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India to resume talks with Pakistan after 6-month hiatus

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File photo of Prime Minister Narendra Modi with his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif during a meeting in New Delhi. Photo: The Hindu

File photo of Prime Minister Narendra Modi with his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif during a meeting in New Delhi. Photo: The Hindu

by Munir Ahmed & Ashok Sharma, AP

India is sending its top foreign ministry official to Pakistan to resume talks after a six-month hiatus.

Taking advantage of the Cricket World Cup, where their teams play this weekend, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted Friday he spoke to his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif on the phone and offered to further strengthen ties.

Sharif welcomed the Indian official’s proposed visit to Pakistan “to discuss all issues of common interest,” Sharif’s press secretary said in a statement in Islamabad. No dates have been announced for the visit.

Modi also said he spoke to leaders of some of India’s other neighbors — Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan — all cricket-mad nations participating in the sports competition being jointly hosted by Australia and New Zealand.

“Conveyed my best wishes for the Cricket World Cup,” Modi said.

India’s Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar is also scheduled to visit Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan apart from Pakistan, Modi said.

Last August, India called off talks with Pakistan after its ambassador in New Delhi met with Kashmiri separatist leaders, saying the Pakistani official could either talk with India, or talk with the rebels.

The setback came shortly after India and Pakistan had agreed to resume talks in May when Sharif attended Modi’s inauguration.

As tensions increased, Indian and Pakistani troops exchanged fire regularly in the disputed Kashmir region.

India and Pakistan have used “cricket diplomacy” to break past impasses.

Then-Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani met with then-Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in 2011 during a World Cup cricket match in the northern city of Chandigarh, using the same cover employed in 2005 by then-President Pervez Musharraf for a meeting with Singh during an India-Pakistan cricket match.

Then-President Ziaul Haq visited Jaipur, India, to watch a cricket match between the two countries in the 1980s.

Since their independence from Britain in 1947, India and Pakistan have fought three wars, two of them over Kashmir. Both countries control parts of the Himalayan region and claim it in its entirety.

Up to 12 dead in Karnataka train accident

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Bengaluru: Rescue work in progress after Bangalore -Ernakulam train derailed near Anekal in Bengaluru on Friday. PTI Photo

Bengaluru: Rescue work in progress after Bangalore -Ernakulam train derailed near Anekal in Bengaluru on Friday. PTI Photo

Bengaluru: Up to 12 passengers were killed and 25 injured when nine coaches of the Bengaluru-Eranakulam Inter-City Express derailed in Karnataka early Friday, an official said.

The incident occurred at 7.35 a.m. after the train left Anekal station towards Hosur near the border with Tamil Nadu, a railway official told IANS here.

While one railway official in Bengaluru claimed five deaths, others at the disaster site put it at 10. But Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said after speaking to a Karnataka minister that 12 people had died.

Rescuers frantically retrieved bodies from two of the coaches which telescoped into one another following the crash. The train was chugging at high speed when it went off the rails.

The train departed from the main city station here at 6.15 a.m. and covered 45 km when the disaster took place between Anekal road and Hosur town on the Karnataka-Tamil Nadu border.

“A disaster relief force team is at the spot for rescue and relief operations. The injured have been rushed to private and government hospitals at Anekal and Hosur,” one official said.

He said 10 of them were reported to be in serious condition.

Chandy, who spoke to Karnataka Home Minister K.J. George, told reporters in Kochi that a team led by Kerala Electricity Minister Aryadan Mohammed had left for the accident site.

Anish, a passenger on the train, told the media in Kochi over telephone that the rescue team had cut open the two coaches to shift the injured to hospitals.

Another passenger, Cyriac Mathew, said he had seen three bodies.

“The worst affected was coach D-8. I could see the bodies of two men and a woman in the coach,” said Mathew, a regular traveller on the train.

“Police and the ambulance arrived an hour after the accident,” he said.

Officials have not explained the cause of derailment. “An expert team is at the mishap spot to inspect what caused the derailment,” the official noted.

The South Western Railway has set up help desks at the Bengaluru station and the accident site to assist the injured and the stranded passengers.

The railways arranged special buses to shift the stranded passengers to Anekal and Hosur to either return to Bengaluru or to continue their onward journey to Ernakulam in Kerala via Tamil Nadu.

“We are planning to run a special train later in the day after the track is cleared,” the official added.

(IANS)

How YouTube Changed the World

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YouTube

In late 2005, when YouTube was just a few months old, one its co-founders announced that the site’s users were consuming the equivalent of an entire Blockbuster store each month. Today, 300 hours of video are uploaded to the site every minute. And Blockbuster… Well, kids, Blockbuster was a video rental shop offering films on DVD and VHS. VHS tapes were like giant cassettes. Cassettes were… Oh, never mind. From The Telegraph: How YouTube Changed the World.

Bengaluru: Sharp increase in sexual crimes against kids in 2014; only two convictions

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school-rape-bangalore

Bengaluru: The data relating to crimes against women and children in the state over the last two years has brought to light some shocking figures.

For starters, the number of cases of sexual assault on children rose from 270 in 2013 to a whopping 844 in 2014.

More shockingly, only two such cases saw conviction in 2014, while in 2013, accused in 26 cases have been convicted.

Home minister K J George revealed this data while replying to questions raised by MLC Ivan D’Souza during the Legislative Council session on Friday February 13.

The police have filed final reports in all the 270 cases in 2013, while in 2014, final reports were submitted in 642 of the 844 cases.

Also, there were 1,087 cases of harassment against children in 2013, out of which only 12 saw convictions, and 1,858 such cases in 2014 out of which accused in 26 cases were found guilty. Final police reports were submitted in 991 out of the 1,087 cases in 2013 and 1,408 cases out of 1,858 in 2014.

With regard to crimes against women, the year 2013 saw 9,302 cases of harassment and 1,030 cases of rapes. In 2014, this figure stood at 10,537 cases of harassment and 1,315 rapes. The police filed final reports in all the cases in 2013, while in 2014, final reports were filed in 492 rape cases and 7,653 cases of harassment.

The conviction rate remained low in both years, with accused in only 110 harassment cases and 15 rape cases being held guilty in 2013. During 2014, 113 cases of harassment and 4 rape cases saw conviction.

To a question on steps taken to curb sexual crimes against women and children, K J George replied that 10 fast track courts were established in August 2013 and 30 special courts to deal with crimes against children were set up in April 2014 as per POCSO Act.

(Agencies)

19 killed in gun and bomb attack on Peshawar Shia mosque

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At least 19 people killed, more than 50 injured, in attack on Shia mosque in Peshawar, Pakistan medical sources say.

Peshawar Imambargah

by Al Jazeera

An attack on a Shia mosque in Peshawar has killed at least 19 people and injured more than 50 others, hospital sources said.

At least four suicide bombers, wearing uniforms of security forces, hit the Imamia mosque during Friday prayers, officials said.

Three of them succeeded in exploding their vests, while one was unable to do so. His unexploded vest was defused by Peshawar’s bomb disposal unit.

Senior police official Rana Umer Hayat said several gunmen threw grenades before storming the mosque.

Al Jazeera’s Kamal Hyder, reporting from Islamabad, said: “The police and military forces that surrounded the area have now cleared the area, and are combing nearby areas for any attackers that may have escaped.”

Helicopters were visible overhead, as security forces combed the streets around the blast site in a bid to find one of the attackers.

At least four suicide bombers hit the mosque during Friday prayers. Three of them succeeded in exploding their vests, while one was unable to do so.

Several unexploded grenades were also recovered from the site, Shafqat Malik, senior police officer and head of bomb disposal unit, said.

The attackers appeared to gain access to the mosque, which is under tight security, from an under-construction building next door.

“They cut razor wire on the boundary wall to gain access,” provincial police chief Nasir Durrani said.

Asked whether there was a specific threat against this mosque, Durrani said: “The operation in Zarb-e-Azb and in Khyber agency [against the Taliban] is ongoing. We are in a war state.”

This is the third attack against a Shia mosque since the attack on a Peshawar school killed more than 141 people on December 16.

The last attack took place two weeks ago, also during Friday prayers, at a Shia mosque in the town of Shikarpur, killing at least 60 people.

Iraq: ISIS Expands Further in Anbar

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ISIS

Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) insurgents took control on Thursday of large parts of the western Iraqi town of al-Baghdadi, threatening an air base where US Marines are training Iraqi troops, officials said.

Al-Baghdadi, about 85 kilometers (50 miles) northwest of Ramadi in Anbar province, has been besieged for months by the radical Islamist militants who captured vast swathes of northern and western Iraq last year.

Militants attacked al-Baghdadi from two directions earlier in the day and then advanced on the town, intelligence sources and officials in the Jazeera and Badiya operations commands said.

The officials said another group of insurgents then attacked the heavily-guarded Ain al-Asad air base five kilometers southwest of the town, but were unable to break into it.

About 320 US Marines are training members of the Iraqi 7th Division at the base, which has been struck by mortar fire on at least one previous occasion since December.

Pentagon spokeswoman Navy Commander Elissa Smith confirmed there was “heavy fighting” in al-Baghdadi. She said there had been no direct attack on the air base, but added: “There were reports of ineffective indirect fire in the vicinity of the base.”

An Iraqi defense ministry spokesman declined to comment on the situation in Anbar.

District manager Naji Arak confirmed that ISIS insurgents had entered al-Baghdadi and attacked some government buildings. He initially estimated the militants had taken 90 percent of the town but later said he could not confirm the extent of the group’s control as intermittent clashes continued into the early morning.

The death toll from the fighting was not immediately clear.

Elsewhere in Iraq, five civilians were killed when bombs went off in two towns south of Baghdad, police and medical sources said. Such attacks are not uncommon in and around the capital.

Most of the surrounding towns in Anbar fell under ISIS control following the group’s ground offensive in the country last summer that drove the Iraqi army — the recipient of $25 billion in US training and funding since the 2003 invasion — to collapse. The onslaught rapidly advanced across the Syrian border where captured territories in both countries were proclaimed part of the group’s caliphate.

The wide spread of ISIS control prompted the formation of a US-led coalition of around 60 mainly Western and Arab states that has been conducting a campaign of airstrikes against the jihadists in Iraq and Syria since August.

However, the effect of the open-ended US-led air campaign remains the subject of debate, with the White House saying the militants have been damaged by the strikes and critics pointing to ISIS’ advances and battlefield successes despite the raids.

Still, the US has been planning to stretch out its operations in targeting the militant group.

As Baghdad prepares for a major ground offensive expected within months, the US president said Wednesday that he consulted Republicans and Democrats in the US Congress before submitting a request for authorization of military force against ISIS.

Although the military operations stop short of a large scale invasion by US ground troops, Barack Obama claimed otherwise and said that the authorization could permit certain strikes involving US special forces and would be limited to three years to give his successor the opportunity to reevaluate the situation with Congress.

However, Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jafaari said ground forces were not part of his government’s plan.

“We have established a set of guidelines,” for the international coalition, Jafaari told a press conference, stressing that this was to provide air support for Iraqi forces, training and intelligence.

(Reuters, Al-Akhbar)

Diverse statements and a citzens online petition in defence of Teesta Setalvad & Javed Anand under threat of arrest

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teesta-javed

People’s Alliance for Democracy and Secularism (PADS) expresses alarm at the Gujarat Police move to arrest Teesta Setalvad and Javed Anand

People’s Alliance for Secularism and Democracy (PADS)

Public Statement

Date: 12 February 2014

People’s Alliance for Democracy and Secularism (PADS) expresses alarm at the Gujarat Police move to arrest the two activists, Teesta Setalvad and Javed Anand in Mumbai. The arrest of Teesta Setalvad, who was denied bail by the Gujarat High court, has been stayed for 24 hours at the intervention of the Supreme Court.

Teesta Setalvad has been relentlessly championing the rights of the victims of the Gujarat pogroms of 2002. Her efforts resulted in the transfer of some of the riot related cases out of Gujarat and conviction of some bigwigs from the Gujarat government. The Government of Gujarat led by Anandiben Patel, the successor of the incumbent Prime Minister, is vindictive and has been after Teesta Setalvad and Javed Anand for their bold stand in defence of the riot victims. Its aim seems to be to discourage anyone from taking legal recourse against misdeeds of the Gujarat government during and after the 2002 pogrom. A case of embezzlement of funds collected by their NGOs has been filed against Teesta, Javed and three others. Defendants have submitted documentary evidence in court against prosecution allegations. It must be noted that while the Gujarat government appears hell bent on targeting Teesta and her associates for standing up for riot victims, it has been reinstating the police officials who are facing serious criminal charges in fake encounter cases.

The PADS demands that the Gujarat government stop harassing Ms. Teesta Setalvad and Mr Javed Anand – whose anticipatory bail applications have been rejected by the Gujarat High Court today.

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Text of statement on Gujarat High Court rejecting anticipatory bail of Teesta Setalvad & others by Prashant Centre for Human rights

Prashant A Centre for Human Rights, Justice and Peace
Post Box No. 4050, Navrangpura, Ahmedabad 380 009, Gujarat, India
Tel.: +91 (079) 66522333, 27455913 Fax: +91 (079) 27489018
Mobile: 9824034536. e-mail: sjprashant@gmail.com. www.humanrightsindia.in

STATEMENT ON THE GUJARAT HIGH COURT REJECTING
THE ANTICIPATORY BAIL APPLICATION OF MS TEESTA SETALVAD & OTHERS

It is extremely unfortunate that the anticipatory bail application filed by Ms. Teesta Setalvad, her husband Javed Anand and three others of Gulberg Society – Mr. Tanvir Jafri (son of slain MP Ehsan Jafri), Mr. Feroz Gulzar, Secretary and Mr. Salim Sandhi, Chairman of the Gulberg Society – has today been rejected by the Gujarat High Court.

All are aware that the charges are extremely flimsy and fabricated and are surely politically motivated.

In their response, Ms. Setalvad and the others provided the High Court with extensive, comprehensive and irrefutable evidence as to why they should be given anticipatory bail and the charges be dropped.

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Statement by All India Secular Forum on the move to arrest Teesta Setalvad and Javed Anand

All India Secular Forum stands with Teesta Setalvad and Javed Anand as they have struggled for justice for the victims of riots in Gujarat. Gujarat Police made several attempts and slapped several false cases on Teesta Setalvad to deter her from fighting for justice for the victims of Gujarat riots and have acted vindictively. The cases against them would not stand and justice will ultimately prevail. We demand that all false cases against Teesta Setalvad be immediately withdrawn and Gujarat police desist from taking coercive and vindictive action against them.

Adv. Irfan Engineer

Director,
Centre for Study of Society and Secularism
603, New Silver Star, Near Railway Bridge, Prabhat Colony Road,, Santacruz (E), Mumbai, India. PIN: 400055.
Call: +91-22-26149668 | M: +91-9869462833, +919820553173 | Fax: +91-22-6100712
e-mail: forirf@gmail.com; irfanengi@gmail.com; csss@mtnl.net.in
skype: irfanen

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Press Statement by CPI(M) – condemns the Gujarat Police move to arrest Teesta Setalvad and Javed Anand

via marxistindia
news from the cpi(m)

February 12, 2015

Press Statement

The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement:

The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) condemns the Gujarat Police move to arrest Teesta Setalvad and her husband, Javed Anand in Mumbai. The arrest of Teesta Setalvad has been stayed for 24 hours at the intervention of the Supreme Court.

The Gujarat Police have targeted Teesta Setalvad because of her relentless championing of the rights of the victims of the Gujarat pogroms of 2002. While the Gujarat government is pursuing the harassment of Teesta Setalvad, it has been reinstating police officials who are facing serious criminal charges.

The CPI(M) demands that the Gujarat government withdraw the concocted case against Teesta Setalvad and stop harassing her.

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[Sign Petition] Citizens in Solidarity with Teesta Setalvad and Javed Anand

We are shocked to learn of the rejection of the Anticipatory bail applications of Teesta Setalvad and Javed Anand by the Gujarat High Court. Media stories suggest that the bail applications have been turned down because Setalavad and Anand were “not cooperating with the investigations” and that prima facie “funds were used for private purpose”. It is a matter of record that they have submitted their original bank statements, balance sheets and audited accounts that completely disprove the allegations. Does this amount to non-cooperation or prima facie evidence of wrong-doing?

We stand with Teesta Setalvad and Javed Anand, and their quest for justice for the victims of 2002 violence, which has turned them into a target of Gujarat government’s ire. We condemn this witchhunt and the false and malicious propaganda being circulated against them.

Add your signatures at: http://www.indiaresists.com/sign-petition-citizens-in-solidarity-with-teesta-setalvad-and-javed-anand/

Erdogan chides Obama's silence on Chapel Hill killings

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Turkish leader criticises US President for his silence after the killings of three Muslim students in North Carolina.

Students with lit candles attended a vigil on the campus of the University of North Carolina after the Chapel Hill killings [Reuters]

by Al Jazeera

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has criticised US President Barack Obama for his silence after the killings of three young Muslims in North Carolina this week.

Speaking alongside Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto during a state visit to Mexico on Thursday, Erdogan said the silence of Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State John Kerry was “telling” and they should take a position following such acts.

“If you stay silent when faced with an incident like this, and don’t make a statement, the world will stay silent towards you,” Erdogan said, in the latest sign relations between him and the White House have become strained.

The three Muslims were shot dead on Tuesday near the University of North Carolina campus in an incident police said was possibly a hate crime.

Police investigation

The White House said on Wednesday it would await the results of the police investigation before commenting.

Newlywed Deah Barakat, 23, a University of North Carolina dental student, his wife Yusor Mohammad, 21, and her sister, Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, 19, a student at North Carolina State University, were gunned down on Tuesday in a condominium about three kilometres from the UNC campus in Chapel Hill.

Police charged the couple’s neighbour, Craig Stephen Hicks, 46, with murder.

Investigators said initial findings indicated a dispute over parking prompted the shooting but they were looking into whether Hicks was motivated by hatred towards the victims because they were Muslim.

Turkey, a European Union candidate nation and member of the NATO military alliance, is a key US ally in the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

But Erdogan has become increasingly outspoken about what he sees as rising Islamophobia in the West.

Last year, Erdogan said his relations with Obama had become strained and that he no longer spoke directly with him as he was disappointed by a lack of US action over the war in neighbouring Syria.

Erdogan said he instead spoke with Biden over issues such as Iraq.

Despite working together to combat ISIL, differences have arisen between the US and Turkey over how best to tackle the rebels.

Turkey has been an opponent of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, backing rebels fighting to oust him and allowing the political opposition to organise on Turkish soil.

It long lobbied for international intervention in the war.

Teesta Setalvad is being framed by Gujarat govt; but where’s the outrage?

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Teesta Setalvad

by G Pramod Kumar, FP

The Gujarat Police’s overt enthusiasm to arrest Teesta Setalvad and her husband Javed Anand no sooner than the state high court rejected their plea for anticipatory bail in a curious “embezzlement” case didn’t raise any eyebrows, but justified the perception that the BJP government was on a hot pursuit of the activist.

The BJP leaders and their proxies found nothing extraordinary in the action of Gujarat Police, which landed up at the doorstep of Setalvad in Mumbai in no time, because, according to them, the police was at liberty to arrest the accused when the courts refuse anticipatory bail. Some would even say that the police was duty-bound to pursue the case.

But what was unsaid was the deviousness in the police’s insistence of custodial interrogation of the couple for alleged diversion of funds collected by her NGO to convert Gulbarg Society in Ahmedabad, where 69 people were killed in the 2002 riots, into a museum. The charge was that the couple had transferred Rs 14.2 lakhs from the NGO’s account to clear their credit card bills and had transferred large sums of money to their personal accounts. The police said that the expenses included payments for wine and groceries.

Setalvad had clarified that credit card expenses that the NGO paid for were not personal, but official such as travel. It’s not unusual for people to use personal credit card for official purposes and then get the official expenses reimbursed. But by conflating the personal (wine, groceries, books etc.) and official, the police tried to besmirch their reputation and make out a case. Similarly, additional money used from the account was for salaries and legal expenses.

The police case was based on a complaint by 12 members of the Gulbarg Housing Society, which curiously refused to take note of the submission by the secretary and chairman of the Society that the case was false. The latter had also informed the police that the complainants had misused office stationery.

That despite an official clarification from the Gulbarg Society, the police went ahead with the case looked clearly motivated. And now their overzealousness in seeking custodial interrogation of the couple nails their intent.

One cannot clearly miss the police targeting Setalvad, but what makes one more worried about their motive is their track record in foisting spurious cases against her. In 2012, the Supreme Court came down heavily on the state for initiating a probe for “illegal exhumation” of the 2002 riot victims. “This is a hundred percent spurious case to victimise the petitioner (Setalvad),” said the court. “This type of case does no credit to the state of Gujarat in any way,” it further said.

A year later, the police came up with the embezzlement case, despite the official representatives of the Gulbarg Society affirming that they had no complaint, and wanted to arrest Setalvad.

The police’s dogged pursuit brings us to the question of who Setalvad is. She is an exceptional character in India’s human rights campaigns – she is the principal reason for getting justice, although partial, to the victims of the 2002 communal riots in Gujarat. For the first time in India, 117 perpetrators of communal violence, including a minister in the then Modi state cabinet, had been convicted. Had it not been for her and other rights activists, the victims would been gagged to submission. She is also the biggest obstacle to Modi’s image management efforts.

Obviously, Setalvad is a marked person because she is refusing to give up, along with Zakia Jafri, the complainant in the Gulbarg Society massacre case, against the Gujarat state government and the then chief minister Narendra Modi although a Special Investigation Team had found no prosecutable evidence against him. Setalvad and her supporters, point to the dissenting notes by the Supreme Court appointed amicus curiae Raju Ramachandran, who had said that the evidence against Modi was significant.

Setalvad may be particularly unsparing of Modi, as some allege, but that doesn’t allow for continuous police harassment. The victimisation of Setalvad is too evident to ignore. And it hadn’t started yesterday. In 2005, she was accused of pressuring Zaheera Sheikh in the Best Bakery Case to given evidence against the government. The SC had later absolved Setalvad and sent Zaheera Sheikh to jail for a year. “This is a classic example of a case where evidence were tampered with and witnesses won over,” the court had then said.

This record of victimisation against Setalvad for the simple reason that she is standing up for her fellow citizens’ battle for justice is a warning to human rights activists and a reminder of the abominable misuse of power by the state.

Mysore: Yaduveer Gopal Raj Urs is named Wodeyar heir

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A photograph of Yaduveer Gopal Raj Urs with Pramoda Devi Wadiyar.

A photograph of Yaduveer Gopal Raj Urs with Pramoda Devi Wadiyar.

Mysore: The Mysore royal family has a new heir in Yaduveer Gopal Raj Urs to continue the Dasara traditions of the Wadiyar dynasty and also taking up the legal disputes of palace property with the state government.

He is the grandson of Princess Gayatri Devi (the eldest daughter of the last Maharaja Jayachamarendra Wadiyar and the eldest sister of late Srikantadutta Narasimharaja Wadiyar) and son of Tripurasundari Devi and Swarup Gopal Raj Urs. His adoption as the heir was announced by Ms. Pramoda Devi Wadiyar at a press conference at Amba Vilas Palace on Thursday.

Yaduveer comes from the Bettada Kote family whose association with the Wadiyars of Mysuru goes back to more than 200 years. Yaduveer studied in Vidya Niketan School, Bengaluru up to standard ten and at Canadian International School, Bengaluru to complete his standard twelve, after which he left for the U.S. He is currently doing his BA, majoring in Economics and English at Boston.

(Agencies)

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