Hitting out at Uttar Pradesh Cabinet minister Azam Khan, Shiv Sena on Tuesday said that the Samajwadi Party (SP) leader is more dangerous than India’s most wanted man Dawood Ibrahim.
Shiv Sena made the scathing remarks against the powerful SP leader in its mouthpiece Saamana.
The Shiv Sena in its mouthpiece criticised Azam Khan for seeking intervention of United Nations to look into the “miseries” of minorities in India.
In a letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Khan in the month of October had attacked RSS accusing it of working to turn secular and pluralistic India into a majoritarian theocratic nation as ‘Hindu Rashtra’.
The SP leader on Sunday sparked a controversy by saying that Taj Mahal should be demolished and Shiva Temple be constructed on it.
The railways have finally got its act together and asked citizens to send their opinion for improving suburban services.
The Central Railway which received flak for appointing inexperienced members in the committee formed to look into the passengers deaths on suburban railways has invited suggestions from commuters to address the overcrowding issue in trains during peak hours. Everyday commuters die after falling on tracks while commuting in jampacked trains. Passengers have often complained about the hardships they have to face while travelling in local trains but railways have failed to address their problems. The railways have finally got its act together and asked citizens to send their opinion for improving suburban services.
Central Railway’s Chief PRO Narendra Patil said, “In its first meeting (on December 6), our committee members discussed various issues on accidental deaths at length, but they also wanted larger participation of commuters. Hence it was decided to incorporate the suggestions of passengers also to weed out the ailing issues of suburban commute.”
Alternately, they can email their suggestions on suburbansuggestions@gmail.com also, the statement said. The last date for sending suggestions is December 21.
Arvind Sawant, Shiv Sena MP from South Mumbai & member of the panel constituted by Central Railway said, “The railways should introduce 15 coach locals to accommodate more passengers during peak hours. Height of platforms should be increased as there have been several instances of commuters falling in the gap between platform and train.”
Rajan Vichare, Shiv Sena MP from Thane & member of the panel constituted by Central Railway said, “The railways should change the timings of long distance trains entering in the city during morning. They can also terminate these trains outside the city. Punctuality of suburban trains can be increased if these steps are taken.”
For implementing these steps the Central Railway will have make changes in the time table of long distance trains. However at present Kalyan and Panvel station lack the necessary infrastructure to accommodate long distance trains and railways will have to construct new terminals.
Central railway is planning to introduce a local train which will have a seating arrangement like metro for accommodating more standing passengers in February 2016.
Experts have long been suggesting introduction of new seating arrangements on local trains to create more space for standees. But the idea time and again ran into resistance at various levels. However, the Central Railway has now decided to push through with it on an experimental basis.
“A whopping 25,722 passengers fell from suburban trains (travelling on Western, Central and Harbour suburban services in Mumbai Commissionerate) in last 10 years, of whom 6,989 commuters died while 18,733 survived,” said RTI activist Anis Khan quoting a reply received from Government Railway Police (GRP), Mumbai.
The Bombay High Court had rapped the railways for its lackadaisical approach towards safety of passengers and failure to provide better services in suburban local trains.
After a long time BJP leader Subramanian Swamy gave a reason to cherish for his twitter army. Social media is over-loaded with various posts and trending, assuming that one day Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi will be arrested. With high profile lawyers and Constitutional experts to defend, no soul can do any harm to the ‘so called’ first family. Many times, it has been proven that no arrows in Swamy’s arsenal had harmed either Jayalalitha or Sonia Gandhi. Swamy is wasting his time and energy on them. He had filed a complaint before the trial court in 2012, alleging that Congress leaders were involved in cheating and breach of trust in the acquisition of Associated Journals Ltd (AJL) by Young Indian Pvt Ltd (YIL), as assets worth crores of rupees had been transferred to YIL.
Swamy has alleged that YIL, which has Congress president Sonia Gandhi and vice president Rahul Gandhi on its board of directors, had “taken over” over the assets of the defunct print media outlet in a “malicious” manner to gain profit and assets worth over Rs. 2,000 crore. Apart from the Gandhis, Congress treasurer Motilal Vora, general secretary Oscar Fernandes, journalist Suman Dubey and technocrat Sam Pitroda were also named in the case. Swamy has alleged that YIL had paid just Rs. 50 lakh to obtain the right to recover Rs. 90.25 crore that AJL had owed to the Congress party, given earlier as a loan to start the newspaper. According to documents, 76 per cent of shareholding of YIL is with Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, while the remaining 24 per cent vests in the others named in the case. The complaint has also alleged that the loan given to AJL was “illegal”, as it had been taken from party funds.
The Delhi court had examined four complainant witnesses during the pre-summoning stage. The complainant witnesses examined were Subramanian Swamy, the complainant in the case, R Venkatesh, practising chartered accountant, Gulab Chand, an official from the Office of the Registrar of Companies, NCT of Delhi and Haryana, and J Gopikrishnan, journalist with The Pioneer. The pre-summoning evidence was closed and arguments were heard on the point of summoning of those named in the complaint. On June 26, 2014, the court summoned Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Motilal Vora, Oscar Fernandes, Suman Dubey and Sam Pitroda.
While summoning them, Metropolitan Magistrate Gomati Manocha said that from the complaint and the evidence so far, “it appears that YIL was in fact created as a sham or a cloak to convert public money to personal use” in order to acquire control over Rs. 2,000 crore worth of assets of AJL. The court noted that all accused persons had allegedly acted “in consortium with each other to achieve the said nefarious purpose/design”. However, the court had noted that this was “only the stage of summoning”, and when the accused persons appear before the court, “they shall be at liberty to refute the allegations of the complainant, cross-examine the complainant’s witnesses, and to lead evidence in their defence.”
The trial court had asked all accused to appear before it on August 7, 2014. On July 30, 2014, however, the Congress leaders moved the High Court which stayed the summons. The Congress has claimed that YIL had been created “with an aim of charity” and was not receiving any profit. They also claimed that there was “no illegality” in the transaction, as it was “merely a commercial transaction” for transferring shares of the company. It also raised objections to the complaint filed by Swamy, labelling it as “politically motivated”.
The judgment of the High Court has noted that the “probity of the legendary national political party” was “at stake” in the case, as the office bearers of the party held the funds in trust. The Bench dismissed the appeals filed by the Congress leaders, observing that prima facie the case “evidenced criminality”. The court has also raised questions regarding the legality of the initial loan granted to AJL by the Congress party. It has also dismissed the objections raised against Swamy’s involvement, stating that locus standi “cannot be restricted” in corruption cases. Meanwhile, the Parliament was disrupted and adjourned. When there is a legal case, then it should be fought like any other citizen. By disrupting Parliament, you are wasting tax payers’ money. Politicians should face a legal proceeding as any other citizen and set an example rather than wasting the country’s wealth by disrupting the house. Sonia Gandhi said that she is Indira’s daughter in law. India’s legal system is same for all, let it be Rajeev Gandhi’s wife or somebody else. Her mother-in-law imposed Emergency, when she was found guilty and unseated from Rai Bareilly Parliament Seat by Justice Jagmohan Lal Sinha of Allahabad High Court. Interestingly, along with her “prodigy”, she has nothing to impose except to argument the issues like Intolerance, returning of awards, generating ruckus in parliament and stalling its proceedings, creating hurdles in passing of important legislations etc.
The High Court has also declined to grant Rahul and Sonia Gandhi exemption from personal appearance before trial court in the matter. In the order, it says: “In any case, by no stretch of imagination, it can be said that no case for summoning petitioners as accused in the complaint in question is made out. Questionable conduct of petitioners needs to be properly examined at the charge stage to find out the truth and so, these criminal proceedings cannot be thwarted at this initial stage.”
Apart from the Gandhis, Congress treasurer Motilal Vora, family friend Suman Dubey, and party leader Oscar Fernandes had moved the high court for quashing of summons to them by a trial court on Swamy’s complaint. The high court had earlier stayed the criminal proceedings in the trial court. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Sonia Gandhi, sought quashing of the proceedings initiated by a lower court against her, and the others, saying the complaint made by Swamy against them were only “allegations without any supporting proof”.
They have since 1974 made law courts their fiefdom and anyone giving a dissent judgement becomes target of their intolerance. And of course, they pay their way to get things done including how the constitution of India should be interpreted. The disruption of parliament under false pretenses through manipulation is one example why India should remain under their thumbs. Let’s see where the case will see twists and turns.
Even as the Congress cried political vendetta regarding the National Herald case, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Tuesday that the government was in no way involved in the matter.
“There is no political vendetta in the National Herald case. A private complaint has been filed, government doesn’t come in the picture,” the senior BJP leader said.
At the same time he asked, “Also how does the parliament feature in this? Congress leaders should face the court and not stall parliament proceedings.”
“Country can’t pay a price if a party faces serious allegations,” Jaitley pointed out on being asked if GST bill would now be able to pass.
A combative Sonia and Rahul Gandhi accused the Modi government of pursuing “political vendetta” against them in the National Herald case while the party alleged that such cases are being pushed as the BJP wanted a “Congress-free” India.
On a day a Delhi court granted them exemption for the day and asked them to appear before it on Dec 19, the Gandhis asserted that truth would ultimately prevail despite the “vicious and malicious” attack.
“I am the daughter-in-law of Indira Gandhi. I am not scared of anyone,” the Congress President asserted, invoking the legacy of the late PM.
Both the Houses of Parliament were repeatedly adjourned and no business was conducted after the Congress members disrupted proceedings shouting slogans in the well against the government on the Herald case issue, accusing the government of political vendetta.
Speaking in Cuddalore, party vice president alleged that Centre thinks they can stop him from asking questions about them by “vendetta” politics.
“That is not going to happen. This is the way Central government functions. I absolutely see a political vendetta,” he said.
They were asked to comment on the Delhi High Court rejecting their pleas for quashing the summons by a Delhi court against them in the National Herald case, initiated by BJP leader Subramaniam Swamy.
Delhi will see only odd numbered cars on the road on odd numbered days of a month while even numbered cars can ply on the remaining days. But on Sundays all cars can used, said Delhi Transport Minister Gopal Rai.
The complete blueprint of the Delhi government’s odd-even numbered car policy will be out in open by December 25, 2015, according to Rai. He added said that the scheme would be rolled out from January 1, 2016. “The rule will apply from 8 am to 8 pm and instead of alternate days, it will be date-wise now”, he added.
The new formula will be implemented on a trial basis from January 1 to 15 between 8 am to 8 pm. Civil Defence officials and volunteers will be roped in to enforce this policy,” said Rai.
The odd-even vehicle policy formula will be implemented date-wise. The Transport Minister said the government will make it clear shortly who all would be exempted from this decision. Rai said the Delhi government had discussed the plan with the traffic police.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will hold a review meeting on December 10 in this regard. Answering queries of reporters on increasing the frequency of Delhi metro trains, Rai said Delhi Metro will submit its plan soon.
While the declassified files may not provide “conclusive” proof of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose being alive after 1945, an independent journalist and grandnephew of Subhas Chandra Bose, Ashis Ray, on Tuesday released a new set of documents in London.
After making the documents public, Ray claimed that they are part of the classified files of the Indian government on Netaji.
Ray released what he claimed is the correspondence between the Indian and Russian governments between 1991 and 1995 over Netaji’s whereabouts in 1945, the year of his death as per records. In one letter, India wanted to know if Bose had entered Russian territory in “1945 or subsequently.”
In September 1991, the Indian government wrote to the Russian Federation, asking whether Netaji had entered or stayed in Russia. The Russians wrote back in January 1992, saying, “No information whatsoever is available on the stay of the former President of INC (Indian National Congress).”
Three years later, India wrote again to Russia. “There has been further speculation in this context reportedly on the basis of archival material. Please examine all material for a final determination on whether or not Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose entered or stayed anywhere in territory of Soviet Union in 1945 or subsequently.” Russia repeated its earlier reply.
“To arrive at a conclusion, we first need to eliminate what is not correct. This exchange of letters between the two governments is an indication that Subhas Chandra Bose perhaps did not go as suspected by a few people,” said Ray.
Recently, Principal Secretary to the PM, Nripendra Misra handed over the first set of files related to Netaji to the Director General of National Archives of India.
The Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of External Affairs are also separately taking action for release of files under their custody.
The demands for declassification of secret files have been growing lately, especially after the Mamata Banerjee government in West Bengal recently declassified 64 files which were in its possession.
A train driver was killed and two others were injured on Tuesday morning when a local train rammed into the Delhi-bound Lokmanya Tilak Haridwar Express in Haryana’s Palwal district due to foggy conditions.
Passengers of both the trains were safe in the mishap that took place at Baghola village in Palwal district, about 80 km from New Delhi, at around 8:30 am.
The impact of the collision was so severe that the guard bogie of the mail train and the engine of the EMU (electric multiple unit) shuttle train were badly damaged, resulting in the driver and assistant of the EMU getting trapped, according to railway officials.
They were later pulled out by passengers and admitted to hospital where the driver Yashpal died.
While the driver of the Palwal-Ghaziabad EMU was killed, the assistant driver of the train and guard of the express train were injured in the mishap, Northern Railway spokesperson Neeraj Sharma said.
“There was fog in the morning and the EMU driver probably could not see the signal and hit the train from behind,” he said.
After receiving signal at Palwal Railway Station, the Mumbai-Haridwar train was cleared for departure towards Delhi. But due to fog, the train was running at a slow speed. Five km from Palwal, near Baghola village, the train was hit from behind by Palwal EMU shuttle, he said.
The injured guard of the express train has been identified as BB Gupta, Railway Spokesperson Anil Saxena said.
Oscar-winning actress Kate Winslet cannot believe she has ever “wasted time” worrying about ageing.
The Titanic star insisted she does not care about getting cellulite, as it is just a part of getting older.
“What is so gorgeous about being the age I am is that all the ridiculous angst that I might once have felt about having a bit of cellulite or being a bit puffy in the face or whatever has just evaporated.
“I simply can’t believe I ever spent any time wasting my life on that nonsense.”
The 40-year-old and mother of three also insisted she is not worried about getting her body back to how it was before she gave birth.
“I know it’ll never go back to what it was. I genuinely haven’t. I so didn’t want to be one of those, ‘Oh wow, she’s back in shape after 12 weeks!’ women.
“To my mind, life is just too short to be spending time focusing on things like that. I want to have fun. And that’s the other thing about having children: it is so much fun. And if you spend too much of your time focusing on the wrong stuff, like how much you weigh, you forget to enjoy the fun stuff, don’t you?”
Pop star Kim Wilde has said her looks were a “big part” of her career success.
The 55-year-old singer burst onto the music scene in 1981 with her debut single “Kids in America” and she feels her aesthetic appeal played a big part in her rise to the top of the industry.
“Looks were a big part of my success, and I always understood that. I grew up in the 70s when there were a lot of beautiful people around, not least David Bowie. I embraced it, but I never took myself that seriously,” she said.
Although Wilde felt objectified during her meteoric rise, she also said she was happy to indulge those attitudes for the sake of her career.
“I felt a bit objectified as a pop star in the 80s, but I went along with it quite willingly,” she said.
Known for her witty sense of style, SonakshiSinha is all set to make a fashion statement again; this time with her tribal avatar.
While shooting for the celebrity photographer DabbooRatnan’s 2016 calendar, the 28-year-old actress took to her Instagram and posted a selfie of herself, wherein body below her nose can be seen.
In the picture, the ‘Tevar’ star wore white paint on her face with braided hair and feathers.
Sonakshi captioned the picture, “Shot something SUPER edgy with @dabbooratnani for his calendar today. Oh em gee.. So excited. #shootshenannigans #teaser #selfie #theshootlife #outofthebox”
The Central Railway which received flak for appointing inexperienced members in the committee formed to look into the passengers deaths on suburban railways has invited suggestions from commuters to address the overcrowding issue in trains during peak hours. Everyday commuters die after falling on tracks while commuting in jampacked trains. Passengers have often complained about the hardships they have to face while travelling in local trains but railways have failed to address their problems. The railways have finally got its act together and asked citizens to send their opinion for improving suburban services. 
Arvind Sawant, Shiv Sena MP from South Mumbai & member of the panel constituted by Central Railway said, “The railways should introduce 15 coach locals to accommodate more passengers during peak hours. Height of platforms should be increased as there have been several instances of commuters falling in the gap between platform and train.”
Rajan Vichare, Shiv Sena MP from Thane & member of the panel constituted by Central Railway said, “The railways should change the timings of long distance trains entering in the city during morning. They can also terminate these trains outside the city. Punctuality of suburban trains can be increased if these steps are taken.”
Even as the Congress cried political vendetta regarding the National Herald case, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Tuesday that the government was in no way involved in the matter.
Oscar-winning actress Kate Winslet cannot believe she has ever “wasted time” worrying about ageing.
Pop star Kim Wilde has said her looks were a “big part” of her career success.
Known for her witty sense of style, SonakshiSinha is all set to make a fashion statement again; this time with her tribal avatar.