Monsoon update

(PIB NEWS) JUNE,14, Southwest monsoon has further advanced into some more parts of Konkan & Goa, Madhya Maharashtra, and Marathwada, Vidarbha, most parts of Telangana, some parts of Chhattisgarh, remaining part of Coastal Andhra Pradesh, some more parts of Orissa and some more parts of Gangetic west Bengal. Condition are favorable for further advance of southwest monsoon into remaining parts of central Arabian Sea, some parts of north Arabian Sea and south Gujarat, Maharashtra, of Madhya Pradesh, f Chhattisgarh, Orissa and West Bengal and some parts of Jharkhand and Bihar. Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) Guidance states that Monsoon flow over Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal is likely to intensify during next 2-3 days. The western disturbance will affect western Himalayan region and adjoining plains during next 3-4 days. A major feature of weather forecast for next 3 days as per midday bulletin of India Meteorological department suggests widespread rain/thundershowers would occur over Kerala, Lakshadweep, Coastal Karnataka and Konkan & Goa. Fairly widespread rain/thundershowers would occur over Interior Karnataka, Madhya Maharashtra, Marathwada, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, West Bengal & Sikkim and northeastern states and scattered over Andhra Pradesh, Tamilnadu, Vidarbha, Bihar, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh. Scattered rain/thundershowers would occur over Jammu & Kashmir and isolated over Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand during next 48 hours and increase thereafter. Isolated dust storm/thunderstorms may occur over Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. Rainfall activity would increase over Uttar Pradesh after 48 hours. Isolated rain/thundershowers would occur over Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh during next 24 hours and increase thereafter. Maximum temperature will increase by about 1-2°C over parts of northwest and Central India during next 48 hours.
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PM Asks Bhopal Disaster Gom to Report to Cabinet in Ten Days

(PIB NEWS) JUNE,14, The Prime Minister has directed that the Group of Ministers, headed by the Home Minister, constituted to look into all issues relating to the Bhopal gas leak disaster, may meet immediately to take stock of the situation arising out of the recent court judgement, to assess the options and remedies available to the Government on the various issues involved and to report to the Cabinet within ten days.

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Send 'child saint' to school, rules Andhra rights panel

Hyderabad, June 14: Andhra Pradesh State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) Monday ordered that 'child saint' Sambhavi, who claims to be a childhood friend of Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama in her previous life, should go to school.Delivering its verdict on petitions filed by a group of rationalists and human rights activists, SHRC Chairman Subhashan Reddy directed the collector of Kurnool district to enrol her in a school within a week. He said the girl should have all the rights of a child and the parents should not claim that she is a 'child saint'. The panel noted that Sambhavi's parents themselves claimed the girl possessed "supernatural" powers. "Whoever may be the parents, they can't do whatever they want with their child," Reddy said. Ruling that Sambhavi is a 14-year-old, the Commission said that the authorities should make arrangements to enrol her in a school. Sambhavi had attracted people's attention last year by claiming to be the Dalai Lama's disciple in her previous life. She also predicted that Tibet would get independence in 2012. After her claims, people started thronging an old temple at Suryanandi in Kurnool district for her "darshan". For the last one year, the child had been at the centre of a row between Usha Rani, her caretaker, and rationalists and human rights activists who were demanding that the child be sent to school. They alleged that her 'caretaker' and some others with vested interests were exploiting her childhood and demanded her release from their 'illegal detention'. Rani gave a new twist to the case in December last year by revealing that she was the mother of the girl. She also revealed that after the death of her first husband in Guntur district, she had gone to an "ashram" in Varanasi, where she married yoga teacher Saumya Acharya. She claimed Sambhavi was born at Tirupati in 2002.
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Schools re-open in AP after summer vacation

Hyderabad,Jun 14: All the government schools in Andhra Pradesh reopened today after a nearly 45-day-long summer vacation with the government planning to improve the teaching standards in schools.Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister K Rosaiah who would be launching the  'Badibata' (Way to School) Programme later today, said the State Government was spending huge funds on education, especially on school education. He mooted a six-point action Plan for teachers to achieve excellence in school education, particularly in Government Schools, which included constant monitoring of teachers and students' attendance, improving teaching standards, providing text books to all classes on the reopening day, making optimum use of programmes like SSA to improve the infrastructure facilities, besides putting an end to drop outs and ensure that teaching standards were on par with corporate schools. In a statement here, Mr Rosaiah said the state was also leveraging funds from the Central Government schemes like Sarva Siksha Abhiyaan (SSA) and Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyaan (RMSA) for improving infrastructure facilities like school buildings, compound walls and recruitment of teachers, He expressed satisfaction that school and secondary education in the state of late had vastly improved, universalisation of elementary education had been achieved to a very large extent, and there was improvement in gross enrolment ratio, especially of girls and those belonging to the marginalised group. With the enactment of Right to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, it was expected that issues of drop-out, out-of-school children, quality of education and availability of trained teachers would be addressed in the short to medium term. Gender Parity at the elementary stage has improved appreciably. It is also a matter of satisfaction that Andhra Pradesh has attained 100 per cent access by providing at-least One Primary School within the reach of one km.A massive training programme for the School Assistants handling classes nine and ten for all Government and Local Body Schools was organised in Summer 2010 and 50,000 teachers trained with the main objective of improving quality in secondary schools, the release said.
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Andhra Police arrest another Maoist Central Committee member

Mahbubnagar (Andhra Pradesh), June 14 : In another major success for anti-Naxal operations in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, the security forces have arrested Maoist Central Committee member and Karnataka committee chief Chandrashekhar Gorebal.Gorebal was arrested near Aija village of Mahbubnagar District in Andhra Pradesh on Sunday. According to police, two other top Maoist leaders--Takkelapalli Vasudeva Rao alias Ashanna and Kanumukkala Ramesh alias Vijay managed to escape during the raid. All the three Naxal leaders are members of the Maoist Military Commission and the Central Action Team. Police have recovered one carbine gun, two pairs of Andhra Pradesh Police uniforms, one GPS set, walky-talky and a radio set from Gorebal. Earlier, intelligence agencies alerted both states about Maoists' plan to carry out violent activities at many places along the Karnataka- Andhra Pradesh border. Police claimed that all these three Naxals planed to carry out attacks on political leaders of both states by using police uniform. Gorebal, 45, who hails from Mudiyanur village in Koppal District of Karnataka, holds a postgraduate degree in Economics and was a lecturer in Sindhanur Government College of Karnataka's Raichur District before joining Maoists ranks.Gorebal went underground in 2004. He was earlier member of the Karnataka Vimochana Ranga (Karnataka Liberation Front) active along Hyderabad-Karnataka region. Three of his students from Sindhanur College--Hajima, Shivalingu and Chinnappa, who were drawn towards the Maoists ideology, were killed in three different encounters in last seven years. Meanwhile, the Karnataka Police has sent a team to Andhra Pradesh to seek Gorebal's custody. Earlier this month, Police arrested Nandakumar the Maoists Karnataka state committee secretary, and senior leader Neelaguli Padmanabh.
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Nine killed in wall collapse in Andhra Pradesh

Hyderabad, June 14 : At least nine people were killed and 20 others injured when the wall of a vegetable market collapsed Monday in Andhra Pradesh's Mahabubnagar district, police said.The accident took place at Gadwal town. The dead include three women and a child. Rescue work is on as some more victims are feared trapped under the debris. The incident occurred when the municipal vegetable market was crowded with buyers. Eye witnesses said the wall had weakened due to rain during the last three days.Chief Minister K.Rosaiah announced a probe into the incident. Minister for Small Scale Industries D.K.Aruna, who hails from the same area, has reached Gadwal.
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SW monsoon covers entire AP

Hyderabad,Jun 14: Southwest monsoon today covered entire Andhra Pradesh, with rain occurring at many places over Coastal Andhra Pradesh and at a few places over Telangana while isolated rain were experienced over Rayalaseema.Gajapathinagaram (Vizianagaram district) and Venkatapuram (Khammam district) recorded heavy rainfall of seven cm each, Met Department said today. The other chief amounts of rainfall recorded in cm were Araku Valley (Visakhapatnam district) six, Bhimadole (West Godavari district), Dummagudem (Khammam district), Narsipatnam and Paderu (both Visakhapatnam district) five each, Hakimpet, Visakhapatnam, Ichapuram, Patapatnam and Tekkali (all Srikakulam district), Narsampet (Warangal district), Polavaram and Tadepalligudem (both West Godavari district), Rajahmundry (East Godavari district) and Srungavarapukota (Vizianagaram district) three each, Bhadrachalam, Anakapalle, Chintapalli and Chodavaram (all Visakhapatnam district), Bobbili, Salur and Terlam (all Vizianagaram district), Cumbum (Prakasam district), Palakonda (Srikakulam district) and Peddapuram (East Godavari district) two each.The maximum temperatures significantly fell at many places over Telangana. They were below normal in Telangana. The highest maximum temperature of 44 degrees Celsius was recorded at Adilabad. Moderate to rather heavy rain/thundershowers would occur at many places over the districts of Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam, East Godavari and West Godavari. Light to moderate rain or thundershowers would occur at a few places over Telangana, Rayalaseema and in the remaining districts of Coastal Andhra Pradesh. Spells of rain/thundershowers may occur in parts of the city. Maximum and Minimum temperatures would be around 34 and 24 degrees respectively, the Met Department added.
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Andhra monuments to be developed as World Heritage site

Hyderabad, June 14: The Andhra Pradesh government is making efforts to develop the Kakatiya monuments in Warangal district as World Heritage sites.A steering committee headed by Tourism Minister J. Geeta Reddy constituted for the purpose held its first meeting here Monday. The minister told reporters that the meeting discussed the action plan to preserve and renovate three Kakatiya monuments - Ramappa temple in Venkatapur mandal, Thousand Pillar temple in Hanamkonda and the Warangal Fort. The steering committee would meet once every three months to review the progress of the work and prepare a dossier to be submitted to UNESCO for declaring the monuments World Heritage sites. "It is a long process as there are several norms for monuments to be declared World Heritage sites," he said. The committee comprises Kakatiya Heritage Trust founders B.V. Papa Rao and M. Panduranga Rao, public representatives from the districts, officials of Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), director of archaeology and museums and the Warangal district collector. The meeting discussed public private partnership model for building restaurants and cottages and for reconstruction and renovation of Ramappa temple. The government Saturday constituted a committee for the promotion of Kakatiya monuments. The steering committee will make efforts to conduct the 8th centenary celebrations of Ramappa temple in 2013. Warangal, about 150 km from Hyderabad, was the capital of the Kakatiya kingdom. The fort there withstood attacks during the 13th and 14th centuries. The Thousand Pillar temple and Ramalingeswara temple, popularly known as the Ramappa temple, are some of the famous Kakatiya monuments in and around the town.
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Railways to run URS Special Trains for Ajmer Sharif from different parts of the Country

(PIB NEWS)JUNE,13, In a special gesture to facilitate movement of devotees from different parts of the country to Ajmer Sharif for participating in 798th Urs of Hazrath Khwaja Moinuddun Chishti(RA), Ministry of Railways has decided to run several Urs special trains from 18 different locations in the country.Minister of Railways Mamata Banerjee has taken keen interest and initiative in planning of these special trains for the convenience of lakhs of devotees visiting Ajmer Sharif for the Annual Urs.These specials will run between 14th June to 25th June 2010 from 18 major cities which include Mumbai, Saharanpur, Sultanpur, Haridwar, Chennai, Delhi, Ongole, Hyderabad, Ernakulam, Chhapra, Barauni, Kamakhya, New Jalpaiguri, Jaipur, Asansol, Sealdah, Jamshedpur and Patna. There will be in all 84 trips by these special trains during this period.These specials have been allotted suitable numbers and the ticket bookings for them could be done from any reservation centre situated across the country. Time table and broad routes of these trains are also being released by Railways through public notices being published in National and regional newspapers.One of these special trains has been specially planned between Delhi and Ajmer for the Zayreen coming from Pakistan. Following is the detailed list of Urs specials;
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New law to end ambiguity on marriageable age

To put an end to ambiguity over the minimum age of marriage mentioned in numerous laws, the government is contemplating a new law that will spell it out as 18 years for women and 21 years for men.For this, the government has asked the National Commission for Women (NCW), the apex body that deals with women’s issues, to begin consultations on the parameters of such a law.NCW chairperson Girija Vyas said that the commission is organising a national-level workshop in July in New Delhi to discuss the need to have a common law prescribing the age of marriage.Eminent legal experts, women’s activists and social workers will discuss the spirit and letter of the legislation, Vyas said.“Various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) list the minimum age for having sex and thereby, of marriage, differently. It ranges years. This ambiguity must end,” Vyas said.Ideally, she said, the minimum age of marriage for a woman and a man should be 18 years and 21 years respectively.However, the National Law Commission had proposed that both men and women should be allowed to marry at the age of 18 years, she added.The urgency for the new law arose from the recent judgments of various courts. The judgments pointed to ambiguities in the existing law and asked the government to come up with a single and clear law defining the age of marriage for women and men.“The courts asked several questions about the existing laws, which the government and we want to address,” Vyas said.“For a discussion on this, we have invited various stake holders – women’s groups, advocates and child rights activists from all over the country.”The recommendations of this meeting will be sent to the government for drafting the new law.According to Vyas, jurisprudence has “ambiguous” provisions on the issue of women having sex. Under the Child Marriage Restraint Act, 1929, the right age for a girl’s marriage and for her to make a choice to have sex is 18 years, while various sections of the IPC treat women differently on this.Vyas said the “ambiguity happened because the Child Marriage Restraint Act was amended, while the corresponding IPC sections were not fully changed.”She pointed to the IPC provisions that deal with rape, marital rape and consent to point out the ambiguity.The NCW chief said the Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act added to the confusion on the age of adulthood.It defines an adult as a person who is 18 years old (and who can marry). “This violated the spirit of the Child Marriage Restraint Act according to which a man has to be 21 years to be called an adult and thereby to have the right to marry,” she added.She said the new legislation will remove the confusion on the minimum age for marriage. “But implementation of the law will remain a challenge for administrators and activists,” Vyas added, ============================================

Another Telugu student murdered in US

Hyderabad,June 13: Another Telugu student has been found murdered in the US. Adarsh John, a student of Texas University, was murdered by unidentified people Saturday, his relatives said.Adarsh, who was doing MS at Texas University, was found murdered, according to information received by his family Sunday at Tandur in Ranga Reddy district, about 100 km from here. The details including the motive behind the crime were not immediately known. Union Minister for Urban Development S.Jaipal Reddy Sunday visited Adarsh's house in Tandur and consoled his parents. The minister spoke to officials regarding the arrangements to bring home the body. Adarsh is the latest victim in a series of incidents involving students and professionals from Andhra Pradesh. In March, 28-year-old Prashanth Goinaka was shot dead by unidentified robbers at a convenience store in Oklahoma. He was studying MBA in International Technological University at California and had taken up a part-time job. Rudraraju Sudheer Kumar, a mechanical engineer, was found murdered in his flat in Atlanta in February last year. Akshay Vishal, 26, a software engineer from Hyderabad, was shot dead by unidentified people in Little Rock in Arkansas on Jan 13. As many as 11 Telugu students and techies were murdered in the US during last three years.
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Female TV artist held for attack on fiance

Hyderabad, June 13 : Hyderabad Police Sunday arrested television artist Dimple for the recent attack on her fiance Sridhar Verma after he allegedly refused to marry her following a love affair.Police said the 23-year-old was not only behind the attack on Sridhar but also stage-managed an attack on herself to mislead the police. Her assistant Mani and Nagaraju were also arrested while another accused Prabhakar is at large. A case of attempt to murder was booked against Dimple and three others at Kukatpally police station. Dimple, who acted in TV serials for various channels, had claimed June 9 that she along with her assistant Mani came under attack by an unidentified woman when they were on their way for shooting in Manikonda on the city outskirts. Dimple, who along with her assistant got themselves admitted in a corporate hospital, told police and media that a woman lying across the road blocked their way. When they got down to find out what the matter was, she attacked them with chilli powder and iron rod. She claimed that the attacker used a sharp object and showed the gashes on her body. The actress also claimed that the attacker kept repeating that she was taking revenge and disappeared. She pointed fingers at another TV artist Selvaraj who was blamed for a similar attack on Sridhar June 8 at Kukatpally neighbourhood in the city. Sridhar had complained to police that an unidentified attacker threw acid on him but police found that it was only spirit. Sridhar later received a phone call purportedly made by Selvaraj saying it was revenge for replacing him in TV serial 'Aradhana'. After thorough investigations, police found that Dimple hatched a conspiracy with Mani and two others to take revenge on Sridhar for refusing to marry her after an affair. She used the name Selvaraj and also orchestrated an attack on herself to mislead the police. Actor Selvaraj told reporters that he would file a defamation case against Dimple.
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Andhra rights panel bans children's reality shows

Hyderabad, June 12 : The Andhra Pradesh State Human Rights Commission Saturday banned television reality shows involving children.Pronouncing its verdict on the petitions filed by some NGOs, the commission banned with immediate effect "Aata" a dance reality show on Zee Telugu channel and directed the police to take action against such shows on other channels.Commission chairman Justice Subhashan Reddy said human rights were being violated in shows like "Ata" as they portray children in an objectionable manner. The commission observed that such shows were badly affecting the health of children and creating several problems. "These children don't even know what they are doing and how they are being used. The physical and psychological growth of children continue till 18 years of age and such reality shows are having bad effect on their growth," he said. The commission's verdict came on a batch of petitions filed in April by groups working for children's rights. They sought a ban on reality shows for making children perform obscene numbers. The commission also directed police to take action against obscene advertisements and programmes on television channels. It called for framing guidelines for the TV programmes especially the reality shows. Subhashan Reddy allowed channels to submit their arguments against the ban. The commission will conduct a public hearing on the issue July 3. In April, the commission had found fault with parents for encouraging their children to participate in such realty shows. "Don't you feel uncomfortable with the way your children have been dressed up for the show," Reddy had asked the delegation of six parents, who had opposed the petitions for banning the reality show.
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Andhra Pradesh CM moots 6-point plan for excellence in school education

Hyderabad, Jun 12 : Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister K.Rosaiah today mooted a six-point action Plan for teachers and School Education Department to achieve excellence in school education as a whole in the state, particularly in the Government Schools.The Chief Minister suggested constant and close monitoring of attendance in the schools, both of teachers and students, improvement in teaching standards in schools; all text books to all classes should be made available on the day of the reopening of schools; all available schemes and programmes like SSA should be made use of to improve the infrastructure facilities in the schools; Parents - Teachers Committees should see that the standards of Government schools catch up with that of private and Corporate schools and drop-outs in the schools also should be put an end to. The Chief Minister, who would launch the 'badibata' (Way to School) Programme on Monday, said the State Government is spending huge funds on education, particularly school education in the state. The state was also leveraging funds from the Government of India schemes like Sarva Siksha Abhiyaan (SSA) and Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyaan (RMSA) for increasing infrastructure like school buildings, Compound Walls and for recruitment of teachers, a release here today quoted him as saying. The Chief Minister today discussed the issues pertaining to School Education with Secondary Education Minister Manikya Varaprasad and officials.
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Lok Satta to survey impelementation Of Right to Education Act

Hyderabad, Jun 12 : The District units of the Lok Satta Party would undertake a random survey of elementary schools to ascertain the steps Andhra Pradesh Government had taken to implement the Right to Education Act (REA)which came into force recently.The Act provides for free and compulsory education to all children in the age group of 6 to 14 from Classes I to VIII. In a statement the party said society would have to share the responsibility with the Government in making the implementation of the legisation a success as the future of the country depended on children in schools. The LSP teams would examine whether the schools have the basic infrastructure like buildings, toilets and drinking water facility and adequate number of qualified teachers and whether they were accessible to students in both urban and rural areas.
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Pressure on Congress, TDP not to contest Telangana by-polls

Hyderabad, June 12 : Pressure is mounting on the ruling Congress and the main opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in Andhra Pradesh against contesting the upcoming by-elections in the 12 assembly constituencies in Telangana.

The Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) Saturday urged both parties to stay away from the poll in response to the call given by Telangana Joint Action Committee (JAC), which is spearheading the movement for separate statehood to Telangana. TRS chief K.Chandrasekhara Rao told reporters that JAC was working to protect the self-respect of Telangana people and hence all the political parties should abide by its decision. JAC convenor M.Kodandaram said the JAC was not afraid of a contest if Congress and Telugu Desam Party entered the fray. A day after appealing to both Congress and TDP not to contest the by-polls, he said JAC was ready for a contest if it becomes inevitable. He, however, said if Congress and TDP field their candidates, it would amount to a betrayal of the Telangana cause. The TRS is the main constituent of JAC while Telangana leaders of both Congress party and TDP quit the apex body following differences with Kodandaram. The JAC was formed by pro-Telangana groups for a united struggle for Telangana state after the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government decided to put on hold its Dec 9 statement to initiate the process for formation of separate state. The statement was made after 11-day hunger strike by Chandrasekhara Rao. Elections to 12 assembly constituencies in Telangana are scheduled to be held in August. The vacancies were caused in February this year when 10 legislators of TRS quit over the demand for separate Telangana state. One legislator each of the TDP and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) also quit. The by-elections are seen as a major test for both the Telangana slogan and the popularity of TRS. The sub-regional party has already declared that those contesting against its candidates in 10 constituencies would be traitors to Telangana. Meanwhile, serious differences have cropped up both in the Congress party and the TDP over contesting the by-polls with their leaders from Telangana strongly opposing the move. Congress' state unit has left the decision to the central leadership while a discussion is on in the TDP.
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SW Monsoon brings rain in AP

Hyderabad, Jun 12 : Southwest monsoon has been vigorous over Coastal Andhra Pradesh and active over Rayalaseema, with rain occurring at many places over Coastal Andhra Pradesh and Rayalaseema and at a few places over Telangana.The heavy rainfalls recorded in cm are Kavali ten, Avanigadda (Krishna district) and Kandukur (Prakasam district) eight each, Bapatla, Ongole, Amalapuram (East Godavari district) and Repalle (Guntur district) seven each. The other chief amounts of rainfall recorded in cm are Kurnool, Addanki (Prakasam district) and Prathipadu (East Godavari district) received five each, Nandyal, Bhimavaram (West Godavari district), Podili (Prakasam district) and Punganur (Chittoor district) received four cm each, Narsapur, Nellore, Alampur and Wanaparthy (both Mahabubnagar district), Darsi (Prakasam district), Gudivada (Krishna district), Gudur, Sullurpet, Tada and Vinjamur (all Nellore district) and Ichapuram (Srikakulam district) three each. The maximum temperatures fell at one or two places over Telangana. They were significantly above normal at a few places over Telangana. The highest maximum temperature of 43 degrees Celsius was recorded at Adilabad and Khammam. Moderate to rather heavy rain/thundershowers would occur at most places over Coastal Andhra Pradesh and may occur at many places over Rayalaseema. Light to moderate rain/thundershowers may occur at a few places over Telangana. A spell of rain/thundershowers would occur in parts of the city.Maximum and Minimum temperatures would be around 36 and 24 degrees respectively.
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Ambika Soni, Mohsina elected unopposed to Rajya Sabha

Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni and Congress leaders Mohsina Kidwai and Satish Sharma were among the 27 candidates across five states elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha Thursday, the last date for withdrawing nominations for the biennial elections to the upper house of parliament.Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh and five others were June 7 declared elected unopposed from Andhra Pradesh. Elections will, however, be held across seven states June 17 but the candidates of the major political parties are assured of victory.The Congress’ Soni and Akali Dal’s Balwinder Singh Bhunder were elected to the Rajya Sabha from Punjab without a contest as they were the only candidates in the fray.Kidwai and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) tribal leader Nand Kumar Sai were re-elected from Chhattisgarh.In Tamil Nadu, six candidates – K.P. Ramalingam, T.M. Selvaganapathy and S. Thangavelu from the ruling DMK, P.H. Manoj Pandian and K. Ramalingam from the AIADMK and Sudarshan Nachiappan from the Congress, were elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha.In Maharashtra also, six candidates from various parties were elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha from after an independent candidate withdrew at the last minute.The Congress’ Vijay Darda and Avinash Pandey, the Nationalist Congress Party’s Tariq Anwar and Ishwarlal Jain, the BJP’s Piyush and Shiv Sena’s Sanjay Raut were the successful candidates.Congress leader Kanhaiyalal Gidwani, who filed his nomination as an independent, withdrew at the last minute paving the way for the unopposed election of the remaining six party supported candidates.In Uttar Pradesh, the ruling Bahujan Samaj Party got seven of the 11 seats. Congress leader Satish Sharma and BJP’s Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi were among those elected uncontested. Two seats were won by the Samajwadi Party.In Karnataka, liquor baron Vijay Mallay’s bid to enter the Rajya Sabha for the second time as an Independent rests on the ruling BJP as the Congress did not withdraw its second nominee Thursday, leaving five candidates in the fray for four seats.Two nominees of the BJP, former president M. Venkaiah Naidu and state leader Ayanur Manjunath, are sure of victory as the party has 116 members in the 225-member assembly and has the backing of five of the six Independents.A candidate requires 45 first preference votes of the legislators, who make up the electoral college, to win.The BJP will be left with 26 surplus votes which Mallya, backed by the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) which has 27 members in the assembly, hopes will see him through.The Congress, with 74 members, is assured of one seat for which it has re-nominated party general secretary and former union minister Oscar Fernandes.It has also fielded T.V. Maruthi, a Karnataka businessman, as its second nominee and retained him in the field to give Mallya a fight.
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CBI to quiz Ajmer blast accused on Mecca Masjid attack

Hyderabad, June 11 : Two activists of a Hindu terror group accused in the October 2007 blast in the Ajmer Sharif shrine will be brought here by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for questioning in the Mecca Masjid bombing in May the same year.The CBI, which has made headway in investigations into the Mecca Masjid bomb blast case, will bring Devender Gupta and Lokesh Sharma here next week. Both are members of the Abhinav Bharat and are currently lodged in Ajmer jail, Armed with a prisoners's transit warrant issued by a city court, the federal agency will shift the accused in the Ajmer dargah blast to Hyderabad for further investigations. The CBI believes that the blasts at both the mosque and dargah were the handiwork of the same group. A team of CBI officials is already in Hyderabad as part of the preparations to carry forward the investigations. They met Police Commissioner A.K. Khan, who assured them of all assistance. On a petition by the CBI, a local court had Thursday issued a prisoners' transit warrant to produce Gupta and Sharma in court. The CBI also informed the court that two other accused, Sandeep and Ramchandra, were absconding and efforts to nab them were on. Five people were killed in the bomb blast during Friday prayers at the historic Mecca Masjid on May 18, 2007. Nine people were killed in the subsequent police firing on protestors outside the mosque. Five months later, a blast in the Khwaja Moinuddin Chisthi dargah in Ajmer claimed one life and injured 30. The Hyderabad police had blamed Bangladesh-based Harkatul Jihad-e-Islami (HuJI) for the Mecca Masjid terror attack. It also arrested nearly a dozen local Muslim youth but could find no evidence against them. There have also been allegations of police torturing the youth in custody. The CBI could not make much progress in the case during the last three years. Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram had also gone on record last year that the blast case had turned "cold" as the two primary suspects are dead. Police claimed that Shahid Bilal, a key suspect in the case working for HuJI, was killed in a shootout in Pakistan a few weeks after the mosque blast. Another suspect was also presumed dead. The case took a new turn in April this year when Rajasthan's Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS)arrested Gupta and Sharma in connection with the Ajmer blast.

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SOUTH WEST monsoon advances, brings rain in AP

Hyderabad, Jun 11 : Southwest monsoon today further advanced over some parts of Telangana and some more parts of Coastal Andhra Pradesh and remaining parts of Rayalaseema, with Gooty in Anantapur district recording a heavy rainfall of nine cm.Southwest monsoon has been vigorous over Rayalaseema. Isolated rain occurred over Coastal Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, Met Department said today.The other chief amounts of rainfall recorded in cm are Kanekal (Anantapur district) and Muddanur (Cuddapah district) six each, Anantapur, Kamalapuram (Cuddapah district), Kuppam and Punganur (both Chittoor district) and Rayadurg (Anantapur district) five each, Cuddapah, Penukonda (Anantapur district) and Venkatagiri Kota (Chittoor district) four each, Arogyavaram, Chittoor, Allagadda, Alur and Yemmiganur (all Kurnool district), Bhimadole (West Godavari district), Jammalamadugu, Pulivendala and Vempalli (all Cuddapah district), Jangaon (Warangal district), Kadiri and Tadipatri (both Anantapur district) and Venkatapuram (Khammam district) three each, Hyderabad, Chilamattur, Dharmavaram, Hindupur, Kalyandurg and Pamidi (all Anantapur district), Holagunda, Koilkuntla, Mantralayam and Pathikonda (all Kurnool district), Ibrahimpatnam (Rangareddy district), Palamaner (Chittoor district), Proddatur and Rayachoty (both Cuddapah district) and Veeraghattam (Srikakulam district) two each.The maximum temperatures rose at one or two places over Telangana and changed little over Coastal Andhra Pradesh. They were significantly above normal at many places over Telangana but significantly below normal at one or two places over Coastal Andhra Pradesh. The highest maximum temperature of 42 degrees Celsius was recorded at Khammam. Moderate to rather heavy rain/ thundershowers may occur at many places over Rayalaseema and in the districts of Krishna, Guntur, Prakasam and Nellore of Coastal Andhra Pradesh. Light to moderate rain/thundershowers may occur at a few places over Telangana and in the remaining districts of Coastal Andhra Pradesh. A spell of rain/thundershowers would occur in parts of the city. Maximum and Minimum temperatures would be around 37 and 24 degrees Celsius respectively.
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