Month: October 2012

To bolster their depleting ranks, the Maoist leadership in Chattisgarh have now set their eyes on minor boys and girls as young as 13 years, making the task of security forces combating insurgency more tough.

“Maoist insurgents have stepped up their recruitment drive in Abujhmar region forcing minor boys and girls, mostly in their early teens, to join the rebel ranks,” Bastar Superintendent of Police R.L. Meena told IANS Wednesday.

“They use minors as shield and engage them mostly in gathering information,” he said.

For augmenting capabilities to prevent any 26/11-type attacks, the Defence Ministry is planning set up 38 additional radars as part of Coastal Surveillance Network (CSN) at the cost of Rs 1,000 crore.

Under CSN, the Defence Ministry along with several other stakeholders is planning to set up a chain of static radars along the coastal areas to keep an eye on movement of suspicious ships.

“We are working on a Rs 1,000 crore proposal to set up 38 additional radars as part of the phase II of CSN along the coastline,” highly-placed Defence Ministry sources said here.

The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has declined to part with information related to coal blocks allocation citing ongoing CBI probe in the matter.

“Keeping in view the ongoing CBI investigation in the matter, disclosure of information may be withheld for the present, in terms of Section 8 (1)(h) of the RTI Act,” the PMO said in reply to an RTI query.

The Section bars disclosure of information which would impede the process of investigation or prosecution of offenders.

Popular TV crime series CID is set to venture into regional market. The small screen’s longest running show will be launched in West Bengal as “CID Kolkata Bureau”.

“CID”, which is aired on Sony Entertainment Television, will be premiered in West Bengal on Sony’s Bengali language channel AATH, said a statement.

Actor Shivaji Satam, who plays ACP Pradyuman, will announce the launch of their Kolkata team. The new show will have fresh set of officers, who will solve cases in their local areas. The cast and the date on which the show goes on air is yet to be finalised.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi begins a two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir Thursday amid panic among Panchayat members who have been resigning due to threats from separatists.

The mass resignations by village council members were triggered by the Sep 23 murder of Muhammad Shafi Teli, the sarpanch (village council chief) of Keeri village in Baramulla district.

Since the panchayat elections of 2011 held in the state after a gap of 30 years, five village heads have been killed in the Kashmir Valley.

Violation of human rights is a combination of communalism, casteism, regionalism and lack of respect for law, said Jamia Millia Islamia Vice Chancellor Najeeb Jung here Wednesday.

“Universities like Jamia must sensitise their students to be at the forefront of understanding and helping resolve these issues,” Jung told IANS during a ‘Peace Walk for Human Rights in the Northeast’.

The march was organised by the university’s Centre for North East Studies and Sarojini Naidu Centre for Women’s Studies.

The country’s largest car maker Maruti Suzuki India today said it has hiked prices of its all models by up to Rs 5,250 with immediate effect to offset adverse impact of foreign exchange fluctuation and rising input costs.

“The average hike in the price across models is around 1 per cent and the range will be between Rs 2,500 and Rs 5,250,” a company spokesperson said.

The price increase will take place with immediate effect, he added.

India and Pakistan came together to commemorate the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi at the UN, celebrated as the ‘International Day of Non-Violence’, a day after they sparred over Kashmir.

India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Hardeep Singh Puri hosted the commemorative event yesterday at the UN headquarters here and was joined by his Pakistani counterpart Abdullah Hussain Haroon.

External Affairs Minister S M Krishna, who had responded to Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari’s reference to Kashmir in his address at the UN General Assembly, presided over the event.

A 22-year-old female university student in Britain, whose life had become “isolated”, died after drinking two bottles of vodka, a court heard.

Zara Malone was studying English and Classical Literature at Exeter University, the Daily Express reported.

In the last few months of her life, she had become isolated and was drinking heavily, the hearing was told.

Malone’s housemate, Francesca Parker, said that on the night before she died, she had found her drunk.

Parker found two bottles of vodka, one empty and one nearly empty, by her friend’s body.

An astounding 91 percent of British couples describe their marriage as “happy”, according to a new survey.

Among these, 17 percent said married life was just “perfect”, the Daily Express cited the study by online dating agency eHarmony as saying.

A total of 2,077 married people were polled for the agency’s Happy Marriage Index.

Meanwhile, official figures also show that divorce is on the wane in the country — down from 165,000 in 1993 to 120,000 in 2010.

The Kerala government will hand over at the earliest Rs.10 lakh as interim compensation to former ISRO scientist S. Nambi Narayanan, who was framed in a false espionage case, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said Wednesday.

“The high court recently directed to pay him (Narayanan) a compensation of Rs.one million and the cabinet today decided that it would be done at the earliest,” Chandy said.

Last month, the Kerala High Court upheld the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) order directing the government to pay an interim compensation of Rs.10 lakh to the former ISRO scientist.

Indoor tanning beds can cause non-melanoma skin cancer, and the risk is greater the earlier one starts tanning, suggests a new scientific analysis.

Indoor tanning is already an established risk factor for malignant melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer, but which is less common.

Now, the new study confirms that indoor tanning also significantly increases chances of non-melanoma skin cancers, the commonest of skin cancers, the British Medical Journal reported.

The Agartala-Dhaka bus service, suspended after India’s ‘Maitree’ passenger bus running between the two cities was burnt by an angry mob in Bangladesh last month, resumed after an 11-day break Tuesday, officials said Wednesday.

“As earlier, from now onwards both Indian and Bangladeshi buses would ply six days a week between Agartala and Dhaka,” Tripura transport department secretary Kishore Ambuly told IANS.

“The Sep 21 incident was an isolated and a stray occurrence, not targeted at the Indian bus or passengers,” Ambuly said.

After making it big in Bollywoood, ‘Barfi!’ is likely to be remade in Tamil and a top notch southern star has reportedly shown interest in the project.

Dhananjayan of Disney UTV told IANS: “It is too early to talk about the remake of `Barfi!`. Although one of the leading heroes has expressed his interest to do the film and a good director has also agreed to make the film.”

“If confirmed, it will go on floors in Feburuary-March 2013,” he added.

Actor Vivek Oberoi, who is awaiting the release of ‘Kismet Love Paisa Dilli’, has been busy promoting the film on various platforms. He says innovative marketing is now a vital part of filmmaking.

“At the end of the day, we are promoting the film. The idea of doing it in innovative ways is because it brings out the flavour of the film. I wanted to do something fun and interactive. It`s been a fun process making the film and it must be a fun process promoting it as well,” said Vivek.

‘Kismet Love Paisa Dilli’, releasing Friday, also features Mallika Sherawat.

IANS

Actor Ayushmann Khurrana, who garnered appreciation not just for his acting but also for singing in `Vicky Donor`, says turning singer was quite a surprise for him.

“It`s quite a surprise. I came to Bombay to become an actor but became a singer as well. That is a big surprise,” the 28-year-old, who sang the popular “Pani da rang” song in the film, said here Monday at the Global Indian Music Academy awards.

Meanwhile, asked if he plans to cut an album following the success of “Paani da rang”, Ayushmann curtly declined.

Filmstar Saif Ali Khan`s ancestral palace in Pataudi near here, being run as a hotel, has put bookings on hold for renovation, ahead of the actor`s wedding to actress Kareena Kapoor Oct 16.

The Neemrana Hotels, which manages the palace, has put room bookings on hold till Oct 25, an employee said Tuesday.

“We don`t know what will be the role of the palace in the marriage but renovation is being done,” a palace employee, who did not wish to be named, told reporters.

For the last one month, Saif`s mother, Sharmila Tagore, has been visiting the mansion regularly, he said.

President Pranab Mukherjee launched the much awaited agricuture roadmap of Bihar at a function in the state capital Wednesday.

President Mukherjee, who arrived here on a two-day visit to the state, was recieved by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and given the guard of honour at the Patna airport.

The five-year agriculture roadmap covers the period 2012-17 with an investment of Rs.1.52 lakh crore. It aims at raising agri-growth to a minimum of 7 percent per year, said Nitish Kumar.

It is the first visit of Mukherjee to the state after becoming the president.

Her dream of making a house for her life partner remains unfulfilled, says Rani Mukerji, drawing an interesting comparison between herself and her character in her forthcoming film ‘Aiyyaa’.

Rani is a dreamer and so is Meenakshi Deshpande, her character in ‘Aiyyaa’ that releases Oct 12.

“I am quite a dreamer. I think we all are dreamers. We all don`t like to live a practical life all the time. There is a thin line between our hopes and dreams,” Rani said, highlighting the similarities between the two.

Though authorities have refused to “ban” some popular websites, thousands of mobile users here Wednesday were unable to access social media websites like Facebook and Twitter as well as video-sharing website YouTube.

After Google India blocked an anti-Islam video on YouTube, mobile phone users here have been complaining that they are unable to access GPRS, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter on their devices.

“I have not been able to avail the GPRS services for the last one week. Now, I cannot open my Facebook or Twitter account on my mobile,” said Waseem Bashir, 24, a student.

Dead body of missing man found
(Siasat News): Police has fished out the dead body of a man from Osman Sagar who was missing from Hyderguda, Attapur. 33-year-old Kiran Kumar, a supervisor, was missing from September 29.

According to Narsingi police, his dead body was fished out from Osman Sagar. A case of suspicious death has been registered and further investigations are on.

Issueless woman commits suicide

The heavy rain that lashed the city in the last 24 hours resulted in the familiar consequences. Several roads were inundated and trees got uprooted on Tuesday. And despite the roads being heavily carpeted in view of the CoP-11 meet, the newly-laid black-top on many roads got washed away.

China, which has one of the world’s busiest railway systems in the world, is aiming to build a high-speed passenger rail network by 2015, the ministry of railways said.

The country also plans to have separate passenger and freight networks, the China Daily reported Wednesday.

According to a five-year plan recently approved by the cabinet, the railway network will feature four east-west lines and four north-south lines by the end of 2015.

The high-speed railway will cover around 18,000 km by then, the ministry said.

The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has declined to part with information related to coal blocks allocation citing ongoing CBI probe in the matter.

“Keeping in view the ongoing CBI investigation in the matter, disclosure of information may be withheld for the present, in terms of Section 8 (1)(h) of the RTI Act,” the PMO said in reply to an RTI query.

The section bars disclosure of information which would impede the process of investigation or prosecution of offenders.

As per the recent survey conducted among the property brokers in Delhi, by the Centre for Civil Society, live-in couples, Muslims and people from Haryana are among the ‘least preferred’ tenants by the Delhi landlords. The survey states that a vast majority of landlords specifically state their preference against tenants from certain backgrounds.

Unmarried couples are highly detested by the landlords as around 88 per cent of the landlords surveyed said they did not want unmarried men and women as tenants. They believe that it would be a bad influence on their children.