India has lodged a strong protest with Denmark over the remarks made by Danish High Court about the human rights conditions in this country while rejecting plea to extradite Purulia arms drop accused Kim Davy, saying such observations were unacceptable.
The Communist Party of India-Marxist on Friday demanded a judicial probe into the Purulia arms drop case alleging "gross negligence" of the then central government in handling the same which was meant to destabilise the the Jyoti Basu government in West Bengal.
The prime accused in the infamous Purulia arms-dropping case, Kim Davy, is likely to be extradited from Denmark by July-end and will serve his prison term in India if proven guilty. Government sources said Denmark has informed authorities here that the 47-year-old Davy, alias Niels Holck, will be extradited within next two to three months following completion of the legal process and after India replies to certain queries of the Nordic country.
The Communist party of India-Marxist on Thursday demanded a judicial inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the 1995 Purulia arms drop, saying both the Congress and the Bharatiya janata party have a lot to explain in the matter and said Trinamool Congress was a member of the Union Cabinet when Peter Bleach was released on Presidential pardon.
Relenting to pressure from Danish authorities, New Delhi may give an executive assurance to Copenhagen that Davy will not be sentenced to death for any offence committed by him in India.
The government on Thursday dismissed claim by Purulia arms drop case accused Kim Davy that the 1995 operation was carried out by the "political forces" at the Centre to destabilise the then Jyoti Basu government of West Bengal.
The Danish high court, which is hearing the extradition case of Purulia arms drop case accused Kim Davy, has rejected his plea that since the warrant produced by the Central Bureau of Investigation was an old one it cannot not be the basis for handing over him to India.
'There will not be very heavy rain.' 'Moderate showers will be there and winds will be, say, somewhere between 20 and 40 km/hr, gusting to 35 km/hr.'
Fifteen-year-old Sangita Bauri never feared her parents and society when she opposed her forcible marriage in a remote village in West Bengal but she trembled when she was honoured in New Delhi by President Pratibha Patil for her feat.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled development projects worth Rs 15,000 crore in West Bengal on Saturday. The prime minister unveiled the projects at an official function in Krishnanagar in Nadia district. Addressing the programme, he said these initiatives were aimed at making West Bengal a developed state.
A British spy turned arms dealer has told a Copenhagen court that Danish national Kim Davy alias Neils Holck, the prime accused in the 1995 Purulia arms drop case, would not survive if he is extradited and forced to stand trial in India. Giving evidence in the extradition hearing of Davy, Peter Bleach, who was arrested over the incident, told the court how he was beaten and humiliated while serving a life sentence in India. Bleach was released in February 2004.
In a veiled reference to West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee, state Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said he cannot speak in favour of someone who wants to finish him politically and his party in the state.
Daily life was partially affected in West Bengal on Wednesday due to a 12-hour shutdown called by the Bharatiya Janata Party, protesting the police action against demonstrators during a march to the state secretariat.
"The prime minister raised the issue of Kim Davy's extradition and hoped that Denmark would take into account India's sensitivities and extend full cooperation. The Danish minister assured that Denmark was seized of the matter," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup said.
An angry Banerjee slammed a minister, a former Trinamool Congress mayor and a few bureaucrats for their "below-par performance".
A voter turnout of 10.82 per cent was recorded till 9 am on Saturday in 58 constituencies in six states and two Union territories where polling is underway in the sixth phase of the Lok Sabha elections.
India's first woman elephant mahout Parbati Baruah famous as Hasti Kanya, tribal environmentalist Chami Murmu, social worker Sangthankima who runs Mizoram's largest orphanage and plastic surgeon Prema Dhanraj who treats burn victims are among 34 "unsung heroes" awarded Padma Shri on Thursday.
A timely phone call to Childline by a 15-year-old girl from a remote village in West Bengal's Purulia district helped the teenager prevent her marriage.
The EC said polling percentage in the Anantnag-Rajouri seat in Jammu and Kashmir is the highest in 40 years.
An approximate voter turnout of 59.06 per cent was recorded in the sixth phase of the Lok Sabha elections on Saturday in 58 constituencies across six states and two Union territories with the polling percentage in the Jangal Mahal region of West Bengal touching 78.19.
Besides the national capital, polling will be held Saturday in 14 seats in Uttar Pradesh, all 10 seats of Haryana, eight seats each in Bihar and West Bengal, six seats in Odisha, four seats in Jharkhand and one seat in Jammu and Kashmir. Simultaneously, polling will be held for 42 assembly constituencies in Odisha.
As the final five phases of polls draw closer, rift among Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) partners, Congress-Left combine and the Trinamool Congress, which are fighting separately has intensified, triggering a fierce contest across half of the remaining 36 constituencies in West Bengal driven by local issues such as Sandeshkhali and the SSC scam.
The protest started at 6 am on Tuesday with the blockade of the old National Highway 6, which connects Kolkata to Mumbai, at Khemasuli in Kharagpur Local police station area by Kudmi Samaj West Bengal, they said.
While people voted in a fifth round that will set the tone as this election rounds into the straight, and while Modi on the stump chews the cud of personal grievances and hackneyed promises that have long since passed their use-by date, there is a rogue wave rising -- what damage it will do, we will know 16 days from today, observes Prem Panicker.
The cancelled trains include Sealdah-Puri Duronto, Howrah-Chennai Mail, Kanyakumari-Howrah Express, Shalimar Express, Tirupati Weekly Superfast Express, SMVT-Bengaluru Superfast Express, Santraganchi AC Superfast, Purulia-Villupuram.
The bus careened and went down to a field behind the highway, leaving a few passengers slightly injured. Its occupants were brought back to Purulia town in West Bengal for medical treatment, a party leader said.
According to the TMC, the momentum built by the INDIA bloc over three successful meetings has dwindled in the last few months due to inactivity, with the Congress preoccupied with elections in three states.
"I have been congratulated many times for scoring goals but I could never imagine that I will shake hands with the biggest cricket star," Goalpi said, beaming with excitement after getting a prized selfie with Tendulkar.
Several trains under the purview of SER and ECoR were cancelled or diverted on Wednesday, including the premium Rajdhani Express and Vande Bharat Express, owing to the blockade by members of the Kurmi community in Jharkhand and Odisha, officials said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi Thursday attacked West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for pursuing "appeasement and vote bank politics" which were responsible for infiltration.
A 12-year-old girl was killed after she came in contact with a dangling live wire that got torn during the squall in Botanical Garden area in Howrah city, the police said.
Trinamool Congress general secretary Abhishek Banerjee along with party leaders and workers sat on a dharna at the Rajghat in New Delhi on Mahatma Gandhi's birth anniversary on Monday demanding the release of funds for West Bengal by the Centre.
Backed by their strong physical presence across the country, UTI Mutual Fund and SBI Mutual Fund (MF) have managed to mobilise a higher proportion of their total assets under management (AUM) from towns and villages than their peers. Data compiled by Nuvama Institutional Equities shows that UTI MF and SBI MF are the only two major fund houses with over a fifth of their AUM coming from areas beyond the top 30 cities (referred to as B-30). UTI MF tops the chart with 23.8 per cent of its assets belonging to B-30 centres, followed by SBI MF with 21.2 per cent B-30 assets. The industry average stands at 17 per cent.
The Sikkim Government has confirmed that 14 people have died so far in the flash floods that occurred in Sikkim in the early hours of Wednesday.
Reaching out to politically crucial Kurmi caste population of the Purulia district, Shah promised jobs for their every family and education in their language.
Claiming that the Trinamool Congress is not perturbed over desertions by some leaders, she said politics is a solemn ideology and philosophy and one cannot change these everyday like clothes.
In the coming months, globally as well as in India, rice might remain a hot potato.
The JSW Group has expressed interest to develop a 900 MW pumped storage hydel power project and a state of the art rolling shop for steel in West Bengal, company chairman Sajjan Jindal said on Wednesday. He announced the projects while addressing the inaugural session of the Bengal Global Business Summit, organised by the state government, in Kolkata. "We are keenly pursuing a 900 MW hydro pumped storage project. "This will bring clean energy to the state and we hope to receive this prestigious project through a nomination from the state government," Jindal said.
Debmalya Mazumder shares photographs from a recent trip to Mukutmanipur in West Bengal.
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