In a setback for the United Progressive Alliance government at the centre, the Andhra Pradesh High Court Monday quashed the 4.5 percent sub-quota for the minorities carved out of the 27 percent reservation for other backward classes in jobs.
A division bench of Chief Justice Madan B. Lokur and Justice P.V. Sanjay Kumar, set aside the office memorandum (OM) issued last December to provide the sub-quota to minorities.
Former Andhra Pradesh governor ND Tiwari, who is embroiled in a paternity suit, broke his silence on the issue while talking to a TV channel on Tuesday and said that every man has a private life and it should remain private.
Exuding confidence that he will be exonerated of the charges of having a son out of wedlock, the veteran Congress leader said that nothing “will come out of the blood test.
Earlier today, the Congress leader finally gave his blood sample for DNA profiling as per the orders of the Supreme Court.
A meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) has been called June 4 to discuss the current political situation, with the party’s highest decision-making body also expected to pass a resolution authorising party chief Sonia Gandhi to choose the presidential nominee, party sources said.
The CWC meeting comes days ahead of the notification for presidential polls, expected by the middle of June.
Toughening their stand on Syria, Britain and Australia today announced expulsion of the country’s diplomats in the wake of the recent massacre of children and women at Houla, describing the killing of 108 people there as “sickening” and “hideous”.
A British couple, whose six children died in a house fire, was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of having murdered them.
Mick Philpott, 55, and his wife Mairead, 31, are in custody and being questioned by detectives about the horrific blaze which occurred May 11, Daily Mail reported.
Barely two weeks ago, the couple, both from Derby city of Britain’s East Midlands region, wept uncontrollably during an emotional press conference as officers described how petrol had been poured through the family’s letterbox and set ablaze.
Actor Akshay Kumar is gearing up for the release of his new film “Rowdy Rathore” and says that the action sequences are very raw, something which he hasn’t done for a long time.
“(Director) Prabhu Deva has his own way of choreographing action sequences. His action sequences have a rhythm. It is a very raw kind of action, which I haven’t done since ages,” Akshay told reporters Tuesday while promoting his film “Rowdy Rathore” that is coming out Friday.
After the newly-crowned IPL champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) team was felicitated at a gala ceremony at the Eden Gardens here Tuesday, its co-owner and Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan said he felt like he had won the hearts of Kolkatans after a wait of four years.
Taking cognisance of the second charge sheet filed in the disproportionate assets case against YSR Congress chief Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, a CBI court issued a Prisoner on Transit warrant against him here today.
The court also issued summons to two other accused to appear before it on June 11.
Principal special court for CBI cases here issued the warrant and summons stating that it had taken into cognisance the second charge sheet filed by the central agency on April 23.
India and Bahrain, home to nearly 350,000 Indian nationals working in the Gulf, are set to scale up strategic and economic ties during Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa’s three-day visit to India that begins Wednesday.
Bahrain’s crown prince will be accompanied by senior ministers, officials and a large business delegation.
“The visit of the Crown Prince is expected to provide further impetus to our multifaceted engagement with the Kingdom of Bahrain,” the external affairs ministry said here Tuesday.
This is the second visit of Prince Salman to India.
The government Tuesday announced restructuring a debt of Rs.35,000 crore of textile firms on a case-to-case basis in a bid to revive the debt-stressed industry.
The decision to provide debt relief to the textiles sector was taken during a meeting of Textiles and Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma with Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee here.
After the meeting Sharma said in a statement that the debt restructuring package would be considered on a case-to-case basis by individual banks.
Pakistan Tuesday declared dead the 140 people who remained buried in an avalanche since last month in the Siachen region.
All those killed have been declared “martyrs” by the army.
The avalanche struck an army camp April 7 in the Gayari area of the Siachen glacier, dubbed the world’s highest battleground, where armies from both the neighbours stand eyeball-to-eyeball.
Pakistan has declared 129 soldiers and 11 civilians dead, the BBC said.
A special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court Tuesday granted bail to seven of the nine people arrested for their alleged involvement in the Adarsh Housing Society scam.
The seven accused are Maj. Gen. (retd) A.R. Kumar, Maj. Gen. (retd) T.K. Kaul, retired defence estates officer R.C. Thakur, Brig. (retd) M.M. Wanchoo, former IAS officers P.V. Deshmukh and Pradeep Vyas and former Congress politician Kanhaiyalal Gidwani.
An estimated 150,000 fans lustily cheered on the roads and at the historic Eden Gardens as the city virtually came to a standstill to watch Indian Premier League Champions Kolkata Knight Riders’ victory parade culminating in a gala felicitation Tuesday.
Anna Hazare has invited Army Chief Gen V K Singh to join his team after retirement in the countrywide campaign against corruption.
“I am personally not inclined to ask or request anyone to join our agitation against corruption but we have fought two wars including one against Pakistan during my service in the Army. Now we have to fight the enemy within us,” he said in Chandrapur in Maharashtra.
The anti-corruption crusader said this fight is more important than the earlier ones, he said.
Team Anna member Prashant Bhushan Tuesday defended his allegations of corruption against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and reiterated his demand for a special investigation team to probe the charges against him and 14 other ministers.
Reacting to the prime minister’s assertion that he would quit public life if any allegation of corruption against him was proved to be true, Bhushan also clarified on his comparing Manmohan Singh to mythological character Shikhandi in the Mahabharata epic who is used as a shield.
Communist Party of India (Marxist) state secretary B V Raghavulu on Tuesday said that the arrest of YSR Congress president and Kadapa MP Jagan Mohan Reddy by the Central Bureau of Investigation gave a room for suspicion that it was an act of political vendetta.
Talking to media persons while participating in the by-election campaign in Chittoor district, Raghavulu accused the CBI of having failed to maintain clarity on Jagan Mohan Reddy’s arrest in the assets case.
Three policemen, including an inspector, were today suspended in connection with the rape of a teenage girl inside a police outpost in Sadar Kotwali area, a senior officer said here.
The three policemen, including the SHO of Kotwali police station, Amritlal, have been suspended with immediate effect, IGP Devendra Singh Chauhan told reporters here.
He said the medical examination of the victim confirmed rape and the trio has been suspended on charge of laxity.
“The girl should have been handed over to the women police, but it was not done,” he said.
Egypt, After the first competitive elections in Egypt’s history, many Egyptians find themselves straddling the divide between the deposed regime of Hosni Mubarak and its 84-year-old Islamist adversary, the Muslim Brotherhood.
Polarization has long been a problem for Egypt. Now there is more of it than ever.
Ahead of his first visit to India, Defence Secretary Leon Panetta today asked US military to be vigilant against China and be prepared to defeat the enemy anywhere and anytime.
The Obama Administration has developed a new defence strategy to ensure that the US military can meet the
challenges of the 21st century, Panetta said in his commencement address to the US Naval Academy in Annapolis.
“Our military force for the future must be agile, flexible, deployable, and technologically advanced; we will
Army has apprehended a Pakistani national in general area of Chakla in Jammu district.
Syed Asif Ali Shah, aged between 28 to 32, who claimed to be a resident of Multan, was apprehended by Indian troops late last night, Army said.
However, no arms or explosive was recovered from Shah, who has been handed over to police for further investigation.
———————PTI
Rome, At least 15 people were killed and some 200 injured in a 5.8-magnitude earthquake in northern Italy on Tuesday, Italian news agency ANSA reported.
The earthquake came nine days after a 6.0-magnitude quake in the same region killed seven people.
Italian civil protection authorities confirmed at least 10 people had died and predicted the number would rise as rescue workers search for survivors in the rubble. Several people are missing, ANSA reported.
The Congress-led UPA government at the Centre will not be able to complete its full term as its condition is like that of a patient surviving on ventilator, says yoga guru Ramdev.
Addressing a press conference in Rewari on Monday, he alleged the accumulation of black money during the
UPA regime had crossed all limits.
Ramdev said the white paper on black money presented in Parliament by the UPA government was a “bundle of white lies”.
“Why the government is afraid of disclosing names of those politicians who have stashed black money in foreign banks?” the yoga master asked.
Taking cognisance of the second charge sheet filed in the disproportionate assets case against YSR Congress chief YS Jaganmohan Reddy, a CBI court issued a Prisoner on Transit warrant against him here on Tuesday.
Chief Election Commissioner S Y Quershi on Tuesday decided not to intervene in the arrest of YSR Congress party president and Kadapa MP Jagan Mohan Reddy as the matter was pending with the CBI special court.
The Election Commission of India on Tuesday issued notices to Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy for giving speeches violating election code of conduct during the by-election campaign in Tirupati, Rayadurgam and Anantapur Assembly constituencies.
The Commission took serious note on the Chief Minister’s remarks wherein he appealed to the voters to cast 10 votes each for the ruling party in the by-elections. Later, the YSR Congress party lodged a complaint with the Election Commission stating that the Chief Minister’s statement violates the Election Code of Conduct.