As he basks in glory after a string of arrests of several wanted terrorists during his tenure, Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde on Monday said underworld don and India’s most wanted fugitive Dawood Ibrahim will be also brought back to India to face justice.
“We will bring one by one. All will come. Just wait,” a beaming Shinde told reporters here when asked whether there was any chance to arrest Dawood and bring him back to India.
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi today slammed the UPA government for allegedly pushing the country into grave crisis.
“It’s high time to save the nation from the clutches of the Congress party which is under the spell of bad governance.
“The party has emptied India’s coffer and pushed the nation to the brink of a grave crisis,” Modi said today during a public function in Botad, organised to felicitate him for the creation of the new district.
The clash between Congress and TDP in the Lok Sabha today is unlikely to subside with one of the suspended TDP members writing to Speaker Meira Kumar against four Congress members, including Sandip Dikshit, accusing them of threatening them.
N Siva Prasad has in a letter to the Speaker named S Rajaiah, Ponnam Prabhakar and Madhu Yakshi Goud, all three Congress members from Telangana and Dikshit, accusing them of using unparliamentary language against the agitating TDP MPs and threatening them.
In more trouble for Asaram Bapu, Gujarat Government is likely to slap a major penalty on him for encroachment of public land by his ashram in Jehangirpura area of the city following a Supreme Court order.
“Action is being taken at government level as per court orders,” Surat District Collector J P Shivhare told PTI.
When asked if penalty had been recommended, Shivhare said, “It was under process.”
A woman was awarded a sentence of four years and a fine of Rs 11,000 for levelling false rape charges against her landlord, after a dispute over the payment of rent due to which the landlord committed suicide.
The sentence was awarded by Additional Session Judge Indira Singh to Chanchal Rathore (35) under Section 211 (levelling false allegations with an intention to cause hurt) and Section 182 of the Indian Penal Code (giving false information to a public servant) after a complaint by another woman judge.
YSR Congress party leader Sharmila, sister of party president Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, on Monday formally began her bus yatra in support of united Andhra Pradesh with a public meeting from the temple town here.
Addressing a public meeting, Sharmila said the ruling Congress has set about dividing the state without taking into consideration the concerns of the people.
The ruling Congress and the main opposition TDP were only interested in political mileage without doing anything concrete for the people of Seemandhra region.
Syria’s president warned today that the Middle East is a “powder keg” and potential Western military strikes against his country risk triggering a regional war.
In an interview with French newspaper Le Figaro, Bashar Assad was also quoted as saying that Syria has challenged the US and France to provide proof to support their allegations that Damascus has used chemical weapons. He said the leaders of both countries “have been incapable of doing that, including before their own peoples.”
The NATO commander in Afghanistan has warned that the current casualty rates suffered by the Afghan army and police force are “unsustainable”, in an interview.
US General Joseph Dunford told that Afghan security forces may need five more years of western support before being able to take over full responsibility.
“I view it as serious, and so do all the commanders,” Dunford said of the toll, which has often hit 100 per week.
“I’m not assuming that those casualties are sustainable.”
Terming the UPA government a failure on all fronts, BJP’s UP in-charge Amit Shah today held the “poor” policies of the Congress-led government responsible for the economic crisis in the country.
Economic growth of the country has slipped down to 4.4 per cent due to the poor planning and policies of the government, he said in a function organised by traders here.
Traders play an important role in the development of a country, Shah said, adding BJP ruled states of Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh have made-all round economic progress.
After the Rajya Sabha gave its nod to the Food Security Bill, BJP attacked the government saying it has made a “half-hearted” attempt and the shortcomings will be rectified if it comes to power.
“It is a half-hearted move by the government…They had made the promise in 2009 and it took them four and a half years to fulfil it. This is a clear example of their intention. Elections are around that is why they have brought this Bill at this time,” said BJP leader Venkaiah Naidu.
Congress leader Mani Shanker Aiyar today said the food security bill ignores the role of panchayats in Public Distribution System (PDS) and demanded a greater role for local bodies in the legislation.
Participating in the debate on the Bill in Rajya Sabha, he said while he was supporting the legislation, he felt Panchayati Raj institions should get a greater role.
As many as 160 people have died and 5.4 million others affected due to floods in Bihar this year, a Disaster Management official said today.
The Disaster Management Department Officer on Special Duty (OSD) Vipin Kumar Rai said that as many as 20 districts of Bihar have been affected with floods of which the river Ganga has wreaked havoc in ten districts like Patna, Bhojpur, Buxar, Saran, Bhagalpur, Katihar, Vaishali, Begusarai.
As many as 125 government doctors were dismissed today following continued absence since their appointment.
The decision to dismiss the doctors were taken at a Cabinet meeting, chaired by Chief Minister Hemant Soren, according to Principal Secretary of Cabinet Coordination department, J B Tubid.
The Cabinet approved the proposal for dismissal of the doctors sent by the Health Department, he said.
Body of a seven-year-old boy, who went missing two days ago was found stuffed inside a cooler in a neighbouring building in Gokalpuri area of East Delhi today, police said.
According to police, the boy, identified as Sahil, had gone missing on Saturday evening following which a complaint was filed by her mother Sana.
His body was discovered today by a neighbour at the first floor of a nearby building.
Congress MLAs, MLCs and ministers supporting a “united” Andhra Pradesh plan to hold a protest in the premises of the legislative assembly today.
The event would be organised from 10 am to 1 pm, state Primary Education Minister S Sailajanath, the leader of the pro-united Andhra Congress legislators, said.
Pro-united Andhra Congress legislators have been agitating for keeping Andhra Pradesh “united” for long. They had earlier organised a protest in the premises of the Parliament in support of their demand.
The Gurgaon administration today asked the owners of pubs and bars to install Close Circuit TV cameras in their premises within 15 days.
It also directed them to shut bars and pubs after midnight and ensure that no liquor was served to underage people.
Issuing the order under Section 144 of the CrPC, Gurgaon District Magistrate Shekhar Vidyarthi said the CCTV footage should be stored for at least 30 days.
The Central Wakf Council, headed by Minority Affairs Minister K Rahman Khan, today met here to discuss the process of setting up a Rs 500 crore corporation to ensure proper commercial utilisation of Wakf properties.
“The modalities of the National Wakf Development Corporation were discussed in today’s meeting.
“It was decided that the corporation will begin with an estimated sum of Rs 100 crore which will be further increased to Rs 500 crore,” a member of the council said.
The meeting lasted more than two hours and every aspect of the proposed corporation was discussed, he said.
Crime Branch of Odisha Police today announced a reward of Rs 5 lakh each against two Maoists who allegedly gunned down former BJD MLA Jagabandhu Majhi in 2011.
The two Maoists, allegedly involved in the killing of Majhi on September 24, 2011 while he was distributing land pattas among tribals in his constituency as an MLA, were identified as Satyam Paude and Jani Salem.
Majhi’s killing had necessitated a by-election in Umarkote assembly segment at Nabarangpur district.
The August 21 chemical weapons attack on a Damascus suburb was carried out by President Bashar al-Assad’s regime and killed at least 281 people, according to French intelligence documents made public today.
A source said the toll figured in a document given by Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault to lawmakers during a meeting on the Syrian crisis, adding that the attack was “massive.”
The figure was markedly lower than that provided by Washington, which spoke of at least 1,400 deaths. The United States is trying to cobble together a coalition to launch strikes on Syria.
Attacks in Baghdad and mostly-Sunni areas of Iraq killed 10 people on today, including five who died in a massive attack on the home of an anti-Qaeda militia chief.
The Turkish consul to the northern city of Mosul and a top criminal judge in executed dictator Saddam Hussein’s hometown were also caught in bomb attacks.
The violence was the latest in a surge of unrest that has killed more than 3,800 people since the start of the year and sparked widespread concern Iraq is slipping towards the all-out bloodshed which plagued it in 2006 and 2007.
In an apparent dig at BJP leaders like Narendra Modi for using Twitter to score points, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday said they were turning the sweet chirping of birds (dictionary meaning of twitter) into the jarring sounds of politics.
“The dictionary meaning of twitter is the chirping of birds which makes a man happy hearing them in the morning,” Kumar told reporters emerging from his “Janata Ke Darbar mein Mukhya Mantri” programme.
“But some leaders through excessive tweeting have turned it into a jarring sound,” he said.
A 7-year-old girl was allegedly raped in Kosi town of the district by her neighbour, who lured her to a secluded place by offering eatable, police said today.
The matter came to notice when the victim’s mother and neighbours reached the spot yesterday when the girl raised an alarm, they said.
The accused, who had managed to escape, was today arrested by police, they said.
–PTI
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Rajnath Singh on Monday said that the decisions taken by the Congress-led UPA Government has led to the deterioration of the economic condition of the country to an extent that the crisis could be termed as the worst since independence. “I do believe that in the history of independent India, the economic condition of the country has not been worse than under the Congress-led UPA Government. Now, the pitiable state of selling gold has arrived; the selling of gold in temples is being talked about now.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday said that the state government is taking several measures to tackle the flood situation, and added that the Bihar Police is working towards this and performing their duties in an efficient manner. “We are making preparations in case the flood hits the city of Patna. We have made several provisions in this regard like electricity, diesel subsidy even availability of alternate crops. But a lot of it also depends on the extent of rainfall in the coming days. We will also take steps to save the crops in many regions,” he told media here today.
A leading Syrian opposition group at home Monday called upon the international community to revive efforts to find a political solution to the crisis instead of resorting to military threats.
The National Coordination Body (NCB) said at a press conference that the US threat of a military action emanats basically from Washington’s own interests and the security of Israel, its main ally in the region, Xinhua reported.
The remarks came while the US is considering a military operation against Syria for its alleged use of chemical weapons in the countryside of Damascus on Aug 21.