Four months after the Election Commission announced that 694 confirmed cases of paid news have been detected in the general elections it is yet to send any formal intimation to the Press Council of India, the body mandated to take action against erring media organisations.
A PCI official said they are unable to serve show cause notices to publications allegedly involved in paid news in the absence of an EC statement.
The CIC has issued show-cause notices to BJP President Amit Shah and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi along with the heads of four other political parties asking why an inquiry should not be instituted in the matter of non-compliance of its order to implement the RTI Act.
Last year, on a plea by activist Subhash Agrawal, the Central Information Commission (CIC) had declared six national parties—Congress, BJP, NCP, CPI, CPI-M and BSP—as public authorities, thereby bringing them under the ambit of the Right to Information Act.
Falling for the third day in a row, gold prices shed another Rs. 45 to Rs. 27,370 per 10 gram in the national capital on Saturday on easing demand from jewellers and retailers amid a weakening global trend.
Silver followed suit and declined by Rs. 50 to Rs. 41,250 per kg on lack of buying support from industrial units and coin makers.
Bullion merchants said slackened demand from jewellers and retailers in view of ongoing “Sharads”, considered to be inauspicious 15-day period by some for new purchases, weighed on gold and silver prices.
Tata Motors has signed a bonus and permanency agreement with Telco Workers Union here.
It was mutually agreed that all permanent workmen would be getting an amount equivalent to 10.5 per cent of the annual salary/wages, consisting of basic pay, personal pay and dearness allowance earned by them during 2013-14, a Tata Motors press release said on Saturday.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is likely to issue the final guidelines on small and payments banks within 2-3 months, paving the way for corporates to enter these two segments.
The final guidelines are expected in the next 2-3 months, sources said.
Draft guidelines for small and payments banks were issued by the RBI in July and comments were invited till August 28.
It is examining the suggestions received and is in the process of finalising the norms for such banks, they said.
Gurgaon’s housing market has an unsold inventory of nearly 19 million square feet, 28 per cent of the total area under development, due to a slowdown in demand and a surge in supply, rating agency Icra has said.
However, sales would outstrip demand in the near term, ICRA Research said in its latest report on Delhi-NCR residential market.
“Golf course road extension and new Gurgaon have remained the most active micro markets in Gurgaon witnessing maximum launches. The total area under development in the Gurgaon market stood at 66.11 million sq ft as on March 2014 end,” Icra said.
Kelly Brook has admitted she has wasted a lot of time on “stupid boys” and doing stupid things.
The 34-year-old, who is now engaged to fitness fanatic David McIntosh, said that her turbulent love life is what prompted her to write her explosive memoir ‘ Close Up ‘, the Mirror reported.
Brook added that there’s been so much written about her, she thought it’s about time she closed the door on all those chapters, and that she has been so defined by those relationships and things that have happened, she wanted to put her point of view across to move on. (ANI)
With peak energy demand projected to double in three years, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to expedite pooling of natural gas prices to make available affordable fuel to power plants.
Naidu last week wrote to Modi supporting the plan to pool or average out the price of costly imported gas (LNG) with cheaper domestically produced gas so as to make feedstock affordable for power generation.
Indian economy will expand by 5.6 per cent during 2014-15 even as the Reserve Bank is not likely to cut interest rates this year, according to Ficci’s latest Economic Outlook Survey.
“The new government guided by the objective of restoring growth and governance has given very positive policy signals in its first 100 days. We see the confidence amongst investors slowly returning and hope that going ahead the momentum on implementation front will build up,” said the survey.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will deliver his speech in the United National General Assembly in New York in Hindi, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said on Sunday.
Addressing a function organised on the occasion of Hindi Divas, the Home Minister said Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the first Prime Minister to deliver his speech in the United States in Hindi.
The Left-leaning All India Students’ Association (AISA) Sunday swept the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union (JNUSU) election for the second consecutive year.
The post of president, vice president, general secretary and joint secretary all went to AISA.
Ashutosh Kumar was elected president, Anant Prakash Narayan the vice president, Chintu Kumari the general secretary and Shafqat Hussain Butt the joint secretary.
The All India Students’ Association (AISA) won all the four seats in the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) students’ union polls, defeating rivals Students Federation of India (SFI) and the Left Progressive Front (LPF).
Ashutosh Kumar, Anant Prakash Narayan and Chintu Kumari have been elected as the president, vice-president and general secretary respectively.
Shafqat Hussain Butt was elected to the post of joint secretary.
Undeterred by attack from within Congress for her comments on government formation in Delhi, Sheila Dikshit today stuck to her position, saying she did not back BJP’s bid to power and was only explaining the “factual and constitutional” provision on the issue.
The former Delhi Chief Minister, who had led Congress to victories in assembly polls in Delhi in 1998, 2003 and 2009, maintained that it will not be wrong to invite BJP to form the government if the Lt Governor feels it has the numbers.
Duchess Kate and Prince William were keen on their mirroring their own childhoods and always planned on keeping their children close in age, it has been revealed.
According to sources, Kate’s only a year older than Pippa. William is Harry’s elder by just two years and the Royal couple always planned their own family on the same lines, the Mirror reported.
An India-bound flight of Malaysia Airlines was forced to return due to an auto-pilot defect, landing safely here today, said the carrier already hit by the twin tragedies this year.
Flight MH198 from Kuala Lumpur to Hyderabad departed at 10.20pm last night but the Boeing 737-800 turned back due to an auto-pilot defect and landed safely at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport at 2.01am today, it said in a statement.
Devastating floods in Jammu and Kashmir have caused an immediate loss of Rs 5,400-5,700 crore to the state’s economy, with heavy damages to trade, hotels, restaurants, horticulture and handicraft, according to initial estimates of industry body Assocham.
Jammu & Kashmir has been hit by the worst floods in over a century, throwing basic infrastructure like power, railways and communication in the state completely out of gear.
Hamas’s former Gaza Prime Minister Ismail Haniya, has reportedly ruled out the possibility of any direct talks between the Islamic Palestinian group and Israel.
He made the statement while addressing a public gathering in the Gaza strait on Saturday and asked the Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas to “review” his own strategy of holding talks with Israel, reported News 24.
Israel has declared Hamas a “terrorist” organization and the two sides have never had any direct contact. The ongoing peace negotiations over Gaza conflict are being mediated by Cairo . (ANI)
A new study has indicated that young people who have had mentors are likelier to succeed in their careers.
The study conducted by North Carolina State University observed that people mentors ultimately put people on a path to more financially and personally rewarding careers.
Floods in Jammu and Kashmir have caused a loss of around Rs.5,700 crore with heavy damages to trade, hotels, restaurants, horticulture and handicraft, Assocham said Sunday.
“The total losses are estimated to be Rs.2,630 crore for hotels, trade, agriculture and horticulture, roads and bridges, while infrastructure like railways, power and communication would have suffered a loss of around Rs. 2,700-3,000 crore,” Assocham said in a statement.
“These are only initial estimates and the real loss will be much higher,” its secretary general D.S. Rawat said.
Actor Aamir Khan said that if he is offered a nomination to the Rajya Sabha, he will “think” about it.
Asked whether he would like to be nominated to the Rajya Sabha like cricketer Sachin Tendulkar and actress Rekha, Aamir said, “I won’t comment on what they are doing. They are my friends. But if such opportunity arises, I will think whether I can contribute to society at that point of time in a better way or not. If that happens, I will be there everyday.”
The 49-year-old ‘Dhoom 3’ star was speaking at the Panchayat AajTak programme organised by the India Today Group here.
Addressing a gathering of protesters to mark a month of Islamabad protests, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf ( PTI) chief Imran Khan said that the Pakistan government may arrest or torture his party workers but a new Pakistan will be created regardless.
Khan said that the tigers and tigresses are not scared of suicide bombers, reported the Dawn.
He also lashed out at Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif by saying that he does not know the Pakistani nation because he grew up in the “in the nursery of a dictator.”
Congress leader Manish Tewari today urged all the democratic countries in the world to unite in order to fight the deadly militant group, Islamic State (IS) and also advised the BJP-led NDA government to reflect within itself as to what is leading a growing number of Indian youth to join the ranks with the dreaded outfit.
The Islamic State (IS) militants released a third video on Saturday, purportedly showing the execution of British aid worker David Haines .
At least seven suspected militants were killed in a US drone strike along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, media reported Sunday.
The attack was carried out at the border along the South Waziristan region, a mountainous region in Pakistan bordering Afghanistan, late Saturday, Dawn online reported.
According to officials, the US drone fired missiles on a compound near a village in the Paktika province of Afghanistan.
Two key commanders of the Al Qaeda linked Badr Mansoor group, identified as Aqalzadin and Ikramullah, were killed during the attack, the officials said.
–IANS
Actress-model Kelly Brook has branded her former lovers as “stupid” and “spineless”, in her memoir, which she has penned to “close the door on all those chapters”.
The 34-year-old, who is engaged to former “Gladiators” star David McIntosh, says the realisation about men from her past was what prompted her to write her memoir “Close Up”.
“Oh, I’ve wasted so much time with stupid boy and doing stupid things, there’s been so much written about me, I thought it’s about time I closed the door on all those chapters,” femalerfirst.co.uk quoted Brook as saying.
Actress Mila Kunis is reportedly thinking about having a home birth because she wants to feel as relaxed as possible during labour.
The 31-year-old is expecting her first child with fiance Ashton Kutcher.
“She wants to give birth at home,” showbizpsy.com quoted a source as saying.
The “Black Swan” star is also eager to give birth naturally.
“Mila wants to give their baby the very best, and she thinks that includes an all-natural childbirth. She wants there to be as little medical intervention as possible,” said the source.
—IANS