NEWS

 

 

•  Uttarakhand Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna resigns.

• Delhi Chief Minster Arvind Kejriwal levels serious charges of corruption against several prominent politicians; Special session of Delhi Assembly convened from the 13th to 16th February to pass Janlokpal Bill.

• Supreme Court stays execution of Khalistani terrorist Devinderpal Singh Bhullar; Agrees to review its previous judgement on commutation of his death sentence to life term.

• NCP President and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar denies media report about his meeting with BJP Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi.

• First round of talks between Syrian Government and opposition coalition with UN Special envoy ends without any result in Geneva.

• India 199 for 8 in 46.2 overs against New Zealand in fifth and final cricket one dayer at Wellington, when reports last came in.

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Uttarakhand Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna has submitted his resignation to the Governor in Dehradun today. According to party sources, Congress observers Ghulam Nabi Azad and Janardan Dwiedi and the Party’s Uttarakhand incharge, Ambika Soni are scheduled to visit Dehradun tomorrow to attend the Congress Legislature Party meeting in which the new leader will be elected. More from our correspondent:

"Vijay Bahuguna’s resignation comes after Congress President Sonia Gandhi held a meeting with senior party leaders in Delhi on Wednesday. Union Minister Harish Rawat is being seen as a front runner for Chief Ministership. State Cabinet Minister Pritam Singh and Garhwal MP Satpal Maharaj are also being seen as other contenders for the job. Harish Rawat was given credit for taking the Congress to victory in the last Assembly elections. It is believed that the way Bahuguna handle the flash floods and the massive rescue and rehabilitation work in the State last year brought his leadership skills into question. Since then delegations of Congress MLAs and other party leaders from the State have been regularly meeting central party leaders in Delhi to press for Bahuguna’s ouster. Sanjeev Sundriyal/ AIR News/ Dehradun."

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Delhi Chief Minster Arvind Kejriwal today appealed to the people to ensure that no corrupt politician is elected to Parliament in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. Addressing the National Council meeting in New Delhi, Kejriwal said his party's aim is to remove all corrupt people from Parliament. He leveled serious charges of corruption against prominent politicians of several parties. Mr Kejriwal reiterated that corruption has come down considerably in Delhi after his party came to power.

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The Delhi government has convened a session of the Delhi Assembly on the 13th of next month to pass the Janlokpal Bill. The session will continue till the 16th of February. The decision was taken at a Cabinet meeting chaired by the Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. Talking to reporters after the meeting, Delhi Education Minister Manish Sisodia said, the Assembly session on the 16th February will be held at the Indira Gandhi stadium in which the Lokpal Bill will be passed. He said, observations made by some departments about the Bill are yet to be discussed by the Cabinet. Mr Sisodia said, the Bill is expected to be approved in the next Cabinet meeting on Monday.

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The Delhi government today assured the people of the city that there will be no power cut in the national capital. Talking to reporters in New Delhi, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal termed the media report about power cut as baseless, saying the power distribution companies are only creating panic. He warned the companies of strict action against them if they create such panic in future. Mr Kejriwal also said, the companies should cooperate in the CAG audit ordered by the government.

"These power companies are viciously trying to create panic and trying to blackmail. A few days back, they had written a letter and they were called by the Chief Secretary to discuss the issue. There will be no power cut. But, I am warning them, if they create such panic in the future, strict action will be taken against them."

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NCP President and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar today termed as completely mischievous, baseless and false a media report about his meeting with BJP Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi in New Delhi. In a tweet, Mr Pawar said, during state visits or in Chief Ministers' conferences in Delhi, he meets them and barring these occasions, he never met Modi in the last one year. Our Correspondent reports, Mr Pawar's reaction followed a report in a Marathi newspaper that he is understood to have secretly met Modi in New Delhi on the 17th of this month. NCP spokesperson D P Tripathi said, Pawar was not even in Delhi on that day. BJP National spokesperson Captain Abhimanyu said, the party denies any such meeting between Modi and Pawar.

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Mumbai Police Commissioner, Dr Satya Pal Singh has submitted his application for voluntary retirement. He is likely to contest the Lok Sabha election from his native place in Uttar Pardesh. Police sources informed that Satya Pal Singh has submitted his resignation letter to the Home Ministry which forwarded it to the Chief Minister's Office for acceptance. Mr Singh confirmed his resignation and said that he would like to work for social harmony and world peace. The 1980 batch IPS officer belongs to Meerut in Uttar Pradesh and there is speculation that he could contest from there either on a BJP or an Aam Aadami Party ticket. Mr Singh is the first serving Mumbai Police Commissioner to resign. He was due to retire in 2015.

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In Tamil Nadu, DMK Member Sivasankar elected from Kunnam Assembly constituency was suspended for the remaining period of the Assembly Session. Speaker Mr. Dhanapal after evicting the DMK members, said that Sivasankar's act was totally unacceptable and set a bad precedence to others. Earlier, commotion began when the ruling Party member Markandeyan had referred to the issue of DMK Chief Karunanidhi and his son Alagiri during his speech on the Governor's Address. The DMK members trooped to the well of the House and demanded that the Speaker Mr. Dhanapal expunges those remarks and also reiterated that the debate was only on the Governor's speech.

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The Supreme Court today stayed the execution of Khalistani terrorist Devinderpal Singh Bhullar and agreed to review its previous judgement on the commutation of his death sentence to life term. In its earlier judgement, the apex court had rejected the 1993 Delhi bomb blast convict's plea to commute his death sentence to a life term. A four-judge bench headed by Chief Justice P Sathasivam issued a notice to the Centre and the Delhi government on a curative petition filed by Bhullar's wife Navneet Kaur. The bench also directed the Institute of Human Behaviour and Allied Sciences (IHBAS), where Bhullar is being treated, to file a medical report within a week on the condition of the death convict who is alleged to be suffering from a mental illness. The court said that it would examine whether its judgement pertaining to commutation of death sentence to life term on the ground of delay in deciding the mercy plea, is applicable or not in this case. Bhullar was convicted and awarded the death penalty for triggering a bomb blast in New Delhi in September 1993, which killed nine persons and injured 25 others, including the then Youth Congress president M S Bitta.

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In yet another case, the Apex Court today refused to stay the interim order on the nursery admission process in the national capital. It further asked the Delhi High Court to expeditiously hear the pleas against the guidelines by advancing the scheduled hearing. A Bench headed by Justice H L Dattu said, since the order of the High Court was in the nature of an interim order, it was not interfering with it. The apex court gave liberty to the petitioners, Action Committee of Unaided Recognised Private Schools, Forum for Promotion of Quality Education for All and some parents to make an application before the single judge of the High Court for advancing the 11th of March hearing. The division bench of the High Court had confirmed the order passed by the single judge which had refused to stay the December 18th, 2013 guidelines of the Lieutenant Governor.

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The first round of direct talks between the Syrian Government and the opposition coalition delegation mediated by the UN Special envoy Lakhdar Brahimi comes to an end in Geneva today. The progress has been very slow and both the sides have stuck to their stand. Talks are likely to resume on February 10th. More from our West Asia Correspondent:

"After weeklong deliberations at the United Nations headquarters in Geneva, UN special envoy on Syria ,Lakhdar Brahimi said he was very much disappointed because there was no agreement on allowing an aid convoy to the besieged city of Homs. He hoped that in the next round, the two sides would have more structured discussions. For a change, the talks yesterday were marked by rare gesture of harmony when the two sides observed a minute’s silence for those killed in the three yearlong conflict. For the first time, both sides agreed that Geneva 1 communique of 2012 would be the basis of negotiations. Atul K Tiwary ,AIR News,

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Sri Lanka’s Power Minister Ms Pavithra Wanniarachchi has hit out against a Chinese state-owned company for the frequent failure of the biggest thermal power plant in the country, saying that faults in material, design and construction of the plant, are causing a power crisis in the country.

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The Agriculture Ministry has issued detailed guidelines and strategy for implementation of National Mission on Oilseeds and Oil Palm. The scheme aims at enhancing production of traditional and tree-borne oilseeds. In addition to raising production, large area is sought to be brought under oil palm cultivation. An official release said, 3507 crore rupees have been sanctioned for the Mission in the 12th Plan. The strategy to implement the Mission includes increasing Seed Replacement Ratio, irrigation coverage under oilseeds from 26 to 36 per cent. Diversification of area from low yielding cereal crops to oilseed crops and inter-cropping of oilseeds with cereals, pulses and sugarcane and use of fallow land after paddy and potato cultivation are also part of the strategy. The scheme would be implemented through active involvement of all the stakeholders.

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The government has approved usage charges for spectrum in the 1800 MHz and 900 MHz bands to improve bidding in the forthcoming auction. The decision was taken at a Cabinet meeting in New Delhi. The spectrum acquired in the current auction will be charged at 5 per cent of the Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR). In cases of combination of existing spectrum in these bands and spectrum acquired through the auction, the weighted average will apply to all the spectrum held by the operator. The licensees sees who do not acquire spectrum in this auction shall continue to pay usage charges according to the existing slab rate.

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The Government is committed to improve the social protection of workers in the unorganized sector. Addressing the 46th session of the Standing Labour Committee, the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Mr K Suresh said, the Centre has started a number of schemes for providing death, disability, sickness and old age cover to vulnerable segments of the population.

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Arunachal Governor Lt. Gen (Retd) Nirbhay Sharma has appealed to the people of Arunachal Pradesh and Assam to maintain peace and harmony and not to fall prey to any provocation or rumours. Expressing heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families of the Wednesday incident at Tarasso area, Mr. Sharma said, he is very saddened by the incident of violence in the border area of two states. Ten people were killed while scores others injured when miscreants fired at villagers camping inside the disputed Tarasso area, bordering Papum Pare district of Arunachal Pradesh and Behali in Sonitpur district in Assam. Chief Minister Nabam Tuki has also condemned the incident but said, the age old friendly relations between the two states should be maintained at any cost.

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Slightly trimming its initial gains, the Sensex at the Bombay Stock Exchange stood a modest 32 points, or 0.2 percent in positive territory, at 20,530 in afternoon trade, a short while ago. Earlier in the morning, the Sensex had gained 55 points, on mild buying by investors. The Sensex had lost 875 points in the previous five trading sessions.

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The Rupee trimmed its initial gains but was still quoted higher by 13 paise at 62 rupees, 43 paise against the American currency on selling of dollars by banks amidst recovery in the equity market.

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India lost the fifth and final cricket one dayer against New Zealand by 87 runs at Wellington. New Zealand had set a target of 304 runs for India to win the match. Put into bat, the hosts posted a challenging 303 for 5 against the visitors. With this the hosts have bagged the 5-match ODI series. With this the hosts have bagged the 5-match ODI series. They had won the first two games, tied the third and ended as winners in the fourth to claim the series and also dethrone the Men in Blue from the Number One spot in the ODI rankings.

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