Without a comprehensive counterterrorism strategy, Karachi will remain mired in chaos. And the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan would be the main beneficiaries of unprecedented anarchy, graduating from implicit to overt control of Pakistans largest city and, perhaps soon, the entire country.

Click HERE to read why Pakistan should act to contain violence before it spirals out of control

Protesting against inclusion of Kapil Sibal's name in "corrupt politicians" list released by AAP, scores of Congress activists today held a protest outside Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's official residence on Tilak Lane.        

 

Activists, who mostly belonged to Sibal's constituency -- Chandni Chowk -- gathered outside the CM's house and raised slogans against Kejriwal.         "Without any evidence, how can he (Kejriwal) call Kapil Sibal a corrupt leader? We have come here to protest against the CM's attitude," said a protester.         Kejriwal on Friday had drawn a list of "corrupt" politicians against whom AAP has decided to field candidates.        

 

Reacting to Kejriwal's remarks, Union Law Minister Kapil Sibal had said: "I am surprised that he dubbed me as corrupt. I give him two days to hand me the proof of my corruption otherwise he should resign from his position."

Regional parties from Andhra Pradesh today held a series of meetings with various political parties over the Telangana statehood Bill.   Even as TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu met leaders of BJP and JD-U in New Delhi, his counterpart and TRS supremo K Chandrasekhar Rao led a delegation to CPI.        

 

oth the parties held separate discussions with RLD chief Ajit Singh within a gap of three hours on the Telangana bill which has been listed for introduction, consideration and passage in the coming session of Parliament.        

 

While, CPI and RLD assured support for the passage of the bill, JD-U said the issue would discussed in the party meeting before arriving at a decision.         "Yesterday, we decided to call our party meeting and decide the future course. The situation is so peculiar, we will sit together and decide," JD-U president Sharad Yadav told reporters after meeting Naidu.        

 

Naidu said he emphasised on justice for both the regions --Seemandhra and Telangana -- and an amicable solution for the issue. Accusing Congress of playing double game over bifurcation, he alleged it has cheated the people of Andhra Pradesh.

In a strong show of unity, representatives from social and environmental movements today slammed the newly anointed environment minister, Veerappa Moily and the Prime Minister's Office for ignoring environmental and social concerns and impacts on local communities, while granting speedy clearance to mining and infrastructure projects.

 

In an open letter to Mr. Moily and the Prime Minister, over 200 organisations have said that such hasty clearances go against the primary mandate of the ministry, which is to ensure a safe and healthy environment for all Indians, a statement said.

 

The letter signed by a wide variety of human rights, environmental, community and wildlife groups and activists was released at a press conference in Delhi addressed by Samit Aich, executive director, Greenpeace India, Ashish Kothari of Kalpavriksh, Vimal Bhai of NAPM, Shailesh Gandhi, former information commissioner with Central Information Commission, and RTI activist Shekhar Singh.

 

It states: "The recent measures taken by the minister to grant speedy approvals and relax regulatory procedures has sent a clear signal that environmental protection and people's livelihoods are to be ignored in order to project an industry-friendly image of the government.'  The minister's actions over the last month have undermined the very mandate of the environment ministry, whose performance must be judged on how it protects the environment, and not on the number and speed of clearances it gives for India Inc's big ticket projects. Of course, Moily's predecessors have not necessarily been more responsible towards this mandate, as evidenced by the fact that virtually all projects coming to them have been cleared despite inadequate or fraudulent impact assessments. Over 2.43 lakh hectares of forests have been cleared during the UPA regime from 2004 till the end of 2013, the statement added.

Claiming that Trinamool Congress would decide the fate of next government at the Centre, party general secretary Mukul Roy today said the Mamata Benerjee-led outfit was all set to emerge as the third largest party after the Lok Sabha elections.        

 

"TMC will be the third largest party in Lok Sabha after the next general elections," Roy told reporters after addressing partymen in Bhubaneswar.   He claimed TMC would capture at least 32 of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal.        

 

As both Congress and BJP along with their allies would fail to form government, TMC as the third largest party would decide who will form the government at the Centre, Roy claimed.        

 

To a question, Roy said BJP's tally could be below 100 seats as the saffron party had no existence in South India. "Of the 170 Lok Sabha seats in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka, BJP may take 10 seats," he said, adding that similar was the situation in Assam, West Bengal, Odisha and Bihar.        

 

BJP could win 30 of the 130 Lok Sabha seats in eastern India, Roy said, adding that the condition of Congress was equally bad as it had been in power only in few states.

Rahul, while addressing mediapersons at the north eastern students' protest venue at Jantar Mantar, says "you can expect very strict action against the culprits'.   "What happened here is completely unacceptable. There is only one India and everyone is a part of it, everyone should get respect,' he says.  

The 19-year-old student Nido Tania, son of Congress MLA and parliamentary secretary in health and family welfare department Nido Pavitra, was allegedly beaten up by some shopkeepers following an altercation sparked by their taunts on his hairstyle which later resulted in his death at Lajpatnagar area of South Delhi.

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Monday evening met north east students who are protesting racial discrimination.   The protests and candle light vigils come in the wake of the murder of Nido Tania, a student from Arunachal Pradesh, in the national capital a few days back.  

 

Gandhi had earlier met Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde and urged him to speed up the probe into the incident.

The Aam Aadmi Party government today held a crucial cabinet meeting and cleared the draft of the Jan Lokpal Bill.

The Bill has the office of the chief minister, legislators and bureaucrats under its ambit. It also includes measures like stricter punishments if found guilty of corruption and provision of protection for whistle-blowers and witnesses. 

Describing AAP leader Kejriwal as a "political clown", Congress leader Mani Shankar Iyer today said the Delhi chief minister was levelling allegations "against all".

Talking to reporters after inaugurating a water tank constructed from the MP area development fund, the nominated member of Rajya Sabha said "Mr Kejarival is a political clown who is levelling allegations against all."

"The Congress has given Kejriwal an opportunity to form government in Delhi and he should use it properly and do well for the society. I am happy that my name does not figure in the list of "corrupt leaders" issued by him, Iyer said.

German President Joachim Guack will arrive here tomorrow on a six-day state visit to India during which he will hold talks with the top leadership and discuss ways to enhance bilateral ties.

Briefing reporters on the visit, German Ambassador to India Michael Steiner said Guack will be accompanied by a 80-member delegation, including 15 business leaders, during his India stay which was "the highest ceremonial gesture between the two sides".

The visiting dignitary will meet his counterpart Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The Vice- President, the leader of the opposition and the UPA chairperson will call on the President.

Rahul interacted with labour representatives from the organised and unorganised sectors and street vendors in New Delhi. He also appealed to the opposition to support bills on anti-corruption and legislation for street vendors.

A US-bound Air India flight from Ahmedabad with 260 passengers onboard suffered a tyre burst after it landed at the international airport here, airport sources said here today.

The incident took place last night when the airline's engineering staff found that three tyres of Boeing 777 aircraft AI-191 were deflated on landing at the airport here," they said.

According to the airline, the (Ahmedabad-Mumbai-Newark) flight was dispatched on schedule after replacing the tyre-burst hit aircraft. The passengers were deplaned safely and another Boeing 777 plane was arranged to enable them to fly on their onward journey, they said.

Opening a new front against outside supporter Congress, Delhi Government today wrote to the President seeking action against former Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit for alleged irregularities in regularising unauthorised colonies in the metropolis.


The move comes after the President sought Delhi government's comments on the report of the Lokayukta in which Justice Manmohan Sarin in November 2013 had ruled that granting of provisional certificate for regularisation of unauthorised colonies in 2008 by Dikshit was done to gain political mileage in the elections.

During the subsequent hearings, the Lokayukta also had observed that the conditions of the Supreme Court order have not been complied with during the issuance of the provisional certificates prior to the election and sent the report to the President. A complaint regarding the matter was filed by BJP leader Harsh Vardhan in 2010

Protection to Indian interests, especially oil sector, in natural-resource rich Sudan will be high on agenda when External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid will meet his counterpart Ali Ahmed Karti here on Wednesday.

Khurshid will also hold talks with other top Sudanese officials and meet members of the Indian community during the day-long visit.

India along with China are major investors in the Sudan-South Sudan oil sector. Several Indian companies like ONGC-Videsh Ltd, BHEL, TCIL, Progressive Construction Ltd and Tata Motors are active in the violence hit North African country.

Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi met a delegation of representatives from the northeast led by Member of Parliament from Arunachal Pradesh Ninong Ering to discuss the issue of security of youth from the northeast.

Rahul expressed anguish over the death of Arunachal student Nido Taniam and agreed that a free and fair investigation must be carried out into the incident

The Aam Admi Party today hit back at BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi for his remark -- that humiliation of the African woman by AAP-led government had brought disgrace to India globally -- saying citizens of all countries living in Delhi were safe. 

An unidentified student, armed with a rifle, gunned down a teacher and a policeman inside a school in Moscow on Monday.

After the Aam Aadmi Party accused the BJP of trying to topple its government in Delhi by bribing its MLAs, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath today asked the party to initiate a probe into the allegations.        

A relationship expert has listed out some things help in making a marriage a happy one.

After sealing an alliance with the CPI on Sunday, AIADMK chief J Jayalalithaa on Monday announced her party's decision to tie up with the CPI-M -- another key party in the Left Front.

The government is likely to allow  UIDAI, which issues unique identification numbers to residents, to start enrolments tomorrow in areas other than the 18 states and Union territories allocated to it for the purpose. 

After Congress MPs Sanjay Nirupam and Priya Dutt, another party MP from Mumbai, Gurudas Kamat has approached Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, seeking relief for power consumers.

The ruling Awami League would still bag more votes than opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party if elections were held today with the participation of all major parties, according to an opinion poll. 

Goa Legislative Assembly Speaker Rajendra Arlekar today refuted allegations of disproportionate assets levelled against him by a social activist in connection with the purchase of a plot of land.        

The Delhi high court has taken suo motu cognisance of the killing of an Arunachal Pradesh student who was allegedly beaten by some shopkeepers.     

Kanchi Mutt senior pontiff Jayendra Saraswathi was today shifted to a private hospital from Hyderabad and his condition is stable, hospital sources said.     

The Srinagar-Muzaffarbad bus service today resumed after remaining suspended for two weeks following a deadlock over the arrest of a driver from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir on drug trafficking charges.       

The Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill-2013, that was referred to the state legislature for expressing its views on the proposed bifurcation under Article 3 of the Constitution, was today returned to the Centre. 

It is not a good time to be a VVIP in India.

Now that the Lok Sabha polls are round the corner, the Congress's largesse knows no end. 

India is working with China, Japan as well as with its neighbours and friends to build a "security architecture" in the strategic Asia-Pacific region to help create an environment of development and prosperity, National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon has said.        

Nisha Biswal, the Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asia, has clearly stated that the Obama administration was "frustrated" by the slow pace of the reconciliation process initiated by the Lankan government.

AAP MLA Madan Lal claimed that the BJP had offered him Rs 30 crore to topple the ruling government in Delhi.

S Gurumurthy first met Arvind Kejriwal in August 2011, before the famous Anna Hazare fast demanding the Lokpal Bill. Spilling the beans on that meeting, which was not a confidential one -- unlike another one he had years ago with a Bofors payoffs accused -- the chartered accountant turned anti-corruption activist says this of the Delhi chief minister in the New Indian Express: 

India cannot afford to get too involved in the turbulent internal politics of Bangladesh. At the same time, Delhi cannot ignore the unrest plaguing its neighbour and close ally by putting on a wishful blindfold.

AAP leader Sanjay Singh claimed that the Delhi government led by the party had done more work for the people than any state government so far.

Leaders of the Aam Aadmi Party on Monday morning accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of trying to destabilise the Delhi government led by the fledgling party.

An accused in the sensational daylight heist in which around Rs 8 crore was looted in south Delhi's busy Lajpat Nagar area on January 28, was arrested by the police today. 

At a time when claims and counter-claims for apology (be it for the 1984 riots or the 2002 ones) are being made, journalist Rahul Pandita writes an anguished piece in The Hindu, why an apology cannot be absolution as there is no concept of absolution in the modern criminal justice system. 

The Supreme Court has asked the Centre to end the logjam over the Italian Marines issue within a week.

The Indian Fed Cup team captain Enrico Piperno has failed to get a visa from Kazakhstan for the Asia-Oceania group II tennis competition that is on in Astana from February 4 to 8. 

Writing in The Telegraph, London, Harry Wilson says former Fitch banks analyst Charlene Chu has warned of the impending collapse of China's debt-fuelled bubble.

And in Indian Express over the weekend, editor-in-chief Shekhar Gupta argues why 1984 won't end, in the light of Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi's recent interview to Arnab Goswami in which he didn't quite come clean on his party's role in the anti-Sikh riots. Nor will 2002 end, he says, until we have the courage to admit culpability and seek closure. Read his article here.

Chiki Sarkar, publisher of Penguin India, tweets: Just back from paying khushwant singh a visit on his 99th bday. He reads a bk a week!

The third round of spectrum auction started today with eight telecom companies in the fray. 

The BJP on Sunday organised a 'NaMo TeaParty' which saw party leaders holding an interactive session with the people in a bid to popularise the message and aims of its prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi. 

Aam Aadmi Party MLA Dinesh Mohania was today allegedly slapped by a woman in his Sangam Vihar constituency when he had gone there to study the problem of water scarcity in the area.        

The Gujarat Congress has demanded the resignation of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi for allegedly manipulating numbers related to Below Poverty Line families.        

In the ninth mishap involving Indian navy warships in the last seven months, an amphibious vessel was damaged when it ran aground off the coast of Vishakhapatnam.     

The Gujarat government today clarified that it had not issued any new guidelines for the identification of Below Poverty Line families, saying it could not take such a step unilaterally without involving the Centre.        

The focus on Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's alleged complicity in the 2002 riots has relegated to the background the murderous role played by hundreds of others who attacked, killed and raped with impunity during the communal carnage.

People from the North-East India face discrimination on a daily basis in Delhi.

Senior BJP leader Gopinath Munde today sought to know why Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar decided not to contest the Lok Sabha polls this time, when the UPA was facing difficult times.        

The final draft of the Jan Lokpal Bill, the flagship scheme of the ruling Aam Aadmi Party, is expected to be approved by the Delhi Cabinet today.

The UPA has called an all-party meet today in a last-ditch attempt to pass anti-graft bills that are pending in Parliament.