Terrorists try to attack India’s secularism, democracy: Shinde

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January 20, 2014

Terrorists and extremists seek to attack the democratic and secular fabric of the country and they would continue to try to keep everyone on tenterhooks, Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said on Monday.

“Terrorism and extremism seek to attack our two most significant achievements- secularism and democracy. Our enemies who are at cross purposes with the ‘idea of India’, will continue to attempt to keep us on tenterhooks, and unsettle us, as we move forward in our endeavour of nation building,” he said.

Shinde was speaking on the occasion of foundation day of National Investigation Agency (NIA), and said these values lie at the very core of India’s existence, and bind its citizen as a ‘nation’.
The Minister said the threats to the country need not merely take on conventional forms and may emanate from hitherto unknown areas, methods, and motivations and security agencies need to keep themselves prepared in this fight.

“We need to undertake capacity enhancement and upgrade our skill sets, so as to confront the most virulent and most unusual of these threats.”

“Eternal vigilance is the price we have to pay in our quest for preserving and maintaining, our hard earned freedom, liberty, democracy, and secularism,” he said.

Examining issue of blacklisting AgustaWestland: Antony

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Afternoon Voice

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January 20, 2014

After scrapping Agusta Westland’s Rs. 3,600 crore deal for supplying VVIP choppers, the Defence Ministry on Monday said it will take a decision on the issue of blacklisting the firm after consultations with the Law Ministry and CBI.

“We are examining the whole thing and we will take a decision after detailed examination and in consultation with the Law Ministry and CBI. I don’t want to take any hasty action that will cause problems to us….There is no understanding between the government and the company,” Defence Minister A K Antony said on the sidelines of an NCC function.

He was replying to a question on reports that the Anglo-Italian firm and the government have reached an understanding and the former would not be blacklisted.

The Defence Minister said the government is focusing on encashing its bank guarantees in Italy and India.

“In the Indian bank, we have encashed it. In the Italian bank, we are trying to get our money. There (in Italy) they have disputed but immediately we are trying to fight case and we are taking other actions to protect our interests,” he said.

The Defence Ministry cancelled its contract with AgustaWestland on January 1 after it found that there was alleged breach of the pre-contract integrity pact. AgustaWestland has denied any wrongdoing on its part in the case relating to alleged kickbacks in the deal.

After scrapping the deal, India encashed a guarantee of over Rs. 250 crore deposited by AgustaWestland in a bank in Delhi even as it is preparing to file an appeal against an Italian court’s stay on its move to encash another guarantee in an Italian bank.

Telangana Bill not comprehensive, needs amendments: BJP

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Afternoon Voice

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January 20, 2014

BJP on Monday said the Telangana Bill providing for bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh was not comprehensive and that amendments are needed in it so that concerns of Seemandhra region could be addressed.

The main opposition party, whose support will be crucial for passage of the Bill in Parliament, accused Congress of mishandling the issue and treating it as an “internal matter”.

BJP leader Venkaiah Naidu, while participation in a protest organised by the party’s Andhra Pradesh unit to demand amendments to the Telangana Bill, maintained his party’s commitment to division of the state but said concerns of Seemandhra region need to be addressed.

“BJP is committed for division of the State. We are in favour of creation of the new State of Telangana,” he said.

At the same time, he added, “The BJP will stand by the Seemandhra people as far as their genuine problems are concerned. We will do everything. The bill brought by the Congress government is not comprehensive and does not address the concerns of people of different regions.”

Asking the government to “seriously understand apprehensions and fears” of Seemandhra region, Naidu said, “It is the duty of the ruling party to understand the problems and then come with needed amendments and then take everybody into account and get the bill passed.”

He said the Centre should declare in the bill a new capital for Telangana, 10-year tax holiday to woo industrialists for establishing their units and upgradation of Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam and Tirupati airports into international airports.

His comments assume significance as the government is planning to introduce the Telangana bill in Parliament during the resumed Winter session beginning on February 5.

Sunanda Pushkar may have died of drug overdose, says doctors’ report: sources

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Afternoon Voice

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January 20, 2014

Sunanda Pushkar Tharoor, wife of union minister Shashi Tharoor, may have died of a drug overdose, a panel of doctors has reportedly concluded.

The autopsy report on the 52-year-old, who was found dead in a five-star hotel room on Friday, was handed over to a magistrate investigating the case.

Here are the latest updates on this story:

Sources say doctors found traces of Alprazolam, an anti-depressant, which indicates that Sunanda Pushkar Tharoor died of an overdose of some strong medicine or sedative. There was no trace of alcohol in her blood, say sources.

Sources say it will now be investigated whether the fatal overdose was accidental or not.

Doctors had said on Saturday that Ms. Tharoor died an “unnatural, sudden death”. Some physical injuries on her body are believed to be unrelated to her death, say sources.

Mr. Tharoor, the minister of state for Human Resource Development, recorded his statement on Sunday before the magistrate investigating his wife’s death. Today, he will go to Hardwar to immerse the ashes of his wife, who was cremated on Saturday.

Actor Salman Khan’s remark on Narendra Modi draws sharp response from Nitish Kumar

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Afternoon Voice

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January 20, 2014

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar threw a sharp dart at Narendra Modi, the BJP’s choice for prime minister, declaring that the 2002 riots in Gujarat “can neither be forgiven nor forgotten.”

Mr. Kumar ended his 17-year alliance with the BJP last year over its decision to elevate Mr. Modi to its top campaigner. Like other detractors of Mr. Modi, the Bihar chief minister alleges that the BJP leader should be held accountable for the communal violence that lacerated Gujarat during his first term as its chief minister.

Last month, a court in Gujarat upheld a Supreme Court investigation that cleared Mr. Modi of allegations of complicity in the riots.

Mr. Kumar was asked to comment on Bollywood superstar Salman Khan who said in a recent interview that in his opinion, Mr. Modi need not apologize for the riots since he has been legally cleared of the charges against him.

“It cannot be forgotten or forgiven” Mr. Kumar professed.

The BJP has alleged repeatedly that Mr. Kumar’s stand on its leader is for public consumption only and is aimed at pleasing the 15 per cent Muslim population of Bihar, on whose support he is heavily dependent.

2 boys slit 23-year-old woman’s throat, set her ablaze after gangrape; arrested

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Afternoon Voice

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January 20, 2014

In a gruesome incident, two youths allegedly gangraped a 23-year-old woman, slit her throat and burnt her body, dumping it into nearby jungles before escaping with her mobile phone and jewellery, police said.
The body of the girl, who had gone missing since December 30, was found half burnt in Radi jungle on the instance of the accused, who have been arrested, police said.

Giving details, police said one of the two accused, Amardeep had lured the girl from her home on the pretext of marriage and afterwards, gangraped her along with his friend Ajay Shah. When the girl insisted on marriage, the duo slit her throat and burnt her body after drenching it in petrol, police said, adding that they also took away her mobile phone and earrings.

The girl’s parents had lodged a missing persons report and her mobile phone was being tracked, which is how the accused were caught, they said. The matter is being probed, they said.

6 men allegedly gangrape shopping mall employee in Kolkata

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Afternoon Voice

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January 20, 2014

A shopping mall employee was allegedly gangraped in Kolkata on Sunday evening. The victim’s relatives said she was gangraped at knife point by six men when she was returning from work at around 10.30 pm.
The crime reportedly took place near the Hastings Police Station area. The woman is now in hospital and is stable.

The incident took place when the girl had taken a hired cab or probably a shuttle cab in which there were some other passengers. They apparently dragged her out of the cab when the car had reached an isolated place in the city and raped her.

A case of gangrape against unknown persons has been filed.

Cheap poll gimmicks

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Prakash Jha

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January 20, 2014

Political parties are adopting various tactics to lure voters prior to the Lok Sabha election. Earlier political parties used to hold election rallies, distribute pamphlets to woo voters. With the passage of time, the campaigning procedures too have undergone a drastic change. Nowadays political parties are using unique strategies to attract voters within a short span of time. They have started using social networking sites like facebook and twitter to lure voters. Narendra Modi, Gujarat chief minister and the Bharatiya Janata Party’s prime ministerial candidate, has 3.1 million followers on Twitter.

Every politician has large number of followers. The messages posted by them reaches their followers in a short span of time. Normally politicians have to spend an entire day to connect with voters. Politicians have adopted social networking sites as it enables them to reach large number of persons. It also enables them to save their precious time. Therefore, this medium has become immensely popular among politicians. All political leaders who have penchant for writing have their own blogs where they publish their personal opinions. The Internet, by virtue of its inherent qualities, has changed political and electoral campaigning for those who can access it.

Apart from social media politicians are also using another medium to make their campaign more effective. They have started conducting Janta Darbar which has become immensely popular nowadays. The Aam Aadmi party has already held several Janta Darbars which enabled the party to interact with voters personally. Taking a leaf out of AAP even Congress too has started holding Janta Darbars. Political parties are conducting these functions in such a place where there is more crowd turnout. Recently, Congress MP Sanjay Nirupam had chosen Borivali station to hold Janta Darbar as it is one of the crowded station of the city.

Political parties are also organizing outdoor games to attract voters. BJP is planning to organize games like Cricket, Football and other games to lure youth. The saffron party is aware that youth actively participates in extra-curricular activities hence they are organizing such events to connect with youth voters. Political parties will adopt several strategies to attract voters. However, the voter will take a final decision regarding which party he would vote for. Finally, voters should vote for the right candidate on the basis of the work done by him instead of his caste or religion.

AAP’s game of one-upmanship

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Mahendra Singh

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January 20, 2014

The Aam Aadmi Party appears to have stage managed this Somnath Bharti episode to be one up against the Congress to bring the Delhi police under the purview of state government. They will shun all their shortcomings and create a new “mudda” which is bound to gain the sympathy of Delhi residents. It’s an extremely brilliant move by the ruling party. This sort of over smartness will not pay in the long run and will become a roadblock for sincere and sober governance.

The time has come that Delhi Lieutenant should dismiss this government and forward a report to the President. However, it is perceived that the Lieutenant Governor appears to love such a “vigilante” approach. It is good to be radical but it should not be overdone. If you observe the body language and accent of Mr Bharti, it shows too much arrogance. Why the Lieutenant is not considering this? Perhaps he also wants his name to be written in history with Kejrival for wresting control of Delhi police. AAP leader Kumar Vishwas stressed the need for Delhi Police to be brought under the jurisdiction of the state government. Delhi Police are at present under the jurisdiction of the Union government.

If you insult Ugandans and Nigerians they will retaliate in the same manner. There is always a better way of doing this work but AAP won’t be able to garner publicity which it is seeking. Congress should have a good look at its ministers. Is it necessary to have Shindeji and Tharoor saheb in the ministry? Mr Tharoor is more interested in having a playboy image and he can join either Hollywood or Bollywood. He is too unconventional to be our minister.

Rahul Gandhi had given a very spirited speech on January, 17 and he should follow it by actions. He must induct capable young women candidates for Lok Sabha by constituting a good selection committee which includes persons like Jyotiraditya Scindia, Sanjay Jha and a good lady psychologist. He should then take them to the constituencies and make them interact with the people to understand about the problems faced by them.

Narendra Modi is not sounding wise and over exposing himself. He should sit down (like Sonia Gandhi) and let others like Kiran Bedi, Subramanian Swamy and Baba Ramdev also speak. You may follow “Ekla chalo re…” but this entails a certain amount of “bairagya”, and mind you, I called you Bapu but you are not a “Mahatma” yet. So better remain watchful.

Hatekar Reinstated And the Credit goes to…

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Afternoon Voice

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January 20, 2014

After the reinstatement of suspended professor Neeraj Hatekar every political parties are competing with each other to take credit for it. When Hatekar was suspended political parties like Shiv Sena, AAP, BJP, Congress and NCP had came forward and demanded his re-instatement. Now when Hatekar’s suspension has been revoked every party wants to derive some mileage about this issue by associating themselves with this cause.

Earlier Mumbai Congress President Janardan Chandurkar had sent letter to the Governor of Maharashtra for revoking Hatekar’s suspension. Chandurkar said, “We have come forward to garner support for re-instatment of Neeraj Hatekar. Neeraj Hatekar himself had fought against injustice hence his suspension has got revoked. He was a honest person and used to support the truth hence he had to undergo difficulties.”

The NCP chief executive Jitendra Awhad had supported the protesting students. Awhad had met the governor and requested him to reinstate him.

NCP MLA Jitendra Awhad said, “It was our party activists who have supported him in the hour of crisis. I also met Governor and made aware about the unjustice meted against Neeraj Hatekar. Our hard work to provide justice for Neeraj Hatekar has really worked.”

On Friday, Yuva Sena president Aditya Thackeray visited professor Neeraj Hatekar’s residence for extending support to him and students who are fighting against the varsity’s decision to suspend the professor.

Yuva Sena spokeperson Rahul Narvekar said, “The Yuva Sena had supported Neeraj Hatekar as his suspension has been revoked. We always support truth.”

Even BJP backed Neeraj Hatekar and in a mail sent to media the party has already stated that they will always support Hatekar.

When AV tried to contact Mumbai, BJP Chief Ashish Shelar and Maharashtra BJP Chief Devendra Fadnavis they remained unavailable for comment.

Members of the Aam Aadmi Party had earlier held protests outside the Maharashtra Governor’s house seeking revoking of the controversial suspension of Neeraj Hatekar.

AAP leader Mayank Gandhi said, “AAP will stand with Neeraj Hatekar till to end. Many members of our party were imprisoned for protesting against the suspension of Hatekar. Finally, AAP’s hard work has paid off.”