Security, welfare of people are govt's priority: Amit Shah

Jammu, Jan 18: Prepaid mobile connections were restored in Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday and 2G services resumed in two districts of the valley after being disconnected on August 5 last year. Voice and SMS facilities were restored for all local prepaid mobile phones across the Union territory.

Rohit Kansal, the principal secretary to the administration of Jammu and Kashmir said the order will come into effect from Saturday.

In order to consider giving mobile Internet connectivity on such SIM cards, the telecom service providers will have to verify the credentials of the subscribers, he said.

Internet service providers have been asked to provide fixed line Internet connectivity in all the 10 districts of Jammu region and two districts, Kupwara and Bandipora, in North Kashmir.

Telecom services were shut in the entire Jammu and Kashmir on August 5 when the Centre abrogated special status to the erstwhile state and also bifurcated it into two Union Territories.

However, the Supreme Court came down heavily on the UT administration last week for arbitrarily shutting down the Internet, the facility described as the fundamental right by the apex court.

Ayodhya, Jul 23: All 32 accused in the Babri mosque demolition case should be invited to the "bhumi pujan" ceremony for the construction of the Ram temple here and honoured, a Hindutva outfit leader has said.

Hindu Dharma Sena president Santosh Dubey is one of the main accused in the case.

Dubey also insisted that the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teertha Kshetra Trust must also invite all the four Shankaracharyas to the ceremony planned on August 5.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is also likely to attend the event.

"The office bearers of Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra must ensure that along with all 32 accused in the Babri mosque demolition case, the families of the kar sevaks who gave their lives in the Ram Temple movement must also be invited to the 'bhumi pujan' ceremony and must be honoured there," Dubey told PTI.

The top court verdict in favour of the Ram temple at the site would not have been possible had the Babri mosque not been demolished, he said.

"If the Trust does not invite the kar sevaks, it will a display of ego and arrogance. Without inviting the kar sevaks who have been accused in Babri mosque demolition and the families of the slain kar sevaks, the 'bhumi pujan' will remain incomplete," Dubey added.

A special CBI court in Lucknow is recording the statements of the 32 Babri demolition accused under section 313 of the CrPC, which enables them to plead their innocence, if they so want.

The court is conducting day-to-day hearings to complete the trial by August 31 as directed by the Supreme Court.

The mosque in Ayodhya was demolished on December 6, 1992 by 'kar sevaks' who claimed that an ancient Ram temple had stood on the same site. Former deputy prime minister L K Advani and BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi were leading the Ram temple movement at that time.

New Delhi, Jun 9: Petrol price on Tuesday was hiked by 54 paise per litre and diesel by 58 paise a litre - the third straight daily increase in rates after oil PSUs ended an 82-day hiatus in rate revision.

Petrol price in Delhi was hiked to Rs 73.00 per litre from 72.46, while diesel rates were increased to Rs 71.17 a litre from Rs 70.59, according to a price notification of state oil marketing companies.

This is the third daily increase in rates in a row. Oil companies had on Sunday restarted revising prices in line with costs, after ending an 82-day hiatus.

Prices were raised by 60 paise per litre each on both petrol and diesel on Sunday as well as on Monday. In all, petrol price has gone up by Rs 1.74 per litre and diesel by Rs 1.78 a litre in three days.

Oil PSUs - Indian Oil Corp (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) - had put daily price revisions on hold soon after the government on March 14, hiked excise duty on petrol and diesel by Rs 3 per litre each.

Oil companies did not pass on that excise duty hike, as well as the May 6 increase in tax on petrol by Rs 10 per litre and Rs 13 a litre hike on diesel by setting them off against the decline in retail prices that should have effected to reflect international oil rates falling to two-decade low.

International rates have since rebounded and oil companies having exhausted all the margin are now passing on the increase to customers, an industry official said.