12:41 Sharif, daughter will be taken to jail in copters on reaching Pak:
The National Accountability Bureau has made arrangements to transport former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam to the Adiala jail upon their arrival at the Allama Iqbal International Airport in Lahore on Friday.
According to Geo News, the Cabinet Division allocated two helicopters to the NAB for Friday, the day on which the father-daughter duo is slated to be arrested upon their landing at the Lahore Airport.
Nawaz and Maryam will then be directly transported to the Adiala jail in Rawalpindi.
As many as 22 NAB officials and around 100 elite commandos will be presented at the airport to oversee the transport, as reported by Dunya TV.
Meanwhile, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz has made preparations of their own to welcome the former premier and his daughter.
According to Geo News, the party has organised a rally which will be led by PML-N president Shehbaz Sharif and will begin from the Muslim Masjid in Lohari Gate after Friday prayers.
Other senior party leaders, including Hamza Shehbaz, will also join the rally.
The party has also arranged a bulletproof vehicle to transport senior leaders to the Lahore airport. — ANI
12:27 LGBT community lives in fear due to societal pressure: SC on Sec 377:
Hearing on pleas against Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code continues in the Supreme Court:
Justice Indu Malhotra says, “LGBT community feels inhibited to go for medical aid due to prejudices involved against them.”
“…because of family and societal pressures, they (LGBT community) are forced to marry the opposite sex and it leads to bi-sexuality and mental trauma,” she said.
Justice D Y Chandrachud says, “There is deep rooted trauma involved in the society, which forces the LGBT community to be in fear.” — ANI
12:07 Financial independence must for women empowerment: Modi:
Financially empowered women are a ‘bulwark against societal evils’, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said while interacting with more than one crore women associated with various self-help groups across the country.
“For women empowerment financial independence is necessary. Women are enterprising, they don’t need to be taught, only need to be given opportunities to perform,” he said during the interaction through the ‘Narendra Modi Mobile App.
Underlining the importance of women empowerment especially in rural areas for overall development of the society, Modi said women in the country have huge potential in them and need to realise their capabilities.
“Financial independence makes a woman assertive and empowered. Financially empowered women are a bulwark against societal evils,” he said.
The prime minister appreciated the role of women self help groups in development of rural areas.
Since 2014 the government has created 20 lakh self-help groups on priority, and over 2.25 crore families have been brought into their fold, he said.
“So far 45 lakh women self help groups have been created with 5 crore active women participants… in fact these groups have added one more earning member in these five crore families in rural areas,” he said.
Modi also noted that agriculture and animal husbandry sectors, which are vital for rural economy cannot run without the participation of women.
During the interaction, women also shared their inspiring and touching stories and how the self-help groups have helped them improve their lives.
Modi said women self help groups are laying the foundation of financial prosperity in rural areas and added that women in the country have potential to transform the society. — PTI
11:27 Spiritual leader Dada Vaswani dead:
Spiritual leader Dada J P Vaswani, head of the Sadhu Vaswani Mission, died today due to old age- related ailments, a mission member said.
He was 99.
“He had been admitted to a private hospital in the city (Pune) for the past a few days and was discharged last night,” the mission member said.
Vaswami died in the mission premises this morning, she said.
The mission was planning a big celebration on his 100th birthday next month, she added.
Born on August 2, 1918 in Pakistan’s Hyderabad city in a Sindhi family, Dada Vaswani, as he was popularly known, was the head of the Pune-based Sadhu Vaswani Mission, a non-profit organisation involved in social work and charity.
The organisation runs educational institutions and hospitals in the city.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had addressed the spiritual leader’s 99th birthday celebrations last year through a video link.
Modi had then said Vaswani’s blessings will help in accomplishing goals for a new India.
In May this year, President Ram Nath Kovind had a visit to the mission to inaugurate the Sadhu Vaswani International School.
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Lal Krishna Advani is a frequent visitor to the mission.
Acclaimed as a humanitarian, philosopher, educator, orator and non-sectarian spiritual leader, Dada Vaswani had captivated the hearts of millions of people worldwide.
He was also into promoting vegetarianism.
His regular discourses at the mission premises attracted people from different walks of life.
Vaswani was a brilliant student, but he later gave up a career in academics to follow in the footsteps of his illustrious uncle and guru, Sadhu T L Vaswani, who had set up the charity organisation.
His mortal remains have been kept at the mission to enable people to pay their last respects. — PTI
11:02 Shah meets Nitish over breakfast, seat sharing talks likely:
M I Khan reports from Patna:
Bharatiya Janata Party president Amish Shah meets Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar over breakfast in Patna on Thursday.
Shah arrived in Patna earlier on Thursday. He was given a grand welcome by hundreds of party workers at the airport.
He was received by senior BJP leaders including Union Ministers from Bihar, Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi and several party workers, who thronged the Patna airport with garlands to welcome him.
Soon after his arrival, Shah, along with senior party leaders, went to the state guest house near Raj Bhawan to have breakfast with Nitish Kumar and other senior Janata Dal-United leaders.
Shah will also meet Kumar at a dinner tonight.
Shah is in Patna to discuss strategy of 2019 Lok Sabha polls with party leaders and workers.
But, all eyes are on his meeting with Kumar in view of a likely discussion on seat sharing for 2019 polls.
10:52 Kerala CPM to hold Ramayan seminars, RSS outfit to recite Quran at Saryu: The Kerala unit of the Communist Party of India-Marxist plans to conduct seminars and lectures as part of the ‘Ramayana observance month’, to explain the social moorings of the Ramayana. The party will also hold meetings with various temple committee members to prevent the “Bharatiya Janata Party taking control of temple trusts’.
Meanwhile, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh is trying to push its version of Islam in Ayodhya. The Rashtriya Muslim Manch, affiliated to the RSS, will offer namaz and organise recitation of the Quran on the banks of Saryu river, not far from the disputed Ram Janmabhoomi site. The Rashtriya Muslim Manch workers will perform ablution with Saryu river’s water before offering namaz.
— Business Standard
10:18 Shah reaches Bihar, to meet Nitish today:
Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah has arrived in Patna.
He will meet Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
The meeting comes in the backdrop of reports of fissures between the two allies.
However, at it’s National Executive Meeting last week, the Janata Dal-United had made it clear that it will not snap ties with the BJP and will remain a part of the National Democratic Alliance. — with ANI inputs
10:13 13 Amarnath pilgrims injured in accident:
Thirteen Amarnath pilgrims were injured when their vehicle rammed into a stationary truck on the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway in Jammu today, a police official said.
The pilgrims were part of a convoy carrying a fresh batch of 3,419 pilgrims including 680 women and 201 sadhus from the Bhagwati Nagar base camp in Jammu to Kashmir to undertake the annual pilgrimage, the official said.
He said the accident occurred near Dherma bridge in Mallard area of Udhampur district, about 70 km from Jammu, around 5.30 am when the driver of the tempo lost control and hit the parked truck.
Thirteen pilgrims travelling in the vehicle were injured and admitted to a district hospital in Udhampur, the official said.
He said the condition of three of the injured pilgrims was stated to be ‘serious’ and they are being taken to the Government Medical College Hospital in Jammu.
While 10 of the injured pilgrims are residents of Jhansi in Uttar Pradesh, three others are from Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh, the official said.
Amid tight security, the fresh batch of pilgrims had left in a fleet of vehicles from Jammu for the twin base camps of Baltal in Ganderbal and Pahalgam in Anantnag district in the early hours today to pay obeisance at the 3,880 metre high cave shrine of Amarnath in south Kashmir Himalayas.
Of them, 2,217 pilgrims opted for the traditional 36-km Pahalgam track, while 1,202 others are performing the yatra through the 12-km Baltal route, the official said. — PTI
Image only for representation.
09:17 Body of Indian student killed in Kansas arrives in Hyderabad:
The body arrived at the Rajiv Gandhi International airport and former Union Minister Bandaru Dattatreya was among those who paid homage to the departed soul.
According to authorities in Kansas, Koppu, 25, hailing from Telangana, was fatally shot during a suspected incident of robbery at a restaurant where he worked.
He died shortly after being taken to a hospital on Friday.
Kansas City police announced a $10,000 reward for information leading to the suspect and released a brief video of the suspect inside the restaurant moments before the shooting. — PTI
09:15 British MP denied entry into India on arrival:
British parliamentarian Lord Alexander Carlile was on Wednesday denied entry into India on his arrival in New Delhi for not having appropriate Indian visa, the Ministry of External Affairs said.
MEA Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said Carlile’s intended activity in India was incompatible with the purpose of his visit as mentioned in his visa application.
Kumar said he arrived in New Delhi today without having obtained the appropriate Indian visa.
“His intended activity in India was incompatible with the purpose of his visit as mentioned in his visa application. It was, therefore, decided to deny him entry into India upon arrival,” he said responding to a query. — PTI
08:17 India will become a ‘Hindu Pakistan’ if BJP wins 2019: Tharoor:
Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Tuesday said that if Bharatiya Janata Party wins 2019 Lok Sabha elections it will create a condition leading to the formation of a ‘Hindu Pakistan’.
Addressing an event in Thiruvananthapuram, Tharoor further stated that the BJP will write a new Constitution which will pave the way for a nation, much like Pakistan, where rights of minorities are not respected.
“If they (the BJP) win a repeat in the Lok Sabha our democratic constitution as we understand it will not survive as they will have all the elements they need to tear apart the constitution of India and write a new one,” he added.
“That new one will be the one which will enshrine principles of Hindu Rashtra, that will remove equality for minorities, that’ll create a Hindu Pakistan and that isn’t what Mahatama Gandhi, Nehru, Sardar Patel, Maulana Azad and great heroes of freedom struggle fought for,” he added.
Meanwhile, criticising Tharoor’s statement, the BJP demanded Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s apology.
Speaking to ANI, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said, “Rahul Gandhi must apologise for what Shashi Tharoor said. Congress was responsible for creation of Pakistan because of its ambitions yet again it has gone ahead to demean India and defame Hindus of India.”
Patra also took to Twitter and said that the Congress doesn’t lose any opportunity to demean India and defame Hindus. — ANI
00:15 Nitish Kumar eases liquor laws:
The Bihar cabinet on Wednesday approved amendments to the state’s stringent prohibition law, proposing a reduction in the quantum of sentence for those held guilty of violating the law.
Principal Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat department, Arun Kumar Singh said that at a meeting of the state cabinet chaired by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, a nod has been given for the proposed amendments to be tabled in the monsoon session of the state legislature scheduled later this month.
He, however, expressed his inability to divulge the contents of the proposed amendment bill.
The state’s Advocate General Lalit Kishor later told a news channel, “the proposed amendments include a reduction in the quantum of punishment awarded to those involved in sale and manufacture of liquor as well as those consuming alcohol, including first time offenders”.
“Earlier, both the owner and the occupant of a property or vehicle from where liquor was seized were liable to be punished. The amendments propose shifting the onus primarily on the occupant”, he said.
“Once these amendments come into force, these will be applicable to new as well as pending cases. In other words, those arrested under the old, stringent law may also avail of the relief granted under the amendments,” the advocate general said.
Ban on sale and consumption of liquor was introduced in Bihar by the Nitish Kumar government in April, 2016.
Kumar had taken the radical step, which has cost the state exchequer about Rs 5,000 crore annually, in keeping with the promise he had made to women voters during the assembly polls of 2015.
The prohibition law has, however, been termed as draconian by opposition parties.
The chief minister himself has of late been admitting that there were complaints of misuse of its stringent provisions and assuring that suitable amendments would be brought in.
The monsoon session of the state’s bicameral legislature is scheduled to begin on July 20. — PTI
Source: Rediff