Supreme Court stays telecom tribunal order; raises rates for DTH operators

New Delhi : The Supreme Court on Monday stayed the order of the broadcast tribunal TDSAT setting aside TRAI's notification fixing 35 per cent of the rates paid by cable operators for TV channels and raised the same to 42 per cent.

A Bench comprising Mr Justice R.V. Raveendran and Mr Justice A.K. Patnaik stayed the order of the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT), which had set aside TRAI's notification of July 21, fixing the price.

Passing an order on December 16, 2010, TDSAT had set aside sectoral regulator TRAI's notification mandating that broadcasters charge from DTH and IPTV providers only up to 35 per cent of rates paid by cable operators for their channels.

However, the Bench on Monday increased the price band and fixed it to 42 per cent of the cable price to be charged by the broadcasters from the DTH operators. The Bench also added that the agreements between DTH operators and broadcasters, which are already in place, shall prevail.

TRAI Petition

The apex court's direction came over a petition filed by TRAI, challenging TDSAT's order. Broadcasters were earlier charging DTH operators half of what they got from cable operators.

On July 21, 2010, TRAI had notified that a new wholesale tariff structure would be effective from September 1, 2010, whereby broadcasters can charge only at 35 per cent of rates that they charged from normal cable operators while supplying service providers on platforms such as DTH, IPTV and HITS.

Challenge

On August 23, 2010, leading broadcasters, including Zee Turner, Viacom 18 Media and Sun TV, and Star Den Media Services had moved TDSAT challenging TRAI's tariff order to cap wholesale price of channels to service providers such as DTH and IPTV at 35 per cent of rates for normal cable operators.

In separate petitions filed with TDSAT, ESPN Software India, MSM Discovery, Zee Turner and Star Den Media Services said, the TRAI tariff was not commercially viable.

The broadcasters had submitted that while fixing the tariff, TRAI had acted in an arbitrary and unreasonable manner and did not consider the suggestions of the stakeholders. Broadcasters offer cheaper rates to operators such as DTH and IPTV as they can ascertain the number of subscribers of these players, which is not the case with cable services where under-reporting is believed to be very high.

The apex court's direction came over a petition filed by TRAI, challenging TDSAT's order.

Read more »

Syrian Activists Begin Sit-In For Assad Ouster

Beirut : More than 5,000 anti-government protesters in Syria took over the main square of the country's third-largest city Monday, vowing to occupy the site until President Bashar Assad is ousted and defying authorities who warn they will not be forced into reforms.

The government, however, blamed the weeks of anti-government unrest in the country on ultraconservative Muslims seeking to establish a fundamentalist state and terrorize the people, in the latest official effort to portray the reform movement as populated by extremists.

The Egypt-style standoff in the central city of Homs followed funeral processions by more than 10,000 mourners for some of those killed in clashes Sunday that a rights group said left at least 12 people dead. It also brought a high-stakes challenge to security forces over whether to risk more bloodshed -- and international backlash -- by trying to clear the square.

In the past month, Syrian security forces in uniforms and plainclothes have launched a deadly crackdown on demonstrations, killing at least 200 people, according to human rights groups. Many Syrians also say pro-government thugs -- known as Shabiha -- have terrorized neighborhoods with tactics such as opening fire into the air.

The government has in the past blamed "armed gangs" seeking to stir up unrest for many of the killings, such as the ones who fatally shot seven people, including three army officers, on Sunday in Homs.

On Monday, the Interior Ministry identified the gangs as "armed Salafi groups," referring to an ultraconservative form of Islam that has its roots in Saudi Arabia and can be found all over the region.

The statement carried by the state news agency said they were seeking to establish "emirates" and were "abusing the freedoms and reforms launched in the comprehensive program with a timetable by President Bashar Assad."

Assad has been playing on fears of sectarian warfare as he works to quell any popular support for the uprising and has blamed the unrest on a foreign plot to sow sectarian strife -- echoing pronouncements from almost every other besieged leader in the region.

Earlier in the day, at least six coffins were carried by the massive funeral procession in Homs, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) north of Damascus, said two witnesses. Security forces stayed away from the mourners in an apparent move to avoid confrontation, said the witnesses, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of government reprisals.

The witnesses' accounts could not be independently confirmed because Syria has placed tight restrictions on media outlets and expelled foreign journalists.

After the funeral, thousands of people marched to Homs' main Sa'a Jadida Square, or the New Clock Square, where they chanted "people want to bring down the regime" and "peaceful, peaceful," the witnesses said.

As protesters gathered, security personnel arrived in the area. Three tanker trucks, usually used by authorities to spray protesters with water, were also parked nearby.

"A sit-in until the regime is brought down," the protesters chanted.

Witnesses said the protesters are planning to set up tents and some residents donated water and food.

Also Monday, a group of Syrian students said in a statement posted on Facebook they will not attend classes for three days starting Tuesday to protests the recent deaths and last week's attack by security forces at Damascus University, where one student was killed.

In the northern city of Banias, about 300 children released balloons with slogans calling on Assad to leave power, witnesses said.

"Leave, uncle criminal," read one balloon. "Leave so that I can enjoy freedom," read another, witnesses added.

Ammar Qurabi, head of Syria's National Organization for Human Rights, said the death toll had risen to 12 from the Sunday shootings during protests and a funeral for an anti-government activist.

He said eight people died in Homs and a nearby village. He added that four protesters were killed in clashes between security forces and protesters in the northern cities of Latakia and Idlib.

Syria's state-run news agency, however, said one policeman was killed and 11 other policemen and security personnel were wounded when an "armed criminal gang" opened fire on them in Talbiseh on Sunday.

The latest killings were bound to increase pressure on Assad, who has tried to quell the popular uprising with a mixture of brute force and concessions. On Saturday, he promised to end nearly 50 years of emergency rule this week, a key demand of the protesters.

Syria's widely despised emergency laws have been in place since the ruling Baath Party came to power in 1963, giving the regime a free hand to arrest people without charge and extending state authority into virtually every aspect of life.

But he warned there will no longer be "an excuse" for organizing protests once Syria lifts emergency rule and implements reforms, which he said will include a new law allowing the formation of political parties. (AP)

Read more »

China Objects to Tibetan Minister In Nepal Cabinet

Kathmandu : A diplomatic row has erupted between China and Nepal as Beijing expressed dissatisfaction over the appointment of a minister of Tibetan ethnic origin by the communist party-led government of Prime Minister Jhala Nath Khanal.

Chinese embassy officials in Kathmandu have expressed dissatisfaction over the appointment Lharkyal Lama as State Minister for Finance who is allegedly connected with the 'free Tibet movement,' a CPN-UML party source said.

China is miffed with appointment of Lama who alleged holds two passports - Nepali and Indian - and also an identity card of Tibetan refugee, the CPN-UML party source was quoted as saying by Nagarik daily, a local newspaper.

According to a report in nepalnews online, it prompted Chinese officials to express their displeasure during informal conversations with the Prime Minister and other top communist party leaders.

Lama holds the nationality of Nepal, Tibet and India, according to a formal complaint filed against him at the home ministry six years ago, myrepublica online, the website of Republica newspaper said today.

Chinese officials have argued that Lama’s appointment has raised questions on Nepal's 'one China policy'.

Nepal supports 'one-China policy' that views Tibet as an integral part of China. It has repeatedly assured its giant northern neighbour that it will not allow its territory to be used against the communist nation.

Nepal is home to around 20,000 exiled Tibetans and the capital has been the scene of several anti-China protests since the failed uprising against the Chinese rule on March 10, 1959.

Despite tight security enforced by the Nepalese and Chinese government in the border areas, every year some 2,500 Tibetans cross the border on their way to meet the Dalai Lama in the Indian town of Dharamshala, where he is based since fleeing from his motherland in 1959. PTI

Read more »

Gaddafi's Son Claims, Forces Have Not Committed Excesses

Washington : Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi’s son Saif has hit out at Western nations for air raiding his country on a premise he termed as false as Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction, while insisting that his regime did not commit any crime against its people.

The world had gone to war with Libya based on nothing more than rumour and propaganda, the 38-year-old Saif-al-Islam Gaddafi, the second son of Gaddafi, said in an interview to the Washington Post.

He claimed the UN Security Council resolution for establishing a no-fly zone over Libya was based on claims that Libyan air force was bombing Tajoura and Fashloom districts in Tripoli and killing thousands, but there was “zero” evidence of such a bombardment.
“Show me one trace, one evidence that we bombarded Tajoura. Zero,” Saif said.

“So you go there and ask anybody. So everything was based on rumours. It’s exactly like the WMD. WMD, WMD, WMD, go and attack Iraq. Now, civilians, civilians, civilians, go and attack Libya. It’s the same thing, it’s a repetition of history,” he said.

Blaming the rebellion against his father’s regime on al Qaeda, Saif said the Americans, should have rather helped Libya root out the “terrorists”.

A defiant Gaddafi scion also said he had been betrayed by his friends who defected to join the rebels, and said nobody in the Middle East had thought that “one day President Barack Obama will attack Libya or an Arabic country”. Saif said he had brought many reformers into the government in the past decade, as part of a promise that Libya would move towards democracy and freedom of expression.

Several of those men have since defected and played leading roles in the rebel Transitional National Council, a fact that could help explain the younger Gaddafi’s keenness to emphasise his nationalist credentials, the paper said.  Dismissing accusations against the Gaddafi government, Saif said the army was fighting terrorists, “just as the Russian army did in the Chechen capital, Grozny, just as Americans did in Fallujah in Iraq”.

“It’s exactly the same thing,” he said. “I am not going to accept it, that the Libyan army killed civilians.  This didn’t happen. It will never happen.” Instead of attacking Libya, he said, the United States should be helping it fight al-Qaeda.

Then, once the “terrorists” are removed from Misurata and Benghazi, he said, it will be time to talk of national reconciliation and democracy, under a new constitution that would reduce Gaddafi’s role to a “symbolic” one.

“The biggest issue is the terrorists and the armed militia... Once we get rid of them, everything will be solved,” Saif said. PTI

Read more »

Pandher Hospitalized After He Fell Unconscious In Jail

Ghaziabad : Moninder Singh Pandher, accused in the Nithari serial killings, tonight became unconscious and fell down in his cell in Dasna jail, where he is lodged, jail sources said here.

Pandher, in his 50s, is a diabetic patient and fell unconscious around 8 PM. He was taken to MMG district hospital where he was put on life-saving equipment, jail superintendent Viresh Raj Sharma told PTI.

According to hospital sources, Pandher's sugar-level descended drastically which made him lose consciousness.

Pandher was awarded capital punishment in 2009 alongwith his domestic help Surinder Singh Koli but the Allahabad High Court acquitted him later that year.

The CBI also gave him clean chit in 16 cases of kidnapping and murder. He was lodged in jail in December 2006 and since that time is ailing and undergoing treatment.

His condition was said to be critical till around 10 PM. PTI

Read more »

Ill-Fated Rajdhani Passengers Recount Horror Tales

New Delhi : “It was a horror I would never forget. I and my family jumped out of the burning train amid leaping flames and thickening smoke,” said Satya Vir Singh, a passenger of Delh-bound Rajdhani Express train whose four coaches caught fire today.

Singh, along with his wife and two children were in B-7 coach, one of the coaches of the Mumbai-Delhi train which were gutted between Alot and Thuriya stations in Ratlam district, scampered out of the burning bogey in the dead of the night.

Singh, whose four luggages were burnt, said “collecting luggages was not our priority that time. I alerted my wife and children who were sleeping and asked them to come out of the coach immediately.”

Bahadur Mistry and his 34 friends, a tourist group who were going for an adventure tour of Shimla, Chandigarh and Manali, said “we all jumped out hurriedly one after another from the train. There was smoke everywhere. So, we did not lose time to come out in the open,” said Mistry.

Mrs Shroff, another member of the tourist group, said the incident, however, has not deterred them from going ahead with the journey. “Though we have lost many of our luggages in the fire, we are not cancelling our onward journey. Our tour programme has already been chalked out in advance”.

Like Shroff and Singh, many other passengers recounted their traumatic experiences to reporters at New Delhi station after the Rajdhani Express reached the national capital at 3.25 pm, suffering more than seven hours’ delay.

Three coaches - B-5, B-6, B-7 - and the pantry car were gutted in the fire that started from the pantry car at 2.20 am in the train.

“I was woken up by the commotion. Without wasting time, I came out of the coach. The place where we had to disembark was a deserted place,” said Astha, a passenger in B-9 coach.

“Though there was no fire in my coach, I could see the burning coaches in front of me and it was a fearful sight,” she said.

Praveen Khurana, a resident of Subhash Nagar here, was fast asleep in B-6 coach when the fire broke out at the wee hours.

“Railway staff knocked at our coach from the outside and asked us to come out. Fire brigades came after one hour.”

However, Khurana said “villagers were very helpful as they provided water to douse the fire.”

Luggages of Heema Talati, who was in the coach near the pantry car with her two children, were also completely burnt.

“There was no time to collect luggages. We had received Rs 15,000 from railways as compensation but my loss was about Rs 80,000,” said Heema adding “I am happy that we jumped out of the coach in time.”

Railways have given Rs 5000 to each passenger at the affected coaches of B-5, B-6 and B-7 as ex-gratia.

“Only those luggages which are booked, can be considered for insurance claims, if lost,” said a senior Railway Ministry official. PTI

Read more »

Backtracking on his yesterday’s statement

New Delhi : Backtracking on his yesterday’s statement, Anna Hazare today stuck to his August 15 deadline for passage of the Lokpal Bill failing which he will resort to agitation.

“The joint drafting committee has a mandate to produce a strong Jan Lokpal bill which will be sent to Parliament. We hope that all political parties will vote as per the wishes of the people, which is overwhelmingly in favour of a strong Bill.

“Parties that vote against the Bill will be eventually hurting their popularity and exposing their mala fide intentions. In such an event, we will again take to streets,” Hazare said in a statement here.

At an interaction with Marathi journalists here yesterday, Hazare appeared to be flexible on the August 15 deadline saying he was open to extending it if he found that the government was on the right path.

“We will have to accept it. We believe in democracy,” he had said in reply to a question on what would be his stand if Parliament rejected the Lokpal Bill drafted jointly by the government and representatives of the civil society.

Reacting to media reports, Hazare said today that the deadline for preparation of the draft bill remains June 30, immediately after which it should be presented in the Monsoon Session of Parliament.

“Even the government has admitted that it is realistic for Parliament to deliberate and take a decision on the JLB by the August 15 deadline set by me. Thus failure of this deadline will invite mass protests by the people,” he said.

He said people being the masters need to monitor Parliament’s decisions in a functioning democracy. This was true as Parliament has failed to pass a Lokpal Bill for the past 42 years.

In addition, significant number of elected representatives have used money, muscle power, election fraud, misinformation in the media to win seats, undermining the sanctity and credibility of the parliamentary system, he said adding the citizens will have to ensure that a strong Lokpal Bill is passed.

He also said that confusion was being created in the media through government sources that the civil society has climbed down in the first Joint Drafting Committee meeting held on Saturday.

“It was rumoured that we agreed to the exclusion of the Prime Minister, cabinet ministers and judiciary from Lokpal’s purview. Civil Society members have certainly not agreed to any of the above. Jan Lokpal bill version 2.2 was presented to the Government of India at the first meeting,” he said. PTI

Read more »