| 15
die as heavy rains lash UP, Rajasthan, Jharkhand New
Delhi: At least 15 people died after heavy rains lashed Uttar Pradesh, parts
of Rajasthan and Jharkhand as a delayed southwest monsoon advanced to these states
on Monday. While in Haryana, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh the pre-monsoon showers
brought down the mercury, bringing a sigh of relief to people across the States.
In Uttar Pradesh, which received heavy rains for the second consecutive day, lightning
claimed seven lives. Two persons were killed in Maharajganj, three died in Sonbhadra
and one each in Ballia and Gorakhpur districts. UP's Gorkahpur district witnessed
60 mm rainfall, Basti and Gonda recorded 178.4 mm and 33 mm rainfall respectively,
Meteorological Department said. Temperature dropped below 40 degree Celsius at
a number of places. In Lucknow the maximum temperature was 32.2 degree Celsius,
five notches below normal. In Jharkhand, heavy rains lashed several parts of Jharkhand,
ending a long dry spell. However, at least eight persons were killed and a dozen
others injured in lightning strikes in Garwah, Giridih and Palamau districts.
In Rajashtan, where the Southwest Monsoon delayed by 10 days, the Southwest Monsoon
reached eastern parts of Rajasthan with parts of Ajmer, Bharatpur, Dholpur, Jaipur,
Sawaimadhopur, Banswara, Chittorgarh, Udaipur and Kota districts receiving light
to moderate rains. Bringing a major relief and a sense of delight to people reeling
under intense heat, the Southwest Monsoon on Monday covered entire Madhya Pradesh,
Gujarat, Chhatisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand and many parts of east Uttar Pradesh. Aided
by the low pressure area in the Bay of Bengal, monsoon has covered entire Central
India and some parts of Rajasthan and West Uttar Pradesh, India Meteorological
Department Director B P Yadav told media. "Conditions are favourable for further
advance of southwest monsoon over some more parts of Rajasthan, remaining parts
of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and some parts of east Rajasthan and west UP in
the next two days," Yadav said. Supreme
Court notice to UP Govt on statue issue Top New
Delhi: A vacation bench of the Supreme Court on Monday issued notice to the
Uttar Pradesh Government for allegedly misusing public money to install statues
of prominent Dalit leaders like herself, Dr B R Ambedkar, Kanshi Ram and the party's
elephant symbol. The vacation bench heard a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed
against Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati. The PIL is seeking a stay on the
further inauguration of these statues on July 3. The petitioner has alleged that
the multi-crore projects of installing statues are being carried out as part of
state policy, which is arbitrary and violates Article 14 of the Constitution.
The PIL also sought the removal of statues of Mayawati and all party symbols from
public places. Mayawati had unveiled 15 statues, which include that of party founder
Kanshi Ram and six of herself on June 25. Delhi-based lawyer Ravi Kanta, who filed
the PIL, said every action taken by the Uttar Pradesh Government must be seen
to be in the public interest. The arbitrary actions of the State Government must
be invalidated, he added. Mayawati, her party and the state's Chief Secretary
were named respondents in the PIL. Security
forces launch final assault against Maoists in Bengal Top Lalgarh
(West Bengal): Paramilitary forces have commenced their final assault on Maoist
strongholds in West Bengal on Monday. Latest reports coming in said that central
and state security forces had surrounded the Maoist bastion at Katrapahari and
they were in the process of beginning of a two pronged assault from the north
and south to flush out the rebels. Four companies of Central Reserve Police Force
(CRPF), Border Security Force (BSF) and the West Bengal Armed Reserve Police moved
in the direction of Katapahari, from Kantahari and Ramgarh places that were captured
on Friday and Saturday respectively. Nearly 3,500 men have encircled Katrapahari
village. The forces are said to be moving in V formation with the elite Commando
Battalion for Retaliate Action (COBRA), clearing the dence forest of land mines.
The operation is receiving aerial support. Nearly 50 villages in and around Lalgarh
in West Midnapore district have been declared out of bounds, to state authorities
since November last year following an attempt on the life of Chief Minister Budhadeb
Bhattacharjee and two union ministers. The Maoist backed People's Committee Against
Police Atrocities (PCAPA), has since established a virtual control over this area.
The rebels have killed nearly 40 CPM activists. HR
Bharadwaj new Karnataka Governor, Debananda Konwar in Bihar Top Bangalore:
Former Union Law Minister H R Bharadwaj will take over as the Governor of
Karnataka today. Bhardwaj replaces Rameshwar Thakur, who has been appointed Madhya
Pradesh Governor for his remaining tenure. Karnataka High Court Chief Justice
P D Dinakaran will administer him oath of office at 4: 30 p.m at the Raj Bhavan.
All Ministers of Karnataka are expected to attend the ceremony. Bhardwaj is representing
the state of Haryana in the Rajya Sabha. He was first elected to the Rajya Sabha
in April 1982. He served as Minister of State in the Ministry of Law and Justice
from December 31, 1984 to November 1989 and was re-elected to the Rajya Sabha
in April 1988. He was then Minister of State (Independent Charge) in the Ministry
of Planning and Programme Implementation from June 21, 1991 to July 2, 1992 and
Minister of State in the Ministry of Law, Justice and Company Affairs from July
3, 1992 to May 1996. He was again re-elected to the Rajya Sabha in April 1994
and April 2000, and since May 22, 2004 he has served as Union Cabinet Minister
of Law and Justice. In Patna, Debananda Konwar took oath as the Governor of Bihar
at a ceremony at Raj Bhavan today. Acting Chief Justice of Bihar High Court Shiva
Kirti Singh administered the oath of office and secrecy to Konwar. He replaces
RL Bhatia whose term expired last week. Konwar, a four-time MLA from Assam, was
the Finance Minister in the Tarun Gogoi-led ministry. Cross-LoC
firing in Poonch kills soldier Top Jammu:
A soldier was killed in firing from across the border at a forward post along
the LoC in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch District in the wee hours on Monday. According
to defence sources, Mohinder Singh of 8 Kumaon was killed in firing from across
the border at Khari near Chakan-da-Bagh crossing point. Raj
Thackeray gets bail on surety of rupees one lakh Top Mumbai:
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena President Raj Thackeray was on Monday granted bail
on surety of rupees one lakh in connection with his role in a 2008 riot case in
which North Indians appearing for railway recruitment examination were assaulted.
Earlier in the day, Thackeray surrendered before the Kalyan court. After surrendering
before the court, he was taken to the Kalyan Railway Police Station. The Bombay
High Court had on June 16 set aside an anticipatory bail granted to Thackeray
in the same case by a lower court and asked him to surrender before the court
concerned by June end. The State Government had filed an appeal in the High Court
challenging the grant of interim anticipatory bail to Thackeray. Justice Rekha
Sondurbaldota had then noted that custodial interrogation of Thackeray was not
necessary at this stage. Upholding the State Government's contention that Kalyan
Sessions Court's order granting anticipatory bail to the MNS chief had become
infructuous as the Railway police had already arrested him, the High Court quashed
the lower court order granting interim protection to Thackeray. It maybe recalled
that MNS and Shiv Sena activists attacked 17 railway board examination centres
in suburban Mumbai on October 19 last year, protesting "inadequate representation"
to locals and chased away candidates from north India. Ten people were arrested
then for disrupting the examination and targeting candidates. Five candidates
were admitted to hospitals in Thane and Kalyan following the assault. SC
tells Centre to publish steps taken to protect Indian students in Australia Top New
Delhi: A vacation bench of the Supreme Court comprising of Justices Dalveer
Bhandari and A K Ganguly, has directed the Central Government to publish all steps
taken to protect Indian students in Australia. The web sites of ministries of
External Affairs, Over seas Indian Affairs, and Indian High Commission in Australia
should contain this information the two judge bench said. This is the second observation
in this month. Earlier, the apex court had directed the Government to initiate
steps to protect Indian students in Australia. Expressing its deep concern over
the attacks on Indian students, the apex court bench directed the Government to
file an affidavit before it about the steps taken to protect them within two weeks.
Representing the government, Attorney General G E Vahanavati argued that all attacks
on Indian students might not be of a racial nature. The bench instructed the government
that the safety and security of Indian students should be addressed with high
priority. Meanwhile, the Indian Government has asked its high commission in Australia
to file a report on Sunday's attack in which two students were attacked with beer
bottles. . Two
killed, 10 injured during protest in Baramulla Top Baramulla:
At least two people were killed and 10 others injured, including policemen,
in Baramulla district of Jammu and Kashmir after police resorted to firing to
quell protests over an alleged misbehaviour with a local woman here on Monday.
Hundreds of protestors took to streets to protest and demand action against the
guilty persons. The protestors soon turned violent and police finally resorted
to firing after baton-charging to control the stone-hurling mob. The dead were
identified as Saleem Rashid Wani and Tariq Ahmad Malik, and the injured were rushed
to a hospital in Srinagar. According to police, security forces initially tried
to disperse the sloganeering crowd by baton-charging them and lobbing teargas.
However, the crowd later swelled and pelted stones at the police and Central Reserve
Police Force (CRPF) troopers, police said An undeclared curfew was imposed in
the area following the clashes. "Curfew has been imposed in the town to maintain
law and order. We are monitoring the situation which is very tense," said Latif-u-Zaman
Deva, Deputy Commissioner of Police in Baramulla. Meanwhile, a probe has been
ordered to investigate the firing incident and allegations of the woman. The Additional
Deputy Commissioner has been assigned the responsibility for probing the incident
and submit the report within 10 days. Journalist
who predicted Jacko's death says greed killed him Top Melbourne:
It was greed that killed the King of Pop Michael Jackson, says a journalist, who
predicted last December that the singer was in such poor health that he had six
months to live. According to the London Daily Mail, Ian Halperin spent five years
inside the Jackson camp and saw the mental and physical deterioration suffered
by the star. When the reporter made his shocking prediction, Jackson's people
dismissed it as ''a complete fabrication''. However, six months and one day later,
Halperin's prediction turned out to be true. According to him, the workload of
preparing for 50-concert schedule took their toll on the 50-year-old's weak body.
''It was greed that killed Michael Jackson,'' the Courier Mail quoted Halperin
as saying. ''It was clear that he was in no condition to do a single concert,
let alone 50. ''He could no longer sing, for a start. On some days he could barely
talk. He could no longer dance. ''Disaster was looming in London and, in the opinion
of his closest confidantes, he was feeling suicidal,'' Halperin added. |
