Veteran Parliamentarian and former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, founder member of the Bharatiya Janata Party who is held in high esteem across the political spectrum, was today conferred with Bharat Ratna, the country’s highest civilian award, by President Pranab Mukherjee.

In a departure from protocol, Mukherjee drove to Vajpayee’s residence at Krishna Memon marg in Lutyens’ Delhi and presented to the ailing BJP leader the prestigious award, the country’s highest civilian honour.

“Atal ji gave his life to Bharat Bhakti. He was honoured with Bharat Ratna.

Atal ji is an inspiration for so many Indians like me. We got an opportunity to confer Bharat Ratna on Atal ji who dedicated his life to nation,son of mother India,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted.

“I thank the President for personally conferring the Bharat Ratna to Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee,” he said.

The event, which was attended by Vice President Hamid Ansari, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Rajnath Singh along with some close family members, was kept away from the media glare.

Out of the four rapist in the Ranaghat nun gang-rape case the main accused identified as Sikander Sheikh alias Salim, was picked up from Nagpada area in south Mumbai on Wednesday night by West Bengal police in coordination with their Mumbai counterparts, a police officer here said.

Sikander Shaikh had been living in Mumbai from the age of 18. He was into small theft and robbery.He was involved with a bar girl for some time. After the girl reported to the police of his harassment towards her he fled Mumbai and since then has been shuttling between Bangladesh,Bengal and Mumbai.

The nun, 71, of Jesus & Mary Convent School at Gangnapur in Nadia district, was allegedly gang-raped by hoodlums in the early hours on March 14 in the school.

A study of the CCTV footage at the convent in Ranaghat subdivision had shown visuals of four persons who were allegedly involved in the crime. The gang broke into the convent and raped the woman after gagging her.

The gang had looted Rs 12 Lakhs from the convent.

Sikander Shaikh was arrested after a trap was made by Mumbai Police. Mumbai Police used the help of a convict to call him and make an offer of counterfeit notes worth Rs 1,000 to be bought at Rs100 per note. Shaikh was even offered an instalment basis payment to make it more real.

As the time and location was fixed for the deal Mumbai Police immediately nabbed him.The location was Rhea road slums which is a haven for Bangladeshi immigrants.Like Rhea road Vadala Slums, Dyaneshwar Nagar are also inhabited by Bangladeshi immigrants. As many section of the media has quoted them as illegal immigrants they are actually now legal immigrants with valid ration cards, Aadhar cards and Voter ID.

These Bangladeshi’s enter India from Phulbari in West Bengal which has a porous border with India and anyone could have easy access to India. After having comfortably settled in Mumbai they now call their relatives from across the border who land in Mumbai and get into all sorts of illegal activities.

The administration has done little to check on these people and the authenticity of their identity as claimed to be Indians.

Indigenous traditional owners of the lands have rejected Indian mining giant Adani’s 16.5 billion dollar mine, rail and port projects in Australia’s coal-rich Queensland state, in what is being described as the biggest case in recent history involving native title law.

The Wangan and Jagalingou (W&J) people, the traditional owners of the lands earmarked for the mine and of much of the Galilee Basin, have rejected the Indigenous Land Use Agreement with Adani to build coal mine in the area.

Reports said that Adani took legal action to override the W&J people and, if successful, it would allow the Queensland government to compulsorily acquire the land and issue a mining lease for the Carmichael mine.

The W&J were now seeking talks with the new Labor government to convince it to?refuse support to Adani’s legal action against them,?rule out any compulsory acquisition, and?reject his application for a mining lease for Carmichael.

W&J spokesperson Adrian Burragubba, said: “The new Queensland Labor government has an opportunity to step up now, and do the right thing. We call on Premier Palaszczuk and Minister for Mines Anthony Lynham to rule out compulsorily acquiring our land. They must reject Adani?s mining lease application for Carmichael.

“If they approve Carmichael, they will be responsible for the death of our land, and our connection to it going back to time immemorial.”

“The W&J people have never given our consent to Adani’s massive mine and never will. It will destroy our ancestral lands and waters, our totemic animals and plants and our dreaming.?We are putting the government on notice that we will do whatever it takes to stop it.”

Burragubba said his people have never given consent to Adani’s massive mine and never will.

He claimed Adani has support at the highest level of the Australian and Indian governments.

“The worst part of it is that the Federal and Queensland governments have sided with Adani. Both Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt, and the former QLD LNP government approved the mine. They?re fighting on the side of a rich foreign multinational against us, and betraying their obligations to protect W&J?s rights,” he said.

Refuting the allegations, an Adani spokesman was quoted as saying in the media that the company was continuing “to negotiate with the W&J’s authorised representatives and would prefer a negotiated outcome that recognises all parties’ interests.”

Another W&J spokesperson Murrawah Johnson said, “This won?t be easy. The cards are stacked against us. So we’re now calling on the community ? including other Traditional Owner groups and environmentalists who share our vision to join us in our battle.

“We’re telling the Queensland government we will not stand by and allow them to take our land. And we?re telling Adani that?’No Means No!’: they need to cancel the Carmichael mine, leave our land alone, and go home.”

NEW DELHI: Stressing on the importance of technological innovation to boost economic growth, Lok Sabha MP Shashi Tharoor today said that India should go beyond “frugal invention” and focus on undertaking more original research.

Mr Tharoor, a former Union Minister of State for External Affairs, also said in the context of regional cooperation that India has not been able to achieve much through SAARC because of Pakistan.

Speaking at ‘The Growth Net’, a discussion on initiatives for and challenges in the path of robust growth, the MP from Thiruvananthapuram said that government should push for investment in research and development.

“We have not gone beyond ‘frugal innovations’, though it has led to Indian companies doing some serious research in coming up with products that not only have improved on the existing ones but also cater to international markets,” said Mr Tharoor.
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“What we don’t have enough of is original innovation, that is, coming up with products which are simplified versions of more complex and expensive things. So more of R&D investment, integrity and incentive should go into government policies,” he added.

Talking on bilateral and regional trade, Mr Tharoor said that the South Asian neighbourhood has failed to take significant strides in this area due largely to political reasons.

“We as a country are living in the middle of what the World Bank has described as the least economically-integrated region of the world and that is largely due to political reasons,” he said.

Opining that “Pakistan’s chip on the shoulder has been a major obstacle for India in getting SAARC to bring consensus on several issues,”

Mr Tharoor pitched for the country to move to meaningful sub-regional integration within SAARC countries like Bhutan and Bangladesh.

Offering a suggestion for increasing workers’ productivity, he said that they should be made partners in business to target sustainable economic growth.

“Workers should essentially be given incentives to be more productive; give them direct co-relation to the productivity and allow them to share it,” he said.

Emphasising the need for producers to have viable markets, he said, “What worries me most is the decrease in commodity prices. Even as the finance minister talks of decreasing energy prices, the fact is that we are more of producers of commodities than consumers.”

Four suspected insurgents were killed and 22 others arrested during a firefight with security forces in Thailand’s deep south, police said today, in the latest clashes to hit the restive region.

Thai military, police and rangers laid siege to To Kood village in Pattani province yesterday evening after a tip-off about potential militants – who are fighting for greater autonomy for the Muslim-majority southernmost provinces.

“There were about 30 suspected militants when we surrounded the village but some managed to flee to nearby mountains,” local commander Mana Dechawarit told AFP. “The clash lasted for one hour.”

According to official police reports the dead suspects were all Muslim men aged between 23 and 32.

Those arrested were also all Muslim men, currently detained in a military camp, Mana said.

A patchwork of disparate but seemingly well-organised rebel groups are calling for a level of autonomy for the culturally distinct south, bordering Malaysia, as well as an amnesty for their prisoners and wanted fighters.

Thailand, a predominantly Buddhist nation, annexed the region more than 100 years ago and stands accused of perpetrating severe rights abuses as well as stifling the distinctive local culture through clumsy – and often forced – assimilation schemes.

Conflict analysts Deep South Watch say more than 6,300 people – the majority civilians – have been killed in the bitter 11-year insurgency mainly in the southernmost provinces of Pattani, Narathiwat and Yala.

Mana said none of the 50 security force members involved in the raid was injured in the clash, during which police seized three AK-47s, one pistol, and one grenade.

Kirkuk (Iraq) (AFP) – Iraqi forces buoyed by the first US-led coalition air strikes on Tikrit made a final push Thursday to flush diehard jihadists out of Saddam Hussein’s hometown.

Washington had been reluctant to get directly involved in a battle in which Iran-backed militias have taken the lead but the Pentagon seemed keen to reassert itself as Baghdad’s chief partner in the war against the Islamic State group.

The tussle for influence over Iraq came as Washington and Tehran began fresh nuclear talks and also as Iran’s regional rival Saudi Arabia launched air strikes in Yemen.

The US-backed air campaign against Shiite minority rebels in Yemen was announced by the Saudi ambassador in Washington and condemned by Tehran.

The operation to retake Tikrit was launched on March 2 but had failed to dislodge a relatively small number of IS fighters who have hemmed themselves in with thousands of bombs for a last stand in the city centre.

“The assault on the last (IS-held) pocket of Tikrit started from the southern front, in Awja,” said a brigadier general from the military headquarters in Salaheddin province, of which Tikrit is the capital.

View galleryIraqi fighters from the Saraya al-Salam (Peace Brigades), …
Iraqi fighters from the Saraya al-Salam (Peace Brigades), a group formed by Iraqi Shiite Muslim cler …
He said Iraqi forces were also attacking from the west and north and were repairing a bridge over the Tigris that IS recently blew up to pile further pressure from the east.

The forces involved in the fighting include the volunteer Popular Mobilisation units, Shiite militia groups, the army’s counter-terrorism force as well as interior ministry units.

Iraqi air strikes had, by Baghdad’s own admission, not been efficient and accurate enough to break the back of IS resistance.

“Now the operation to take Tikrit really begins,” one US defence official told AFP.

– ‘Reliable’ partner –

View gallerySmoke rises in the horizon following US airstrikes …
Smoke rises in the horizon following US airstrikes targeting Islamic State militants at Mosul Dam ou …
Lieutenant General James Terry, who oversees the command in charge of the US war effort, said precision strikes would save “innocent Iraqi lives while minimising collateral damage to infrastructure.”

The exact number of civilians trapped inside Tikrit is unclear but a Red Crescent spokesman last week said “no more than 30,000, probably quite a bit less.”

Other countries in the 60-nation US-led coalition were taking part in the strikes but officials did not specify which ones.

Washington had expressed strong reservations over the leading role played in the Tikrit operation by Shiite militia groups, some of which have been accused of serious abuses.

Iran’s top commander in charge of external operations, Qassem Suleimani, has been ubiquitous on the Salaheddin front lines and is perceived by many Iraqis as the brain behind Iraq’s ground operations.

View galleryIraqi Shiite fighters from the Popular Mobilisation …
Iraqi Shiite fighters from the Popular Mobilisation units head towards the city of Tikrit on March 2 …
But at a briefing on Wednesday, Pentagon spokesman Colonel Steven Warren insisted Washington remained Baghdad’s most precious partner in the war to reclaim the vast regions of Iraq IS conquered last summer.

“Reliable, professional, advanced military capabilities are something that very clearly and very squarely reside with the coalition,” he said.

State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki also defended the coalition’s record in the effort to restore the sovereignty of Iraq, which looked on the brink of breakup nine months ago.

Close to 3,000 strikes have taken out “thousands of fighters, numerous commanders, nearly 1,500 vehicles and tanks, over 100 artillery and mortar positions, and nearly 3,400 fighting positions, training camps, and bunkers in Iraq and Syria,” she said.

Groups backed by Iran, which is not part of the coalition, have insisted they do not need US support and some have threatened to pull out of the Tikrit area if coalition strikes were called in.

Washington wants Iraq’s regular forces to be the main beneficiaries of its return to the Iraqi theatre, which it quit in 2011 after an eight-year occupation.

A US official told AFP that President Barack Obama approved the Tikrit air raids on the condition that Iraqi government forces be given a larger role in the assault.

Tikrit holds both strategic and symbolic importance.

It was the hometown of executed dictator Saddam Hussein, remnants of whose Baath party collaborated with IS last summer.

And it is seen by military commanders as a key stepping stone to recapturing Iraq’s second city Mosul, the jihadists’ largest hub.

Hate crimes against Sikhs, Hindus and Arab Americans have been included in the tracking list of the FBI, a move welcomed by the minority communities who have been targeted post 9/11.

The updated manual by the Department of Justice is the first new release since the FBI agreed to begin tracking hate crimes against Hindu Americans, Sikh Americans and Arab Americans in 2013.
The manual came amid increasing incidents of anti-Hindu hate crimes across the country, including several incidents of attacks and vandalism against Hindu temples.

The move has been welcomed by the minority communities and top American lawmakers who had campaigned for this in the last several years.

This is the final step in the long-fought effort to encourage the federal government to finally begin tracking and quantifying hate crimes against these at-risk communities, said Congressman Joe Crowley, who was one of the leading US lawmakers to push the Department of Justice in this regard.

“For too long, the government hasn’t been able to fully understand the scope of the problem as there was no way to measure it,” said Crowley, who has been a leader on the issue and rallied his colleagues to sign letters in support of expanded hate crime tracking before and after the 2012 Oak Creek tragedy when six worshippers were killed at a Gurdwara.

The lawmaker said that the new changes announced by the FBI will go a long way in helping policymakers better understand the magnitude of hate crimes against Sikhs and other at-risk communities, and to develop more effective prevention programmes.

Hailing the decision, Rajdeep Singh, Director of Law and Policy at the Sikh Coalition, said, “Until now, anti-Sikh hate crimes were not recognised by the FBI…Year after year, Sikh Americans were being targeted for harassment and violence because of their distinct identity.

“For the first time, the FBI now officially acknowledges that Sikhs are targeted for being Sikhs. While refinements are needed to the agency’s tracking system and training standards, we are making progress.”

Harsh Voruganti, of the Hindu American Foundation, said, “We believe the manual can be a powerful tool for law enforcement officials to fight anti-Hindu hate crimes.”

“We look forward to continue to working with the FBI and our coalition partners to further improve the manual and other community resources,” he said.

“We are hopeful that this manual, along with other HAF-led trainings for law enforcement officials and community leaders, will help law enforcement better protect all targeted communities,” said Samir Kalra of Hindu American Foundation.