External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj addresses the Indian community and Friends of India in Jerusalem.

Delhi Transport Minister Gopal Rai today claimed that the papers flung by a woman on Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal pertained to the Centre and the Aam Aadmi Party government had nothing to do with it.

The minister claimed that the documents belonged to Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation which comes under the Union ministry of commerce and industry.

"PESO has 96 Compressed Natural Gas-testing centres across the country. These centres issue compliance plates to CNG-run vehicles and on this basis, Indraprastha Gas Limited employees refill CNG cylinders. The documents which the woman threw at CM belonged to two such CNG-testing centres in Delhi and the AAP government has nothing to do with them," he said.

"After examining these documents, it was seen that CNG-testing fitness centres were issued on a bike number, rather than cars, which indicates wrongdoings. I will write to Centre on Tuesday requesting it to order a probe into this case and fix the responsibility of those who are behind this," Rai said.

Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah has appointed Union Minister Prakash Javadekar and Piyush Goyal as election in charge for forthcoming Tamil Nadu assembly elections 2016.

That's PM Modi in Sikkim today holding forth on how to transform agriculture in the state. 

There's PM Modi in Sikkim and then there was PM Nehru in Sikkim. A study of contrasts.

A man, believed to be an Al Qaeda terrorist has been nabbed from Haryana's Mewat district, say reports. Abdul Sami, who is a member of Al Qaeda in Indian Subcontinent or AQIS has been remanded in police custody till February 1.

Sami, who is from Jamshedpur met Abdul Rashid, a cleric arrested earlier from Odisha. Sources said he had earlier visited Pakistan's Karachi via Dubai and was trained in Mansera, Pakistan.

Last year in September, Al Qaeda, had announced that it was launching a wing in the Indian subcontinent.

In a video message, Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri had said, "We want Islam to return to the Indian subcontinent, which was part of the Muslim world before it was invaded. It will serve Muslims in Burma, Kashmir, Gujarat, Bangladesh, Ahmedabad and Assam."

The NIA was today allowed by a Special Court to conduct a lie-detector test on senior Punjab Police officer Salwinder Singh in connection with the Pathankot terror attack probe.

The NIA team along with Salwinder came to the court of District Judge Amarnath and moved an application seeking court's permission to conduct the lie-detector test on him.

According to court sources, during in-chamber proceedings, the NIA told the judge that there were "inconsistencies" in the statements of Salwinder during questioning so they may be permitted to conduct the test on him.

The sources said that Salwinder has given his consent to undergo the test before the judge.

The court, while allowing NIA's application, directed the agency to get the lie-detector test within three days. Salwinder, who is at present posted as Assistant Commandant with 75th battalion of Punjab Armed Police, was shunted barely few days before the January one-two terror strike as Superintendent of Police (headquarters) of Gurdaspur and faces charges of breach of discipline.

Salwinder said his car was hijacked by terrorists before they entered the Pathankot IAF base on the intervening night of December 31 and January one. He had claimed he was kidnapped by the terrorists after his visit to the shrine and later let off as they did not know his identity.

Six terrorists were killed in a counter-operation by Indian forces at the athankot air base that lasted for about three days and also claimed the lives of seven security personnel.

PM Narendra Modi inaugurates an orchid and seasonal flowers exhibition at Gangtok. 

World number one Novak Djokovic said a member of his staff was approached about fixing a match early in his career, and he questioned whether betting companies should be allowed to sponsor big tennis tournaments.

The reigning Australian Open champion was speaking to Reuters after the sport was rocked by allegations that the authorities had failed to deal with widespread match-fixing.

Djokovic said that as far as he was aware there was no longer a problem with what he described as a "crime in sport" at the top level of tennis, but added that he had once been approached indirectly to throw a match.

I was not approached directly, I was approached through people that were with my team," he said, after cruising through his opening match at the tournament against South Korean teenager Chung Hyeon on Monday.

"Of course, we threw it away right away. The guy that was trying to talk to me, he didn't even get to me directly. There was nothing out of it.

"Unfortunately, there were some, in those times, those days, rumours, some talk, some people were going around. They were dealt with. In the last six, seven years, I haven't heard anything similar."

In 2007, Djokovic said an approach had been made offering him $200,000 to throw a match at the St Petersburg Open in Russia, a tournament he did not ultimately play in.

The 28-year-old Serb said that although he was confident there was no longer a problem at the top level, he could not speak for further down the tennis rankings.

Ten days before he was assassinated in January, my father, Salman Taseer, sent out a tweet about an Indian rocket that had come down over the Bay of Bengal: "Why does India make fools of themselves messing in space technology? Stick 2 bollywood my advice."

My father was the governor of Punjab, Pakistan's largest province, and his tweet, with its taunt at India's misfortune, would have delighted his many thousands of followers. It fed straight into Pakistan's unhealthy obsession with India, the country from which it was carved in 1947.

Read Aatish Taseer's 2011 piece for the WSJ if you still haven't.

Just in: Delhi Police Special Cell arrests suspected Al-Qaeda militant Abdul Sami in Haryana's Mewat, sent to police remand till February 1. 

BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha today said that he can win elections even if he contests as an independent candidate. He admitted that he has been getting "feelers" from other parties for long.

The Patna Sahib MP, who was sidelined by the BJP in the recent Bihar Assembly polls, also said he gave his opinions whenever the Prime Minister or the party did a good or bad thing and was never "disgruntled or sulking".

"Since I am a good man in politics, I have been getting feelers from other parties for ages. That's why I have been saying I don't have any problem," Sinha said, PTI reported.

"I have been winning by a record margin. Even if I contest as an Independent, it would not be a problem because a lot of people will support me," he said.

Sinha had won the 2014 Lok Sabha polls by a margin of over 2.64 lakh votes.

Once among the BJP's star campaigners, Sinha was kept out of action by the BJP leadership in the recent Bihar Assembly polls in which the party fared miserably.

He had often taken potshots at the party for the way it conducted the campaign in Bihar and even went on to term the grand alliance's victory as "victory of democracy".

"I could see the writing on the wall. I tried to make everyone understand through various means including Twitter. I also heard that they could remove me from the party. I said no problem you could as you were in a decision-making body, but they didn't remove me," he said.

Sinha said he has always taken a stand in politics, which he claimed was an inspiration for the youth."In politics, I can't be singing paeans in favour of someone. When the Prime Minister and the party did good work, I said it and when I didn't think it was good, I gave my opinion," he said.

He also said he was "never disgruntled or sulking" as was being reported by the media."I have always been cool, calm and composed. Come what may, I'll not compromise with my principles and honesty. I have not done any anti-party or anti-national work. I'll never do so. I understand the dignity of the party. I don't think they will remove me," Sinha said.

Dombivali has beaten CST, Thane and Kalyan railway station to become the most crowded and fare generating suburban station in the Mumbai division on Central Railway, an RTI query has revealed.

The reply to a query filed by activist Anil Galgali said that a total of 2,33,635 passengers travel through this suburban station every day and Rs 14,94,538 is collected via fares from there every day.

Thane stands on the second spot where 2,25,490 passengers use this station everyday while fetching Rs 13,84,020 as fares.

Figures on suburban daily average in terms of ticket selling, numbers of passengers and fare receivables of all 85 suburban stations of Mumbai division on CR also say that Thane remains at the top position in terms of ticket selling (60,895) on daily basis, while Kurla station was at the second spot from where 55,552 tickets are sold daily on an average.

This was followed by Ghatkopar (42,977) primarily due to the commencement of Metro Rail from this station.

French President Francois Hollande has declared what he called "a state of economic emergency" and says it's time to redefine France's economic and social model.

The first measures he proposed are relatively modest, and he said they would not "put into question' the 35-hour workweek.

He did not seek to assume any new emergency powers.

The measures included a loosening of some worker-friendly measures to encourage companies to hire, and new training for half a million workers.

Just in: NIA approaches Patiala House Court for permission to conduct lie detector test on Gurdaspur SP Salwinder Singh.

French president Franois Hollande declares state of economic emergency, wants to redefine economic model

Sensex plunges 267 points to end at 24,188; Nifty cracks below 7,400-mark, falls 87 points to 7,351

There is a need to bring some provisions in Whistleblowers Act to protect witnesses that would provide confidence to those who expose corruption, Central Vigilance Commissioner K V Chowdary said in New Delhi today.

He also emphasised upon making public aware on the procedure to file complaints under Public Interest Disclosure and Protection of Informer (PIDPI), widely known as whistleblower resolution. Chowdary said a whistleblower is the one who has the direct and personal information or leads which are very useful in an investigation.

A Delhi court today rejected the bail plea of Bhawna Arora, accused of throwing ink at Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, and sent her to one-day police custody.

Bhawna, who claims to be a member of Aam Aadmi Sena's Punjab unit, threw ink at Kejriwal when he was addressing thanksgiving event of the odd-even scheme at Chhatrasal stadium on Sunday.

She had accused the Delhi CM of being involved in the CNG scam and claimed she had proof to back her allegations.

Pic: Bhawna Arora was denied bail today.

JUST IN: Delhi court sends Bhawna Arora, accused of throwing ink at Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, to one-day police custody.

The scheme to clean the River Ganga in Varanasi, which is Prime Minister Narendra Modi's constituency, was today described as a failure by the country's top environmental court.

Both the Centre and the state government of Uttar Pradesh were rebuked by the court today, which said "your slogans are very contrary to your actions.

"The comments from the judges were provoked after pictures of bodies floating in the river near Varanasi were shown on behalf of a lawyer, who said no action is being taken to stop human and animal corpses from being left in the Ganga.

The National Green Tribunal has asked for an answer by January 27 on who should be held accountable for the increasing pollution in the river in Varanasi.  It rejected the state and Centre's claim that local officials are to blame.

In October, the Tribunal had asked the Centre to name "one place where the condition of the river has improved" despite thousands of crores being spent.

The 1,600-mile river stretching from the Himalayas to the Bay of Bengal is full of industrial effluent and untreated sewage, its banks strewn with garbage. 

During his campaign in 2014, the PM had said he would take personal responsibility for restoring the river, especially in the 3,000-year-old city of Varanasi that gave him a huge victory.

The Supreme Court has in multiple hearings been critical of the government's plans to restore the river.

In one hearing in 2014, it said the plan "would take 200 years" to yield results.  The top court has been asked by Public Interest Litigations or PILs to monitor the cleaning of the river.

More than 50 years have passed since Marilyn Monroe died of an overdose, aged 36, at her hacienda-style home in Los Angeles. Aside from the conspiracy theories surrounding her death, and that a life cut short does tend to retain a hold on our imagination, Marilyn's ongoing ability to cast a spell over men and women alike is largely due to the attention she paid to her image while she was alive.

Take a look at some pictures few have seen.

FLASH: Union Minister Bandaru Dattatreya charged with abetting suicide after scholar allegedly committed suicide in University of Hyderabad. Dattareya has been booked under the SC/ST Act. The HRD Ministry is to send a team to Hyderabad today.The Hyderabad Central University VC is also booked under the SC/ST act.

A 26-year-old Dalit PhD scholar committed suicide in a hostel room in Hyderabad Central University days after he was expelled from the hostel 12 days ago. V Rohith was found hanging on Monday morning. He was among the five research scholars who were suspended by the central university administration in August last year, and he had been accused, along with others, of assaulting a student leader, said police.

The suspension was revoked later.

"I feel a growing gap between my soul and my body," Rohith said in his suicide note. "And I have become a monster."

He ended his suicide note by holding himself responsible for his death: "No one has instigated me, whether by their acts or by their words to this act. This is my decision and I am the only one responsible for this. Do not trouble my friends and enemies on this after I am gone."

After his body was found, several students gathered around the campus and raised slogans, asking for a case under SC/ST Atrocity Act to be registered against Union minister and BJP leader Bandaru Dattatreya. They claimed that Dattatreya had asked the HRD ministry to take action against the five scholars including Rohit.

Ajit Chandila has been handed a life ban, while Hiken Shah has been banned for five years for their role in match-fixing during the Indian Premier League, the Board of Control for Cricket in India announced on Monday.

The BCCI's Disciplinary Committee, headed by president Shashank Manohar, also comprising Jyotiraditya Scindia and Niranjan Shah, made the decision after their meeting in Mumbai.

Chandila and Shah appeared in person before the Committee on December 24 last and were given time till January 4 to file a written response to the charges against them.

It met again on January 5 when Shah appeared in person, made an oral submission and a written reply to the findings of the enquiry against him.

Chandila was arrested by the police for trying to spot-fix IPL games in 2013 along with Rajasthan Royals teammates Sreesanth and Ankit Chavan, both of whom have been banned for life by the BCCI.

Shah approached one of his colleagues from first-class cricket, who was also a member of one of the IPL teams.

The inappropriately approached player had reported it to his franchise team, which passed on the information to Anti Corruption Unit of the BCCI.

EAM Sushma Swaraj meets Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv.

Congress President Sonia Gandhi has postponed her two-day visit from tomorrow to her Rae Bareli constituency in Uttar Pradesh, party sources said today. The postponement is due to local body elections, they said.

The Narendra Modi government has slashed foreign tours of senior officials to five days from the earlier 15. The government has circulated a notice, a copy of which is available with Rediff.com, to all secretaries to the government of India.

A 25-point action plan on foreign visits of senior officials has now been issued by the Department of Expenditure with the consent of Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and also the Prime Minister's Office.  One of these points say that no officer can also undertake more than four official foreign visits in a year. While, another rule says that secretaries cannot undertake foreign visits while the Parliament is in session unless unavoidable.

This change has been introduced by the BJP government to ensure that officials above the designation of Deputy Secretary to the Government of India do not spend working days away from India and undertake frequent foreign tours.

Prime Minister Modi, meanwhile, has notched up 33 foreign tours since he took over the reins of government in May 2014.

Read the complete list of do's and don'ts for foreign travel.

The BJP on Monday rubbished the allegations made by the Aam Aadmi Party leaders, and said that the Arvind Kejriwal led-party should rename itself 'All Antics Party'.

"I think the Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) antics are never going to end. I think they should rename their party as 'All Antics Party', because they are not concerned in serious issues of governance. They want to rake up such non issues and the person involved in the ink attack seems to have links with the AAP," BJP spokesperson GVL Narsimha Rao told ANI.

"It is natural for the people to doubt the very nature of these incidents. Any such incidents in public life are condemnable. We condemn such incidents but at the same time would also urge the AAP leaders to stop politicising such incidents," he added.

"They came to power saying that they don't want security and want the people to be secured by the Delhi Police. But they are doing the exact opposite. I think this is complete hypocrisy at its worst. This is petty politicking on the basis of minor incident," he further said.

Earlier, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia had alleged that the ink attack was scripted by the BJP with the help of the Delhi Police.

"The whole incident was scripted by the BJP with the help of the Delhi Police. The BJP can even get the Chief Minister murdered," he said. "The incident shows that the Delhi Police are ready for a deadly attack on Kejriwal. Police are not even concerned about the safety of the Chief Minister and the people of the city," he added.

America's decision to lift its sanctions on Iran has provided a major boost for India, as the modalities for making payments for oil has now been eased.

From now on, payments to Iran will directly be made, for which the modalities will be worked out.

According to a top source in South Block, Petroleum Secretary K D Tripathi  today said he was keen to get in touch with Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das and also with the Foreign office to get some clarity on the political situation in Iran.

India heaved a sigh of relief on Monday when offices of joint secretaries opened after the weekend. Phones were busy as officials tried to get a handle on the approach of India towards Iran in the future. Unless a proper policy framework and guidelines are chalked out with the Prime Minister's Office, India cannot react.

Hyderabad: Family members mourn death of expelled scholar who committed suicide. Rohit, who was pursuing a doctorate, was found dead on Sunday evening. He was reportedly thrown out of his hostel two weeks ago and had been camping outside the university gate with four other research scholars. According to his friend Venkat, Rohit, who was active in the Ambedkar union of Dalit students, was "heartbroken" that his requests for an appointment with the Vice Chancellor had been ignored even though he had been living in the open for days.

On Friday, on Pongal, Delhi Government officials visited Tamil Nadu House, the official state government guesthouse to have a look at the pavilion where Amma Idli was being sold. AAP wants to replicate this popular welfare scheme of selling "AAP Chapati" for Re 1 and sabzi for Rs 2.  Amma canteens sell idli for Re 1, sambar rice for Rs 5 and curd rice for Rs 3.

The idea was discussed with the pavilion vendors by Delhi government officials to study the selling and marketing patterns.

On Pongal, the lawns of Tamil Nadu house was packed with stalls of Amma canteen which sold  Amma idli, Amma salt, Amma water, Amma butter and Amma milk cake.

This was a two-day affair which also saw folk dances and jallikattu videos in a mini auditorium temporarily built with bamboo.

We can tell you this that the Tamil population in Delhi enjoyed the Amma idlis.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in July had approved the Delhi Dialogue Commission proposal to set up Aam Aadmi Canteens all over the city. The canteens were to start in two months to provide safe, nutritious and delicious food between Rs 5 and Rs 10.

Wealth inequality has grown to the stage where 62 of the world's richest people own as much as the poorest half of humanity combined, according to a new report.

The research, conducted by the charity Oxfam, found that the wealth of the poorest half of the world's population - 3.6 million people - has fallen by 41 per cent, or a trillion US dollars, since 2010.

While this group has become poorer, the wealth of the richest 62 people on the planet has increased by more than half a trillion dollars to $1.76 trillion.

The report, "An Economy for the 1%", says the gap between the global richest and the global poorest has widened in just the last 12 months. In 2011 388 people had the same wealth as the poorest half of humanity. In 2011 this fell to 177. The number has continued to fall each year to 80 in 2014 and 62 in 2015. The research was released days ahead of the annual gathering of the world's elite in Davos for the World Economic Forum 2016.

Oxfam GB chief executive Mark Goldring said a crackdown on global tax havens was a necessary step towards ending the rampant global inequality.

"It is simply unacceptable that the poorest half of the world population owns no more than a small group of the global super-rich - so few, you could fit them all on a single coach," he said.

 "World leaders' concern about the escalating inequality crisis has so far not translated into concrete action to ensure that those at the bottom get their fair share of economic growth. In a world where one in nine people go to bed hungry every night we cannot afford to carry on giving the richest an ever bigger slice of the cake.

"We need to end the era of tax havens which has allowed rich individuals and multinational companies to avoid their responsibilities to society by hiding ever increasing amounts of money offshore.

"Tackling the veil of secrecy surrounding the UK's network of tax havens would be a big step towards ending extreme inequality. Three years after he made his promise to make tax dodgers 'wake up and smell the coffee', it is time for David Cameron to deliver."

In November the Public Accounts Committee of MPs warned that HMRC had made "little or no progress" on measures to reveal the scale of aggressive tax avoidance happening in Britain.

In addition, last year the Office for Budget Responsibility announced that George Osborne's tax avoidance crackdown had missed its target by hundreds of millions of pounds.
-- The Independent.

The body of V Rohit, a Dalit PhD scholar who was found hanging at the Central University's hostel room in the Hyderabad campus yesterday, was sent for post mortem amid protests from fellow students this morning.

According to Cyberabad Police Commissioner CV Anand, the situation is now "fine" on the campus.

Mild tension prevailed on the campus after scores of students gathered and held demonstration along with Rohit's body and raised slogans last night.

The students demanded police register a case under SC/ST Atrocity Act against Union minister and BJP leader Bandaru Dattatreya while alleging that he had written to the HRD ministry seeking action against these research scholars.

"The body has been sent for post mortem. Though no untoward incident has been reported on the campus, we see some tension-like situation here," a police official said. Rohit was among the five research scholars who were suspended by Hyderabad Central University (HCU) in August last year and also one of the accused in the case of assault on a student leader, Anand had said.

The suspension was revoked later. Further investigation in the case is on. The five research scholars were suspended from the hostel for rest of their study period for allegedly attacking an ABVP leader.

India's Constitution isn't perfect. No document drafted by committee can be. But it is a miracle. In the middle of the 20th century, against a backdrop of genocidal violence, the Constituent Assembly wrote the rules for liberal democracy on a continental scale. In the most unequal place on earth, the founders insisted that every adult had the right to vote and stand for election regardless of sex, education, status or wealth. In a stroke they made mass democracy the political norm, not a distant goal to be reached in baby steps.

Read Mukul Kesavan's piece for the Telegraph.

Another accused in hit-and-run case arrested from New Delhi by the anti-rowdy section of Kolkata Police: PTI

India's December gold imports up 179.05 percent to $3.81 billion

Yuki Bhambri out of Australian open, loses to 6th seed Tomas Berdych 5-7 1-6 2-6 in first Round.

BSF transfers Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Gurdaspur sector, N K Mishra and Commandant S S Dwas

JUST IN: Fire breaks out on the fifth floor of Times Square building in Mumbai's Andheri East, eight fire tenders rushed to the spot: ANI