Hyderabad, September 24: The Union government is planning to unveil a new agriculture insurance scheme– Modified National Agriculture Insurance Scheme (MNAIS), but with hefty premiums.
The new premiums would be five to 10 times more than the previous ones. However, the state and Centre would bear most of the burden.
This was announced by agriculture minister N Raghuveera Reddy at a press conference here today.
Hyderabad, September 24: The Ganesh idol immersion procession stretched into the second day with the last of the idols given a fond farewell on NTR Marg at 11 a.m on Thursday.
The gigantic Khairatabad Ganesh, over 40 feet in height, which is generally immersed during early morning hours every year, got delayed by four hours.
New Delhi, September 22: The situation in Kashmir was reviewed by the Congress top brass, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and party chief Sonia Gandhi, this evening.
The Congress Core Group, headed by Gandhi, reviewed the just-concluded visit of the all-party delegation to Jammu and Kashmir to assess the ground situation in the border state witnessing unrest for the last few months.
Home Minister P Chidambaram, who led the delegation, is also a member of the Core Group.
New Delhi, September 24: Directors of pharmaceutical companies are liable for criminal prosecution in the event of the company being found responsible for manufacturing defective drugs as it would seriously affect public health, the Supreme Court has ruled.
A Bench of Justices V S Sirpurkar and Cyriac Joseph passed the ruling in a judgement while dismissing the appeal filed by directors of a Gujarat-based drug company challenging their prosecution for supply of fungus-loaded drugs.
Hyderabad, September 24: Police today arrested an engineering graduate who was on the run after allegedly killing his beloved for ditching him.
A special team nabbed A Venkata Shekhar from the city on charge of murdering Divya, a B Tech final year student, on Sunday last at Vanasthalipuram here, Cyberabad Police Commissioner S Prabhakar Reddy told reporters.
Shekhar came in contract with the victim while studying in a private engineering college here about three years back, the officer said, adding the two later became close friends.
New Delhi, September 24: BJP today indicated that the decision of some members of the all-party delegation to meet separatist leaders like Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq only strengthened the latter’s position while showing the Centre as “weak”.
“In normal circumstances, the Mirwaiz and Geelani are only Friday speakers. But two things provide them oxygen — when there is unrest among the people which leads to situation where violence takes place and secondly, when one talks to separatists,” a senior BJP leader said.
New Delhi, September 24: Directors of pharmaceutical companies are liable for criminal prosecution in the event of the company being found responsible for manufacturing defective drugs as it would seriously affect public health, the Supreme Court has ruled.
A Bench of Justices V S Sirpurkar and Cyriac Joseph passed the ruling in a judgement while dismissing the appeal filed by directors of a Gujarat-based drug company challenging their prosecution for supply of fungus-loaded drugs.
Hyderabad, September 24: The Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) members reportedly got a shock of their life when the Moin-ud-Dowla Gold Cup was valued at a little over Rs 1 lakh at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Thursday.
There was more startling revelation to come when the valuer from the State Bank of Hyderabad (SBH) informed them that the cup was not made of of pure gold but a gold plated one.
Hyderabad, September 24: Bhagyanagar Ganesh Utsav Samithi (BGUS) expressed happiness on Thursday for smooth conduct of the Ganesh immersion procession in the city. BGUS president G Raghava Reddy in a press release said they would like to thank police commissioner AK Khan for maintaining law and order and not giving any scope to anti-national and terrorist activities.
“We once again thank the CPDCL, public works department for providing cranes for quick immersion of Ganesh idols,” said Raghava Reddy.
–Agencies
New Delhi, September 24: The Jnanpith Selection board chaired by noted Oriya writer Sitakant Mahapatra in a meeting in New Delhi on Friday decided to honour Urdu poet Akhlaq Khan Shahryar and Malayalam literateur O N V Kurup with Jnanpith awards.
Shahryar has been chosen for the award for his contribution in year 2008 and V Kurup has been selected for the honour for his work in year 2007.
Karachi, September 24: Pakistan one-day captain Shahid Afridi hinted at a return to Test cricket on Friday as the team returned from what he called the “most difficult” tour of his career in England.
The corruption-tainted tour ended on Wednesday with England taking the one-day series 3-2 after an Afridi-led Pakistani fightback had levelled the series. Pakistan also lost the Test series, 3-1.
Ongole(AP), September 24: Congress MP Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy on Thursday night said he will never feel isolated as his father late Y S Rajasekhara Reddy has found a permanent place in the hearts of the people.
“With his welfare schemes, late Rajasekhara Reddy has occupied a permanent place for himself in the hearts of people. Can anyone say that Jagan is isolated or alone,” he said while speaking at Kopparam village in Prakasam district during his ongoing ‘Odarpu yatra’.
Durban, September 24: Chennai Super Kings captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the toss and elected to bat against Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Champions league Twenty20 semifinal here today.
Teams:
Chennai Super Kings: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt), Michael Hussey, Murali Vijay, Suresh Raina, S Badrinath, Srikkanth Anirudha, Albie Morkel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Lakshmipathy Balaji, Doug Bollinger, Muttiah Muralitharan.
Islamabad, September 24: Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani today mounted a strong defence of the Pakistani President and asserted that Asif Ali Zardari enjoyed immunity from prosecution, amid stepped up pressure from the Supreme Court to reopen graft cases in Switzerland against him.
Gilani said his government has always respected and implemented the apex court’s verdicts but made it clear that no action could be taken against Zardari till he remained in the office of President.
Ahmedabad, September 24: In an effort to prevent fake encounters and avoid human rights violations, the Gujarat government has formed a Special Task Force (STF) to probe the deaths resulting from police encounters.
The STF will be monitored by a monitoring authority, a government notification said.
According to the notification, which was submitted in the Gujarat High Court today during hearing in the Ishrat Jahan encounter case, the STF has been given autonomy to investigate deaths resulting from police encounters.
Manila, September 24: A Philippine court has sentenced a father to consecutive prison sentences totalling 14,400 years for raping his daughter almost every day for a year, according to documents released Friday.
The man, a tricycle driver, was initially sentenced to death by lethal injection in March 2006 but his lawyer appealed his conviction.
The Philippine Congress abolished the death penalty in June of that year.
In a Sep 8 decision, the Court of Appeals confirmed the man’s conviction of 360 counts of rape against his daughter, who was 13 years old at the time.
Mumbai, September 24:Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan today denied any government pressure on police in the case of alleged firing incident involving Revenue minister Narayan Rane’s son.
“There is no political pressure from the Government in the matter, investigations are on. An appropriate action would be taken after the outcome of the investigations,” Chavan said while replying to allegation by Shiv Sena of “going soft” in the case.
New Delhi, September 24: The exclusive lanes for Commonwealth Games vehicles are likely to be fully operational from Monday as the athletes and delegates are expected to check-in by then, a senior officer said today.
“As most of the athletes and officials are expected to check in by September 26, from Monday the Games Lane is likely to be fully operational excluding other traffic on these lanes,” Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Satyendra Garg said.
He advised people to take alternative to the roads having Games lanes from Monday.
Agartala, September 24: President Pratibha Patil was today left amused when Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar presented her a five-feet tall “token gift” at a civic reception hosted here today.
The President whose departure from Aizawl was delayed for about an hour-and-a-half because of bad weather stuck to her schedule and directly reached the Town Hall where reception was scheduled.
In the process, she did not attend the customary reception at the Raj Bhavan upon her arrival.
New Delhi, September 24: Five-time world champion boxer M C May Kom was today presented Rs 3 lakh by Monnet Ispat and Energy Ltd. for winning gold in the Women Boxing World Championship in Barbados recently.
Sandeep Jajodia, Executive Vice Chairman and Managing Director, Monnet Ispat & Energy Ltd, presented the cheque of Rs 3 lakh to Mary Kom at a felicitation function here.
She was conferred the honour of Monnet Woman of Steel.
Lahore, September 24: Former Pakistani premier Nawaz Sharif today asked India to hold a “referendum” in Jammu and Kashmir, saying it is the only solution to the vexed bilateral issue.
“The Kashmiri people want independence from them (India). They want to make a decision through a referendum.
India should take this opportunity and hold a referendum as it is the only solution to the problem,” the chief of the main opposition PML-N told a news conference.
Sharif said the Kashmiris should be given the right to lead their lives according to their wishes.
New Delhi, September 24: The Supreme Court today sought a response from Dr Raneef, a dentist, as to why his bail should not be cancelled for the alleged conspiracy in the barbaric chopping off the hand of Professor T J Joseph by suspected activists of the radical Popular Front of India in Kerala.
A Bench of Justices Markandeya Katju and T S Thakur issued notice to Raneef on the special leave petition filed by the Kerala Government, challenging the bail granted by the High Court, even though he was charged under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention)Act.
New Delhi, September 24: Congress today backed the statement of party general secretary Rahul Gandhi that there are more important issues in the country than Ayodhya, saying it reflected the aspirations of a large section of the youth.
“He (Gandhi) contextualised the Ayodhya dispute. His statement reflected the aspirations of a large section of the youth.
“Young India even then (at the time of the dispute) had felt that issues which are connected to the daily life of the people and are fundamental are more important,” party spokesman Manish Tewari told reporters here.
Patna, September 24: Describing the RJD as a “sinking ship”, the BJP today accused Lalu Prasad of compelling his youngest son Tejaswee to take plunge into politics to revive the party’s fortunes in the upcoming Bihar Assembly polls.
Prasad has been rattled with mass desertion from his party ahead of the polls and decided to bring his 20-year-old son into the whirlpool of politics to revive a “sinking ship”, Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi told reporters here.
Hyderabad, September 24: The special court trying the multi-crore Satyam accounting fraud today dismissed a petition by three of the accused in the scam seeking postponement of the hearing in the case.
The XXI Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACCM) court dismissed the petitions of former Chief Financial Officer Vadlamani Srinivas, and two former Satyam employees D Venkatapathi Raju, Senior Manager (Finance) and Ch Srisailam, Assistant Manager, saying the petitions were devoid of merit.