Month: May 2014

33 artistes to get Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar

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The Sangeet Natak Akademi, the national academy of music, dance and drama, said Saturday it has selected 33 young artistes for the Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar 2012.

The artistes belong to different schools of performing arts – music, dance, theatre, traditional, folk, tribal dance and mime and puppetry, said a statement from the Akademi.

The Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar was instituted by the Akademi in 2006 with the purpose of encouraging artistes of the younger generation in music, dance and drama.

Deploy suitable technology for managing defence land: Mukherjee

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(IANS) President Pranab Mukherjee Saturday urged the officer trainees of the 2012/13 batches of the Indian Defence Estates Service (IDES) to apply modern management concepts and deploy suitable technology for managing the records of defence land that will come under their jurisdiction.

Addressing the trainees who called on him at the Rashtrapati Bhavan here, Mukherjee said that they “were not only expected to know land laws and see that land records were updated, but also to apply their judicial mind and management skills”.

Cross-border clash kills 15 in Pakistan

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(IANS) At least 15 people were killed and two injured Saturday when militants attacked a security checkpost near the Pakistan-Afghan border in North Waziristan.

A large number of militants from across the border attacked the Pakistani post situated on Nao Top early in the morning, Dawn online reported.

The victims included 14 militants and one soldier, an official said.

Army helicopters also took part in the retaliatory attack.

India’s forex reserves down by $2.26 bn

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India’s foreign exchange (forex) reserves declined by $2.26 billion to $312.65 billion for the week ended May 23, led by a sharp fall in overseas currency assets, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data showed.

The reserves have fallen for the first time in the last five weeks.

The reserves had risen by $1.09 billion to $314.92 billion for the week ended May 16. For the week ended May 9, the Forex had gained by $1.97 billion to $313.83 billion.

Controversy over Priyanka’s letter unnecessary, says Rajiv Shukla

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Congress leader Rajiv Shukla today said the controversy surrounding Priyanka Gandhi’s letter to the SPG Director was unnecessary.

Priyanka Gandhi had written a letter to the SPG chief yesterday asking that exemptions from security checks should be withdrawn from the entire family.

Shukla told ANI, “The SPG had provided exemption from frisking to Robert Vadra without being asked by the Gandhi family. Priyanka has only written to them asking that the security cover should be withdrawn for the whole family because the entire family would like to go from the same passage.”

Chinese MH370 search ship’s technical glitch to delay probe by days

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A Chinese ship scouring the Southern Indian Ocean in search of the debris of missing Malaysia Airline flight MH370 is returning to Fremantle in Western Australia, following a technical glitch.

According to News.com.au, the Chinese survey ship, Zhu Kezhen, was conducting a bathymetric survey-or mapping of the ocean floor-to help experts determine how to carry out the next stage of the search on the previously unmapped ocean seabed.

British Indian MP flays BBC over Modi coverage

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(IANS) A British Indian MP has come down heavily on the BBC for a programme on India’s new Prime Minister Narendra Modi that she stated was not objective.

In a letter to BBC Director General Lord Tony Hall dated May 19, Priti Patel, British prime minister David Cameron’s Indian diaspora champion, brought to notice the complaints she received about BBC Newsnight aired May 16, which covered the day the results of India’s general elections were announced.

Kolkata: Two killed in thunder storm

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While Delhi saw strong winds on Saturday, Kolkata too was hit by a thunder storm. The showers, although a welcome relief to the state after three days of heat wave, have claimed the lives of at least two people.

Officials from the Met department expect the rainfall to continue for the next 48 hours.

The Met department has also predicted similar weather conditions in the capital on Saturday as well and that temperatures are likely to drop over the weekend.

Kelly Brook hints at having secretly ‘married’ beau David McIntosh

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Kelly Brook broke a lot of hearts with her recent social media post which reveals that she may be already ‘ married’ to her fiance David McIntosh.

The 34-year-old English model shared a snap with her beau on Instagram, where she refers to the former ‘Gladiators’ star as her ‘husband’, the Daily Star reported.

The snap shows the beauty giving a seductive glance to the camera, while her McIntosh is all smiles with his teeth bared.

Modi says ‘NO’ to include his life in textbook

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PM Narendra Modi on Friday in a strong message shot down the proposal that planned to include a chapter on his life in school textbooks

63- year- old Modi in messages posted on Twitter, said he believed the story of living individuals should not be part of school curricula. “India has a rich history of several stalwarts who made India what it is today. Young minds should read about these greats & emulate them,” he tweeted.

He made the tweets in response to proposals by BJP- ruled states like Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Rajasthan to include a chapter on him in textbooks.

Doval’s appointment as NSA a good choice by PM Modi: M.J Akbar

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Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and veteran journalist M.J. Akbar on Saturday termed the appointment of Ajit Doval as National Security Advisor as a good choice taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“I know him for a very long time. I think this is a good appointment, and the prime minister’s choice is a good one, and therefore, those who think about the security of the nation, will heave a sigh of relief,” Akbar said.

The Union Government on Friday had appointed Ajit Doval as the National Security Advisor (NSA) to the Prime Minister.

Fish kill at lake raises stench

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Bangalore Development Authority and BBMP officials were found passing the buck for the damaged Gowdanapalya Lake bund, which resulted in large scale fish kill in Dorekere.

As officials are indulged in blame game, at least 20,000 fish were found dead in Dorekere on Friday. According to Morning walkers, since Wednesday one lakh fish have died.

Sonakshi gears up for women-oriented film

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Actress Sonakshi Sinha who garnered positive reviews for her performance in “Lootera” and is now gearing up for the release of “Holiday: A Soldier Is Never Off Duty”, says she has recently signed a new project, which is women-oriented.

“I have now signed a new film which has a women-oriented subject. I am quite excited about that project, but I’m not allowed to talk about it till the producers make an official announcement,” Sonakshi told IANS.

Asked if the movie is a remake of a southern film, she said: “Wait till the announcement.”

Outer Ring Road- a Crime spot

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The gruesome incident of a woman being stabbed and thrown on the Outer Ring Road on Thursday necessitates for more patrol vehicles on the highway, say the Cyberabad traffic police.

Presently, only five patrol vehicles are operating on the 75-km stretch with each vehicle covering 15 km 24×7.
At first the Cyberabad traffic police had tied up with the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority, and had introduced five vehicles saying that more will be procured later. It is almost five months now and there are no signs of more patrol vehicles.

KCR’s office in C block & Babu’s in block L

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N. Chandrababu Naidu, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister-in-waiting will have his office on the eighth floor of the L Block while Telangana Chief Minister-designate K. Chandrasekhar Rao’s on the sixth floor of the C Block on the Secretariat premises.

On Friday, the government officially made provisional allocation of buildings in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation area that will be the joint capital for the two states for the next 10 years, starting June 2, 2014.

12 Afghan civilians killed in roadside bombing

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Twelve civilians were killed and two injured Saturday when a minibus set off a roadside bomb in Afghanistan’s Ghazni province, an official said.

“Twelve passengers, including seven women, lost their lives in a roadside bomb explosion. Two civilians of the bus were wounded in the blast which occurred at around 9.45 a.m. local time,” the official told Xinhua.

He accused the Taliban insurgent group for planting the improvised explosive device (IED) on the main road in the province, 125 km south of Kabul.

Police jawan killed in encounter with naxals

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A police jawan was killed and another injured in an encounter with naxalites in insurgency-hit Narayanpur district of Chhattisagrh, police said on Saturday.

The face-off took place when the joint party of Special Task Force (STF) and district force was patrolling forests of restive Orchha police station area last evening, Narayanpur Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) O P Sharma told PTI.

According to the officer, the security personnel were mobilised from Orchha police station of Abhujmad region for an anti-naxal operation in the region since Thursday night.

Fight among police top brass, BJP demands HM’s resignation

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BJP today demanded resignation of Home Minister K J George accusing him of having lost control of his department and failed to control Law and order in the wake of “shameful” public spat of top police echelon in the city.

“The State is witnessing a very disturbing and shameful incident of the top police echelon having a public spat over the last four days. The Chief Minister and Home Minister have remained mute spectators to this bizarre drama,” BJP said in a memorandum to Governor H R Bhardwaj following open display of friction in the city police top brass.

Modi discusses infrastructure, development objectives with key ministers

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi met key ministers to discuss development and infrastructure objectives that his government would be focusing on.

Road, Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari, Rural Development Minister Gopinath Munde, Steel Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju Pusapati and Minister of State (independent charge) for Power Piyush Goyal were among those Modi met.

Modi also met Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief N.Chandrababu Naidu and several other Cabinet key word-search/ministers.html”> ministers.

I am secure about whatever I do: Sunil Shetty

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Actor Sunil Shetty, who will be next seen in Anand Kumar’s ‘Desi Kattey’, says he has accepted the generational change and is happy to see young talent in Bollywood do well.

“I accept the change around me. I don’t like to complain about this generation or the previous generation. I accept both success and failure and just focus on my work and if a film fails, I move on to a new movie,” Shetty told PTI.

“I am secure in whatever I do. I still live with my parents and meet my childhood friends. I have a social life,” he added.

No dress, no marriage: Angelina Jolie

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Actress Angelina Jolie has no immediate plans to marry fiance and actor Brad Pitt. The reason, she says, is that she has no dress for the D-day!

The duo has been engaged for over two years now. “Nothing is ready. I don’t have a dress, noting that the big day matters to us in a very private way, but we also understand that we’re public people,” eonline.com quoted the 38-year-old as saying.

The actress and Pitt, 50, are parents to Maddox, 12, Pax, ten, Zahara, nine, Shiloh, seven, and twins Knox and Vivienne, five.

Anti-Modi post was reaction to Muthalik entry in BJP: Engineer

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The Goa-based marine engineer booked for anti-Narendra Modi remarks on Facebook today said his post was a reaction to BJP inducting controversial right wing leader Pramod Muthalik into the party, and maintained the issue had been blown out of proportion.

Devu Chodankar said he deleted the post soon after Muthalik, chief of Sri Ram Sene, was dropped from BJP following public outrage after his induction in March.

BJP, Samajwadi play blame game over UP power crisis

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As Uttar Pradesh reels under a power crisis, a war of letters has broken out between the BJP-led union government and the state’s ruling Samajwadi Party.

Sources said several letters were exchanged in the past few days between Union Power Minister Piyush Goyal and Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav.

Rahul Gandhi demands CBI probe of Badaun rape case

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Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday demanded a CBI inquiry of the Badaun rape case, but added that delivering justice is more important than launching a probe.

“There should be a CBI inquiry in this case, but justice is more important than an inquiry. People who have done this should be made to realize that India will not tolerate such disrespect of women,” said Gandhi.