New Delhi: Marking the beginning of a new era in Indian politics, Narendra Modi on Monday was sworn in Prime Minister at the head of a 45-member coalition government after the elections threw the first government with absolute majority in 30 years. 63-year-old Modi, the first leader to get a landslide majority for BJP on its own, became the 15th prime minister in a virtual 'coronation' ceremony in the forecourt of the Rashtrapati Bhawan before a 3000-strong gathering, the largest audience at the swearing in a of new government. Rajnath Singh, Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley, M Venkaiah Naidu, Nitin Gadkari, Uma Bharti, Maneka Gandhi, Ananth Kumar, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Smriti Irani and Harsh Vardhan were among those who were sworn in as Cabinet ministers. Ram Vilas Paswan (LJP), Harsimrat Kaur Badal (Akali Dal), Anant Geete (Shiv Sena) and Ashok Gajapathi Raju (TDP) were those from allied parties who took the oath on Monday. Dignitaries from politics, industry, cinema and religion, capped by leaders of SAARC nations including Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, watched Modi take the oath of office and secrecy in Hindi. Vice President Hamid Ansari, outgoing Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, his ministerial colleagues P Chidambaram, Sharad Pawar, Praful Patel and Pallam Raju, Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, senior BJP leaders L K Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, outgoing Speaker Meira Kumar, former Presidents Abdul Kalam, Pratibha Patil were among those who attended the ceremony. Differences during elections melted away before protocol as opponents including Mulayam Singh Yadav, his son and UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, J and K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda were present at the ceremony. Top industry figures like Mukesh Ambani and his family, his brother Anil, Kumarmangalam Birla, Sashi Ruia, Gautam Adani and V N Dhoot, film stars Salman Khan along with his father Salim Khan, Vivek Oberoi, Dharmendra and Anupam Kher, lyricist Javed Akthar were present along with a clutch saffron-robed seers including Pejawar Mutt chief Vishwendra Teertha Swamy. Cricketing great Sunil Gavaskar was also present. Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse, whose effigy was burnt some kms away in the morning, Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Mauritius President Naveen Chandra Ramgoolam were the other foreign dignitaries present at the ceremony. At the end of the 90-minute swearing-in ceremony, Modi shook hands with all the heads of governments from abroad after the President took a group photograph with the new council of ministers. Modi also exchanged greetings with the outgoing PM. Shortly later, it was all disorder as the gathered crowd sought to greet the new PM that led to pushing around. The other BJP MPs, who were sworn in as cabinet ministers were Gopinath Munde, Sadanand Gowda, Kalraj Mishra, Najma Heptullah, the lone Muslim face, Narendra Singh Tomar, Jual Oram, Radha Mohan Singh and Thawar Chand Ghelot. Former Army chief Gen V K Singh was inducted into the council of ministers as Minister of State with independent charge along with nine others. They are Rao Inderjit Singh, Santosh Kumar Gangwar, Shripad Naik, Dharmendra Pradhan, Sarbananda Sonowal, Prakash Javadekar, Piyush Goel, Jitender Singh and Nirmala Seetharaman. 12 other ministers of state were inducted. They are G M Siddeshwara, Manoj Sinha, Nihal Chand, Upendra Khushwaha, Pon Radhakrishnan, Kiren Rijiju, Krishen Pal, Sanjiv Kumar Baliyan, Mansukhbhai Vasava, Rao Saheb Danve, Vishnudev Sai and Sudarshan Bhagat. Source: Article, Image: fickr.com
New Delhi: If all goes well then Indian football fans would be much delighted as an IPL-styled football league is being planned that Indian would host. According to Economic Times, media mogul Rupert Murdoch and richest Indian industrialist Mukesh Ambani have joined hands to kick off an Indian Premier League like football league in India. India might be a cricket-crazy nation, but there are millions of football fans too. Murdoch’s Star India has picked up a one-third stake in a company that is jointly owned by Ambani’s Reliance Industries and IMG. The company is set to promote football in India through the league that is about to start in January next year, reported the Economic Times. Although it was the Premier Hockey League in 2005 that marked the inception of sports leagues in India, the format was popularized by cricket’s Indian Premier League or IPL. Recently Indian Badminton League’s first season concluded. But for the first time a major broadcaster has shown interest in this manner in a sports league in India and Star is apparently going to pay a whopping 2,000 crore in a deal that would include both equity and broadcasting rights for 10 years. Mukesh Ambani's wife and IMG-Reliance's chairperson Nita Ambani has said that the launch of such a league would let the Indian population enjoy and cherish the 'most loved game' across the globe. 
