NEW DELHI: India on Monday strongly condemned the "derogatory" article against Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa appearing in the Sri Lankan Defence Ministry website, as the controversy rocked Parliament with an agitated AIADMK demanding a resolution to denounce it.

"The issue raised by (AIADMK leader) V Maitreyan is indeed very serious. India strongly condemns it. We will definitely summon the High Commissioner of that country and tell him about it," External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said in the Rajya Sabha after AIADMK members trooped into the Well demanding a statement from the government.

Both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha witnessed two adjournments each as AIADMK members disrupted the proceedings and stormed the Well seeking a statement from the government and raising slogans denouncing the Sri Lankan President.

In the Lower House, Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said, "While matters concerning diplomatic relations are dealt with delicately, this is totally unacceptable and condemnable. There is no hesitation in condemning it."

He also said he would convey the "strong feelings" of the members to Swaraj. But the AIADMK members were not satisfied with the reply and stormed the Well raising slogans like 'Rajapakse down, down' and 'We want justice'.

Raising the issue during Zero Hour in the Rajya Sabha, Maitreyan said the article, which had an objectionable headline and illustration, appearing in the Sri Lankan Defence Ministry website was "derogatory" to Jayalalithaa. He asked whether the government would summon the Sri Lankan High Commissioner as this was "an insult" of not only the Tamil Nadu Government but also the Union Government.

Jayalalithaa had earlier said the visual rendering on the homepage of the official website just above the link is highly objectionable as it depicted both the Prime Minister of India and the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu in a very trivialised, derogatory and disrespectful manner.

AIADMK leader in Lok Sabha M Thambidurai demanded that the House adopt a "strong and unanimous resolution condemning Sri Lanka" so that such incident do not recur. — PTI

Kathmandu: Nepal today asked India to increase foreign direct investment, relax non-trade measures and allow greater market access for its products to bridge widening trade deficit.

Nepal "suggested measures to address this deficit through increased Indian FDI, relaxation of non-tariff measures including SPS standards for agro products, support in product development, relaxation of Rules of Origin requirement for duty free access of Nepalese products, and mutual recognition of standards, conformity assessment and accreditation," a joint statement said.


The statement was issued at the end of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's first visit to Nepal.


In 2013-14, while India export to Nepal aggregated at USD 3.58 billion, the imports were only USD 526 million leading to trade deficit of about USD 3 billion.


The Nepalese side has requested India to remove the countervailing duty on its products including readymade garments, copper, brass utensils, Kattha and others.


It has also sought removal of "Quantitative Restrictions on the four Nepalese export products--Vegetable fats, copper products, Acrylic Yarn and Zinc Oxide." Meanwhile, India assured the Himalayan nation to consider requests.


"The Indian side also reiterated that problem of trade deficit could be best bridged by development of hydropower in Nepal and export of surplus power to India," it said.


Modi is the first Indian prime minister to visit Nepal in 17 years and the focus of the visit was on 4Cs- cooperation, connectivity, culture, constitution. PTI

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi returned home today, wrapping up his two-day official visit to Nepal, the first trip by an Indian premier to the neighbouring country in 17 years.

"The two prime ministers expressed satisfaction over the excellent state of Nepal-India relations that encompass a broad spectrum of political, economic, social and cultural ties that are deep-rooted at both government and peoples' levels," according to a joint statement issued at the conclusion of the visit.


The two prime ministers also underlined the need to further explore ways to enhance sub-regional cooperation particularly in the areas of trade, transit, connectivity and hydropower, the statement said.


They also agreed to review, adjust and update the Treaty of Peace and Friendship of 1950 and other bilateral agreements, according to the joint statement.-PTI 

BHOPAL: In a severe dent to the image of the higher judiciary, a woman Additional District and Sessions Judge in Gwalior has quit her job accusing a judge of the Madhya Pradesh High Court of sexual harassment, a charge he has rejected and offered to face death penalty if found true.

Accusing a judge of the Gwalior Bench of the High Court of seeking sexual favours from her, the woman judge has written to the Chief Justice of India explaining the reasons that forced her to resign from judicial service.

Rejecting the charges made by the woman judge, who also headed the district-level committee to look into sexual harassment in workplace, the High Court judge on Monday wrote a letter to Chief Justice R M Lodha offering to face any probe by any agency including an investigating agency.

"I have highest regard to the institution and (am) concerned about the image of the institution. On repetition, I again say that I do not want any trial by any court."

Offering to face a CBI inquiry or a probe by any agency, he said if any allegation against him is found true, "I am ready to face any penalty, even the death penalty".

"In regard to the woman judge and even in regard to any lady, an investigation can also be done whether I have ever harassed or abused any of the lady employees or any subordinate judge," the judge said in his two-page letter to the CJI.

The woman judge, in her letter to CJI, narrates a number of instances in which she was the subject of the judge's "foul and malicious intentions".

"Call it a woman's intuition but I was very cautious and disturbed ... I ignored him and kept doing my work," she said, adding some of the words used by the judge made her feel ashamed.

She also referred to the alleged harassment by three judicial officers on the orders of the High Court judge.

The woman judge said even after suffering all the harassment from the three judicial officers on the instructions of the judge, "I had not submitted to the evil demand of the judge and kept on doing my work with all dedication and sincerity".

She said she had discussed the matter with her husband and when the judge called her in the evening of June 21 asking her to meet him at his bungalow in the late hours, she preferred to go there with her husband the next day morning.

Seeing her husband with her, the High Court judge became very irritated and asked them to meet him after 15 days.

In the letter to CJI, the woman judge said the High Court judge along with another judicial officer made a "false, frivolous, baseless and malicious reporting" to the Chief Justice of Madhya Pradesh and got her transferred to a remote place Sidhi last month in the middle of the academic session of her daughter by overruling the transfer policy of the High Court.

She said she made representation to the Registrar General and prayed for extension of eight months in the present place to complete the academic session of her daughter, which was in line with the transfer policy of the High Court. But it was declined.

When finding her transfer would disrupt the studies and future of her Class XII daughter, the woman judge thought there may be still some humanity left in the system.

So, she called on the High Court judge and asked him about the transfer which would spoil the career of the child and disturb the family.

"Mockingly, he replied that I have faced the result of this mid-academic transfer to Sidhi for not fulfilling his aspirations and for not visiting his bungalow alone even once. Also he threatened me that now he will spoil my career completely and make sure that I will face ruinous prospects all my life," the woman judge said in the letter to CJI.

"Shocked" by this response, the woman judge talked to another judge who asked her to have faith in the system and file for reconsideration of the decision.

She said when she was "refused" appointment by the High Court Chief Justice and "left with no option" but to resign, she "resigned on 15.7.2014 in compelling, humiliating and disgraceful circumstances to save my dignity, womanhood, self esteem and career of my daughter".

The woman judge sought from the CJI appropriate action after fact-finding and reconsidering the circumstances under which she was "coerced" forcing her to resign.

"Please, institute an appropriate mechanism for redressal of grievances like the above of subordinate services judicial officers," she said in the letter.

Reacting to media reports in this regard, the high court judge said in his letter to CJI that the allegations against him "are totally false".

He said in June this year when he was in Delhi, he got a call from the woman judge who told her that she was being harassed by a judicial officer. He told her that he was on vacation and she could meet him when he was back in Gwalior.

"When I came to Gwalior after vacation I gave a ring to her. Thereafter, she along with her husband visited my residence at 11am. She told me about her grievance (about the judicial officer). I told her I would find out what is the reason. Thereafter, I called the district judge and inquired into the matter.

"Except these two, I have never made any contact (with the woman judge). I neither phoned her nor sent any message. It can be verified from my call details or any other method as your lordship may think proper," the High Court judge said in his letter to CJI.

"Shocking allegations have been made in the complaint (by the woman judge). I am ready to face any probe by CBI or any agency and if any allegation be found proved, I am ready to even face death penalty. During my whole tenure, I have never contacted any subordinate woman officer. It can be verified from any source," he said. — PTI

8-yr-old girl beheaded in Poonch, father detained 

JAMMU In a shocking incident, an eight-year-old girl was on Sunday beheaded reportedly by her father as result of family feud in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir.

"A minor girl Masarat Naz was found murdered late Sunday evening outside her house in a remote Gharana village of Mendhar tehsil in Poonch district," Senior Superintendent of police Shamsher Hussain said.

The beheaded body was seized, he said, adding that her father Zakir Hussain has been detained for the "suspected" involvement in the case.

As per preliminary investigation, there is internal family feud responsible for the incident, the SSP said. — PTI

NEW DELHI: The Central government on Monday announced that English marks will not be included for gradation or merit in the Civil Services Aptitude Test (CSAT).

“Government is of the opinion that in the Civil Services Preliminary examination, Paper-II, the marks of the question section on ‘English language comprehension skills’ should not be included for gradation or merit,” MoS Personnel Jitendra Singh said seeking to mollify the agitating candidates.

He added that civil service aspirants who appeared for the exam in 2011 will be allowed one more attempt in 2015.

Jitendra Singh on Sunday met Home Minister Rajnath Singh and BJP chief Amit Shah at Gujarat Bhavan to deliberate on the ongoing UPSC row.

Parliament has witnessed repeated uproar and several adjournments in the past few days over the issue. Immediately after the statement, B Mahtab (BJD) and Dharmendra Yadav (SP) stood up demanding clarification whether Civil Services Aptitude Test (CSAT) has been done away with.

However, the Minister stood up to say that he has said whatever he wanted to.

Earlier, the Opposition had demanded in the Rajya Sabha a definite time-frame from government to resolve the issue and served a privilege notice, forcing adjournment of the House.

Raising the issue during Zero Hour, Sharad Yadav (JD-U) accused the government of “going back on its promise” of resolving the issue expeditiously.

The students have been demanding that the pattern of CSAT be changed to give level-playing field to those coming from rural areas.

There are two compulsory papers of 200 marks each in the preliminary examination. These papers are also known as CSAT-I and CSAT-II.

The CSAT-II paper carries questions on comprehension, inter-personal skills, including communication skills, logical reasoning and analytical ability, decision-making and problem-solving, general mental ability, basic numeracy, and English language comprehension skills (of Class X level).

Students have been objecting to the level of aptitude and English language questions being asked in the examination claiming they are much above the standard prescribed for the examination.

The civil services examination is conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) in three stages–preliminary, main, and interview — to choose candidates for Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS) and Indian Police Service (IPS), among others. — PTI

NEW DELHI: Not satisfied with the changes announced by the government in the UPSC exam, scores of civil services aspirants today vowed to continue their fight for "complete scrapping" of the CSAT paper and decided to shift their agitation to Jantar Mantar in central Delhi.

The civil services aspirants, who had been protesting against the CSAT format in Mukherjee Nagar of north Delhi for the past 25 days, will now hold protest at Jantar Mantar.


"We are not satisfied with Minister of State for Personnel Jitendra Singh's speech in Lok Sabha regarding CSAT. We demand complete scrapping of CSAT. We have decided to continue our fight from Jantar Mantar," Pawan, an UPSC aspirant who has been leading the protest, said.


The minister today announced in Parliament that English marks of CSAT-II will not be included for gradation or merit, and candidates of 2011, when CSAT was first introduced, may get another chance to appear for the test next year.


Pawan said this was not what the protesters have been demanding. "We never asked the BJP-led government to modify CSAT pattern. Instead, our demand is to abolish this test for the welfare of lakhs of students who had studied in Hindi medium," he added.


"Before elections, BJP had promised to scrap this test.


The BJP-led central government has cheated lakhs of UPSC aspirants who had hoped that the new government would pay heed to their demand," he said.


Meanwhile, RSS ideologue K N Govindacharya has requested the Lok Sabha Speaker to initiate action against the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) Chairman and the Secretary of Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) for violating 'Rajbhasha Sankalp', which was passed by both Houses of Parliament.


In 2011, the civil services exam pattern was changed by the UPSC without any mandate and "in violation of Rajbhasha Sankalp", he said. In his memorandum, Govindacharya demanded that UPSC exam papers be originally framed in Hindi, and then it be translated to English.


He also expressed his displeasure over non-action on his representation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in this regard. PTI

GLASGOW: IOA secretary general Rajeev Mehta and wrestling referee Virender Malik, who were arrested on different reasons, were today released after charges against them were dropped for lack of evidence, putting an end to their unsavoury ordeal.

The charges against both the Indian officials were dropped and the matter did not come up for hearing at the Sheriff's Court, according to an Indian High Commission official.

The decision to let off the two officials came as huge relief for the Indian contingent, which had to face a lot of embarrassment on the last day of the 20th Commonwealth Games because of the development.

While Mehta was arrested for alleged drunken driving, Malik, who is not a part of the official contingent was facing a more serious charge of alleged sexual assault.

The duo was, however, not staying with the official 215-strong contingent which was putting up at the Games village. Both of them were reportedly lodged at a local hotel.

"Charges against both of them have been dropped due to lack of evidence. They have been released without any charges being framed," the High Commission official said.

The Indian Consulate in Edinburgh was liaising with the police on the matter.

The Consulate in Edinburgh had deputed an official to Glasgow to keep in close touch with the police authorities to ascertain full factual details of the case.

Uttar Pradesh Olympic Association secretary Anandeshwar Pandey, who is part of the IOA delegation and was at the court, said the officials were released after primary investigation.

"During primary investigation, they (Scotland Police) couldn't find enough evidence to frame charges. So they were let off without being produced before the court," Pandey said.

Elaborating on the incident, Pandey said that Mehta was driving a friend's car and there was a minor accident while coming out of the parking lot. PTI

All-party meet on Insurance Bill fails to iron out differences

NEW DELHI: An all-party meeting on Monday failed to hammer out a consensus over the controversial Insurance Bill which was scheduled to be taken up in the Rajya Sabha.

Leaders agreed to hold a fresh round of consultations in the next two days as the brief meeting in Parliament House remained inconclusive.

"The meeting remained inconclusive. We have agreed to meet again in the next two days to arrive at a consensus on the possible formulation of the legislation," NCP leader Praful Patel, who attended the meeting, told reporters here.

NCP and BJD have decided to support the bill in the form it was cleared by the Union Cabinet recently.

Today's meeting was part of the govenment initiative to take Opposition leaders in Rajya Sabha on board on the key Bill.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu attended the meeting which took place against the backdrop of nine Opposition parties giving a notice to Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari for referring the Bill to a select committee.

NDA does not have a majority in the Upper House and will have to seek the support of other parties to move its first major economic reforms legislation for consideration.

With the Opposition demanding that the Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill be referred to a select committee, the government last night had deferred its plan to move the 
Bill for consideration in the Rajya Sabha today. –PTI

NEW DELHI: Supporting India's tough stand at WTO on the food security issue, UN body for development of agriculture IFAD on Monday said ensuring food for its people is more important than creating jobs in certain other nations.

"Creating jobs for some other country, while people are still hungry, doesn't make sense ... If I was in the position of feeding my own family or creating jobs for someone else, what would I do? What would you do?," International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD) president Kanayo Nwanze said.

"The bottom line is that every government has the responsibility to ensure that it can feed its own people," he said while replying to a question whether he supports India's tough stand in the World Trade Organisation.

Echoing similar sentiments, IFAD's country director for India Nigel Brett said India has a big task to feed its people. "You have a population of 1.2 billion people. You have a mammoth task in your hand of feeding people ... in this case government has to do everything what it can do to feed its population in the interest ..."

India decided last week not to ratify WTO's Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA), which is dear to the developed world, without any concrete movement in finding a permanent solution to its public food stock-holding issue for food security purposes.

It has asked WTO to amend the norms for calculating agri subsidies in order to procure foodgrains from farmers at minimum support price and sell that to poor at cheaper rates.

The current WTO norms limit the value of food subsidies at 10 per cent of the total value of foodgrain production. However, the support is calculated at the prices that are over two decades old.

India is asking for a change in the base year (1986-88) for calculating the food subsidies. It wants the change to a more current base year on account of various factors such as inflation and currency movements.

There are apprehensions that once India completely implements its food security programme, it could breach the 10 per cent cap. Breach of the cap may lead to imposition of hefty penalties, if a member country drags India to the WTO.

Nwanze is on a five-day official visit to India to meet various various ministers, including Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Rural Development Minister Nitin Gadkari, to discuss about how rural transformation and gender empowerment and how they are vital for reducing poverty.

IFAD, a specialised agency of the United Nations, was established as an international financial institution to finance agricultural development projects for food production in the developing countries. — PTI

GLASGOW: The curtains came down on the 2014 Commonwealth Games with a colourful ceremony that witnessed some power packed performances by famous Scottish singer Lulu, pop band Deacon Blue, Australian singer Kylie Minogue and more 
than 2,000 performers Sunday night at the Hampden Park, Scotland's National Stadium.

Themed 'All Back To Ours', the 90-minute closing ceremony depicted a "typical night out in Glasgow". 

The ceremony at the packed 40,000-seater Hampden Park, which hosted the athletics events, got off to a rocking start with Scottish music artists singing their smash hits. 

Canadian gymnast Frankie Jones was awarded the David Dixon Award for the best athlete of the Games. She won six medals, including one gold, in the rhythmic gymnastics events. The Games were participated by 4,750 athletes from 
71 countries and territories in 18 sports over 11 days for 261 golds.

Singer Lulu kicked off the proceedings with her version of the old Isley Brothers US hit of 1959, 'Shout'. Scottish band Deacon Blue, which was formed in Glasgow in 1980, took the stage next and rocked the crowd with one of their most 
popular songs 'Dignity'.

The place was already abuzz with lightshows and fireworks when Scottish synthpop band Prides sent the decibel levels rising further with their foot-tapping number 'Messiah'.

There were also great performances by singer Dougie MacLean, who wrote Caledonia, and Glasgow synthpop band Prides.

But the biggest performer on the night was Australian singer Kylie. The 46-year-old Kylie, who released her 12th studio album this year, performance represented the Games' transfer to her native country. Australia's hurdles champion Sally Pearson also gave a message inviting all to the 2018 Games in Gold Coast.

Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) president Prince Imran of Malaysia also thanked Glasgow for delivering a wonderful Games. 

"Glasgow, it is a job well done. You have delivered the best Games ever," said Imran before adding the Glasgow slogan, "Pure, dead brilliant."

During the ceremony, Glasgow officially passed on the host city mantle to Australia's Gold Coast for 2018. The flag was was accepted by Jann Stuckey, Queensland Minister for the Commonwealth Games. 

"On behalf of the people of City of Gold Coast in the state of Queensland, Australia, we accept with the greatest pride the responsibility of staging the 21st Commonwealth Games in 2018. We will aim to emulate your outstanding success," 
she said.

"Thank you Glasgow for taking us into your homes and your hearts and making us feel so welcome. In the last 11 days, we have experienced more energy, more excitement and a depth and warmth of friendliness like never before. 

"Congratulations on delivering a Commonwealth Games that epitomises the soul of sport. Congratulations to the athletes, the officials and the volunteers - you 
collectively paved the way to deliver an event to be remembered for many years to come," she added.

The closing ceremony were also participated by the Clydesiders, some of the 15,000 volunteers, who helped the athletes and the spectators during the Games. India 
finished fifth in the 2014 Commonwealth Games with 64 medals, including 15 gold, 30 silver, 19 bronze. England took the top spot with 174 medals of which 58 were gold. 
–Agencies