PM attends pre-wedding ceremony of Mulayam Singh Yadav's grand nephew

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today attended the pre-wedding ceremony of SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav's grand nephew with RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav's daughter, an event which saw the most powerful political families of UP and Bihar coming together.

Modi reached the venue at Saifai in Etawah District this morning along with Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik and he was received by Lalu Prasad Yadav and Mulayam Singh at the 'Tilak ceremony' of Mainpuri MP Tej Pratap Yadav aliasTeju with Lalu's youngest daughter Raj Laxmi.

Tej Pratap said no politics should be seen in the Prime Minister's visit. He said Prime Minister was extended an invitation and they are grateful to him for visiting them to give his blessings.

Hashimpura massacre: Court to pronounce verdict on 21st March

A Delhi court today fixed 21st of next month for pronouncing its judgement in the 1987 Hashimpura massacre case.

In the incident, 42 members of a minority community were killed after being allegedly picked up by Provincial Armed Constabulary personnel from a village in UP's Meerut district. 

Additional Sessions Judge Sanjay Jindal, who was slated to deliver the verdict on Saturday, sought some clarifications from the counsel for the prosecution, accused and victims and posted the case for March 21 for final judgement. 

The court had earlier reserved the judgement on January22 after hearing final arguments of the parties.

Swine Flu death toll reaches 33 in K’taka; 602 Test positive since Jan

In Karnataka, 33 people have died and 602 confirmed positive of swine flu since January this year.

Health Department official Dr. Parimala told AIR Bengaluru Correspondent that nine people died of swine flu in January and 24 this month.

Two people aged 72 and 80 died of H1N1 influenza in Chitradurga and Davangere on last Wednesday.

Dr.Parimala said that awareness about the disease has improved as more and more patients are approaching hospitals for check up. She said there was shortage of testing kit in NIMHANS but the state Government has made arrangements to procure the kits locally.

The testing labs in NIMHANS in Bengaluru and KMC in Manipal are conducting Swab tests free of cost, but other four private sector labs charge around 2500 rupees for the tests.

Libya: 45 people killed in suicide bomb blasts by IS militants

In Libya, at least 45 people have been killed and several others injured in a spate of suicide bomb blasts by the Islamic state group militants in the eastern city of Qubbah. Thee bombs exploded at a police station, the local security headquarters and the town council headquarters in Qubbah.

The city is the hometown of Libyan Parliament Speaker, Aguila Saleh.

The group claimed responsibility for the attack saying it is in etaliation of Egyptian airstrikes in Derna. 

Airstrikes targeting militants were launched in Derna early this week.

Free online certification courses on 88 subjects to be launched soon: Smriti Irani

Union Minister for Human Resource and Development Smriti Irani has said that free online certification courses on 88 subjects would be launched soon.

Speaking at a college function in Chennai, the Minister said that quality education is the objective of the Central Government.

Listing out the various schemes launched by the Centre in promoting girl child education, the Minister said that schools which encourage the Prime Minister's Beti Bachao program will be given an assistance of Rs. 5 lakh.

She said that 100 districts were identified for the implementation of the scheme.

The Minister said that the aim of the Government is to build toilets for students in schools all over the Country.

To highlight the Mathribasha Diwas, the Minister spoke in Hindi,English and Tamil.

She said that the Centre is totally dedicated to protecting the asset and heritage.

Irani launched an online teaching material brought out by the Central Institute of Classical Tamil besides releasing books published by Central Institute of Indian Languages.

Three key bills amending labour laws to be tabled during budget session: Labour Minister

Union Labour Minister B. Dattatreya on Saturday said three key bills amending labour laws, will be introduced during the upcoming Parliament budget session.

Addressing a press conference in Hyderabad, he said The Child Labour Prohibition Act of 1986 is proposed to be amended to make it more stringent.

He said the proposed bill will prohibit children between 14-18 years of age from working in hazardous industries and violation of act will be made stringent by imposing up to 6 months imprisonment and also fine.

He also said provisions will be made in the proposed amendment to provide education to about 2.5 lakh child labourers through Right to Education Act and give them vocational bridge courses for better employability.

The Minister further said the Factories Act of 1948 is also proposed to amend to improve working conditions in factories.

The Labour Minister said the recommendations of the Second National Commission on Labour also have been incorporated in the proposed Small Factories Regulation Bill and will be introduced in Parliament after obtaining approval from the Cabinet.

Leaders of all political parties to meet tomorrow on Budget session’s eve

all political parties will meet in New Delhi tomorrow for mutual consultations on the eve of 

Budget session.    Opposition parties have many issues to target the government ranging from controversial statements by some BJP leaders to inflation. Government will have to pass the bills on ordinances promulgated by it recently.  The Budget session will begin this Monday. It will be held in two phases. The first phase will begin from Monday and will come to an end on 20th of next month while the second session will take place between 20th April to 8th of May.

There will be 20 working days in the first part of the session and 13 in the second.

The 44-item agenda of the Government proposed for the Budget session comprises of financial, legislative and non-legislative business.

Rail Budget will be presented on 26th of February and Economic Survey on 27th. Parliament will have a special sitting on Saturday, February 28th, a holiday, for Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to present the Budget.