|
|
|
|
|
Secularism means ‘India First’: Modi
Drug haul: Disbelief in home district of country’s poster boy
Chemist arrested in Ludhiana
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
K’taka local bodies’ poll results today
HC working to normalise from today
2 killed in stampede at UP temple
Jaipur police to seek custody of Bitti
TMC leader in police custody for SI’s murder
Gogoi’s bag goes missing, taxi driver arrested Baby kidnapped as cops doze off before CCTVs
|
|
Secularism means ‘India First’: Modi
Ahmedabad, March 10 "The interest of India is foremost, whatever we do should be to strengthen India, that, in my opinion, is the best definition of secularism. The 'mantra' for all 125 crore Indians should be 'India first' and that will be true secularism," Modi said in an address to the non-resident Indians (NRIs) in the United States and Canada through video-conferencing today. After the setback from Wharton that cancelled his video address earlier, the Overseas Friends of the BJP at Chicago and New Jersey organised a simultaneous video address of Modi that was also telecast live by several Indian television channels this morning. Even while admitting that his government "might have made mistakes", he neither referred to the 2002 riots nor gave any indications about the "mistakes" he was referring to. He gave clear indications that he was inching towards a bigger platform from the state chief ministership. Modi, however, was not apologetic about the riots but tried to cover his mistakes with the "India First" slogan. "Whatever we do, it must be for India, we should never let the dreams of the people of India be adversely affected," he said. In his 50-minute address, Modi repeatedly advocated development as panacea for all problems. Without making any direct reference to the 2002 riots, he said, "Development is the solution to all problems. If you work for development, the people are ready to forget about the mistakes you make and will support you." Modi heaped praise on the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government claiming the steps taken by the then NDA government had showed to the world that India had the capacity to lead the world in the 21st century, but unfortunately that hope was dashed within a few years. "What now we have is the black cloud of despair and darkness" but Gujarat had shown the world the way how to come out of the dark through development, he claimed.
|
|
Drug haul: Disbelief in home district of country’s poster boy
Bhiwani, March 10 Those who have seen the 27-year-old’s gradual transformation into an international boxer refuse to believe he could have used drugs, as has been alleged by his friend and sparring partner Ram Singh. Vijender, a DSP with Haryana Police, has denied involvement in the scandal, but has not reacted to Ram Singh's claims that they consumed drugs together. Vijender hails from Bhiwani’s Kaluwas village and schooled and trained there before making his presence felt in the international boxing ring. His first coach Jagdish Singh is deeply hurt by the allegations against the Padma Shri awardee and believes he could not have used drugs. “Vijender came to me when he was only 12. During training he never smoked a cigarette or a bidi. I am deeply hurt by whatever I have been reading about him in the newspapers or watching on news channels. His attitude has changed over the years, but I cannot believe he could use drugs,” Jagdish Singh said. Vijender’s elder brother Manoj, an ex-Armyman and also a former boxer, said news of his brother’s links to a drug racket was baseless and untrue. “My brother cannot use drugs. Ram Singh may have said so under pressure. Let’s wait for investigations to be completed. The truth will come out soon and Vijender will emerge clean,” he said. Throwing his weight behind Vijender, Indian Olympic Association (IOA) president Abhay Singh Chautala said allegations of drug use by the star boxer appear false. “Vijender has been going through dope tests every time he has participated in an international event. Had he been consuming drugs, it would have come to light in the reports,” Abhay said.
|
|
|
Chemist arrested in Ludhiana
Chandigarh, March 10 Sources in the police headquarters said the chemist was a conduit supplying heroin to certain “high and mighty” in the state. He was said to have given enough leads to a neatly laid out supply chain in the state. In fact, more names have surfaced during the investigation and individuals may be questioned or even arrested. The investigation surrounding boxer Vijender Singh’s link to the case did not yield any lead today, a senior officer said. There was no official word on whether the boxer consumed the drug or played a bigger role in the network. The recovery of Vijender’s car near the scene of the drug haul has not been adequately answered as yet, sources added. The police is working on getting more details on the involvement of NRI Anup Singh Kahlon from whose residence the 26-kg haul was made. The police is currently busy probing the role of Jagdish Bhola, a former wrestler and DSP, from whose Mohali house a subsequent recovery of 10 kg drug-making chemicals was made. But there is no official word on any probe to establish a possible link between the two cases.
|
|
|
K’taka local bodies’ poll results today
Bangalore, March 10 Around 70 per cent voters had cast their ballot on Thursday to elect 207 urban local bodies. While voting was scheduled for 208 local bodies, polling could not take place in one following public boycott seeking facilities. Bangalore, which has 28 constituencies, has been kept out of the urban local bodies poll as the Bangalore metropolitan corporation is only three years old. A decent performance in these elections will boost the morale of the ruling party ahead of the Assembly elections.
|
|
|
HC working to normalise from today
Chandigarh, March 10 The Monday afternoon meeting of the Punjab and Haryana High Court Bar Association’s General House is, however, expected to be stormy, with a section of lawyers up in arms against advocates Anupam Gupta and Rupinder Singh Khosla. Gupta has purportedly been spearheading an agitation to protest against the slapping of Khosla by a policeman. A section of lawyers has been insisting that Gupta is taking credit for the agitation by putting himself before concerns of the fraternity. The meeting is expected to see lawyers make attempts to corner Gupta on the issue. Khosla may also find himself facing angry Bar members for compromising the matter without a referendum on the issue. Giving details of the exemption granted by the Bar Council of India, Punjab and Haryana High Court president KS Dhaliwal said they had received a communication issued by the Bar Council of India Secretary. It says the Punjab and Haryana High Court lawyers have been “exempted from the nationwide call for abstaining from the court works on March 11”, as the controversy has been resolved. The Bar Council of India had given a call for a nationwide strike in protest against the “brutal assault” on lawyers in Jaipur and Chandigarh. They were targeted with water cannons in Chandigarh after they lifted the barricades while marching towards the Raj Bhawan for submitting a memorandum to the Punjab Governor on the slapping incident.
|
|
|
2 killed in stampede at UP temple
Lucknow, March 10 The accident occurred exactly a month after 36 pilgrims lost their lives in a similar stampede at the Allahabad railway station. Over three crore pilgrims had descended at the Sangam ghats on that day for the ‘Shahi Snan’ on the occasion of Mauni Amavasya on February 10. Early this morning, thousands of devotees had collected at the ancient temple under Ramnagar police station for the ‘jalabhishek’ on the occasion of Mahashivratri. Five persons were injured when a portion of the barricade meant to control the crowds collapsed. They were rushed to the district hospital where two succumbed to their injuries. They were identified as Haribhan Singh (22) and Rampal Nishad (35), both from Kanpur. The injured are being treated at the district hospital.
|
|
|
Jaipur police to seek custody of Bitti
Kannur, March 10 Jaipur Assistant Police Commissioner Biju George Joseph told a Malayalam television channel that a team of the Rajasthan Police would reach Kannur tomorrow with jail and production warrants. Bitti was sentenced to seven-year imprisonment in 2006 for raping a 26-year-old German woman at Alwar. Son of former Odisha DGP BB Mohanty, Bitti had been working as a probationary officer in a public sector bank here for the last three years impersonating as 'Raghav Raja' from Andhra Pradesh. He had been charged with cheating, forgery and impersonation by the Kerala Police. Bitti landed in trouble after the employees of the bank branch at Pazhayangadi grew suspicious of the true identity of their colleague on seeing his photo among pictures of accused in various sex crimes shown by TV channels and those floated on the Internet in the wake of the Delhi gang-rape incident. Bitti was picked up from his local residence on Friday evening and during interrogation revealed his true identity after initially trying to mislead the police. — PTI
|
|
|
TMC leader in police custody for SI’s murder
Kolkata, March 10 In the incident, sub-inspector Tapas Choudhury was shot during clashes between Congress and TMC supporters near Hari Mohan Ghosh College in the Garden Reach area here during distribution of nomination forms for student union elections. Ekbal, the local TMC borough chairman and known to be close to the state Minister for Urban Development Firhad Hakim, had fled from Kolkata on February 15. He was arrested yesterday near Gaya. He was produced in Alipore judicial court today and the judicial magistrate remanded him in police custody till March 20. During interrogation, Ekbal said that he had escaped from Kolkata on February 15 on Hakim’s advice and that Mamata Banerjee was aware of his escape. He claimed that he was returning to Kolkata on the advice of the minister. Today, a large number of his supporters - present outside the Alipore court - demanded his immediately release.
|
|
|
Gogoi’s bag goes missing, taxi driver arrested Allahabad, March 10 Upon emerging from the shop, the protocol officer found that a bag containing around Rs 1 lakh in cash, some important documents, camera and other valuables belonging to the Chief Minister, was missing from the back seat of the taxi they had hired to travel around the city, Urfi said. — PTI
|
|
Baby kidnapped as cops doze off before CCTVs Mumbai, March 10 “Footage from the CCTV shows a man in his 30s loitering around the area for two hours before moving in to kidnap a month-old baby boy lying beside his sleeping mother at around 5.59 am,” a spokesperson for the Government Railway Police said. Police personnel deployed to monitor the CCTVs round the clock, however, missed the kidnap. GRP officials said they were verifying if the men deployed to watch the CCTVs were at their stations or had dozed off while on duty. “We have formed teams to track him down at bus stations and have activated our informer network to trace the baby,” a police official said. — TNS
|
|||
|
Rahul’s spontaneity
Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi's latest statement that he is not interested in the Prime Minister's post because he wants to focus on building a broad-based cadre of leaders and his disinclination to get married are drawing comments from both party insiders and outsiders. While the Opposition parties have been predictably poking fun at the Nehru-Gandhi scion, a section in the Congress maintains this was not a casual conversation with party MPs and journalists, but a rehearsed script. They pointed out that this "sudden show of spontaneity" was actually an image-building exercise to position the 42-year-old Gandhi as a leader who is not hankering after power as opposed to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi who is obviously impatient to be projected as the BJP's candidate for the top post. But there is a fair share of skeptics in the Congress who are not convinced with this argument. Brushing aside Rahul's remarks, they are quick to point out that in case the Congress is in a position to form the government in 2014, he would emerge as the obvious choice for the PM's post. Unless he surprises them by picking somebody else for the post just as his mother did in 2004.
Lyricist Kapil
Sibal
After publishing two volumes of his poems, Telecommunications Minister Kapil Sibal has now started penning lyrics for songs. It all began after well-known vocalist Zila Khan read his English poems and suggested that these be translated into Urdu so that she could lend her voice to them. This turned out to be such a successful experiment that Sibal decided to write lyrics himself in a mixture of Hindi and Urdu. Sibal got busy on his iPad and the result is a compendium of over 100 verses. Of these, nearly a dozen have been set to music and will be out shortly. The collection covers a wide range from sufi numbers and slow romantic ballads to an ode to his late father. The musical score has been contributed by well-known directors like Pritam of Barfi fame and Shantanu Moitra who gave music for Parineeta while Adnan Sami and Hariharan are among the singers who are lending their voices to these soon-to-be released songs. Clearly, lyricist Javed Akhtar has competition.
|
|||
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Letters | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | E-mail | |
Under attack from secular forces the world over for the 2002 communal riots in the state, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi today redefined secularism as "India First".
Bhiwani, March 10
Allahabad, March 10
