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Flood Alert in Delhi as Yamuna rises over danger mark
(National) |
10-09-10
Government issues flood alert as Delhi braces for the worst flood since 1978. Water in the Yamuna river is already about 65cm above the danger mark and is expected to rise further by today evening.
More than 6 lakh cusecs of water was released from Hathnikund barrage on Wednesday evening after which an additional 3 lakh cusecs has been released from Thursday morning to Friday (today) morning. It takes about 2 days for the water to reach Delhi from Hathnikund and by today evening the water level is expected to rise even more.
The government says that it is monitoring the situation closely, and most of the people living in the low lying areas have already been shifted to safer places.
Upstream in Haryana, the water that is fast moving towards Delhi, has already flooded over 50 villages near Yamunanagar. |
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Elephant to be National Heritage Animal and National Elephant Conservation Authority to be setup
(National) |
31-08-10
Ministry of Environment and Forests has announced that it will declare the Elephant as a National Heritage Animal. The ministry has also said that a National Elephant Conservation Authority will be setup, to give same degree of visibility, importance and criticality similar to that of National Tiger Conservation Authority.
The annoucement was made while releasing the Report of the Elephant Task Force in New Delhi today, by Jairam Ramesh, Minister of State for Environment and Forests.
The ministry had setup a specialized task force under the Chairmanship of Dr. Mahesh Rangarajan to address the problems related to the Asian Elephant.
Ramesh appreciated the way the Task Force has addressed the main concerns of the issue. The report includes elephant corridors in context of mining, power and irrigation projects, of protection of elephant corridors, elephant in captivity, institutional changes in order to put elephant conservation on high, sound footing and give same degree of visibility as Project Tiger gets.
The Task Force recommends a new system of assessment at three tiers. Crisis of elephant is not a crisis of extinction but a crisis of attrition. The crisis has to be looked into the conservation of habitat. |
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India successfully tests Interceptor Missile
(National) |
26-07-10
Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) has conducted the fourth consecutuve successful test of the Interceptor Missile in Endo atmospheric regime at 15 Km altitude off ITR, Chandipur, Orissa. The single stage Interceptor Missile fitted with Directional Warhead and other advanced systems neutralized the target.
In the test, the Interceptor Missile fitted with directional warhead took off from Wheeler Island successully destroyed the "enemy" ballastic missile that was launched from Launch Complex - III, ITR Chandipur.
The missile was tracked by various Radars and sensors. All weapon system elements including Command and Control, Communication and Radar performed satisfactorily.
Top defence officials including Secretary (Defence R&D), Director, Advanced Systems Laboratory, Chief Controller, DRDO witnessed this test flight of the Interceptor Missile.
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BJP MLA Manoj Pradhan convicted in 2008 Kandhamal violence case
(National) |
30-06-10
BJP MLA from Orissa has been sentenced to 7 years imprisonment in a matter related to the 2008 communal riots in Kandhamal.
Manoj Pradhan along with one another accused Prafulla Malik had been charged with murder, but have been convicted for "fatal attack" and arson.
The ruling was given by the fast-track court of Judge S. K. Das at Phulbani. They have been also fined Rs.5000/-.
Manoj Pradhan a MLA from G Udaygiri assembly constituency in Kandhamal had been charged in 14 cases of rioting and murder. He has been acquitted in 7 cases while 6 cases are still being heard.
Violence had erupted in Kandhamal and spread to other parts of Orissa in August 2008. About 40 people had lost their lives and hundreds of houses were burnt in the riots that continued for 2 months.
Pradhan had been arrested in October 2008 and had contested the 2009 assembly polls for prison. |
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Petrol, diesel, LPG, kerosene prices increased by the EGoM
(National) |
25-06-10
Government of India has approved increase in prices of petroleum products. It has also paved the way for market driven fuel prices through a partial deregulation.- Petrol up by Rs 3.50 / litre
- Diesel up by Rs 2 / litre, and
- LPG goes up by Rs 35 per cylinder
- Kerosene prices hiked by Rs 3 / litre
The Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) met in the capital to review the pricing policy for petrol, diesel and cooding gas.
It is learnt that partial deregulation has been approved by the panel of ministers, keeping kerosene out of its perview. The oil ministry has been vying for the de-regulation of fuel prices for a long time. The oil industry had been reeling under the effect of the rising crude prices in the international market.
The price hike is expected to help the oil marketing companies to recover some of the losses they have been incurring.
The natural reciprocal reaction of this hike will be on inflation. It will have a add fuel to the already high prices that the common man is having to pay for his day-to-day living. |
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PM speaks of credible info on plans for voilence by Pak groups
(National) |
17-08-09
 India could be headed for a fresh increase in terror attacks from Pakistani terror groups. This was indicated by the PM on Monday who said that their had been a surge in infiltration this year when he spoke at the chief ministers' conference in New Delhi.
"There is credible information of ongoing plans of terrorist groups in Pakistan to carry out fresh attacks. The area of operation of these terrorists today extends far beyond the confines of Jammu & Kashmir and covers all parts of our country." said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh while inaugurating the Chief Ministers’ Conference on Internal Security in New Delhi today (17th August 2009).
He said that the cross-border terrorism still remains the biggest internal security challenge faced by the nation.
The Prime Minister also spoke of an urgent need of modernisation of the security forces - to arm them with ultra modern weapons - to combat the terror threat. |
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Unique Identification Project - Council constituted for UIDAI
(National) |
03-08-09
A council was constituted under the chairmanship of the Prime Minister to advice the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) today by Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh.
The members of the council are...- Pranab Mukherjee, Minister of Finance.
- Sharad Pawar, Minister of Agriculture, Food and Civil Supplies, Consumer Affairs & Public Distribution
- P. Chidambaram, Minister of Home Affairs
- S. M. Krishna, Minister of External Affairs
- M. Veerappa Moily, Minister of Law and Justice
- Kapil Sibal, Minister of Human Resource Development
- C. P. Joshi Minister of Rural Development & Minister of Panchayati Raj
- Mallikarjun Kharge, Minister of Labour and Employment
- A. Raja, Minister of Communications and Information Technology
- Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission, and
- Nandan Nilekani, Chairman, UIDAI
The Council will advice the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) on the programme, methodology and implementation to ensure coordination between Ministries / Departments, Stakeholders and Partners.
The Council will also identify specific milestones for early completion of the project. |
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Elections Announced - Model Code of Conduct comes into effect.
(National) |
02-03-09
Election Commission of India has announced the dates for the National Elections. Polls to be held in five phases between 16 April 2009 and 13 May 2009 to elect the Fifteenth Lok Sabha.
Model code of conduct has come into immediate effect.
The announcement was made by Chief Election Commissioner N. Gopalaswami today (02-March-2009) afternoon. He said that counting is scheduled for Saturday, 16 May 2009 and the new Fifteenth Lok Sabha will be constituted by 2 June 2009.
Elaborating on the poll scheduled he added that
5 phased polling will be held in Jammu & Kashmir and Uttar Pradesh.
Maharashtra and West Bengal will have polls in 4 phases.
Polls for Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa and Punjab will be in 2 phases.
The remain states and union territories (including Chhattisgarh) will have single-day polls.
The states - Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Sikkim - will also go to polls at the same time to elect their assemblies. |
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Dy CM R. R. Patil gone - CM Deshmukh likely to go by evening
(National) |
02-12-08
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister R. R. Patil has resigned on Monday while Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh is expected to see the gate by today (Tuesday) evening.
Both had angered the media, the people and their party bosses by their irresponsible behaviour and statements in handling the terror attacks on Mumbai last week.
A one-line resignation was submitted by R. R. Patil on Monday to the Chief Minster and the same was forwarded to the Governor. R. R. Patil said that he had gone by his own conscience and resigned.
R. R. Patil came under flak from the media and Mumbaikars when he said in a casual manner that such incidents keep happening in Mumbai.
It has been learnt that Chief Minister Vilasrao has been summoned to Delhi and coulb be asked to resign by today evening.
His visit to the Taj Mahal Hotel along with his son Ritesh Deshmukh and filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma on Sunday did not go well with the public and could be the main reason for his downfall. |
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India seeks 20 fugitives from Pakistan
(National) |
02-12-08
Indian government has asked its Pakistani counterpart to handover 20 fugitives that have taken refuge in that country.
Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee has formally submitted a list of 20 names to the Pakistan High Commissioner on Monday. The step has come after Pakistan back-tracked on its commitment to send its ISI chief to India to aid in the investigations on the recent terror attack in Mumbai.
In the aftermath of the terror attack on Mumbai, the Indian government is facing a lot of pressure from its citizens to take concrete steps to ensure that such incidents do not happen again.
The terror attacks which had started late on Wednesday evening took as many as 60 hours to control and claimed around 200 lives including top police officials and NSG commandos.
More and more evidence of involvement of Pakistan, not necessarily the Pakistani government, in the terror attacks is coming forth as investigation of the incident gathers pace.
Ajmal Qasab, one of the attackers who participated in the terror attack, is in police custody and has given vital information on how the terror group had trained for six months in Lashkar training camps in Pakistan and how they arrived in Mumbai on Wednesday. |
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