India is a country on the go; at any given moment in time, there is much happening in the fields of politics and governance, of finance, of development; there is constant churning in society, considerable activity in sports and in the arts... It's almost too much to keep track of. And hence, this effort: a real-time, constantly updated look at the events that matter.
Highlights of the day:
9:00 pm: Everybody wants a bite of the booming aviation pie, even if that means extortion, threats or blackmails. CNN-IBN exposes the rots, where even medical doctors are allegedly willing to issue fitness certificates to pilots for money.
8:45 pm: Anna Hazare has reiterated that the Aug 15 deadline for passage of the Jan Lokpal Bill was set in stone, warning that failure to adhere to it will lead to mass protests.
8: 30 pm: The 54.5-hour countdown for the April 20 launch of the PSLV rocket, which will put India's Resourcesat-2 and two other satellites into orbit, is progressing smoothly in Sriharikota, the rocket port in Andhra Pradesh.The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) is expected to blast off Wednesday at 10.12 a.m. and will carry a total payload of 1,404 kg.
8:15 pm: 74.27 per cent turnout in 1st phase of West Bengal Assembly elections. Among the contenders in today's poll battle for 54 seats are the Congress, contesting 27 seats, the Trinamool Congress, looking to secure a toehold in northern districts and the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha, pushing for a separate state of Gorkhaland.
8:00 pm: Not sure how many of you have watched the official theme video of Kochi Tuskers. It encompasses the beauty of Kerala and seamlessly combines cricket with the moves of Kerala’s Martial art, Kalaripayattu. It’s worth a watch
7:45 pm: Moin Khan was seven years old when he hugged his parents in Bihar before boarding a train for Delhi. Three years later, his parents boarded the same train last night for Delhi, where the child they loved is now buried. Is this really happening in today's India? NDTV unfolds the shocking story
7:30 pm: And there’s some good news from Kochi. Clouds have drifted and Kochi Tuskers elect to bowl against Chennai. Here’s the scorecard
7:00 pm: Breaking News: Civil rights activist Dr Binayak Sen has been released from jail. The court has asked Binayak to appear for all hearings; he cannot leave the county and was asked to deposit his passport with the authorities. He was released on Rs. 50,000 bail bond and Rs. 50,000 personal bond.
Binayak had been in a Raipur jail after being convicted for sedition and sentenced to rigorous life imprisonment by a Chhattisgarh court on December 24, 2010.
6:45 pm: Oops! Word from locals is that it is raining fishes in Kochi just now -- which is not particularly good news for the Chennai Super Kings, the Kochi Tuskers, the cheerleaders, the fans, or even for (see earlier update) the alternative rock band Avial. Then again, Shantakumaran Sreesanth, known to intimates as 'Gopumon', might cheer -- he has been posting on Twitter about how ill he is and how gutted he is to miss the game today.
6:30 pm: We have, over the course of the day, brought you several updates on all things nuclear -- the signing of a pact with Kazhakhstan, the ongoing churn in the industry consequent on the Fukushima disaster, a story on how India is ostensibly putting safety measures in place, etc. So here's one more on the theme: a Reuters report on how local opposition to the proposed Jaitapur nuclear plant, in Maharashtra, is hardening.
The funeral procession of Sawai Bhawani Singh moves past the Hawa Mahal 6:20 pm: Prakash Bhandari of the Associated Press reports that thousands dressed in mourning clothes paid their last respects to Brigadier Sawai Bhawani Singh, the last Maharaja of Jaipur, who died aged 79 on Sunday. His body, dressed in military uniform, was laid out in the courtyard of the Chandra Mahal or Moon Palace, one of the palaces that continued to be home to the former royal family, AP reports, and attended by male relatives and staff members wearing turbans in the mourning colors of black, white and khaki. Here's the full story:
6: 10 pm: For your leisure moments: Historian David Christian, a member of the Australian Academy of Humanities, has been teaching courses on 'Big History' -- a macro view of world history. Among other things, he is currently working on an online course in the subject, with backing from none other than Bill Gates. Here, for your delectation, is a TED video where Christian tells you the history of the world, starting with a scrambled egg (Don't ask!) in 18 riveting minutes. Enjoy
6:05 pm: Sreesanth gives a miss to Kochi Tuskers' IPL match vs CSK tonight. He tweets "i am still not keeping well..and I guess its good to miss this game too.. Its better to play fully fit.. Hopefully we will win again"
6:00 pm: Brilliance in visualization: Good, the online magazine that does visualizations like none other, has something to keep you engrossed. To wit, an interactive account of history's -- and fiction's -- greatest journeys from Marco Polo and Columbus to Jules Verne, Jack Kerouac and beyond. Enjoy
5:45 pm: Avial, the Keralite specialty dish that brings together a medley of vegetables in a coconut base, is believed to have been concocted originally by the Pandava, Bhima. Avial, the Keralite alternative rock band formed in 2003 and named after the eponymous dish, comprises Tony John on vocals, Rex Vijayan on guitar, Mithun Puthanveetil on drums and Benny on bass. The band, which fuses rock with local folk and uses Malayalam lyrics, first hit the limelight when Oscar winner AR Rahman, in course of a reality show for rock bands, singled out the band for special mention. The band's break out year though was 2009, when it swept six awards including song of the year, album of the year and band of the year at the Jack Daniels Annual Rock Awards that year.
Later tonight, the band is the featured attraction -- okay, besides the cricket and the cheerleaders -- when Chennai Super Kings takes on Kochi Tuskers Kerala in a league match of the ongoing IPL T-20 competition. For those not yet familiar with the band's offerings, here are some samplers: 5:35 pm: Continuing the CD saga that has been reflected in several previous updates here, Federal Home Minister P Chidambaram has stepped in to assure a 'free, fair. thorough' probe into the whole mess. "The CD will be examined in at least two different labs for separate reports," Chidambaram is quoted as telling the media. Here's the story
5:25 pm: "Pakistani Taliban have claimed that they are running three secret camps in South and North Waziristan tribal regions close to the Afghan border to train potential suicide bombers with their total strength exceeding 1,000.
“We have three facilities exclusively for fidayeen (suicide bombers). Each one has more than 350 men being trained in it,” a purported spokesperson for the little-known Fidayeen-e-Islam Group of the Taliban, told The Express Tribune from a secret location in North Waziristan.
The man, who identified himself as Shakirullah Shakir, added that the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) led by Hakimullah Mehsud had recently separated the operations of suicide bombers from the overall activities of the group.
“Fidayeen-e-Islam is a part of the overall chain of command of the TTP but it works separately and has its own structures,” Shakir said but gave little details of the working relationship between the mainstream Taliban leadership and the group handling suicide bombers." The full story, in The Express Tribune.
5:20 pm: Now here's flame-bait: Supreme Court judge Markandey Katju has attributed simmering Hindu-Muslim tensions to a deliberate rewriting of history to project Muslim rulers as intolerant and bigoted, whereas ample evidence existed to show the reverse was true, the Hindu reports. "The judge also said that Indians were held together by a common Sanskrit-Urdu culture which guaranteed that India would always remain secular," the report reads.
"Justice Katju said the myth-making against Muslim rulers, which was a post-1857 British project, had been internalised in India over the years. Thus, Mahmud Ghazni's destruction of the Somnath temple was known but not the fact that Tipu Sultan gave an annual grant to 156 Hindu temples. The judge, who delivered the valedictory address at a conference held to mark the silver jubilee of the Institute of Objective Studies, buttressed his arguments with examples quoted from D.N. Pande's History in the Service of Imperialism."
5:10 pm: Here's one from Tehelka on how India is working to safeguard its atomic reactors. Relevant quote:
"Not taking chances with nuclear safety after the 11 March Japan earthquake and tsunami, the Indian government is preparing nuclear power plants and other reactors in the country for automatic shutdown and cooling of fuel during earthquakes, even when their intensity is low.
The government-run Nuclear Power Corporation (NPC), that operates 20 nuclear power plants in India, is taking steps for extra safety, which also include storage of water and installing diesel-operated pumps that start automatically for cooling reactors during eventualities."
So what's wrong with this story? Simple: all this is exactly what the Fukushima reactors were geared to do.
5:00 pm: One more for the 'Only In India' files: Apparently, gangs are finding it so difficult to get new recruits (Have they tried campus placements yet?) that they have begun outsourcing killings and extortions. Times of India has the story
4: 55 pm: Tillakaratne Dilshan has been named the Sri Lankan cricket captain for the tour of England. The 34-year-old replaces Kumar Sangakkara, who stepped down after Sri
Lanka lost the World Cup final to India earlier this month.All-rounder Angelo Mathews, 23, has been tipped to be vice-captain,
but he is nursing a side strain suffered during the World Cup
semi-final. Know all about Dilshan
4:50pm: So the Bushans, Shanti and Prasanth, are all set to move the Supreme Court. Actually, NDTV reports that a contempt case has already been filed, citing former Samajwadi Party chief Amar Singh. For his part, Amar Singh (who was once famously slammed for wasting the court's time) denies having anything to do with CDs, doctored or otherwise, and is threatening to file a libel suit against the Bushans. Meanwhile, a PIL has been filed challenging the presence of the Bushans and the other three 'civil society' members in the Lok Pal Bill-framing joint committee.
You have to feel for the Supreme Court, really. It finishes hearing one case, and calls for the next. And lo, the same bunch troops in again. Rinse, repeat. One of our favorite political commentators on Twitter, Ramesh Srivats (@rameshsrivats) says the PIL and related cases has become like the IPL -- home and away matches and all. And no, we are not making fun of what should be a serious issue -- merely pointing out what a farce the whole thing is being reduced to.
Highlights of the day:
- Binayak Sen walks free from prison after getting bail from SC
- Nearly 75 per cent vote in first phase of Bengal polls
- Anna Hazare reiterates Aug 15 deadline for Lokpal Bill
- Amar Singh challenges Bhushans to prove CD is fake
9:00 pm: Everybody wants a bite of the booming aviation pie, even if that means extortion, threats or blackmails. CNN-IBN exposes the rots, where even medical doctors are allegedly willing to issue fitness certificates to pilots for money.
8:45 pm: Anna Hazare has reiterated that the Aug 15 deadline for passage of the Jan Lokpal Bill was set in stone, warning that failure to adhere to it will lead to mass protests.
'Even the government has admitted that it is realistic for parliament to deliberate and take a decision on the JLB by the 15th August deadline set by me. Thus failure of this deadline will invite mass protests by the people,' said Hazare in a statement issued Monday. Read the full story
8: 30 pm: The 54.5-hour countdown for the April 20 launch of the PSLV rocket, which will put India's Resourcesat-2 and two other satellites into orbit, is progressing smoothly in Sriharikota, the rocket port in Andhra Pradesh.The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) is expected to blast off Wednesday at 10.12 a.m. and will carry a total payload of 1,404 kg.
This comprises three satellites - the 1,206 kg Resourcesat-2, the 92 kg joint Indo-Russian nano-satellite Youthsat for stellar and atmospheric studies, and a 106 kg microsatellite X-sat for imaging applications, built by the Singapore-based Nanyang Technological University.
8:15 pm: 74.27 per cent turnout in 1st phase of West Bengal Assembly elections. Among the contenders in today's poll battle for 54 seats are the Congress, contesting 27 seats, the Trinamool Congress, looking to secure a toehold in northern districts and the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha, pushing for a separate state of Gorkhaland.
8:00 pm: Not sure how many of you have watched the official theme video of Kochi Tuskers. It encompasses the beauty of Kerala and seamlessly combines cricket with the moves of Kerala’s Martial art, Kalaripayattu. It’s worth a watch
7:45 pm: Moin Khan was seven years old when he hugged his parents in Bihar before boarding a train for Delhi. Three years later, his parents boarded the same train last night for Delhi, where the child they loved is now buried. Is this really happening in today's India? NDTV unfolds the shocking story
7:30 pm: And there’s some good news from Kochi. Clouds have drifted and Kochi Tuskers elect to bowl against Chennai. Here’s the scorecard
7:00 pm: Breaking News: Civil rights activist Dr Binayak Sen has been released from jail. The court has asked Binayak to appear for all hearings; he cannot leave the county and was asked to deposit his passport with the authorities. He was released on Rs. 50,000 bail bond and Rs. 50,000 personal bond.
Binayak had been in a Raipur jail after being convicted for sedition and sentenced to rigorous life imprisonment by a Chhattisgarh court on December 24, 2010.
6:45 pm: Oops! Word from locals is that it is raining fishes in Kochi just now -- which is not particularly good news for the Chennai Super Kings, the Kochi Tuskers, the cheerleaders, the fans, or even for (see earlier update) the alternative rock band Avial. Then again, Shantakumaran Sreesanth, known to intimates as 'Gopumon', might cheer -- he has been posting on Twitter about how ill he is and how gutted he is to miss the game today.
6:30 pm: We have, over the course of the day, brought you several updates on all things nuclear -- the signing of a pact with Kazhakhstan, the ongoing churn in the industry consequent on the Fukushima disaster, a story on how India is ostensibly putting safety measures in place, etc. So here's one more on the theme: a Reuters report on how local opposition to the proposed Jaitapur nuclear plant, in Maharashtra, is hardening.
The funeral procession of Sawai Bhawani Singh moves past the Hawa Mahal 6:20 pm: Prakash Bhandari of the Associated Press reports that thousands dressed in mourning clothes paid their last respects to Brigadier Sawai Bhawani Singh, the last Maharaja of Jaipur, who died aged 79 on Sunday. His body, dressed in military uniform, was laid out in the courtyard of the Chandra Mahal or Moon Palace, one of the palaces that continued to be home to the former royal family, AP reports, and attended by male relatives and staff members wearing turbans in the mourning colors of black, white and khaki. Here's the full story: 6: 10 pm: For your leisure moments: Historian David Christian, a member of the Australian Academy of Humanities, has been teaching courses on 'Big History' -- a macro view of world history. Among other things, he is currently working on an online course in the subject, with backing from none other than Bill Gates. Here, for your delectation, is a TED video where Christian tells you the history of the world, starting with a scrambled egg (Don't ask!) in 18 riveting minutes. Enjoy
6:05 pm: Sreesanth gives a miss to Kochi Tuskers' IPL match vs CSK tonight. He tweets "i am still not keeping well..and I guess its good to miss this game too.. Its better to play fully fit.. Hopefully we will win again"6:00 pm: Brilliance in visualization: Good, the online magazine that does visualizations like none other, has something to keep you engrossed. To wit, an interactive account of history's -- and fiction's -- greatest journeys from Marco Polo and Columbus to Jules Verne, Jack Kerouac and beyond. Enjoy
5:45 pm: Avial, the Keralite specialty dish that brings together a medley of vegetables in a coconut base, is believed to have been concocted originally by the Pandava, Bhima. Avial, the Keralite alternative rock band formed in 2003 and named after the eponymous dish, comprises Tony John on vocals, Rex Vijayan on guitar, Mithun Puthanveetil on drums and Benny on bass. The band, which fuses rock with local folk and uses Malayalam lyrics, first hit the limelight when Oscar winner AR Rahman, in course of a reality show for rock bands, singled out the band for special mention. The band's break out year though was 2009, when it swept six awards including song of the year, album of the year and band of the year at the Jack Daniels Annual Rock Awards that year.
Later tonight, the band is the featured attraction -- okay, besides the cricket and the cheerleaders -- when Chennai Super Kings takes on Kochi Tuskers Kerala in a league match of the ongoing IPL T-20 competition. For those not yet familiar with the band's offerings, here are some samplers: 5:35 pm: Continuing the CD saga that has been reflected in several previous updates here, Federal Home Minister P Chidambaram has stepped in to assure a 'free, fair. thorough' probe into the whole mess. "The CD will be examined in at least two different labs for separate reports," Chidambaram is quoted as telling the media. Here's the story
5:25 pm: "Pakistani Taliban have claimed that they are running three secret camps in South and North Waziristan tribal regions close to the Afghan border to train potential suicide bombers with their total strength exceeding 1,000.
“We have three facilities exclusively for fidayeen (suicide bombers). Each one has more than 350 men being trained in it,” a purported spokesperson for the little-known Fidayeen-e-Islam Group of the Taliban, told The Express Tribune from a secret location in North Waziristan.
The man, who identified himself as Shakirullah Shakir, added that the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) led by Hakimullah Mehsud had recently separated the operations of suicide bombers from the overall activities of the group.
“Fidayeen-e-Islam is a part of the overall chain of command of the TTP but it works separately and has its own structures,” Shakir said but gave little details of the working relationship between the mainstream Taliban leadership and the group handling suicide bombers." The full story, in The Express Tribune.
5:20 pm: Now here's flame-bait: Supreme Court judge Markandey Katju has attributed simmering Hindu-Muslim tensions to a deliberate rewriting of history to project Muslim rulers as intolerant and bigoted, whereas ample evidence existed to show the reverse was true, the Hindu reports. "The judge also said that Indians were held together by a common Sanskrit-Urdu culture which guaranteed that India would always remain secular," the report reads.
"Justice Katju said the myth-making against Muslim rulers, which was a post-1857 British project, had been internalised in India over the years. Thus, Mahmud Ghazni's destruction of the Somnath temple was known but not the fact that Tipu Sultan gave an annual grant to 156 Hindu temples. The judge, who delivered the valedictory address at a conference held to mark the silver jubilee of the Institute of Objective Studies, buttressed his arguments with examples quoted from D.N. Pande's History in the Service of Imperialism."
5:10 pm: Here's one from Tehelka on how India is working to safeguard its atomic reactors. Relevant quote:
"Not taking chances with nuclear safety after the 11 March Japan earthquake and tsunami, the Indian government is preparing nuclear power plants and other reactors in the country for automatic shutdown and cooling of fuel during earthquakes, even when their intensity is low.
The government-run Nuclear Power Corporation (NPC), that operates 20 nuclear power plants in India, is taking steps for extra safety, which also include storage of water and installing diesel-operated pumps that start automatically for cooling reactors during eventualities."
So what's wrong with this story? Simple: all this is exactly what the Fukushima reactors were geared to do.
5:00 pm: One more for the 'Only In India' files: Apparently, gangs are finding it so difficult to get new recruits (Have they tried campus placements yet?) that they have begun outsourcing killings and extortions. Times of India has the story
4: 55 pm: Tillakaratne Dilshan has been named the Sri Lankan cricket captain for the tour of England. The 34-year-old replaces Kumar Sangakkara, who stepped down after Sri
Lanka lost the World Cup final to India earlier this month.All-rounder Angelo Mathews, 23, has been tipped to be vice-captain,
but he is nursing a side strain suffered during the World Cup
semi-final. Know all about Dilshan4:50pm: So the Bushans, Shanti and Prasanth, are all set to move the Supreme Court. Actually, NDTV reports that a contempt case has already been filed, citing former Samajwadi Party chief Amar Singh. For his part, Amar Singh (who was once famously slammed for wasting the court's time) denies having anything to do with CDs, doctored or otherwise, and is threatening to file a libel suit against the Bushans. Meanwhile, a PIL has been filed challenging the presence of the Bushans and the other three 'civil society' members in the Lok Pal Bill-framing joint committee.
You have to feel for the Supreme Court, really. It finishes hearing one case, and calls for the next. And lo, the same bunch troops in again. Rinse, repeat. One of our favorite political commentators on Twitter, Ramesh Srivats (@rameshsrivats) says the PIL and related cases has become like the IPL -- home and away matches and all. And no, we are not making fun of what should be a serious issue -- merely pointing out what a farce the whole thing is being reduced to.
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