10:12 Computer Baba appointed head of river trust in Cong-ruled MP: The Congress government in Madhya Pradesh has appointed self-styled godman NamdevTyagi, also known as Computer Baba, as chairman of a river trust in the state, an official said on Tuesday. The state spiritual department passed the order of appointing Tyagi as head of the ‘Ma Narmada, Ma Kshipra and Ma Mandakini Rivers Trust’ a few days back, just before the model code of conduct for Lok Sabha polls came into effect, he said.
Notably, Tyagi was accorded minister of state (MoS) status by the previous BJP-led government last year, but he later resigned, accusing the then chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan of “not fulfilling” the promise of stopping illegal sand mining in the river Narmada.
Tyagi told PTI on Tuesday that he would now work to conserve the rivers in the central state and check illegal sand mining. “My priority would be to rejuvenate the three holy rivers, especially the river Narmada. I will ensure that no illegal sand mining takes place in the holy river,” he said.
Tyagi, a friend-turned-critic of Chouhan, campaigned against the BJP ahead of the last year’s state Assembly polls in which the Congress dethroned the saffron party and came to power after over 15 years. — PTI
10:04 Pre-poll booster shot for Sensex, soars over 300 points:
The BSE benchmark Sensex Tuesday jumped over 300 points led by gains in metal, oil and gas, banking and energy stocks amid unabated buying by foreign investors and strong global cues.
Key indices extended the pre-election rally on expectations that the incumbent NDA government will get a second term following the announcement of 2019 general election dates earlier this week, experts said. BSE Sensex was trading 346.60 points, or 0.94 per cent, higher at 37,400.70. Similarly, the 50-share NSE Nifty climbed 86.65 points, or 0.78 per cent, to 11,254.70. The 30-share index ended at 37,054.10, up by 382.67 points, or 1.04 per cent, in its previous session Monday; and the Nifty closed at 11,168.05 points, up 132.65 points, or 1.20 per cent.
Top gainers in early trade include PowerGrid, NTPC, RIL, L&T, ICICI Bank, Tata Motors, HCL Tech and Vedanta, rising over 2.60 per cent. While, Bharti Airtel and IndusInd Bank were trading in the red. — PTI
Image: ICICI Bank is among the top gainers.
09:26 Priyanka Gandhi’s debut speech likely today at key Congress meet:
Congress is all set to launch its 2019 Lok Sabha poll campaign from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s bastion Gujarat today. The principal opposition party has charted out a day long program – which is fully loaded with a “political message” in Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar.
Congress has zeroed in on March 12 – which marks the anniversary of famous Dandi March by Mahatma Gandhi.
The prayer meet will be followed by a small roadshow where all the prominent leaders of the Congress including party chief Rahul Gandhi will ride in buses to Sardar Patel National Memorial in Ahmedabad to attend the Congress Working Committee meeting. This CWC is also significant as it will be Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s first meeting of the committee as the party’s newly appointed General Secretary.
The CWC will be followed by a public meeting at Trimandir in Adalaj, Gandhinagar where patidhar leader Hardik Patel will officially join the Congress.
09:05 Ethiopia Airline Crash: Black box recovered:
The black box of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 which crashed killing all the 157 people on board has been recovered.
According to Fox News, the authorities sifting through the crash site recovered the black box which is a critical discovery in the search for what caused the disaster.
Ethiopian Airlines announced on Twitter, The Digital Flight Data Recorder and Cockpit Voice Recorder of ET302 have been Recovered.
Following the crash, several airlines have grounded their Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircrafts. Several people including UN staff, students and humanitarian workers were killed in the ghastly tragedy.
Meanwhile, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation said on Monday that it is reviewing safety issues relating to Boeing 737 MAX planes. Four Indians were among those killed.
This is for the second time in less than five months that a Boeing 737 MAX 8 plane crashed. In October 2018, an aircraft operated by Lion Air crashed killing over 180 people in Indonesia.
— ANI
08:13 Mediators in Ayodhya land dispute case to meet for first time today:
The three-member Supreme Court appointed mediation team in the Babri Masjid-Ram Janmabhoomi land dispute case is set to meet at ground zero in Ayodhya today.
To assist them in their task, the district administration on directions of the state government has built a mini secretariat inside the Awadh university campus. From lodging to a negotiation room, all facilities for the three mediators have been set up there.
Following the Supreme Court order that the process should remain a secret, the government and the local administration have taken steps in this regard. No official communication about the movement of the members or their schedule is being made public.
Sources, however, confirmed that the court-appointed mediators former Supreme Court judge FMI Kalifulla, senior advocate Sriram Panchu and spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar will reach Ayodhya by a special flight on Tuesday morning around 11am.
Highly-placed sources reportedly said that the guest house at the engineering department of the university has been earmarked for the meetings and lodging of the panel members.
As of now, two typists one for Hindi and the other for English have been assigned to work with the mediation panel. Sources say some of the required staff is being directly brought by the negotiators themselves.
In the first leg, the mediation panel is expected to stay in Ayodhya for around three days, following which the further schedule will be worked out depending upon the progress in mediation and dialogue with the litigants in the case.
00:03 Erdogan dials Modi; condoles deaths in recent terror attacks:
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan telephoned Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday to condole the deaths in recent terrorist attacks in the country and wish speedy recovery to those injured, a statement said on Monday.
During their conversation, Modi underscored the importance of “immediate, demonstrable, and irreversible action” against terrorism by all countries concerned.
He asserted that terrorism remains one of the gravest threats to global peace and security.
“President Erdogan expressed condolences for the victims of recent terrorist attacks in India, and wished speedy recovery to those injured in the attacks,” the statement said.
Forty personnel of the Central Reserve Police Force were killed on February 14 when a Jaish-e-Mohammad suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into a paramilitary bus in Kashmir’s Pulwama district . — PTI
Source: Rediff