With the Centre making it clear that special category status for Andhra Pradesh is not possible and most TDP MLAs and MLCs wanting the party to end its alliance with BJP, TDP president and chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu is likely to set the separation process in motion beginning with the resignation of two TDP ministers — Ashok Gajapathi Raju and Y S Chowdhary — from the Narendra Modi cabinet. At the TDP Legislature Party meeting in Vijayawada on Tuesday, all 125 MLAs and 34 MLCs, barring six absentees, strongly…
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For harmony, two Lucknow clerics change Friday prayer timings on Holi
The chief minister’s office has directed all the district magistrates to convene meetings of people of both the communities (Hindus and Muslims) to ensure peace and harmony on the festive occasion. Two prominent Muslim clerics have decided to change this Friday’s namaaz (prayer) timings as the occasion coincides with Holi on March 2. The step was taken to ensure communal harmony, said Islamic scholar and Imam-e-Eidgah Maulana Khalid Rasheed Firangi Mahali. “As the festive occasion of Holi is on Friday, I have decided to reschedule the Friday prayers at the…
Read MoreDistorted J&K map at event attended by Canadian PM another controversy hits Trudeau’s visit
Another controversy has hit Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s visit to India as a map misrepresenting Jammu and Kashmir was put up at the event he was speaking at. A map showing a distorted Jammu and Kashmir – without the entire PoK area including Gilgit and Baltistan – was placed at an event in New Delhi where the Canadian PM and his wife were speaking at. India has firmly maintained that Pakistan-Occupied-Kashmir is a part of India and has been encroached upon by Pakistan. The distortion of the map will come…
Read MoreIndia ranks 81 in global corruption perception index
India has fared better than neighbours Sri Lanka (ranked 91), Pakistan (117), Myanmar (130) and Bangladesh (143), but is behind Bhutan (26) and China (77). The 2017 corruption perception index, released by anti-graft watchdog Transparency International on Wednesday, has ranked India at 81 among 180 countries and territories. The index is based on perceived levels of public sector corruption according to experts and businesspeople, using a scale of 0 to 100, where 0 is highly corrupt and 100 is very clean. India’s score in 2017 is 40 — the same…
Read MoreConvicted Khalistani terrorist Jaspal Atwal on Canadian PM Justin Trudeau’s dinner guest list
Jaspal Atwal, a Canadian Indian businessman, and three others were in 1987 convicted of attempted murder of Akali Dal leader Malkiat Singh Sidhu. Trudeau’s office said the High Commission was in the process of rescinding the invitation. A convicted Khalistani terrorist has been invited to an official dinner reception for Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in New Delhi and photographed with the leader’s wife during their visit to India. Jaspal Atwal, a Canadian Indian businessman, and three others were in 1987 convicted of attempted murder of Akali Dal leader Malkiat…
Read MoreIndia Inc’s Recent Scams Turn In-Laws into Outlaws
‘Marriage arrangements help ensure that control over capital doesn’t go out of the community.’ A recent spate of loan defaults – most of which curiously centre around trade finance and buyer’s credit – has shined a spotlight on the close and influential links between some of India’s wealthiest business families. The world over, it is natural for the sons and daughters of business elite to marry into other family-run corporate empires, even if such alliances are a more pronounced feature of the Indian power elite than of their counterparts in…
Read MoreCBI files FIR against Gitanjali Group,Probe widens as I-T attaches Nirav Modi properties, banks accounts
The government suspended passports of Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi. In the CBI raids on the Gitanjali Group, officials said, gold, diamond and jewellery worth Rs 549 crore were seized. The Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party traded charges over the fraud at the state-owned Punjab National Bank involving jeweller Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi on a day when the Central Bureau of Investigation registered fresh complaints against the latter and some of his companies, the Ministry of External Affairs suspended their passports for four weeks, the Enforcement…
Read MoreChandrababu Naidu is richest CM, Manik Sarkar poorest: Report
With assets worth Rs 177 crore, Chandrababu Naidu, the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, is the richest CM in the country. Giving him company in this exclusive club, are the chief ministers of Arunachal Pradesh Pema Khandu, whose assets are worth Rs 129 crore, and Punjab CM, Amarinder Singh, who has Rs 48 crore to his name. An analysis of the self sworn affidavits filed by chief ministers of 29 states and two Union Territories throws up interesting facts. Like Mamata Banerjee,CM of West Bengal, has declared assets worth Rs…
Read MoreMajor Aditya’s father moves SC for quashing of FIR in Shopian firing incident
The father of Major Aditya on Thursday moved the Supreme Court for the quashing of an FIR lodged by the Jammu & Kashmir police in the firing incident in Shopian. In the plea, filed through advocate Aishwarya Bhati, Lieutenant Colonel Karamveer Singh says that “the manner in which the lodging of the FIR has been portrayed and projected by the political leadership and administrative higher-ups of the State, reflects the extremely hostile atmosphere in the State.” He said that the FIR – which booked Major Aditya and the 10 Garhwal…
Read MorePossibility of Aadhaar misuse cannot be sufficient reason to strike down law: Supreme Court
Congress leader Kapil Sibal was appearing for one of the 30 petitioner who have challenged the Aadhaar law in the top court. The possibility of misuse of Aadhaar law cannot be a reason for striking it down, the Supreme Court observed on Tuesday while hearing petitions challenging various government notifications making the 12-digit unique identity number mandatory for various social schemes and services, including some provided by private firms. Justice DY Chandrachud, one of the five judges on the bench hearing the Aadhaar case said: “There are a number of…
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