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QUESTIONS SHATRUGHAN SINHA Actor-turned-politician and former Union minister Shatrughan Sinha today disagreed with the cut off age of 75 years for selection of ministers in Narendra Modi cabinet. "I do not agree with this 75-year age bar for appointment of a person as minister," Sinha, second term BJP Lok Sabha MP from Patna Sahib, told PTI. 67-year-old Sinha, who served as Union minister in the NDA government of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, disputed fixing such an age bar. "Instead of age, the criteria shall be mental alertness and health," he said. "Even at an age of 86, veteran BJP leader L K Advani has a sharp memory and energy like a 40-year-old man," said Sinha, who has on numerous occasion described Advani as his "political guru". "Who can question the mental alertness and physical activities of Advani or Murli Manohar Joshi?" he asked, adding that for successfully running the government maturity and rich e...

After losing elections and power, about 55 former union ministers will have to vacate their official bungalows by June 26 to enable the new ones to move in. Sources said the Directorare of Estates is preparing to send notices to them to vacate their bungalows. There were 70 ministers in UPA out of which some have won while many lost in the recent Lok Sabha elections. Those who have lost will be asked to vacate by June 26, the sources said. "There are about 55 Type-VI, Type-VII and Type-VIII bungalows to be vacated for the newly-appointed ministers," a source said about the houses located in the prime areas of New Delhi. In the meantime, Dirctorate of Estates is providing transit accommodation to all new MPs at state bhawans and state-owned Ashoka hotel. Once the new Lok Sabha Housing committee is formed, it will start allotting houses to MPs. Urban Development M Venkaiah Naidu today appealed to the former ministers to vacate their official resi...

RAJNATH TO KCR Home Minister Rajnath Singh has asked Telangana Rashtra Samiti chief K Chandrasekhar Rao to ensure peace during any agitation launched by his party. During a telephonic conversation yesterday, Singh told Rao that all agitation and demonstration programmes of the TRS should be peaceful, sources said. The telephone was made after TRS called a bandh today in Telangana region to protest the move to merge villages in seven mandals of Khammam district with the residuary state of Andhra Pradesh for construction of the mega Polavaram project. The shutdown call was given by TRS chief and Chief Minister-designate K Chandrasekhar Rao condemning what he termed as "injustice" to Telangana. Rao's party Telangana Rashtra Samiti won 63 out of the 119 assembly seats in Telangana in the recent elections while Naidu's Telugu Desam Party, along with ally BJP, bagged 106 of the 175 assembly seats in Seemandhra.

The search for the missing Malaysian jet suffered yet another blow today after Australia ruled out a large area in the Indian Ocean where four acoustic signals were detected as the final resting place of the plane. The Autonomous Underwater Vehicle, Bluefin-21, completed its last mission searching the remaining areas in the vicinity of the acoustic signals detected in early April by the Towed Pinger Locator deployed from the Australian ship Ocean Shield. "The data collected on yesterday's mission has been analysed. As a result, the Joint Agency Coordination Centre can advise that no signs of aircraft debris have been found by the Autonomous Underwater Vehicle since it joined the search effort," the Joint Agency Coordination Centre that is leading the search said. "The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) has advised that the search in the vicinity of the acoustic detections can now be considered complete and in its professional judgment, the area can now b...

Following its mantra of maximum governance and minimum government, Prime Minister Narendra Modi may implement performance-based incentives schemes for central government employees. The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) is slated to give a detailed presentation on Performance-Related Incentive Scheme (PRIS), which was recommended by Sixth Pay Commission and accepted by the UPA government, to the Prime Minister soon, officials said. PRIS could not be implemented by the UPA government which had given its "in-principle" approval. DoPT is likely to outline the salient features of the scheme aimed at improving governance in its presentation to Modi. "The detailed guidelines will be put in place after Prime Minister gives his go-ahead to it," a senior DoPT official said. As per the draft guidelines framed during UPA's tenure, performance-related incentive will be payable taking into account the performance of the organisation and employees during the pe...

In a special gesture, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today visited his predecessor Manmohan Singh to make a courtesy call. Modi, who was sworn-in yesterday and took charge this morning, drove to 3, Motilal Nehru Place, the new abode of Singh, to meet him this evening. He was received by Singh and his wife Gursharan Kaur who shifted to the new residence after attending the swearing-in ceremony of Modi at the Rashtrapati Bhawan last evening, vacating 7, Race Course Road, his official residence for 10 years. Sources described Modi's visit to Singh's place as a courtesy call. Modi has not yet moved into the Race Course Road residence and is staying put in Gujarat Bhawan. He is likely to shift a few days later as the new residence is being refurbished, according to sources.

India and Pakistan today decided to explore the way forward in bilateral ties through their Foreign Secretaries after a "constructive" meeting between Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi who voiced concerns over terrorism originating from Pakistan. On his first day in office, Modi held talks with all the eight foreign leaders who attended his swearing-in ceremony yesterday, but his most substantive discussion was with Sharif who then returned home. During the 45-minute meeting, Modi, who has been sharply critical of his predecessor Manmohan Singh's Pakistan policy, expressed the hope that India-Pakistan relations would progress in the economic, cultural and political fields in the same manner that India's relations with her other SAARC neighbours have progressed in recent years. Briefing reporters on Modi's meeting with Sharif and other SAARC leaders, Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh said Modi remarked t...