1400 HRS
01.03.2013
THE HEADLINES:
- Process of government formation in Tripura, Nagaland and Meghalaya gains momentum.
- Lok Sabha adjourns for the day after condoling death of sitting Congress MP Mukesh Bhairavdanji Gadhvi.
- India and UK sign an MoU in areas of scientific, technical and environmental research.
- Sensex gains over 80 points in afternoon trade.
- Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna, with their partners, enter the Men's Doubles semi-finals of Dubai Tennis Championship.
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In Tripura, the Left Front victory has brought some cheer for the Front after its loss in West Bengal and Kerala. Our Correspondent reports that the Left Front is all set to stake its claim to form the next government.
All eyes are now on the Government Formation in Tripura. The Left Front leaders are meeting now in Agartala where the date will be announced for oath taking. Chief Minister Manik Sarkar is expected to meet the Governor soon to stake his Claim for Government Formation in the state. With MANAS PARTIM SARMA/SUDIPTA KAR,Air News AGARTaLa .
After securing a victory of 38 seats in the 60 member Nagaland Assembly the Naga People's Front, the main constituent of the Democratic Alliance of Nagaland DAN, is all set to form the next government in the state. Our correspondent reports, Mr.Neiphui Rio, the present Chief Minister in likely to be elected for the third term.
Addressing a press conference in Kohima. Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio assured the people of the State that his government would renew its commitment to people who had given the party a resounding victory. Meanwhile, NPF party President Shurhozelie informed that the NPF designated elected Legislators will meet in Kohima this afternoon to formally elect their leader of the party. The NPF led DAN is expected to form the new government within a week or so. Anenla Jamir, Air News, Kohima.
In Meghalaya, the Congress which has won 29 seats, is not expected to face any hurdle in garnering at least two more legislators to support the party in government formation since many of the Independents who won were either supported by the party leaders or were rebel candidates. Meghalaya Chief Minister Mukul Sangma who led the Congress to win a record 29 seats in the 60-member House, will meet Governor RS Mooshahari to stake claim to form the next government, party sources said.
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The Lok Sabha was adjourned for the day today following the death of a sitting Congress MP from Gujarat, Mukesh Bhairavdanji Gadhvi. As soon as the House met for the day, Speaker Meira Kumar informed the members about the sad demise of 50-year old Gadhvi this morning at Ahmedabad following a brief illness. Mr. Gadhvi was a two-time MP from Banaskantha and three-time MLA from Danta in Gujarat. He is survived by his wife, two daughters and a son. The House also expressed profound sorrow over the death of 19 people in a major fire in Kolkata on Wednesday. Members stood in silence as a mark of respect to the dead.
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The government will soon get to the bottom of the unauthorized access to the Phone Call Data Records (CDR) of the Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Arun Jaitley. Replying to clarifications sought by members in the Upper House, Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said it is a serious matter and a preliminary enquiry is on. Several members suggested that prior permission of the Presiding Officers of both the Houses of Parliament is needed before seeking such CDR details. The Minister assured the members that the government will consider their suggestions.
Earlier, making a statement, the Home Minister said Mr Jaitley’s phone was not tapped and only the call details were accessed. He said that a Delhi Police constable Arvind Dabas had illegally accessed the E-mail ID of ACP operations and later sold them to one Neeraj, a freelance private detective.
The interrogation of the constable Arvind Kumar Dabas has revealed that he was allegedly accessing the official email ID of ACP operations for the past 6 to 8 months. He did so for obtaining the call data records and subscribed details of various operations on demand from one Neeraj Nair, Neeraj Nair was arrested in this case on 16 Feb 2013.
Seeking clarifications, Ravi Shankar Prasad of the BJP pointed that there must be state and non-state actors and the government must get to the bottom of the matter. Ramgopal Yadav of Samajwadi Party said it was a matter of concern that each call detail was being sold for as high as 1500 rupees. D. Raja of the CPI wanted to know how many private detective agencies have been given legal sanction.
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The Rajya Sabha witnessed noisy scenes during question hour over the steep hike in prices of Diammonium phosphate(DAP) and Phosphatic fertilizers. Members led by Naresh Agrawal of the Samajwadi Party, raised concern that the prices of DAP had shot up from a little over 400 rupees to more than 1200 rupees due to high prices of raw materials despite the subsidy.
The Minister of State for Chemical and Fertilizers, Shrikant Jena said, the country will be self sufficient in Urea fertilizers by 2016 after the expansion plans of the 15 existing plants are undertaken. He said, the costs will also come down dramatically once we progressively switch over from naphtha to gas based fertilizer plants. However, opposition members including BJP leader Venkaiah Naidu were not satisfied, pointing out that urea was being diverted to industry and was also being smuggled to neighbouring countries. Amidst the din, Chairman Hamid Ansari declared that he is giving notice for a detailed discussion on the issue.
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The class 10th and 12th examinations of the Central Board of Secondary Education began today. More than 12 lakh students are sitting for the class 10th and nearly ten lakh are appearing in the class 12th examinations. The Class 10th examination will come to end on the 15th of this month while class 12th examination will conclude on the 17th of next month. Our Correspondent reports that from this year, the CBSE will introduce value based questions of 3 to 5 marks in all major subjects for classes 10th and 12th.
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India and the UK will strengthen their cooperation in Earth Sciences and environmental research by sharing information on meteorology, hydrology and climate variability. A Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, to promote exchanging scientific and technical capabilities, identifying new opportunities for collaborative activities and co-funding new environmental research was signed in New Delhi today. The MoU between the Earth System Science Organisation of the Ministry of Earth Sciences and UK's Natural Environment Research Council was inked in the presence of Science and Technology Minister S Jaipal Reddy.
The Minister said the bilateral cooperative agreement will help India improve the forecasting capability of various weather and climate-related phenomena through sharing of knowledge and expertise. He also said advance forecasting will help people associated with farming which is the mainstay of the country's economy.
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The BJP National Executive will meet today in New Delhi. The Party's National Council meeting will also be held from today. During the deliberations, the party will chalk out a road-map for evolving its strategy for the next general elections. All members of the National Council and executive, MPs and MLAs in state assemblies, state and district office- bearers, and national co-ordinators of Morchas, among others will participate in the Council meeting. Our Correspondent reports that the conclave is crucial as it will be the first such meeting after the election of Rajnath Singh as party chief.
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In Tamil Nadu, five persons including two women and a child were killed in a road accident when their car collided with a stationary container lorry at Manaparai in Tiruchirapalli today. Four persons died on the spot and one died while being taken to hospital. The car was coming from Rameswaram to Tiruchirapalli when the accident took place.
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Tension continues to prevail in Bangladesh following violent clashes between activists of the Jamaat-E-Islami and police in several districts of the country on Thursday which left more than thirty five dead. The activists of the Jamaat-E-Islami are protesting against the International Crimes tribunal’s death sentence verdict against its senior leader Delawar Hossain Sayeedee in the war crimes case. More from our correspondent;
The protests in Bangladesh on Thursday against the death sentence awarded to senior Jamaat-E-Islami leader Delawar Hossain Sayedee is the most violent protests organised by the party since the beginning of the War crimes trial. The party is expected to further step up its agitation and has already called for 48 hour country wide strike from Sunday demanding scrapping of the trial. With the Jamaat-E-Islami stepping up its agitation, the government has ordered the deployment of Border Guards Bangladesh in Dhaka city and other sensitive areas of the country to assist the police in maintaining law and order. On the other hand the verdict against Sayedee was welcomed by pro liberation forces led by the Awami league and was marked by celebrations at Shahbagh square on Thursday where the youth have been demonstrating for more than a fortnight demanding death penalty for war criminals. C.Senthil Rajan, Air News, Dhaka.
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The US soldier accused of leaking hundreds of thousands of documents to the Wikileaks website, the biggest such leak in US history has pleaded not guilty to a charge of aiding the enemy. But the soldier Bradley Manning pleaded guilty to ten lesser charges of misusing classified material and the judge of the pre-trial hearing accepted his pleas with which he could face up to 20 years in prison. The classified documents represented what he called the underground realities of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
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The Sensex at the Bombay Stock Exchange rose 48 points, to 18,910 in opening trade, this morning, on selective buying by investors. Later, after swinging between gains and losses, the Sensex stood 81 points, in positive territory, at 18,943 in afternoon deals, short while ago.
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The rupee dropped by 15 paise to 54.51 rupees against the US dollar in the late morning trade on persistent dollar demand from banks and importers on the back of higher dollar overseas. The rupee resumed lower at 54.65 rupees per dollar against the last closing level of 54.36 rupees per dollar at the Interbank Foreign Exchange and dropped further to 54.67 rupees per dollar before quoting at 54.51 rupees per dollar.
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The government has approved nine FDI proposals worth about 1140 crore rupees, including one each in pharmaceuticals and information and broadcasting sectors. A Finance Ministry statement said, the government cleared the proposals based on the recommendations of Foreign Investment Promotion Board, in its meeting held in January.
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The Indo-French pair of Mahesh Bhupathi and Michael Lloldra and the Indo-American duo of Rohan Bopanna and Rajeev Ram have waltzed into the Men's Doubles semi-finals of the Dubai Tennis Championships. In the quarterfinals last night, Bhupathi and Llodra defeated the fourth seeded Polish pair of Marcin Matkowski and Mariusz Fyrstenberg, 4-6, 6-4, 10-8, while Bopanna and Ram beat Czech Republic's Lukas Rosol and his partner from Romania, Viktor Hanescu, 4-6, 7-5, 10-4. Both pairs will play each other today, for a place in the Men's Doubles finals.
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The Agriculture, forestry and Fishing Sector is projected to grow at 4 per cent as per the draft Twelfth Five Year Plan document. The Plan document has emphasized increasing of public investment in agriculture to 4 per cent of agriculture Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This was informed by Minister of state for Agriculture and food processing industries, Tariq Anwar in the Rajya Sahba in a written reply. The Minister said that the government has launched several schemes to achieve the higher growth rate of agriculture and increase employment opportunities in the sector.
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