Modi not fit to be Indias PM: Amartya Sen

Amartya Sen said the BJP leader has not done enough to make the minorities in the country feel safe.

  At a time when the debate over Narendra Modi's credentials as a future prime minister has divided the nation, noted economist Amartya Sen has disapproved the Gujarat chief minister for the top job.

Sen said the BJP leader has not done enough to make the minorities in the country feel safe.

He was quoted by CNN IBN as saying, "Yes, I (Modi) don't want him.

"As an Indian citizen I don't want Modi as my PM... He has not done enough to make minorities feel safe."

"He could have first of all been more secular and he could have made the minority community feel more secure."

Sen reasoned Modi's "insecular" image for his disapproval.

He said, "No, I don't approve of it... I don't think the record is very good. I think I don't have to be a member of the minority in order to feel insecure... We Indians don't want a situation where the minority feel insecure and could legitimately think that there was an organised violence against them in 2002.

"I think that is a terrible record and I don't think Indian Prime Minister as an Indian citizen... Of who has that kind of record? No, I do not."

The Nobel laureate argued that Gujarat's education and healthcare sector need upliftment, two areas where Modi government has failed to deliver in the state.

Sen said, "He could have also taken both of the facts that Gujarat record in education and healthcare is pretty bad and he has to concentrate on that... as much as he is concentrating quietly as it has happened on physical infrastructure."

 

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Putin to US: Nyet to turning over NSA leaker, says Snowden free to travel wherever he wants

MOSCOW - Yes, he's at a Moscow airport, and no, you can't have him.

Russian President Vladimir Putin gave the first official acknowledgment of the whereabouts of National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden on Tuesday and promptly rejected U.S. pleas to turn him over.
Snowden, who is charged with violating American espionage laws, fled Hong Kong over the weekend, touching off a global guessing game over where he went and frustrating U.S. efforts to bring him to justice.
Putin said Snowden is in the transit zone of Sheremetyevo Airport and has not passed through Russian immigration, meaning he technically is not in Russia and thus is free to travel wherever he wants.

After arriving Sunday on a flight from Hong Kong, Snowden registered for a Havana-bound flight Monday en route to Venezuela and then possible asylum in Ecuador, but he didn't board the plane.
Speculation has been rife that Russian security services have been talking to Snowden and might want to keep him in Russia for a more thorough debriefing, but Putin denied that.
"Our special services never worked with Mr. Snowden and aren't working with him today," Putin said at a news conference during a visit to Finland.
Because Moscow has no extradition agreement with Washington, it cannot meet the U.S. request, he said.
"Mr. Snowden is a free man, and the sooner he chooses his final destination the better it is for us and for him," Putin said. "I hope it will not affect the businesslike character of our relations with the U.S. and I hope that our partners will understand that."
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Tuesday that the U.S. wants Russia to show respect for the rule of law and comply with common practices when it comes to fugitives from justice.
Putin's staunch refusal to consider deportation shows his readiness to further challenge Washington at a time when U.S.-Russian relations are already strained over Syria and other issues, including a Russian ban on adoptions by Americans.
"Just showing America that we don't care about our relations, we are down to basically a Cold War pattern: The enemy of your government is our friend," said Masha Lipman of the Carnegie Moscow Center.
"The Russian administration has not come that far, but we don't know what it's up to," she said.
Despite Putin's denial, security experts believe Russia's special services wouldn't miss the chance to question a man who is believed to hold reams of classified U.S. documents and could shed light on how the U.S. intelligence agencies collect information.
Igor Korotchenko, director of the Center for Global Arms Trade and editor of National Defence Magazine, said Snowden would be of particular interest because little is known about digital espionage.
"The security services would be happy to enter into contact with Mr. Snowden," Korotchenko said.
Russia also has relished using Snowden's revelations to turn the tables on the U.S. over its criticism of Russia's rights record.
Putin compared Snowden to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who has been given asylum in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London, saying that both men were labeled criminals but consider themselves rights activists and champions of freedom of information.
"Ask yourself a question: Should people like that be extradited so that they put them in prison?" he said. "In any case, I would prefer not to deal with such issues. It's like shearing a piglet: a lot of squealing and little wool."
In an apparent reference to claims that Russia could have played a role in Snowden's exit from Hong Kong, Putin said his arrival in Moscow was a "complete surprise" and dismissed such accusations as "ravings and sheer nonsense."
"He doesn't need a visa or any other documents, and as a transit passenger he has the right to buy a ticket and fly wherever he wants," Putin said.
Snowden, 30, is a former CIA employee who later was hired as a contractor for the NSA. In that job, he gained access to documents that he gave to newspapers the Guardian and The Washington Post to expose what he contends are privacy violations by an authoritarian government.
Snowden also told the South China Morning Post newspaper in Hong Kong that "the NSA does all kinds of things like hack Chinese cellphone companies to steal all of your SMS data." He is believed to have more than 200 additional sensitive documents in laptops he is carrying.
Russian news media had reported that Snowden remained in a transit zone at the airport, which is separate from regular departure areas. He has not been seen by any of the journalists who have been roaming Sheremetyevo in search of him, furthering speculation that he had been secreted away.
The Interfax news agency, citing an unidentified airport official, said Snowden could be staying in a room in the transit zone normally reserved for flight crews and other personnel.
Legally, an arriving air passenger only crosses the border after clearing Russian immigration checks.
Earlier Tuesday, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov rejected the U.S. push to turn over Snowden, but he wouldn't specify his whereabouts, saying only that he hadn't crossed the Russian border.
Kerry called for "calm and reasonableness."
"We would hope that Russia would not side with someone who is a fugitive from justice," Kerry said at a news conference in Saudi Arabia.
The U.S. has revoked Snowden's passport.
A representative of WikiLeaks has been travelling with Snowden, and the secret-spilling organization is believed to be assisting him in arranging asylum. Assange, the group's founder, said Monday that Snowden was only passing through Russia and had applied for asylum in Ecuador, Iceland and possibly other countries.
A high-ranking Ecuadorean official told The Associated Press that Russia and Ecuador were discussing where Snowden could go, saying the process could take days. He also said Ecuador's ambassador to Moscow had not seen or spoken to Snowden. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the case publicly.
The Kremlin has previously said Russia would be ready to consider Snowden's request for asylum.
Some observers said Snowden's revelations have provided the Kremlin with propaganda arguments to counter the U.S. criticism of Russia's crackdown on opposition and civil activists under Putin.
"They would use Snowden to demonstrate that the U.S. government doesn't sympathize with the ideals of freedom of information, conceals key information from the public and stands ready to open criminal proceedings against those who oppose it," Konstantin Remchukov, the editor of independent daily Nezavisimaya Gazeta, said on Ekho Moskvy radio.
Putin has accused the U.S. State Department of instigating protests in Moscow against his re-election for a third term in March and has taken an anti-American posture that plays well with his core support base of industrial workers and state employees.
____
Huuhtanen reported from Naantali, Finland. Associated Press writers Lynn Berry in Moscow and Michael Weissenstein and Gonzalo Solano in Quito, Ecuador, contributed to this story.

Modi rescued 15,000 pilgrims. Really?

It all began with a bizarre claim by Modi's PR machine - that around 15,000 Gujrati pilgrims were rescued in a day by the chief minister's team during his visit to Uttarakhand.

 A political slugfest has erupted over Narendra Modi's visit to the ravaged hill of Uttarakhand where devastating floods have killed hundreds and left many stranded.

It all began with a bizarre claim by Modi's PR machine - that around 15,000 Gujrati pilgrims were rescued in a day by the chief minister's team during his visit to Uttarakhand.

But experts called it an hoax as it was practically impossible to rescue 15,000 people in a short span of time even by the army who are trained who are trained specifically to deal with such situations.

Today, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray lauded Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan and blasted Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi for their respective roles in the ongoing rescue operations in disaster-hit Uttarakhand.

In an editorial in party mouthpiece "Saamana" Tuesday, Thackeray heaped praise on Chavan for adopting a broad-minded approach, and ridiculed Modi for his parochial attitude in dealing with the fallout of the disaster.

"Chavan has shown Maharashtra's large-heartedness and magnanimity in the face of such a massive disaster, not only for the people of this state stranded in Uttarakhand, but for victims from across the country," Thackeray said.

Targetting the Gujarat chief minister, the Shiv Sena president said that now Modi has been given a national role to play by the Bharatiya Janata Party and he should not speak in narrow terms for only Gujaratis.

"Most of the rescue works are being carried out by the Indian Army and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police. They don't discriminate on the basis of the victims' state of origin or religion, but rescue them as human beings," Thackeray pointed out.

"It would be better if Modi's propagandists exercise restraint in future," Thackeray said.

Earlier, Union I&B minister Manish Tewari told The Times of India, 'Now in all this, if somebody wants to become Rambo and claims that he alone in a span of two days during a trip of disaster tourism brought out 15,000 people, I am afraid for the lack of a better word, it just reflects rank opportunism and sheer desperation to try and politicize and even milk a tragedy for political reasons.

Williambhai Patel! DNA links Prince to India

London, June 15 -- Meet Rajkumar William, the future King of Great Britain and head of the Commonwealth. He is of Indian descent.

Actually, make that aapro Rajkumar Williambhai Patel. DNA tests conducted on the dashing young heir to the British throne have pinpointed a Western Indian ancestor from his mother Diana's side.

When Diana married Prince William's father Charles in 1981, it was already known that one of her ancestors was supposedly an Armenian living in Bombay with an Englishman named Theodore Forbes in 1820s.

The woman was Eliza Kewark, the Prince's great-great-great-great-great grandmother. Now, researchers who examined a saliva sample from the Prince, say the astonishing fact is that she was at least half-Indian.

Dr Jim Wilson, a genetics expert at Edinburgh University, said evidence of the Prince's Indian ancestory was "unassailable." The incredibly rare mitochondrial DNA that is passed on from mothers has so far been found in only 14 other people - 13 Indians and a Nepali.

The news was celebrated by Gujaratis and other Indian-origin people in Britain - royalists or otherwise.

"It's an honour for all British Indians to know that their future King shares our Indian ancestory," Priti Patel, a prominent Tory MP, told HT. "We hope this includes a love of curry and Bollyood dancing! Indians in Britain will look upon him as one of us."

Keith Vaz, the senior Labour MP of Indian origin, added: "At last all Indians have a royal connection. As a long lost cousin, perhaps Prince William can now kindly bring back the Koh-i-Noor diamond which the rest of his family borrowed many years ago!"
Diana's maternal aunt Mary Roach, who provided the saliva sample, said: "I always assumed that I was part-Armenian so I am delighted that I also have Indian background."
This is not the only direct Indian connection at the heart of the British establishment - Britain's longest-serving PM Lord Robert Jenkinson (1812-1827) had a part-Indian mother.

20 most unsafe Indian cities for women

Violence against women in India is rising at an alarming rate. According to the latest figures by National Crime Records Bureau, 36,622 incidences of crime against women were reported in the major Indian cities in 2012. Here is a list of the 20 Indian cities with the highest crime rate against women in India in 2012.

         Delhi: Uncharitably dubbed India's 'rape capital', Delhi recorded the highest number of incidents of crime against women in 2012. As many as 5,194 incidences of violence against women were reported in the national capital last year.

    Bengaluru: Considered as India's IT capital, Bengaluru was ranked second most unsafe city in the country in 2012 with 2263 incidents of crime committed against women reported that year.

    Kolkata: Kolkata ranked third in the list of cities with highest crime rate against women in India in 2012. The city recorded 2073 criminal cases committed against women that year.

    Hyderabad: Following Kolkata is Hyderabad which recorded 1899 incidences of violence against women in 2012.

 
    Vijayawada: Vijayawada, one of the important commercial cities of Andhra Pradesh, reported 1898 incidences of crime against women in 2012.

    Ahmedabad: Ahmedabad, one of the largest industrial cities in the country, witnessed a high rate of crime against women in 2012. As many as 1805 instances of violence against women were reported that year.

    Mumbai: The commercial capital of India, Mumbai registered 1781 cases of crime committed against women in 2012.

    Jaipur: The pink city of India, Jaipur, registered 1427 instances of crime against women in 2012.

    Indore: Indore, the largest city of Madhya Pradesh, witnessed 922 instances of violence committed against women in 2012.

 
    Chennai: One of the major commercial, cultural and economic centres in south India, Chennai had 832 instances of crime committed against women in 2012.

    Lucknow: Lucknow, the city of Nawabs, witnessed 815 instances of crime committed against women in 2012.

    Patna: One of the oldest continuously inhabited places in the world, Patna had 737 instances of violence against women in 2012.

    Bhopal: Bhopal, a city known for its lakes, registered 641 cases of violent crimes committed against women in 2012.

    Pune: Pune, one of the biggest industrial towns in India, Pune registered 636 instances of crime against women in 2012. It's the second major city of Maharashtra to enter the list of cities with the highest crime rate against women in India in 2012.

    Kollam: Kollam, an old sea port in Kerala, reported 617 instances of crime against women in 2012.

    Kota: This city in Rajasthan registered 614 instances of violence against women in India in 2012.

    Agra: Known for its Mughal-era monuments, notably the Taj Mahal, Agra registered 566 number of criminal violence against women in 2012.

    Vishakhapatnam: Vishakhapatnam, also known as Vizag reported 556 number of criminal violence committed against women in 2012.

    Kanpur: Kanpur, the largest industrial city of Uttar Pradesh, reported 534 instances of crime committed against women in 2012.

 

Obama receives poison-laced letter similar to Bloomberg mail

London, May 31 (ANI): A suspicious letter that was sent to US President Barack Obama is similar to two poisoned letters that were mailed to New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg this week.

The US Secret Service said the letter to Obama was intercepted and was being tested by FBI investigators.

On Thursday, the FBI confirmed that the letter sent to Obama was laced with ricin, a poison extracted from castor beans.

According to the BBC, the letters to Bloomberg referred to his support for stricter gun control.

One letter was delivered to the Washington DC office of Bloomberg's gun control group Mayors Against Illegal Guns.

The other was addressed to the New York City mayor's office, but intercepted at a mail sorting facility, the report added. (ANI)

Boeing P-8I LRMRASW Aircraft joins Indian Navy

Indian Naval Aviation received a major fillip with the arrival of the first of eight Boeing P-8I Long Range Maritime Reconnaissance and Anti Submarine Warfare (LRMRASW) aircraft at Naval Air Station Rajali.

  The P-8I is a long-range anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft capable of broad-area, maritime and littoral operations.
   

 The P-8I aircraft, based on the Boeing 737-800(NG) airframe, is the Indian Naval variant of the P-8A Poseidon of the US Navy.
   

 The aircraft is equipped with both foreign as well as indigenous sensors for Maritime Reconnaissance, Anti Submarine operations and for Electronic Intelligence missions.
   

 The aircraft is fully integrated with state of the art sensors and highly potent Anti Surface and Anti Submarine weapons.
   

 The induction of the P-8I aircraft into the Indian Navy would greatly enhance India’s maritime surveillance capability in the Indian Ocean Region.
   

 LRMRASW aircraft have been procured under the contract signed in 2009.
   

 The Indian Navy is in process of procuring an additional four P-8I aircraft under the option clause.
   

 The P-8I aircraft would greatly enhance India's maritime surveillance capability in the Indian Ocean Region.
  

  Vice Admiral Bimal Verma, AVSM, Chief of Staff, Eastern Naval Command presided over the induction ceremony
   

Also attended by Commodore Puneet Bahl, Commanding Officer, INS Rajali, representatives from the Command and Integrated Headquarters, Ministry of defence.

Angry Arab states look for backing to move UN agency out of Montreal

Flag of the International Civil Aviation Organization. (Image courtesy ICAO/United Nations)

The Conservative government's positions at the United Nations on Israel and Palestine could yield some serious consequences for Canada.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper moved Ottawa from being a broker in the Middle East to lining up with the Israel's staunchest allies on issues affecting the region.

It may have helped cost Canada a seat on the UN Security Council in 2010 and now potentially threatens the transfer of an important UN agency, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), out of Montreal where it's been headquartered since 1947.

According to the Globe and Mail, the Persian Gulf state of Qatar wants ICAO's offices moved there. It's trying to line up enough votes among the 191 member states to affect the transfer when the organization holds its 38th assembly beginning in late September. It needs support from 115 states to achieve the 60 per cent margin required to force the move.

The Globe said some Arab states may back the bid as a way of punishing Canada for its stance on issues regarding Palestine. Middle East countries and their supporters were especially miffed by Canada's vote against giving Palestine observer-state status at the UN. Ottawa campaigned against it in vain.

[ Related: Canada to fight 'tooth and nail' for UN aviation agency to remain in Montreal ]

Then last month during his tour of Middle East countries, Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird met with an Israeli cabinet minister in east Jerusalem. The visit angered the Palestinian Authority and its backers in the region since they see east Jerusalem as Palestine's future capital. It was seen as a signal Canada now accepts Israel's control over the section of the city it conquered during the 1967 Six-Day War. Baird shrugged off the reaction, which only made them angrier.

The Globe said Canada became the focus of an April 23rd UN session on Palestinian issues, with Arab ambassadors to the world body pushing to confront Ottawa in various international organizations. The Arabs now are trying to win backing from other states to punish Canada, the Globe reported.

Aside from a loss of prestige to Canada, moving ICAO's headquarters out of Montreal would mean the loss of 534 staff employees and 37 foreign delegations that maintain a full-time presence in the city, the Globe said.

A consultant's report in 2012 put the economic impact of having ICAO in Montreal at $119 million annually, the Globe said.

Qatar reportedly is offering to create a state-of-the-art facility and subsidies for ICAO employees, the Globe said.

It might be difficult to line up needed 115 votes for the move but Ottawa is not brushing off this threat. It's calling on its friends for support and warning Qatar it won't change its stance on east Jerusalem to take the heat off.

“Canada will not apologize for promoting a principled foreign policy,” Baird spokesman Joseph Lavoie told the Globe. “Those who choose to focus on where the minister stops for coffee instead of the larger, substantive issues at play do a disservice to the cause of peace.”

Ottawa had just finished patching up relations with the United Arab Emirates that chilled in 2010 when the government refused additional landing rights to two UAE-based airlines at the behest of Air Canada.

The UAE responded by ordering Canada's military out of a desert air base used to provide support for the mission in Afghanistan and it imposed costly visa requirements on Canadians travelling to the Emirates. Baird mended fences with the Gulf state over some Tim Hortons coffee during his visit there last month.

[ Related: John Baird unfazed by criticism after meeting with Israelis in East Jerusalem ]

Baird, meanwhile, has written off even attempting to win one of the rotating Security Council seats opening up next year.

He told the House of Commons on Wednesday that Canada, after its embarrassing loss to Portugal in 2010, would not run this time, The Canadian Press reported.

“Canada’s principled foreign policy is not for sale for a Security Council seat,” said Baird, employing the boiler-plate term the government uses to describe its engagement with the world.

“We are aggressively working on humanitarian aid to the most vulnerable, including Syria; we are taking real leadership when it comes to standing up against the evil that is Iran; and no one is standing up stronger against the regime in Colombo, Sri Lanka, than this prime minister and this government.”

Going back, Delhi not safe: Mamata

New Delhi, April 10 (IANS) Delhi was unsafe and she was returning to Kolkata as she was unwell, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said Tuesday, a day after she faced protests from SFI activists.

"I am going back. I was on oxygen whole night. Doctors suggested hospitalisation but I don't want to go to hospital," she told reporters.
"I will come again... Delhi is not safe," she said.

Banerjee said she had cancelled her meeting with Finance Minister P. Chidambaram and had apologized to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as she could not meet him Tuesday.

Banerjee and her Finance Minister Amit Mitra were heckled by SFI activists Tuesday as she went to the Planning Commission for a meeting.

Angry Trinamool Congress workers protested across West Bengal against the incident.

"My cadres are totally peaceful. They are very emotional but listen to me," said Banerjee.
The chief minister hinted that someone was behind Tuesday's incident and said police had not allowed her to go inside the Planning Commission building.
"Of course," said Banerjee when asked if she thought someone was behind the incident.

"The gate was locked. I told police we had come for a Planning Commission meeting. Police officials said I could not go as they had no keys," she said.

"There should have been a bloodbath ... but it is peaceful," she said, terming Left parties, which condemned Tuesday's incident, as hypocrites.
Banerjee claimed there were more political clashes in West Bengal during the Left rule than now.

Modi welcome to apply for visa, will review case:USA

Washington, April 5 (IANS) Even as it acknowledged that a US congressional delegation's visit to Gujarat had official sanction, the US said there was no immediate change in its stand on a visa to Chief Minister Narendra Modi, but he is "welcome to apply".

"Visits like this do help support a deepening of business-to-business ties, of people-to-people ties, across India, in Gujarat," State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland told reporters Thursday in response to a question.

"So from our perspective, the more congressional delegations that visit India and understand its dynamism and diversity, the more likely we are to continue to deepen those important ties," she said.

But this did not foretell a change in its policy towards Modi, who has been denied a US visa for his alleged role in the 2002 Gujrat riots, Nuland said.

"With regard to Mr. Modi, our lines have not changed here. He is welcome to apply," she said. But "All visa decisions are made on a case by case basis, and I'm not going to prejudge it here."

The US ambassador to India Nancy J. Powell met the congressional delegation led by Republican member of the House Aaron Schock, Nuland said. But she was not sure if the envoy accompanied the delegation that met Modi March 28 and invited him to visit the US.

"I don't know if our Ambassador accompanied them to Gujarat. She obviously sees all congressional delegations which come through Delhi," the spokesperson said. She also didn't believe that Powell had met Modi.

Asked if the State Department was obligated to issue a visa to a person invited by a member or members of Congress, Nuland repeated: "We've said at all points that like any other visa applicant he's welcome to apply and we'll review the case on the merits."

"Every visa is adjudicated on the merits and in the context of US law individually," she added.

Asked if the Congressional delegation had met Secretary of State John Kerry before going to India or would brief him on their return, Nuland said "I expect they had a good discussion" with Powell, who would convey the results of their trip back to Washington.

President Pranab Mukherjee rejects five mercy petitions, commutes death sentence of two

The mercy petitions of the convicts in the seven cases were earlier sent to the President, with recommendations from the Home Ministry, in February.

 

NEW DELHI: Out of the seven people convicted for murder, President Pranab Mukherjee has rejected mercy petitions in five cases while commuted death sentence in two other cases, according to media reports.

The details of the President's decision were not available.

Following were the mercy petitions earlier sent to the President, with recommendations from the Home Ministry, in February:

1. Dharampal, convicted for killing five members of a family in Haryana in 1993. He was also convicted for raping a girl of the family.

2.  Gurmeet Singh convicted for murdering 13 members of a family in Uttar Pradesh on August 17, 1986.

3. Sonia, a former Haryana MLA's daughter along with her husband Sanjeev, both convicted of killing eight of her family members in Hisar in 2001.

4. Sunder Singh of Uttarakhand, convicted for rape and murder on June 30, 1989.

5. Jafar Ali, who killed wife and five daughters in Uttar Pradesh in 2002.

6. Praveen Kumar convicted for murdering four members of a family, on February 23, 1994.

7. Suresh and Ramji, from Uttar Pradesh, convicted of murdering five members of their younger brother's family.

Article 72 of the Constitution grants President the power to 'grant pardons, etc, and to suspend, remit or commute sentences in certain cases'.

Mukherjee had earlier rejected mercy petitions in a few high profile cases, the first one of  2001 Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, who was hanged in February in top secrecy.

The mercy plea of Ajmal Kasab, the lone survivor of the militant squad responsible for the 2008 Mumbai attacks, was the first Mukherjee had rejected on November 5. The Pakistani gunman was hanged on November 21.

Mukherjee has also rejected the mercy petitions of Veerappan's associates, earlier sentenced to death for killing 21 policemen in a landmine blast at Palar in Karnataka in 1993, and mercy petitions of Saibanna Ningappa Natikar, convicted for the murder of his first wife and also his daughter.(With inputs from the Agencies)

Obama comforts 5-year-old at White House Easter Egg Roll

 President Barack Obama consoles Donovan Frazier during the boy's Easter egg roll. (Jason Reed/Reuters)

Taking a turn as comforter-in-chief, President Barack Obama on Monday consoled a 5-year-old boy, distraught after losing his Easter egg roll, with a hug and a kind, "Shake it off."

The boy, Donovan Frazier, and his dad, Donnie Frazier, 35, came from Scranton, Pa., for the annual celebration. They joined some 30,000 Americans from all 50 states who got tickets for the festivities on the South Lawn of the White House. There, in the spring sunshine, groups of about 10 kids at a time raced to see who would be the first to push their hard-boiled Easter egg with a spoon across the finish line.

The younger Frazier apparently did not win, and did not take it well, slumping on the grass and crying. Obama stopped to comfort him.

"Here, you want the egg? You get to keep it. Shake it off. Shake it off. There you go," the president said, according to a pool report from Alex Leary of the Tampa Bay Times.

The entire Obama family attended the event—the president, first lady Michelle Obama and daughters Sasha and Malia. A costumed Easter Bunny and "Kid President" (viral video maker Robby Novak) were also on hand.

BJP announces Team 2014: Modi included in partys parliamentary board

Narendra Modi's inclusion into the party's parliamentary board is seen as a major boost to his prime ministerial ambitions.

 

NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) announced its parliamentary board for 2014 with a notable induction of Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi into the party board.

Modi's inclusion into the party's parliamentary board, after six years, is seen as a major boost to his prime ministerial ambitions. Party sources said the decision to reserve a seat for Modi at the high table was made despite a section of the top leadership supporting Shivraj Singh Chouhan, CM of poll-bound MP.

Modi is the only chief minister to be on the parliamentary board, the highest decision-making body of the party. The Gujarat CM also finds a place in the party's central election committee.

BJP president Rajnath Singh, who met party's veteran L.K. Advani this morning ahead of the announcement, named former Gujarat Home Minister Amit Shah, Varun Gandhi, J P Nadda, Ananth Kumar, Dharmendra Pradhan, Muralidhar Rao and Rajiv Pratap Rudy as general secretaries of the party.

Actor-turned-politician Smriti Irani has been replaced by Saroj Pandey as the head of the BJP's women's wing, but has been appointed as one of the party's vice-presidents.

Besides Irani, Sadananda Gowda, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Dr C. P. Thakur, Jual Urao, S. S. Ahluwalia, Balbir Punj, Satpal Malik, Prabhat Jha, Uma Bharti, Bijyo Chakravarti Lakxmikanta Chawla and Kiran Maheshwari have also been elevated as the party's vice-presidents.

One exceptional omission was that of the senior party leader Yashwant Sinha who failed to make it to the party's board. Reports earlier indicated that Sinha could have been the first choice for the vice-president position of the party.

The RSS had earlier blocked the nomination of former finance and foreign minister and Hazaribagh MP Yashwant Sinha as a party vice-president for publicly airing his views on past president Nitin Gadkari's second term. Gadkari was backed by the RSS.

Prakash Javadekar, Shah Nawaz Hussain, Nirmala Sitaraman, Vijay Sonkar Shashtri, Dr. Sudhanshu Trivedi, Meenakshi Lekhi and Captain Abhimanyu have been made the party's spokespersons.

BJP leaders welcomed the organisational rejig.

"The rejig was done by the new party president keeping in mind the general elections of 2014. The party will announce the prime ministerial candidate when the time comes," BJP spokesperson Meenakshi Lekhi said.

On stopping short of announcing a prime ministerial candidate, BJP leader Nirmala Sitaraman said: "All groups and regions have been well represented in the new team. I don't think too much need to be read into (the holding back of an announcement of the prime minister candidate)."

"All sections have been adequately represented, according to their capacity, and there is young blood too in the team," she said.

Welcoming Modi's elevation, BJP leader Giriraj Singh said: "It is good news and will infuse more power and strength into the party."

This is part of the BJP's massive overhaul as the new president puts in place his team of officebearers, carefully balancing the interests of the party with those of its ideological mentor, the RSS.

BJP's organisational changes come after the party declared that the early polls are inevitable, dismissing Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's assertion that the government would complete its five-year tenure. (With inputs from the Agencies)