Nearly two years after the bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir into two UTs and revocation of its special status, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday held talks with top political leaders from the erstwhile state, and said the Centre's priority is to strengthen grassroots democracy there for which delimitation has to happen quickly so that polls can be held.
The government on Friday assured Parliament that the spread of swine flu was under control due to continuous efforts of doctors and was limited to only a few individuals. "We have managed to limit such cases to a few individuals, considering the size of our population and country," Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad told Rajya Sabha during Question Hour. Seeking to allay fears of the common man about the disease, he said, "There are guidelines and constant reviews."
Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera tweeted, "Shayad meri tapasya mein kuch kami reh gayi (Maybe my penance fell short)."
The three-member panel of Law Minister M Veerappa Moily, Home Minister P Chidambaram and Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad met in New Delhi on Tuesday evening and "critically analysed" the pros and cons of the Delhi High Court judgement legalising gay sex.
Baghel went on to allege that the RSS brought "aggressive Hindutva" here, saying that it believes in "destroying everyone whose thinking does not match theirs".
If young couples watch the assorted mindless programming on telly till well past midnight, Health Minister Azad believes they will drop off to sleep instead of indulging in sexual hank-panky.
'There may be elements in New Delhi, Islamabad and Kashmir, who want to create trouble between both countries. But peace is the best thing for all,' Dr Ghulam Nabi Fai said.
Home Minister P Chidambaram along with his cabinet colleagues Law Minister Veerappa Moily and Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad held a meeting on Friday to analyse the Delhi High Court's judgement decriminalising same gender sex.
Government on Tuesday said an indigenous Indian vaccine for H1N1 would be ready by the beginning of April, even as it demanded an inquiry into the 'panic' created by international bodies on the scale of the epidemic.
The holiday will not affect quake-relief operations.
A day after a stormy Congress Working Committee meeting, Sibal made the remarks in a cryptic tweet.
Some senior Congress leaders, including Kapil Sibal and Shashi Tharoor, met at their senior colleague Ghulam Nabi Azad's house in New Delhi on Monday evening after the Congress Working Committee debated their letter to the party's interim chief Sonia Gandhi seeking urgent organisational reforms.
The meeting of Congress's highest decision-making body is expected to be at a very 'high voltage' as Sonia's resignation will not be accepted by the CWC members.
Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu also made a fervent appeal to the leaders of various parties at an all-party meeting to ensure smooth and effective functioning of the House during the Budget Session.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday reviewed the situation in Jammu and Kashmir where violence is continuing over the Amarnath land row.
A suspension of the agitation over the Amarnath row is necessary to pave the way for a dialogue, senior Congress leader and former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said on Wednesday.Azad said he was happy that all political parties echoed the view that the situation in the state was serious and there should be no room for communalisation of politics.He added that it is important for the current agitation to stop because "you cannot solve a problem."
With the dates for the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls announced, election fever has gripped Tamil Nadu with the two main political parties holding parleys with their allies on seat-sharing.
Jammu and Kashmir seems to be set for a stint of Governor's rule, the fourth since 1947, following the fall of Ghulam Nabi Azad-led 31-month-old coalition government. Adhering to the principle of constitutional consultative process, the Governor on Tuesday invited leaders of various political parties for confabulations.
The odds are apparently stacked against Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad when he seeks to prove his majority in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly on Monday, but the confidence he exudes suggest that his government might just scrape through.
Sources said 14 persons were injured when militants tossed a grenade at a rally of the Bharatiya Janata Party in Bhaderwah town on Wednesday afternoon.
According to the returning officer, former chief minister and NC president, Dr Farooq Abdullah polled 27 votes while as Mohammad Shafi Uri got 25 votes in the third and final round of elections, held through Single Transferable Vote System.
The election is scheduled for February 13. Their names have reportedly been cleared by the coalition government of the NC and the Congress.
He said, "I had to chase state chief ministers rather than them asking."
Morning assembly meetings in schools should be dispensed with under new guidelines being issued by the Health Ministry soon to contain the spread of swine flu which also make it mandatory for class teachers to check each student for symptoms of the viral disease.
The Bharatiya Janata Party leader passed away on Tuesday night after a massive cardiac arrest.
Sources said Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad made a presentation on the swine flu situation in the country before the Cabinet following which the issue was discussed in great detail.
Amid rise in swine flu deaths, Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has asked Chief Ministers to take urgent measures to tackle spread of the dreaded virus in the country.
As deaths due to swine flu continued to rise, Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad on Monday discussed with Cabinet Secretary K M Chandrasekhar the situation arising out of the spread of the viral disease.The meeting, also attended by Health Secretary Naresh Dayal, came soon after two more deaths due to swine flu were reported in the country, and discussed the measures to contain further spread of the disease.
Azad had earlier in the day come under attack from the Reeda's family, which accused him of being insensitive towards her and demanded an apology from him.
The Jammu and Kashmir government wants the army's sophisticated ammunition depots in the valley relocated to safer, uninhabited areas
The Congress high command held long discussions with former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and state congress chief Saifuddin Soz, but no decision was taken during the meeting whether to support the National Conference to form new government headed by Omar Abdullah.
The Congress has a lot to consider before taking a decision on which party to align with in Jammu and Kashmir, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti says.
All India Congress Committee General Secretary Prithviraj Chavan, former Chief Minster Ghulam Nabi Azad, former Union Minister Saiffudin Soz, along with Union Ministers Pranab Mukherjee and A K Antony are likely to take part in the deliberations. Congress sources said the election results clearly indicate that National Conference will be in a position to form the government with support of Congress and from some independents.
The civil secretariat re-opened in Srinagar amidst an employees strike and tight security arrangements on Monday.
Fate of 271 candidates including two former chief ministers -- Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and Ghulam Nabi Azad -- would be sealed on Wednesday, as 16 constituencies of Jammu and Kashmir go to polls in the sixth round of the seven-phase assembly elections.As many as 20,000 additional security forces personnel and nearly 10,000 local policemen have been deployed at 1,268 polling stations set up in the 16 assembly seats spread over five districts.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj briefed them about the operation that destroyed Jaish-e-Mohammed's terror training camp in Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan.
Strengthening the party's communication strategy to improve public engagement is foremost on the Congress agenda after Rahul Gandhi had stressed that they "have to go back to the people" at the Udaipur meeting.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has cautioned ministers and legislators of his party not to issue statements pertaining to political alliances in the forthcoming state assembly elections. In a statement, Azad said, "Nobody has been authorised to speak on this issue." Azad said that he would "take serious note against those making such statements".
Unidentified militants struck near the bus stand in the north Kashmir's Sopore town late this morning, killing a police constable and a civilian.
All senior state bureaucrats accompanying Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad on the state aircraft will henceforth be subjected to personal and luggage frisking as part of the sped up drill regarding Azad's security.
