Month: October 2012

Hyderabad police Friday arrested a group of Telangana activists for staging a protest over the re-installation of statues of eminent Andhra personalities at Tank Bund, on the banks of the Hussain Sagar Lake.

Those arrested include Telangana Jagruthi president K. Kavita, daughter of Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) chief K. Chandrasekhara Rao.

The atmosphere was tense near Tank Bund as protestors squatted on the road, disrupting traffic on the key link between the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad.

BJP on friday said it will contest the assembly elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh on the plank of good governance and development despite the “step-brotherly” attitude of the UPA government at the Centre.

“Good governance and development will be the twin issues on which BJP will contest these elections.

Gujarat has developed despite adverse conditions created by the step-brotherly treatment of the Centre which has created roadblocks and played negative politics,” BJP Vice-president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said.

The CPI(M) o friday slammed West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for creating posts in her cash-strapped government to rehabilitate seven former union ministers.

“Such posts have been created at a time when the state is in utter financial crisis.

It sounds ridiculous that an advisory committee has been formed for seven former union ministers,” CPI(M) leader Suyakanta Mishra who is the Leader of the Opposition, said.

“It means the Chief Minister is losing confidence in her own ministers,” Mishra said.

Union Minister and Congress Jyotiraditya Scindia has asked partymen in Madhya Pradesh to sink their differences in order to take on ruling BJP in assembly elections due next year.

Calling for unity in faction-ridden state unit of Congress, Scindia said though groupism is prevalent in all political parties, it is essential for the party leaders to sink their differences and “lock their personal ambitions in a room while taking on the BJP with full might”.

The net non-performing assets (NPAs) of the banking sector are expected to cross Rs 2 lakh crore by the end of March 2013, from Rs 1.57 lakh crore in June, mainly due to slowdown in the economy, industry body Assocham said on Friday.

“Issues of the asset quality and challenges of requisitioning additional capital to keep up growing business together with burgeoning twin deficits of fiscal and current account have collectively contributed to this dismal situation of increased NPA levels,” it said.

Over 300 women who were rescued from brothels in south Mumbai will be produced in court Saturday and their age verified. Over 100 men and 70 women have been arrested in the case, police said Friday.

“Police had raided a five-storey building in south Mumbai Thursday and rescued 333 victims of the sex trade. The raid had been carried out under the leadership of Additional Commissioner of Police Krishna Prakash till wee hours today (Friday),” Assistant Commissioner of Police Anant Jadhav told IANS.

A flash 900-point crash in NSE Nifty index for a brief period this morning and concerns over the fate of big-ticket reforms like raising the FDI cap in insurance, cut short a four-day rally in stock markets with BSE Sensex falling 120 points to end below 19,000 level Friday.

After gaining around 480 points in past four sessions, the BSE benchmark index opened higher at 19,115.89 after the government yesterday unleashed another round of reforms.

The Sahara group Friday moved the Supreme Court seeking review of the verdict ordering it to refund Rs 24,000 crore, raised from investors through Optionally Fully Convertible Debentures (OFCDs).

Challenging the apex court’s August 31 verdict on 55 counts, the group sought the hearing of its review petition in the open court.

Choco Honey Coffee is a lip-smacking delight.

Ingredients:

• 1/4-1/3 cup Espresso
• 1 tsp Honey
• 1 tsp unsweetened Cocoa powder
• Steamed Milk
• Cream

How to make Choco Honey Coffee:

• In a coffee mug place 1tsp of cocoa, and into it add 1 tsp honey.
• Stir the above mix well.
• Pour hot espresso over the honey.
• Serve with milk and cream.

The outcome of the 1962 war with China would have been different had the Air Force been used in an offensive role, Air Chief Marshal NAK Browne said here on Friday on the conflict in which India suffered a humiliating defeat.

He said the Kargil conflict of 1999 would have dragged for another three months had the IAF not been used.

“Yes, no doubts about that. If air power was used at that time, the outcome would have been totally different,” he said when asked if the result of the 1962 war would have been different had air power been used.

The IAF on Friday said it has rejected Army’s demand to have their own attack and medium-lift helicopters contending that the country can’t afford to have these “little air forces” growing up to do their “own things”.

The Army has been demanding the control over attack and medium-lift helicopters saying they are mainly used for supporting its operations and that is why should be under it.

The IAF operates two squadrons of Russian-origin Mi-35/25 attack choppers and is in the process of acquiring another one from the US in near future.

In a festival gift to non-gazetted central government employees, the Centre on Friday announced bonus of up to Rs 3,500 for them for 2011-12.

All the Central government employees in Group C and D and all non-gazetted employees in Group B who are not covered by any productivity-linked bonus scheme will get bonus equivalent to 30 days emoluments, the Finance Ministry said in an office memorandum.

The payment will also be admissible to the central police and paramilitary personnel and armed forces personnel, it said.

Government has convened a high-level meeting next week to review the security of Lt Gen (Retd) K S Brar and others who were involved in the 1984 Operation Bluestar against Sikh militants in the Golden Temple in Amritsar.

The meeting, to be chaired by Union Home Secretary R K Singh and to be attended by Army, Maharashtra Police and others, will also review whether there was any security lapse anywhere leading to the assassination attempt on 78-year-old Brar on Sunday.

If Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was hoping to strike the right chord with students in Kashmir, his effort seemed to have been fully rewarded at the interaction they had with him and the high-powered business leaders delegation accompanying him here Friday.

Students of Kashmir University, at the varsity’s overflowing auditorium, interacted frankly and freely with the top bosses of India’s leading businesses and industries as Gandhi told them he was here to forge a long-term and sustained relationship with Kashmir, especially its youths.

Fine amounts imposed on convicts should not be excessive but decided keeping in view their financial condition, the magnitude of offence and other relevant considerations, the Supreme Court has ruled.

The Food and Civil Supplies Department is awaiting Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan’s directives regarding an increase in the number of subsidised LPG cylinders from six to nine.

“We are awaiting the CM’s nod and then the department will frame the draft proposal to be introduced in cabinet,” food and civil supplies minister Anil Deshmukh said.

After the Centre restricted the number of subsidised LPG cylinders to six, the Congress had asked its state governments to provide three additional subsidised cylinders.

A local court in Malaysia has charged a Lebanese man for possessing fake Indian currency.

32-year-old Hassan Zarrad was carrying 149 pieces of counterfeit Indian Rupees in denominations of 1,000, an offence which carries a maximum 10 years’ jail on conviction. He was also charged by the Ipoh Magistrate’s court under the Immigration Act for not having valid travel documents in the country.

Speaking through an interpreter, Hassan pleaded not guilty to the charges. He was not offered any bail, as he is a foreigner.

PTI

The killing of a journalist in Balochistan and similar attacks in the past are “an assault on the right to information”, said a daily, ruing that it had become impossible for media personnel to work safely.

Abdul Haq Baloch, who worked for a private television news channel in the city of Khuzdar, Balochistan, was gunned down in late September.

An editorial in the News International noted that since 2002, some 80 journalists have been killed, most of them in the ‘war zones’ that have crept up across the country.

Others have been gunned down in cities.

Pakistan Supreme Court on Friday objected to contents of a fresh draft of a letter to be sent to Swiss authorities over graft charges against President Asif Ali Zardari and gave government time till October 10 to finalise it in accordance with its order that sought revival of the cases.

Months after the Supreme Court unseated him, former premier Yousuf Raza Gilani has claimed that an “unannounced Bangladesh-model government” is functioning in Pakistan in the presence of a “worthless” Parliament that has no say in decision-making.

“An unannounced Bangladesh-model government is functioning in the country as decisions are taken somewhere else and Parliament is worthless. The opposition also wants such a government,” Gilani said, indirectly referring to the Supreme Court’s growing influence in the country.

Authorities in northwest Pakistan warned that cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan’s march against the US drone campaign could be targeted by suicide bombers even as a faction of the local Taliban expressed its opposition to the rally on Friday.

Militant groups have reportedly sent nine suicide bombers to the area around Kotkai village in South Waziristan tribal region, where the march by the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf party will conclude on October 7.

These bombers could target those participating in the rally, government sources were quoted as saying by Geo News channel.

Dean Brownlie pulled New Zealand `A` out of troubled waters with a fighting century as India `A` lost their stranglehold over the hosts at stumps on the third and penultimate day of the second unofficial Test on Friday.
Resuming the day at a precarious 198 for five in reply to India`s mammoth 554 for eight declared, Brownlie (106) stitched two century partnerships — first with Luke Woodcock and then Sam Wells — to save the Kiwis from humiliation.

The promoters of the brand new FIA Formula E series, in which the cars will be powered by electric energy, are targeting India as a destination for a race in their inaugural series in 2014.

India is being viewed differently by the motorsport world after it successfully hosted Formula One Grand Prix last year.

Within the next six months, the World Superbike championship will make its debut in India and talks were also on to bring the GT1 series as well.

FIA P

A CBI judge today said India is yet to sign a treaty with other countries to extradite accused involved in cyber crimes.

“Till date, we do not have a single treaty with any other country to extradite a cyber criminal to be brought to India,” CBI Special Judge, New Delhi, Talwant Singh said at a seminar.

He said the Indian Penal Code is applicable for a crime committed in India. “Our Cyber law simply says that if there is an incident in India and whether it was committed from any other country, he (the accused) is still a criminal in the eyes of the (Indian) law,” he said.

The environment ministry has rejected an Indian Navy proposal to test fire missiles at the Tillanchong sanctuary in the Andaman and Nicobar islands as a firing range would destroy the habitat of the Nicobar megapode, an endangered bird species.

“The matter came up during the meeting of the National Board for Wildlife last month and many non-official members raised concerns about it. I decided yesterday (Thursday) that the range should not come in that area,” Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan told reporters here Friday.