Month: January 2013

The Delhi gang-rape has inspired Telugu director Ramana Gaddam to recreate the horrific story in his forthcoming Telugu drama “Nisha”. The idea, he says, is to send out a strong message to the government and public.

“I’m not trying to cash in on the sensitivity of this issue but bring to light a barbaric act that shook our nation. I want to send a strong message through my film that such acts can’t be taken lightly and the perpetrators should be punished severely,” Gaddam told IANS.

A minor Dalit girl, allegedly abducted by two youths from Singhanwala village here, has been rescued, police said today.

The girl was abducted on the intervening night of December 30 and 31 by Sukhpreet Singh and Balwinder Singh, they said.

The duo was nabbed after their motorcycle, on which they were also carrying the girl, was stopped at a police check post yesterday, they said.

The girl is a student of Class 12 at a government school here.

—PTI

This is a very popular fruit and nut salad recipe. It is liked by one and all.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup paneer (mashed)
1/4 cup mayonnaise
6-7 pieces dated (stone removed)
6 pieces canned peach (aadoo)
1/4 cup cashew nut (kaju) (roasted)
1/4 bunch lettuce (kasmisaag) (chopped)
1 Tomato (Tamatar) (sliced)
2 tsp green chutney
1 tsp Tomato (Tamatar) chutney

How to make fruit and nut salad:
Mix paneer, mayonnaise, lettuce and green chutney and make a layer of it in a flat bowl.
Mix dates, tomato chutney, peaches, cashew buts and place it over the 1st layer.

Minority Employees Coordination and Consultancy Association’s calendar for the year 2013 was released by Mr. Zahed Ali Khan editor Siasat daily. Association president thanked Mr. Zahed Ali Khan and said that thanks to the compassion and cooperation of Mr. Zahed Ali Khan, MECCA is on this position today.

He asserted that Siasat’s welfare activities have now taken the shape of a movement. This movement will become popular in the entire country under the leadership of Mr. Zahed Ali Khan.

Pakistan’s Interior Minister Rehman Malik has said that the government is ready to hold talks with Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief Hakimullah Mehsud if the banned militant group quits violence.

Malik said action would be taken if the TTP continued on its path of violence.

According to the Daily times, he also said that the TTP has given no response regarding renouncing violence.

When a reply is received all stakeholders will be consulted and the nation’s emotions will be taken into consideration before implementing any policy regarding the TTP, he added.

Pakistan government has said it is ready to hold talks with the banned terror outfit Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Chief Hakimullah Mehsud, provided he renounces violence.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik, while interacting with reporters here Monday, said the government was ready for talks but action would be taken if the TTP continued following its path of violence, Geo News reported.

“The good deed and the evil deed cannot be equal. Repel (the evil) with one which is better (i.e. Allah orders the faithful believers to be patient at the time of anger, and to excuse those who treat them badly) then verily he, between whom and you there was enmity, (will become) as though he was a close friend.”

Quran (Surah Al-Fusillat, Verse 34)

Reflections from this verse:

First, Allah says that goodness and evil are not equal.

The mischief and evil practiced by the opponents of good might apparently make goodness seem absolutely helpless and powerless.

The government will rollout its “game changer” direct cash transfer scheme in 20 districts to 2 lakh beneficiaries from Tuesday but has decided to hold back the “complex” transfer of food, fertiliser and fuel subsidies for the time being.

Announcing that the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) will be rolled out in a phased manner, Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Monday said benefit of 7 central schemes will be directly credited into the bank accounts of beneficiaries across 20 districts from January 1.

The BSE benchmark Sensex surged by 152 points on the first trading session of 2013 on the back of buying after US policymakers reached an agreement to avert the imminent fiscal cliff of wide-reaching tax hikes and deep spending cuts in the world’s biggest economy.

Persistent capital inflows from foreign funds into equity market also boosted the market sentiment.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 826.34 crore yesterday as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.

Hadith:
Ibn Mas`ud (RadiyAllahu Anhu) reported: The Prophet (Sallellahu Alaihi Wa Aalihi Wa Sallam) said to me: “Recite the Qur’an to me”.

I said: ‘O Messenger of Allah! Shall I recite the Qur’an to you, when it has been revealed to you?’

He (S.A.W.S.) replied: “I love to hear it recited by others”.

So I recited to him a portion from Surat An-Nisa’. When I reached the Ayah:
“How (will it be) then, when We bring from each nation a witness and We bring you (O Muhammad (S.A.W.S.)) as a witness against these people?”.
(4:41)

He (S.A.W.S.) said, “Enough for now”.

Tanzeem Moment for Peace and Justice of Jamat-e-Islami has made a plan to call the attention of all political parties towards the various issues confronted by the minorities in the state and to seek a declaration regarding redressal of grievances.

US President Barack Obama and Republicans sealed a budget deal late Monday night to avert the fiscal cliff that would prevent a middle-class tax hike from hitting 98 percent of all Americans, a senior White House official said.

The deal also delays for two months part of the USD 109 billion in spending cuts.

Against the backdrop of incidents of hacking of defence computers, Army chief Gen Bikram Singh has issued orders to check “cyber invasion” by restricting use of power point presentation for discussing sensitive military information.

The Army chief has issued directions for checking cyber invasion by going paperless while discussing sensitive operational issues such as military deployments and war plans, Army sources told PTI here on Monday.

Formations have been told by the Army Headquarters that security of sensitive material would be the responsibility of the commanders, they said.

The issue of stricter laws for sex crimes against women and enhanced punishment to perpetrators is expected to figure prominently in the Congress ‘Chintan baithak’ scheduled at Jaipur on January 18 and 19.

Indications to this effect were given by senior party leaders today at a time when the issues of gender justice have come to the fore in the wake of the Delhi gang-rape that has numbed the country.

Maharashtra government late Monday announced a Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by leading water expert Madhav Chitale to probe into the alleged multi-crore irrigation scam.

The committee will also comprise of three retired bureaucrats and would submit its report in six months.

The announcement of setting up the SIT was made by Water Resources Minister Sunil Tatkare in the legislative council in Nagpur.

The terms of reference of the SIT and the appointment of members were to be finalised by December 31.

Americans have voted Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and President Barack Obama as the most admired people in the world, according to Gallup polls.

Clinton has been the Most Admired Woman each of the last 11 years, and Obama has been the Most Admired Man five years in a row.

The Indian rupee stabilised further against the American currency in the late morning trade by surging 24 paise to 54.75 per dollar on persistent selling of dollar by banks and exporters on the back of sustained capital inflows despite firm dollar overseas.

The rupee resumed higher at 54.83 per dollar as against the last closing level of 54.99 per dollar at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) Market and firmed up further to 54.70 before quoting at 54.75 per dollar at 1040 hrs.

It moved in a range of 54.70 per dollar and 54.86 per dollar during the morning deals.

China Monday said it would focus on developing stable, sound and new type of relations with the neighbouring and emerging countries in 2013 with more initiatives to address the regional and international issues.

Summing up China’s foreign policy challenges in 2013, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunyang said that Beijing would strive for deepening trust and integration of interests with the neighbouring countries.

A 46-year old Indian immigrant, who was killed after being pushed by a woman onto the subway train tracks, was cremated here in the presence of his friends and business partners.

Sunando Sen’s cremation was held yesterday and was attended by his friends, business partners and a representative of the Indian Consulate in New York, a senior Consulate official told PTI.

Sen, who owned a printing and copying business near Columbia University, died after being pushed by 31-year old Erika Menendez in front of an oncoming train at a Queens subway station on December 27.

Hailing from an army background, Anushka Sharma has led a very quiet and disciplined life, but confesses her profession has now made her an attention-seeker – an “occupational hazard” for all actors.

“I am not spoilt as I was brought up in an army background. But every actor is an attention-seeker. It is an occupational hazard for us. If I don’t seek attention, I will not be doing my work well,” Anushka told IANS in an interview.

Doctors are confident that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will make a full recovery despite the discovery of a potentially dangerous blood clot between the brain and the skull behind her right ear.

The clot did not result in any stroke or neurological damage, her doctors at a New York hospital said Monday as they treated her with blood thinners to help dissolve the clot located in a vein.

The killing of 41 people in two separate terror attacks in Pakistan on Sunday will temporarily halt prospects for immediate peace talks between Pakistani authorities and Taliban militants, two senior Pakistani intelligence officers and a senior western diplomat in Islamabad have warned.

Both intelligence officers said that the fallout of the killings may even harm U.S. plans to peacefully draw down troops from Afghanistan, with Pakistan”s active backing.

Dense fog enveloped the Indira Gandhi International Airport here on Tuesday, disrupting the schedule of around 30 flights.

Around 14 flights were cancelled and 15 were delayed as the visibility dropped to around 100 metres early this morning when dense fog descended on the airport, airport sources said.

Fog started to descend around 10.30 PM last night. Around 2.30 AM, the general visibility and runway visibility dropped to less than 50 metres on the third runway while it was around 200 metres on the main runway.

Pakistan has delayed the grant of Most Favoured Nation-status to India along with abolition of a negative trade list regime “for a short time” because of reservations expressed by several industries, Commerce Minister Makhdoom Amin Fahim has said.

“The process of (phasing out) the negative list and granting MFN-status has been delayed for a short time. The reason for the delay was reservations of various industries about protecting the interest of local manufacturers,” Fahim said.

The next phase of transferring security from NATO to Afghan control will begin in two months and aim to cover nearly 90 percent of the country’s population, the Kabul government announced Monday.

The transition, which began in early 2011, is slated to give Afghan forces full responsibility for security by the end of 2014, when most NATO troops will have withdrawn.

Misgivings persist about the readiness of Afghan forces, although their numbers have grown rapidly over the past year to more than 330,000.