state

Ela Bhatt conferred 2011 Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament & Development

Feb 18 President Pranab Mukherjee today conferred the 2011 Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development to renowned Women social worker Mrs. Ela Ramesh Bhatt at a glittering ceremony at the Rashtrapati Bhavan this morning. Mrs. Ela Bhatt was honoured for her life time achievements in empowering women, promoting grassroot level entrepreneurship and for her contribution towards promoting equitable development and peace. Speaking on the ocassion President Pranab Mukherjee said Ela Bhat's orgainisation SEVA has today become synonymous with rural inclusiveness and a vehicle of self employment and self reliance for women. The President said, Ela Bhatt worked for bringing women out of poverty and through the promotion of Self Help Groups empowered them with the freedom to choose and attaining financial self- reliance. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh noted that, inspite of developments, it is a matter of shame that incidents of violence and sexual offences against woemn are on the increase. Dr. Singh said, to deal with this, the UPA government has adopted a mix of legislative, institutional and procedural reforms. Dr. Singh said, the Justice J.S Verma committee have resulted in the promulgation an ordinance, amending and strengthening the criminal law to deal with sexual offences against women. Speaking on the ocassion, Indira Gandhi Memorial trust Chairperson, Sonia Gandhi said, Ela ben has seen women as the true nurturer of prosperity. She put women at the centre of economic devlopment. Mrs. Gandhi said, in the foot steps of late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's vision, Ela Bhat has touched and changed the lives of million of people especially uplifting the vulnerable and most marginalised sections of the society. Around 64% vote cast so far in Re-Poll in booth number 36 of Kakrabon in Tripura Feb 18 In Tripura,around 64% vote has been cast so far in the Re-Poll in booth number 36 of Kakrabon HS School under Kakrabon-Salgora constituency. According to official sources, out of 516 votes around 350 votes have been cast so far. The Re-poll was ordered following EVM malfunctioning during the voting process on Thursday. The Voting for the 60 member assembly Constituency ended last Thursday. The counting for the 60 Member Assembly Constituency will be held on 28th of this month.

Andhra to pay Rs 2 lakh ex-gratia each to families of those killed due to untimely rain

Feb 18
The Andhra Pradesh Government today decided to pay two lakh rupees ex-gratia each to the families of those who died due to untimely rain in the state in the past two days. Revenue Minister Raghuveera Reddy told this to media after Chief Minister Kiran kumar Reddy reviewed the situation. A total 18 persons died out of which 13 died due to lightening. The minister said standing crops in two lakh 48 thousand hectares were damaged and over 11 hundred houses were damages. Stating that the officials have been directed to submit enumeration reports in a week, the minister said it was decided purchase damaged crop like cotton and bengal gram will be purchased through state the state owned Markfed.

Assam:3 injured in train-truck collision

Feb 18
In Assam, three persons were injured when a passenger train rammed into a mini truck at an unmanned level crossing in Sivsagar district today. North East Frontier Railway PRO Nripen Bhattacharya said that a mini truck has been hit by the Moriyani -Dibrugarh Passenger train at Kujibali in Sivsagar district under Tinsukia division .All the injured persons have been admitted in district civil hospital by local people.

Life returns to normal in Kashmir Valley

Feb 18 Life in Kashmir valley has returned to normalcy as shops and business establishments opened and public transport service resumed. Normal life in the valley remained disrupted since February 9th following execution of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru. Campaigning at peak for Meghalaya Assembly polls Feb 18 In Meghalaya the campaigning for the 60 member Assembly election is at its peak. All the leaders from different political parties are in the campaigning trail to woo the voters. In Meghalaya just another five more days to go, before the people can cast their vote to choose their representative for the 60 member Assembly election, for which the poll is to be held on 23rd of February. Altogether 345 candidates are in the fray for assembly election. Amongst these, there are as many as 126 Independent candidates who would be contesting the polls. There are 25 female candidates in the fray. Meanwhile, poll officials said, 1272 polling stations have been declared either Hyper Sensitive or Sensitive by Election Commission while only 1213 are declared normal of the total 2485 polling stations in the state.

Polls to eight J&K legislative Council seats on March 7

Feb 18
For eight vacant seats of J&K legislative Council going to polls on the 7th of next month, a total of 12 candidates filed their nominations papers today. The National Conference - Congress alliance filed nomination papers for six candidates while main opposition party, PDP filed nomination for two seats. From Congress, Rani Bloeria, Naresh Gupta and Muzaffar Parray filed their nominations for Jammu, Doda and Kashmir respectively while Devender Rana, Showkat Hussain Ganaie and Abdul Majid Bhat of National Conference filed their nominations for Jammu and Kashmir divisions respectively. Peoples’ Democratic Party’s two candidates, Yashpal Sharma and Nayeem Akhtar also filed their nominations on Monday. Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers’ Party’s candidate, Mohammed Iqbal and three independent candidates also filed nominations for the MLC elections. Scrutiny of the nominations will be held on Tuesday while candidates can withdraw their nominations till February 21, 2013.

Shishir Saras Mela innagurated in Dilli Haat

Feb 18 The government is planning to hold craft melas in cities and smaller towns to provide a platform to rural artisans and craftsmen to display and sell their products. Inaugurating the Shishir Saras mela at Delhi Haat in the national capital on Monday, Minister of State for Rural Development, Pradeep Jain Aditya said organising such melas will provide better platform to the artisans and self help groups to market their products properly. He said the government is focusing on marketing of rural products and traditional arts to bring much more benefit to the craftsmen . About 162 stalls selling various craft items have been set up at the annual event which will conclude on 28th of this month.