Press Trust of India Narrating how he was offered milk and a roti made of bajra (millet) by a poor family in his days as an “ascetic”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi Tuesday said their gesture inspired him to devote his life to people like them.
Addressing the nation in his “Maan Ki Baat” radio programme along with US President Barack Obama, Modi said he was touched by how the family tried to provide him their best food.
The Supreme Court will hear, in March, the West Bengal government’s plea challenging the Calcutta High Court order holding unconstitutional its legislation to reclaim 400 acres given to the Tata company for returning to the affected farmers.
A bench of Chief Justice H.L. Dattu and Justice A.K.Sikri in a brief order said: “List the matter for hearing on a non-miscellaneous day in the month of March 2015.”
The order came after all the parties sought the hearing of the matter in which notice on West Bengal government’s petitions were issued to Tata Motors Aug 24, 2012.
Ukrainian troops and independence-seeking forces were locked in fierce fighting in eastern regions, killing at least 23 people, authorities said Tuesday.
The separarists had fired 120 times on the Ukrainian soldiers over the past 24 hours, with upsurge in fighting concentrating around the government-controlled Debaltsevo town, Xinhua quoted Ukraine’s army spokesperson Vladislav Seleznev as saying.
“As a result of combat actions, Ukraine lost nine servicemen, while 29 others have been wounded,” Seleznev told reporters.
The BJP Tuesday said the Congress was “cut off from the reality of changes” and “rattled by the successful visit” of US President Barack Obama, following criticism of Prime Minister Narendra Modi that he was busy doing his own “PR” (public relations) and not anything concrete.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu said “it shows to what extent the Congress is cut off from the reality of changes in the country and the significance of the initiatives of our government led by Narendra Modi”.
Police in the north-western Belgian town of Kortrijk confirmed Tuesday that three men have been arrested for suspected terrorism.
The three were arrested in the nearby town of Harelbeke Monday night following a car chase by police.
Police in Kortrijk confirmed Tuesday that the men have been kept in custody on suspicion of being in connection with the terrorist cell that was broken up by police earlier in the month, Xinhua news agency reported citing Het Laaste Nieuws.
The police spokesman would not give further details.
Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal Tuesday said his party was still committed to bring anti-graft Jan Lokpal legislation in the capital.
Addressing people at party’s Delhi Dialogue campaign in east Delhi, the former chief minister said: “Media kept saying that we forgot Jan Lokpal bill, but we were waiting for the end (of campaigning). It (the bill) is the only way to remove corruption.”
After ruling Delhi for 49 days, Kejriwal had resigned Feb 14, 2014 over the failure to introduce the Jan Lokpal bill in the assembly.
(IANS)
RJD chief Lalu Prasad Tuesday praised US President Barack Obama for his advice to have religious tolerance for all.
“Obama has rightly advised (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi for religious tolerance to all. Obama’s words were also a caution for Modi not to play politics using religion,” the Rashtriya Janata Dal chief told the media here.
The US president Tuesday stressed the need for the governments to uphold the freedom of religion written in the constitution of both the countries.
A girl student has filed a complaint of sexual harassment against a professor of the Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology (IIEST) in Shibpur in West Bengal.
“A student has filed a complaint against a teacher through the anti-ragging helpline. The nature of complaint is that of sexual harassment,” IIEST registrar Biman Bandopadhyay said Tuesday.
Sources said the second-year engineering student filed the complaint Jan 15.
Following the complaint, the institute’s internal committee for sexual harassment took up the matter and has already submitted an interim report.
Seven books penned by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee were released at the 39th International Kolkata Book Fair, which she inaugurated Tuesday alongside British radio and television presenter and journalist Anita Anand.
The books – five in Bengal, and one each in English and Urdu – were launched by Anand at the inaugural programme of the mega event at the Milan Mela ground.
Banerjee later said the number of books authored by her has now gone up to 53.
Speaking on the occasion, she said the book fair has a prestige associated with it.
The Japanese government Tuesday remained fairly tight-lipped over developments regarding Kenji Goto, a war journalist, being held captive by the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group, with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and senior officials declining to comment on speculation that it is in talks with the Jordanian government over a possible prisoner swap.
The Islamic State (IS) terrorist group has threatened to kill a Japanese correspondent and Jordanian pilot within 24 hours if a female suicide bomber imprisoned in Jordan is not released.
In a video posted online Tuesday afternoon, Japanese war correspondent Kenji Goto appeared with a message to the Japanese government, Xinhua news agency reported.
Dabur India promoter Pradip Burman, who figures in the list given by the government to the Supreme Court in the black money issue, moved an application in a court here Tuesday seeking stay on the proceedings in two alleged tax evasion cases in which he has been made an accused.
Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Devendra Kumar Sharma reserved the order on Burman’s plea for Feb 4.
An army officer – who was awarded a gallantry medal on Republic Day – and a policeman were killed in a gunfight Tuesday in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama district, police said. Two Hizbul Mujahideen guerrillas were also killed in the gun battle.
Col. Munindra Nath Rai of 9 Gorkha Rifles, seconded to the Rashtriya Rifles, was awarded a Yudh Seva Medal Monday, the army said in a statement in New Delhi.
According to army officials, Col. Rai was commanding his battalion in intense counter-insurgency operations in Kashmir.
A group of Islamic State (IS) affiliates attacked Libya’s biggest hotel in Tripoli Tuesday, killing at least eight and injuring several others before blowing themselves up, according to security sources.
The attackers set off a booby-trapped car bomb around 10 a.m. and then stormed into the Corinthia Hotel.
After a nearly four-hour crossfire and standoff with the security forces, two of the gunmen blew themselves up on the 21st floor of the hotel, Xinhua news agency reported citing the security sources.
The official LANA agency said one of gunmen was taken alive by the police.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi Tuesday expressed concern over the skewed sex ratio in India and blamed a “defect in attitude” towards girls and boys for it.
“There is a lot of worry because of the sex ratio in India. For every 1,000 boys, the number of girls is less. And the main reason for this is that there is a defect in our attitudes towards boys and girls,” he said addressing a special episode of Mann Ki Baat, his regular radio address to the nation which he conducted jointly with US President Barack Obama.
T. Rajaiah, who was sacked as deputy chief minister of Telangana two days ago, was Tuesday admitted to a hospital here after he complained of chest pain.
Rajaiah was taken to Apollo Hospital in Hyderguda around 6 p.m. after he complained of chest pain, family sources said.
According to hospital officials, he is undergoing treatment in intensive care unit. A team of cardiologists is attending on Rajaiah.
Doctors said Rajaiah was brought with high sugar and blood pressure levels. They described his condition as stable.
Israeli Ambassador Daniel Carmon Tuesday said since India has long served as a “peaceful” home to several Jews, it stood in good stead to teach tolerance to other nations.
“Anti-Semitism never set its foot in India. Jews have been living here peacefully without persecutions for over two millennia. This is a lesson and message of tolerance India can and should teach other nations,” Carmon said here during a commemoration event of the International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
US President Barack Obama Tuesday said though he had tough days at work, what inspired him was that almost every day, somebody told him that he had made a difference to their lives.
“The problems that come to my desk are ones that nobody else solves. If there were easy questions, then somebody else would solve them before me,” Obama said on a special episode of “Mann Ki Baat”.
“There are days when it’s tough and frustrating,” the US president said.
“But something which inspires me is that almost every day, I meet somebody who say you have made a difference to my life.”
Recalling the historic address of Swami Vivekananda, US President Barack Obama Tuesday won over his audience by referring to them as “sisters and brothers of India” and said he firmly believes America can be India’s “best partner” and together the two nations can bring more prosperity to their people.
In his final engagement in India, before flying to Riyadh and then home, the US president addressed a town hall-style meeting in Siri Fort auditorium, where he said: “India and the US are not just natural partners, I believe that America can be India’s best partner, I believe that.”
Indian IT bellwether Wipro Ltd will jointly develop software for smart and connected devices with German firm Software AG.
“The software solution will enable enterprises to understand how customers use their products in real-time and through streaming analytics,” the company said in a statement here Tuesday.
The joint platform will also provide real-time actionable intelligence for the Internet of Things (IoT) market.
German President Joachim Gauck Tuesday urged all Germans never to forget the Holocaust.
“There is no German identity without Auschwitz,” Gauck said in his speech to the nation’s parliament, Bundestag, on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp.
Gauck said: “The remembrance of the Holocaust remains something for all citizens living in Germany. It belongs to this country’s history.”
The president said that Auschwitz represented “the horror” of the Third Reich.
US President Barack Obama Tuesday said he will bring his daughters on his next India visit.
He, however, said that may not be during his tenure as the president.
“They (my daughters) very much wanted to come. They are fascinated by India, Unfortunately each time that I have taken a trip here, they had school and they couldn’t leave school,” he said during the “Mann Ki Baat” radio programme recorded with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Four men were feared drowned in two separate incidents during Saraswati idol immersion in the Yamuna river, police said Tuesday.
In the first incident, three men identified as Rajnikant Sharma, 23, Mukesh Sharma, 23 and Abhishek Jha, 26, went deep into the river but began shouting for help when they could not return to the bank at Bawana drain in west Delhi Monday evening.
The people present there informed the police and divers but they could not trace the ill-fated trio.
In the second incident, Rajeev, 25, was feared drowned in the same drain during another idol immersion.
The Equestrian Federation of India (EFI) Tuesday bagged the rights to organise International Equestrian Tent Pegging Championship 2015 at the Noida Sports Stadium March 10-15.
The tournament will be followed by four national championships and will be part of the Penta Grand 2015 being organised from Feb 26 to March 15,” the EFI said in a statement.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi Tuesday said he was inspired by the life of Benjamin Franklin, one of the founding fathers of the US.
“When I was young, I used to see (John F.) Kennedy’s pictures…,” said Modi, addressing his radio programme “Mann Ki Baat” with US President Barack Obama.
“I read Benjamin Franklin’s life story. He was not a US president, but he is an inspiration,” Modi said.
The prime minister said Franklin, in his biography, describes how people can change their lives.