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Religious intolerance in India would have shocked Gandhi: Obama

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Photo: PTI

Photo: PTI

Washington: US President Barack Obama on Thursday said the “acts of intolerance” experienced by religious faiths of all types in India in the past few years would have shocked Mahatma Gandhi.

The comments by Obama came a day after the White House refuted suggestions that the US President’s public speech in New Delhi in which he touched upon religious tolerance was a “parting shot” aimed at the ruling BJP.

“Michelle and I returned from India – an incredible, beautiful country, full of magnificent diversity – but a place where, in past years, religious faiths of all types have, on occasion, been targeted by other peoples of faith, simply due to their heritage and their beliefs – acts of intolerance that would have shocked Gandhiji, the person who helped to liberate that nation,” Obama said in his remarks at the high-profile National Prayer Breakfast.

The US President, who has just returned from India, was referring to violence against followers of various religions in India in the past few years. He, however, did not name any particular religion and said the violence is not unique to one group or one religion.

“Humanity has been grappling with these questions throughout human history. And lest we get on our high horse and think this is unique to some other place, remember that during the Crusades and the Inquisition, people committed terrible deeds in the name of Christ.

“In our home country, slavery and Jim Crow (racial segregation state and local laws) all too often was justified in the name of Christ,” he said, addressing the gathering of over 3,000 US and international leaders.

“There is a tendency in us, a sinful tendency that can pervert and distort our faith. In today’s world, when hate groups have their own Twitter accounts and bigotry can fester in hidden places in cyberspace, it can be even harder to counteract such intolerance.”But God compels us to try. “And in this mission, I believe there are a few principles that can guide us, particularly those of us who profess to believe,” he said.

In a US-style Town Hall address in New Delhi on January 27, the last day of his India trip, Obama had made a strong pitch for religious tolerance, cautioning that India will succeed so long as it was not “splintered along the lines of religious faith”.

The White House yesterday strongly refuted allegations that Obama’s remarks on religious tolerance was aimed at the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), saying the speech in its entirety was about the “core democratic values and principles” of both the US and India.

(PTI)

Former police officer D G Vanzara gets bail in Ishrat Jahan case

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Photo: Hindustan Times

Photo: Hindustan Times

Ahmedabad/NDTV: One of Gujarat’s most controversial police officers, DG Vanzara, is likely to walk out of jail soon after he was granted bail today in the 2004 killing of college student Ishrat Jahan. But a court in Ahmedabad said he can’t enter Gujarat.

Eight police officers were charge-sheeted in the case. Four were granted bail earlier and today, two more got it – Mr Vanzara and another police officer, PP Pande.

Mr Vanzara was granted bail in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter killing case of 2005 in September.

He has been in a jail in Ahmedabad for eight years for cases that earned him the nickname of “encounter specialist”. He retired last year. He was arrested in March 2007, when he was a Deputy Inspector General of Police, for the Sohrabuddin killing.

Sohrabuddin, a petty criminal, his wife Kauser Bi and Tulsiram Prajapati were traveling on a bus from Andhra Pradesh in 2005 when they were kidnapped by the Gujarat police. Sohrabuddin and his wife were killed a few days later. Tulsiram, a key witness to their abduction, was shot dead a year later; the police claimed that he was trying to escape.

Mr Vanzara was also made an accused in the killing of Ishrat Jahan, a 19-year-old, and three men in 2004. All four were shot dead by police officers who claimed that they were involved in a plot to kill Narendra Modi, who was Chief Minister of Gujarat at the time.

In 2013, Mr Vanzara quit the force and shot off a vitriolic letter in which he accused Mr Modi and BJP president Amit Shah, a former Home Minister of Gujarat, of making him and other police officers scapegoats for following their orders.

In December, a court in Mumbai accepted Amit Shah’s discharge petition and said he will not face charges in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh killing.

Sahara chief Subrata Roy's get-out-of-jail deal mired in mystery

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A file photo of Sahara chief Subrata Roy

A file photo of Sahara chief Subrata Roy

New York/Mumbai: Subrata Roy, the boss of the Sahara conglomerate, who has been in a Delhi prison on contempt-of-court charges since March last year needs to post $1.6 billion (Rs 10,000 crore) in bail to get out. To help raise the money, Sahara is in talks to refinance its overseas hotels, including New York’s Plaza.

The only problem: It’s unclear if the man who’s orchestrating the deal, a 34-year-old former broker named Saransh Sharma, has the money to pull it off.

Sahara’s head of corporate finance, Sandeep Wadhwa, said Sahara’s lawyers had verified with Bank of America that Mr Sharma has deposited just over $1 billion (Rs 6,250 crore) in an account at the bank that is “earmarked for the said transaction.”

That account, however, doesn’t appear to exist. A manager at the bank told Reuters that he didn’t write a crucial document attributed to him: an email, sent in his name to Sahara, which purported to verify the account’s existence. After Reuters asked the bank to look into the account, spokeswoman Jumana Bauwens issued a statement saying: “Bank of America isn’t involved in the transaction.”

What’s more, Mr Sharma, who lives in San Jose, California, has admitted to stealing a database from a former employer. There are also two pending lawsuits against him, alleging he forged a letter and produced fake documents to obtain a loan.

Bank of America’s assertion that it has nothing to do with the deal, as well as details about Mr Sharma’s past, could throw a wrench into Sahara’s efforts to free Mr Roy, who is at Tihar jail, the largest in India, on contempt charges for failing to comply with a court order to repay investors in a bond scheme later ruled to be illegal.

The bail amount, the largest ever in India, reflects the cost of the illegal scheme, estimated by Indian regulators to be as much as $7 billion or Rs 43,750 crore.

Mr Sharma told Reuters he is backed by a group of U.S. and U.K. investors for the refinancing and that the funds in the account have come from them. Both he and Sahara declined to identify the investors.

Sahara’s businesses range from financial services to media, retail and real estate. The company used to sponsor the Indian cricket team, which helped to make it a household name in the country. During his heyday, Mr Roy, 66, socialized with presidents and film stars.

Sahara’s troubles started in 2011 when it was found by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), the market regulator, to have illegally sold billions of dollars of bonds to investors. After a legal battle that reached the Supreme Court, Sahara was ordered to refund investors the money.

The Supreme Court threw Mr Roy in jail last March after he failed to appear at a contempt hearing related to the dispute with the regulator. Sahara has said that it has repaid most investors, a claim SEBI has disputed.

Since Mr Roy’s imprisonment, Sahara has been trying to raise cash. It has been reporting its progress to the court and regulators, and needs approvals from them to do these transactions. ($1 = Rs 62.50)

(Reuters)

HC grants permission to AIMIM to hold party meet in Bengaluru

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Asaduddin Owaisi Bhatkal

Bengaluru: After being denied permission by the police for All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen party (AIMIM) meet in Shivajinagar’s Chhota Maidan, the High Court of Karnataka has granted permission to the party to hold a meeting in the city.

Speaking to Nasheman, a party official said that the HC has granted the party the permission to hold the meeting on either 16th, 17th or 18th of the month. He said, the party will announce the date, once they consult the party president and member of parliament Asaduddin Owaisi.

Owaisi was supposed to visit the city and address a public meeting in Shivajinagar on February 8, the same day the Vishwa Hindu Parishat (VHP) is planning to organise the ‘Hindu Viraat Samavesha’.

Anticipating communal tension, as a result of both events being held on the same day, the Bengaluru police are in no mood to give MIM permission for the meeting.

“A low-level police officer, of the rank of assistant sub-inspector at the Commercial Street Police Station, without applying his mind and anticipating consequences, issued an endorsement for the MIM local unit’s application seeking permission to hold the public meet in Shivajinagar on February 8. On discovering this, high-ranking officers stepped in and cancelled the permission, asking MIM to select another date for the event,” a senior police officer said. By doing so, we have averted a big showdown and communal flare-up, he added.

Plan to reintroduce lottery opposed

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lottery-ibrahim

Bengaluru: The suggestion by State Planning Commission deputy chairman C M Ibrahim to reintroduce lottery in the State has not gone down well with many a ruling party and Opposition leader.

Banned during the JD(S)-Congress coalition in 2004, lottery had been construed as a bane of the lower middle and lower classes of society.

JD(S) floor leader H D Kumaraswamy said it was an extremely bad suggestion. “I urge the chief minister to not consider such suggestions. We had banned lottery out of concern for the poor who were wasting their hard-earned money on buying the tickets and becoming paupers.

The previous Congress government had started lottery to fund the midday meal scheme. This time it is said to be for a health scheme. Such suggestions are absurd,” he said.

Congress State president G Parameshwara, too, opposed the proposal. He said lottery had been banned because men in many poor families mindlessly spent money on buying lottery tickets, putting their dependents to financial hardship.

“If there was such a strong reason to ban lottery, then we should not be reintroducing it. There is absolutely no need to raise funds for health schemes by selling lottery tickets,” he said.

Sources in the Congress said at the legislature party meeting held on Wednesday that a section of the legislators had opposed the recommendation of the Planning Board. However, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah did not react to the issue.

Opposition leader Jagadish Shettar said there were vested interests, including a lobby, which were aiming at getting lottery reintroduced in the State. “There are many other sources to get funds for the health scheme, if the government collects taxes properly,” he said.

Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council K S Eshwarappa likened the move to “robbing Peter to pay Paul”. “While the proposal to start a healthcare scheme for poor and middle-class families is welcome, it should not be done through lottery,” he said.

BJP MLC D S Veeraiah said lottery was a form of gambling and a social evil, while his colleague G Madhusoodhan said the proposal should be rejected outright. “The proposal has come from State Planning Board vice chairman C M Ibrahim. Only he can make such recommendations,” Madhusoodhan said.

(Agencies)

Left parties announce support for AAP to keep BJP, Congress out of power in Delhi

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Communist Party of India

New Delhi: In its effort to keep BJP and Congress out of power in Delhi, Left parties on Wednesday announced their support to AAP and asked their supporters to vote in favour Arvind Kejriwal-led party on those seats from where the joint front of the Left parties has not put up candidates in Assembly polls.

“15 seats are being contested jointly by Left parties in the Delhi polls. Rest of the 55 seats, our party has decided that it will ask our party members and voters to vote for the AAP. Most of the other left parties are also of the same view,” CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat told reporters in New Delhi.

He said the line of the party was not to support Congress and BJP and especially the latter. He said his party has taken similar stands earlier as well and had even voted for BSP in Delhi in earlier elections.

The elections for the 70-member Delhi Assembly will be held on 7 February. The counting of votes will take place on 10 February and tomorrow is the last day of electioneering.

The CPI Delhi state council has also decided to extend support to AAP candidates in all those constituencies where the joint front of the left parties has not put up candidates.

“The decision in this regard is being taken after seeing the all-out offencive by the rabid communal forces led by BJP and spearheaded by divisive anti-national RSS to stoop down to unheard levels to somehow capture power.

“These pro-corporate Hindutva forces are using both money and muscle power along with slanderous campaigns and pernicious attempts even to amend nationally accepted Indian Constitution for scrapping secular, socialist contents,” a CPI statement said.

The party said the Delhi voters are also wary of the anti-people neo-liberal policies that the UPA-II had imposed on them throwing their daily life out of gear.

“Hence to ensure that the there is no hung assembly again, the party has decided to support AAP nominees to avoid a division among the anti-BJP votes,” it said.

The CPI, CPI(M), CPI(ML) Liberation, SUCI(C), Forward Bloc, RSP and Socialist Party (India) have come to a seat-sharing arrangement and will be extending support to each other on 15 seats.

CPI appealed to Delhi voters to elect the Left candidates and urged its various branches, supporters, sympathisers and workers to ensure the defeat of BJP by fully supporting AAP candidates in those constituencies where CPI and other left candidates are not in the fray.

(PTI)

Maharashtra farmer climbs on burning pyre, ends life

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Maharashtra-farmer

Yavatmal: A debt-ridden farmer from a village in Maharashtra’s Vidarbha region climbed on a lit pyre and committed suicide on Wednesday, the second such incident since November last year, an activist said here on Thursday.

Anandrao S Pandagle, 45, a resident of Bhambh village, is survived by his wife and three teenaged daughters, said Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti chief Kishore Tiwari.

Preliminary police investigations revealed he had farm debts of Rs 50,000 and was trying to collect another Rs 12,000 for his eldest daughter’s marriage.

“He was alone at home, poured kerosene on himself, prepared and lit his own funeral pyre before climbing on it… By the time locals rushed to help, he was burnt to death,” Tiwari told a news agency.

This is the second instance of its kind in the region.

On November 28 last year, 75-year old farmer Kashiram B Indare of Manarkhed village lit his own funeral pyre in a field. Earlier presumed missing, his charred remains were discovered after a couple of days.

Vidarbha has been rocked by five more suicides since Wednesday, according to Tiwari, even as the desperate farmers’ patience was running out in the wake of official apathy to their plight.

The victims are: Ramkrishan Bhalavi of Talni village and Ambadas Wahile of Gunji village, both in Amravati district; Sanju Gawande of Saikheda village in Washim district; Vijay Tadas of Ghorad village and Nanaji Ingole of Kanheri village, both in Wardha district.

In December, the Supreme Court issued a notice to the state government on the issue of debt-ridden farmers’ suicides in Maharashtra following a public interest litigation filed by a lawyer RU Upadhyay.

Similarly, the National Human Rights Commission has also sent a notice to the state government seeking a report on the incident, even as the spate of farmland suicides continues unabated in Maharashtra.

Last week, the Shiv Sena strongly criticized it ruling ally, the Bharatiya Janata Party, for ignoring the plight of the farmers though Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis hails from the Vidarbha region.

(IANS)

Anil Goswami steps down as home secretary, L C Goyal replaces him

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anil-goswami

New Delhi: Home Secretary Anil Goswami resigned Wednesday after he was told by the government to put in his papers over his alleged role in trying to stall the arrest of former Congress minister Matang Sinh in the multi-crore-rupee Saradha scam. The government appointed L.C. Goyal as his replacement a few hours later.

Official sources said Goswami handed over his resignation to Home Minister Rajnath Singh. It was subsequently accepted by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC).

‘The home secretary has resigned. He met the home minister and submitted his resignation,’ said an official who did not want to be identified.

Goswami is the third senior official who had to resign or whose services were curtailed by the government over the past few weeks.

Sujatha Singh was removed as foreign secretary last week while the term of Avinash Chander as chief of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) was curtailed last month.

K. Durga Prasad was apparently removed as chief of the Special Protection Group (SPG) during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Nepal and he has now been posted in the Central Reserve Police Force.

Sources said Goswami was summoned by Rajnath Singh earlier in the day.

He is learnt to have explained his position following the controversy over his calls to Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officials dealing with the Saradha chit fund scam case.

The sources said there have been top-level consultations in the government over the issue.

Rajnath Singh is also learnt to have spoken to CBI director Anil Sinha.

Goswami, an IAS officer of Jammu and Kashmir cadre, was appointed home secretary during the term of the previous United Progressive Alliance government.

There were reports that he had spoken to CBI officers following their decision to arrest Matang Sinh.

Matang Sinh, who was minister of state in the P.V. Narasimha Rao government in the 1990s, was arrested Jan 31 by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in Kolkata on charges of criminal conspiracy, cheating and misappropriation of funds in the Saradha scam.

The government issued a release Wednesday night saying Goyal was the new home secretary and his term will be for two years.

‘The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the appointment of L.C. Goyal, IAS, secretary, department of rural development, as home secretary for a period of two years from the date of taking over charge vice Anil Goswami,’ the release said.

It also said the ACC has also approved request of Goswami for ‘voluntarily retiring’ from service with immediate effect by waiving the notice period.

The release said the term of Goswami as home secretary stands curtailed with immediate effect.

Goyal is an IAS officer of 1979 batch.

(IANS)

Scam in power meter purchase: State government ready for probe

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Vidhana Soudha

Bengaluru: The Opposition BJP has succeeded in making the government agree for an inquiry into reported violation in purchase of electricity meters.

On Wednesday, the state government agreed to initiate an inquiry by Additional Chief Secretary of the Finance Department into charges made by the BJP in the Legislative Council that Bescom had violated Karnataka Transparency in Public Procurement (KTPP) Act norms in purchase of electricity metres.

Making the announcement in the Council, Leader of the House and Information Technology Minister S R Patil said that the inquiry would be completed and the report submitted within three months.

The BJP on Tuesday had raised the issue in the House, stating that Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (Bescom), in August 2013, had given contract to a Kolkata-based company for purchase of electricity meters worth Rs 180 crore without calling tenders. This was in violation of KTPP Act norms.

Patil said the government had already cancelled the tenders and fresh tenders had been called for purchase of meters. Patil said ordering a Lokayukta probe would send a wrong message that all officials in the department were corrupt.

The Additional Chief Secretary of the Finance Department would conduct the inquiry and submit report, Patil said. Following the minister’s statement, the BJP members withdrew their dharna.

(Agencies)

Vatican officials denied visa for Bengaluru meet, claims Catholic church

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Representational Image.

Representational Image.

Bengaluru: The Catholic church today alleged that two key Vatican officials who were to address the 27th national assembly of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India (CCBI) in Bengaluru which began on February 3 had been denied visa.

Cardinal Oswald Gracias, CCBI president, said the 140 bishops from across the world are attending the assembly that commenced yesterday.

Archbishop Arthur Roche, Secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, and Archbishop Protase Rugambwa, President of Pontifical Mission Societies and Adjunct Secretary to the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, were key resource persons for the week-long conference.

CCBI is now planning to hold the session in which the two officials were scheduled to participate through video conferencing.

Though the two officials had applied for visa in mid-December, their applications were kept pending till the last minute and rejected, a CCBI statement said.

Sources claimed that even after the intervention by Vatican’s Secretary of State office the visa applications were kept pending.

(PTI)

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