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Private bus strike called off in Kerala -
Private bus operators in Kerala who began an indefinite strike on Sunday midnight called off their agitation Monday morning after talks with union Minister K.V. Thomas, officials said. The Kerala government will have a discussion with the bus operators on Wednesday. The indefinite strike was called to protest the Motor Vehicles Department’s directive for installing speed governors on all heavy vehicles. Kerala Transport Minister Aryadan Mohammed, however, told reporters in...
Food bill: Experts seek proper selection, revamped PDS -
Proper selection of beneficiaries by the states and a reformed mechanism of public distribution needs to be put in place if the ambitious food security bill has to achieve its target of mitigating hunger from the country, experts said. While NC Saxena, sitting member of National Advisory Council which had been instrumental in drafting of the bill, banked on schemes like Aadhar in plugging the PDS loopholes, former member Harsh Mander called for focusing on exclusion of the ineligible...
Mullaperiyar: Legal arguments submitted by Kerala -
The final written arguments in the Mullaperiyar case submitted by Kerala before the Constitution Bench of Supreme Court mainly contained technical and legal aspects. The following are the written legal aspects of the arguments of Kerala in support of its case before Supreme Court: Madras ceased to be lessee on 15/08/1947, since the Agreement of 1886 was terminated by Sec7 (1) (b) of the Indian Independence Act, 1947. Tamil Nadu claimed in Supreme Court that...
Rising prices will be nemesis of Congress: CPI(M) -
The rising prices of essential commodities is pushing the people to the brink of economic crisis and for this the Congress party will be rejected by the common man in the coming general election, said CPI(M) city secretary Ch. Babu Rao. He was addressing activists participating in a dharna organised by the party near the Sub-Collector’s office here on Thursday. Taking a dig at the Prime Minister, he said, “The PM is advising people not to buy gold, but he should realise that...
24-hour bus strike tomorrow -
Bus employees, under the banner of the Kerala State Private Bus Transport Workers Federation, affiliated to the Centre of Indian Trade Unions, will strike work on Tuesday pressing various demands, including service conditions at par with the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation. K. Firos Babu, district secretary of the federation, said here on Sunday that the government should take steps prevent attacks on bus workers. He called upon the people to cooperate with the striking bus...
Four killed in militant attack on CRPF camp in Kashmir -
Just five hours ahead of Zubin Mehta's Bavarian State Orchestra musical concert at Shalimar Bagh, four people were killed in the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) firing, 52 kms away from here at Gagran in Shopian on Saturday afternoon. Inspector general of police (IGP) Kashmir range, A G Mir told the TOI that unidentified militants opened fire on the CRPF camp at Gagran in Shopian district at about 1PM today. The CRPF, in retaliation killed four people whose identity was yet to...
Carriers without speed governors will lose fitness certificate -
The Motor Vehicles Department will cancel the fitness certificate of stage carriers that do not have mandatory speed governors. The decision by State Transport Commissioner Rishi Raj Singh follows preliminary findings by top officials of the Motor Vehicles Department that speeding by the mini-bus had resulted in the death of 13 in a road accident at Perinthalmanna on Friday. Official sources told The Hindu that the decision has been communicated to all field staff. Sources said there...
Kerala Govt to take urgent steps to ensure road safety -
Taking serious note of recurrence of road mishaps in Kerala, including the recent bus tragedy at Malappuram which claimed 13 lives, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy Saturday said the government would take urgent measures to enhance road safety. Talking to reporters after paying homage to the victims of the accident at Kapp near Perinthalmanna in the district, Chandy said coordination among motor vehicles, police and public works departments was essential to reduce road mishaps. To...
Tyre burst didn’t cause accident: Rishi Raj Singh -
Transport Commissioner Rishi Raj Singh ruled out trye burst as the reason for the Pernithalmanna bus accident, in which 13 persons were killed on Friday. The tyres of the bus were new and the fitness certificate for the vehicle was issued in March, Singh told Manorama News. “A detailed inspection is needed to find out whether the bus had any other mechanical problem. Since the bus had stopped just before the accident spot, overspeeding would not have caused the accident. Axle...
Biju told to hand over secret statement in writing -
Prime accused in the solar scam case Biju Radhakrishan was asked by the Pathanamthitta Judicial First Class Magistrate on Saturday to hand over his secret statement in writing. This was after Biju expressed his desire to record his secret statement. The magistrate refused this and asked him to give the statement in writing. However, Biju handed over a written statement expressing his desire to record his statement. Following this, he was told by the the magistrate again to prepare...
Manmohan Singh leaves for India after attending G20 Summit -
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday left for home after attending the eighth G20 Summit here during which he asked the world leaders to show collective committment for restoring robust growth in emerging markets. During the two-day Summit here attended by the world's top leaders including US President Barack Obama and host Vladimir Putin, Singh declared that India has been affected by currency volatility in the past few weeks and was taking steps to finance the current account...
Hyderabad under police siege for Seemandhra meet -
Hyderabad is under police siege as Seemandhra employees are set to hold ‘save Andhra Pradesh’ meeting amid tight security later on Saturday during a shutdown in Telangana, which brought normal life to halt. The city is on the edge as hundreds of policemen and personnel from paramilitary forces have been deployed in view of the threats by some Telangana groups to disrupt the meeting being organised by Andhra Pradesh Non-Gazetted Officers (APNGOs) Association to oppose proposed...
13 die in bus accident in Perinthalmanna -
Thirteen persons died in a bus accident at Perinthalmanna, Malappuram district, on Friday. The mishap occurred when the driver lost control over the bus when trying overtake a vehicle at a curve on its way to Vettathur from Perinthalmanna. Nine people died at the Moulana Hospotal, while three persons were declared dead at the Al Shifa hospital. Around 25 people were injured and and admitted in hospitals. Those who suffered serious injuries have been taken to the Kozhikode Medical...
Telangana issue figures again in Rajya Sabha -
Telangana issue again figured in Rajya Sabha on Friday with TDP members protesting against any move to carve out a separate state from Andhra Pradesh and charging the Centre with being "insensitive" to the issue. Raising the issue during Zero Hour, YS Chowdhary (TDP) said the whole of Andhra Pradesh was on fire but government has turned "insensitive" to the plight of the people there. "It is a democratic country and the government should resolve the problem...
China hasn't occupied Indian land afresh: Antony -
China has not occupied Indian territory afresh or stopped Indian troops from accessing any part of Indian land, Defence Minister A.K. Antony asserted Friday. "I would like to state categorically that Shyam Saran has not stated in (his) report that China has occupied or has denied access to India to any part of Indian territory," Antony told the Lok Sabha. A former foreign secretary, Saran, who heads the National Security Advisory Board, visited Ladakh last month and...
Five Malayalees die in accident -
Five Malayalees were crushed to death here on Thursday at 11.30 pm when a bus hit their car from behind. The dead, Jospeh, Jasmi Joseph, Joy, Jomy and car driver Sunil, were natives of Kuruvilangadu in Kottayam district and were returning home with Jasmi who was an engineering student in Dindigul. The car was damaged completely in the accident. Relatives of the deceased have reached Dindigul and bodies are to be brought home by Friday night.
Govt may announce steps to cut fuel use this month -
India could announce steps to curb fuel consumption on September 16, Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid said on Friday, in a bid to cut the biggest item in the country's import bill and help support a rupee skittering just above record lows. The world's fourth-biggest energy user is widely expected to announce a steep hike in diesel prices soon, as it looks to cut oil costs by nearly USD 20 billion. Rising global prices of crude and the rupee's slide have left India facing an...
Afghan onions arrive in India -
As onion prices surged to Rs.70-90 per kg levels recently, Indian traders have imported onions from Afghanistan, with the first consignment of 24 tonnes arrived at Attari border Thursday. Ordered by a Delhi-based company dealing in vegetables, the onions were imported from Afghanistan after Pakistan did not respond to a request for onions. The onions consignment was unloaded by the integrated check post (ICP) at Attari. Traders said that onion prices were still fluctuating at the...
Gujarat bandh: Scores of Cong leaders, supporters detained -
More than 600 people, including Congress leaders and workers, were detained on Friday (Sep 6) during bandh call given by the party demanding resignation of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi over IPS officer D G Vanzara's letter. Tight security is being maintained across the state to prevent any untoward incidence, police said. Congress workers were out on the streets to enforce the shut down, which has evoked a mixed response in the state. The party workers and supporters...
Nothing to conceal on issue of Chinese incursion: Govt -
The government Friday said it has nothing to conceal on the issue of Chinese incursion even as BJP accused it of "weak response". "Defence Minister (A K Antony) will be making a statement in the House on the press reports about Chinese intrusion, occupation of Indian territories. In Lok Sabha he will do it at 1 PM and in Rajya Sabha at 3 PM," Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath told reporters outside Parliament House. "The government has nothing to hide,...
Startups rise and shine in Bangalore -
Pallav Nadhani, who founded the charting company FusionCharts in Kolkata in 2002, shifted to Bangalore in June 2011. He found the work ethic in Kolkata poor: people were not aggressive; at the stroke of 5 employees would leave work; very few took initiatives; most had to be told what to do. "In contrast, in Bangalore people learn things on their own," says Nadhani, whose solutions are used by 21,000 customers — including Google, HP, Dell, Nasa, Intel, Microsoft,...
Australian teen leaks new iPhone pictures -
An Australian teenager who has built an online following by leaking pictures of upcoming Apple Inc products has done it again, showing off the purported fingerprint scanner of the latest iPhone ahead of its expected launch next week. Sonny Dickson, who lives with his parents in suburban Melbourne, attracted attention in August after he released detailed pictures and videos of the new grey and champagne casing on the upcoming iPhone. On Thursday, Dickson leaked what he says are the...
Google says has right to read your emails -
SAN JOSE: Google's attorneys say their long-running practice of electronically scanning the contents of people's Gmail accounts to help sell ads is legal, and are asking a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit that seeks to stop the practice. In court records filed in advance of a federal hearing scheduled for Thursday in San Jose, Google argues that "all users of email must necessarily expect that their emails will be subject to automated...
Android in Aug 2013: Donut and Eclair no longer in the charts -
Google has stopped delivering distribution information on Android versions 1.6 Donut and 2.1 Eclair as the two don't support the Google Play store app. Since developers mostly care about the phones that do support that, Google will no longer be posting those allegedly irrelevant numbers. Last month the two Android iterations accounted for a mere 1.3% of the entire platform customer base so it's not a big loss anyway. Also Google now shows devices that have pinged the...
I would have done better than Modi post-Godhra, says Parrikar -
Parikar said this in an interview to New York Times' India blog 'India Ink' which was uploaded Wednesday. Speaking about the riots of 2002, Parrikar said: "It should not have happened. The administration should have clamped down on any violence. (If I were in his place) I would have ensured (that) but Modi was new to the job as chief minister." Parrikar, considered close to Modi, also conceded that the Gujarat violence was a blot on Modi's career but...
Narendra Modi says he wants to be Gujarat CM till 2017 -
Widely seen as the BJP's prime ministerial candidate, Chief Minister Narendra Modi declared Thursday that he wants to "serve" Gujarat until 2017. Re-elected the chief minister in 2012 for five years, Modi, 62, told a group of school students here on Teacher's Day in response to a question: "I will serve my people till 2017." He said in life "one should always dream of doing something". Modi was made this year the Bharatiya Janata...
VS calls for murder charges against police officer -
Opposition leader V S Achuthananadan has called for pressing murder charges against police officers who had critically assaulted a CPM activist, who protested against the CM here. The incident happened when the chief minister reached Anayara World Market for inaugurating the horticorp district centre . Police assaulted DYFI activist Jaya Prasad who gatecrashed into the venue. Vijaya Das, Poonthura grade SI, was arrested on Wednesday night for the...
Lok Sabha passes amended Land Bill, Judicial Bill gets Rajya Sabha's nod -
The Land Acquisition Bill, which seeks to provide just and fair compensation to farmers while ensuring that no land can be aquired forcibly, has been passed by the Lok Sabha with amendments while the Rajya Sabha passed the Judicial Appointment Bill. The Upper House passed Constitutional Amendment Bill that paves way for setting up of Judicial Appointments Commission amid BJP walkout. The Land Bill legislation was on Wednesday passed by the Rajya Sabha. The bill was later taken up...
Rajan casts a spell on markets; rupee jumps, Sensex zooms -
The markets today gave a high-five to new RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan for his steps to shore up the currency and revive growth with rupee soaring 106 paise to 66.01 and Sensex jumping 412 points to over 3-week high. Even as some sceptics suggested that Rajan -- formerly a chief economic advisor at the Finance Ministry -- will find it a challenge to reverse a slowing economy, markets appeared confident about Rajan, who famously predicted the 2008 financial crisis three years before it...