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Post-Nitish exit, BJP set to invoke ‘Hindutva’ agenda
Antony begins four-day China visit on July 4
Karnataka has ‘high hopes’ from Kharge
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Ship drifts close to shore, may run aground
Mamata visits rape victim’s home, faces protest
Pillai: BrahMos can’t be intercepted in next 20 yrs
Relief for Assam HIV-infected blood recipients
22 AP MLAs suspended
AP Govt approves Girl Child Promotion Bill
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Post-Nitish exit, BJP set to invoke ‘Hindutva’ agenda
New Delhi, June 17 The saffron party’s new emerging face, Narendra Modi, is expected to be in Ayodhya on June 20 for a function by Mahant Nrityagopal Das, an important figure in the Ayodhya movement. After spending the next two days in UP, a state that figures prominently in his 2014 General Election strategy, Modi’s next stop will be Jammu on June 23 for a “jail bharo andolan” being organised in protest against all that is wrong with the Congress-led UPA - “price rise, corruption, inflation etc”. Along with the development plank the BJP is also planning to get back to its “Hindutva” roots to woo the majority community voters and for that Modi will also be embarking upon public rallies across the country. Significantly, completely ready for a life without Nitish Kumar, throughout the four-day JD(U) crisis even though BJP leaders made all the right noises to prove how much they wanted their Bihar ally to stay on, they offered no solace to the Bihar CM to ensure that it happens. Party spokespersons, on instructions of party president Rajnath Singh, remained steadfast on the line that 10.5 crore people of Bihar had given the mandate for the JD(U)-BJP alliance which the Bihar CM should respect and follow. The party, which started planning to go without JD(U) even while the rumblings in the NDA backyard had not yet come out so much in open, is now going to encash upon this very point as it prepares to take off solo on all the 40 seats in Bihar. The Hindi heartland of Utter Pradesh and Bihar, which sends around 120 MPs to the Lok Sabha, are important in the strategy drawn by Modi for 2014. Modi’s first test will be in the five state Assembly elections due later this year, which, sources say, are crucial for him. If he fails to make an impact, it will make Modi’s detractors active again forcing the party to do a re-think on him.
Nitish accuses BJP of ‘cornering’ elders
Patna: Wading into BJP politics, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today accused his estranged ally of “betraying” and “cornering” elders in the party in an oblique reference to the sidelining of LK Advani over the Narendra Modi issue. “Those who have betrayed and cornered their own elders have no right to point fingers at others. Those who cannot respect their elders and sideline them within the party have no right to blame us,” Kumar told reporters emerging from his “Janata ke darbar me Mukhya Mantri” programme at his residence here. — PTI
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Antony begins four-day China visit on July 4
New Delhi, June 17 This will be first visit by an Indian Defence Minister to China since 2006, when Pranab Mukerjee had visited the northern neighbour. Antony’s visit to China comes in the backdrop of the meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his counterpart Li Keqiang on May 20 in India. The two PMs had spoken about depending cooperation including sorting out the 167-year-old dispute of demarcating the boundary between the two countries. Since Li Keqiang visited India, there have been significant changes in the past four weeks. Manmohan Singh visited Japan and the two countries announced better cooperation in defence, mining of rare earths and strategic issues including the sale of a specialised sea-plane by Japan to India. Antony also visited Australia and for the first time the two countries announced joint military exercises and deepening cooperation in
defence.
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Karnataka has ‘high hopes’ from Kharge
Bangalore, June 17 There are high expectations in his home state Karnataka where feelings are strong that the state has faced a neglect from the Railway Ministry. “The previous MoS, Railways, Muniyappa was also from Karnataka and we were expecting him to come to the aid of the state. But somehow that did not happen. But now with Kharge at the helm, we hope that he will give a firm push to the railway projects in the state. He is a senior politician and we expect him to be really effective as a railway minister”, Sampath Kumar, secretary general of Bangalore Chamber of Industry and Commerce, said. While there have been five railway ministers from Karnataka before Kharge, only C K Jaffer Sharief had a reasonable tenure of over four years. Three ministers had tenures of less than one year each, while K Hanumanthaya was at the helm for 16 months in the early seventies. Kharge also will have a short tenure since Lok Sabha elections are just about a year away. Shiva Shanmugam, president of the Federation of Karnataka Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said, “Let Kharge show the intent (of showing interest in the execution of the pending projects in Karnataka). Everyone will acknowledge it”. Shanmugam pointed out that the Karnataka Government was having a cost-sharing agreement with the Ministry of Railways. It is willing to provide land free of cost and share the project costs on a 50:50 basis with the Ministry. While the Gadag-Wadi railway line was announced in the 2012-13 rail budget, the Srinivaspura-Madanapalli and the Chikaballapur-Puttaparthy lines were announced by the then Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal while presenting the railway budget earlier this year. In addition to that, the Gadag- Haveri, K R Nagar-Kushalnagar, Kadri- Puttaparthy and Dharwad- Belgaum lines are awaiting clearance by the Planning Commission. In respect of the frozen section of Chikmagalur- Sakleshpur railway line, the state government has requested the Railway Board for early confirmation.
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Ship drifts close to shore, may run aground
Mumbai, June 17 Pratibha Tapi, with five crew members on board, has not been allowed to berth at Mumbai port as its owners are on the verge of bankruptcy with several ships stranded outside ports around the world. On Sunday morning the vessel dragged anchor and came precariously close to the shore off Madh island following heavy rains and strong winds, the police said. “Local people alerted the police and with the help of the Coast Guard we have anchored the ship securely,” a police officer at the Malvani police station said. Mumbai Municipal Corporation warned of an oil spill and severe pollution if the ship ran aground off Mumbai. The ship is visible from the shores of Madh island since Sunday morning. Officials said today the owners of the vessel were exploring legal options to get the vessel towed away from the shores. The bank accounts of the cash-strapped Pratibha Shipping Company have been frozen. Its crew members on board various ships haven’t been paid and most are surviving on meagre supplies. The Mumbai civic body also warned that the ship poses a danger to the Bandra Worli sea link if it begins drifting again. According to officials here, the Pratibha Tapi is an oil tanker with a capacity of 23,000 tonnes. The owners of the company are in the process of selling Pratibha Tapi to a Dubai-based buyer.
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Mamata visits rape victim’s home, faces protest
Kolkata, June 17 She was gheraoed by slogan-raising womenfolk, who wanted to know when they would feel free while moving around in their localities and their girls would feel safe while going to their schools and colleges. They were critical of the CM for maintaining silence over the incident for around 10 days and visiting the family so late. Of late, there had been several rape incidents in the Barasat area in which TMC supporters had been allegedly involved. Chaos and disorder erupted while the CM was inside the house of the victim’s family. When she came out after spending a few minutes with the family, she engaged in an angry exchange of words with local women. The CM accused the CPM of masterminding the protests with the intent of promoting their political interests. She said the people arrested in the case so far belonged to the CPM. She told mediapersons that her government was preparing a strong Act providing for rigorous punishment to rapists, including the capital punishment. The CM then abruptly got into her car and left for Kolkata. Earlier, the victim’s family was offered financial assistance and her brother was offered a government job. But the family rejected both the offers. Instead, the parents demanded the hanging of the culprits. The girl (13), while returning home after completing the final school examination on July 7, was picked up by some people (allegedly Trinamool supporters) in broad daylight and dragged into a godown. She was then gangraped. Later, she was brutally killed by the rapists.
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Pillai: BrahMos can’t be intercepted in next 20 yrs
New Delhi, June 17 “The equivalent of BrahMos is yet to be built. And, in the next 20 years, it cannot be intercepted by an enemy,” says A Sivathanu Pillai, CEO and MD of BrahMos Aerospace, while sharing the vision for the future trajectory of growth for the iconic missile technology developed jointly by India and Russia. Pillai, also the Chief Controller (R&D) of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and hailed largely as the “father of BrahMos”, mentions “missile technology” as one of the 10 key and “unique leap-frog technologies” for building a securer and greater future of India, “driven by youth power” in a new book which he has co-authored with the former President APJ
Kalam. Titled “Thoughts for Change: We can Do It”, by two renowned scientific minds aims to be a clarion call to the youth of India to “reclaim its ancient scientific wisdom” even as it exhorts them to embrace and work towards building a future where “multiple technologies will intersect and interoperate”. “We take pride in the fact that BrahMos, world’s only supersonic cruise missile, a symbol of Indo-Russian cooperation, where India provided the guidance, avionics, software and airframe components, etc, has been successfully delivered to both the Indian Navy and the Indian Army and the aerial version for the Indian Air Force too shall be ready in few years time,” Pillai told PTI in an interview. BrahMos, developed jointly in a strategic partnership between the DRDO and Russian NPO Mashinostroyeniya, is a stealth cruise missile with a range of 290 km and travels at a speed of Mach 2.8 to 3.
The name BrahMos is a portmanteau formed from the names of two rivers, the Brahmaputra of India and the Moskva of Russia. Among other technologies that the authors believe will lay the roadmap for the future of war theatres and health care, etc, in India is the convergence of information, biotechnology and nanotechnology (nano-info-bio). Other technologies in the list include robotics, artificial intelligence and cognitive sciences; sensor technology; materials technology; high energetics; fusion technology; space technology; hypersonics and green technology. — PTI
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Relief for Assam HIV-infected blood recipients
Guwahati, June 17 Gogoi said the state government would also bear the entire medical expenses for the treatment of these victims. He has directed Health & Family Welfare Minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma and Principal Secretary, Health & Family Welfare, VS Bhaskar to rush to Mangaldoi Civil Hospital to take stock of the latest situation there following the reported infusion of blood from a HIV infected donor through the hospital blood bank. Meanwhile, life was paralysed in the entire Darrang district in view of a 12-hour district-wide bandh called by Asomiya Yuva Mancha and BJP’s Darrang district unit in protest against the glaring lapse on the part of the hospital authority, demanding compensation to the victims. The Assam Government has instituted a one-man commission headed by Additional Chief Secretary PP Varma to probe the incident and submit a report within one month. Gogoi has also asked the state Advocate General to explore the legal option for initiating deterrent action against those found guilty of the serious lapses. Already, three employees of the hospital, including in charge of the blood bank, have been suspended on the charges of negligence of duty. They are blood bank in charge Jiten Saharia and laboratory technicians Ranjit Chandra Deka and Padmadhar Barua. Meanwhile, four victims of the glaring lapse on the part of the hospital blood bank authority staged a sit-in in front of the hospital with their face covered demanding adequate compensation, rehabilitation and exemplary punishment to those responsible for their plight. Probe ordered
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22 AP MLAs suspended
Hyderabad: Twenty-two legislators belonging to the TRS and the BJP along with two Independent MLAs associated with them were suspended on Monday from the Andhra Pradesh Assembly for two days for constantly disrupting proceedings of the House on Telangana statehood issue.
Of the total suspended members, 17 belonged to Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS). —
PTI
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Nitish Kumar out of its way, the BJP appears to be returning to the basics by reviving its original agenda like the abolition of Article 370 of the Constitution and the Ram Temple. Earlier, the BJP was forced to put such issues on the back-burner to placate its former NDA ally-the
JD(U).
Successive railway ministers of India — ABA Ghani Khan Choudhury, Lalu Yadav and Mamata Banerjee, to name a few — have been generous to their respective home states.
Kolkata, June 17
