No Skirts Please, Minister Mahesh Sharma Advises Foreign Tourists

Don't wear skirts - this piece of advice is in the list of dos and don'ts handed to tourists on their arrival in India, Union Minister Mahesh Sharma has said.

"When tourists arrive at the airport, they are being given a welcome kit which has a card with dos and don'ts... it has instructions like if they are in small cities, they should not roam around alone at night or wear skirts...they should take a picture of the car they are travelling in and send it to their friend'." Mr Sharma, the Minister of State for Culture, said on Sunday.

India, the minister continued, is a "cultural country" and "we have a different dress code for temples. Kindly keep that in mind while dressing up."

He was responding to questions on the safety of tourists in Agra, a big draw for those who travel to India to see the magnificent Taj Mahal.

Asked whether he was recommending a dress code for tourists visiting India, the 55-year-old minister clarified: "We are not telling them what to wear and what not to wear. We are only saying that when they go out at night, they should be careful. We have no right to try and change anyone's clothes or way of thinking."

Despite the clarification, Mr Sharma has not escaped the expected storm on Twitter, where he was trending on Monday morning.

Kapil Mishra, a minister of Delhi's AAP government, tweeted that he would write to Mr Sharma "requesting him not to insult nation by such advisories."

Other tweets are both critical and supportive of the minister.

Source:-NDTV
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Curfew lifted from Kashmir after 51 days

SRINAGAR: Authorities on Monday lifted curfew from Kashmir after 51 days since the ongoing unrest began on July 9, officials said.

"Curfew has been lifted from the entire Valley. But, it will remain in force in Pulwama town and in areas under the jurisdiction of Nowhatta and M.R.Gunj police stations in Srinagar," a senior police official said.

The decision to lift curfew was taken at a high level security meeting on Sunday evening, sources said.

An all party delegation comprising senior leaders of political parties is slated to visit Kashmir on September 3.

Union Home minister Rajnath Singh is likely to accompany the delegation.

Meanwhile, separatists here continued their protest despite lifting of the curfew.

Source:-indiatimes
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New set of leaked Scorpene documents released; gives details on sonar system of submarines

New Delhi: On Thursday Australia's 'The Australian' newspaper uploaded a fresh tranche of leaked documents relating to information about operating instructions of underwater warfare system of the six Scorpene submarines which are being built in India by French firm DCNS.

However, a top defence analyst allayed fears that it could compromise the security of the strategically important combat vessels.

Like in the previous case, the newspaper has blacked out all details which it felt would compromise India's security interests.

However, the new set of documents, with Indian Navy insignia on it and marked "Restricted Scorpene India", gives details about the sonar system of the submarines which is used to gather intelligence underwater.
It talks about a wide range of technical specifications of the sonars and at what degree and frequency it will function.

The documents detail the "Operating Instruction Manual", which talks about how to select a target for weapon firing, weapon configuration selection, among others.

Though the Navy has not yet officially reacted to the release of new documents, sources maintained that it does not compromise national security.

They said the same information about a submarine was on "many naval defence websites".

"On the face of it, these documents are basic operating manual. You buy any goods from the market, it will come with an operating manual," defence analyst Commodore Uday Bhaskar (Retd), Director of Society of Policy Studies told PTI.

If the question is if tonight's revelation has made our submarines vulnerable, "then the answer is no", he said.

"It is more like basic operating instructions for the user," he said.

The paper said it has been told that the secret data was removed from DCNS by a former sub-contractor in 2011 and taken to a private company in Southeast Asia before being passed on to a branch of that company in a second Southeast Asian nation.

A disk containing the data filed was then posted in regular mail to a company in Australia.

DCNS is focusing its investigation on former employees and sub-contractors involved in the project. At this stage it is not thought that the leak came from India.

Source:-firfstpost

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Congress to continue fighting 'thought process' that killed Mahatma Gandhi

Backing party vice-president Rahul Gandhi's strongly worded statement on the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the Congress on Friday asserted that it will continue to fight the process of thought that killed Mahatma Gandhi in January 1948.

Congress leader and spokesman Randeep Surjewala told ANI here that the atmosphere of hate and division, whether it is by an organisation or by an individual, will always be fought decisively by the party leadership and crores of Congress workers.

"What Rahul ji said yesterday was true. We will continue to fight the hateful and divisive agenda in this country and will never say die, will never be deterred by threats, either by persecution or prosecution," he said.

Further stating that Nathuram Godse was affiliated to the RSS, Surjewala said Godse's brother Gopal is on record as admitting to this fact. "It is true that Nathuram Godse killed Mahatma Gandhi. He was affiliated to the RSS and this has been said by his own brother Gopal Godse. We will continue to fight that process of thought, which killed Mahatma Gandhi, as also champion and promote the thought represented by Mahatma Gandhi always,? the Congress leader said.

Yesterday, Rahul Gandhi said in a tweet, "I will never stop fighting the hateful and divisive agenda of the RSS. I stand by every single word I said."

This development came a day after Rahul Gandhi's counsel, Kapil Sibal, told the Supreme Court that Gandhi had never blamed the Rashtriya RSS for killing Mahatma Gandhi.

Following Rahul's submission, a Supreme Court Bench comprising Justices Dipak Misra and R F Nariman, said if the complainant agrees to the submission, it will take the statement on record and dispose of the petition.

Sibal cited the affidavit filed before the Bombay High Court, saying that Gandhi had only accused certain people of RSS and not the organisation as the killer of Mahatma Gandhi.

In his complaint, RSS Bhiwandi secretary Rajesh Mahadev Kunte alleged that Rahul told in an election rally in Sonale, Maharashtra, on March 6 last year, that 'the RSS people killed Gandhiji''.

He alleged that the Congress leader had sought to tarnish the reputation of RSS through his speech.
Source:-dnaindia
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Mamata Banerjee Calls Floods In UP, Bihar 'Man-Made', Silent On Farakka Barrage

Kolkata:  With floods wreaking havoc in Bihar, the Farakka Barrage in West Bengal could become a bone of contention between the chief ministers of the two neighbouring states.

Earlier this week, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and told him the barrage should be demolished as it is silting up the Ganga and causing floods in Bihar.

"Today it is time to re-evaluate the usefulness of Farakka Barrage. From the point of view of utility, the disadvantages outweigh the benefits. Therefore, it would be proper for the central government to serious consider the removal of the Farakka barrage," Mr Kumar said in a memorandum to Mr Modi. 

Mamata Banerjee has avoided comment so far, instead blaming the centrally-run Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) for floods in the southern Bengal districts of Howrah and Hooghly.

"They are man-made floods," she said. "I can understand flooding because of rain. But if the DVC and the central water commission release water from their dams without discussing with us, we will next go to court."

River management experts say the Bihar chief minister is not entirely wrong, the Farakka Barrage has caused siltation upstream but demolishing the 30 year old barrage is no answer."The idea is ridiculous," says Dr Kalyan Bhadra, currently chairman of the West Bengal Pollution Control Board but best known as a river water management expert. "About 200 kilometers of the non-tidal part of river would dry up. It would be a disaster for Bengal."

Water from the barrage is used for irrigation, water supply to towns on river banks downstream and it has kept the Kolkata Port alive. Its demolition would also affect Bangladesh, say experts. 

Dr Bhadra concedes Mr Nitish Kumar's point that Farakka is worsening siltation upstream. But that is not the only cause of floods in Bihar. Rivers from Nepal also bring down a huge volume of water. Flood preparedness could alleviate the impact of the inundation, he feels.
Source:-ndtv
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Chilli-based PAVA shells being considered as replacement for pellet guns

NEW DELHI: With eye injuries caused by use of pellet guns+ in Jammu & Kashmir turning into a major controversy, an expert panel of the home ministry+ is exploring whether these can be replaced with newly-developed PAVA shells, a chilli-based non-lethal munition+ which temporarily incapacitates the targets and renders them immobile for several minutes.

Though a final decision is yet to be taken, government sources said a seven-member panel involving officers from home ministry, BSF, CRPF, J&K Police+ , IIT-Delhi and Ordnance Factory Board is considering their use for control crowd. The panel is expected to submit its report soon. These shells have been developed by the Indian Institute of Toxicology Research (IITR), a laboratory in Lucknow under the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).

The expert panel is learnt to have held a demonstration of PAVA shells at a test field belonging to CISF in the NCR earlier this week. Home minister Rajnath Singh said on Thursday that an alternative to pellet guns+ would be found in the coming days.

"In 2010, it was said pellet gun is a non-lethal weapon which can cause least damage but now we feel there should be some alternate to this," he said. The Army had last week suggested to the committee that it should opt for less lethal munition while controlling crowds in J&K. Northern Army commander Lt Gen DS Hooda had also said security forces should use less lethal weapons such as sound cannons, pepper shotguns and chilli grenades. "Alternative non-lethal weapons are available to disperse crowds during demonstrations. The panel sought our inputs and we have suggested that sonic weapons, pepper ammo and chilli grenades could be less harmful. The government is looking at these options," he had said.


Officials said PAVA shells were on trial for over a year at the IITR and its development has come at a time when J&K is on the boil. The name PAVA stands for Pelargonic Acid Vanillyl Amide, also called Nonivamide, and is an organic compound found characteristically in natural chilli pepper. On the Scoville scale (the degree to measure the power of chilli), PAVA is categorised as "above peak", meaning it will severely irritate and paralyse humans, but temporarily. It is also used as a food additive to add pungency, flavouring and spicy effect to food.
Source:-Indiatimes
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Scorpene submarine data leak: Here’s what we know so far about the case

There has been a data leak and it is big. ‘The Australian’ newspaper reported on Wednesday that over 22,000 pages detailing the combat and performance capabilities of six Scorpene-class submarines produced by India in partnership with French company DCNS have been leaked. India had signed a $3.5 billion deal in 2005 to build six Scorpene-class submarines, designed by the French company, at the Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited in Mumbai. The newspaper report has said the information is sensitive and highly classified.

INS Kalvari, first of the Scorpene-class submarines, is expected to be inducted into the Indian Navy later this year.

Stand of the Indian government

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said there has been a hacking and that a clear picture will emerge in the days to come.

“I have asked the Navy chief to study the entire issue about what has been leaked, what is there about us and to what extent. It came to my knowledge at about 12 AM. What I understand is there is a hacking. So we will find out all this,” Parrikar told reporters in New Delhi.

The Defence Minister said he does not suspect the leak to be 100 per cent since a lot of final integration lies with India.

READ: All you need to know about the Navy’s stealth weapon

What’s the nature of the data

The data that has been leaked is reported to have details like specifications of the torpedo launch system, speed and condition needed for using the periscope and functioning of the above-water and underwater sensors. According to the report, the data tells the submarine crew where on the boat they can speak safely to avoid detection by the enemy.

PTI said over 4,000 pages on the submarine’s combat management system are among the leaked information.
Source:-indianexpress
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