Coming out in defence of Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav’s rape remarks, his daughter-in-law Dimple Yadav on Sunday said that such things happen at times.
The Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav’s wife, Dimple is contesting Lok Sabha Elections from Kannauj.
When asked about her reaction on Yadav’s derogatory remarks on rapes, she said that such remarks are made by lot of people and are quite common.
She further added that it happens at times.
While speaking at a rally in Moradabad, Yadav had earlier said that it was wrong to give capital punishment to rapists.
He had referred to the Shakti Mills rape cases in Mumbai where death penalty was awarded to three rape accused. Moreover, he also defended those who commit such heinous crimes and said boys err at times.
His remarks were slammed by several women welfare groups and other political parties.
Giving all credit to Gujarati people for the state’s development, Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi on Sunday criticised the BJP and its prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi for taking all the credit and hiding crucial information from the people.
During his visit here, Singhvi labelled Modi as a ‘Man Of Damage to India’ and BJP as the ‘Bharat Jalao Party’, referring to Modi’s comment on the Gandhi family yesterday, when Modi asked the Congress to explain the ‘RSVP’ (Rahul Sonia Vadra Priyanka) model.
“I don’t know how true RSVP is, but, my RSVP response to Modi is that he is a ‘Man Of Damage to India’ — MODI. The BJP is Bharat Jalao Party” said Singhvi and also accused the party of divisive politics and provoking “brother against brother”.
Singhvi called the BJP “Bharat Jalao Party” and also accused the party of divisive politics and provoking “brother against brother”.
He was referring to Bihar BJP leader Giriraj Singh’s jibe yesterday, where Singh said anti-Modi people would have to flee to Pakistan after election results.
“Singh’s comment shows that the BJP believes in creating a rift between communities and dividing the nation for their benefit, but today, I am here to talk about Modi’s false and misleading propaganda about development in Gujarat. I have no problem admitting that Gujarat has prospered, but that is because of the enterprising nature of the Gujarati people; not because of the BJP or Modi being chief minister,” said Singhvi, who came prepared with data to support his claims.
Singhvi claimed that after Modi took over as chief minister in 2001, Gujarat’s average growth rate remained at 9 per cent to 10 per cent.
“If you go back and check figures of the past three governments, it was near 16 per cent for almost 15 years, but no chief minister ever boasted about the achievement. While Modi, who actually brought down the growth, keeps on patting his own back,” Singhvi said.
He tore apart Modi’s tall claims about several other development parameters.
“In many conclaves, Modi claims that Gujarat is number one in industrial development, which is a white lie. Maharashtra is number one, followed by Delhi, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. In software exports, Gujarat ranks 11th in India. Even Uttar Pradesh is ahead of Gujarat in IT,” Singhvi said.
“Gujarat ranks eighth in per capita income, 14th in the prosperity index, eighth in poverty reduction, and eighth in GDP. Even Bihar is ahead of Gujarat in GDP,” claimed Singhvi, who alleged that Modi’s claims of tourism and sports development is nothing but a marketing gimmick.
Singhvi also added that even after organising sports events like ‘Khel Mahakumbh’, Gujarat stands nowhere in sports.
“Haryana bagged 21 gold medals in Commonwealth games, while Gujarat bagged zero, but like Modi, Haryana Chief Minister never boasted about it. Similarly, Gujarat bagged no gold medal in the recent national games, while a total of 444 gold medals were conferred in that event. I challenge Modi on these facts,” Singhvi said.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday demanded that the Election Commission should take cognizance of Congress spokesperson Shashi Tharoor’s comments that India does not need “a bleeder or a pleader” as Prime Minister.
“Shashi Tharoor uses the words “bleeders”? What kind of language is this? We demand EC takes cognizance of all this,” BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitaraman said.
Yesterday, Tharoor gave the ‘bleeder’ remark while hitting back at BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi and senior leader Arun Jaitley for dubbing PM Manmohan Singh as “just a reader and not a leader”.
Tharoor had also questioned Jaitley’s attack on Robert Vadra, son-in-law of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, and said why BJP was targeting a “private individual”, who is neither a member of a political party nor a candidate in this Lok Sabha polls.
Tharoor’s remark came after Jaitley posted stinging remarks on his blog against Singh and Vadra.
Jaitley took potshots at Singh in his blog saying the Prime Minister “walked on snow, but did not leave any footprints”, a day after PMO sought to counter the perception that Singh has been “weak” in his tenure.
Singh is under constant radar of the Opposition after the release of a book written by former media advisior to the PM during 2004-09, Sanjaya Baru – ‘The Accidental Prime Minister – The Making and Unmaking of Manmohan Singh’.
However, trashing Sanjaya Baru’s book, Pankaj Pachauri the communications advisor to PM on Friday said, “PM Manmohan Singh doesn’t need to make a statement as PMO, Congress & family have spoken.”
To substantiate claims of India’s growth under Manmohan Singh, Pachauri said, “GDP tripled in the last 10 years. Our per capita income tripled in last 10 years. But people don’t know, as media are priorities different.” “PM has made more than 1000 speeches & more than half of what he said has been achieved in last 10 years.”
For no fault of mine, I have scored more than a “hat-trick” innot voting in the past elections – KDMC elections in 2010, the Lok Sabha Elections, 2009, 2004, Assembly elections 2005 and KDMC elections in 2005. Every time I went to the polling centre to cast my vote, I found my name missing!. Everytime the authorities told me my housing society could not be “identified”, despite carrying a whole bunch of documents establishing my identity. Other members of my society have also been facing the same problem. How is this possible when most of us had voted in all the previous election till 2004-2005? Why do the authorities find it so difficult to maintain a list of residents in a given area in the age of computerisation? And especially when we had submitted the duly filled form for our enrolment, time and again and several times, and through none other than the local corporators?
Can’t the election commission allow at least those with valid voter IDs to vote, whether or not his/her name features on the voter list? After an awareness drive was launched in our locality and through several websites and NGOs etc., this time, we decided to give it another try and once againhave submitted photos and documents two months ago. But, we are still to receive any confirmation. Nor do we see our names in the concerned websites to confirm our enrolment!
What should we do now? How long should we wait as the polling date is fast approaching? The experience has totally discouraged us, to say the least and scores of legitimate citizens are being deprived of exercising their fundamental right to vote–especially when this 2014 general elections prove to be very crucial and important to many Indian citizens.
God alone knows when we will be able to cast our vote. Will any political party come forward to help us as we are more concerned and serious this time, to cast our vote at any cost ?
When we look around we find too much money is being spent on elections. This is not good for a country like ours with so much poverty. Agreed that some money needs to be spent on campaigning but not this much. This is happening because our leaders have lost all moral authority and the citizens have no confidence in them.
The Congress has destroyed the political culture by remaining aloof ( cold and distant) from the masses. Even BJP did the same when they were in power for some years. Forget the ministers, even the civil servants played high and mighty and considered it below their dignity to interact with the masses. A minister cannot be everywhere but he must see to it that the officers do their job and conduct regular tours in their areas. Everybody talks of reducing election expenses but we always witness the opposite. Why should only the EC keep track of election expense, why not the local administration? We are solely dependent on the Supreme Court for setting things right. What about the other institutions? That is what is ailing our society.
When Narendra Modi takes charge, he must bring about administrative reforms in a calibrated but determined manner. During British regime ( as our elders told us) , the officers of the ICS cadre regularly undertook tours and that is why you find a lot of good old “ Dak bungalows”. They were the officers who ran the government. Will our officers now, take a tour to find out the extent of damage that occurred due to a recent hailstorm and efforts being put in towards rehabilitation? No, they will not go there.
The present day scenario is such that the officers are pre-occupied in bidding the self seeking ministers ( for mutual gain) and then write a book for further commercial gain after enjoying all goodies. This is unfortunate. These book writers should also be hauled up for dereliction of duty. During their service, they will write nothing on the files but after leaving office, they will write profusely. That is intellectual dishonesty. All district magistrates should be made to write a synopsis on work done and work planned; even departmental heads should do that. Then there will be no need to write later.
Why should Sonia Gandhi and Modi address such whirlwind rallies in such heat, putting needless extra burden on policemen? You have put up your candidates ( which the public will know) and given your manifesto , now engage in day to day normal work and let the people vote. Why so much “ hulla-gulla” and using foul language against one another ?
China will limit the amount of money consumers can transfer to third-party online payment platforms, aiming to protect banks and consumers from fraud amid an explosion of online and mobile payment transactions.
Banks will be obliged to limit how much money an individual can transfer to platforms such as Alibaba Group Holding’s Alipay per transaction or on a single day, based on the person’s financial status, showed a document issued by the central bank and banking regulator.
Lenders such as the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd already limit transfers to Alipay to 50,000 yuan ($8,000) per month, in part to slow deposits leaving for high-yielding money-market funds such as Alibaba’s Yu’e Bao.
But by June 30, all banks must be prepared to implement transaction limits and also establish a means of verifying consumers’ identities when they link their accounts at third-party payment platforms to their bank accounts.
“The requirements governing the establishment of business relations between commercial banks and third-party payment institutions are aimed at strengthening management of such business,” the regulators said in the document.
“They are also put forward to protect the safety of commercial bank clients’ information, funds and bank accounts and maintain the clients’ legitimate rights.”
The document from the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) and China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC), dated April 3, was reported by the official Shanghai Securities News on Friday and published in full on the website of China Business News.
It comes at a time absent of any obvious increase in online fraud, and the rules do not contain more draconian measures that local media reported were under consideration, such as limiting individual transfers to 5,000 yuan or a monthly total of 10,000 yuan.
Online boom
China is set to overtake the United States as the world’s largest online retail economy this year, according to consultancy McKinsey, after online and mobile payments rose 47 percent last year to 5.37 trillion yuan ($863.48 billion), showed data from Beijing-based consultancy iResearch.
The surge has fuelled a clash between banks and internet companies who are pushing into financial services such as online payments and wealth management products.
Funds under Alibaba’s Yu’e Bao nearly tripled to 541 billion yuan over the three months ended March, according to a quarterly earnings report released late on Thursday by Tianhong Asset Management Co, an Alibaba affiliate which manages Yu’e Bao funds.
Alibaba rivals Tencent Holdings Ltd and Baidu Inc offer similar money-market funds and payment services. This week, Baidu launched a new mobile wallet application.
Reuters previously reported that the China Banking Association was lobbying for restrictions on online financial products that would reduce the outflow of traditional bank deposits into wealth management products linked to third-party payment platforms.
Among other measures announced in the authorities’ document, banks will have to set up virtual private networks (VPNs), firewalls and other dedicated channels to prevent the third parties from accessing the banks’ internal data.
Banks must also analyse clients’ ability to sustain risk before letting them make payments through third parties, and conduct real-time supervision of clients’ third-party payment activity.
“Commercial banks must include their third-party payment business in overall risk control mechanisms,” the central bank and regulator said in the document.
Seven years after he was sentenced to life imprisonment for killing his wife by setting her afire, a man has been acquitted by the Bombay High Court.
The court held that the dying declarations of the victim were contradictory and not enough for the conviction of 42-year-old Akaram Malappa Aaivale, who was in jail since being held guilty in April 2007 by a Kolhapur sessions court for the death of Vijaymala, his wife of 22 years. Also, it said, the evidence could not rule out suicide.
He too had sustained 10 per cent burn injuries in the incident which occurred in 2006. Being aggrieved, he filed an appeal in the High Court which set him free two days ago, by giving him the benefit of doubt on account of “weak evidence”.
“In our opinion, the conviction of the appellant cannot be sustained on the basis of dying declaration alone. All other witnesses, including the daughter of the appellant and mother of deceased Vijaymala, did not support the prosecution and were declared hostile,” said a bench headed by Justice P V Hardas.
The court also took into account the evidence tendered by the mother of deceased that on account of the demise of Vijaymala’s son-in-law, the latter had become mentally disturbed.
“In such a situation, therefore, according to us the possibility of deceased Vijaymala committing suicide on account of trivial quarrel between the appellant and Vijaymala cannot be ruled out,” said the judges.
Moreover, the judges held that Dr. Shashikant Dhumale has admitted that injuries sustained by the appellant were possible in an attempt at dousing the flames.
The possibility of Vijaymala committing suicide is certainly rendered probable in the light of the dying declaration as recorded in medical case papers, the bench observed.
The entire evidence rested on two declarations given by the deceased to Nayab Tehsildar Ranjeet Desai and head constable Dinkar Kawale.
According to the prosecution, the husband had killed his wife as he suspected her character.
However, the court held that in the dying declaration recorded by the head constable, there is no reference to the appellant suspecting the chastity of Vijaymala prior to the day of the incident.
“It is unbelievable that the appellant after more than 22 years of the marriage would suddenly start suspecting the chastity of his wife on the day of the incident and set her ablaze,” the judges observed.
In the dying declaration recorded by the constable, Vijaymala had stated that she had been set ablaze by the appellant as he was suspecting her character. She said that the appellant had poured kerosene from a container and lit a match-stick and set her ablaze.
However, in the history narrated and which is found in medical case papers in another dying declaration recorded by Nayab Tahsildar, there is a total absence of any averment about the appellant setting Vijaymala ablaze, the bench noted.
“All that is stated is that Vijaymala had sustained burns at 4.45 p.M. Or one hour prior to her admission in the hospital,” the bench said.
MNS chief Raj Thackeray has reaffirmed his support to BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi and ruled out any merger between the two parties.
Days after being snubbed by BJP chief Rajnath Singh for his “unsolicited” support to Modi in the post-poll scenario, the MNS chief was quoted as saying, “My support was for BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi and not the saffron party.”
“MNS is not a party like the ones in UP and Bihar, which the BJP chief should remember,” Raj said while taking a dig at BJP chief Rajnath Singh and added that he had only appreciated the good work done by Modi.
He said that in 2011 he had also stated that Modi should become the Prime Minister of the country and that he stood by his word even now.
Raj said this last night while addressing an election meeting for MNS candidate from Thane Abhijit Phanse.
“Tomorrow even if the BJP comes to power at the Centre, we will not take and will not ask for any berth in the Cabinet,” the MNS chief said.
On the occasion, Raj also said that his party will strive to get national recognition for Marathi language in the country.
He criticised the Naik family for “gharaneshai” (dynasty) whose members were holding all important positions leaving no space for others.
Raj also condemned the recent ink attack on noted historian Babasaheb Purandare in the state.
On the occasion, he said that their agitation against toll fee was presently suspended due to the elections and once the polls end, they will renew the protest.
He also said that the present MPs and candidates do not know what work was to be done by an MP and what work comes under the domain of a civic body.
In a show of strength in Maharashtra for the third and final phase of elections in the state on April 24, the Shiv Sena-BJP and Congress-NCP combine are leaving no stone unturned to draw huge crowd at their rallies.
A whopping amount of money is being spent to organise rallies, which would be addressed by stalwarts of the respective parties.
For the April 20 rally organised by the Mumbai Regional Congress Committee (MRCC), which will be addressed by Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and other leaders from the state, the party has spent over Rs. 30 lakh for the event at Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA) ground, according to sources.
The city Congress unit has spent Rs. 30,63,853, including Rs. 22,97,890 as security deposit and Rs. 3,78,692 as service tax, for the mega-rally, which will also see participation of alliance partners Nationalist Congress Party and People’s Republican Party, headed by Prof Jogendra Kawade, they said.
“It is going to be a massive rally. We have done massive preparations for it. We are expecting a huge turnout. A meeting in this regard was held with Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan and other senior party leaders,” MRCC chief Janardhan Chandurkar said.
The party unit has asked every MLA from the city and suburbs to ensure a crowd of about 5,000 with them. “We have around 20 MLAs and MLCs who have been entrusted the task,” Chandurkar said.
Similarly, the Shiv Sena-BJP combine has also spent about Rs. 34 lakhs for their joint rally, which will be addressed by BJP’s prime ministerial nominee Narendra Modi and Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on April 21, sources said.
Mumbai is crucial for the Congress, which had won five out of the six Lok Sabha seats in 2009. The sixth seat was bagged by its alliance partner NCP.
A local Corporator and two others, including a civic engineer, were arrested today for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs. 4 lakh from a woman for not razing her shop, Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) sources said.
The arrested were identified as Vidyadhar Govind Bhoir, a Corporator of Kalyan Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC), Deputy Engineer Dattatray Laxman Mastud and Vilas Pandurang Kadu, a peon of the civic body, they said.
Bhoir and Mastud originally demanded Rs. 8 lakh for not demolishing the shop, reportedly built illegally, of one Ritu Kishor Bhatia. They later settled for Rs. 4 lakh, the sources said. In the meantime, the woman lodged a complaint with the ACB, which laid a trap and caught the peon accepting the bribe on behalf of the Corporator of the Engineer, they said, adding the trio had been booked under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
China will limit the amount of money consumers can transfer to third-party online payment platforms, aiming to protect banks and consumers from fraud amid an explosion of online and mobile payment transactions.
Seven years after he was sentenced to life imprisonment for killing his wife by setting her afire, a man has been acquitted by the Bombay High Court. 
MNS chief Raj Thackeray has reaffirmed his support to BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi and ruled out any merger between the two parties. 
In a show of strength in Maharashtra for the third and final phase of elections in the state on April 24, the Shiv Sena-BJP and Congress-NCP combine are leaving no stone unturned to draw huge crowd at their rallies.