The Tribune – UK-based NRI arrested in Moga passport scam

Kulwinder Sandhu, Tribune News Service

Moga, March 15. The local police’s special investigation team arrested a youth at the Amritsar international airport on his arrival from the UK for his alleged involvement in the infamous Moga passport scam.

The special investigation team (SIT) today produced him before Chief Judicial Magistrate Rakesh Gupta who sent him to judicial custody for 14 days.

The accused, Avtar Singh of Shahkot in Jalandhar, allegedly got made his passport by changing his name and address. He changed his name to Balwinder Singh Cheeda and mentioned Guru Ram Dass Nagar as his local address even though he never lived in Moga town. He also managed to get UK’s visa on the basis of his “fake” passport through a travel agent and went to the UK to settle there.

When he landed at Amritsar, the immigration authorities, during a cross-check of his documents, found that his passport was made on forged documents. They detained him and informed about it to the Moga police, after which he was arrested.

Last week, the SIT had also arrested a Nawanshahr resident, Balkar Singh, at the Delhi international airport as soon as he landed from Portugal. He was also “involved” in the fake passport scam. He had gone to Saudi Arabia from where he proceeded to Denmark in 2005. When his passport expired, he allegedly managed to get it renewed on a fake address of Baghapurana town in Moga district and went to Portugal.

Over 80 persons, including 14 travel agents and 53 others who were issued passports on forged documents, have been arrested so far. Lookout notices have been issued against more than 350 persons who had fled the country on fake passports. The trial of the case is going on at the district and sessions’ court in Faridkot.

The Case file

An FIR under Sections 420, 465, 468, 471 of the IPC, Section 2/8 of the Passport Act and Sections 13 (2), 88 of the Prevention of Corruption Act was registered in July 2008. Three policemen, Jaswinder Singh, Ranjit Singh and Gurdial Singh; Ranjit Singh, an employee of the Municipal Council; Om Prakash, a postman and Didar Singh, former employee of the RPO, Chandigarh, were the kingpins.

Modus operandi

The modus operandi was that the police employees posted between the years 1995 and 2008 in the passport/security branch in Moga prepared fake documents of police verifications and then by manipulating with the travel agents or employees of the RPO office tampered with the official records, forging the documents of age, education, address proof, marriage certificates and others.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120316/punjab.htm#4

The Tribune – SGPC resents UP move to ban kirpan during exam

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, March 15. The SGPC has strongly flayed the alleged move of the education board in Uttar Pradesh to bar baptised Sikh students from wearing ‘kirpan’ above a particular size during examination hours.

The SGPC chief, Avtar Singh Makkar, said he had received a call from a Sikh organisation in UP, which informed him about the UP education board’s order. He said the move had been enforced for the examinations that were beginning from tomorrow.

Makkar said it was unfortunate that the Sikhs had to face this situation in their own country. He said he would take up the matter with the UP government and seek its resolution at the earliest. However, Inderjit Singh Chugh, Gurdwara Singh Sabha member from Saharanpur in UP, said he had no idea about any such order issued by the education board. “Our Singh Sabha runs two schools that are aided by the UP government. But, we haven’t received any order in this regard,” he added.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120316/punjab.htm#8

The Asian Age – Union budget: Growth, fiscal consolidation top challenges

New Delhi, 16 March 2012. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee will present the budget for 2012-13 on Friday against the backdrop of a sharp slowdown in growth, deteriorating fiscal conditions, continuing inflationary pressure and political turbulence.

This will be the seventh time Mukherjee will be presenting budget in the Lok Sabha, the second highest number of time by any finance minister. Mukherjee had presented budgets for three consecutive years in early 1980s.

The maximum number of 10 budgets were presented by former Prime Minister Morarji Desai. He held the finance portfolio from 1959-64, 1967-70 and between 1977 and 1979.

Mukherjee is facing a huge challenge of reviving economic growth, which has slowed down over the last six quarters.

The country’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth fell to three year low of 6.1 percent in third quarter of the current financial year. It was recorded 7.7 percent in the first quarter and 6.9 percent in the second quarter of the current fiscal.

According the Central Statistical Organisation data, economic growth is expected to fall to 6.9 percent for the fiscal ending March 31, against the budgetary target of around nine percent.

The Economic Survey, which was tabled in parliament Thursday, projected economic growth at 7.6 percent for 2012-13 and 8.6 percent for 2013-14.

Fiscal situation has worsened this year. Fiscal deficit is projected to increase to 5.6 percent of the GDP as against the budgetary target of 4.6 percent.

Despite the recent moderation, inflationary pressure continues and the Reserve Bank of India said in its mid-quarter review Thursday that it would resurface if the government did not control its spending.

The survey, presented a day before the annual budget, said inflation will remain in the range of 6.5-7 percent by end of March.

However, it said that fiscal consolidation was the only way to keep inflation down. (IANS)

http://www.asianage.com/india/union-budget-growth-fiscal-consolidation-top-challenges-303

Netherlands 23 december till 2 January, Den Haag & Amsterdam

Going back to Sint-Truiden 
2 January 2012
Last 2011 Den Haag Picture

 Den Haag – Sint-Truiden
HTM Tram 11 to take met to Den Haag Holland Spoor station

Den Haag – Sint-Truiden
Holland Spoor Station
On the right NS Sprinter EMU, on the left NS Intercity doubledecker EMU

Den Haag – Sint-Truiden
My Benelux Intercity to Brussel Zuid is 15 minutes delayed

 Den Haag – Sint-Truiden
Brussel Zuid
On the left Deutsche Bundesbahn Highspeed EMU
Waiting for my IC train to Limburg

 Den Haag – Sint-Truiden
Brussel Zuid
Deutsche Bundesbahn Highspeed EMU

Den Haag, Fischerstraat, Transvaalbuurt
31 December
Harjinder Singh and granddaughter Manpreet Kaur

From tomorrow we will tackle the January, February, March pictures taken in Belgium    

To see more Belgium and Netherlands public transport pictures :

http://www.flickr.com/photos/12445197@N05/sets/72157622685920411/

To see more Belgium and Netherlands gurdwara pictures :

http://www.flickr.com/photos/12445197@N05/sets/72157622147381380/

More Belgium / Netherlands pictures to follow
Harjinder Singh
Man in Blue

The Tribune – Economic Survey; 85% working Indians don’t get regular wages; Jobs increased by 9.11 lakh in 2010-11

Aditi Tandon, Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 15. Most of the working Indians have no job security and are casual workers or self-employed, with no regular salaries.

The Economic Survey 2011-2012 presented in Parliament by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee today paints a mixed picture on future employment potential of Indian markets. It says the upward trend in employment that began in 2009 has continued since then. However, the survey warns against declining rates of job growth in the organised sector.

In 2010, more than half of the workforce (51 per cent) was self-employed and around one-third (33.5 per cent) was casual, leaving just 15.6 per cent with regular wage employment and salaried jobs. Of all the jobs in the organised sector, women held just 20.4 per cent. Though Labour Bureau Surveys, being conducted since 2008 to assess the impact of global economic meltdown on jobs, posted an increase of 9.11 lakh jobs between September 2010 and 2011 with the IT/ BPO sector contributing 7.96 lakh jobs, employment in the organised sector grew at a slower pace than earlier.

Employment in the organised sector (private and public) grew by just 1.9 per cent in 2010 as against 2.3 per cent in 2009.

The annual growth rate for the private sector was much higher at 4.5 per cent than for the public sector (0.4 per cent). On March 31, 2010, the public sector had 178.62 lakh persons employed as against 108.46 lakh in the private sector. A positive takeaway from the survey was an overall increase in employment between September 2010 and 2011 – a period that saw an addition of 9.11 lakh jobs. “An upward trend in employment has been continuously observed since July 2009. Between July and September 2011, employment increased in all sectors, except leather and transport. Overall employment increased by 3.15 lakh,” says the survey. As many as 2.04 lakh jobs were contributed by the IT/BPO sector.

During the same quarter, jobs in export-oriented units increased by 1.96 lakh as against 1.16 lakh in non-exporting units.

The overall estimated employment in all sectors surveyed saw a net addition of 23.58 lakh jobs between October 2008 (first survey) and September 2011 (12th survey).

The survey also warns of challenges. Whereas 11th Plan had aimed at generating 58 million work opportunities between 2007 and 2012, NSSO reported an increase of 18 million work opportunities between 2005 and 2010. The country will see 63.5 million new entrants in the working age group between 2011 and 2016.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120316/main5.htm

BBC News – Afghan masacre US soldier ‘reluctant to serve’

Friday, 16 March 2012. The US soldier accused of shooting dead 16 Afghans had been injured twice while serving in Iraq and was unhappy about going for another tour of duty, a lawyer has said.

John Henry Browne said the soldier – who has not been named – had already completed three tours in Iraq.

He also said the accused had witnessed his friend’s leg blown off the day before the killings.

Sunday’s shootings have placed new strains on the US in Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, a Nato helicopter had crashed in the capital Kabul on Friday morning killing at least five people.

It hit a house in the Bagrami district on the outskirts of the city. Police told the BBC a technical fault was to blame. It is not clear who the victims are.

The Taliban called off peace talks in the wake of the deadly rampage, in which men, women and children were shot and killed at close range.

However, the US later stressed it remained committed to Afghan reconciliation despite the move by the Taliban.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has also told the US that it must pull back its troops from village areas and allow Afghan security forces to take the lead in an effort to reduce civilian deaths.

‘Treat him fairly’  

Speaking in Seattle, where the accused soldier is based at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Mr Browne said his new client was a “mild-mannered” man who bore no antipathy towards Muslims.

He described him as “a decorated soldier” with an exemplary record before the shooting.

The lawyer also suggested the soldier was not fit to serve in Afghanistan because of injuries he had suffered on previous tours of duty.

“I think that’s an issue, I think it’s a concern.”

Mr Browne, who has represented a number of high-profile clients including serial killer Ted Bundy and a teenage thief known as the Barefoot Bandit, said his client was a happily married man with two children, aged three and four.

He denied reports that the accused had problems either with alcohol or his marriage, which Mr Browne described as “fantastic”.

The US military has not yet charged the soldier, and Mr Browne said he would not release the accused’s name until it was made public by officials.

However, despite the shock of the killings, Mr Browne called for calm and for the soldier to receive a fair hearing.

“It’s a tragedy all the way round, there’s no question about that.

“I think the message for the public in general is that he’s one of our boys and they need to treat him fairly.”

‘Snapped’  

Separately, an un-named US military official told the New York Times that the suspect had simply “snapped”, and confirmed that he was on his fourth combat tour.

“When it all comes out, it will be a combination of stress, alcohol and domestic issues – he just snapped,” the official said.

The soldier was flown out of Afghanistan on Wednesday and taken to a US military base in Kuwait.

According to the New York Times, he may be moved to a US facility, such as Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, as early as Friday.

The newspaper said Kuwaiti protests over the presence of the accused soldier within their borders had prompted the US to move him quickly.

The attack, in Kandahar province, was the latest in a string of damaging incidents involving US troops in Afghanistan.

Last month, the burning of Korans by troops sparked a string of violent protests in several areas.

The latest attack has also caused uproar, with about 2,000 people demonstrating in the southern province of Zabul on Thursday, the second major protest outside Kandahar this week.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-17395066