Month: December 2010

Will continue struggle for independent Purvanchal

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Gorakhpur (UP), December 31: Expelled SP leader and Lokmanch national president Amar Singh today said he will continue his struggle for independent Purvanchal state, carved out of Uttar Pradesh.

“I will struggle for a separate Purvanchal state, come what may,” he told a rally at Champadevi Park here on the conclusion of his month-long Purvanchal Swabhiman Vikas Yatra across eastern UP.

The area is rich in natural resources, manpower and industrial potential, but no one has made any serious effort to tap the energy of eastern UP, he said.

Technical institutes have to reserve up to 5% seats

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New Delhi, December 31: From now, technical institutes approved by the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) have to reserve up to 5% of their seats for students from economically backward sections of the society.

“Till now, tution fee waiver scheme operated by AICTE allowed providing up to 10% supernumerary seats that are given to students of economically backward category.

“It was the discretion on the part of the institution to apply for such a scheme. Now these seats are made mandatory for every institute up to five per cent,” HRD minister Kapil Sibal said today.

Priyanka Not Going With Shahid, Leaves For Goa

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Mumbai, December 31: Priyanka Chopra has chosen to be with her family and close friend, Tamanna instead of Shahid Kapoor this New Year.

Though it has been reported that she might be flying to Chandigarh to be with her ‘boyfriend’ who is shooting for his father’s film Mausam, Priyanka said that she had no such plans. Moments before she boarded the flight, Priyanka told TOI that she is off to Goa to chill.

Al Qaeda leadership hunkered down

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Washington, December 31: The top al Qaeda leadership is under tremendous pressure than ever before and is hunkered down in the border region of Afghanistan and Pakistan, U.S. President Barack Obama has said.

“Today, al Qaeda’s senior leadership is under more pressure than ever before and is hunkered down in the border region of Afghanistan and Pakistan,” Mr. Obama said in a statement issued on the occasion of the first anniversary of the killing of the CIA officials in Afghanistan.

Ponnam Warns KCR Against Outburst On Cong

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Hyderabad, December 31: The Congress MP from Karimnagar, Mr Ponnam Prabhakar, on Thursday severely warned the Telangana Rashtra Samithi president, Mr K Chandrasekhara Rao, saying that they would not tolerate and keep quiet if the latter criticized the Congress leaders.

Ninth pay commission to submit report today

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New Delhi, December 31: The pay commission chaired by Justice R. Rajendra Babu would today submit a report to Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan, recommending a revision of scales for Government employees and teachers. The pay commission is most likely to recommend a minimum salary revision of Rs 1000 for the 4.5 lakh Government employees and teachers in the State.

The state government is planning revised wages from April 2011. The state government has also asked the commission to give a report on the pay revisions in universities, high court and water authority.

‘Pakistan to fight US lawsuit against ISI’

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Islamabad, December 31: Pakistan’s government says it will fight a US lawsuit implicating chief of the country’s top spy agency in connection with the Mumbai 2008 attacks.

Pakistan’s foreign ministry said in a statement on Thursday that it will defend past and present chiefs of its Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency.

“The government of Pakistan has taken a firm decision to strongly contest the suit filed against the ISI, its present and past directors general,” the statement read.

Telangana ball in Centre court

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New Delhi, December 31: The Srikrishna committee, formed to look into the demand for a separate Telangana state to be carved out of Andhra Pradesh, has firmly lobbed the ball back into the Centre’s court.

Government sources said the report, submitted to home minister P. Chidambaram on Thursday, outlines at least four courses of action. The report has detailed the pros and cons of each alternative rather than taking a categorical stand on whether a separate Telangana state should be carved out or not.

Sharjah Murder: Indians Refuse Settlement Proposal

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Dubai,December 31: A proposal to settle the case involving 17 Indians, who have appealed the death penalty for killing a Pakistani in Sharjah has been refused, according to the lawyer representing the defendants.

Bindu Suresh Chettur said the family of the Pakistani man told the court that they were ready to accept compensation including blood money but we refused because justice is on our side.

BJP gets act right in Parliament, Bihar; but KTK sore point

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New Delhi, December 31: After the shattering defeat in the general elections last year, the BJP appeared to have found its feet in 2010 putting behind internal bickerings and getting its act right in Parliament but problems with its government in Karnataka stuck out like a sore thumb.

Hope government will take all parties on board on Telangana: Congress

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New Delhi, December 31: The Congress Thursday stated that it is not against creation of Telangana, and hoped the government would take political parties on board while deciding on the issue in the wake of the Srikrishna panel submitting its report.

‘Congress is not against smaller states including Telangana. The Srikrishna committee has submitted its report. We hope government will take political parties into confidence and take an appropriate action,’ party spokesperson Shakeel Ahmed said here.

Instability in Cong, Telangana demand made headlines in Andhra

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Hyderabad, December 31: A cocktail of instability in Congress and the demand for separate Telangana statehood combined to produce a politically-charged situation in Andhra Pradesh through 2010 and promises a lot more in the coming year.

The political chaos that actually began towards the end of 2009 ran through the whole of 2010 and may continue in the new year over the Telangana demand on which the Justice Srikrishna Committee submitted its report yesterday.

Andhra unhappy, Karnataka welcomes Krishna river water sharing award

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Hyderabad, December 31: Opposition parties in Andhra Pradesh Thursday reacted sharply to the Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal’s award on sharing of surplus water with neighbouring Karnataka and Maharashtra while Karnataka has welcomed it.

While the Congress government in Andhra Pradesh has not yet come out with its reaction, the main opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) said injustice had been done to the state.

The TDP leaders voiced their apprehension that the award would affect the state’s interests and also hit the irrigation projects taken up across Krishna River.

TRS wants Telangana bill irrespective of Srikrishna report

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Hyderabad, December 31: With the Srikrishna committee submitting its report on Telangana Thursday, parties fighting for the separate state have urged the central government to abide by its Dec 9, 2009 statement, irrespective of the panel’s recommendations.

Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS), which is spear-heading the Telangana agitation, said the central government should table a bill in parliament to carve out a separate state from Andhra Pradesh.

No New Year hangover for Mumbai beaches

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Mumbai, December 31: Residents living in the vicinity of beaches and near the shoreline will no longer dread the morning after the New Year’s celebration.

The residents have been repeatedly raising a stink about the mess left on the shores after the New Year’s revelry. The beaches in the city are thronged by thousands during New Year’s Eve which has leaves tonnes of garbage being strewn over there. But all this is set to change from the onset of the coming year.

Ayodhya Ram temple divides Hindu leaders

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New Delhi, December 31: The jury is still out on who will ultimately get the disputed land in Ayodhya and how much — Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind, Sunni Waqf Board and Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha have moved the Supreme Court challenging the Allahabad high court (HC) judgment dividing the 2.77 acres among Hindus, Muslims and Nirmohi Akhara, and only Ram knows when we will have a final solution — but Hindu religious leaders and organisations have already begun fighting over who will build a temple at the site.

Carla Bruni ‘desperate to have a baby’

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France, December 31: French first lady Carla Bruni was at the centre of media speculation Thursday that she is desperate to become a mother again at the age of 43.

The former supermodel and her husband, President Nicolas Sarkozy, 55, hope to have a child in 2012 – just ahead of the next French presidential election, Daily Mail reported citing media reports.

And if she is unable to conceive naturally, they would consider adopting a baby boy, glossy French weekly magazine Gala said.

Technical Institutes Have to Reserve Up to 5% Seats

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New Delhi, December 31: From now, technical institutes approved by AICTE have to reserve up to five per cent of their seats for students from economically backward sections of the society.

“Till now, tuition fee waiver scheme operated by AICTE allowed providing up to 10 per cent supernumerary seats that are given to students of economically backward category. It was the discretion on the part of the institution to apply for such a scheme. Now these seats are made mandatory for every institute up to five per cent,” HRD Minister Kapil Sibal said today.

Indians on death row: Victim’s family ready for blood money

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Sharjah, December 31: Seventeen Indians who are facing death sentence for killing a Pakistani man in the UAE have been provided a lifeline by the victim’s family who have agreed to settle the case if they are provided with compensation, including blood money.

Khaleej Times reported Friday that the victim’s family wants the men to be executed if they disagreed.

The victim’s family had refused any such settlement till the last hearing and wanted the 17 Indians to be executed as ruled by the Sharjah Shariah Court of First Instance.

Ishrat encounter: SIT seeks legal help

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Ahmedabad, December 31: The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the 2004 police encounter of Mumbai girl Ishrat Jahan and three others has filed an application in the Gujarat High Court seeking appointment of an amicus curie in the case.

SIT chief Karnail Singh filed the plea yesterday. In the application, Singh has said they needed a legal expert to help them during the investigation and also assist in various court proceedings.

Since the SIT was appointed by the High Court, the team has requested it to provide them with an amicus curie (friend of the court).

2011 to have six eclipses after two millenium

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Shimla, December 31: After more than two millenium, the world will see six eclipses, including four solar and two lunar in 2011.

This information was given by President, Environment Research Institute, Kandaghat, Himachal Pradesh, Rajiv Sharma Soor in a statement here today.

He elaborated political, natural and social effects of these eclipses to occur after 2,041 years.

”The first of the four solar eclispses will occur on January 4 from 1210 hrs till 1631 hrs, while the next on June 2 that will not be seen in India. It will be between 0055 hrs and 0437 hrs,” Mr Sharma said.

Plane makes u-turn to offload unruly passengers

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Dubai, December 31: Don’t create a ruckus inside a plane, you may be taken back to the airport and offloaded!

This is what exactly happed to three unruly and disruptive passengers who caused commotion in a Gulf Air flight, forcing the pilot to turn back to the airport to offload them.

“Three passengers of a group of five on Gulf Air flight GF 019 from Bahrain to Paris behaved in an unruly and disruptive manner onboard after the flight took off from Bahrain airport,” Katherine Genowefa Kaczynska, senior manager of corporate communication, told Gulf News.

Fight wrong policies of Congress governments: Karat

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Hyderabad, December 31: Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Prakash Karat on Thursday underlined the need for building a “powerful national movement against the wrong policies” of the Congress governments at the Centre and States.

Jagan says PM didn’t meet him about farmers

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Hyderabad, December 31: Claiming that the relief announced by the Centre for calamity-hit farmers in Andhra Pradesh is not enough, former Congress MP Y S Jaganmohan Reddy today demanded a “better package” for those whose crops have been damaged in recent floods.

Reddy, who quit Congress as well as Lok Sabha on November 29, met Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar here and demanded government announce an immediate relief of Rs. 5,000 to each and every farmer in the state.