By Venkatesh Kesari
New Delhi
Oct. 27: The BSP has decided to field Mr Akhilesh Shukla, a former
Congressman, against Mr Rahul Gandhi from Amethi while Mr R.S. Kushwah,
an OBC, would be its nominee against Congress chief Sonia Gandhi in Rae
Bareli constituency in the Lok Sabha elections.
According to well-informed sources in the BSP, the Mayawati-led
party has decided to field Mr Naresh Agarwal in Farukkabad, Mr Shahid
Siddiqui in Bijnore and Dr Akhilesh Das from Lucknow, represented by
former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. Dr Das is a former mayor of
Lucknow where the baniya or vaishya vote could be decisive.
UP chief minister Mayawati would be fielding minority candidates in Akbarpur and Hardwar (Uttarakhand).
The sources added the BSP would be fielding 51 candidates from the
brahmin, Muslim and SC communities (17 from each) and the remainder
would be allotted to OBCs, banias and other communities.
The BSP is gearing up for polls at a time when the Congress and the SP have yet to finalise seat-sharing.
Lucknow, Oct 27 (IANS) Seven people were caught
smuggling out a rare species of snakes from Uttar Pradeshβs Bahraich
district to Nepal, a forest official said Monday.
βActing on a tip-off, we nabbed the smugglers Sunday
midnight in Mihinpurwa village in Bahraich, about 270 km from Lucknow,β
Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) R.K. Singh told IANS.
βSeveral red boya snakes, a rare species, were seized from the seven
smugglers, who claimed that the skin of each snake fetched nearly
Rs.200,000 in international markets,β Singh said.
Several species of snakes including the red boya snakes are found in the Kakraha forest of Bahraich.
βThe colour of these snakes is close to crimson and they have two mouths,β Singh said.
The red boya snakes are around three and a half feet long.
The smugglers, who are being interrogated, have admitted that they
are part of an animal trade racket that operates from Nepal, forest
officials said.
Under the Wildlife Protection Act (WPA) 1972, it is illegal to injure, catch, or own snakes.
Snakes come under the Schedule I and IV of the WPA and keeping them in captivity is an offence.
Snakes can only be exhibited in a zoo where they have to be kept as per rules framed by the Central Zoo Authority (CZA).
βThere are examples when Rahul Gandhi broke the security cordonβ
and also visited places deviating from his scheduled programme, where
ensuring security arrangements was not possible in the absence of prior
information, the Government said in a statement.
As recently as October16, the UP government had written a
letter to the SPG director, highlighting the problems created by the
lack of timely information and requested him to make available the tour
programmes of Rahul Gandhi well in time, the statement said. On
September 11 and 12, when Rahul visited Deoriya, Gorakhpur and
Azamgarh, there was a problem in ensuring security because his
programme was communicated to the state government at a short notice.
Also, the Amethi MP visited places which were not on his schedule and
information regarding these places was made available after he reached
Gorakhpur, the statement added.
Regarding the alleged security lapse during his Kanpur visit,
Cabinet Secretary Shashank Shekhar Singh said DGP Vikram Singh had got
the matter investigated and found that the reports were baseless. The
detailed report had been sent to the Centre. The Union Home Secretary
and the Director of Intelligence Bureau had spoken to UP DGP Vikram
Singh regarding the alleged security lapse, he added.
Intel has already provided 50 computers thus far and will be providing more soon.
News just in, is that the Uttar Pradesh government
The
principal secretary of secondary education, A. K. Mishra told IANS, “By
collaborating with Intel, we would set up computer labs in nearly 5,000
schools across the state.” He also said that the new computer labs
would be set up initially in various schools of Lucknow and Allahabad
districts and the same would happen in other districts later.
The benefits of this will be passed on to students and teachers of
rural and far-flung areas, which are not enrolled in computer training
programs.
It may be interesting to note that computer science is not a
compulsory subject in the Uttar Pradesh board, unlike in ICSE and CBSE.
According to an official, this partnership with Intel would be a step
in the right direction by making this subject compulsory in the UP
board.
Intel has already provided 50 computers thus far and will be
providing more soon. Seems that the UP government is finally taking
steps to a progressive state to create employment for its people and we
think that this will be the first step to help solve a lot of problems,
including mass exodus to other states with greener avenues.