12:12 Family of injured CRPF jawan refuses to meet BJP leader : Family of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawan Sher Mohammad, who was injured in the Naxal attack in Sukma, refused to meet Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader V. Solanki here and forced him to turn back, as he arrived at the family’s doorstep with an entourage and made a spectacle with music and fireworks.
“India is still trying to get over the grief of losing 25 soldiers in Sukma, but he (Solanki) has the gall to meet me at my home with an entourage. This is just shameful,” said the mother of an injured jawan.
The mother later added that the MLA had apologized for his mistake.
Muhammad was injured during the attack on CRPF patrol team on April 24.
The CRPF constable is undergoing treatment at Raipur hospital.
As many as 25 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed and five others injured in the encounter with naxals.
The attack took place on personnel of the CRPF’s 74th Battalion as they were assisting the local population in road building and clearing activity in the district.
File pic of Fareeda, the mother of the CRPF jawan injured in Sukma
12:06 Pak attack on Indian soldiers well-planned: BSF on beheading : BSF ADG briefing on the beheading of two Indian Army soldiers: Pakistan attack on our soldiers was well-planned. Their army, which also had mujahideen, was the first to attack four of our posts, says the BSF.
Indo-Pak DGMO talks today, India will raise jawans beheading.
Pakistan maintains that no jawans were beheaded by them.
Union Defence minister Arun Jaitley has just briefed the PM on the attack.
Earlier on Monday, the Indian Army confirmed the involvement of Pakistan’s Border Action Team (BAT) in the gruesome act beheading Indian soldier.
“Pak Army carried out unprovoked rocket and mortar firing on two forward posts on the Line of Control in the Krishna Ghati sector. Simultaneously, a BAT action was launched on a patrol operating in between the two posts. In a unsoldierly act by the Pak Army, the bodies of two of our soldiers in the patrol were mutilated. Such despicable act of Pakistan Army will be appropriately responded,” read the Indian Army’s statement.
It is the same Krishna Ghati sector where the Pakistani BAT had beheaded Lance Naik Hemraj and also severed the head of Lance Naik Sudhakar Singh of 13 Rajputana Rifles, on January 8, 2013.
Image: The mortal remains of Naib Subedar Paramjit Singh brought to Tarn Taran by helicopter. Head Constable Prem Sagar of the 200th Battalion of BSF was also beheaded. Constable Rajinder Singh was injured but is out of danger.
11:25 Feels like yesterday: Rahul Khanna remembers father Vinod: Actor Rahul Khanna has shared an old photograph remembering his father and actor-politician Vinod Khanna, who passed away on April 27 after a brief battle with bladder cancer.
The 44-year-old actor took to Twitter, where he posted a black-and-white picture from his childhood which shows him, his father and younger brother Akshaye enjoying a day-out on the beach. “Feels like yesterday,” Rahul captioned the photo.
Khanna had Rahul and Akshaye, 42, from his first marriage with Gitanjali but got divorced in 1985.
The “Imtihan” actor married Kavita in 1990 and has two children – son Sakshi and daughter Shraddha with her.
Khanna was best known for his roles in films such as “Amar Akbar Anthony,” “Qurbaani” and “Insaaf” and was also an active politician, and a Member of Parliament from Gurdaspur, Punjab. He died at the age of 70.
The Prime Minister will also be conveyed about the current situation prevailing at the Line of Control (LoC).
Pakistan’s brutal Border Action Team (BAT) mutilated the bodies of two Indian soldiers on Monday in Krishna Ghati sector along the Line of Control, where they had beheaded Lance Naik Hemraj in 2013.
The Indian Army confirmed the involvement of the BAT in the gruesome act.
“Pak Army carried out unprovoked rocket and mortar firing on two forward posts on the Line of Control in the Krishna Ghati sector. Simultaneously, a BAT action was launched on a patrol operating in between the two posts. In a unsoldierly act by the Pak Army, the bodies of two of our soldiers in the patrol were mutilated. Such despicable act of Pakistan Army will be appropriately responded,” read the Indian Army’s statement.
Jaitley took to Twitter to promise retaliation.
This is the same Krishna Ghati sector where the Pakistani BAT had beheaded Lance Naik Hemraj and badly severed the head of Lance Naik Sudhakar Singh of 13 Rajputana Rifles, on January 8, 2013.
Army Chief General Bipin Rawat arrived in Srinagar yesterday and took stock of the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir.
Jaitley tweeted: The Act of killing & mutilating the bodies of two of our soldiers is the most reprehensible & barbaric. The sacrifice will not go in vain. We have fullest confidence in our Armed forces who will react appropriately.
11:12 H1-B effect: Infosys to hire 10,000 American workers: Indian IT major Infosys will hire about 10,000 locals in the US over the next two years and set up four technology and innovation hubs there, as part of its efforts to tide over visa-related issues.
Through these new hires and centres, Infosys will also focus on enhancing its play in new technology areas like artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, user experience, cloud and big data. Speaking to PTI, Infosys CEO Vishal Sikka said the first hub, which will open in Indiana in August this year, will create 2,000 jobs by 2021 for American workers.
The location of the other three centres will be decided over the next few months. These hubs will not only train people on technology and innovation but also help in working closely with clients in key industries like financial services, manufacturing, healthcare, retail and energy.
11:11 H1-B effect: Infosys to hire 10,000 American workers: Indian IT major Infosys will hire about 10,000 locals in the US over the next two years and set up four technology and innovation hubs there, as part of its efforts to tide over visa-related issues.
Through these new hires and centres, Infosys will also focus on enhancing its play in new technology areas like artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, user experience, cloud and big data. Speaking to PTI, Infosys CEO Vishal Sikka said the first hub, which will open in Indiana in August this year, will create 2,000 jobs by 2021 for American workers.
The location of the other three centres will be decided over the next few months. These hubs will not only train people on technology and innovation but also help in working closely with clients in key industries like financial services, manufacturing, healthcare, retail and energy.
The 30-share index rose by 134.33 points, or 0.44 per cent, to 30,052.73. The gauge had lost 214.95 points in the previous two sessions. All the sectoral indices led by consumer durables, PSU, metal, auto, bank and IT were trading in the positive zone, rising by up to 0.96 per cent. The Nifty also advanced 37.75 points, or 0.40 per cent, to 9,341.85.
10:21 EPS cabinet meeting at 11 am, his 1st since Sasikala, Dinakaran jail: Tamil Nadu CM E Palaniswami to hold a cabinet meeting at 11 am today, his first meet since VK Sasikala and TTV Dinakaran were sidelined.
The merger of the OPS and EPS factions has been delayed with the OPS faction setting two pre-conditions. The OPS faction wants an inquiry into the death of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa and a formal ouster of Sasikala, and her family from the AIADMK. The OPS team is not willing to come to the negotiation table without these demands being met.
File pic: E Palaniswami with PM Modi
10:17 Piggy Chops goes to the Met : Priyanka Chopra wears a trench coat with a wedding-gown-like train at the Met Gala. Time to get back to her spaceship.
The Met Gala or the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute benefit is a a black-tie extravaganza held the first Monday in May to raise money for the Costume Institute. This is where celebrities come in costumes you wouldn’t be able to wear anywhere else.
09:57 How Pakistan crossed the LoC and beheaded 2 soldiers: An Indian Army patrol team was taken by surprise by a group of Pakistani special forces who had set up an ambush more than 250 metres deep inside Indian territory early Monday morning and beheaded two security personnel. Pakistan’s Border Action Team set up the ambush and waited for long for the patrol team, while Pakistani troops attacked two forward posts with rockets and mortar bombs along the Line of Control in the Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir. This is how it happened.
Representational image.
09:46 Pranab’s press secy appointed envoy to Netherlands : Venu Rajamony, press secretary to the President of India, is set to be India’s Ambassador to the Netherlands, according to a foreign Office source.
Rajamony is an Indian Foreign Service Officer of the 1986 batch and has been President Pranab Mukherjee’s press secretary for five years.
He is expected to assume office in Netherlands by the middle of May 2017,
according to South Block in New Delhi. He will also be coordinating with the Netherlands foreign office about the nitty-gritties of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the Netherlands in early September.
Before he was appointed press secretary, Rajamony was joint secretary in the Union Ministry of Finance dealing with international cooperation.
Rajamony was in-charge of multilateral institutions — International Monetary Fund, World Bank, ADB — in the Ministry of Finance. He was also Consul General in Dubai and has served nine years in Beijing and Hong Kong.
Rajamony was also director in the External Affairs Minister’s office.
Interestingly, before he joined the Indian Foreign Service, he was a reporter at a national daily in Kerala.
Rajamony was private secretary to then foreign minister Yashwant Sinha in the Natiocal Democratic Alliance government and also briefly with K Natwar Singh.
09:17 SC to resume hearing on plea against linking Aadhaar with PAN cards:
The Supreme Court will continue the hearing on Tuesday over the petition challenging the government’s decision to link Aadhaar with PAN card for filing income tax returns.
Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi is likely to argue before the apex court division bench, headed by Justice Arjan Kumar Sikri.
The AG, representing the government, will argue on the issue of Aadhar on the point of Section 139AA, inserted in the Income Tax Act under the Finance Act, 2017.
Earlier, the apex court had rapped the government for making Aadhaar compulsory for filing income tax returns.
It referred to its order in 2015 when the apex court had made the Aadhaar optional.
Referring to this, the court said, “How can you make Aadhaar card mandatory when we have passed an order to make it optional?”
Rohatgi argued that making Aadhaar mandatory was the only way to check black money.
The court earlier on March 27 specified that Aadhaar card should not be made mandatory for availing governmental schemes.
08:47 J&K: Yatra to the Shiv Khori cave shrine suspended after a major fire broke out in a building outside the shrine.
08:12 EC cancels Anantnag LS bypoll:
The Election Commission has cancelled the Anantnag Lok Sabha bypoll, saying the current ground situation is not conducive to hold free and fair elections.
The bypoll, earlier slated to be held on April 12, was postponed for May 25 due to poor law and order situation.
The EC said a fresh date would be announced later.
Earlier this month, the commission had written to the ministry of home affairs asking that 75,000 security personnel be deployed to ensure the safety of voters as well as to ensure theres no violence at polling booths in the constituency.
However, the government, in its reply, has said it would be able to deploy only 30,000 personnel or 300 companies of paramilitary forces.
The EC had postponed the bypoll to 25 after polling day violence in Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency left eight people dead and scores injured on April 9.
Source: Rediff