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Arshiya Chopra

22 Jul 2017,Saturday

Army Jawans attack Police post in J&K, 8 injured

http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/armymen-allegedly-beat-up-cops-in-kashmir-after-being-stopped-at-checkpoint/story-uaD70tWBHBQtdjV5lBLxoI.html?utm_source=inshorts&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=fullarticle

A team of army men in civilian clothes allegedly beat up eight policemen who stopped them at a barricade while they were returning from Amarnath Yatra. Reportedly, injured policemen were hospitalised and an FIR was registered against the army men. Notably, no non-locals, including yatris, are allowed travel at night in light of the recent terror attacks.

At least eight policemen, including an assistant sub-inspector, were injured after army men allegedly barged into a police station in Jammu and Kashmir?s Ganderbal district late Friday night and beat them up.Sources said the injured policemen was admitted to a hospital and an FIR registered against the army. The incident came to fore after pictures of the policemen with severe injuries went viral on social media.On the face of it J&K police party was implementing the SOP of not allowing yatri movement after 7:30 PM. Army chaps were yatris in civvies https://t.co/aDUXd0ZdsN? Omar Abdullah (@abdullah_omar) July 22, 2017Director General of police S P Vaid told HT that the police and army shared a good relation and one incident shouldn?t be given too much importance. ?We have taken the matter up with the core commander, it has been sorted,?? he added.The incident took place allegedly after a team of armymen in civilian clothes, returning from the Amarnath Yatra on Friday night, was stopped at a barricade in Gund by policemen as no pilgrims were allowed to travel at night . The government stops travel of non-locals including yatris and tourists in the night. The precautions were tightened after the recent terror attack on Amarnath Yatris that left eight people dead. Police said the armymen insisted on moving forward, and stormed the police station and beat up personnel when thwarted again. They also alleged that the police station was ransacked. Sources insisted that the army commander of the nearby camp was informed about the jawans and asked to take the men into the camp. The army?s spokesperson said ?the matter has been resolved by personal intervention of senior officers?. ?A minor altercation took place yesterday night between some Army personnel returning from Amarnath Yatra in civil dress and JKP personnel at Gund. No major injuries were suffered in the incident... Measures to prevent recurrence have been taken,? he said.

Chhavi Tyagi

31 Jul 2017,Monday

Sad we are debating lynching and not Digital India: IUML MP

http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/parliament-day-11-live-updates-lok-sabha-debates-lynching-issue-ruckus-in-rajya-sabha-over-gujarat-mlas-issue/story-6CmyhZbfHTDMAYmQD3FFnI.html?utm_source=inshorts&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=fullarticle

Indian Union Muslim League MP PK Kunhalikutty on Monday said, "When we should be discussing about Digital India, it is sad irony that we are discussing about mob lynching." "We are discussing a fundamental principle of secularism that we should uphold," he added in the Parliament. "Let us be Hindustan and not Lynchistan," Leader of the Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge said.

Charges and counter charges flew in the Lok Sabha on Monday over the issue of lynchings, with the Opposition parties targeting the Modi government and the ruling side asserting that it was the responsibility of the state governments to deal with such crimes.During the discussion, Congress MP Mallikarjun Kharge criticised the Prime Minister for not talking about the issue enough and listed the various incidents of lynchings across the country. BJP?s Hukmdev Narayan Yadav defended the government?s response and, referring to political killings in Kerala, questioned why only certain incidents were considered lynchings.In the Rajya Sabha, after initial uproar over the alleged kidnapping of MLAs by police in Gujarat, the house adjourned briefly before resuming Question Hour.Congress? Madhusudhan Mistry alleged that his party MLAs were being ?kidnapped? and offered ?Rs 10-15 crore? with a view to influence their vote in the August 8 elections to send three members from the state to the Rajya Sabha.Here are the highlights: 6:30 pm: Lok Sabha adjourned for the day.6:29 pm:?The more you are raising the issue, the veil of the opposition is getting unveiled. The more you try to defame us, the more the Opposition gets defames: Kiren Rijiju6:23 pm: Mother Teresa was not allowed to enter Arunachal Pradesh during Congress rule. If there has been one instance of persecution of Christians in Arunachal Pradesh after our rule, I?ll resign: Kiren Rijiju6:13 pm: Mob lynching is the worst form of crime, it should be condemned universally. Why do you raise selective issue. Previously it was intolerance, then award-wapsi, freedom of expression: Rijiju. 6:08 pm: Do you want the PM should break the federal structure and take over state machinery: Rijiju during lynching debate.6:04 pm: There is a trend in the country, the highest number of atrocities in India have taken place against scheduled castes: Rijiju.5:55 pm: Uproar in Lok Sabha during Kiren Rijiju?s statement.5:50 pm: Kiren Rijiju says issued advisory to every state that strong action should be taken against incident of mob lynching.5:45 pm: Asaduddin Owaisi says the instances of mob lynching will continue as this government promotes religion as an ideology.Is cow protection an essential part of Hinduism? asks Owaisi. Stop the shadow army. Our battle is against Hindutva and not Hinduism: Owaisi5:32 pm: When we should be discussion about digital India, it is sad irony that we are discussing about mob lynching:?Indian Union Muslim League MP PK KunhalikuttyWe are discussing a fundamental principle of secularism that we should uphold, it is sad, says Kunhalikutty.5:20 pm: There seems to be a different between the words and action of Prime Minister: Mohammad Asrarul HaqueModi govt doesn?t only seem listen but also helpless. People who have skull cap and beard, women in burkha are today scared to step outside in public, he says. 5:18 pm: RJD MP?Jay Prakash Narayan Yadav say, ?The person who doesn?t differentiate between human and animal, there is a devil inside him.?5:08 pm: BJP?MP Prahlad Joshi talks about attack on BJP?MPs in West Bengal. Evokes sharp reaction from opposition members for not mentioning death of other people.4:39 pm: Maharashtra MP Supriya Sule says we should send a message as a uniform Parliament that we condemn lynching.?Yoga Day message should be about ahimsa and not just about surya namaskar,? she says.?The person who killed Junaid is out on bail. We should make regulation that someone who has killed someone shouldn?t be out on bail,? says the NCP?lawmaker. 4:29 pm: Mohammad Salim of CPI-M says the gathering of mob has a historical, political, psychological aspect. There is a long history and it is not a spur of the moment occurrence. 4:17 pm: TDP?MP?from Guntur, Jayadev Galla, says mob violence, ?shows of strength in numbers, majority rule mentality and doesn?t have place in a peaceful society.? He says cow violence has reached an alarming proportion.... And it can?t be isolated into BJP or non-BJP?states.4:12 pm: Arvind Ganpat Sawant, MP?from Mumbai-South speaks on lynching. ?If there is hate, some say they are going perpetrate double the amount of hate,? he says.3: 55 pm: Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav says, ?Exploitation of and atrocities against women is high. It should end in the family first. Then it will stop in your locality, village and cities.? 3:45 pm: BJP?MP Hukumdev Narayan Yadav claims majority of Muslims in India are descendants of Hindus, PTI?reports.3:35 pm: BJD?s Tathagata Satpathy says, ?The gau rakshaks don?t know that more than half the cows in India are Jersey cows. Not their mother. They should recognise their mother.It?s sad if we can?t recognise our own mother.?Satpathy wonders why nobody is bothered about indigenous breeds of cows. 3:18 pm: AIADMK?s Dr K Gopal calls the situation of rising violence against minorities is worrisome. He names lynching incidents and says that the issue of beef is polarising.3:15pm: Kharge responds to Paswan?s comments there was no ?josh? in his speech. ?If you had an operation, you wouldn?t even be able to get up,? Kharge says.3:10 pm: Paswan targets CPI and asks why the killing of 6 people during its rule was not called ?a ?riot?.Paswan says the House needs to pass a resolution to condemn incidents of lynchings. ?Whenever something like this takes place, all chief ministers must ensure perpetrator is arrested and investigation begins within 24 hours.?3:05 pm: ?PM Modi has never mentioned Babri Masjid or Ayodhya or Article 370. He only speaks of development,? says Paswan.3:00 pm: Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan says, ?The Prime Minister has condemned these incidents twice. Do you want him to send in the army when such incidents happen??2:55 pm: Quiet resumes as Roy speaks again. He says he has a few suggestions. ?In the IPC and the CrPC, lynching not defined. We need a new and exclusive law on protecting against lynching,? Roy says.2:54 pm: Uproar as MPs yell at each other across the aisle. 2:53 pm: BJP?s SS Ahluwalia lashes out, ?Strike this from the record. This is unfair. He must also bring the source of his information here and validate. Only then should he be allowed to talk further.?2:50 pm: Roy compares the killing of Muslims to the targeted killing of African-Americans by Ku Klux Klan in the US. ?In 23 attacks, the attackers were from Bajrang Dal and Hindu groups,? he says.Roy says, ?Yeh sab bandar hai! (These groups are the BJP?s monkeys.)? Uproar as MPs call the comment ?unparliamentary?.2:45 pm: Kiren Rijiju interrupts Roy, asking him on what basis he was making these claims.2:37 pm: TMC?s Saugata Roy speaks and clarifies he does not want to talk about general mob violence but bovine-related mob violence. Between 2010 anmd 2017, 63 people were killed in cow-related incidents of mob violence, Roy says.?I don?t want to bring Hindu-Muslim into this but 97% of these killings took place after Narendra Modi came to power. 86% were Muslims. I want to ask members of the ruling party, you say you want Congress-mukt Bharat. Do you want Muslim-mukt Bharat??Roy says 52% of the killings took place in BJP ruled states.2:30 pm: Yadav cites Ram Mohair Lohaia?s example, saying he was a socialist who didn?t believe in Gods but knew prevalence of Hindu culture and traditions, and respected it.2:26 pm: Yadav says, ?The ancestors of the Muslims were Hindus. Therefore the gods, the culture and traditions are also their?s. They must think about this.?2:20 pm: Debate resumes in Lok?Sabha. Yadav continues his speech. 2:15pm: Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Thawarchand Gehlot begins the debate. Congress? BK Hariprasad says Opposition is not happy with the way government pushes Bills in the Parliament.2:00 pm: Rajya Sabha takes up Constitution (123rd) Amendment Bill, 2017 and National Commission for Backward Classes (Repeal) Bill, 2017.1:15 pm: Lok Sabha adjourned till 2:15 pm for lunch. Yadav to speak for five more minutes after that.1:14 pm: Yadav says, ?Muslims must learn to live with Hindus respecting their culture and traditions.?1:12 pm: ?Why is it wrong to say Vande Mataram these days? Is this not mob lynching?? Yadav asks.1:10 pm: In the Lok Sabha, Yadav attacks the Congress saying,?You have done dharmik atyachar, samajik atyachar, mansik atyachar, arthik atyachar and ruined the country.?1:05 pm: In Rajya Sabha, Question Hour concludes. House adjourned till 2 pm for lunch.1:03 pm: Yadav says, ?The Junaid incident was a fight over a train seat. Why are you linking it with religion? What about the killings in Kerala? Are we not human? Are they not lynchings because they are not Muslims??1:00 pm: Yadav asks,??Is the mob lynching of DSP Ayub Pandith in J&K not an incident worth mentioning??12:57 pm: Yadav says, ?The PM himself has condemned the mob incidents repeatedly. It?s upto states to follow law. Centre can?t send paramilitary forces there on its own.?12:55 pm: BJP?s Hukmdev Narayan Yadav says government has been addressing the issue and taking action. He asks why the Opposition is questioning the government?s intention.12:50 pm: Kharge concludes with,?Duniya mein sab ka yahi hai kehna, Shanti aur chain se zinda rehna...Let us be Hindustan and not Lynchistan.?Two hours were alloted for the discussion. Kharge spoke for over 35 minutes.12:47 pm: ?This government is imposing itself on what a person can eat and who one can love,? says Kharge.12: 45 pm: Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar interrupts Kharge for mentioning a former President?s name citing rule 352.Kumar says, ?Kharge must validate all the documents he is reading from. Every state government has taken action against each of these incidents. He is misleading the House.?12: 36 pm: BJP benches raise a ruckus. Speaker warns Kharge about duration of his speech.12:34 pm: Kharge quotes a BJP leader as saying that there was ?no regret over the death of Pehlu Khan because he was a cow smuggler.?12:32 pm: BJP members protests reported facts being read out by Kharge. 12:30 pm: In the Lok Sabha discussion, Kharge says, ?The Prime Minister has not spoken about the killings on his Mann Ki Baat programme.?12:28 pm: Meanwhile, first two questions in the Rajya Sabha are about MNREGA.12:26 pm: Kharge mentions incidents in Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. He says he is only listing them.12:24 pm: Nishikant Dubey of BJP says, ?The cases of violence Mr.Kharge is mentioning are already in the courts, so why is he saying all this? He cannot speak about these cases.?12:22 pm: The Lok Sabha has begun a short-duration discussion on lynchings and mob violence. Mallikarjun Kharge of Congress says, ?There?s a feeling of threat in many states, especially because of fringe groups. Incidents of lynching and mob violence are not under control. Taking matters into one?s hands and exercising violence or killing another is unacceptable.??The government is indirectly encouraging groups like the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Bajrang Dal and gau bhakts,? Kharge says.12:12 pm: Lok Sabha postpones Zero Hour to end of the day.12:07 pm: Question hour ends in Lok Sabha. Speaker dismisses all adjournment notices. Arun Jaitley introduced all the Bills listed today.12:02 pm: Chair praises MPs for not exceeding time alloted to them and allowing him to wrap up all notices to end Zero Hour on time.12:00 pm: Issues raised in the Upper House include changes in NET, impact of demonetisation, transaction on BHIM app and privatisation of Railways. 11:45 pm: Rajya Sabha returns from adjournment. Zero Hours resumes. 11:30 pm: MPs protest in the well in Rajya Sabha. Congress creates ruckus over alleged kidnapping of MLAs by police in Gujarat. House adjourned for 10 minutes.11:20 am: Zero Hour in Rajya Sabha. Congress? Madhusudan Mistry raises issue of Gujarat MLAs resignations.11:05 am: Question hour in Lok Sabha.10:40 am:Bills to be introduced in Lok Sabha todayThe Central Goods and Services Tax (Extension to Jammu and Kashmir) Bill, 2017The Integrated Goods and Services Tax (Extension to Jammu and Kashmir) Bill, 2017The Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Amendment Bill 2017 Bills for consideration and passing today:The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Amendment) Bill, 2017The Banking Reguation (Amendment) Bill, 2017The Indian Institute of Petroleum and Energy Bill, 2017Bills for consideration and passing in Rajya Sabha todayThe Constitution (123rd Amendment) Bill, 2017The National Commission for Backward Classes (Repeal) Bill, 2017The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (Amendment) Bill,2017

Parmeet Kaur

15 Jul 2017,Saturday

Maharashtra to get open schools to help reduce drop out rate

http://www.hindustantimes.com/mumbai-news/maharashtra-to-get-open-schools-to-help-reduce-drop-out-rate/story-fL3UriuY2ejqpuClxiDn6K.html?utm_source=inshorts&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=fullarticle

Maharashtra's school education department on Friday passed a resolution to start the Maharashtra Institute of Open Schooling which will have an easier syllabus and flexible exams for those who can't attend regular school. Senior citizens, women, workers and differently abled students can avail education through this programme, which will help increase literacy and reduce drop-out rates.n

Differently abled students, senior citizens and those pursuing folk arts and sports will be able to appear for class 5, 8, 10 and 12 equivalent exams even if they don?t go to a regular school. To arrest the number of drop-outs and increase literacy, the state?s school education department on Friday passed a resolution to start the Maharashtra Institute of Open Schooling (MIOS), which will have an easier syllabus, flexible exams, and skill-based subjects for those who cannot attend regular school. The institute will work on the lines of National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS), which has 3,000 centres run by the Centre across India. ?NIOS curriculum is national and does not cater to the needs of Maharashtra?s students,? said Suvarna Kharat, deputy secretary of education. MIOS will be part of the state board, that conducts class 5, 8, 10 and 12 equivalent exams, held in March-April and October-November with the regular board exams. It will follow a separate assessment style. One of its major features is that students do not have to appear for the minimum five subjects required to pass the exam at once. They can spread it over nine exams in five years, which means they can study for one or two subjects at a time. This is good for academically slow learners. Another advantage is that language subjects will carry 50 marks for written and 50 for practical exams. An 80-20 pattern will be followed in science. SSC board has discontinued this in Class 9 this year. As a special provision, students who want to pursue a career in sports and folk arts will be allowed to take the class 10 and 12 exam if they have formal schooling till class 9 or 10. ?These students don?t get time to attend regular schools, so they will benefit from the flexibility of the open schooling system,? said Kharat. The department has found that nearly five lakh students drop out of school between classes 1 and 10 in the state. Government schemes, including the provision to write Secondary School Certificate (SSC) exams as private candidates directly after class 9, have not been successful. ?One of the major reasons why the pass rate of private students is poor is that they have to study the same thing and write exams in the same pattern,? said Nand Kumar, principal secretary of the department, who issued the resolution. He added that open schooling would address the needs of such students better.Pros of open schooling Will develop best practices for informal education Reduce the rate of drop-outs and failures Will benefit senior citizens, women, workers, and others to avail education Imparting vocational education that will help in different walks of life Special concessions will be provided to suit the needs of differently-abled students Make education facilities available at a local level Cons of taking exams as private candidates:Syllabus and textbooks are same as the regular students Question paper and assessment is the same It doesn?t test students on their vocational skills, knowledge Not many provisions for students with special needs Open schooling Who can qualify? For Class 5 equivalent: Minimum age: 10 years Subjects: Three languages, environmental studies, and math Documents: Birth certificate, records of past exams both formal and informal. In case of informal, an undertaking from parents will be sufficient. Class 8 equivalent Minimum age: 13 years Subjects: Three languages, social studies, science, math, skill-development subjects, Differently-abled students can opt for any five subjects (but minimum two languages will be compulsory) Class 10 exam Minimum age: 15 years Subjects: Any five subjects including two compulsory languages: Science and technology, economics, social studies, commerce, agricultural science and technology, skill-development subjects, or one of the pre-vocational subjects such as bakery, tailoring, screen painting, Indian music, among others: Must have passed class 5 at least Must be a resident of Maharashtra for minimum two years Affidavit that applicant is not enrolled in any school Transfer of credit: Those who want to opt for open schooling after failing SSC exams will be able to get their credits transferred Class 12 exam Minimum age: 17 years Subjects will depend on chosen stream-arts, science, commerce. Differently-abled students- One compulsory language + four subjects Must have passed class 10 exam from any recognized education board Stayed in Maharashtra for minimum two years SSC board students will be able to avail transfer of credit  How will the exams be held: Registrations will open six months before exams: March-April & October-November Registrations will be valid for five years Evaluation: Primary: Each paper will be divided into 50 marks written exam and 50 marks orals or practicals Upper primary: 100 marks divided into 60 written and 40 practicals or orals Secondary: Pre-vocational: 50 written + 50 practical Languages: 50 written+ 50 practical, oral, projects Science: 80 written + 20 practical You do not have to appear for all the subjects in one year. It can be spread over five years and nine exams Internal assessment will be compulsory it will be on homework completion Class 12: Languages and science: 80 written + 20 practicals, orals Exam will be offered in Marathi, English, Urdu, and Hindi

Mansha Mahajan

24 Jan 2017,Tuesday

HDFC Bank sees lowest-ever profit growth at 15% on note ban

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/note-ban-bites-hdfc-bank-posts-lowest-ever-profit-growth/1/865592.html

Private sector lender HDFC Bank on Tuesday reported its lowest-ever quarterly profit growth of 15% at ?3,865 crore for the December quarter. The slow growth was attributed to the government's decision to demonetise high-value currency. Notably, the lender had consistently delivered 30% profit growth for more than 32 quarters without a break till about two years ago.

Mumbai, Jan 24 (PTI) Private sector HDFC Bank today reported its lowest-ever quarterly profit growth at 15 per cent at Rs 3,865.3 crore for the December quarter, pulled down by a margin compression following the note-ban and foreign currency deposit redemptions. The city-headquartered lender, which had made a name for itself by consistently delivering 30 per cent profit growth for more than 32 quarters without a break till about two years ago, and then slipped to the 20 per cent levels with sluggish economic growth, saw its margins narrowing by 10 bps to 4.10 per cent during the third quarter ended December 31. The Aditya Puri-headed bank also saw redemptions of USD 3 billion worth of NRI deposits raised under a special window opened by the RBI in 2013 which led to a USD 2-billion reduction in the foreign currency loan book. HDFC Bank had raised the largest amount through this window. The lender saw a 37 per cent surge in the current and saving account balances which helped the share of the low-cost deposits ratio to 45 per cent after the November 8 demonetisation. It can be noted banks were not able to benefit from the surge fully because of 100 per cent CRR on new deposits till December 8. Deputy Managing Director Paresh Sukthankar acknowledged this is the slowest profit growth ever for over two decade-old bank but defended it, saying this is because of the external environment, and declined to give any guidance on how it sees the next few quarters. He, however, said the private lender will continue to outgrow the system, and gave out data on both deposits and advances growth where it has achieved this. He said the bank lost out on "fairly meaningful" quantum of fees from point of sale terminals and ATM usage during the demonetisation exercise (Nov 9-Dec 30), but said this is for the benefit of larger good in the long-term. Sukthankar made a plea for a "balance" to be achieved on the merchant discount rates so that those investing in the infrastructure also benefit. But the market lapped the bank counter as they believe the lender did well in a challenging time.

Chhavi Tyagi

24 Jun 2017,Saturday

Terrorists attack CRPF convoy in Srinagar, officer martyred

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/srinagar-crpf-convoy-militants-attack-dps-school-pantha-chowk/1/986630.html

Several terrorists on Saturday opened fire at a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) convoy near the Army cantonment in Pantha Chowk in J&K's Srinagar and fled towards a school nearby. While a CRPF Sub Inspector has been martyred in the shelling, at least two CRPF jawans and a civilian have been injured. The attack has been claimed by Lashkar-e-Taiba.

Terrorists today opened fire at a CRPF convoy near the Army cantonment in Srinagar's Pantha Chowk and fled towards a school nearby. A CRPF sub inspector has been martyred in the shelling. Another soldier and a civilian have sustained injuries in the attack claimed by Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). Abdullah Ghaznavi, LeT spokesperson, called a local news agency to say the outfit was behind the attack. The militants fled towards Delhi Public School (DPS) Srinagar, which has been cordoned off. The school was closed at the time of the attack. A room-to-room search is underway in the premises of DPS to nab the terrorists.Appropriate response will be given.There is no security lapse: ADG CRPF on firing on CRPF vehicle near Srinagar's Pantha Chowk (J&K) pic.twitter.com/Hrqp1jQnPuThe martyred sub inspector has been identified as GD Sahab Shukla a resident of Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh. Meanwhile, a policeman was injured after a police jawan misfired. It was a close shave for SSP who was in the vicinity when the policeman misfired.More details awaited. Also read: Congress student wing chief justifies stone-pelting in Jammu and Kashmir Also read: Video claims Zakir Musa's Taliban-e-Kashmir provided info to forces about LeT militants killed by Army

Chhavi Tyagi

01 May 2017,Monday

Burhan Wani's posters, ISIS & Pakistan flags appear in J&K

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/pulwama-kashmir-burhan-wani-pakistan-isis/1/942648.html

Fresh clashes took place in Jammu and Kashmir on Monday after several students put out posters of slain Hizbul commander Burhan Wani on the administrative block of the Pulwama degree college. While some students hoisted flags of Pakistan and terror outfit ISIS in the college premises, others also pelted stones at the police.

Clashes erupted between college students and police in Pulwama today as the degree college was reopened after two-day holiday.Trouble started after some students put out posters of slain Hizbul commander Burhan Wani on the administrative block of the Pulwama degree college. Some of the students also pelted stones at police. The students also hoisted flags of Pakistan and terror outfit Islamic State in the college premises.Later, the students marched out the college and were joined by other stone pelters. The protesters damaged a few police vehicles.As the clashes between stone pelters and police escalated, shopkeepers brought down the shutters of their shops. The town came to a halt for some time.Police resorted to teargas shelling on the stone pelters. Clashes were still on in some parts.Burhan Wani was killed in an encounter with security forces in July last year.NEW TERROR VIDEOIn another development, a new terror video appeared on social media showing armed terrorists marching at an unknown location. However, some reports say that the video was shot in a Shopian orchard.The video is said to have been posted by Hizbul Mujahideen. The video has been uploaded on the social media despite a ban in the Valley. The terror group has supposedly managed to bypass the ban on social media through some discreet software. Armed militants can be seen patrolling in an orchard.ALSO READ | Pakistan needles India on Kashmir again, Army Chief Bajwa backs terrorism in ValleyKashmir: Students clash with security forces in Srinagar's Lal ChowkStone pelters on hire in Kashmir: India Today nails Valley's insidious villains

Niharika Prabhakar

30 Jul 2017,Sunday

Husband appeals to Maha CM after wife's death by tree-fall

http://www.hindustantimes.com/mumbai-news/mumbai-woman-killed-in-tree-fall-husband-asks-cm-fadnavis-to-act-against-bmc/story-WDh3l9OXHRtY4alT3ARuOJ.html?utm_source=inshorts&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=fullarticle

The husband of former Doordarshan anchor Kanchan met CM Devendra Fadnavis, alleging that inaction by the BMC led to his wife's death after a tree fell on her. Fadnavis assured him that action has been initiated against the garden department of BMC. The BMC had reportedly earlier decided to prune the tree after an inspection, instead of cutting it down.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Friday told Rajat Nath, the husband of former Doordarshan anchor Kanchan who was killed last week after a tree fell on her in Chembur, that action has been initiated against the garden department of the Mumbai civic body.Fadnavis said he will look into the matter to ensure compensation for the family. Accompanied by BJP leader Shaina NC, Nath met Fadnavis on Friday. He alleged inaction by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) had led to Kanchan?s death and demanded a case be lodged against those responsible. Nath complained that in February this year, the owner of the plot had approached the BMC to cut the tree. The civic body inspected it and decided on pruning some of the branches of the dead tree instead of cutting it. The owner had even paid for the pruning, he said. READ:?Husband demands FIR against BMC officialsIf the BMC had paid heed to the application and cut the dead tree, the incident would not have occurred. Fadnavis assured Nath and his family members, who accompanied him, that action has been initiated against the garden department of BMC. Kanchan, a former television news reader with Doordarshan, was on her way home from her yoga classes last Thursday when the tree fell on her, injuring her neck, at Kurla Road near Swastik Park at Chembur East. Nath was rushed to the hospital by vendors who were around at the time of the incident. She died three days later .Falling trees in the monsoon is one of the biggest hazards in the city. Experts have blamed the haphazard way in which authorities pruned trees and the concretisation around the roots, which make the trees weak, as the main causes of these falls. The BMC, in its pre-monsoon activity, had undertaken an exercise to prune 60,000 trees across the city.

Shubhodeep Datta

18 Jan 2017,Wednesday

7 terrorists seen in army uniforms, Delhi airport on alert

http://www.hindustantimes.com/delhi/vigil-tightened-at-delhi-airport-after-reports-of-7-terrorists-seen-in-army-uniform/story-KYRTk1moSLAgUCKdUaR1RI.html

Security at Delhi airport and Metro stations has been strengthened following inputs that seven terrorists have reportedly managed to get army uniforms. Moreover, personnel on election duty in Punjab have also been asked to be on alert. The security at the airport is already being maintained at the highest level in view of the Republic Day, an official said.

Security at Delhi airport and Metro stations has been beefed up following intelligence input that seven terrorists have managed to get army uniform worn by personnel of captain and subedar rank. The Intelligence Bureau alert, which has originated from Amritsar, said: ?Seven terrorists have been seen outside Chakri and Gurdaspur border posts. The group has acquired combat ranks of captain and subedar of Indian Army, which are likely to be worn after infiltration?.Apart from the airport and Metro stations, personnel on election duty in Punjab have also been asked to be on alert. Increased security vigil at the Delhi airport has, however, put passengers at an inconvenience. Read: Male student locked me up in washroom, made lewd comments: Delhi schoolteacher?In view of the Republic Day, we are maintaining the highest level of security and two additional layers of frisking have been added at the airport. While at the Metro stations, one layer of security has been added, where commuters are frisked while they are in queue and the second one after they cross the metal detector,? said an official with CISF, the force which provides security for airports and Metro operations.However, fliers have a lot to complain about as the CISF is conducting random frisking at the gate and baggage is screened twice. ?At some points, CISF is asking women to remove jewellery before proceeding while some passengers are asked to open their baggage at the entry gate itself. Even at the check-in counters there are long queues,? said Radha Singh, a traveller.Read: YouTube ?kissing prankster? Sumit faces cops again, girls say he?s their friendCISF has also ordered for ladder-point checking, which means passengers may be asked for baggage scanning and frisking at the boarding point.?We have strengthened the security at the approach road and through speed breakers, vehicles will be slowed down. We have also asked the airlines to start the Secondary Ladder Point Checking (SLPC) just before passengers enter the aircraft. We request the passengers to reach before time as due to multiple layers of security, the queues are expected to be longer,? CISF?s director general OP Singh said.Read: Gold worth Rs 26 lakh seized from slippers of 2 fliers at Delhi?s IGI airportSLPC is conducted when the threat is at its highest level and passengers have to go through complete frisking just before entering the aircraft. Presently only few airlines, especially those going to US conduct SLPC. Airlines have been asked to conduct SLPC, either at the aerobridge or in the apron area.CISF has formed a ?sweeping-squad? and those who are trained in profiling are part of it. ?Their job is to identify suspicious passengers as soon as they enter the airport. The members of this squad have been placed across the airport,? a BCAS official said.

Daisy Mowke

21 Jul 2017,Friday

Called Kangana and apologised: Saif on nepotism act at IIFA

http://www.hindustantimes.com/bollywood/saif-ali-khan-writes-open-letter-on-nepotism-debate-i-called-kangana-and-apologised/story-m6RrJNzdOncwDpynLWMZhK.html?utm_source=inshorts&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=fullarticle

Saif Ali Khan, in an open letter, said he called Kangana Ranaut and apologised personally for taking a dig at her during the 'nepotism rocks' act at IIFA 2017. "I don't owe anybody else an explanation. The issue is over," he added. Talking about nepotism, Saif further wrote, "It's the audience that makes a film a hit, not... family members".

In an open letter published Friday, Saif Ali Khan, in response to the backlash he faced after jokingly taking a dig at Kangana Ranaut, wrote that he had ?apologised? to her, and he doesn?t ?owe anybody else an explanation. The issue is over.?Bollywood actor Saif Ali Khan (R) and director/producer Karan Johar perform on stage during the IIFA Awards of the 18th International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) Festival at the MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. (AFP) In the letter, published on DNA, Saif goes on to say that the comments he made on nepotism with Karan Johar and Varan Dhawan were a joke. ?It?s not something that I wrote or something I believe in. It was a joke on ourselves, between Varun (Dhawan), Karan (Johar) and me. It was not supposed to be a big deal, but I realised at some point, that it might have offended Kangana (Ranaut). I called her and apologised personally. That should be the end of it. Everybody needs to take a chill pill and back off,? he wrote.But he is aware of the controversy his comments stirred up. Nepotism has always been a hot topic in Bollywood, and when three industry bigwigs yelled ?nepotism rocks? in front of thousands of fans at the 2017 IIFA Awards, they were slammed in the press. Saif wrote about the negative stories published about the issue. ?What I can?t seem to understand are some of the media reactions to this. While most people have been sensible, three reporters from the websites BollywoodLife, The Quint and Elle India, made a point of saying that all I did was use big words like eugenics and genetics,? he wrote, referring to a comment he made about how it is possible that members of the Kapoor family join the film business because it is in their genes.Actors Varun Dhawan, Saif Ali Khan and filmmaker Karan Johar during the press conference of 18th International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) awards in Mumbai. (IANS) He then proceeded to attack the journalist who wrote the article in Elle. ?As for the girl from Elle: I?m sorry you found words like eugenics in a conversation about nepotism misplaced. Perhaps if you got your head out of the hemline of the actress of the month and read a book, your vocabulary might improve.?The ?flagbearer of nepotism,? he said, making a reference to the words Kangana used to describe Karan Johar on an episode of his talk show on which Saif was present, ?is the media.??Nepotism is probably least prevalent in the movie industry and rampant in politics and business,? he wrote, speculating that perhaps what Kangana means when she accuses the industry of nepotism, ?is that people from Dharma or Yashraj are against people like her, who have come up the hard way without their support and that they only support their own people.??Whether that is true or not I have no idea and it?s none of my business,? he conceded.?Nepotism cannot work in the film industry because it is a democracy. The film industry is the most fair line of work. So yes, maybe I got a chance because of my mother, but that is more genetics than nepotism. It?s a genetic investment that the producer was making,? he wrote.Saif also said that ?for every star kid, there are many guys and girls from total non-filmi backgrounds. Take Shah Rukh Khan, Sridevi, Madhuri Dixit-Nene, Jackie Shroff.??It?s the audience that makes a film a hit,? he wrote, and ?not the family members.?Follow @htshowbiz for more

Mansha Mahajan

12 Apr 2017,Wednesday

New Jio offer classic case of old wine in new bottle: Airtel

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/jio-brings-new-offer-for-prime-members-airtel-sees-red/1/926668.html

After Reliance Jio announced a new offer following TRAI's directive to withdraw its Summer Surprise offer, Airtel said, "It violates the spirit of the TRAI directive." "We are surprised to see what Jio is doing...This is a classic example of old wine in new bottle," Airtel said. The industry is in a "weak" position and "continues to bleed", it added.

New Delhi, Apr 11 (PTI) After regulator TRAI nixed its complimentary offer, Reliance Jio today announced a new plan of 1GB 4G data daily for 3 months at Rs 309 for its Prime members but rival Airtel dubbed the offer as a case of "old wine in a new bottle". Announcing its new offer, Jio said that under the Rs 309 plan it would provide "unlimited SMS, calling and data (1GB per day at 4G speed) for 3 months on first recharge". For Rs 509, the company is offering unlimited SMS, calling and double the data (2GB per day) for 3 months on first recharge. The new plans with benefits for Jio Prime members is aimed at encouraging subscribers to "live the digital life without restrictions", Jio said in a statement. "Considering the special benefits that are available to Jio Prime members, customers who were unable to subscribe to Jio Prime for any reason, can continue to do so by paying Rs 408 or Rs 608 (Jio Prime + recharge price) to avail these benefits," the statement added. Objecting to the offer, incumbent Bharti Airtel hoped that the "authority (TRAI) will act against this provocative disregard of their direction". "... We are surprised to see what Jio is doing. It violates the spirit of the TRAI directive and essentially continues with a similar plan now masquerading under a different name. This is a classic example of old wine in a new bottle," an Airtel spokesperson said. Stating that the industry is in a "very weak" position and "continues to bleed", Airtel said that the financial impact that telcos are seeing does no good to customers, in the long term. "With a weakened financial position, companies will find it difficult to raise the capital to invest and roll out broadband networks," Airtel cautioned. The move by Jio comes within a week of the telecom regulator asking the Mukesh Ambani telecom company to withdraw its contentious three-month complimentary offer of unlimited data usage and free calls on payment of a minimum Rs 303. TRAI, on April 6, had asked Jio to stop the complimentary service offer saying it was not in accordance with the regulatory framework. TRAI had said that Jio will be required to roll back the 3-month complimentary offer in "shortest possible time" but clarified that customers who had already subscribed to the said scheme could avail the benefits till June-end. Earlier this week, telecom operator Vodafone approached TRAI alleging that Jio was inviting last minute subscriptions to its Summer Surprise offer despite the regulator finding it in violation of norms.

Saloni Tandon

08 Mar 2017,Wednesday

Dhoni gives tips to J&K players after playing against them

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/ms-dhoni-parvez-rasool-jharkhand-jammu-and-kashmir-vijay-hazare-trophy/1/898078.html

MS Dhoni shared tips with cricketers from Jammu and Kashmir after playing against them in the Vijay Hazare Trophy on Monday. Dhoni, leading Jharkhand, was requested by India teammate and J&K skipper Parvez Rasool to interact with the boys. "I told him few youngsters want to meet him for five minutes and within no time he obliged us," said Rasool.

Jammu and Kashmir lost against Jharkhand on the field, but off it the cricketers from the northern valley emerged gainers when former India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni decided to spend some time with them answering their cricketing queries.A couple of years back, the J&K cricketers had a similar chance when Sachin Tendulkar dropped in at the Wankhede Stadium dressing room after they upset Mumbai in a Ranji Trophy gameIt was a nightmare of a tournament for J&K as they lost all but one match finishing last in their group. After being beaten by Jharkhand in a Vijay Hazare Trophy match, it was J&K skipper and India international Parvez Rasool who requested Dhoni to have a chat with the boys.On Rasool's request, the World Cup-winning skipper headed straight to the J&K dressing room and patiently listened to their queries spending about 15 minutes."Mahi bhai has always been helpful on cricketing matters. That's his nature. It was a great opportunity to learn a thing or two from Mahi bhai. He is a great guy. I played alongside him for India," Rasool said."I told him (Dhoni) few of our youngsters want to meet him for five minutes and within no time he obliged us and said 'I will go from here'," Rasool said.'GREAT OPPORTUNITY'Some of them saw Dhoni for the first time, while their reserve wicketkeeper Raman Thaploo was a great fan of the former Indian camp as it was a lifetime opportunity for them."It was a great opportunity for our youngsters who have seen Dhoni only on TV.. They saw Mahi bhai for the first time today. Mahi went inside and answered their cricketing queries."Raman also got some wicketkeeping tips from his idol and there were some tips for their struggling batsmen and also their middle-order batsman Ian Dev Singh, who is going through a patchy form with scores of 24, 0, 1, 13 and 2 in his last five innings."He explained Raman how to react in subcontinent conditions. Our batsmen going through bad patches. He said, 'Every cricketer goes through a bad phase. When you are in good form, even a bad fielder takes a brilliant catch but it's opposite in bad times. He said to work even harder in such testing times, be serious in the nets. You should not get out in nets. You will take confidence if you have this'."Having partnered Dhoni in a brief 27-run partnership in a T20I against England in Kanpur last month, Rasool was awestruck to see his game-reading capability from the other end.

Sumedha Sehra

10 Jul 2017,Monday

One killed as Swift Dzire tries to overtake Lamborghini

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/noida-greater-noida-expressway-eeco-car-lamborghini-accident-death/1/998232.html

An accident on the Noida Expressway on Saturday killed one person, after a Swift Dzire attempted to overtake a Lamborghini. The incident, caught on CCTV, shows the Dzire intercepting the lane in which the Lamborghini was driving. Following the interception, the Lamborghini steered to the other side, hitting an Eeco, which toppled and landed outside the expressway, killing the driver.

Expressway, speed and a rush of adrenaline - the result is always fatal and 28-year-old Asad Malik became the latest victim of speed junkies on the Noida-Greater Noida Expressway.On Saturday afternoon, Malik's Eeco car was smashed by a Lamborghini that swerved to avoid a speeding Swift Dzire, resulting in his death. Strangely, the same 23-km-long expressway allegedly witnessed an illegal horse race too recently. The act was caught on camera and the video clip went viral on social media websites.The series of incidents not just raise questions on the safety feature of the expressway but also on the role of Noida police which is well-equipped to monitor such stretches. Even after 24 hours of the incident, Noida police have no clue about the identity of the Lamborghini driver involved in the accident. Similarly, the police were caught unaware on the horse-racing incident and are now scanning CCTV footages.INVESTIGATION IN THE CAR ACCIDENTThe investigation in the car accident is also based on the CCTV footage. The police have caught the driver of Swift Dzire and identified him as Mohsin Khan. "All the cars involved in the accident were at a very high speed. CCTV footages show that speeding Swift Dzire was behind the Lamborghini car and tried to overtake it. The driver of Swift lost control and ventured into the lane of Lamborghini, forcing the driver of the sports car to swerve and avoid a collision. However, he smashed an Eeco, leading to Malik's death," said a senior police officer.Malik was a resident of Joshi Colony and was going to Greater Noida for work. "He was brought to hospital, but had no pulse and was declared brought dead. He sustained severe head injuries and was bleeding heavily," said KK Tripathi, a doctor at Jaypee Hospital.Trying to conceal their failure in identifying the Lamborghini driver, Noida police claims Mohsin is the main accused as he lost control. But Mohsin blames the Lamborghini driver for the accident. "The Ecco was racing with the Lamborghini and the accident took place between the two. I have no role in the accident as my car didn't even touch any car involved in the mishap. In fact, to avoid the accident, I had to collide my car with the divider. I stopped at the spot to cooperate in the investigation but police arrested me. I could have fled like the Lamborghini driver," Mohsin said.NO SUCCESS IN KEEPING A CHECK ON SPEED JUNKIESThe speed limit for heavy vehicles on the Noida-Greater Noida Expressway is 60 kmph, and for light motor vehicles, it is 100kmph. There are 132 high definition cameras, installed along the expressway, which work under the highway traffic management system (HTMS) and is designed to capture only images of vehicles moving at more than 100kmph. But Noida police have not got much success in keeping a check on speed junkies.On the other hand, a recent video of horse racing on the expressway has put Noida police on the backfoot over successful usage of the high tech system. A viral video shot by an anonymous user has gone viral on social media, which captures around half a dozen jockeys racing on the highway alongside speeding cars.Noida police confirmed the video was shot at the expressway but are unaware when the incident took place. "It is a serious matter and we are scanning cameras installed on the highway to check when the incident took place. We are trying to identify the horse riders," said a senior officer.But the entire incident also punches holes in patrolling along the expressway considered unsafe by users as many incidents of carjacking and robbery have taken place here. For many years Noida expressway has remained a favorite stretch for motorists as it offers non-stop drive till Greater Noida and further connects till Agra via Yamuna expressway. It is easy to spot 1000cc bikes and high-end sports cars cruising on this stretch and often 'illegally' used by motorists to race for money.Also Read:Bangladesh: 17 people killed in road accident in Rangpur

Saloni Tandon

17 Feb 2017,Friday

Aussies will lose 0-3 if they play well vs India: Harbhajan

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/harbhajan-singh-australia-india-test/1/885035.html

Cricketer Harbhajan Singh has said Australia will lose their upcoming four-match Test series 0-3 "if they play well" against India. "India will win 3-0...That is if Australia play well. Otherwise, 4-0...I don't think this team has the belief to win in these conditions," said Harbhajan. The series kicks off on February 23, with the first Test being played in Pune.

Veteran off-spinner Harbhajan Singh has predicted that India will completely dominate the upcoming four-match Test series against Australia, adding that the best the visitors can hope is for a draw in one of the games.Predicting a resounding victory for India, Harbhajan said, "If Australia play well, India will win 3-0. That is if Australia play well.""Otherwise, 4-0," he was quoted as saying. (Virat Kohli not Australia's only threat: 4 other concerns for Steve Smith's men)Australia are touring India for a full Test series for the first time since they were whitewashed 0-4 by the hosts in the 2012-13 season. The Aussies later defeated India 2-0 in a four-Test rubber played Down Under in the 2014-15 season.Australia have never won a Test match in India since 2004 and their last series win in Asia came against Sri Lanka in 2011. They have since suffered nine straight Test losses in the subcontinent. Harbhajan, who is also a long-time antagonist of Australia, believes the lack of batting experience of the Steve Smith-led side in Asia will act as their biggest downfall. (Australia in gruelling training session, work to counter India's spin onslaught)"I don't think the wickets are going to be that easy for them," said Harbhajan, who has 417 Test wickets to his name. If the ball starts spinning from the first ball, I don't think they will survive for long," he said.He said apart from David Warner and Smith, the other Australian batsmen won't be able to play the game as they play in Australian conditions."That Australian team in the past had so much will and belief. I don't think this team has the belief to win in these conditions," he said.

Dishant Sharma

27 Jul 2017,Thursday

Developed '6-hitting' skills while playing with men: Kaur

http://www.hindustantimes.com/cricket/harmanpreet-kaur-developed-6-hitting-skills-while-playing-with-men/story-f0Nb56eSPDSi7N5T9GSToL.html?utm_source=inshorts&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=fullarticle

Indian batswoman Harmanpreet Kaur said that she developed her skill of 'six-hitting' while playing alongside men during the formative years of her career. Talking about her unbeaten 171-run knock in the ICC Women's World Cup semifinal against Australia, Harmanpreet said, "I was happy that I played that knock when the team needed and the team won."

Aggression comes naturally to Harmanpreet Kaur and she attributes her six-hitting prowess to playing with men in the formative days of her career.Harmanpreet?s 171 against Australia in the World Cup semi-final made her an overnight sensation and many started comparing the 28-year-old to the legendary Kapil Dev.READ?|?Post Women?s Cricket World Cup, India coach proposes charting roadmapThe batting star said the memorable innings was not any different to her usual style of play as she likes to play aggressive brand of cricket since childhood.?I like to bat in that way since childhood, I have learnt to play that way and played cricket with boys, who used to hit sixes and I liked hitting sixes. ?In the final (that India lost to England), we needed runs and I was going for runs, I played the shot thinking it will be fully covered, but it went into the fielder?s hand. I was very disappointed,? Harmanpreet told reporters here.READ |?India gifted the Women?s Cricket World Cup to England: Punam RautShe was due for runs in the knock out stages after a quiet league stage. And the team could not have asked her for more in the semi-final. ?I have played knocks like that in domestic cricket, I got chance in international but never made a long score. That match was telecast and people saw it, we had the hunger to win that match and I was happy that I played that knock when the team needed and the team won,? said the right-handed batswoman.READ?|?Harmanpreet Kaur credits physio Tracy Fernandes for Women?s World Cup showShe insists that her focus is always on the team?s total while batting and that is why she did not worry about her fitness during the marathon knock against Australia.?It was not at all difficult in terms of fitness, as I like fitness and like to play football. There were injuries, but thanks to physio, I did alright,? she added.

Vaibhav Gupta

31 Jan 2017,Tuesday

Mulayam's son, his wife declare ?23 cr including Lamborghini

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/mulayams-daughter-in-law-aparna-husband-have-rs-23cr-assets/1/870309.html

SP founder Mulayam Singh Yadav's daughter-in-law Aparna Yadav and her husband Prateek Yadav have declared assets worth ?23 crore, including a Lamborghini car. Aparna, who filed her nomination from Lucknow Cantonment Assembly seat, declared movable assets worth ?3.27 crore while that of her husband are ?13.41 crore. She also declared that she does not have any vehicles in her name.

Lucnkow, Jan 30 (PTI) SP patron Mulayam Singh Yadavs younger daughter-in-law Aparna Yadav, who today filed nomination from Lucknow Cantonment Assembly seat, and her husband Prateek Yadav own assets worth over Rs 23 crore, including a swanky Lamborghini car. In the affidavit filed along with her nomination paper, Aparna has showed movable assets worth over Rs 3.27 crore while that of her husband over Rs 13.41 crore. In 2015-16, Aparna and Prateek had filed income tax returns of over Rs 50.18 lakh and Rs 1.47 crore respectively. While Aparna did not have any vehicle in her name, husband Prateek has Lamborghini worth over Rs 5.23 crore for which he had taken loan of Rs 4.5 crore from Union Bank of India last month.

Tarun Khanna

05 Feb 2017,Sunday

BJP MP equates Priyanka Gandhi to 'special utensil of steel'

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/union-minister-mahendranath-pandey-compares-priyanka-special-utensil/1/875267.html

BJP MP Mahendra Nath Pandey equated Priyanka Gandhi to 'special utensil of steel' kept in houses in UP villages. "Whenever special guests visit us, we clean it (special utensils) and keep it on the eating table. After they go away we keep it back," he said. "Whenever elections come, Congress brings out Priyanka and then keeps her back," he added.

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi was yet again on the receiving end as BJP leader and union minister Mahendranath Pandey took a jibe on her saying she is like special tool brought by Congress to impress voters in Uttar Pradesh Assembly election.During a poll campaign in UP's Hamirpur, the Union Minister of State for Human Resources Development said, "In houses of Uttar Pradesh villages we keep some special utensils of steel. Whenever special guests visit us then we clean it and keep it on the eating table. After they go away we keep it back"."Whenever election comes, then Congress brings out Priyanka and then keeps her back later on. It would not make a difference (in elections)," Pandey said.

Chhavi Tyagi

31 Mar 2017,Friday

Govt official acknowledges leak of Aadhaar information

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/narendra-modi-bjp-centre-aadhar-uidai/1/917334.html

A government official has acknowledged that personal identity of individuals, including Aadhaar number and other sensitive information, has been leaked to the public domain. "Publishing information like Aadhaar number along with name, date of birth, address etc. is a clear contravention of provisions of the Aadhaar Act, 2016 and is punishable with imprisonment of up to three years," he added.

A official in the Narendra Modi government has acknowledged that Aadhar information has been published on the Web, the New Indian Express (NIE) reported today.This revelation comes just weeks after the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) - the organization that handles the Aadhar project - refuted reports claiming that that Aadhaar data had been breached, and that biometrics were misused for creation of parallel databases.Earlier this month, the agency asserted that there was "no incident of misuse of Aadhaar biometrics leading to identity theft and financial loss."But a letter written by an employee of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology on March 25, and obtained by NIE, appears to contradict that statement. "There have been instances wherein personal identity or information of residents, including Aadhaar number and demographic information and other sensitive personal data such as bank account details etc. collected by various Ministries/Departments... has been reportedly published online and is accessible through an easy online search," wrote Archana Dureja, a scientist in the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, in a letter the NIE obtained.Dureja acknowledged in her letter that such a leak was in violation of Aadhar Act, 2016 provisions and told states and government departments to put an end to such transgressions, the report said. MS DHONI'S AADHAR REGISTRATION DETAILS LEAKEDThis revelation comes just days after CSC e-governance services on Tuesday tweeted a photo in which Dhoni was seen authenticating fingerprints to avail Aadhaar services.However, along with the photo of Dhoni, CSC's official Twitter account also tweeted his Aadhaar registration details in a screenshot, which then prompted his wife Sakshi to post a series of furious tweets.Sakshi tagged Law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad in her tweets, forcing him to take prompt action.The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) - the organization that handles the Aadhar project - has blacklisted the agency that leaked the Aadhaar receipt Dhoni for 10 years. UIDAI's CEO said an inquiry has also been ordered.ALSO READ | Aadhaar will soon be aadhaar of your existence: Why you cannot afford to live without the 12-digit number

Ankush Verma

15 Jul 2017,Saturday

A town in Colorado requires every household to own a gun

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jul/14/nucla-colorado-mandatory-gun-law-mining-telluride?utm_source=inshorts&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=fullarticle

A town in Colorado, US in 2013 passed an ordinance requiring every household to own a gun. Members of the Nucla Town Board voted 5-1 in favour of the ordinance, which was inspired by the Family Protection Ordinance passed by the town of Kennesaw, Georgia in 1982. The ordinance provides for the emergency management and general safety of the residents.

There?s an empty stretch of field off highway 141 in Colorado that used to be the perfect American town. Small houses with white picket fences boasted big flower gardens. Kids played kick the can in the streets, rode their bikes, splashed in swimming pools. On Sundays, they might have watched an Elvis movie on TV. The rent was cheap, the fathers all worked, the mothers stayed at home.Uravan was placid, friendly and, in most of the ways people usually measure it, safe. For many years, a former resident recalled, there was no law enforcement in the mining company town. Nobody needed it. The kids were good kids, because if they weren?t, the company bosses would kick their whole families out. The town, named after the minerals extracted and processed there, had secretly supplied uranium to the Manhattan Project during the war. Afterward, the cold war uranium boom made the town prosper. Things changed in 1986 when Uravan was declared a Superfund site contaminated by hazardous waste. The mine closed, residents moved out. The entire town ? the trees, the houses, the post office, the Coke glasses from the drug store ? was shredded and buried in a concrete-lined hole. The only thing left behind was the town?s metal flagpole, which was moved to the abandoned baseball field.?When they bury your whole town, they bury your history. There?s a little bit of shame to that,? said Jane Thompson, who grew up in Uravan. Her parents were the second to last family to move out.Thompson drove me through Uravan early one Sunday morning, pointing to the dip in the ground where the gas station had been, the block of houses where she had grown up. There was nothing left except scrub, battered earth and fences with signs warning, ?Caution ?? Radioactive Materials.?Thomas and her family now live just down the road in Nucla, a shrinking rural town still dependent on the mining industry.Nucla became nationally famous when it passed an ordinance requiring every household to own a gun five years ago ? a move that is still wildly popular among residents. But past Nucla?s one minute of fame, locals worry about their beloved home becoming a ghost town.In September, in the wake of a lawsuit from an environmental group, Nucla?s major employer, the local coal-fired power plant, announced that it would be shutting down in 2022. The coal mine that supplied the plant would be shutting down as well. In total, about 80 jobs were at risk ? a huge number in a town whose population boasted, according to the 2010 census, only 711 people. For locals, this decision was a death knell brought on by liberals who live in big cities. Nucla residents bristle at the warnings about the risk of exposure to radiation, and roll their eyes at A-listers like Darryl Hannah, the Hollywood actress known for Splash and Kill Bill, who joined the activism against the local uranium industry. Liberals fighting against the mining industry are good at telling them no, residents say, but don?t present them with any alternatives ? not ones that come with real salaries. Richard Craig, a former Nucla town board member, recalled a comment by a member of an environmental group saying during one of the contentious hearings: ?Well, I don?t see why they don?t want to go live in the city.??It?s almost like ? I hate using this word, it?s being used so often ? it?s almost like a conspiracy: ?We need to move everybody out of rural areas and go live in the cities and suburbs,?? Craig said.Nucla made national headlines in 2013. That year, in the wake of the Sandy Hook mass shooting that left 20 first-graders dead, Colorado passed new gun control laws, banning the sale of new ammunition magazines with more than 15 rounds and requiring that private citizens perform criminal background checks before selling guns to each other. The laws were hailed by gun control advocates nationwide as a sign of progress despite the gun debate stalemate in Washington.Nucla moved in precisely the opposite direction: it passed an ordinance mandating that every head of household had to own a gun. Kennesaw, Georgia, had passed a similar ordinance in 1982. After Craig heard about it, he proposed the idea in a town board meeting. ?It was kind of a joke to start with,? he said, sunk deep into the blue plush chair in his cluttered living room. But the reaction from other town board members was immediately positive. Nucla locals, who had been fighting with liberals for years over uranium and coal, loved the idea. ?They said, ?That sounds cool,?? he says. ?I went, ?Uh-oh.??Craig received congratulatory phone calls from gun rights groups across the country, and the town took the national media attention in stride. Locals still talk fondly of the controversy over the town?s prairie dog shooting contest in 1990, which attracted dozens of animal rights activists and made the pages of People magazine. (During the shoot, the Los Angeles Times reported, picketers chanted ?What are you gonna shoot when the prairie dogs are gone?? and a local woman called out: ?Protesters!?)Craig himself saw the ordinance as responding to yet another irrational liberal attack on rural jobs. After Colorado passed its law on magazine limits, Magpul, a company that manufactures firearms accessories, left the state of Colorado in protest for Wyoming, where it reportedly expanded its workforce and secured a lucrative contract to provide ammunition magazines to the US marine corps. But he was dismissive of Barack Obama?s controversial analysis during his 2008 campaign that small-town residents ?get bitter? and ?cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren?t like them? as a way to channel their frustration. ?The jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing?s replaced them,? Obama had said. ?And each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are going to regenerate and they have not.? Craig maintains that Nucla?s love of guns is not rooted in bitterness. Even before the new rule was approved, most people in Nucla were already gun owners. The ordinance itself contains broad exceptions, not only for felons and those with a mental illness, but also for people who cannot afford a gun or simply wish to be ?conscientious objectors?. This makes it more or less unenforceable.Still, Nucla?s commitment to gun ownership is no joke. There?s a tiny pink sign decorated with pistols at the local sheriff?s department ? it reads: ?We don?t call 911.? The town has no bars, no liquor stores, no movie theaters or malls, but it does have its own public gun range, free for use by all. The few local Democrats are no exception, including Craig himself and the local pharmacist, who was a prize-winning competitive shooter in college. Nucla?s historian, Marie Templeton, keeps a beloved gun her husband gave her as an anniversary gift. ?I?m sure that the people who live in cities have no conception of what a gun means to a person in a small town like this. What do you use a gun for? Well, you kill rattlesnakes, for one thing!? she said. She got up from her kitchen table to fetch a stack of photographs of mountain lions and bears that had been spotted in her neighbor?s yard. The ordinance didn?t even faze Shirley Miller, an Englishwoman who moved from Essex to be with her American husband. She said her adjustment was easy for the most part. Coming from a small village to the east of London, Great Wakering, she finds small-town England and small-town America mostly alike, except for Nucla?s blazing, dusty summers and, of course, its bounteous guns.That aside, Nucla?s culture is not so different from small English villages, Miller said: the lack of diversity; the mix of open-mindedness and old prejudice among the residents. There have been small adjustments. She imports her Tesco and Yorkshire tea by mail, along with the occasional package of sultanas and Marmite, and each year she lets a friend?s sheep graze in the empty pasture by her house, adding a nice pastoral touch to the property. She refuses to say a word against the gun ordinance. People who live in cities have no conception of what a gun means in a side town like this?Although I come from a culture where there are no guns, and it?s different here, I don?t see the problem here in Nucla,? she said diplomatically. ?If I were living in the city [these gun laws] would worry me. Here it doesn?t,? she said before adding wryly: ?There is no crossfire here.?Even the town?s emergency medical technician ? the major healthcare provider in the area during the night, when the local clinic is closed ? said he carried a gun, as did the ambulance driver. The EMT, Jeff Stephens, said the ambulance had been held up twice.Last November, officials said, a heavily armed man with a history of anger at law enforcement opened fire on a sheriff?s deputy while he was driving in a remote area not far from Nucla. The officer returned fire, killing the man. A local prosecutor found the officer?s actions justified.But that shooting was an anomaly for the area. ?Prior to that, the last violent shooting was in 1986 or so,? Stephens said, when a man tried to break up a fight between a man and his wife outside a bar in Naturita, the town next door, and was shot to death.Stephens said he does see occasional firearm accidents. There were two in recent memory: one a man shooting himself in the leg, another a young man shooting his partner in the knee. Both shootings involved alcohol, he said.Word travels quickly in a town of a few hundred people. I had given Craig, the architect of the gun ordinance, a call in advance of my trip to Nucla, and shortly after I arrived in town he tried to reach me on my cellphone. I didn?t immediately pick up, so Craig called the front desk of the hotel one town over, and a hotel employee dashed downstairs as I was starting to eat lunch. She handed me a fluorescent post-it note: it had Craig?s name and home number on it.By my third day in town, a woman stopped me outside of Nucla?s one restaurant, the Fifth Avenue Grill, to recommend someone for an interview. Had we met the day before? I wondered, confused. We had not. But she had heard all about me already. Later that day, a stranger in the burger joint one town over, a 1950s-style diner run by Seventh Day Adventists, broke into my note-taking to warn me that I had better be writing a nice story. I pulled up a chair to his family?s table. His son was just hoping the jobs would hang on long enough for his daughter to graduate from high school. Many of the residents were no strangers to the boom-bust cycle of the mining industry. It?s always been boom and bust, they told me, for the past hundred years. Sharon Johannsen, Jane Thompson?s sister, had been forced to leave town during a mining slump. Her family had only been able to return many years later, but her husband was now working at the coal mine that was slated to be closed.Many end up moving away for good, but the ones who stay or return are fiercely committed to the landscape and the isolation, the need for self-reliance. The nearest Walmart is more than two hours away. On the mile marker partway down the winding 100-mile road that leads to the closest hospital, locals have tied a pink ribbon to commemorate the place where a healthy little girl had recently been born.Grand Junction, that nearest larger town, has a population of just over 60,000. Several Nucla residents told me, with disgust, that they could not imagine living in a town that big, and some said they tried to visit as little as possible. Multiple men confided woefully that Nucla had a hard time attracting managers for certain jobs because their wives could not bear to live so far away from a shopping centre.Today, western Colorado is perceived as a conservative region. At a Blues in the Park night in Naturita, a stranger visiting the town, red-faced and somewhat inebriated, cornered me and began ranting about freeloading immigrants and American values. ?This country wasn?t built by socialists!? he told me. ?Actually,? I said politely, ?this area, right here, this was built by socialists.? In 1893, a financial crisis devastated thousands of companies and caused the unemployment rate to spike above 10% for several years. Workers lost their homes and families went hungry. According to one history of the town, a group of Denver families who had become homeless and who were ?united in their wish to escape tyrannical landlords? provided the impetus. In 1894, a group of 10 idealists in Denver formed the Colorado Co-Operative Company, with the goal of moving into the wilderness to create a new community ? a place ?where equality and service rather than greed and competition should be the basis?.The utopians spent nearly10 years digging an 18-mile irrigation canal through the arid landscape to bring water from the San Miguel river to the dry hill where they planned to build their colony. Money was tight, food scarce and the workers labored for shares in the eventual water rights in the canal they were digging by hand. To outsiders, the whole plan seemed like madness: how could anyone build a major irrigation canal without any capital? To expand their group of workers and supporters, the cooperative society established a newspaper, the Altrurian, to share news about their progress nationwide. It covered the day-to-day debates, including updates on the type of cabbages and lettuces that had been planted to feed the workers, as well as features on vegetarianism, marriage and violent labor strikes in other states. The paper advertised in-person cooperative club meetings across the country, including in Brooklyn, and was not too proud to beg for subscription pennies. ?If you have received one cent?s worth of information from this week?s Altrurian, and are not already a subscriber, can you not afford to be a subscriber?? it prompted.When the ditch was finished, the utopians named their town Nucla after the word nucleus, a strange premonition of the town?s nuclear future. Socialism broke down only a few years later. In 1914, Nucla voted down its ?single tax? system, in which the cooperative company owned all the land in town and paid one tax on it to the government, in favor of private ownership.Today, Thompson argues, it?s the labels on the town?s politics that have changed, more than the values themselves. The old-school cooperative mindset ?really maybe has more to do with conservatism than we think: independent, not needing the government, not needing a landlord, not needing a boss or a big corporation?.The ditch is still owned and managed collectively by the Colorado Co-operative Company, which the utopians founded in 1894. It has about 170 shareholders, and in the summer, group meetings have to be held late in the evening to make it easier for local ranchers to attend after work.Monte and his son Dean Naslund have a strong connection to the ditch: five generations of their family have worked rebuilding and maintaining it over the years.I drove out with Dean late one morning, after the day?s first real work had been done. The ditch was unlined, just a channel dug in the dirt, 16-20ft wide at the top, carefully designed to flow downhill all the way from the San Miguel river to Nucla.Naslund stopped periodically to use a pitchfork to clear branches out of ditch gratings. The back of the pickup was filled with tools, mixed with old chunks of red-and-black rock ? fossilized dinosaur bone, Naslund said. Golf balls sit near the front seat. He finds them ?floating down the ditch ? from Telluride, I suspect?.Golf balls aren?t the only trace of the liberal resort town that end up downstream in Nucla?s water. ?There?s been a few people who say they found some other things from Telluride,? Naslund said, and paused. ?Sexual endeavor things,? he added, delicately. Telluride, just an hour away, is Nucla?s polar opposite. The town, which hosts a film festival, is cosmopolitan and populated by the elite, a favored site for second or even third homes. Oprah Winfrey reportedly bought 60 acres of land there in 2014 and spent $14m on one of the town?s most lavish mansions (it has a wine cellar designed to look like a historic mine). To make ends meet, Nucla residents clean Telluride?s rental condos and help construct its elaborate mansions, with their enormous chandeliers and granite toilet seats and computerized bidets. One Nucla resident recalled walking into a bathroom in Telluride and feeling startled as ?the toilet opened by itself?.The class tensions between the two towns are exacerbated by stereotypes. Telluride people think the small towners? exposure to radiation means they ?can?t think properly?, said Kyle Webb, a 28-year-old who had moved from Denver to Nucla, in part because of its gun ordinance. Meanwhile, the avowed environmentalists are building giant mansions with heated driveways to melt the snow. Telluride is ?so wasteful ? and it?s kind of hypocritical?, said Aimee Tooker, Thompson?s niece and the the president of the West End Economic Development Corporation, which was founded to help build new economic models in the area.?It?s the saddest thing. You know, we turn off our lights. And as long as we have a place to plug in our phone and our TV, we?re happy. Those people that are up there ? they have rain sensors in their windows and sun sensors in their shades so that the shades will close automatically.?They?re the most wasteful people, yet they tell us that, you know, we can?t have our uranium, we can?t have this and that down here.? They?re the most wasteful people, yet they tell us that we can?t have our uranium, we can?t have this and that down hereThe two communities especially clashed during the push to reopen a uranium mill near Telluride, a raging fight that started around 2009. Hilary Cooper, a Telluride resident who was then the head of the Sheep Mountain Alliance, a Telluride environmental group, was one of the leaders who geared up to fight the uranium mill. ?I kind of jumped into those communities thinking, oh, we can talk some sense into these people: all the medical research and how bad this stuff was for them and how bad it was for the environment,? Cooper said. She knew the environmental arguments might not be as powerful, even if she stuck to the simple talking points of clean air and clean water. ?I could not have been more wrong in my approach,? she said.Her activism sparked outrage, and she said she received threats on her life. The children and grandchildren of Uravan miners had seen some of them die of lung cancer, but they never missed an opportunity to explain that they had been smokers too. The direct links they saw between exposure to uranium and cancer did not persuade them that uranium mining was a bad industry, especially with what the saw as more recent advances in safety. Thompson?s grandfather, who used to smoke and mine at the same time, had died of lung cancer. The local history museum has a photo of him smoking insouciantly while wheeling a cart of ore out of the mine. ?If you had told my grandpa that he was going to die when he was 70 a horrible, painful death, he would have continued to mine,? Thompson said. ?That?s how he supported his family and he was able to keep his family farm.? As an alternative to uranium, Telluride residents repeatedly suggested that Nucla and Naturita capitalize on the organic local food movement and return to their farming roots to provide Telluride and surrounding areas with produce, Cooper said.This suggestion was met with eye-rolling and frustration. ?I?ll be the first person in line to pick your tomatoes for $45,000 to $75,000 a year,? one local reportedly said in 2009, contrasting agricultural wages with mining income. Years later, Thompson still scoffs at the mention of organic produce. Her grandmother grew her own food and canned it, and never used pesticides. ?This is our way of life,? she said. After several years of angry public hearings, lawsuits and debates, the uranium project has been put on hold for economic reasons. In Nucla, where the spot price of uranium is printed on the front page of the newspaper, locals say it needs to reach $50 for the mill to be financially viable. The price listed on the paper in late June was $19.85. ?Telluride says a lot of dumb things,? said Paul Major, the president of the Telluride Foundation, a community philanthropy. ?You know, it?s easier to sit in Telluride and yodel about going green, and a community like Nucla is going, ?What are you talking about?? We?re just trying to put food on our table and a roof over our heads.??It was not easy for people working in information industries, or in tourism and real estate, to understand what it was like to be dependent on extraction industries, he said. If you had told my grandpa he was going to die a horrible,painful death at 70, he would have continued to mineThompson said that during a tour of Urvan for Telluride schoolchildren, their teacher asked her: ?So how do you kind of live with yourself, knowing that the town where you grew up in is where the bomb came from that killed all those people in Japan?? Thompson said: ?And I just looked at him, like, are you just stupid or are you just rude? What kind of question is that??My grandfather was a farmer, he was a kind and gentle man that wouldn?t hurt a fly ... He had no idea what he was doing. None of them knew what they were doing.?I had a hard time with that man even asking me that question.? Cooper, who was recently elected as a county commissioner in a neighboring county, representing Telluride, said she has learned the limits of the town?s helpful suggestions. ?Telluride is very well meaning in a patriarchal kind of way. We?ve got all kinds of ideas about what would be good for the West End. Unless it comes from within the West End, our ideas are not going to fly there,? she said. She thought some of the criticisms of the resort town have merit. ?I, too, am frustrated with Telluride?s energy use and with the 19-bedroom second homes that are still consuming energy when nobody is in the house year round. That said, don?t let that stop a good idea from happening. Don?t use that as an excuse not to move forward with something that would help your community.?Lacey Steele, a Nucla native, has been commuting to work in Telluride since she was 15 and now works at a Starbucks there. At 21, she?s starting a family and getting ready to have a baby. ?Everybody there looks down on it ? young marriage and young families,? she said. She?s one of the only people at work who?s preparing to have children at all.She sees an imbalance of power even in the way the residents of the two towns think of each other. ?I don?t believe that a lot of people in Telluride know what goes on around here. A lot of them don?t even know where we are.? And some of the work its millionaire tourist economy offers has real drawbacks: it?s seasonal, which means Steele is laid off twice a year in the spring and fall and then re-hired.Laura Denney, a Nucla resident who does private housekeeping in Telluride, said there is an ?amazing difference? in lifestyles between the two towns. At the same time, she said, the families she worked for were ?really down-to-earth people? who she saw give back to the broader community. She pushed back against the negative views of Telluride residents in Nucla. ?A lot of people still have that feeling: ?They?re just a bunch of hippies up there, just a bunch of rich people.? You know what? It was the hippies that made Telluride rich ... If it wasn?t for the people in Telluride, a lot of us here in Nucla, Naturita and Norwood wouldn?t have jobs.?Residents of Nucla ?do have this really strong attachment to their culture and their history?, Cooper said. Over the years, she?s come to believe that attachment is mixed with shame. The history of Nucla ?is not taught in schools, it?s not shared ... There?s a conflict of being both ashamed and being proud of it ? and I think in some ways that is what has really kept that community from discovering what?s next for them if it?s not uranium.?Jeremy Nichols, the climate energy program director at WildEarth Guardians, the not-for-profit whose lawsuit led to the closure of Nucla?s power plant, is unabashed about his goals. ?We want to shut down all coal-fired power plants. We want to keep all coal in the ground. We have a moral imperative to confront the climate crisis, and we can?t afford to say, ?It?s OK for this power plant to run and not the others.??The scheduled shutdown is ?an uncomfortable situation for sure for them?, he said. But the timeline, and the deadline, also have benefits, he argued. They provide certainty about something that was already going to happen, and cut through the rhetoric that might suggest, inaccurately, ?that coal is great and it?s going to go on forever and if anybody says otherwise, they?re lying?.The town has to take responsibility for planning its own future, and for the lack of planning in the past. ?It?s a beautiful landscape, but it?s stuck in an old economy, and the old economy is going belly-up, and Nucla hasn?t planned for that,? he said.One autumn 16 years ago, Monte Naslund, whose family has worked on the irrigation ditch for decades, was at cow camp, where cattle graze in the summer in the mountains near Nucla. It was always quiet up there, but on that day he noticed something different. The rumble of airplanes overhead, a constant background buzz even on a mountaintop, had stopped. He was listening to a depth of silence he had not heard since he was a boy.Only much later, when he came down off the mountain, would Naslund learn why it was so silent. Terrorists had flown airplanes into both the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and civilian flights had been grounded nationwide. More than 2,000 miles from the stunned New Yorkers who had watched the towers fall, Naslund had been able to hear the nation coming to a halt. Around Nucla these days, there?s a sense that many of the residents are listening intensely ? that the seismic shift they are experiencing, as urban and rural priorities clash across the world, is audible to them. Some in town are optimistic that they will find a way forward: expand the Nucla airport for commercial flights, turn the old elementary school building into a hemp manufacturing center, finally mobilize tourism to Nucla?s canyons, rivers and bike trails. Others are doubtful that hemp will make much difference, and question whether Nucla?s natural landscape ? beautiful, but without the show-stopping monuments of Moab or Zion ? could ever become a true tourist destination. The town lies off the highway; it is not on the way to anywhere. Miller, who runs an Airbnb in her house, said the guests she gets stay for just one night, stopping over on their way somewhere else.Thompson, who is also the president of the local historical society, is doing what she can to celebrate the town?s more positive history. There is a Uravan reunion picnic every year to bring together old residents of the town. In 2012, the event had attracted an estimated 1,000 people. They served yellow cake in tribute to yellowcake (milled uranium oxide). In the fall, she?s planning to host an all-terrain-vehicle tour of the entire length of the socialist ditch. But progress on building a larger museum is slow and after years of effort, Thompson said that Nucla and Naturita still feel like an afterthought to the broader world, their culture and history less of a priority. ?We really are a lower class people. I don?t know how to say that in a nice way,? she said.For Cooper, the Telluride commissioner, Nucla was founded with a pioneering spirit, and its residents still have it. ?If they could tap into that and take advantage of it,? she said, ?I think the sky?s the limit.?This article was co-published with Topic, a new storytelling studio. Sign up for our newsletter here

Chhavi Tyagi

27 Feb 2017,Monday

Twitter trolls Kargil martyr's daughter for old campaign pic

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/twitter-trolling-kargil-martyr-daughter-gurmehar-kaur-virender-sehwag-campaign/1/892289.html

Kargil martyr's daughter Gurmehar Kaur's picture from an old campaign holding placard "Pakistan did not kill my dad, war killed him" is being trolled by Twitter users. While one user tweeted Dawood Ibrahim's picture that read, "I didn't kill people in 1993, bombs killed them", another posted Rahul Gandhi's photo stating, "I did not destroy Congress, my speeches did".

Gurmehar Kaur, the daughter of a Kargil Martyr Captain Mandeep Singh, came into the limelight when she opposed ABVP by introducing a courageous campaign on social media sending a direct message to ABVP that students are not afraid of them. She is seen standing holding a placard saying, "I am a student from Delhi University. I am not afraid of ABVP. I am not alone. Every student of India is with me," and #studentsagainstABVP.Her campaign got her a lot of appreciation and attention on social media but also got her into trouble. She was threatened with death and rape by Twitter trolls.A student of Lady Shri Ram College, Gurmehar has been actively participating in social campaigns since a long time. Also watch: Ramjas College protest: Debate over Gurmehar Kaur's campaign against ABVPAlong with her ABVP campaign, another campaign she was a part of last May made its way back now. In it, she was promoting cordial India-Pakistan relationship. Here's the campaign:Not surprising that "nationalists" mock @mehartweets for one pic out of an entire series. Their vision as always is limited by their hate. pic.twitter.com/SCzRL76Jf7Here's what he posted:Bat me hai Dum !#BharatJaisiJagahNahipic.twitter.com/BNaO1LBHLH Now according to you he should be made a hero @mehartweets#AzaadiDebate#ISupportABVP#BharatJaisiJagahNahipic.twitter.com/CFyrPW0Y5V#BharatJaisiJagahNahiIf the 1st one is true,then images mentioned below is also trueWe expect reply like u?? proud of u @virendersehwagpic.twitter.com/8tLa3D59Fo @thetanmay one pic explain everything #ISupportABVP#IstandwithArpitaAngkita#sewag#BharatJaisiJagahNahipic.twitter.com/lf5a9kPuPd I did not tweet my phone does ????????????????#BharatJaisiJagahNahi Meanwhile RaGa be like....???? #BharatJaisiJagahNahi#ISupportABVP#UP????_BJP??????????#AzaadiDebatepic.twitter.com/TD2dLJiK2m Rapists may say that they raped no one, but their bodies did it; thanks to JNU& @mehartweets ppl's logic #ISupportABVP#BharatJaisiJagahNahi Also watch: Colleges are not for politics but for developing minds: Gurmehar Kaur 

Prashanti Moktan

21 Dec 2016,Wednesday

With 40,917 film screens, China overtakes US for first time

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/with-40917-film-screens-china-overtakes-us-report/1/839063.html

With 40,917 film screens in Chinese mainland cinemas, China has overtaken the US for the first time as the total number of screens in America stood at 40,759. The State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television's film bureau on December 20 shared this data. In box office earnings, China currently ranks second after Hollywood while Bollywood stands third.

Beijing, Dec 20 (PTI) With 40,917 film screens, China has overtaken the US for the first time as the total number of screens in America stood at 40,759. There are 40,917 film screens in Chinese mainland cinemas as of December 20, according to the film bureau of the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) today. The film industry has seen huge growth, with 26 film screens on average added each day during 2016, it said, adding that 85 per cent of all new screens can play 3D movies. China has overtaken the US in terms of film screen numbers as the total number of screens in America stood at 40,759, it said, quoting a report of Americas National Association of Theatre Owners.

Ankush Verma

26 Jul 2017,Wednesday

US House approves new sanctions against Russia

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jul/25/us-house-representatives-sanctions-russia?utm_source=inshorts&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=fullarticle

The US House of Representatives on Tuesday voted 419-3 to approve new sanctions on Russia for its interference in the 2016 presidential elections, despite President Donald Trump objecting to the legislation. The bill would also levy new sanctions against North Korea and Iran over the nations' ballistic missile programs. White House officials said they are reviewing the bill.

The House of Representatives overwhelmingly voted on Tuesday to approve new sanctions on Russia, setting up a potential showdown with the White House.By a 419-3 vote, the House approved a bill to that would levy new sanctions on Russia, Iran and North Korea. It combines new measures targeting Russia for its interference in the 2016 election, as well as provisions intended to curb North Korea?s nuclear weapons program and Iranian militarism.Only three libertarian-leaning Republicans ? Justin Amash of Michigan, Tom Massie of Kentucky and Jimmy Duncan of Tennessee ? voted against the bill in the House.The bill had been bogged down in controversy in recent weeks over objections from the Trump administration. The White House has been opposed to a provision in the bill that requires congressional approval for any attempt by the president to lift the sanctions on Russia.An earlier Senate version of the bill passed 98-2, but was only aimed at Russia and Iran. It did not include the measures against North Korea, which are now in the House bill. The latest bill must now return to the Senate, where it is expected to pass easily, before it is sent to Trump.Despite the White House?s opposition to the bill, it is likely to become law. Even if Trump decides to veto the legislation, it has already passed both chambers by veto-proof margins.In a statement, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that ?while the President supports tough sanctions on North Korea, Iran and Russia, the White House is reviewing the House legislation and awaits a final legislative package for the President?s desk?.The legislation passed the House the same day Trump?s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, spoke to the House intelligence committee about the Trump campaign?s ties to Russia. Russian interference in the 2016 election is the subject of multiple investigations ? including one by special counsel Robert Mueller ? as well as committees on Capitol Hill, and questions have been raised in particular about allegations of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. The White House has vigorously denied the suggestion that there was any collusion and has repeatedly called the investigations into Russia?s role in the election ?a witch hunt?.

Tarun Khanna

27 Feb 2017,Monday

OPS didn?t raise doubts on Jaya?s death when he was CM: DMK

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/mk-stalin-o-panneerselvam-jayalalithaa-aiadmk/1/892192.html

DMK's Working President, MK Stalin has said former Tamil Nadu CM O Panneerselvam never raised doubts about the mystery behind the death of ex-AIADMK chief J Jayalalithaa when he was CM. "Only after he was denied the chief minister's chair, which was two months after her death, did Panneerselvam choose to go on meditation under media spotlight," he added.

In a scathing attack, DMK's working president MK Stalin alleged that former Tamil Nadu chief minister O Panneerselvam was using former chief minister J Jayalalithaa's name for gaining political mileage. Taking on Panneerselvam for criticising his demand that Jayalalithaa's name be removed from government schemes, Stalin said OPS had never raised doubts about the mystery behind the death of Jayalalithaa when he was chief minister. Stalin's remark demanding removal of Jayalalithaa's photo from government installations and her name from government funded public welfare schemes has stirred a new controversy in the state. Both VK Sasikala and O Panneerselvam camps have taken extreme offense to Stalin's statement.Stalin, still holding his stand claimed that it is illegal and unconstitutional to depict pictures of Jayalalithaa on government funded programs.

Sumedha Sehra

09 May 2017,Tuesday

Bhagwant Mann made AAP Punjab Chief, asked to quit drinking

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/bhagwant-mann-aap-punjab-chief-arvind-kejriwal-quit-drinking/1/948840.html

AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal made MP Bhagwant Mann the party's Punjab chief, on the condition that he would quit drinking. Mann was reportedly told that he would be removed from the post if he is found drinking in the future. Notably, Mann has repeatedly slammed the party leadership for functioning like a "mohalla cricket team", among other things.

In a bid to placate Sangrur MP Bhagwant Mann, Aam Aadmi Party convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today made him the chief of the party's Punjab unit.Sources said the decision was taken at a meeting held at Kejriwal's official residence. Kejriwal has also put a condition on Mann that he should stop drinking otherwise he would be removed from his post, the sources added.Mann is infamous due to his drinking habits. Even in the run-up to the Punjab Assembly elections, several video clips had surfaced showing him in inebriated condition. Despite his habits, Mann has been given a chance to lead Punjab.However, Kejriwal's attempt at mollifying has offended other leaders. AAP's chief whip in the Punjab Assembly, Sukhpal Singh Khaira, quit his post in protest the appointment of Mann as AAP's Punjab unit chief.Besides, Gurpreet Singh Waraich 'Ghuggi', who has been replaced by Mann as the state chief, is also learnt to be upset at his removal.About a fortnight ago, Mann had lashed out at AAP's leadership for the party's defeat in the Punjab Assembly elections. Taking a completely different stand from that of the top party leaders including Arvind Kejriwal, Bhagwant Mann had said AAP lost Punjab not because of any tampering of EVMs but the blunders committed by the party's leadership.He had blamed the leadership for committing grave blunders in preparing strategy for the Punjab Assembly election.Mann was on the verge of quitting AAP. He had  indicated the option of exploring alternatives. Coming down heavily on AAP leadership, he had said the party functioned like a "mohalla cricket team".Mann had shared his concerns with Arvind Kejriwal. He had also apprised the Delhi CM of the blunders committed by the party's leadership. He was in favour of projecting a chief ministerial candidate. He blamed the over confidence of some leaders associated with the AAP's central leadership spoiled all the political game.

Dishant Sharma

18 Jan 2017,Wednesday

Nasser Hussain suggests three-point plan to dismiss Kohli

http://www.hindustantimes.com/cricket/nasser-hussain-s-recipe-to-dismiss-virat-kohli-bore-him-bounce-him-and-work-on-his-ego/story-H6eoTlhudI1Hw879hdtI8H.html?home-latest

Former England captain Nasser Hussain has suggested a three-point plan to dismiss Indian captain Virat Kohli. The three-point strategy outlined by Hussain includes forcing Kohli to play shots on one side of the field. Hussain also advised the English players that they should work on Virat Kohli's ego and bowl bouncers to him to try dismissing him.

Former England captain Nasser Hussain has come up with a three-point strategy to stop Indian cricket team captain Virat Kohli?s amazing run of form. In his column for the Daily Mail, Hussain heaped praise on the India captain before reminding England that they have five more opportunities to find a way to stop him.After losing the first ODI by three wickets, England face India in the second ODI in Cuttack on Thursday. Traditional welcome for #TeamIndia in Cuttack #INDvENG pic.twitter.com/X1JD3VAuKw? BCCI (@BCCI) January 18, 2017?Perhaps (England captain) Eoin Morgan has to take one side of the field out of the equation, go around the wicket and hide the ball outside off stump while telling his bowlers that he does not mind if they go for the odd wide or two,? wrote Hussain in his column.?Then they could try to keep him off strike a bit more than they did in Pune on Sunday by allowing the lad at the other end a single off the fifth or sixth ball, or bring the field up to Kohli towards the end of the over to try to make him play a big shot that could lead to his downfall.?.@imVkohli on the cusp of breaking another record in Cuttack 'fortress'. @siddharth_vishy with the stats #INDvsENG https://t.co/pAiyOwxXui? HT Sports (@HTSportsNews) January 18, 2017Like in the past, Hussain again suggested England could try bouncers against Kohli. ?An option England may well employ, if conditions dictate, is to bring Liam Plunkett into the side, put three men out and go for the short stuff,? he wrote. England fast bowler Jake Ball too had said on Tuesday that they are aiming to unsettle Kohli with short balls. Hussain also suggested that England could pay Kohli some lip service in order to get under his skin. ?I would also like them to try to get stuck into him a bit verbally because he can have a short fuse. Try to work on his ego, like teams would attempt to do with Kevin Pietersen,? wrote Hussain.Hussain had recently interviewed Kohli where the India captain admitted to being close to a very few people in his life. Thanks to @BCCI and @imVkohli for exclusive access to the game and mindset of a genius .. watch his demo here ..https://t.co/XY9KRR7uBl? Nasser Hussain (@nassercricket) January 16, 2017?The India captain is brilliant at reading a match situation, at least when he is batting, and I believe he is the best chaser of a total in one-day history. The man is something special but he?s also human. And England have five more chances on this tour to prove they can come up with a way to stop him.?

Ayushi Ahluwalia

13 Jul 2017,Thursday

Bikers arrested for 'Dhoom' inspired stunts in Mumbai

http://www.hindustantimes.com/mumbai-news/mumbai-bikers-arrested-for-performing-dhoom-style-stunts-at-marine-drive-to-impress-girls/story-c9tMtbeH9yIj2SR3YNgpGI.html?utm_source=inshorts&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=fullarticle

Two bikers were arrested on Wednesday for performing stunts inspired by Bollywood movie 'Dhoom' at Mumbai's Marine Drive. The police said they got information that four bikers were performing stunts and managed to catch two of them. The accused reportedly said that they were inspired by the movie to perform stunts to "impress girls" at the promenade.

The police on Wednesday arrested two bikers, who were performing ?Dhoom-style? stunts at Mumbai?s Marine Drive ?to impress girls?.The two arrested accused ? Mohommad Mustafa Niyaz Khan, 18, and Jhedh Shahnawaz Khan, 18, are residents of Nagpada and Mazgaon, respectively.Vilas Gangawane,s enior police inspector from Marine Drive police station, said, ?We got an information that four riders are performing stunts at the sea face. They were not just risking their own lives, but were posing a threat to those sitting at Marine Drive too. We did a nakabandi near Islam Gymkhana and caught two of them.?The other two managed to flee leaving their bikes at the spot.The police registered four different cases. In their statement to police, Mohommad and Jhedh claimed they were inspired by the movie ?Dhoom? and were performing stunts to impress girls at the promenade.They have been booked under sections 279 (rash driving or riding on a public way) and 336 (act endangering life or personal safety of others) of the Indian Penal Code. The two arrested accused were released on bail, while the hunt for two others is on.Read more:

Mansha Mahajan

17 Jul 2017,Monday

Narayana Murthy says he regrets quitting as Infosys Chairman

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/murthy-says-regret-quitting-as-infosys-chairman/1/1004306.html?utm_source=inshorts&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=fullarticle

Infosys Co-founder Narayana Murthy has said he regrets quitting as the IT giant's Chairman in 2014, adding, he should've listened to other co-founders and stayed. "I am a very emotional person. A lot of my decisions are based on idealism and probably, I should have listened to them," he stated. Murthy recently criticised the current management over corporate governance issues.

N R Narayana Murthy today said he regrets quitting as chairman of Infosys in 2014 and should have listened to other co-founders of India's second largest software exporter firm and stayed on. Murthy, who had infamous run-ins with the current management led by Vishal Sikka over corporate governance issues, however, said he did not miss being in the campus daily. Opening up about his biggest regrets - personal or profession, he recounted that "a lot of my founder colleagues told me not to leave Infosys in 2014, to stay a few years". "Generally, I find that I am a very emotional person. A lot of my decisions are based on idealism and probably, I should have listened to them," he told CNBC TV18. However, Murthy did clarify that he did not miss being in the campus daily. In 2014, 33 years after starting Infosys, Murthy bid farewell to the company he had set up with six other co- founders. PASSING ON THE BATON Murthy had the longest run of about 21 years as CEO before passing on the baton to Nandan Nilekani and then S Gopalakrishnan and S D Shibulal. In October 2014, former SAP board member Vishal Sikka took over as CEO. Murthy, by then, was serving a second stint at Infosys as Chairman. While he was appointed as Chairman Emeritus with effect from October 11, 2014, Murthy turned down the offer. However, over the last few months, Murthy has been very vocal in criticising Infosys management on a slew of issues, including alleged lapses in corporate governance, CEO salary package and severance pay to former employees. In the interview, the IT veteran termed the listing of the country's second largest software services firm on Nasdaq as his biggest success story. "I think sitting on those high stools at Nasdaq when we got listed, when we became the first Indian company to be listed on Nasdaq, and borrowing the words of Neil Armstrong to say that it is a small step for Nasdaq, but a giant leap for Infosys and the Indian software industry. I think that was the best," he said.

Shubhodeep Datta

23 Mar 2017,Thursday

Cops rescue woman, daughter locked up in house for 4 years

http://www.hindustantimes.com/delhi/delhi-cops-rescue-women-who-locked-themselves-in-a-room/story-mxfYd6ciyFd9OrnJlCeJQN.html

Delhi police has rescued a woman and her daughter, who had been locked up in their house for the last four years. An official said both of them were mentally unstable, undernourished, and weighed less than 25 kg. The matter came to light when a resident in the locality informed the cops that the duo had been forcefully locked up.

Delhi Police on Wednesday rescued a woman and her daughter, who had been living locked up in their house for the last four years, in southwest Delhi?s Mahavir Enclave. Police said they were found malnourished and living in unhygienic conditions. The woman?s elderly father-in-law lives in the same house. The matter came to light when a resident of A-block at Mahavir Enclave-II reported the matter to a local media channel and the police. He claimed that the two women - Kalavati (42) and her daughter Deepa (20) - were forcefully locked up in a first-floor room at a house nearby. However, when the police went to their house, the women told them that they were living inside out of choice. The police have now referred the two women to IHBAS (Institute of Human Behavior and Allied Sciences).?Clearly their mental condition is unstable. They are undernourished and both weigh not more than 25 kg. We have referred them to IBHAS and will oversee the treatment,? an official said.According to the woman?s father-in-law, Mahaveer Mishra, Kalavati and Deepa had locked themselves up in the room since his sons? death in a road accident in 2013. Mishra?s wife had passed away in 2000.Police officials said Mishra stayed in the next room and gave them food once a day whenever they asked for it. When the police tried to take them to the hospital on Wednesday, they refused to step out. The police, however, took help of a counselor to convince them after which they were taken to DDU?hospital in Hari Nagar for treatment. They say the two women were hallucinating. ?The woman often claimed to have been speaking to her husband and went on without food for days during these bouts. In his statement, the elderly man said that he has been getting them treated by a local doctor, as he did not have enough savings to take them to a hospital,? an official said. Mishra was a linesman retired from the MTNL and gets a monthly pension of Rs 16,000.?He said that the women hardly ate in the last four years and never stepped out of the house. He also said that whenever he took them to the doctor, they refused to tell their symptoms to the doctor because of which they could not be treated,? he added.

Rini Sinha

10 Jun 2017,Saturday

Police complaint against Kangana over Rani of Jhansi film

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/ketan-mehta-kangana-ranaut-eow-complaint-rani-of-jhansi/1/975484.html

Filmmaker Ketan Mehta has filed a complaint with Mumbai Police against Kangana Ranaut, accusing her of cheating. Mehta claimed in the complaint that after filming parts of his movie on Rani of Jhansi, Kangana left the film abruptly, and began shooting for 'Manikarnika', another movie based on a similar theme. This resulted in a loss of ?9 crore, claims Mehta.n

Director, Ketan Mehta has filed a complaint of cheating against Kangana Ranaut at Mumbai's Economic Offences Wing (EOW). Mehta has claimed that Ranaut was on board for his dream project titled Rani of Jhansi: The Warrior Queen and also shot for it. Later, the actress replaced Mehta with another director and started shooting for a similar movie with a different title. This allegedly caused the filmmaker a loss of Rs 9 crore. Mehta has also sent a legal notice to Ranaut three weeks back. He has approached EOW, a financial crime investigation agency, a few days ago. "We have received the letter. We will investigate the case, and if the allegations are true we will register a case in this regard," said DCP Parag Manere, EOW. Ketan Mehta has not answered calls and messages. Kangana's lawyer Rizwan Siddique said that they do not want to comment at this stage.ALSO READ: After Simran row, Kangana Ranaut gets Ketan Mehta's legal notice for hijacking Rani of Jhansi film

Tarun Khanna

04 May 2017,Thursday

Muslim-dominated village sets ?2.51L fine for cow slaughter

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/up-village-announces-fine-on-cow-slaughter-yogi-adityanath/1/945136.html

The panchayat in Uttar Pradesh's Madora village, which is dominated by the Muslim population, has decided to impose a fine of ?2.51 lakh for cow slaughter. "Of the total ?2.51 lakh penalty, ?51,000 will be given to the person who provides information about the cow slaughter," Mohammed Gaffar, a former village pradhan reportedly said.

A village in Uttar Pradesh's Mathura district has decided to impose a fine of Rs 2.51 lakh for cow slaughter. The Madora village panchayat took the decision during a meeting earlier this week. The village with a population of over 3000 is dominated by Muslims.During the meeting, the village elders suggested supporting Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's campaign against cow slaughter. "Of the total Rs 2.51 lakh penalty, Rs 51,000 will be given to the person who provides information about the cow slaughter," The Indian Express quoted Mohammed Gaffar, a former village pradhan, as saying. Village pradhan Usman said that the key agenda was to prevent cow slaughter and robberies in the region. FINE ON GIRLS FOR TALKING ON MOBILE PHONEThe panchayat members also decided to impose Rs 21,000 fine on girls who will be seen talking on mobile phones while walking on the street. The idea was to reduce the rate of crime against girls and  elopement, said villagers.The quantum of punishment apart from the penalty would be decided by the entire panchayat.WATCH: Now cow slaughter will attract life imprisonment in GujaratALSO READ:

Sumedha Sehra

23 Jul 2017,Sunday

77 votes in Prez polls invalid due to circles, dots, commas

http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/dots-and-commas-among-reasons-for-rejection-of-votes-in-presidential-poll/story-x5haIXomo5zr5QtJuAKiWK.html?utm_source=inshorts&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=fullarticle

As many as 77 votes were declared invalid in the Presidential elections, because of invalid symbols like commas, dots, and circles, according to the people involved in counting. The number '1' with a '.' was the most common mistake, while the "1" (one in inverted commas) came second. One voter wrote '1' on Meira Kumar's name instead of the box.

Dots and inverted commas have come to confound political parties, who are seeking to identify rebels during the 2017 presidential poll. These led to the rejection of votes by 21 MPs and 56 MLAs, triggering much curiosity and concern among parties.These 77 votes, with a value of 20,942, might be inconsequential to the outcome: NDA candidate Ram Nath Kovind romped home with a margin of 3.67 lakh (in terms of value of votes). But there is no full stop in politics, as then Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi said after the UPA?s victory in 2009.Both the NDA and the opposition camps are anxious to know how many of the 77 invalid votes were a result of inadvertent errors and how many were by design. Over a hundred legislators were estimated to have cross-voted in valid votes.Those involved in the counting of votes on July 20 told HT that invalid ones were due to dots, inverted commas, circles and slants that electors erroneously used on their ballot papers. They were supposed to express their first preference simply with a numeral 1 ? second preference was unnecessary in a bipolar contest?in the box against the name of Kovind or Meira Kumar, the opposition parties? nominee.A Congress MLA from Haryana wrote 1. (numeral with a period-mark) rendering his vote invalid. Most of the 77 legislators made the same mistake, said those involved in counting.The second most common error was ?1?. Some put a circle around the numeric. The BJP got one vote invalidated because the 1 was slanted ?by about 30 to 40 degrees? and not perpendicular; the Congress got the same opportunity later. One of the MLAs wrote 1 over Meira Kumar?s name.Given that legislators were clearly informed about the dos and don?ts, such errors were unexpected. Many of them could be inadvertent and a result of sheer habit but the rules set by the poll watchdog were not to be bent.Senior BJD leader Bhartruhari Mahtab recalled one such instance in 2012 presidential poll in which he was the counting agent for PA Sangma. A Congress MLA from Odisha decided to go by his conscience?permitted in presidential polls where there is no party whip ? and voted for Sangma. He used Oriya numeral P and not E for 1. Although both are used for 1, his vote was rejected after the Congress objected to it.The list of possible errors is long. According to Anoop Mishra, secretary general of the Lok Sabha and the Returning Officer for the presidential poll, any of these can lead a vote invalid: Writing the same preference number outside both candidate?s names, putting a tick mark, or writing outside the box. ?Votes can also be declared invalid if there are any other marks, which are not required and which can later identify the voter. These can even be a dot, a line or even a wrong-coloured ink,? he told HT.Deepender Singh Hooda, counting agent for Meira Kumar, maintained that ?broadly, votes for both sides got cancelled? due to errors, but the BJP seemed better prepared. Senior BJP leader Bhupendra Yadav, counting agent for Kovind, said that a day before the poling, his party had made a presentation to its legislators on voting rules.?It?s possible that some members themselves might have got their votes rejected, but there could also be inadvertent errors. The Election Commission should think of a better way to ensure that votes are not rejected,? said Hooda.

Daisy Mowke

26 Mar 2017,Sunday

Anupam Kher gifts his mother a house in Shimla

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/anupam-kher-gifts-mother-her-dream-house-in-shimla/1/913059.html

Actor Anupam Kher recently bought his first house in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh and gifted it to his mother. In an Instagram post, Kher said he always wanted to own a property in Shimla as he spent his childhood there. "[My mother] has been teary-eyed since yesterday. She said this is the most beautiful thing that could have happened," he added.n

Shimla, Mar 26 (PTI) Veteran actor Anupam Kher, who grew up in Himachal Pradesh, today bought his first ever house here and gifted it to his mother. Kher said he always wanted to own a property in Shimla as he has spent all his childhood here. The actor shared the happy news on Twitter by sharing a video with fans and followers. "We Indians want to have our own home in a place where we grew up. Happy to share, we have our 1st ever home in Shimla. Presented it to Mom," Kher captioned the clip.

Ankush Verma

01 Aug 2017,Tuesday

China building high-speed rail tunnel below Great Wall

http://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/china-is-constructing-a-record-breaking-railway-tunnel-below-the-great-wall/story-Eyz9ABvIMtzdtGR4AeOJSN.html?utm_source=inshorts&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=fullarticle

China is reportedly constructing a 12-km-long high-speed train tunnel through one of the portions of its iconic Great Wall to connect Beijing with Zhangjiakou city which will co-host 2022 Winter Olympics. The line is designed for trains traveling up to 350 kmph and is expected to shorten the single-journey time from more than 3 hours to approximately one hour.

China is constructing a 12-km-long high-speed train tunnel through one of the portions of its iconic Great Wall to connect Zhangjiakou city which is due to co-host 2022 winter Olympics along with Beijing.It took the Chinese engineers months to choreograph the best intersection point. In the end, the tunnel, deep below the Badaling section of the Great Wall, passed experts? appraisal, state-run People?s Daily reported.The line is designed for trains travelling up to 350km per hour, which is expected to shorten the single-journey time from more than 3 hours to approximately one hour. The line is estimated to be completed in 2019.The depth of the tunnel will range from four metres to 432 metres. Now, people are holding their breath on the completion of the tunnel while ensuring that the Great Wall is not damaged in the process, the Global Times reported.Luo Duhao, chief engineer of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou High-Speed Railway Line, being built by China Railway Number 5 Engineering Group Co said the firm will employ ?precision micro-blasting? technology, which has a velocity of 0.2 cm per second and is able to make the tremor weaker than the traditional firepower blasts that have a velocity of 5 cm per second.Luo told the Global Times that the new technology will ensure that the Great Wall will not be affected by the blasts, as they will be barely felt.?The new technology causes little damage to the geological environment, which will help protect the Great Wall,? Dai Longzhen, deputy manager of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou High-Speed Railway Line, told the Global Times.?I myself once stood on the Great Wall and I could not feel the blast at all,? Dai added.Zhang Xuehua, a blast expert at the construction site, told the People?s Daily that the construction of the tunnel has completed 4,500 blasts since early February this year.In the middle of the tunnel, workers will build a spacious and well-decorated station right under the Great Wall, with a record-breaking construction space of 36,000 square metres, the Xinhua News Agency reported.The station will be 102 metres below the surface of the Badaling Great Wall.Dai said the construction area and the depth of the station is ?record-breaking.?He said that because the station is built underground, it will cause less damage to the plantation, and it also demonstrates China?s top-notch railway construction capabilities.Originating from the Beijing Railway Station North, the Beijing-Zhangjiakou High-Speed Railway Line runs through Haidian, Changping and Yanqing districts of Beijing. The line continues northwest through Huailai and Xunhua counties in Hebei province before terminating in the city of Zhangjiakou, making for a total length of 174 km.Built from the third century BC to the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), the Great Wall stretches over 21,000 km. Over a four million tourists visit the Great Wall every year as it is the centre of China?s tourism campaign.According to official statistics, about 30% of a 6,200-km section of the wall built in the Ming Dynasty has disappeared, and less than 10% is considered well- preserved.The Great Wall has faced threats from both nature and humans. Earthquakes, rain, wind and other natural elements have left the wall with many decayed and crumbling bricks.

Chhavi Tyagi

22 Mar 2017,Wednesday

Join work or face action: Bombay HC to protesting doctors

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/bombay-high-court-sion-hospital-resident-doctors-strike/1/909308.html

The Bombay High Court on Tuesday slammed over 4,500 resident doctors in Maharashtra who had gone on mass leave since March 20 and asked them to join work or face action by the management. The HC was hearing a PIL filed against the strike wherein the advocate representing the petitioners claimed 58 people have died in Maharashtra since Monday.

Bombay High Court today came down heavily on over 4,500 resident doctors of Maharashtra who had gone on mass leave since March 20. The court was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed against the strike due to which many patients are not receiving proper treatment.Advocate Datta Mane, representing the petitioners, told the court that since Monday morning 58 people have died in the state. Although Chief Justice Chellur did not believe this situation was due to the strike but the government pleader, appearing for the state government, told the court that the health care in civic and state-run hospitals was paralysed due to 60 per cent of its workforce not reporting to work.Advocate Prashant Pophale appearing for the Maharashtra Association for Resident Doctors (MARD) pointed out that there have been three incidents wherein patients' relatives have beaten up doctors in Dhule, Mumbai (Sion Hospital) and Nashik in the last few days.WHY THE PUBLIC ANARCHY, ASKS CHIEF JUSTICE CHELLUR Chief Justice Chellur asked, "Why the public anarchy? It's madness," before asking the state pleader to explain the reason for the such action taken by the patients' relatives. She added, "I don't say doctors don't commit mistakes but, there are complications due to which patients lose their life. Every case cannot be due to negligence. And even if there is negligence there are redressal forums for it."Pophale pointed out to the court that the doctors are not on strike but only on mass leave and as an association, they have been telling the doctors not to do so. He, however, added that the state has done little to protect the doctors. But Chief Justice Chellur was of the opinion that the resident doctors cannot put the public at large in trouble. "If you (resident doctors) think being a doctor you can behave like a factory worker, then you are unfit to serve as a doctor. It's a shame. How can you (resident doctors) say first provide security only then we will work?" asked Chief Justice Chellur.NEXT HEARING TOMORROWWith this, the Bombay High Court ordered the striking resident doctors to join work or face action by the management. It said that the management is free to initiate action and contempt proceedings against the striking doctors. The next hearing of the case is on March 22.After the Bombay High Court issued the order, Naresh Kabra, a resident doctor at Sion Hospital present at the hearing, said, "We are not super humans either. Patients verbally abuse us almost every day but we don't say anything. It's only when we are physically beaten up that we have protested. Why cannot the state protect us?" Kabra pointed out that after subsequent court orders, 58 CCTV cameras were installed at Sion Hospital but the audit report shows that only eight are functional.

Chhavi Tyagi

02 Aug 2017,Wednesday

I-T dept recovers ?5 cr from K'taka Min hosting Gujarat MLAs

http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/it-raids-at-karnataka-minister-s-house-resort-where-congress-gujarat-mlas-are-holed-up/story-srg9SNzhPS3ld2I367WazK.html?utm_source=inshorts&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=fullarticle

The Income Tax Department recovered ?5 crore in cash from Karnataka minister DK Shivakumar's Delhi residence after it raided 39 places linked to the in-charge of hospitality for 44 Gujarat Congress MLAs in Bengaluru. Meanwhile, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said, "In order to meet political conspiracies, I-T department has been used. This is not fair in politics."

Tax officials raided on Wednesday multiple properties linked to DK Shivakumar, a top minister in Karnataka who is hosting a group of party legislators from Gujarat to avoid a break in their ranks ahead of a close Rajya Sabha election.Tax officers raided 64 places in Delhi and Karnataka linked to energy minister Shivakumar as part of investigations into his alleged tax evasion and dodgy investments in real estate. The move triggered an angry response from the Congress, which accused the BJP of carrying out ?an unprecedented witch-hunt?. Party leaders raised the matter in parliament, protesting noisily and forcing multiple adjournments in the Rajya Sabha. In Lok Sabha, the party also staged a walkout.The Congress has accused the BJP of using ?money and muscle power? to engineer defections among its legislators in Gujarat, where senior party leader Ahmed Patel is seeking re-election to the Rajya Sabha, on August 8.But the government said the ?Eagleton ? The Golf Village?, where the Gujarat legislators were camping, had not been raided. Finance minister Arun Jaitley told Parliament that only Shivakumar, who was trying to ?hide behind the cover? of the lawmakers at the resort, had been taken for questioning.Jaitley told the Lok Sabha that tax officials found that Shivakumar was tearing up documents at the resort. ?We recovered those papers as well,? he said.As the Congress accused the government of using its agencies such as CBI, Enforcement Directorate and Income Tax to target the opposition leaders, Jaitley said, ?Whether it is a use or abuse, it depends on recovery (from the raids).?Last week, the Congress flew 42 legislators to a resort on the outskirts of the capital of Karnataka, where the party is in power, to keep the flock together. Six of its legislators have quit the party and three of them crossed over to the BJP. More defections can jeopardise Patel?s chances of re-election.Party spokesman and Gujarat MLA Shaktisinh Gohil contradicted the BJP, saying tax officials entered their resort. Ashok Gehlot, Congress? Gujarat in-charge, said: ?Our MLAs are being threatened, money was offered and raids are being conducted.?His party colleague Anand Sharma said: ?There is a trend now of abusing state power and agencies of the state. The timing is important and significant. This minister was coordinating the safety of the MLAs.?Shortly after the raids began, Patel hit out at the BJP in tweets: ?BJP is on an unprecedented witch-hunt just to win one Rajya Sabha seat.?BJP is on an unprecedented witch-hunt just to win one Rajya Sabha seat? Ahmed Patel (@ahmedpatel) August 2, 2017After using the state machinery and every other agency,these I-T raids show their utter desperation & frustration? Ahmed Patel (@ahmedpatel) August 2, 2017Read more | Congress parades 44 Gujarat MLAs, says BJP tried to bribe them ahead of Rajya Sabha pollsCongress?s leader in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad asked why the raids were ?taking place today and not a month later or before?.But an I-T department statement later denied the raids were related to the stay of the Gujarat MLAs. It said the searches were part of an evidence-gathering exercise.?The search is a continuation of an investigation which has been in progress for a considerable period of time,? it said, adding the timing of the raids had been decided ?well in advance?. ?There has been no contact with the MLAs [from Gujarat] and the search team.?(With agency inputs)

Dishant Sharma

09 Jul 2017,Sunday

Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas wins Austrian Grand Prix

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/live/2017/jul/09/f1-austrian-grand-prix-live?CMP=share_btn_tw

Mercedes' Formula One driver Valtteri Bottas, who began on pole, won the Austrian Grand Prix on Sunday. Bottas finished ahead of Sebastian Vettel and Daniel Ricciardo, who finished second and third respectively. Three-time Formula One champion, Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton finished fourth in the race. Notably, Vettel leads the driver standings with 171 points, 20 ahead of Hamilton.

3.04pm BST 15:04 Giles Richards?s race report: 2.36pm BST 14:36 Anyway, a race that lacked the drama and spills and thrills of Baku was nonetheless skilfully won from pole by Bottas, whose lightning start pretty much defined his race, once it was checked out by the stewards and declared legal. He held off another stern challenge from Vettel, who extended his championship lead over Hamilton to 20 points. But Bottas is now only 35 points behind, and you wouldn?t rule him out on current form. Hamilton climbed four places from pole, but couldn?t quite manage the explosive performance needed to get on the podium. Anyway, that?s all from me for now. Stay on the site for Giles Richards? report from the Red Bull Ring and other reaction. Thanks for reading and for your mid-race emails that I didn?t have time to respond to at the time. Bye. 2.28pm BST 14:28 1 Bottas 2 Vettel 3 Ricciardo 4 Hamilton 5 Raikkonen 6 Grosjean 7 Pérez 8 Ocon 9 Massa 10 Stroll. 2.27pm BST 14:27 That was a close and absorbing last lap, but it was another fine race by Bottas, who?s creeping up in the title race, but Vettel remains firmly out in front, having stretched his advantage over Hamilton, who did well in the end to come so close to a podium finish after starting from eighth. But he had to settle for fourth place behind Ricciardo, who finishes on the podium for the second race in a row.Updated at 2.33pm BST 2.25pm BST 14:25 Bottas struggles for grip on the turns but he holds him off and gets his positioning right to take the victory! Ricciardo similarly holds off Hamilton to take third! 2.24pm BST 14:24 Lap 70: Hamilton attacks Ricciardo at turn four but Ricciardo holds him off on the inside. Bottas just holds the lead as they go into the last lap. 2.23pm BST 14:23 Lap 69: Vettel closes to 0.8ecs behind Bottas with two to go, which is the gape between Ricciardo and Hamilton 2.22pm BST 14:22 Lap 68: Vettel has some difficulty lapping Perez, and stays second, as Hamilton moves to 0.8sec behind Ricciardo. 2.21pm BST 14:21 Lap 67: Further -ack movements include Jolyon Palmer squeezing up to 11th as he seeks his first points and Ocon moving up to eighth. 2.19pm BST 14:19 Lap 66: ?I need everything now? says Hamilton, who sounds permanently unhappy, but he?s closing on Ricciardo, who?s car isn?t completely running smoothly either. He won?t catch the top two, as Bottas retains a two-second lead over Vettel. 2.17pm BST 14:17 Lap 65: The gap beteeen Vettel and Bottas dips below two seconds ? the Finn?s lead is under threat here, but there?s only six laps remaining. Raikkonen appears to be losing ground in fifth.Updated at 2.29pm BST 2.17pm BST 14:17 Lap 64: Sorry for the delay in updates over the past couple of laps ? some technical glitches here. Hamilton still closing on Ricciardio ? it?s 1.8secs - despite complaints about tyre blistering, but the top three is as you were: 1 Bottas 2 Vettel 3 Ricciardo 2.12pm BST 14:12 Lap 60: While we build-up to the race finale ?WATCH: Re-live the drama at the start of the #AustrianGP as KVY, ALO and VER collide ??VIDEO >> https://t.co/LKW0arUxW5 #F1 pic.twitter.com/PxYi8Ks8AlUpdated at 2.15pm BST 2.11pm BST 14:11 Lap 59: Hamilton sets a new fastest lap and is now only 2.9 secs behind Ricciardo in third. Kvyat pits for a second time ? his third in total given his drive-through penalty ? and he?s stone last. 2.10pm BST 14:10 Lap 58: Hamilton and Ricciardo both set their fastest lap times on the 57th, but they?re a distance behind the top two. Bottas still leads from Vettel. 2.08pm BST 14:08 Lap 56: Raikkonen struggles on a bend for grip, which gives Hamilton a bit of respite in his bid to hold onto a top four place. Vettel is now 2.9secs behind Bottas.Updated at 2.14pm BST 2.08pm BST 14:08 Lap 55: This is another test of Bottas?s temperament ? he?s shown he can handle pressure before, but it won?t be easy. As Vettel is told there may be rain before the end of the race, which Hamilton may like too but it?s probably too late. 2.06pm BST 14:06 Lap 54: Bottas?s lead is now 3.2seconds from Vettel ? it?s closing all the time and this could be a tight finish, as Raikkonen in fifth sets the fastest lap of the race in 1: 07.6 2.05pm BST 14:05 Lap 53: Quick places recap: 1 Bottas 2 Vettel 3 Ricciardo 4 Hamilton 5 Raikkonen 6 Grosjean 7 Perez 8 Ocon 9 Massa 10 Stroll. A good lap from Hamilton puts him within three and a half seconds of Ricciardo, though Raikkonen is closing on Hamilton too. 2.03pm BST 14:03 Lap 52: Hamilton?s woes will be music to Vettel?s ears in terms of the title race but can he reel in Bottas? He?s closing slowly, and has 19 laps to cut that lead, which is currently around 3.8secs. Updated at 2.03pm BST 2.02pm BST 14:02 Lap 51: Vettel cuts the gap to 3.8secs on Bottas, as Hamilton complains that ?I?m struggling out here? ? a pit stop would be risky, but Mercedes may need to do something; there?s blistering on his front left tyres too. 2.01pm BST 14:01 Lap 50: Vettel steps on the gas, reducing the gap to below four seconds ? it?s now 3.9secs ? and it puts more daylight between Vettel and Ricciardo in third. Hamilton is still ahead of Raikkonen; they?re in fourth and fifth respectively. 1.59pm BST 13:59 Lap 48: Massa pits, and can?t quite manage to emerge ahead of Ocon but has to make do with ninth place now. Bottas still leads. 1.58pm BST 13:58 Lap 47: Felipe Massa has had an excellent race, he?s up to sixth now, though he hasn?t pitted yet, but given where he started this is a fine performance. Bottas still leads by 4.45secs from Vettel. Updated at 1.58pm BST 1.57pm BST 13:57 Lap 46: Sainz retires, sighing ?what a glorious race?, as Bottas continues to lead and look comfortable again. Hamilton is back in fifth, and it still just doesn?t look to be happening for him today.Updated at 2.05pm BST 1.55pm BST 13:55 Lap 45: So Bottas is back in front from Vettel, with Ricciardo third, Hamilton fourth and Raikkonen fifth. Vandoorne has been hit with a drive-through penalty for ignoring blue flags, which probably scuppers his chances of any points. Car problems for Red Bull?s Sainz ? it looks as if he?s going to retire. 1.54pm BST 13:54 Lap 44: Bottas closes on Raikkonen, and takes him on into turn four, and passes him. He?s back in front and on those fresh tyres he made that look really easy. Raikkonen pits straight away. 1.53pm BST 13:53 Lap 43: Raikoinnen, yet to pit, is 1.25 secs ahead from Bottas, who is 2.8 secs ahead of Vettel, with Ricciardo fourth and Hamilton fifth. 1.51pm BST 13:51 Lap 42: Bottas pits, and the changeover is a little ponderous, which hands Raikkonen the lead. Vettel is now a bit closer to Bottas in third place. So Raikkonen might tactically stay out even longer to help Vettel, as he?s told on the radio that Hamilton has ?bad balance? and isn?t threatening yet. 1.49pm BST 13:49 Lap 40: Some Hamilton unhappiness with the condition of his right rear tyre, which looks a little blistered. He remains fifth, with Ricciardo in front of him in fourth. Raikkonen is still yet to pit in second place.Updated at 1.49pm BST 1.47pm BST 13:47 Lap 38: Bottas appears to have been held up by the lapped Perez a little as he tried to take him on on the turn, but he retains his comfortable lead. On a similar theme, Vandoorne is under investigation over an incident with Raikkonen 1.44pm BST 13:44 Lap 36: How they stand recap: 1 Bottas 2 Raikkonen 3 Vettel 4 Ricciardo 5 Hamilton 6 Grosjean 7 Ocon 8 Massa, 9 Perez 10 Sainz 1.43pm BST 13:43 Lap 35: Vettel pits, swiftly, moving onto super-softs ? a smooth changeround, that. He drops to third behind Raikkonen in second, but the Finn is yet to pit. Bottas still leads, as he has the whole way. Hamilton is fifth. Further back, Vandoorne passes Eriksson to move into 14th. Palmer pits and switches to ultra-softsUpdated at 1.44pm BST 1.42pm BST 13:42 Lap 34: Ricciardo also takes his pit stop, which drops him back to fourth for now, but he needed to do that with Hamilton closing 1.41pm BST 13:41 Lap 33: Raikkonen has just put in his best lap, and is told to stay out for the foreseeable ? ?do the opposite of Hamilton? being his race mantra. 1.39pm BST 13:39 Lap 31: Bottas is eight seconds ahead now from Vettel, as Hamilton decides to come in first, taking 2.4secs, as he switches to the ultras. And he doesn?t lose any places, such is his lead over Grosjean in sixthUpdated at 1.40pm BST 1.38pm BST 13:38 Lap 30: Magnussen has been called in, and this looks like the end of his race. Bottas still leads from Vettel. 1.37pm BST 13:37 Lap 29: Further back, Stroll and Massa have driven very well in 10th and ninth respectively, having come through well at the start. Car trouble for Magnussen, probably with the gear box ? that ?pop? sounded unhealthy. 1.36pm BST 13:36 Lap 28: Verstappen is talking about the accident that ended his race early on. ?I?m very disappointed especially for the fans, who were the best crowd I?ve seen so far, and I couldn?t even complete a turn for them.? He looks glum, as well he might. If it weren?t for bad luck he?d have no luck at all. 1.34pm BST 13:34 Lap 27: Hamilton is agonisingly just short of being able to take on Raikkonen at the turns, and he?ll need to up his pace at some point. Bottas laps Wehrlein in 15th and continues to lead comfortably. 1.33pm BST 13:33 Lap 26: Hamilton moves a bit closer to Raikkonen again, looking to take advantage of the Ferrari driver?s tyre problems, but he?s still fifth in his super-softs.

Shubhodeep Datta

24 Dec 2016,Saturday

Two arrested over depositing ?34 crore in 9 fake accounts

http://www.hindustantimes.com/delhi/police-unearth-r34-crore-in-nine-bogus-accounts-at-chandni-chowk-bank-branch/story-87A8ztvhbjMO259PnqXMwK.html

The police have arrested two people who allegedly deposited scrapped currency worth ?34 crore in nine fictitious accounts they had opened in Delhi's Naya Bazar branch of Kotak Mahindra Bank. The branch manager, who is suspected to have colluded with the accused, is absconding. The police said that the probe can lead to hawala operators and corrupt bank employees.

The police have arrested two people who opened nine accounts in the Naya Bazar branch of Kotak Mahindra Bank, in which they deposited R34 crore in scrapped banknotes. The branch manager, who is suspected to have colluded with the money launderers, is absconding. Ravindra Yadav , joint commissioner of police (crime), said the accounts were opened in fictitious names. ?They had deposited R34 crore in scrapped currency since November 8, when demonetisation was announced. They were identified as Rajkumar Goel, 47, from Haryana and Ranjit, 29, from Jharkhand,? said Yadav.The police have roped in the Enforcement Directorate (ED) into the probe. Senior police officers said they hope that the probe will lead the police to hawala operators and corrupt bank employees. They said some more bogus bank accounts could be exposed. A police officer said the racket was unearthed in a probe into a three-month old cheating case in which R55.70 lakh was debited from a woman?s account through RTGS (Real Time Gross Settlement) transfers, using forged cheques. The woman told the police that R40.50 lakh and R15.20 were debited from her account on September 3 and 5.The police found that forged cheques were used to transfer the money. ?Investigation into the source of these cheques led the police to Rajkumar Goel, who is based in Chandni Chowk area,? said Yadav. Goel?s arrest led the police to Ranjit.Goel and Ranjit told the police that they opened accounts in the name of several bogus firms to launder money, Yadav said. The bank clarified that it has all the necessary documents that are needed to open an account.?The bank has on record all necessary KYC documents, including PAN card. The bank, on its own, on observing the nature of transactions in these accounts, proactively filed a report with Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) for further investigations,? said Rohit Rao, spokesperson, Kotak Mahindra Bank.?As per the instructions, the bank deposited the entire amount that was credited with these accounts with the Income Tax department. The bank has fully cooperated with the authorities, and has demonstrated the highest standards of compliance,? Rao said.

Ankush Verma

16 Jan 2017,Monday

Obama declares January 16 as Religious Freedom Day

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/president-barack-obama-declares-january-16-religious-freedom-day/1/857143.html

US President Barack Obama has declared January 16 as Religious Freedom Day in accordance with a yearly tradition. Urging his countrymen to stand against religious intolerance, Obama said, "religious freedom is a principle based not on shared ancestry, culture, ethnicity, or faith but on a shared commitment to liberty." He further said that America's strength comes from its diversity.

Continuing a yearly tradition, outgoing US President Barack Obama signed a proclamation to declare January 16 Religious Freedom Day. "Religious freedom is a principle based not on shared ancestry, culture, ethnicity, or faith but on a shared commitment to liberty - and it lies at the very heart of who we are as Americans," Obama said on Friday.Each year, by Presidential Proclamation, January 16 is declared Religious Freedom Day in the US.Obama urged the country's citizens to reject politics that seeks to target people because of their religion."Part of being American means guarding against bigotry and speaking out on behalf of others, no matter their background or belief - whether they are wearing a hijab or a baseball cap, a yarmulke or a cowboy hat," he said.The president said America's strength comes from its diversity."And we must be unified in our commitment to protecting the freedoms of conscience and religious belief and the freedom to live our lives according to them," he said."Brave men and women of faith have challenged our conscience and brought us closer to our founding ideals, from the abolition of slavery to the expansion of civil rights and workers' rights. And throughout our history, faith communities have helped uphold these values by joining in efforts to help those in need -- rallying in the face of tragedy and providing care or shelter in times of disaster," the US President said.Obama rued that in 2015, nearly 20 percent of hate crime victims in America were targeted because of religious bias."That is unacceptable -- and as Americans, we have an obligation to do better. If we are to defend religious freedom, we must remember that when any religious group is targeted, we all have a responsibility to speak up," he said.

Rini Sinha

11 Dec 2016,Sunday

Dilip Kumar still in hospital on 94th birthday

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/happy-birthday-dilip-kumar-twitter-amitabh-bachchan-juhi-chawla/1/832101.html

Veteran actor Dilip Kumar turned 94 on Sunday while still being admitted in the hospital. He was hospitalised last week, after complaining of fever and a swollen right leg. "There are no birthday plans as such as of now," a source said. Meanwhile, Bollywood celebrities, including Amitabh Bachchan and Juhi Chawla among others took to Twitter to wish the actor.

Veteran actor Dilip Kumar was the original superstar of Hindi cinema. Best known for films like Devdas, Naya Daur and Mughal-E-Azam, Dilip Kumar has inspired several with his powerhouse performances. From Amitabh Bachchan to Shah Rukh Khan, Bollywood is a fan of the thespian.ALSO READ: Dilip Kumar hospitalised, tweets that he is feeling betterLast week, the actor was hospitalised after he noticed a sudden swelling in his leg. However, he took to Twitter to reassure his fans that he was feeling much better. Dilip Kumar turns 94 today, but there will be no celebration as he is still recuperating.A host of B-Town celebrities like Amitabh Bachchan, Juhi Chawla and Govinda wished the actor on Twitter. Here are some of the tweets.T 2468 - To the greatest .. Dilip Kumar .. on his birthday Dec 11, wishes prayers and duas for good health and happiness ..Happy birthday @TheDilipKumar Sahab..!! Wishing peace and good heath to one of the greatest stars of the Indian screen ð???ð??? pic.twitter.com/5BdGuyCXPnNamaskar. Aaj mere bade bhai Dilip Kumar ji ka janamdin hai.Meri Ishwar se prarthana haj ki wo deerghayu ho aur unki sehat acchi rahe.

Arshiya Chopra

22 Jul 2017,Saturday

RSS think tank to get people to protect Hinduism online

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/bharat-niti-yogi-adityanath-hindutva-army/1/1008206.html?utm_source=inshorts&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=fullarticle

RSS-BJP affiliated think tank Bharat Niti has reportedly planned to raise a dedicated unit of people that will protect and promote Hinduism online. The group has also planned a 'Hinduism and Social Media Conclave' in November, where they would discuss ways to promote Hinduism through "high-tech means". Notably, Yogi Adityanath has been invited as the chief guest of the event.

Now Hinduism and Hindutva would be protected and propagated by an army of online warriors.RSS-BJP affiliated think tank Bharat Niti has planned a massive 'Hinduism and Social Media Conclave' in November in the holy city of Kashi, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi's parliamentary constituency Varanasi is also known.The right-wing aims to raise a dedicated unit of virtual soldiers from among its Internet and social media savvy cadre to "protect Hinduism from being deprecated and its symbols desecrated on online platforms by people inspired by leftist ideologies or Islamism".The online route seems in line with the social media presence of the BJP-RSS complex of organisations and the fact that the PM is one of the most followed people on Twitter in the world.The gathering would discuss how Hinduism can be protected and propagated via online and social media platforms such as Twitter, WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram."It has become the order of the day that miscreants post defiling material on social media websites so as to hurt the feelings of the Hindus," Shailendra Sengar, member of the management team of Bharat Niti, told Mail Today. "They make fun of our Gods and Goddesses. At times it has been seen that more than making fun, they post things that are directly sacrilegious. We shall be discussing at the Kashi meet how we can stop and counter such propaganda as also we shall put our heads together to find ways to propagate Hinduism through high-tech means such as social media and online platforms."Sengar, who is also the newly appointed vice president of BJP's Kisan Morcha, told Mail Today that Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath, who has come to be seen recently as the new and more aggressive face of Hindutva politics, is the designated chief guest for the event. BJP-RSS ideologues such as Murlidhar Rao would also be attending the meet. Rao is a leading right-wing economic ideologue and the mentor of Bharat Niti initiative."We have accorded our invitation to the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh and he has expressed his desire to attend. He was very happy at the initiative," Sengar said.Academics, such as commentator on Hinduism David Frawley, would fire the zeal of the web soldiers on the occasion, Sengar said, adding, "Sadguru Jaggi Vasudev of the Isha Foundation along with such luminaries as Acharya Balkrishna of Patanjali Ayurveda and commentator/columnist Advaita Kala will also grace the meeting with their presence and share their insights for what we want to achieve."There would be a special session to focus on the subject of cow and the sanctity it carries in the Hindutva belief system. Bharat Niti is an initiative to encourage objective study and in-depth analysis by citizens, policymakers, domain experts, researchers and commentators, on varied issues of national and international importance. It is a wide platform to bring various stakeholders together to deliberate and propose public policy in the wider national interest.

Tarun Khanna

26 Apr 2017,Wednesday

Don't celebrate MCD win: BJP to cadre after Sukma attack

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/bjp-sukma-attack-crpf-jawans-martyred-mcd-poll-results/1/938405.html

Ahead of declaration of MCD results, BJP had asked its supporters not to celebrate any victory out of respect for the 25 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawans who were martyred in a Naxal attack in Chhattisgarh's Sukma district. The initial trends showed BJP leading in all three MCDs - North, South and East.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has asked its supporters not to celebrate any victories out of respect for the 25 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) who were martyred in a Maoist ambush attack in Chhattisgarh's Sukma district on Monday.The saffron party's appeal comes just ahead of the counting of votes in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) election, which the BJP is expect to win comfortably. The India Today-Axis My India exit poll predicted that the BJP would win as many as 202 to 220 of the 270 wards in which voting took place on Sunday.The poll indicated that the BJP's main rivals, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Congress, would win 23 to 25 seats, and 19 to 31 seats, respectively.There was more good news for the BJP on Monday, when Delhi University's Developing Countries Research Centre also predicted a  landslide victory for party - led by Manoj Tiwari in the national capital - in all three Delhi corporations.But after communist guerillas on Monday killed over two dozen CRPF bravehearts in Chhatisgarh, the BJP's cadre and followers may not celebrate if these predictions turn out to be accurate.ALSO READ | CRPF, which lost its 25 jawans in Sukma Naxal attack, is without a full-time chief for almost two months nowALSO READ | PM Modi on Sukma attack: Sacrifice of CRPF jawans will not go in vainALSO READ | MCD 2017 exit poll results: India Today-Axis My India predicts big win for BJP, massive setback for AAP, Congress

Parichit Mainra

16 Jan 2017,Monday

18 Democratic lawmakers to boycott Trump inauguration event

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/18-democratic-lawmakers-to-boycott-trumps-inauguration/1/857892.html

Around 18 Democratic lawmakers have said they will boycott US President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration ceremony on January 20. This comes after intelligence agencies concluded that Russia intervened in the polls and helped Republican Trump win. Civil rights leader and Democratic party lawmaker John Lewis, who was slammed by Trump for not recognising his presidency, is among those not attending.

Washington, Jan 15 (PTI) At least 18 Democratic lawmakers have said they will boycott US President-elect Donald Trumps inauguration this week, after disclosure of Russias alleged meddling in the 2016 election and his rebuke of civil rights icon John Lewis, according to a media report today. Democratic Representative Lewis blasted Trump in an interview to a news channel, saying he would boycott the ceremony for the first time since he arrived in Congress in 1987 because he doesnt see Trump as a "legitimate" president in light of Russian interference, CNN reported. Lewis was one of three black lawmakers to testify against Trumps attorney general nominee Sen. Jeff Sessions last week. Trump had called Lewis "all talk" and "no action" and told him to focus more on "fixing and helping" his district rather than "complaining" about the Russias role. "I will NOT attend the inauguration of @realDonaldTrump. When you insult @repjohnlewis, you insult America," tweeted New York Rep. Yvette Clarke, making public his decision to boycott Trumps swearing-in ceremony on January 20. Some members of Congress have said they will be protesting in DC and in their districts instead of attending the event. "All talk, no action. I stand with @repjohnlewis and I will not be attending the inauguration," California Rep. Mark Takano tweeted. "For me, the personal decision not to attend Inauguration is quite simple: Do I stand with Donald Trump, or do I stand with John Lewis? I am standing with John Lewis," California Rep. Ted Lieu said in a statement released by his office. Arizona Rep. Raul Grijalva said he will not be attending the inauguration of Trump as the next president. The office of Michigan Rep. John Conyers, the dean of the United House of Representatives, confirmed to CNN he wont be attending the inauguration. "It is with a heavy heart and deep personal conviction that I have decided not to attend the #TrumpInauguration on January 20, 2017," California Rep. Mark DeSaulnier tweeted. "I will not be attending inauguration of @realDonaldTrump but WILL participate in the @womensmarch on January 21st," New York Rep. Nydia Velazquez tweeted. Oregon Rep. Kurt Schrader said, "Ill do my best to work with him (Trump) when I think hes doing the right thing for the country. But he hasnt proved himself to me at all yet, so I respectfully decline to freeze my ass out there in the cold for this particular ceremony."

Mansha Mahajan

02 Mar 2017,Thursday

Idea of annual spectrum auction progressive: Airtel's Mittal

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/govts-idea-to-auction-spectrum-every-year-progressive-mittal/1/894878.html

Bharti Airtel Chairman Sunil Mittal has said the government's proposal to auction spectrum every year whether industry needs it or not is "very progressive thought". "In fact, it will become a leading edge practice worldwide," Mittal added. Earlier, Telecom Secretary JS Deepak said the government is looking to make spectrum auction an annual event and will seek TRAI's recommendations.

From Prasoon Srivastava Barcelona, Mar 2 (PTI) The governments proposal to auction spectrum every year has got a backer in Bharti Airtel Chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal, who however has said there is no need for sale of airwaves in coming fiscal. "The way he (telecom secretary) has put it that spectrum auction will be done every year whether industry needs it or not is very progressive thought. In fact, it will become a leading edge practice worldwide," Mittal told PTI in an interview. J S Deepak, as the Telecom Secretary, a couple of days ago said the government is looking at making spectrum auction an annual event and will reach out to sector regulator Trai for its recommendations. He had said the government plans to provide industry with an option to buy spectrum every year irrespective of their interest so that there is never a shortage of spectrum in providing quality mobile services. Deepak, a 1982-batch IAS officer from Uttar Pradesh, who at present is at the World Mobile Congress in Barcelona, has been shifted with "immediate effect" from the telecom ministry and made officer on special duty in the commerce department. Mittal recently pitched for affordability in spectrum pricing that has gone "out of control" in the last few years, saying the spectrum surplus industry will not need an airwave auction at least in 2017-18. He, however, has said that even though telecom operators are bleeding with the entrance of a new service provider, they will need to increase investment in networks to handle competition. "You have to accelerate market spends. You need to put more capex. We have done 85,000 base stations last year, 80,000 base stations this year. This is largest rollout anywhere in the world. There will be more investment on 4G side," Mittal said. Bharti Airtel had reported an over 54 per cent fall in net profit at Rs 503.7 crore for the December quarter due to what it had termed as "turbulence from predatory pricing by a new operator". The Indian telecom czar said Bharti Airtels balancesheet remains "healthy and strong" and he does not think Bharti will go into losses under competitive pressure although one can "never say never". He maintained that with improvement in technology, the cost of network is not linear. Mittal further said Huawei and ZTE have a massive mimo technology using which one can quadruple or probably go up to 8 times of existing capacities in the spectrum. "Nice good innovation is happening on the network side where you can generate nice good capacities than in the past. Technology is also coming to help. Its not that if I have got 2000 TB of capacity and I have to move to 5000, I have to double my investments. Its probably 20 per cent more," Mittal said.

Shubhodeep Datta

30 Dec 2016,Friday

Burglars break into Delhi Dy CM's office, documents stolen

http://www.hindustantimes.com/delhi/burglars-strike-at-sisodia-s-office-in-east-delhi/story-AvM3M7QjTNtW5KyVC69NyM.html

Burglars allegedly broke into Delhi's Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia's office located at Patparganj in East Delhi on Thursday night. According to reports, several documents, letterheads, and computers were allegedly stolen along with CCTV footages. Sisodia is reportedly in the process of shifting his office from Patparganj to Vinod Nagar.

Deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia?s office in east Vinod Nagar of his Patparganj constituency was burgled reportedly late on Thursday night. The burglary allegedly took place in room six which was used to store documents and the burglars made off with some documents, two hard discs and DVRs of CCTV cameras. Reacting to the incident, Sisodia said it exposed the state of law and order in the national Capital and the functioning of Delhi Police. ?If the camp office of deputy CM cannot be secured, how will the common man in the national capital feel safe. PM Modi is travelling across the globe and boasts about his governance record, but the Delhi police (that reports to Centre) can?t secure a government office,? Sisodia told reporters after making a visit to the camp office. Police officials said that a PCR call was made around 9.16am on Friday when office staff members arrived in the morning and saw that the lock of the main office door was broken. ?The office was being shifted and there was no guard outside it. The exact time of the burglary is not known yet. A case has been registered and investigation is on,? said deputy commissioner of police (east) Omvir Singh. A case under section 457 (house trespass or house break-in by night to commit offence) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) has been registered against unknown person at Kalyanpuri police station.Sources said police arrived with a dog squad and a forensic team immediately after the PCR call was made. Two fingerprints have been lifted from the spot. ?We came to know about the burglary in the morning. An office staff member came early morning and spotted that the door had been forced open. He immediately informed other party members and police was called,? said Pankaj Singh, an AAP worker at the office.Singh said a cupboard too had been opened by force and hard discs of two computers, which had important information, were stolen. There were seven CCTV cameras in the office but the burglars took away the DVRs that contained the footage.?It looks like the burglars were well prepared. They targeted the office when no one was present and took away the footage so that they will not be identified,? Singh said.

Tarun Khanna

11 Feb 2017,Saturday

16 cases of train sabotage cases in 2017 so far: Report

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/rail-sabotage-train-tragedy-isi-acts-of-terror/1/880264.html

Railway Board official Mohammed Jamshed has reportedly stated that in the first 40 days of 2017, there have already been 16 cases of train sabotage. Terming the number "abnormally high", Jamshed further said that most of these instances have occurred in non-traditional Left-wing extremism affected areas, and don?t carry the signature of Maoist subversive activities.

Terming it as 'abnormally high', a top Railways official told India Today that most of these instances have occurred in non-traditional left wing extremism (LWE) affected areas, and do not carry the signature of Maoist subversive activities. "There were 45 incidents in 2016 including 7 blasts, 3 instances of track tampering, 27 cases of sabotage and attempt to sabotage and 8 agitation related incidents. In 2017, in the first 40 days there have already been 16 cases and this is abnormally high," Mohammed Jamshed, Member Traffic, Railway Board told India Today.The stunning revelation by Bihar police about a suspected Pakistan's notorious counter intelligence agency ISI plot to spread terror on the rail tracks has led to Railways transfer sensitive cases to the NIA. "Explosives kept at the track in East Champaran, the derailment of the Patna-Indore express on November 21 near Kanpur and the Koneru derailment have all been referred to the NIA," sources said. Subsequently with iron rails being found placed across the railway track, to cause derailment of another train in Mumbai, the CBI has been roped in to probe the matter. On Saturday, Gelatin sticks were found next to the railway track near Mumbai prompting the Railways and Maharashtra police to launch investigations.  The Indian Railways is spread over 1,10,000 track kilometers across the country. "There are three traditional trouble spots. The North Frontier pocket - Upper Assam has Bodo and ULFA agitation. The Asansol to Gaya track and the Dantewada-Jagdalpur track where Maoists carry out their subversive activities are 3 pockets of trouble. However, more often than note, Maoists issue a warning in advance before they remove fish plate or destroy rail tracks. Their aim appears to be to cause more damage to infrastructure than people," sources added. What is alarming this time is the loss of life and no one claiming responsibility for the incidents. Like the one in Mumbai, there have been instances of big boulders being brought from elsewhere and deliberately put on tracks. Also read: Terror angle in Kanpur train tragedy: NIA, IB on hunt for recruiter in derailment casesKANPUR TRAIN TRAGEDYThe NIA has sought cooperation from the Nepal police in connection with the interrogation of Shamul Hoda, a suspected ISI operative arrested in Dubai and deported to Nepal late last week. Hoda is suspected to be the mastermind of an ISI plot to derail trains and cause massive loss of life in India. The Bihar police initially busted three people - Motilal Paswan, Umashankar Patel and Mukesh Yadav for reportedly planting explosives on the rail track in east Champaran. Fortunately the explosives were detected and a tragedy averted. On sustained interrogation the three confessed to having allegedly been paid by Brij Kishore Giri, their handler in Nepal who in turn had been paid by Shafi Sheikh and Shamsul Hoda. According to officials in the Bihar police, the three had been paid Rs 3 lakh each for planting the explosives. Simultaneous investigations by the Nepal police revealed that Arun and Deepak Ram were killed on Hoda's instructions for refusing to blast rail tracks and kill people. "Apparently Hoda did not want to leave any trail. Since both Arun and Deepak Ram knew of the plot and refused to carry it out, they were eliminated," sources said. Investigators painstakingly tracked down Hoda in Dubai and intelligence officials kept an eye on his movement and phone conversations. In one conversation Hoda spelt out the plan to derail trains and kill people, the intelligence officials passed on the audio link to their counterparts in the middle-east. "Hoda was deported to Nepal where the police arrested him for the murder of Arun and Deepak Ram. He is currently being questioned and may be brought face to face with the other suspects in the case to unravel the entire plot," sources added. A team of NIA sleuths is also travelling to Nepal to question Hoda in connection with the Kanpur and Koneru derailments. But with 1,10,000 kilometers of railway track across the country vulnerable to subversive and anti-national elements, the Railways is now desperately working to devise ways to secure the rail line. In a race against time this is a task, easier said than done.Also read

Sonu Kumari

12 Jul 2017,Wednesday

Maha allots 250 hectares of forest land for airport project

http://www.hindustantimes.com/mumbai-news/state-sets-aside-250-hectares-of-forest-land-for-navi-mumbai-airport/story-e4cf0svMzXUZkwkazd51CP.html?utm_source=inshorts&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=fullarticle

The Maharashtra government has allotted 250 hectares of forest land in Raigad district to the City and Industrial Development Corporation for the development of Navi Mumbai International Airport. The state officials said that the project is site-specific, with no alternative non-forest land available for it. The corporation has reportedly assured to plant thrice the number of trees destroyed.

Having secured a Union government clearance to handover forest land for the proposed Navi Mumbai airport after much delay, the state government has formally set aside 250 hectares of forest land in Raigad district to the City and Industrial Development Corporation (Cidco) for the project.A delay in getting the forest land had held up crucial pre-development works for the Rs16,000-crore Navi Mumbai airport project. The state revenue and forests department issued a government resolution on Tuesday paving the way for the transfer of the said land, spread over 12 villages in the Panvel tehsil. An official from the state forests department said, ?The Union Ministry of Environment and Forests gave a clearance to transfer 250 hectare of forest land for the project with a few conditions in April this year. The government has already vetted the project in detail and it is established that it is a site-specific project and there is no alternative non-forest land available for it, so we have processed the transfer of land provided CIDCO adheres to the conditions put down by the Union government.?The airport is proposed to be built on 1,160 hectares of land, of which 250 hectares is forest land, including mangroves. Cidco has offered a green patch of 242 hectares in exchange near Khopoli and has assured to plant three times the amount of mangroves destroyed.Prajakta L. Verma, joint managing director at Cidco, said, ?In the absence of a clearance for the forest land, we had started basic surveys and soil investigations as part of the pre-development work. We started works such as rock cutting and blasting after getting a forest clearance. The state government?s resolution now paves the way for the official handover of the land and transfer of the title to enable us to work more smoothly.?The pre-development work involves flattening a hillock, reclaiming marsh land and diverting a river to make way for the construction of the airport, and is expected to take a year-and-a-half to complete. Cidco hopes to wind it up by mid-2018. With the forest land in possession, the only major challenge for the completion of the pre-development work is the rehabilitation of about 3,000 families. ?Most of the project-affected people have agreed to shift, while some have even started shifting out. A majority of the families are likely to shift once the rainy season is over,? Verma said.The state government first proposed the Navi Mumbai International airport 20 years ago, and accorded the plan an approval in 2007. The greenfield airport project has, however, faced several hiccups owing to resistance to land acquisition and delays in getting government clearances. Cidco now hopes to complete the project by 2020. The GVK-led Mumbai International Airport Ltd has won the bid to develop the new airport.

Arshiya Chopra

15 Jul 2017,Saturday

Farmers file complaint against Met dept for wrong forecast

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/farmers-lodge-police-plaint-against-imd-for-wrong-forecast/1/1002084.html?utm_source=inshorts&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=fullarticle

Farmers from a village in Maharashtra have lodged a police complaint against the Meteorological Department for giving a wrong seasonal forecast. The farmers accused the department of colluding with seed and pesticide manufacturers and inflating the monsoon forecast figures. They said they spent lakhs of rupees in the sowing process as the IMD forecasted ample rains in this Kharif season.

Mumbai, Jul 14 (PTI) Farmers from a village in Marathwada region today filed a police complaint against the India Meteorological Department, accusing it of colluding with seed and pesticide manufacturers and inflating the monsoon forecast figures. The complaint, filed at the Dindrud police station in Majalgaon tehsil of Beed district, says officials of the Pune and Colaba Met Department "colluded" with the manufacturers and caused loss of lakhs of rupees to farmers, who undertook sowing operations based on the forecast. Gangabhishan Thaware, 54, a farmer from Anandgaon village in Beed district, who is among the complainants, told PTI that the IMD officials misled farmers saying that there would be ample rain during the kharif season in June. "Farmers undertook sowing operations, based on the IMD forecast. But after a brief initial spell, there has been no rain and farmers are staring at a bleak future, with the sowing operations having gone waste," Thaware said. "Farmers in our region completed pre-sowing operations before June, based on the IMD forecast which said there will be ample rains in June-July this year," the farmer said. "Despite scanty initial rainfall, farmers in our village undertook sowing operations as the IMD forecast a good rainfall. They spent lakhs of rupees on seeds, fertilisers, pesticides and labourers wages. However, there has been no rain since and our sowing operations have gone waste," the farmer said. According to Thaware, farmers have also written to Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, seeking his intervention.

Prashanti Moktan

27 Feb 2017,Monday

Priyanka, Deepika attend pre-Oscar parties in Los Angeles

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/priyanka-chopra-deepika-padukone-academy-awards-oscars/1/891827.html

Priyanka Chopra and Deepika Padukone were seen attending pre-Oscar parties. They attended the Chanel and Charles Finch Annual Pre-Oscar Dinner, where Priyanka wore a Chanel ensemble while Deepika chose a floral dress by Duro Olowu. Deepika also attended the Women in Film pre-Oscar cocktail party, co-hosted by Oscar-winning actress Brie Larson while Priyanka was spotted at the WME pre-Oscar party.

All eyes have been on Deepika Padukone and Priyanka Chopra's outings in the West, ever since they migrated to Hollywood. And when the event in question is the 89th Annual Academy Awards, the anticipation is sky-high. While Deepika had denied that she will be attending the Oscars this year, Priyanka Chopra had confirmed her attendance by posting a selfie with rock legend Mick Jagger.However, Deepika made her presence felt at the Women in Film (WIF) pre-Oscar cocktail party. The actor, who made her Hollywood debut this year with Vin Diesel in xXx: Return Of Xander Cage, looked stunning in her asymmetrical black dress, leading to speculation that she will make her Oscar debut this year, after all.Meanwhile, Priyanka was snapped having a ball at the WME pre-Oscar party. Pee Cee's Oscar debut last year became a rage and her white gown even earned her a mention in the list of top searched dresses of 2016.

Chhavi Tyagi

26 Jul 2017,Wednesday

Assam people slam Centre as PM visits flood-hit Gujarat

http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/pm-modi-s-largesse-for-gujarat-floods-outrages-ignored-assam/story-5KccV14cWsWfaJA42SVNmO.html?utm_source=inshorts&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=fullarticle

After Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited flood-hit Gujarat and announced ?500 crore as relief for the state, many in Assam took to social media to accuse the Centre of neglecting the northeastern state. "Over 70 died in Assam flood. Modi sends junior minister (Kiren) Rijiju. Flood in Gujarat, Modi flies himself. Why two separate standards?" a journalist from Assam posted.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi?s aerial survey of flood-affected areas in his home state Gujarat on Tuesday and the announcement of Rs 500 crore as relief haven?t gone down well in Assam.Many in Assam, where floods wreaked havoc in 29 of the state?s 32 districts this month and claimed 77 lives till date, have vented ire on social media accusing the Centre of neglect.The state government has estimated that the total damage caused by the recent floods is nearly Rs 2,939 crore. The Centre is yet to announce any interim flood-relief package for Assam.?Over 70 died in Assam flood. Modi sends junior minister (Kiren) Rijiju. Flood in Gujarat. Modi flies himself. Why two separate standards?? questioned journalist Atanu Bhuyan on Twitter.While Modi conducted an aerial survey of two flood-ravaged districts in Gujarat, a seven-member central team led by Union home ministry joint secretary VS Sekhar arrived in Guwahati to assess the situation.?Forget the announcement of an aid package, the PM didn?t even consider visiting Assam himself or sending a senior minister. It clearly shows Centre?s biased attitude to our state,? farmers activist Akhil Gogoi told media on Wednesday.Villagers use a boat as they row past partially submerged houses at a flood-affected village in Morigaon district in Assam. (Reuters Photo) Nearly 1.32 lakh people were displaced by the floods and had to seek shelter in 363 relief camps. Over 15,700 flood affected people were evacuated by rescue teams in 21 districts.Flood waters have receded in many areas due to clear skies in the past week, but 9 districts still remained inundated and 4,716 people continue to take shelter in relief camps in five districts.While the state government claims adequate relief was provided to all flood affected, there are accusations of laxity in rescue and relief efforts. Ministers of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition government were heckled by affected residents at several places for their late response.The so-called step-motherly attitude of Centre towards Assam has given fodder to opposition parties in the state as well.?Assam floods claimed 76 lives, Narendra Modi never visited and his government has not released adequate funds,? former Congress chief minister Tarun Gogoi tweeted on Tuesday.PM @narendramodi rushed to #Gujarat & announced 500 Cr interim relief & Ex-gratia of 2 Lakh for flood victims & 50 thousand for injured..1/1 https://t.co/4gMEpyp7KF? Tarun Gogoi (@tarun_gogoi) July 25, 2017President of the opposition All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) Badruddin Ajmal also requested the PM to ?spare some time for the people of Assam? and visit the state.Many on social media connected Modi?s decision to visit Gujarat instead of Assam with the upcoming assembly polls in the western state.?Floods killed many in BJP ruled Gujarat and Assam. Where will Modi go, announce relief for? The state going to elections, where else,? Rajnath Kashmiri tweeted.

Mansha Mahajan

13 Feb 2017,Monday

Have a heartfelt and warm relationship with Murthy: Sikka

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/have-a-heartfelt-warm-relationship-with-murthy-sikka/1/881390.html

The CEO of Infosys Vishal Sikka on Monday said that he has always shared a "heartfelt, warm relationship" with the company's Co-founder Narayana Murthy. Describing Murthy as an "incredible man", Sikka said, "I meet Mr Murthy quite frequently... probably meet him 5-6 times a year." He further said that his relationship with the company's founders is "wonderful".

New Delhi, Feb 13 (PTI) Vishal Sikka, the embattled chief of Infosys, today said he has always shared a "heartfelt, warm relationship" with the companys co-founder N R Narayana Murthy. The comments come at a time when there has been a lot of buzz around some of the founders flagging concerns about governance lapses at Infosys and issues like hike in Sikkas compensation to USD 11 million and huge severance pay doled out to former executives, Rajiv Bansal and David Kennedy. Asked about his relationship with the founders, Sikka said: "My relationship with the founders? It is wonderful. I meet Mr Murthy quite frequently...I have always had a heartfelt warm relationship with Mr Murthy, probably meet him 4-5-6 times a year." He added that he, however, hasnt met the other founders off late. Describing Murthy as an "incredible man", Sikka said the two usually discussed topics like quantum physics and technology whenever they met. "The other day he was telling me about the Paris Metro and how he worked on the Paris Metro in the 1970s before he started Infosys, and it had this whole ideas about automation and autonomous driving and all," he reminisced. Sikka, speaking at Kotaks Chasing Growth Conference in Mumbai, said the "drama" going on in the media is very "distracting". "It takes away our attention but underneath that, there is a very strong fabric that this company is based on. And it is a real privilege for me to be its leader," he added. Sikka is scheduled to meet media representatives this evening along with some of the Board members. Infosys, on its part, has denied any governance lapses and said it has made "full disclosures" on all developments. Another issue that some of the former senior executives have raised is the huge cash pile of USD 5.25 billion that Infosys has.

Mishika Bangia

11 Jul 2017,Tuesday

Vistara takes a dig at Air India over no non-veg policy

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/air-india-non-veg-meal-meat-off-menu-air-vistara-twitter/1/999150.html

Vistara Airlines took a dig at Air India after it stopped serving non-vegetarian meals to economy-class passengers on all domestic flights. Tata's Vistara posted a picture with the caption, "Chicken or Vegetarian? We leave the choice to you!" Notably, Air India's new policy is expected to save the debt-ridden airline ?7-8 crore annually.

Air India, the Maharaja airlines that is sandwiched between heavy debts and highly dissatisfied passengers, decided to take non-vegetarian meal off domestic flights. Air India that masquerades the decision as a cost-cutting exercise, however, does not answer why only the economy class flyers are being denied non-vegetarian meals while the business class passengers on the same flight have the option open. Six months ago, Air India had struck down non-vegetarian meals on domestic flights, again just for economy class flyers, with a flight duration less than 90 minutes.  As people on social media called the Maharaja out on the decision that reeks of class bias, fellow airline Vistara took a dig at Air India on Twitter saying they leave the choice of food to the flyers. At @airvistara, we leave the choice to you! ð??? pic.twitter.com/31GBFRoh9WIt is quite ironic to see that Air India, that was founded and run by the Tata Group until the Indian government took over, being trolled by Vistara, a partnership between the Tata Group and Singapore Airlines. Twitter users seem to have loved Vistara's tweet: Air India to serve only veg food.In economy.To cut costs.Bhai Vistara ka caterer ka number le lo.Right to eatRight to choice@airvistara ð???ð???ð??» pic.twitter.com/TCNOBwMTcy

Rini Sinha

01 May 2017,Monday

I would love to play a woman on screen: Irrfan Khan

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/i-was-offered-kanganas-role-in-revolver-rani-irrfan-khan/1/942168.html

Actor Irrfan Khan has said that he would love to play a woman on screen. He further revealed that he was offered actress Kangana Ranaut's role in the 2014 film 'Revolver Rani'. "I had made up my mind to do it. But there were some intimate scenes that I thought people will not enjoy," said Irrfan.

Mumbai, Apr 30 (PTI) Actor Irrfan Khan reveals filmmaker Tigmanshu Dhulia had offered him to play the titular role in "Revolver Rani," which later went to Kangana Ranaut. The 50-year-old actor says he had almost joined the project but did not take up the offer due to "intimate scenes" in the film. "I was offered the role of a woman in Tigmanshu Dhulias Revolver Rani. He had offered me Kangana Ranauts role when he was producing the film. I had made up my mind to do it. But there were some intimate scenes that I thought people will not enjoy," Irrfan told PTI. "I would love to play a woman on-screen. But I am not ok with intimate scenes as that might put them (audience) off," he adds. The crime-drama which released in 2014 was directed by Sai Kabir and featured Kangana and Vir Das in the lead roles. In his upcoming film, "Hindi Medium" Irrfans plays a businessman who owns a saree shop in Delhis Chandni Chowk.

Saloni Tandon

20 Apr 2017,Thursday

Britain's Olympic silver medalist dies in motorcycle crash

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/apr/20/germaine-mason-olympics-silver-medallist-dies-motorcyle-crash-jamaica?CMP=share_btn_tw

British athlete Germaine Mason, who won a high jump silver medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, died in a motorcycle crash in Jamaica on Thursday. The 34-year-old was riding back after a night out with a few athletes, which included eight-time Olympic champion Usain Bolt. Mason was reportedly at the front of the convoy when the accident occurred.

Germaine Mason, the British athlete who won a high jump silver medal at the 2008 Olympics, has died in a motorcycle accident in Jamaica.The 34-year-old was riding at the front of a convoy with a number of athletes, including Usain Bolt and the 2005 world championship 100m silver medallist Michael Frater, as well as the former Bolton defender Ricardo Gardner, when he lost control of his bike on the Palisadoes main road in Kingston.Our sincere condolences to the entire sporting fraternity.Unconfirmed reports suggest he was trying to avoid a vehicle that had lost control on the other side of the road. He was pronounced dead at the scene.Mason was born in Jamaica and trained with the Stephen Francis-coached MVP Track Club before switching allegiance to Great Britain in 2006. Two years later he won a silver medal for Great Britain in Beijing after jumping 2.34m ? a height that equalled his personal best ? to finished behind the Russian Andrey Silnov, who cleared 2.36m.Andrew Holness, the prime minister of Jamaica, tweeted: ?Our sincere condolences to the entire sporting fraternity.?This is just awful. Such sad news. https://t.co/dBECw1WbtFMason qualified for Britain by virtue of a British father, who, confusingly, lived in Jamaica while his Jamaican mother lived in west London. He held a British passport all his life but decided to switch allegiances after being struck by a serious knee ligament injury in 2004. He made his GB debut in the 2006 European Cup.Jessica Ennis-Hill posted on Twitter: ?This is awful. Such sad news.?Niels de Vos, the chief executive of UK Athletics, issued a statement on behalf of the governing body which read: ?Our staff and colleagues who worked with Germaine are naturally saddened to hear this awful news. Our deepest sympathies go to Germaine?s friends, family and the athletics community at this difficult time.?Fuzz Caan, the senior high jump coach at British Athletics who worked closely with Germaine at the time of his Olympic success, added: ?Germaine was an outstanding athlete and a truly lovely man. He had a wry sense of humour and was a pleasure to be around. He was a great ambassador of British high jumping. It is an honour for us to have him as part of our sporting history.?

Tarun Khanna

15 Feb 2017,Wednesday

Christians silently converting people at large scale: BJP MP

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/christians-silently-converting-people-on-large-scale-giriraj/1/883082.html

Union Minister Giriraj Singh on Tuesday claimed that Christians are "silently" converting people at a large scale in India. "In 1947, Hindus were almost 90% of the population. But as per a latest media survey, we are only 72% at present," he said. "If opposition parties extend their cooperation, a law can be brought to control the population," he added.

Ahmedabad, Feb 14 (PTI) Union Minister Giriraj Singh today claimed that Christians were "silently" converting maximum number of people, even as he batted for a law to control the countrys population. On being asked about his Cabinet colleague Kiren Rijijus remarks about dwindling Hindu population, Singh that he completely agreed with him.

Rini Sinha

13 Jan 2017,Friday

'SRK not content till scene right, Salman one-take guy'

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/shah-rukh-khan-salman-khan-nawazuddin-siddiqui-raees-haraamkhor/1/856587.html

Nawazuddin Siddiqui, while speaking about his experience on working with Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan, said that SRK is not content till the scene is right while Salman is a one-take guy. "Working with SRK feels like working with an 'actor'," he added. "Salman does a scene once and he's not going to do it again," Nawazuddin further revealed.

Starting off with a bit role in the 1999 film Sarfarosh, actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui has come a long way, giving stellar performances in award-winning films, one after another.After shooting to stardom with Gangs of Wasseypur, Nawazuddin jumped from the independent film scene to make a mark in the Indian mainstream space. In the last five years, Nawaz has worked with Aamir Khan again (Talaash), Salman Khan twice (Kick and Bajrangi Bhaijaan) and finally with Shah Rukh Khan in the upcoming Raees.ALSO READ: Haraamkhor Movie ReviewALSO WATCH: Udi Udi Jaye from Raees is the perfect Makar Sankranti gift ALSO WATCH: It's Shah Rukh vs Nawaz in RaeesRecently, in an interview with the comedy group AIB (All India Bakchod), Nawazuddin Siddiqui spoke of his experience working with both Salman and Shah Rukh Khan."Since Shah Rukh bhai has been in theatre, he is not content till the scene is right," said Nawazuddin Siddiqui, "Working with him feels like working with an 'actor'."Speaking on Salman though, Nawaz's answer was nothing short of funny (and expected).

Dishant Sharma

15 Jul 2017,Saturday

Muguruza becomes second Spanish woman to win Wimbledon

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/live/2017/jul/15/venus-williams-v-garbine-muguruza-wimbledon-2017-womens-final-live?utm_source=inshorts&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=fullarticle

Spain's Garbine Muguruza became only the second Spanish women's player in the history of tennis to win the Wimbledon singles title. Muguruza defeated five-time Wimbledon champion Venus Williams 7-5, 6-0 to lift her second Grand Slam on Saturday. Muguruza had defeated 23-time Grand Slam champion, Serena Williams, to lift her maiden Grand Slam at the French Open in 2016.

6.50pm BST 18:50 Video highlights! Here?s how Garbiñe Muguruza won Wimbledon: 5.46pm BST 17:46 Muchas felicidades @GarbiMuguruza campeona de @Wimbledon!!! Gran éxito para el tenis español!? @Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/wdkQdQJFfOThe champion's speech...#Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/r0SOib8VRGA speech full of grace from the 2017 ladies' runner-up Venus Williams...#Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/l24sHMCDW7"Alfie and Gordon, #Wimbledon champions again!"Reid and Hewett get their hands on another piece of silverware ? pic.twitter.com/AQdzWEuRnAUpdated at 5.51pm BST 4.00pm BST 16:00 Right, that?s it from me. Many thanks for reading/emailing/tweeting etc. Do join us for the men?s final tomorrow, when another 30-something great will be hoping to fare better than Williams did today. Bye! 3.51pm BST 15:51 Muguruza is now looking at her name on the champions? board. She?s congratulated by her fellow Spaniards Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario and Manuel Santana before stepping out on the balcony. She shows off her trophy to those who weren?t able to watch on Centre Court. Muguruza then embraces her team. Lovely scenes. 3.48pm BST 15:48 And here?s that strange final point. I can?t remember a grand slam final ending on a Hawk-Eye challenge before. The moment @GarbiMuguruza won #Wimbledon... pic.twitter.com/u2gg7xv55Z 3.45pm BST 15:45 What a fantastic achievement by @GarbiMuguruza. Superb performance and great composure ??? #Wimbledon 3.45pm BST 15:45 Thinks plots can change fast? In the match she played prior to Wimbledon, Muguruza lost in Eastbourne 6-1, 6-0 #Wimbledon 3.44pm BST 15:44 The players walk off to a standing ovation, and their bags are being carried for them this time. Williams takes her leave first; Muguruza hangs around to show off her trophy one more time before balancing it on her head. She just about stops it from wobbling off. The Wimbledon suits will have had their hearts in their mouths there. 3.41pm BST 15:41 ?Let the women play best of five,? emails John Rogers. ?A final such as this ends too quickly. Imagine now going into a third set. Garbiñe wins and it is utterly emphatic. Or Venus wins and we?re into a fourth set where it?s all to play for.? 3.39pm BST 15:39 The champion holds court. It?s been a gloomy day here at Wimbledon, but the court it lit up by camera flashes as Muguruza poses with the trophy. 3.38pm BST 15:38 And here?s the new Wimbledon champion: I grew up watching [Venus] play, so it?s incredible to play the final [against her]. [The nerves] are inside, of course I was nervous. It was very tough [the first set], we both had chances. Two years ago I lost to Serena in the final and she told me one day I?d win. Updated at 3.55pm BST 3.37pm BST 15:37 Williams speaks: Congratulations Garbine, amazing, I know how hard you work. Well done today, beautiful.Does she have a message for Serena?I miss you. I tried my best to do the same things you do but I think there?ll be other opportunities, I do. 3.34pm BST 15:34 Trophy time. First it?s Williams?s turn to come up to collect the runners-up trophy. It?s not the silverware she?d have wanted but what a story it?s been for her this fortnight, 20 years after her Wimbledon debut. Williams can only watch on as Muguruza gets her hands on the Venus Rosewater dish. She?s the second Spaniard to win the women?s title here after Martinez, who is grinning in the players? box.Updated at 4.03pm BST 3.32pm BST 15:32 The players are waiting for the presentation ceremony. Muguruza is beaming in her chair, her team are taking selfies, while Williams looks on wistfully. It?s a strange atmosphere now. After such a competitive, compelling first set, the second went by in the blink of an eye. There?s a certain amount of shock. 3.31pm BST 15:31 Muguruza wins on Hawkeye challenge, which I think is a first for a Slam(?). But her win was anything but anticlimactic: such emphatic play. 3.30pm BST 15:30 Amazing how how this match changed on a dime at set point down at 4-5 that 19 ball rally 3.30pm BST 15:30 This afternoon was supposed to be about Williams writing an unlikely story for ages. But Muguruza hasn?t read the script. She hasn?t got any time for sentiment. 15-0, 30-0, 40-0, as Muguruza hits deep and Williams hits into the skies. Three championship points. And some Hawk-Eye drama. Williams?s return is called out, the umpire overrules, and then Hawk-Eye shows the ball hit the line. They?ll replay the point. Muguruza nets. 40-15. Muguruza produces one of her most nervous shots of the afternoon, shanking out! 40-30! On the third championship point, Muguruza stops mid-point and challenges, what judgment, because Williams?s effort was long and Muguruza is the Wimbledon champion for the first time! She adds to her 2016 French Open title and after her defeat to Serena here in 2015, she now has got the better of a Williams sister in a grand slam final! Muguruza looks shocked - as does Williams - the Hawk-Eye challenge has robbed her of the chance for a proper celebration.Updated at 3.58pm BST 3.25pm BST 15:25 Second set: Williams 5-7, 0-5 Muguruza* (*denotes next server)A 23rd unforced error from Williams compared to 11 from Muguruza and it?s 0-30, then 0-40. Three break points. The crowd are doing all they can to lift the five-time champion. But Williams is almost on the canvas now. Muguruza sends her stumbling around the court and breaks to love. Muguruza will serve for her first Wimbledon title.Updated at 3.26pm BST 3.22pm BST 15:22 Second set: *Williams 5-7, 0-4 Muguruza (*denotes next server)That?s six straight games for Muguruza now. I wonder if Serena, heavily pregnant at home in Florida, is watching. Apparently the defending champion has been suffering from what she calls ?FOMO? ? fear of missing out - this fortnight. I?m not sure she?d like to take Venus?s place right now, though. Or maybe she would. She is the game?s greatest, after all. Make that seven straight games as Muguruza holds to 30 with a stunning point. The Spaniard is surging through this final now. 3.19pm BST 15:19 Second set: Williams 5-7, 0-3 Muguruza* (*denotes next server)The energy is flying from Muguruza now, while Williams looks flat. From 30-all, Muguruza gets a point for a double break when she threads a backhand down the line. Williams approaches the net but spoons a tired volley into the tramlines. Conchita Martinez, Muguruza?s temporary coach here at Wimbledon, applauds in the players? box. Martinez is the only Spanish woman to have won Wimbledon having beaten Martina Navratilova in 1994 in what was Navratilova?s last singles final here. Navratilova?s age then? 37. Perhaps a bad omen for Williams. Or a good one for Muguruza, depending on where your loyalties lie. 3.15pm BST 15:15 Second set: *Williams 5-7, 0-2 Muguruza (*denotes next server)Four games ago Williams had two points for the first set but the wheels are coming off now. 15-0, 30-0, 40-0 for Muguruza. Williams?s body language isn?t positive, she looks tired. But maybe she?s challenging the spirit of the Djokovic of old, playing a bit of rope a dope with Muguruza, because she then gets back to 40-30. But she undoes her good work with a cheap mistake. Muguruza backs up the break by holding to 30.Updated at 3.19pm BST 3.11pm BST 15:11 Second set: Williams 5-7, 0-1 Muguruza* (*denotes next server)Both players were sucking for air after the first set finale. You feel that opening set was more important for Williams to win, can she survive another two sets of this intensity against an opponent 14 years her junior? Williams has enough energy to get to 30-0, before Muguruza gets back to 30-all. Williams edges ahead again, 40-30, but she can?t shake the Spaniard off, deuce. And then it?s Muguruza?s break point. A backhand saves Williams. But then a ballooned backhand puts her in trouble again. A second break point for Muguruza. An ace from Williams. No it?s not! Muguruza challenges and it was out. Williams nets her second serve and Muguruza is now in control, leading by a set and a break. From an ace to being broken in seconds.The tale of the tape in the first set...#Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/AsieyNkO0E 3.04pm BST 15:04 A wounded Williams takes the first point, 0-15. But Muguruza edges to 30-15. And then brings up two set points with a ridiculous get on the backhand side which initially looked like it was going long, but it loops over Williams?s head and plops in! 40-15. 40-30, after Williams fights back with a one-two punch. This time it?s Williams?s turn to display her defensive skills but after a draining duel she eventually nets! And Muguruza, having found herself two set points down two games ago, has taken the first set! And breathe.Updated at 3.12pm BST 2.58pm BST 14:58 First set: Williams 5-6 Muguruza* (*denotes next server)?This is a brutal set of tennis, with both players seemingly trying to hit each other not so much off the court but out of SW19 altogether,? writes Guy Hornsby. ?In many ways Muguruza is the heir to the Williams sisters? power crown. This is shaping up to be a classic, but who will blink first? I feel Williams will want to finish this in two.?At 15-all, Williams?s shot is called out. She appeals to Hawk-Eye. It was well in. The point is replayed. But this time Williams rattles well long after some awkward footwork. 15-30, perhaps Williams hasn?t quite got those missed set points out of her mind. She recovers to 30-all but then clatters a forehand into the net. And from two set points up, she?s now break point down. Muguruza then shows her nerves with a shaky forehand. Deuce. Advantage Muguruza, after the Spaniard finds her forehand again. Some brutal hitting from both - they go at each other again and again and again, and Williams goes long! Muguruza claims the first break of this final and will serve for the first set! An error-strewn but compelling game. Updated at 3.00pm BST 2.53pm BST 14:53 @KatyMurrells 2/ no excuse for women not playing BO5 in 2017; it's an unwelcome throwback from the mid 20th century 2.53pm BST 14:53 @KatyMurrells 1/ just start the doubles and mixed doubles tourneys two days earlier: scheduling problem fixed 2.52pm BST 14:52 First set: *Williams 5-5 Muguruza (*denotes next server)Muguruza must hold serve here to stay in the first set. Konta couldn?t do it at 5-4 down against Williams in the semi-finals, can the Spaniard do it here? Muguruza is blown away by a brutal strike from Williams on the first point, 0-15. Williams tries to impose her will on Muguruza on the second point too but just goes long. 15-all. 15-30. 15-40 after a tame shot from Muguruza. A disappointing way to hand Williams two set points. Muguruza sends Williams from side to side but the 37-year-old keeps getting it back, before eventually fading with a netted forehand! That rally was 19 shots, the longest of the match. Muguruza saves the other set point with a strong first serve. Deuce. And now the Spaniard?s swinging. She takes the next two points to hold. Phew. 2.45pm BST 14:45 First set: Williams 5-4 Muguruza* (*denotes next server)Williams?s ball dies on the baseline, giving Muguruza absolutely no chance. 30-0. Which is soon 40-0 after a failed Hawk-Eye challenge from Muguruza. Williams is battering the lines to within a few millimetres of their life here; three points and Williams has hit three lines. She takes the fourth point too and it?s a love hold. 2.43pm BST 14:43 First set: *Williams 4-4 Muguruza (*denotes next server)?Thank goodness the women now have to carry their own bags,? writes Sandra Lane. ?Too demeaning to be paid equal prize money yet be treated like fragile flowers. Only one more sexist hurdle remains: the right to play five-set grand slams. It?s time the organisers allowed women to do equal work for equal pay!?I?d certainly pay to watch that Sandra. The main issue may be how grand slam schedulers would fit in five-set women?s matches. One proposal would be to play best of five from perhaps the quarter-finals onwards. Though 37-year-old Williams may rather stick to three.This has been so close and competitive so far, it could come down to such small margins, as the first set did between Williams and Konta in the semi-finals. Muguruza holds to 15. 2.38pm BST 14:38 First set: Williams 4-3 Muguruza* (*denotes next server)At 15-all, Williams is like an octopus at the net, stretching one way and then the other. Muguruza can?t get past her so opts for the lob, which goes long. 30-15. Muguruza then biffs a backhand down the line, 30-all. 40-30, but then Williams throws in her second double fault of the day. At Williams?s advantage, Muguruza?s effort is called out but umpire Eva Asderaki-Moore overrules. They?ll replay the point. Williams slaps a backhand into the net. Deuce. Advantage Muguruza, her first chance to break. Williams nets the first serve, what can she do with her second? Her second serve has been so strong this tournament. Williams hits the serve deep - and Muguruza can?t get her return back into play. Deuce. Advantage Williams. A third double fault, Deuce. A big serve, Williams?s advantage. Game. A mixed bag from Williams on the serving front but she holds. 2.32pm BST 14:32 First set: *Williams 3-3 Muguruza (*denotes next server)A vicious body serve from Muguruza, a good tactic against the 6?1? Williams. 15-0. Williams scents an opportunity at 30-all, and she shows incredible movement at full stretch to ping a cross-court forehand winner! 30-40, the first break point of this final. Williams sends Muguruza one way and then the other, has the open court to aim into for the break ... and nets! A wry smile from Williams. Muguruza recovers with an ace and then Williams makes the error. Muguruza survives. We?re still on serve.Updated at 2.47pm BST 2.27pm BST 14:27 First set: Williams 3-2 Muguruza* (*denotes next server)So both players have held serve fairly comfortably so far. This game is no different. 15-0, 30-0, 40-0, game. Muguruza is making a few too many errors on her forehand at the moment. Whenever I watch Williams play, I get rather embarrassed thinking about the first time I interviewed her when I was a rookie radio reporter. I was very nervous and was struggling to press record on my mini disc player (I?m showing my age). ?Time is ticking,? she muttered under her breath without making any eye contact. The interview didn?t get much better after that as all 5?3? of me could barely stretch the microphone - which was wobbling so much because of my nerves - to her mouth. The interview lasted all of about a minute before we?d both had enough. Not my finest hour. 2.24pm BST 14:24 First set: *Williams 2-2 Muguruza (*denotes next server)It?ll be interesting to see who the crowd side with this afternoon. They do love an underdog, and even though Muguruza is the slight favourite with the bookmakers, she does almost feel like an underdog because of Williams?s experience. Early on, the support has been fairly even. Muguruza sprints to 30-0 on her serve, but then stalls her progress with an overcooked forehand. 30-15. Muguruza flirts with danger on the next point too but survives. 40-15. Game. 2.20pm BST 14:20 First set: Williams 2-1 Muguruza* (*denotes next server)You can really hear the pop, pop, pop of the ball under the roof as these two go at each other. At 30-15, Williams wallops away a forehand winner. Oof, take that. She thinks she?s repeated the trick on the next point, hitting deep into the corner, but it?s just out. Williams considers the challenge but then decides against it. 40-30. Then game.Updated at 2.26pm BST 2.18pm BST 14:18 First set: *Williams 1-1 Muguruza (*denotes next server)Williams started her opening service game with an ace - Muguruza begins hers with a double fault. But the Spaniard steadies herself, getting back to 15-all and then ahead at 30-15. Muguruza charges forward on the next point and puts away a straightforward volley. 40-15. Muguruza goes back behind Williams, who manages to regain her footing and hit the ball, but Muguruza takes the point. Game Muguruza. 2.14pm BST 14:14 First set: Williams 1-0 Muguruza* (*denotes next server)The rain has eased off but now the roof is closed, it will remain so for the whole match. Muguruza has her left thigh heavily strapped, as she did during her semi-final win, not that it hindered her then as she charged past Magdalena Rybarikova for the loss of only two games. Williams starts as she means to go on, with an ace. 15-0. A longer point then plays out - you feel the longer rallies are more likely to be won by the 23-year-old Muguruza today - and the 37-year-old Williams whistles wide. 15-all. 30-15, as Muguruza prods long. Muguruza mishits her return and is a bit lucky to win the point, 30-all. 40-30. A brutal backhand down the line, and Williams is on the board.Updated at 2.19pm BST 2.06pm BST 14:06 Venus Williams' record vs not-Serena in Slam finals since 1998:4-0(Beat Davenport x2, Henin, Bartoli)#Wimbledon 2.06pm BST 14:06 ?Slight advantage for Venus,? emails Baloo Punnoose. ?It will be a three set match.?And here?s David Wall: ?Aren?t the players? bags usually carried for them when they walk out for the final, or has that tradition stopped? It seems a bit mean to make them carry both bag and bunch of flowers, who knows if the extra exertion might come back to haunt them if the match runs long. Marginal gains, and all that.? 2.04pm BST 14:04 Tik! Tok! Tikity! Tok! The players are warming up. We?ll be under way shortly.Updated at 2.10pm BST 2.03pm BST 14:03 The coin toss. A huge moment for the 12-year-old Londoner Rebecca Jones, who is representing Children in Need during the coin toss. Rebecca lost her father in 2016 after a four-year illness, and her and her family were supported by two Children in Need funded projects ? The Brain Tumour Charity and Princess Alice Hospice ? during and after her father?s illness.Today, 12-year-old Rebecca will perform the Ladies' Singles Final coin toss.This is her story...#Wimbledon @WimbledonFDN @BBCCiN pic.twitter.com/iAEoZKuPtA 2.01pm BST 14:01 Here come the players, weaving and winding their way through the corridors of the All England Club. Williams and Muguruza are both handed bouquets of flowers, as is tradition in the final, before stepping on to court to loud applause. There isn?t a smile from either player; they?ve got their game faces on. 1.58pm BST 13:58 Royal Box watch. The King of Spain is in the house today. No, not Ashley Giles, King Juan Carlos. Also taking her place in the posh seats is Mary Berry, who?s arrived a couple of days too late to sample Johanna Konta?s muffins. Other names here today include Kelly Holmes, Hilary Swank, Jim Courier and former Wimbledon champions Marion Bartoli, Billie Jean King, Martina Navratilova and Virginia Wade. Of course Wade was supposed to be sitting here today, smiling and clapping as the cameras endlessly zoomed in on her watching Konta become the first British woman since her to win Wimbledon. But no one sent the script to Williams, who ruthlessly dispatched the British No1 in the semi-finals.Updated at 2.29pm BST 1.53pm BST 13:53 The roof is going to stay closed for the final. It should add to the atmosphere, everything seems so much more intense with the roof closed, with the sounds of the balls, players and crowd amplified. Updated at 1.55pm BST 1.48pm BST 13:48 Can't pick this final - really make it 50-50 between Venus and Muguruza. If they both play well, it could be a great match 1.47pm BST 13:47 Prediction time. Chris Evert, Tracy Austin and Kim Clijsters give the slight edge to Williams, while Martina Navratilova appears to be siding with Muguruza. This is so hard to call. They both play such a similar game, based around their big serves and groundstrokes. This will be first-strike tennis; don?t expect too many long rallies. It could well come down to a few break points. Updated at 1.48pm BST 1.43pm BST 13:43 More on the head-to-head. While Williams leads 3-1, Muguruza won their most recent meeting in Rome a couple of months ago, but that was on clay so we can?t read too much into that. This is their first meeting on grass, and their first at a grand slam. 1.38pm BST 13:38 Tale of the tape.Williams-Muguruza37 Age 2311 Ranking 153 Head-to-head 17 Grand slam titles 115 Grand slam finals 21 Sets dropped this tournament 1Updated at 2.02pm BST 1.35pm BST 13:35 It?s still a sea of umbrellas outside but the band are in full swing under the roof on Centre Court, where the spectators are slowly filtering in. 1.30pm BST 13:30 Muguruza says:?It?s very impressive [Williams?s longevity]. I think not everybody can do that. It goes a lot also with the strength of your body, your style of game. For me it?s incredible. I don?t think I could be 37 and playing that level. She just loves to play and she enjoys going out there. At least it?s what it shows. She keeps playing, even though she achieve so many things. She?s still motivated to go for more, which is also very surprising.??[The 2015 Wimbledon] final helped me a lot to figure out a way to play better on grass because before I was, like, not very experienced. Never played a lot of tournaments. It was just a very surprising moment when you reach a final in a tournament where you thought it was going to be difficult. Right now I know how to play more on grass.?When I reached the final in 2015, and when I won the French Open, I could feel the difference between winning a grand slam and not winning. It?s a huge difference.? 1.25pm BST 13:25 Williams says:?There?s definitely [been] a lot of ups and downs [in her career]. I just try to hold my head up high, no matter what is happening in life.??I love the big stage. There is a lot more pressure and it is about dealing with it. There are only a handful of players each year who can push and deal with the pressure of playing your best against the best players.?I don?t think about my age. It is not a factor. I just love the game and I don?t want this part of my life to end. It is not over until it is over.? 1.22pm BST 13:22 2000. 2001. 2005. 2007. 20082017? @Venuseswilliams and #Wimbledon, quite the story... pic.twitter.com/v1BihgmPlX 1.12pm BST 13:12 The final preparations for @GarbiMuguruza...#Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/kRoHbpJDnz 1.12pm BST 13:12 In pursuit of a sixth ladies? singles title, @Venuseswilliams prepares for today?s final?#Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/oclI8cLH6V 1.10pm BST 13:10 The rain means the wheelchair men?s doubles final is suspended. Britain?s Alfie Hewett and Gordon Reid, the second seeds, were a set down 7-6 to France?s top seeds, Stephane Houdet and Nicolas Peifer, when they were forced off court. 1.06pm BST 13:06 The bad news: it?s currently raining.The good news: there?s a chance the drizzle may have stopped by 2pm. But even if it doesn?t, there?s the roof, which is closed at the moment. It could be the first Wimbledon women?s final to be played under the roof. 12.54pm BST 12:54 At the beginning of this fortnight, much of the talk at the All England Club was about the resurgence of a former champion reaching for another Wimbledon crown. But it was Roger Federer, rather than the five-time champion two years his senior who hadn?t won a grand slam singles title since 2008.In many ways, it?s surprising that Venus Williams wasn?t regarded as one of the favourites for the women?s title from the start. The 37-year-old has been a model of consistency over the past year, suggesting she has finally found a way of managing the auto-immune disease that she was diagnosed with in 2011 and that prevented her from being a contender for several years. She arrived at Wimbledon having reached at least the last 16 in her past five majors, including at this year?s Australian Open, where she lost to her sister ? then eight weeks pregnant - in the final. So often has Venus been stalled by Serena in slams ? six of her seven final defeats have been at the hands of her younger sibling ? that Serena?s absence here removed one of her most familiar obstacles.However, Williams was burdened by the fatal car accident she was involved in last month, the details of which emerged only three days before the start of Wimbledon. Asked about the incident after her first-round win, she broke down in tears at her press conference. She struggled in the second round, coming from a set down to advance. That was the last set she dropped. Perhaps using her tennis as a refuge, she started to gain momentum. There was a certain symbolism to her victories over Naomi Osaka, Ana Konjuh and the recent French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko, who were all born in 1997, the year Williams made her Wimbledon debut. Then in the semi-finals, Williams had the look of a champion as she clinically ended the run of Johanna Konta.Now the only player standing between Williams and the title is Garbine Muguruza, who knows exactly what it?s like to lose to Serena in a grand slam final. The Spaniard was runner-up here in 2015 before securing her first major title at the French Open last year. A dip in form followed but she has rediscovered her touch this fortnight, under the guidance of her temporary coach Conchita Martinez, the 1994 Wimbledon champion. Muguruza, like Williams, hits hard, so this will be a match of few subtleties. Muguruza will know that much of the narrative surrounding this final is about Williams but she is more than capable of writing her own story this afternoon. The players will be on court at: 2pm BST. Do remember you can get in touch: via email or twitter.Updated at 12.56pm BST

Shubhodeep Datta

24 Mar 2017,Friday

Govt slams New York Times for criticising Yogi as UP CM

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/india-questions-nyts-wisdom-to-criticise-aditya-nath-becoming/1/912070.html

The Centre has slammed US daily The New York Times over its editorial criticising PM Narendra Modi for choosing Yogi Adityanath as Uttar Pradesh's Chief Minister. Modi's choice of "firebrand Hindu cleric" as UP CM was a "shocking rebuke" to minorities, the editorial read. "The wisdom in doubting the verdicts of genuine democratic exercises...is questionable," the External Affairs Ministry said.

India today reacted sharply to The New York Times editorial criticising Prime Minister Narendra Modis choice of Aditya Nath Yogi as the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, and said the papers wisdom to write such a piece was "questionable". "All editorials or opinions are subjective. This case is particularly so. The wisdom in doubting the verdicts of genuine democratic exercises, at home or abroad, is questionable," External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Gopal Baglay. The NYT in the highly critical editorial, titled Modi's Perilous Embrace of Hindu Extremists, said since he was elected in 2014, Modi has played a "cagey game, appeasing his party's hard-line Hindu base while promoting secular goals of development and economic growth".

Anmol Sharma

28 Jul 2017,Friday

Kohli fastest Indian captain to hit 1,000 overseas Test runs

http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-vs-sri-lanka-2017/virat-kohli-completes-1000-runs-as-indian-cricket-team-captain-in-overseas-tests/story-ulULXQhH7BcQ8cnuSlI3GI.html?utm_source=inshorts&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=fullarticle

Virat Kohli became the fastest Indian captain to score 1,000 runs in overseas Test matches, achieving the milestone in his 17th away Test innings as captain against Sri Lanka on Friday. Kohli surpassed the record of Sachin Tendulkar who had reached the milestone in his 19th innings. Notably, Kohli became the seventh Indian captain to score 1,000-plus overseas Test runs.

Virat Kohli is turning to be Indian cricket?s new milestone man. With almost every innings, he is improving his personal records. During his sweetly hit half-century in the second inning of the opening Test at the Galle International Stadium on Friday, he completed 1000 runs in Tests as captain outside India. (India vs Sri Lanka, 1st cricket Test, Day 3: Highlights)It is a record he will be most proud of, and that is mainly on two counts. First, it?s how well you play away from home that determines your rating as a batsman. It also shows he is thriving in the responsibility of leadership than feel burdened by it.READ | Was Virat Kohli really out on Day 1 vs Sri Lanka? TV umpire caught in hot-spotThe knock was also important for Kohli because he was one of the two top-order batsmen to miss out in the first innings. After getting Kohli out to a bouncer in the first innings, Sri Lanka pace bowler Nuwan Pradeep had spoken about targeting Kohli with the short ball. Surprisingly, they hardly tested the Indian captain with the short stuff in the second essay. READ | India vs Sri Lanka: KL?Rahul recovers from fever, trains with Indian team in?GalleOne reason could be that the first innings effort had taken a toll on the Sri Lankan pace bowlers. As a result, the battle everyone was waiting for didn?t materialise. Kohli was at his fluent best, his feet were moving well, and be it the forward stretch or the backfoot punch, the ball was hitting the sweet spot.READ | India vs Sri Lanka: Plan worked against Virat Kohli, says Nuwan PradeepWhen Pradeep came on for his second spell, Kohli greeted him with back-to-back fours, first a trademark cover drive before tucking the next ball to square leg. Pradeep?s figures read 35 runs in six wicketless overs.With the fifty, Kohli had stretched India?s lead to 446.

Sumedha Sehra

24 Jul 2017,Monday

Jio looking to provide free WiFi in colleges: Report

http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/reliance-jio-wants-to-give-free-wi-fi-to-college-students-3-cr-may-get-benefit/story-5HOa7bT5W6FvQdbkae1rIP.html?utm_source=inshorts&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=fullarticle

Reliance Jio has reportedly submitted a proposal to the Ministry of Human Resource to provide free WiFi in around 38,000 colleges across the country. The facility will reportedly benefit 3 crore students, who will be able to access the government's National Knowledge Network. A tender will be floated to give other companies a fair chance, according to a government source.

After announcing free phones, Reliance Jio now wants to provide free Wi-Fi to three crore college students across the country. According to sources in the government, the company has submitted a proposal in this regard to the human resource development (HRD) ministry. Sources further said that the proposal is being examined by the ministry and a final decision is yet to be taken. However, officials said any such proposal will have to go through a transparent tender process. On the list for free wi-fiDelhi UniversityBanaras Hindu UniversityAligarh Muslim UniversityJamia Milia Islamia UniversityCentral University, Himachal PradeshCentral University, South BiharCentral University, JammuLast month, a proposal was received by the ministry in which Reliance Jio expressed a desire to connect close to 38,000 colleges (technical and non-technical) under the HRD ministry across India by deploying free Wi-Fi connectivity. ?Through this free access to Wi-Fi, all students will be able to get internet connection and use educational resources such as online courses available on SWAYAM platform through the National Knowledge Network. The company plans to create hotspots for this,? a source said.This is the first time the ministry has received a proposal of this kind from a telecom service provider. The government, therefore, wants to ensure other providers have a ?fair chance?.?Though they (Reliance) are not charging us any money for this project, we can?t approve it without giving a fair chance to others. A tender will be floated so that it is a fair and transparent process,? added the source. Reliance Jio had last month made a presentation before the ministry regarding its plans. When contacted by HT, Jio?s representatives refused to comment on the issue.Significantly, even the HRD ministry?s proposal to provide free Wi-Fi to central universities, which has been in the pipeline for quite some time, is also likely to take off this year. HRD minister Prakash Javadekar had recently announced that 38 universities would be made Wi-Fi enabled by August 31 this year.

Chhavi Tyagi

10 Jun 2017,Saturday

Women will be inducted as military police jawans first: Army

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/women-indian-army-military-police-jawans-army-chief-bipin-rawat-combat-position/1/975329.html

A week after announcing that combat roles for women would be open soon, Army chief General Bipin Rawat on Saturday said, "Firstly, we will start with women as military police jawans, will take next step after success." The Indian Army had kept combat roles off limit for women until now reportedly due to operational concerns and logistical issues.

A week after the Chief of Army Staff Bipin Rawat announced that combat roles for women would be open soon, the chief today said that women will be first inducted in military police before taking the discourse further on their combat positions in the force. "Firstly, we will start with women as military police jawans, will take next step after success," General Rawat told media after attending a Passing out Parade (PoP) ceremony in Dehradun."Because many times, when people go to the operation, we have to face the people and many a times ladies come in front of us," he said.Currently women are allowed in a number of select areas including in medical, legal, educational, signals and engineering wings of the Indian Army but combat roles are kept off limit for them due to operational concerns and logistical issues.According to reports, India will be joining countries like Germany, Australia, Canada, the United States, Britain, Denmark, Finland, France, Norway, Sweden and Israel that have already allowed women in combat roles in their army.Last year, in a major step forward, Avani Chaturvedi, Bhawana Kanth and Mohana Singh became the first women fighter pilots to be formally commissioned by the Indian Air Force.ABOUT KASHMIR Answering a question on the ongoing unrest in Kashmir, General Rawat claimed youth in the valley are being instigated through a campaign of misinformation on social media."Youth in Kashmir are being instigated by a misinformation campaign on social media," he said.On June 8, General Rawat said the situation in Kashmir would be normal soon.He said, "Pakistan is spreading disinformation among the youth of Kashmir with doctored videos and messages. This is further supported by some of the people in the Valley who spread it and glamorise the young boys who have joined terrorist organisations."With inputs from ANIAlso read: Not hurt by comparison with General Dyer, says Army chief Bipin Rawat

Abhishek Bansal

03 Mar 2017,Friday

Bombay High Court asks govt to take care of scientists, Army

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/bombay-high-court-scientists-army/1/895936.html

Bombay HC has asked the Centre to submit a report on the deaths of nuclear scientists in India. The government's response should have "details of measures taken to protect the health of scientists...", the court said. The court further observed that the Army and scientists are two sets of people, who needed to be taken care of by the government.

The Bombay High Court today asked the central government to file a detailed affidavit concerning death of nuclear scientists in India.

Rini Sinha

23 Jun 2017,Friday

Remark on daughter Jhanvi's marriage misunderstood: Sridevi

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/sridevi-daughter-jhanvi-kapoor-marriage-bollywood-debut/1/985446.html

Sridevi has said that her earlier statement about being happier if elder daughter Jhanvi Kapoor gets married instead of acting was misunderstood. She added, "What I meant...was I'd prefer if my daughters didn't lead the...hectic life that comes with this business..." Sridevi added she doesn't believe that girls should only get married, and wants her daughters to have an identity.

When Sridevi said in an interview that she would be happier to see her elder daughter Jhanvi get married than act, she faced backlash as some people took it to mean that the actor was against her daughter having a career. Sridevi took to Twitter to clarify her comment and said that she was "misunderstood."She wrote, "My comment was misunderstood and it really concerns me that it's sounding like I believe girls are only meant to get married and settle down. That's not what I want for my daughters, I want them to be able to stand on the own feet and have their own identity. I've always told them never to be dependent on anyone in any capacity."Sridevi added, "It's very important to me that young girls understand that the end goal of their life is not to get married and have babies and they have every right to make something of themselves if they wish to. What I meant to say initially was that I would prefer if my daughters didn't lead the kind of hectic life that comes with this business and instead have a relatively stable and relaxed life. But they are ambitious and I have come to respect that like every parent should, and that respect overshadows my protective parental instincts now."pic.twitter.com/aylNciNqBPOn the work front, Sridevi is gearing up for the release of her film, Mom, which will hit theatres on July 7. Directed by Ravi Udyawar, the film also stars Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Akshaye Khanna, Adnan Siddiqui and Sajal Ali in pivotal roles. Jhanvi, meanwhile, is set to make her entry in Bollywood. However, her debut film has not been announced yet.

Tarun Khanna

26 Mar 2017,Sunday

My lions are hungry, don't go near them: Akhilesh to UP CM

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/akhilesh-yadav-samajwadi-party-adityanath-yogi-uttar-pradesh-cm/1/913018.html

Amid the crackdown on slaughterhouses, ex-UP CM Akhilesh Yadav has cautioned his successor Yogi Adityanath not to go near his lions as they would be hungry. The Akhilesh-led government had "imported" Gujarat lions for the Etawah Lion Safari project. Around ?1 lakh is reportedly spent monthly on the upbringing of each pair of animals, which are currently being fed chicken.

In his first ever interaction with the media after losing the chair to Adityanath Yogi, former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday cautioned Yogi to keep a distance from his lions."My lions (Gujarat Babbar Sher) are hungry...I would like to caution you not to go near them as they can harm you," Akhilesh said in a press conference at the Samajwadi Party's office.The statement was an indirect assault on the newly formed government's crackdown on the slaughterhouses as was promised in the manifesto of the BJP.It is to be mentioned that Akhilesh has "imported" Gujarat lions for his dream project Etawan Lion Safari and as per the records of the state government, nearly Rs 1 lakh is spent every month on food and upbringing of each pair of animals. Due to shortage of red meat, the lions are at present fed with chicken meat and arrangements are being made to import red meat from neighbouring states.TAKE CARE OF MY PEACOCKS, AKHILESH ASKSAkhilesh also requested the CM to take care of his peacocks. "When I used to live there, three peacocks came there (5 Kalidas Marg, the official residence of the CM) and were living with us like family members. I have come to know that Yogiji will be opening a gaushala (cow shed) there. It is my humble request to him to also take care of my peacocks," he said.Taking a jibe at the recent Shudhikaran of the CM's house, Akhilesh said he will take more effective steps for the same."When we will return to power in 2022, I will ensure that the entire residence is washed with Gangajal. Fire tenders will be pressed into service for the same," he said.AKHILESH TAUNTS OFFICIALSAkhilesh also expressed surprise on the "skills" of government officials. "If I had the idea about the brooming skills of these officials, I could have utilised them effectively," he said while taunting the officials who were seen cleaning their offices after taking cleanliness oath.Taking a jibe at the media Akhilesh said, "I am waiting for the days when you (media) will publish Yogi's picture along with incident of rapes and murder as you used to do with me."Akhilesh also informed that his party has reviewed the reason behind the land slide defeat in the elections. "The review is still going on and we are introspecting our weaknesses," he added.ALSO READ | Mulayam, Shivpal skip Akhilesh-led Samajwadi Party's national executive

Dishant Sharma

15 Jul 2017,Saturday

Mithali Raj registers joint-most 50+ scores in women's ODIs

http://www.hindustantimes.com/cricket/mithali-raj-slams-record-half-century-of-50s-in-icc-women-s-world-cup-clash/story-k51oasSnnBnYkB4Y27kdII.html?utm_source=inshorts&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=fullarticle

Indian women's cricket team captain Mithali Raj registered the joint-highest 50+ scores in women's ODIs, going past the mark for the 55th time in the ICC Women's World Cup match against New Zealand on Saturday. Mithali now shares the record with England's Charlotte Edwards, whom she surpassed to become the highest run-getter in women's ODIs earlier.

Mithali Raj continued her magnificent form in ODI cricket as she slammed a magnificent century against New Zealand in a crucial ICC Women?s World Cup encounter in Derby. The Indian skipper rebuilt the innings with a 132-run stand with Harmanpreet Kaur, who also came back to form with a brilliant 60. (IND v NZ?score)However, Mithali continued to bat brilliantly and she was joined by Veda Krishnamurthy, who came out all guns blazing to smash a fifty off just 34 balls. Her assault in the final overs gave the Indian skipper the confidence to hold firm at the other end. Mithali notched up the landmark in the 48th over when she flicked Leigh Kasperek to deep mid wicket for a couple. This was her sixth century and her first in the ICC?Women?s World Cup 2017. It was her first ODI century since 2014, when she hit an unbeaten 104 against Sri Lanka in Vizag.Mithali finally departed for 109 while Krishnamurthy slammed 70 off 45 balls as India ended up on a formidable 265/7 against New Zealand.Her sixth ODI century continued her record breaking run in ODIs in 2017. This was her 10th fifty-plus score in a calendar year, which is the most by any woman cricketer in history. In the previous game against Australia, Mithali became the leading run-getter in ODI cricket by overtaking England?s Charlotte Edwards record of 5992 runs. She also became the first cricketer to go past 6000 ODI runs. In the ICC Women?s World Cup, her scores so far have been 71, 46,8,53,0,69 and this century.India will have to win their final league game against New Zealand if they have to seal a place in the semifinal. If they lose this match, they will be eliminated.

Pragya Swastik

01 Feb 2017,Wednesday

Big B complains about Vodafone on Twitter, RJio offers SIM

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/technology/story/service-so-bad-amitabh-bachchan-burns-vodafone-on-twitter/1/871299.html

Actor Amitabh Bachchan on Tuesday took to Twitter to complain about Vodafone's network, where rival Reliance Jio stepped in and offered him a SIM. Jio tweeted, "Sir, we would be happy to deliver a Jio SIM to you & activate it instantly through our Aadhaar based eKYC home delivery process". The glitch was later fixed and Bachchan thanked Vodafone.

Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan has at least one Vodafone connection and it's giving him (some) trouble. The service is apparently so bad that Big B had to tweet about it. That he did. The last time he did something like this - on Twitter - Samsung had to replace his faulty Note 7, with a Galaxy S7 (of course). Something very similar happened this time round as well. VODAFONE WE HAVE A PROBLEM ..!! ALL SEND MESSAGES COMING FAILED .. RECEIVING SMS BUT NOT GOING .. HHEEEELLLLPPPPP !!!VODAFONE PROBLEM SOLVED ... THANK YOU .. ALL SMS GOING THROUGH NOW .... BAAAADDDDUUUMMBBAAA ...!!Interestingly, Reliance Jio was (also) quick to rise to the occasion, responding to big B's tweet saying it "would be happy to deliver a Jio SIM to him and activate it instantly through their Aadhaar based eKYC home delivery process." In fact, if you observe carefully, you'd notice it was among the first few handles to respond to Bachchan's tweet. Faster than Vodafone India, is what's important though.

Pragya Swastik

30 Mar 2017,Thursday

CCD employee files FIR against customer she slapped

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/ccd-employee-fir-arpan-verma/1/916144.html

The employee of a Café Coffee Day (CCD) outlet in Jaipur, Priyanka Priyadarshini has filed an FIR against a customer named Arpan Verma, whom she had slapped. Priyadarshini has accused Verma of harassment and calling her a slut and a bitch. Earlier, a widely shared video showed Priyadarshini slapping Verma on taking video of cockroaches found in the outlet's fridge.

Police have filed an FIR against the Delhi student who was slapped on camera by a woman staffer from Cafe Coffee Day (CCD) in Jaipur for assaulting and hurling abuses at the woman.Priyanka Priyadarshini, the CCD employee, had filed a complaint against Delhi student Arpan Verma at Jaipur's Manak Chowk police station on Wednesday. Priyadarshini accused Verma of harassing her and threatening to outrage her modesty, in her complaint. She also accused Verma of calling her a slut and bitch.According to the Priyadarshini, Verma was accompanied by another person when he entered the CCD outlet near Hawa Mahal. The duo ordered some beverages, but there was only coffee on offer. Hearing this, Verma got furious and abused her.

Chhavi Tyagi

10 Mar 2017,Friday

Bihar cop gets his own son arrested for smuggling liquor

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/bihar-cop-liquor-smuggling-holi-liquor-ban/1/901101.html

A police officer in Bihar's Darbhanga area, Inspector Prabhat Shankar Singh, got his own son arrested on charges of liquor smuggling in the state ahead of Holi festival. As per reports, the policeman's son had smuggled 25 bottles of foreign liquor into the dry state to sell it at a high price in order to make a huge profit.

At a time when the police is considered dishonest and the person donning the uniform often compromising with his duty, a police officer in Darbhanga has set an example. Prabhat Shankar Singh, who is posted as Inspector at APM Police station, on Thursday put his job as a policeman first and got his son arrested on charges of liquor smuggling.Indrajeet, the son of the police officer, had lately joined a group of liquor smugglers ahead of the festival of Holi. He had smuggled 25 bottles of foreign liquor into Bihar to sell it at a high price in order to make a huge profit, but before he could succeed with his plans, his father came to know about it.

Tanya Dhingra

17 Jul 2017,Monday

Standalone Hulk movie will never happen: Mark Ruffalo

http://www.hindustantimes.com/hollywood/standalone-hulk-movie-will-never-happen-mark-ruffalo/story-oBkoc1jemEbllnEoRZMVzN.html?utm_source=inshorts&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=fullarticle

Hollywood actor Mark Ruffalo, known for playing the Marvel Comics superhero the Hulk, has said there are no chances of another standalone Hulk movie. Mark added, "Universal has the rights, and for some reason, they don't know how to play well with Marvel. And, they don't want to make money."

Hollywood actor Mark Ruffalo has said there are no chances of having another standalone movie for fictional superhero Hulk.Mark Ruffalo, from left, Benedict Wong and Benedict Cumberbatch appear on the set during filming of Avengers: Infinity War, Monday, June 26 in Atlanta. (AP) Various superheroes in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) like Captain America (Chris Evans), Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr), Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and Spider-Man (Tom Holland) have had their standalone film series. However, Ruffalo said at Disney?s D23 Expo on Saturday that Universal Studios has the rights for Hulk, so, there are less chances for a standalone movie for the superhero. ?I want to just make one thing perfectly clear today: A standalone ?Hulk? movie will never happen. Universal has the rights, and for some reason, they don?t know how to play well with Marvel. And, they don?t want to make money,? Ruffalo told variety.com.Universal Pictures has maintained the rights to the Hulk ever since 2003 film Hulk starring Eric Bana and 2007 movie ?The Incredible Hulk? with Edward Norton playing the lead role.Follow @htshowbiz for more

Aarushi Maheshwari

27 Jan 2017,Friday

Delhi Metro looking for new colours for new lines

http://www.hindustantimes.com/delhi/pink-blue-yellow-all-taken-delhi-metro-running-out-of-colours-for-new-lines/story-TVEyGWLe3rASh2Wrp0hWbJ.html

The Delhi Metro is looking for new colours for its six new lines that have to be colour coded, officials have said. The new colours could include rose, vermillion, azure and black. Officials said the nine existing lines are identified by different colours, namely red, yellow, blue, green, violet, pink, magenta, grey and orange, allowing people to remember routes easily.

Delhi Metro is running out of colours and how.The capital?s most favoured public transport network is scouring the palette for six new lines which will have to be colour coded, officials of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation told HT.The nine existing lines of the Delhi Metro ? used by an estimated 30 lakh commuters daily ? is identified by a different colour, a method used to help people remember their ride easily. ?We prefer colour coding as it is easy to remember. We will definitely give distinctive colours to new lines that are coming up. We have an architect department which will come up with the new colours to be allotted to these lines,? a DMRC spokesperson said.The six new lines will cover 104km, crisscrossing the existing network and is expected to have a daily ridership of 8.5 lakh. Construction of the lines is expected to start soon. The DMRC has already used up all the primary colours ? red, blue and yellow ? and secondary colours, which result from the mixing of the primary colours. Besides, Delhi metro also uses some of the tertiary colours, a mixture of the primary and secondary colours.DMRC has so far used red, yellow, blue, green, violet, pink, magenta, grey and orange.Some of the colours which the DMRC could use include rose, vermillion, azure and even black, though it is considered inauspicious by many in India.Officials said primary colours were used for phase I lines, secondary colours for phase II lines and for phase III (new lines), tertiary colours are chosen. DMRC has issued tenders for the topographical survey of the six lines after they approved by the Delhi government.Officials said construction of the new lines is likely to start by August though DMRC is awaiting approval of the central government.The lines under phase IV, in addition to the 140 kilometres added in phase III, are expected to free up traffic bottlenecks in congested central and southern parts of the city and help passengers from outer Delhi.The phase III of metro expansion is likely to be completed by mid-2017, officials added.

Rini Sinha

10 Jun 2017,Saturday

Fingers crossed: Jacqueline on working with Salman in a film

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/fingers-crossed-jacqueline-on-working-with-salman-in-remos/1/975328.html

Actress Jacqueline Fernandez, when asked if she will star opposite Salman Khan in Remo D'Souza's upcoming dance film, said, "Fingers crossed. Pray for me." Salman will reportedly play a trained dancer, who's father to a 13-year-old girl in the film. In an earlier interview, Salman revealed that although this a dance-based film, it's not a sequel to 'ABCD 2'.

film Mumbai, Jun 10 (PTI) Actress Jacqueline Fernandez has neither denied nor confirmed if she is doing Remo DSouzas next film featuring Salman Khan. There were reports that the actress had given her nod to the project which is about father-daughter relationship. When asked if she is doing the film, the actress told PTI, "Fingers crossed. Pray for me." The actress is currently gearing up for her next release "A Gentleman", the film which was previously titled "Reload". "We didnt have a title for so long so we kept a working title which was Reload. We had never really announced or finalised any title.

Aarushi Maheshwari

17 Feb 2017,Friday

Indian eatery in UK closes due to cockroach infestation

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/indian-restaurant-shut-down-in-uk-over-cockroach-infestation/1/884768.html

Diners at an Indian restaurant in England were forced to leave mid-way after health inspectors discovered a cockroach infestation. German cockroaches were found in the food store and freezers at Sand's of Glenfield. A notice on the restaurant door said, "We are... taking all the necessary steps to ensure that we provide the best possible environment for our valued guests."

From Aditi Khanna London, Feb 16 (PTI) Diners at a popular Indian restaurant in the city of Leicester were forced to abandon their meals mid-way after health inspectors discovered a cockroach infestation. Sand?s Glenfield was shut down on the spot earlier this month after being tipped off by a member of the public. "A resident of the district made us aware that a pest control company had been visiting Sands. We served a hygiene emergency prohibition order on Sands of Glenfield for a cockroach infestation, on Saturday, February 4," a spokesperson for the local Blaby District Council told ?Leicester Mercury?. "The business is now formally closed as a food business until our environmental health team are satisfied that the health risk condition no longer exists. We are working closely with representatives of the business and their pest control company to advise them about the steps they need to take in order for this to be achieved," she added. Magistrates upheld the inspectors decision to close the restaurant at a hearing on February 8. The restaurant will have to seek the approval of health inspectors to re-open once necessary refurbishment is completed.

Rini Sinha

29 Apr 2017,Saturday

Comedy show Hum Paanch to have a third season: Reports

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/hum-paanch-ekta-kapoor-vidya-balan-popular-comedy-show-is-all-set-to-make-a-comeback-with-a-brand-new-season-lifetv/1/941355.html

As per reports, the comedy show Hum Paanch will return to the small screen with a third season. "We will retain all the intrinsic elements and the format, but will give it a modern spin," a source was quoted as saying. The show revolved around five sisters and their parents, and starred Ashok Saraf, Rakhee Tandon in pivotal roles.

Popular comedy show Hum Paanch, which was produced by Ekta Kapoor, is all set to return on the small screen.Yep, it is true.According to a report in The Times of India, the show will make a comeback soon, but it will no longer be produced by Ekta Kapoor. The show will be produced by makers of shows like Dance India Dance, and Maharakshak Devi, and will be called Hum Paanch Phir Se.

Chhavi Tyagi

21 Jun 2017,Wednesday

Stop promoting GST or face protests: Congress to Amitabh

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/gst-amitabh-bachchan-congress/1/983903.html

Days after the central government roped in actor Amitabh Bachchan to promote GST, the opposition Congress on Wednesday asked Big B to refrain from doing so or face protests. "He should not promote GST in its current form. There is already anger among traders against it," Mumbai Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam said.

The Opposition Congress today asked Amitabh Bachchan to refrain from promoting the Goods and Services Tax (GST) or face protest from the party. The superstar responded by saying he is doing it because he was asked.Mumbai Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam has asked the 74-year-old Bollywood superstar to stop promoting GST, a uniform tax regime set to be launched on July 1."He should not promote GST in its current form. There is already anger among traders against it. There will be protests against it and also against Big B as he is the brand ambassador. So he so should not promote GST," Nirupam said."...a campaign to explain GST. I was asked, I did it," tweeted Amitabh on Tuesday, addressing his tweet to the official handle of the Central Board of Excise and Customs, the body responsible for administering indirect taxes in India, and which made Bachchan its brand ambassador. A 40-second video featuring Bachchan has also been released by the government, in which the actor explains GST as a "unifying force, just like the three colours in the national flag". "GST - An initiative to create a unified national market," the Finance Ministry said on Monday in a tweet, attaching the video. Ace badminton star PV Sindhu was previously the GST brand ambassador.WHAT IS GST?GST will simplify a web of taxes, regulations and border levies by subsuming an array of central and state levies including excise duty, service tax and VAT. It is being dubbed as the most significant economic reform since BJP government came to power in 2014 and is expected to add as much as 2 percentage points to the GDP growth rate.A four-rate structure that exempts or imposes a low rate of tax 5 per cent on essential items and top rate of 28 per cent on cars and consumer durables has been finalised. The other slabs of tax are 12 and 18 per cent.GST also represents an unprecedented exercise in fiscal federalism. The GST Council, that brings together the central and state governments, has met 17 times to thrash out how the tax will work. ALSO READ:

Dishant Sharma

09 May 2017,Tuesday

Cyclist deliberately knocked off bike by hit-and-run driver

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/may/09/chris-froome-knocked-off-bike-hit-and-run-driver?CMP=share_btn_tw

Three-time Tour de France winner, Chris Froome has said that he was deliberately knocked off his bike by a hit-and-run driver while training in southern France. Froome, who posted a picture of his damaged bike on Twitter, said that a car followed him onto the pavement and rammed into him on purpose. Notably, Froome suffered no injuries from the accident.

Chris Froome has said he was deliberately knocked off his bike by a hit-and-run driver while training in southern France.The three-time Tour de France winner posted a picture of his broken bike on Twitter but said he was not hurt in the incident.The Team Sky rider wrote: ?Just got rammed on purpose by an impatient driver who followed me onto the pavement! Thankfully I?m okay. Bike totaled. Driver kept going!?Just got rammed on purpose by an impatient driver who followed me onto the pavement! Thankfully I'm okay ? Bike totaled. Driver kept going! pic.twitter.com/o7FT4iXsAoThe picture was geotagged from Beausoleil in France, close to Froome?s home in Monaco. His Pinarello Dogma F10 bike appeared to be damaged beyond repair.Team Sky said the 31-year-old had returned home to get a spare bike and had continued his training after the incident, which will be reported to the police.Last month, 2011 Giro d?Italia winner Michele Scarponi of the Astana team was killed when he was knocked off his bike by a van while training close to home in Italy. Scarponi had been preparing for this year?s Giro, where the Mortirolo climb has now been named in his honour.Also last month, Wanty-Groupe Gobert rider Yoann Offredo posted pictures on social media of himself badly bloodied, saying he had been the victim of an assault while out riding with two friends in the Chevreuse Valley, south west of Paris.Froome?s Team Sky team-mate Geraint Thomas, who is competing at the Giro d?Italia, told cyclingweekly.com: ?It?s a reminder, it shows how dangerous it can be. I only saw it five minutes before getting off the bus. It didn?t look good at all. I?ll speak to him later today.?Spanish rider Mikel Landa, who is also riding at the Giro for Team Sky, added: ?You can?t always be scared when you are riding on the roads, but with the situation like you see today with Froome, you think a lot about how we are at risk on the road. I had goose bumps (seeing the photograph). I thought about Scarponi. In an accident, we are always going to be the one who?s worse off.?Froome is preparing for this year?s Tour, where he will be seeking a fourth title in five years and third in a row. He finished 18th in the Tour de Romandie in Switzerland at the end of last month, and his next race is expected to be the Critérium du Dauphiné ? a race he won ahead of each of his Tour victories in 2013, 2015 and 2016 ? at the start of June. The Tour de France starts in Düsseldorf on 1 July.

Dishant Sharma

13 Jul 2017,Thursday

Djokovic mulls break 'for body, mind' post Wimbledon exit

http://www.hindustantimes.com/tennis/novak-djokovic-ponders-long-break-for-body-mind-after-wimbledon-shock/story-o5EnLoqEEn8Uw6CxMHHyfM.html?utm_source=inshorts&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=fullarticle

Former world number one Novak Djokovic is considering a long break from tennis after an elbow injury forced him to retire from his Wimbledon quarter-final match against Tomas Berdych on Wednesday. "Maybe a longer rest is necessary, not only because of the injury but for my mind as well," the 30-year-old Serbian said.

Novak Djokovic admits a long break is on the cards after an elbow injury forced him to retire from his Wimbledon quarter-final against Tomas Berdych.Djokovic?s miserable 12 months hit a fresh low on Wednesday when a right elbow problem curtailed his bid to win Wimbledon for a fourth time.The 30-year-old Serb was trailing 7-6 (7/2), 2-0 and felt he had no option but to call it quits as the pain, from an injury that has troubled him for more than a year, began to increase.?There is a possibility that they will propose surgery, but I don?t think that is good,? Djokovic told Serbian media.?To go be cut in surgery or to poison myself with pills.... none of the solutions is good. A logical conclusion is that a kind of a rest and a longer break is a logical solution. Maybe a longer rest is necessary, not only because of the injury but for my mind as well.READ | Why tennis is no longer the number one priority for Novak Djokovic?During my entire career I have followed a school schedule, I have never been reprimanded, maybe I will skip the next semester.?Djokovic, who has also struggled with a shoulder issue, had spoken to medical experts about the elbow problem before Wimbledon and was told surgery was an option.Asked what he would do to finally resolve the nagging injury, Djokovic had admitted he wouldn?t rule out an operation.?The specialists that I?ve talked with, they haven?t been really too clear, mentioning also surgery, mentioning different options,? he said.?Nobody was very clear in what needs to be done. As long as it kind of comes and goes, it?s fine.?But obviously, adding up, maybe it worked for seven, eight, ten months, but now the next seven months is not working that great.?Obviously it?s adding up more and more. The more I play, the worse it gets. Yeah, I guess the break is something that I will have to consider right now.?With the US Open just six weeks away at the culmination of the American hard-court swing, Djokovic doesn?t have long to return to full fitness.?Very tough year?Since winning the French Open last year to complete his career Grand Slam, Djokovic has failed to claim another major title.He crashed out of the Australian Open in the second round and the French Open in the quarter-finals.With world number one Andy Murray losing against Sam Querrey earlier on Wednesday, Djokovic knew he would have regained top spot in the rankings if he won Wimbledon.READ?|?Wimbledon: Top seed Andy Murray loses to Sam Querrey in five-set quarter-finalThat honour will have to wait for now and, with Murray hobbled by a long-term hip injury against Querrey, Djokovic conceded the two rivals could be paying the price for their gruelling battle for the top ranking last year.?Could be. We both had a very long, very tough year, a lot of matches, a lot of emotions, a lot of things in play,? he said.?Our bodies have taken a lot physically. So, I mean, as an athlete, one way or another, at a certain stage of your career, you?re going to experience these kind of things.?Injuries are part of this sport, unfortunately. Professional tennis is getting very physical in the last couple of years.?It?s not easy to kind of play on the highest level throughout the entire season, then be able to do that over and over again every season, and then stay healthy.?The injury was especially frustrating for the 12-time Grand Slam winner as he felt he was finally beginning to play his best tennis after a turbulent period.?For an athlete, it?s really hard to swallow when you have to retire, especially when you?re playing well,? Djokovic said.?I was playing really well, probably the best tennis I?ve played in the last 10 months or so.?It?s just unfortunate. It takes some time to understand why this happened and to learn from it.?

Abhishek Bansal

30 Apr 2017,Sunday

Kumar like younger brother, nobody can separate us: Kejriwal

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/arvind-kejriwal-kumar-vishwas-younger-brother-aap-bjp/1/942321.html

Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday denied any rift with Kumar Vishwas and said the AAP leader was like his younger brother. Kejriwal added that some people were trying to show that there is a rift between the two but nobody could separate them. This comes after AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan alleged that Kumar was conspiring to break the party.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday denied any rift with senior leader Kumar Vishwas after an AAP MLA accused the latter of trying to break the party at the BJP's behest.Aam Aadmi Party MLA Amanatullah Khan alleged that Kumar Vishwas was conspiring to break the party and had asked some legislators to join the BJP with an offer of Rs 30 crore each.This prompted Kejriwal to say that attempts were being made to create a rift between him and Kumar Vishwas, one of the founders of the AAP and a long-time friend of both Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia.Khan circulated a WhatsApp message saying Kumar Vishwas had called some AAP MLAs to his home with the monetary offer at the behest of the Bharatiya Janata Party."Kumar Vishwas called some MLAS and asked them that he should be made the party convenor," said the legislator from Okhla in south Delhi. Kumar Vishwas gave them the second offer "to join the BJP which was ready to pay Rs 30 crore to each one of them."I think all this is being done at the behest of the BJP," Khan said, adding four AAP MLAs had been tasked with arranging meetings of the party legislators with Kumar Vishwas.The four MLAs also held a meeting with an unnamed minister, Khan said, citing 10 unnamed MLAs who "revealed this to me". KUMAR VISHWAS LIKE BROTHER But Kejriwal tweeted that Kumar Vishwas was like "my younger brother"."Some people are trying to show that there is a gulf between us. These people are enemies of the party. They should mend their ways. Nobody can separate us."Khan confirmed to IANS that he had circulated the message because "Kumar Vishwas wants to usurp and break the AAP".In a TV interview on Friday, Kumar Vishwas said the party won't hesitate in taking a call on change in its leadership after its poor show in Delhi municipal polls.The AAP finished much behind the BJP in all three wings of the municipal corporation. The Congress finished at the bottom of the heap. He said blaming the EVMs entirely for its poll defeats was wrong as there was mistrust among people vis-a-vis the party.Watch the video

Tarun Khanna

16 Apr 2017,Sunday

BJP expels 21 members ahead of MCD polls

http://www.hindustantimes.com/delhi/ahead-of-mcd-polls-delhi-bjp-expels-21-members-for-anti-party-activities/story-YYYUR7UnVNmVaeflLArOJP.html

Days before civic polls in Delhi, the BJP on Saturday expelled 21 members for six years allegedly for anti-party activities. The expelled members include five sitting councillors, out which four are contesting the civic polls against the party's official candidates. Notably, the BJP has decided not to give tickets to all its sitting councillors in the three corporations.

The Delhi BJP on Saturday expelled 21 members, including five sitting councillors, from the party for six years for allegedly being involved in anti-party activites ahead of the MCD polls on April 23.Four outgoing councillors Pankaj Singh from Ranhola, Krishna Gehlot from Navada, Praveen Rajput from Sagarpur West, Sandhya Verma (Patparganj), and Nikki Singh from New Ashok Nagar were expelled for contesting the civic elections against the party?s official candidates, the party said in a statement.Party leader and former Delhi University Students? Union president Manoj Chaudhary has been also been expelled, Delhi BJP media in-charge Praveen Shankar Kapoor said.The BJP, ahead of this year?s polls to the three civic bodies in the national capital, has decided not to give tickets to all its sitting councillors in the three corporations.Most of the around 140 councillors agreed to abide by the party?s decision, but a section has been involved in the anti-party activities, alleged a party leader.About nine councillors had filed nominations against the party?s official candidates. A couple of sitting councillors have switched over to Congress in revolt against the party?s decision.Voting for 272 wards of three municipal corporations will be held on April 23 and counting of votes will take place on April 26.Meanwhile, some Congress workers and a candidate of AAP in MCD bypolls last year, Sunita Tokas, joined the BJP on Sunday.

Nandini Sinha

26 Jul 2017,Wednesday

US court allows Trump commission to collect voter data

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jul/24/trump-election-integrity-commission-privacy-lawsuit-ruling?utm_source=inshorts&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=fullarticle

A US court has ruled that President Donald Trump's commission on election fraud can resume collecting voter information from all states. The commission had asked states to provide publicly available data including registered voters' names, birth dates, and social security numbers. However, an advocacy group filed a lawsuit against the commission citing privacy concerns.

A federal judge on Monday cleared the way for Donald Trump?s commission on election fraud to resume collecting detailed voter roll information from the states.The commission asked states last month to provide publicly available data including registered voters? names, birth dates and partial social security numbers, but it later told them to hold off until a judge ruled on a lawsuit filed by the Electronic Privacy Information Center (Epic) in Washington. The US district court judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, in the District of Columbia, denied the advocacy group?s request to block the data collection in a ruling that the commission?s vice-chairman, Kris Kobach, called ?a major victory for government accountability, transparency and the public?s right to know about the integrity of our elections processes?.?The commission requested this publicly available data as part of its fact-gathering process, which is information that states regularly release to political candidates, political parties and the general public,? said Kobach, the Republican secretary of state in Kansas. ?We look forward to continuing to work with state election leaders to gather information and identify opportunities to improve election integrity.? Nearly two weeks ago, the Trump administration had appeared to back away from its extraordinary attempt to gather voters? personal information, following a barrage of legal challenges and furious backlash from state officials as well as the public over privacy concerns. In addition, while Kobach has said that the effort was aimed at stopping voter fraud, his detractors say he is looking for a solution to a non-existent problem. They have also accused him of using it as a backdoor effort at mass voter suppression.The privacy group had argued in its suit that the commission should have completed an assessment of privacy concerns before making the request. The judge found that the group had standing to make that argument but said the commission was not an agency and therefore was not required to do such assessments. The judge also found the group failed to show that its members would be harmed by the data collection. ?The only practical harm the plaintiff?s advisory board members would suffer ... is that their already publicly available information would be rendered more easily accessible by virtue of its consolidation on the computer systems that would ultimately receive this information on behalf of the commission,? the judge said. She did not say that any states must comply with the commission?s request. The privacy group said it would be watching closely to see what the commission did next. ?The commission cannot evade privacy obligations by playing a shell game with the nation?s voting records,? Epic?s president, Marc Rotenberg, said. Similar lawsuits are pending in Texas, Florida and New Hampshire. The New Hampshire lawsuit, brought by two lawmakers and an American Civil Liberties Union chapter, was put on hold pending the outcome of the Washington case. Trump, a Republican, created the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity in May to investigate his allegations, offered without evidence, that millions of people voted illegally in 2016. At the panel?s first meeting last week, he questioned the motives of states that have refused to comply with the commission?s request, suggesting they had something to hide. Before the commission paused data collection earlier this month, an Associated Press count of states? responses found 17, plus Washington DC, did not plan to provide any information. Election officials in some of those states questioned the commission?s intent to search for voter fraud; in some states, the main concern was voters? privacy. Thirty states said they would provide limited information that was considered public already. And some of those states said the commission would have some hoops to jump through such as paying for the data or filling out additional request forms. Alabama, Hawaii and Idaho had not announced decisions about whether to comply.

Radhika Chugh

21 Jul 2017,Friday

Gurugram civic body to auction 20 tax defaulter properties

http://www.hindustantimes.com/gurgaon/gurgaon-mcg-to-auction-20-properties-of-tax-defaulters-on-august-8/story-Pox4nNFlcH1ZcITVTO6YEL.html?utm_source=inshorts&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=fullarticle

The Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) has announced plans to auction 20 out of 519 sealed properties of property tax defaulters in the city next month. This comes after MCG offered a rebate and interest waivers on tax dues until July 15. Notably, the MCG has collected over ?400 crore property tax this year, compared to ?387 crore last year.

Property tax defaulters may be forced to consider clearing their dues with the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG), as the civic body has decided to auction 20 properties of defaulters on August 8 after failing to recover the arrears.The MCG has sealed 519 buildings in the city, all of which now face the possibility of being auctioned off.?Any building or land situated within the jurisdiction of the MCG is liable to property tax. To encourage and assist taxpayers, rebate schemes have been in place since February. However, many residents chose to decline the offer and not make their payments. Hence, as per Section 130 (manner of recovering tax or fee) of the Haryana Municipal Act 1994, tax defaulters were issued multiple notices on their property tax dues. Since, they failed to clear their dues despite these measures, the MCG will now consider selling their properties to recover its dues.? SS Rohilla, spokesperson of MCG, said.The 20 properties are located at DLF Phase 4, sectors 43, 48, 57, 14, 16, Udyog Vihar Phase 5, Udyog Vihar Phase 4, Udyog Vihar Phase 1, Gadoli, Kherki Daula, Pace City 2 and Amar Colony.Incidentally, HT story last week had highlighted that MCG officials are pondering over auctioning 14 properties for recovering property tax dues.Read I Gurgaon: MCG extends deadline for property tax payment till April 30MCG officials were due to start the auctioning process from May 20, but seeing high recovery due to rebate schemes, it deferred the process indefinitely and introduced more such schemes till July 15. So far, this year, the MCG has collected over ?400 crore in property tax against ?387 crore netted last year. FIR filed against two for thrashing MCG staffMCG officials filed a FIR with Phase2 police station against two people for thrashing their staff while they were catching stray animals during its campaign at Nathupur on Wednesday.According to MCG officials, the accused were identified as Kalu and Sundar. Both are residents of Nathupur. As per MCG officials, when they started their operation, a group of 15-20 people came out with batons, hockey sticks and iron rods and demanded that the officials stop catching stray animals, as they claimed the animals belonged to them.Soon, the two accused allegedly started thrashing four MCG officials, who suffered minor injuries.?Stray animals are a nuisance in the city as they block roads and cause snarls. Any kind of obstruction during MCG?s campaign directed at stray animals will not be tolerated and legal action will follow,? MCG Commissioner V Umashankar said.

Niharika Prabhakar

29 Jun 2017,Thursday

T'gana hospital turns away pregnant women saying no doctors

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/telangana-nagarkurnool-government-hospital-pregnant-women-protest/1/989048.html

Several pregnant women protested outside a government hospital in Telangana on Tuesday after being asked to go to a hospital located an hour's drive away. Reportedly, this was because there were no available gynaecologists to deliver the babies or offer medical treatment. The protest ended after the police reached the spot and the women received reassurance by the hospital's superintendent.

Dozens of pregnant women protested on Tuesday outside the Nagarkurnool government hospital, located 133 km from Hyderabad, since no gynecologists were available to deliver their babies, or offer medical treatment.They began protesting after they were asked to go to Mahbubnagar district hospital, located an hour's drive away.In tears, the father of a woman suffering labour pains expressed helplessness over his family's plight. "We came at 1 am (on Monday) night but no doctors are available. She (his daughter) is in heavy labour pain and we don' know what to do. She...is in her ninth month," he said.Police reached the spot after learning of the protest, which ended after the women received an assurance from the hospital's superintendent.The Nagarkurnool government hospital doesn't have the five gynecologists and two anesthetists it needs to cope with the demand for medical care, so patients are forced to go to private clinics, or to Mahbubnagar.All this happened while Telangana ministers were busy tweeting about the K Chandrashekhar Rao (KCR) government's achievements in the healthcare sector. IT minister K Tarakrama Rao - who is KCR's son - tweeted photos of the refurbished King Koti and Malakpet hospitals in Hyderabad as examples of the 'changing face of healthcare in the state.'

Tanya Dhingra

13 Jul 2017,Thursday

1st films will always be special: Diana on 5 yrs of Cocktail

http://www.hindustantimes.com/bollywood/5-years-of-cocktail-diana-penty-says-imtiaz-ali-recommended-her-for-meera-s-role/story-QLNTt6Doq5wAhBdKj5MpXJ.html?utm_source=inshorts&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=fullarticle

Diana Penty, whose debut film Cocktail completed five years on Thursday, shared a picture on Instagram captioned, "First films will always be special. I would not have been here if it wasn't for Cocktail." Speaking about her character Meera in Cocktail, Diana added, "The character still remains close to my heart, as I'm a lot like her in real life."

Diana Penty became an overnight star after she played Meera, a shy, demure and traditional girl, in Homi Adajania?s Cocktail (2012). It was an acclaimed debut performance by an actor who was already a top fashion model.As the film completes five years today, Diana goes down memory lane and says that she wasn?t sure whether she?d be able to pull off Meera?s character. ?It was my first film and with no background in acting, I wasn?t sure if I could play the part. But Homi and Dinesh (Vijan, producer) were confident and believed in me. Thanks to their training, I could make Meera look convincing. The character still remains close to my heart, as I?m a lot like her in real life,? says Diana.Interestingly, it wasn?t Cocktail with which Diana was supposed to make her Bollywood debut. That film would have been Imtiaz Ali?s Rockstar (2011). That didn?t work out as she didn?t fit the part. ?But Imtiaz kept me in mind. And when Dinesh and Homi were casting for Meera?s role, Imtiaz recommended my name,? she adds.Saif Ali Khan, Diana Penty and Deepika Padukone in a still from the film Cocktail.Diana remembers how nervous she was while working on the film. ?Coming from a modelling background and then doing a film with Saif and Deepika, and that, too, in my debut venture? I was literally nervous. But on the sets, neither of them, nor others, made me feel like a newcomer. The way in the film Gautam (Saif), Veronica (Deepika), and Meera become friends, we came close to each other in real life,? shares Diana. One of her favourite songs from the film is Tumhi Ho Bandhu, for which she danced. Diana says, ?I have several defining moments of my life from Cocktail. I learned acting, worked with some of the best in the industry in my debut [film] etc. Cocktail completely changed my life; suddenly everyone knew about me.? Follow @htshowbiz for more

Mishika Bangia

14 Jun 2017,Wednesday

UP government to hire 1,000 doctors on contract basis

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/up-govt-to-hire-1000-contractual-doctors/1/978045.html

UP Health Minister Sidharth Nath Singh announced on Tuesday that the cabinet has decided to recruit 1,000 doctors including 500 specialists on a contract for one year. Incentives and contract extension will depend upon doctors' performance, he added. In a cabinet meeting, chaired by CM Yogi Adityanath, transfer policy was also finalised for doctors already employed in state hospitals.

Lucknow, Jun 23 (PTI) The Uttar Pradesh government today decided to recruit one thousand contractual doctors and also finalised the transfer policy for doctors already employed in state hospitals. The decision was taken at a cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. "The cabinet has decided to employ 1,000 doctors including 500 specialists on a contract of one year. The contract might be extended for two more years depending on their performance", state Health Minister Sidharth Nath Singh told reporters here. He said that cabinet also okayed the transfer policy for doctors according to A, B, C and D categories.

Ankur Vyas

05 Jan 2017,Thursday

Meghalaya MLA absconding after being accused of raping minor

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/rape-meghalaya-mla-julius-dorphang-hdr-lyngdoh/1/850040.html

Accused of raping a 14-year-old girl twice, Meghalaya MLA Julius Dorphang has been absconding after a non-bailable warrant was issued against him. The guest house where the rape took place reportedly belonged to state Home Minister HDR Lyngdoh and his son. Dorphang, known to be a militant and the chairman of the banned outfit HNLC, had surrendered in 2007.

Accused of raping a 14-year-old girl twice, Meghalaya MLA Julius Dorphang has been absconding after a non-bailable warrant was issued against him in Laitumkhrah.Dorphang is known to have been a militant and chairman of the banned insurgent outfit, HNLC, and had surrendered in 2007. He then contested in the 2013 elections and was elected from Mawhati constituency.Complainants claim that the guest house at Rilbong where the rape took place belongs state Home Minister HDR Lyngdoh and his son. Sources say the case looks much like a sex racket involving government officials, ministers and officials.

Tanya Dhingra

30 Jul 2017,Sunday

Everybody in B'wood uses influence to help loved ones: Zayed

http://www.hindustantimes.com/bollywood/zayed-khan-on-nepotism-row-what-s-wrong-if-you-are-using-your-influence/story-DD7c0qLWjP05zNhlXBGqEK.html?utm_source=inshorts&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=fullarticle

Actor Zayed Khan, while talking about nepotism, said, "Hasn't everybody coming up (in this industry) used their influence to help their loved ones or keep their loved ones in a better position?" Zayed added, "It is merely human nature. Let's not blow things out of proportion." He further said that the industry is based on the survival of the fittest.

Actor Zayed Khan, who was in Delhi to attend his friend designer Manav Gangwani?s fashion show, shared his thoughts on the on-going nepotism debate in Bollywood, and also spoke about his television debut. About nepotism in Bollywood, the 37-year-old actor said, ?Isn?t everybody nepotistic? Hasn?t everybody coming up [in this industry] used their influence to help their loved ones or keep their loved ones in a better position? It is merely human nature. Let?s not blow things out of proportion. We?re a free enterprise. It?s survival of the fittest. Nepotism is a new word that has fascinated everybody. Buckle up, dust yourself off, and move forward,? he says.Zayed, who made is Bollywood debut in the film Chura Liyaa Hai Tumne in 2003 is the son of actor Sanjay Khan and interior designer Zarine Khan. Coming from a family, who has been into showbiz for the longest time, it came as a surprise that the actor accepted the prevalence of nepotism in the industry. Zayed is soon going to make his TV debut. Speaking about his apprehension on doing television, he said, ?I see television as a lot of hard work. Why are we looking down on television when it is the highest penetrating medium? For me, my fans and their support means a lot and I believe that they will like me on TV. I want to be honest in my job. And I am comfortable [with] any medium if the work is good; it can even be digital tomorrow.?

Mansha Mahajan

04 May 2017,Thursday

SBI declines to share amount of money in suspended accounts

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/sbi-declines-to-share-quantum-of-money-in-suspended-accounts/1/945409.html

SBI has declined to share the quantum of money lying in suspended bank accounts in which interest amount of customers, who don't claim it due to religious reasons, is kept. The bank was asked to provide details of suspended accounts, and was also asked to share guidelines to deal with such interest amount. SBI said it doesn't maintain such information.

By Ashwini Shrivastava New Delhi, May 4 (PTI) The SBI has declined to share the quantum of money lying in suspended bank accounts in which the interest amount of customers, who do not claim it due to religious reasons, is kept. Replying to an RTI query, the State Bank of India (SBI) said it does not maintain such information in its database "in normal course of business and extraction of the same will be voluminous and time taking activity". "We, therefore, decline your application under Section 7 (9) of RTI Act as the information sought by you is likely to divert disproportionately the resources of the bank," it said in reply to the application filed by PTI. The section bars disclosure of information which would disproportionately divert the resources of the public authority or would be detrimental to the safety or preservation of the record in question. The bank was asked to provide details of suspended accounts including their total number and amount lying in them. It was also asked to share details of guidelines to deal with such amount of interest. The interest money which is not claimed by people due to religious obligations is kept in suspended bank accounts. According to an article published in Reserve Bank of Indias journal in 2005, it was reported that in India thousands of crores earned in interest is kept in suspended accounts. "Research reveals that a handsome bulk of money in India owned by believers is lying idle, which if invested in profit sharing basis and utilised properly, can have a major impact on the Indian economy," reads the article. As an initiative towards the introduction of Islamic banking in India, a single window can be set up in banks like SBI to do Islamic banking. "This can tap the unused money lying idle that can be utilised for the economic and social benefit of the nation," it had suggested.

Chhavi Tyagi

06 Jul 2017,Thursday

Demonetisation added 91 lakh new taxpayers: Govt

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/make-in-india-awards-2017-demonetisation-gave-us-91-lakh-new-tax-payers-says-mos-meghwal/1/995780.html

Union Minister of State for Finance Arjun Ram Meghwal on Thursday said that about 91 lakh new taxpayers have been added after demonetisation. "Demonetisation has promoted digital economy. Increased digital transaction has hurt the shadow economy which was flourishing unchecked," he said. Meghwal added that when history would be written, 2017 would be remembered as the year of economic reforms.

Union Minister of State for Finance Arjun Ram Meghwal today said that after demonetisation about 91 lakh new tax payers have been added to the earlier list.Meghwal said that demonetisation handed a mighty blow to parallel economy. He said, "Demonetisation has promoted digital economy. Increased digital transaction has hurt the shadow economy which was flourishing unchecked. 91 lakh new tax payers have been added after demonetisaiton.""In November, 2016 demonetisation was announced. It led greatly increased use of digital transaction in 2017. It has hut the shadow economy. According to a World Bank report, the share of shadow economy in Indian economy was 23.7 per cent. Some other reports say that shadow economy is somewhere between 22 to 26 per cent. Any country which wishes to be a regional leader in Asia and a world leader cannot afford to have large shadow economy," Meghwal said.2017 - YEAR OF ECONOMIC REFORMS

Chhavi Tyagi

22 Dec 2016,Thursday

Digital revolution won't solve bread-butter issues: Uddhav

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/chandrababu-naidu-uddhav-thackeray-cashless-demonetisation/1/840400.html

Shiv Sena Chief Uddhav Thackeray has said that a digital revolution is not going to solve people's daily bread and butter issues. Reacting to Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu's comments on demonetisation, Thackeray said that while Naidu was earlier telling people to use digital payments, he has understood that people are suffering, and so has taken a U-turn.

A day after Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, whose Telugu Desam Party (TDP) is a BJP ally, spoke against implementation of demonetisation policy, Shiv Sena, another BJP ally, criticised the Central government's decision.The Chief Minister had said that demonetisation was not what he wished for, adding he was still breaking his head as a solution to the ongoing (currency) crisis remained elusive.

Niharika Prabhakar

28 Jul 2017,Friday

Maha to probe delay in checking of Mumbai University papers

http://www.hindustantimes.com/education/maharashtra-govt-to-probe-delay-in-assessment-of-mu-papers/story-d5k5pVZwIfLdNn0ULS9qvK.html?utm_source=inshorts&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=fullarticle

The Maharashtra government will initiate a probe into the delay in declaration of results of the examinations conducted by the Mumbai University (MU), state education minister Vinod Tawde said on Wednesday. The minister also added that around 70% of the total papers have been checked and the remaining 30% will be completed by July 31.

The Maharashtra government will initiate a probe into the delay in declaration of results of the examinations conducted by the Mumbai University (MU), state education minister Vinod Tawde said on Wednesday.The ruling BJP?s ally Shiv Sena had on Monday sought the resignation of Tawde and Mumbai University vice chancellor Sanjay Deshmukh over the ?mess? in the university?s online assessment process, leading to delay in declaration of results.?It is obvious that we will inquire into the delay in the result process when a large number of students have been affected,? Tawde said in the state Legislative Council.He was responding to the demand by Shiv Sena members Anil Parab and Neelam Gorhe that the vice chancellor resign for delay in the checking of examination papers.Tawde said the government will inform Governor C Vidyasagar Rao, who is the chancellor of all universities in the state, about the views expressed by members of the House.?The correct way of taking action would be through the governor. Thus, we will inform the governor the views expressed by members of the Upper House,? the minister said.He also said that 5.29 lakh papers from arts, commerce, law and management faculties are yet to be checked.?As of now, about 70% of the total papers have been checked and the remaining 30% will be completed by July 31, the deadline set by the governor. The government is hiring more professors to complete the task within the time frame,? Tawde said.On Gorhe?s demand to waive off Rs 600 fees charged for re-assessment of papers after the results are out, he said it has not yet been decided.?We have also received a memorandum from Yuva Sena (Shiv Sena?s youth wing) and Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (BJP?s youth wing) in this regard,? Tawde said.

Chhavi Tyagi

12 Jul 2017,Wednesday

Two jawans martyred in firing by Pakistani Army in J&K

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/pakistan-army-indian-jawans-firing-loc-kupwara/1/1000354.html?utm_source=inshorts&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=fullarticle

Two Indian Army jawans were martyred on Wednesday after Pakistan Army opened fire in Kupwara area along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir. The incident took place two days after seven pilgrims were killed in a terrorist attack in Anantnag city. As per reports, there have been 23 incidents of ceasefire violation by Pakistan in June this year.

Two Indian Army jawans from 5 Jammu & Kashmir Rifles were martyred in a sniper shootout near the Line of Control (LoC) in north Kashmir.It is believed Pakistani troops targeted two army jawans near Furkian Gali of Keran sector in Kupwara district.It is not yet clear whether the jawans were fired by Pakistani troops or Pakistan's Border Action Team (BAT). Furkiya area has been a known route used by militants infiltrating into the Kashmir Valley from Pakistan.Further details about the attack are awaited.In the meantime, the Home Ministry has sounded a "highest alert" from across Jammu and Kashmir in the wake of the killing of 7 Amarnath pilgrims by militants in Anantnag.

Arshiya Chopra

14 Jul 2017,Friday

11-yr-old kills self after parents send him for IIT coaching

http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/telangana-parental-pressure-to-study-iit-foundation-course-forces-11-year-old-boy-to-commit-suicide/story-47pdy7wEg1Z9UHj5BFUsEO.html?utm_source=inshorts&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=fullarticle

An 11-year-old Telangana student committed suicide by jumping off the second floor of his school building after failing to cope with parental pressure to study IIT foundation course. The boy's father said he knew his son was mentally disturbed but never expected him to take this extreme step. Notably, according to NCRB, every hour a student commits suicide in India.

An 11-year-old student committed suicide by jumping off the second floor of his school building in Karimnagar district of Telangana ostensibly after failing to cope with parental pressure to study IIT foundation course. Police said Gurram Srikar Reddy, a student of Class 7 at Siddhartha High School in Karimnagar town, took the extreme step on Thursday morning. ?Srikar, along with his classmates, went to his classroom in the second floor of the building. But within no time, he came out into the corridor and suddenly jumped from the floor, resulting in grievous injuries. He was immediately rushed to a local corporate hospital, where he was pronounced dead,? Karimnagar one-town inspector Srinivasa Rao said.Srikar was the only son of G Shashidhar Reddy and Sharada, from Gollapalli village of Dharmaram block of neighbouring Peddapalli district. They said they wanted to give their son the best education. Reddy, a farmer, told the police that he had admitted his son into the IIT foundation course being offered by the school with a hope that the boy would become a top engineer.?However, Srikar was not showing interest in studies and was mentally disturbed. But we never expected that he would commit suicide,? Reddy said.Initially, the parents attributed Srikar?s suicide to the negligence of the school management. But later changed their version in the complaint lodged with the police stating that their son was mentally disturbed.However, students unions in Karimnagar town staged a dharna in front of the government hospital, where the body was shifted for post mortem, and demanded action against the school management.This is the second such incident in Telangana this week. On Wednesday, a 12-year-old Muslim boy Fareeduddin allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself in his hostel room at the Telangana Minority Welfare Residential School at Jeedimetla on the outskirts of Hyderabad. He was also said to be disinterested in studies.Every hour one student commits suicide in India, according to 2015 data (the latest available) from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).According to a 2012 Lancet report India has one of the world?s highest suicide rates for youth aged 15 to 29.

Krishna Veera Vanamali

24 Jun 2017,Saturday

States' fiscal deficit increased by 2,525% to ?4.93 lakh cr

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/states-fiscal-deficit-soars-to-rs-4.93-trillion-in-fy16/1/986356.html

The gross fiscal deficits of states soared from ?18,790 crore in fiscal 1991 to over ?4.93 lakh crore in fiscal 2016, marking a 2,525% increase, according to RBI data. The gap is projected to improve to ?4.49 lakh crore for fiscal 2017. Notably, Rajasthan saw its fiscal deficit rise by 12,372% from ?540 crore to ?67,350 crore during the period.

Mumbai, Jun 24 (PTI) Led by the most populous Uttar Pradesh and the largest Rajasthan, the gross fiscal deficits of all the states skyrocketed to Rs 4,93,360 crore in fiscal 2016 from Rs 18,790 crore in FY1991, according to the latest RBI data. According to the second edition of RBIs statistical publication titled Handbook of Statistics on States 2016-17, which was released today, the gap is projected to improve to Rs 4,49,520 crore as per the budget estimates of the states for fiscal 2017. Uttar Pradesh had a fiscal deficit of a paltry Rs 3,070 crore in FY91, which zoomed to Rs 64,320 crore in FY16 and but is projected to improve to Rs 49,960 crore in FY17. According to the 16-year data, Rajasthan, which had a gross fiscal deficit of Rs 540 crore in FY91, saw it soaring to Rs 67,350 crore in FY16 and is projected to decline to Rs 40,530 crore in FY17. Maharashtra, one of the most urbanised and industrialised states, had a gap of Rs 1,020 crore in FY91 but the same jumped to Rs 37,950 crore in FY16 which is projected to improve to Rs 35,030 crore in FY17. On the other hand, Gujarat, which had seen rapid industrialisation during the period of data analysis, had only Rs 1,800 crore in fiscal deficit in FY91 but the same had jumped to Rs 22,170 crore in FY16 and is projected to further deteriorate in FY17 to Rs 24,610 crore. In fact from FY01, there was not a single year when the western state had shown improvements in its macro numbers. In FY01 its fiscal gap stood at Rs 7,990 crore which almost doubled to Rs 15,150 crore in FY10 and further to Rs 18,320 crore in FY15. Another state projected to have higher deficit in FY17 is Andhra Pradesh at Rs 20,500 crore, which was Rs 17,000 crore in FY16 and a paltry Rs 970 crore in FY91. Similarly, Tamil Nadu, a state known for state freebies, is also projected to have a higher deficit at Rs 40,530 crore in FY17, up from Rs 32,320 crore a year ago and Rs 1,130 crore in FY91. Again, Karnataka, which had good finances in the past, is also estimated to post higher deficit in FY17 at Rs 25,660 crore, up from Rs 20,560 a year ago and Rs 560 crore in FY91. Similar is the case with Kerala, which is also slated to have higher deficit at Rs 23,140 crore in FY17 from Rs 17,720 crore in FY16 and a healthy Rs 800 crore in FY91. Reflecting its improved finances on the back of rising investments following better law and order situation, Bihar is slated to improve its finances with fiscal deficit of Rs 16,010 crore in FY17 against Rs 28,510 crore in FY16. The state which had for long been the badland of the nation had Rs 15,90 crore deficit in FY91.

Akshita Jain

09 Feb 2017,Thursday

Delhi govt to revamp foot-over-bridges, subways

http://www.hindustantimes.com/delhi/govt-to-upgrade-foot-overbridges-subways-of-capital-for-pedestrian-convenience/story-iWWPm6ZvC23YstPiLVybhK.html

Delhi government is set to improve facilities on foot-over-bridges and subways for pedestrian convenience, according to reports. The new bridges will have ramps, escalators and even glass-door elevators. The government might also allot space for shops in subways to generate revenue. Apart from revamping, there are also plans of constructing 60 more bridges.

Giving priority to pedestrians, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) led Delhi government is set to improve facilities on foot overbridges (FOBs) and subways in the city. The Public Works Department (PWD) is conducting a study in this regard on the busiest FOBs in the city. Facilities like lifts and escalators are in the offing.There are 73 FOBs in the city and the government is planning to construct 60 more at important intersections. ?We are conducting a study to check the inflow of pedestrians. At least 60 new FOBs are needed and the existing ones need to be revamped. Around 37 FOBs have either a lift or an escalator. These facilities will be extended to other FOBs also,? said a PWD official.Read more| Plan to turn Delhi?s Bijwasan, Shakurbasti railway stations into mega terminalsAlso, the government is planning to grant the charge of maintenance to a private company through Public Private Partnership. ?This will reduce financial burden on the government. PWD minister Satyendar Jain has asked the department for a feasibility study. We have to figure out how the private player will earn revenue. There will be advertising space, which the company responsible for maintenance can use,? the official said.The new FOBs will have ramps and escalators, and since Delhi receives substantial amounts of rain, the government is planning to have lifts at many places. ?Escalators often become dysfunctional in case of a rain. For that, we have proposed to have glass-door lifts. A security guard will also be posted, and that is why we are planning to give maintenance to private parties,? the official added.Read more| Noida?s?pedestrian bridges not differently abled friendlyThe government is also mulling over allotment of space for shops at subways and FOBs to generate revenue. However, it should also ensure the footpaths and FOBs are not encroached up on, many feel. ?Improving the facility for pedestrians is a good idea as they need to be looked after. The government should ensure there is no encroachment on footpaths and FOBs. The access to pedestrian bridge should be hindrance free,? said Rohit Baluja, president of Institute of Road Traffic Education.Meanwhile, government officials are of the view that the facilities for pedestrians need to be increased to encourage non-motorised transport, which could reduce congestion and pollution.Read more| Foot overbridge near Huda Metro station has no railings, elevators?An ideal road is where everyone has the designated space ?pedestrians, cyclists, cars and public transport. In future, movement for pedestrians will be made smooth by removing all obstacles. There will be FOBs with glass lifts and elevators,? said a government official.In Delhi, about 35% of the commuters ?only walk? for transport, the official said. These commuters are different from the ones who walk to catch the public transport. ?In spite of the enormous motorisation, the highest share of people still walks. Naturally, we need to improve the facility for them. Then, to decongest roads, we need to give more importance to public transport. So, there is going to be a dedicated lane for buses at a majority of roads,? the official further said.Read more| Five projects that will decongest Delhi

Parmeet Kaur

14 Jul 2017,Friday

After 9 months, Delhi had 'good' air day yesterday

http://www.hindustantimes.com/delhi-news/after-9-months-of-pollution-delhi-has-a-good-air-day-on-thursday/story-AxyrjEsiS0kfgL9gofTOqK.html?utm_source=inshorts&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=fullarticle

After nine months of pollution, Delhi's air quality showed improvement for the first time on Thursday with the overall Air Quality Index (AQI) reading 77. When the AQI is below 100, air quality is considered 'good' with air pollution posing little or no risk. The decrease in pollution levels could be due to the monsoons.

After a nine-month gap, Delhi breathed ?good? air on Thursday. The air on Friday may also remain good, as per the forecast by Ministry of Earth Science?s System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR) app.According to the SAFAR app, Delhi?s overall Air Quality Index on Thursday was 77. When AQI is below 100, the air quality is considered good and air pollution poses little or no risk. On Friday, too, the AQI is expected to be 85 and it is likely to remain in the same range for the next one week.According to experts, the decrease in pollution levels in the is due to the rainy season in North India. ?Even though it is not raining in Delhi at the moment, in surrounding areas it is pouring down. Because of this, long range transport of pollutants from outside Delhi is minimal. Around 20%-30% pollution gets reduced because of this,? SAFAR chief Gufran Beig told HT.?Because of the monsoon, there is lot of moisture in the air. This is also another reason for this decreasing pollution levels over the past 2-3 weeks,? Beig said.However, as per the Central Pollution Control Board AQI standards the air quality on Thursday was under the ?satisfactory? range. As per the CPCB?data, Delhi did not have even a single day of good AQI for the past 26 months. As per the CPCB barometer, air quality falls in the good range if it is 50 or less. The satisfactory range falls between 50-100. ?We were expecting the result to be ?good? but three monitoring stations, Anand Vihar, ITO and Delhi College of Engineering in Bawana, which are heavy traffic zone, ruined the results. The air quality was good in the city on Thursday as mixing height was higher compared to other days,? Dr Dipankar Saha, additional director and head of the Air Laboratory at the CPCB told HT.According to him, the weather conditions, which is not too hot and on the cooler side, also aided in the good air quality.The 24-hour rolling average of PM10 and PM2.5 were recorded at 77 and 44?g/m3 respectively on Thursday, according to SAFAR. PM2.5 and PM10 are ultra-fine particles that are the dominant pollutants in Delhi. The acceptable levels of PM 2.5 and PM10 are 60 and 100 microgram per cubic metre, respectively.Locality wise, Ayanagar had the best air quality with 64 AQI and a forecast of 68 on Friday. At Pitampura, Airport, Dhirpur and Delhi University, the AQI recorded were 80, 82, 83 and 90. On Friday, these areas may record an AQI of 87, 88, 78 and 82. At Pusa, Lodhi Road and Mathura Road, however, the AQI was moderate with 115, 108 and 115. On Friday, however, these are expected to be good with predictions of 98 for all three stations.Delhi, a city of 20 million people, is among the world?s most polluted cities according to the World Health Organisation. It has been struggling to clean up a toxic cocktail of dust, smoke and gases from its air.

Chhavi Tyagi

22 Jun 2017,Thursday

B'luru firm agrees to give cab service to females after stir

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/bengaluru-india-today-idc-technologies-cab-facility-female-employees-night-shift/1/984677.html

Bengaluru firm IDC Technologies that had said "we are not responsible for women's safety after they log out" has agreed to provide cab service to female employees working on the night shift. This comes after a female employee from the firm met IT Minister Priyank Kharge to bring up the matter, and the minister assured action after formal complaint.

On June 14, Manisha Kumari - an employee of IDC Technologies - told India Today that her office had denied cab facility to female employees working in the night shift.Manisha works as a technical recruiter in the IDC Technologies. She was aghast at the apathy of her company, which put safety of women employees at huge risk when they returned home late night from work. This was going for close to two months.India Today raised the matter with the IDC Technologies management as well as with the IT Minister of Karnataka Priyank Kharge, who promised to look into the matter. Priyank Kharge said the government would take action if Manisha filed a complaint as the act of IDC Technologies was in clear violation of the rules.IDC Technologies is a multinational company with operating centres in the US, Canada, Mexico and India.UNDER PRESSURE, IT FIRM PROMISES TO ABIDE BY RULESAs India Today raised the issue and exposed the IT firm for its blatant violation of the rules, the IDC Technologies felt pressure and decided to resume the cab facilities for female employees working in the night shift.The IT firm told India Today that they did not have cab facilities for their night shift female employees for about two months due to an issue with the cab vendor.Now, the matter has been resolved and all female employees working in the night shift will get a drop in till their home as per the existing rules.Praveen Kumar from the HR department of IDC Technologies told India Today that the company was now in compliance with Labour and IT laws of the state. "Necessary action has been taken to make sure (that) all female employees working in the night shift are provided with pick-up and drop facilities. Employee satisfaction is our main motto and female employee safety is our prime concern," Praveen Kumar added. The company has now deployed six cabs that pick and drop their female employees working in the night shift.HOW MANISHA FOUGHT FOR HER RIGHTThough the IDC Technologies maintains that the cab problem was there for only two months, Manisha told India Today that the issue has been dragging for nearly two years.She told India Today that the night shift earlier started at 6.30 pm and continued till 3.30 am when the employees would log out and leave for home. But, in the absence of cab facility, it became quite unsafe for female employees, Manisha said.After some of the employees complained of being harassed in those hours while they went back home, the timings were changed to 7.30 pm to 4.30 am. But, this did not solve the safety problem, said Manisha, who recounted three incidents of harassment on the way back home since she joined the IT firm in February."Once I was harassed by a cab driver near the Silk Board Junction who misbehaved with me when I was leaving work and another time by two bike borne men. The third incident involved a passerby," Manisha said. Manish further said that when she brought these incidents to the notice of the tech company, the vice president said that the company was responsible for their safety only while they were working and not after they logged out.Manisha had met the IT Minister Priyank Kharge to narrate the state of affairs on June 14, when she was assured of help. The Minister also promised that "if companies flout rules, we will take action." According to amended the Shops and Commercial Establishments Act, 1961 and the Factories Act 1948, the companies are responsible for providing pick up and drop in facilities to female employees working during night time.ALSO READ |

Chhavi Tyagi

27 Jul 2017,Thursday

Planning to move SC challenging Bihar govt formation: Lalu

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/bihar-live-updates-nitish-kumar-lalu-yadav-rjd-jdu-tejashwi/1/1011964.html?utm_source=inshorts&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=fullarticle

RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav said on Thursday that he is considering to move the Supreme Court against Governor's decision to invite JD(U) chief Nitish Kumar first to form government in Bihar. Lalu argued that since RJD was the single largest party in Bihar, it should have been invited to form the government. n

Less than 16 hours after he resigned from the post in a dramatic change of stance, Nitish Kumar took oath as the chief minister of Bihar for the sixth time today. BJP's Sushil Modi will be his deputy. Earlier, Lalu Prasad Yadav's Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) hit the streets across Bihar in protest against Nitish Kumar's decision to dump Mahagathbandhan for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Nitish Kumar walked out of the 20-month-old grand alliance on Wednesday evening bringing a dramatic end to days of political uncertainty in the state.FROM INDIA TODAY MAGAZINE: NITISH KUMAR - GIANT SLAYERMoments after Nitish tendered his resignation to Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi, he was once again at the Governor's House later in the night to claim support of 132 MLAs of the JD-U and the BJP. He will have to take the floor test in the Assembly on Friday (July 28).LATEST UPDATES: Congratulations to @NitishKumar ji & @SushilModi ji. Looking forward to working together for Biharâ??s progress & prosperity.Scene outside Raj Bhawan in Patna; preparations underway as Nitish Kumar set to be sworn in as Bihar Chief Minister for the 6th time today pic.twitter.com/0R5knvMC0LPatna: Vehicles stuck in traffic jam as RJD supporters block Mahatma Gandhi Setu, connecting north Bihar with Patna #NitishKumarpic.twitter.com/euXG3ZkrLETEJASHWI DECIDES TO FIGHT  In no mood to give up without a fight, Tejashwi Yadav earlier said the RJD being the single largest party in the state would stake claim to form the government."Have sought appointment with the governor. Will stake claim to form government as the the single largest party. Will also get the support of JD(U) MLAs who have won after defeating BJP candidates," Tejashwi tweeted.However, the numbers are stacked against him. The JD-U, BJP, their allies and supporting independent MLAs together account for 132 seats in the 243-member Bihar Assembly, 10 more than the magic figure of 122.RJD has 81 MLAs and even if Congress with 27 MLAs and CPI-ML (03) decide to back Tejashwi, their number would add up to 110.Reacting sharply to the governor inviting Nitish Kumar for the swearing-in at 10 am after giving him an appointment for 11 am, Tejashwi said RJD would stage a dharna outside Raj Bhavan against it."Governor gv us time of 11AM and now suddenly has asked NDA for oath ceremony at 10AM. Why so much hurry & rush Mr. Honest & Moral?" he tweeted well past midnight.ALSO READ:Nitish Kumar resigns, but not really: Bihar Game of Thrones starring BJP isolates Lalu Yadav?Trusted Nitish Kumar blindly but he betrayed me, says Lalu PrasadCall of my soul: 10 quotes of Nitish Kumar after his resignation as Bihar Chief Minister

Prashanti Moktan

28 Dec 2016,Wednesday

Taimur has his mother Kareena's pout: Priyanka Chopra

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/priyanka-chopra-kareena-kapoor-taimur-saif-ali-khan-twitter/1/844569.html

Priyanka Chopra has said that Kareena Kapoor and Saif Ali Khan's son Taimur Ali Khan Pataudi is a beautiful baby, who has his mother's pout. Priyanka also slammed those who criticised the baby's name. She added, "I definitely think it is no one's business what a family decides to do and what happens within the four walls of their house."

Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor Khan's baby Taimur Ali Khan Pataudi became a celebrity hours after his birth, not just because of his famous parents, but also for his controversial name.On the one hand, everyone went gaga over the li'l cutie's pictures, but on the other, trolled Saif and Kareena for giving their son a name that also happens to be the name of a barbaric invader who slaughtered millions of Indians.ALSO READ: Rishi Kapoor slams Twitter trolls on Taimur, says mind your bloody business

Daisy Mowke

22 Jul 2017,Saturday

Not fair to think audience doesn't understand art: Shreya

http://www.hindustantimes.com/music/shreya-ghoshal-feels-that-musicians-underestimate-indian-audience/story-7qT4mYSdId3r71UlIzMB4M.html?utm_source=inshorts&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=fullarticle

Singer Shreya Ghoshal has said that people often underestimate the audience of our country as well as worldwide, by thinking that they don't understand art. "They are the reason art exists," she added. Shreya further said every time she has sung from her heart and not thought about the commercial aspect, it has done really well for her.

Shreya Ghoshal has lent her voice to almost all genres of music in Bollywood films and her songs have been well-received too, both by critics and audience alike. In her career spanning 15 years, it seems that the singer has learnt to trust the listeners with their changing demand for music and that?s certainly worked in her favour.?Every time I have sung from my heart and not thought about the commercial aspect, it has done really well for me. I think we underestimate the audience of our country or for that matter worldwide, by thinking that they don?t understand art.They are the reason art exists,? says Shreya.The singer, who has done playback singing for several Bollywood films and has given hits such as Bairi Piya, Chalo Tumko Lekar Chale, Deewani Mastani and Hangover, says she doesn?t like to think much about whether the film will be a success or not.?Right now, I am doing everything and trying everything. I am not holding on to any thought if I should take up a project or not. Sometimes, I make sure that I don?t think about whether a song will do well or not,? she adds.After singing countless tracks in films as a playback singer, Shreya has launched her first independent track Dhadkane Azad Hai. She feels this was the right time for her to take a step towards solo tracks.?It came from my heart that I should go independent from films. Undoubtedly, there?s a lot of scope for good music in films but sometimes, we are confined in that boundary to sing within the story narrative and because it is a film, there are a lot of constraints. I wanted to sing something, which was out of those restrictions,? she says.Follow @htshowbiz for more

Shubhodeep Datta

20 Dec 2016,Tuesday

Solar power plants to be installed in Dilli Haats

http://www.hindustantimes.com/delhi/dilli-haats-go-green-look-up-to-solar-energy-for-power/story-B9kdfqA9scGQBccWHhC1ZJ.html

The Delhi government has decided to install solar plants at the city's major art and culture hubs and will start with the Pitampura and Janakpuri Dilli Haats. "Dilli Haat, Pitampura will almost become power sufficient through this... initiative," an official said. Delhi's Solar Policy mandates certain government buildings to generate 5 kW solar power or 15% of the sanctioned load.

In a bid to go green, the Delhi government has decided to install solar plants at major art and culture hubs across the national capital. To start with, the Dilli Haats at Pitampura and Janakpuri will adopt green energy. The solar plant coming up at Dilli Haat, Pitampura ? once ready ? is going to be self-sufficient in electricity generation. Slated to be commissioned in March, it is going to cover 98.5% of the power demand of the haat.?Dilli Haat, Pitampura will almost become power sufficient through this solar initiative. Moreover, we are going to save 40% on our electricity bills. At present, we buy power from a discom at Rs 8.7 per unit. Once the solar system is commissioned, we would get power at R 5.10 per unit,? said Rajesh Juneja of Delhi Tourism and Transportation Development Corporation (DTTDC) who is in-charge of the project. The average power consumption of Dilli Haat Pitampura is about 140 kilowatt (kW) and the roof-top solar plant is going to generate 138 kW.The one at Janakpuri, on the other hand, will be smaller with a capacity of 50 kW. When asked why the famous Dilli Haat at INA wasn?t included in the project, an official from the power department said, ?Dilli Haat INA was the first choice, but almost all of its roof-tops have shadow areas. This is because the area has a lot of eucalyptus trees and to install solar panels, a roof-top has to be clear and must get direct sunlight.?Next, the government plans to install a solar plant at Deen Dayal Upadhyaya College and Dwarka Court. It is also setting up another 75 kW plant atop the Old Secretariat building, where the Delhi assembly meets.Delhi has an installed capacity to generate 32 MW of solar power. The solar policy mandates that the city should have 35 MW by December 2016 and 119 MW by the end of 2017.Delhi?s Solar Policy makes it mandatory for all government buildings with a minimum shadow-free rooftop area of 50 sqm to generate 5 kW or 15% of the sanctioned load..dilli_wrapbox {width:auto; font-family:"Open Sans"; padding:10px; border:solid 1px #666; float:left; margin-right:1%}.dilli_headline {font-size:150%; float:left; margin-bottom:3px}.clrboth {clear:both}POWERING DILLI HAATSHow the government aims to light up the Capital?s important hubs

Parmeet Kaur

03 Aug 2017,Thursday

Mumbai's 'kaali-peeli' drivers oppose plan to install GPS

http://www.hindustantimes.com/mumbai-news/kaali-peeli-drivers-in-mumbai-oppose-government-s-plan-to-install-gps-devices-in-cabs/story-ASqL9tluA0fGWABBdhwwGL.html?utm_source=inshorts&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=fullarticle

Mumbai Taximens Union and Mumbai Taxi Association have opposed the plan to install Global Positioning System (GPS) devices in their black and yellow taxis, saying that the additional expenses will put a financial burden on drivers. This comes after government's plan to install GPS devices to help track the taxis from control room and to ensure safety of the passengers.

The decision to install a Global Positioning System (GPS) has not gone well with the taxi unions. The two biggest taxi unions of the city have opposed the plan for black and yellow cabs if it puts a financial burden on their members.Mumbai Taximens Union and Mumbai Taxi Association have opposed the plan to install GPS citing additional expenses. ?The government has made speed governors mandatory for taxis and is now asking to install the GPS device. Who will bear the financial burden?? questioned Prem Singh, leader of Mumbai Taxi Association. Last week, Ranjit Patil, Minister of State for Home, said in the legislative assembly that conventional auto rickshaws and taxis will have to install GPS systems on the lines of app-based aggregators such as Ola and Uber, considering the safety of the passengers. He was replying to the issue raised by the leader of opposition Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil through a calling attention motion. The government needed to ensure that black-and-yellow taxis and autorickshaws had devices that can help track them.The government also wanted to install GPS in taxis and autorickshaws so that they could be tracked from the control room. The unions, however, claimed that they had brought their own taxi booking app, through which most of their taxis could be tracked.?There has not been a molestation in black and yellow taxis and therefore it is one of the safest transport modes for women,? said AL Quadros, leader of Mumbai Taximens Union. He added that if the government wanted to install GPS in taxis, they should release funds under the Nirbhaya scheme.The unions also slammed the state government, claiming that it completely failed to maintain law and order and controlling crimes in the city.Mumbai has around 45,000 black and yellow taxisREADPanel wants more time to submit report on taxi fares to Maharashtra govt Mumbai RTOs deserted after crackdown on unauthorised agents, touts begins

Sumedha Sehra

03 Jul 2017,Monday

China quotes Nehru on Sikkim, rejects other parts of letter

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/doklam-china-nehru-sikkim-aksai-chin-mcmahon-line/1/992990.html

China on Monday supported its claim of India trespassing in its territory by citing the 1890 Sikkim-Tibet treaty, and said that India's first PM Jawaharlal Nehru "explicitly recognised" it. However, it rejects what Nehru had written about the 1842 treaty on Ladakh and the drawing of the McMahon line in Simla in 1914, in the same letter in 1959.

To support its claim about India's "trespassing" at the Sikkim border, Chinese Foreign Ministry today said that first Prime Minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru "explicitly recognised" the 1890 Sikkim-Tibet treaty that Beijing was citing to back its territorial claims.In the same March 22, 1959 letter, Nehru also reminded China of an 1842 treaty on Ladakh and the drawing of the McMahon line in Simla in 1914, which aren't recognised by China.The Chinese Foreign Ministry also claimed that India was "using the excuse of Bhutan's interests to infringe upon China's territory" and suggested India had sent its troops into Bhutan without the latter's permission.CHINA'S CHARGE AGAINST INDIA"The Bhutan side does not know previously that Indian troops entered Doklam which is not in line with what India claims," said spokesperson Geng Shuang, contradicting India's Friday statement that the Royal Bhutan Army had on June 16 protested the PLA's construction activities in Doklam, with the Indian Army two days later supporting Bhutan and asking China to stop altering the status quo.Citing the 1890 convention which fixes the India-China-Bhutan trijunction at Gipmochi, far south of where India and Bhutan do, the Foreign Ministry said the "illegal trespass of border troops goes against convention and is against basic principles of the UN Charter and international laws"."The action taken by India is undoubtedly a betrayal of consistent position held by India," said Geng, adding that "Prime Minister Nehru explicitly recognised the 1890 convention between Tibet and Sikkim" in a March 22, 1959 letter to the then Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai.India maintains the 1890 agreement only provides the basis of alignment of the boundary, and that the border needs to be finalized by the Special Representatives in maps and on the ground.In the letter Geng cited, Nehru wrote that "The boundary of Sikkim, a protectorate of India, with the Tibet Region of China was defined in the Anglo- Chinese Convention 1890 and jointly demarcated on the ground in 1895."WHAT CHINA DOES NOT MENTIONHowever, in the same letter, Nehru also mentioned agreements on the boundaries in Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh, which China now rejects.In fact, in the very same section of the letter, Nehru mentioned the following two agreements: "The Ladakh Region of the State of Jammu and Kashmir- A treaty of 1842 between Kashmir on the one hand and the Emperor of China and Lama Guru of Lhasa on the other, mentions the India-China boundary in the Ladakh region. In 1847 the Chinese Government admitted that this boundary was sufficiently and distinctly fixed. The area now claimed by China has always been depicted as part of India on official maps, has been surveyed by Indian officials and even a Chinese map of shows it as Indian territory."On the McMahon Line, Nehru wrote: "The McMahon Line-As you are aware, the so-called McMahon Line runs eastwards from the eastern borders of Bhutan and defines the boundary of China on the one hand and on the India and Burma on the other. Contrary to what has been reported to you, this line was, in fact, drawn at a Tripartite Conference held at Simla in 1913-1914 between the Plenipotentiaries of the Governments of China, Tibet and India. At the time of acceptance of the delineation of this frontier, Lonchen Shatra, the Tibetan Plenipotentiary, in letters exchanged, stated explicitly that he had received orders from Lhasa to agree to the boundary as marked on the map appended to the Convention." China, however, does not recognise those two treaties.ALSO READ |China will defend territory even at the cost of war with India, says Chinese dailyBeyond Doka La: 10 irritants in India-China relationChina says 1890 treaty backs claims to Doklam plateau at trijunction

Anmol Sharma

10 Feb 2017,Friday

We don't produce champion cricketers anymore: Jayasuriya

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/sri-lanka-cricket-sanath-jayasuriya/1/879304.html

Commenting on Sri Lankan cricket team's recent away performances, former captain Sanath Jayasuriya said that SL do not produce champion cricketers as much as they did in the past. "We should be able to play under any conditions, not just at home," he added. Notably, SL were whitewashed 0-3 by South Africa in the recently concluded Test series.

Analysing Sri Lanka's recent poor run on foreign shores, former skipper and current chief selector Sanath Jayasuriya on Thursday lamented that in recent times, the country has failed to produce any of the champion cricketers of the past."I wouldn't say there's a dearth of talent but we don't produce those champion cricketers as much as we did in the past," Jayasuriya was quoted as saying by espncricinfo."I don't think it's a problem with the domestic structure or the school structure, because it's the very system that produced all those champion cricketers in the past. So, we need to assess this situation and find out where the problem is and correct it," said the southpaw, who amassed 13430 runs from 445 ODIs and 6973 runs from 110 Tests.The 47-year-old Jayasuriya, who was once a part of the dreaded batting line-up comprising Marvan Atapattu, Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara and Tillakaratne Dilshan, said as international players, the islanders should be able to "adjust" and "play under any conditions".