10:56 Aircel-Maxis case: Protection from arrest to Chidambaram extended till Jan 11: A Delhi court Tuesday extended till January 11 the protection granted to former Union minister P Chidambaram and his son from arrest in the Aircel-Maxis scam.
Special Judge OP Saini extended the relief granted to Chidambaram and his son Karti after the CBI and the ED submitted that new material has been recovered which needs to be collated. It also granted time till January 11 to the CBI to get sanction to prosecute some of people accused in the case.
The CBI had on November 26 told the court that Centre had granted sanction to prosecute P Chidambaram. The case relates to alleged irregularities in grant of FIPB approval in Aircel-Maxis deal. — PTI
10:52 Nashik farmer writes to PMO, dubs report of low quality onions “false”: The farmer from Nashik, who had sent his onion sale earnings to the Prime Minister’s Office to highlight low returns, has alleged that the district authorities wrongly described his produce as of “low quality”.
Sanjay Sathe, from Niphad tehsil in Nashik district of Maharashtra, on Monday wrote a letter to the PMO in which he said the authorities prepared a report about his onion produce without any inquiry and that it was “false”.
Sathe had earlier sent Rs 1,064, his earnings from onion sale in the wholesale market, to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 29 as a protest.
However, a report later submitted to the Maharashtra government by the district deputy registrar office said the farmer’s onions were of “medium to low quality” and “blackish” in colour. Refuting the claim, Sathe, in his letter to the PMO, said, “I sold 750 kg onion and earned Rs 1,064. But without any inquiry, the state government officials in their report stated that my onions were blackish and of low quality. It is false and officials are misguiding you.” “I hope you will understand that if authorities can lie to you, what challenges a common man would be facing in government offices,” he said in the letter sent from the local post office.
Almost every onion grower was facing the same situation of low rates and the state’s “apathy” towards it, Sathe claimed, and requested the prime minister to find a solution to it.
Notably, authorities of the Lasalgaon Agriculture Produce Market Committee had said last week that the report submitted by the district deputy registrar office to the state government was “false”.
No official of the district deputy registrar office had met the APMC authorities in connection with the farmer’s case, they said. Nashik district in north Maharashtra accounts for about 50 per cent of onion production in India. The Lasalgaon APMC in Nashik is the country’s largest wholesale onion market. — PTI
10:32 Love jihad: Hadiya’s father joins BJP: KM Ashokan, father of Hadiya, 26-year-old Kerala woman who converted to Islam and married a Muslim man in 2016, has joined the BJP. KM Asokan had approached Court alleging his daughter was a victim of ‘love jihad’.
The Supreme Court in March this year had restored the marriage of Hadiya, a Hindu woman who had converted to Islam and entered into wedlock with a Muslim man, setting aside a Kerala high court order, and ruling that no court can interfere in the marriage of two consulting adults.
Pulling up the Kerala high court for annulling Hadiya’s marriage to Shafin Jahan, the apex court observed that Article 226 gives the extraordinary power to high courts to protect the constitutional rights and not to scuttle them.
The high-profile case of alleged ‘love jihad’, a term used for Muslim men allegedly seducing and marrying Hindu women after making them convert to Islam, was being probed by anti-terror agency National Investigation Agency.
The court instructed the NIA to go ahead with its probe into alleged instances of love jihad without “touching the marriage”.
In Kochi, Hadiya’s father K M Asokan, who had claimed her daughter was “brainwashed” to convert, said he would consider moving a review petition in the Supreme Court against its judgement.He maintained that his daughter’s marriage with Shafin Jahan was an act of “adjustment” done by a group.
File pic: Hadiya and her father KM Asokan
10:15 Sensex drops 141 points in early trade : Breaking its five-day winning streak, the benchmark BSE Sensex fell 141 points in early trade Tuesday, as banking, IT, realty and FMCG stocks retreated, tracking sell-off in global market.
The 30-share index dropped 140.51 points, or 0.40 per cent, to 36,129.56 points in opening trade. The gauge had rallied over 1,310 points in the previous five sessions. The NSE Nifty too fell 47.50 points, or 0.44 per cent, to 10,840.85. Among sectoral indices, IT fell the most 1.19 per cent, followed by tech 1.08 per cent, on account of appreciating domestic currency.
Meanwhile, FMCG, healthcare, banking and consumer durables also fell by up to 0.35 per cent as profit taking emerged on these counters. Brokers said, the decline in benchmark indices was on account of a weak trend in Asian markets amid sharp losses at the Wall Street, as investors continued to fear weakening global growth. Besides, profit-booking in recent gainers also dampened investor sentiment. — PTI
09:29 Imran Khan is Pak army’s ‘proxy’, best time for talks: Mehbooba:
Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti on Monday said it was the “best time” for India to hold talks with Pakistan as the neighbouring country’s new Prime Minister Imran Khan is being touted as a “proxy” their army.
If initiated now, she said, the talks between the two neighbours at this time could prove “beneficial”.
“If Imran is a proxy of the Pak army then this is the best time to talk. When Imran Khan says he is ready to talk, to open corridors, then I think army is also on the same page…,” Mufti said at the ‘Agenda Aaj Tak’ event here.
She said the “best bargain” for India, vis-a-vis the Kashmir issue, was during the time when Pervez Musharraf was the President of Pakistan as during that time ceasefire was initiated at the border and the Muzaffarabad route was opened up.
“The talks could be beneficial now….why should we not talk?” she asked.
The Peoples Democratic Party leader also said her party will “join hands” with any political party that will support the “resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir issue.”
“If we can join hands with the BJP, we can do so with anyone for resolution of the J-K issue,” she said.
Mufti said her Peoples Democratic Party going with the BJP, during the last political regime in the state, was “suicidal” and that she was “disappointed” that this experiment to begin the political process in the state did not work.
Asked if she had any lessons to learn, Mufti replied in the negative.
“They (the BJP) didn’t teach me any lesson. I stood my ground…(in taking decisions). We experimented (through the PDP-BJP alliance) for the people of Kashmir but that did not work,” she said.
She said there was a huge difference between former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s regime and the current one under PM Narendra Modi.
“Vajpayee was spontaneous and down to earth…he never looked back or over his shoulder. He was a statesman. Today’s NDA is more focussed in winning elections,” Mufti said.
“God save! they have not given voting rights to cows,” she said in an apparent dig on the BJP. — PTI
08:57 4-feet hole appears on Gurgaon flyover on NH 8:
A four-feet wide hole appeared at the Rampura flyover on National Highway 8 in Gurgaon on Monday.
The flyover between Kherki Daula toll plaza and IMT Manesar, was opened last year by the National Highway Authority of India to ease traffic congestion on the strect leading to Maneser.
“We have received information about a hole surfacing on the Rampura flyover around 5 am. Subsequently, road safety staffs rushed at the spot and blocked the road,” said Anil Kumar, road safety officer of NHAI.
“The matter has been informed to higher authorities and repairing of the affected area will start soon,” he added.
As the hole appeared in the middle of the flyover, it affected traffic movement between Jaipur and Delhi.
“We have partially diverted traffic movement and are also using service lanes to provide some respite to the commuters,” Kumar said. — PTI
08:38 Death toll in Mumbai hospital fire rises to 8:
The death toll in Mumbai’s Andheri hospital fire incident has increased to eight.
A massive fire broke out at ESIC Kamgar hospital on Monday injuring more than 100 people.
Ten fire tenders were pressed into service to douse the blaze while a rescue van and 16 ambulances were also rushed to the spot for necessary assistance.
The injured were shifted to Cooper Hospital, P. Thakrey Hospital (Trauma), Holi Spirit Hospital and Seven Hills Hospital for treatment.
Taking note of the incident, Fire Officer of Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC), MV Ogale said that the hospital did not obtain a final No Objection Certificate (NOC).
“They (hospital authorities) have applied for the final NOC but compliances were not in line with the provisions of the act and hence they have not been given final NOC by us. Our building proposal department has also not given final occupation certificate,” Ogale told media on Monday.
The cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained. — ANI
00:04 US shutdown: Empowered Democrats refuse funds for Trump wall:
US President Donald Trump’s signature campaign pledge to build a wall along the US-Mexico border is at stake in a major budget battle this week.
A partial government shutdown is looming on Friday if Congress cannot agree funding for federal agencies.
Newly empowered Democrats are refusing White House demands for $5 billoin towards constructing such a wall.
Trump said last week he would be “proud” to shut down his own government if he does not secure the funding.
The Republican president has been unable to loosen legislative purse strings for the project, even with his party controlling both the Senate and House of Representatives for nearly two years.
That challenge is only likely to get more difficult once Democrats formally regain control of the lower chamber of Congress from January.
Source: Rediff