NEW DELHI, June 20: Noted Hindi poet Kedarnath Singh has been chosen for the prestigious Jnanpith award for 2013.
Singh is the 10th Hindi writer to receive the honour and joins the likes of Sumitra Nandan Pant, Ramdhari Singh Dinkar among others. He will be the recipient of 49th Jnanpith award.
80-year-old Singh, who has also written essays and stories, was born in Balia, UP, and ‘Abhi bilkul abhi’ and ‘Yahan se dekho’ are among his prominent works.
The award includes Rs 11 lakh and a citation, a release from the Jnanpith award committee said. (PTI)
Political appointees must resign voluntarily: Naidu
BANGALORE, June 20: With the NDA Government’s move to ease out several UPA appointed Governors coming under opposition attack, Union Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu today said all political appointees should resign voluntarily in the interest of the “system”.
“….It will be in the interest of the system that all the political appointees, they resign voluntarily. I’m using the term all the political appointees and there is no need to expand it or explain it further,” Naidu said while responding to a query on reported pressure being mounted on UPA gubernatorial appointees to step down following change of regime at the Centre.
Naidu, also the Parliamentary Affairs Minister, hit back at Congress which had flayed NDA’s move, for “preaching” and accused it of “double standard politics” and maintained that “political appointments must go with the political establishment.”
“Some of our Congress friends are preaching….I would request them to check their consciousness and find out what they have done. If they do it- good, if others expect them to do it- bad; is this the right way? Such double standard politics is not good for any one.”
“There is no need to make it a big issue, once the new government comes in …Those who are on political appointments should go with the (outgoing) government. Isn’t it a respectable way for the smooth functioning of the government rather than making it controversial;Political appointments must go with the political establishment, that’s my view,” he told reporters after reviewing Metro work here.
Asked whether BJP would not appoint those with political background as Governors, Naidu said “….There is no rule that politicians cannot be appointed, if he is a sincere person, constitution abiding person you can’t debar him. Let the country have a consensus and say no politician at all, you can’t put standards to BJP alone.”
Asked about the fate of pending anti-corruption bills drafted by the previous government, Naidu said “I did not hear anything anti-corruption by the Congress party or their leader mentioned (Rahul Gandhi) for nine years, nine months, twenty nine days.”
“We have our own agenda to tackle corruption, we have shown it in our first meeting itself when we took up the issue of blackmoney…So nobody needs to advise us in this regard, from people who slept over on the issue for years together,” he said.
Slamming Congress for protesting against Government on various issues, he said “I want to give a small advice to my Congress friends who are shouting slogans against price rise, temperature rise, Delhi power issue…. You were ruling in Delhi till recent past, your supporting party (AAP) has ruled Delhi for 4 months, whereas we have come only 15 days back.”
“Can anybody generate power in 15 days? Is it possible? Do you have the audacity to come and demonstrate in front of my party office….” he questioned Congress, while requesting them to be gracious enough to understand the mandate of people and accept it. (PTI)
NEW DELHI, June 20: The Delhi High Court today sought CBI’s response on the plea of former Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala, serving a 10-year jail term in teachers recruitment case, for extending by four weeks his interim bail for completing his brother’s post-cremation rituals as he was currently hospitalised.
The high court had on June 3 granted three weeks’ interim bail to 79-year-old Chautala for carrying out the post-cremation rituals of his brother, who died on June 1.
A bench of justice Siddharth Mridul today asked CBI to file a status report before the next date of hearing on June 23 even as the agency opposed the plea and said Chautala’s health condition should be checked in AIIMS.
“Issue notice. Counsel for CBI seeks time to file a status report. Let status report be filed before the next date of hearing,” the court said.
The order was passed after hearing arguments by advocates R K Anand and Amit Sahni on behalf of Chautala and CBI respectively.
Anand told the court that Chautala will perform the rituals or ceremonies if he is well enough.
This submission came in response to the court’s query, “Is he well enough to perform the ceremonies?”
Chautala has sought extension of his bail by four weeks on the ground that he is currently admitted in the ICU of Medanta Hospital in Gurgaon due to bad health and if allowed by the doctors, he would like to attend the remaining post-cremation rites of his brother Pratap Singh.
Chautala was set free by the court on interim bail for 21 days while asking him to furnish a personal bond of Rs five lakh with two sureties of the like amount.
The Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) leader has sought extension of bail on the same terms and conditions as given in the June 3 order.
Earlier, on May 30, the high court had issued notice to CBI seeking its reply by July 11 on Chautala’s plea for regular bail citing his ill health.
In his regular bail plea, Chautala, had contended that he is a physically disabled senior citizen having 60 per cent permanent disability.
He had contended in his plea that he is suffering from diabetes as well as chronic obstructive airway disease and is prone to both respiratory and cardiac ailments.
On January 22, 2013, a special CBI court had sentenced Ajay Chautala, Om Prakash Chautala and eight others, including Vidya Dhar and Badshami, to 10 years jail term for illegally recruiting 3,206 junior teachers in 2000.
Among other convicts in the junior basic trained (JBT) teachers’ recruitment scam case, 44 have been sentenced to four years in jail and one to five-year jail term.
All of them were held guilty of cheating, forgery, using fake documents as genuine, conspiracy under IPC and for abusing their official position under Prevention of Corruption Act. (PTI)
NEW DELHI, June 20: Having suffered its worst-ever poll debacle, Congress will begin its review exercise tomorrow when a panel headed by A K Antony is set to meet party leaders from Delhi unit to pinpoint the reasons for defeat.
All the seven candidates of Congress, who lost in the Lok Sabha polls including Kapil Sibal, Ajay Maken, J P Agrawal, Sandip Dikshit have been called for the feedback.
Antony and AICC general secretary Mukul Wasnik will be taking stock of the reasons for the 7-0 defeat of the party in the national capital.
Party sources said Antony will also be meeting PCC chiefs, CLP leaders and other party functionaries from various states in the days to come to find out what went wrong with the party in the Lok Sabha polls.
The exercise is being undertaken at the behest of Congress President Sonia Gandhi who has been assinged by the party’s apex decison-making body Congress Working Committee to effect the necessary changes in the organizational set up.
Antony will prepare a report which may be finalised before the budget session of parliament.
The party is reported to be contemplating changing Chief Ministers in Maharashtra, Assam and Haryana besides replacing PCC chiefs in around ten states including that of Maharasthra, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha and Tamil Nadu.
Congress has got its lowest tally of 44 seats in the 543-member Lok Sabha in elections held in April-May this year. (PTI)
MUMBAI, June 20: A CBI court here today reprimanded the counsel of former Gujarat Minister of State for Home, Amit Shah for seeking yet another exemption for his client without assigning any reason for the BJP leader’s non-appearance in connection with the 2006 Tulsiram Prajapati fake encounter case.
“Every time you are giving an exemption application without assigning any reason,” said special CBI judge J T Utpat after CBI counsel B P Raju opposed Shah’s exemption application.
However the court allowed his exemption application and fixed the next date of hearing on July 4.
Earlier, on June 6, the court had allowed the exemption plea of Shah and postponed the hearing till today.
Shah in his exemption application today said he could not attend the court hearing as he was in Delhi. “Shah is engaged in political work in New Delhi and therefore not about to come to court,” read his application filed by his lawyer Robin Mogera.
The court is also likely to pass an order on the discharge application filed by Shah on June 25.
The court had on May 9 issued summons to Shah and other accused in the case, which was transferred from Gujarat to Mumbai this year.
The CBI had charge-sheeted Shah and 18 others, including several police officers, in the case in September 2013.
According to CBI, gangster Sohrabuddin Sheikh, claimed to have links to Pakistan-based terror outfit Lashkar-e-Toiba, and his wife Kauser Bi were abducted by Gujarat’s Anti-Terrorism Squad when they were on way from Hyderabad to Sangli in Maharashtra and killed in an alleged fake encounter near Gandhinagar in November 2005.
Tulsiram Prajapati, an eye-witness to the encounter, was killed by police at Chapri village in Banaskantha district of Gujarat in December 2006.
Shah, who was then Minister of State for Home was allegedly involved in the conspiracy behind both the incidents. (PTI)
NEW DELHI, June 20: India and the UK are likely to explore ways of cooperation in fields of next generation telecommunication and stem cell, the Government said today.
In a meeting here between Union minister Jitendra Singh and British High Commissioner James Bevan, the two countries discussed a new joint programme ‘Invest’, aimed at addressing basic needs of the lower strata of society in relation to health, sanitation and other basic amenities.
India and the UK share a traditional and historic relationship in the areas of science and technology based on mutual trust, partnership reciprocity and parity which could cover a wide gamete of basic and applied research, Singh was quoted as saying in a release.
The Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions said that various departments of India are already cooperating with departments of business, innovation and skills (BIS), British Council and Royal Society.
Singh told the High Commissioner that major areas of cooperation that can be covered included next generation telecommunication, solar voltaic material, weather science and stem cell, it said.
Bevan had called on Singh to convey his Government’s wishes to the Narendra Modi Government.
Singh said the NDA Government desires to work in close collaboration with all countries including the UK in a spirit of mutual coexistence, collaboration and cooperation.
Referring to an MoU with UK on civil services reforms, he said that officers from India are sent to London School of Economics, King’s College, University of Manchester and other renowned institutions in UK on regular basis.
“Soon, the Government of India will also be sending a task force to UK to discuss the new initiatives,” he said.
Referring to the Ministry of Science and Technology under him, Singh also observed that the India-United Kingdom Science and Innovation Council has played a vital role in stepping up bilateral science and innovation collaboration from two million pounds in 2008 to 150 million pounds of co-funding from both sides. (PTI)
NEW DELHI, June 20: President Pranab Mukherjee today appointed and transferred several judges in various State High Courts.
Justice Dama Seshadri Naidu, Additional Judge of the High Court of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh has been transferred as the Additional Judge of the Kerala High Court and has been directed to assume charge on or before June 30.
Justice Ashutosh Mohunta, Judge of the High Court of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh has been transferred to the High Court of Punjab and Haryana. He will assume charge of his office on or before June 30.
Ms Rekha Mittal and Inderjit Singh have been appointed as Additional Judges of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana for a period of two years with effect from June 15. (UNI)
NEW DELHI, June 20: India today made strong objections to the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC) once again making an “incorrect and misleading” reference to the status of Kashmir.
The Kashmir issue finds mention in the resolutions adopted during the 41st Session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of Organisation of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC) held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia from June 18 to 19.
“We note with regret that the Organisation of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has once again made factually incorrect and misleading references to matters internal to India, including the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, which is an integral part of India,” Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said here replying to a query from the media.
“We reject all such references/resolutions. The OIC has no locus standi on matters concerning the internal affairs of India,” he said. (AGENCIES)
NEW DELHI, June 20: India today criticised mentioning of “misleading references” to Jammu and Kashmir in a resolution by Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in its meeting in Jeddah.
“We note with regret that the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation has once again made factually incorrect and misleading references to matters internal to India, including the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir which is an integral part of India.
“We reject all such references/resolutions. The OIC has no locus standi on matters concerning the internal affairs of India,” the Spokesperson in the External Affairs Ministry said.
He said this in response to a question on resolutions adopted during the 41st session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of OIC in which has mentions about Jammu and Kashmir along with countries like Yemen, Mali Bosnia and Herzegovina. (PTI)
NEW DELHI, June 20: BJP leader and Lok Sabha MP Meenakshi Lekhi today took over as the chairperson of the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC).
An official notification regarding the appointment of the New Delhi MP as chairperson of NDMC was received from the Home Ministry late yesterday.
Lekhi takes over from Jalaj Srivastava, a 1984-batch IAS officer who was appointed the NDMC chairperson in August last year.
Lekhi will be the second MP to be part of the Council after amendments were made in the NDMC Act in 2011. Before Lekhi, the Congress MP from New Delhi, Ajay Maken, was its member.
As per the 2011 amendment, the MP and MLA of the New Delhi Lok Sabha and Assembly constituency automatically become members of the council.
The area under NDMC’s jurisdiction comprises the territory known as Lutyen’s Delhi and covers the VIP zone that houses the seat of authority in the national capital. (PTI)
