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Nitish sworn in as Bihar CM, Lalu's two sons as ministers

November 20, 2015

Patna, Nov 20: Nitish Kumar today took oath as Bihar Chief Minister along with 28 ministers, including RJD chief Lalu Prasad's two sons Tejaswi and Tej Pratap, as the grand alliance government of RJD-JD(U)-Congress was sworn in at a mega ceremony attended by several top leaders from non-BJP parties.

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Besides Nitish, 12 members each from RJD and JD(U) and four from Congress were administered oath as ministers by Governor Ram Nath Kovind.

Speculation is rife that first time MLA Tejaswi, who was the second person to be sworn in after Nitish at the event held at Gandhi Maidan, will be made Deputy Chief Minister.

Nitish took oath as the chief minister for the fifth time. Portfolios of the ministers are likely to be allocated soon.

A galaxy of leaders including Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi, former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and a number of Congress Chief Ministers were present at the swearing in ceremony of the new Bihar government.

Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu, who was deputed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was also present. CPI-M's Sitaram Yechury, CPI's D Raja also attended the event.

Former JD(U) state President Rajiv Ranjan Singh Lallan, Bijendra Prasad Yadav, Shrawan Kumar and Jay Kumar Singh, all members of the outgoing cabinet also took oath besides former MP Maheshwar Hazari, Krishna Nandan Prasad Verma, Santosh Nirala and Khurshid alias Firoz Ahmad.

New members in the cabinet from JD(U)-- Shailesh Kumar, Kumari Manju Varma, Madan Sahni and Kapildeo Kamat also took oath.

Hazari, a cousin of Ram Vilas Paswan had defeated the LJP chief's nephew Prince Raj from Kalyanpur assembly seat. In Lok Sabha elections earlier, he had defeated Paswan's brother Ram Chandra Paswan.

From RJD quota besides Lalu's sons, Abdul Bari Siddiqui, Abdul Gafoor, Vijay Prakash, Chandrika Rai, Alok Kumar Mehta, Ram Vichar Rai, Sheo Chander Ram, Muneshwar Chaudhary, Chandrashekhjar and Anita Devi took oath.

Anita, the lone woman minister from RJD defeated senior BJP leader Rameshwar Chourasia in Nokha assembly segment. From Congress, party chief Ashok Choudhary, Madan Mohan Jha, Abdul Jalil Mastan and Awdesh Kumar Singh were sworn in.

RJD had won 80 seats in the Bihar poll followed by JD(U) 71 and Congress 27 totalling 178 in the 243-member Legislative Assembly. As per constitutional provision of cabinet quota being fixed at 15 per cent of the House strength, Nitish Kumar could have a maximum of 36 members, including himself, in the ministry.

At an historic function here attended by a galaxy of top political leaders of the country and watched by a huge crowd, Kumar was administered the oath of office by Governor Ram Nath Kovind.

All eyes were on Tejaswi and Tej Pratap Yadav, the two sons of RJD President Lalu Prasad, who took oath at number two and three positions, signalling the family's importance in the alliance government.

NCP chief Sharad Pawar and a host of chief ministers, were present for the function at the sprawling venue in the heart of the city.

Congress Vice President Gandhi who, too, attended the event, could reach the venue only at the fag end of the ceremony due to late arrival from the national capital.

Allies of BJP in the NDA, Shiv Sena and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), too, were represented at Nitish's swearing-in by, respectively, Maharashtra ministers Ram Das Kadam and Subhash Desai and Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal.

With the function virtually serving as a stage for showcasing a united picture of anti-BJP parties, along with chief ministers Banerjee and Kejriwal were present Virbhadra Singh, Oommen Chandy, Tarun Gogoi and Siddaramiah.

While the presence of so many prominent leaders of various anti-BJP parties may not result in the formation of an alliance immediately, it could give a psychological boost to the opposition against NDA ahead of the crucial winter session of Parliament starting later this month.

Naidu sat beside RJD President Lalu Prasad and was seen talking to him from time to time.

Responding to a personal invitation by Nitish, who had himself invited the dignitaries over the phone, leaders of parties like Congress, NCP, Trinamool Congress, Shiv Sena, DMK, SAD, CPI(M), CPI, National Conference, National Lok Dal, INLD, AGP besides JD(U) and RJD attended the mega event.

Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah and his son Omar Abdullah, DMK leaders TR Balu and MK Stalin and National Lok Dal chief Ajit Singh, too, were seen at the function.

Although Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and his son, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav did not attend the function, SP MP Tej Pratap Singh Yadav, who is also the son-in-law of Lalu Prasad, was there at Gandhi Maidan.

The event provided a rare opportunity for lensmen to photograph leaders who otherwise are often at loggerheads in the political arena.

Thus Banerjee and CPI(M)'s Yechury were present on the same dais, as were Kejriwal and ex-Delhi chief minister Sheila Dixit along with Assam chief minister Gogoi and AGP leader and ex-chief minister of the northeastern state Prafulla Mahanta.

The occasion also provided a rare picture of Gandhi shaking hands with and later hugging RJD chief Prasad amidst cheers by the crowd.

Gandhi sat in the first row marked for VVIPs. Next to him was Deve Gowda followed by Prasad, Venkaiah Naidu and Sharad Yadav. While walking to his seat on the dais, he hugged Sheila Dixit and shook hands with some others.

Bonhomie was seen all around with leaders shaking hands with and hugging Kumar and Prasad.

Nitish's son Nishant and elder brother Satish were present on the occasion as was Prasad's entire family, including wife Rabri Devi and seven daughters along with sons-in-law, who sat in the VVIP area and were seen cheering Tejaswi Yadav and Tej Pratap Yadav.

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Agencies
August 8,2020

Kozhikode, Aug 8: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Saturday announced a compensation of Rs 10 lakh to the next of kin of each passenger who died when an Air India Express flight veered off the runway while attempting to land at the Karipur International Airport here on August 7.

He was briefing the media after visiting the crash site at the airport and the injured at the Kozhikode Medical College Hospital.

Offering his condolences, the Chief Minister said, "Apart from the solatium for the victims, the state government would bear the treatment expenses of all those injured in this unfortunate plane crash irrespective of the hospitals they are in. The Civil Aviation Ministry and other Central Government agencies are expected to announce compensation for the air passengers. 

If any further assistance is required, the State Government will take an appropriate decision at that time to support them to get back to a normal life."

"However, the immediate task now is to ensure the best possible treatment for the survivors of the accident. The District Authority is coordinating the treatment of those rescued who are now in 16 hospitals across Kozhikode and Malappuram Districts," added Vijayan.

Of the 190 people on board the ill-fated plane, there were 184 passengers and six crew members. Of the 18 dead so far, 14 are adults (seven males and females each) and four are children. Both the Pilot and the Co-Pilot are among those dead. At present, 149 passengers are hospitalised, of them 23 with serious injuries. Till now, 23 passengers have been discharged. There are few passengers from Tamil Nadu and Telangana also.

All the dead have been identified, eight from Kozhikode district, six from Malappuram district and two from Palakkad district. The post mortem process has been expedited despite the Covid threat and is expected to finish before evening. All the accident victims will be tested for Covid including those who died in the crash. So far, only one victim has tested positive for coronavirus, the Chief Minister said.

He also appreciated the instant response by the local public living in the vicinity of the airport and also the local authorities to this tragedy which ensured the minimum loss of lives in a disaster of such large magnitude as a plane crash. The rescue operations were finished in the shortest possible time yesterday.

"Even though 18 precious lives have been lost due to the impact of the crash, the rescue operations were a miraculous work. The general public and the officials played a big role in spearheading the rescue operations," he said.

Vijayan along with Governor Arif Mohammad Khan reached Kozhikode this morning.

Governor Arif Mohammad Khan expressed his condolences and sympathies to the families of the accident victims and his best wishes for the speedy recovery of those injured.

The Chief Minister was accompanied by the Niyamasabha Speaker, P. Sreeramakrishnan; Minister for Industry E.P Jayarajan, Minister for Health and Social Justice, K K Shailaja; Minister for Agriculture V.S Sunilkumar; Minister for Ports Ramachandran Kadannappalli; Minister for Transport AK Saseendran, Minister for Excise T.P Ramakrishnan, Chief Secretary, Dr Vishwas Mehta; and State Police Chief, Loknath Behra, DGP. 

The Minister for Local Self Governments, A C Moideen and the Minister for Higher Education and Welfare of Minorities, Dr K T Jaleel were already present in Kozhikode.

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News Network
February 14,2020

London, Feb 14: Liquor tycoon Vijay Mallya once again asked the Indian banks to take back 100 per cent of the principal amount owed to them at the end of his three-day British High Court appeal on Thursday against an extradition order to India.

The 64-year-old former Kingfisher Airlines boss, wanted in India on charges of fraud and money laundering amounting to an alleged Rs 9,000 crores in unpaid bank loans, said the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) are fighting over the same assets and not treating him reasonably in the process.

“I request the banks with folded hands, take 100 per cent of your principal back, immediately,” he said outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London.

“The Enforcement Directorate attached the assets on the complaint by the banks that I was not paying them. I have not committed any offenses under the PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act) that the Enforcement Directorate should suo moto attach my assets," he said.

"I am saying, please banks take your money. The ED is saying no, we have a claim over these assets. So, the ED on the one side and the banks on the other are fighting over the same assets,” he added.

Asked about heading back to India, he noted: “I should be where my family is, where my interests are.

"If the CBI and the ED are going to be reasonable, it’s a different story. What all they are doing to me for the last four years is totally unreasonable.”

Lord Justice Stephen Irwin and Justice Elisabeth Laing, the two-member bench presiding over the appeal, concluded hearing the arguments in the case and said they will be handing down their verdict at a later date after considering the oral as well as written submissions in the “very dense” case over the next few weeks.

On a day of heated arguments between Mallya’s barrister, Clare Montgomery, and Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) counsel Mark Summers, arguing on behalf of the Indian government, both sides clashed over the prima facie case of fraud and deception against Mallya.

“We submit that he lied to get the loans, then did something with the money he wasn’t supposed to and then refused to give back the money. All this could be perceived by a jury as patently dishonest conduct,” said Summers.

“What they [Kingfisher Airlines] were saying [to the banks] about profitability going forward was knowingly wrong,” he said, as he took the High Court through evidence to counter Mallya’s lawyers’ claims that Westminster Magistrates Court Judge Emma Arbuthnot had fallen into error when she found a case to answer in the Indian courts against Mallya.

Mallya, who remains on bail on an extradition warrant, is not required to attend the hearings but has been in court to observe the proceedings since the three-day appeal opened on Tuesday. A key defence to disprove a prima facie case of fraud and misrepresentation on his part has revolved around the fact that Kingfisher Airlines was the victim of economic misfortune alongside other Indian airlines.

However, the CPS has argued that “there is enough in the 32,000 pages of overall evidence to fulfil the [extradition] treaty obligations that there is a case to answer”. “There is not just a prima facie case but overwhelming evidence of dishonesty… and given the volume and depth of evidence the District Judge [Arbuthnot] had before her, the judgment is comprehensive and detailed with the odd error but nothing that impacts the prima facie case,” said Summers.

At the start of the appeal, Mallya’s counsel claimed Arbuthnot did not look at all of the evidence because if she had, she would not have fallen into the multiple errors that permeate her judgment. The High Court must establish if the magistrates’ court had in fact fallen short on a point of law in its verdict in favour of extradition.

Representatives from the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), as well as the Indian High Commission in London, have been present in court to take notes during the course of the appeal hearing.

Mallya had received permission to appeal against his extradition order signed off by former UK home secretary Sajid Javid last February only on one ground, which challenges the Indian government's prima facie case against him of fraudulent intentions in acquiring bank loans.

At the end of a year-long extradition trial at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London in December 2018, Judge Arbuthnot had found “clear evidence of dispersal and misapplication of the loan funds” and accepted a prima facie case of fraud and a conspiracy to launder money against Mallya, as presented by the CPS on behalf of the Indian government.

Mallya remains on bail since his arrest on an extradition warrant in April 2017 involving a bond worth 650,000 pounds and other restrictions on his travel while he contests that ruling.

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Agencies
July 11,2020

New Delhi, Jul 11: A notice which claims that a COVID-19 Monitoring Committee has been formed is fake, and no such committee has been set up by the Union Home Ministry, as per Spokesperson, Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).

The "Fake" MHA order stated, "Pursuant to the official orders received dated: Monday, May 18, 2020, of the Honourable Minister of Home Affairs, passed in the approval of Special Status Advisory Committee for COVID-19, a COVID-19 Monitoring Committee has been constituted in the MHA vide order dated: Friday, June 12, 2020."

MHA Spokesperson also cautioned people to beware of fake news and rumours.

India's COVID-19 case count crossed the eight lakh-mark on Saturday with yet another highest single-day spike of 27,114 new cases in the last 24 hours.

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