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BJP to take Shinde fight to Parliament, says Rajnath
Gadkari warns taxmen Cong undecided on Telangana |
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Delhi’s
shame
90-yr-old World War veteran challenges denial of benefits
K’taka Speaker elusive as rebel MLAs fume
Techie held for sexually exploiting live-in partner
BAN ON FILMS
Haasan’s ‘Vishwaroopam’ to miss release date in TN
Salman gets SC relief in black buck case
Andhra High Court dismisses YSR Cong chief’s bail plea
Missiles, rockets, bombs used to cover up nuke test preparations: Kalam
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BJP to take Shinde fight to Parliament, says Rajnath New Delhi, January 24 Taking part in a BJP dharna in Delhi as part of its nation-wide protest, Rajnath charged the Home Minister with having insulted the country by equating saffron with terror. The BJP chief said saffron was part of the national flag and represented Indian culture. He said the BJP would continue to demand Home Minister’s resignation and apology from the Congress. The BJP chief sought to know Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s views on Shinde’s remarks and cautioned that if the minister was not removed, the party would “create such a situation in both Houses of Parliament that the Prime Minister will be forced to sack the Home Minister”. Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj said the country demanded an answer from the Home Minister as the Congress had degraded the prestige of India in the world by making such a statement. Similar protests were held across the country, with senior party leaders addressing cadre at Ahmedabad, Jammu, Bhopal and Kolkata.
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“As BJP president, I had to maintain dignity and work within boundaries... Now I am a free man. The Congress boat is about to sink and when our party comes to power, there would be no Chidambaram or Sonia to save them (IT officials),” Gadkari said while addressing party workers a day after demitting office. “Earlier the CBI was doing the Congress bidding and now the income tax people are following suit. I know how they are hatching conspiracies against me,” he said. — PTI
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Cong undecided on Telangana New Delhi, January 24 Admitting that the meeting could not firm up its views on the matter, party sources ruled out the possibility of an early decision. “A final decision will take time,” remarked a senior Congress leader, privy to the ongoing deliberations. Today’s meeting was attended by Union ministers AK Antony, P Chidambaram Sushilkumar Shinde, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Vyalar Ravi and AICC general secretary Digvijaya Singh. Sonia Gandhi stepped up consultations with her party colleagues as the month-long deadline announced by Shinde on December 28 last year following an all-party meeting, is round the corner. “Consultations are still on and will continue,” Congress spokesperson Renuka Choudhary told mediapersons. She, however, refused to say if the UPA government would be able to meet the January 28 deadline. Party insiders said Azad, who is also in charge of Andhra Pradesh affairs, briefed the Congress president about the situation in the state, is learnt to have warned that creating a separate state of Telangana would lead to a serious law and order problem. Shinde and Chidambaram are also said to be wary of bifurcating the state at this juncture. azad’s concern Ghulam Nabi Azad, in charge of Andhra Pradesh affairs, is learnt to have warned the party president against creating a separate Telangana state as it may lead to a serious law and order problem
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Delhi’s
shame
New Delhi, January 24 The petition, moved by Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy seeking the prosecution of the sole juvenile along with the five adult accused, was rejected by the board presided over by principal magistrate Geetanjali Goel here. Swamy had moved the high court on Wednesday seeking a direction to prosecute the juvenile along with other co-accused in the case, saying the waiver from prosecution to such minors was "unreasonable". It had disposed of his plea, saying, "There was no cause of action to entertain this PIL at this stage." Janata Party general secretary Jagdish Shetty told the media outside the JJB, "Subramanian Swamy is in Chennai right now and he has been informed about the decision of the
board. We would be filing an appeal against the order in several forums including the Delhi high court."
— PTI her last score Dehradun: The 23-year-old girl who was gang-raped in a moving bus in Delhi and later died of injuries secured 73 per cent marks in the last examination of her life. Dean of Sai Institute, where she had studied physiotherapy, said she was a “good scholar” and performed better than most of her classmates. The institute administration has decided to refund Rs 1.8 lakh deposited by her at the time of her admission in 2008.
— PTI
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90-yr-old World War veteran challenges denial of benefits
Chandigarh, January 24 Sowar Amar Singh, a Bhiwani resident who is just a little over a decade short of turning 100, has challenged the denial of war injury pension to World War II veterans. The Chandigarh Bench of the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) has issued a notice to the government on a petition filed by him. Amar Singh had served with the King George V’s Own 8th Light Cavalry and was injured by a grenade blast during an overseas campaign with the erstwhile British Indian Army. In his petition he has questioned whether the government could deny war injury pension and allied benefits to personnel injured during World War II on the pretext that they were fighting for the British forces and not for the Indian government. In 1972, the government had introduced the War Injury Pay (later renamed War Injury Pension) for those who were disabled in battle or military operations, and the Liberalised Special Family Pension (later renamed Liberalised Family Pension) for families of those who were killed in action. However, the benefits were made applicable only to the casualties of post-Independence operations or wars fought after 1947-48. The petitioner has contended that the concept of war injury pay/pension was faulty since India and Pakistan on independence had assured to take over the claims of benefits of World War II veterans who had served with the British Indian Army. He has claimed that depriving the veterans of the benefits of war injury pension was also flawed since the Second World War was a war for humanity against the Nazi and fascist forces and was not a war for or against a particular nation. Significantly, civilian employees injured even in pre-Independence international wars became eligible for war injury pension with effect from January 1, 1996. The case
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K’taka Speaker elusive as rebel MLAs fume
Bangalore, January 24 Addressing mediapersons today, Yeddyurappa said even though he was not interested in toppling the state government or preventing it from presenting the state budget next month, the government should resign on its own because it had lost the moral authority to continue in office. Governor HR Bhardwaj reportedly wrote to the Assembly Secretariat seeking details of the presiding officer’s tour. A member of Bopaiah’s staff said the Speaker was “out of station” and would return after January 28 when the offices reopened after three days of holidays, starting tomorrow. The rebels said they would petition the high court to secure the Speaker’s presence in Bangalore if he did not return on Monday. “If the Speaker does not return to Bangalore, we plan to file a habeas corpus petition in the high court to secure his presence,” rebel BJP legislator Nehru Olekar said. Thirteen BJP rebels’ plan to quit the Assembly yesterday did not come through as Speaker Bopaiah was not in his office. The rebels include ministers CM Udasi and Shobha Karandlaje, who quit the Shettar ministry yesterday. They asserted that they had informed Bopaiah well in advance, saying they would meet him on Wednesday to submit their resignation letters. “The speaker is either absconding or has been kidnapped at the behest of the Chief Minister or the two Deputy Chief Ministers,” he alleged. The rebel MLAs also emailed a letter to the Speaker’s official email ID seeking an appointment with him. They also emailed their resignation letters to the Speaker. The rebels waited in vain in Bopaiah’s chamber for over an hour yesterday with their resignation letters. Later, they met Governor HR Bhardwaj and sought his intervention to make the Speaker immediately accept their resignations. Assembly Crisis
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Techie held for sexually exploiting live-in partner
Lucknow, January 24 Both families and the guests were in for a rude shock when the police along with his live-in partner arrived at the flower-bedecked “mandap” to arrest the man. The woman had lodged a complaint alleging sexual exploitation by him. On coming to know about the bridegroom’s double life, the bride’s family cancelled the scheduled wedding. “My only reason to take this action was to save the life of another innocent young woman. He has cheated on me and I did not want him to spoil another life in this manner,” said the complainant who claimed to be three-month pregnant. According to her, she and Verma had been living together in Laxmi Nagar, East Delhi, for the past two years as he had promised to marry her. When she announced her pregnancy, Verma reportedly panicked and fled. When she came to know that he was planning to have an arranged marriage, the woman tried to contact his family. “Instead of giving me a hearing, they threatened me with dire consequences. That is when I decided to contact Powerline helpline service,” she said. Lucknow DIG Navniet Sekera said the newly launched Powerline service acted promptly after receiving the woman’s complaint by sending a police team comprising women cops to Barabanki where the engineer was arrested.
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BAN ON FILMS
New Delhi, January 24 "We can't close our eyes to their objections" and lift the ban going purely on the legal aspect, a three-member Bench headed by Justice P Sathasivam ruled. Seeking to justify the ban, Tamil Nadu had contended that allowing the screening of the film would affect its relations with Kerala, besides creating law and order problem. "When the elected state government makes this plea, how can the court ignore it," the judges explained. The Bench included Justices JS Khehar and Vikramajit Sen. Further, people in the two states and elsewhere were expecting amicable resolution of the controversy over the dam, the Bench noted. "At this stage, why should we aggravate the situation," the judges asked. The court would adopt this attitude not only towards Kerala and Tamil Nadu but in respect of all governments as "we have to respect the sentiments of the people" who had elected them, the Bench explained. It was not a question of accepting the contentions of just the ruling party, but of the government, the SC maintained. Further, it noted that the ban was only for three months of which one month was already over. At the same time, the Bench clarified that it was not under-estimating the right of the petitioner, producer-director Sohan Roy. While Roy had contended in the court that his movie had nothing to with Mullaperiyar, he had told the state government authorities that his relatives living near the old dam would be the first victims if there was a breach in it, the Bench noted pointing out the contradiction. Anyway, the movie had been released elsewhere.
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Haasan’s ‘Vishwaroopam’ to miss release date in TN Chennai, January 24 Passing interim orders on the petition filed by Haasan challenging the ban imposed last night, Justice K Venkataraman refused to grant "for the present" the interim injunction sought by the actor who has now missed two deadlines for the film, which has been bogged down by controversies. "Whether the film has got any scenes affecting the sentiment of the people, who have given complaint, or not could be decided only after viewing the film," the Judge said, holding that the release could be postponed till January 28. Making it clear that he had not formed any opinion or come to any conclusion about the merits and de-merits of the case, the Judge said it would be decided after viewing the film on January 26 and hearing the parties. "Now, considering the fact that the Republic Day is to be celebrated on January 26, the petitioners can postpone the release till January 28," the judge said. — PTI
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Salman gets SC relief in black buck case
New Delhi, January 24 A three-member Bench headed by Justice P Sathasivam dismissed the petition for proceeding against Salman under Section 147, IPC, in addition to the charge under the Wildlife Protection Act for killing the endangered animal during the shooting of a film. The state had moved the SC, challenging the Rajasthan High Court order permitting the trial court to drop the rioting charge against Salman and four others — Saif Ali Khan,
Neelam, Tabu and Sonali Bendre. The actors had allegedly hunted the animals near Kankani village in Jodhpur district in October 1998.
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Andhra High Court dismisses YSR Cong chief’s bail plea
Jagan has been in the Chanchalguda central Jail Here since May 27 last year following his arrest by the CBI in the high-profile and politically sensitive case. The main charge against the 40 year old MP is that he had misused the chief ministerial position of his father late YS Rajasekhar Reddy to attract investments into his businesses in return for doling out favours such as land allotments and mining leases. However, Jagan has denied the charges and described the case as witch-hunting and a vindictive exercise. The high court had, on December 24, dismissed the statutory bail plea of Jagan. His counsel, arguing for the bail, claimed that the investigation seemed to be never-ending and contended that the bail could not be denied in the name of incomplete investigation. However, the CBI submitted before the court that it was unable to speed up the probe into Jagan’s case due to “non-cooperation” from the government.
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Nuclear sub Arihant headed for sea trials
New Delhi, January 24 If everything goes on track, sea trails of the Arihant could commence anytime within four weeks to eight weeks from now. The miniaturisation of the reactor was a challenge that has been overcome. Sea trails had to be delayed a few times due to technical reasons. On December 3, Naval Chief Admiral DK Joshi said harbour acceptance trials for the under-development vessel had been completed. “We expect to have good news for the nation very soon,” he had added. Arihant, launched in July 2009 at Visakhapatnam, is first of the series of three ballistic missile submarines (SSBN) that India proposes to build at a cost of Rs 30,000 crore. Induction of Arihant into the fleet would complete the crucial third leg of India’s nuclear triad-the ability to fire nuclear weapons from land, air and sea. Sea trials of Arihant will be globally watched even as India will enter the exclusive club of nations that have the capacity to build nuclear-powered submarines. Only the US, Russia, the UK, France and China have the technology, at present. Though India is still building a nuclear-powder submarine-considered to be a very complex technology-its Navy has a fully integrated Akula class nuclear submarine, the INS Chakra, leased from Russia for 10 years. New Delhi has already announced that the INS Arihant will go on deterrent patrol aimed at providing the ability of a retaliatory “second strike” in case of a nuclear attack. The submarine will carry its full load of nuclear-tipped missiles that can be launched from under the sea. The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has already announced that it has successfully developed nuclear-tipped submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs). The project was a closely guarded secret at the development stage and was called the “Sagarika Project” or by its code name the K-15. This has been tested several times using a pressurised canister submerged under water to mimic a submarine-style launch. So far, countries like the US, Russia, France, China and the UK have the capability to launch a submarine-based ballistic missile.
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Missiles, rockets, bombs used to cover up nuke test preparations: Kalam
These well-planned measures were taken to "divert the attention of snoopers" two days before the nuclear tests in Pokhran in the summer of 1998, the former President said. Delivering the 7th R N Kao Memorial Lecture organised here by the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW), Kalam went down the memory lane about the anxious days before the nuclear tests during which the DRDO and his team worked over-time to make the tests successful in utter secrecy. "An important event was to take place the next day. Multiple agencies were in action. The next two nights were dark nights with no moon light. The other side, the world was sleeping. At the Chandipur flight test range, a series of 12 Trishuls were launched. Almost every two hours one launch. "At the Island range at stealth launch pad, a simulated Agni launch preparations were going on in high intensity. In Pokharan ranges, away from the action point, a number of rockets, PINAKA type, were put into action. At mid-day and evening, Air Force aircraft was bombarding with runway destruction bombs on experimental runways," he said. The next day, Kalam said, India woke up to the news that three nuclear tests had been conducted on the same day and another two the next day. "No one knew about it except three souls and their classified team...the whole event I described can be classified as more than a Black Swan," he said. Kalam also said it was the then Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao who had asked him to make preparations for nuclear tests, just two days before the results of the 1996 General Election were to be announced. But the elections went against Rao and the Prime Minister called Kalam and asked him to brief Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the Prime Minister-designate so that a "smooth takeover" of such a very important programme can take place. "This incident reveals the maturity and professional excellence of a patriotic statesman who believed that the nation is bigger than the politicial significance," Kalam said. — PTI
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