Prime Minister Narendra Modi is keen on visiting Nepal and strengthening India’s ties with the country as part of the new government’s initiative to give importance to SAARC nations, a senior BJP leader said today.
“BJP government led by Narendra Modi wants to strengthen ties with the neighbouring countries giving special importance to its relations with the SAARC member states,” Vijay Jolly said.
A Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) team Friday quizzed Goa Governor B.V. Wanchoo for three-and-a-half hours in connection with alleged graft in the procurement of AugustaWestland VVIP choppers for 556.262 million euros (Rs.3,726.96 crore).
A team of CBI officials arrived at the Raj Bhavan located near Panaji at 11.30 a.m. and left around 3 p.m.
A CBI officer, on condition of anonymity, said Wanchoo’s questioning was on the lines of M.K. Narayanan, the national security advisor when the deal was signed and who has now stepped down as the West Bengal governor.
The special CBI court here yet again exempted BJP leader Amit Shah from appearing before it today in connection with the alleged fake encounter cases of Tulsiram Prajapati and Sohrabuddin Sheikh.
“(Shah) is engaged in political work in New Delhi and therefore not able to come to court,” read the exemption application filed by Shah’s lawyer Robin Mogera.
Special Judge B H Loya later adjourned the case till July 17 after taking on record the exemption applications of Shah and some of the other accused.
Meanwhile the court is likely to hear Shah’s discharge application on July 14.
This surely is an instance of better late than never – in this case, all of 48 years. The infamous “G.B.Road” address on the voter identity cards of Delhi’s sex workers had stripped away their dignity and made them a subject of humiliation and ignominy. This will hopefully change with the Election Commission (EC) deciding to replace the address with Swami Shraddhanand Marg – the road’s official name since 1966.
The idea dawned upon the EC when it realised that very few sex workers had come forward when the electoral rolls were revised ahead of the April-May Lok Sabha election.
Whale poop plays a huge ecological role in the oceans by recycling nutrients and enhancing productivity, says a study.
Whales feed at depths of more than 500 feet and release fecal plumes near the surface, providing nutrients to support plankton growth.
Plankton are a diverse group of organisms that provide a crucial source of food to many large aquatic organisms.
The whales also move nutrients thousands of miles from their feeding areas around the Arctic and Antarctic to warmer waters at lower latitudes where they come to give birth and raise their young.
Alia Bhatt wants her filmmaker father, Mahesh Bhatt, to write an “intense” film for her, and wants to work with her mother Soni Razdan in a period movie.
Though Bhatt has taken a backseat from direction, Alia, 21, wants him to write a script for her.
“I want him to write a script for me. It should be an intense power-packed film,” Alia told PTI.
Bhatt, who is credited with movies like ‘Arth’, ‘Saaransh’, ‘Aashiqui’ and others, last directed Jackie Shroff and Sanjay Dutt-starrer ‘Kartoos’ in 1999.
Chimpanzees are master copycats and, in the process, they form new traditions that are often particular to only one specific group of these primates.
Such are the findings of an international group of scientists, who waded through over 700 hours of video footage to understand how it came about that one chimpanzee stuck a piece of grass in her ear and started a new trend, and others soon followed suit.
South Africa Test captain Hashim Amla is pleased with is 79-ball century that laid the platform for the squad’s 108-run win against a Sri Lanka Cricket Board President’s XI in Moratuwa on Thursday.
After the warm-up match, which turned out to be a productive outing for the 15-man squad, Amla said that it was nice to pick up some batting time.
According to Sport24, Amla said that most of the batsmen that got in managed to spend some time at the crease, adding that that is what warm-up games are about.
Indian and Australian space scientists and students are carrying out experiments to compare how well human astronauts and robotic vehicles can work together and perform tasks on Mars.
The experiments that started Friday are being carried out at Flinders Range in South Australia, a rugged environment that simulates the planet Mars.
Acting Australian High Commissioner to India Bernard Philip welcomed the innovative collaboration between the two countries.
Communist Party of India (CPI) leader D. Raja on Friday called on the Indian Government to communicate with Pakistan, and not allow dialogue to become a casualty because of their differently stated positions on Kashmir.
Senior Pakistan Army officers are carrying out a survey of areas surrounding Karachi’s Benazir Bhutto International Airport following the June 8 terror attack.
The Pakistan Government and the army have reportedly ordered the setting up of pickets on roof tops of some buildings, so that the flight paths can be monitored more astutely. Sharprooters will be deployed in these pickets, according to reports.
Intelligence officials suggested in a statement that security posts must be established near the airport.
In order to discuss possible legal frameworks to enable surveillance of voice and data communications in India, the Cellular Operators’ Association of India (COAI) along with the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) will hold seven roundtable meetings across the country in the coming weeks on privacy and surveillance issues.
The recommendations and dialogues from each of these roundtables will be compiled and submitted to the relevant ministries of the government, a statement issued by COAI said here Friday.
India and Bangladesh have been consistently working towards strengthening bilateral ties.
In a bid to strengthen strategic partnership, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj recently visited Bangladesh, where she called upon top political leaders and assured them of India’s commitment towards improving relations.
Swaraj held talks with her Bangladesh counterpart Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali during her recent two-day visit to the neighboring country. She assured that the new government is committed to take Indo-Bangladesh relations to a new high.
A new animal research has revealed that boosting up protein content in diet would be a better way to lose weight rather than counting calories.
There would be no competition between the appetite systems, when foods are nutritionally balanced and when one nutrient requirement is satisfied.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who flagged off a new train to Katra on Friday, said Katra will see massive development over the next ten years, making it an important centre in Jammu and Kashmir.
“Today, Jammu and Kashmir will get both speed and energy. I am inaugurating this (train) and a power project later today,” the Prime Minister said.
Recalling that he had begun his recently held election campaign from Vaishno Devi, Modi said even the country’s progress would begin from the same region.
Not knowing Sachin Tendulkar can be damaging and Russian tennis star Maria Sharapova realised it the hard way when irate fans of the Indian batting legend stormed her facebook account with unpleasant comments for not recognising him.
The controversy started when the cricket icon was spotted in the royal box alongwith former England skipper Andrew Strauss and England soccer star David Beckham on Saturday and a reporter later asked Sharapova, “do you know who Sachin is”, to which she replied, “I don’t.”
CPI(M) rpt CPI(M) National General Secretary Prakash Karat today said the Narendra Modi government has failed to contain inflation and some of its recent decisions have rather burdened the common man.
“Already the government has put burden on common man by increasing the rail fares and we also expect a rise in diesel and LPG prices. The government has failed to contain inflation, particularly the prices of essential commodities,” Karat told mediapersons here.
Reduction of taxes and duties on petroleum products could lessen the burden of the people, he suggested.
Giving some hope to the worried parents, rebels in Iraq have promised safe passage to a group of Keralite nurses lodged by them in Mosul, according to family members of one of the nurses here.
One of the nurses in the group, Sumi, called her family at Puthankurisu in Ernakulam district to convey this information.
According to Sumi’s brother Jinto, the rebels told the nurses this afternoon to get ready to move to the airport.
They, however, did not specify to which airport they are going to be taken for being flown out of the strife-torn country, Jinto said.
YSR Congress president Y S Jaganmohan Reddy today demanded that the Telangana government should return the land in Hyderabad to the Andhra Pradesh Non-Gazetted Officers (APNGO) Union, which it has taken in its possession.
Expressing “serious objection” to the Telangana government’s move of land resumption (process of acquisition, objections etc) of 189 acres land, alloted to the APNGOs (employees of residuary Andhra Pradesh government) about two decades ago, Reddy said APNGOs have already spent crores of rupees on the development of the land.
In a heartrending incident occurred in Bhawani Nagar of old city area one and a half year old boy died mysteriously. Mohammed Farhan is believed to be bitten by snake however police say that the boy died after being bitten by an unidentified poisonous insect.
Farhan was the son of Mohammed Wahed resident of Mohammed Nagar. Yesterday the toddler was bitten by some unidentified poisonous insect. He was rushed to the Nilofer hospital where he died while undergoing treatment.
Siasat news
Telangana government plans to divide the minority institutions on the basis of minority population instead of number of districts. This was hinted in a high level meeting of various departments held by the chief secretary Dr. Rajiv Sharma.
The process of division of minority institutions has been stepped up. Chief minister Chandrasekhar Rao sought details regarding minority institutions and number of posts. He directed his officer on special duty M A Rasheed to prepare a file regarding minority institutions with details of number of posts in each institution.
According to the sources close to CM, Chandrasekhar Rao has decided to complete appointment process before Eid-ul-Fitr.
Lakhs of students had applied for scholarships for the year 2012-13 for pre & post matric scholarships provided by state and central governments. Several parents reached Siasat office and told that when they approached Minority Welfare Department and State Minority Finance Corporation to get information regarding scholarships they are given ambiguous replies and officials tried to evade the questions. Parents are forced to make rounds of various departments. Poor parents are very much worried over the situation.
A delegation of high officials of Stamp and Registration Department called on deputy chief minister and revenue minister Mohammed Mahmood Ali at his chamber. On the occasion they exchanged views on improvement of performance of concerned departments.
Stressing upon elimination of irregularities prevailing in online registration system deputy chief minister Mahmood Ali claimed that governance free of corruption and irregularities is the top responsibility of the government.
Uninor the teleservicing company has appointed its new Chief Operating Officer. Tanveer Mohammed has been appointed as COO. Tanveer Mohammed has 17 years of experience in telecom industry. He started working Grameenphone in 1997 as system engineer and rendered remarkable services.
Siasat news