Press Trust of India

The Indian Air Force Friday lifted 425 stranded passengers between Leh town of Jammu and Kashmir’s Ladakh region and Jammu city on a request by the local administration, a defence spokesman said.

“Indian Air Force (IAF) once again came to the assistance of stranded civilian people today (Friday) when it launched special sortie to airlift 425 stranded passengers from Leh to Jammu and Jammu to Leh on being requisitioned by the civil administration,” said the spokesman.

NGO Common Cause Friday moved the Supreme Court seeking a stay on the government decision doubling the price of gas produced from Reliance Industries Limited-operated KG D-6 field that would become effective April 1.

It said the decision, doubling the gas price from $4.2 to $8.4 per MMBTU, was “arbitrary, malafide, unreasonable, and based on extraneous considerations” that would give windfall gains to Reliance Industries Ltd.

A court here has found prime facie evidence against all the 10 accused in the railway bribery case and ordered framing of charges against them.

Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Special Judge Swarana Kanta Sharma delivered the order Thursday.

The accused in the Rs.10 crore cash-for-post bribery case include former railway minister Pawan Kumar Bansal’s nephew Vijay Singla and suspended Railway Board member Mahesh Kumar.

“Be listed for framing of charge against all the accused people on March 11,” the court said.

India’s health workforce must be trained to be gender sensitive, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said Friday on the eve of International Women’s Day, March 8.

“To achieve health for all people, we must promote and protect the health of women and girls throughout life, not just during the reproductive phase. A healthy, empowered girl child grows up to be a healthy woman. A healthy mother creates a healthy family and a healthy nation,” WHO regional director for South- East Asia Poonam Khetrapal Singh said in a statement.

In a setback to the Congress, MP and former Uttar Pradesh unit chief Jagdambika Pal Friday resigned from Lok Sabha as well as from the party, saying that the the emerging leadership did not need leaders like him.

“The emerging leadership probably does not need people like me. Hence I resigned,” Pal, the MP from Domariyaganj, said here without naming party vice president Rahul Gandhi.

Pal, 63, has also been a three-time legislator and minister in the state.

Asked about his political options, Pal said he will go back to his constituency and meet the electorate to know their mind.

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah Friday described the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections as an ideological clash between secular and communal forces in the state as he expressed hope that his party would emerge victorious.

“This is an opportunity for people to make a discernible choice between communal and secular forces,” he said addressing local leaders at the party headquarters – the Sher-e-Kashmir Bhavan – here.

The elections would also prove as people’s endorsement of NC’s policies, programmes and performance of the government during over past five years, he added.

Jammu and Kashmir chief electoral officer (CEO) Umang Narula Friday asked political parties to abide by the model code of conduct during the five-phase Lok Sabha elections in the state.

At a meeting of political parties convened here, Narula requested their representatives to cooperate with officials and adhere to the Election Commission (EC) guidelines regarding poll expenditure, publicity, election manifesto, campaigning and the like.

The Supreme Court Friday issued notice to the BJP and the Congress asking them whether they were willing to explore the possibility of forming an alternate government in Delhi.

A bench of Justice R.M. Lodha and Justice N.V. Ramana issued notice as it was told that the entire justification for keeping the Delhi assembly under suspended animation was with an eye to possible defections in the existing legislative party groups of different political parties.

In the ever-increasing complaints received by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), a lot pertain to violation of the rights of the disabled, chairman of the rights panel K.G. Balakrishnan said Friday.

“The number of complaints received by the NHRC is increasing every year and a lot of these pertain to human rights violations of such people,” Balakrishnan said. He was speaking at the inauguration of a three-day National Moot Court Competition on Human Rights in the capital.

He stressed on the need to address the concerns of the vulnerable sections of society.

The Delhi High Court Friday declined to give relief to parents seeking to quash the points allotted to alumni and siblings in the nursery admission process this year and issued notice to the city government on the plea.

Justice Manmohan sought a response by July 25.

The lt. governor in guidelines issued Dec 18, 2013 allotted five points to alumni while 20 points were allotted to siblings in the same school.

A police patrol arrested a robber in the act while he was trying to rob a person after assaulting him, police said Friday.

Sonu, 23, was arrested when was he trying to rob one Musafik Alam in Kapashera locality of south Delhi after assaulting him.

Alam raised an alarm when he saw the police patrolling van passing by. Though Sonu tried to escape, he was overpowered by the constables and arrested.

“A mobile phone and Rs.2,000 in cash was recovered from him,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police Suman Goyal.

Set to launch the second season of his TV show “Satyamev Jayate”, leading Bollywood actor Aamir Khan Friday said he is not interested in joining politics, and does not consider himself a social activist either.

“I don’t belong to the field of politics, won’t be able to do well in politics. Why does one enter politics, to contribute to the society… I can contribute to the society from where I am. This is why I would not join politics,” said Aamir while interacting with women journalists at Indian Women’s Press Corps (IWPC).

Sporadic clashes occurred Friday at some places in the Kashmir Valley over expulsion and police action against Kashmiri students in Uttar Pradesh’s Meerut after they allegedly celebrated the Pakistan cricket team’s victory over India during an Asia Cup match in Dhaka.

Muhammad Yasin Malik, chairman of pro-independence Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), was arrested by police along with 11 supporters during a protest march here after the Friday prayers.

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) Friday issued notice to the governments of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu over the debt bondage of more than three lakh workers in the three states.

Taking suo motu cognisance of media reports, the NHRC asked the chief secretaries of the states to submit a factual report within two weeks.