Budget 2010: PMEAC for hike in duties

PMEAC made a case for a partial roll back of stimulus by way of raising excise duties.

Ahead of the Budget, Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council (PMEAC) made a case for a partial roll back of stimulus by way of raising excise duties and reducing expenditure – which would automatically help reduce the fiscal deficit.

“There is a case for adjustment of duties…adjustments are possible both on the revenue side and the expenditure side in order to bring down fiscal deficit,” PMEAC Chairman C Rangarajan said after releasing the Review of the Economy 2009-10.

The Review said the economy would grow by over 7.2 per cent during the current fiscal and exceed 8 per cent in the next.

PMEAC member Govinda Rao said, “Partially, we need to roll back and if you partially roll back, you need to unify (excise duty and service tax rates).”

A uniform excise and service tax rates would imply raising of excise duty to 10 per cent. It is also possible that both rates may be raised to 12 per cent.

“There is one possibility that you unify both the rates at 10 per cent. There is another possibility… that both be raised to 12 per cent,” Rao said.

As part of the stimulus package given to the industry to combat the impact of the global financial crisis, the government, in two tranches, reduced the excise duty from 14 per cent to 8 per cent and service tax from 12 per cent to 10 per cent.

Rao, however, clarified that he is not making any suggestion to Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and it was up to him to take a call in the Budget.

Hyderabad police on alert to foil students’ agitation

Hyderabad police have gone on alert, anticipating trouble in view of Osmania University students’ Joint Action Committee’s (JAC) siege of the Andhra Pradesh state assembly Saturday to demand resignations of all elected representatives from Telangana over the statehood issue.

Police have declared the protest “illegal” and announced deployment of over 20,000 personnel from police and paramilitary forces to deal with any eventuality.

Prohibitory orders banning assembly of five or more persons have been imposed in Hyderabad and Cyberabad police commissionerates while police in other districts of Telangana were on alert to prevent students from reaching the state capital.

Chief Minister K. Rosaiah and leaders of the ruling Congress party from Telangana have appealed to students to withdraw their protest plan. “All the students are like my children and no father will be happy if their studies are affected,” Rosaiah said.

Seeking cooperation from the people, Hyderabad Police Commissioner A.K. Khan Friday announced several traffic restrictions. The police will seal all routes leading towards the assembly building and five flyovers will be put out of bounds for traffic, he said.

“The protest is illegal as it has no police permission. Nobody even approached us for permission,” Khan said.

He appealed to parents and teachers to restrain students from participating in the protest and warned that those violating law would be dealt with as per the provisions of law. Khan did not rule out preventive arrests of JAC leaders.

The unprecedented security arrangements have been made in view of the recent violence in Osmania University, where police and paramilitary forces allegedly used excessive force on students, including girls.

The police action on the campus has come under severe criticism from the high court, which not only reprimanded the government and police but also ordered all paramilitary forces to be pulled out from the campus.

The state government, however, approached the Supreme Court, which Friday stayed the high court order.

The government has defended deployment of paramilitary forces and police action on the campus on the grounds that some anti-social elements had allegedly entered the campus.

The student’s JAC has demanded that all elected representatives from Telangana resign to pressurise the central government to revise terms of the Srikrishna Committee looking into the statehood demand.

So far, only 15 legislators have submitted their resignations and the speaker has accepted resignations of 12 of them, including all 10 of the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS).

While the Congress legislators have rejected the direction of all-party Joint Action Committee to all elected representatives to quit, the opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leaders sent their resignations to JAC convenor M.Kodandaram to mount pressure on the Congress.

Osmania campus: Forces will stay, says SC

The Supreme Court on Friday stayed till February 23 the Andhra Pradesh High Court order directing withdrawal of Central paramilitary forces from Osmania University campus, the hotbed of the volatile Telangana agitation.

A bench of Justices G S Singhvi and T S Thakur, however, directed the state Home Secretary to ensure that the paramilitary forces are not allowed to misbehave in any manner with the students at the campus.

The apex court said the paramilitary forces shall operate strictly under the personal supervision of the Home Secretary.

The apex court passed the order on an appeal filed by the Andhra Pradesh government, challenging the High Court’s direction to withdraw the paramilitary forces from the campus.

The AP government has also alleged that they strongly suspect that Maoists have infiltrated the movement and perhaps are inside the campus among the students.

However, this allegation was rebutted by Counsel Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the students.

Andhra Pradesh government had on Thursday approached the apex court against the direction of the High Court asking it to move out paramilitary forces from the University campus.

The state government had assailed the February 16 order, saying the High Court cannot order the removal of paramilitary forces from the campus which is a hotbed of the agitation for a separate Telangana state.

A division bench of the High Court had on February 16 upheld the directions of a single judge to move out special forces from Osmania University campus.

The division bench had also said that the police should interfere with the administration of the university only on a specific request from the university authorities.

The bench had observed that the single judge was right in his analysis that the Rapid Action Force was deployed in the university campus without any study of the situation.

Police action: Andhra Congress divided over court order

Legislators of the ruling Congress party in Andhra Pradesh stand divided over the state high court order on police action against students of Osmania University protesting for a separate Telangana state.

A day after two legislators from the Andhra region took exception to the court reprimanding the government and police and making certain observations about the state governor, a legislator from Telangana Friday criticised the raising of the issue in the assembly.

Shankar Rao, who represents one of the assembly constituencies in Hyderabad, told the house during zero hour that the action of the legislators was not proper and this had hurt the sentiments of the Telangana people.

Deputy Speaker N. Manohar stopped the member from speaking further and pointed out that Speaker N. Kirankumar Reddy has already reserved his ruling over the issue.

Two Congress legislators, Malladi Vishnu and Mahidhar Reddy, had Thursday raised the issue in the house. They said the court’s remarks against the governor, government and police could send a wrong message to people.

Leader of opposition and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief N. Chandrababu Naidu took exception to the members raising the court directive in the house.

While ordering the government to pull out paramilitary forces from the Osmania University campus earlier this week, the court had severely reprimanded police for beating up students, including girl students and mediapersons.

Justice Narasimha Reddy pulled up the police saying it was lawless and even the chief minister and his cabinet colleagues were helpless. It lambasted police chief Girish Kumar for not respecting his order. The judge also remarked this was happening despite the fact that a renowned former police officer was the governor of the state. He was referring to Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan, former director of the intelligence bureau.

The division bench of the high court Tuesday dismissed the government’s petition challenging the Justice Narasimha Reddy’s order to remove the paramilitary force from the campus.

The single judge bench had again pulled up police Thursday and asked the government why the probe into the incidents not handed over to Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

Though the government had pulled out paramilitary forces from the campus, it filed an appeal in the Supreme Court, seeking a stay on the high court. The Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, while posting the hearing to Friday, asked the state who permitted the deployment of paramilitary forces on campus. He remarked it was not a good sign.

We will built”BABRI MASJID”

Indore: BJP president Nitin Gadkari unveiled his “new deal” for the BJP at the party’s national council meet, including an offer to build a grand mosque to replace the Babri Masjid, although at an alternative site.

The deal he offered was that of a “kinder, gentler” approach to minorities, an inclusive agenda regarding Dalits and rural India, and an assurance to his partymen that performance would be rewarded.
Scarcely had Gadkari made his speech that party spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy had to do a little backtrack operation, saying the Mosque offer was conditional, meaning it would “happen at an appropriate time after due consultation with all parties.” Sources say a stern phone call came from the VHP, which asked the BJP top brass how such an undertaking could be given on behalf of the Sangh Parivar.

Gadkari’s hour-long speech made little mention of the Ram Mandir issue, but got the most applause when he “appealed” to Muslims that they voluntarily give up their claim to the Ram Mandir complex in return for an alternative site “where the BJP will help build a grand mosque.”

The message most delegates seem to come away with was that Gadkari and the RSS appeared to have come to the conclusion that the party had peaked electorally as far as its current electoral base was concerned and was looking to add to it. Gadkari said as much in his speech. “I aim to increase our vote share by at least 10% to our existing base,” he said. This 10%, according to Gadkari’s calculation, would come from Dalits, tribals, the rural population, youth and even minorities.

“When I landed in Indore, I decided to first go to Mhow, the birthplace of Babasaheb Ambedkar, for his blessings. There I ate at a Dalit councillor’s house, but I made sure that this was not enacted in front of TV cameras, as for me the fight against untouchability is not a political strategy but a firm conviction,” he said, clearly alluding to AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi.
While his plans for the party’s political issues were articulated at length, he did not forget to address the party’s internal issues.

“I promise I will set up a system of internal evaluation and accountability, and institute an award for the best-performing MLA, MLC, MP and ministers,” he said. He would also set up a team to look into getting together a vision 2025 for the party and its plans.

Significantly, Gadkari’s centrist approach stands in contrast to his predecessor Rajnath Singh’s, who had warned the party of deviating too much from the hindutva ideology.“In the 1980s there was a great rivalry between Pepsi and Coke and while Pepsi retained its USP and worked on its strengths, Coke tried to experiment with it basic flavour, leading to Pepsi’s ascendance. This can well happen anywhere,” Singh had said during his last speech as party president.

Between the hardline and centrist agendas, it seems as though Gadkari is throwing his weight behind the latter.

Nothing wrong in talking with Pakistan: Antony

Dabolim (Goa), February 19: India today said there was “nothing wrong” in holding Foreign Secretary-level talks with Pakistan though terrorist camps along the borders in that country were “still active”.

“It is a considered decision of the government to have Foreign Secretary-level talks with Pakistan. There is nothing wrong in that. Everything will now depend on the outcome of the talks,” Defence Minister A K Antony told reporters here when asked why talks were being held with Pakistan when it had not stopped aiding terrorists targeting India.

To a question about what will be the outcome of the talks, he said, “What will be the outcome, I can’t say. I am not an astrologer.”

Antony said, “All the 32 (terrorist camps in Pakistan) near their border are active even now.

“This year, the number of infiltration attempts has also gone up.

SC stays withdrawal of forces from Osmania campus

New Delhi, February 19: The Supreme Court today stayed till February 23 the Andhra Pradesh High Court order directing withdrawal of Central paramilitary forces from Osmania University campus, the hotbed of the volatile Telangana agitation.

A bench of Justices G S Singhvi and T S Thakur, however, directed the state Home Secretary to ensure that the paramilitary forces are not allowed to misbehave in any manner with the students at the campus.

The apex court said the paramilitary forces shall operate strictly under the personal supervision of the Home Secretary.

The apex court passed the order on an appeal filed by the Andhra Pradesh government, challenging the High Court’s direction to withdraw the paramilitary forces from the campus.

The AP government has also alleged that they strongly suspect that Maoists have infiltrated the movement and perhaps are inside the campus among the students.

Angry U.S. techie crashed his plane

Austin, February 19: A software engineer furious with the Internal Revenue Service crashed his small plane into an office building housing nearly 200 federal tax employees on Thursday, officials said, setting off a raging fire that sent workers fleeing as thick plumes of black smoke poured into the air.

A U.S. law official identified the pilot as Joseph Stack and said investigators were looking at an anti-government message on the Web linked to him. The Website outlines problems with the IRS and says violence “is the only answer.”

Federal law enforcement officials have said they were investigating whether the pilot, who is presumed to have died in the crash, slammed into the Austin building on purpose in an effort to blow up IRS offices. All the officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation was ongoing.

“Violence not only is the answer, it is the only answer,” the long note on Stack’s Website reads, citing past problems with the tax-collecting agency.

“I saw it written once that the definition of insanity is repeating the same process over and over and expecting the outcome to suddenly be different. I am finally ready to stop this insanity. Well, Mr. Big Brother IRS man, let’s try something different; take my pound of flesh and sleep well,” the note, dated Thursday, reads.

At least one person who worked in the building was unaccounted for and two people were hospitalised, said Austin Fire Department Division Chief Dawn Clopton. She did not have any information about the pilot. About 190 IRS employees work in the building, and IRS spokesman Richard C. Sanford the agency is trying to account for all of its workers.

After the low-flying plane crashed into the building, flames shot out, windows exploded and workers scrambled to safety. Thick smoke billowed out of the second and third stories hours later as fire crews battled the blaze.

In a neighbourhood about 10 km from the crash site, a home listed as belonging to Stack was on fire earlier Thursday. Two law enforcement officials said Stack had apparently set fire to his home before the suicidal plane flight.

Elbert Hutchins, who lives one house away from the house on a quiet, tree-lined middle class neighbourhood, said the house caught fire about 9.15 am. He said a woman and her teenage daughter drove up to the house before firefighters arrived.

“They both were very, very distraught,” said Mr. Hutchins, a retiree who said he didn’t know the family well. “ “‘That’s our house!’ they cried ‘That’s our house!’”

Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Lynn Lunsford said the agency confirmed the plane took off from an airport in Georgetown, Texas, and the pilot didn’t file a flight plan.

Gerry Cullen, 66, was eating breakfast a restaurant across the street when the plane struck the building.

HC dismiss Ramalinga Raju’s bail plea

Hyderabad: Satyam Computers Services Limited (Satyam) founder B Ramalinga Raju today failed to get bail in the Rs 13000-crore Corporate Scam as the Andhra Pradesh High Court has dismissed his petition. Mr Justice P Swarup Reddy, who dismissed the petition said granting bail to Mr Ramalinga Raju, especially at the crucial stage of the probe would impede investigation.

The CBI which is probing the scam submitted in the Andhra Pradesh High Court that it was awaiting details from the courts in UK, USA, Belgium, Singapore and British Virginia islands on the diversion of funds by Mr Ramalinga Raju. Granting bail to Mr Raju would impede investigation.

Mr Ramalinga Raju had on January 7 last year admitted to accounting fraud of about Rs 8,000 crore in the company’s books, but CBI claimed the amount was much higher and was around Rs 13,000 crore.

World’s laziest country?

Washington, February 19: Americans may be winning more medals at the Winter Olympics than any other country, but they also take the top prize when it comes to being the laziest people on the planet, according to a new survey.

The US ranked No. 1 — out of 24 developed countries — as determined by statistics that took into consideration daily calorie intake, TV viewing habits, percentage of the population that plays sports and Internet usage.

Out of those four categories, the US was first in calories and watching the most TV –enough for the top spot on the podium at the “Couch Potato Olympics” as determined by The Daily Beast.

The results were posted today on The Daily Beast’s Web site.

In second place was our neighbor to the north, Canada, who also happens to be playing host to the Winter Olympics this year.

The Canadians took the silver after leading the planet in Internet usage.

Taking the bronze was Belgium, a nation known for its waffles, beer and pomme frittes, while Turkey finished out of medal contention after finishing fourth overall.

Despite that fourth-place finish, the soccer-loving Turks finished No. 1 overall when it came to actually playing sports.

The nation to come in last in The Daily Beast’s survey was Switzerland since they spend the least amount of time in front of the TV of all the 24 countries on the list.

Here are the top five laziest counties:

1. US
2. Canada
3. Belgium
4. Turkey
5. Great Britain

Courtesy: The Daily Beast

Probe traces Google attacks to 2 Chinese schools

Beijing, February 19: Recent cyber attacks on Google and other American corporations have been traced to a top Chinese university as well as a school with ties to the Chinese miliary, the New York Times reported on Thursday, citing people involved in the investigation.

Those people told that the Chinese schools involved are Shanghai Jiaotong University and the Lanxiang Vocational School. They said the attacks may have started as early as April 2009 — earlier than previously thought.

According to the report, investigators believe there is evidence suggesting a link to a computer science class at the vocational school taught by a Ukrainian professor.

Google jolted U.S.-China ties with its Jan. 12 announcement that it had faced a “highly sophisticated and targeted attack” in mid-December, allegedly from inside China.

More than 20 other companies were also targeted, though Google said a primary target was dissidents’ email accounts.

Jill Hazelbaker, Google’s director of corporate communications said that the company’s investigation is ongoing, but otherwise declined to comment.

The Chinese schools were not immediately available for comment, but the Times said they had not heard that American investigators had traced the Google attacks to their campuses.

‘No mention of Telangana disappointing’

Hyderabad: Though the Governor’s address assuring continuation of development and welfare programmes was appreciated by all, lack of mention about Telangana and Srikrishna Committee was a disappointing factor, said Congress MLC P. Sudhakar Reddy here on Wednesday.

Moving the motion of thanks for the Governor’s address in the Council , Mr. Reddy said it was heartening that the Governor heaped praise on the late YSR for his focus on development and welfare programmes. What had been started by YSR was being continued by Chief Minister K.Rosaiah in the right earnest and he needed support of all MLAs across regions and the Centre.

Referring to opposition’s criticism of Governor’s address, he advised them to adopt a positive outlook. He said only economic prosperity and well-being of all would lead to State’s progress and legislators irrespective of party affiliations should work towards it.

5 multi-level parking complexes for city

Hyderabad:  Five more multi-level car-parking complexes will come up in the city soon, each at Chikkadapally, Punjagutta, Ameerpet, Begumbazar and Ferozguda.

Replying to a question of D Sudheer Reddy (Cong) during the question hour in the State Legislative Assembly on Wednesday, Minister for Municipal Administration and Urban Development Anam Ramanarayana Reddy said these complexes would come up in public-private partnership mode. The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation was also conducting studies on constructing parking slots. A consultant, ILF, had been engaged for the purpose, he said.

Regarding the existing parking areas at 197 places in the city being maintained by the GHMC, a decision would be taken soon whether they should be handed over to private parties, the Minister added.

Earlier, revenue came down drastically when 125 parking zones out of 197 were handed over to private agencies. However, the revenues improved after the parking lots were allotted to Dwcra groups for maintenance, he said.

Finally Obama meets Dalai Lama

Washington: President Barack Obama held a long awaited meeting with the Dalai Lama on Thursday defying warnings from Beijing that it could further strain US-Sino relations amid tension over American arms sales to Taiwan and claims of Chinese cyber-spying.

Obama, who had failed to meet the Tibetan spiritual leader last year to keep Beijing in good humour ahead of his first state visit to China in November, met the Dalai Lama in the White House Map Room instead of his Oval Office to indicate the unofficial nature of the meeting.

No cameras were allowed as the two Nobel Peace Prize recipients opened their talks.

Dalai Lama has now met every sitting US president since George HW Bush in 1991, but none of them received him in the Oval Office. White House planned to release an official picture later.

The Dalai Lama will later hold a separate closed-door meeting with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Across the White House, supporters chanted and waved Tibetan and US flags in snowy Lafayette Square to welcome the Tibetan spiritual leader who has lived in exile in India since 1959 when he fled his homeland.

Ahead of the visit the Dalai Lama’s special envoy, Lodi Gayari, said he would be asking the US president to “help find a solution in resolving the Tibet issue that would be mutually beneficial to the Tibetan and Chinese people”.

But it was “important in itself that the meeting is happening,” he said. Gayari stressed that the Dalai Lama agreed with Obama’s decision not to meet him last October, but said that “we had a lot of misgivings”.

Meanwhile, a new national Opinion Research Corporation poll released on Thursday said nearly three-quarters of all Americans think that Tibet should be an independent country.

But the survey also indicates that most Americans think it is more important to maintain good relations with China than to take a stand on Tibet.

Police molested girls of OU: Cong MPs

Hyderabad, February 19: Congress MPs from Telangana region on Thursday alleged that police entered the girls hostel of Osmania University in Hyderabad and molested some of the students and appealed to Congress president Sonia Gandhi to direct the Andhra Pradesh government to take action against those involved.

The MPs, who met here at the Andhra Bhawan, also dashed off a letter to Gandhi alleging that Andhra Pradesh police were “committing excesses against students in the Osmania and Kaktiya Universities”.

“Some 2,000 police personnel entered the university campus in Hyderabad on Monday and lathicharged the students who were protesting peacefully. The police dragged the students and beat them up. They even entered girls hostel and switched off the lights and molested some of them.

“We strongly condemn these incidents,” Nizamabad MP Madhu Goud Yaskhi and Pedapalli MP G Vivekanand told reporters here.

Vivekanand said they have appealed to Gandhi to “direct the chief minister to transfer the police officials responsible for this police repression and form a committee to monitor the situation and bring peace on the campus.

“We wonder how women can be treated like this in a democracy and that too when the home minister of the state (Sabita Indira Reddy) is a woman. The girl students are not safe in the premises,” they alleged.

Help us build Ram temple, Gadkari tells Muslims

Indore, February 18: Raking up the party’s pet issue, BJP President Nitin Gadkari today spoke of its commitment to building a “grand” Ram temple in Ayodhya and appealed to the Muslims to “offer a perfect solution” by being generous towards the sentiments of Hindus.

“The BJP stands fully committed for the construction of a grand Ram temple at Ayodhya…Litigation is also pending for resolution of this dispute which may not offer a perfect solution because one party would lose and the other may win.

“Today I appeal to the Muslim community to be generous towards the sentiments and feelings of Hindus and facilitate the construction of a grand Ram temple,” he said in his Presidential Address at the two-day National Council of the BJP here.

Gadkari insisted that if Muslim community made the gesture of building a consensus, it would “herald a new amity and reinforce the bond for a resurgent India”.

This is an indication that with the elevation of RSS candidate Gadkari, 52, to the BJP’s top post, Hindutva and other contentious issues which form the core of the Sangh Parivar ideology may find greater emphasis in its bid to revive after two successive electoral defeats.

Gadkari also mentioned the “big national movement” for the Ram temple that had taken place earlier in which many karsewaks lost their lives.

The Ram temple movement, of which L K Advani’s rath yatra was an integral part, had propelled BJP from two seats in 1984 to power in 1998 (with support of NDA allies).

Since then the party has downplayed this and other pet issues for the comfort of its NDA allies, keeping their sentiments in mind.

BJP has always maintained that if its gets a clear majority on its own in the Lok Sabha it would build the Ram temple at the spot where the disputed Babri Masjid stood. The Masjid was demolished by kar sewaks on December 6, 1992.

Abrogation of Article 370 – which gives special status to Jammu and Kashmir – and imposition of a Uniform Civil Code are the other two issues on which most NDA allies do not see eye to eye with BJP.

Quitting smoking to be easy by nicotine-free cigarettes

London, February 19: A small study has hinted that so called nicotine free cigarettes will help smokers to quit cigarettes. These cigarettes actually have a tiny amount of nicotine authors have reported in the journal that Addicted Smokers who used the nicotine-free cigarettes before quitting likely not to be smoking six weeks later as those who used nicotine ones.

Dr Dorothy K Hatsukami, at the University of Minnesota Tobacco informed that the cigarettes that were free from Nicotine and the lozenges successfully beat low-nicotine cigarettes.

Nicotine-free cigarettes carry 0.05 milligrams of nicotine per cigarette, while low-nicotine cigarettes have 0.3 milligrams each. The idea of nicotine-free cigarettes is to make that much less likely, because it would take so many such cigarettes.

Scientists have already tried a number of ways to reduce the amount of nicotine that smokers take in. They have been concerned that smokers may just smoke more cigarettes to make up for the missed dose .Piney associates have consulted for GlaxoSmithKline, which has a smoking control division. Study team members have served as expert witnesses in lawsuits against tobacco companies. They have also consulted for various drug companies.

Muslims, Christians Fight Gay Marriage in Kenya

Nairobi, February 19: Muslim and Christian residents of Mtwapa, a district in the outskirts of the port city of Mombassa, recently joined hands in disrupting a planned nuptial involving two local tribesmen on the ground of being completely an alien practice in their largely conservative community.

“It is just something that we used to hear about and it never occurred to the back of my mind that it will happen here in Africa,” Mustapha Said, a Muslim resident.

Two men had wanted to make their wedding ceremony public but in vain.

Local Muslim and Christian communities who reside in the small coastal town went on rampage to disrupt the ceremony.

The two men, whose identities have not been revealed, were taken into custody after the controversial incident.

“We are really worried for our future and we don’t want Africa to embrace an alien practice like homosexuality,” said Maymuna Salim, a 26-year-old Muslim woman.

The faltered gay wedding ceremony would have been the first public same-sex marriage in the East African country.

Homosexuality is legally prohibited in Kenya and statutes which date back to the colonial period provide for prison sentence of up to 14 years.

Africa has put a strong resistance for same-sex marriages on grounds of religion, belief and conscience.

In 2006, South Africa became the first in Africa, and fifth in the world, to legalize same-sex marriage.

But defiant Africa remains one of the most homophobic places in the world.

Mrs. Salma Juma, 27, insisted that same-sex marriage was against the nature of man.

“God has created men to provide sexual pleasure to women, what we are seeing is a complete diversion from decency,” she maintained.

“If men start marrying themselves who will marry the daughters of our land?”

The controversial gay marriage plan has created some religious unity.

“That can never be practiced in our society,” insists John Njuguna, a 39-year-old Christian, told.

“What we are telling the westerners who are propagating immorality in our land is to respect our diversity of culture.

Telangana: Cases registered against 245 students

Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh Home Minister P Sabitha Indra Reddy said that 245 cases have been registered against students ever since the Telangana agitation began in November last year.

In reply to a question by BJP MLA G Kishan Reddy, in the State Assembly, the minister said 194 cases under IPC sections and 51 cases under other preventive sections were registered against students during the agitation between November 29 last year and February 15 this year.

On whether the Union Home Minister P Chidambaram had asked the state government to withdraw all the cases registered against students, Sabitha Reddy said no such communication has been received by the government.