India

New Delhi, Mar 26 (PTI) Cracking the whip, the Election Commission Tuesday ordered the transfer of the Andhra Pradesh director general (intelligence) and two district superintendents of police, following complaints against them, the EC sources said.

The state Chief Secretary has been asked to transfer DG (Intelligence) A B Venkateswara Rao, and SPs of Srikakulam and Kadapa districts Venkata Raman and Rahul Dev Sharma respectively with immediate effect, the sources said.

Lucknow, Mar 26 (PTI) The BJP has so far given Lok Sabha tickets to three Uttar Pradesh cabinet ministers, a move seen as the party's recognition of the work done by these leaders.

Names of two state cabinet ministers -- Rita Bhauguna Joshi (Allahabad) and Satyadev Pachauri (Kanpur) -- were announced by the party in its 10th list of candidates on Wednesday. The saffron party had in its first list named another state cabinet minister, S P Singh Baghel, as it candidate from Agra (SC).

Chennai, Mar 27 (PTI) The Congress party's minimum income guarantee scheme will be rolled out in phases and the five crore beneficiary families will be covered in phases, senior leader P Chidambaram said Wednesday.

Addressing a press conference here, the former Finance Minister said 'enough' economists and experts in the subject had been consulted and they broadly agreed that India has the capacity to implement the scheme.

Former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan has said the implementation of the scheme is possible, Chidambaram added.

Jaipur, Mar 26 (PTI) Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday promised a "surgical strike" on poverty and said his party had been working on how to eradicate it for the last six months.

Addressing a rally in Suratgarh a day after declaring his party would roll out a minimum income guarantee scheme for the poorest 20 per cent households if voted to power, Gandhi said only the rich could dream under the Narendra Modi rule.

KANPUR: To cope with the possible water crisis during four hot months, the Jal Kal department had been working on a plan of laying a 1.5 Km direct water pipeline with 1800 mm width at a cost of Rs 10.29 Crore from the Ganga Barrage water storage to Bhairav Ghat pumping station. This pipeline will be directly linked with the pumping station. It has been considered to maintain normal water supply to the city residents.

New Delhi, Mar 25 : In a big poll promise that he described as a "groundbreaking" measure to end poverty, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi Monday said 20 per cent families in poorest of the poor category will be given Rs 72,000 each annually as a minimum income.

Making the announcement at a press conference here, Gandhi said, "The time for change has come". Five crore families and 25 crore people will directly benefit from the scheme, he claimed, terming it is a "final assault" to eradicate poverty in the country.

New Delhi, Mar 26 (PTI) The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested a defence agent from Delhi in the Rs 3,600-crore VVIP choppers deal case, officials said Tuesday.

They said Sushen Mohan Gupta was arrested late Monday by agency sleuths under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

Gupta, they said, has allegedly dealt in defence deals, including the AgustaWestland helicopters deal.

He will be produced before a special PMLA court here Tuesday.

Muzaffarnagar (UP), Mar 25 (PTI) A man was booked for allegedly thrashing his brother who succumbed to injuries three days later in Lilon village in Uttar Pradesh's Shamli district, police said Monday.

The brother, Amit, died in a hospital Sunday evening, they said.

According to Circle Officer Ashok Kumar, Amit was beaten up by his younger brother Rahul on Holi, which was celebrated on March 21.

Mumbai, Mar 25 (PTI) Jet Airways Founder and Chairman Naresh Goyal and his wife Anita Goyal will resign from the board of the crisis-hit airline, according to a regulatory filing.

The decision was taken at the airline's board meeting held here Monday.

In a filing to the stock exchanges, Jet Airways said Naresh Goyal, Anita Goyal and one nominee of Etihad Airways PJSC would step down from the board.

New Delhi, Mar 25 (PTI) The Supreme Court Monday favoured increasing the random physical verification of VVPAT slips in the upcoming Lok Sabha and assembly polls and told the EC that "no institution should insulate itself from improvement, including the judiciary".

It was not the question of "casting aspersions", rather a matter of "satisfaction" of the electorate, the top court said.

It asked the EC to file response as to whether it can increase the number of sample surveys of VVPAT slips from one in each assembly segment for the upcoming general and assembly elections.