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<br>Is J-K govt's tax on air trip to Vishno Devi a version of Jizya tax: Congress</br> <br>Flaying the decision of PDP-BJP government in Jammu and Kashmir to levy service tax on pilgrims availing of chopper service to Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine, Congress questioned whether it was PM Narendra Modi's version of 'Jizya tax'. Jizya tax was imposed on Hindus during the reigns of Mughal emperor Aurangazeb. "Is this Mr Modi's definition of Jizya tax on pilgrims to Vaishno Devi? Is it BJP-PDP's version of Jizya tax to pilgrims of Vaishno Devi?" party spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi told reporters here while slamming the state government's decision. The PDP-BJP government has levied 12.5 per cent service tax on Vaishno Devi pilgrims traveling from Katra to the revered cave shrine by chopper. Due to this, pilgrims will have to shell out Rs 2,340 in place of Rs 2,078.</br>(07/09/2015) (Reuters)
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<br>Pak army chief warns India of 'unbearable cost' in case of war</br> <br>Pakistan's powerful army chief General Raheel Sharif has warned India of "unbearable damage" if it tried to impose a short or long war on his country. "Let me reiterate that our armed forces stand fully capable to defeat all sorts of external aggression. "If the enemy ever resorts to any misadventure, regardless of its size and scale – short or long – it will have to pay an unbearable cost," he said in his address at a special event organised by army at its Headquarters in Rawalpindi yesterday to mark the 50 anniversary of the 1965 war with India. The remarks were a pointed response to a statement by Indian Army Chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag who said last week that Indian Army was prepared for "swift, short nature of future wars".</br> (07/09/2015) (Reuters)
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<br>Sheena Bora murder case: Skeletal remains match DNA samples</br> <br>Claiming a breakthrough in the sensational Sheena Bora murder case, police said forensic tests today confirmed that the DNA samples of the skeletal remains exhumed from the Raigad forests matched those of Indrani Mukerjea and Mikhail Bora. In a related development, a local court remanded in judicial custody for two weeks Indrani and her driver Shyam Rai while the other accused Sanjay Khanna was taken to Kolkata for being produced in a court there. A senior police officer, requesting anonymity, said DNA samples of skeletal remains found in Raigad forest matched with those of Indrani and Mikhail, considered to be a crucial evidence in solving the murder mystery.</br> (07/09/2015) (PTI)
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<br>'Atal Bihari Vajpayee made Pakistan PM speak to Dilip Kumar'</br> <br>Former PM AB Vajpayee complained to Nawaz Sharif after the outbreak of the Kargil war that he had been shabbily treated and made the Pakistan premier, says a new book. Narrating the anecdote recounted to him by Saeed Mehdi, the ex-Principal Secretary to PM Sharif, former foreign minister Khurshid Kasuri says, "According to Saeed, he was sitting with PM Sharif when the telephone bell rang and the ADC informed the PM that the PM of India AB Vajpayee wished to speak with him." During their talks, Vajpayee expressed his grievances that he had been shabbily treated by Sharif, Kasuri writes in his book 'Neither a Hawk Nor a Dove'. Sharif looked surprised at the words of Vajpayee, who complained that while he had been received in Lahore with such warmth, Pakistan had wasted no time in occupying Kargil. Sharif said he was not aware of what Vajpayee was saying to him and promised to get back to him after talking to army chief General Pervez Musharraf. Vajpayee then told Sharif that he would like him to speak to somebody. Sharif was astonished when heard the voice of Dilip Kumar, who said, "Mian Sahib, we did not expect this from you since you have always claimed to be a great supporter of peace between Pakistan and India", Kasuri writes in the book.</br>(07/09/2015) (PTI)
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<br>'Crucifixion' of Narayana Guru lands Kerala CPI-M in trouble</br> <br>CPI(M) in Kerala has come in for flak from some religious and cultural outfits over alleged depiction of saint-reformer Sree Narayana Guru as being crucified during a recent party-supported cultural procession in the politically sensitive Kannur District. The outfits have come out against the CPI-M, which leads the LDF opposition in the state, after pictures of a tableau in which the 19th century Guru was seen "crucified" during the procession organised by party-backed 'Balasangham' went viral on social media. Besides depicting the Guru as fixed to a cross, his well-known message – one caste, one religion and one God for mankind – was also allegedly seen "distorted" during the procession, held on Sept 5. Sree Narayana Dhrama Paripalana (SNDP) Yogam, a prominent social organisation of numerically strong Ezhava community founded by the Guru, condemned the CPI-M for the depiction.</br>(07/09/2015) (Courtesy: Social Media)
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<br>FTII students threaten en masse hunger strike</br> <br>With no end in sight to the nearly three-month-old strike in FTII, the protesting students today threatened go on hunger strike en masse if their main demand of removal of actor Gajendra Chauhan as chairman of the premier institute was not met by the Centre. "The students will be sitting on an indefinite hunger strike if our demands are not met by the government which has put us in this situation. There is no option left," FTII Students' Association (FSA) representative Vikas Urs told a press conference today. The FSA, however, did not set any date to start the hunger strike. Meanwhile, the fast undertaken by a faculty member Abhijit Das of the Art Direction department of the institute seeking "immediate resolution" of the crisis entered its third day today.</br>(07/09/2015) (PTI)
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<br>Hardik prevented from meeting BJP MLA over Patel quota issue</br> <br>Patel quota agitation spearhead Hardik Patel's fresh drive to muster the support of MLAs of to his community today ran into police resistance as he was stopped from meeting local MLA Vallabh Kakadia here. Hardik, convener of Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS), had earlier announced that PAAS members will give a rose to each Patel community MLA in Gujarat as part of their drive to know whether these legislators support their quota agitation or not. Under this drive which started today, Hardik Patel along with seven other PAAS members went to meet Kakadia, who also belongs to Patel community, at his office in Bapunagar this morning. However, police as well as para military forces cordoned off the office area since morning and the PASS leader and his supporters were not even allowed to get down from their car and were asked to leave the place without meeting the MLA.</br> (07/09/2015) (Express Photo)
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<br>Khadse says BJP broke off alliance with Sena at his behest</br> <br>Maharashtra Revenue Minister Eknath Khadse has publicly accepted that the BJP decided to snap ties with its over two-decade-old alliance partner Shiv Sena a fortnight before the Assembly polls in October last year only after he assured the central leadership that the party can come to power on its own. Khadse made the disclosure at a public rally at his home turf Jalgaon district of north Maharashtra over the weekend. "Once Modi told me 'Khadseji, you say that the (BJP) government can come (to power in Maharashtra). I said yes, it can come (to power). He said will it come under our own steam? I said yes," Khadse said. "He (Modi) said it is your responsibility to tell Shiv Sena that the alliance has broken. Not a single person from amongst us (senior BJP leaders in Maharashtra) was ready to come forward (to inform the decision to Shiv Sena). "When there were three-four meetings in Delhi on this issue, Amit Shah, Narendra Modi, myself, Nitin Gadkari and Devendra (Fadnavis) decided to take the decision (to break the alliance), there was nobody on my side," Khadse said.</br>(07/09/2015) (PTI)
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<br>AAP battles 'voice' of discontent; alleges Centre 'snooping'</br> <br>Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) today alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government was "snooping" on its parliamentarians after a leaked telephone conversation between MPs Bhagwant Mann and Dharamvir Gandhi indicated the Punjab unit's discontent with the party's central leadership. In the conversation, Mann is heard telling Gandhi that he won because of his celebrity status and not because of AAP's 'broom' symbol and that people working against them have been made the in-charge of the state unit. However, AAP gave a clean chit to them and instead went on the offensive against the Centre over their phones being "tapped".</br>(07/09/2015) (AP)
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<br>'Infatuated' bomb hoax caller arrested, admits to murdering wife</br> <br>A 37-year-old executive, arrested in connection with hoax calls that delayed seven international flights has allegedly confessed that he had murdered his wife. During questioning, Gokul Machery said he had fatally assaulted his wife in July, police said. Gokul informed his neighbours that his wife was consuming alcohol and he fell asleep and later found his wife dead. He claimed that she slipped and hit her head on the TV stand accidentally. Thereafter, Gokul, police said, made the hoax calls that delayed seven international flights to get his friend into trouble as he was infatuated with his wife. Gokul had sent WhatsApp messages on Saturday after procuring a SIM based on the identity of his friend. He wanted the police to initiate an inquiry against his friend and defame him so that he could get closer to his wife, police said. Both lived in the same apartment complex.</br>(07/09/2015) (Reuters)
