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Big turnout at BJP rally
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Party MPs walk out from LS
Digvijay to meet Sonia, explain his criticism of PC
INS Shivalik enters on April 29
ULFA top leaders to decide on peace talks: Barua
Punjab overexploiting water resources: Centre
More trouble for Shoaib, Sania
Dutt can shoot abroad till year-end, rules SC
Assets case to harass me, Maya tells SC
Judges’ appointment process to change, says Moily
Sethusamudram
Kids made to walk barefoot on fire, glass pieces
IPL blasts: K’taka police detains five
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Big turnout at BJP rally
Gadkari faints BJP president Nitin Gadkari fainted in the scorching Delhi heat on Wednesday during the party’s rally against rising prices attended by thousands of activists.
Gadkari, 53, who assumed the party post in December last, collapsed on the stage built on an open truck top near Ramlila Grounds here. BJP workers were seen holding him up to prevent him from collapsing on the floor. Leading the rally, the BJP leader was seen with his head covered in a wet towel and a water bottle in his hand.
New Delhi, April 21 The BJP top brass, led by Gadkari and party veteran LK Advani, Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley and former party chief Rajnath Singh, launched a scathing attack on the government for increase in prices of items like rice, sugar, pulses, petrol, diesel and fertilizer and said the latter has failed in fulfilling its election promise that it would bring down the prices in the first 100 days of its rule. Gadkari listed out “failures” of the Congress-led government and said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh might be an economist but he had no concrete policy to deal with inflation. Gadkari said he had asked 14 questions from the PM in the Parliament about the rising inflation but he was yet to receive a reply. “I challenge the UPA leaders to have a debate on inflation. Wrong economic policies coupled with corruption in governance has led to economic crisis,” he said. The BJP chief said the government claimed that price rise was a global phenomenon but in many other countries affected by recession the rate of inflation was close to one to two per cent now. “In India, it is still hovering around 11 per cent. Prices of food items have gone up by 200 to 300 per cent but the government was still finding excuses,” he said. He said the government was likely to hike prices of petrol and diesel after the Parliamentary session. Veteran party leader LK Advani said middle class, once a solid votebank of the party, was the biggest victim of the government’s economic policies, which have resulted in the poor getting poorer and the rich richer. BJP leader quoted Planning Commission report to say that over 41 crore people are now living the below poverty line. Party leaders said they have launched a signature campaign against the price rise and so far signatures of more than three-and-half crore people. Thousands of party workers later led a march from Jantar Mantar and leaders later courted arrest. The rally hit traffic movement on Tilak Marg, Asaf Ali Road, Netaji Subhash Marg, Ranjit Singh Marg, Tolstoy Marg, Sikandra Road, Barakhamba Road, Parliament Street and Ashoka Road. Also hit were Mathura Road and Ring Road, two of the Capital’s busiest roads.
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Party MPs walk out from LS
New Delhi, April 21 “This has happened due to the faulty policies of the government which has repeatedly failed to rein in prices. We are staging a walkout of the House and will join lakhs of people who have assembled in the Capital on the BJP’s call to protest the price rise,” Sushma said, leading all BJP MPs out of the House. They later joined the anti-inflation mammoth rally of the BJP at Ramlila Grounds.
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Digvijay to meet Sonia, explain his criticism of PC New Delhi, April 21 Digvijay, who wrote an article in the Economic Times last week, criticising Chidambaram’s insistence on treating the Maoist violence as merely a law and order issue, only recently returned to India and has now sought an appointment with Congress president Sonia Gandhi. He was away to the US when an attempt was made by the Opposition to pin the government on the mat for “differences” within the Congress over the Naxal policy. Though Digvijay denies trying to pick a bone with Chidambaram and has reportedly even said the article was in defence of the Home Minister, the piece received appreciative response from Chidambaram’s detractors. In fact, appearing just two days after Cabinet Secretary K M Chandrasekhar sent a note at the instance of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to all ministers, making it clear that only the Home Ministry would be the authority to speak on the Maoist insurgency, Digvijay Singh’s article questioning Chidambaram’s Naxal policy and claiming to be “a victim of his intellectual arrogance”, created quite a flutter within the party.
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INS Shivalik enters on April 29
New Delhi, April 21 It will now be powered with the same GE engine - LM 2500 - routed through the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) in an arrangement that allows HAL to assemble the engine here, sources said. Notably, the ship will have Russian weapons and Israeli sensors while about 60 per cent component will be Indian, which includes total design, stealth technology and first-ever use of Indian steel on a warship, the Navy today said. At 5,900 tonnes INS Shivalik is one of the bigger stealth frigates and takes India into the rarefied league of nations like the US, the UK, Russia, France, Sweden, Germany and Italy. The Navy operates three stealth frigates bought from Russia. Three more are being built in Russia and likely to be commissioned in by the next year. The stealth technology reduces ship’s the radar visibility. The ship will look much smaller than its original size on radar screens, said the Navy. To “hide” the 143-meter-long ship, the Navy has used software to study and carry out a 3D modeling pattern that allows to reduce the visibilty. The ship will be dual powered and will have two French diesel engines and two US built gas turbines. Besides INS Shivalik, the other two home-built stealth frigates - INS Satpura and INS Shayadari - will be commissioned in November 2010 and April 2011, respectively. Another seven have been planned and the Navy is expected to order them shortly. These will be improvements over INS Shivalik and will have modification to house the upcoming BrahMos cruise missile on board. These will form the mainstay of the Navy attack force. The Shivalik class ships will be fitted with state-of-the-art technology and will have a sophisticated system of radars and weaponry. Its armaments include Klub surface-to-surface missiles and Shtil and Barak air defence missiles, rocket launchers and indigenously designed sonar systems meant for detecting and attacking submarines.
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ULFA top leaders to decide on peace talks: Barua
Guwahati, April 21 The ULFA leader was brought for production before the TADA court from Guwahati central jail. He was arrested along with ULFA chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa from their Bangladesh hideout in December last year. He said there were no divisions within the ULFA over this issue and asserted that all cadres and leaders of the outfit still supported the core demand for ‘restoration of sovereignty of Assam’. “We want independence for the sake of the people,” Barua said. “However, final decision (on talks) can be taken only by a central committee meeting held in a free and fair atmosphere,” he added. Barua is one of the senior ULFA central committee leaders, who are now being lodged in Guwahati jail, including Rajkhowa, finance secretary Chitrabon Hazarika, foreign secretary Sashadhar Choudhury and cultural secretary Pranati Deka. Meanwhile, Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi today reiterated that the question of holding talks with the ULFA over sovereignty did not arise. He said so in response to a statement released recently by fugitive ULFA commander-in-chief Paresh
Barua.
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Punjab overexploiting water resources: Centre
New Delhi, April 21 Replying to a supplementary raised during question hour by Bathida MP Harsimrat Badal on a query related to depletion of water resources, Bansal said the government was aware of the suffering on the water count of the states of Punjab, Haryana and Delhi, which were the food baskets of India. He said early action would be taken on the canal revamp programme for Punjab and added the government, out of special concern for the state, had included Shahpur Kandi among the 14 national projects to be fully funded by the Centre. Earlier, Harsimrat sought urgent sanction of the Rs 3,500 crore canal revamping programme for Punjab, citing its overexploitation of water resources. Making a case for the food basket of India, she said the 150-year-old irrigation network of Punjab had collapsed and over 25 per cent irrigation water was being wasted to seepage in broken canals. The MP also mentioned how water levels in all dams were reducing. “Against the normal level of six to seven thousand cubic feet, the level of Pong Dam is 3,400 cubic meter,” she said. |
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PM to babus: Help govt fight challenges New Delhi, April 21 “The country was getting increasingly urbanised while higher levels of education, income and awareness have raised the aspirations and expectations of the people,” the Prime Minister said at the inauguration of Civil Services Day here. “We face new threats to the integrity of our country - both from within and from outside. Terrorism and Left-wing extremism seek to challenge the very foundations of our democratic and secular polity,” the PM said, adding: “Climate change and degradation of our environment threaten not only the quality of our lives but that of future generations as well. Equitable management of the country’s water resources presents a new challenge.”
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More trouble for Shoaib, Sania
Hyderabad, April 21 The petitioner contended that the divorce proceedings involving the Pakistani cricketer and his first wife Ayesha Siddiqui smacked of dishonesty and the manner in which the compromise was brokered leading to the divorce went against the established traditions. In his complainant, Moullim Mohsin Bin Hussain Al-Kasary named Shoaib,Sania, Ayesha, Sania’s father Imran Mirza, former Indian cricketer Mohammed Azharuddin, two city-based qazis, among others, for “playing with Muslim sentiments.” “It should be noted that Shoaib initially said he never married Ayesha but subsequently he divorced her. In fact, there is still no official divorce but the 14 accused declared that divorce proceedings were over. This has created confusion among Muslims and hurt their religious feelings,” Al-Kasary alleged. He also accused the qazis, appointed by the government, of misusing their official position in registering the divorce. The complainant alleged that Shoaib and others committed offence under Section 295 (A) (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion) of IPC.
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Dutt can shoot abroad till year-end, rules SC
A bench of Chief Justice KG Balakrishnan and Justices Deepak Verma and BS Chauhan granted Dutt’s plea for extending his stay abroad till December 31, 2010, and asked the CBI to release his passport for the purpose. He was, however, asked to desposit his passport back with the investigating agency on his return. The court hall burst into a laughter when in response to a query from the bench senior counsel Mukul Rohtagi submitted that one of the films starring Dutt was titled “Double Dhamal” which will be shot in Europe and South Africa. Besides, Europe and South Africa, Dutt intends to visit the US and Thailand for the shooting. The apex court had earlier in November last year granted the actor a similar relief for his shooting schedule abroad. Dutt, who was convicted and sentenced to six years imprisonment under the Arms Act for illegally possessing weapons in connection with 1993 Mumbai blasts case, was earlier granted bail after he filed an appeal against the verdict of the TADA court.
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Assets case to harass me, Maya tells SC
New Delhi, April 21 The CBI had conclusively recorded that “not even a single penny came into my hands out of the Rs 17 crore disbursed in the Taj Corridor case” and in view of this, the present DA case “should have been dropped immediately” by the investigating agency, she said in an affidavit filed in the apex
court. The DA case was being kept alive “in a most illegal and arbitrary manner simply to harass and defame the deponent who is the Chief Minister of the largest state of the country,” she said in the affidavit. She said she had also written to the CBI Director yesterday seeking a review of the DA case against her in view of two judgments of the Income Tax Commissioner (Appeals), New Delhi, earlier this month, giving her clean chit for the assessment years from 1998-99 to 2004-05.
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Judges’ appointment process to change, says Moily
New Delhi, April 21 Moily gave out these details to reporters after concluding a news conference convened to announce the holding of a national consultation on May 1-2 to finalise the second generation reforms in legal education.
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Sethusamudram
New Delhi, April 21 A special Bench headed by Chief Justice KG Balakrishnan, however, declined the pleas of Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy for “invalidating” the present project route and declaring “Ram Setu” as a national monument.
— TNS
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Kids made to walk barefoot on fire, glass pieces
Surat, April 21 “Primary school students aged between 10 and 14 years of Riverdale Academy here were paraded barefoot on fire bed of coal and glass pieces, to help them gain confidence,” a school employee said. “Parents of these children were present on the occasion and had not objected to this act,” he said. “During the event, which lasted for over 90 minutes, the children kept on crying profusely and also sustained injuries, but their parents did not say anything,” an eye witness said. “It was a merciless act on part of the school authorities, but none have raised their voice against it, as it was told to be a self-confidence building initiative for the students," he said. Director of Riverdale Academy Mukesh Patel did not respond to calls made on his mobile.
— PTI
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IPL blasts: K’taka police detains five
Hubli/Bangalore, April 21 The Bangalore City Crime Branch team is probing the low-intensity blasts on April 17, which left 17 injured, The police zeroed in on the five after detecting that one of the bombs left behind by the criminals had been wrapped in a local newspaper published from Hubli.
— Agencies
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I have inflation rates of 25 countries where it is less than 2 per cent while in India it is 11 per cent.... Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh have betrayed the trust reposed in them by the
people — Nitin Gadkari, BJP chief
New Delhi, April 21