New Delhi: Minority Affairs Minister Najma Heptulla has rejected the contention that Muslims are feeling insecure under the BJP-led regime and said the community has felt alienated since Independence because of the policies of successive Congress governments.

Muslims are alienated because they are economically and educationally backward. Now people are saying these utterances (against Muslims) are making them feel alienated.

“It is not that today Muslims are feeling alienated. Muslims have been feeling alienated since Independence, because they have been relegated to such backward situation,” Heptulla told PTI.

She was responding to a query whether objectionable comments and hate speeches by right wing elements were alienating the community under the Modi government.

“They were alienated already, relegated into backward situation, because they were educationally and economically alienated and social alienation is linked to it. This is the genesis of the whole situation. You just don’t feel alienated that somebody made a statement,” she asserted.

Attacking the Congress, the Minority Affairs Minister said in its successive regimes, the party only lent “vocal support” to Muslims while the present government has put things into motion through policy initiatives and programmes.

The Minister, however, refused to react specifically to objectionable utterances by some BJP leaders and ministers or the controversy surrounding ‘Ghar Wapsi’ programme and the ban on beef in some states.

She also dismissed a US religious panel report that communal atmosphere in India has been vitiated since the 2014 general elections, and said people sitting abroad are often far removed from reality.

“People sit somewhere and prepare reports. They don’t realise what kind of sensitive fabric Indian society is. In villages, Hindus and Muslims live together and for centuries.

“People who try to create dissent and divide in the country don’t understand… They sit abroad in America and make such reports,” she said.
PTI

Kathmandu, May 25 (PTI) Two tremors today struck Nepal, keeping people on the edge as the country struggled to rehabilitate millions of people affected by a devastating earthquake one month ago that killed nearly 9,000 people.

A 5.0-magnitude tremor was felt at 3.23 am with epicentre at Gorkha district.

Another 4.1-magnitude earthquake hit western Nepal with epicentre at Dolakhan.

A 7.9-magnitude earthquake on April 25 killed nearly 9,000 people and injured thousands more. It was followed by a 7.3-magnitude quake on May 12 and about 265 aftershocks.

For families across Nepal who have been left homeless, the aftershock damaged their hopes of piecing their lives together anytime soon. Beyond the physical damage, uncertainty about the future unsettles millions of Nepalese.

The annual monsoon rains are due to begin in a month.

Families living on precarious hill slopes under tarpaulin sheets fear that landslides triggered by rain and earthquake will cause more havoc.

More than half a million buildings were destroyed in the April 25 quake and aid agencies say they are yet to reach some people in very remote community’s affected by the disaster.

The Nepalese government estimates it will cost more than USD 10 billion for the country to rebuild, a third of the nation’s GDP.

Prime Minister Sushil Koirala is likely to visit India soon to discuss long-term plans on rehabilitation and reconstruction.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Mahendra Bahadur Pandey yesterday briefed Kathmandu-based Consul Generals on the scale of damage caused by the devastating earthquake and its aftershocks as well as on the measures taken by the government for relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction works.

He said that the government has set up the Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Fund with a target of collecting Rs 200 billion and has already transferred Rs 20 billion to the fund as seed money.

He also said that the funds required for rehabilitation and reconstruction could be much higher than the current estimates, according to the statement.

He asked the diplomats to communicate Nepalese government’s rehabilitation and reconstruction plans and initiatives to the governments they represent and play a proactive role in garnering more cooperation and support.

According to UNICEF, an estimated 70,000 children under five are at risk of malnutrition and require urgent humanitarian support.

Around 15,000 children in 14 of the worst-hit districts need therapeutic foods for the treatment of ‘severe acute’ malnutrition.

Additionally, some 55,000 children with ‘moderate acute’ malnutrition require supplementary feeding and care to bring them back to healthy growth and development.

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and his ministers will hold a public meeting here on Monday to mark 100 days of the AAP government amid a row with the central government over a notification giving Lt. Governor Najeeb Jung all powers over transfers and posting of officials.

At a meeting of its legislators on Sunday, the Aam Aadmi Party described the home ministry notification of Thursday as “unconstitutional”, and the government has decided to call a special assembly session May 26-27 to discuss the central order.

AAP leader and former minister Saurabh Bhardwaj told mediapersons after the meeting that the central government was “shadow-boxing”.

“The notification that the central government has brought is not only unconstitutional, but it is against the basic principles of democracy,” he said.

The meeting was attended by Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia.

Added another AAP legislator Alka Lamba: “If the chief minister doesn’t have a right to appoint and suspend officials, then how is an elected government of Delhi supposed to fight corrupt officials?”

“After discussion (in the assembly), if needed, we will go to the court,” she said.

Read | AAP govt to lose control over anti-graft body, Kejriwal’s wing clipped

An official said the public meeting at central park in Connaught Place on Monday will highlight achievements of the AAP government.

AAP media coordinator Deepak Bajpai said the AAP government has delivered on its promises.

“The anti-corruption helpline is in place to check corruption. Party MLAs are reaching out to the people and solving their problems. We will tell the people about the work the government is doing,” he said.

AAP on Sunday also listed its achievements in a series of tweets — about the continuous supply of power despite acute summer, steps taken to fight pollution, opening of a water treatment plant at Dwarka and a move to issue stamp vendor licences online.

Read | Kejriwal vs Jung: Sisodia hits out at Centre on statehood issue

It said that in a bid to control price rise, the Delhi government plans to procure 10,000 tonnes of potatoes and onions through government agency NAFED.

It said it had provided relief to traders by allowing carry forward of refund of VAT and extending the date of filing R9 Form — a long-standing demand of the city’s trading community.

The government also said frequent checks were made on government hospitals, transport buses and bus stations in a bid to ensure that users got the services they deserved.

AAP leaders, who have accused Narendra Modi government of trying to run the Delhi government through proxy, continued to attack the central government over the notification and said the issue could come up in the public meeting on Monday.

Deputy chief minister Sisodia told NDTV in an interview on Sunday that the central government was trying to bulldoze the agenda of the Delhi government and was “allergic to Kejriwal”.

Read | Centre’s notification effectively makes Delhi govt powerless

He said the issues concerning the notification will “be resolved now” in the assembly.

Sisodia also took on the media saying the AAP government had been wrongly targeted on many counts.

“Criticism is fine but agenda-driven journalism is wrong,” he said. “Question us, criticise us, hang us if we are corrupt or wrong but don’t spread false rumours,” he said.

The “clarificatory” home ministry notification on Thursday came after days of intense wrangling between the Kejriwal government and L-G Jung over transfer and posting of senior officials.

It also took away powers of the anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) to prosecute “officers, employees and functionaries” of the central government.

New Delhi: A Delhi girl, M Gayatri has topped this year’s Central Board of Secondary Education or CBSE Class XII examinations, scoring 496 out 500 or 99.2 per cent in the Commerce stream. The CBSE announced the results on Monday afternoon.

Overall, girls have done better than boys in 2015, the board has announced. In the top three are two girls – topper M Gayatri is from the New Greenfield School in Delhi’s Saket and Mythili Mishra of Amity School, Noida, has tied for second place with B Arjun of Kendriya Vidyalaya Pattom, in Thiruvananthapuram, the region that has the most successful result with almost 96 per cent students pass in the examination.

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Both Mythili and Arjun have scored 495 out of 500.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has congratulated students for passing the exam and wished them the best for their future.

Hyderabad: As Andhra Pradesh continues to reel under heatwave, Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu on Saturday announced a compensation of Rs 1 lakh each to the kin of those who have died of sun-stroke.

We are announcing Rs 1 lakh as compensation for each victim of heat wave,” ANI quoted Naidu as saying.

He further said, “The toll so far due to heat wave in Andhra Pradesh may be over 100.”

However, officials have so far confirmed that the heatwave has claimed at least 223 lives.

While 128 persons have died in Telangana, the toll increased to 95 in Andhra Pradesh, where 15 more persons succumbed to the heatwave, senior officials said.

Earlier in the day, severe heat wave conditions have been reported in both Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

According to officials, 40 persons lost their lives in Prakasam district of Andhra Pradesh followed by Visakhapatnam 12 and Srikakulam eight while in Telangana, 28 persons died due to heat wave in Nalgonda district followed by 22 deaths in Karimnagar and nine in Khammam district.

The toll pertains to the period from May 18 till last evening for Andhra Pradesh and April 15 till the last evening for Telangana, the officials added.

Severe heatwave conditions prevailed over parts of Adilabad, Warangal, Hyderabad, Khammam, Mahabubnagar, Nalgonda, Nizamabad and Karimnagar districts of Telangana.

Elderly people, daily wage labourers, beggars and people living on footpaths have been the worst hit.

The Hyderabad Meteorological Centre has warned that severe heat wave conditions may continue for three more days in both the states.

Khammam in Telangana today sizzled at 48 degrees Celsius, the highest temperature in the state this season. This also broke a 68-year-old record in Khammam when the town had recorded 47.2 degree Celsius in 1947.

Nalgonda, Nizamabad and Ramagundem also sizzled at 47 degrees Celsius. Mahabubnagar and Adilabad recorded 45 degrees and Hyderabad 44 degrees.

The south coastal Andhra region bore the brunt with many places recording three to five degrees higher temperature than normal. A maximum temperature of 47 degrees was recorded at Nandigama and Vijayawada.

The heatwave, attributed to dry winds blowing from the north, has badly hit normal life in both the states. Streets in many towns wore a deserted look as people preferred to stay indoors to escape the sun’s fury. Traffic was thin on the roads of Hyderabad during day time.

Heatwave conditions, Thursday, prevailed over some parts in the districts of Krishna, Guntur, Prakasam and Nellore of Coastal Andhra Pradesh and Chittoor of Rayalaseema.

The maximum temperature of 46 degrees Celsius was recorded at Nandigama, they said, adding heat wave conditions would continue till tomorrow.

Meanwhile, Delhi recorded its hottest day of this summer at 44.5 degrees Celsius, five notches above the normal. However, the weatherman hinted at the likelihood of some relief in the form of dust storms or thunderstorms tomorrow across northern India.

The heatwave also intensified in Odisha as the mercury inched above the 40-degree mark at 19 places in the state while three more deaths due to the sweltering conditions were reported today, taking the toll to 26, said the office of the special relief commissioner.

Titlagarh recorded the highest maximum in the state at 46.2 degrees while Jharsuguda and Bhawanipatna recorded highs of 46 degrees. The Odisha state capital of Bhubaneswar sizzled at 42.7 degrees.

Back in the northern plains, Uttar Pradesh saw the mercury cross the 41 degree mark in most of the districts. Allahabad recorded the highest maximum in the state at 47 degrees, which was five notches above the normal, followed by Banda at 46.6 degrees, Varanasi (45.8 degrees) and Sultanpur (45.6 degrees).

UP capital Lucknow saw the maximum touch 44.4 degrees even as weather officials forecast rain/thundershowers at isolated places along with dust storms and thunderstorms accompanied by squalls tomorrow at other areas of the state.

The two neighbouring states of Punjab and Haryana, too, reeled under the heatwave.

Bhiwani in Haryana witnessed a high of 45.2 degrees, four notches higher than the normal, while Hisar saw the maximum go up to 44.7 degrees.

The Union Territory of Chandigarh, which was hit by a dust storm this evening, recorded the season’s hottest day so far at 43.4 degrees.

In Punjab, Amritsar saw the mercury settle five notches above the normal at 43.6 degrees while Ludhiana sweat it out at 43.5 degrees.

The MeT office has forecast dust storm/thunderstorm accompanied with squalls at wind speeds exceeding 45-kmph at isolated places in Haryana and Punjab over the next two days.

The desert state of Rajasthan saw Jaisalmer recording the highest maximum at 46.5 degrees followed by Kota with a high of 45.4 degrees as heat wave conditions prevailed at a few places in the Kota and Bikaner divisions and in isolated areas of Jodhpur division.

The heat wave conditions are likely to continue in isolated pockets of Rajasthan even as a thunderstorm is likely at some places in the state in the next 24 hours, the MeT office said.

There was slight respite from the heatwave in the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra as the temperatures dropped in several areas even though Chandrapur recorded a high of 47 degrees. Chandrapur had yesterday recorded a maximum of 47.6 degrees.

Nagpur, which had recorded a high of 47 degrees for two consecutive days earlier this week, today saw the mercury settle at 45.1 degrees.

Raise your hands and bless me. Tell me if I have fallen short: PM.

– We will get rid of poverty, make our nation economically stronger, make our nation proud globally: PM Modi.

– Every moment of my life, every strength in body is dedicated to you. My government will take this country to new heights: PM.

– Didn’t I promise I would not take a vacation, I would not rest? Have I let you down, PM Modi asks people.

– I cannot do anything for those on whom bad days have come. Let them shout: PM Modi.

– Are you unhappy with me, PM asks people at the rally.

– My government’s schemes are for the poor and not rich industrialists, emphasises PM Modi.

– If I try and go through all the decisions that this government has taken in 365 days, it will take more than 365 hours: PM.

– We will eradicate poverty together. We will also take this country to new heights: PM.

– I have also decided that by 2022 every poor in this country will have a house of their own. I am developing a team which who will fight poverty: PM.

– Both rivers, Ganga and Yamuna are my mothers. We will clean them: PM Modi.

– We started the Clean India mission. Its not the rich who suffer due to unhygienic conditions. Its the poor who suffer from dirty environment and fall ill. I want to end that: PM.

– Its sad that our mothers and sisters have to wait for dark in order to go to toilet. My dream that there should be toilet in every village: PM.

– I want small businessmen to have access to bank loans, hence we thought of the Mudra Bank to give loans from Rs 10,000 to 10 lakhs: PM.

– Big corporates don’t generate a lot of employment. It is the small traders and businessmen who provide the maximum employment: PM.

– If India has to fight poverty, the youth of the nation must get employment opportunities: PM Modi.

– Compared to last year 6 lakhs more tourists have come to India. Tourism creates job opportunities: PM.

– The world is now trusting India and this is bringing investment in India: PM.

– We have been able to control the rising prices: PM.

– If you had not elected this government, then we don’t know what would have happened to price rise and inflation: PM Modi.

– PM Modi appeals to audience to use the insurance scheme for servants, drivers and other employees.

– We want to create an environment where there is a sense of social security within people. For this we have introduced Atal pension yojana. Did you ever imagine that a farmer in our nation could get pension after 60 years?, asks PM.

– During last elections I had said, that if I had my way I would end one law every day. Laws which have lost relevance will be scrapped, that will make many processes smooth. In the coming days 1300 laws will be abolished: PM.

– My government provided bank accounts to poor people and is committed to provide opportunities to them. More than 12 crore people get gas subsidy benefits directly in their accounts: PM.

– There were so many people who never got pension. Ours is a government dedicated to the poor and we have decided to give adequate pension: PM.

– The government won’t keep one rupee of yours. We will send every rupee to the deserving employee: PM Modi.

– For years 27 thousand crores was lying idle and rotting with the government in the treasury. That money was of the poor. People used to change job, his money was cut but he did not know about it. Now there is a unique identity number, so whenever you quit a job, the unique ID number is transferred and so is the money: PM.

– We have done away with the necessity to get documents attested by government officials. We have taught India to trust its citizens: PM.

– Earlier citizens of this country had to get photocopy of their documents signed by MLA or corporator, why, are citizens of my nation is not truthful, asks PM.

– I had promised ‘maximum governance, minimum government’ and I have fulfilled that promise. I have brought change: PM.

– Jan Dhan Scheme has removed middle man from MNREGA: Modi.

– PM Modi says they have started putting ‘neem coating’ on fertilisers to prevent urea theft.

– Urea production is going to increase by 20 lakh tonnes: PM Modi

– We have decided that in the next five years rivers will be interlinked, water harvesting will be done and through many such things we will give water and electricity to every farmer in the next five years. The amount of electricity that was generated in one year was not done in the last 30 years: PM Modi.

– The farmer will then know about the condition of his land: PM.

– In the past 60 years more than 3 lakh farmers have committed suicide but we do not want to do politics on it. The farmer knows how to work hard. We decided that we will give every farmer in the next three years soil health card: PM.

– We opened bank accounts for the poor. The poor were not given the opportunity to enter the banks for so many years: PM.

– I did not promise good days for those who looted the country: PM.

– I have barred power brokers from the corridors of power. These were the people who ruled for 60 years. They are history now, there is no place for such people. I will not let anyone loot the country. I am your pradhan sevak: PM.

– Good days have come for the people of India but those on whom bad days have descended are troubled as power has been snatched from them: PM.

– In the previous regime no work was done for the poor. I have made sure that things are back on track: PM.

– Are bad days over or not, PM Modi asks the people.

– Coal mines were given to a select few….keep looting…this was what was followed: PM

– Every day there were scams, remote controls ran the government, officers were jailed, leaders were jailed, coal was stolen: PM

– You tell me have you heard of any of my minister involved in corruption. Has not the country been rid of loot and corruption: PM.

– Would things have changed had you allowed the previous government to continue: PM.

– You tell me has the situation not changed in the country. The change that has taken place in the last year, Modi has not brought but you have: PM.

– During UPA rule, there were scams and corruption – coal scam and 2G scam and what not. The country was in bad shape: Modi.

– Today there is a positivity in the air and feeling of change in the country. If elections had not been held in 2014 but a year later, this country would have been destroyed: PM.

– Three thoughts shaped us in the last several years – that of Mahatma Gandhi, Lohia ji and Deendayal ji: PM.

– A year back the people of India chose a government with absolute majority. We could have held celebrations in Delhi or any other town with a huge population. But I didn’t want that. I had said in Parliament that this government was of the poor. After 365 days in office, I had wanted that the man who had inspired us to work for the poor, I should go to his birthplace and pay tribute to him. That is why I have come here: PM.

New Delhi, May 23 (ANI): Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office Jitendra Singh on Saturday rejected the charge that the government is delaying the appointments of the chiefs of the Central Information Commission (CIC) and Central Vigilance Commission (CVC).

“I think this thing has been time and again reiterated both inside and outside the Parliament. As somebody looking after the department of DoPT, I can testify that there has been no delay, if at all, on account of any reason from Government or DoPT. For example, as far as the CVC was concerned, there was an intervention from the court that every step of the process has to be brought in the notice of the court, and therefore, we were bound to wait for the date of the appearance,” Singh told ANI.

“As far the CIC is concerned, earlier the practice was that whenever the chief information commissioner was retired, the senior most information commissioner would automatically become the CIC. But in order to bring in more transparency, we have decided to put out an advertisement so that seniority is not the only basis, and other considerations, based on calibre, aptitude etc are also taken into account,” he added.

Singh’s clarification came shortly after Prime Minister Narendra Modi discussed the issue with key ministers and opposition Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge at his official 7, Race Course Road residence.

“Suggested that a short list be made, on which a discussion can happen. Another meeting shall be called in the first week of June,” said Kharge.

Besides Kharge, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Minister of State for PMO Jitendra Singh attended the meeting.

The post of the Chief Information Commissioner has been lying vacant for over nine months after Rajiv Mathur’s term ended in August last year. There is also a vacancy of three Information Commissioners in the CIC while previous Central Vigilance Commissioner Pradeep Kumar completed his term in September last year. (ANI)

Taipei, May 23 (AP) Negotiators from Taiwan and China have met for talks on a range of issues in an attempt to maintain momentum for the forging of closer ties in the face of a skeptical Taiwanese public.

Today’s talks resulted in no firm agreements but underscored Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou’s determination to prove that engagement with China can help the local economy.

Ministerial-level officials from both sides met on the tiny Taiwan-controlled island of Kinmen, just off the Chinese coast, where the rivals fought bloody military battles in the 1950s and 1960s.

Taiwan’s Cabinet-level negotiating body, the Mainland Affairs Council, said topics discussed included controlling the illegal excavation of sand from the ocean floor, opening outlying Taiwanese islets to more China-based tourism and letting Chinese tourists make transit stops in Taiwan.

London, May 23 (ANI): Police have launched an incest investigating after it was alleged that a 17-year-old boy blackmailed his mother to have sex with him.

Pennsylvania State Police stated “that a 17-year-old child had stated that he had blackmailed his mother into having sex with him,” however, the authorities are considering the boy a victim in the case, the Daily Star reported.

According to the cops, the incident took place on Broad Street in the borough of Williamstown in Dauphine County.

Pennsylvania has laws against marriage, cohabitation or have sexual intercourse, with a parent, child, sibling, aunt, uncle, nephew or niece.

The ones found guilty are likely to face a second degree charge, meaning up to 10 years in prison and life on the sex offender register. (ANI)