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Mon, 14 March 2016
Rusticate Kanhaiya, recommends JNU panel

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23:38   Putin orders withdrawal of Russian army from Syria
Russian President Vladimir Putin today ordered the defence ministry to begin the withdrawal of Russian forces from Syria tomorrow.

"The task that was set before our defence ministry and armed forces has as a whole been completed and so I order the defence ministry to from tomorrow start the withdrawal of the main part of our military contingents from the Syrian Arab Republic," Putin told Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu in televised comments. AFP
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23:18   Rusticate Kanhaiya, recommends JNU panel
The inquiry committee constituted to investigate incidents occurred on the night of February 9 on the Jawaharlal Nehru University campus has recommended to rusticate JNU student's union president Kanhaiya Kumar and four others.

On Feb 9, an event to protest the execution of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru was held where allegedly pro-Pakistan and anti-India slogans were raised.

JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar and a few others were arrested after the incident on charges of sedition. Kanhaiya was later released on bail, however, others -- including Omar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya -- are still in jail.

The panel is believed to have recommended expulsion of Kanhaiya, Khalid and Anirban from the University.

It should be mentioned, however, that two out of seven video tapes of the JNU event were found to be 'doctored' by the forensic lab.

Meanwhile, JNU professor Amita Singh -- who allegedly called Muslim and Dalit teachers anti-national -- has also been issued a notice by the university.
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22:57   Party stands behind Bhujbal, says NCP spokesperson
Senior Nationalist Congress Party spokesperson Atul Londhe told Prasanna D Zore/Rediff.com that his party stands behind former deputy chief minister Chhagan Bhujbal who was arrested late this evening by the Enforcement Directorate under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

Londhe said the party will convene a meeting tomorrow morning and come out with an official response. Londhe said he could not speak with party president and NCP supremo Sharad Pawar but reiterated that the party will stand behind Bhujbal, whose nephew Sameer was arrested a few days ago by the ED in connection with the same case.
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22:33   JNU teachers want a 'National commission for nationalism'
Amid a raging row at Jawaharlal Nehru University, a section of the varsity's teachers want that a commission for nationalism should be established on the lines of commissions like national commission for women to find out what is nationalistic and what is not.

'We suggest that a new Commission should be constituted to check anti-national activities of politically motivated people on the lines of the National Commission of Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes and Minorities,' teachers, who are members of JNU teachers' association said in a joint statement.

Explaining about their view on the formation of the commission Mondira Dutta, who teaches at School of International Studies, said at a press conference, "There should be a commission for nationalism. Such a commission can work to find out what is nationalistic and what's not. We need a commission like that."

The teachers are divided over the current row at university against hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru during which anti-national slogans were allegedly raised.

A section of teachers who have been protesting against JNUTA's support to students booked in a sedition case over the event said, they have lost faith in current JNUTA leadership and are tired of its 'disproportionate' protest to 'malign' the whole university and its public image.
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22:22   Enforcement Directorate arrests Chhagan Bhujbal in money laundering case
Former Maharashtra deputy chief minister Chhagan Bhujbal was arrested on Monday evening by Enforcement Directorate in connection with corruption cases lodged against him

The former deputy chief minister was interrogated for more than nine hours today by a team of ED officials.

The ED had summoned Bhujbal on March 8 following a complaint by Bharatiya Janata Party MP Kirit Somaiya in connection with cases lodged under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act and the Foreign Exchange Management Act pertaining to alleged irregularities in the construction of a new 'Maharashtra Sadan' in New Delhi, worth several hundred crores of rupees.
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21:58   Hurriyat leaders to attend Pakistan Day on Mar 23
Pakistan has invited Hurriyat leaders to attend the Pakistan Day function on March 23 in New Delhi, which will be observed at Pakistan embassy in the Indias capital.

The invitation has been sent to both the factions of Hurriyat Conference, civil society members and some journalists.

Confirming the invitation, Hurriyat (G) spokesman Ayaz Akbar told KNS that the Pakistan High Commissioner has formally invited Chairman Hurriyat (G) Syed Ali Shah Geelani, General Secretary TeH Mohammad Ashraf Sehrai, Hurriyat (G) general secretary Shabir Shah, provincial president Aga Syed Hassan, provincial president Nayeem Khan, himself and other senior leaders.
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21:55   Shocked at media statements: Mallya tweets
Liquor baron Vijay Mallya Mallya, who is facing legal proceedings for alleged loan defaults by his group to the tune of over Rs 9,000 crore, said he will comply with the law of the land.

"Shocked to see media statements that I gave an interview to Sunday Guardian without verification.I have not given any statement to anyone," he tweeted today.

"I am an international businessman. I travel to and from India frequently. I did not flee from India and neither am I an absconder. Rubbish," Mallya, who is believed to be in the UK, has earlier tweeted from an undisclosed location.
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21:55   Dalit youth's murder: NHRC notice to TN govt
The National Human Rights Commission has issued a notice to Tamil Nadu government over the alleged honour killing of a Dalit man.
The Commission took suo motu cognisance of media reports alleging honour killing of a young Dalit man, who married a girl of upper caste, in Udumalaipett in Tirupur district on March 13, said an NHRC statement.
Three unidentified men attacked the couple -- Shankar and Kousalya -- with sickles. The man died on the way to Coimbatore Medical College Hospital, while the woman is undergoing medical treatment.
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20:57   Turkey pounds Kurdish bases after Ankara bombing
Turkey today held four suspects over a suicide car bombing that killed at least 36 people in Ankara, as warplanes pounded Kurdish rebel bases in northern Iraq over the attack, the capital's third in five months.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the latest carnage, which reduced cars and buses to charred husks on a busy road in the heart of the city last evening, wounding more than 120 people.
But Ankara believes one of the bombers was a woman with ties to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, a Turkish official told AFP today.
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20:39   JNU asks Prof to clarify alleged remarks against Dalit and Muslim teachers
JNU has asked Professor Amita Singh who heads the varsity's Centre of Law and Governance to clarify her alleged remarks calling Dalits and Muslim teachers "anti-national" after the National Commission for
Scheduled Caste sent a show-cause notice to the university.
Singh had made the alleged comments in an interview to a web portal.
"I have been asked by the university to send my clarification till tomorrow," Singh said during a press conference.
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20:37   Palestinian-American member of IS surrenders
A Palestinian-American member of the Islamic State group today gave himself up to an Iraqi Kurdish military unit in the country's north, an Iraqi Kurdish general said.
The circumstances of the surrender were not fully disclosed but it marked a rare instance in which an IS fighter voluntarily gave himself up to Iraqi or Kurdish forces in Iraq.
In neighboring Syria, meanwhile, Syrian Kurdish fighters battling the Islamic State, have told The Associated Press that they are seeing an increase in the number of IS members surrendering following recent territorial losses. 
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19:44   117 Maoist sympathisers surrender in Odisha
As many as 117 Maoist sympathisers, including 34 women and 14 militia members, today surrendered before the police in Odisha's Malkangiri district. 

The rebel supporters who surrendered belong to Barha village in Mathili police station area, Malkangiri Superintendent of Police Mitrabhanu Mohapatra said. They include seven village committee members and three members of Chetna Natya Madali, the cultural wing of the Naxals, he said, adding they surrendered with a pledge to shun the path of violence and join the mainstream.

The Naxal supporters were working for Darava division of the outlawed CPI (Maoist). They will be rehabilitated as per the surrender and rehabilitation policy of the state, the SP said.
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19:13   Eight killed, 20 injured in bus-lorry collision in TN
Eight persons, including two minor children were killed and 20 injured when a state bus in which they were travelling collided with another vehicle at a village near Pollachi in the district today, the police said.

The victims include a four-year-old boy, a four-month-old girl and four women, police said.

The bus was on its way to Pollachi from Palladam when it collided with a goods lorry at Karumapuram. The bus was mangled under the impact of the collision, police said, adding, the injured have been hospitalised.
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19:00   46 nations to participate in defence expo in Goa
 With around 977 companies and 46 countries registering themselves for the upcoming Defence Expo in Goa, theDefence Ministry has said the event is steering the path of steady growth.

"DefExpo India 2016, the ninth in the series of biennial Land, Naval and Internal Homeland Security Systems Exhibition, will be held at Naqueri Quitol in Quepem taluka of South Goa from March 28-31, 2016," the Ministry said on its website designed for this internationally famed event.

"DefExpo India is clearly steering the path of steady growth and has been receiving overwhelming and unprecedented international response with each edition," it added.This is for the first time that the Expo will travel to Goa from Delhi. 
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18:38   70 pc Indians support abortion under all situations: Study
Even as the issue of abortion remains a sensitive one, a latest global report showed that 70 per cent respondents in India support abortion and said it should be permitted under any circumstances.


"Seven in 10 (70 per cent) of Indian respondents say abortion should be permitted whenever a woman decides to have one, while 30 per cent said it should be done under certain circumstances, such as if a woman has been raped," Ipsos, an independent market research company based in France, said in a study.


The poll conducted by Ipsos Public Affairs via Ipsos Online Panel system in 23 countries sheds light on the global citizens' views on the controversial subject of abortion.
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18:18  
WB CM Mamata Banerjee holds padyatra in Siliguri, West Bengal. That's footballer Baichung Bhutia behind her in the grey T-shirt.
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18:17   Auto plant grows plants in Haldia
The economics textbook has been rewritten in a Bengal factory whose sorry state of affairs has brought to fruition a "dream" Mamata Banerjee could not fulfil in Singur till now.

Fruits and vegetables are being grown on the premises of Ural India's bus and truck unit in Haldia after lack of orders brought production to a halt last November.


The Ural management has engaged the workers in cultivation to keep them busy and reduce the burden of monthly wages, staff at the plant said.


Around 130 km away lie the Singur plots taken over for the aborted Nano plant, which are yet to be returned to farmers in spite of an overdrive by the chief minister as the issue is pending in the Supreme Court. 
Read more
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18:12   Sushma to meet Sartaj Aziz on sidelines of SAARC in Nepal
In a major development, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will be meeting Pakistan Prime Minister's Advisor on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz on the sidelines of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) ministerial meeting in Kathmandu. Swaraj and Aziz will be in Pokhara for the meeting on March 16 and 17.


Aziz is also likely to extend an invitation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the SAARC Summit in Islamabad. The meeting comes as a major breakthrough as the two sides have been on extremely strained terms since the Pathankot attack earlier this year which had derailed the Foreign Secretary-level talks in Islamabad in January.


Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif may meet his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi later this month on the sidelines of the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington.
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17:17   Chargesheet filed against 35 FTII students
Thirty five FTII students were on Monday listed in a charge sheet for allegedly gheraoing and illegally confining the institute's director Prashant Pathrabe last year, of whom 30 were later granted bail.


The Deccan-Gymkhana police, which is probing the case, filed the charge sheet against 35 students in a court and the next hearing will be held on April 2, the prosecution said.


"There are total 35 students against whom the charge sheet has been filed. Five students were arrested on the intervening night of August 18-19 and released on bail. 30 students, including 12 who were out on anticipatory bail, were given (regular) bail today," defence counsel Shrikant Shivade said.Shivade moved a bail plea for 30 students in the court of first class judicial magistrate S.S. Bangad, who granted bail to all the students on a personal bond of Rs. 3,000 each.


The FTII students, who were on a strike for 139 days since June last year against the appointment of BJP member and TV actor Gajendra Chauhan as its chairman, had allegedly gheraoed and confined Pathrabe in his office on August 17.


They had challenged his decision to go ahead with the assessment of the incomplete diploma film projects of the 2008 batch students.The incident had led to police swooping-in on the campus on the intervening night of August 18-19, and arresting five students.The students were booked under various sections of IPC, including 143, 147, 149, 323, 353 and 506, dealing with offences, some of them non-bailable, related to unlawful assembly, criminal intimidation and rioting.


Seventeen students were last year identified and named in an FIR filed in connection with the case.Last week, the police, after screening the video footage of the incident, had identified 18 more students and asked them to present themselves in the court on Monday.
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16:52   HC rap for Pak skipper Afridi for 'more love in India' comment
Pakistani skipper Shahid Afridi gets a notice from the Lahore High Court for his comment that Indian fans show more love to the Pak team than Pakistanis. "We have always enjoyed playing in India and have been loved by Indian crowds more than crowds back home in Pakistan," Afridi had said.

Afridi has been asked to explain his statement in 15 days.
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16:37   Why Malia Obama gets a Twitter thumbs up
Malia Obama has been caught in a photo giving her sister a tongue-in-cheek thumbs-up as Sasha met Ryan Reynolds at a state dinner.


The actor, who was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, was one of four actors and actresses who attended the event in honor of new Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Thursday.


Malia, 17, and Sasha, 14, attended a state dinner for the first time in their father's presidency.Sasha was beaming when she met Reynolds and can be seen in a photo smiling excitedly as they spoke.In the background, slightly blurred, Malia is smiling too - all the while raising her two thumbs in direction of her sister, seemingly cheering her on and teasing her at the same time. Read
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16:09   I won't say 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai': Owaisi to Bhagwat
AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi has said he will not chant 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai,' comments that came against the backdrop of RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat's suggestion that the new generation needs to be taught to chant slogans hailing mother India.


"I don't chant that slogan. What are you going to do, Bhagwat sahab," Owaisi said, at a public rally in Udgir tehsil of Latur district yesterday.


"I won't utter that (slogan) even if you put a knife to my throat," Owaisi said, amid loud applause by the crowd.


"Nowhere in the Constitution it says that one should say: Bharat Mata ki Jai," he said. On March 3, Bhagwat had said the new generation needs to be taught to chant slogans hailing mother India, comments which came against the backdrop of the row over alleged anti-India sloganeering on the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) campus.


"Now the time has come when we have to tell the new generation to chant 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai' (hail mother India). It should be real, spontaneous and part of all-round development of the youth," the RSS chief had said. Owaisi said he will "continue to support" the family of Ishrat Jahan.
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16:07   Jaitley's $13-Bn for water plan that's failed 66 million farmers
A two-decade old Central programme to finish incomplete irrigation projects has failed 66 million Indian farmers and halted the economic progress of 350 million Indians, according to an IndiaSpend analysis.


Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, in his budget speech last month, said the government would spend Rs 86,500 crore ($12.7 billion) over the next five years to irrigate 80 million hectare of cultivated land.  Read more
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15:48   Lalu gives Rabri credit for RSS dropping its shorts
RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav said that a comment made by his wife and former Bihar chief minister Rabri Devi is the reason the RSS was forced to change its decades-old dress code from khaki shorts to brown trousers.


"Rabri Devi ke ek tarkpurn akarmak bayan ne matra do mahine mein RSS ko half pant se full pant karne par majboor kar diya," Lalu said in his latest tweet.

Lalu said Rabri Devi had questioned the RSS's dress code of shorts nearly two months ago and it embarrassed them so much that they have decided to replace it with trousers. In January this year, during a RJD function in Patna, Rabri Devi said, "Aren't the RSS elders ashamed to wear half pants in public?" Her statement was then criticized by several top leader of the BJP including union ministers.


-- MI Khan/Patna
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15:48  
The high level team headed probing the Ishrat Jahan case will be headed by Additional Secy (Home) BK Prasad. 
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15:23   One of Ankara bombers was female PKK member, 37 dead
A female member of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) was one of two suspected perpetrators of a car bombing that killed 37 people in the Turkish capital Ankara, security officials said on Monday.


The attack, which tore through a crowded transport hub a few hundred metres (yards) from the Justice and Interior Ministries on Sunday evening, was the second such bombing in the administrative heart of the city in under a month.


Evidence has been obtained that one of the bombers was a female member of the PKK who joined the militant group in 2013, the security officials told Reuters.


She was born in 1992 and from the eastern Turkish city of Kars, they said.The government has said it expects to officially identify the orga
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15:21   Govt reopens Ishrat case, high-level team to probe missing documents
Just in: The Home Ministry constitutes a three-member team headed by an additional secretary to probe missing documents in the Ishrat Jahan case. In effect, a new probe has been ordered into the case. 

As many as four documents are missing from the home ministry file pertaining to the two affidavits filed by it in the Ishrat Jahan encounter case. These include office copy of the letters and enclosures sent by then home secretary G K Pillai to the Attorney General on September 18, 2009 and September 23, 2009; draft affidavit vetted by the Attorney General as well as draft further affidavit amended by then home minister P Chidambaram.
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15:15   Shame on you! Miandad lashes out at Afridi for India love
"Shocked and hurt" by Shahid Afridi's comments that Pakistan's cricketers were loved more by Indians than the fans here, former captain Javed Miandad has said that players making such statements should be "ashamed" of themselves.


"These cricketers should be ashamed of themselves for saying such a thing. Shame on you," Miandad said on the 'Aaj TV' channel.


Afridi and senior player Shoaib Malik had praised India after landing in the country for the World Twenty20, insisting that they have never felt threatened in the country even though their departure was delayed due to security concerns.


"We have always enjoyed playing in India and have been loved by Indian crowds more than crowds back home in Pakistan," Afridi had said. Miandad said Pakistan had gone to India to play in the World T20 but it didn't mean that the players should pander to the hosts.


"What have the Indians given us? Speak the truth even while in India. For the last five years what have they given us or done with Pakistan cricket. Having served Pakistan cricket for so many years I am shocked and hurt to hear such comments from our players," Miandad said.


The veteran of 124 Tests said the Pakistan cricket authorities must look into this matter and there should be a proper media classes for the players when they go abroad. "The job of this team is to go and play well in India not make such unnecessary comments," he said.
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15:07  
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj & Pak Foreign Affairs Adviser Sartaj Aziz to meet on the sidelines of the SAARC Meeting in Kathmandu.
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14:56   Govt releases revised pension benefits under OROP
The Government on Monday released the revised pensionary benefits to 2,21,224 defence pensioners drawing service and disability pension in which the amount along with first installment of arrears, had been released and credited by the Defence Ministry to the accounts of the pensioners.


In the case of remaining 1,46,335 family pensioners drawing pension from Departmental Pension Drawing Officers (DPDOs), payment along with arrears is expected to be released by March end.


Banks are under process of revision work.


These steps are a follow-up to department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare (ESW) of the Ministry of Defence's notification ordering implementation of One Rank One Pension (OROP) scheme for defence pensioners.The total additional annual financial increase for grant of OROP is Rs. 7488.70 crores. 
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14:44   Dalit man hacked to death 8 months after he married Thevar woman
A 22-year-old engineering graduate from a Dalit family was hacked to death by three men on a motorbike at a busy junction in Udumalaipettai town of Tamil Nadu's Tirupur district on Sunday afternoon, allegedly for marrying a woman from the Thevar community. Read more
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14:28   No environ clearance given to projects on Ganga in 2 yrs: Govt
No environmental clearance has been granted to any project on river Ganga in the last two years, government told Rajya Sabha today. When members during Question Hour expressed concern over the impact various projects could have had on the flow of the river, Environment and Forests minister Prakash Javadekar said "during the last two years, the Ministry has not granted any environmental clearance to projects on Ganga." Maintaining that uniterrupted flow of water in the river was a matter of priority, he said the flow of the river is one of the conditions stipulated in environment clearance granted to hydropower projects.
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13:47   Aamir turns 51, wishes to buy ancestral house in Varanasi
Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan turned 51 today and expressed his biggest birthday wish, to buy his mother their ancestral home in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh.


The "PK" actor celebrated the special day with mediapersons here by cutting a cake and holding a press conference. When asked about his birthday wish, Aamir said, "My biggest wish today is that if I could buy my mother her ancestral home in Varanasi. My mother spent her childhood in Varanasi. I've seen that home. Since then it has been in my mind that if I can request people there and get that house."


Calling Varanasi "extremely beautiful and historic", Aamir said he can't wait to have a house there. "I've been to Assi ghat. Varanasi is a beautiful and a historic place. So, If I get a home there, my mom's home there, that will give me the biggest happiness. Let's hope it happens," he said.


File pic of Aamir Khan celebrating his birthday last year.
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13:26   Aadhar Bill won't be discussed in RS, govt refuses to extend session
The government has rejected the opposition's demand to extend the sitting of the Rajya Sabha by two days in the first phase of the Budget session, nipping its plan to corner it over the Aadhaar Bill, controversially passed by the Lok Sabha last week, reports NDTV.

The opposition had in a rare move sought that the Upper House sit for two days extra before breaking for a 39 day recess on Wednesday, March 16.

In a chess-like move, the BJP-led government used its brute majority in the Lok Sabha to pass the Aadhaar bill as a "money bill" last Friday.

This means that the Rajya Sabha, where the government is in a minority, can only discuss the bill, but cannot send it back to the Lok Sabha with changes. Also, the upper house must discuss a money bill within 14 days of the bill being officially received by it, or it will be "deemed passed."

"The Aadhaar Bill proves how the government, facing heat in the upper house, has decided to bypass it completely," alleged CPM leader Sitaram Yechury. The bill is likely to be "officially received" in the Rajya Sabha today, two days before the House breaks for the recess.

The opposition had demanded an extension at the last three meetings of the business advisory committee or BAC which is made up of leaders of all parties, attempting to ensure that the bill is discussed in the Upper House so that it can record its objections to certain clauses and to the bill being presented as a Money Bill.
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13:22  
World Twenty20 select XI - Michael Vaughan picks his best side. Take a look.
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13:19  
Broad gauge goods train arrives at Jiribam in Manipur this afternoon for the first time. Pic: All India Radio.
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13:13  
Just in: Rajya Sabha to go on a 39-day recess from March 16. The government has rejected the opposition's demand to extend the session to discuss the Aadhar Bill.
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13:08   BJP, Cong MPs spar over Azad's remarks on RSS and ISIS
Here's the lowdown on what happened in the Rajya Sabha today.

Ruling BJP and Congress today sparred in Rajya Sabha over remarks of Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad allegedly comparing Hindutva outfit RSS with terrorist organisation ISIS.


While the ruling party and its ministers wanted Azad to withdraw his controversial remarks and apologise, the Congress leader denied drawing any parallel between the two and said he was submitting a CD of his speech to the government and is willing to face privilege motion if anything wrong was found. After Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi slipped in a reference to the alleged remarks by Azad while giving government's response to concern by members over remarks by RSS leaders' on continuation of reservation, Azad read out the verbatim speech he made at an event organised by Jamait Ulama-i-Hind last week.


He said he had in the speech stated there was no fight between Hindus and Muslims in India but a fight on ideology. Ruing why Muslims were joining a terrorist organisation like ISIS that is destroying Islamic traditions, Azad said he had stated that "we oppose to organisations like ISIS like we oppose RSS."


Also, "if someone in Islam does wrong, they are no less than RSS," he said. "Where is the comparison," he asked. "If I had said ISIS and RSS are same" there would have been a comparison. He said he had stated that Hindu, Muslim and Sikh fundamentalists have to be fought as they are against the country. "We have to fight them all together."


Leader of the House and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said he personally respected Azad but "he should think if he has knowingly or unknowingly slipped ... you have given respectability to ISIS."
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12:44   Why SBI has, so far, failed to recover money from Vijay Mallya
'Just as the government is looking at ease of doing business, it needs to look at ease of resolution. When something goes bad, resolution the world over happens in six-nine months' time. Here it goes on for years.' Read more
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12:42   Saudis get around Hindu nationalism
The report, here, by the well-known author and Middle East hand of the Independent newspaper Patrick Cockburn regarding the US President Barack Obama's disillusion with Saudi Arabia amounts to a veritable critique of the Indian elite's dalliance with that Wahhabist state.

In America a large section of the political elite has compromised with the Saudi regime by accepting bribes from them. Yes, 'bribes' '" there is no other way to describe the gifts and favors they shamelessly accepted from the Saudi regime on one pretext or the other. (The links between the Bush family and Saudi royalty have been copiously written about.) India finds itself in a similar boat.  Read more
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12:41   Iraq runs out of money to take on Islamic State
Just as Iraq's army, backed by local militias and western war-planes, turns the tide against Islamic State, region's oil price war leaves it searching for money to buy weapons. Read more
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12:39   Mallya row referred to Rajya Sabha Ethics Committee
Vijay Mallya row: Matter referred to Rajya Sabha Ethics Committee.

The ethics committee of the Rajya Sabha will be looking into whether an act of impropriety has been committed by Vijay Mallya as a Member of Parliament after he left the country before banks to whom Mallya owes over Rs 9,000 crore moved the Supreme Court. This even as Members of Parliament, especially the Congress last week raised a hue and cry in the Rajya Sabha accusing the government of letting off Mallya.

The committee, which oversees the moral and ethical conduct of members, is likely to look into the matter pertaining to Mallya on Monday after members raised the matter with the Deputy Chairperson.

The panel examines cases related to alleged breach of code of conduct or ethical misconduct by members.
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12:24   Not the right time to return, say Mallya
Two days after tweeting that he is an international businessman, not an absconder, and denying that he has fled India, liquor baron Vijay Mallya on Sunday said he has already been branded a criminal in the country and therefore, it is not the right time for him to return.


On Friday, the Enforcement Directorate issued a summons to Mallya to appear before it on March 18, in a money laundering case. Mallya's latest statement - tellingly, he also said, "I hope that I return one day," - would seem to indicate that he is extremely unlikely to heed the ED summons, or even be seen in India any time soon.


In an email interview to Sunday Guardian, Mallya said he had left on March 2 on a "personal visit with a friend". TOI was the first to report on March 9 that he had left the country. Read more
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12:14  
India successfully test-fires nuclear capable Agni-I ballistic missile from Abdul Kalam Island in Odisha.
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12:08   A shrine for Salman Taseer's killer
A narrative is gathering force that, nudged by Pakistan's civil-military leadership, the country's is recovering liberalism. An examination of a new shrine, to Salman Taseer's assassin, tells another story. Read
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12:07  
The SC refuses to entertain a plea seeking a probe against the Mumbai police based on a statement made by former Union Home Secy RK Singh. Singh had alleged that a few corrupt officers from the Mumbai police work on Dawood Ibrahim's payroll.
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12:00   Six mistakes of TinyOwl, the blue-eyed start-up child
TinyOwl, a Mumbai-based food technology start-up, is staring down the barrel of a gun.The numbers tell the dismal story. Burning through Rs 2.5 crore a month on an average, it was only left with Rs 18 crore at the end of January. In the past 18-odd months, it had raised Rs 152 crore from various marquee investors and has now run out of options. Read more
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11:48   Trump protester says he is not an ISIS supporter
The protester who breached security and reached the stage of Donald Trump has refuted the US Republican presidential frontrunner's claim that he was a Islamic State supporter, saying he planned to grab the mic and yell Trump is a racist but didn't intend to hurt anyone.

"I am not a member of ISIS. I have no known ties to ISIS. I've never been out of the country. I only speak English," Thomas DiMassimo said. DiMassimo, 22, said he tried to rush towards the stage of Trump and take his mike because he wanted to send a message against the Republican presidential frontrunner.


"I was thinking that I could get up on stage, take his podium away from him, and take his mic away from him, and send a message to all people in the country. We can stand up against Donald Trump," he was quoted as saying by the CNN. Hours after DiMassimo created a security scare at Dayton, Ohio and was let go by the court, Trump, 69, claimed that the protester was a supporter of the ISIS.


When asked about the statement of DiMassimo, Trump on said: "All I know is what's on internet."
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11:46   Azad has given respectability to ISIS, says Jaitley demanding apology
The BJP says Ghulam Nabi Azad should apologise for comparing the RSS with the ISIS. Leader of the house in the Rajya Sabha, Arun Jaitley said, "Everybody knows ISIS is a terrorist organisation. Unknowingly, Ghulam Nabi Azad gave respectability to ISIS."

Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi says Azad must introspect on his comments and apologise.

Azad has denied making a comparison between the RSS and the terror organisation ISIS and says he is willing to be thrown out of parliament if it is indeed proved he made the remarks.
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11:37  
Just in: Senior NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal appears before Enforcement Directorate for questioning in connection with Maharashtra Sadan scam.
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11:36   Did not compare RSS with ISIS, says Azad in Parliament
Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad responds to BJP outrage over RSS-ISIS remark in the Rajya Sabha. The BJP raises the issue of Azad's comment on RSS in Rajya Sabha. Azad denies making the remarks and says there is a CD of his speech and if anything wrong is found in it, the house can move a privilege motion against him.

On Saturday Azad kicked up a row after he sought to draw a parallel between RSS and terrorist outfit ISIS, evoking sharp responses from the Hindutva outfit and BJP, which demanded an apology from him.

"So, we oppose organisations like ISIS, the way we oppose RSS. If those among us in Islam too do wrong things, they are no way less than RSS," the Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha said at a event organised by Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind. 
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11:15  
Jat leaders to also submit memorandums to respective Deputy Commissioners giving 72 hours deadline to state for accepting their demands.
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11:11  
Jat leaders to hold state-wide protest in Haryana demanding reservation and withdrawal of criminal cases against them during Jat agitation
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11:10  
Police to file chargesheet today against FTII students for holding institute director Prashant Pathrabe in captivity during the strike
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11:10   Government must act, Rahul in Lok Sabha on crop damage
Rahul Gandhi in Lok Sabha: The government must act to give relief to farmers affected by crop damage due to hailstorm.

"What don't want what happened with farmers last time to be repeated. We want immediate action (crop damage due to hailstorm)," he says.
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10:59  
A Raghunathan, former CFO of Kingfisher Airlines, reaches ED office for third round of questioning in connection with Rs 900 crore IDBI loan
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10:47   Money laundering case: NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal likely to appear before ED today
Former Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal is likely to appear before the Enforcement Directorate today in a money laundering case in which some of his family members have already been questioned.

The agency has filed two cases against Bhujbal, his son Pankaj, nephew Sameer and some others in the Maharashtra Sadan construction scam and the Kalina land grabbing case.

Last month, Bhujbal's nephew Sameer was summoned by the ED. He was later arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and is currently lodged in the Arthur Road jail.

His son, Pankaj, has also been questioned in the case. The ED had also conducted searches at nine properties belonging to the Bhujbals as part of its probe into the case.

The NCP had described the searches as "political vendetta".
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10:44  
The National Commission of Scheduled Castes seeks report from the Tamil Nadu government over Dalit killing in the state.
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10:44  
Andhra Pradesh Congress leaders to meet the President Pranab Mukherjee at Rashtrapati Bhavan at 1pm today.
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10:43  
BJP demands Congress apology over Ghulam Nabi Azad's comment comparing RSS with ISIS
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10:39  
Rahul Gandhi gives adjournment motion in Lok Sabha on crop damage due to hailstorm: ANI
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10:35   Fishermen arrest: Jaya writes to PM; seeks strong diplomatic response to Lankans
ANI: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa has written to Prime Minister Modi, requesting him to direct the External Affairs ministry to secure immediate release of 96 fishermen & 82 fishing boats.

She also requested PM Modi to put in place a strong diplomatic response, registering India's disapproval of belligerent actions of Sri Lankan Navy.
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10:32  
Enforcement Directorate has found evidences that money has been diverted outside the country by Vijay Mallya: India Today
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10:10  
Two of the eight trekkers, who were spotted but couldn't be rescued due to bad weather in Kullu, brought to safety. Six were rescued yesterday
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10:08   Parliament's ethics committee serves notice to Rahul on British citizenship row
Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi was on Monday served a show-cause notice by the Ethics committee of Parliament asking whether he had declared himself as a British citizen during his stay in the United Kingdom.

"A showcause notice has been issued seeking his (Rahul's) response on why he declared himself British citizen in documents related to a UK company," Parliament's ethics committee member Arjun Ram Meghwal told ANI.

According to CNN-IBN, the Congress party has denied having received any such notice, but The Economic Times claims the notice was sent to Rahul's office last week.

In January, BJP's Delhi MP Maheish Girri wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan asking tha the Ethics Committee of Parliament investigate the matter on priority and without prejudice because "no person is above Constitution".

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10:08   Trump 'trafficking in hate and fear': Clinton
Hillary Clinton has accused controversial real estate tycoon Donald Trump of "trafficking in hate and fear" and claimed that foreign leaders are calling her to express their support in order to stop the Republican frontrunner from entering the White House. 

"I think all Americans should be concerned. It's clear that Donald Trump is running a very cynical campaign pitting groups of Americans against one another," Clinton said ahead of tomorrow's primaries.

"He is trafficking in hate and fear. He is playing to our worst instincts rather than our angels of our better nature," the former secretary of state said in response to a question. 

Clinton, 68, said Trump, 69, incites violence in his audience.

"He actually incites violence in the way that he urges his audience on, you know, now talking about punching people, offering to pay legal bills, and then on the specifics, you know, we know that he has been incredibly bigoted toward so many groups, he talks about deporting eleven, twelve million immigrants -- we are a nation built on immigrants; he talks about preventing Muslims from coming into our country -- we believe in religious freedom," she said.
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10:01  
Mumbai Police issues prohibitory orders for assembly of five or more persons from March 13 to 27, with few exceptions (weddings, funerals): ANI
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09:28   Now, Donald Trump claims 27% of Muslims 'very militant'
Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump has claimed that more than one-fourths of the Muslims are "very militant", in latest controversial statements adding to his anti-Muslim rhetoric.

"It's (militant Muslims) 27 per cent, could be 35 per cent, would go to war, the hatred is tremendous," Trump told Fox News on Sunday when asked not more than 100,000 of the 1.6 billion Muslims are fighting for jihadist causes.

"You're saying that out of 1.5 billion, 100,000, let me tell you, whoever did that survey was about as wrong as you can get," Trump said.

"Why don't you take a look at the Pew poll that came out very recently or fairly recently, where I think the number ... it's something like 27 per cent are really very militant about going after things ... And you'll have to look at it. They did a very strong study. Let's see what it says. But it's a very significant number. It's not 100,000 people, I can tell you that. It's a ridiculous number," he claimed.
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09:25   Tamil TV star Sai Prashanth commits suicide
Popular Tamil television actor Sai Prashanth allegedly committed suicide at his residence in Chennai on Sunday, police said. According to police sources, the 30-year-old mixed poison in his drink.

"The reason behind the suicide is not clear. We think it could be loneliness," a police official said. Prashanths body has been taken to Kilpauk Medical College for post-mortem.

After divorcing his first wife, Prashanth re-married three months ago. Prashanth's parents, who are based in Hosur, were informed of his death. His mother Lalitha S Subash is a former vice-president of the state BJP.

Known for working in serials such as Annamalai, Selvi and Arasi, he had also starred in a few Tamil films such as Neram, Thegidi and Vadacurry.
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08:36   Don't make me the villain. I have the best intentions: Mallya
Liquor baron Vijay Mallya, who is currently in the United Kingdom and is being sought out over charges of money laundering, on Sunday claimed that the banks gave him loans after evaluating all aspects, adding that he is not trying to run to evade law enforcement agencies but is on a personal visit.

In an email interview with the Sunday Guardian, the business tycoon said that he feels that he already been branded as criminal in the country and therefore, it was not the right time for him to return.

"There was a lookout notice issued against me last year. But I didn't "escape". Why am I being portrayed as a criminal now? Loan defaults are a business matter. When the banks give out loans, they know the risk involved. They decide we don't. Our own business was flourishing but plummeted suddenly. Don't make me the villain. I have the best intentions. I'm quiet because I fear my words will be twisted like of others," he said.

Read the full interview with Sunday GuardianHERE
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08:31   Probe will cover all the transactions made by Kingfisher Airlines: CBI chief
Amid the ongoing controversy over liquor baron Vijay Mallya, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) director Anil Sinha has made it clear that the investigative agency will cover all the deals and transactions carried out by Kingfisher Airlines, as per a report by Economic Times.

The report by ET quotes Sinha saying that all the people who played a part in facilitating the deals including bank officials will be examined thoroughly.

With this statement, CBI makes it clear that it will not limit its probe to just Rs 900 crore out of total Rs 7,000 crore Mallya ownes to lenders.

On Sunday, a Hyderabad court issued a non-bailable warrant against the beleaguered businessman after he failed to appear before it in a cheque dishonour case amid reports on Sunday that quoted him as having said the time is not "right" for his return to India.

The court order in the case of alleged dishonour of a Rs 50 lakh cheque to GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd came even as Union Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya said a probe will be launched to check whether there were any anomalies in the Provident Fund(PF) contributions made by Mallya's Kingfisher Airlines for its employees when it was functioning.
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08:25   Avalanche warning In J&K, Himachal, Uttarakhand
An avalanche warning was again issued on Sunday for higher areas of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, advising people not to venture into these places over the next 24 hours.

The advisory was issued by the Snow and Avalanche Study Establishment (SASE), part of the Defence Research and Development Organisation.

'Medium danger' warning was issued for avalanche prone areas in Baramulla, Kupwara, Bandipore, Kargil, Shopian, Anantnag, Kulgam, Rajouri, Doda and Poonch districts of Jammu and Kashmir, the advisory said.

For Himachal Pradesh, it said 'medium danger' avalanche warning exists in areas of Lahaul and Spiti, Kullu, Chamba and Kinnaur districts. Similar warning was issued for areas of Chamoli, Uttarkashi, Rudraprayag and Pithoragarh districts in Uttarakhand.
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08:22   What to look forward to today...
* Congress Rajya Sabha strategy meeting scheduled to take place in Parliament at 10:15am today. 

* Whistle Blowers Protection (Amendment) Bill, 2015 to be tabled in Rajya Sabha today for consideration & passing.

* Former Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal to appear before ED today for questioning in money laundering case related to Maharashtra Sadan scam.

* West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee to hold an election rally in Siliguri, today

* Congress gives notice in Rajya Sabha over Vijay Mallya issue.

* Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi to participate in Girodhpuri Mela in Chhattisgarh today, will also visit Guru Gaddi Temple.
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08:18  
Good morning...

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