54 Missing jawans in Pak jail: Antony
New Delhi: As many as 54 defence personnel, including a BSF trooper, missing since the 1965 and 1971 wars are believed to be in the custody of Pakistan, Defence Minister AK Antony said on Tuesday. He said the Government has repeatedly been taking up the matter with the Pakistan Government but “it does not acknowledge presence of any such personnel in its custody”.
645 militants killed in anti-terrorist ops
New Delhi: As many as 645 militants have been killed in over 232 anti-terrorist operations conducted by Army in Jammu & Kashmir and Northeastern States in the last three years. This was informed by Defence Minister AK Antony to the lok Sabha.
Caesarian deliveries increase to 12.85%
New Delhi: There has been an increase in caesarian deliveries in the country to 12.85% of total deliveries. Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad informed lok Sabha that C-Section deliveries of 12.85 per cent in 2012-13 were within latest acceptable norms of WHO.
Water row: China shows ‘less than enthusiastic’
New Delhi: India on Tuesday elicited the “less than enthusiastic” response from China on its proposal to have a separate mechanism to deal with water issues amid its continued concerns over Chinese damming activities on Brahmaputra. During the 5th round of India-China Strategic Dialogue, the Indian side led by Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh raised the issue of its proposal pending with China to have either a water commission or an inter-governmental dialogue to deal with water issues.
‘Govt can’t deny pension to staff facing probe’
New Delhi: Observing that gratuity and pension are hard earned benefits of an employee and right to receive pension is in the nature of “property”, the Supreme Court has held that this right cannot be taken away from a Government employee pending departmental or criminal proceedings. “This right to property cannot be taken away without the due process of law as per the provisions of Article 300 A of the Constitution of India,” a bench of Justices KS Radhakrishnan and AK Sikri said. The court passed the judgement while dismissing the appeal of Jharkhand government against the State’s high court order directing it to release the withheld dues of its retired employee Jitendra Kumar Srivastava, who had criminal cases pending against him.
MHA to suspend deals with verma-link firms
New Delhi: More than a year after the arrest of controversial arms dealer Abhishek Verma and his wife, the MHA has started proceedings to suspend transaction with companies related to him. The American subsidiary of Swiss firm M/s Sig Sauer, known for manufacturing pistols, and another Swiss small arms manufacturer M/s San Swiss Arms AG were served with the notices. Earlier, following the actions of Defence Ministry, the Home Ministry had earlier blacklisted four foreign firms - M/s Singapore Technologies Kinetics ltd, M/s Israel Military Industries ltd, M/s Rheinmetall Air Defence, Zurch and M/s Corporation Defence, Russia.