Month: January 2013

Unknown activists of Telangana Agitation got angry on the Congress High Command’s indecision on Telangana issue.

It may be recalled that Mr.Susheel Kumar Shinde, Home Minister had declared that Congress High Command would take a decision on Telangana issue within a month’s time but the Congress core Committee did not keep its promise and postponed it further under the pretext of conducting further negotiations with the leaders of both the regions.
This has evoked the sentiments of the people of Telangana.

Bollywood Megastar Amitabh Bachchan and other artists like Sonu Nigam and Shaan sang live for peace at the ‘Global sounds of peace’ organised by musician Aadesh Srivastava.

“I want to thank the public for attending the concert. Normally the concerts related to films have a different ambience and music. I didn’t know that they like such music too. It was a little classical,” Bachchan said after the concert.

Talking about performing live, Bachchan said that it was tough.

Blaming “vested interests” for the latest controversy around Booker Prize-winning writer Salman Rushdie, who cancelled his visit to Kolkata Wednesday, actor Rahul Bose said the happenings have left him “disturbed”.

The 65-year-old author of the controversial “The Satanic Verses” was slated to visit Kolkata to promote Deepa Mehta’s film “Midnight’s Children”, based on his homonymous novel, but called off the trip at the last moment.

CPI State secretary Dr K Narayana lashed out at Union Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad saying that he was pucca ‘420’ because he had not fulfilled his promise on Telangana issue.

Speaking to the media Narayana clarified that he says what the people discuss because he is representing the people. Strongly reacting upon Ghulam Nabi Azad’s comment in which he said a month means not 30 days and a week means not seven days, Narayana asked why the Centre called an all-party meeting in Delhi and promised verdict on Telangana in a month.

The Cabinet Committee on Investment (CCI) Wednesday directed both the oil and defence ministries to sort out their differences within a month on the 39 oil blocks where exploration projects are stalled.

“Certain problems (in the oil and gas sector) were identified and the ministry of petroleum and natural gas has been tasked with the responsibility of sitting down with the ministry of defence and resolving the problems with regard to 39 blocks,” Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari told reporters after the meeting.

Vegetables grown on board the International Space Station (ISS) can be consumed without fearing food poisoning, Russian scientists believe.

Scientists have been studying “orbital-grown” vegetables, including Misuna, or Japanese Cabbage, for several years.

“The samples of cabbage have been brought to Earth,” said a spokesman for the Moscow-based Institute of Medical and Biological Problems.

“We have not detected any deviations in their biomass composition compared with cabbage grown on Earth.”

A piece of rock will have a close encounter with the Earth Feb 16, coming closer than some of the geostationary satellites orbiting the planet, said an official.

The near earth asteroid, 2012 DA14, about 148 metre in diameter, is on a close encounter course with the planet, and will come closest at around 12.55 a.m. Feb 16, according to Debiposad Duari, director, Research and Academic M.P. Birla Institute of Fundamental Research, of the M.P. Birla Planetarium here.

“At the point of closest approach, its distance will be about 34,100 km from the centre of the Earth.

Bangalore City Police today launched a new patrolling initiative “Abhaya” to ensure speedy response for women in distress.

“Abhaya”, manned by a woman Sub-Inspector and two women constables, would provide round-the-clock patrolling across the city. Women who want to seek help could call the special women help line 1091, launched recently or 10928, City Police Commissioner Jyoti Prakash Mirji said here.

Shilpa Shettar, wife of Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar and Pramila Ashok, wife of Deputy Chief Minister R Ashok, flagged off the new patrolling system at a function here.

Actress Anushka Sharma, who recently won an award for her performance in Jab Tak Hai Jaan, says delivering a thank you speech on the stage is a hassle for her.

She won the best actor (female) for comedy/romance trophy at the recent Stardust awards here.
“Whenever I get an award, I don’t understand what to say while receiving it on the stage.

I have nothing to say. Sometimes, only because I get so hassled because of the speech, I say ‘don’t give me awards’,” the 24-year-old said here in an interview.

However, Anushka admits winning awards make her parents happy.

Anita Advani who claimed to be a live-in partner of late Rajesh Khanna today filed a fresh case in a local court against the late superstar’s wife Dimple Kapadia,daughters Twinkle and Rinkie and son-in-law Akshay Kumar for allegedly throwing her out of his bungalow.

Advani had last year filed a similar complaint in Bandra court under the Domestic Violence Act in which she claimed maintenance, following which the court issued summons to Kapadia and other family members.

Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan is set to take the centrestage along with music composer Aadesh Srivastava for a peace concert here on Wednesday.

He has extended an open invitation to his extended online family too.

The actor will sing live along with London Philharmonic Orchestra at the event.

“Free Passes for the Global Sounds of Peace here -https://www.facebook.com/AmitabhBachchan/app_280175098778673. Hello All FBXT, and like- minded friends, the procedure to get passes for the concert are up on Facebook page as you can see,” Big B posted on his Facebook page.

What is holding the Centre and the Congress back from announcing a decision on the Telangana demand?

Congressmen from Andhra Pradesh have many answers to this question that has been haunting the state for a long time now, even as they claim that a decision on division of the state “has already been taken” but only a “formal announcement is pending”.

The ruling party is said to be not sure of its prospects even if it took a decision to create a new state as the anti-incumbency factor is reportedly strong.

Red lines have been drawn for next month’s Union Budget, Finance Minister P Chidambaram has said ruling out abandoning of all subsidises while non-merit ones could be eliminated over a period of time.

“I have drawn the red lines. The red lines are that the fiscal deficit for the current year will be no more than 5.3 per cent (of the GDP) and the fiscal deficit for the next year will be no more than 4.8 per cent.

India was the single biggest destination country in 2012 for the Dubai international airport in terms of passenger numbers.

The passenger traffic between Dubai and India continued to show robust growth last year, with total passenger traffic rising 7.4 percent year-on-year to 7.34 million.

The airport recorded a 13.2 percent annual growth in passenger traffic in 2012. An annual traffic report said passenger traffic surged to nearly 58 million last year, up from 50.9 million passengers recorded in 2011.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was encouraged by street protests by young Indians following the gangrape and killing of a young Delhi girl, and hopes to see “big changes” in the country in future.

Clinton, who herself made a historic bid in 2008 to become the first US woman President, also feels that women across the world still encounter “double standards” in politics.

Armed men barged into a Gurudwara in Livingston, California and took away the money from a donation box kept inside the complex on Sunday morning.

According to Livingston police, three robbers entered the Gurudwara through the front door. One of the men had a gun, while another with a knife. The third robber was unarmed.

The three men took a few thousand dollars from a donation box and left through a side door, joining two other men who were waiting outside, local newspaper Merced Sunstar quoted police as saying .

Police today filed an affidavit in a court denying the allegation that they had deliberately delayed the trial for four years in the 2002 hit-and-run case involving Bollywood actor Salman Khan in order to favour him.

A magistrate was hearing a complaint filed by activist Santosh Daundkar alleging that the trial was delayed because police had, in connivance with Salman, produced a wrong set of witnesses, as a result of which the proceedings were hampered.

The complainant had alleged this was done to benefit the actor who delivered several hits and made pecuniary gains.

The Supreme Court today favoured a negotiated settlement between Shia and Sunni communities to the 150-year-old dispute on ownership of Doshipura graveyard in Varanasi while directing the Uttar Pradesh Government to hold an inquiry to ascertain the “usage” of the property. A bench headed by Chief Justice Altamas Kabir noted that since late 1970s, several judicial orders have been passed and even the apex court had given directions in 1983 but the dispute between the two Muslim sects has not been settled.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today scouted for probable tourist hostspots in the Darjeeling hills and called for developing several new spots at Kalimpong, Kurseong and Mirik in Darjeeling district. Stressing upon boosting traditional tourism centres which is one of the main revenue earners for the hills, she called for developing other spots of tourism importance to attaract more domestic and foreign visitors. “This would push the revenue earning capacity for the Darjeeling hills.

Doctors treating Pakistani teenage rights activist Malala Yousafzai today said the 15-year-old girl, who made a remarkable recovery after being shot in the head by Taliban, will soon undergo one final surgery to repair a missing area of her skull. Surgeons at Birmingham\’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital today gave details about two procedures due to be carried out on Malala in the next 10 days. She was discharged from the hospital earlier this month after being shot in the head by the Taliban in October 9 Pakistan\’s Swat valley.

Saying that the ‘honeymoon’ between the GJM and the West Bengal government was over, Opposition leader Surya Kanta Mishra today observed that the ‘opportunist’ Trinamool Congress’ hurry in forging a pact with the hill party had created a problem. “The honeymoon between the Trinamool Congress-led state government and the GJM is over. The treaty was signed in a hurry by an opportunist state government. It only created a problem. At the very outset we had opposed it. We had demanded an all-party meeting, but that was turned down by the government,” Mishra said.

Congress Party leader Sharmila, who had to suspend her state-wide `padayatra\’ (march) due to a knee injury, would resume the march from February 6. “Sharmila will undertake the padayatra to carry forward the message of YS Jagan Mohan Reddy and highlight the failure of the state government and its nexus with TDP,” a release quoted party spokesperson Vasireddy Padma as saying here. The padayatra would resume from Ranga Reddy district where it was suspended on December 14. Doctors had allowed her to resume the march but Sharmila would have to take some precautions, the spokesperson added.

Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari today said states should implement the decisions of the censor board regarding screening of films but refrained from commenting on Kamal Haasan’s controversial movie ‘Vishwaroopam’ saying the matter was in court. “Since the High court has once again taken the matter within its purview, it would be inappropriate to comment on it. We would allow the High court to take cognisance of the matter holistically and come to whatever conclusion it considers appropriate.

The Central Bureau of Investigation, here today busted a major job racket where the tricksters collected Rs 29 lakh from victims on the pretext of appointing them in the Railways. The anti-corruption wing of CBI booked a head train number checker (TNC) of Central Railway’s Nagpur division and two others and conducted searches at a railway quarter of kingpin one Vijay Patel at Ajni Railway colony, the agency said.

Karimnagar District Collector Smita Sabharwal directed officials to complete land acquisition for the Singareni Collieries Company’s open cast-II project in Godavarikhani area in Karimnagar district. Addressing a review meeting with officials of the Singareni Collieries Company Ltd, the collector said that 302 acres of land has been acquired so far in Ladnapur village in Manthani revenue division limits. She said that 101 acres more land has to be acquired. Smita Sabharwal instructed officials to pay compensation for the acquired land.