TDP senior leader and former minister Kadiyam Srihari has said while every single party could understand his party’s stand on Telangana, he did not understand why TRS chief K Chandrasekhara Rao alone was unable to understand.
Ministers of the Telangana region met President Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday, the last day of his southern sojourn in Hyderabad and appealed to him to use his good offices to expedite the Telangana statehood issue at the earliest.
Sabita Indra Reddy, Sunita Lakshma Reddy, Baswaraju Saraiah, J. Geeta Reddy, Sudarshan Reddy and Sridhar Babu were among those who met the President.
Iranian naval forces have so far warned off 30 transregional spy drones from entering the Velayat 91 military maneuver zone, a senior Iranian commander said.
On the fifth day of the military maneuvers on Tuesday, the spokesman for the Velayat 91 naval drills Rear Admiral Amir Rastegari noted that Iranian forces have so far stopped 30 intrusion attempts by foreign spy drones and reconnaissance aircraft into the maneuver zone.
Haryana Minister Shiv Charan Sharma landed in a controversy after calling suicide victim Geetika Sharma a “maid servant” (naukarani) of his former ministerial colleague Gopal Kanda who is the prime accused in the case.
Sharma, the Minister for Labour and Employment who also said the case in which Kanda has been booked is not “such a big” one, came under fire today from BJP and women’s bodies who dubbbed the remark as insensitive, insulting and shameful. Geetika’s brother Ankit demanded an apology from the minister.
The ban on sale of gutka and tobacco-based pan masala came into effect in Uttarakhand today. The decision to ban sale, purchase and storage of these products from January 1 was taken by the state Cabinet nearly two-and-a-half-month back. Time was given to traders dealing in such products to exhaust the old stock by December 31, officials said. A circular had been sent to all departments concerned to strictly enforce the ban, they said. PTI
Andhra Pradesh government will launch its own version of Cash Transfer Scheme from April 1, 2013. “We are contemplating the UID-linked CTS for different welfare schemes we are implementing. Relevant exercise is on to bring the CTS into force and the Chief Minister is positive about it,” AP Finance Minister Aanam Ramanarayana Reddy said today. While the Government of India’s Direct Benefits Transfer scheme covers a set of schemes, the state government plans to implement the CTS for welfare programmes like social security pensions, scholarships, etc, the minister said.
UAE has arrested more than 10 people, including three Egyptian doctors, for being part of a “secret” group linked to Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, that was allegedly discussing ways to “overthrow regimes in the Arab states”. The activities of those arrested were being monitored by the security agencies for several years, according to a report in Al Khaleej newspaper.
A middle-aged woman was robbed of cash, mobile phone and a bag before being pushed out of a running auto-rickshaw even as the city was yet to forget the December 23rd night incident where a young girl was allegedly molested in the similar manner by two youths. An auto-rickshaw driver allegedly robbed of Rs 5,200, a mobile phone and a carry bag of the women who had hired the vehicle to go to Badagada Brit Colony from Baramunda Bus terminal last night. Instead of being taken to her destination, the auto-driver forcibly took the woman towards Mancheswar area and robbed her.
Male vendors won’t be allowed to sell their wares in the ladies compartments of local trains, Maharashtra Home Minister R R Patil said today. He was speaking to reporters at the Churchgate station here after a surprise visit to the bustling terminus to review women commuters’ security during the evening peak hours. Security personnel would also be stationed on railway overbridges to combat the menace of eve-teasing, the minister, who also interacted with women commuters, said.
Effective measures are being taken for protecting children from sexual offences, Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda here today. Hooda said Additional District and Session Judges in each sessions division have been notified as Special Court (Children) in the State under Section 25 of Commissions for the Protection of Child Rights Act, 2005.
Voicing concern over the pendency of rape cases, Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan today met the Chief Justice of Bombay High Court Mohit Shah, demanding setting up of 25 special fast track courts. “I met the Chief Justice of Bombay High Court and asked for 25 special fast track courts (to deal with rape cases). There are some 26 vacancies (of judges) that have to be filled,” Chavan told reporters here. The chief minister said he would meet Shah again next week. “We will meet him next week with a proper agenda,” he said.
BJP today termed as a “needless diversion” the controversial tweet of Union Minister Shashi Tharoor suggesting that the name of the Delhi gangrape victim be made public and demanded that he should instead focus on passing a stringent anti-rape law. “This is the time for making a strong law against rape without any delay. Naming or keeping the victim’s identity a secret is not the main issue here. The media, politicians and the society are following the Supreme Court guidelines on the matter at the moment.
At least four persons, including three students, were killed and two injured in two separate road accidents in different parts of the city during the New Year celebrations, police said today. On the intervening night of December 31 and January 1, three engineering students, who were riding a motor-bike, were hit by a car on a road Banjara Hills, in which all three of them died on the spot. The deceased were identified as Vikhyath Rao, Shravan Reddy and Abuji Harish (all aged between 20 and 21 years), police said.
After Union Minister Shashi Tharoor today favoured naming the revised anti-rape legislation after the 23-year-old Delhi gang-rape victim, his party’s MLA from Mumbai has demanded that the Milan subway flyover here be named after the braveheart. Congress MLA from Vile Parle Krishna Hegde met Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan this evening and suggested to him that the flyover be named after the gang-rape victim. The flyover will be completed in four months, he said.
Congress today accused ruling BJP in Chhattisgarh of being “insensitive” towards women issues, claiming the state party leaders had attended New Year celeberations even as the nation mourned the death of the Delhi gang-rape victim. “In the wake of the Delhi gang-rape victim’s death, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj had decided not to celebrate New year. Several incidents of rapes were reported in the past one month in the state. Even after that all ruling party leaders were engaged in New Year celebrations.
The Mumbai civic body has said it has no such record about the date when the statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj was installed in the Shivaji Park here. To a query under the RTI Act, the BMC expressed its ignorance when the statue of the Great Maratha king was installed in the park. This was stated by RTI activist Anil Galgali, who had sought information from the Municipal Secretary about when the Park was named as Shivaji Park and when the statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji was installed there.
At least 61 people died and dozens more were injured in Abidjan as crowds that had gathered for celebratory New Year’s fireworks stampeded overnight, Ivory Coast rescue workers said today. An AFP journalist saw many injured children, while images broadcast by RTI television showed bodies stretched lifeless on the ground outside the city’s main stadium. Piles of abandoned shoes and clothing could also be seen at the stadium, where soldiers and police were deployed. The head of military rescue workers, Lieutenant Colonel Issa Sako, told journalists at the scene that 61 people had died.
The six accused in the Delhi gangrape case had allegedly tried to mow the girl down under the bus after dumping her in south-west Delhi but her male friend saved her from being crushed. As the Delhi Police is set to submit its charge sheet before the trial court on Thursday, more details of the horrific crime that has shaken the nation’s conscience are tumbling out. The victim, a paramedical student, was gangraped in the moving bus on December 16, brutally assaulted and then thrown out of he vehicle along with her male friend, a software engineer, who was also thrashed.
A youth was arrested today for allegedly strangulating three minors to death in Chhattisgarh’s Raigarh district, a top police official said here. “Jaipal Yadav(22) residing at Gahna Jhariya village of the district was apprehended for killing three minors, Mohit Yadav (4), Dipika Yadav (4) and Nirmala Yadav (5), who were living in his neighbourhood,” Superintendent of Police Anand Chhabra said. Jaipal was arrested when he was trying to kidnap a three-year-old girl Bharti in the village, he said.
Three Naxals, including two women belonging to the Chandrawanka squad, surrendered here today, a top police official said. The three outlaws were involved in the cases of arson, destruction of public property and extortion, Superintendent of Police S Satyanarayana said, adding that they would be extended benefits of the rehabilitation package. The Maoists were identified as S Ankayya(50), his spouse Guravamma(45) and K Kumari (35), who hailed from Karampudi and Durgi areas. They ultras, later told reporters here, that they have surrendered for health reasons.
Twenty deer horns, worth over Rs three lakh in the international market, were seized from two youths while they were trying to sell it at Panikoili in Jajpur district today, police said. Acting on a tip off, a police team swung into action and arrested the duo under Wildlife Protection Act while attempting to sell them off at Jajpur Road, they said. The horns, a country made revolver and a vehicle were seized from the two accused persons identified as Bhabagrahi Brahma and Yasobanta Brahma of Kalakala village in the district.
Four members of a family were found dead today at different places in Dharampur taluka in the district. The body of family head, Chunilal Bushara, was found hanging from a tree near his house in Dharampur area, said M P Patel, Sub-Inspector. However, Bushara’s wife, daughter and son were found dead in a river this evening, he said. “It seems they have committed suicide but we are not ruling out any other angles. We are probing the cause behind the incident and are investigating relatives of the deceased,” Patel said.
A local court today extended till January 8 the police custody of seven accused in 2012 serial bomb blasts. The Delhi Police and Maharashtra Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) produced four of the seven accused in the court of Judicial Magistrate (First Class) S S Bose at Shivaji Nagar here. Four coordinated low-intensity bomb blasts had struck Pune on August 1, 2012, injuring one person.
Ahead of the proposed visit of Akhilesh Yadav here, a heated argument erupted between two employees’ unions after activists supporting reservation in promotion tore posters welcoming the UP Chief Minister. The poster with Yadav’s picture was put up by Ramnarayan Vishnoi, a non-reserved category leader of Samta Andolan, at the state secretariat building, making an appeal to people to attend a felicitation ceremony of the CM on January 12.
An FIR has been lodged today against Naran Kachadiya, a BJP MP from Amreli, for allegedly slapping a government doctor on duty and threatening to kill him, police said. The incident took place this morning at Amreli Civil Hospital here, where one of the relatives of Kachadiya is undergoing treatment, they said. The victim, identified as Dr Bhimji Dabhi has lodged the FIR against the MP. “A relative of Kachadiya is being treated at the trauma centre of the Civil Hospital here. After tending to the MP’s relative, Dr Dabhi went to attend an emergency case,” police said.