Qayam Ali

The Information and Broadcasting Ministry has not responded yet on the demand of the students of FTII of removal of TV actor and BJP member Gajendra Chauhan from the post of chairman of its governing council even as their strike entered the fourth day today.

“We have written to the I&B Ministry about our demands.

There is no response as yet,” Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) students’ association president Harishankar Nachimuthu told.

Veteran Sri Lankan batsman Kumar Sangakkara is likely to retire from international cricket after the first Test against India in Galle later this year.

Sangakkara has had a talk with SLC officials regarding his swansong Test and his willingness to play two Tests against Pakistan and the opening game versus India besides his county commitments with Surrey, reported ‘ESPNcricinfo’.

The India series, which is slated for an August 18 start in Galle, was already supposed to be Sangakkara’s final hurrah, but the left-handed batsman was expected to play all the three Tests against India.

Edinburgh-based Cairn Energy plc and state-owned insurer LIC hold the key to billionaire Anil Agarwal’s move to absorb his cash-rich oil firm Cairn India Ltd into debt-laden resources arm Vedanta Ltd.

The merger, under which Cairn India shareholders will receive one equity share and one 7.5% preference share in Vedanta Ltd for every share they hold, needs approval of at least half of the minority shareholders.

Queen Elizabeth II used to do impersonations of former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, mocked her accent and referred to her as “that woman” to Commonwealth leaders, a new book has claimed.

There have long been claims about tensions between the Queen and Thatcher during her time in Downing Street and a new book by Dean Palmer has put the spotlight on the rapport between the two most powerful women in recent history, claiming that they had repeated disagreements that were “very personal, class driven and distinctly female”.

Billionaire Anil Agarwal-led mining firm Vedanta Ltd will ultimately be held accountable for Cairn India’s $3.2-billion tax liability after it absorbs the cash-rich oil firm, Moody’s Investors Service said.

The I-T Department had in March imposed a tax demand of Rs 20,495 crore on Cairn India for failing to deduct withholding tax on alleged capital gains made by its erstwhile promoter, Cairn Energy.

Over 170 people had a narrow escape when a tyre of an Air India flight burst during landing at an airport in Srinagar.

The tyre of the flight AI-821, from Jammu, burst when the plane made a landing at Srinagar International Airport, officials said.

They said the plane was carrying 167 passengers and crew and all of them were safe.

The runway suffered some damage and the plane has been stuck in the middle resulting in the temporary halting of the flight operations at the airport, the officials said.

Stephen Hawking’s son has confessed that he used to play pranks on his father by programming swear words into his speech machine.

Tim Hawking, 36, made the confession in an upcoming BBC documentary, while admitting that it was was only after his father got his synthesised voice that they were able to communicate properly. Tim, who works for toy company Lego, said that he had never known his father as a healthy man.

India on Monday signed a major motor vehicles pact with three SAARC nations — Bhutan, Bangladesh and Nepal — that will enable seamless transit of passenger and cargo vehicles among them.

A similar pact is on the anvil among India, Myanmar and Thailand that will pave the way for greater economic cooperation in the Asian region.

India’s cotton production is expected to decline for the second consecutive year to 37.5 million bales in 2015-16 marketing season, due to a likely fall in yields on account of delayed sowing, weather and low price realisation, according to USDA’s latest report.

For the 2014-15 marketing season (August-July), the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has forecast cotton output to be 38 million bales while the government has projected 35.3 million bales. One bale is 170 kg of cotton.

A 15-member team of the Telangana police has reached Shirdi and is searching for legendary ghazal singer Pandit Vithal Rao from Hyderabad, who had gone missing from the pilgrim town of Shirdi in Ahmednagar district since the last ten days.

A local police team in Shirdi also looked for Mr Vithal Rao but could not find him. The Telangana police special crime team is headed by circle inspector V. Shyam Babu.

Congress today stepped attacked on External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj alleging there was “quid pro quo” involved in her “assistance” to Lalit Modi in obtaining British travel documents and demanded that the scam- tainted former IPL Commissioner be brought back and tried in India.

Congress national spokesperson P L Punia said, “There are circumstances which establish contact between Sushma Swaraj and Lalit Modi. As a quid pro quo, Sushma Swaraj has done favour to a tainted person who is accused of Rs 700 crore money laundering, tax evasion and several other charges.

Over 6.3 lakh students will have to take fresh test as the Supreme Court today scrapped the All India Pre-Medical Test (AIPMT) 2015 and ordered re-conduct of the examination within four weeks.

A vacation bench of justices R K Agrawal and Amitava Roy directed the institutions involved in conduct of the examination to render assistance to Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) in this endeavour within the stipulated period decided by it.

“Petitions are allowed. CBSE to hold AIPMT 2015 exam within four weeks,” the bench said in its verdict.

Kicking up a storm, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Sunday said that the Indian Army’s importance has diminished because the country hasn’t gone to war in the past 40-50 years.

“Soldiers were facing immense difficulties because people’s respect for the army has reduced during peacetime,” he said at a seminar in Jaipur.

However, he clarified his statement saying that he doesn’t endorse wars.

The terror of targeted killings continued in Sopore today as suspected militants shot dead a man in the fourth such attack in the north Kashmir town in the last seven days and the second since yesterday.

According to police, Aijaz Ahmad Reshi, a former militant, was shot dead by unidentified gunmen outside his residence in the Mundji locality of Sopore town.

No militant outfit has so far claimed responsibility for the attack.
This is fourth targeted killing in the past seven days.

Suspected gunmen of a Hizbul Mujahideen faction had yesterday killed a shopkeeper Sopore.

Indian spices maintained their robust demand in the international market with their export touching a whopping Rs 14,899.68 crore in 2014-15 as compared to Rs 13,735.39 crore (US $2,267.67 million) a year earlier.

Chilli, mint and mint products, cumin, spice oils and oleoresins, pepper, turmeric, coriander, small cardamom, curry powder/paste and fenugreek contributed substantially to the spice export basket as the demand for Indian spices scaled up phenomenally at the global level.

Easing prices of fuel, food items and manufactured goods kept inflation in the negative zone for the seventh consecutive month in May, although prices fell at a slower rate of (-)2.36% as against the previous month.

The Wholesale Price Index (WPI) based inflation was (-)2.65% in April. It has been in the negative zone since November 2014.

Inflation in May last year was 6.18%.

The lower inflation comes amid a forecast of deficient monsoon this year.

As per the government data released today, vegetable inflation was (-)5.5%, with potato recording a dip of about 52%.

The chain hunger strike launched by a coordination committee of various civil society groups spearheading agitation in support of setting up of an AIIMS in Jammu region, entered fourth day on Monday.

Around 30 members from various groups which are a part of the AIIMS coordination committee on Monday took their turn to sit on strike.

“It is fourth consecutive day of the strike. 30 members from various groups which are part of AIIMS coordination committee today took their turn to sit on the strike,” said Abhinav Sharma, president of the J&K High Court Bar Association Jammu (BAJ).

Demanding a CBI probe into killing of Journalist Jagendra Singh in Shahjahanpur, BJP MP Yogi Adityanath has said that justice could not be meted to his family if the matter is probed by the state. “I demand a CBI probe into the matter as justice could not be meted to family members of the victim’s family if matter is probed by state agencies,” Adityanath told reporters on sidelines of a function here last night.

In a retort to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s advice to BJP president Amit Shah to practice yoga regularly at home without much ado, his Jharkhand counterpart Raghuvar Das, on Saturday, branded him as ‘arrogant and proud’.

“Nitish Kumar is arrogant and proud. The people of Bihar will teach him a lesson in the forthcoming assembly poll,” Mr Das, who held a meeting with party workers in regard with the preparation for the World Yoga Day on June 21, told newsmen.

Former Union minister and senior Congress leader Anand Sharma today said that economy of the country was in “struggling” phase and sought a white paper on overdraft and financial position of the Union government.

“The NDA government’s claims that the economy is on recovery path are hollow and misplaced and in fact it is in struggling phase with all the parameters of growth like manufacturing, service sector, agriculture and exports have shown declining trends,” Mr Sharma said.

He demanded a white paper on overdraft and financial position of the union government.

Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi will today embark on a two-day visit of Chhattisgarh during which he will meet villagers affected by coal mining, power projects and wild elephants menace.

Mr Gandhi will arrive at Bilaspur district headquarters in a special plane at around 8.30 AM and directly leave for Madanpur in Korba district where he will meet farmers and forest dwellers affected by coal mining, Congress state unit’s general secretary Shailesh Nitin Trivedi told PTI.

Mr Gandhi will hold discussions with the villagers there.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Sunday condoled the death of former Himachal Pradesh governor and ex-union minister Sheila Kaul, saying her absence would be felt by the party for a long time.

Mrs Gandhi said Ms Kaul’s “absence will be felt by the Congress party for a long time to come”, said another tweet.

Ms Kaul, 101, was ill for a brief period before her death on Saturday night.

Elected to the Lok Sabha for five terms, Ms Kaul was arguably the oldest surviving former member of parliament.

She was a sister-in-law of India’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru.

Kolkata is all set to have direct flights to Colombo, starting this Wednesday.

Sri Lanka government’s low-cost carrier Mihin Lanka will operate the service thrice a week from the Netaji Subhas Chandra International Airport.

The direct air link will cut down travel time to the Sri Lankan capital by three hours, president of Indian Association of Tour Operators Subhash Goyal said.

“This will not only save time for passengers, but will be very economical as well. We are focussed on providing customers with world-class travel facility at an affordable price,” Mr Goyal told PTI.

Yoga-guru Ramdev will be conducting a two-day yoga training camp at Panchkula from today in which Haryana legislators cutting across parties have been invited.

Ramdev arrived in Chandigarh on Sunday evening after holding a preparatory session with his followers at Jawahar Lal Nehru stadium in New Delhi ahead of the first International Yoga Day celebrations on June 21.

While external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj said she helped former IPL chief Lalit Modi on “humanitarian grounds” to attend to his wife who was undergoing treatment for cancer in Lisbon last year, Huffington Post India said the travel document was issued till 2016, and Modi was seen partying with celebrities like Naomi Campbell and Paris Hilton in foreign locales.

Huffington Post India reproduced the email exchanges between Sushma Swaraj, Lalit Modi, Indian-origin British MP Keith Vaz, and the minister’s family.