The price was hiked by Rs. 1.50 on February 15.

Indian Oil Corp, India's largest state-owned oil company, has hiked the price of petrol by Rs. 1.40 per litre, excluding taxes, effective midnight.

Excluding taxes, the fuel will now cost Rs. 70.46 in Delhi, Rs. 77.99 in Kolkata, Rs. 77.29 in Mumbai and Rs. 73.57 in Chennai.

In a statement announcing the hike, the company cited high international crude prices and a falling rupee for the action.

"International prices have increased from $128.57 a barrel to $131.00 a barrel since the last revision, and the rupee has depreciated from Rs.53.43 to Rs.54.15 per US dollar during the period," Indian Oil said in a statement.

This is the second hike in over two weeks -- the price was hiked by Rs. 1.50 on February 15.

The price hike is the 21st for petrol since the fuel was deregulated. Under deregulation, oil firms are free to decide the quantum and the frequency of a price hike. Since petrol prices were decontrolled in June 2010, they have been revised 28 times (increased 20 times and decreased eight times).

State-owned oil firms lose about Rs. 450 crore every day from having to sell diesel, cooking gas (LPG) and kerosene at subsidized rates. For the full year, their total losses are estimated to be more than Rs. 1,50,000 crore.

However, these companies are compensated for their losses from the Finance Ministry and their sister upstream PSUs such as Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, GAIL and Oil India.

India is largely dependent on imports for its fuel needs. It imports 80 per cent of the crude it refines, about 3.7 million barrels per day.

In order to minimize its dependency on imports by 2030, the Oil Ministry has proposed to set up a committee under Vijay Kelkar, former advisor to the Finance Ministry, which will submit a proposal in two months. Mr Kelkar also heads a committee on fiscal consolidation that had suggested an increase in fuel prices and the deregulation of diesel.

A seven-year-old girl is in hospital after allegedly being raped at the government school: Delhi

A seven-year-old girl is in hospital after allegedly being raped at the government school she attends in north-west Delhi. This afternoon, around 300 people gathered outside the hospital in protest and threw stones and bricks damaging several buses before the police dispersed them with a lathi-charge.

The girl is a student of Class 2 in a primary school run by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD). Her family has said in a police complaint that she was raped on Thursday afternoon.

The police have made no arrests yet but have detained a security guard and two male teachers of the school and are questioning them.

The girl was taken to hospital this morning, and doctors said she was in a stable condition, though traumatised. The police have sought the help of a non-government organisation to counsel the child as they try to get more details about the incident from her.

There were widespread protests for days in Delhi after the brutal gang-rape of a 23-year-old medical student in a moving bus in December last year, demanding better security for women in the national capital. The police have made promises since, the government has brought an Ordinance on new laws on sexual assault, but cases of rape and assault of women have continued with alarming regularity in Delhi.

The funniest tweets:Union Budget 2013-14

Finance Minister P Chidambaram plans to get more income for the government by taxing the super-rich and the corporate sector even though he left untouched income tax rates and slabs. But with an eye firmly on the Lok Sabha elections which are scheduled for early 2014, Chidambaram also focused on rural India while presenting Union Budget 2013-14 in Parliament on Thursday and hiked outlays for health, water and sanitation, SCs/STs and tribals and rural development.

However, it was business as usual on social media, with #Budget2013, #Chidambaram and #NirbhayaFund trending through the day and users taking potshots at the government. We've compiled a list of hilariously sarcastic tweets. Feel free to add in the comments section.

Another fire tragedy in Kolkata, no lessons learnt?

At least 20 people died in the Kolkata fire tragedy on Wednesday and a political blame game between the Trinamool Congress and the Left ensued. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata banerjee said people should be responsible for their own safety.

Train Fare has been raised to peaks through Back Door Process -Mayawathi

Within minutes of Railway Minister presenting the Rail Budget 2013, there were bouquets and brickbats for him. Most leaders from the Congress praised the budget and the minister. The opposition and even some of the allies were not so kind.

Here are some of the political reactions from across parties:

Mayawati, Chief, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP): The poor and middle classes will not benefit much from it...Fare has been hiked through backdoor.
Narendra Modi, Chief Minister, Gujarat: On one hand the UPA has failed to curb the menace of price rise, while on the other hand, this railway budget will burden the poor and middle class. By saying that there is no hike in rail tariffs, the Railway Minister is misleading the nation. Despite railways getting maximum income from Gujarat, the people of Gujarat are being rendered immense injustice for the last nine years. (Rail Budget reflects UPA's non-performance: Narendra Modi)

Nitish Kumar, Chief Minister, Bihar: Backward states like Bihar have been ignored. It has the highest number of passengers but there is no new train. We have some good projects in our state but funds have not been allocated to us. It's a disappointing budget. (Read: Why no new trains for Bihar, asks Nitish Kumar)

Naveen Patnaik, Chief Minister, Odisha: Supplementary charges for superfast trains, besides increase in reservation fee, cancellation charge and tatkal charges will indirectly increase the passenger fare. (Supplementary charges will indirectly increase fare charge: Naveen Patnaik)

Gopinath Munde, BJP leader: This is not a Rail Budget, this is a Rae Bareli budget. This budget is in favour of limited states. There are no schemes for Maharashtra, Gujarat, Bihar and Chhattisgarh in this budget.

Yashwant Sinha, Senior BJP Leader: It's a populist election budget which has addressed the Cong concerns not large regional issue and aspirations. Freight hike will add to inflationary trends. One good thing is concessions to armed forces.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh: The Railway Budget is reformist and forward-looking, The Budget presents a realistic picture of railways.  I compliment the minister for his innovations in critical areas of railway infrastructure and paving the way for capacity expansion.

P Chidambaram, Finance Minister: It is a remarkable and commendable budget. It is responsible and practical one within the resources the railways has mobilized.

Mulayam Singh Yadav, Chief, Samajwadi Party: In six -seven districts from where we come from, there has not been a single line added. He is a minister for all - they cannot take sides... This is a budget for the Congress party. There has never been such opposition to any rail budget.

Sharad Yadav, Chief, JDU: State like Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Bihar, Assam, Bengal were ignored. They haven't concentrated on the right areas. No new lines in small areas.

Praful Patel, Senior Leader, NCP: Pawan Bansal has tried to help all sections. He has done many things so as to ensure there is no rise in prices for the commuter.

Salman Khurshid, Minister of External Affairs: I think he has done a very good balancing act. He has has tried to explain the demands for growth and constraints

India is No.4th Country - Attacked by terrorists

Mumbai: In a world dotted with conflicts of all kinds, raging civil wars , bloody sectarian violence and terrorism, South Asia emerges as the worst affected. According to the Global Terrorism Index, that profiles data on terrorism from across the world, India is the fourth most affected in the world by terrorism, after Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan. 

Iraq is the worst hit by terror. It's said to be the bloodiest battle ground in the world where nearly 1800 people were killed in terror attacks in in 2011, most of which took place in Baghdad.

In the same year 1468 people died in Pakistan, 1293 people died in Afghanistan and 402 in India because of terror attacks.


Since Mumbai serial blasts of 1993, over 1300 people have died in major terror strikes in India.

Among all the acts of terror perpetrated against India on Indian soil, the 1993 serial blasts of Mumbai remain the deadliest. 257 people lost their lives and over 700 were injured when 13 bombs of RDX went off on the afternoon of 12th March, 1993.

Nearly twenty years have passed and the main accused in the case, including mafia don Dawood Ibrahim, are still at large.

In America, there has been no death due to terror since the 2001 September 11 attacks when two planes crashed into the twin towers of World Trade Centre.

But it remains the worst single attack ever by terror groups, in this case Al Qaida. 2823 people were killed.

The last big terror attack in the United Kingdom were the co-ordinated attacks on the London
Underground and a bus. 52 people lost their lives that day.

One of the worst terror strikes that targeted children was the attack on a school in Beslan in South Russia where militants laid siege for three days in 2004. It was the first day of school after summer break on September 1, when mostly Chechen militants took over the school. The siege ended after three days when Russian security forces stormed the building. By then 186 children and 154 adults were massacred.

Tourist havens like Bali in Indonesia too have suffered the brunt of terror when foreigners were targeted in a nightclub in 2002. 202 people lost their lives.

While conflicts , civil wars, skirmishes rage across the African world,  and most intensely now in Syria where a civil war that started with demonstrations against President Bashar Al Assad in March 2011,  ignited by the Arab Spring protests in the region, still continues. According to United Nation figures, nearly seventy thousand people have lost their lives in the Syrian uprising.

These figures only illustrate our intensely polarized and strife ridden world, our red earth

2G scam: Raja wants to appear as witness before the JPC

Blamed for a number of issues in the 2G scam, former Telecom Minister A Raja wants to appear before the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) as a witness to tell his side of story.

Raja's request to Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar comes days after Attorney General G E Vahanvati blamed him for various issues before the JPC.

He has also been blamed for the 2G scam by other witnesses before the special CBI court.

Raja met Kumar at her office yesterday and handed over a letter expressing his willingness to appear as a witness before the committee.

DMK members in JPC T R Baalu and T Siva had been pressing Chairman P C Chacko to call Raja as a witness. They also demanded calling Vahanvati again before the panel after he told JPC earlier this month that the controversial press note regarding 2G licences was changed at the last minute by Raja in 2008 with a different pen.

Vahanvati was then the Solicitor General.

Chacko is apparently against calling Raja as a witness.

He has told members that as an accused has legal protection, he cannot make fresh revelations before any committee. Therefore, there was no point in calling Raja.

But Chacko is yet to take a final call on the issue.

"If Raja is to be called, he will be the last witness. If DMK agrees on not calling him, then we have concluded calling witnesses before JPC and we would focus on writing the report," Chacko had recently said.

Parliament sources said the Speaker cannot direct any committee to call a person as a witness. In this case, Kumar can forward Raja's letter to Chacko who is currently in Bangalore.


Read more at: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/2g-scam-raja-wants-to-appear-as-witness-before-the-jpc/1/251470.html

Ex-encounter specialist held for builder’s murder

NAVI MUMBAI: A retired policeman and controversial former encounter specialist, Emmanuel Amolik, 62, has been arrested in connection with the shocking murder of builder Sunil Kumar Lahoria, who was killed in Vashi on Saturday.

Amolik, who served in the force for 32 years, was arrested from the Naigaum area in central Mumbai. Sources said that during his days in the force he had been accused of fake encounters, but was cleared of such charges. Amolik had received the President's medal and was involved in the arrest of notorious conman and murderer Charles Sobhraj.

Also arrested was the second attacker, Wajid Kureshi, 28, who was held in Mumbra on Sunday. The first attacker, Venkatesh Shettiyar, 35, was nabbed by Lahoria's office workers at the spot itself on Saturday morning. Shettiyar allegedly told police that he had killed Lahoria, of the SK Brothers Builders & Developers group, at the behest of Amolik.

Both Amolik and Kureshi have been charged with murder under the Indian Penal Code sections 302 and 34 and remanded to police custody till February 22. "The retired policeman (Amolik) has told the police that he had some personal grudge against the builder following a recent incident, which is why he planned to kill him. We are still verifying the facts,'' said deputy commissioner of police (Zone 1) Purushottam Karad.

Police sources informed that, according to Amolik, he had an ugly, public spat with Lahoria two months ago near Moraj Residency, next to Palm Beach Road, over parking. However, the family of the slain builder has told mediapersons that they don't believe Amolik. They said the reason for murder he is giving is too trivial and ridiculous.

"There is a bigger conspiracy and certain big names are behind my father's murder. Amolik is lying and hiding certain facts to save the real people behind the murder," said the deceased builder's son, Sandeep Kumar, alias Sunny. Sandeep further said, "I have given proper video evidence to the police showing how this ex-cop (Amolik) was in fact very close to one person who we suspect is the prime accused behind this murder. Amolik was actually the bodyguard of this person who has underworld links."

Meanwhile, the bereaved builder's family performed the last rites on Sunday. Later, they told mediapersons that they will ask the state government to transfer the case to the Mumbai police if the main killers are not arrested.

Sandeep told TOI that they have also given the name of an architect who was close to the underworld person. The architect and Amolik were prime suspects, they said. "On the very day my father was killed in broad daylight, I had received threatening calls from a particular mobile number telling me not to take any names of suspects or I too would be killed. I have informed the police about these threats as well," he further said.

Sunil Kumar Lahoria had made several enemies over the past few years as he used to expose corruption and illegal constructions, including FSI violations, through Right to Information (RTI) queries and writ petitions in the Bombay high court. In 2011, he was in the news for stating that over 500 buildings in Navi Mumbai had FSI violations. These included 21 high-rises along Palm Beach Road. The builder had been getting death threats over the past six months and had also asked for police protection. However, he had not been granted police security.

Nagaland's home minister detained after arms, cash found in his vehicle

KOHIMA: Nagaland's home minister Imkong L Imchen was detained on Monday near Wokha district for allegedly carrying a cache of arms and ammunition and Rs 1.10 crore in cash in a vehicle, official sources said. Imchen was going to his constituency Koridanga in Mokokchung district from Kohima when Assam Rifles personnel conducting search of vehicles near Wokha district found the arms and ammunition, liquor and cash, the sources said. The Assam Rifles personnel handed him over to the district administration and police. Imchen is the Nagaland People's Front (NPF) candidate from Koridanga and is also the NPF campaign in-charge of Mokokchung district. The NPF has put up 10-candidates in Mokokchung district. On February 16, an Election Commission surveillance team had seized Rs 1 crore cash from a helicopter allegedly being used by a candidate of the Nagaland Peoples Front (NPF) in Nagaland. A team of EC-appointed observers seized the cash from a chopper, which was allegedly hired to ferry Nyemli Phom, who is contesting the assembly polls from a constituency in Longleng district.