Amid clear indications of growing divide between the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, the Sangh Parivar outfit today accused the BJP government of trying to "terrorise" it by sending policemen to its now defunct office.

Emergency workers were using sniffer dogs Monday to search for people who may have been trapped in rubble when a powerful explosion rocked the old quarter of the Czech capital that is often filled with tourists and backpackers.

Taking strict action, the Coast Guard today sacked the commanding officer of its warship which collided with a fishing trawler killing five fishermen off the coast of Goa on Thursday. 

Italy's new Prime Minister Enrico Letta said today his coalition government would act fast to reverse an austerity policy he argued was killing Italy and called on Europe to become a motor for growth. "Italy is dying from austerity alone. 

Showing no signs of withdrawing from the Indian territory after their incursion in Ladakh two weeks ago, Chinese troops have erected an additional tent in the Daulat Beg Oldi sector raising to five the number of such structures in the area.     

The Chinese troops have also deployed Molosser dogs to keep a vigil, according to latest reports today from the siteof incursion, 70 km  south of Burtse in Ladakh division. Thereports said the Chinese side have increased the number of tents to five.

Amid a controversy that the opposition cites as grounds for his resignation, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met Attorney General GE Vahanvati to discuss the government's strategy on the coal-gate scandal, reports NDTV.

Tomorrow, the Supreme Court will react to the CBI's admission that its report on coal investigation was seen by Law Minister Ashwani Kumar and by a senior bureaucrat each in the coal ministry the Prime Minister's Office before the document was submitted to judges last month.

Read the full report here

The Deputy Commissioner of Police of East Delhi, where the rape of a five-year-old girl had taken place, was shifted in a reshuffle of middle-level officers of Delhi Police.


Prabhakar, a 2003-batch IPS officer who was Deputy Commissioner of Police (East), was transferred to the Prime Minister's Security in the same rank, a senior police official said.


Prabhakar had headed the district where the rape of the five-year-old girl in Gandhinagar led to protests in the capital. It was alleged the local police did not investigate the kidnapping and subsequent rape of the girl properly.


A Vigilance Enquiry had indicted the Station House Officer of Gandhinagar Police for dereliction of duty. Prabhakar has been replaced by Ajay Kumar, an IPS officer of 2001 batch who was handling the PM Security.  A senior police official said the transfer of Prabhakar came against the backdrop of the rape incident and it was "obvious". 

And it goes on: A seven-year-old girl was allegedly raped in Lakhimpur Kheri in UP and admitted to a hospital in serious condition. The girl's parents lodged an FIR in this connection after they came to know about the incident yesterday, police said. The 7-year-old was allegedly raped on April 27, they said adding she was admitted to a hospital in Lucknow in serious condition. One person had been arrested in this connection, police said.

Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha MP Kunal Ghosh has said West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her party had no link with the chit fund company Saradha Group, which has closed shop failing to repay hundreds of depositors' money.

"The chief minister and Trinamool Congress have no link with Saradha Group. All allegations are baseless," Ghosh, who was the CEO of the group's media unit, said.

"I was a salaried journalist of the group's media unit. When Saradha ventured into media business, I was not there. I only joined the media unit after the tie-up between Bengali daily 'Sambad Pratidin' and Saradha, not as an MP, but as a professional journalist," he claimed.

Ghosh, who earlier worked as a journalist in Sambad Pratidin said, Saradha Group started its operation during the previous government. "There is no question of TMC patronising the Saradha Group," he said.

TMC MP Kunal Ghosh has been summoned to the Bidhannagar Police station for interrogation in the Saradha Group chit fund scam.

Saradha Group boss Sudipta Sen and key aide Debjani Ghosh had said Ghosh had a role in the fraud.

A second FIR was filed against the Trinamool Congress MP by employees of the closed Bengali daily owned by the Saradha group for non-payment of salaries.

Ghosh offered to resign from the Rajya Sabha if probe shows his complicity in the chit fund scam. Police sources said the employees of the newspaper 'Sakalbela' filed the FIR against Ghosh.

A similar FIR was filed at the Park Street police station against Ghosh, Saradha group chairman Sudipta Sen and six others by 21 employees of television channel, Channel 10, run by the group, for non-payment of their salaries and for not depositing their provident fund dues.
 

The BJP today announced a temporary truce with the government on the coal mines and 2G spectrum allocation issues and said it will allow the passage of Finance bills in the Lok Sabha before resuming its agitation in Parliament against the Manmohan Singh dispensation.


Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath today requested BJP and other political parties to cooperate with the government and ensure passage of the pending Finance Bill, Appropriations Bill, rail budget and the Demands for Grants tomorrow.


In an all-party meeting convened by Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar this morning, Leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj acceded to this request to avert a "constitutional crisis" and not block passage of these Bills.

The faces of TMC MPs in Parliament were sombre after the Saradha Group chit fund scam blew up in their faces. TMC MPs did not speak to journalists in Central Hall.

Sarabjit Singh's sister, Dalbir Kaur, along with other members of his family and Indian officials visited him at the hospital in Pakistan.

Law Minister Ashwani Kumar was seen in an unusually low-key mood as he stuck a pensive picture in the Central Hall of Parliament. He did not greet anyone, nor did he accept greetings from other MPs. The fate of Ashwani Kumar is hanging by a thread after the CBI told the Supreme Court that the law minister had asked to scrutinize the status report on the coal scam probe


Pratap Singh Bajwa, the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee leader, was also seated behind Ashwani Kumar. Ashwini Kumar is considered to be too close to Dr  Manmohan Singh's wife, Gursharan Kaur, but it is Bajwa who is Rahul Gandhi's choice to head the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee.

Then, there was Yashwant Sinha, who was seen discussing matters with Rajya Sabha MP, NK Singh. Both belong to the IAS from the Bihar cadre. Though Sinha is senior, NK Singh addresses him as 'Yash'. They were then joined by Naresh Gujral. One BJP MP jokingly murmured that this triumvirate is called anti "NaMo' jalwa.

JPC Chairman P C Chacko is likely to bring a resolution before the Lok Sabha tomorrow to seek an extension in the tenure of the JPC for three more months. Senior ministers who brought about a compromise between the Opposition and the ruling party, want to prepare a stronger version of the JPC report on 2G to be submitted on the first day of the Monsoon session of Parliament.


This comes amid demands by opposition members for the outright rejection of the draft report on 2G. In fact, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Deputy Leader of the opposition in the Rajya Sabha, was today busy interacting with DMK MPs on the extention of the JPC on 2G.

Update on the Sarabjit Singh case: India has appealed to Pakistan to take a sympathetic and humanitarian view of Sarabjit Singh's case and release him. India demands that the attack on Sarabjit Singh be thoroughly investigated and those responsible punished. "It is the responsibility of the Pakistan govt to ensure the safety and security of all Indian prisoners in their custody," says India. 

In fact, DMK MPs spent a lot of time with Abhijit Mukherjee today at the Central Hall of Parliament. Humbled by the courtesy extended to him, Abhijit was seen shaking hands and greeting each of the eight DMK MPs. Dayanidhi Maran and Trichy Siva told him they recollected the political negotiations that Pranab Mukherjee conducted with MK Alagiri and S S Palanimanickam so that the alliance between the DMK and the Congress would remain strong. 

Our sources in Delhi have these delightful details from the Central Hall of Parliament today.


President Pranab Mukherjee apparently asked his son Abhijit, a Congress MP (who coined the singularly famous term, 'dented and painted women'), where he sat in the Central Hall and told him to go around meet people, including Opposition leaders. He also asked Abhijit, how many books he had borrowed from the well-stocked library in Parliament. It is another matter, that Abhijit Mukherjee is 53 and not three.

The President then pointed out the seats where GK Moopanar used to sit, where Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi used to discuss the politics with senior Oppostion leaders. Abhijit tells our source, that he is still learning the ropes of being a Parliamentarian and reports to his father faithfully. It isn't difficult to understand why Pranab Mukherjee keeps his son  on a tight leash after the MP's infamous comments during the December anti-rape protests in Delhi. 

A total of 7,121 Indian soldiers have been deployed in the UN Missions and 18 troops have been killed in various operations there since 2010, Defence Minister A K Antony informed the Lok Sabha today.


In a written reply, he provided the details of soldiers deployed in UN Mission and the number of casualties which have taken place there during last few years.

He said so far this year, six Indian soldiers were killed in UN operations, five of whom died in South Sudan. Last year four soldiers were killed in Congo, followed by one each in Lebanon and South Sudan. Maximum deployment of 3,766 Indian troops is in Congo, followed by 2,249 troops in South Sudan, he said.

Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Sushma Swaraj, dashes hopes that the Parliament logjam would end tomorrow saying if the Finance Bill is indeed discussed and the passed in the House tomorrow, the BJP would stage a walkout. Parliament Affairs minister Kamal Nath says all pending financial issues would be discussed in the house tomorrow. 

BSP supremo Mayawati today said the logjam in Parliament is likely to continue further and she does not see any early solution to the crisis.


"What I could see, I do not think this logjam will resolve soon," she said outside Parliament. Parliament was adjourned for the day after witnessing repeated disruptions in both Houses over the demand for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's resignation by BJP on the coal allocation issue.


Asked whether former Telecom Minister A Raja should be called at the JPC meeting, she said "we will make our stand clear in the JPC meeting only. Whatever stand will be taken at that meeting, we will let you know."

Mulayam Singh Yadav today attacked the government over the incursion of Chinese troops in Ladakh, accused it of being "cowardly and incompetent," and warned that China, not Pakistan, "is the biggest enemy." Read the full story here.

Malnutrition is rampant among Delhi children. In many cases, it's even killing them. The Delhi government's directorate of family welfare has reported 75 deaths in its infant and young child feeding (IYCF) centres over the past three years. Read more

Thrill-seeker Sailendra Nath Roy, 50, died after a freak accident while performing a stunt on Sunday.The West Bengal Police home guard, who held a Guinness world record for travelling the farthest distance on a zip wire attached to a bunch of his hair, died while trying to set another record. Read more

Saradha Group promoter Sudipto Sen has been booked and a Rs. 500-crore kitty has been created to make refunds to the depositors. However, no one is clear just how the refunds would be made and whether existing laws permit it. Mr. Sen's bubble may have burst. But the travails of the lakhs of investors who had invested in the Saradha Group schemes are far from over. Read

The Saradha group's spectacular failure has inflicted severe pain not only on its gullible depositors and agents but in a real sense on India's financial regulators and the State government as well.  Read

This year, India can, it seems, look forward to good rains. Last year's monsoon could easily have slipped into a full-scale drought but was saved by exceptionally heavy rains in September. Read the opinion piece on the Hindu.

Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tiwari on Monday demanded both cooperation and speedy action from the Pakistan on the treatment of Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh. MoS External Affairs, Preneet Kaur, says what has happened to Sarabjit is unfortunate, but talks will go on with Pakistan. She also confirmed that India will ask Pakistan to send Sarabjit back to India.


Commenting on this issue he said: "For a very long time we have been trying to get Sarabjit Singh back. Whatever has happened is very unfortunate. We are expecting cooperation from the Pakistan high command."


Earlier, Indian High Commission officials were allowed a second consular access visit to Sarabjit Singh, the Indian death row prisoner who is in deep coma at Lahore's Jinnah Hospital, on Sunday evening, after initially being denied access.


The Pakistan Government has reportedly allowed the consular access with restrictions. Indian diplomats were given first consular access on Saturday for a few minutes. Sarabjit's health condition continues to be critical, nearly 72 hours after being brutally assaulted by six Pakistani prisoners in the Kot Lakhpat Jail premises. He is still in the ICU and in coma. Sarabjit was convicted by Pakistani courts for his alleged involvement in a string of bombings in Punjab in 1990. He was lodged in the at Kot Lakpath Jail of Lahore.

Last summer, an ageing Sikh man with the full grey beard of the pious came across the Wagah border, at the end of thirty years and six months in a maximum-security Pakistani prison. In December 1981, Surjeet Singh had left his home in the village of Fidda, telling his wife he'd soon be back. Read the full story

The father of a tragic five-year-old rape victim in India has spoken out about his fears that the brutal attack will leave her an outcast for the rest of her life.The labourer, 32, said he worried that his young daughter will be shunned because of the stigma surrounding sexual assault in the country. Read more

Taking on the BJP government in Karnataka, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today charged that "bad governance" and "corruption" had slackened state's progress and a sense of insecurity was prevalent among the minorities.


Hitting the campaign trail for the May 5 Assembly polls in the state, Singh said BJP had changed three chief ministers in the last five years and a probe had been ordered against several of its politicians on charge of corruption. "...bad governance, carelessness in development works and above all corruption has led to the slackening of progress in Karnataka", the Prime Minister said in this northern part of the state, where the ruling BJP draws much of its strength.


Singh said attention was neither being paid to agriculture nor employment. A number of irrigation works are incomplete and even the works taken up under accelerated irrigation development programme were unsatisfactory.


Also, no attention has been paid to infrastructure, resulting in a number of industries going to Hyderabad and Pune. "... I am particularly unhappy about the lack of development, especially in minority pockets like Raichur, Bellary, Gulbarga and Bidar... Lack of communal harmony and sense of insecurity among the minorities is prevalent," Singh said.

Syrian Prime Minister Wael al-Halaqi has survived a car bomb attack in the capital, Damascus, reports say. Read

The Supreme Court issues a notice to the CBI on a bail plea of YSR Congress leader Jagan Mohan Reddy in the disproportionate assets case.

Two Indian high commission officials have arrived at the Jinnah Hospital in Lahore
to meet doctors treating Sarabjit Singh and meet him. The experts panel says that his condition is too critical to shift him to another hospital. Sarabjit Singh is on a ventilator, he has severe internal bleeding in his brain, say doctors at the hospital.

Meanwhile, MoS External Affairs says India will pursue efforts to bring Sarabjit Singh back, a request put forth by his family. 

The four-member medical panel in Pakistan formed to look into whether Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh will be sent abroad for treatment has said his treatment will continue in Pakistan.  

The Pakistani medical experts supervising the treatment of the Indian death row convict, comatose in a Lahore hospital after a brutal assault, was asked to decide whether he should be sent abroad for treatment.

The panel headed by Mehmood Shaukat was directed by the government to decide whether Sarabjit, 49, should be sent abroad or foreign neurosurgeons should be called to Pakistan to treat him, Geo News channel reported.

The administration of JinnahHospital, where Sarabjit has been in an intensive care unit since Friday, has received a formal order from the government in this regard, the report said.

The panel of experts examined Sarabjit again on Monday and studied the results of tests done on him so far, including two CT scans. There was no official word on the development. Sarabjit sustained several injuries, including a skull fracture, when six prisoners attacked him in Kot Lakhpat Jail on Friday and doctors said his chances of survival are slim. He was hit on the head with bricks and his neck and torso cut with sharp weapons. He is in a deep coma and doctors said yesterday that there had been no improvement in his condition.

PM Manmohan Singh goes into attack mode in Hubli. "Development has taken back seat in Karnataka due to bad governance and corruption, says the PM. "There is lack of communal harmony and a sense of insecurity prevails among minorities in Karnataka," says Singh.

Finally, there seems to be some sort of a breakthrough at the Speaker's all-party meet held just now. The Finance Bill will be taken up and passed tomorrow.

While the BJP has been demanding the resignation of the Prime Minister and Law Minister over the CBI's report on the coal block allocation scandal being shown to bureaucrats before it was submitted to the court, opposition parties have been targeting the government over many other issues.

The all-party meet comes even as the Finance Bill and other legislations are pending for disposal by the Lower House of Parliament. While the Lower House has not been able to function since the House reconvened on 22 April, the Upper House has managed to function only one day in which security of women was discussed in light of the Delhi rape case in which a five-year-old was raped.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a wave of mostly illiterate Muslim men from Bengali villages arrived in the U.S., settling in neighborhoods like Trem in New Orleans and Harlem in New York.Many formed multi-ethnic families after marrying African American, Puerto Rican and Creole women. Their story has remained largely untold until now. Read more

India's new law meant to prevent and redress incidents of sexual harassment of women in the workplace isn't likely to do much of either, say women's rights activists. Read

Reviving trade and ties through the Karakoram route will have a positive impact on Sino-Indian ties. Read

The Delhi High Court today said "further hearing is required" in the plea of Congress leader Sajjan Kumar, who had challenged the trial court order framing charges against him in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case related to the killings of six persons.


Justice Suresh Kait, who was scheduled to pronounce the verdict today, said, "While dictating the judgement, I felt this matter should be heard further". Justice Kait fixed May 15 as the date for further hearing in the matter.


The judgement was reserved in the case by the high court in December last year. The trial court is scheduled to pronounce the verdict tomorrow in a similar case against Kumar and five others in which the former Outer Delhi MP is accused of instigating the mob to kill Sikhs in Delhi Cantonment area here during the 1984 riots.

Pakistan forms a panel of experts to decide whether Sarabjit Singh should be sent abroad for treatment. Pakistani doctors treating Indian death row prisoner Sarabjit Singh, now lying in deep coma in a Lahore hospital, warned on Sunday that he may die unless he is moved abroad for better treatment, sources said."There are slim chances that he will survive if he stays here and is not given better medical facilities. He is slowly moving away from life,' a doctor at Lahore's Jinnah Hospital said.

Demanding a CBI inquiry into Saradha Group financial scam, CPI(M) has accused chief minister Mamata Banerjee's nephew of being involved in Ponzy schemes.

"Mamata Banerjee's nephew Abhishek Banerjee, who is the leader of Trinamool Youth Congress, runs a company which is involved in real estate and micro-finance and has made a huge amount of money in the last two to three years. Its turnover has skyrocketed to 300 crores in a short span of time," alleged the CPI(M) leader and former housing minister, Goutam Deb. Read more

The attack on Sarabjit Singh in a Pakistani jail was a ploy by the neighbouring country to deflect attention from the Chinese incursion into Indian territory, Bharatiya Janata Party leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said at a press conference on Sunday.

"A strong sentiment is building up against China in India and the world with regard to its incursion into India. The attack on Sarabjit is a very dubious attempt by Pakistan to deflect attention from China's intrusion,' Prasad said. More

Indian High Commission officials were allowed a second consular access visit to Sarabjit Singh, the Indian death row prisoner who is in deep coma at Lahore''s Jinnah Hospital, on Sunday evening, after initially being denied access.

The Pakistan Government has reportedly allowed the consular access with restrictions. Indian diplomats were given first consular access on Saturday for a few minutes.

Sarabjit''s health condition continues to be critical, nearly 72 hours after being brutally assaulted by six Pakistani prisoners in the Kot Lakhpat Jail premises. He is still in the ICU and in coma. Sarabjit was convicted by Pakistani courts for his alleged involvement in a string of bombings in Punjab in 1990.

He was lodged in the at Kot Lakpath Jail of Lahore. On Sunday, four members of his family, his wife Sukhpreet Kaur, his daughters, Poonam and Swapandeep and his sister Dalbir Kaur were allowed to see him through a window from outside the intensive care unit.

The present Lok Sabha could well end up with the dubious distinction of being the least productive in terms of business transacted among those that completed their full five-year terms.According to statistics compiled by the Lok Sabha secretariat, 1,157 hours of sittings had taken place until the 12th session of the 15th Lok Sabha, which was elected in May 2009. Read the full story here.

Lok Sabha has been adjourned yet again over demands from the opposition that PM Dr Manmohan Singh must resign over the Coal allocation report. The house is set to reconvene at noon. Parliamentary Affairs minister Kamal Nath is to meet leader of the opposition in the LS, Sushma Swaraj, today. 

A second case has been filed against Trinamool Congress Member of Parliament Kunal Ghosh for his role in West Bengal's multi billion rupee chit fund scam, even as the death toll of suffering investors and agents rose to four.


The second case has been filed against Ghosh by employees of a Bengali daily run by the Saradha Group. The agent, who has committed suicide, has been identified as Swapan Kumar Biswas.


Reports said that he had deposited over Rs.4 lakh and was found hanging at his home in Purulia district late Friday night. Biswas'' family claimed he was suffering from depression after the group went bust and downed shutters across the state.

Resolute in a weekend decision to prioritise the totality of Sino-Indian relations instead of overreacting to shifting control of tracts of wasteland in Ladakh, the political leadership in New Delhi has taken charge of resolving the latest land dispute with Beijing.

The Prime Minister's description of the new Chinese encampments in disputed areas of Daulat Beg Oldi as a "localised problem' was the highlight on the issue on Saturday. More significant, in fact, has been a moderated change in defence minister A.K. Antony's position since the incursions in Burthe came to light a week ago. Read