THE HEADLINES:
- Cabinet approves a reserve price of 3,705 crore Rupees per Mega Hertz for 3G auction of 2100 Mega Hertz Band.
- Government not to appeal against Bombay High Court order in Vodafone case.
- In Jammu & Kashmir BJP-PDP leaders meet governor over government formation.
- A Kolkata Court remands five accused in Burdwan blast case to NIA custody till the 3rd of next month.
- Delhi Police questions former Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh in connection with Sunanda Pushkar murder case.
- Sania Mirza and Leander Paes alongwith their partners progress to the semi-finals in the mixed doubles ;In women's singles top-seed and five times winner Serena Williams enters semis.
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The Cabinet today approved a reserve price of 3,705 crore rupees per megahertz (MHz) for 2100 Mega Hertz band for auction. This will be used for 3G mobile services. Briefing reporters after the Cabinet meeting, Communication and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said that a 5 MHz band in this category will be offered in all service areas except Jammu and Kashmir, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, West Bengal and Punjab.He said, these band will be auctioned alongwith 800, 900 and 1800 MHz bands.
"There is adequate spectrum available. Auction shall be fair, transparent and as an when subsequent spectrum space is available, it shall also be made available for the purpose of auction. I think today I need to reiterate that this whole issue were pending for the last eight years and this Government in the very first auction process has substantially settled it".
Our Correspondent reports that the auction in 2100MHz band is expected to fetch 17555 crore rupees and out of which 5793 crore rupees will be realized in the current fiscal. The process of auctioning of all four category of bands is scheduled to start from 4th of March this year. According to sources, the government has estimated a revenue of one lakh crore rupees from the auction of all the four bands.
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The government has decided not to challenge the Bombay High Court ruling in the Supreme Court that Vodafone telecom was not liable to pay tax demand of about 1308 crore rupees in a transfer pricing case. The decision to this effect was taken at a Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi today. Briefing reporters after the meeting, Communication and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said that Finance Minister Arun Jaitley examined the judgement of the High Court with the officials of central Board of Direct Taxes and the Attorney General and came to a conclusion that there is no tax charging in the Vodafone case.
"The High Court opinion is right. There is no charging section and this fruitless litigation was avoidable also in the past. Therefore, a conscious decision has been taken not to file an appeal in the Supreme Court".
We talked to Business Journalist Anshuman Tiwari on the Government move.
"Modi Government has taken a really big step forward to assure the foreign investors by not appealing against the Bombay High Court of October last year which ruled Voda phone was not liable to pay taxes in India. By not going against the Bombay High Court , Modi Government has given a very clear message to investors across the world that the tax laws in India will remain predictable".
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In Jammu and Kashmir, the BJP General Secretary, Ram Madhav accompanied by BJP State President Jugal Kishore Sharma today called on the Governor N.N.Vohra at Raj Bhawan in Jammu. According to official sources, during the course of nearly one hour long meeting, the BJP leaders informed the Governor about the present status of ongoing BJP-PDP discussions on the formation of Government in the State.
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Campaigning for Delhi assembly have picked up with various political parties trying to entice the voters with with pro-people promises. A series of rallies and road shows have been lined for tomorrow by the parties. Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi will address rally in Seelampur area, while BJP's Smriti Irani, Kiran Bedi and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan in the city in support of party candidates. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address four rallies in the city starting from the 31st of this month. On the other hand, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal, Kumar Vishwas, Manish Sisodia and Yogendra Yadav will also be engaged in various areas to garner votes. Our Correspondent takes a look at the political scenario today.
"Congress has promised Housing for all slum dwellers in Delhi. Party spokesman Ajay Maken said, the party will pass the Right to Housing, Shelter and Property Rights to Slum Dwellers Bill within a year, if voted to power. All slum dwellers will be provided dwelling units in the same area. Meanwhile, BJP has decided to field its senior leaders to monitor party’s strategy to counter the Aam Aadmi Party and Congress. Union Minister Arun Jaitley has been tasked to oversee the campaign and media activities by holding regular meetings with the leaders of state Unit. Senior leaders J P Nadda, Radha Mohan Singh, Nirmala Sitharaman, and Dharmendra Pradhan have been given charge of key constituencies to ensure victory. On the other hand, Aam Admi Party today said that sensing its defeat, BJP has brought its big guns in the battle. Party spokesperson Raghav Chadda claimed that people have already decided to vote for AAP as Arvind Kejriwal alone can solve their problems. With Sant Bahadur, Suparna Saikia, AIR News, Delhi".
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Aam Admi party Convenor Arvind Kejriwal today claimed that opponents will soon make fake allegations against his party. Mr. Kejriwal said, a senior leader has reportedly hatched conspiracy against some AAP candidates and they can plant fake stories in the media.
"We have got information that in next few days opposition party will make some fake sting operation against AAP candidate and make false allegations".
Meanwhile, BJP leader Meenakshi Lekhi asked Mr. Kejriwal that why is he worried if he has not done anything wrong. Ms. Lekhi alleged that it is the Aam Admi party which holds mastery in conducting stings.
"There is something wrong which they have done and they are affraid. I would say Mr.Kejriwal is affraid, that is why he is already making an announcement, there is likelyhood of some sting against his party".
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BJP's Chief Ministerial candidate Kiran Bedi has two voter identity cards having separate addresses and the Election Commission is examining how she was issued two documents from different localities. As per the Election Commission's record, Ms. Bedi was issued separate voter identity card with addresses in Uday Park and Talkatora Lane. When asked about the issue, Ms Bedi chose not to comment.
Election Commission officials said that they are aware of the issue and are examining whether she has applied for deletion of the first entry with Talkatora Lane address.He indicated that legal action may be initiated if Ms. Bedi has not filed an application for cancelling one of her two cards.
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Congress today demanded an immediate apology from the government on the omission of 'secular' and 'socialist' words from the preamble of Constitution in a government advertisement. Briefing reporters, party spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said, deleting two fundamental words of the Constitution's preamble from the advertisement released by the Narendra Modi government is an affront to the Constitution.
"These very are the two words on which right from the inception of Bhartiya Janta Party till today, its integrity intent and intention have always been doubtful in the minds of people of India".
The Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore has clarified that there is nothing wrong with the government advertisement as it is a reproduction of the original draft.
"The photograph we put some people are trying to point out that two words are missing, socialist and secular. It was 42nd amendment in 1976 that included these two words. So, are we to say that the governments before 1976 were not secular. That is not the point. We were secular. We will always be secular".
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In Kolkata, a City Court today remanded five accused in Burdwan blast case to NIA custody till the 3rd of next month. The Chief Judge of the Metropolitan Court, Md. Mumtaz Khan remanded all the accused to seven days NIA custody for custodial interrogation. Four accused were arrested from different parts of West Bengal yesterday. The Court also extended NIA custody of another accused who was arrested earlier.
Two suspected terrorists of Jammat-ul-Mujahideen-Bangladesh were killed in a blast at Khagragarh at Burdwan District of West Bengal on the 2nd of October last year. The NIA took over the case from West Bengal police few days after the explosion following International terrorist links behind it.
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Former Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh was questioned today by the special investigation team of Delhi Police in connection with murder of Sunanda Pushkar, wife of Congress leader Shashi Tharoor. Talking to reporters in New Delhi, Mr Singh said he was questioned by the police for two hours in the case. He said, he was asked about the relation Ms. Sunanda shared with her husband.
Recently, Mr Singh had told a private TV channel that Ms. Sunanda wanted to reveal information about the Indian Premier League (IPL). Mr Tharoor was forced to quit as Union minister in the UPA government in view of irregularities in the IPL in 2010.
Sunanda Pushkar was found dead in mysterious circumstance in a hotel in Delhi last year and police have registered a murder case. It has already questioned Shashi Tharoor and some journalists in the case. Delhi Police Commissioner B S Bassi said that Mr Tharoor will be questioned again.
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Packaging of food grains and sugar in jute material will be mandatory. It will be a minimum of 90 per cent of production in case of food grains and 20 per cent for sugar. The decision was taken by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, CCEA, this evening. The decision will help the jute sector which generates a lot of livelihoods for farmers and workers.
In another decision, the CCEA approved financial support to Jute Corporation of India (JCI) on a continuous basis to offset the losses on account of Minimum Support Price, MSP operations. The quantum of subsidy will include the difference between the Purchase and Sale Price of MSP Raw Jute. The quantum of subsidy will also include fixed overhead charges incurred by JCI in maintaining its infrastructure for MSP operation.
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The semi final line up of men's and women's singles in the Australian Open Tennis has been drawn. In the men's event, defending champion Stan Wawrinka avenged his US Open quarter-final defeat to Kei Nishikori in style with an emphatic 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 to charge into the semi-finals in Melbourne today. Warwinka sets up a semi-final clash with Novak Djokovic. The top seed has advanced to the semifinals without conceding a set for the first time since his maiden Melbourne title run in 2008, and was rarely troubled against the eighth-seeded Canadian Milos Raonic in the 7-6,6-4, 6-2 result.
Andy Murray and Tomas Berdych are already safely into a semi-final showdown after beating Nick Kyrgios and Rafael Nadal respectively yesterday.
In the women's singles, top-seed Serena Williams got the better of Dominika Cibulkova 6-2, 6-2 to advance to the semifinals. Serena now meets unseeded US teenager Madison Keys. Keys had defeated the other Williams Sister - Venus, in the quarter-finals. Serena Williams has reached the semi-finals of the Australian Open on five previous occasions and has won the title each time. Long-time rival Maria Sharapova made the last four yesterday and will face fellow Russian Ekaterina Makarova.
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Sania Mirza and Leander Paes are on course for a Australian Open showdown as they reached the mixed doubles semifinals with their respective partners in Melbourne today.
Sania partnering with Brazil's Bruno Soares beat unseeded Australian pair of Casey Dellacqua and John Peers,6-2, 6-2 in the quarterfinals.
The Indo Swiss pair of Leander Paes and Martina Hingis scored victory over fourth seeds Andrea Hlavackova from Czech Republic and Austria's Alexander Peya 6-3, 6-1.
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A grateful nation today paid tributes to national martyr of freedom movement, Lala Lajpat Rai on his 150th birth anniversary. He is known as PUNJAB KESRI in the freedom movement. Seminars and symposia were organised at many places in Punjab today to remember Lala Lajpat Rai. Intellectuals apprised young generation about Lala ji and his sacrifice for the nation.
In Punjab, a special programme and a sports meet was organised in his ancestral village Dhudi ke of Moga district where thousands of people paid their tributes to national martyr at the memorial. Two cabinet Ministers of Punjab Government participated in the function and paid tributes to Lala ji.
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The Army today paid glowing tributes to Colonel MN Rai who died fighting militants in Tral area of Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir. Cololnel Rai was awarded a gallantry medal this Republic Day. At a function held at the Army’s Badami Bagh Cantonment, General Officer Commanding 15 Corps, Lt. Gen. Subrata Saha laid a wreath.
The Uttar Pradesh government has announced an ex gratia of Rupees thirty lakh to the kin of the martyred army officer who hailed from the state.
