THE HEADLINES:
- Amidst high drama, JD(U) President Sharad Yadav expels Bihar CM Jitan Ram Manjhi from the party; Nitish Kumar to stake claim for formation of new government in the state.
- Finance Minister Arun Jaitley says, some new names of those having stashed money in foreign banks have been revealed, whose veracity will be checked by authorities.
- Home Minister Rajnath Singh is holding a high-level meeting with representatives of naxal-affected states.
- Bengaluru-based musician Ricky Kej's collaborative album, 'Winds of Samsara' wins the best new age album award at the 57th Grammy Awards.
- Sensex was down over 340 points, when the reports last came in.
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In Bihar, JD(U) President Sharad Yadav has expelled Jitan Ram Manjhi from the party. Mr. Yadav had asked Mr. Manjhi to step down from the post of Chief Minister in view of the selection of Nitish Kumar as the new leader of JD(U) legislative party. Meanwhile, Nitish Kumar has reached the Governor House to stake claim to form the new government in the state.Now we go over live to our correspondent KK Lal who is standing outside the Governor House. In the 243-member Bihar Assembly, JDU has 111 MLAs, BJP-87, RJD-24, Congress-5 and five Independents, while ten seats are vacant. With the present effective strength of the Assembly at 233, the magic figure is 117 required for formation of the new government. Nitish Kumar has claimed that he has support of 130 MLAs.
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Some new names have been revealed in the list of the people having account in the foreign banks. This was stated by the Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley while commenting on a news paper report which appeared today. The report has revealed 1,195 names including of businessmen and politicians. He said that the veracity of these names is being checked by the Ministry. He said, most of the names revealed in the list are known to the Government.
"The government or the revenue department already has most of the names that came out today. It is not about the names. In addition, the evidence of the accounts and the stolen data is required so that a strong case can be made. On the basis of just names, the required inquiry cannot be conducted in the court."
Emphasising that the new government has put a vigorous system in digging the black money in the last six months, Mr. Jaitley said that sixty prosecutions have been launched on those who have stashed money in foreign banks.
Our correspondent reports, while some names are common to the old and new HSBC lists. Both the lists will be carefully examined. The original list of 600 Indians was based on information for the period 1999-2000. The new list is compiled in the new report with far more recent data from 2006-2007.
The Special Investigation Team is already probing into the illicit accounts.
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A high level meeting is underway in the Home Ministry in New Delhi. The meeting is being chaired by Home Minister Rajnath Singh with representatives of naxal affected states. Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh and Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Phadnavis are attending the meeting. Intelligence and senior police officials are also attending the meeting.
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Election Commission has made elaborate arrangements for the counting of votes of Delhi Assembly polls. Counting will take place at 14 centres in nine districts of the national capital tomorrow. Delhi saw a voter turnout of 67.14 per cent during polling in the 70 assembly constituencies. Our Correspondent reports that the entire process of counting will be video graphed.
"The Electronic Voting machines are being heavily guarded at counting centres. There is a three-tier security for the 70 strong rooms which hold the fate of the 673 candidates. Ahead of the d-day, Aam Aadmi Party workers are highly enthused about the outcome of polls, riding on exit poll predictions which have given them a clear majority. BJP, on the other hand, is also confident about its victory, saying exit poll predictions have been proved wrong many times in the past. Congress is in introspective mood. Its leaders seem to have accepted the verdict even before the results are out. Party leader Ajay Maken said that party will respect public mandate and play its role accordingly. WITH SANT BAHADUR, SUPARNA SAIKIA, AIR NEWS, DELHI."
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After a very weak opening, the Sensex at the Bombay Stock Exchange remained subdued, and had fallen by about 340 points in afternoon trade, a short while ago.
Earlier in the morning, the Sensex had dropped 286 points. Similarly, the Nifty at the National Stock Exchange had declined 90 points, to 8,570, a short while ago.
"The fall in Indian markets is largely as a result of developments which have taken place in US markets over the weekend and the statement which has come from France and Germany asking for Greece to file the terms of the bailout, and also coupled with that the Indian markets are in the phase of profit booking."
Other Asian markets in Japan, China, Hong Kong, South Korea and Singapore were trading mixed.
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President of Singapore Dr. Tony Tan Keng Yam was accorded a ceremonial reception at Rashtrapati Bhavan today. President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi welcomed Dr Yam and his wife, Mrs. Mary Tan on the forecourts of Rashtrapati Bhavan. He was also given a Guard of Honour there.
Later, Dr Yam laid a wreath at the Samadhi of the Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi at Raj Ghat.
The visiting dignitary met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and discussed issues of mutual interest. President Pranab Mukherjee is hosting a banquet in the honour of the Singapore President.
Dr Yam, who is on a four-day visit to India, arrived in New Delhi yesterday to attend the golden jubilee celebration of India-Singapore relations.
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In Jammu and Kashmir, in yet another incident of ceasefire violation, Pakistani forces resorted to heavy firing at Indian forward post and some civilian areas in RS Pura sector along the Indo-Pak International border. According to BSF sources, eight forward posts and two villages were targeted. The forces from across the border started unprovoked shelling and firing around 11 PM last night. BSF retaliated the firing and the exchange of fire lasted for about two hours. One civilian was injured in Pak shelling.
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In Jammu and Kashmir, the weekly Karvan-e-Aman bus service, operating between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad, capital of Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK), has been suspended today as stand off continued following arrest of a driver at Salamabad Trade Facilitation Centre (TFC) after recovery of narcotics from a truck which had come from across the Line of Control (LoC) on Friday. According to official sources, the decision to suspend the cross border bus service was taken last evening after no breakthrough was achieved to resolve the crisis.
"Twenty two trucks loaded with different commodities which had arrived from Pak Occupied Kashmir have been held up at Salamabad while Pakistan authorities have detained all the 50 Indian trucks which had gone from this side across the border carrying goods. Pakistani authorities are demanding that driver and truck besides seized drugs should be handed over to them so that the accused could be tried there. This is the third time drugs were recovered from Pak Occupied Kashmir trucks since the cross border trade resumed in 2008 after remaining suspended since 1947. Last year, the service remained suspended for about three weeks after police recovered over 100 kilograms of brown sugar from a Pak Occupied Kashmir truck. Meanwhile, the authorities in Kashmir are in constant touch with the External Affairs Ministry in New Delhi over the standoff.RK RAINA, AIR NEWS, SRINAGAR."
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Information and Broadcasting Minister Arun Jaitley has said that India must have a formal war history which every child should read. Speaking at the launch of the 'India - 2015 Reference Annual' in New Delhi today, Mr Jaitley said he has suggested to the Defence Ministry to work on this and they are moving fast. He said, India is one of the few countries which do not have a formal documentation of its war history. He said that the largest participation in the 1st World War was by Indians. The Minister said around 12 lakh Indians fought the battles, more than 70 thousand sacrificed their lives, a fact which may not be known to most of the people. Talking about the reference annual, Mr Jaitley expressed confidence that the book will be a very good addition to all the libraries. He said, all details of this will be available in the digital format from this year onwards and it will be available free of cost to the world at large to enrich itself. The year book has entered its 59th year of publication.
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In Assam, polling for 32 municipal boards and 42 town committees is underway. State Election Commissioner HN Bora said that polling has been by and large peaceful. He said that some voters were unable to exercise voting rights in Nagaon district due to the non-availability of their names in voters list. Proper security arrangements have been made at polling booths. Our Correspondent reports that 2 thousand, 901 candidates are in the fray for 746 seats. 367 seats are reserved for women candidates.
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The Madhya Pradesh government has given its approval to the centre’s new Pre-Matric Scholarship Scheme for tribal students of class ninth and tenth. Our Bhopal correspondent reports that it will benefit those students whose parents' annual income is up to two lakh rupees.
"Under the new scheme, hostellers will get 350 rupees per month and non-hostellers 150 rupees per month for 10 months. One thousand rupees grant for books will be given to hostellers and 750 rupees to non-hosteller tribal students. Five types of allowances will be provided to disabled tribal students studying in non-government aided private schools. 240 rupees per month coaching allowance will be provided to mentally challenged students. SHARIQ NOOR, AIR NEWS, BHOPAL"
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At the 57th Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, two Indians, Ricky Kej and Neela Vaswani, have been awarded. Bengaluru-based musician Ricky Kej's collaborative album 'Winds of Samsara' with African flautist Wouter Kellerman has won the best new age album award at the 57th Grammy Awards announced in Los Angeles.
A self-taught musician Kej, 33, has previously composed soundtracks for Kannada films. 'Winds of Samsara', with multiple collaborations, is his 14th studio album and refers to the cycle of life.
Neela Vaswani, won the trophy in the Best Children's Album category for " I am Malala:How one Girl Stood Up for Education and changed the World." In the album, she had narrated the audio version of the book of the same name.
British crooner Sam Smith won four awards including Song of the Year and record of the year for his mega hit 'Stay With Me'. Pharrell Williams won best pop solo performance for a live version of 'Happy,' released in 2013. He also won best music video for the song as well as best urban contemporary album.
Singer Beck bagged the best rock album of the year honour for 'Morning Phase' at the 57th Grammy Awards
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The News Services Division of All India Radio, in its weekly bilingual live phone-in programme 'PUBLIC SPEAK', will bring you a discussion tonight on 'Indian youth and Skill development'. This can be heard on FM Gold Channel and additional frequencies from 9.30PM.
Listeners can ask questions to the experts sitting in our Studio on telephone number: 011: 2331-4444 (Repeat 011: 2331-4444). You can also post your questions on our Twitter handle @airnews alerts by #tag Askair. This programme is also available on Doordarshan DTH.
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