Just in: Industrialist Anu Aga (former chairperson for Pune-based company Thermax) and actress Rekha accept nomination for the Rajya Sabha.

Sachin has not responded yet.

The Indian Cricket Board (BCCI) today welcomed government's nomination of Sachin Tendulkar as member of the Rajya Sabha, saying that the iconic batsman
deserves such an honour. BCCI Chief Administrative Officer Prof. Ratnakar Shetty told PTI that the Board was happy with the government's move.

"We (BCCI) are happy that Tendulkar's services as a sportsperson has been recognised. He's been a true ambassador for the country and he deserves it," he said. 

Tendulkar is among four eminent persons who have been recommended for nomination as members of the Rajya Sabha. 39-year-old Tendulkar will become member of Parliament under a provision of the Constitution that allows the President to nominate 12 members to the Upper House.

@Raza Rumi:  Pakistan's legendary singer Mehdi Hasan issued an Indian visa for medical treatment. Traveling to Delhi and Mumbai.Hope he recovers soon.  

Three days ago,  the son of legendary Pakistani ghazal singer Mehdi Hassan, had appealed for donations from the government and other institutions for his father's medical treatment.

His father is in debt to the tune of Rs 5.2 million, an amount that has been spent on medical treatment. "Every one has to die one day and I do not want my father dying with a burden of Rs 5.2 million debt on him,' Sajjad said.

With ally NCP surging ahead of Congress in the recent local body elections in Maharashtra, AICC General Secretary Rahul Gandhi's one-day visit to Mumbai
tomorrow is being viewed in party circles as a move to put the state unit into a pro-active mode and retrieve lost ground. 

Rahul's schedule includes meetings with elected representatives from the local bodies and office-bearers of block, district and state units. This is the first time the youth leader will be participating in a political stock-taking exercise in the state, where Congress is in power, along with Sharad Pawar's NCP, since 1999 but is steadily losing ground to its ally. 

He had visited Mumbai two years ago for a Youth Congress enrollment drive and interacted with college students. Rahul had also undertaken a surprise ride in a suburban train. 

Sharnarthee If Sachin wishes to keep his "Mr Clean" image intact, rejecting his nomination to Rajya Sabha would be a prudent move. 

Shoaib Sumar: If Sachin is going to be a Congress nominee, S&P might downgrade his God status.    

Pankaj Malhotra: If Sachin becomes RS member, then 'Aila' shall b the new exclamation...    

Raghav chopra: If sachin had to be nominated surely he wudve been consulted first. After retirement yes, but at present no. 

Actor and co-owner of Kolkata Knight Riders Shahrukh Khan was today directed by a local court here to appear before it on May 26 after he was seen smoking at the SMS stadium during an IPL match.

Taking cognisance of a complaint filed by a privatecricket academy, the court of Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (ACJM) Shilpa Sameer summoned the actor. In his complaint, Anand Singh, who runs the Jaipur Cricket Academy, had sought action against Khan under section 5/11 of Rajasthan Prohibition of Smoking Act, 2000, which prohibits smoking at a public place. Khan was seen smoking on April 8 during a match between the teams of Rajasthan Royals and Kolkata Knight Riders, the petitioner said.

Sachin Tendulkar and Dhyan Chand could receive the Bharat Ratna.

Derek O'Brien @quizderek  Former India captains in Rajya Sabha. Hockey got there before cricket! Dilip Tirkey sworn in yesterday... now Tendulkar.

Cricket commentator Harsha Bhogle says people are trying to gain mileage out of Sachin, because he does not know anything about governance.

BJP now raises the pitch for Bharat Ratna for Sachin.

Our correspondent also tells us that the BJP plans to move a private members' Bill in the Lok Sabha for a separate Telangana state. The move for the bill gained momentum after the Lok Sabha suspended Congress MPs after they raised the issue of Telangana.

The process involved in a private member bill means it will take at least three weeks, which means that the bill will come about only in the Monsoon session of the Parliament.

Our correspondent tells us that UPA2 is believed to have identified four names for nominations to Rajya Sabha. Sachin Tendulkar is one of the four, says highly placed sources.

It may be remembered that Tendulkar and his wife met Congress president Sonia Gandhi at her residence today.

Just in: A Delhi court has reserved the order on the defamation case filed by Lt Col (retd) Tejinder Singh against Army Chief VK Singh. Tejinder Singh wanted the court to issue a direction to the government to initiate disciplinary inquiry against the chief for issuing public statements. He cited instances where several press notes were released at the chief's behest and said this amounted to misuse of his position.

On April 10 Tejinder Singh deposed before a Delhi court, supporting his complaint for intiating criminal defamation against Army Chief General V K Singh and four others. Recording his statements before Metropolitan Magistrate Sudesh Kumar, who had earlier asked Tejinder Singh to record pre-summoning evidence to support his complaint, the former Lieutenant Gen said the allegations levelled against him by the Army Headquarters were absolutely false.

The security of the country will not be compromised by issue of Aadhaar cards for the people, as this does not confer right of citizenship to anyone including illegal migrants, Rajya Sabha was informed today. 

"Aadhaar does not confer citizenship nor does it by itself confer right of citizenship for illegal migrants, which will be determined by the relevant statutory and implementing authorities. 

"Hence, compromise of national security due to enrolments under the UID project does not arise," the Minister of State for Planning, Ashwani Kumar, said in a written reply. He said a total of 12.81 crore Aadhaar numbers have been
generated as on February 1, 2012. The government has also approved an additional enrolment of 40 crore residents in the country.

Remember the British woman who gave birth to eight babies in 2009 and was promptly dubbed 'octomum'. Well, she is being investigated over claims she and her kids are living in squalor.

See the pictures on the Daily Mail

Six Indian writers, including Jahnavi Barua and Rahul Bhattacharya, figure in the shortlists of the 2012 Commonwealth Book and Short Story Prizes. Barua, for her novel Rebirth, Bhattacharya for his The Sly Company of People Who Care and C Y Gopinath for The Book of Answers have been shortlisted in the Commonwealth Book Prize category. Pakistan's Jamil Ahmad ("The Wandering Falcon") and Sri Lankan writer Shehan Karunatilaka ("Chinaman: The Legend of Pradeep Mathew") are among 15 other authors also in the race in this section. 

The Indian writers in the shortlist for the Commonwealth Short Story Prize are Anushka Jasraj (Radio Story), Poile Sengupta (Ammulu) and Sreejith Sukumaran (Another Dull Day). Regional winners will be named on May 22 and the overallwinner will be announced at the Hay Festival on June 8.

Union Law and Justice Minister Salman Khurshid today took a dig at the BJP saying Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi should contemplate why the United States is still not in favour of giving him a visa.

"US in their policy, I am sure they look at everything they want to look at. Not for us to comment on US policy, but it's a matter of concern to our country that there is this kind of serious question mark on the personality of somebody, who leads a major state in our country," said Khurshid.

"It is sad that we have that. We hope that the person concerned will reflect upon this and think about it why the world thinks so poorly of him," he added. The US has said that there is no change in its visa policy with regard to Modi.

Apart from Bofors, there was another debate in Parliament today.

The government today said that district collectors who pursue development agenda are being abducted by Naxals but made it clear it will continue its
efforts in Maoist-hit areas despite such setbacks. 

"Through a calibrated security and development-oriented approach, the effort in the short-term is to prevent expansion of left wing extremism (LWE) problem to new areas.... "District collectors with a pro-active development agenda are targeted and kidnapped.

In the short and medium terms, this challenge has to be met and overcome in worst-affected areas," Minister of State for Home Jitendra Singh told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply.

The Maharashtra government today said it is conducting comparative studies of Lokayukta Acts of various states and would take a decision on enacting the same only if its provisions are not included in the Centre's Lokpal Bill.

"I feel that the Lokayukta aspect will not be included in the Lokpal Bill. I had written to Centre to enact a model law of Lokayukta so that all states can adopt their own act as per the model law," Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan said after an hour-long meeting with anti-graft crusader Anna Hazare. He said the Centre was favourable to this proposal and the Lokpal Bill was likely to be passed in the current session of Parliament.

"However if the model law also does not come out, we will begin the process of enacting a strong Lokayukta here, "he said, adding that the state was studying the Karnataka and Uttarakhand  Lokayukta Acts, and Jan Lokayukta draft of Anna Hazare.

On his meeting with 75-year-old Gandhian, Chavan said it was "cordial". "Anna has given me another draft of his bill today," he said. 

Sachin Tendulkar along with his wife Anjali today paid a courtesy visit to
Congress President Sonia Gandhi at her 10 Janpath Residence in New Delhi.  
Sonia wanted to meet the batting great and personally congratulate him on achieving the historic feat of scoring 100 international centuries recently.

Senior BCCI functionary and IPL chairman Rajiv Shukla was also present at Sonia Gandhi's residence. Tendulkar and his wife spent close to half an hour with Sonia. The Congress President is learnt to have talked in general about cricket and wished the player luck for his future.

The Supreme Court refuses to quash Justice Dalveer Bhandari's nomination to the International Court of Justice, says PTI.   

Justice Bhandari has authored judgments that requested Parliament to take a fresh look at divorce laws to permit irretrievably break down of marriage as a ground for annulling it, attempted to make the public distribution network for subsidized ration for poor responsive and pressurized government to provide free night shelters to urban homeless and poor suffering in open in biting cold conditions.

The chance for India to put its nominee up for selection as a judge in ICJ came after Jordan's king sacked his prime minister and brought back ICJ judge Justice Awn Shawkat Al-Khasawneh to take the reins of the administration. India's support helped Justice Al-Khasawneh to get elected to ICJ.

More on the TOI

The Naxals also want the withdrawal of Operation Greenhunt -- an anti-Naxal op, to be withdrawn immediately.

Read this letter written by Jharkhand Indigenous People's Forum to P Chidambaram in 2010 on the removal of Operation Greenhunt.

There's just been a Naxal strike in Gadchiroli, Maharashtra. Naxals entered a village and abducted 10 people, killing two. They have demanded the withdrawal of CRPF forces from the area and a halt to combing operations.

The BJP charged Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar of provoking the House through his personal attack on Arun Jaitley during the debate on the Bofors revelations. BJP leader Prakash Javadekar claimed that Jaitley was "statesman like" in his speech during the debate and never mentioned the Congress or Rajiv Gandhi.  He only said: "the truth has still not come to the fore and the guilty are not punished." Instead of responding in a "civilian" manner, Mani Shankar Aiyar made a personal attack.

"The House was deliberately provoked by Mani Shankar Aiyar," he added. During the debate on Bofors revelations earlier in the day in the Rajya Sabha, Mani Shankar Aiyar said Leader of the Opposition, Arun Jaitley, was the additional solicitor general who had done paper work in the Bofors investigation case.

Kanchan Gupta @KanchanGupta  Recall UP rally where VP Singh showed his digital diary (a rage then) to folks and said "Is mey Bofors ke dalalon ka Swiss bank number hai".    

Kanchan Gupta: "Itna sara paisa" was all of 60 odd crores. Loose change in this day and age. Ask Raja.    

Kanchan Gupta: Q would have not got a paisa from Bofors deal had it not been for his proximity to Nehru-Gandhi dynasty. Nor could he have fled like a thief

UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi were present in the House when the Opposition members raised the issue. The Lok Sabha had earlier seen brief disruption on the issue during Question Hour.

Singh posed a series of questions on the matter and asked why the Indian investigating teams which went to Sweden did not meet their Swedish counterparts probing the matter. He claimed that Quattrocchi was "permitted through government connivance to escape from Delhi".

Parliament is to reconvene at 2 pm.

Meanwhile, former CPI MLA Manish Kunjam, who today returned after delivering medicines to abducted Sukma district collector Alex Paul Menon, has said the IAS officer's health was "stable" and he was hopeful of his speedy release.

"Chattisgarh government and the Maoists have named mediators on their behalf and the state government has also taken a positive initiative towards opening a communication channel in ensuring safe release of the collector. (In this background) I am hoping that he (Menon) will be freed soon," Kunjam told reporters here. 

The state government has virtually slowed down its anti-Maoist operations in view of ensuring safe release of the collector. Kunjam was however, not allowed to meet Menon.

Admitting that the NDA had failed to get Quattrocchi extradited after his arrest in Malaysia, Jaswant Singh said, "Many will say why did you not do it. You have failed, we have failed. But don't consider our failure as your success."
Observing that it gave him "no delight" to raise this issue, he said, "25 years have passed but the storm of Bofors refuses to subside and the guns continue to blaze." 

Without naming Rajiv Gandhi, the BJP leader said, "The absence of the late Prime Minister is felt. A promising leader was taken away from our polity."

The reason behind Congress being reduced from its "historic" victory of 404 seats in Lok Sabha in 1984 to 114 in the next elections was Bofors pay-offs deal, he said. 

More of what senior BJP leader Jaswant Singh said in Parliament today on the Bofors scam:

"Though the correct weapon was acquired, it was acquired in a wrong manner .... You (Congress) have paid, we have paid. The nation continues to pay. Till you don't remove this thorn, the poison will continue to spread. ... Whatever is happening in the defence sector today is because of this episode. It is a saga of continuing corruption. In matters of corruption, there is no closure," he said, demanding setting up of a judicial commission to probe the issue.

Update yourself on the 25-year-old scandal.

Aiming to replace the old field guns and artillery in the hands of the Army, the Indian government in the mid 1980s decided to go ahead with the induction of bigger calibre 155 mm howitzers.

The Haubits FH-77 gun manufactured by AB Bofors of Sweden, a company which was once owned by Alfred Nobel, was selected. A deal was signed on March 24, 1986, between New Delhi and the Swedish metals and armaments major, which said AB Bofors would supply the Indian Army with 410 155-mm howitzers. 

More on ibnlive.com

CPM's Basudeb Acharya says Bofors is now a closed chapter.

BJP wants to know why the Red Corner Notice against Quattarocchi was removed.

Also read: Big B on Bofors clean chit: 'They lost ultimately'

Question Hour has been derailed in the Rajya Sabha over the Bofors issue. Remember, in his interview with Chitra Subramaniam-Duella, the journalist who broke the Bofors story, (then with The Hindu), Sten Lindstrom says: "There was no evidence that he (Rajiv Gandhi) had received any bribe. But he watched the massive cover-up in India and Sweden and did nothing."   

The Congress says the BJP must apologise for defaming Rajiv Gandhi.

The Bofors issue is being raised in both the Lok Sabha (Jaswant Singh) and the Rajya Sabha (Arun Jaitley).  

BJP senior leader Jaswant Singh says the Congress lost power because of the Bofors issue. He says Bofors is a saga of continuing corruption and that government connivance helped Quattarocchi escape -- 'he was taken out of the country by the government'. He also wants a probe into how the Bachchans got dragged into the scam.

Arun Jaitley wants to know why the CBI did not meet Swedish investigaors.

Mani Shankar Aiyar looks exasperated.

Read Bofors' whistleblower Sten Lindstrom's interview in the Hoot.

In other news, Chief Economic Adviser Kaushik Basu today met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Basu is believed to have given clarification about hiscomments on economic reforms, which had generated a big debate on the issue across the country. 

During his visit to the US last week, Basu had said that major economic reforms in India would hit a roadblock and are unlikely to happen before the next Parliamentary elections in 2014.

Post-2014, he had said, "you would see a rush of important reforms" and after 2015 India would be one of the "fastest growing" economies of the world.

However, later on he had clarified that India will see "some important" reforms in the next six months, including on subsidies, and may be partial diesel decontrol and FDI in retail.

The six hardcore cadres that the Maoists want freed in exchange for the abducted Sukma district collector Alex Paul Menon have 122 criminal and terror cases lodged against them. 

Three women top this dreaded list of cadres. One of them is Nirmala, who has as many as 67 cases pending against her while another woman member Malti alias Shantipriya was in 2010 sentenced to 10 years in prison for waging war against the state and had not even bothered to file an appeal. 

Her husband Rauri Chandrashekhar Reddy, who was arrested in 2007 from Bastar, is also on the list.

Read more on the Daily Mail.

The immediate fallout of the Sukma collector's abduction is that security along the Jharkhand-Chhattisgarh border has been tightened and government officials posted in the Palamau division have been asked not to move without security in Maoist-hit areas. 

Will that really help? Remember Alex Paul Menon was abducted after Maoists shot dead his security guards.

The Hindu op-ed on ISRO's RISAT-1 successfully launched today.

In the popular mind, radar satellites have a swashbuckling image that is often associated with covertly watching over other countries and tracking their military hardware. These satellites can certainly serve that sort of function. But such spacecraft also support a range of more humdrum but vital operations.

Read

Meanwhile, Sukma district collector Alex Paul Menon is still in captivity. Four prominent Indian intellectuals and rights activists have publicly condemned the Maoists' abduction on Saturday and the murder of his two guards.

Read the report on the Wall Street Journal

Moments after the launch, ISRO chairman Dr. K Radhakrishnan termed the mission as a grand success. PSLV-C19 has successfully injected Indias first indigenous radar imaging satellite RISAT-1 into orbit. It is a proud moment for India, said Dr. Radhakrishnan.

The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV)-C19 carrying the RISAT-1 successfully lifted off from Sriharikota spaceport in Andhra Pradesh at 5.47 am.

In other news: The United States has said there is no change in its visa policy with regard to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

"Our position on the visa issue hasn't changed at all,' State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland told reporters at her daily news conference on Wednesday.

Nuland was responding to questions on the letter written by Congressman Joe Walsh to the Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, that the US Government reverse its 2005 decision not to issue an US visa to Mr. Modi. The letter by . Walsh was written about a fortnight ago. "If we do respond, it'll be along  familiar lines,' Nuland said.

The Pakistan SC, who admonished PM Gilani with a symbolic 30-second conviction ensured he made history by becoming the first sitting PM to be convicted.

During proceedings in courtroom number four that lasted less than 10 minutes, the seven-judge bench headed by Justice Nasir-ul-Mulk announced the verdict and said Gilani's sentence would last "till the rising of the court" or till the
completion of the hearing. The judges left the court immediately after announcing the verdict, effectively ending 56-year-old Gilani's sentence.

However, legal experts were divided on whether Gilani's conviction would lead to his disqualification. They said the court's detailed order would provide clarity in this regard. 

Emerging from the court, Gilani told the media: "We had sought justice. The decision was not appropriate". The maximum sentence that could have been given to Gilani in this case was six months.

Hikaka was abducted on March 24 by the Andhra Odisha Border Special Zonal Committee of CPI (Maoist). While in custody, Hikaka had allegedly said the government is not making enough efforts to release him because he is a tribal. After his release today, Hikaka said he was fine and in good health and that he was treated well.

Back to Hikaka: The mediator says Jhina Hikaka has given an undertaking in writing that he will resign from his post, which was a pre-condition for his release.

Update on Gilani: Pakistan's Express Tribune says that under Article 63 (1) (g) of the Constitution, Gilani is convicted by a court of competent jurisdiction for propagating any opinion, or acting in any manner, prejudicial to the ideology of Pakistan, or the sovereignty, integrity or security of Pakistan, or morality, or the maintenance of public order, or the integrity or independence of the judiciary of Pakistan, or which defames or brings into ridicule the judiciary or the Armed Forces of Pakistan, unless a period of five years has elapsed since his release.

The PM was charged with contempt by the apex court in February for refusing to write to the Swiss authorities to ask them to reopen graft cases against President Asif Ali Zardari.

Earlier, with rose petals being showered at him, Gilani was escorted by the members of cabinet to the Supreme Court. Gilani was accompanied by his son Abdul Qadir Gilani, Interior Minister Rehman Malik and other members of the cabinet.

Meanwhile, as we said earlier, Maoists have released abducted Biju Janata Dal Member of Legislative Assembly Jhina Hikaka on Thursday morning. The release comes after a 32-day captivity.

Media reports said that Hikaka was released at an undisclosed location into the custody of his wife, and Nihar Ranjan Patnaik, a lawyer. The lawyer, who fights cases for the rebels and their frontal organisation Chasi Mulia Adivasi Sangha, claimed that during the trial in the 'praja' court, Hikaka stated neither the state government nor the legislators helped him during his captivity and only the tribals came to his rescue.

The legislator had also given an undertaking that he would try to get the demands of the Maoists fulfilled and would resign as MLA if he failed, the lawyer claimed

A seven-judge bench of the court, headed by Justice Nasirul Mulk, announced the verdict in the contempt of court case. Politicians, lawyers and journalists (local and international) were also present in the court for the hearing.

Government officials and dignitaries present at the court included Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Masood Kausar, Defence Minister Ahmad Mukhtar, Presidential Spokesperson  Farhatullah Babar, political secretary to the party co-chairman Rukhsana Bangash and Attorney General Irfan Qadir, reports the Dawn.

This is what the Dawn has on the Gilani's 'conviction'.  

Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Thursday was convicted of contempt of court and sentenced until the rising of the court, DawnNews reported.

"The prime minister has been found guilty of contempt for willful flout of the direction of the Supreme Court. Reasons to be recorded later,' the court said. The premier was convicted and sentenced under Article 63- 1G of the constitution. 9:40 am: The sentencing lasted for 30 seconds. A visibly dejected prime minister, accompanied by his sons, after hearing the verdict shook hands with his team and members of the federal cabinet.

Good morning. Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani was today convicted by the Supreme Court in a contempt case. Gilani appeared before a seven-judge bench that is hearing a contempt of court case initiated against the premier for refusing to act on orders to reopen graft cases against President Asif Ali Zardari. The bench had reserved its judgement on Wednesday. According to legal experts, Gilani faces a six-month prison term and disqualification, but it was reduced to a mere 30 seconds.   

Maoists have released abducted Biju Janata Dal Member of Legislative Assembly Jhina Hikaka on Thursday morning. The release comes after captivity of over a month. Media reports said that Hikaka was released at an undisclosed location into the custody of his wife, and Nihar Ranjan Patnaik, a lawyer