1. AP CM Kiran may resign and launch new political party: Ministers
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy is contemplating to resign from his post against the state's division and launching a new political party, two state ministers said here on Sunday.
"The whole country says the (Telangana) bill for division is undemocratic. Still, they say that we will go ahead and make the bill win by hook or crook, pass even by voice vote. In this situation, there is a need for a new party. Kiran Kumar Reddy would definitely form a new party and try to keep the state united."
"We actually decided that we should quit on (February) 16th. But, main opposition BJP says that the bill has not been tabled. Chief Minister is not quitting today to strengthen that. When it is officially announced that the bill has been tabled in parliament, then he will quit and all of us would quit," state Law Minister Erasu Pratap Reddy told reporters.
2. India and ADB signed loan agreement to improve rural roads in 5 States
The Government of India (GOI) and Asian Development Bank (ADB) signed a $275 million loan agreement to continue improving rural roads in the states of Assam, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, and West Bengal. The loan represents the second tranche of $800 million financing facility under the Rural Connectivity Investment Program (RCIP).
Joint secretary of Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Mr. Nilaya Mitash and Country Director of ADB, Ms. M. Teresa Kho signed the pact.
Executing agency of the project: Ministry of Rural Development (MORD) at the central level, while the state governments of Assam, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, and West Bengal are charged with overall implementation at the state level for a period of 43 months.
The loan will construct 3,693 km of all-weather rural roads in the states which will benefit nearly 1,800 rural habitations. Second phase of project is expected to be completed in June, 2017.
The central government will provide counterpart funds of $81.56 million for a total second tranche project investment cost of $356.56 million.
3. Policeman guarding polio workers killed in Pak blast
Peshawar: A policeman guarding a polio vaccination team was killed and another injured in a bomb blast near this northwestern Pakistani city on Sunday, the latest in a series of attacks on workers involved in the campaign against the crippling disease.
The incident happened near a CNG station on the outskirts of Peshawar, officials of a rescue service said. One policeman was killed and the injured was taken to a nearby hospital. According to Superintendent of Police (Rural) Rahim Shah, the bomb was planted near a post of the 'Sehat Ka Insaf' programme.
The programme has replaced polio campaigns. Instead of running a polio-specific drive, health workers are now targeting nine vaccine-preventable diseases, including polio. Bomb Disposal Squad officials said two kilogrammes of explosives were used in the attack.
No group claimed responsibility for the blast though such attacks are usually blamed on the outlawed Pakistani Taliban, which has banned polio vaccinations in the tribal belt till the US stops its drone strikes.
The Taliban ban has left thousands of children vulnerable to polio even as Pakistan remains one of only three countries where the disease in endemic. Dozens of health workers and policemen have died in attacks on polio vaccination teams in the country's northwest and Karachi in recent years.
4. Indonesian volcano started erupting on 14 February 2014 which resulted in closing-up of operations at country’s seven international airports
Mount Kelud (This volcano stopped erupting on 15 February but white smoke was still billowing up to 3 kilometres high from its crater. The airports were later opened 16 February onwards after volcanic activity subsided)
5. Villages to be submerged by Polavaram dam trigger controversy
New Delhi: The proposed Polavaram irrigation project in Andhra Pradesh may have been granted the status of a national project, but the villages which are likely to be submerged once it is ready has become the bone of contention between Seemandhra and Telangana Congress leaders.
The controversy surrounding the Bhadrachalam sub-division in Khammam district, which consists of villages that will be submerged, has triggered controversy against the backdrop of Union Cabinet's nod to transfer 130 villages to Seemandhra.
This has resulted in a slew of developments at the national capital with Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment P Balram Naik leading a delegation to Congress president Sonia Gandhi to draw her attention towards the tribals who will be affected by the project.
However, Seemandhra Congress leaders are firm over the transfer of villages. "It is necessary that these villages are transferred to Seemandhra," Magunta Sreenivasulu, Congress Lok Sabha member representing Ongole constituency, said.
6. Javed Miandad Resigned as the Director General of Cricket in the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on 15 February 2014.
Miandad who is serving as Director-General cricket in the board since 2008, sent his resignation letter to the new PCB chief, Najam Sethi just four days after the government sacked Zaka Ashraf as Chairman and dissolved the governing body. Since Ashraf was reinstated as Chairman last month by the Islamabad High Court. Miandad who played 124 Tests, took over a central role in the board affairs and was appointed to several committees
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