Mumbai: Right-wing organisations are to blame for the murders of activists Govind Pansare and Narendra Dabholkar, a Maharashtra Legislative Council member said in the House, where MLCs cutting across party lines expressed concern over the twin killings and demanded a proper probe.

Kapil Patil (Lokbharati) mentioned the names of two such outfits, who he claimed, orchestrated the murder of rationalist Dabholkar (in 2013) and Pansare, a veteran Communist leader, who was shot dead last month.

The same outfits may also target Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat, Patil said while initiating debate on the motion on law and order situation in Maharashtra.

Referring to the two high-profile murder cases, which remain unresolved, he said of late right-wing groups have gained in strength in the state and have emerged as a threat to the lives of progressive thinkers.

Patil claimed the slain police officer Hemant Karkare had submitted a list of people who’s lives were under threat from right-wing organisations and that the RSS chief’s name topped the list. “These extremists do not tolerate liberal Hindutva or Hinduism.”

The state government and police are aware of these group’s gameplan, but they do not want to take action against them, the legislator maintained. “The state should clarify who are shielding these organisations.”

MLCs across party lines, including Manikrao Thakre, Anant Gadgil (Congress), Rahul Narvekar (NCP and Neelam Gorhe (Shiv Sena) expressed concerns over Pansare and Dabholkar’s murders and demanded a thorough inquiry.

PTI

Hyderabad: In order to clear the extra rush of passengers during the summer season, 26 special trains will be run between Solapur and Nagpur, according to South Central Railway.

Train no.01401 Solapur-Nagpur weekly special will depart Solapur at 3.20 pm from April 1 to June 24 (13 trips on Wednesdays) and arrive in Nagpur at 12.35 PM on the next day.

In the return direction, train no.01402 Nagpur-Solapur will leave Nagpur at 3 PM from April 2 to June 25 (13 trips on Thursdays) reach Solapur at 11.35 AM the next day.

Enroute, the trains will stop at Mohol, Madha, Kurduwadi, Barshi Town, Usmanabad, Latur, Latur Road, Parli Vaijnath, Purna, Hingoli, Washim, Akola, Murtazapur, Badnera, Chandur, Dhamangaon and Wardha stations in both directions.

The special trains will have 11 coaches — one First AC cum AC II Tier, two AC III Tier, four sleeper class, three general second class and two luggage cum brake van coaches, the SCR said in a statement.

PTI

Thiruvananthapuram: With Kerala registering the lowest growth rate of population in the last one decade, the state is all set to achieve “zero population growth” in the coming years.

While the national rate of growth of population in the last 10 years is 17.6 per cent, the growth rate of state population during the period is 4.9 per cent, the lowest rate among Indian states, according to the latest Economic Review by the State Planning Board.

“The population growth trend shows that Kerala is moving towards zero population growth or towards negative growth,” the Review for the year 2014, placed in the just concluded assembly session, said.

Quoting the final data published by the Directorate of Census, it said the state’s population as on March 2011 was 3,34,06,061, which was 3,18,41,374 in 2001. Of the total state population, 1,60,27,412 (48 per cent) are males and 1,73,78,649 (52 per cent) are females, it said.

The report reveals that six southern districts – Idukki, Kottayam, Alappuzha, Kollam, Pathanamthitta and Thiruvananthapuram – have lower growth rate.

Of the total population, around 64.1 per cent is in the working age group of 15-59 while the remaining 36 per cent is the dependent group. Among this, 12.6 per cent are old dependants and 23.3 per cent are young dependants.

Indicating the declining trend of child population, the Review said population growth rate of children, belonging to the age group of 0-6, is on a negative trend (-8.44 per cent).

Quoting Census, it said the total child population in the state during 2011 is 34,72,955, which was 37,93,146 as per 2001 Census. Stating that the proportion of child population has decreased from 12-10 per cent across the state, the report said the highest proportion of child population is in Malappuram district, the lowest is in Pathanamthitta.

Southern districts in Kerala show two per cent decline except Kollam, which has a decline of one per cent in the proportion of child population, while the northern districts show one per cent decline except Wayanad which has a decline of two per cent.

However, the state’s density of population is much higher than that of the country. As per the figures of 2011 Census, the density of population in the state is 860 persons per square kilometre which is 382 at the national level.

Thiruvananthapuram is the most densely-populated district (1508) in the state while, Idukki is the least densely- populated district (255), the report added.

A Pakistani smuggler, carrying 24 kg heroin, was on Saturday shot dead by the BSF near Indo-Pak border village of Ajnala in Amritsar.

The Pakistani intruder was repeatedly challenged by the BSF troops and asked to surrender when he was entering the Indian territory at Border Out Post at Majhmian, BSF DIG RPS Jaswal said.

He ignored the warnings and kept marching towards Indian territory and also fired gun shots on the BSF party, following which the BSF aggressively retaliated, Jaswal said, adding, the intruder was shot dead during cross firing. 24 kg heroin, having street value of Rs 120 crore as per the international black market was found from near his body.
It seems the smuggler had brought the drug consignment for his Indian counterpart and BSF will investigate his Indian contacts.

Ram Navami, birthday of Lord Ram,was today celebrated with religious fervor and gaiety in theKashmir valley, where \”Shoba Yatra\” were taken out on the occasion. People, mostly Kashmiri Pandits, visited Ram temples tojoin special prayers on the occasion of Ram Navami. The main function was held at Ram Mandir in the old city,where a large number of devotees participated in the puja. Later, a Shoba Yatra was taken out from the mandir whichpassed through different parts of the Civil Lines, includinghistoric Lal Chowk, the nerve centre of the city this afternoon.

People on both sides of the road greeted the devotees,who were singing and dancing in the city. Similar celebrations were organised at other places inthe valley.UNI BAS ASM KU AE SK1604

At least 10 Hindu pilgrims, including seven women, were killed and 50 others injured on Friday in a stampede when hundreds of thousands converged for the annual ‘Ashtami Snan’ on the banks of the OldBrahmaputraRiver outside the Bangladeshi capital.

Devotees thronged the venue of the ‘Ashtami Snan’ in Bandar upazila of Narayanganj early morning and the bathing started at 5:48 AM. The flow of devotees peaked within a few hours, Narayanganj Additional Superintendent of Police Mohammad Jakaria said.

Although the local administration had arranged for 16 quays for the ritual bath, the devotees had raced to ‘Rajghat’. The stampede took place between 9.15 to 10 am, Jakaria said.

“Most of the victims were aged over 50 years…Seven women were among the dead in the stampede during the ‘Ashtami Snan’ at Langalbandh, Narayanganj,” a police official said.

Officials said 10 people were killed and at least 50 devotees injured, who were rushed to nearby medical facilities for treatment.

“The incident took place when hundreds of people were trying to rush to the river from two adjacentghats (terminals) from the narrow bank…most of the victims apparently died instantly,” an eyewitness said.

Gold prices retreated from its three-week highs on the bullion market today following fresh bouts of selling by stockists and investors’ amid lacklustre buying sentiment.

Elsewhere, silver also declined on the back of reduced industrial demand.

Standard gold (99.5 purity) fell by Rs 170 to conclude at Rs 26,520 per 10 grams from Thursday’s closing level of Rs 26,690.

Pure gold (99.9 purity) also shed by a similar margin to end at Rs 26,670 per 10 grams from Rs 26,840 previously.

Silver (.999 fineness) dropped by Rs 235 to finish at Rs 38,775 per kg as compared to Rs 39,010 yesterday.

Meanwhile, the shiny-metal slipped below the significant USD 1,200-mark in worldwide trade, snapping seven-day rallying momentum on fresh bouts of profit taking amid caution ahead of US gross domestic product (GDP) data release and Federal Reserve commentary later in the day.

Spot gold was trading substantially weak at USD 1,199.80 an ounce and spot silver at USD 17.10 an ounce in early European trade.

Panaji: Rescuers on Friday recovered the missing body of Lt Abhinav Nagori from the fuselage of the crashed Dornier-228 maritime surveillance aircraft.

Flight data recorders have also been recovered from the fuselage and search and rescue operations have been called off.

Lt Nagori’s body, meanwhile, is being brought to Goa.

Lt Nagori was among the three crew members of the ill-fated Dornier-228 aircraft which crashed into the Arabian Sea near Goa earlier this week.

While the body of Lt Kiran Shekhawat was found on Thursday, Commander Nikhil Kuldip Joshi was rescued alive when the crash happened on Tuesday night.

Veteran Parliamentarian and former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, founder member of the Bharatiya Janata Party who is held in high esteem across the political spectrum, was today conferred with Bharat Ratna, the country’s highest civilian award, by President Pranab Mukherjee.

In a departure from protocol, Mukherjee drove to Vajpayee’s residence at Krishna Memon marg in Lutyens’ Delhi and presented to the ailing BJP leader the prestigious award, the country’s highest civilian honour.

“Atal ji gave his life to Bharat Bhakti. He was honoured with Bharat Ratna.

Atal ji is an inspiration for so many Indians like me. We got an opportunity to confer Bharat Ratna on Atal ji who dedicated his life to nation,son of mother India,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted.

“I thank the President for personally conferring the Bharat Ratna to Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee,” he said.

The event, which was attended by Vice President Hamid Ansari, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Rajnath Singh along with some close family members, was kept away from the media glare.

Out of the four rapist in the Ranaghat nun gang-rape case the main accused identified as Sikander Sheikh alias Salim, was picked up from Nagpada area in south Mumbai on Wednesday night by West Bengal police in coordination with their Mumbai counterparts, a police officer here said.

Sikander Shaikh had been living in Mumbai from the age of 18. He was into small theft and robbery.He was involved with a bar girl for some time. After the girl reported to the police of his harassment towards her he fled Mumbai and since then has been shuttling between Bangladesh,Bengal and Mumbai.

The nun, 71, of Jesus & Mary Convent School at Gangnapur in Nadia district, was allegedly gang-raped by hoodlums in the early hours on March 14 in the school.

A study of the CCTV footage at the convent in Ranaghat subdivision had shown visuals of four persons who were allegedly involved in the crime. The gang broke into the convent and raped the woman after gagging her.

The gang had looted Rs 12 Lakhs from the convent.

Sikander Shaikh was arrested after a trap was made by Mumbai Police. Mumbai Police used the help of a convict to call him and make an offer of counterfeit notes worth Rs 1,000 to be bought at Rs100 per note. Shaikh was even offered an instalment basis payment to make it more real.

As the time and location was fixed for the deal Mumbai Police immediately nabbed him.The location was Rhea road slums which is a haven for Bangladeshi immigrants.Like Rhea road Vadala Slums, Dyaneshwar Nagar are also inhabited by Bangladeshi immigrants. As many section of the media has quoted them as illegal immigrants they are actually now legal immigrants with valid ration cards, Aadhar cards and Voter ID.

These Bangladeshi’s enter India from Phulbari in West Bengal which has a porous border with India and anyone could have easy access to India. After having comfortably settled in Mumbai they now call their relatives from across the border who land in Mumbai and get into all sorts of illegal activities.

The administration has done little to check on these people and the authenticity of their identity as claimed to be Indians.