Sardar Patel was not anti-Muslim: Advani
New Delhi: Senior BJP leader lK Advani on Tuesday contested allegations that Sardar Patel was anti-Muslim and quoted Rafiq Zakaria, an Islamic scholar and Congress leader, who had done research on the ‘Iron Man', to underline his nationalistic credentials. In his blog, Advani expressed surprise at a ‘perverse’ article in a national magazine which quoted records to brand Patel as a man ‘rabidly communal in outlook’ and Jawaharlal Nehru as a symbol “of secular nationalism”.
IRS officer held
for taking bribes
New Delhi: CBI has arrested an Indian Revenue Service officer for allegedly receiving bribes from the perpetrator of the StockGuru scam, Ulhas Prabhakar Khaire. CBI sources said Yogendra Mittal, a 2006-batch IRS officer who was posted as the Deputy Commissioner of Income Tax, was arrested on the allegations that, as the ADIT-Income Tax, he had received illegal gratification worth crores of rupees from Khaire in exchange for an assurance that he would settle his case and not inform other investigative agencies.
Cong to publicise schemes’ benefits
New Delhi: With a view among party members that more needs to be done to publicise Government schemes, Congress plans to publicise the benefits of schemes like ‘Jiyo Parsi', 'Seekho Aur Kamao', 'Nayi Roshni' among the minorities. The Congress is also betting on steps like access to credit, wakf reforms and recent initiative like formulating a new health scheme for minorities under Maulana Azad Education Foundation for providing medical aid to cover critical ailments of minorities.
An amount of Rs 100 crore has been earmarked for 2013-14 under the current scheme.
New Delhi: Government today said it was closely monitoring the political developments as well as the evolving situation in strife-torn South Sudan where the Indian mission was taking all steps to facilitate relocation of the Indian citizens. Spokesperson in the External Affairs Ministry Syed Akbaruddin said the Mission in Juba has already issued an advisory to the Indian nationals to leave South Sudan at the earliest.