Month: April 2015

Kashmiri Pandits, Muslims and Sikhs integral part of J-K demography: Jaitley

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Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday dismissed Pakistan’s remarks on the creation of special townships for Kashmiri Pandits in Jammu and Kashmir, stating that the community, along with Muslims and Sikhs, are an integral part of the state.

“The demography of Jammu and Kashmir included the Kashmiri Pandits, the Muslims and the Sikhs as an integral part. When we plan to send the people back, it is natural that the number of Kashmiri Pandits will increase,” Jaitley told the media.

Loksatta Party Sternly Condemns the GoI for Not Criminalizing Marital Rape

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Loksatta Party sternly condemns the GoI for not criminalizing marital rape. In the name of Indian culture, the sitting BJP government at the center is blatantly abdicating their responsibility to ensure basic human rights and constitutionally enshrined fundamental rights of women. Instead the GoI is audaciously citing Indian culture for their rejection of basic governmental duties.

Rape or non consensual sex is by definition an act of violence. To claim that Indian culture treats marriage as sacred and therefore espouses violence and forced sex within marriage is both a

AP Govt to celebrate May Day at Rajahmundry

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Andhra Pradesh will celebrate the state’s first International Workers Day at Rajahmundry on May 1st.

On this special day, the labour department is announcing schemes encompassing unorganized labourers, drivers and employers. Smart Cards will be issued for unorganized labourers under Accident Insurance scheme. The registration process for the issue of Smart cards will begin soon. This card will help the labourers to reap benefits of labour welfare programmes that will be launched by the union and state governments.

AP CS holds review on seafood exports

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The huge growth in production and promotion of L Vannamei and black tiger shrimp in Andhra Pradesh State will help a lot in seafood exports scale in future. A rise in export of farmed shrimp has made Visakhapatnam the top seafood exporting port in the country, Chief Secretary IYR Krishna Rao said.

The Chief Secretary held a meeting with the Officials of Fisheries Department to review on Seafood exports in the State and technical support required from Marine Products Exports Development (MPEDA) Authority discussed in the meeting.

KTR’s two-week visit to US from May 5

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Information Technology Minister KT Rama Rao will be visit the United States of America for two week from May 5.

During his visit, KTR would be meeting several industry leaders, and potential investors. The minister will be attending a series of meetings in Washington DC, New York, Pittsburg, Dallas and Bay Area. He will also meet the Indian Ambassador Arun K Singh.

KTR will also attend events organized by Telangana Diaspora in New Jersey, Dallas and Bay Area. The Minister will be interacting with Telangana Diaspora and soliciting their partnership in achieving Bangaru Telangana.

GHMC to train 400 officials for ‘Swach Hyderabad’ campaign

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GHMC Commissioner and Special Officer Somesh Kumar informed that 400 officers from various wings like Sanitation, Health, Engineering, UCD, Town Planning and various other departments would be given training on 6th May which would be inaugurated by Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao.

US report slams BJP, praises Modi

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A new US report has slammed politicians linked to India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for making derogatory comments against religious minority communities, but praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his statement in support of religious freedom.

The US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), at whose recommendation the State Department had revoked Modi’s visa in 2005 for his alleged complicity in the 2002 Gujarat riots, on Thursday described Modi’s statement as a “positive development”.

SRK meets Sayeed, wants to shoot in Kashmir

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Bollywood superstar Shahrukh Khan called on Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed here on Thursday and expressed his interest in shooting in the state.

During their meeting, Sayeed described Shahrukh as a great and versatile actor who has portrayed wide array of roles in his long and memorable career, said an official statement issued by the Jammu and Kashmir government.

BJP govt in Rajasthan is ‘anti-dalits’: Sachin Pilot

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Congress leader Sachin Pilot today accused the BJP government in Rajasthan of being “anti-dalits” and claimed that there was a spurt in crimes against the community under the present rule.

“Crimes against dalits have increased in the state during the last one-and-a-half years. There is no rule of law and the government is not sensitive or serious to save dalits from atrocities,” Pilot said in a statement.

“BJP just do politics and mislead dalit people for their votes and this is the reason why there is not a single cabinet minister from SC community,” he said.

Centre approves name change of Bangalore city railway station

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The Centre today approved the name change of the Bangalore city railway station as ‘Krantivira Sangolli Rayanna’ railway station.

The decision came following a request of the Karnataka government, which sought the name change of the railway station.

In September 2014, the central government had cleared renaming 12 cities and towns of the state including Belgaum as Belagavi and Bangalore as Bengaluru.

Dravid supports BCCI stand on chucking

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Without mentioning any individual names, former India skipper and Rajasthan Royals’ mentor Rahul Dravid today came out in full support of the BCCI move to eradicate ‘chuckers’ from the Indian Premier League.

Dravid, during an interaction with reporters today, said this decision of eradicating bowlers with ‘dodgy’ bowling actions should send a big message to the grassroot level, where the coaches can take corective measures so that the bowler rectifies it at an early phase of his cricketing life.

PM Modi congratulates Maulana Wahiduddin Khan on being conferred Sayyidina Imam Al Hassan Ibn Ali Peace Award

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday congratulated noted Islamic scholar and activist Maulana Wahiduddin Khan after he was conferred the Sayyidina Imam Al Hassan Ibn Ali Peace Award in Abu Dhabi.

The Prime Minister took to twitter to share his message.

“Congratulations to Maulana Wahiduddin Khan, on being conferred the Sayyidina Imam Al Hassan Ibn Ali Peace Award at a function in Abu Dhabi,” he posted.

“Maulana Wahiduddin Khan’s knowledge and efforts towards peace make him one of the most respected scholars, admired all over,” he added.

Shift ladies’ coaches in trains to middle: Par panel

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The position of ladies’ compartments in local and passenger trains should be shifted to the middle, a Parliamentary panel has mooted, noting that placing them at the rear of a train posed a security threat to women.

The Parliamentary Committee on Empowerment of Women also said that the present strength of Railway Protection Force(RPF) is not adequate for providing security on railway premises and on trains, especially for women, and wanted it to be increased at the earliest to check crimes.

This is ‘sooj-boojh ki sarkar’, says Jaitley

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Days after Rahul Gandhi’s ‘suit-boot ki sarkar’ barb, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today described the Narendra Modi dispensation as ‘soojh-boojh ki sarkar’ and took a dig at the Congress Vice President for his “disappearance for a jaunt”.

With Modi seated beside him in Lok Sabha, Jaitley took potshots at Gandhi and Congress who have been targeting the Prime Minister for his frequent foreign tours.

He also hit out at Congress for politicising the farmers’ issue, on a day Gandhi was in Vidarbha on a ‘padyatra’ to highlight the plight of the farming community.

BJP is world’s largest party: Shah

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Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah said on Thursday that the BJP was now the world’s largest political party with 10 crore new members.

“I take both pride and pleasure in informing that the BJP has become the world’s largest political party. We had kept a target of crossing the 10-crore mark and we achieved it,” Shah told the media here.

“From Arunachal Pradesh to Gujarat and from Kargil to Kanyakumari, our party workers put in hard work to make our membership drive successful,” he said.

SRK wants to shoot in Kashmir again

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Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan called on Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed here today and expressed his wish to shoot in the Valley again.

Recalling his childhood memories, the 49-year-old actor told Sayeed during the meeting that his grandmother was of Kashmiri origin.

The superstar said he would love to shoot in Kashmir again as this way he will be able to relive the good moments of 2013 when he worked in Yash Chopra’s last directorial venture “Jab Tak Hai Jaan”, an official spokesman said.

India with people of Nepal, Mukherjee tells envoy

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India is with the people of Nepal in this hour of distress, President Pranab Mukherjee said on Thursday to the new Nepali envoy here.

Deep Kumar Upadhyay presented his credentials to President Mukherjee on Thursday at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

In a meeting following the ceremony, Mukherjee said the envoy was assuming office at a “difficult time in the life of the people of Nepal”.

He said the devastating earthquake has uprooted the life of a large number of people with huge casualties and tremendous suffering.

Rohit confident openers Simmons-Patel will deliver

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Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma on Thursday backed his openers Lendl Simmons and Parthiv Patel, saying it is just a matter of time before they score big runs in the Indian Premier League.

“I don’t think our openers haven’t clicked. They haven’t scored big runs. But in the last few games we have got 40-45 runs in the first six overs,” Rohit said ahead of their match against Rajasthan Royals at the Wankhede Stadium here on Friday.