Month: November 2012

BJP chief Nitin Gadkari was embroiled in another controversy Monday for comparing Swami Vivekananda’s IQ with that of fugitive don Dawood Ibrahim. BJP leader Mahesh Jethmalani used the remark as a trigger to quit the party’s national executive and demanded that Gadkari should not be given another term as party president.

Gadkari, who was speaking at an award function in Bhopal Sunday, later denied he had compared the renowned 19th century seer with Dawood Ibrahim.

The Congress slammed Gadkari’s remarks and demanded an apology from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Just as the US east coast is limping back to recovery from the destruction caused by Sandy, another strong coastal storm threatens to hit the region this week and could result in high winds, flooding and power outages, further exacerbating the damage caused by the megastorm.

Though there is still uncertainty over its exact course and timing, the new coastal storm could bring windy conditions with high winds in the range of 50 miles per hour.

YSR Congress Party honorary president YS Vijayamma on Monday accused the State Government of adopting lackadaisical approach in undertaking rehabilitation measures in the flood affected areas.

Talking to reporters after after visiting the flood affected areas in and around Eluru of West Godavari district, Vijayamma said that the government could have prevented or at least minimised the damages by taking precautions. However, she said that the government totally failed to anticipate the gravity of the situation which led to heavy loss of human lives and properties.

The State Government’s failure to improve the drainage system has compounded the loss inflicted by cyclone Neelam on standing crops like paddy and cotton in several districts, charged the Lok Satta Party on Monday.

In a media statement, Lok Satta Party General Secretary Katari Srinivasa Rao pointed out that drains have not been de-silted in many districts since 1995.

The City Police on Monday imposed prohibitory orders under Section 144 Cr PC in the limits of several police stations in the South and West Zone.

The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Monday ordered status quo to be maintained at the Bhagya Lakshmi Temple at Charminar.

The Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday invited Telangana Nagara Samithi convener and Nagarkurnool MLA Nagam Janardhan Reddy to join the party.

According to sources, senior BJP leaders including State President G Kishan Reddy called on Nagam at his residence and invited him to join the saffron brigade. The BJP leaders also discussed the party’s plan to carry forward the movement for statehood for Telangana region. They reportedly assured Nagam that his political stature would be honoured and respected in the party.

Director General of Police V Dinesh Reddy has been elected as the new president of Indian Hockey Federation.

Dinesh Reddy’s was unanimously elected as the IHF President in the Federation’s Special General Body meeting held on Monday. He is the second person from South to be elected as the IHF President.

KPS Gills is the Patron and Chief Advisor of the IHF.

–Agencies

The Telugu Desam Party has alleged that the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation was proving to be another Satyam where inflated figures are being used to present a rosy picture while covering up the irregularities.

Addressing a press conference here on Monday, TDP GHMC floor leader Singireddy Srinivas Reddy said that the corporation was furnishing inflated figures with regard to developmental activities in its limits. He said there was a huge difference between the actual funds, sanctioned amounts and real money that has been spent for different works in the city.

While the eyes of the world are on the closely-fought US presidential elections, some three million Indian Americans are watching with interest the fortunes of five from their community vying for a seat in the US Congress.

Besides four Democrats and a lone Republican hoping to repeat the feats of Dalip Singh Saund and current Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal, the only two Indian-Americans to win a seat in the US House of Representatives, a Democratic woman is also poised to become the first Hindu to enter the Congress.

The Army troops deployed along the China border from Ladakh in Jammu and Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh in northeast have reported more than 100 sightings of “Unidentified Flying Objects” (UFOs) in the last three months.

Agencies including the Army, DRDO, NTRO and the ITBP have not yet been able to identify these luminous flying objects.

Answer the following questions and post your answers in comments section with your email ID.

1) Who said these words, “Obey me as long as I obey Allah and His messenger. If I disobey Allah and His messenger, you are free to disobey me”.

A) Abu Bakr (r.a.)

B) Ali (r.a.)

C) Hamzah (r.a.)

D) Abu Talib

Estranged for years following a bitter inheritance battle, two Bangladeshi Muslim brothers reunified on the streets of Makkah in Saudi Arabia, in a typical Bollywood movie arrangement.

A Bangladeshi sweeper working in the holy city was shocked to find a man, in Hajj attire, approaching him and holding him in tight embrace.

The man turned out to be his estranged elder brother, who had deprived him of his rightful inheritance running into millions, the Saudi’s news site Sabq reported.

The US and Russia have never held secret discussions about possible regime change in Syria, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in Cairo Monday.

“We never hold secret discussions with anyone over the fate of a third-party country, and there was no secret discussion with the US or with anyone else about [Syrian President] Bashar al-Assad,” Lavrov said.

Lashkar-e-Taiba chief Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, having offered aid for the superstorm Sandy’s victims, says he has differences with the US government policies, but not with its people and will continue to extend “moral support” for Kashmir’s liberation.

Wanted in India and the US over 2008 Mumbai terror attacks that killed 166 people, Saeed in an interview with the CNN condemned the attack and lives lost in it, and revealed to have written to the UN and European Union for the clearance of his name in it.

To stop the menace of pesky messages, telecom regulator Trai today said only 100 SMSes in a day per SIM card will be allowed at concessional rates. For every SMS beyond the cap of 100 SMSes, a charge of minimum 50 paise will be applicable, the regulator said. Subscribers have been facing the menace of receiving unsolicited promotional SMSes from unregistered tele-marketers who often take the advantage of concessional SMS offers by telecom operators.

Ingredients:

4 garlic pods
20 red chillies, roasted
2 cups grated coconut
4 tsp oil
a little tamarind
Salt To Taste

How to make garlic tamarind chutney :
Sauté the garlic, coconut in oil.
Make tamarind pulp by soaking tamarind in some water for 2 hours and then straining.
Then grind the saute mixture with roasted red chillies and tamarind pulp.
Add the garlic and salt and grind once again to a smooth paste.

The Government Railway Police (GRP) in Haryana’s Karnal town have arrested 13 people, including the main accused, for allegedly raping a minor girl near Bajida Jatan railway station Friday.

A spokesman of Haryana Police said here Monday that besides main accused Ravi, those arrested included a woman who had helped the 16-year-old girl’s rapists. Two more accused were still at large, he added.

As many as 35 persons tested positive for dengue fever in Nagpur city in October.

Dr Milind Ganvir, Deputy Director (Health), said the Nagpur Municipal Corporation had sent blood samples of 213
patients to NIV, Pune, which confirmed 35 as dengue-infected.

Health department had started door-to-door survey and so far come across 11,480 houses where surroundings were
favourable for breeding of mosquitoes, he said.

—————–PTI

Amid threats that India’s credit rating could be downgraded and a slowdown in the economy, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia Monday said the government is taking several steps to boost investor confidence and more such measures may follow.

“Lot of examples can be given on the steps the government has taken to get rid of impediments in movements of large projects. I think I am hoping that we will have more such steps. Lots of internal administrative decisions have been pushed forward,” Ahluwalia told reporters at a seminar here.

The Odisha government today ordered the CID Crime Branch to probe the death of a lady doctor in Puri district, whose body was found on October 19,but which subsequently went missing from the grave.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has directed the CID CB to probe the death of the lady doctor,” an official spokesman
said.

The 34-year-old unmarried lady doctor Madhabilata Pradhan went missing on October 12. Her body with multiple injuries was found by the GRP from the railway tracks near Malatipatpur railway station on October 19 and a case of unnatural death registered.

Tech Mahindra, country’s sixth largest software exporter, on Monday said its consolidated net profit grew by 46.57 percent to Rs 160.13 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2012.

This is against a net profit of Rs 109.25 crore for the corresponding period last year, Tech Mahindra said in a statement.

The company’s income from operations increased 18.98 percent to Rs 1,507.87 crore in the quarter under review from Rs 1,267.27 crore in the year-ago period.

He is one of India’s biggest superstars but Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan says it is lonely at the top and he is constantly fighting with the “feeling of emptiness.” “There is something wrong in me. I sense it. I feel it but I don’t know what it is,” Shah Rukh said during the ThinkFest conclave, an annual event, in Goa.

“I have a beautiful family. I have a few friends with whom I spend lot of time. I don’t want to die like my father. I don’t want to be unknown. I would like to be just successful. Believe me it is lonely at the top.”

Civil nuclear cooperation, ways to step up bilateral trade and economic ties are some of the issues expected to be discussed during the meeting between visiting Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh here Tuesday.

Harper, who arrived in Agra yesterday on a six-day visit to India, flew in here in the afternoon.

Three persons were arrested after the seizure of a Queen Victoria’s statue and a dog made of ‘astadhatu’ (eight metals) in Odisha’s Jajpur district,police said today.

The statue of Queen Victoria is 16 inch in height and weighs 5.2 kg and the dog’s statue is 6 inch in height and
weighs 3.6 kg, the sources said.

We had information that an antique smuggling racket was operating from a hotel in Jajpur Road. We conducted a raid
recently and seized the antique statues, one of Queen Victoria and another of a dog standing behind her,” Jajpur
Superintendent of Police Deepak Kumar said.