New Delhi :-
Prime Minister Narendra Modi today strongly condemned the terror attack at a university in Pakistan and expressed condolences to the families of the deceased.
“Strongly condemn the terror attack at Bacha Khan University in Pakistan. Condolences to families of the deceased. Prayers with the injured,” he tweeted.
Heavily-armed Taliban militants stormed the prestigious university in Pakistan’s restive northwest Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province this morning, firing indiscriminately on students and teachers.
At least 25 people were killed and about 50 others injured in the attack as per the latest information.
According to officials, up to 10 attackers were believed to be involved in the attack.
PANAJI: An anonymous letter purportedly signed by ISIS has threatened to kill Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar.
Goa Police have circulated this letter to all the police stations in the state and handed over the case to the Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS).
The postcard threat letter was received at the State Secretariat last week following which Goa Police swung into action, a senior police official said today.
“All the agencies of state police are investigating this letter. We will soon be able to find the source of it,” the police official said.
“ISIS was written at the bottom of the postcard,” the official confirmed.
The letter has expressed anger over ban on cow slaughter in the country.
The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) has taken a slew of measures including a 35 seconds compulsory wait to book tickets online through its website to facilitate hassle-free booking by genuine ticket seekers.
Now it is not possible to book ticket online before 35 seconds mandatory wait as it has been done to prevent faster booking by unscrupulous elements using any other means, said IRCTC Chairman and Managing Director AK Manocha here today.
Though it takes about 35 seconds minimum to fill the form followed by bank transaction online, there were cases of faster bookings by touts using certain automated softwares and thereby depriving genuine passengers.
We have taken certain security measures to prevent manipulation of the ticketing site and at the same time the site has been upgraded with a substantial investment to enable the system to book 15,000 tickets per minute, Manocha said.
Asked why 35 seconds wait, Centre for Railway Information System (CRIS) MD Sanjay Das said this is the minimum time required to fill the information necessary for booking ticket online. We cannot make it any longer otherwise there will be a long queue which will again be counter productive.”
CRIS provides the software to IRCTC.
About the possibility of hacking the site to cause disruption in the service, Das said foolproof arrangements have been made to prevent any unauthorised intrusion or hacking of the site.
We have engaged Standardisation Ticketing and Quality Control, a website security audit expert, to check the system and they have certified that the site is safe, Manocha said.
“There has been attempts being made by about 18,500 times in the past to intrude into the system which can be called as denial of service attackers. We have taken necessary security measures to prevent such incidents,” Das said.
Online booking of train tickets has gone up to 58 per cent of the total tickets booked by railways.
IRCTC, a railway PSU launched next generation e-ticketing system in April, 2014 to cater to the increased online booking demand. It has spent about Rs 180 crore in the last five years to strengthen the system.
In order to facilitate the genuine passengers, Tatkal booking time has been staggered from 10 AM to 11 AM for AC classes and 11 AM to 12 AM for non-AC classes.
Manocha said a total of about two lakh Tatkal tickets are booked in a day.
In 2014-15, a total 183,021,842 tickets were booked on IRCTC ticketing site. There were about 14.9 crore tickets booked till December 2015.
by : PTI
GUWAHATI: Highlighting the growing youth population of the country, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said that India can supply manpower for running the industries across the globe.
“The world has money and industries but no youth to run them. After 2030, India can globally supply manpower for running the industries. That day is not far,” Modi said after laying the foundation stone of Indian Institute of Information Technology Guwahati.
“For our human resources, let there be manpower development in the global perspective,” he said at the programme held at the IIT-Guwahati.
Referring to the presence of talented and skilled Indians in the US, he said, “in Silicon Valley, CEOs of most companies are Indians and 60 to 70 per cent youth employed there are Indians”.
Pointing out that India imports various electronic goods, including mobile phones, Modi said, “Not a good idea for a country which has such good institutions as the IITs. This has to change. We can manufacture and sell electronic goods to the world.
“Keeping in mind this need, we can take forward the Make in India policy to make India a manufacturing hub”, Modi said. by : PTI
Chief Judicial Magistrate Om Prakash accepted the plea of government lawyer for withdrawal of the case against 262 RJD leaders including Lalu Prasad, his sons Tejaswi Yadav and Tej Pratap Yadav, besides state party chief Ramchandra Purve.
Patna, Jan 19: A district court here today accepted Bihar government’s plea to withdraw a case against RJD chief Lalu Prasad, his two minister-sons and others for vandalism and stopping government officials from discharging their duties during an RJD-sponsored bandh last year and discharged all the accused.
Chief Judicial Magistrate Om Prakash accepted the plea of government lawyer for withdrawal of the case against 262 RJD leaders including Lalu Prasad, his sons Tejaswi Yadav and Tej Pratap Yadav, besides state party chief Ramchandra Purve. Tejaswi Yadav and Tej Pratap Yadav are Deputy Chief Minister and Health Minister respectively. The government lawyer made a plea by moving an application for withdrawal of case under CRPC 321, which was accepted by the court. (ALSO READ: Bihar situation worsening, government not under Nitish Kumar’s control: Chirag Paswan)
The court discharged all the accused and closed the case. A case was registered against them with Kotwali police station in Patna on July 27, 2015, under various sections of IPC which related to vandalism and preventing government officials from discharging their duties. The charge sheet was filed in the case on October 13 last year. RJD, which was not a part of the state government at that time but was supporting Nitish Kumar ministry from outside, had enforced a Bihar bandh on July 27, 2015 demanding the release of caste census report by the union government.
Writer Bhavesh Mandalia has started penning a film which talks about alcohol and existence of gangsters in Gujarat of 1980s.
Bhavesh had scripted the blockbuster “Oh My God”, starring Akshay Kumar and Paresh Rawal and now he plans to direct a film.
“I am writing a film with my friend Nikhil Nair. It’s a fictitious story. I plan to direct it,” Bhavesh told PTI.
“The film talks about a small village in the interiors of Gujarat and how gangsters and alcohol had come up,” he said.
The Vadodara boy feels tha film industry in Gujarat is booming.
“There are films like “Be Yaar” and others that are liked by people. The industry there is booming though it is at a nascent stage. Unfortunately there are not much filmmakers,” he said.
Pakistani authorities have lodged a First Information Report (FIR) against the new owners of legendary Bollywood actor-director Raj Kapoor’s historic family haveli here for demolishing the building which is a national heritage site.
The Directorate of Archaeology and Museums on Sunday lodged the FIR at Khan Raziq police station against the owners of the nearly century-old haveli situated at Dhaki Munawar Shah of the walled city.
Commercial plaza in lieu of first storey
New owners of the existing building had pulled down its first storey for construction of a commercial plaza on it. The doors and window panes on the second and third floors were also removed last week.
On Saturday, the Archives department obtained stay from a local court to save the demolition of the historic ‘haveli.’
Violation of Antiquities Act
Also, Peshawar Museum in-charge Nawazuddin filed a case against homeowners Israr, Ali Qadir and Hassan Qadir for violating the Khyber-Pakhtunwa Antiquities Act 1997 under which buildings more than 70 years old cannot be changed without the consent of the government as well as the Archaeology Department.
Declared heritage buildings
The K-P government has declared the houses of Peshawar-born Bollywood actors Kapoor and Dilip Kumar as heritage to protect and preserve them.
Dewan Basheswarnath Kapoor, father of Kapoor’s father Prithviraj Kapoor, had constructed this house in 1920, where the “Mera Naam Joker” star and his siblings were born. The Kapoor family later shifted to India after Partition.
No cogent step to preserve it
During the previous Awami National Party government in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, the house was declared National heritage but no cogent step was taken to preserve it.
Meanwhile, a process claiming to secure the building was under way and officials said the owners committed a crime by violating the antiquity law, the paper said.
The provincial administration had earlier tried to buy the house from the owners to convert it into a museum but the plan could not come through.
Rishi Kapoor tweets thanks
Raj Kapoor’s actor son Rishi Kapoor took to twitter to thank people of Pakistan resisting the demolition but said since the property belonged to the country, they don’t have a say in it.
A senior IRS officer of the Income Tax department has been sacked by the government for allegedly being on “continuous leave” in an unauthorised manner for over five years.
The case pertains to 1982-batch Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer Ritu Kakkar who was last posted as a Commissioner of Income Tax in Kolkata in 2004, an order she never complied to and remained on “unauthorised absence from duty for a continuous period exceeding five years.”
According to the termination from service notification issued by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), Ms. Kakkar’s “continuous absence” has been treated as “deemed resignation from the IRS with immediate effect.”
“The officer will not be entitled for any retirement benefits,” the order issued by the CBDT on January 14 against the Delhi-based officer said. The notification said Ms. Kakkar was granted a study leave of two years between 2002-2004 and after her return when she “failed to comply with her posting order” to Kolkata, action was initiated by the government and a notice was issued to her in 2007.
It said the said notice could not reach its “logical end” because the officer did not respond to it. “Ms. Kakkar subsequently tendered a notice dated June 21, 2007 for Voluntary Retirement Scheme which was, however, not been found as per relevant rule of VRS as Ms. Kakkar had only 19 years and 5 months qualifying service till the date of proceeding on study leave.
“Since, leave is not a matter of right, leave applied for by Ms. Kakkar for conversion of study leave into regular leave could not be considered,” it said.
The order cited DoPT rules governing these issues and cited Rule 12 (2) of CCS (Leave) Rules, 1972 which states that a government servant who remains absent from duty for a continuous period exceeding five years other than on foreign service, with or without leave, shall be deemed to have resigned from the government service provided that a reasonable opportunity to explain the reasons for such absence be given to that government servant before provisions of sub-rule (2) are invoked.
It added that the said officer was contacted over phone by the office of the cadre controlling Chief Commissioner of Income Tax in Kolkata last year to obtain her side of the story and she informed them that she had “decided to put in her papers and filed VRS.” “This can be treated as opportunity provided to her,” it said in the notification declaring her termination from government service and the IRS.
by : PTI
Even as it “condemned” the ink throwing act on Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, BJP on Monday said that the attempt of Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia to accuse BJP and police for the incident is “more condemnable”.
“We do not approve of such incidents but on the other hand, the swiftness with which Deputy CM Manish Sisodia started blaming the BJP and police is more condemnable and raises suspicion whether the act was staged by the AAP itself,” Delhi BJP president Satish Upadhyay said.
Upadhyay said BJP has never supported such anarchic politics but AAP and Congress have given political promotion to people committing such acts.
“It was the AAP which encouraged anarchism in politics by promoting Jarnail Singh, a Khalistani supporter, to become an MLA, after he had thrown a shoe at the then Finance Minister P Chidambaram.
“Similarly Congress had also indulged in a low grade politics by promoting Bhola Pandey of Uttar Pradesh, who had hijacked a plane three decades ago, to the post of MLA,” he said.
A woman, identified as Bhavna Arora and who claimed to be a member of the Punjab unit of Aam Aadmi Sena, threw ink at Kejriwal at a public rally alleging that she has ample proof that the AAP-led Delhi government is directly involved in the CNG scam. She was later detained by police and a Delhi court today sent her to one day police custody.
“The allegations levelled by Bhavna Arora against AAP government over the sale of more than one lakh CNG stickers to non-CNG cars in Delhi exposes double standards of the government,” Upadhyay said.
“AAP has emerged as the most corrupt party than Congress,” Upadhyay tweeted.
by : PTI
Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said on Monday the NDA government would act on the Ram temple issue on the basis of the Supreme Court verdict and not on pro-Ram Mandir rhetoric of saffron leaders.
The Lok Janshakti Party leader said there was no question of relations between his party and BJP souring over the issue as the government would act on basis of the apex court verdict.
Also, Prime Minister’s politics revolves around development, not around controversial issues such as Ram Mandir, Babri Masjid and Common Civil Code among others, Paswan said.
“In the last two-and-half years of Modi’s rule, the Prime Minister has not even once spoken about Ram Mandir, Babri Masjid, Common Uniform Civil Code and Article 370, among others.
“His only aim is that there should be development in the country…how to solve the unrest among the youth, and strengthen the image of India, internationally, which no other Prime Minister could do as better as Modi,” he said.
To a question, he said: “There is no question of Modi’s image taking a beating and relations between LJP and BJP souring over the Ram Mandir issue because the NDA government will act on SC’s verdict, not on pro-Ram Mandir rhetoric of saffron leaders including Pravin Togadia.”
Replying to a query, Paswan said Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi does not have the moral right to demand capping of taxation percentage in the GST Bill because they did not do anything on it during the decade-rule of the UPA.
Paswan said Congress was misusing the strength of numbers in the Rajya Sabha to stall the GST Bill.
“The Bill should have been passed last year. They (Congress) are enjoying majority in Rajya Sabha, and they are misusing this position to their advantage.This is not good.”
Asked whether the GST dilemma is spoiling the image of Modi or Congress, he said more than the image of Congress, the image of the country has taken a massive beating.
“The image of Congress has taken a beating big time, but the biggest damage has been done on country’s image.”
by :PTI
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