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SP’s Support Crucial Though the Smajwadi Party has given positive indications of favoring the Indo-US nuclear deal it has not yet revealed its intentions clearly on the N-deal. It is being assumed that SP would also try to convince other smaller parties to stand in favor of Congress on the issue of nuclear deal. Though it appears that Mulayam Singh Yadav-led Smajwadi party is keen to help Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the Indo-US nuclear deal the mood in the UPA is not in favor of the Smajwadi Party at the cost of the Left. Though Ram Vilas Paswan led LJP favors the SP but they don’t want it at the cost of Left like the NCP and the DMK .Even RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav is not prepared to face elections. SP’s support is crucial for the survival of the UPA government in case of Left withdraw its support to it.  
 
UNPA It must be recalled that SP is a key constituent of the United National Progressive alliance besides Telugu Desam Party, Asom Gana Parishad, Shorthand Vimukti Morcha, Indian National Lok Dal and PMK. Even it is not clear whether the United National Progressive alliance will survive as one of its constituent Asom Gana Parishad [More]

The Gang The several hundred vigilante women of India’s northern Uttar Pradesh state’s Banda area proudly call themselves the “gulabi gang” (pink gang), which had taken upon it the onus to free the society of corruption. The gang has waged a war against the ‘wrongdoers’, the corrupt government officials and the violent husbands. The Gang shot to the limelight in April 2006 when it hijacked trucks laden with food meant for the poor that was being taken to be sold for profit at the market by corrupt officials. Later, action was taken against the wholesaler.
 
Formation The gang, based in Banda district, one of the poorest parts of Uttar Pradesh, has got them a name because of its strict dress code, pink sarees and blouses. The women in pink have thrashed men who have abandoned or beaten their wives and unearthed corruption in the distribution of grain to the poor. They have sworn to root out corruption in the police force and deliver ruthless summary justice to anyone believed guilty of domestic violence or sexual abuse. Sampat Pal Devi, a 46 year old woman, leads the “pink gang”. Gang has even unearthed wrongdoing among politicians despite the fact that its members are drawn from the lowest [More]

Movement Yaga Guru Baba Ramdev and the Sadhu community has joined hands to launch national wide agitation if the Center Government does not intervene in the saving the holy river Ganga. Baba has warned and has given the time limit of three months to the Central and the State governments through which Ganga passes, to “take concrete actions to save the holy river”. Otherwise he has decided to launch a countrywide agitation for it.

 
Battle Yoga Guru Ramdev and the community of other Spiritual seers across the country, is the latest to join the ‘warriors’ who are waging a battle against the industry and development lobbies across the country and reluctant state machineries to save India’s dying rivers. With the Baba and the Sadhu community their power has increased a lot and it is being expected that they will purge not only Ganga but many other rivers and lakes of the accumulated filth and breathe a new life into them.
 
Ganga Raksha Manch The seer told that he is at the forefront of a group, the Ganga Raksha Manch, set up by spiritual heads in Hardwar to press the government to declare the endangered river a national heritage. The Ganga Raksha Manch comprises spiritual leaders like Sri [More]

Ambush Thirty seven personal belonging to elite anti-naxal force Greyhounds went missing after Maoists ambushed a motor launch carrying an Andhra Pradesh police team in the Chitrakonda reservoir just inside the Orissa border on Sunday. The launch was carrying 62 officers and constables when nearly 100 Maoists of the Kalimela dalam of Orissa sitting on two hillocks straddling the reservoir opened fire with rocket-launchers, mortars and light machine guns on the boat. Maoists killed the boat driver, who belonged to the Orissa agriculture department. The police also fired back and during the exchange of fire the fiber glass boat capsized after it was holed due to the firing by the Maoists.

 
Police According to the Police sources the boat sank when to defend themselves the personal carrying heavy rucksacks and weapons moved to the left of the boat. After the policemen fell in to the water the Maoists used country boats to reach them and opened fire. Two policemen and a boat driver were taken hostage by them. Only 25 “swam to safety”, six of them with bullet injuries, rest of the policemen are missing, feared drowned. “Some injured policemen were inside the cabin when the boat capsized. Whether they have managed to escape or have [More]

Report A new survey based on experience of Below Poverty Line (BPL) households in availing various public services last year revealed that the level of corruption is “alarming” in the states of Assam, Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. According to the ‘India Corruption Study 2007′, brought out by Transparency International India (TII) and Centre for Media Studies (CMS), one third of below poverty line households in the country bribed officials to avail various public services - from police to PDS.

 
Corruption Levels Report was released by the Vice-President on Sunday. It was stated in the report that nearly 10 lakh BPL households had to pay bribes to the tune of Rs 7.15 crore last year to avail the benefit under the UPA’s flagship scheme. Study has disclosed rampant corruption in implementation of the populist National Rural Guarantee Employment (NREG) scheme. States have been grouped into four categories according to the level of corruption. These four levels are alarming, very high, and high and moderate.

 
‘Moderate’ In Himachal Pradesh, Andhara Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab, Uttrakhand, Haryana and West Bengal the corruption level is ‘moderate’. Karnataka, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu fall into the “very high” group. The report was based on the corruption experienced by Below [More]

Battling for Life Former Indian Army Chief Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw was battling for life in a military hospital in
Wellington in TamilNadu. According to the military hospital sources he was undergoing treatment for a lung cancer. When the reports last came in he has slipped into coma and passed away late Thursday night on June26. He was in extremely critical condition and the doctors feared the worst. Manekshaw had been suffering of old age-related ailments for the past few years and was being treated at the Army Hospital in New Delhi and at the Military Hospital at Wallington, where he settled down after retiring as the army chief on Jan 15, 1973 after four decades of military service.
Life and Career Manekshaw was credited with crafting the campaign that led India to victory in the 1971 Indo-Pak war and creation of Bangladesh after the war. Field Marshal Sam Hormusji Framji Jamshedji Manekshaw, born in Amritsar, Punjab on 03 April 1914, joined the first batch of 40 cadets at Indian Military Academy (IMA), DehraDun on 01 October 1932, after completing his schooling in Amritsar and

Sherwood
College, Nainital. He passed out of the IMA in December 1934 and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Indian Army. [More]

Victory Indian opener Virender Sehwag with his hard-hitting, scattered the fielders and lambasted the Pakistani attack scoring 119 off 95 balls (9*4,5*6) as India marched to the semifinal league high on confidence. Suresh Raina followed his hundred against Hong Kong with a 69-ball 84 that was laden with shots of the highest quality. Sehwag and Raina added 198 runs for the 2nd wicket that paved the way for India’s victory over Pakistan. They both played with aggression and squeezed the confidence and hope out of the Pakistani bowlers.

 
Sehwag Sehwag’s ton overshadowed Pakistani captain Shoaib Malik’s knock of 125 runs. Malik had opened with Salman Butt retired hurt with cramps in the 40th over. Pakistani team had posted a strong total of 299 for four to win the match and India replied in a befitting manner by strong opening. Gambhir fell early for 9 when Misbah-ul-Haq pulled off an athletic catch at gully before Pakistani bowlers faced the onslaught of Sehwag and in-form Suresh Raina. None of the Pakistani bowlers could stop the flurry of boundaries. It was all Indian flags all over.

 
Raina It was a marvelous cricket by Sehwag and Raina that created the ground for crushing defeat for Pakistan. Playing under lights Sehwag savaged [More]

Incident In a shocking development, a young Muslim woman who was raped by her father-in-law has been “punished” with a divorce from her husband by a community panchayat that now finds her marriage ‘illegal’. This is exactly the replay of the Imrana case after three years that has caught the nations’ attention. Ms Hamid-un-Nisha, 25, was raped by her father-in-law Mr. Ramzan Ali in Bahrawan village in Gorakhpur district. Her husband Mr. Abdul Rashid works in Dubai.

Panchayat She told about the incident to her relatives and also to her husband when he returned after a few days. As the news of the incident spread, a panchayat was convened on Wednesday June 25 in which representatives from 28 panchayats of neighboring villages took part. Ali admitted before the panchayat that he had raped Hamid-un-Nisha and pleaded guilty. He has been let off with a monetary fine of Rs 35,000 to be paid to the victim by the panchayat. Hamid-un-Nisha was told that since she had sex with her father-in-law, her marriage with Rashid was ‘haraam’ (illegal) and she stood divorced. 

Replay of Imrana Case Since the matter was resolved in the panchayat no FIR has been registered in the case. .  It may be recalled that [More]

Processions Clashes continued even for the sixth day on Saturday between police and demonstrators at several places in the Kashmir valley as the protests against transfer of forest land to the Amarnath shrine board intensified. Maximum restraint was observed by police and Central Reserve Police Force to avoid a bloody confrontation despite of a few violent incidents. Massive protests started after Friday prayers when people starter pouring out in the streets throughout the Valley and started blocking roads and burnt half a dozen CRPF bunkers. Protestors burnt effigies of several political leaders. All the streets were packed with people chanting pro-freedom and anti-India slogans. They also shouted slogans against Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and his predecessor Mufti Mohammad Sayeed holding them responsible for transferring land to SASB as part of a “major conspiracy.”

 
Yatra Amarnath yatra was suspended on Friday for the third time as a precautionary measure for ensuring safety of pilgrims as protests over the land transfer issue were continuing in the valley for the last few days. Because of bad weather and heavy rains it was suspended on June 20 because the routes leading to the temple had become dangerous. It was again suspended on June 25 due to heavy rush at [More]

Awards Former Captain of the Indian Cricket Team, Sourav Ganguly was adjudged the Asian Cricketer and Asian Batsman of the Year for his fighting comeback into the Indian team, at the Castrol Asian Cricket Awards at a function held in Karachi on June 27. Ganguly has had a series of successful innings during his memorable comeback to the Indian Cricket Team during the South African tour of 2006-07.For his overall battling performances during the year, he also received the overall Castrol Asian Batsman of the Year Award. This aggressive Indian batsman had given outstanding battling performances after his memorable comeback to the Indian Team.

 
Other Indian Players Besides Ganguly, the other three Indians who were also awarded in the function were Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir and Yuvraj Singh. Sachin was adjudged the best ODI Batsman while Gautam Gambhir grabbed the honor in Twenty20. Yuvraj Singh was given a special award for hitting six sixes off a Stuart Broad over in the ICC Twenty20 World Cup.

 
Career Ganguly played his first international one day cricket match against West Indians at Brisbane in 1992 and then was forgotten for four years. It was only in1996 that luck surprised him when he played in the first international test match of [More]

Meeting During the talks between External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mahmood Qureshi in New Delhi, both the sides agreed that composite dialogue is a useful platform to address all bilateral issues and decided to launch its 5th round from July 21.It is the first major political contact from across the border after a new elected government came to power in Islamabad.

Invitation
Pakistan extended a fresh invitation to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to visit the country, saying the political environment in both the countries is “right” to make the peace process “result-oriented”. Visiting Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi at a joint press conference with External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee in New Delhi after wide-ranging talks said “We are looking forward to his visit to
Islamabad“. He said “The political environment in both the countries is “right” to make the peace process “result-oriented”.

 
 
Mukherjee Mukherjee spoke about the threat posed by terrorism and said both the countries have to be “unambiguous” in fighting the menace. “Terrorism is a threat to the stability of our respective democratic frameworks. Whatever be our political differences, we have to be unambiguous in addressing terrorist threats,” Mukherjee said. Both the sides agreed to hold the fifth round of [More]

Victory Indian opener Virender Sehwag with his hard-hitting, scattered the fielders and lambasted the Pakistani attack scoring 119 off 95 balls (9*4,5*6) as India marched to the semifinal league high on confidence. Suresh Raina followed his hundred against
Hong Kong with a 69-ball 84 that was laden with shots of the highest quality. Sehwag and Raina added 198 runs for the 2nd wicket that paved the way for India’s victory over
Pakistan. They both played with aggression and squeezed the confidence and hope out of the Pakistani bowlers.
 

Sehwag Sehwag’s ton overshadowed Pakistani captain Shoaib Malik’s knock of 125 runs. Malik had opened with Salman Butt retired hurt with cramps in the 40th over. Pakistani team had posted a strong total of 299 for four to win the match and
India replied in a befitting manner by strong opening. Gambhir fell early for 9 when Misbah-ul-Haq pulled off an athletic catch at gully before Pakistani bowlers faced the onslaught of Sehwag and in-form Suresh Raina. None of the Pakistani bowlers could stop the flurry of boundaries. It was all Indian flags all over.

Raina It was a marvelous cricket by Sehwag and Raina that created the ground for crushing defeat for
Pakistan. Playing under lights Sehwag savaged the attack [More]

Political Record Rashtriya Janta Dal is a political party in India which has its political base mainly in Bihar. Laloo Prasad Yadav is its President. This party has remained in power in Bihar under the Chief Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav and then Rabri Devi, who is also Laloo’s wife for more than 13 years. But after the state assembly elections in February 2005, Bihar came under President’s Rule because no political party could win enough seats to prove its majority in the assembly to form a government. Then new elections brought to power the coalition government of Janta Dal (United) and Bhartiya Janta Party.

History Rashtriya Janta Dal was formed in 1997 when Laloo Yadav broke away from Janta Dal. The mass base of the party has traditionally been some of the backward classes and religious minorities. Laloo’s path to power was catalyzed by the strategic alliance he forged between the poor Yadav caste and the Muslims. He served as the Chief Minister of Bihar from 1990-1997 but was forced to resign following escalating corruption charges in the fodder scam. There after his wife Rabri Devi became the Chief Minister of Bihar. It was alleged Laloo continued to act and administer as a real CM [More]

Court Controversial Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) MP from Balia Suraj Singh alias Surajbhan Singh with two others were on Tuesday held guilty by a Bihar fast track court of murdering a farmer named Rami Singh over a land dispute 16 years ago. Surajbhan Singh represents
Bihar’s Balia constituency in parliament and is considered to be very close the Union Minister of Steel and LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan.
Incident Rami Singh, a resident of Mathurapur village in Begusarai district was shot on Jan 16, 1992 allegedly by Surajbhan Singh and his henchmen to avenge the killing of an associate Ramadhar Singh in a land dispute, according to the police complaint in the case. While an accused Pappu Singh had sought a separate trial, two others-Suro Singh and Shankar Singh- also convicted in the same case had been killed in an encounter before the case could go to trial. The fast court judge R P Dubey convicted MP Surajbhan Singh, Jaijairam Singh and Radha Singh. The quantum of sentence will be announced on Wednesday.

Related Facts It may also be recalled that Begusarai public prosecutor Ram Naresh Sharma who was earlier handling the same case was shot dead in his house in Begusarai on November 8, 2007.Hundereds of people, [More]

Political Record Rashtriya Janta Dal is a political party in India which has its political base mainly in
Bihar. Laloo Prasad Yadav is its President. This party has remained in power in
Bihar under the Chief Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav and then Rabri Devi, who is also Laloo’s wife for more than 13 years. But after the state assembly elections in February 2005,
Bihar came under President’s Rule because no political party could win enough seats to prove its majority in the assembly to form a government. Then new elections brought to power the coalition government of Janta Dal (United) and Bhartiya Janta Party.

History Rashtriya Janta Dal was formed in 1997 when Laloo Yadav broke away from Janta Dal. The mass base of the party has traditionally been some of the backward classes and religious minorities. Laloo’s path to power was catalyzed by the strategic alliance he forged between the poor Yadav caste and the Muslims. He served as the Chief Minister of
Bihar from 1990-1997 but was forced to resign following escalating corruption charges in the fodder scam. There after his wife Rabri Devi became the Chief Minister of
Bihar. It was alleged Laloo continued to act and administer as a real CM with his wife being a ceremonial [More]