Sunanda Pushkar Slaps Video you tube | Sunanda Pushkar Slaps a Youth Congress worker

Shashi Tharoor and his wife Sunanda Pushkar once again started making headlines. This time the couple hogged the limelight when Mrs Tharoor fumed over "misappropriate" behaviour of a Congress worker. [Update: Shashi Tharoor's public display of love for wife amuses BJP] The couple reached Thiruvananthapuram Airport on Monday, Oct 29 where many Congress workers gathered to welcome them. While walking amid the crowd, Mrs Tharoor accused a party worker of touching her inappropriately and then slapped him repeatedly. 

Earlier on Monday Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi criticised Mr Tharoor while targeting his wife over her alleged involvement in Kochi IPL team following which Tharoor had resigned from the external affairs ministry in 2010. Modi, while addressing a rally at Mandi in Himachal Pradesh, said, "Wah kya girlfriend hai. Apne kabhi dekha hai 50 crore ka girlfriend (What a girlfriend. Have you ever seen a 50-crore-girl friend)?" Criticising UPA government for inducting Tharoor once again, Modi said, "Everyone has heard about the minister, taken back on board and rewarded for his conduct. 

He claimed in the Parliament that he is in no way connected to the Rs 50 crore and that these are in his friend's name. Who has heard of a crorepati girlfriend? And then girlfriend becomes wife, we learn some time later." However, reacting against Modi's statement, Mr Tharoor on Tuesday tweeted, "@narendramodi My wife is worth a lot more than your imaginary 50 crores. She is priceless. But you need2be able2love some1 2understand that." Mr Tharoor on Sunday was inducted in the UPA cabinet as minister of state for HRD.

Sunanda Pushkar Slaps a Youth Congress worker  

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Cabinet reshuffle: Khurshid is foreign minister, Moily gets petroleum

 Salman Khurshid was India's new external affairs minister as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday effected a major revamp of his council of ministers, inducting 22 faces, including seven of cabinet rank, in what is said to be the last major ministerial shuffle before the 2014 general election.  

NEW CABINET MINISTERS:

K. Rahman Khan : Minority affairs

Dinsha J. Patel : Mines

Ajay Maken : Housing and urban poverty alleviation

M.M. Pallam Raju : Human resource development

Ashwani Kumar : Law and justice

Harish Rawat : Water resources

Chandresh Kumari Katoch : Culture

CHANGES IN PORTFOLIOS OF CABINET MINISTERS

M. Veerappa Moily : Petroleum and natural gas

S. Jaipal Reddy : Science and technology and earth sciences

Kamal Nath : Urban development and parliamentary affairs

Vayalar Ravi : Overseas Indian affairs

Kapil Sibal : Communications and information technology

CP Joshi : Road transport and highways

Kumari Selja : Social justice and empowerment

Pawan Kumar Bansal : Railways

Salman Khurshid : External affairs

Jairam Ramesh : Rural development

NEW MINISTERS OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE)

Manish Tewari : Information and broadcasting

K. Chiranjeevi : Tourism

CHANGES IN PORTFOLIOS OF MINISTERS OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE)

Jyotiraditya Scindia :Power

K.H. Muniappa : Micro, small and medium enterprises

Bharatsinh Madhavsinh Solanki : Drinking water and sanitation

Sachin Pilot : Corporate affairs

Jitendra Singh : Youth affairs and sports

NEW MINISTERS OF STATE

Shashi Tharoor : Human resources development

Kodikunnil Suresh : Labour and employment

Tariq Anwar : Agriculture and food processing industries

K.J. Surya Prakash Reddy : Railways

Ranee Narah : Tribal affairs

Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury : Railways

A.H. Khan Choudhury : Health and family welfare

Sarve Sathyanarayana : Road transport and highways

Ninong Ering : Minority affairs

Deepa Dasmunsi : Urban development

Porika Balram Naik :Social justice and empowerment

Killi Kruparani : Communications and information technology

Lalchand Kataria : Defence

CHANGES IN PORTFOLIOS OF MINISTERS OF STATE

E. Ahmed : External affairs

D. Purandeswari : Commerce and industry

Jitin Prasada : Defence and human resource development

S. Jagatharakshakan : New and renewable energy

RPN. Singh :Home

KC Venugopal : Civil aviation

Rajeev Shukla : Parliamentary affairs and planning

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S.M. Krishna Resigns; Soni, Wasnik Too Offer to Quit

The countdown for a substantial reshuffle of the Union Council of Ministers began yesterday  resignation of External Affairs Minister S M Krishna and reported offers by Ambika Soni and Mukul Wasnik to quit the government in favour of party work.

The reshuffle, which will take place on Sunday morning, is expected to see induction of new faces, including actor-turned-politician Chiranjeevi.

80-year-old Krishna, a former Chief Minister of Karnataka, sent his resignation to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh after apparently being told of plans to revamp the Cabinet. It has since been accepted.

Krishna, who was surprisingly made the External Affairs Minister after 2009 elections, said he was stepping down to pave the way for youngsters and strengthen the hands of leadership for strengthening the party.

There were indications that he could be asked to lead the Congress in Karnataka where assembly polls are due next year.

Late in the night, reports emerged that Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni and Social Justice Minister Mukul Wasnik also had offered to quit to work for the party.

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Nuclear power Plant in India

Nuclear power in India

Nuclear power plants

Currently, twenty nuclear power reactors produce 4,780.00 MW (2.9% of total installed base)

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Ajit Pawar resigns as Maharashtra Dy. CM

NCP leader Ajit Pawar resigned as Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister on Tuesday over irregularities in awarding contracts for irrigation projects.

Pawar said that he has communicated the decision to party chief Sharad Pawar, and added that also sent a resignation to the Chief Minister.

“I have worked to the best of my abilities. I will work for the NCP now,” he said.

Maharashtra Home Minister R.R. Patil had earlier on Monday defended Pawar, who is facing allegations of hurriedly giving clearance to 32 irrigation projects.

“NCP is fast spreading its wings in the state. Hence, some of our ministers are facing corruption charges,” he said, while reacting to reports that Pawar granted clearance to the projects worth Rs 20,000 crore in a matter of three months in 2009.

Patil also said that his party would give a befitting reply to the opponents, who are levelling ‘baseless’ allegations.

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Dearness Allowance Hike - Central Govt employees, pensioners get 7% DA hike

The Union government on Monday hiked Dearness Allowance (DA) by 7%, benefiting its 80 lakh employees and pensioners and costing the exchequer an additional Rs7,408 crore annually.

The hike will be effective from July 1, 2012, and the employees would be entitled for arrears from this date.

The hike in the DA from 65% to 72% will cost the exchequer Rs4,939 crore for the remaining part of the current financial year. The annual burden on account of the DA increase has been estimated at Rs7,408 crore, says an official release.

The decision, which was approved by the Union cabinet, will benefit about 50 lakh employees and 30 lakh pensioners of the central government.

The increase in DA is in accordance with the accepted formula which is based on the recommendations of the 6th Central Pay Commission, the release added.

The relief comes in the backdrop of government increasing the diesel price by Rs5 per litre and retail inflation crossing the double-digit mark.

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No Roaming charges from 2013 says Telecom minister Kapil Sibal

Telecom minister Kapil Sibal on Monday said that mobile phone subscribers will not have to pay roaming charges from next year. “From next year. Our secretary has told you that it will be free from next year,” Sibal said here in response to a query on the timing of removing roaming charges as proposed in the National Telecom Policy 2012.

The minister was speaking to the media on the sidelines of the curtain raiser event of India Internet Governance Conference. NTP 2012, approved in May, aims to abolish roaming charges and allow mobile phone subscribers to use same number across country without having to pay extra charges for services once they are outside their telecom circle.

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Indian Corruption 2012 List | List of scandals in India 2012

The following is a list of alleged scams and scandals in India

These include political, financial, corporate and others.

1.       Kinetic Finance Limited Scam - Banks lost about  200 crore (US$36.2 million). At present the matter is under the scanner of investigating / intelligence agencies of India.

2.       Ultra Mega Power Projects Scam - Central government lost  29,033 crore (US$5.25 billion) due to undue favours to Anil Ambani-led Reliance Power.

3.       IGI airport Scam - Central government lost  166,972.35 crore (US$30.22 billion) by undue favours to GMR-led DIAL. DIAL (Delhi International Airport Limited) is a consortium of the GMR Group (50.1%), Fraport AG (10%), Malaysia Airports (10%), India Development Fund (3.9%), and the Airports Authority of India (26%).

4.       Andhra Pradesh land scam -  100,000 crore (US$18.1 billion)

5.       Forex derivates scam -  32,000 crore (US$5.79 billion)

6.       Granite scam in Tamil Nadu -

7.       Service Tax and Central Excise Duty fraud -  19,159 crore (US$3.47 billion) crore)

8.       Gujarat PSU financial irregularities -  17,000 crore (US$3.08 billion)

9.       Maharashtra stamp duty scam -  640 crore (US$115.84 million)

10.     Maharashtra land scam

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Raghuram Rajan takes over as Chief Economic Advisor

Raghuram G Rajan, former IMF chief economist, took charge as chief economic adviser (CEA) in the finance ministry Wednesday.

"I am glad to be here," Rajan told media persons after taking charge.

"The world economy faces serious challenges and India is no exception. I hope that in the next days I can help contribute to whatever solutions we devise in tackling these challenges."

The Cabinet Appointments Committee had Aug 10 cleared Rajan's appointment as the new CEA.

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PM dubs CAG report on coal blocks as flawed, misleading

Dubbing CAG's computation of loss of Rs1.86 lakh crore in coal block allocation as "flawed" and "misleading", Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today took the battle to the Opposition camp, blaming it for thwarting the Centre's effort to shift to competitive bidding.

Making a statement in both Houses of Parliament amid uproar created by BJP members, Singh refused to be on the back foot, declaring that he takes "full responsibility" for the decisions taken as he contended that CAG's "observations" are "clearly disputable".

With BJP creating disruptions, he read out a few portions of his four-page statement before laying it in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha which were repeatedly adjourned because of uproar.

Conscious that the CAG reports are normally discussed in detail in the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament where the ministry concerned responds, Singh said he was departing from this established procedure "because of the nature of the allegations that are being made and because I was holding the charge of Coal Minister for a part of the time covered by the report."

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Sonia asks Cong to "stand up and fight aggressively"

New Delhi, Aug 28 - Accusing BJP of making "political bread and butter" by holding Parliament to ransom by "blackmail", a combative Congress President Sonia Gandhi today took the battle to the opposition camp and asked the party to "stand up and fight aggressively".

Rallying the party behind Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the coal block allocation issue, she accused BJP of acting with "wanton irresponsibility".

"We will not be deflected by the intemperate Congress bashing by the opposition.

Source:PTI

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AK Hangal dies at age of 95 | Veteran actor Avtar Kishen Hangal Died

Veteran actor Avtar Kishen Hangal has died in a Mumbai hospital today. He was 95. Mr Hangal was admitted to Parekh Hospital in Santa Cruz in suburban Mumbai on August 16 after he slipped and fell in his bathroom, fracturing his right thigh bone, on August 13.

Avtar Kishan Hangal (1 February 1917 - 26 August, 2012), popularly known as A. K. Hangal, was an Indian character actor in Hindi language films. His most notable roles are as Ram Shastri in Aaina (1977) as the Inder Sen in Shaukeen, as Bipinlal Pandey in Namak Haraam, as Imaam Sa'ab in Sholay, as Anokhelal in Manzil and the negative character in Prem Bandhan and the 16 films he did with Rajesh Khanna. He has acted in around 225 Hindi films in a career spanning from 1966 to 2005.

Hangal, aged 95, had a fall on August 13. On August 16 he was admitted to the Asha Parekh Hospital in Santa Cruz as he had suffered a back injury when he fell in his house and fractured his right femur. He had to undergo a surgery, but that could not take place as later it was found the actor has trouble breathing and a history of lung disease, kidney problems and tuberculosis.

A sudden deterioration in his health was reported on August 25, 2012. Mr Hangal's son, Vijay, said that he is in ICU but the life support system has been withdrawn. He said he had been told that "it was just a matter of time". AK Hangal was taken off life support on his orders.

AK Hangal breathed his last on 26th August 2012 at the age of 95

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