Pakistan violates ceasefire for sixth time in three days
Five civilians were injured as Pakistani troops shelled Indian positions and residential areas along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday. Officials said those injured had been getting ready for lunch following Eid prayers when the shelling began. The Indian Army later retaliated with small-calibre weapons fire. A senior official told the Indian Express that the shelling from the Pakistani side was the sixth ceasefire violation in three days and added that the Line of Control in the Jammu region had seen increased activity following unprovoked firing on forward Indian posts in Rajouri district on Friday night. The ceasefire violations follow a meeting between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif on the side-lines of a regional conference in Russia earlier this month.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called the maiden meeting of all the constituents of the ruling National Democratic Alliance government at the Centre. The meeting, slated for Monday, ahead of the monsoon session of Parliament, will likely be used to work out the government’s strategy to counter the opposition’s criticism of it on a range of issues, including the Land Acquisition Bill and the multi-crore Vyapam scam. NDA partner Shiv Sena expressed happiness over the decision to call the meeting, with party leader Sanjay Raut saying that it would help the alliance work out an effective strategy.
Somnath likely to be re-inducted into CPI(M)
Former Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee is likely to be re-inducted into the Communist Party of India (Marxist) soon, party officials said on Saturday. The officials said the recommendation to re-induct Chatterjee was being actively considered by the party's top leadership. Chatterjee was expelled in July 2008 after he refused to quit the post of Speaker following the decision of the Left bloc to withdraw support to the Manmohan Singh-led United Progressive Alliance government at the Centre. The veteran Marxist had maintained that the post of Speaker was above party politics. The move to re-induct him comes after the Kerala unit of the CPI(M) recommended allowing state leader KR Gowri Amma to re-join the party. She was expelled in 1994 for "anti-party activities".
India to be Hindu nation by 2020, VHP leader says
Vishwa Hindu Parishad patron Ashok Singhal on Saturday said that India will become a Hindu nation by 2020, and the world be Hindu by 2030. The victory of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led alliance in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections was the beginning of a “revolution”, said Singhal, adding that the Narendra Modi-led government had ended 800 years of “slavery”. “This is not a modest revolution,” the VHP patron said. “It will not remain confined to India but present a new ideology before the world.” Singhal made his remarks during a function to launch a book on the life and work of former Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief KS Sudarshan, who died last year.
Vyapam: CBI registers inquiry into nine deaths
The Central Bureau of Investigation on Saturday registered a preliminary inquiry into the deaths of nine people associated with the multi-crore Vyapam scam in Madhya Pradesh. The bureau said the local police had not probed these deaths, despite most of these people dying in mysterious circumstances, including through road accidents, liver failure and suicide. The CBI also registered two other cases relating to various illegalities in the examinations held for the recruitment of schoolteachers, with 175 people being named as accused in the First Information Reports. The central agency has so far registered 12 cases and two preliminary inquiries into the scam, which involved massive corruption in public examination and recruitment programmes in Madhya Pradesh.
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