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With selfies, free interaction, Modi opens up to media
PC calls for urgent Congress overhaul
Cong slams BJP, RSS over write-up on Nehru
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Govt participation in higher education on decline
Netaji deputy, Nehru aide was Soviet spy: British files
Implement bio-weapons convention: India to UN
Tech maps to help create data bank of bioresources in Himalayas
J-K parties, admn all prepped for Assembly
elections
UP Govt sacks 82 chairmen, advisers of state min rank
Gadkari meets RSS chief, fuels speculation
Gadkari courts controversy by riding scooter without helmet
Crib death toll reaches 18
UNESCO heritage site faces threat from Bodo militants
Telangana, Andhra war of words hots up
Bangalore rape: Office assistant arrested
Centre wants states to deal strictly with racial incidents
AIR clarifies on ‘impose Hindi’ charge
Tharoor plunges into sanitation drive, invokes Gandhi to silence critics
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With selfies, free interaction, Modi opens up to media
New Delhi, October 25 Often accused of being unapproachable and distant towards the media with whom he shared a love-hate relationship during his tenure as the Gujarat Chief Minister, the PM today interacted freely and even posed for selfies and photographs with journalists milling around him. None of that unease (which he is believed to have shared with the media) could be seen in his first outreach to journalists after becoming the PM. Modi was in his element as he interacted with the invitees- journalists, and senior editors from reputed newspapers and channels. Though the interaction is believed to have been organised to dispel the notion that he liked communicating through Twitter and Facebook at his terms and conditions, the PM steered clear of answering any questions. He said he was looking for ways to further deepen and expand the old relationship (with the media). “Some ways will be found. It is important to interact with media directly rather than the reportage and articles. By interacting directly, one gets to know things which mediapersons cannot report. Not only does one get information but also vision, which is valuable,” he said. He lauded the media for their role in spreading awareness about “Clean India” campaign. The PM said he was happy to see several articles, TV features and social media write-ups on the subject, giving the mission a wide publicity. “Media has converted its pen into broom... This is a service to the nation,” he said. “More important than healthcare is preventive healthcare and cleanliness plays a crucial role in this,” he said. Recalling his bond with the media, he said, “I used to arrange chairs here
(BJP office) waiting for you (media). Those were different days when we used to interact freely. I had a beautiful relationship with you and it helped me in Gujarat.” He happily obliged some young journalists by posing for selfies with them. For one photographer, it turned out to be a memorable moment when Modi took his camera to click his (photographer’s) photo. This was Modi’s first formal outreach to the media after he became the PM. A special canopy in saffron and green was erected for the interaction at 9, Ashoka Road- the building adjacent to the BJP’s national headquarter where Modi spent nearly six years during his tenure as the national secretary and the general secretary of the party. The function was attended by party president Amit Shah, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash
Javadekar, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Finance and Defence Minister Arun
Jaitley, and party leader JP Nadda.
What he said
* It is important to interact with media directly rather than the reportage and articles. By interacting directly, one gets to know things which journalists cannot
report. * I was happy to see several articles, TV features and social media write-ups on the Clean India campaign, giving the mission a wide publicity. Media has converted its pen into broom... This is a service to the
nation. * I used to arrange chairs here
(BJP office) waiting for you (media). Those were different days when we used to interact freely. I had a beautiful relationship with you and it helped me in
Gujarat.
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PC calls for urgent Congress overhaul
New Delhi, October 25 Speaking to a TV channel, Chidambaram also said the central leadership of the party needed to talk and communicate more with the people by way of rallies. He said the BJP had certainly scored very heavily when it came to communication of government policies and programmes. Chidambaram, who did not contest the last Lok Sabha polls and whose son lost the election, said Sonia Gandhi was the undisputed leader of the Congress while party vice-president Rahul Gandhi had more acceptability among the younger generation of the Congress. He said Sonia was a natural leader for the people of “his (Chidambaram’s) generation”. “But that does not mean other leaders cannot emerge,” the former FM said at a time when the Congress is facing humiliating electoral losses one after the other with questions about leadership, especially Rahul’s, being raised. Chidambaram, while reacting to the need for Congress to put its act together, admitted that while worker morale could be lifted, the issue needed to be approached with greater urgency by Sonia Gandhi. Many Congress leaders have been privately speaking about the need for comprehensive restructuring of the party after its worst Lok Sabha defeat.
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Cong slams BJP, RSS over write-up on Nehru
New Delhi, October 25 Taking strong objection to the piece implying that Godse should have killed Nehru, Congress general secretary (communications) Ajay Makan called the article “barbaric and illegal” and asked the Prime Minister and the BJP to clarify their stance on the same. He said silence on their part would point towards complicity. The Congress said it’s worrying that such “horrifying” views of a member of the ruling party were shamelessly carried in the RSS mouthpiece. “The BJP, irrespective of its affiliation with the RSS, should exercise its constitutional responsibility against those who spread venom to disturb the peaceful socio-political atmosphere in the country,” Maken said.
RSS distances itself from controversial article
The RSS on Saturday dissociated itself from a controversial article published in its Malayalam mouthpiece that Nathuram Godse should have targeted Jawaharlal Nehru instead of Mahatma Gandhi as he was responsible for Partition, a view that came under attack from political parties. “The RSS strongly condemns the controversial article published in ‘Kesari’ Malayalam journal in Kerala on October 17, 2014. The views published therein are exclusively that of the writer and the RSS has nothing to do with it,” RSS’s national prachar pramukh Manmohan Vaidya said in a statement. The RSS statement in the wake of a newspaper report on the on the article written by Gopalakrishnan, a BJP candidate in the recent Lok Sabha elections in Kerala, in the latest issue of “Kesari” in which he had also said Nehru never had any genuine attachment with the Father of the Nation. Vaidya said the RSS, as a movement, has always condemned any kind of violence in thought or action and hence does not subscribe to the views expressed by
Gopalakrishnan.
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Govt participation in higher education on decline
New Delhi, October 25 More and more private enterprises are entering the higher education sector with public institutions taking a back seat in terms of numbers. The survey, a critical input on the sector for proposed discussions on the new National Policy on Education (NPE), reveals that 30% of the existing 633 universities in India are privately managed and 73% (seven in 10) of the existing 24,120 colleges are in private hands. Within the private institutions, 58% are private unaided colleges (which charge their own fee, often exorbitant) and only 15% are private-aided institutions which receive some central grant under the UGC and are therefore under some kind of regulation. The rise of private unaided institutions poses a challenge for the system to create robust accreditation mechanisms to see that basic minimum standards in terms of teaching and infrastructure are maintained. A ministry official points out, “Private unaided institutions are mushrooming especially in technical streams. Although accreditation of the existing institutions has been made mandatory through a UGC notification last year, the progress is slow. We need to see that our quality check mechanisms grow in proportion to private institutions which are essential to boost our gross enrollment ratio considering the government has financial limitations.” Reports published by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), charged with the responsibility of accrediting higher educational institutions, show that most colleges are facing acute shortage of faculty and infrastructure; they lack innovation, offer outdated curricula, over emphasise theory and lack quality monitoring. At present, less than 20% of all Indian colleges and universities are accredited. The fresh data on privatisation of education has brought urgency to the issue of quality assessment. At present out of 633 universities in India, 201 are privately managed; there are 42 central universities, 13 state open universities, 61 institutes of national importance such as the IITs and IIMs; 290 state public universities, five institutes set up under state legislature Acts; 38 deemed universities among others. The highest concentration of private institutions is in Andhra Pradesh where over 80% of all colleges are private unaided. The issue raises questions around whether the government wants to revisit its old policy of allowing colleges to be set up only as not for profit trusts and societies. The 12th Plan document on education calls for a debate on the need to allow for- profit educational institutions with safeguards. The Planning Commission, while stressing the need for quality education, had highlighted private participation in both school and college education. The logic behind the argument to allow corporate entities to enter education through a lawful route is – institutions need financial resources to attract faculty, create world class infrastructure and pay soaring land prices. With a new survey presenting statistics on privatisation trends, the issue is likely to be debate in the forums discussing the new NPE. The NPE of 1986 saw education as a public good and barred for profit institutions in the sector. Researchers on education however conclude, “In India, we have moved from half-baked socialism to half-baked capitalism so far as education goes. It’s high time we confronted hard realities.”
Need for quality checks
* The unprecedented privatisation of college education has stressed the need for quality assessment and creation of robust accreditation mechanisms *
The 12th Plan document on education calls for a debate on the need to allow for- profit educational institutions with safeguards *
At present, less than 20% of all Indian colleges and universities are accredited.
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Netaji deputy, Nehru aide was Soviet spy: British files
London, October 25 According to documents declassified under the 30-year-rule at the National Archives here, Nambiar went to Berlin in 1924 as a journalist and worked with the Indian communist group, visiting Moscow as a Soviet "guest" in 1929. "On the outbreak of the Second World War Nambiar was expelled from Germany but later allowed to return as Subhash Chandra Bose's deputy in Berlin. Nambiar became the German-financed leader of the Free India Movement in Europe when Bose moved to the Far East to join the Japanese. "He was also concerned with the Indian Legion, composed of Indian prisoners of war, which in 1944 was absorbed by the SS," an archive release said in a statement. Arathil Candeth Narayan Nambiar was arrested in Austria in June 1945 and interrogated as a Nazi collaborator. After the war, he worked as counsellor at the Indian Legation in Berne, as Indian Ambassador to Scandinavia and then to West Germany and finally as European correspondent of the 'Hindustan Times'. He claimed this last post was a cover for industrial intelligence collection, the documents claimed. In 1959, he was reported by a defector source to have been an agent for the Soviet GRU from the 1920s. The British documents include names and details of Netaji-led Azad Hind activities in Germany and elsewhere in Europe. The declassified files also include copies of letters from Nambiar to Bose recovered from the German submarine U-boat 234 after it surrendered during the Second World War. A note in the files by VW Smith implies Nambiar's close association with Nehru, saying: "one may hazard the conjecture that the 'very prominent person' referred to be Nambiar is Pandit Nehru, who undoubtedly knows the full facts". It goes on to say that his appointment as an Indian diplomat made him "indebted to his old friend Pandit Nehru". The documents released on Friday include the latest batch of files on Britain's MI5 activities as well as seven files on British Marxist historian Eric Hobsbawm and his activities as a member of the Communist Party and the wartime stories of British fascist sympathisers and 'Fifth Columnists' exposed by an MI5 agent posing as a representative of the Gestapo. — PTI
The revelation
* ACN Nambiar went to Berlin in 1924 as a journalist and worked with the Indian communist group, visiting Moscow as a Soviet "guest" in 1929 *
On the outbreak of the Second World War, Nambiar was expelled from Germany but later allowed to return as Subhash Chandra Bose’s deputy in Berlin. *
In 1959, he was reported by a defector source to have been an agent for the Soviet GRU from the 1920s
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Implement bio-weapons convention: India to UN
United Nations, October 25 “The use of chemical weapons anywhere and by anyone must be condemned and the international norm against the use of chemical weapons must not be breached,” Ambassador DB Venkatesh Varma, Permanent Representative of India to the UN Conference on Disarmament, said during a UN General Assembly debate on ‘Other Weapons of Mass Destruction’ here yesterday. He said India remains committed to improving the effectiveness of the Biological Weapons Convention and strengthening its implementation and universalisation. “We believe this is necessary in view of the new challenges to international peace and security emanating from proliferation trends, including the threat posed by terrorists or other non-state actors seeking access to biological agents or toxins for terrorist purposes,” Varma added. — PTI
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Tech maps to help create data bank of bioresources in Himalayas
Chandigarh, October 25 Unlike conventional maps, these contain the geographical coordinates of the locations of the occurrences of the species that have been recorded using GPS. Using geospatial tools and techniques, the maps catalogue the distribution pattern and availability of bioresources in the western Himalayas for environmental, industrial and societal purposes, sources said. State-of-art remote sensing and geographic information system facilities for surveying, mapping and inventory of bioresources were set up at the Palampur-based institute that is part of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research. The maps make up a spectral library of commonly occurring Himalayan plant species which can call up information related to plant species such as spectral details, spectral graphs, general information of species, observation details, plant photographs, spectral narrowband indices and biochemical parameters. A seamless land use and land cover map of Himachal Pradesh has also been prepared using multispectral satellite images. The detailed forest type maps of Kangra, Kinnaur and Lahaul-Spiti districts, Solang Nala watershed in Kullu district, and Pangi area in Chamba district of Himachal have been finalised using IRS-1D, IRS-P6 and Quickbird satellite data. Maps of apple orchards in Spiti valley and bamboo resources in Kangra, Hamirpur and Una districts have also been generated. The new generation hyperspectral sensors used for generating these maps collect reflectance from objects simultaneously in hundreds of narrow adjacent spectral bands are more efficient in extracting biophysical, yield and species level information on the plants, sources said. The field hyperspectral data was also used to monitor and manage tea plantations owing to their ability to detect parameters like plant type, age, growth stage, pruning, light conditions and disease incidence that influence tea garden management. Besides mapping the potential distribution of invasive tree species in the western Himalayas, the Institute has also prepared digital forest fire maps of Dharamshala, Nurpur, Palampur and Chamba forest divisions for the state forest department.
Palampur institute sets up system
* These distribution maps contain the geographical coordinates of the locations of the occurrences of the species that have been recorded using GPS *
The maps catalogue the distribution pattern and availability of bioresources in the western Himalayas using geospatial tools and techniques *
The Institute of Himalayan Bioresources Technology in Palampur had set up state-of-art remote sensing and geographic information system facilities for surveying, mapping and inventory of bioresources
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J-K parties, admn all prepped for Assembly
elections
Jammu, October 25 The polling will begin in the higher reaches on November 25 and conclude in the plains on December 20. The September floods that ravaged infrastructure and rendered thousands homeless had cast a shadow on the conduct of elections in the state. While the NC wanted the elections to be delayed in view of the ongoing rehabilitation work, most other parties felt holding elections on schedule would help “accelerate the pace of relief and rehabilitation”. Opposition PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti welcomed the Election Commission’s decision saying: “It’s not a mid-term poll. The elections were due. The NC-Congress coalition government had failed miserably in mitigating the sufferings of the people. It had become imperative to go for the polls and have a new government that would last full six years and work for the people.” The Congress and the BJP also hailed the Election Commission’s decision. AICC general secretary and in charge of Jammu and Kashmir Ambika Soni said: “The Congress always believed that the postponement of elections would have created more problems.” BJP’s state unit president Jugal Kishore Sharma said: “We had been expecting the announcement. It is a welcome decision and we are all prepared.” Chief Minister Omar Abdullah in a tweet said: “Curtains have been drawn on my first term as CM.... Now with election dates announced there is no question of not contesting the forthcoming polls. We will put our best foot forward.” Chief Secretary Iqbal Khanday said the state administration was fully prepared to hold free and fair elections. “Everything is in place. Neither floods nor militancy related violence would come in the way of holding the elections. “The model code of conduct will not hamper the relief and rehabilitation work. The rule book clearly stipulates that the code of conduct should not affect relief and rehabilitation work.” DGP K Rajendra said the “security grid was in place for the polls. The state has asked for 600 companies of central paramilitary forces. There is Army in the upper reaches. We will hold the polls amid tight security”. He, however, sounded a note of caution saying there were some “soft targets” and the security forces will have to be vigilant. Around 72.25 lakh voters across Ladakh, Kashmir valley and Jammu are eligible to vote.
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UP Govt sacks 82 chairmen, advisers of state min rank
Lucknow, October 25 The chairman of Hindi Bhasha Sansthan, Gopal Das Neeraj, chairman of UP Hindi Sansthan UP Singh and deputy chairman of UP Planning Commission NC Bajpai would, however, continue on their posts, the spokesman said, adding that these three having constitutional posts enjoy the status of Cabinet minister. The move comes, ostensibly in the wake of an incident of alleged misbehaviour by father of chairman of the Centre for Remote Sensing with policemen in Baghpat on Wednesday. The father of the chairman, had allegedly threatened a sub-inspector and two constables who had gone to Mavikala village under Balauni police station area on Wednesday of stripping them of their uniforms, when they had gone there to arrest some people in a case. The matter later came up in local media, as a villager had recorded the incident on his mobile phone. — PTI
* The move comes in the wake of an incident of alleged misbehaviour by father of chairman of the Centre for Remote Sensing with policemen in Baghpat on Wednesday. *
The father of the chairman had allegedly threatened a sub-inspector and two constables who had gone to Mavikala village under Balauni police station area on Wednesday of stripping them of their uniforms when they had gone there to arrest some people in a case.
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Gadkari meets RSS chief, fuels speculation
Mumbai, October 25 Gadkari’s meeting with Bhagwat came hours after Devendra Fadnavis, said to be Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s favourite for the top job in the state, met the RSS chief Friday night. Fadnavis who was in Mumbai for backroom discussions with the Shiv Sena suddenly left for Nagpur on Friday evening. Emerging from Bhagwat’s residence Gadkari told reporters that he had several important discussions with the RSS chief. The minister added that Maharashtra’s politics and the race for chief ministership was not discussed. Gadkari had earlier this week ruled himself out of the race for the post of Chief Minister even though 39 BJP MLAs expressed their support for him on Diwali night. At least three MLAs have offered their seats to Gadkari if he became Chief Minister of Maharashtra. The union minister arrived at Bhagwat’s office riding a two-wheeler providing plenty of photo-ops for the media. Gadkari’s supporters are still backing him despite indications from the BJP top brass favouring Fadnavis. Former state BJP chief Sudhir Mungantiwar told a television channel on Friday that Gadkari with his experience should be given the top job. Meanwhile, other contenders still continue to lobby. Supporters of former leader of the opposition Eknath Khadse held a demonstration in his favour on the grounds that no leader from North Maharashtra has ever become the CM of the state. The battle for the post of CM is also being fought by supporters of various leaders in the social media. Officially, the BJP is not commenting on the matter saying their offices are closed for Diwali.
Uddhav won't attend PM's party: Sena
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Gadkari courts controversy by riding scooter without helmet
Nagpur, October 25 TV channels showed the 58-year-old BJP MP from Nagpur riding his white-coloured scooter to the Sangh headquarters in Mahal area of the city to meet RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat amid efforts by the party to form government in Maharashtra. When pointed out by journalists about him having violated the rules, Gadkari refused to comment and entered the premises with a man riding pillion and another scooter in tow. Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh strongly reacted to Gadkari’s action, saying it reflected the “attitude of the leader and the party”. “It is a small thing and for anyone else it wouldn’t have mattered...for the transport minister of the government of India, who is violating the law which he had to be enforcing, then it does make a difference,” he said. “This reflects the attitude of the leader and the party, whether they believe in following the rules or not,” he said. With the shoe on the other foot now, it was not immediately known if the Nagpur police was contemplating booking the minister for violating traffic rules. — PTI
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Crib death toll reaches 18
Kolkata, October 25 “Three more babies, all brought here in a critical condition, have died since Friday. Since Monday 18 babies, mostly newborn have died,” Medical Superintendent and Vice Principal MA Rashid said. Rashid said special measures including arranging for 24 hours availability of neonatal experts are being taken to prevent more deaths. The state-run hospital has frequently witnessed infant deaths in the recent past. In July, over a dozen babies died, while in June at least 19 infants died of encephalitis. — IANS
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UNESCO heritage site faces threat from Bodo militants
Guwahati, October 25 The authorities in the national park, which is a UNESCO world heritage site that boasts of a tiger project, have sought help from the police and the Army to mount vigil against the threat from militants of the National Democratic Front of Bodoland
(Sangbijit faction) or NDFB-S. The park is now on the path of recovery because of concerted efforts by the forest department and people. It was ravaged by militancy during 1990s and had lost the UNESCO heritage tag then.
Manas National Park Deputy Director Sonali Ghose said the police and the Army had been asked to mount vigil to neutralise the militants’ threat to the park. The fresh threat to the wildlife protection area came to the fore when
NDFB-S militants snatched away three .303 rifles, one .315 rifle, walkie-talkie sets, torch lights and mobile phones from forest guards at Sihajhar camp in the Kahitema range of the park on October 22. The rebels also went to the nearby Chalabghat camp and snatched a walkie-talkie set and other items from forest guards. The incident has put question marks over sustaining the conservation efforts in Manas National Park, which regained its World Heritage Site status by UNESCO after 19 years in June, 2012. The incident came a day after the same insurgent group snatched seven Insas rifles from the 135 Bn (Territorial Army), Ecological Task Force, in Khalashi near the Saralbangha river in Kokrajhar district in Bodoland territorial autonomous district council
(BTAD) areas in Assam. The battalion from the Bismuri camp along with some local labourers was planting saplings when a group of over 50 militants came and took away the arms at gunpoint. They also stormed the nearby Ultapani forest office and took away four walkie-talkies.
Manas National Park guards targeted
On October 22, NDFB-S militants snatched away three .303 rifles, one .315 rifle, walkie-talkie sets, torch lights and mobile phones from forest guards in the Kahitema range of Manas National Park. The militants also went to the nearby Chalabghat camp and snatched a walkie-talkie set and other items from forest guards.
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Telangana, Andhra war of words hots up
Hyderabad, October 25 Leaders of the ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in Andhra Pradesh hit back at Chandrasekhar Rao and asked him to stop making baseless allegations. Irrigation Minister D Umamaheswar Rao said Telugu people were hanging their heads in shame over the kind of language being used by KCR, as the Telangana chief minister is popularly known. Deputy Chief Minister N Chinna Rajappa accepted KCR’s challenge for a debate on the sharing of Krishna river water. He said the Telangana Chief Minister was misleading people over the issue. Another minister G Srinivasa Rao said KCR’s inefficiency was responsible for the electricity shortage in Telangana but he was trying to hold Naidu responsible. “You can’t always cheat people. The truth will prevail,” he said. The ministers from Andhra claimed that Naidu with his vision, hard work and efficiency overcame electricity shortage in the state but his counterpart in Telangana has the habit of politicising every issue and blaming others for his failures. Escalating the row further, KCR on Friday night declared that Telangana will continue generation of electricity at
Srisailam. — IANS
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Bangalore rape: Office assistant arrested
Bangalore, October 25 “We had registered a case under Section 376 of the IPC (relating to rape) and Sections 4 and 6 of the POCSO Act. The investigation was on. Today we have made an arrest in this case,” Bangalore Police Commissioner MN Reddi said. Sections 4 and 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012, relate to punishment for penetrative sexual assault and punishment for aggravated penetrative sexual assault, respectively. The police had registered a criminal case invoking the POSCO Act and the IPC on a complaint from the child’s father. — PTI
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Centre wants states to deal strictly with racial incidents
Bangalore, October 25 “Racial discrimination should not exist in India, and for that we are going to issue certain advisories to various state governments that there must be stringent provision in the law and mechanism to deal with any incident which is racially motivated,” Rijiju said. Speaking at North-East Conclave organised by the Karnataka BJP North-East Samparka (communication) Cell, he said “we are working on that... we will be very very strict with regard to any action committed by a person, which is racially motivated. We are very clear about that.” Stressing the need for awareness within and outside the community, he said “It is not that North-Eastern people are only discriminated. There are cases of south Indians- they feel they are discriminated in North India, and there are other people who feel they are discriminated in North-East India ...” “It’s a challenge, we must be able to quell and finish any act of discrimination on the basis of race,” he said during his interaction with the North-Eastern community here. His comments come in the backdrop of recent attacks on some persons from North-East community in Bangalore and
Haryana. He said as a nodal ministry, Ministry of Home Affairs would be issuing certain advisories to the state governments where these kinds of problems faced by North-East people can be dealt more sensitively.” “...because when you talk about something that is racial in nature it becomes different connotation... it becomes sensitive and back home (North-East) the message becomes very negative. It is not good for the nation”, he said.— PTI
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AIR clarifies on ‘impose Hindi’ charge
Chennai, October 25 “All India Radio is committed to conserve, enrich and promote regional languages and cultural heritage, which it will continue to do without any misconceived intention of imposing any language in an area where it has not sufficient speakers of a non-mother tongue,” V
Chakravarthy, Assistant Director of Programmes, Commercial Broadcasting Service,
Chennai, said in a statement. NDA ally PMK and another outfit — Periyar Dravidar Kazhagam — have opposed the move by the AIR accusing the Union Government of trying to “impose” Hindi through local radio broadcast. — PTI
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Tharoor plunges into sanitation drive, invokes Gandhi to silence critics
Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 25 Keeping the country clean is a national concern and no political meaning should be read into his support to it, he said. “As such this is not a BJP campaign...I am not going to surrender Gandhiji to Modi... I am not going to surrender (Sardar) Patel to Modi,” Tharoor asserted in a bid to silence critics after joining local residents in removing garbages at the coastal town Vizhinjam in his parliamentary constituency here. Tharoor was earlier this month removed as AICC spokesperson under pressure from Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee which urged the AICC to restrain him from lavishing praises on Modi and his initiatives like the “Swachh Bharat” mission. Defending his active participation in the campaign, Tharoor said: “This is not the prerogative of any political party and the message of keeping one’s surroundings clean was first given by Mahatma Gandhi.” “Gandhi had said sanitation was more important than independence. But for Gandhi, cleanliness of body and mind was equally important, which meant that ridding the heart of hatred and violence was important,” Tharoor told reporters who confronted him with the question whether his action would not be dubbed as violation of party’s warning. The second-term Congress MP from Kerala capital said the AICC had also asked party workers to join a month long cleanliness drive from Gandhi Jayanthi day on October 2. Evading a direct reply to the question whether this was part of the “Swachh Bharat” campaign, Tharoor said, “You can call it by any name but what is important is to keep the country clean. You see the local people around me. They include several Congress workers...What is important is to make the country clean, irrespective of party politics”, he said. Justifying his action, Tharoor yesterday tweeted “Vizhinjam beach, a splendid site ruined filth and garbage; which I will clean with the help of the local residents tomorrow.” Congress leaders in the state chose to refrain from making any adverse or positive comment on Tharoor’s action. However, in a dig at him, KPCC general secretary Ajay Tharayil said the party had decided to ignore his move. Earlier this month, Tharoor was removed as an official spokesperson by AICC based on the complaint from the KPCC against his repeated adulatory remarks about Modi. The KPCC report said Tharoor’s adulatory comments on Modi wounded the sentiments of the Congress workers who toiled hard for his victory from Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha seat in 2009 and 2014. Tharoor has, however, persistently held that his praise of certain initiatives of Modi did not mean that he ever backed the BJP’s “Hindutva agenda” or that he was moving closer to the saffron party. — PTI
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Mumbai STF to probe Dalit killings: Maharashtra Governor Vidyasagar Rao on Saturday asked State Director General of Police Sanjeev Dayal to appoint a Special Task Force (STF) to probe the brutal killing of three members of a Dalit family at village Javkheda in Ahmednagar district this week. PTI Vijayawada Case under FIR at doorstep: The police on Saturday filed the first case under the “FIR at doorstep” initiative. A case of suicide was registered by the Penamaluru police and a copy of the first information report was handed over to the deceased's relatives on the spot. PTIMumbai 5 held with 14 kg gold: The Customs Department has seized 14.25 kg gold collectively valued at ~3.55 crore from passengers at the Mumbai International airport on Friday night and arrested five, including four women. PTINew Delhi Stamp on Lankan Buddhist: President Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday released a commemorative postage stamp on Sri Lankan Buddhist revivalist and writer Anagarika Dharmapala. "Release of the commemorative postage stamp on Anagarika Dharmapala will contribute towards further strengthening the bilateral ties between India and Sri Lanka," Mukherjee said. PTIBallia (UP) SP worker shot dead: A local Samajwadi Party worker was shot dead in Parsiya village in the district, the police said on Saturday. On Friday night, Nageshwar Yadav (45) was sleeping outside his house when he was shot dead in the village. PTIPatna ‘Sampark Yatra’ from Nov 13: Senior JD (U) leader and former Bihar CM Nitish Kumar’s ‘Sampark Yatra’ will begin from Bettiah in West Champaran district on November 13. During the 16-day ‘yatra’, Nitish will address 32 public meetings in as many districts. PTI
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“arrange chairs” for media interactions at the party headquarters (at least this is what he said), but today he was the star attraction among the same lot at the “Deepawali Milan” organised by party president Amit Shah at the same venue.
A deputy of freedom fighter Netaji Subhash Chandra
Bose, an "old friend" of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and a former Indian ambassador, ACN
Nambiar, has been described as a Soviet spy.
Union Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari today rode into a controversy when he was caught on camera entering RSS headquarters here on his scooter without wearing a helmet in violation of traffic rules.
Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 25
All major parties, including the National Conference, PDP, Congress and BJP, will contest the elections and are confident of forming the government “on their own”.
The Shiv Sena set to rest all speculation of party chief Uddhav Thackeray meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the coming days. Party MP Vinayak Raut told reporters that no meeting between Thackeray and Modi was scheduled in the near future. Modi was in Mumbai to inaugurate a hospital taken over by a corporate house. It was felt that Modi could meet with the Shiv Sena chief in order to improve relations between the two parties. However, after a meeting with Thackeray, Raut said Thackeray would not be attending the Diwali party thrown by Modi for the BJP's allies in the capital on Sunday.
