The Medical Council of India (MCI) has suspended the licence of its tainted former chief Ketan Desai to practice medicine besides approaching the World Medical Association. The council has also asked the WMA not to hand over presidentship to him.
The board of governors of MCI said they find prima facie merit in the grave and serious allegations against Mr Desai, who was arrested in May after he allegedly took a bribe of `2 crores for giving recognition to a medical college in Punjab.
The decision to suspend his right to practice would end the speculation surrounding his proposed visit to Canada to represent India in a WMA conference next week.

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Gorkha issue: Tripartite meet today
AGE CORRESPONDENT
Kolkata

Oct. 10: The state government is hopeful of reaching a solution over the hills impasse at the tripartite meeting scheduled to be held in New Delhi on Monday.
The administrative level meeting will be attended by senior officials of the Union ministry of home affairs, the state government and the representatives of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha. According to the state home department sources, the people of the Darjeeling Hills at a large want a solution to this issue. “The GJM’s agitation has took a toll on the economy of Darjeeling, which is mainly dependent on tea and tourism industries. The GJM is allegedly linked to the murder of All-India Gorkha League president Madan Tamang. This allegation has also been dwindling GJM’s support base in Darjeeling,” sources claimed.
The ninth-round of tripartite talks on the Hills issue on Monday would deliberate mainly on two points — territory under the proposed interim authority and structure of the authority. While the GJM wants to include Terrai and Dooars into the territory of the authority, the state government has made it clear that the territorial jurisdiction of the authority would be limited only to the three sub-divisions of the Hills, namely Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong.
In the last tripartite meeting, which was held on September 7, the state government also refused to admit the GJM’s demand of nominating only their representatives to the proposed interim authority. Instead, the state government proposed that the interim authority should be formed through election.
“These are the two points on which convergence has yet to be arrived, but this time we hope to reach a solution as the people of Darjeeling at a large want it,” a senior state government official said.
Significantly, GJM president Bimal Gurung had recently said that the October 11 talks probably would be the last official level meeting before political negotiations begin on power sharing of the proposed authority, indicating that the GJM was also in favour of a convergence on the two contentious issues.

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4 Sainiks held for Bigg Boss attack
Age Correspondent
Mumbai

Oct. 10: The police on Sunday arrested four Shiv Sena activists for the attack on the crew members of reality television show Bigg Boss 4 in Lonavala. However, the Shiv Sena has said that it will intensify its agitation, and has called for a bandh in Lonavala on Monday.
The police arrested Shiv Sena activist Vijay Gangaram Akhade (32), Hemant Shivram Mene (28), Pankaj Maruti Khole (21) and Dilip Anand Gaikwad. The accused attacked five crew members with wooden sticks, just as they were exiting Hotel Rainbow. “The accused, who are activists of the local Sena wing, were granted bail by a local court on Sunday,” said a police officer from the Lonavla police station. Meanwhile, the Shiv Sena has given clear indications that even after the arrests, the agitation will be not be stalled.