Strongly condemning the controversial remarks made by sociologist Ashish Nandy over SC and ST communities, BJP Anusuchit(SC) Jaati Morcha today demanded that the author be immediately booked and put behind the bars.         "A comment by an intellectual author is a crime for which Ashish Nandy should be immediately booked and put behind the bars," state president, BJP AJM, Surinder Bhagat told reporters in Jammu.        

Bhagat said that whatever has been said by Nandy has insulted the people of OBC, SC and ST communities across the country and there is wide spread resentment and anger against him.        

Nandy had kicked up a storm at the Jaipur Literature Festival on Saturday with his remarks that "most of the corrupt come from the OBCs, SCs and STs", drawing the ire of many prominent figures including BSP chief Mayawati. An FIR was also lodged against him following his statement.        

Nandy had later issued a clarification, saying he was trying to make the point that corruption among Dalits was noticeable, while that of the rich was not.

Somali pirates are hiring interpreters to overcome the English language barrier so as to communicate with their hostages and negotiate with respective governments to arrive at a ransom amount for the release of captives.        

This was revealed by five Indian sailors, who were held hostage on-board the merchant vessel 'Iceberg I' for about three years, before their release last month.        

The sea brigands reward these interpreters with the handsome 10-15% share of the total ransom money they secure for releasing the hostages. "It was through interpretors that we were told that the ransom amount was kept at USD 10 million", said Ganesh Mohite, one of the hostages, at a press conference held in Mumbai.

The Bombay High Court today sought to know from National Investigation Agency whether Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, a key accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, would be provided treatment at Tata Memorial Cancer Hospital in Mumbai.        

Justice R C Chavan also asked the agency to file a reply by February 5 on Sadhvi's bail application and inform whether it had any objection in granting bail to her on medical grounds.        

NIA counsel Rohini Salian submitted that even if they were prepared to provide treatment to her at the city-based premier government hospital, Sadhvi should be willing to undergo the medical care there.        

Sadhvi's counsel Mahesh Jethmalani has maintained that his client needed bail to get herself treated in hospital. She did not want to undergo treatment in police custody.

Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Sushma Swaraj said in Sehore today that BJP will decide its prime ministerial candidate at an appropriate time and expressed surprise over the media's curiosity on the issue.         

"Why is the media concerned about it? We had stated earlier also that the party would take an appropriate decision on the issue when the time comes," Swaraj told reporters when asked about BJP's prime ministerial candidate.  

Earlier today, senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha had remarked that he wants Gujarat CM Narendra Modi to be named BJP's PM candidate, snubbing Nitish Kumar's reservations against him.

A day after CPI-M Politburo member Buddhadeb Bhattacharya criticised the Trinamool Congress government in West Bengal for 'unnecessarily' spending public money on fairs and festivals, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee hit back today saying her government will keep on doing so as it provided livelihood to various people.        

"When I was coming here, Mukul Roy told me that somebody yesterday had said in a meeting that the government doesn't have money but it is conducting fairs and festivals. I told Mukul to tell them what shall we do -- shall we conduct sharadh ceremony or create a vultures den?"        

"They (CPI-M) have siphoned all the money and have used it to give money to their cadres. If I conduct a festival what is wrong in it? Earlier too festivals were conducted. But those festivals were not lively. The festivals organised by us have life in it," she said at a programme in Siliguri.        

Banerjee's comments came a day after Bhattacharya, also former chief minister, had criticised the Trinamool Congress regime for spending public money 'unnecessarily' on fairs and festivals.

A local court today examined MIM chief and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi, his younger brother and jailed party MLA Akbaruddin Owaisi, besides four party legislators in connection with a 2005 case filed against them for preventing government officials from performing their duties.        

Asaduddin and four party legislators attended the court of judicial first class magistrate here, while Akbaruddin, who is lodged in Adilabad district jail in an alleged hate speech case, was produced by the police.        

The Owaisi brothers and others, including four party MLAs were booked by Patancheru police in Medak district for allegedly obstructing the then Medak district Collector and other officials from discharging their duties in 2005.         The court questioned the six accused on the allegations mentioned in the charge sheet. Owaisi brothers and four MLAs, however, denied all the allegations and said they wanted to proceed with the trial.        

The court, then posted the matter to February 8 for examination of witnesses. Earlier, NBWs were issued against the Owaisi brothers after they "failed" to appear before the court.

Aam Aadmi Party led by Arvind Kejriwal has launched its UK Chapter in London. The launch, which coincided with the Republic Day, was marked by patriotic songs and the signing of a 15-point oath at Tavistock Square in central London.        

"Each point commits and re-affirms our resolve and determination to strive and be the change we want to see in India -- a fair and just India where the fruits of development are shared equally by all citizens," said AAP-UK coordinator Raj Redij-Gill.        

NRIs from London, Manchester, Birmingham, Glasgow and Milton Keynes were joined by tourists at the square, which has London's biggest bronze statue of Mahatma Gandhi as its centrepiece.

The final hearing on the legal battle between Tamil Nadu and Kerala over the controversial Mullaperiyar dam will be held from April 9 in the Supreme Court.   

A five-judge Constitution Bench of justices R M Lodha, H L Dattu, C K Prasad, Madan B Lokur and M Y Eqbal directed both the states to exchange all documents and findings of the expert committee by March 15 and posted the matter for final day-to-day hearing from April 9.   

There has been tension between the two states over the safety of the dam. While Tamil Nadu contends that the dam is safe and its water level has to be raised from 132 ft to 136 ft, Kerala says the structure is weak and it has to be replaced with a new one.

Terming the money spent on building the Taj Mahal as "unjustified", Uttar Pradesh's Urban Development minister Azam Khan said that he would have led the mob had they decided to bring it down.        

The minister said that the riots after the Babri Masjid demolition saddened him, but he would have led mob if they decided to bring down the 17th century white marble wonder, created by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in the memory of his beloved.        

"Had people decided to demolish the Taj Mahal instead of the Babri mosque, I would have led them," Azam Khan, who was in Muzzafarnagar to distribute cheques to beneficiaries of different government schemes said on Sunday.         Khan, known to be a close confidant of Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh

Yadav, apparently comparing the wonder with to the monuments and statues built by former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati said, "Shah Jahan had no right to squander crores of public funds in the memory of his wife and sweetheart".  

A gas explosion in a coal mine in southwestern Pakistan today killed eight workers, officials said. The explosion occurred in Loralai district of Balochistan province, 600 km from Islamabad. It was caused by an accumulation of methane gas.         

Eight workers were killed instantly and two injured persons were taken to a nearby hospital, officials said. About 200 men were working more than 600 metres underground when the explosion occurred.         

The coal mines in Balochistan have a very poor safety record and dozens have died in accidents in recent years.

Top officials of the Army and Air Force today called on Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Nabam Tuki to discuss core issues related to Army and IAF activities in the state.   

While Shillong based Eastern Air Command Air Vice Marshal Praveen Bhatt discussed issues related to DM (Designated Marskman) range of the IAF and other activities in the frontier state, Tezpur based 4 Corp GoC Lt Gen C A Krishnan took up the issues of land requisition and road communication in the border state for Army activities, official sources said.         

Assuring cooperation from the state government for Army and IAF activities in the state, Tuki reiterated his appeal for taking into confidence the local populace wherever the Indian Armed Force operated or were based. Taking note of the raising of the second battalion of Arunachal Scouts, he requested the Army to recruit as many local youths as possible.

Darjeeling district in West Bengal has been selected for the National Award for Excellence under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme for the year 2012.        

Giving the information, Darjeeling district magistrate Soumitra Mohan said that under the scheme jobs had been provided to workers for 65 out of 100 days.        

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will give away the prize in New Delhi on February 2. Six districts in the country have been selected for the award including the Darjeeling district.

In a crackdown on Islamist groups in the country, the UAE has put 94 people with suspected links to the radical Muslim Brotherhood on trial for plotting to overthrow the Gulf regime and seize power.

UAE Attorney General Salem Saeed Kubaish said 94 suspects have been referred to the Federal Supreme Court for trial. "Investigations revealed that the arrested people launched, established and ran an organisation seeking to oppose the basic principles of the UAE system of governance and to seize power," state-run WAM news agency quoted Kubaish as saying yesterday.        

The official did not name the suspects, but authorities have arrested perceived dissidents for months. The crackdown on Islamists has raised tensions with Egypt, which is ruled by Muslim Brotherhood member President Mohammed Mursi. 

The agency yesterday quoted Kubaish as saying that the suspects built a secret network to plan and raised money through real estate and other deals. He also said that the suspects had links to the Muslim Brotherhood and others for expertise and financial support.

Seven Congress MPs from Telangana region have threatened to resign. The MPs said they will send their resignations to Congress president Sonia Gandhi Tuesday.  

Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad had said on Sunday that decision on Telangana will be taken only after more consultations. The much-anticipated announcement has irked the pro-Telangana activists, who term it as 'betrayal'.

The sixth accused in the Delhi gang-rape case has been declared as a juvenile, the Juvenile Justice Board has declared. The board stated that there's no doubt over his date of birth, June 4, 1995, as per his school records.    

Demand for the bone testing of the sixth accused has been rejected by the board. The maximum punishment for a juvenile under law is 3 years imprisonment.    

Onkar Singh reports from New Delhi: Senior BJP leader and former finance minister Yashwant Sinha has asked newly-appointed party president Rajnath Singh to name Gujarat Chief Minister Narender Modi as the party's official prime ministerial candidate for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

"If Nitish Kumar (Bihar CM and leader of JD-U, crucial alliance partner of BJP-led NDA) is not happy let him quit the alliance. Modi can lead the way," Sinha said.  

Singh also clarified that he would have been forced to contest for BJP presidentship if Nitin Gadkari decided to go for a second time.  He said either the whole party is communal or not, but only one individual (Modi) should not be dubbed as communal.