ND Tiwari DNA test confirms he fathered the man who took him to court

New Delhi: ND Tiwari's DNA test has confirmed that he is the biological father of Rohit Shekhar, the 32-year-old man who filed a paternity suit against him. 

Mr Shekhar had taken Mr Tiwari to court in 2008, claiming that he was Mr Tiwari's son. The former Andhra Pradesh Governor and veteran Congress leader denied that he fathered Mr Shekhar. The DNA test was ordered by the Delhi High Court to settle the matter. This morning, the court rejected Mr Tiwari's appeal that the result of the DNA test be kept confidential. 

Mr Tiwari, who is a former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh and Uttaranchal, had moved both the High Court and the Supreme Court yesterday seeking to keep the test report confidential till the conclusion of hearing in the paternity suit against him. He was appealing against a July 20 High Court order which said the DNA test results would be made public today. 


On July 20 too, Justice Reva Khetrapal had dismissed Mr Tiwari's plea that the report be kept confidential saying, "You cannot misinterpret the Supreme Court order. It was for the purpose of collection of blood sample for DNA test." 
 
The Congressman had tried different legal routes to avoid submitting a blood sample. He finally did furnish a sample on May 29 this year at his Dehradun residence, following a court order. The High Court had directed Mr Tiwari to undergo the DNA test on April 27. Mr Tiwari was also fined Rs. 25,000 for delaying legal processes.

Assam violence: If Centre knew, why didn't they send army earlier, asks angry Tarun Gogoi

Guwahati:  Under attack from all quarters for inaction on the huge humanitarian crisis in Assam, Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has hit back. He said today that he had sought more forces from the Centre and also that if the Centre had intelligence inputs about the impending violence in Assam, it should have sent in the Army earlier. Mr Gogoi denied that he had received any such inputs from the Centre.

1. Mr Gogoi said 45 people have died in the seven days of ethnic clashes between Bodos and Bengali-speaking settlers. Almost four lakh people are in 203 relief camps set up by the government, he said.
2. The focus now is on Mr Gogoi, who is under tremendous pressure; it took the CM a full week after ethnic clashes began in his state to reach Kokrajhar, the epicenter of the violence.There he had said yesterday, "Assam is not burning." He has been universally slammed for what is being called his inept handling of a sensitive situation.
3. Mr Gogoi has denied that his government had acted late. He said he had asked for Central forces as soon as news came in that four people had been killed. It took those forces four days to reach, he pointed out. 
4. Central paramilitary forces are now out in full force in Assam. The situation is volatile - there has been no violence in the last one day, but there are reports of a relief camp being set afire and a woman being shot dead two days ago in Duramari village near Kokrajhar.
5. The relief camps - over 250 have been set up- are overcrowded and have poor sanitation. PTI reports that people at these camps say there is insufficient food, drinking water and medicines. The government has denied this. A two-year-old child and a 60-year-old man have died in different relief camps in Bilasipara, Dhubri district; the cause of death of either is  yet to be ascertained. 
6. The Congress has announced a 10-member coordination committee to look into the violence in Assam. It includes critics of Tarun Gogoi. Sources say senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh discussed Assam with Rahul Gandhi yesterday.  Earlier on Thursday evening, a team of Muslim MPs, including Congressmen, met Home Minister P Chidambaram and said they had lost faith in the Gogoi government. "We have lost confidence in the state government and in its ability to control violence and that is why we have asked the Centre to intervene," said Congress Rajya Sabha member K Rehman Khan.
7. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who is also a Rajya Sabha MP from Assam, will visit the state tomorrow. The PM has asked the Assam government to do whatever it takes to catch the culprits who instigated the violence. Home Minister P Chidambaram will visit Kokrajhar on Monday.
8. Towns have largely been secured, but there is much fear and uncertainty in villages; the exodus of people continues. Over 10,000 people have reportedly escaped to neighbouring West Bengal.
9. 13 columns of the Army have been deployed in Kokrajhar, Chirang, Dhubri and Bongaigaon. Indefinite curfew and shoot-at-sight orders are also in place in these four districts of lower Assam, most affected by the violence. The Army on Wednesday mobilised about 1000 troops to enforce peace in the areas. Officials said troops were carrying out flag marches in these areas.
10. The situation had been tense since early July when two Bengali speaking migrants were killed. Two more were killed on July 19, but police failed to identify the killers. On Friday last (July 20), four former Bodo Liberation Tigers men were killed. The Bodos retaliated by attacking Bengali speaking settlers and clashes began.

Roof of a private school collapses, children trapped in debris

Bijnore (Uttar Pradesh): The roof of a school in the Jaleelpur area of district Bijnor collapsed at around 12:30 pm today. The incident took place some 45 km from the district headquarters. 

Classes were underway in the 5th standard when the roof collapsed at in the Mansa Devi private school. District Magistrate Sarika Mohan said 25 children were in the classroom.

20 students were trapped under the debris. 13 of them have been rescued while seven children are still trapped under the debris.

The district administration said 13 students are seriously injured and have been rushed to district hospital. The parents have reached the hospital.

Rescue operations are underway. 

ND Tiwari's DNA results won't be confidential, court to share at 2.30 pm

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court has rejected ND Tiwari's plea to keep his DNA report confidential. The results of the DNA test will be announced at 2:30 pm today
 
The former Governor of Andhra Pradesh and veteran Congress leader was taken to court by a 32-year-old man, Rohit Shekhar, who claims that Mr Tiwari is his biological father. Mr Tiwari says he is not. The DNA test was ordered by the court to settle the matter. 
 
Yesterday, Mr Tiwari, who is 87 years old, moved both the High Court and the Supreme Court seeking to keep his DNA test report confidential till the conclusion of hearing in the paternity suit against him. He was appealing against a July 20 High Court order which said the DNA test results would be made public today. 


On July 20, Justice Reva Khetrapal had dismissed Mr Tiwari's plea that the report be kept confidential saying, "You cannot misinterpret the Supreme Court order. It was for the purpose of collection of blood sample for DNA test." 
 
Mr Shekhar had filed the paternity suit against Mr Tiwari in 2008.  The Congressman has tried different legal routes to avoid submitting a blood sample. He finally did furnish a sample on May 29 this year at his Dehradun residence, following a court order. The High Court had directed Mr Tiwari to undergo the DNA test on April 27.
 
Both the Supreme Court and the Delhi High Court have  come down heavily on Mr Tiwari. He was also fined Rs. 25,000 delaying the legal process. 

Google's Latest Panda Update Means Quality Website Concerns Are More Important Than Ever Before

LONDON, Jul 26, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Google announced via Twitter the roll out of its latest Panda algorithm update 3.9, which continues its aim to reward those websites that deliver 'high-quality' content in the organic rankings. Therefore it is more important than ever for companies to be familiar and comply with Google's quality guidelines if they want to become or remain visible in the search engine's results pages says integrated PR, search and social media agency Punch Communications.

The Panda algorithm is intended to penalise low-quality sites whilst returning higher-quality sites near the top of search results, a change that reportedly affected the rankings of almost 12 per cent of all search results after its original launch in February 2011.

Google's quality guidelines all point to rewarding sites that are well designed, trustworthy and secure. In the tweet in which Google revealed the Panda 3.9 update, it linked to a post on its Webmaster Central Blog from May 2011 that offers guidance on building high-quality sites. Therefore to make the most of the Panda update Punch is recommending website owners to reacquaint themselves with this advice, and ensure website content is original, informative and relevant. Google will rank sites higher that people want to read and which contain information that is compelling and interesting.

Pete Goold, managing director of PR, social media and SEO agency Punch Communications, commented: "The changes to the Panda algorithm can have a positive impact on a company's website ranking if taken into consideration, however the negatives of not adhering to the guidelines can be costly; ultimately, leading to a lack of online visibility which can affect a business's bottom line.

"Apart from becoming familiar with the guidelines that Google stipulates, running a regular backlink profile on your website, which could unearth links that Google considers untrustworthy, is now paramount to embracing the new changes. This is especially important if, for example, there have been staff changes over the years; historic activity that the current web or SEO managers don't know about may be deemed as a quality concern by Google."

For more information on how an integrated approach to search, social media and digital PR can benefit your business, visit www.punchcomms.com .