not have access to it, Dr. Bang said. “But among more educated tribals, those who get government jobs, sex selection has begun,” he said.

Similarly, the female work participation rate – the proportion of women who are in the workforce – which is considered an indicator of female empowerment, is highest among STs, followed by SCs and then “others”. In fact, the proportion of female STs in the workforce is nearly double that of women in the “other” category; 44% as against 23%.

Social group	Child sex ratio	Sex ratio	Effective female literacy rate (in %)	Females in workforce (in %)
ST	957	990	49.35%	43.49%
SC	933	945	56.46%	28.30%
Others	910	937	68.19%	22.76%
India	919	943	64.64%	25.51%

Within caste groups, location matters. The child sex ratio among SCs is far lower in states like Haryana, Punjab and Delhi which have low sex ratios for all social groups. Within these states, however SCs do better than other social groups. Similarly, the literacy rate of SCs in Kerala is higher than that of “others” in Bihar.

The new numbers also show that tribals are undergoing a massive occupational change. While there has been a fall in the proportion of people working as cultivators and a rise in agricultural labour across the country, this shift is most marked in the case of STs. Nearly 10 lakh fewer tribals reported being cultivators in 2011 as compared to ten years ago, while there were 73 lakh more tribal agricultural labourers.

Muzaffarnagar violence: Eight arrested, cases against 15

 

PTIParamilitary forces have been deployed at Muzaffarnagar, where four persons, including a women, were killed in two incidents of violence on Wednesday. File photo

TOPICS

Uttar Pradesh

Muzaffarnagar

unrest, conflicts and war

Eight persons have been arrested and cases registered against 15 people in connection with fresh communal violence in Budhana area of Muzaffarnagar district where paramilitary forces are patrolling tense areas.

Three persons were killed on Wednesday night as communal violence erupted afresh in Budhana area of Muzaffarnagar district which was hit by riots last month leaving 62 dead.

Eight persons were arrested in connection with the latest round of violence and security was enhanced in the entire district where tension ran high, officials said.

Cases have been registered against 15 persons at Budana Police Station, SSP, Muzaffarnagar, H.M. Singh said.

District Magistrate Kaushal Raj had said on Wednesday that three victims, identified as Afroz, 20, Meherban, 21, and Ajmal, 22, were beaten to death while another was injured in clashes between members of two communities at Muhammadpurraisingh village.

Sources said the victims were among those people staying in relief camps after the recent riots.

The incident appeared to be fallout of the communal tension in the region. Muhammadpurraisingh village was one of places affected by the riots last month.

Residents of Muhammadpurraisingh clashed with people belonging to Hussainpur village that led to the death of the three youths, the sources had said.

Though the two villages are at a distance of a kilometre, their agricultural fields are situated nearby, the sources had said, adding some people spread rumours that five persons were planning to attack members of a community residing at Muhammadpurraisingh village.

Maintain fixed tenure for bureaucrats: SC

  

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  The HinduMuch of the deterioration in bureaucracy is because of political interference, the Supreme Court said on Thursday. 
• 
  The HinduCivil servants should not act on verbal orders given by political executives, the Supreme Court said on Thursday. File photo: Shanker Chakravarty

TOPICS

crime, law and justice

judiciary (system of justice)

health

civil and public service

politics

government

In a path-breaking verdict, the Supreme Court on Thursday said bureaucrats should not act on verbal orders given by political bosses as it sought an end to frequent transfers and suggested a fixed tenure to insulate them from political interference.

Suggesting sweeping reforms in the functioning of bureaucracy, a bench headed by Justice K.S. Radhakrishnan said Parliament must enact a law to regulate postings, transfers and disciplinary action against bureaucrats.

Holding that much of the deterioration in bureaucracy is because of political interference, it said that civil servants should not act on verbal orders given by political executives and all actions must be taken by them on the basis of written communication.

The bench also comprising justice P.C. Ghose said giving a fixed minimum tenure to a civil servant will not only promote professionalism and efficiency, but also good governance.

It asked the Centre and all State governments along with Union Territories to issue directions within three months for providing fixed tenure to civil servants.

The bench also said Civil Services Board be constituted at the Centre and State-levels.

The verdict, which is on the line of apex court’s earlier order on police reforms for giving fixed tenure to senior police officers in Prakash Singh case, will go a long way in giving freedom and independence to the functioning of bureaucracy.

The judgement comes close on the heels of controversies surrounding Ashok Khemka, IAS officer of Haryana cadre over DLF-Robert Vadra land deal, and Durga Sakhti Nagpal, U.P. cadre IAS officer, who was targeted by the State government for alleged misconduct.

The apex court passed the verdict on a PIL filed by 83 retired bureaucrats including former Cabinet Secretary T.S.R. Subramanian seeking its directions for insulating bureaucracy from political interference.

The petitioners also include former Indian Ambassador to the U.S. Abid Hussain, former Chief Election Commissioner N. Gopalaswami, former Election Commissioner T.S. Krishna Murthy, former IPS officer Ved Prakash Marwah, and former CBI directors Joginder Singh and D.R. Kaarthikeyan.

Coast Guard visits mysterious 'Google barge'

Agency mum on trip and San Francisco vessel's purpose, citing "commercial confidentiality."

(Photo: Justin Sullivan, Getty Images)

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Google refused to acknowledge any connection to the barge and three others like it
• But a Treasure Island worker offered the barest of details
• One observer thinks it may have something to do with Google Glass

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SAN FRANCISCO — The Coast Guard on Wednesday visited the mysterious "Google barge" floating in San Francisco Bay, but the agency would not reveal anything about the tech giant's hush-hush vessel.

Google has refused to acknowledge any connection to the barge and three others like it. But it is zealously guarding its privacy around the four-story stack of containers docked at a pier on Treasure Island and acompanion in Portland, Maine.

At least one Coast Guard employee has been required to sign a non-disclosure agreement with the company regarding the San Francisco project, Petty Officer 2nd Class Barry Bena told Reuters. An inspector with an unidentified California agency said he, too, had to sign such a document.

Bena told USA TODAY on Wednesday that he was later instructed by superiors to say nothing.

"Commercial confidentiality prohibits me from talking about this," said Bena, a spokesman with the Alameda district office. He added that he is not authorized to sign non-disclosure agreements.

Before the cone of silence fell on the Coast Guard's public affairs office, still another spokesman confirmed to the Portland Press Herald that Google "is involved or associated with the barge but there is a non-disclosure agreement in effect."

All the Coast Guard would say about its visit is that it was not for a fire or medical emergency, the San Jose Mercury News reported.

STORY: The mystery of Google's floating barges

The steel-hull barge belongs to By and Large LLC, of Wilmington, Del. Built in 2011 by C&C Marine in Belle Chasse, La., it is almost 250 feet long and 16 feet deep — significantly longer and deeper than a standard freight barge.

Its purpose remains shrouded in the fog of secrecy, however.

Tech site CNET has speculated that it might be a floating data center, while the local CBS TV affiliate points to a floating store for Google's wearable Glass computer.

The executive director of the Bay Conservation and Development Commission told theMercury News that attorneys for the project said they planned on "using the vessel as a tool to teach about technology."

A Treasure Island worker offered the barest of details about what has been going on behind the shrouded scaffolding:

Bob Jessup, a construction company superintendent who works in a building across the street, said Google spent the past year working on the project. He said they fenced off a wide area and brought in at least 40 welders a day, who worked around the clock and refused to say a word.

"They wouldn't give up any of the information," Jessup said. "It was a phenomenal production. None of them would tell us anything."

He said they worked on the inside and the outside of the shipping containers, outfitting them with electronics — "very hush hush" — and then loaded them onto the barge with a crane. They put sides on the containers, with glass windows in some of them. They had to weld them very precisely so they could stack, Jessup recounted.

Coast Guard spokesman Lt. Joshua Dykman told the Mercury News that he had been ordered not to discuss the barges for "legal reasons." He said he had not signed a non-disclosure agreement.

"Once the project is completed, we will be releasing information," he said.

As for its Maine companion, work is not expected to begin until after the San Francisco job is finished, a local Coast Guard spokesman told the Portland newspaper.

Ensign Connan Ingham said that no non-disclosure agreements had been signed but that some local agency officials "have been asked by the owner not to talk about it."