LIVE! Kovind good person but it's fight of ideology, says Meira

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Sat, 08 July 2017

Kovind good person but it's fight of ideology, says Meira

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21:15 Kovind good person but it's fight of ideology, says Meira

Opposition presidential candidate Meira Kumar today said that his opponent, NDA nominee Ramnath Kovind, is a good person but hers is a fight of ideology.

"Ramnath Kovind is a good person but my fight is not against him, rather it is a fight of ideology," Kumar told mediapersons in Ranchi.

The former Lok Sabha speaker interacted with all the major opposition leaders and sought their support for the July 17 election.

Jharkhand Vikas Morcha- Prajatantrik president Babulal Marandi was, however, not present in the meeting. Kumar said she requested members of the Electoral College "to vote on their voice of conscience as the elections for the post of President is not on party line."

Later, she met JMM president Shibu Soren and his son Hemant Soren in their respective residences. Congress MLAs and MPs were also present in the meeting.

20:48

After a visit to Israel and attending G20 Summit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi emplanes for Delhi

20:44 CJI Khehar backs entry of foreign lawyers

Chief Justice of India J S Khehar on Saturday sought to allay fears of Indian lawyers over the issue of allowing their foreign counterparts practise, saying they are "no less" than offshore attorneys.

He said opening the doors of the courts for foreign lawyers will allow those here to improve themselves.

"I feel that Indian lawyers are no less than any lawyer in the world. Therefore, if we have any apprehension that maybe somebody will come from abroad and snatch our profession and substitute us, I don't think it's going to be like that. I think we will go abroad and snatch their positions," he said.

During his inaugural speech at the 'All India Seminar' organised by the International Law Association in New Delhi, Justice Khehar said, "We will also learn from foreign lawyers.

International exchange of lawyers will improve the system. Once you understand a new system, it will help us to improve ours."

He also referred to the fact that many countries have been approaching India to open its courts for them, but till now, it is non-committal.

"The Bar Council of India is opposing the move. The Advocate Act does not allow foreign lawyers to practise in India. However, it acknowledges that if some country permits Indian lawyers to practise in its jurisdiction, then lawyers from that country can be granted reciprocal privileges in India," the CJI said.

"But, now it appears that the BCI and the Society of Indian Law Firms have agreed in principle that the government's proposal to gradually open the legal profession to foreign lawyers but insist that this should be on

reciprocal basis," he said.

India today refused to elaborate on the "range of issues" discussed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping during their informal conversation yesterday in Hamburg, in the backdrop of a

standoff between their armies in the Sikkim sector.

"We have tweeted that the two leaders discussed a range of issues. A range of issues means a range of issues. I don't want to add anything further...I leave it to you to draw your conclusion," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Gopal Baglay said.

His response came when during a briefing here he was asked if a "range of issues" discussed during the conversation between Modi and Xi ahead of the informal meeting of the BRICS leaders on the sidelines of the G20 Summit included the standoff in the Sikkim sector.

"I'm not commenting on it because we have said what we have (to say) and as to the picture, well, the old saying is that a picture speaks more than a thousand words," was Baglay's response when asked about whether the picture along with the tweet showing the two leaders smiling was indicative of any de-escalation of tension between the two countries.

The informal interaction between Modi and Xi came a day after a top Chinese foreign ministry official had said that the "atmosphere" is "not right" for a formal bilateral meeting between them in Hamburg.

The standoff between China and India in the Doklam area near the Bhutan tri-junction has dragged on for the past three weeks. It started after a Chinese Army's construction party attempted to build a road.

Senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal today said the GST was 'goodbye to simple tax' and not a 'good and simple tax' as described by the prime minister, stressing that it was good for the government and bad for the common

man.

He said the advent of the GST had hit business hard, and small and medium traders across the country were facing harassment.

"The prime minister said this is a good and simple tax, our take on that is that it is a goodbye to a simple tax.

"The idea behind the GST is to have a simple tax which the UPA government also wanted. Here it is good for government and bad for the simple man," Sibal told reporters.

Training his guns on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he said, "Whenever this government has taken a big step that changes the basic economic structure of the country, the people are upset and the prime minister travels abroad."

Sibal claimed "the launch of a multilateral GST was for the rich, by the rich and of the rich" and was against the interests of the poor and small traders who were facing anxious times due to unpreparedness of the government.

He said the Congress would press for the GST legislation as earlier envisaged by it and that will happen when its government comes to power at the Centre.

The former Union minister said the GST was not a one-nation-one-tax regime. He said it was painful that the state governments were entitled to levy municipal tax over and above the GST, as had happened in Tamil Nadu in the case of cinemas which was the only entertainment for the common man.

He also talked about Maharashtra imposing a 2 per cent tax on registration of new cars.

Citing a media report, he said private investment in India today was the lowest since 1992 according to the data of 1,000 non-financial firms.

"This is because of the economic situation which has brought the private sector to its knees and sapped the wherewithal to make that investment. They have taken data of 1,000 non financial private sector firms.

The man who allegedly stabbed 16-year-old Junaid Khan on a train in Haryana last month has been arrested.

The Faridabad Police says the accused, whose identity they are keeping a secret for legal reasons, has confessed to stabbing the teenager.

The suspect, who was arrested from Maharashtra's Dhule district, will be presented in court tomorrow.

The arrest comes just days after the police in Haryana admitted they had wrongly identified the person they suspected was the main accused in the case.

The police on Monday had also offered Rs. 2 lakh for any information that could lead to the killer.

Junaid Khan and his brother, Haseeb, and two cousins were returning to their village on Haryana after a day-trip to Delhi to shop for Eid when a murderous mob turned on them.

Haseeb has said his skull cap was pulled off his head and his beard was tugged while the crowd shouted abuses at the Muslim men in addition to yelling they were "anti-nationals" and "beef-eaters."

The Directorate of Forensic Science Laboratories in Maharashtra has developed a portable kit which can determine if a meat sample contains beef or not.

`Cow Meat Detection ELISA Kit' can provide results within half an hour, said K Y Kulkarni, director of FSL.

The development comes amid controversies surrounding beef ban. The BJP-led government in the state has enacted Maharashtra Animal Preservation (Amendment) Act which bans the slaughter of bulls too, besides that of cows.

"With this kit, officials would be able to examine meat samples on the spot," Kulkarni told PTI.

"We have been working on the kit for the last few months alongwith Hyderabad-based scientist Dr Bhanushali. All 45 mobile FSL vans in the state will have this kit soon," he said.

The kit will help police secure more convictions in cases of beef possession or transportation, he said. If the meat sample fed into the kit contains beef, it turns yellow.

Then it shall be sent for further confirmation to FSL, he said.

Each portable kit is expected to cost around Rs 8,000.

As the kit will help determine if the sample contains beef or not on the spot, police need not make arrests or seizures on mere suspicion, Kulkarni said.

Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati today attacked the BJP led governments at the Centre and in Uttar Pradesh alleging that they were trying to hide their failures by resorting to 'gau raksha' (cow protection).

She also claimed that the GST was ushered in without full preparation and alleged that the BJP and RSS were "misleading" people on various issues.

"The RSS is now openly using government wealth, facilities and power to push its agenda of casteism, communalism and violent politics. In this case, BSP is being specifically targeted," Mayawati claimed in a statement today.

She said that the missionary movement zeal of BSP was intact and deep rooted in Uttar Pradesh and claimed that the BJP and RSS were misleading people.

They are spreading rumours, as they feel BSP as their real threat and challenge, Mayawati said.

"The coming of these casteist forces to power both in the state and at the Centre drops enough hints that they are interested in dividing the country and not uniting it... An atmosphere of fear is prevailing throughout the country, and there are incidents of targeted casteist and communal violence being reported," she said in the statement.

Mayawati accused the BJP of hiding its failures by resorting to 'gauraksha' (cow protection).

She accused the Centre of implementing the Goods and Services Tax (GST), a "complicated" tax structure without full preparations, after coming out with demonetisation.

On Saturday, at the G20 meet, the United States was represented briefly by Ivanka Trump when she filled in for her father Donald Trump at a round-table meeting with world leaders.

The US president had stepped away for a meeting with the Indonesian leader during the meeting.

However, the 35-year-old former fashion model took her father's seat and sat around the table with Chinese president Xi Jinping, Turkey's president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, German chancellor Angela Merkel and British PM Theresa May.

A photograph of her presence tweeted by a Russian attendee sparked widespread criticism on social media.

Some users highlighted that Ivanka is unelected, or questioned her credentials - as a fashion brand owner - to sit at such a senior diplomatic meeting.

IMAGE: Ivanka can be seen sitting in between Xi Jinping and Theresa May. Photograph: Kind courtesy Svetlana Lukash

As G20 leaders continued their summit discussions for the second day in Hamburg on Saturday, United States President Donald Trump walked up to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for "an impromptu interaction".

Arvind Panagariya, sherpa for India at the summit, tweeted about the "interaction", along with pictures of the two leaders and others just before start of the second day of working sessions of the G20 summit.

"In an impromptu interaction at the G20 Summit, POTUS (President of the US) waves to the PM, walks to him, other leaders gather around. Gr8 moments," Panagariya tweeted.

He further described the interaction as "some memorable moments just before the second day of the G20 Summit begins".

Panagariya, also the vice-chairman of government think-tank Niti Aayog, is representing India in the negotiations for the leaders' communique.

Besides a series of bilateral meetings, Modi had brief chats with various leaders at the Summit, including with IMF chief Christine Lagarde and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Photograph: Kind courtesy Arvind Panagariya

17:19 PM Modi raises Mallya issue with UK PM at G20

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today raised the Vijay Mallya issue in his meeting with United Kingdom Prime Minister Theresa May on the sidelines of the G20 Summit.

In his meeting with British PM Theresa May in Hamburg, PM Modi asked for UK's cooperation for return of escaped Indian economic offenders, the ministry of external spokesperson Gopal Baglay tweeted after the meeting.

Mallya, the fugitive liquor baron sought by India for defaulting on several bank loans amounting to nearly Rs 9,000 crore, is facing a hearing before the Westminster Magistrates Court in London for the hearing in his extradition case.

India and the UK have an Extradition Treaty, signed in 1992, but so far only one extradition has taken place under the arrangement.

16:52

India lodges strong protest with Pak over death of two Indian civilians in ceasefire violations by its troops: Indian High Commission.

16:43 Centre is behind Basirhat violence: Mamata

Continuing her tirade against the Centre, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today held the central government responsible for the recent Baduria and Basirhat violence which has turned the entire state into chaos.

"The Centre wants to impose President's rule in the region," she said.

Mamata said there would demand for a judicial enquiry into the violence that occurred over a Facebook post.

"The Centre has a non-cooperative attitude;. Te border areas are being disturbed with foreign hands having good relations with the Bharatiya Janata Party," she said while addressing a press conference in Kolkata.

She further said that the law would take it own course against those who had planned the incident.

"The Centre is not cooperating to maintain law and order in the region," she said.

Meanwhile, the North 24 Parganas Superintendent of Police Bhaskar Mukherjee has been removed and C Sudharkar Rao will take over the post.

16:11

Earthquake measuring 5.2 hits India-Pakistan border area in Jammu and Kashmir: IMD

15:36 Sikkim standoff: China issues safety advisory to citizens in India

Amidst the ongoing border standoff, China has issued a safety advisory to its citizens travelling to and living in India.

The advisory was issued on 7 July and is for a month. No reason was given for issuing such a notice.

The advisory comes as Indian and Chinese troops have been engaged in a stand-off in Doklam region in Sikkim sector June 6, which has led to marked unease in ties.

Last week, the Chinese foreign ministry said depending on the security situation China could issue a travel alert to its citizens visiting India.

According to the advisory, Chinese living in India need to pay attention to the local security situation.

On June 6, the People's Liberation Army destroyed bunkers of the India Army claiming the area belonged to China.

Of the 3,488-km-long India-China border from Jammu and Kashmir to Arunachal Pradesh, a 220-km section falls in Sikkim.

After Congress leader Saifuddin Soz said that he would have kept Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist Burhan Wani alive for sake of dialogue,another Congress leader today said that instead of firing on people in the Valley, Prime Minister Narendra Modi must involve in bilateral talks.

"Being a Kashmiri, Saifuddin is much more aware about Burhan Wani's matter. There are Wani's supporters in large number. One cannot solve any matter on gunpoint. Instead of firing on people, the prime minister must hold bilateral talks with people of Valley," Ex-Union minister Mani Shankar Aiyar told ANI.

Yesterday, Soz stirred controversy by saying said he would have held dialogue with the Hizbul terrorist, if he was alive.

"If it was in my power I would have not let Burhan Wani die. I wanted to hold a dialogue with him. I would have made him understand that a bridge of friendship between Pakistan, Kashmir and India can be built and he could also be useful in that. But now he has died. We should understand the pain of Kashmiris," Saifuddin Soz told ANI.

Meanwhile, security has been beefed up in the Kashmir Valley ahead of Wani's death anniversary.

Wani, who was the poster boy of the terror outfit Hizbul Mujahideen, in Kashmir Valley, was gunned down in an encounter in Anantnag district of Jammu and Kashmir on July 8 last year.

13:58

PM Narendra Modi in bilateral meeting with South Korea President Moon Jae-in, on sidelines of 12th G-20 Summit in Hamburg, Germany

13:54 Burhan death anniversary: Amarnath yatra suspended from Jammu

The Amarnath yatra was suspended from Jammu today due to law and order situation in the Kashmir Valley under curfew for the death anniversary of militant commander Burhan Wani.

Authorities clamped curfew in three towns, including Tral in Kashmir, and imposed restrictions on the movement of people in the rest of the valley.

"The yatra has been been suspended from the Bhagwati Nagar base camp in Jammu due to law and order situation in the Kashmir Valley," a senior police officer said.

Police and paramilitary personnel were deployed in strength across Kashmir to handle any security challenge.

The number of pilgrims paying obeisance at ice lingum of Lord Shiva at the 3,880-metre high cave shrine of Amarnath in South Kashmir himalayas has crossed the one-lakh mark as over 1.15 lakh devotees had darshan at the shrine.

The yatra is continuing from Baltal and Pahalgam base camps.

A Bharatiya Janata Party central team was today detained and stopped from visiting riot-hit Basirhat in West Bengal.

The BJP MPs comprising Meenakshi Lekhi, Om Mathur, Satyapal Singh were stopped by the police, following which an argument also took place between them.

"Do you know we are parliamentarians? If a privilege motion comes into force, it will be difficult for you," BJP MP Om Mathur told the officer who stopped them.

However, when Lekhi asked the officer if he agrees that there was a problem in the region, the police said that there was no problem, but it could arise if they visited the area.

Clashes broke out between members of two communities at Baduria in the Basirhat sub-division of North 24-Parganas district earlier this week over an objectionable Facebook post by a young man who has been arrested.

The West Bengal government said the situation was under control in Baduria, Swarupnagar, Deganga and Basirhat, which had witnessed violence. Prohibitory orders are in force there. No untoward incident was reported.

People in the troubled areas chose to stay indoors with shops and schools remaining closed and the transportation badly hit.

Even after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's warning, another case of cattle vigilantism has resurfaced in Delhi.

At least six people were thrashed by a mob in Delhi's Baba Haridas Nagar for allegedly transporting buffalo calves.

The mob vandalized six vehicles reportedly carrying calves and thrashed three drivers. Later, the calves were released.

One of the drivers Ali Jaan received major injuries while the rest have been discharged from the hospital.

An FIR has been registered by Ali Jaan's son against attackers.

On June 30, a man accused of carrying beef was allegedly beaten to death by a mob in Jharkhand's Ramgarh district.

Earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi warned people that killings in the name of cow protection would not be tolerated.

Three army personnel, including a Captain, were injured when militants fired at a patrol team in Kashmir's Bandipora district, police said.

The militants opened indiscriminate fire on the army patrol at Hajin in Bandipora late last night, a police official said.

The militants managed to escape under the cover of darkness, he added.

The injured were admitted to the 92 Base Hospital in Srinagar.

Passengers on-board an IndiGo bus at the New Delhi airport sustained minor injuries after a window shattered due to a jet blast allegedly from a SpiceJet plane approaching a parking bay.

An IndiGo spokesperson said the right front window of its bus was broken from the impact of the blast. Five passengers who received minor injuries were taken to the airport clinic.

The matter is being probed by aviation watchdog Directorate General of Civil Aviation.

"IndiGo Coach number 34 was parked at Bay 17 today at 16:50 hours for boarding of passengers on flight 6E-191 enroute Delhi-Mumbai. At the same time, an arriving aircraft of Spicejet SG-253 took a to park at the allocated bay. The jet blast from the aircraft broke the right front window glass of the coach," IndiGo said in a statement.

A response from SpiceJet is awaited.

After Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi's silence over the China issue, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday slammed the former saying that the Centre will never comprise on the ground of India's sovereignty, security and strategic interest.

"Rahul Gandhi has come back to the country it appears that is why we have heard the sudden statement. In any case with regards to any issue, whether it's China or anything else, under Prime Minister Narendra Modi leadership India's sovereignty, security and strategic interest can never be comprised," BJP leader Nalin Kohli told ANI.

He further said the Central government is entitled to take appropriate action and will do accordingly.

Rahul had questioned Prime Minister Modi over his silence on the issue with China.

Taking to Twitter, Rahul wrote, "Why is our prime minister silent on China?"

India claims Sikkim border as part of its territory, but China has said that the area falls on their side as per the 1890 treaty signed between British and China.

Consequently, China suspended the annual Kailash Manasarovar yatra and conceded that the decision to suspend the pilgrimage was due to the border scuffle.

The Chinese and Indian security forces posted at Doklam, an area near the Sikkim border, are locked in a standoff for almost a month now.

China has hidden the fact that the government of Tibet did not sign the very document, the Sikkim-Tibet treaty of 1890, which Beijing is showing to support its claim over the disputed Doklam plateau.

The ongoing border stand-off was triggered after Chinese troops started building a road in Doklam, which is also claimed by Bhutan, on June 16.

Leave aside 1890, China did not agree to a treaty on the Bhutan-Tibet and Sikkim-Tibet borders until as late as 1960. This was another fact that China did not mention when it went about using the 1980 document as the basis of its claim over Doklam, analysts said.

"The Tibetan government refused to acknowledge the 1890 Convention because they were not informed or made a party to it," said Claude Arpi, historian, and Tibetologist.

Tibetan and British troops had clashed a couple of years before, and this could be the reason why the Tibetan government did not acknowledge the treaty, Arpi said.

The Enforcement Directorate has raided Lalu Yadav's daughter Misa Bharti's house in Delhi's Sainik Farms. According to officials, two other raids at different locations are also being carried out.

Yesterday, Rashtriya Janata Dal supremo Lalu Prasad sank into deeper trouble with the Central Bureau of Investigation conducting raids across four cities in a corruption case in which his wife Rabri Devi and son Tejashwi are among the accused.

The searches, which started at 7 am and included Rabri Devis Circular Road residence in Patna, were spread across 12 locations in Patna, Ranchi, Gurgaon and Bhubaneswar.

The fresh case against Lalu come barely two months after the Supreme Court restored the criminal conspiracy charge against him in the fodder scam and ordered separate trial in all the four cases against him.

United States First lady Melania Trump yesterday was sent in to end the meeting between her husband President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin after it ran overtime, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said.

Tillerson explained that US President Trump and Russian leader Putin had such fine chemistry that they didn't want to stop talking even after their scheduled time over.

"It didn't work," Tillerson told reporters. The meeting between duo went on for another an hour after that, and lasted more than two hours in full.

Melania Trump was stuck inside a hotel the entire day in Hamburg on Friday due to anti-G-20 protests.

Melania Trump and other spouses of world leaders were to attend a series of events in the northern German city, which had to be severely curtailed because of the demonstrations.

"The Hamburg Police could not give us clearance to leave (the residence)," Trump's spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham said.

"First lady Melania Trump is unable to participate in events with G20 spouses due to protests," her spokesperson said.

Earlier, huge sit-in demonstrations were held by protestors as G-20 summit kicked off in the city.

09:17

UPDATE: The two civilians who have been killed in Pakistan firing in Poonch was a soldier on leave visiting his hometown along with his wife.

08:57 2 civilians killed in Pak firing in J-K's Poonch

Two civilians have been killed in Pakistan firing in the Poonch region of Jammu-Kashmir. Pakistan resorted to unprovoked firing in the Poonch sector along Line of Control; security forces retaliate strongly and effectively.

Curfew has been imposed in the valley to ensure peace on the first death anniversary of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani who was gunned down during an encounter on July 8 last year.

08:36

JUST IN: Curfew imposed in Hizbul Mujahideen 'commander' Burhan Wani's native town of Tral in Jammu-Kashmir on his first death anniversary, restrictions in rest of the Valley.

08:28 India to invite heads of 10 Asean nations for R-Day celebrations

In perhaps the most significant exposition of its 'Act East' policy, India will invite the heads of state or government of all 10 Asean nations for the Republic Day parade and celebrations next year. Asean is the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and has as members Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Republic Day 2018 will be the first time ever that so many leaders will together be chief guests at the parade which showcases India's military might.

Since it renamed 'Look East' as 'Act East' in 2014, the NDA government has sought a more "dynamic" and "action-oriented" approach in its relations with not just Asean, but also the wider Asia-Pacific, with emphasis on Japan. However, Asean continues to be the central pillar of 'Act East', and the special summit next year in January is expected to further underscore the point.

According to the external affairs ministry, this year, India and Asean are marking 25 years of dialogue partnership, 15 years of summit-level interaction, and five years of strategic partnership, through a wide range of activities, both in India and through Indian missions in Asean member-states, including a commemorative summit on the theme, 'Shared Values, Common Destiny' .

Russian President Vladimir Putin underlined the importance of staying calm in the North Korea crisis, saying nuclear-armed Pyongyang should be dealt with in a "pragmatic" manner.

"The North Korea nuclear problem is very serious. But here, one must not lose his cool, but rather act in a pragmatic and delicate manner," said Putin during a meeting with South Korean President Moon Jae-In.

The bilateral talks came on the sidelines of the G20 summit in the northern German city of Hamburg, where leaders of the world's top economies are gathered.

Ahead of the summit, Moon called for toughened sanctions against the North at a joint press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin.

But he insisted he was ready to meet the North's leader Kim Jong-Un in a bid to ease tensions.

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