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Sonia to decide Rane’s future
Hemkund Sahib yatra resumes
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Soon: Memorial to ‘shame’ society on growing sexual crimes
Gay sex won’t be decriminalised till SC decision
Govt in denial mode over monsoon
Cong loses its last bastion to BJP in Gujarat
row over leader of opposition
Restaurant run by Tihar convicts wins praise for hygiene
Pak violated ceasefire 19 times since May 26: Jaitley
Govt may reduce juvenile age
bathinda refinery pollution
No bail to Roy, but Sahara can sell properties
AAP leader held on rape charge
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Sonia to decide Rane’s future
Mumbai, July 22 Rane today refused to withdraw his resignation at a meeting he had with Chavan and Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee president Manikrao Thakre. While it is not clear what transpired in the closed-door meeting between the three, Rane had on Monday blamed Chavan for sitting on files pertaining to several important projects. Some of these projects are related to the construction industry. The party is also believed to have offered to make Rane the head of the campaign committee ahead of the state Assembly polls later this year. Rane had said on Monday that he joined the Congress nine years ago after being promised the post of Chief Minister. However, others were given the top job in this period, while he was overlooked, Rane said. For the record, Chavan, Rane and Thakre said they will refer to Sonia Gandhi on the matter. “We decided that the CM will take an appointment with Sonia Gandhi and the three of us will meet her to discuss the issue,” Rane said. Rane further confirmed that efforts were made to get him to withdraw his resignation. “Chavan wanted me to withdraw my resignation and work in the government and the party. But I told him that the issues raised by me in my resignation letter need to be addressed first,” he said. Rane denied that he was offered the post of the state Congress president. Chavan went on to say that the issue would be taken up with the Congress party’s central leadership. “We discussed at length administrative issues as well as election campaign strategy. I will brief the high command about my discussions with Rane. I will try to resolve state-level issues raised by him,” the CM said.
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Hemkund Sahib yatra resumes
Dehradun, July 22 "The yatra to the three holy shrines of Badrinath, Gangotri and Yamunotri and the Hemkund Sahib pilgrimage has resumed," said Bhaskaranand Joshi, Secretary, Department of Disaster Management. According to the department, 262 pilgrims visited the Gangotri shrine, 61 Yamunotri shrine and 108 paid obeisance at Hemkund Sahib.
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Soon: Memorial to ‘shame’ society on growing sexual crimes
Lucknow, July 22 Nutan Thakur, an office-bearer of NGO People’s Forum, said the forum has an 8,000 sq ft piece of land in Khadgapur in the Gomtinagar extension for the memorial, named after the December 16, 2012, Delhi gang-rape victim. The memorial would not only be for highlighting many such cases of sexual assault, crimes and brutality perpetrated against women but also to “shame” the assailants and society at large that “such heinous crimes continue under their watch”. The memorial would also have a counselling centre for women facing “similar situations” and would work to alert them before it’s too late. “The idea is to salute the women’s spirit which in many avatars in Hindu mythology is an incarnation of Shakti,” Nutan Thakur’s husband Amitabh Thakur, a senior IPS officer, who is also contributing to the memorial that is likely to be completed by the first week of January 2015, told IANS. “We, as responsible citizens, have taken it upon ourselves to ensure that such crimes are not only adequately highlighted but also not brushed under carpet by a society which does not want to live with shame and pain beyond a certain timeline,” he mused while explaining how, when such incidents take place, there is a wave of public sentiment that soon wanes. The idea behind the memorial - which will have a statue of a woman in abstract and symbolic along with a demon-like man out to assault her sexually - was to ensure that the pain lingers on until it shakes the people into a permanent action mode, Amitabh Thakur said. Thus, the memorial would also have a small museum where memories of these crimes would be preserved in the form of pictures of victims, the stories of their families, their dreams, paper cuttings of news reports and details of the police action or inaction with a detailed follow up, he added. Asked if this would be akin to extending the pain of such tragedies, he said this was the whole idea behind the memorial! “Does brushing aside the incidents lessen the pain and increase the safety of women,” he asked. The forum has begun talks with some local architects and are in the process of fund collection for the memorial, they say. — IANS
K’taka CM courts fresh controversy
Bangalore: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday courted a fresh controversy over the alleged rape of a six-year old girl in a city public school, as he asked the media if it did not have any other issue to discuss. "Except that, don't you have any other issue? Is this the only news you have?" Siddaramaiah snapped back at reporters who sought to know the latest on the case that has evoked public outrage and drawn criticism of his government for not acting swiftly. PTI
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Gay sex won’t be decriminalised till SC decision
New Delhi, July 22 “The matter is sub-judiced before the Supreme Court. A decision regarding Section 377 of the IPC can be taken only after pronouncement of judgment by the Supreme Court,” Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju told Lok Sabha in a written reply. He was replying to a question on whether the government proposed to amend or repeal Section 377 of the IPC. The Supreme Court on December 11, 2013, had set aside a Delhi High Court judgment, decriminalising gay sex and threw the ball into Parliament’s court for amending law. The judgment of the apex court revives the penal provision making gay sex an offence punishable with life imprisonment. The SC is at present hearing a petition on the matter. — PTI
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Govt in denial mode over monsoon
New Delhi, July 21 Science and Technology Minister Jitendra Singh yesterday talked of reduction in monsoon deficiency from 43% in the week beginning July 13 to 32 per cent (27 per cent if today’s figures are taken into account). He said the forecast for next two weeks was good, particularly in Central India and coastal regions of South India, therefore, “there is no reason to be unnecessarily alarmist on the issue.” What the government is not telling is that the improvement of 11% in the monsoon is in a few parts of the country, primarily South Peninsula, north-eastern parts and the hills of the northwest — primarily Uttarakhand. Critical areas in plains are unlikely to witness any major improvement. As per IMD’s today’s forecast, there will be a considerable decrease in the rainfall over east and central India and plains of northwest after July 25. In the northwest, the rain shortfall is down to a respectable 36 per cent from above 50 it was averaging a few days ago. But the improvement has been due to the increased rainfall, largely in Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh. The two hill states are 11 per cent and 32 per cent, respectively, below the normal. The rest of the region — Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir — continue to be parched. Punjab and Haryana are reeling under a deficit of 59 per cent and 49 per cent, respectively, while Jammu and Kashmir and western UP 44 per cent and 43 per cent, respectively.Likewise in the central parts, the Gujarat region faces a deficit of 62 per cent followed by Saurashtra and Kutch at 59 per cent and Madya Maharshtra and Marathwada at 48 per cent and 60 per cent, respectively. Odisha is doing well with one per cent surplus along with Chhattisgarh with six per cent deficit. Seasonal rains have been playing truant in plains of northwest and central India in the sowing month since the beginning of the June-September season. The poor monsoon has raised concerns of a first drought in five years. Experts fear even if the monsoon revives, northwest and central parts are likely to end with a massive deficit by the time the season ends.
Drought threat looms
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Cong loses its last bastion to BJP in Gujarat
Ahmedabad, July 22 The BJP claimed 41 seats in the 60-member Junagadh Municipal Corporation with the Congress securing only 16 seats, Bahujan Samaj Party two and an Independent one. The BJP also won nine of the 10 byelections to various municipalities held along with the Junagadh MC elections on Sunday. With the defeat in Junagadh, the Congress is now out of all levels of power in Gujarat. It had already been ousted from seven other MCs, most of the municipalities, all district panchayats and a large majority of the taluka panchayats. The Congress has not been able to come anywhere near majority in the state Assembly since 1995. While Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar, Surat, Vadodara, Rajkot, Bhavnagar and Jamnagar Municipal Corporations were under the control of the BJP, the party had lost the elections to Junagadh municipality in 2009 despite all out efforts by then Chief Minister Narendra Modi. Immediately after the Junagadh MC results were announced, both the councillors elected on the BSP ticket joined the BJP, increasing its strength to 43.
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Govt slams Cong for targeting Speaker
New Delhi, July 22 Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Prakash Javadekar said “casting aspersions” on the Speaker was “outrageous, condemnable and unacceptable”, adding: “If people have not given them mandate to rule, what can we do? How can we help?” Congress leader Amarinder Singh alleged that no decision by the Speaker on the issue had raised fears that she could be “influenced” by the government. Congress leader Kamal Nath also targeted Mahajan, saying: "Some parties are feeling that many of the issues which they want to raise are not being given importance which they need to be given." Javadekar said: "Congress leaders' reactions are outrageous and actually an aspersion on the Speaker.... The Speaker is of the House. And whoever is in the chair, acts in a neutral way. When asked about the Congress' allegation, the Speaker said she could not comment on such issues. Amarinder Singh had charged the Narendra Modi government with being "petty" and "unfair" to the Congress in not granting the official Leader of Opposition's post.— PTI
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Restaurant run by Tihar convicts wins praise for hygiene
New Delhi, July 22 Nothing unusual, except that the employee, like most of his colleagues, is a convicted murderer serving time in South Asia’s largest prison complex. “Tihar Food Court” in west Delhi, a rehabilitation effort kicked off by the Tihar prison and opened in the first week of July on an “experimental basis”, is awaiting formal clearances. It is located half-a-km away from prisoners’ dormitories. With a spacious interior lined with wooden tables and walls adorned with paintings done by prisoners, the 50-seat restaurant has been praised for the polite behaviour of its employees, who were trained by a prestigious nearby hotel management school. “The food is average,” said Gupta, adding: “But the hygiene factor is really good, very clean. And it’s a good thing they are employing prisoners.” Restaurant manager Mohammad Asim said on an average 50 customers visited the restaurant every day, with each worker being paid Rs 74 for the day’s work. The vegetarian menu features mostly north-Indian food such as samosas, deep-fried pastry triangles stuffed with spiced potato and kidney beans with rice. The deluxe thali is the costliest at Rs 150, while samosas are among the cheapest at Rs 10. “Those who come here once revisit us,” said Asim, who has spent 14-and-half years in jail. To be eligible to leave prison and work in the restaurant, inmates must have kept up an “unblemished record” through at least 12 years of imprisonment, besides a high school education. Prisoners eligible to be released within two years are picked for the job, to minimise their temptation to escape. They travel to work by cycle or on foot, as authorities “trust them enough” not to need a security escort. Comments in the visitors’ book are mostly encouraging. “The food was simply delicious,” wrote one Bhoomika Dabas. “The service provided was also commendable... 10/10 for cleanliness and humble service. Suggestion: include more variety to cuisine.” Revenue from the non-profit restaurant, flagged under the TJ’s brand of products made by prisoners, is earmarked for prisoner welfare and vocational training, said Sunil Gupta, a spokesman for the Tihar jail. Once notorious for corruption, drugs and prisoner abuse, the Tihar jail complex has ushered in several reforms with vocational training and painting featured among the rehabilitation programmes offered to its 13,552 inmates. “The restaurant was set up to employ the inmates and project the positive aspects of prison work to the public,” Gupta said. A similar experiment has run for more than two years in Kerala, where prison inmates dish up food sold at a counter near the jail or distributed by mobile vans. — Reuters
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Pak violated ceasefire 19 times since May 26: Jaitley
New Delhi, July 22 Pakistan had violated the 2003 agreement on ceasefire in J&K a total of 19 times since the BJP-led NDA government took over and the Indian side retaliated appropriately in each case, he said. A soldier was killed in Akhnoor sector near the Line of Control (LoC) in firing from the Pakistan side today. “Our head has not bowed... This government will not let our heads bow,” said Jaitley in response to Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad’s observation on how Narendra Modi, before becoming the Prime Minister, used to accuse the then UPA dispensation of being “weak”. “Then why the government has bowed to recurring ceasefire violations by Pakistan,” Azad wondered. In response, the minister said this year till July 16, there had been 54 ceasefire violations along the LoC and the International Border in Jammu and Kashmir. “After Modi took oath on May 26, there have been 19 ceasefire violations along the LoC and the International Border and in all such cases, there was retaliation by the Indian side,” Jaitley said. “All ceasefire violations are taken up with the authorities concerned of Pakistan at an appropriate level through the established mechanism of hotlines, flag meetings etc,” he said.
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Govt may reduce juvenile age
New Delhi, July 22 "As far as the issue of juvenile's age is concerned, it is the responsibility of the Women and Child Welfare Ministry. But whatever suggestion was given by the member, we will certainly consider it and convey to the Ministry concerned to consider it," Home Minister Rajnath Singh said replying to a supplementary query during Question Hour. BJP member Meenakshi Lekhi had asked whether the government had any plan to have an amendment in the legislation to the Juvenile Justice Act to reduce the age of the juveniles who are involved in conflict zones. Debates have been going on whether to reduce the age of juvenile from 18. — PTI
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Haryana, Punjab receive notices
New Delhi, July 22 The notices have been issued to the chief secretaries of both the states and they have been directed to respond within four weeks. The commission issued the notices after taking suo motu cognisance of reports alleging that heavy smoke from Guru Gobind Singh Refinery, Bathinda in Punjab, has caused health problems for residents in villages in Dabwali segment of Sirsa district in Haryana. The two governments have failed to take action against the refinery, owned by Hindustan Mittal Energy Limited. The chairman-cum-managing director of the firm has also been issued the notice. — TNS
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No bail to Roy, but Sahara can sell properties
New Delhi, July 22 A Bench headed by Justice TS Thakur said it was not in a position to dilute the bail conditions involving payment of Rs 5,000 crore in cash and an equal amount in the form of bank guarantee. It would, however, facilitate the sale or mortgaging of properties, including three hotels in London and New York. Roy could hold talks with prospective buyers abroad through video conferencing which could be held from a guest house or a similar place for which he would be taken there by the jail authorities, the SC said. Roy's senior counsel Rajeev Dhavan expressed disappointment with the SC verdict.
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AAP leader held on rape charge
Mumbai, July 22 The police said Dharmendra Umashankar Singh, leader of AAP's unit in the township of Mira-Bhayandar outside Mumbai, was arrested on a complaint lodged by a party colleague. The victim told the police that Singh, 32, had been sexually assaulting her for the past four months but she lacked courage to report the crime to the authorities. — TNS
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New Delhi, July 21
New Delhi, July 22
