Vis-a-Vis

MURLI MANOHAR JOSHI former HRD minister versus RENUKA CHOWDHURY Women and Child Development Minister

"The proposed sex education modules are an encouragement rather than education about sex."

"Opposition to sex education is just moral hypocrisy and posturing on the part of those who are opposing it."

EPILOGUE: A section of the world’s next superpower is still stuck with medieval attitudes.

FILED: A chargesheet against former BJP MP Babubhai Katara and five co-accused arrested in connection with the human trafficking case by the Crime Branch of Delhi Police.

WON: The men’s singles title in ITF Futures tennis tournament, held in Morocco, by Karan Rastogi. He beat Spain’s Cesar Ferrer-Victoria.

AWARDED: Tata Sons Chairman Ratan Tata honourary fellowship of the London School of Economics and Political Science for his contribution to global industry.

PICTURE SPEAK

THE THIRD ACE: Masood

The five times Lok Sabha member from Saharanpur in western Uttar Pradesh was born on August 15, 1947 and describes himself as an agriculturist. In his youth, Masood had closely worked with the late farmers’ leader Charan Singh. “Masood’s credentials are definitely better than those of Pratibha Patil,” said sp General Secretary Amar Singh. Earlier this week, there were rumours that National Conference patron Farooq Abdullah would be their candidate.

While BJP is yet to make up its mind, a member of its national executive has begun dreaming about the job—former Rajya Sabha chairperson Najma Heptullah, who was a member of the Congress in 2002 and had been then snubbed by her party for aspiring to be the vice-president. After joining BJP, she had harboured hopes of acquiring that office. With her name back in circulation now, Heptullah is elated.

The Left Front is a divided house over the vice-presidential polls which will be held on August 10. The CPI, RSP and Forward Bloc are angry with Cpi(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat for saying that his party would prefer any person with an “exemplary record in some field”.

Since all four Left parties had agreed on a person with a political background for the President’s position, the CPI(M)’s decision of fielding someone who is not a member of any political party for the post of the V-P has them confused. Why, asked the smaller Left partners. Big brother Cpi(M) is not telling.

-By Satarupa Bhattacharjya

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Acquitted: Bedi

Bedi had been charged with travelling to Lisbon with don Abu Salem on a fake passport acquired in Bhopal in 2001 in the name of Fauzia Usman. The passport could not be found nor could the prosecution prove that she had indeed travelled abroad on that visa. They couldn’t even prove that she had signed the application forms.

Her defence team now says that the prison ordeal of the Bollywood starlet could be over as early as next week. While she was sentenced by a special CBI court in Hyderabad to five years’ imprisonment in September 2006 in another forged passport case, the quantum of her term was reduced to three years by the Andhra Pradesh High Court in March this year.

An appeal against that conviction is pending in the Supreme Court which, in May, also granted her bail in the case. With her acquittal in the Bhopal case, Bedi could breathe free after the completion of some formalities in Hyderabad.

While the verdict was a setback to the Madhya Pradesh Police, there are indications that the prosecution could go in for an appeal in the High Court against the lower court’s acquittal. For that, the Law Department first has to examine the merits of the case.

-By Ambreesh Mishra

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TRAP TIME: Modi

The opportunity came when the state Government’s mouthpiece Gujarat published an article by columnist Gunwant Shah in which he quoted Jinnah’s close friend Kanji Dwarkadas as saying that he was a secularist at heart. And it is this article that has the Congress and Sangh Parivar dissidents up in arms accusing Modi of betraying the cause of Hindutva and being unpatriotic. Modi, however, has chosen to remain silent over the issue in the hope of reaping rich dividends when he replies to the poll rhetoric during peak election time.

-By Uday Mahurkar

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TRIBUTE: The park is an ode to Irwin

-By M.G. Radhakrishnan