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  Government removes Rs 32 BPL cap, to set up new panel       
  New Delhi, October 3, 2011: Facing severe criticism over its Rs 32 cap in urban areas for determining the poverty line, the Government finally decided to remove the condition on Monday. The decision to remove the Below Poverty Line (BPL) cap came after Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh reached an agreement on the issue in a meeting in New Delhi.
  "We are clearly, categorically, and unequivocally saying that there is no link between the state wise poverty estimates and the selection of beneficiaries. A new expert committee will be set up so that no poor and deprived household is excluded," said Ramesh while addressing a press conference jointly with Ahluwalia. Ramesh then went on to say that the Rs 32 cap will be removed. Jairam and Montek said that no poor household will be excluded from government programmes.
  "No caps will be externally imposed. The Planning Commission and the Rural Development Ministry will work out a new method so that no poor household is excluded," said Ramesh. Clarifying that the Planning Commission had not fixed the Rs 32 cap to be categorised as a BPL, Ahluwalia said, "This is the lowest level. This is not the view of the Planning Commission. It was fixed in 1973.
  Clearly it is rock bottom level of existence. Planning Commission has not taken the view that benefits should be restricted to BPL." Ahluwalia also explained that the Rs 32 (for urban areas) and Rs 26 (for rural areas) are only statistics based on the methodology prescribed by the Suresh Tendulkar Committee and do not reflect the Planning Commission's views.Source: CNN-IBN 
  Mamata wins against Ratan Tata over Singur
      
   Kolkata, September 28, 2011 (NDTV): Mamata Banerjee won big on two fronts today. She won a legal battle against Ratan Tata that's centred on the land allotted to him in Singur. She also won her assembly by-election from her constituency of Bohwanipore by nearly 50,000 votes. She was earlier an MP. Her legal victory was declared first this morning. 
  The Calcutta High Court ruled that the Singur Land Rehabilitation Act is constitutional and valid. The Act was introduced in June by Mamata Banerjee shortly after she was elected Chief Minister of West Bengal. It allowed her government to cancel a 99-year-lease signed with Mr Tata for nearly 1000 acres for his Nano factory. The deal had been signed by the Left which lost to Ms Banerjee in the state elections in May this year. Mr Tata had challenged the Singur Act. He is expected to appeal against
today's order in the Supreme Court. A statement to the press declared, "The company will study the judgment and decide its next course of action."
  The court has given Mr Tata's company two months to remove all equipment and other belongings from the factory his company had set up at Singur. The court has also given the Tatas the right to ask for compensation for damages, if any. The judge also said his verdict will be stayed -remain in suspension -for a month. That gives all parties a chance to appeal against the verdict in a higher court.
Farmers from Singur and adjoining areas have claimed that close to 400 acres of their land had been given to Mr Tata by the Left against their wishes. Returning this land to farmers was one of the biggest promises Ms Banerjee made during her campaign.
  The Tata Group abandoned its plans for a manufacturing plant for its new Nano car in October 2008 after repeated protests by farmers that often involved violence. The farmers had found huge support in Ms Banerjee's party, the Trinamool Congress. 
  The Tata Group stresses that it had invested nearly 1800 crore in establishing the plant at Singur and another 440 crore on constructing buildings and adding infrastructure. While challenging the Singur Act, the Tatas had explained, "The Bill mentions 'non-commissioning and abandoning' of the project by Tata Motors and goes on to state that 'no employment generation and socio-economic development has taken place and people in and around the area have not benefited in any manner.' Tata Motors wants to clarify that the operations of setting up and commissioning of the plant was conducted under very difficult conditions, amidst violence, disruption of activities, damage to property, threats to personnel. ... therefore, Tata Motors did not find the situation congenial to continue its operations." -NDTV 
  300 phones at Dayanidhi Maran house? CBI will probe
      
          
     

   September 27, 2011 (DNA): More trouble for former Union minister Dayanidhi Maran, as the CBI has registered a fresh case into the allegations of misusing more than 300 telephone lines meant for "official" use and then diverted the same secretly for his family television channel. Maran got these telephone lines in his capacity as Union telecom minister.
   "We have registered a preliminary inquiry into the matter after a joint meeting with Department of Telecommunication. So far inquiry has been registered against unknown officials, but very soon, names will be added into the case,? a top CBI official told  DNA.  "?Investigation is regarding the misutilisation of 323 telephone connections by the former Union minister of communication and IT, which originally meant for his residence no, 3/1, Boat Club Avenue, RA Puram, Chennai, but which were subsequently used by Sun TV network, Chennai, causing huge loss to the central government," CBI official added.
  CBI has been trying hard to get reply from the DoT on this matter since four years. In 2007, an official communication to the DoT secretary, the then CBI special director ML Sharma, had asked DoT's reply. But DoT had come with a lame reply in 2009, by putting entire blame on the chief general manager of the BSNL, Chennai. CBI was not convinced with the reply. "But after examining, we have to know that chief general manager only followed the directions of telecom minister. It seems that Maran used these lines for his family television channel Sun TV office, by laying 3.4 kilometre long secret underground cable," official claimed. Initial probe conducted by the CBI, the agency had recommended action against then telecom minister.
   "In September 2007, we had specifically written to office of telecom minister (A Raja), just in order to bring the matter to his notice. In reply to our communication, in 2009 Telecom ministry had come out with a lame reply by fixing responsibility on some local DoT officials, which our investigating official rejected," CBI official.