Month: January 2013

Cooperation Minister Kasu Venkata Krishna Reddy on Wednesday informed that the State Government has decided to increase the special grant for the cooperative societies if they conduct unanimous elections.

Talking to reporters at Gandhi Bhavan, the minister said that special grant has been enhanced from Rs 5,000 to Rs 2 lakh. He said that the societies would be able to utilised the grant for developmental works in their areas of operation.

Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy has reportedly directed the Cabinet Sub-Committee to review the implementation of Fuel Surcharge Adjustment (FSA) on power consumers.

Lawyers in Jammu today held a protest rally against the Delhi gang-rape incident and demanded death penalty for those involved in the brutal act.

A large number of advocates, including women, gathered under the banner of Jammu Bar Association and sought enactment
of stringent laws to deal with cases of sexual abuse.

A female lawyer, who took part in the demonstration, demanded that all the accused in the Delhi incident be
immediately hanged.

—————–PTI

Seeking to fast track the execution of various power projects in Bihar, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has urged Planning Commission to facilitate early coal linkage/coal blocks in the state.

In a letter to the Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia yesterday, Kumar drew his attention
towards coal requirement for the eight proposed thermal power plants in Bihar and called for his intervention.

The State Government will soon organise World Urdu Conference, on the lines of World Telugu Conference held in Tirupati last month.

Addressing a press conference at Gandhi Bhavan on Wednesday, former minister Mohammad Ali Shabbir informed that Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy has accepted his request to organised World Urdu Conference in Hyderabad. He said that the Chief Minister has endorsed the request sent by him through Pradesh Congress Committee president Botsa Satyanarayana asking the former to conduct the conference.

Concerned over gold’s impact on current account deficit which has soared to all-time high, RBI today suggested higher customs duties on import of the precious metal and tax sops for pledging gold with banks.

The Reserve Bank’s suggestions came on the day when Finance Minister P Chidambaram said the government is
considering steps to make gold imports more expensive.

Pointing out that large gold imports are adversely impacting the CAD, a draft RBI report said there is a need to
moderate the demand for gold imports, as ensuring external sector’s stability is critical.

Demanding stringent action in the crime against women cases, YSR Congress has said that the Congress has shown no commitment in dealing with the issue in the recent past.

“Close on the heels of Delhi rape case, there have been a spate of crimes against women as the Congress at the State and Centre has failed to send a strong message that the guilty will be severely dealt with,” the Party Spokesperson Roja told reporters here on Wednesday.

A city in Indonesia’s Islamic law stronghold of Aceh will ban women from straddling male drivers on motorbikes, its mayor said today, dubbing the position “improper”.

The move comes after leaders from the country’s only province ruled by strict sharia law drafted a series of new
bills including banning women from wearing tight trousers, stoning adulterers and flogging homosexuals.

Under the new law, women in Lhokseumawe city, on the northern tip of Sumatra island, will have to sit “side-saddle”
with their legs dangling off to one side.

An air raid on a town partly held by rebels on the outskirts of Damascus today killed at least 12 members of the same family, most of them children, a watchdog said.

Regime warplanes bombed the town of Moadamiyet al-Sham, southwest of the capital, the Syrian Observatory for
Human Rights said.

Warplanes also attacked the towns of Shebaa to the southeast and Deir Assafir south of Damascus, where 11
children were killed in November when cluster bombs were dropped on a playground, according to Human Rights Watch.

India has banned journalistic activities by foreigners visiting the country on tourist visa.

The order has been issued by the Home Ministry after noticing that foreigners coming on tourist visa are involved
in coverage of events and other journalistic activities.

Tourist visa is not the appropriate visa for journalistic activities by the foreigners. Tourist visa is issued to
foreigners who do not have residence or occupation in India and whose sole objective of visiting India is recreation, sightseeing, casual visit to meet friends and relatives etc.

The intense cold wave sweeping the hills and valleys of Himachal Pradesh further tightened its grip as minimum temperatures dropped by few notches to stay below freezing point in the hilly state.

Dense fog engulfed the towns on the banks of major rivers in the morning, affecting vehicular traffic but it dissipated as the day advanced.

The key tourist resort of Manali shivered at minus 3 deg C while Solan and Sundernagar recorded a low of minus 1.8 deg and Bhuntar recorded minimum temperature at minus 1.9 deg, 2 deg below normal.

While others were celebrating the start of 2013, an elderly French woman spent New Year’s Eve trapped in a supermarket after being locked inside, officials said.

The 73-year-old was stuck inside the supermarket in the northern city of Roubaix after emerging from the toilet to
find the shop closed and the doors locked, local firefighters said.

She set off the alarms several times throughout the night but there was no answer. She was only discovered the morning of New Year’s Day around 10:30 am.

The Supreme Court today granted another two weeks to West Bengal Government to respond to its notice on a plea by a Park Street gangrape accused against denial of bail to him by the Calcutta High Court.

A bench of justices A K Patnaik and H L Gokhale had issued notice to the state government on November 26, 2012 and sought its reply within three weeks on a plea by Sumit Bajaj, one of the youths accused of gangraping an Anglo-Indian woman in a car on February 5 last year.

The high court had rejected Bajaj’s bail plea along with that of another accused in the case on October 19, 2012.

A 25-year-old woman was set ablaze by her lover here on New Year’s Day after she turned down his demand for money, police said today.

The incident took place yesterday when accused Aftab Khan poured kerosene on Jaispal Khan and set her on fire at her
residence in suburban Mankhurd, after she refused him money, they said.

The woman sustained 95 per cent burn injuries and was rushed to Sion hospital, where she is undergoing treatment.

Jaispal, a fish seller, was married to Javed Khan seven years ago but she was not staying with her husband and was

Charged with the success of State-level convention held last month, the Pradesh Congress Party is now gearing up to conduct regional conventions across the State.

The first such convention covering West Godavari, Krishna and Guntur districts will be held at Vijayawada on January 7. Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, PCC President Botsa Satyanarayana and other senior leaders on Wednesday participated in a meeting at Gandhi Bhavan to review the arrangements for the regional convention.

Marketing Minister Mukesh Goud today made it clear that he would not agree to Union Territory status to Hyderabad City in case the State was bifurcated.

Releasing a diary and a calendar of his Department at the Secretariat here on Wednesday, Mukesh said people of various regions were living in Hyderabad and the government has a duty to ensure protection to them. He demanded that the government formulate a special protection policy for them.

The Special Court on Wednesday extended the judicial remand of YSR Congress president and Kadapa MP YS Jagan Mohan Reddy to January 17 in the disproportionate assets case.

The Indian Institute of Skiing and Mountaineering (IISM) at Gulmarg in Jammu and Kashmir”s Baramulla District has introduced skiing courses to provide an impetus to winter sports and to attract local youth to adventure sports.

The IISM began the skiing course on Tuesday and a large number of children thronged snow covered Gulmarg to participate.

Colonel J S Dhillon, the principal of IISM, said that the objective behind introducing such courses is to popularise skiing among the local children.

India’s manufacturing sector growth improved further in December, registering the fastest pace in six months, driven by a strong pick up in new orders, an HSBC survey said.

The HSBC India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) – a measure of factory production – stood at 54.7 in December, up from 53.7 in November, indicating a further improvement in the health of the Indian manufacturing sector.

Farmers here, one of the worst Maoist-affected districts in Jharkhand, were once forced to cultivate poppy by the rebels to fund their operations in the region, but now with the decline of Maoist activity, the situation in the area is taking a turn for the better. Farmers are now engaged in growing vegetables.

“We have become aware that cultivating opium is not only harmful for us, but for the country as well. Now, a majority of farmers have stopped cultivating opium and shifted to growing vegetables,” said Vipin Singh, a farmer.

Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Wednesday said that government will have to look into various dimensions of the issue before taking any decision on deregulating diesel prices.

“The government has to take into account several dimensions of issue before decision can be taken,” he said, when asked about the possibility of deregulating diesel prices.

The issues concerning diesel are not unidimensional, the Minister said, adding while some argue for deregulation, the others say that it would fuel inflation.

Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari on Wednesday lashed out at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for adopting double standards on the appointment of Lokpal and the Lokayukta, saying the people of the country want a reply from the main opposition outfit on this issue.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to hear a PIL filed by a former woman IAS officer seeking directions to the government to ensure safety of women and for conduct of fast-track court proceedings in all rape cases.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Altamas Kabir will hear tomorrow the PIL which also sought suspension of MPs and MLAs in case a charge sheet is filed against them for crime against women.

In her PIL, retired IAS officer Promilla Shanker has pleaded with the court to direct the government to set up fast-track courts in all states for expeditious trial of rape cases.

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) will give suggestions to the government on making laws regarding sexual offences more stringent after a discussion with stakeholders next week.

An NHRC spokesperson said the Commission has decided to organise a conference next Tuesday to discuss with various stakeholders the existing laws for taking action against violators of women’s dignity and explore the possibilities of making these more stringent.

“Suggestions emerging out of the discussions will be sent to the government,” the spokesperson said.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to hear a PIL filed by a former woman IAS officer seeking directions to the government to ensure safety of women and for conduct of fast-track court proceedings in all rape cases.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Altamas Kabir will hear tomorrow the PIL which also sought suspension of MPs and MLAs in case a charge sheet is filed against them for crime against women.

In her PIL, retired IAS officer Promilla Shanker has pleaded with the court to direct the government to set up fast-track courts in all states for expeditious trial of rape cases.