Tuesday, December 30, 2025

Rs 5 lakh reward for anyone who ‘chops off’ BJP MLA Kadam’s tongue, says Congress leader

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Tehelka Web Desk
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Congress leader and former Maharashtra minister Subodh Saoji announced a reward of Rs 5 lakh for anyone who “chops off the tongue” of Ram Kadam, Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA), Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Saoji was caught saying this in a video of an event at Buldhana in eastern Maharashtra on September 6.

Saoji reportedly said, “I am announcing a Rs 5 lakh reward for anyone who chops off BJP MLA Ram Kadam’s tongue. I strongly condemn him saying girls should be abducted.”

Congress leader Saoji’s response came in wake of Kadam’s deplorable statement on girls.

He added, “I strongly condemn his statement saying girls should be abducted (if they refuse a boy’s proposal). It is unbecoming of an MLA to say such things.”

Kadam during a “Dahi Handi” event at Ghatkopar, his assembly constituency in Mumbai, said, “You (youngsters) can meet me for any work. I will help, 100 per cent. Come (to me) with your parents. What will I do if parents approve? I will kidnap the girl concerned and hand her over to you (for marriage).”

Meanwhile, the Maharashtra State Commission for Women has issued notice to the BJP legislator Kadam for the deplorable comment.

Maharashtra BJP spokesperson Shaina commented, “There was a legislator from our own political party who was talking about how you can kidnap young girls and if you want to have a quick pass time ‘I will help you’ and it shocked me.”

Jammu and Kashmir: Police chief SP Vaid removed

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Tehelka Web Desk
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Jammu and Kashmir police chief SP Vaid was unceremoniously removed from his post late on Thursday evening and got posted as a Transport Comissioner.  Vaid was replaced by Dilbagh Singh, the Director General of Prisons on a temporary basis, until a regular appointment is made.

The transfer of Vaid comes in the backdrop of alleged differences between the centre and the police chief after he was divested of crucial administrative powers. The release of a terrorist’s father in exchange for kidnapped family members of the state’s policemen last week was also seen as trigger.

SP Vaid, the 1986-batch IPS officer was appointed as a Director General of Police in December 2016.

On September 4, state intelligence chief Abdul Gani Mir was also replaced by Dr. B Srinivas.

Last week, policemen and their relatives were kidnapped by terrorists in south Kashmir. They were set free hours after the police released around a dozen family members of terrorists, including the father of Hizbul Mujahideen “commander” Riaz Naikoo.

According to the Sources, serious differences cropped up between Vaid and Governor’s administration after the officer was divested of powers to make certain administrative decisions and authority was accorded to ADG Law and Order Munir Khan. Vaid lodged a strong protest with state government and Union Home Secretary.

Today, the former chief took to his Twitter account and thanked God and the people of the country for their support.

“I’m thankful to God that he gave me the opportunity to serve my people and my country. I’m grateful to @JmuKmrPolice security agencies, and people of J&K for their support and their faith in me. My best wishes to the new DGP”, Vaid tweeted.

Uttarakhand: Five dead, 21 injured after bus falls into deep gorge in Almora district

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Tehelka Web Desk
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Five persons were killed and 21 others were injured after a bus fell into a 50-feet deep gorge in Almora district of Uttarakhand on Thursday.

The accident took place at Bhatrojkhan-Bhikiyasan route near Mohanri.

As per reports, the bus which belongs to Garhwal Motor Owners Union (GMOU) had around 30 persons in all, including conductor and the bus driver.

Senior officials reached the spot to oversee rescue and relief. The injured were immediately admitted to hospital for treatment but condition of 14 injured were stated to be critical, official said.

As per the reports, the accident appears to have taken place due to brake failure.

France to support India’s first manned mission ‘Gaganyaan’

By
Tehelka Web Desk
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India and France announced a working group for Gaganyaan, Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) first manned mission announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the eve of Independence Day. France will provide life support and medicine for the Indian crew members.

The announcement was made by French space agency CNES president Jean-Yves Le Gall at the sixth edition of the Bengaluru Space Expo BSX 2018 on September 6. He also added that agreement would be signed soon with his ISRO counterpart K. Sivan.

CNES president Gall said that ISRO and CNES, will be combining their expertise in fields of space medicine, astronaut health monitoring, radiation protection, space debris protection, life support and personal hygiene systems.

“CNES is especially proud to be working on this endeavour alongside ISRO to share the experience it has acquired from the first French human spaceflights to Thomas Pesquet’s Proxima mission, and to hone our own expertise by learning from ISRO’s innovative developments in the field of crew transport,” Gall added.

The ISRO’s mission is significant as it would make India one of the four countries in the world after Russia, US and China to launch a manned space flight.

India plans to send three humans to space before 2022.

Union Minister Goyal says Railways providing ‘best’ speed Wi-Fi at 710 stations

By
Tehelka Web Desk
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Union Railways Minister Piyush Goyal on September 6 while addressing a seminar on leveraging information technology for mobility in Delhi said that Indian Railways has taken Wi-Fi to 710 railway stations, while claiming that it is the best in the country in terms of speed.

During his address union minister also highlighted the exponential growth in paperless ticketing and added that Paperless Unreserved Tickets have moved up from 195 in 2014-15 to 67,000 in 2017 that is a 35,000 percent increase over a period of three years.

During the address he also emphasized the significance of technology for the Indian Railways, and termed ‘Technology’ as the defining factor that will help Indian railways change both its direction and its face in the future.

“GPS is a tried and tested method. It will help us completely eliminate the fudging of data on train movement and help us track the 22,000 trains, both passenger and freight, on a real-time basis. In railways, there are 444,000 tenders. The multiplicity of tenders will lead to cost inefficiency. Hence, the clubbing of items and data mining could help reduce procurement inefficiency. 150 thousand crores of procurement is truly quite a large procurement and if we can look at an initial saving of 15-20 percent that in my standard is the least that we can save,” union minister said.

Goyal further added “A rapid scale-up of technology is what the nation expects out of us, and that’s where we can take the help of the private sector in helping us develop and use that technology.”

Talking about the transformations in the sector he said, “There are so many new transformations that the railways are working on related to the tracks, safety, signalling, catering, punctuality, and modernizing our inspection processes which will make them more efficient and clinically sound.”

Rajiv Gandhi assassination case: SC asks Tamil Nadu governor to consider mercy petition of convicts

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Tehelka Web Desk
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The Supreme Court on September 6 asked the Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit to consider the mercy petition of AG Perarivalan and the six other convicts in the 1991 Rajiv Gandhi assassination case.

The two-judge bench of the apex court, headed by Justice Ranjan Gogoi, disposed of the petition filed by the Centre on Tamil Nadu government’s proposal seeking an early release of the convicts.

Centre had stated that the release of the convicts in the assassination case of a high profile leader will set dangerous precedent and have international ramification.

The mercy petition was filed by 47-year-old Perarivalan alias Arivu before the Tamil Nadu Governor on December 30, 2015 under Article 161 of the Constitution.

The Tamil Nadu government seems to continue with its decision to ensure the release of the convicts.

While continuing with the decision of state to ensure the release of convicts Fisheries Minister D Jayakumar said, “We have already taken decision when Jayalalithaa was CM and unanimous resolution was passed. We are waiting for the order from Supreme Court. Let’s receive the copy and we’ll decide. Our stand is what Amma had taken.”

Perarivalan claimed that the probe was not full-fledged and was incomplete and partial.  He added, “The main culprits who designed the bomb made of RDX were not nabbed till date. They are scot-free and investigation is still pending into the vital aspects of the crime itself,” his letter to the governor reads.

Perarivalan had already spent more than 24 years in jail. As per jail rules, life imprisonment at ground level is only for a maximum of 20 years and thereafter the prisoner is considered for release.

Sacrilege Probe: Punjab government withdraws notifications of cases transferred to CBI

By
Raju William
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Chandigarh, September 6, 2018: In pursuance of Punjab Vidhan Sabha resolution to withdraw the investigation of sacrilege incidents from Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the state government on Thursday issued fresh notifications to de-notify the earlier notifications issued in this regard to entrust the task of investigations to Special Investigation Team (SIT).

A spokesman of the Chief Minister’s Office said that this decision has been taken in wake of the Report of Inquiry of the Justice (Retd.) Ranjit Singh Commission, which was discussed and deliberated upon in the special session of Punjab Vidhan Sabha on August 28, 2018.  

It was observed by the House that, even after a lapse of three years from such entrustment of investigation, no report has been filed by the CBI.

Given this and considering the importance of the issues at hand, the Vidhan Sabha viewed it appropriate that the incidents of sacrilege to Sri Guru Granth Sahib which occurred at Kotkapura, Bargari, Behbal Kalan and the related incidents of police firing, for which cases were registered and investigation entrusted to the CBI be withdrawn from it and be investigated by SIT.

It was also felt by the August House that this course of action would bring an efficacious conclusion to the issues of high public importance, would ensure that emotive character of the issue does not adversely affect the civil society in the state of Punjab and would be in the larger public interest.

The state government had constituted a Commission of Inquiry headed by Justice (Retd.) Ranjit Singh on April 14, 2017, which was mandated to conduct an enquiry into the cases of sacrilege of Sri Guru Granth Sahib, Bhagwad Gita and the Quran.

Two persons had been killed in the police firing on the protesters demanding probe into the sacrilege incidents in 2015 at village Behbal Kalan in Faridkot district.

2+2 Dialogue: India, US urge Pakistan to act against terror

By
Tehelka Web Desk
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Following the inaugural of 2+2 Dialogue between India and the United States of America on September 6 both the countries urged Pakistan to ensure that its country is not used to launch terrorist attacks on others and bring to justice expeditiously the perpetrators of the Mumbai (2008), Pathankot (2016), Uri (2016) and other cross-border terrorist attacks.

The stern warning to Pakistan came after India and the US held their 2+2 dialogue in which External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman held wide-ranging talks with Michael R Pompeo, US Secretary of State and Defence Secretary James Mattis.

The joint statement issued at the end of dialogue said, “On the eve of the 10-year anniversary of the 26/11 Mumbai attack, they called on Pakistan to bring to justice expeditiously the perpetrators of the Mumbai, Pathankot, Uri and other cross-border terrorist attacks.”

“The Ministers welcomed the launch of a bilateral dialogue on designation of terrorists in 2017, which is strengthening cooperation and action against terrorist groups, including Al-Qa’ida, ISIS, Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad, Hizb-ul Mujahideen, the Haqqani Network, Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, D-Company and their affiliates. The two sides further reaffirmed their commitment to ongoing and future cooperation to ensure a stable cyberspace environment and to prevent cyber-attacks,” joint statement reads.

“The ministers denounced any use of terrorist proxies in the region, and in this context, they called on Pakistan to ensure that the territory under its control is not used to launch terrorist attacks on other countries,” statement said. 

Telangana Governor accepts KCR recommendation to dissolve assembly

By
Tehelka Web Desk
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After days of suspense, Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) president and Chief Minister Kalvakuntla Chandrasekhar Rao on Thursday, decided to dissolve the assembly, clearing the decks for early elections in the state. 

Governor ESL Narasimhan had accepted his recommendation. The move will clear the way for early polls in the state, till then Rao will stay on as the caretaker Chief Minister until the new government is formed.

At a Cabinet meeting in the afternoon, Rao, obtained the nod of his colleagues on dissolving the Assembly and immediately reached the Raj Bhavan asking the Governor ESL Narasimhan to recommend for early polls. 

While addressing the media, The Chief Minister, popularly known as KCR, said the decision to dissolve assembly for an early election was not a political move.

The caretaker chief minister has already announced the names of 100 candidates. KCR will formally launch the party’s election campaign with a public meeting at Husnabad in Siddipet district on Friday.

Sources in the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) on Wednesday claimed that the government had more-or-less made up its mind on the dissolution of the assembly, whose term ends next year. 

The assembly term is till May 2019 and elections in usual course would have been conducted along with the Lok Sabha polls. Following the dissolution of the assembly today, elections may held in December 2018. 

Delhi likely to get cleaner version of CNG

By
Tehelka Web Desk
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The National Capital city would soon have a cleaner version of the compressed natural gas (CNG). According to reports the testing for the other alternative- H-CNG (hydrogen-CNG) will begin later this month.

The Supreme Court (SC) has directed Union government and the Indian Oil Corporation Ltd to opt for hydrogen-CNG as an alternative fuel option, following a report submitted by the Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority (EPCA).

The EPCA report stated that the use of hydrogen-CNG can reduce the carbon monoxide and other harmful emissions by 70%.

S S V Kumar, director, Indian Oil Corporation, R&D centre, reportedly said, “There can be a 70% reduction in carbon monoxide and the icing on the cake is that this can give 3 to 4% fuel economy improvement as well. Our studies indicated that there is no reduction in NOx however, but with certain changes, that too can be achieved.”

In the long run this new green fuel variant may also lead to a drop in fuel prices.

The SC suggested that at as many as 50 buses have to be tested first with H-CNG and it will only be rolled out if the tests are successful.

According to Indian Oil Corporation officials they will “work on” the fuel variant after they are allocated a bus depot this month.

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