Counterfeit and smuggled products and tax evasion caused an annual sales loss of Rs.100,000 crore to the Indian industry, a study by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) showed Wednesday.
The report was released on World Anti-counterfeiting Day.
Separatist leaders in Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday hoped for improvement in the relations between New Delhi and Islamabad as PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif took over as the new Prime Minister of Pakistan.
Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chief Yasin Malik said that being a Kashmiri, Nawaz Sharif should understand the problems of the people of Kashmir and try to bring a solution to the issue as soon as possible.
Hours after Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi took a jibe at the Centre’s proposed National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) saying ‘making new institutions destabilizes system’, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on Wednesday responded back saying the UPA Government is not creating a multiplicity of agencies.
Loneliness, bad health and separation from children — woes of ageing parents — have been portrayed in a heart-warming manner in “Sandhya Chayya”, a well-directed play with moving performances by the lead actors conveying an important message for the younger generation.
Director Basab Bhattacharya says that he picked up the story, written by prominent Marathi playwright Jaywant Dalvi in the 1980s that is even relevant today, to send out a message to all youngsters that “do not neglect your parents no matter what professional commitments you have”.
Claiming that the party has gained in its vote share, the CPI-M Wednesday said West Bengal’s Howrah Lok Sabha by-poll result should come as a lesson for the ruling Trinamool Congress.
“Despite the terror tactics of the Trinamool, we have gained over 4.5 percent of the vote share, though we could not win. The poll result should come as a lesson for the Trinamool. It’s high time they realised they cannot continue walking the terror path,” Communist Party of India-M (CPI-M) leader Surjya Kanta Mishra told reporters here.
Four Maoists including a husband-wife and another couple today surrendered before the police in Andhra Pradesh’s Prakasam and Khammam districts. Maoists – Arun and his companion Uma – eloped and came out of the dalam and surrendered before the police today, Khammam District Superintendent of Police S V Ranganath told PTI over phone. Arun, carrying Rs 4 lakh on his head, was working for the past nine years with Special Guerilla Squad of Maoists, which is also considered to the rank of Area Committee Member (ACM), the SP said, adding that Uma was carrying a cash reward of Rs 1 lakh.
On Monday, Burmese President Thein Sein is due to visit the White House. The visit represents another milestone in recently burgeoning U.S.-Burma relations, and an opportunity to engage Thein Sein on the significance of respecting international human rights norms — such as protecting its minority Muslim population’s religious freedoms — to continued Burmese democratic reform. The country’s otherwise tainted record on religious freedom, including escalating communal violence, threatens to undermine its transition from one-party, autocratic military rule to more representative governance.
After years in oblivion, Nawaz Sharif, known as the ‘Lion of Punjab’ who has promised to restart peace process with India, is back on the throne for the record third term as the Prime Minister.
As Pakistan finds itself besieged by problems ranging from terrorism to severe power shortage, many see him as someone who can fix the country’s bleeding economy but is considered soft on the Taliban.
Only time will tell if the ‘Lion’ can indeed roar again and keep his complex country on track.
In a major boost to Narendra Modi in the party’s prime ministerial race, the BJP on Wednesday swept the six bye elections to Lok Sabha and Assembly seats in Gujarat while his detractor Nitish Kumar suffered a blow in Bihar and Congress drew a blank in four states.
Wresting all the six seats from Congress in Gujarat, the BJP won the Lok Sabha bye elections in Porbandar and Banaskantha with a margin of over 1.28 lakh and 71,000 votes respectively and bagged the Assembly seats of Limbadi, Morva Hadaf, Jetpur and Doraji by handsome margins.
Former Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf is ready to face any court if newly elected premier Nawaz Sharif supports a high treason case against him, said his political advisor. The Express Tribune quoted Chauhdry Sarfraz Anjum Kahlon of Musharraf”s party All Pakistan Muslim League (APML), as saying that the former military dictator is ready to face any court in order to defend himself against the “politically motivated cases”.
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi today demanded a white paper on the internal security situation in the country, which he said continues to be vulnerable to threats posed by cross border terrorism and left wing extremism; besides becoming increasingly susceptible to newer forms of security threats such as cyber-attacks, narco-terrorism and terror-financing.
He also criticized the UPA Government for raising a pitch for national security, but indulging only in political security.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday described the security situation in the northeast as “complex” since insurgency, extortion and agitations continue to exist in the region.
“The security situation in the northeast continues to be complex, with insurgency, extortion and agitations being the main disruptive elements in the hands of the insurgents,” he said in his address at the conference of Chief Ministers on internal security.
Actress Jiah Khan, who committed suicide by hanging herself at her Juhu residence, was Wednesday laid to rest at Santa Cruz graveyard here.
While Jiah’s sister and her mother were inconsolable, her boyfriend, Suraj Pancholi, who came to bid her a final farewell, was in tears too.
Celebrities like Riteish Deshmukh, Kiran Rao, Siddartha Mallya, Sophie Chaudhary, Urvashi Dholakia, and Prem Chopra came to her residence to pay their final respects.
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday raised concerns over the new draft on National Counter Terrorism Centre, terming it a “poorly conceived” idea which “tinkers” with old ideas rather than strengthening them.
“It is not clear how big it is going to be, what forces are going to comprise it, how exactly it is going to function and which statute will it derive its powers from. I think such poorly conceived ideas which tinker with age old existing systems rather than strengthening them are going to do irreparable loss to our internal security apparatus,” he said.
A woman allegedly drowned both her children and then hung herself at her east Delhi home, police said Wednesday.
An official said the woman in Mandawali area first drowned her six-year-old daughter in a washing machine and then dunked her 11-month-old son in a bucket of water. She then hanged herself.
No suicide note was recovered.
The bodies were found when her husband came home in the afternoon and found the door bolted from inside.
When no one answered the door despite repeated knocking, he broke in and found the three bodies.
Beat the heat with this mango delight.
Ingredients:
1 kg Mango (Aam)
200 gms powdered Sugar (Cheeni)
1/2 litre Milk (Doodh)
Procedure:
Wash mangoes.
Peel and cut into small pieces.
Keep the seeds aside in a little water.
Grind the mango pieces in a mixer and strain the juice.
Mix sugar in the cold milk and add to the mango juice.
Add water for required consistency.
Serve chilled with puri or paratha.
Nawaz Sharif, who was Wednesday elected Pakistan’s prime minister by the National Assembly here, vowed to resolve the country’s acute energy crisis and asked the US to stop drone strikes in the northwest tribal regions.
In his maiden speech shortly after his election by parliament, 63-year-old Nawaz Sharif who became prime minister for the third time, said: “We respect the sovereignty of other countries and they should also reciprocate us.”
“We all have to devise a common strategy to overcome this issue also,” he said of the drone attacks that have bugged all Pakistani parties.
Nawaz Sharif Wednesday took oath as the 27th prime minister of Pakistan.
The oath of office was administered by President Asif Ali Zardari, reported Geo TV.
Sharif became the first third time prime minister in the history of the country after he secured 244 votes with his rivals Pakistan Peoples Party’s Makhdoom Amin Fahim and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s Javed Hashmi bagging 42 and 31 votes, respectively.
Former prime ministers Yousuf Raza Gilani and Raja Pervez Ashraf attended the oath taking ceremony. Army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani too was present.
–IANS
India has approved a soft loan of USD 160 million for three power projects in Nepal, fulfilling its commitment made to the power-starved neighbouring country.
Handing over an approval letter to the Finance Ministry yesterday, the Exim bank of India informed about sanctioning of the loan for a 220-KVA Koshi corridor transmission line, 132-KVA Solu corridor transmission line and 32-MW Rahughat hydropower project, under construction, Joint Secretary, Finance Ministry, Madhu Marasini said.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday described the security situation in the Northeast as “complex” since insurgency, extortion and agitations continue to exist in the region.
“The security situation in the northeast continues to be complex, with insurgency, extortion and agitations being the main disruptive elements in the hands of the insurgents,” he said in his address at the conference of Chief Ministers on internal security.
Singh, however, said there has been considerable progress in dialogue with several insurgent and ethnic separatist groups in the northeastern region.
A person cannot be entitled to Y or Z category security merely on the ground of being an ex-minister, the Supreme Court observed today while declining to entertain the plea of a BSP leader from Uttar Pradesh.
“If you as a matter of fact are not entitled under the rule for security you cannot be given security. This can’t be given at the expense of the state exchequer,” a bench comprising justices Gyan Sudha Misra and Madan B Lokur said.
Actress Jiah Khan, who was laid to rest in Mumbai Wednesday, lived with her rescued cats, and was compassionate towards animals, according to an animal rights organisation.
She was an active supporter of PETA (People for Ethical Treatment of Animals) India, and even featured in an advertisement urging the Indian government to cut out glass-coated manja and not birds’ wings. She also got into a tiny cage, all cramped up to show the plight of animals in zoos.
Trinamool Congress candidate Prasun Banerjee on Wednesday won the Howrah Lok Sabha seat in a bye-election defeating his nearest rival, CPI(M) candidate Sridip Bhattacherjee, by over 27,000 votes.
Though official results were still to be declared, Election Commission sources said that Prasun Banerjee secured 4,26,273 votes and Sridip Bhattacherjee 3,99,258 votes.
An ongoing study on the impact of radiation on residents after the Fukushima atomic power plant disaster has found 12 minors were diagnosed with thyroid cancer and 15 others suspected cases.
The number of confirmed cases is up from three in a report in February, and other suspected report is up from seven.
The figures were taken from about 174,000 people aged 18 or younger whose initial thyroid screening results have been confirmed.
Indians have been advised to avoid visiting three states in Nigeria where emergency has been declared to combat militancy.
With the Nigerian security situation showing no signs of improvement, the Indian High Commission in Abuja has issued a warning to Indians to avoid visiting the states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa where the Nigerian government has declared a state of emergency.
On May 14, Nigerian authorities declared emergency in the three north-eastern states to battle militancy.