Press Trust of India

Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy Friday said he was in touch with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj to bring home 44 nurses from Kerala who were trapped in strife-torn Iraq.

Chandy told reporters here that he has sought Swaraj’s help to see that those nurses who want to return to India be brought back.

“Information that we have from relatives of nurses, who are in Iraq, 44 nurses want to return. There could be more but at the moment we have information on 44 only,” he said.
(IANS)

The government will give the highest priority to conservation of water by creating check dams across the country, Rural Development Minister Nitin Gadkari said here Friday.

The availability of water through conservation mode will enhance the farm productivity by three times, besides providing employment to young people and fight the menace of poverty, Gadkari said, inaugurating a two-day national workshop on regeneration of rivers here.

At least three lakh devotees Friday witnessed the annual ceremonial bath of Lord Jagannath, his brother Balabhadra and sister Subhadra in Odisha’s temple town of Puri, braving the heat and humidity.

The deities were taken out of the sanctum sanctorum of the 12th century Jagannath temple in the beach town, about 56 km from here, in a ceremonial procession to the snana mandap – a 30 feet high pavilion inside the temple complex – around 7 a.m.

Terming a memorandum submitted to Prime Minister Narendra Modi by Karnataka as “full of distorted facts”, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa Friday urged him to order the immediaste formation of a Cauvery Management Board and a Cauvery Water Regulation Committee.

In a letter to Modi Friday, text of which was released to the media here, Jayalalithaa said: “The memorandum submitted to you by the chief minister of Karnataka, I reiterate, is full of misleading statements and distorted facts.”

The Supreme Court will Monday hear a plea by real estate baron Gopal Ansal to go abroad for his business dealings.

An apex court bench of Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar and Justice C. Nagappan said the matter will be heard Monday as Ansal’s counsel urged the court to hear his plea for court’s permission to let him travel to London and the US.

Incidentally, Friday happens to be the 17th anniversary of the 1997 Uphaar cinema fire tragedy in Delhi that claimed 59 lives and left 100 injured.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Friday challenged the opposition to substantiate its allegation that her government was not cooperating with the Saradha probe, and claimed the law and order situation was “very peaceful”.

Banerjee, replying to the debate on the motion of grants for the home department, rubbished opposition allegations that the ruling party was perpetrating violence on political opponents and said “family strife” cases were being depicted as political violence.

Guinness World Records has been approached to register Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s name for holding 1,800 political rallies across India in the run-up to the April-May general election.

“We approached Guinness World Records in London and they have now asked us to send them all the details,” Parthasarthy Sharma, secretary of an organisation here that comprises Guinness records, told IANS Friday.

Sharma, is a homeopath, and holds the Guinness record for examining more than 300,000 patients.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi Friday laid stress on reducing farmer’s distress, as the agriculture ministry presented a contingency plan for 500 districts that are likely to experience a poor monsoon, an official statement said.

A statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office said Modi reviewed “in detail” issues related to agriculture, rural development, water resources, organic farming, fertilisers and chemicals, and animal husbandry.

“The prime minister was briefed by secretaries of the various departments on plans for these sectors,” the statement said.

It’s a one-of-its-kind facility in Asia and is being used for training of pilots for landing on India’s largest aircraft carrier, INS Vikramaditya.

The Shore Based Test Facility (SBTF) at INS Hansa naval air station here, 30 km from Goa capital Panaji, currently meant for training pilots for the MiG-29K combat jet that is embarked on INS Vikramaditya, is also set to be used for training pilots of the Indian Navy’s version of the indegenous light combat aircraft (LCA) .

The facility, built with Russian help, replicates landing and taking off features of INS Vikramaditya.

The BJP-run Municipal Corporation of Ghaziabad Friday said it might not be possible for it provide its share of funds for the proposed extension of the Delhi Metro line from Dilshad Garden till the New Bus Stand here.

Municipal Corporation Board vice-chairman Rajendra Tyagi said the Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA) has proposed to compensate the local body by paying its money fetched from the resumption of municipal land.