CBI registers five cases in connection with alleged
misappropriation of funds in MGNREGA in Uttar Pradesh.
Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi accuses opposition of
non-cooperation on anti-corruption bills in Parliament.
Government to set up Indian Institute of Information
Technology at Senapati in Manipur under Public Private Partnership.
India to build another 16 thousand houses for internally
displaced persons in Sri
Lanka this year.
Bangladesh Cricket Board suspends
top cricketer and former captain Shakib al Hasan for 3 ODIs.
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Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi
has accused the Opposition of non-cooperation and looking the other way in
fight against corruption.
Unfortunately, on the matter
of corruption which is the central issue in this country, the opposition has
frankly looked the other way and on the matter of disability as well.
Mr. Gandhi said those in the
opposition have said that they are against corruption and want to fight it. He
said, he had expected that on the matter of corruption, the government would
get support from the Opposition. But when the time came to pass the Bills
against corruption in Parliament, they did not support, the government.
Replying to a query by newsmen in New
Delhi yesterday, Mr Gandhi said he had talked to Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi on the possibility
of taking the Ordinance route to bring in these anti-graft bills pass in
parliament.
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The
Central Bureau of Investigation, CBI has registered five cases in connection
with alleged misappropriation of funds in Mahatma Gandhi National Rural
Employment Guarantee Scheme, MNREGA in Uttar Pradesh. The misappropriation of
funds happened during the rule of Mayawati-led BSP government. CBI sources said
cases of criminal conspiracy, financial irregularities, cheating, forgery, and
misuse of officials position under the Prevention of Corruption Act have been
registered in Gonda, Balrampur, Sonbhadra, Mahoba and Kushinagar districts.
Sources also said FIRs have been registered against officials who were directly
linked with the implementation of the scheme in these districts during 2007-10.
Our correspondent reports that the agency has started an investigation on the
orders of the Lucknow
bench of the Allahabad High court to investigate the misappropriation of funds
MNREGA in seven districts of the state.
"In view of forthcoming Lok Sabha elections, the FIRs
filed by CBI are bound to aggravate the problems for Mayawati and her Bahujan
Samaj Party. In the alleged embezzlement of nearly 500 crore Rupees, more than
twenty IAS officers and around forty PCS officers of the state government are
suspected to be involved. Hundreds of village Panchayat heads, Zila Panchayat
chairman, Block Pramukh, several engineers and employees of agencies which
carried out the works under MGNREGA, are also in the CBI's suspect list. The
CBI has categorically asked the state government to preserve and protect all
the documents of Mahatma Gandhi Narega scheme in the state. MERAJ UDDIN
KHAN,AIR NEWS, LUCKNOW.
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The
Uttar Pradesh government has said that Unique Identification Authority of India
UIDAI will issue Aadhaar card to all the people of state upto five years of
age. State chief secretary Javed Usmani said the process of issuing Adhar card
will continue till March 2015. He said a total of 10 thousand registration
centers would be set-up in the state by the authority.
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The BJP today expressed happiness that
Parliament passed the Lokpal and the Telangana Bill. Addressing a press
conference in New Delhi
this afternoon, party leader Sushma Swaraj, however, accused Congress MPs for
disruptions on the Telanagan bill. She said three important session were wasted
due to unnecessary ruckus in Parliament. She said the BJP is satisfied that it
has contributed to some important debates on the economy, federalism, national
security and corruption. She said her party rose above partisan considerations
and supported legislations such as the Food Security and Land Acquisition Bill.
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In
Arunachal Pradesh, BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi kicked off
the party’s election campaign in the state this morning. Addressing a rally in
Pasighat in East Siang district, Mr Modi reiterated that Arunachal is an
inseparable part of India
and assured to take up every step to safeguard it from outside forces. More
from our correspondent:
Addressing
the BJP rally attended by more than ten thousand people, Narendra Modi hailed
the Arunachalees as the best examples of “desh bhakt” saying that even after
the Chinese Aggression of 1962, the Arunachalees continue to give their
unstinted love and devotion to the country. On constructions of mega dams in
Arunachal, Modi said the government should focus more on mini dams instead of
going for big ones as the state is in the earthquake zone. This is Sonikumar Konjengbam for AIR News
Itanagar.
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Deputy
Election Commissioner of India Alok Shukla will visit Assam tomorrow
to take stock of the poll preparedness and coordination between North East
states during the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls. Joint Chief Electoral Officer of
Assam M L Sureka said that he will attend a high level meeting tomorrow in
Guwahati. All the Deputy Commissioners and SPs will attend the meeting. He said
that officials from other North Eastern states are likely attend the review
meeting.
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Manipur Chief Minister Okram Ibobi
Singh has said an Indian Institute of Information Technology will be set up in
Senapati in Manipur under Public Private Partnership. He said a delegation of
the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development recently visited the state and
discussed establishing such an institute there.
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The condition of Odisha Tourism and
Culture Minister, Maheshwar Mohanty, is reported to be 'stable. He is
undergoing treatment in a private hospital at Bhubaneswar for bullet injuries. He was
operated upon today and the bullet lodged in his ribs was removed. The
Minister was shot at by unidentified assailants last night in his home town
Puri. According to Puri Superintendent of Police, investigation was in progress
and some people were being interrogated.
State Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has also asked the police to take
steps to nab the attackers at the earliest.
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The
National Health Mission has given administrative sanction of 43 crore rupees to
Madhya Pradesh for urban health programmes this year. Our correspondent reports
that initiative is being taken in the state to provide health facilities to the
larger section of population in urban slums.
As per
sanction received from the Central Government, urban primary health centre will
be opened on every 50 thousand population. Urban community health centres will
be established on every 5 lakh population and Mohalla Arogya Samitis will be
set up on every 500 population in the cities. 4000 ASHA workers will be
recruited in the state. Besides, 87 doctors will be appointed. Shariq Noor, AIR News, Bhopal.
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The Income Tax Department has said it
has identified 21.75 lakh new potential non-filers, and urged all tax payers to
disclose their true income and pay appropriate taxes. The Finance Ministry in a
statement issued in New Delhi
has said, the information relating to the new non-filers has been made
available on the Compliance Module on the e-filing portal of the I-T
Department. The department had initiated a business intelligence project in
February last year to identify PAN holders who have not filed their I-T
Returns. It has already sent letters to the 50 thousand potential non-filers in
the first batch. The I-T department is spreading its net over people who
conducted high-value transactions in 2010-11 and 2011-12. The government is
trying to meet its revenue collection target of over 6.68 lakh crore rupees
from direct taxes in this financial year.
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India
plans to build another 16 thousand houses for the internally displaced persons
in Sri Lanka
this year. This target follows the successful completion of 10 thousand houses
built in the Tamil majority Northern
Province under the programme last year. In the
current phase, the category of beneficiaries has been expanded to include 4
thousand houses for Indian origin Tamils settled in the central part of the
country as plantation laborers. More from our correspondent:
The prestigious Indian Housing project has a target of
constructing 50 thousand houses for the Sri Lankan citizens affected by the 30
year long civil war. The first phase saw successful completion of 10 thousand
houses last year. These were built involving the beneficiaries directly in all
stages of the process. This year 16 thousand houses are to be built under the
programme which is the single largest full grant assistance programme of Indian
government anywhere in the world. There has been a huge demand in the country
for getting the benefit of this highly successful scheme. In the project, the
beneficiaries are selected carefully in consultation with the Sri Lankan
government and the construction is done by select international agencies. These
agencies work under the supervision of the beneficiaries themselves. ABHISHEK
DAYAL/ AIR NEWS/COLOMBO.
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The UN Security Council is expected to
vote today on a resolution to boost humanitarian aid access in Syria. The move
comes at a time when UN humanitarian aid agency has urged the Security Council
to act to increase humanitarian access in Syria. More from our West Asia Correspondent:
The UN resolution on increased humanitarian aid access in Syria has been jointly authored by Australia, Jordan
and Luxembourg.
It calls for cross-border access to aid and an end to shelling and aerial
bombardment, including barrel bombs. The draft says further steps would be
taken in the event of non-compliance. Western and Arab nations are pushing for
the resolution so that the aid reaches out to those trapped in the violence
across the country. Russia
and China
have said cross-border aid deliveries should be organized with the consent of
Syrian Government in accordance with the International Humanitarian Law. Atul K Tiwary/ AIR NEWS.
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Matteo Renzi is expected to become Italy's
youngest-ever Prime Minister. He will be sworn in later today. He formally
accepted the mandate to lead a new government. He ousted Prime Minister and
party colleague Enrico Letta in a vote earlier this month. Renzi, 39, came to prominence as the Mayor of
the city of Florence,
but he has no experience of government at the national level. He said his
coalition would give hope to the economically-stagnant country.
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Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has
invited President Obama to join him and negotiate on equal terms, to find
solutions to the problems between the two nations. Mr. Maduro accused the conservative
sectors in the United States
including its media organisations of plotting against his government.
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The White House has welcomed an
agreement signed by President Viktor Yanukovych and opposition leaders on
ending the political crisis in Ukraine.
It said the swift implementation of the deal was key. A US official said President Obama has spoken to
his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, who said Russia wanted to be part of
implementing the deal. Under the deal, a caretaker government would be
installed and elections will be held in December.
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Pope Francis will appoint 19 new Roman
Catholic Cardinals at a ceremony in Rome
today. This is the first such appointment of his Papacy. The Argentine Pope has
selected Churchmen from 12 different countries, including five from Latin
America and the Caribbean.
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The
Bangladesh Cricket Board has suspended
top cricketer and former captain Shakib al Hasan for 3 ODIs. The Board also fined him 3 lakh takas for
making a rude gesture on live television during the second ODI between Bangladesh and Sri
Lanka in Dhaka this
week. The decision means Shakib will miss today's third and final ODI against Sri Lanka, as well as the first two Asia Cup
games against India.
This is the first such major action against a national cricketer since the
match-fixing related ban on Mohammad Ashraful.
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India
were 151 for 06 in 41 point 04 overs against England
in the quarterfinals of the Under-19 Cricket World Cup at Dubai when reports last came in. Earlier India won the toss and elected to
bat. The toss was delayed by half an hour due to foggy conditions. The Indian
colts had topped Group-A, after recording superb victories over Pakistan, Scotland
and Papua New Guinea
in the league stage. In the other
quarterfinal today the match between Pakistan and Sri Lanka is underway at Sharjah.
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In the second edition of Hockey India
League semi final fixtures are to be played in Ranchi this evening. Delhi Waveriders will
take on Uttar Pradesh Wizards in the first semifinal match and the other semi
final will showcase Defending Champions Ranchi Rhinos playing against Jaypee
Punjab Warriors. Though Delhi missed out on the top slot in the points table,
still they are favorite to beat the Wizards and qualify for the finals while
Uttar Pradesh Wizards will still have last year's semi-final match against
Ranchi Rhinos fresh in their minds and this time around they will be in no mood
to miss out on the bus to the Finale. On
the other hand, the Jaypee Punjab Warriors are pitted against the defending
champions Ranchi Rhinos who will go all out to defend the title in front of
their home crowd.
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The 23 day long Dubai Food fiesta got
underway with the launch of Dubai Food Carnival at the Festival city in Dubai. The inaugural
edition got off to a colorful and tasteful start with fireworks and culinary
delights from all over the world including India spread for the visitors.
Leading restaurants have created special set menus along with value-for-money
meals, special offers and promotions at the Carnival.
