LUCKNOW, Mar 13: Outgoing Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and BSP president Mayawati today filed her nomination for the Rajya Sabha. After the BSP’s defeat at the hustings, speculation had been rife about Mayawati entering the Upper House from the State. She had earlier held meetings of party leaders to discuss the coming biennial polls to the Upper House

DEHRADUN/NEW DELHI, Mar 13: Congress MP Vijay Bahuguna was today sworn in as Chief Minister of Uttarakhand after the Congress overruled a revolt by another MP Harish Rawat, who is said to have offered to resign from the Union Government. 65-year-old Bahuguna, son of late Congress leader Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna, was the lone Minister to take the oath of office and secrecy at a brief ceremony at the Parade Ground here. Before his swearing in, Bahuguna told reporters that six more Ministers will be inducted in three or four days after consultations with the High Command. Governor Margaret Alva administered the oath at the function which was attended by former Chief Minister N D Tiwari, Central Congress observers Ghulam Nabi Azad, Birender Singh, party MP Satpal Maharaj, PCC chief Yashpal Arya, and Bahuguna’s sister Rita Bahuguna Joshi.

Excelsior Correspondent

Srinagar, Mar 12: A certificate scandal has surfaced in the Technical Education department where the fake Industrial Training Institute (ITI) certificates are being issued to the candidates for getting Government jobs. Such types of fake certificates are mostly being issued from the ITIs of North Kashmir allegedly on huge payments to facilitate them Government jobs.  One of candidates who was not even student of the ITI, Uri managed to figure in the result gazette of 2008 and got a certificate issued from the department.  The result of the State trade test held under State Council for Vocational Training (SCVT) in July 2007 in various ITI’s of the State was declared under Notification No. 03 of 2008 dated 12-02-2008 in which two candidates with same name and parentage figured in ITI Uri

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Mar 13: Speaker Legislative Assembly, Mohammed Akbar Lone, has sought the comments from leader of Opposition Mehbooba Mufti on the Privilege Motion moved against her and some of her other party members by Saif-Ullah Mir, Nazir Ahmed Gurezi, T Namgyal, Sajad Ahmed Kitchloo and Ch. Mohammed Ramzan in the House yesterday.  The other members of PDP against whom the Privilege Motion has also been moved included Abdul Gafar Sofi, Abdul Haq Khan, Syed Bashir Ahmed, Mansoor Hussain and Javed Mustafa Mir. The issue was raised by Mir Saifullah of NC during the debate on grants of CAPD and Transport Ministry during second sitting of the House today. Saifullah stood up from his seat and wanted to know from the Speaker that what fate their Privilege Motion had met which they had moved against some members of the House

DHAKA, Mar 13: Over 40 years after he played a significant role in Bangladesh’s independence, Indian politician-diplomat D P Dhar is being honoured posthumously by the Bangladesh Government in recognition of his contribution. The honours would be bestowed by Bangladesh President Zilur Rahman at a special function on March 26 here. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will felicitate the recipients the next day. The Bangladesh Government has conveyed this to D P Dhar’s son Vijay Dhar who will be travelling here to receive the honour.  “… The Government of Bangladesh has decided to formally recognise your father, late D P Dhar’s contribution and to express gratitude on behalf of the people of Bangladesh,” said a letter written by Foreign Minister Dipu Moni to Vijay Dhar. She informed Vijay Dhar that his father had been selected for the honour by the National Committee to Honour Foreign Friends of the Bangladesh Liberation War of which she is the Convenor

By Mohinder Verma

JAMMU, Mar 13: Without naming any party, Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs, Ali Mohammad Sagar, today said that platform of Legislature should be used for healthy discussion instead of settling political scores and indulging in mud-slinging, which according to him puts the public issues in the back burner. Replying to the debate on the grants of the Law, Parliamentary Affairs and Rural Development Departments in the Lower House, Sagar said, “Government is not averse to its healthy criticism on any issue and all the MLAs either from the Treasury Benches or from the Opposition must ensure positive discussions”. “We can fight politically on a different forum but the platform of Legislature must only be utilized for constructive discussions and criticism so that the outcome of the same provides benefit to the common masses, who have sent us to the legislature”, the Parliamentary Affairs Minister said, adding “indulging in mud-slinging and creating uproar every time is not a good sign”

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Mar 13: Former Deputy Chief Minister and PDP leader Muzaffar Hussain Baig said today that Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA) with the authorization of its president, Dr Farooq Abdullah, the Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy and National Conference president had opened a fraudulent bank account No. 11554 at Air Cargo branch of Jammu and Kashmir Bank in which all “fraudulent transactions” had taken place. Addressing a press conference here this evening along with PDP leaders Nayeem Akhter and Murtaza Khan, Mr Baig said this account hadn’t been reflected deliberately in the balance sheets of JKCA for 2009-10 and 2010-11 by the cricket body’s president, Farooq Abdullah and chairman, Aslam Goni, who had signed the balance sheets

NEW DELHI, Mar 13: The National Investigation Agency today told a court here that the conspiracy of terror attack at the reception of Delhi High Court last year was hatched with an aim to get commuted the death sentence awarded to December 2001 Parliament attack case convict Afzal Guru. In a 1062-page chargesheet filed before District Judge H S Sharma during an in-camera hearing, NIA said two Pakistani nationals Abu Bilal and Abu Saifullah had allegedly planted the bomb at the entrance of gate number 5 of the High Court which killed 17 persons and injured over 90. The agency filed the chargesheet against six persons, including three arrested accused Wasim Akram Malik, Amir Abbas Dev and a minor and Amir Kamal, Junaid Akram Malik and Shakir Hussain Seikh alias Chota Hafiz, who are members of the banned terror outfit Hizbul Mujahideen and evading arrest

Excelsior Correspondent

AMMU, Mar 13: Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah, today said that Union Government has been approached for the implementation of recommendations of the Rangarajan Committee, which has suggested transfer of Dul Hasti Power Project to the State. “The Rangarajan Committee has recommended the transfer of only Dul Hasti Hydro Electric Project to the State and the matter has been vigorously pursued with the Union Government at various fora”, Omar said while replying to a question of CPM MLA, Mohd Yousaf Tarigami and supplementaries of several MLAs including Leader of the Opposition, Mehbooba Mufti, in the Lower House

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By Sanjeev Pargal

JAMMU, Mar 13: For the first time in the ongoing budget session of the Legislature ruling National Conference members including three Ministers were on their feet as all NC MLAs trooped near Well of the House shouting slogans against main opposition party, the PDP for its remarks against Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy and National Conference president Dr Farooq Abdullah that he was involved in multi-crore scam in Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA). Proceedings of the Question Hour were completely disrupted for about half an hour amidst massive sloganeering by the NC MLAs including senior leaders and former Ministers like Dr Sheikh Mustafa Kamal and Choudhary Mohammad Ramzan and party chief whip Mubarak Gul against the PDP, who demanded that Speaker Mohammad Akbar Lone should expunge remarks made against Dr Abdullah in the Assembly yesterday by the opposition party. At the end of NC protests after about 25 minutes, NC MLA Peer Afaq and Independent MLA from Langate Engineer Abdul Rashid nearly came to blows as latter passed some remarks against the NC and PDP MLAs. Both of them were separated by senior NC Ministers and MLAs besides Marshals but not before abuses were hurled, which were expunged by the Speaker