Month: January 2013

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav today assured to hike the pension of former members of state Assembly besides considering the proposal of providing family pension to them as being given to those elected after 2010. “In the next financial year arrangements will be made to increase pension of former members of the Assembly and council,” Akhilesh said while addressing a convention of former MLAs and MLCs as a part of three-day celebrations to mark 125 years of the state legislature.

When a female member of the Afghan police shot dead a US contractor last month, another grim new marker was laid down in the war.

The killing in Kabul was the first insider attack by a woman since the conflict began. It brought a tough year to a fitting end and served as an early signpost for what could be an even harder 2013.

American and NATO officials have been eager to talk about significant progress being made here, but for most people these are worrying times.

An Indian-origin mother, who beat her 7-year-old son to death “like a dog” for failing to memorise the Quran, was Monday sentenced to life for killing him and setting his body afire to hide evidence after applying barbeque gel.

A sobbing Sara Ege, 33, collapsed and had to be helped from the dock after being told that she would serve 17 years before she could be considered for parole.

Cardiff crown court heard that Sara, a mathematics graduate from India, treated her son Yaseen “like a dog” when he struggled to memorise passages of the holy book of Islam.

A polio-stricken girl, looking for a job, on Monday tried to commit suicide by slashing her hand by a blade in front of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in Patna. The incident occurred when the Chief Minister was busy talking to people in his weekly ‘Janata ke Darbar me Mukhya Mantri’ programme.

The girl made the attempt demanding a job assurance from Nitish, who counselled and suggested her to do a computer course for acquiring a good job. “I promised her that I’ll finance her computer education from my own salary,” he said.

The NIA has received a forensic report showing that bombs used in the blasts at Malegaon (2006, 2008), Ajmer Sharif (2007), Mecca Masjid in Hyderabad (2007), Modasa in Gujarat (2008) and on board the Samjhauta Express (2006) bear similarities with each other.

The report from a Hyderabad lab, accessed by The Indian Express, points out several similarities in the six blasts — including the bomb and bomb container used, the bomb-making techniques, the electronic circuit, and the arming and trigger mechanisms.

Following the increasing crime against women, the Karnataka Government has launched a safety drive by distributing pamphlets and introducing toll free numbers to be contacted in case of an emergency.

Talking to reporters here on Monday, Deputy Chief Minister R. Ashok said that the campaign would benefit college students who use public transport.

The Congress party on Monday termed the current political crisis in Jharkhand as an internal issue between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) and said that the party has no role to play till the state government does not fall formally.

Reacting to the recent developments, Congress party in-charge for Jharkhand, Shakeel Ahmed said: We still consider it as an internal issue between BJP and JMM. If JMM officially withdraw support and the state government led by Chief Minister Arjun Munda formally resigns, thereafter we will think about next step.”

An Emirati company has donated $1 million to UNICEF for polio eradication in Afghanistan.

The donation is part of the Emirati company Al Ansari Exchange’s partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, one of UNICEF’s key partners and Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) supporters.

“This liberal donation will play an important role in the shortfall coverage for the provision of the necessary financial support for this initiative,” said Ibrahim El-Ziq, UNICEF representative for the Gulf Area, while thanking the company for its generous grant.

BJP national leader M Venkaiah Naidu said that the Congress party has written its own death warrant by hiking the power tariff so much that no where else in the country such hike was witnessed.

Talking to the media at the state party office here on Monday, he said with this, no force on earth would be able to stop the fall of the Congress in the state. He said Congress which came
to power by assuring the people with the slogan “Congress ke Haath Aaam Aadmi ke Saath” cheated the people by unbearable burden through the power tariff hike on the people. He said

US President Barack Obama Monday announced that he will nominate former Republican senator Chuck Hagel as the next defense secretary, and John Brennan to head the CIA, reported Xinhua.

Hagel would replace Leon Panetta at the Pentagon.

However, the maverick Nebraskan could face trouble in Senate confirmation from Republicans, who question his views on Israel and Iran, said the BBC.

Obama also picked his counter-terrorism adviser John Brennan as CIA director to replace Gen. David Petraeus, who resigned in November 2012 after admitting to an affair with his biographer.

Telugu artistes and others connected with the Telugu film industry held a protest here today against the imposition of service tax. Maintaining that the imposition of service tax caused enormous burden on them, the film personalities organised a two-hour sit-in and sought its withdrawal. Observing that they are already paying income and entertainment taxes, prominent film-maker Tammareddy Bhardwaj said the service tax put a lot of burden on them. The imposition of service tax would make the cost of film production raise and make it difficult for producers and in turn, others too, he said.

In efforts to bring the new liberalised visa agreement between India and Pakistan into effect, arrangements are being made to set up special counters at the Attari-Wagah border to grant visa to senior citizens from January 15, official sources said. “All (setting up of counters) is being done to operationalise the announcement of new visa agreement,” sources said here. Union Home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde and Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman Malik had agreed last year to launch new visa regime to promote people-to-people contact between two countries.

MIM MLA Akbaruddin Owaisi, who faces charges of making “hate speech”, today moved the Andhra Pradesh High Court seeking quashing of FIRs filed against him, even as the BJP accused the Andhra Pradesh government of going soft on him. Owaisi, who has been booked at three police stations, arrived from London this morning at the airport where a large number of his supporters had gathered.

Andhra Pradesh Director General of Police (DGP) V Dinesh Reddy today inaugurated the Pilot Go-Live of Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS) project at the Madhapur police station of Cyberabad Commissionerate here. The project will help citizens access the police services online, know the case status, provide information to police and provide interface with other departments like Prisons, RTA, Passport, and Civil Supplies. It will establish a country-wide network covering all the 14,000 police stations.

In a freak accident, a four-year-old girl died after she slipped and fell into a huge vat of boiling ‘Rasam’ at a temple festival at Edapadi, 42 km from here today, police said. The vat was being used to prepare the Rasam for community feeding in connection with the festival, they said. PTI

The friend of the Delhi gang-rape victim was today offered “full comprehensive treatment”, including psychiatric counselling, by a leading city hospital. Fortis Healthcare, which has hospitals across the National Capital Region, said it was ready to offer treatment free of cost to the software engineer, who was also attacked by the six men who allegedly gang-raped his 23-year-old friend. The offer comes in the wake of suggestions that the male friend, who is the only witness to the brutality inflicted on the paramedic student, should be given psychiatric help to overcome the tragedy.

Noting that President Barack Obama returning to power in 2012 elections was on expected lines, a US political expert today said the relations between New Delhi and Washington would continue to “improve” in coming months. “You know the first State dinner (of President Obama) was with Prime Minister Singh and there were some concern about Obama returning to office that there may be more discussions on issues related to Kashmir or nuclear proliferation,” Dr Thomas F Schaller, Associate Professor of Political Science in University of Maryland told reporters here.

A 45-year-old mentally unstable woman was today allegedly raped at Manavadar town in the district, police said. The accused was identified as Qasim Ibrahim. Manavadar Police Sub Inspector V M Bhoraniya told PTI that the incident took place when the woman’s husband was out in his field and she was alone at home. The accused was absconding, he added. PTI

An under-trial woman prisoner who had urged the court to allow termination of her pregnancy suffered a miscarriage at a government hospital here, official sources said today. The inmate, Meenakshi suffered excessive bleeding in the district jail yesterday and was rushed to the MY hospital where she had a miscarriage, District Jail Superintendent Ranjeet Singh Bhati told PTI today. She was discharged today and brought back to the jail, Bhati said, adding her petition for abortion was pending in the court.

Slain premier Benazir Bhutto’s lobbyist Mark Siegel has refused to come to Pakistan and testify as a prosecution witness against former President Pervez Musharraf due to security concerns, prosecutors said today. Prosecutors of the Federal Investigation Agency filed a petition asking an anti-terrorism court to allow US-based Siegel to record his statement via a video-link. The petition, submitted to Judge Chaudhry Habib-ur-Rehman, said Siegel had said in an email sent to the FIA that he would not be able to personally appear in court due to security concerns.

Much before the US carried out the 2011 raid that killed Osama bin Laden without informing Pakistan, the Bill Clinton administration had little faith in Islamabad when it came to sharing important intelligence information, a former top American general said today. Gen (rtd) Stanley McChrystal in his book, “My Share of the Task: A Memoir” which hit the stands today, says that as a result of the lack of trust with the Pakistani leadership, the latter were given just 10 minutes notice when the Clinton Administration launched a barrage of missiles in August, 1998, entering the Pakistani airspace.

Opposition Congress in Chhattisgarh today demanded dismissal of the BJP government over the issue of the alleged rape on minor inmates of a government-run residential school for tribal girls in Kanker district. A delegation of Congress leaders, led by state unit chief Nandkumar Patel, met Chhattisgarh Governor Shekhar Dutt and demanded dismissal of the state government saying the state government has failed to ensure safety of the girls living in residential schools.

The Bhatt camp may have delivered bold content in their movies like ‘Murder’, ‘Jism’, ‘Raaz’, but veteran filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt insists they have never treated women as commodities in their films. “I have never looked at women as commodities. Like in my film ‘Arth’ we showed a woman who deconstructs the institution of marriage. ‘Zakhm’ was about a woman who chose to stayoutside marriage,” he told reporters here today.

A 35-year-old man allegedly stabbed to death his wife and colleague at his residence in Sakinaka here today, police said. The man, who also critically injured another colleague, surrendered before police late evening and told them about the crime. The accused, identified as Rajan Damodar Inchal, came to the Sakinaka police station with a knife and said that he had killed his wife Seema (35), his colleague Rajgovind Rane (40) and critically injured Nitesh Gange (27), police said. Inchal took the extreme step as he suspected illicit relations between his wife and Gange.

Tension prevailed at Thalawady in the district after an irate crowd attacked a police station and pelted stones at the police quarters, demanding action against two pastors whose car crushed to death a a 15-year old girl. Police said the 10th standard student was returning home from tuition this evening with her friend when the car rammed them from behind, killing one of them on the spot and seriously injuring the other. They said both pastors abandoned the vehicle and fled the spot. Angry Locals then gathered at the police station and demanded that they be arrested.