Month: September 2014

To protest against alleged non-payment of salary for 14 months, a man today lied down in protest in front of Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi’s cavalcade as it was about to leave the collectorate here.

The man, identified by police officials as Shyam Sundar Das, a driver in Bhagalpur Commissioner’s office, was protesting against non-payment of salary for the last 14 months, and demanded it to be paid immediately.

“I have not got salary for 14 months. How will I and my family survive? We will die of hunger,” the man yelled.

By-elections to nine Assembly and one Lok Sabha seat in Gujarat will be held on Saturday.

The nine Assembly seats that are going to polls are Maninagar, Anand, Limkheda, Deesa, Matar, Talaja, Tankara, Khambhalia and Mangrol.

Vadodara is the lone Lok Sabha seat going for by-polls in Gujarat, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi vacated this seat after winning with huge margin.

As per the last count, 45 candidates are in fray for the Assembly seats and 4 for the Vadodara Lok Sabha seat.

The EC has directed that no photos of political functionaries should be displayed on beneficiary cards after the Model Code of Conduct is enforced for the upcoming Vidhan Sabha elections in Haryana.

Beneficiary cards distributed to beneficiaries, construction site plaques etc, erected during the enforcement of the Model Code of Conduct, should not contain photographs or messages of chief ministers, ministers and other political functionaries, Haryana Chief Electoral Officer Shrikant Walgad, said on Friday.

Issues related to health should find a permanent place in international diplomacy, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said Friday.

“Given the scary global disease burden scenario, it is necessary to give health a permanent place in the format of international diplomacy. Countries need to both externalize and internalize health paradigms as, in the globalized world, there is no room for complacency,” Harsh Vardhan said.

Targeting the top Trinamool Congress leadership in the Saradha chit fund scam, the CPI-M Friday accused Mamata Banerjee of having “discredited” the chair of West Bengal chief minister.

“Never before has the name of any chief minister of our state cropped up in a graft which involves duping poor people of their money. She can’t shake this off. The scam hasn’t spared our football, our film world. She has discredited the chair of the chief minister,” Communist Party of India-Marsixt state secretariat member Sujon Chakraborty told media persons here.

The US Navy Friday said two of its carrier-based fighter jets crashed in the western Pacific Ocean. Though one pilot was rescued, a search was on for the second.

The cause of the accident, which occurred early Friday and involved F/A-18 Hornets from Carrier Air Wing 17 aboard the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70), was still being investigated, Xinhua quoted the Navy as saying in a statement.

One pilot was located and returned to Carl Vinson and is currently receiving medical attention. Efforts are on to locate the second pilot, the statement added.

India and Russia on Friday reviewed entire gamut of their bilateral relationship including cooperation in crucial sectors of defence, energy security, trade and investment and agreed to inject fresh vigour in the strategic and time-tested ties.

In a meeting on the sidelines of annual summit of SCO, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov also extensively deliberated on situation in Ukraine, Iraq and Afghanistan as well as Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to New Delhi later this year.

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Friday announced free ration for six months and an initial installment of Rs 75,000 would be provided to those who lost their houses in the flood.

He also said that Rs 100 crore each for both Jammu and Srinagar will be used from State Disaster Funds for rescue and relief operations.

“A delegation of six cabinet ministers has been sent to Delhi to meet the Prime Minister with a memorandum. I have called an All Party Meeting at 11 AM tomorrow in order to discuss situation with senior leaders,” said Abdullah.

Actor Salman Khan Friday launched the new theme of “Bigg Boss” season 8, which will have an aviation theme. Salman will be seen as the captain and will lead twelve first class passengers who will need to carve their own paths in the show.

“As a captain you will keep a check on the passengers’ safety and wellbeing, week on week, to ensure that the journey is smooth yet not so smooth in this whirlwind voyage. I can only advise the passengers to stay calm and collected as patience, tolerance, tact and trust are the only tools that will control the turbulence,” said Salman.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday announced that the ban on Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) has been extended for five more years.

The announcement came months after a report suggested that SIMI may be again regrouping to launch its operations to gather funds for terror acts.

According to reports, Indian Mujahideen commanders, who are based overseas, including in Pakistan, have asked their underground operatives in India to involve SIMI activists in regrouping.

After ex-CAG Vinod Rai attacked Manmohan Singh on 2G issue, Congress leader Kamal Nath today said the former Prime Minister may have made a “mistake” in not acting despite his letter to him expressing concern over the spectrum allocation process.

“He may have made a mistake. I would go along with you. I brought it to his notice. He did not understand the import” and he did not act, Nath said to a question whether the then Prime Minister had made a mistake.

Former India captain Rahul Dravid today said of the three formats of the game, ODI cricket at present was largely irrelevant and struggling to survive and consequently there should be more tournaments like Champions Trophy or World Cup to give it a proper context.

“I think one-day cricket is seriously struggling. One-day cricket, without a context, is struggling. One-day cricket, if you look at it from the point of view of Champions Trophy or the World Cup, is relevant,” he said at an interactive session after delivering the 6th Dilip Sardesai Memorial Lecture here.

A total of 1,880 pilgrims will go on Haj pilgrimage tour in eight special flights from Indore, according to an official release issued here today.

The first flight will take-off from Indore to Jeddah on September 22.

These flights will return from Jeddah to Indore between November 3 and November 9, the release said.

Arrangements for the Haj pilgrimage tour were reviewed by Madhya Pradesh Haj Committee Chairman Inayat Hussain Qureshi in a meeting with officials, it said.

In a significant development, Sania Mirza has agreed to play in the upcoming Asian Games, two days after AITA announced that they would allow top players to miss the Incheon event, keeping in mind their requirements on the professional circuit.

Sania’s decision means that the Hyderabadi has put on line 900 ranking points, which she had to defend on the tour during the period of the Asian games, to be held from September 20-30.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, while addressing the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Heads of State Summit 2014 on Friday, expressed concern over the growing incidents of terrorism, both in India and abroad. Further, she conveyed the keenness to develop security-related cooperation with the SCO states.

Political parties in Maharashtra formally got into poll-mode as the date for Assembly elections was announced today with ruling Congress-NCP banking on their “development” record while the Opposition pushed for “change”.

Congress and NCP, ruling the state for 15 years, said they have put behind the Lok Sabha election debacle and were confident of defying the anti-incumbency factor to pull off a fourth straight win at the hustings.

Kerala Women’s Commission today urged the Central and state governments to intervene immediately for the release and safe return of 350 Malayalee nurses, who are allegedly held in illegal confinement in Kuwait.

The nurses had been recruited by a company, which has been blacklisted by the Kuwait government, KWC Member, Lisie Jose said in a statement.

The nurses who had been paid only 30 per cent of their salaries went on agitation demanding their remaining dues following which the company was blacklisted,she stated.

Daring the BJP to form government in Delhi, AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal today said that his party will fiercely oppose any such move by the saffron party if it used “ill-means” to come to power.

Addressing a jan sabha in the Bawana assembly segment, Kejriwal attacked the Narendra Modi-led government and said the BJP was becoming the B-team of the Congress.

“When the BJP says there is a wave then why dont they conduct elections in Delhi. Why are they afraid?

A major tragedy was averted today in Pakistan as a Quetta-bound PIA flight carrying over 100 passengers almost collided with two fighter jets before managing to making a safe landing at Quetta airport.

Flight PK-368 of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) was close to landing at the airport in Quetta when the two fighter jets appeared, but the PIA pilot acted quickly and managed to prevent the collision, the Dawn reported today.

The plane remained in mid-air for 30 minutes and landed only after it received clearance from airport authorities.

A three-member committee has been formed by the Press Council of India (PCI) to probe into the alleged threat remarks by Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao against the media.

Three-member committee comprising senior journalists Rajeev Ranjan Nag (Convenor), K Amarnath and Krishna Prasad will make its recommendations for protection of the media in Telangana from threats and intimidations, said an order issued by PCI Chairperson Justice (retd) Markandey Katju.

In a significant development, Sania Mirza has agreed to play in the upcoming Asian Games, two days after AITA announced that they would allow top players to miss the Incheon event, keeping in mind their requirements on the professional circuit.

Sania’s decision means that the Hyderabadi has put on line 900 ranking points, which she had to defend on the tour during the period of the Asian games, to be held from September 20-30.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu today sought liberal assistance from Finance Commission to help the residual Andhra Pradesh government, which is facing financial problems including budget deficit in the aftermath of state division.

Talking to reporters after a meeting with the Finance Commission officials here, Naidu said he had submitted a memorandum to the Commission containing a detailed report on the supportive measures he was expecting from the Commission.

Salman Khan returns as the host of the eighth season of ‘Bigg Boss’ but the superstar says he was reluctant to be a part of the reality TV series this time around as the 2013 edition was extremely “tiring and painful”.

The 48-year-old actor courted controversy last season when he was accused of being biased towards Tanishaa Mukerji and Armaan Kohli by other participants as well as the viewers.

Salman, however, defended himself saying he was simply taking a stand and not anyone’s side.

Stage is set for tomorrow’s bypoll to Medak Lok Sabha constituency in Telangana, necessitated by the resignation of TRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao after he became Chief Minister.

The bypoll witnessed a spirited campaign with ruling TRS, main Opposition Congress and the BJP-TDP combine making a determined bid to win the election.

An activist today moved a local court in Bandra here seeking to file a nuisance lawsuit against Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan for “illegally” constructing a ramp adjoining his residence.

“We filed the complaint today, which the court has admitted and the case is likely to come up for hearing next month,” advocate Vivian D’Souza, who filed the complaint on behalf of activist Nicholas Almeida, said.

Other than the actor, Commissioner of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) Sitaram Kunte and his three subordinates have also been made respondents in the case.