INDIA SUMMARIZED

CHHOTA RAJAN is now a lonely man. This is what he has revealed to Indonesian Police during the initial interrogation after he was arrested at Bali airport on October 25. The emotional outburst happened when he was cornered by the Bali police, which acted swiftly against him on a tip- off from Canberra. Major Reinhard, who arrested Rajendra Sadashiv Nikalje also known as Mohan Kumar and Chhota Rajan, said the former Dawood aide was evasive in the beginning when he was intercepted at the airport. He was carrying a passport in which his name was mentioned as Mohan Kumar. The passport number G9273860 was issued from Sydney in 2008 and his place of birth was declared as Mandya, Karnataka. He tried to hide his identity. However Major Reinhard had done his homework after getting a tip- off of his presence in the popular resort island of Bali by Australian authorities. He confronted Chhota Rajan with the red corner notice issued against h...

New Delhi, Oct. 17 (ANI): Bucking the trend, well-known author of Hindi books, Professor Namwar Singh, on Saturday questioned other literary icons on why they were returning their Sahitya Akadmi awards on alleged grounds of rising intolerance in the country. Singh said the awards were not given to them by the Centre, but by the Sahitya Akademi. "I respect all my colleagues, but they should not have returned their Sahitya Akademi awards. The awards were not given to them by the government, but by the Akademi," Singh told ANI here. "The Akademi is not a government body. Rather, it is an autonomous body," he added. Singh was also of the view that the protesting writers should have waited for the October 23 meeting of the Sahitya Akademi to deliberate on the issue at hand before taking their extreme steps. "I feel the writers have taken this decision fitfully, and few people will also question this move as a move to gain publicity," he added. ...

Somnath Bharti is not the only embarrassment to the  Aam Aadmi Party , which was voted back to power by the people of Delhi with such high hopes even after Modi had won the Lok Sabha, decimating the entire opposition. Almost every other day the name of some elected representative of this party is in the news but always for the wrong reasons. It could be a minister with a fake degree or an MLA or office- bearer charged with rape or some other crime. What can be a worse sign for a party that its ideological mentors and founding fathers   Prashant Bhushan  and  Yogendra Yadav  have been thrown out for indulging in anti-party activities. But that act threw out any pretence for a moral qualm in the AAP. This writer had warned people at the time they were very excited with the new experiment in politics, when AAP was being set up bespeaking that the seeds of its destruction had been sown when the party was being formed.A party that came into existence on...

Beef. It took me a lot of effort to write this post. You’d think, for someone like me who has been vocal on social media, it shouldn’t be difficult. Right? Penning that first word itself has put me in a lot of dilemma, whether writing this was a bad idea in the first place. I eat Beef. So do many others around the world a nd so do many in India. Almost all muslims in India, have at some point or the other eaten it as well. I know for many of you it might be offensive to even hear me say that I do this. Frankly, I’m not sorry. In many parts of the country, terms like “Bade ka Gosht”, “Bhakkad” and the likes are used instead of bluntly referring to it as, Beef. Over decades we took special care not to be offensive. When friends would ever ask, whether you eat Beef? The answers would be vague enough to not show that we do. Yes, at some point or the other, our parents have told us to try not to openly say it to others. But that time has gone. It went off when an old man...

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Saudi Prince Turki al-Faisal on Sunday rejected the idea of sharing the administration of the annual hajj pilgrimage with other Muslim nations, saying Riyadh considers it "a matter of sovereignty" and a "privilege." The senior member of the Saudi royal family spoke to The Associated Press as his country faces mounting criticism in the wake of last month's disastrous crush of pilgrims outside the holy city of Mecca, which killed over 1,400 people, according to an AP count, making it the deadliest annual pilgrimage on record. Saudi Arabia's regional rival Iran, which lost the largest number of pilgrims, has accused the kingdom of mismanagement and called for an independent body to oversee the hajj. The royal Al Saud family, which governs Saudi Arabia and for which the country is named after, derives enormous prestige and legitimacy from being the caretakers of the hajj and Islam's holiest sites in Mecca and Me...

The Congress Party on October 11 alleged that many nationalised and foreign banks were also involved in the forex scam after the Bank of Baroda's branch in Ashok Vihar was caught making 8,667 forex transactions. "Strict enquiry should be done in this case, but this is not limited to Bank of Baroda only. It is in my knowledge that Hawala transactions are being done in both nationalised banks and foreign banks across the country," Congress leader Rashid Alvi told ANI. "Prime Minister Narendra Modi should look into this matter and act on it strictly," he added. Alvi also claimed that he has enough details on the allegations he was levelling against the banks. "I have the details and I would be sending them to the Prime Minister Modi in written. Strict action should be taken against them and the licenses of private banks should be cancelled," he added. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had earlier raided the Bank of Baroda's branch ...

It provides proximate security to protection-seeker, including protection provided from close quarters, journey on foot, road, rail, aircraft, watercraft or any other means of transport, and includes places of functions, engagements, residence. The protection-seeker has a has a security cover of  highly trained and armed security personnel. But numbers of personnel and number of cars provided to a SPG protectee, is a classified information,   He  travels  in protected cars equipped  with  the best state-of-the-art technology . 1  The cars are bulletproof and capable of withstanding high intensity blasts. The cars moves are monitored by SPG HQs in Delhi via GPS. Moreover, radar devices in the capital also provide continuous feed. Apart from sophisticated small arms like Glock 17 Pistols, the guards are also equipped with  the latest P-90 submachine gun and  FN 2000  Tactical Assault Rifles. There are ring round teams, isolatio...

Patna, Oct. 10 (ANI): Union Minister of State for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Giriraj Singh on Saturday criticised Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Raghuvansh Prasad Singh's remark on beef, saying that it was an insult to all Hindus. "All this is part of the Mahagathbandhan's plan to divide society. First, Lalu Yadav tried to divide society on the lines of forward and backward (castes), then, he said that Hindus eat beef, and now, Raghuvansh Prasad Singh is saying that even rishis and munis used to eat beef. This is an insult to Hindus, Hindus will never tolerate this," Singh told media here. "Why is Nitish silent on these statements made by Lalu and Raghuvansh Singh? I want to ask him if Hindus will have to eat beef if you (Nitish) come to power," he added. BJP spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain also condemned the remarks made by Mahagathbandhan leaders. "Defeat is clearly visible on the faces of the RJD and the Congress leaders. They ar...

When Narendra Modi touches down at the Suara airstrip in Rohtas on October 9, Pradeep Joshi will be listening carefully. “It’s good that Modiji has come to this battlefield. The ground for this Mahabharata is ready. People will tell him about me,” he said. Joshi is not a BJP leader or from the grand alliance or even an NDA rebel. In Dehri, Joshi presents a unique political challenge. An independent candidate, he is more saffron than anybody around — even local BJP leaders accuse him of communal politics. A cloth merchant, Joshi burst into the scene in October 2005 by stunning former RJD minister Iliyas Hussain by 43,000 votes. In 2010, after he was convicted in a case, he propped his wife Jyoti Rashmi, who won. “In the last 10 years, there hasn’t been a contest here. We will win again,” said Joshi. At each campaign, Joshi and his wife, who is contesting from Sasaram, begin by asking whether there are any Muslims in the audience. “If so, please leave because we don’t want Muslim...

769 Haj pilgrims died in the Mina Stampede, and the preceding week around 107 died in the Crane Crash in Mecca – tragedies which have marred the recent history of uneventful Haj. This year is considered to be one of the worst in the last 25 years of Haj history.  The toll is to expected to rise as hundreds more are critically injured. ​ Being an Emergency Medicine Physician & one of the 20 odd Managers of Indian Medical Centers in Saudi Arabia deputed by Govt of India in 2008 to treat Indian Haj Pilgrims  I have some fond memories  as well as earnest observations to share, hopefully giving a better picture for those interested to understand.  Our honest efforts are to do some “fact finding” and “medically research” the causes, that lead to these tragic incidents  and not to belittle the good work the Saudis and thousands of volunteers, put in to make Haj the world’s best largest peaceful gathering. Mina Stampede Mina is a large scenic place, with ...