Finance Minister Anam Ramnarayan Reddy on Tuesday informed that the preparations for the next budget were on.
Talking to reporters at Secretariat Media Point, the Finance Minister said that Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy has given the nod for the 2013-14 budget and the process for its preparations have already been initiated.
Unidentified gunmen fired at a car carrying workers of an NGO in Pakistan’s restive northwest today, killing six persons and injuring one more, police said.
The gunmen ambushed the car near the remote Sher Afzal Banda area of Swabi district in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province
this afternoon.
The NGO workers were returning from a visit to a community centre.
Five women and a man were killed in the shooting, district police chief Abdul Rashid told the media.
The driver of the car was injured. He was taken to a nearby hospital and was out of danger, Rashid said.
After a week-long winter sojourn, President Pranab Mukherjee left for the national capital on Tuesday.
The President was given a ceremonial send off at the Begumpet Airport. Governor ESL Narasimhan, Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, Deputy Chief Minister Damodar Raja Narasimha, GHMC Mayor Mohammad Majid Hussain, Ministers – Dr J Geetha Reddy, D Nagender, Ponnala Lakshmaiah and other dignitaries were present at the airport.
A 24-year-old girl student of Osmania University was found dead at her classmate’s residence in Chatrinaka in the Old City under mysterious circumstances. She is suspected to have been strangled to death.
According to police, the deceased, Aruna Panabala, was found dead at the residence of Shiva Kumar, her classmate and M Ed student, at Chatrinaka on Monday night. The body was noticed when Shiva Kumar’s parents returned home after attending some function. On information, Chatrinaka Police reached the spot and shifted the body to the Osmania General Hospital mortuary for autopsy.
Stargazers will get a celestial treat on New Year with Sun coming nearest to our planet on Wednesday.
The Earth will be at its nearest point from the Sun at 10:10 am tomorrow at a distance of 147 million km, Planetary Society of India General Secretary N Sri Raghunandan Kumar said today.
Every January, the Earth is at perihelion, the closest from the Sun for the year, and in July it is at aphelion, the farthest to the Sun for the year, he said.
This year the earth will be at aphelion on July 5.
‘Race-hate’ schools in Britain could be turning kids against the British way of life, secret papers have warned.
Ministers are said to have concerns that more than 100 independent faith schools, most of which are Islamic, could be encouraging anti-British hatred.
According to the Daily Star, education chiefs fear that they will be unable to crack down on extremism as it is too difficult to prove it is going on.
A government source said that ‘there is a gap between what they think and know and what they can prove’.
A 23-year-old girl allegedly committed suicide by hanging herself at her home in Ratanlalnagar locality in Kanpur, police said on Monday.
Upset with a scolding by her father, the girl, who was preparing for her B Ed entrance examination, went to her room and hung herself on Sunday, police said.
In a separate incident, Manu Rathore (21) attempted suicide by consuming poison in Nehru Nagar due to hardships faced as a result of unemployment, police said.
His family members rushed him to hospital but he died before reaching the hospital, they said.
The ashes of 23-year-old medical student who was gang-raped and tortured in a moving bus in Delhi last month, were immersed in the river Ganga at the Bharauli ghat in Ballia on Tuesday. Hundreds of people, including women and children gathered there, most with tears in their eyes.
The ashes of the young woman, who fought for 13 days to survive before dying of severe organ failure in a Singapore hospital last Saturday, were brought to her ancestral village by her family late on Monday evening.
A group of Andhra Pradesh ministers from the Telangana region Tuesday called on President Pranab Mukherjee and sought his intervention for immediately carving out a separate state.
Six ministers, including state Home Minister Sabita Indra Reddy and Major Industries Minister Geeta Reddy, met Mukherjee at Rashtrapathi Nilayam, the president’s official retreat Bolarum in Secunderabad here.
Despite a last minute deal reached between the White House, Democrats and the Republicans brokered by the US Vice President, Joe Biden, the US missed the Monday midnight “fiscal cliff” deadline to avert sweeping tax hikes.
While the Senate was moving ahead with its plan to vote on the deal, but the Republican-majority House of Representatives was unlikely to meet before Tuesday noon local time (late Tuesday night IST) to vote on the “fiscal cliff” deal that would extend tax rates on annual income under USD 450,000, delay for two months part of the USD 110 billion in spending cuts.
On the last day of his stay at the Rashtrapathi Nilayam at Bollaram, President Pranab Mukherjee was greeted by Governor ESL Narasimhan, Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy and Telangana ministers on the New Year Day on Tuesday.
The Telangana ministers are believed to have said that a decision should be taken on Telangana soon. The ministers who met the President include P Sabitha Indra Reddy, Dr J Geeta Reddy, Sunitha Lakshma Reddy, K Sudarshan Reddy, D Sridhr Babu and Saraiah.
The Jammu and Kashmir government has decided to dedicate the year 2013 to daughters and observe it as ‘Save the Girl Child’ year.
“As part of a campaign against female foeticide and to promote the girl child, the state health department will dedicate 2013 to daughters and observe the year as ‘save the girl child’ year”, Minister for Health and Family Welfare Sham Lal Sharma said yesterday.
Seeking society’s support to curb female foeticide, Sharma said only government efforts were not sufficient to deal with the menace, but the entire society has to contribute.
Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Tuesday said the presence of Maoists in the state was a “big problem” and promised measures to tackle it.
“Although militancy is on the wane of late, which is a positive sign, Maoists are causing a big problem. However, the government is determined to tackle it,” Gogoi told reporters here.
Gogoi said the matter had been taken up with the Centre which was convinced of the seriousness of the threat.
“All steps will be taken to contain their activity,” he promised.
People thronged to temples across the state on the New Year Day on Tuesday and offered prayers seeking the blessings.
Tirupati had the maximum number of devotees while in the state capital and other places people dressed in their best visited the temples and offered prayers.
Temples at Srisailam, Vijayawada, Srikalahasti, Yadagirigutta and Simhachalam are packed with devotees. Saibaba temple at Dilshuknagar in the city has big queues from early morning itself.
In order to clear extra rush of passengers, the South Central Railway has extended the run of Special trains between Secunderabad and Kurla (Lokmanya Tilak Terminus ) with eight more special train services.
Following travel aid provided by philanthropists, four migrants workers hailing from Andhra Pradesh will return to Hyderabad on Wednesday.
No loss of property was reported after several parts of Visakhapatnam district experienced mild tremors on Tuesday.
According to the local Meteorological Office, light tremors were felts in Narsipatnam and surrounding areas of Makavarapupalem, Rolugunta, Koyyuru and Madugula mandals. The tremors, which lasted for a few seconds at around 7.20 AM, were of very low intensity and therefore, caused no damage to properties anywhere. (INN)
The government has asked political parties to give their views on reviewing rape laws to Justice J S Verma Committee, set up to suggest amendments in the statute to provide speedier justice and enhanced punishment in cases of aggravated sexual assault against women.
In letters to leaders of all national and state political parties, Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said in the light of gangrape of a 23-year-old girl in Delhi, the government has given its anxious consideration to the need for reviewing the present laws relating to sexual assault of extreme nature against women.
Scriptures were read and prayers were offered by representatives of various religious faiths at a meeting here Monday to mourn the demise of the Delhi gang-rape victim, officials said Tuesday.
Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar attended the meeting at the Bal Yogi Auditorium in the parliament library building. The meeting was organised by the Lok Sabha secretariat.
Officials said that for the first time, New Year celebrations in parliament were cancelled to pay tributes to the 23-year-old woman, whose death was mourned by the entire nation.
—-IANS
Stargazers will get a celestial treat on New Year with Sun coming nearest to our planet tomorrow.
The Earth will be at its nearest point from the Sun at 10:10 AM tomorrow at a distance of 147 million km, Planetary Society of India General Secretary N Sri Raghunandan Kumar said today.
Every January, the Earth is at perihelion, the closest from the Sun for the year, and in July it is at aphelion, the farthest to the Sun for the year, he said.
This year the earth will be at aphelion on July 5.
Ashes of the Delhi gang-rape victim were today immersed in the river Ganga at Bharauli ghat here as hundreds of people, including women and children, bid adieu to the braveheart with teary eyes.
Ashes of the young woman, who fought for her life for 13 days, were brought to her ancestral village by the family late last evening. This morning the family members started from the house at around 8 AM to immerse the ashes at Bharauli ghat.
Jordan has said it is prepared to deal with any potential chemical weapon threat posed by the violence in neighbouring Syria.
The country, however, added that it will not enter “any alliance” to protect itself.
Jordan, the US and others have expressed concern that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad could use chemical weapons in a last-ditch effort to save his regime, the Gulf News reports.
Information Minister Sameeh Maaytah did not give details on Jordan’s capabilities to thwart a chemical attack in remarks carried by the official Petra news agency on Sunday.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa Tuesday advocated harsh punishment like chemical castration and death for rapists.
The Tamil Nadu government would “request the centre to amend laws to ensure maximum punishment of death penalty and chemical castration for those responsible for rape,” she said in a statement here.
Her call came in the wake of the death of the Delhi gang-rape victim that has sparked nationwide protests and demand for stringent punishment for crimes against women.
Good health, love, happiness and respect for women – Bollywood celebrities have wished all this and more to their fans and loved ones on the first day of 2013.
The celebrities took to Twitter to extend New Year wishes. Here’s what they had to say:
Amitabh Bachchan: Happy New Year to all. For a glorious 2013… but never forget what 2012 left us with.
Anupam Kher: Wishing you all a happy and hopeful 2013. Love, happiness, peace and respect for the ‘Her’ among us.
Asha Bhosle: Best wishes for the coming year.
An anti-terrorism court in Rawalpindi has issued summons for Mark Siegel, a key witness in the assassination of former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto.
The court had issued summons for the US lobbyist for Jan 5 in order to record his testimony in the case.
The summons for Siegel had been formally sent to the US and the lobbyist had also been informed of the developments through telephone calls, the Dawn reports.