The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) today blamed people’s representatives and vested interests for increasing slums in the commercial capital of the country. Talking to mediapersons after meeting Brihanmumbai Municipal Commissioner Sitaram Kunte at BMC headquarters here, party chief Raj Thackeray said that people’s representatives were mainly responsible for mushrooming of slums in their areas due to vote bank politics.
A 52-year-old Sikh, who was jailed in 1986 for posing as a doctor and sexually assaulting women, was a guest among many VIPs on the Royal Barge during Queen Elizabeth’s River Pageant.
British media identified him as Harbinder Singh Rana, who was jailed in the 1980s for sex offences. Posing as a doctor, he performed internal examinations and administered injections to many women.
Notwithstanding his associates targeting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on alleged irregularities in allocation of coal blocks, anti-corruption activist Anna Hazare Thursday night described him as a “good man” against whom there is no example of corruption yet.
“I have said from the beginning that Manmohan Singh is a good man. Don’t have any example of corruption yet. But he is going through a bad time.
“He is a good man but is handled by a remote control. What can a person do?” Hazare said addressing a rally.
—-PTI—-
Aamir Khan says he would have been extremely surprised if he didn`t receive brickbats for the issues he highlights on his debut TV show ‘Satyamev Jayate’. The actor-filmmaker is convinced about what he is doing and is totally unapologetic about raising the issue of malpractices in the medical profession, thereby upsetting an umbrella body of 21 medical institutions.
“I have absolutely no intentions of apologising because I have not done anything wrong,” Aamir told IANS in an exclusive interview over phone from Mumbai.
There has been a new twist in the Jagan Mohan Reddy disproportionate assets case. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has summoned the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) chief and India Cements MD N Srinivasan in connection with the case.
Srinivasan has been summoned in his capacity as the Managing Director of India Cements Ltd. The CBI wants Srinivasan to explain his firm’s investments in Jagan’s companies. The CBI believes that India Cements got benefits in the form of enhanced water allocations under the YSR regime, enabling it to double its production.
All the 230 degree colleges in both the East and West Godavari districts would come under the purview of AdiKavi Nannaya University (AKNU), Rajahmundry, from this academic year itself. Disclosing this at a press conference at Rajahmundry today Prof George Victor, Vice-Chancellor of AKNU, said the University executive council at its meeting recently had approved the affiliation of these colleges. The state government had issued a GO paving the way for affiliation.
Notwithstanding his associates targeting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on alleged irregularities in allocation of coal blocks, anti-corruption activist Anna Hazare Thursday night described him as a “good man” against whom there is no example of corruption yet.
“I have said from the beginning that Manmohan Singh is a good man. Don’t have any example of corruption yet. But he is going through a bad time.
“He is a good man but is handled by a remote control. What can a person do?” Hazare said addressing a rally.
–PTI
Sachin Tendulkar will now be Rahul Gandhi’s neighbour in Delhi.
Tendulkar, who took oath as Rajya Sabha member on Monday, has been allotted 5 Tughlak Lane bungalow, a type VII accommodation normally given to cabinet-rank ministers.
The stately house in Lutyen’s zone is just opposite the house of Gandhi, who stays at 12 Tughlak Lane.
Spread over 7000 sq feet, the bungalow allotted to Tendulkar has spacious bedrooms and big lawns.
Sources said the final formalities are being conducted by the Rajya Sabha Housing Committee, which is responsible for allotments to Rajya Sabha MPs.
With admissions underway to IITs and universities, the government could move the Supreme Court as early as next week to challenge Andhra Pradesh High Court order quashing 4.5 percent sub quota for minorities.
Sources in the government said the HRD ministry is pressing for an appeal to be filed in the apex court by next week as the HC judgement scrapping the sub-quota has put in quandary the nearly 350 IIT aspirants who had been shortlisted under the provision.
Earlier in the day, Minority Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said the government would move the apex court in July.
State Bank of India on Thursday slashed interest rates on fixed deposits in select maturities by 0.25 percent, a development that is likely to be followed by other banks.
The bank has decided to revise its retail term deposit interest rates with a reduction of 0.25 percent for tenors up to 240 days, State Bank of India (SBI) said in a statement.
After the revision, the interest rate on 7-179 days fixed deposit would come down to 7 percent from 7.25 percent.
Interest rate would be 7 percent for 180-day term deposit, down 0.25 percent.
Social activist Anna Hazare on Thursday targeted Union Home Minister P Chidambaram in the backdrop of the Madras High Court’s decision on a petition challenging his election to the Lok Sabha in 2009.
“Chidambaram could have been behind bars had the Centre constituted an independent probe into the allegations levelled against him in an election petition,” he said at a press conference here.
The 2009 petition was filed by AIADMK’s Raja Kannappan, who lost to Chidambaram from Sivaganga by a narrow margin of 3,354 votes.
Two Indian-Americans in California were indicted today on charges of defrauding hundreds of home owners and other customers along with mail and wire fraud and international money laundering.
Sharanjit Kaur, 36, and Baljit Singh, 47, both of Fresno in California now faces sentencing of 20 years in federal prison and a USD 500,000 fine.
The indictment alleges that between July 2010 and June 2011, Kaur and Singh owned and operated several companies based in Fresno for the sole purpose of defrauding hundreds of customers throughout the US.
Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamy Thursday accused Congress president Sonia Gandhi of wanting “a rubber stamp as the next president” and said A.P.J. Abdul Kalam was best suited for the job.
Charging Gandhi with blocking good names for presidency, Swamy said the country looked towards political parties to elect “an illustrious, honest and respectable man” to occupy the Rashtrapati Bhawan.
Swamy spoke after meeting Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav here in view of the presidential polls scheduled next month.
Kofi Annan, the UN-Arab League joint special envoy for Syria, has said that his six-point peace plan to end the Middle East country’s 16-month crisis had not been implemented, Xinhua reported.
The plan is widely backed by the international community and officially accepted by the Syrian government.
Annan was speaking Thursday at the UN General Assembly on the latest situation in Syria.
Advocate and former Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Y P Singh today alleged that Bollywood star Salman Khan had purchased a flat in a high rise building in Bandra area of the city at a cost of Rs 20 crore, which is six times higher than the existing market price, with an intention to use non-FSI space of the society that had violated several norms of Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ), DC rules and Town Planning rules.
The White House has denounced the reported killings of civilians in the Qubair village in Syria’s Hama province, calling for joint efforts in support of a political transition in the Arab country.
“The United States strongly condemns the outrageous targeted killings of civilians including women and children in Qubair in Hama province as reported by multiple credible sources,” Xinhua quoted White House spokesman Jay Carney saying in a statement Thursday.
Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Zaka Ashraf today confirmed that an invite of the proposed Pakistan Premier League (PPL) will be sent out to Indian players for the event’s maiden edition. ‘It’s up to them whether they want to take part or not but the PCB will send out an invitation. My aim is to do whatever I can to put the relations between the two boards back on track because the fans want to see Pakistan and India in action,’ Ashraf was quoted as saying by the ‘Express Tribune’.
Brushing aside speculation, Satyanarayan Gangaram Pitroda, popularly known as Sam Pitroda — whose name was doing the rounds as presidential candidate — today categorically denied being a contender for the country’s topmost post. “I have no desire to become the President of India. Besides, my health is also a matter of concern at age 70. I underwent bypass surgeries twice and am also a cancer sufferer,” Dr Pitroda — who came here on the invitation of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan — told media.
Military operation against the militants in a Pakistani tribal region will displace nearly 600, 000 people, an international aid agency has said.
According to Save the Children, an estimated 600,000 people (of which over 300,000 are expected to be children) in total will be displaced from Pakistan’s Khyber agency if security operations continued, Xinhua news agency reported.
India’s Sania Mirza and Mahesh Bhupathi captured their second mixed doubles Grand Slam title beating Klaudia Jans-Ignacik and Santiago Gonzalez 7-6, 6-1 in the French Open final here Thursday.
The seventh seeds recovered from a dodgy start to get the over the line against the Polish-Mexican duo.
It was Sania-Bhupathi’s maiden triumph at the Roland Garros and second major crown after the pair won the Australian Open in 2009.
While the victory gave Bhupathi his eighth mixed doubles Grand Slam title, it was the second trophy for his Hyderabadi partner.
The city police has arrested a SBI document agent on the charges of misusing credit cards of customers. Police sized one motorcycle and two cell phones from his possession. In a release here today, police said on a tip off, police arrested Vinod Kumar Shinde (34) of Saroornagar, yesterday, on the charges of fraud. The accused collected seven credit cards from the customers on the pretext of increasing money limit. After collecting the cards he informed the customers that in the course of increasing the card limits they would get dummy messages which they would ignore.
Yoga guru Baba Ramdev today met Civil Aviation Minister and Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Ajit Singh and Janata Dal (United) president Sharad Yadav in an effort to garner political support on the issue of black money stashed abroad. “We are raising the issues of corruption and black money for a long time in and outside Parliament,” Mr Yadav told reporters after meeting with Baba Ramdev. Mr Yadav, who is also NDA Convenor, said they were agree with the yoga guru on the issues of corruption and black money but their ‘ways were different’.
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Patron Mufti Muhammad Sayeed, today said 2002 assembly elections was turning point in the political history of Jammu and Kashmir because that elections had not only restored peoples faith in democracy but the government formed after the elections had also changed political discourse of the state. Addressing a day-long convention of party workers at Bandipora, Mr Sayeed said formation of PDP-led government in 2002 was an historic event in the political history of the state.
Union Minister for Commerce and Textile Anand Sharma today made scathing attack on BJP national President Nitin Gadkari alleging that he was appeasing Baba Ramdev and was often caught on cameras touching his feet. Addressing a public rally here, Mr today Anand Sharma said “Congress has its own role models in its history and Congress men need not to search them outside as the BJP was doing.”
The Akhil Bhartiya Jat Aarakshan Sangharsh Samiti today urged the National Commission for Backward Classes to grant backward status to Jats irrespective of religion or sect. In a letter sent to the Commission, the Samiti chief Hawa Singh Sangwan said as per the constitution a community could be granted backward status on grounds of social and educational backwardness. The memorandum said on the basis of social practices the Jat community was on a par with other communities such as Ahir, Gujjar, Saini, Lodha, Khati, Luhar,Kumbhar, Nai and Kamboj.