Pune: Social activist Anna Hazare has written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and urged him not to amend the provisions of the existing Land Acquisition Act.
Anna, who has been leading a campaign against the Land Bill introduced by the NDA government, asked PM Modi in the letter not to amend the existing Land Acquisition Act which was introduced in 2013 by the then Congress-led UPA government.
It may be noted that the Congress president had recently written to the social activist, expressing solidarity with his agitation against the current Land Bill.
Opposition has been up in arms against Modi government’s Land Acquisition Bill which they claim is pro-industry and anti-farmer. That Bill has already been passed in Lok Sabha and awaits Rajya Sabha’s nod, where Opposition is in majority.
The Modi government is already thinking of re-promulgating the Land Ordinance on which the amended Land Bill is based before its expiry, as it senses roadblocks in the Upper House.
Anna had recently asked for an “open debate” with Prime Minister Modi on the controversial clauses of the proposed law.
In response to a query about Union Minister Nitin Gadkari’s willingness to debate the Bill with those opposed to it, Anna had said, “Gadkari’s homework is weak. We are ready to have an open debate with the Prime Minister on camera to discuss the issue threadbare. Let the people watch this debate and see the facts for themselves.”
Gandhinagar: After failing to get Presidential assent for its anti-terror bill thrice, the Gujarat Assembly on Tuesday passed by majority vote the controversial Gujarat Control of Terrorism and Organised Crime (GCTOC) Bill in a new form.
The Bill allows police to intercept and record telephonic conversations, and submit them in court as evidence.
The GUJCOC Bill, which is on the lines of the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), was rejected in 2004 and 2008 by the then President AJP Abdul Kalam and Pratibha Patil respectively, who had suggested some amendments in the provisions related to telephone interception and confession made before police officer being considered as evidence in court.
After its passage for the third time in the State Assembly without any changes, the Bill is still pending for clearance from the President.
The Bill was today passed by a majority vote amid stiff resistance from Opposition Congress, which walked out of the House over its controversial provisions.
The state government re-introduced the Gujarat Control of Organised Crime (GUJCOC) Bill in the Assembly after renaming it. The bill, however, has retained the controversial provisions.
The contentious provisions of the Bill include admissibility of evidence collected through telephonic interception and confession made before police officer as evidence in court.
The Bill was introduced in the House by Minister of State for Home Rajnikant Patel, after which a long debate took place on it, in which Opposition Congress demanded removal of controversial sections like telephonic interceptions, confessions made before some police officer as evidence and time limit of 180 days for filing of chargesheet.
At the end of the discussion, Congress leader Shankarsinh Vaghela and Shaktisinh Gohil insisted that the controversial provisions should be dropped as per the suggestions of past Presidents when they rejected the Bill.
However, Patel said that the provisions of this Bill are in favour of the nation, the people of this country and it allows us to take action against traitors and refused to drop those sections.
Subsequently, Congress walked out of the House.
Later, the Bill was passed by majority vote in the State Assembly.
Section 14 of the Bill says, “Notwithstanding anything contained in the code or in any other law which is in force, the evidence collected through the interception of wire, electronic or oral communication under the provisions of any other law shall be admissible as evidence against the accused in the court during the trial of the case.”
According to Section 16 of the Bill, accused’s statement before a police officer, not below the rank of Superintendent of police, will be treated as an evidence.
While, Section 20 (2) (b) says stipulated time to complete probe and file the chargesheet can be exceeded to 180 days (six months) from the current stipulated time of 90 days.
Another controversial provision under the bill is section 20 (4), which reads “no accused person in this act shall be released on bail or on his own bond unless the public prosecutor has been given an opportunity to oppose the application, the special court is satisfied that there are reasonable grounds for believing that accused is not guilty of such offence and that he is not likely to commit any offence while on bail.”
The cases under the act can be tried only in a special courts set up for this purpose.
Congress leader Shaktisinh Gohil objected to the provisions of the Bill and said that some of them are even unconstitutional.
He told the House that the provision of confession before a police officer is contradictory with Indian Evidence Act as according to Section 164 of CrPC and Indian Evidence Act, a statement before the magistrate can only be considered as an evidence.
On the provision of not releasing an accused on bail, Gohil said the provision is unconstitutional which deprives the right of an accused to get released on bail on his own bond.
However, the government justified the provisions in the Bill by saying that existing legal frame work like the penal and procedural laws and adjudicatory system have been found to be rather inadequate to curb or control the menace of organised crime.
“It is therefore considered necessary to enact a special law with stringent and deterrent provisions,” the state government said in the objectives of the Bill.
About the provision of telephonic interceptions, the ‘Statement of Objects and Reasons’ in the Bill states that this is necessary in these times where organised criminal syndicates make extensive use of wire and oral communication.
It says that the interception of such communication to obtain evidence is inevitable and an indispensable aid for the law enforcement.
Former president APJ Abdul Kalam had in 2004 raised objections over Section 14 (telephonic interception as evidence) and returned the bill to the government led by the then chief minister Narendra Modi, asking it to remove the clause.
Later in 2008, the Bill was passed after deleting the clause related to interception of communication, as per the suggestion of Kalam.
However, then President Pratibha Patil rejected it and suggested some more amendments. One of them was to eliminate the provision which allows admissibility of confession made before a police officer in the court as evidence.
However, ignoring the suggestion, the state government had once again passed the bill in 2009 for the third time and sent it for President’s approval.
The old Bill is still pending with the President.
But the ruling BJP hopes that as the NDA government is in power at the Centre, the new Bill is sure to pass the test there.
(With PTI inputs)
I could not count my heartbeats but I could feel the numbers of heart beating for me as I walk the ramp for #MissIndia2015 in #YashRajStudios-Mumbai. As advised by you all I celebrated being there, enjoyed every moment, gave my best and cheered for myself and made it to Top10 Finalist of #fbb #FeminaMissIndia. You all were my partners in progress.
I sincerely acknowledge the silent prayers, ground swelling support, overwhelming response in the new age technology. I stand up in ovation to thank all my friends and family who stood by me, spent time to make me who I am today. It was indeed a life time opportunity and wonderful experience to cherish and with courage to carry on.. Thank you all for your messages of congratulations and encouragement, it will take a week for me to read and reply. Believe me, its you all who made this small town girl #MissIndia #MissPopular and #MissMultimedia. I will cherish this as long as I live.
I said, now I reiterate ,’Success is not Final, Failure is not Fatal, it is the Courage to continue that Counts….’.
I seek your blessings and support to carry on career with courage. .
#Thaaaanks #Muuuaaaaahhhh #Thankyou
Heatadaua- A small town at the foothills of Kathmandu has witnessned the most bizarre situation of all times. A huge rhinoceros is walking freely on the roads and caused the death of a of a woman and one injured. The Rhino has caused terror in the small while rampanging anything between on the way.
The Rihno has strayed away from a local wildlife sanctuary.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has defended his Minister Girish Mahajan who is being criticised for attending a children’s event with a revolver tucked in his waist.
The CM said Mahajan has not broken any law.
Mahajan also later clarified that he carries the weapon for self-defence and that he has not been involved in any kind of violence.
The issue of Water Resources Minister Mahajan carrying a revolver, which was very much visible, at an event on Saturday for deaf and mute children in Jalgaon city was raised in both the Houses of state Legislature here on Monday.
Ads by ZINC
In the Assembly, the Opposition Congress and NCP demanded sacking of the minister for attending a function of differently-abled children with a revolver tucked in his waist as it sent a wrong message in the society. The Opposition members boycotted the Question Hour in protest.
Fadnavis said the Opposition was trying to create an unnecessary controversy. “Mahajan has a licence to carry weapon for last two decades. Licence holder is expected to carry the weapon and not keep it at home,” he said.
However, he agreed that the weapon was visible while the minister attended a function and necessary directives would be given to him in this regard.
When the matter was raised in the Council, Fadnavis said, “Girish Mahajan has a licence for keeping a weapon. He is carrying it with him from the last 25 years. A licence is given only when a person needs to keep a revolver for his safety. He has not broken any law by carrying a revolver.”
The chief minister was replying to Sunil Tatkare (NCP), who took a jibe at Mahajan and questioned the need to carry a revolver at the children’s event.
“His revolver was tucked in his waist and a controversy was created out of it by news channels when a portion of the pistol became visible inadvertently,” Fadnavis said.
Meanwhile, Mahajan later said that his revolver is merely for self-defence and that he has not been involved in any kind of violence before.
“I admit that the revolver was visible. But never have I pointed a revolver, or gotten involved in violence of any kind in my life. The revolver is merely for self-defence,” the minister told reporters here.
Earlier, the issue was raised by NCP group leader Jayant Patil in the Legislative Assembly soon after the House assembled for the day.
He wondered if the state’s law and order situation was so bad that a minister needed to carry a revolver to a school.
NCP leader Ajit Pawar demanded sacking of Mahajan.
“Why was the minister trying to scare the citizens by displaying his weapon?” Pawar asked.
Leader of Opposition in Assembly Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil and NCP member Chhagan Bhujbal also criticised Mahajan for possessing a revolver while addressing children in school.
They demanded a statement from the government and discussion on the matter.
Assembly Speaker Haribhau Bagde said the minister’s conduct was inappropriate and that he would issue necessary directives to the government in this regard.
Education Minister Vinod Tawde said Mahajan was expected to return to Mumbai in the evening.
“It is only then we can know his side of the story,” Tawde added.
Shiv Sena leader and state Environment Minister Ramdas Kadam said that if the minister was carrying a licensed weapon, there should be no problem.
The early morning terrorist attack in Kathua district rocked the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly today with Opposition members seeking an explanation from the government on the incident.
The issue was raised by National Conference MLA Devender Singh Rana who wanted to know about the steps being taken by the government to thwart the attack.
he House wants to know how the militant attack took place, how the militants were able to launch this attack,” Rana said.
Deputy Chief Minister Dr Nirmal Singh informed the House that two or three heavily armed militants managed to enter the Rajpora Police station in Kathua and were holed up in the police station.
“Police and CRPF has cordoned off the area and heavy firing is going on. A man has died and we are not sure if he is a civilian or a CRPF personnel. Ten people have been injured which include two policemen, seven CRPF men while one civilian and a policeman have been seriously injured,” he said.
Opposition National Conference and Congress termed the answer “unsatisfactory”.
“What are you saying that you don’t know that the man who has died can be either a civilian or a CRPF personnel. The government should have the information,” said Rana.
Ali Mohammed Sagar of the National Conference said, “People are dying and you have no information.”
While condemning the attack CPI (M) MLA M Y Tarigami said that the House needs to show a united face in condemning such tragedies and expressed sympathy with the family of those killed in the attack.
“It’s a tragedy and it should be debated here. The House needs to know what steps the government will take and has taken. Let’s not get divided on the tragedy. Such tragedies are unfortunate and we should speak in one voice and condemn it,” Tarigami said.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday spoke to Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and conveyed to him that relief materials are being air dashed to the flood-affected valley in the shortest possible time.
During the telephonic talk, the Chief Minister briefed the Home Minister about the prevailing flood situation in Kashmir valley and the steps being taken for rescue and providing relief to the affected people. Singh assured full central assistance to tackle the flood situation and conveyed to Mufti that relief materials are being airlifted to the valley in shortest possible time to help the state government in rescue and relief operations, official sources said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has always rushed Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi to Kashmir for an on-the-spot assessment of the damage and assured the state of all assistance.
Seven months after the devastating floods, Kashmir valley is facing yet another flood following incessant rains with river Jhelum in spate at several places while 16 people were feared trapped after two houses collapsed in Budgam district.
Russell Crowe’s publicist has two pieces of information she wishes to impart before I’m ushered into the actor’s hotel suite. The first is a warning that Crowe “may be smoking” during the interview, about which I couldn’t care less, beyond wondering how much it is costing him to have a ciggie. Clearly whatever eye-watering charges Claridge’s levies against those who break the hotel’s smoking ban are but a mere bagatelle to the highest-paid actor in the world – one who has reportedly earned $82m (£55m) at the box office in the past year. The second is that Crowe is “on good form, very talkative”. It’s said brightly, but is clearly intended as reassurance. The one thing everybody knows about Crowe, other than the fact that he was nominated for the best actor Oscar three years in a row, winning it in 2000 for Gladiator, is that he has a fractious relationship with the press. For the prospective interviewer, Googling his name is quite the nerve-jangling experience: testimonies from other hacks that he offered “the worst interview experience ever”, tales of bitter Twitter spats and surly stormings out.
As it turns out, the publicist is right on both counts. Seated on a sofa, wearing a tracksuit, Crowe, 50, is making his way though a packet of Benson & Hedges with the kind of determination you seldom see these days, especially among Hollywood stars. And he does appear to be on good form. In fact, he is the very model of gruff antipodean charm: so antipodean in fact that at one point he uses the phrase “fair dinkum” entirely unironically. He talks cheerfully about everything from the difference between his brand of intensive, immersive preparation for a role and the kind of method acting that requires staying in character between takes (the former is about “giving over time to the contemplation of what you’re going to do and respecting cinema as an art from”, the latter is apparently “a load of old shit”), to his apparent refusal to do commercials or endorse products, a stance that led to a well-publicised spat with George Clooney over Nespresso coffee-makers. “Look, there will possibly come a time when I start doing commercials and you’ll know then that I’ve just given up. Other people can do whatever they want. It’s just my thing. But it’s just reaping, you know? We’re supposed to play different characters. We’re not supposed to lock ourselves and become an icon. I have a …” His voice trails off. “A certain opinion about that level of vanity,” he says, picking his words carefully. In fact, the only time he shuts a question down – he doesn’t want to talk about his audience with the pope that came about as a result of his performance in the biblical epic Noah – he’s virtually apologetic: “Is it OK with you if we leave that one? I’d rather, if that’s OK.”
I would love to tell you that my winning personality and expertly researched questions have somehow broken through Crowe’s fearsome public image to reveal the fair dinkum bloke underneath. But, this week at least, he seems to be behaving like that towards everybody. His latest visit to London has been one long charm offensive. He does a star turn on the Jonathan Ross Show. He appears on Lauren Laverne’s radio show and subsequently tweets that she’s “the hottest thing on radio” and should have her own TV series. A few hours later, he’s back tweeting about how much he enjoyed appearing in the Sun. Perhaps Crowe’s public image is unwarranted.
Advertisement
Without wishing to excuse his errant behavior where members of the public have been concerned – it really doesn’t look good when a multimillionaire actor throws a phone at a hotel concierge, or gets in a brawl with a businessman in a London restaurant, the latter punch-up apparently necessitating the intervention of Ross Kemp – it’s hard not to notice that most of his sudden, piqued departures from interviews have been precipitated by the interviewer telling him that he couldn’t act properly, or sing, or do accents. A cynic might suggest that it’s almost as if they’re deliberately trying to wind him up in order to generate juicy copy. “They want to spark you up, so you go: ‘OK, I’ll spark up, mate. Is that good for you? Did you enjoy that?’” he says. “Same thing happens with photographers. How many times has it been printed that I hit a photographer or slapped a photographer? I’ve never, ever in my life touched a photographer. Some of the cruellest things I’ve ever said have been to photographers who are chasing me down the street, some of the sharpest, most efficient emotional barbs. And they know that in that moment, in that one-to-one wit competition, they just got smashed. But will they admit that? Will they go back to their editor and say: ‘Actually, I got fucking killed by him, he ripped me apart?’” No, they don’t. They turn it into a physical thing. They pretend, you know?”
His problems with the press really began in the wake of Gladiator. He says he rather enjoyed his first flush of American fame, after his performance as the thuggish cop Bud White in LA Confidential, which turned out to be an archetypical Crowe role: a tormented tough guy, whose handiness with his fists masks deeper sensitivities. The fame that came after his Oscar win, however, was “a pain in the arse”.
“Even walking down the street was a pain in the arse. People want a piece of you. And something else happens, man. You build all these friendships and then you hit a certain level within the business and those people need you now, if you’re connected to their thing, their thing gets done, their life is enriched, and friendships get damaged because you say no. Suddenly I was destroying people’s hopes and dreams if I said no to something. It was rather intense.”
The zenith of Crowe’s fame does sound a bit disturbing in other ways. For one thing, he found himself on the receiving end of repeated nuisance calls from, of all people, Michael Jackson. “For two or three fucking years,” he says. “I never met him, never shook his hand, but he found out the name I stayed in hotels under, so it didn’t matter where I was, he’d ring up do this kind of thing, like you did when you were 10, you know. ‘Is Mr Wall there? Is Mrs Wall there? Are there any Walls there? Then what’s holding the roof up? Ha ha.’ You’re supposed to grow out of doing that, right?”
There was also the then little-known terrorist organisation al-Qaida threatening to kidnap him in 2001. “I still really don’t know to this day what the fuck that was all about. All I know is, I arrived in LA, got to my hotel, as I’d done umpteen times before, started unpacking, and there was a knock at the door and a team of FBI guys wanted to sit down and discuss something with me. And then, for nearly two years, they were always around. I remember going to the Golden Globes and having, like, 16 security guys with me. I don’t even know why. They wouldn’t give me any details. And of course, people were like: ‘Look at him, he thinks he’s fucking Elvis.’ And then one day they just weren’t there any more.”
Things are substantially calmer now, he says – he just walked from the hotel to get a coffee and that wasn’t a pain in the arse at all. Crowe is in London being charm itself because he has something to sell: his directorial debut, The Water Diviner, in which he also plays the titular lead, an Australian farmer who travels to Turkey after the first world war to retrieve the bodies of his three sons from the battlefields of Gallipoli. If nothing else, he’s admirably blunt about it: “I need it to be commercially successful. I’ve got to return a commercial result on The Water Diviner because that will give me the freedom to do what I want. It’s already been hugely successful in Australia, but I’ve still got a way to go around the world, to get to the point where it’s actually making a commercial return.”
Nigeria’s election chief said he was investigating irregularities as protests erupted amid calls for a rerun in one state following a knife-edge vote over the weekend.
Reports of underage voting, electoral officials being “substituted” and the technical glitches that led to voting being extended to Sunday were all being looked into, Attahiru Jega said.
The electoral headquarters were burnt down in Rivers, an oil-producing state which has become a key battleground for the two main parties.
Attacks on the oil industry pushed global crude prices to record highs in 2004 and former rebels threatened to take up arms again if Goodluck Jonathan – who brokered a lucrative peace deal in 2009 – is not re-elected.
“It is true our INEC office in Rivers state was torched. We have informed police authorities,” Jega said, speaking from Abuja, the Nigerian capital. “We have asked for additional security so this does not occur again.”
Police confirmed two people were killed during voting on Saturday, while the opposition put the figure at “scores” and alleged the vote there had been rigged. By Sunday, thousands of opposition supporters took to the streets of the state capital, Port Harcourt, calling for the vote to be rescheduled. The Situation Room, a civil society group monitoring the election, said it was “deeply concerned” about reports of “interference” in Rivers and neighbouring Imo state.
Rotimi Amaechi, the powerful governor of Rivers state, defected to the opposition after a series of internal squabbles with the ruling party spilled over into the public limelight.
Jega also addressed the failure of some card readers which the electoral body said meant voting spilled over to Sunday in 300 polling stations. Some 400 card readers out of more than 150,000 used had not worked, he said, but insisted this would have no impact on the final result.
“The number of failures of card readers to operate surprised us. One possible explanation is that the people operating them had not been trained.”
Results are likely to be announced by Tuesday, he said.
Aditi Arya was declared fbb Femina Miss India World 2015 at a star-studded event at the Yash Raj Studios, Mumbai on 28th March. Aafreen Rachel Vaz walked away with the fbb Femina Miss India 2015 first runner-up crown, while Vartika Singh was fbb Femina Miss India 2015 second runner-up!
Gurgaon girl Aditi Arya, a research analyst, received the crown from Miss India 2014 Koyal Rana. Aditi will represent India at Miss World 2015 to be held later this year. She believes in staying busy with constructive activities and says every woman must possess grace and compassion.
Mangaluru’s Aafreen Rachel Vaz, fbb femina Miss India 2015 first runner-up,is a medical student who has spent many years growing up in New Zealand. The leggy lass earned applause during the semi-final round when she was asked to part with one motivational quote that influenced her life. “Be your own best friend,” she said. She was crowned by Miss India International 2014 Jhataleka Malhotra.
Lucknow’s Vartika Singh was crowned fbb Femina Miss India 2015 second runner-up by Miss India United Continental 2014 Gail Nicole Da Silva.. She also went on to win the title of fbb Beauty With a Purpose. Singh has a keen interest in dance and sports.
The grand finale boasted an eminent jury of top names from the field of entertainment and fashion — Anil Kapoor, John Abraham, Manisha Koirala, Shilpa Shety, Sonali Bendre, Chitrangada Singh, filmmaker Feroz Nadiadwala, designer duo Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla, and choreographer Shaimak Davar.
The show was hosted by the exuberant Manish Paul and he was joined by the gorgeous Neha Dhupia for a segment.
The Top 5 finalists — Aafreen Rachel Vaz, Aditi Arya, Vartika Singh, Deeksha Kaushal and Tanya Hope walked the ramp with popular TV actors such as Gautam Gulati and Karan Tacker, amongst others. The evening witnessed glorious moments of glamour, verve and determination where the finalists were adjudged on various parameters of grace, elegance, intelligence and presentation.
The Grand Finale also saw the crowning of two sub-titles- fbb Miss Beauty with a Purpose and Reliance Digital Miss Multimedia. Guwahati’s Rewati Chetri was declared the winner of Reliance Digital Miss Multimedia and was fastracked to Top 10. Vartika Singh, the winner of fbb Miss Beauty with a Purpose was gratified with a Style wardrobe from fbb worth Rs 50,000.
Touted as the most glamorous and credible beauty pageant of the country, fbb Femina Miss India 2015 saw electrifying performances by Bollywood stars Kareena Kapoor, Jacqueline Fernandes, Shahid Kapoor and Famous singers like Kanika Kapoor, Meet Brothers, and Shalmali Kholgade. The 52nd year of fbb Femina Miss India 2015 was celebrated with glamour and panache.
TV characters from `Comedy Nights With Kapil’, Palak and Daadi draped actor John Abraham in a blue sari, terming the phenomenon “wardrobe malefunction.” The actor played to the gallery with a catwalk. Paul, on his part, indulged both the judges and contestants in goofy banter, egging four contestants to dance to Sonu Nigam’s songs.
The evening also saw actress Kalki Koechlin make a swift entry on stage to talk about her upcoming film ‘Margarita, With A Straw’. In the film Palki plays a girl suffering from cerebral palsy.
The stunning 21 finalists were introduced in gorgeous saree gowns by designer Mandira Wirk. The collection was complimented by diamond jewellery by PC Jeweller. A special collection of fbb created by Sailex featured the finalists draped in luxuriously elegant styles of the house, crafted as per the fbb Spring Summer 2015. Reflecting the brand’s vibrant color palette for the season, the ensembles are created in shades of ivory, cream, peachy pink and washed indigo.
Gorgeous evening gowns by Gavin Miguel, a collection called Jewel Luxe, adorned by the contestants, was inspired by jewels and defined by colour, cut and finesse.
The unprecedented success of the grand finale follows the super-successful city editions that received an overwhelming response from participants across the country. This year the pageant featured 13 city auditions, 3 regional auditions and 2 city pageants which culminated into a gala final round of auditions, and gave wings to larger-than-life aspiration of millions of young women out to redefine their destiny.
The pageant’s title sponsor is fbb. The pageant is powered by Neutrogena, with PC Jeweller as the crown and jewellery partner. The pageant is held in association with Reliance Digital. Sofitel Luxury Hotels, Mumbai BKC is the Hospitality partner.
Recent Comments