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Shatrughan lavishes praise on Nitish, says he is PM material
BJP demands apology from Cong
on Batla encounter remarks
6 hurt as pro-quota protesters lathi-charged in UP
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UP follows up SDM suspension
with mining officer’s transfer
Climate change bringing heavy rain,
landslides to Siachen area: Study
India to restore subsidised gas supply to Bhutan
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Shatrughan lavishes praise on Nitish, says he is PM material
New Delhi, July 30 A week after Sinha tried to engage Modi with lavish praises for BJP’s other PM hopeful veteran leader LK Advani, today he exulted about the Gujarat CM’s bête noire-estranged NDA partner Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar-terming him a “deserving” candidate for the post of the Prime Minister. "Nitish Kumar is well qualified for the PM post," Sinha said. "You don't need to have any doctorate for it. He has successfully governed Bihar,” he was quoted as saying. Party spokesman Prakash Javadekar’s terse reaction to the provocatory remark was that the Bihar BJP would take note of the matter. Sources, however, explain that it is quite obvious that Sinha wants the party to take some “action” against him. “He is upset and wants some disciplinary action against him so that he can justify his next action. We will decide (on him) in due course of time. The party has given him so much in the past and will give him more. However, the problem with those who join politics after making a name in some other field, like films or cricket, is that they look for a preferential treatment without realising that there are others who have dedicated their entire lives for the sake of the organisation,” they say. “We do have committed members like Hema Malini, Smriti Irani, Vinod Khanna and Kirron Kher,” they add, defending the glamour factor in politics. However, while film stars contribute with their crowd-pulling advantage to the party, political observers agree that some of them also tend to overrate their contribution to a party. “There are those who have grown with a party’s organisation and deserve much more than Sinha, who was rewarded with a cabinet post in the NDA regime”. Incidentally, BJP sources say that Sinha still remains the top contender for the Patna Sahib seat which he currently holds. His colleague from the film industry three-time Gurdaspur MP Vinod Khanna is expected to be fielded again from Punjab. Khanna too is believed to be upset for being ignored by the party which once celebrated him, but has more or less kept a dignified silence. Sinha’s controversial remarks are being attributed to him being sidelined by the senior party leadership while assigning duties for the 2014 general elections. The BJP had recently announced members of the various committees to look after different poll-related aspects.To cash in on her star power, the party is again wooing the Rampur MP Jayaprada-the estranged SP leader who won the UP seat in 2009 against all odds-but the Amar Singh factor could again prove to be a roadblock.
Shatrughan Sinha The problem with those who join politics after making a name in some other field, like films or cricket, is that they look for a preferential treatment without realising that there are others who have dedicated their entire lives for the
organisation. Prakash Javadekar, BJP spokesman
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BJP demands apology from Cong
on Batla encounter remarks
New Delhi, July 30 “The BJP welcomes the court verdict in the Batla House encounter case. If we have to win the war against terror, then strong punishment will have to be given to terrorists. We and the people wanted that Ahmed should be hanged as he had killed Inspector MC Sharma,” party spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said. “Everybody knows that the voice of Digvijay Singh is the voice of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. So the Congress should apologise to the nation,” he said. Describing terrorism as a war against India, he said that the crimes committed by terrorists were extraordinary crimes. Javadekar said, “They had raised doubts about the martyrdom of MC Sharma. Digvijay Singh had visited the homes of the terror suspects. Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid had even said that when he narrated the encounter to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, she cried.” Javadekar alleged that the remarks and actions of Congress leaders were aimed at votebank politics.
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6 hurt as pro-quota protesters lathi-charged in UP
Lucknow, July 30 Six protesters were reportedly injured in the scuffle with the police near Raj Bhawan. Thousands of protesters later held a sit-in in front of the Vidhan Sabha holding up traffic for hours. As a precautionary measure, Rapid Action Force personnel were deployed and security was beefed up at the Chief Minister’s residence, Secretariat annex, which houses the Chief Minister’s office as well as the SP office. In spite of heavy security, the protesters mainly from Allahabad broke the cordon and reached Raj Bhawan on their way to the SP office. The police resorted to lathi-charge to prevent the protesters from moving ahead. The protesters later demanded a magisterial inquiry into the lathi-charge calling it the “last nail in the SP’s coffin”. The pro-reservation protesters are demanding the Akhilesh Yadav government to restore the three-tier reservation that had been abruptly withdrawn by the Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission (UPPSC) on July 26. The UPPSC had also decided to cancel the Combined State Upper Sub-ordinate Service (Mains) examination and the interview. On July 22, the Allahabad High Court had stayed the interview for 10 days on a petition by anti-reservation agitators. The state government has been caught in the cross-fire of anti and pro-reservation protesters after the controversial decision by the UPPSC. In May, the UPPSC had amended the reservation rules for the OBCs by applying quota at three stages - preliminary and main examinations, and interview. Prior to the amendment, the quota was fixed at the final stage of recruitment or after the completion of interview. Under mounting pressure from the upper castes, the Akhilesh government decided to withdraw the newly amended rules on July 26, starting protests by the pro-reservation section of OBCs, mainly Yadavs who were reportedly benefitting from the amendment. After two days of arson in Allahabad, the protesters today arrived in Lucknow where they were
lathi-charged.
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UP follows up SDM suspension
with mining officer’s transfer
Lucknow, July 30 Meanwhile, nothing has happened even after 24 hours of acting Chief Secretary giving an assurance to the Uttar Pradesh IAS Officers' Association for a review of the controversial decision to suspend Gautama Buddha Nagar SDM Durga Shakti Nagpal. Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav had yesterday made it very clear that there was no ground for debate on the issue. Samajwadi Party spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhury today admitted that the decision regarding the revocation of Nagpal’s suspension was the prerogative of the CM on which he wouldn’t like to comment. The issue of the Akhilesh Yadav-led SP government’s image taking a severe beating for suspending Nagpal, who took on the influential sand mafia in Gautam Budha Nagar, may come up for discussion during the Samajwadi Party state executive meeting scheduled for Wednesday.
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Climate change bringing heavy rain,
landslides to Siachen area: Study
Chandigarh, July 30 The area includes the Siachen glacier and Nubra valley that are of immense strategic importance and where there is significant military presence and movement of troops. For the first time, an earth-flow event of “gigantic proportions” was observed recently over the Siachen glacier. The paper by the Snow and Avalanche Studies Establishment (SASE), a laboratory under the Defence Research and Development Organisation, states that the Himalayas are a tectonically active region and the changing climate has started impacting the nature of natural hazards in the area. Climate change in the north-west Himalayas in the past three decades has led to an overall rise in air temperature, uneven distribution of precipitation causing extreme heavy precipitation events, decrease in snow cover and increase in incidence of floods and cloudbursts. The earth-flow, also called mass wastage that results in large quantities of snow, soil, rocks and debris tumbling down the mountain slopes, occurred about 30 km upstream from the snout of the glacier. Earthquake catalogues revealed non-occurrence of any local seismic activity during that period, ruling out the possibility that the mass wastage was due to an earthquake. The precipitation date of the Siachen region showed occurrence of a heavy precipitation event, while the temperature data showed an increasing trend, pointing towards increased snowmelt and also the fact that precipitation occurred in the form of rain. Consequent run-off generated by the heavy rain and increased snowmelt may have seeped in the slopes and causing increased pressure triggering off at least two earth-flows.
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India to restore subsidised gas supply to Bhutan
New Delhi, July 30 "We have obtained and completed all clearances — technical and administrative. We are ready to supply the subsidised cooking gas and kerosene from August one," officials sources said here today. They also said the decision has been conveyed to the new Bhutanese government. Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay met with the Indian Ambassador to Bhutan VP Haran at the Gyalyong Tshogkhang (National Assembly Hall) yesterday during which India's decision was conveyed, sources said. Before the elections, the Indian Oil Corporation discontinued the supply of the subsidised fuel, on technical grounds with officials here maintaining that Bhutan's 10th Plan of under which India was providing such assistance expired on June 30. India's subsidy cut to Bhutan gave rise to reports that the decision was taken in view of government's unhappiness with former Prime Minister and chief of ruling political party Druk Phuensum Tshogpa Jigme Thinley's proximity with China. Meanwhile, Haran was introduced to the new Bhutanese Cabinet ministers and as per the press release from the Information and Media Division of the Office of the PM, Tobgay and the Ambassador discussed wide range of issues. The Ambassador also conveyed government's invitation for the PM's visit to India which was accepted, and assured that he would make a visit to India at the earliest. The People's Democratic Party won a landslide victory in Bhutan's second national elections held on July 13. —
PTI
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The BJP today welcomed the life sentence given to Batla House case convict Shahzad Ahmed.
Nitish Kumar is well qualified for the PM post. You don't need to have any doctorate for it. He has successfully governed
Bihar.