Month: September 2014

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has directed the officials to start re-construction of 216 houses of IDH Colony on war footing basis.

Speaking to the residents during his visit to the IDH Colony on Monday evening, the Chief Minister requested the beneficiaries to vacate the 216 houses immediately as they are in highly dilapidated condition. He asked the official to begin reconstruction from Tuesday onwards and complete the work within five months.

Senior Congress leader Mianul Haque today said the people have understood the game plan of BJP and its leaders who are out to mislead the masses by spreading false and hallow slogans.

Haque, All India Congress Committee (AICC) secretary and in-charge of party affairs in Jammu and Kashmir, alleged that BJP had “made narrow and communal approach to garner support in the Lok Sabha elections”.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has repeatedly highlighted that he used be a tea seller early in his life, was today treated to a special Japanese “chai” by his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe as per a tradition in this country.

The special gesture was Abe’s way of showing affection to the visiting leader, keeping in with the Japanese tradition ‘Chanoyu’ prevalent since the 16th century.

Modi sat on the floor with knees bent as is the tradition in Japan and drank tea from a special cup. Abe sat next to him to share the moment.

On a mission to help BJP find foothold in Kerala, BJP chief Amit Shah today raked up the issue of “communal appeasement” to attack Congress’ UDF and CPI(M)-led LDF, alleging they were only pursuing vote bank politics and “neglecting” the state’s development.

After suffering a setback in the Legislative Assembly elections in May, the woes of Congress are continuing in Telangana with some of its legislators joining the ruling TRS today.

While Congress MLA G Vithal Reddy reportedly joined TRS last month, another legislator K Kanakaiah and two MLCs Rajeswara Rao and Yadava Reddy switched over to the ruling party at an event here.

Congress Legislature Party leader K Jana Reddy had said the party would seek a clarification from Vithal Reddy, MLA from Mudhole in Adilabad district, about his joining TRS.

The issue of Andhra Pradesh’s capital city requires intensive discussions, state Congress said here today.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) president N Raghuveera Reddy said the government must take a final decision only after a thorough discussions with various sections of society from all regions, or else, it would leads to apprehensions.

Reddy advised the state government to convene an all-party meeting before finalising the state capital.

A 32-year old RSS activist was killed when an unidentified gang attacked him in politically-volatile Kathirur in the district today, prompting the saffron outfit to call a state-wide hartal tomorrow.

E Manoj, a local office-bearer of RSS, was waylaid on a road by the gang which threw a country-made bomb at him and then hacked him to death before fleeing the area near Thalassery, police said.

RSS-BJP leaders alleged the CPI(M) was behind the killing and gave a call for a dawn-to-dusk hartal in the state tomorrow.

Sonia Gandhi today led the Congress attack against Narendra Modi government and flagged the issue of price rise as her party slammed both the Prime Minister and BJP for “rise in communal tension” as NDA completes 100 days in power.

“People will give a reply to whether prices (of essential commodities) have gone down or not,” the Congress President told reporters in Rae Bareli, when asked about 100 days of Modi government.

She is on a two-day visit to her Lok Sabha constituency.

Ravichandran Ashwin’s performance in the shorter versions has been comparatively better than Test cricket which the burly Tamil Nadu spinner attributes to the time spent at the nets with his personal coach sorting out his bowling action.

“I have put considerable amount of work into it, a good 55-60 days of work back at home with my coach. I have been trying to sort out my action and extract as much as possible from the wicket. Thankfully the results are coming,” Ashwin told reporters on the eve of the fourth one-dayer here tomorrow.

Political parties in Tamil Nadu, including the allies of BJP, Monday came out against the central government’s decision to rename Teachers Day (‘Aasiriyar Dhinam’ in Tamil) as “Guru Utsav”, terming the move as imposition of Sanskrit.

Welcoming Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision to address the school children through video conferencing on that day, PMK founder S. Ramadoss termed it as the first time such an initiative is taken in India, but said the decision to rename the day as Guru Utsav cannot be accepted as it is an attempt to impose Sanskrit indirectly.

President Pranab Mukherjee Monday asked universities in the country to become drivers of innovation with focus on collaborative relationships with the industry and the government.

Addressing the 14th convocation of the University of Jammu here Monday, Mukherjee said: “Entrepreneurial activities in the universities could take various forms such as contract research, consultancy, patenting, licensing, spin outs, start-ups, incubating companies etc.

Lt. Gen. (retd) Tejinder Singh Monday moved the Delhi High Court after a trial court rejected his bail plea and ordered his arrest in the Tatra truck case.

Justice Pratibha Rani will Tuesday hear his plea challenging the trial court order sending him to judicial custody till Oct 20.

Tejinder Singh was taken into custody Monday after the trial court order in connection with offering bribe to then army chief Gen. V.K. Singh for clearing “sub-standard” Tatra trucks for the Indian Army.

Heavy gunfire was heard Monday from the scene of a gunfight between Nigerian security forces and suspected members of the Boko Haram in the restive northeastern state of Borno, residents said.

Heavy gun shots were heard at Goneri, a community in Bama, the second largest city in Borno State, residents told a Xinhua reporter via phone call.

Ibrahim Mohammed, a leader of a youth volunteer force, said the attack by the militants was repelled by the security forces who promptly responded to a distress call by residents.

India and Canada will sign an agreement on sharing of experiences in personnel management through information technology and data collection.

Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) Jitendra Singh Monday met Canadian minister Tony Clement, who is also president of the treasury board.

Jitendra Singh said that while the government is trying to introduce enhanced transparency and accountability in personnel management, there already exists a wide range of checks and balances in the working of the Indian governance system.

A court in Saudi Arabia has sentenced a preacher to five years in jail for praising the Islamic State (IS) Sunni militant organisation during an Eid sermon at a mosque in Riyadh in 2013, a media report said Monday.

Riyadh’s special criminal court also convicted the preacher, who was not named, of financially supporting terrorism, and slapped a five-year travel ban on him, an Arab News report said.

The preacher had earlier received a letter from the ministry of Islamic affairs ordering him to stop delivering sermons at the mosque.

Japanese two wheeler maker Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI) closed last month with 26 percent sales growth compared to figures logged during August 2013, the company said.

In a statement issued here, the company said it sold 388,210 units (domestic 371,060 units, exports 17,150 units) last month up from 308,881 units (domestic 291,639 units, exports 17,242 units) sold in August 2013.

According to HMSI, it increased its market share by two percent to 28 percent in the domestic market during the period under review.

(IANS)

A heated argument over the payment of the electricity bill led a 19-year-old to stab his father to death and attack his mother who tried to intervene, police said Monday.

The incident occurred at Swaroop Nagar area in west Delhi around 9.30 p.m. Sunday.

Bijender, who is jobless, was arrested a few hours after he killed his 46-year-old father Gopal Tiwari, and for attacking his 44-year-old mother Durgesh Nandini, who is said to be out of danger.

Phoolkali, a rescued elephant, is unaware that she is securing her future as the artworks created by her are selling well.

About 50 artworks are displayed here in an exhibition titled “Ganpati to Gajah”. The paintings made by a Singapore-based artist and some elephants have been showcased in the exhibition.

The artist has rescued and lured the elephants. She later befriended them and then applied colour to their foot pads to create footprints on canvas.

An IAF officer, who was on leave and apparently in a disturbed state of mind, was caught roaming near the Indo-Pak border by BSF in Rajasthan’s Sriganganagar district, police said here on Wednesday.

“Wing Commander Shashank Shekar was caught by the BSF last evening close to the border in Anupgarh area of the district. BSF handed over him to us and he is being interrogated at the Anupgarh police station,” Additional SP Srigangangar Devendra Bishnoi told PTI.

Indian cricketer Yuvraj Singh and Pakistani journalist Reema Abassi were awarded the fifth Rajiv Gandhi Excellence Awards along with 24 others.

While Yuvraj’s foundation ‘YouWeCan’ has bagged the award for the “best charity” for its work in the field of cancer awareness, Abassi, who shot to fame with her documentation of temples in Pakistan, won the award for the “best literary personality” of the year for her book “Historic Temples in Pakistan: A Call to Conscience”.

Number of HIV infections in India will increase if the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) is closed and its activities merged with the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), activists and experts said Monday.

Sixty participants representing communities of drug users, male-to-female transgenders, men who have sex with men (MSM), female sex workers (FSWs) and people living with HIV (PLHIV) from West Bengal, Jharkhand and Bihar gathered at the “AIDS Momentum 2022′ consultative meet here.

The exodus of leaders from different parties to ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi is gaining more momentum.

On Monday, two MLAs and three MLCs joined the TRS in the presence of Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao. Wyra’s YSRCP MLA Madan Lal, Yellendu’s Congress MLA K Kanakaiah and three Congress MLCs – Venkat Rao, Rajeshwar Rao and Yadav Reddy were admitted into the TRS by party’s Secretary General K Keshava Rao.

Vajubhai Rudabhai Vala took over as Karnataka governor Monday.

“Vala took oath in Hindi in the name of god. He was sworn-in by Karnataka High Court Chief Justice D.H. Waghela at a simple ceremony in the glass house of the Raj Bhavan,” an official told IANS.

Earlier, state Chief Secretary Kaushik Mukherjee read the warrant issued by President Pranab Mukherjee issued Aug 26, appointing the 76-year-old Vala as the new governor of the state.

Vala replaced H.R. Bhardwaj who demitted office June 29 on completing his five-year term.

An uninsured Indian man in the UAE has run up more than $160,000 in medical bills after he suffered a brain haemorrhage and spent about six months in an Abu Dhabi hospital, a media report said.

The hospital, however, says it is not demanding the money and he should just go home.

Shariq Alvi, 26, was found unconscious on the bathroom floor by his family. A medical investigation at the Lifeline Hospital in the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) capital found that a a blood vessel in his brain had ruptured, The National reported Sunday.

A court here Monday extended for three more days the police custody of Ranjit Kohli alias Rakibul Hassan who married national champion shooter Tara Sahdeo pretending to be a Hindu and who allegedly forced her to later embrace Islam.

Police in the Jharkhand capital Monday moved the chief judicial magistrate court seeking three more days of police remand for Kohli.

The court accepted the police plea.

Jharkhand Police have also sought permission from the Patna High Court to question a Bihar judicial official who allegedly took Kohli’s mother to New Delhi when he was absconding.