Timeline Refresh
Yesterday, the Vasundhara Raje government had transferred as many as 40 IPS officers, including the Director general of police (jail), 11 additional director generals, 10 inspector generals .
The Air India plane took off at 4:40 pm from Varanasi's Lal Bahadur Shashtri International airport for New Delhi, but just after 15 minutes of flying it had to land back again at the airport due to detection of technical snag in the aircraft by its pilot, said Airport Manager K P Singh.
In the pic: Chiki Sarkar of Penguin asks Pankaj about the exciting writers in the Asian countries.
Author Rana Dasgupta and Mishra also engaged the audience in conversation where Asia to Latin America was discussed.
In a bit controversial statement Mishra, who is writing relentlessly against the ills of free market economy and politics, said he is , in fact, "poster boy of capitalism."
Read the full article here
Fake Twitter and Facebook accounts have come up in the name of BJP general secretary Amit Shah who issued a statement today identifying the genuine ones.
In a statement, Shah said he is on social media through his official Twitter handle @amitshahoffice and Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/AmitShah.Official.
Some fake accounts in his name were opened by individuals and these were disseminating wrong information on the Internet, he said.
Any other Twitter handle or Facebook page claiming to speak on his behalf is misrepresenting and represents neither his views nor that of the BJP, Shah said. Earlier, a fake Twitter account had also been opened in the name of Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley.
Author Rana Dasgupta and Mishra also engaged the audience in conversation where Asia to Latin America was discussed.
In a bit controversial statement Mishra, who is writing relentlessly against the ills of free market economy and politics, said he is , in fact, "poster boy of capitalism."
He spoke about his journey that started from a humble corner of the Himachal Pradesh and his craving for knowledge and hard work.
The CBI today took custody of LeT bomb expert Abdul Karim Tunda in connection with serial blasts in five trains that left two persons dead and 22 injured in 1993.
A special court in Ajmer granted CBI the custody of 72-year-old Tunda, who is now in judicial custody of Delhi Police.
The court sent Tunda for a six-day police custody to CBI with an instruction to produce him before it on January 13.
Blasts took place on Mumbai Rajdhani, Flying Rani Express, Andhra Pradesh Express, New Delhi-Howrah Express and Howrah- New Delhi Express between December 5 evening and wee hours of December 6, 1993.
The cases registered by different police stations were handed over to CBI by the Centre. During its probe, the agency found that bombings were an act of common conspiracy, CBI sources said.
Concluding its probe, CBI filed its charge sheet before Tada court in Ajmer on August 25, 1994. Ten years later, special judge V K Mathur pronounced all the 15 persons facing trial guilty and sent them to life imprisonment but Tunda remained out of clutches of law enforcement agencies.
CBI sources said a team led by an SP-level officer will be part of the defence ministry team that has been given access to examine the middleman on January 9 before the Milan court where he is facing trial for alleged corrupt activities along with top executives of AgustaWestland and Finmeccanica.
"There is no evidence or intelligence inputs that suggested that the ISI had approached the riot victims," a senior Home Ministry official said.
Minister of State for Home R P N Singh had also expressed similar view while replying a question in Parliament on December 11, 2013.
The last time he was in the news, it was because of this story: Birla's private retreat near Kedarnath on the banks of the Mandakini river, where he spent many an hour meditating, was destroyed in the Uttarakhand floods last year. Birla was in London when he was informed about the tragedy. The old caretaker of the place managed to jump out of a window in the nick of time. The house, of course, was totally destroyed.
"Once the Supreme Court has taken a decision with three judges of the court, approved by the chief justice, there is no alternative for Ganguly but to quit from his post and take legal course," said Karat.
"He should try to prove that he is not guilty through legal procedures, if he claims that he is innocent. He knows well about judicial procedures," she said.
"This had to happen because this information was given by Gandhi way back, and Congress would do everything to make their ''yuvraj''s'' statement true, said Khan.
"How come Rahul Gandhi was informed about something like this, and what sorts of links does he have? These things need to be questioned, if any of this is true," he added.
Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar said all the authorities had certified that there was no possibility of finding any more survivors in the debris of the collapsed building.
The building caved-in as its design was faulty and the quality of construction was poor, Parrikar said, adding that the structure that collapsed, as well as the ones adjacent to it, had been built on a weak foundation.
"If at all I remember her as a critic of the Party on several occasions in the past. The English and Hindi edition of the book are yet to be released. The Marathi edition has been printed by Vineet Kuber of Pune.
"The book is based on several months of research by the author. In relation to the 2002 riots she has recorded interviews of several people and has based the book on the factual impressions that she got.
"While speaking at the launch function, I referred to several steps taken towards a sustained campaign (or conspiracy) to implicate Narendra Modi in the 2002 riots. I further explained some of these attempts which collapsed because they were based on falsehood.
"I refer to three important facts that I mentioned in my Speech.
The First -- Who set fire to the Sabarmati Express.
Read Arun Jaitley's blog today.
Alleging that the government's move would disturb communal harmony in the state, the party submitted a memorandum to the Uttar Pradesh Governor, demanding his immediate intervention in the matter.
In its memorandum, BJP alleged that on the basis of reports lodged against 4,000 people in connection with the violence, police was "terrorising and financially harassing them" and the government was not concerned with that, BJP's chief spokesman Vijay Bahadur Pathak said.
The delegation was led by state president Laxmi Kant Bajpai.
Justice Faisal Arab' the head of the special court' said the bench will give its decision on the medical report after reviewing it on Thursday.
The report was submitted in a sealed envelope by the court's registrar, Abdul Ghani Soomro. "Lawyers will also be allowed to see the report," said Arab.
Musharraf was admitted to a military hospital in Rawalpindi on January 2 after he suffered heart problems while being taken to the special court to face charges of high treason for imposing emergency in 2007.
The Pakistani teenager Malala Yousafzai was strongly tipped last year, and will have many backers again. The names of Julian Assange and Edward Snowden will be considered. Even Vladimir Putin appears to have become a contender.
Curiously, although India is often associated with ideas of peace and tolerance, no Indian has ever been awarded the Peace Prize.
Read more
The former Supreme Court judge, accused of sexually harassing a law intern, submitted his resignation yesterday. The development took place on a day the Supreme Court threw out two petitions praying the Centre should be restrained from acting against Ganguly.
The ministry of women and child development said it would be legally and constitutionally impermissible to put him on trial again as the Juvenile Justice Board has already given its verdict of guilt on the juvenile and the prayer for his fresh trial has been rendered redundant.
"As such, under Article 20 of the Constitution as also Section 300 of criminal procedure code, there can be no second trial for the same offence, and the adjudication of guilt of the juvenile offender having been determined by the JJ Board under Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000, the second prayer does not survive nor was sustainable,' the ministry said in its affidavit.
"Despite the constituency being represented by Rajiv Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi and now Rahul Gandhi, farmers here have to face hardships in getting a sack of fertiliser, roads are in a bad shape, government tubewells are out of order and it is corruption all around," national spokesman of AAP Sanjay Singh told newspersons.
He said that the people of Amethi were fed up with the dynasty politics and now want development.
A note is being prepared by the Union Minister for Minority Affairs K Rahman Khan to this effect, sources said.
The Jain community in Punjab had appealed to the Centre to give them minority status, so that members of the community can avail of scholarships and funds under the Prime Minister's 15-point programme for minorities.
Once notified, Jains will become the sixth religious minority in India after Muslims, Sikhs, Buddhists, Christians and Parsis.
The Law Ministry has given its green signal to this proposal.
A review petition is pending before the Supreme Court challenging a three-judge verdict on the issue.However, Law Minister Kapil Sibal says, this does not bar the Centre from notifying Jains as a minority community under the National Commission for Minorities Act.
Jains have been notified as a minority in 13 states including Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Delhi, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh. -- IndiaTV
Ankit Jain @indiantweeter
Jains as a religious community dont need to be recognised as minority, hinduism is our religion and jainism is a way of life.
And no, Priyanka Gandhi has not changed her mind. She will not be contesting the 2014 polls.
"All abandoned buses in Delhi are being modified into night shelters. These buses will be provided with blankets and other basic amenities so that the homeless can at the least sleep properly," a post on the AAP's Facebook page said. Read more
'La Maison', running out of Islamabad's F7-1, was not allowing Pakistanis in, citing the French style of cooking that uses wine. Also, the food was not halal and even pork was served.
The controversial policy had led to a storm on various social media networks, with many comparing the policy to apartheid and the infamous colonial boards outside clubs in India during British rule.
The momentum against the restaurant was started by Cyril Almeida, senior journalist working with a leading Pakistani daily, who launched a Twitter war against the restaurant.
The restaurant-owner Philippe Lafforgue wrote to him, claiming he is changing his policy. Lafforgue, however, continued to bar Pakistanis. "What can I do? I am just trying to respect the local culture. Pakistanis with dual nationality are allowed," Lafforgue had said prior to the raid.
Two Muslim clerics from Haryana arrested for alleged links to the terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba tried to recruit men from riot-hit Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh, Delhi Police sources have said.
The two men from Muzaffarnagar told the Delhi police that the terror suspects, arrested last month, made several visits to relief camps set up after the September communal clashes. Some of the men who were allegedly approached refused to work for the Pakistan-based terror group and went to the Delhi Police instead, sources say.
They are believed to have told the police that the clerics - Hafeez Rashidi and Shahid - made several visits to the relief camps.
Digvijaya Singh has said that if this is indeed true, it gives credence to what Rahul Gandhi had said.
"The CPI leader underwent the surgery at the hands of Dr Ramakanta Panda, reputed cardiac surgeon," the spokesperson said.
Four policemen were injured during a cordon and search operation in north Kashmir's Sopore town in Baramulla district this morning.
A senior police officer said security forces had surrounded Chankhan locality of the town this morning on specific information about the presence of militants there.
"As security forces were laying the cordon, militants opened fire injuring four policemen. The injured cops were immediately shifted to hospital for treatment," a senior police officer said.
He said the condition of one of the injured cops was critical. "Searches are continuing and more reinforcements have been rushed to the area.
Details awaited.
Excerpts:
"People in India are disheartened by the way systems function here. I feel Arvind Kejriwal is going to do good things and bring about some good changes in our society.
"I hope he sticks to his promises because people have voted him to become the Chief Minister of Delhi as they believe in him.
"If he doesnt deliver, people will be so disappointed that if tomorrow we have the most righteous people joining politics, they will not vote for anyone.
"I feel that there shouldnt be a scenario where he delivers what he promises, but leaves the government in deficit.
"I hope he has the administrative skills to function in the the day-to-day routine of a chief minister.
"Ill pray that he does well as people have faith in him. His only agenda should be to prove the people right."
Read the full interview on Rediff.com shortly.
New Delhi's stand may help consolidate a relationship it feels is beneficial to national security interests but it risks a breakdown of tentative contact established with the Opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party of Khaleda Zia. Read more
His introduction consisted largely of a mark sheet for himself and his government. He listed his government's achievements as well as work in progress; as regards errors and failures, he left it to law to deal with crimes, and to fate to deal with the rest. Read the opinion piece on the Telegraph.
Eastern India till now had seen middle-distance runners like Jyotirmoyee Sikdar, a two-time Asian Games gold medalist in 800m and 1500m, excel internationally but this is the first time when eastern India is seeing a 200m national champion Amiya Mallick displaying the potential to take on the best in the world. Read more
According to sources in the high court and the state government's law department, Yadav told the minister that the judiciary is independent of the executive and only the Delhi high court can summon a meeting of judges.
Read more
Sources said transfer orders were issued at the orders of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who is the chairperson of the Delhi Jal Board.
On December 28, soon after Kejriwal took office, the water distribution board's Chief Executive Officer Debashree Mukherjee was transferred."All those officials who have worked for over three years in a particular place have been transferred to a different place," a senior DJB official said.
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Sources have confirmed to NDTV that two men from Muzaffarnagar told the Delhi police that the terror suspects, arrested last month, made several visits to relief camps set up after the September communal clashes. Some of the men who were allegedly approached refused to work for the Pakistan-based terror group and went to the Delhi Police instead, sources say.
They are believed to have told the police that the clerics - Hafeez Rashidi and Shahid - made several visits to the relief camps. Read more
Shelters for the homeless were overflowing and the weather threatened to briefly curtail some oil production in the severe cold described by some meteorologists as the " polar vortex" and dubbed by media as the "polar pig".
"Absolutely" the State Department Deputy Spokesperson, Marie Harf, told reporters at her daily news conference yesterday, when asked if the US was hopeful that the issue would be resolved.
This comes in the wake of strong Indian statement to the US that it cannot be "business as usual" between the two sides till the issue is resolved.
Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh conveyed this to US Ambassador Nancy Powell when she met her at South Block in New Delhi yesterday.
"In her directions, she asked the police chief to depute the hundreds of policemen, who would be relieved of her security duty, in service of the common men," a senior police officer said.