NEW DELHI A parliamentary panel has asked the government to take urgent steps for fix- ing remunerative price for 24 crops and suggested a 50 per cent profit margin over the cost of produc- tion. "Since agriculture is becoming unremunerative, particularly for small and marginal farmers due to a variety of reasons, the Committee feels that the government should move towards remunerative pric- ing mechanism for all 24 crops," a committee on agriculture said in its report tabled today in Parliament. Currently, the govern- ment announces minimum support prices (MSPs) for the 24 crops that act as the floor price. The panel did not sub- scribe to the view of the agriculture ministry that an increase of 50 per cent on cost of production as rec- ommended by the National Commission on Farmers headed by MS Swaminathan might distort the market. Reiterating its earlier recommendation, the panel asked the government to take "urgent steps to fix remunerative pricing with 50 per cent profit margin CONTD. ON P AGE 3 MUMBAI Temperature: 36 0 C Precipitation:20% Humidity:69% Wind: 20Km/hr HAQ SAADDA FIGHT FOR RIGHT Thursday, April 30, 2015 Farmer's death: Delhi Police blames AAP of instigating Gajendra, delaying post-mortem Lenovo A7000 4G LTE Smartphone to Go on Sale Again Akshay Kumar lost out on Hera Pheri 3 for demanding high remuneration? P8 AHMEDABAD Gujarat mango farmers are in for a double jeopardy. On one hand they have suffered crop loss due to inclement weather, while on the other hand they are likely to miss out on export opportunities too. This assumes importance as European Union CONTD. ON P AGE 3 Mango exports may dip by 30% KOLKATA Even as airport congestion due to quake relief operations is causing flight delays to and from Nepal's capital Kathmandu, flight operations between India and its CONTD. ON P AGE 3 Flight schedules from India to Nepal returning to normalcy NEW DELHI No woman would allow her husband to establish physical relations with another in her presence, a Delhi court has said while acquitting a man of the charge of raping his widowed sister-in-law in front of his CONTD. ON P AGE 3 Wife won't allow husband to rape someone in her presence: Delhi Court NEW DELHI A red carpet was laid out - lit- erally - at the home of minister Smriti Irani on a sweltering Delhi evening as nearly 300 women arrived in quick succes- sion. This is a sort of First Wives Club: the members are either MPs or ministers or mar- ried to the BJP's national law- CONTD. ON P AGE 3 BJP's 'Kamal Sakhis', Wives of Lawmakers, Get Pep Talk From Amit Shah NEW DELHI Senior advocate and lawmak- er Ram Jethmalani today told the Contrition Bench of the Supreme Court that the pres- ence of a politician in the panel to select judges would lead to corruption in the judiciary. Mr Jethmalani's remarks were part of his arguments as the top court heard petitions against CONTD. ON P AGE 3 Politicians in Body Appointing Judges Will Lead to Corruption, Ram Jethmalani Tells Court NEW DELHI Industrialist and former Congress lawmaker Naveen Jindal conspired with top gov- ernment officials including for- mer Minister of State for Coal Dasari Narayana Rao to acquire a coal field in Jharkhand in 2008, the CBI said today. In a chargesheet filed in a Delhi court, the CBI listed as accused 15 people including Mr Jindal and Madhu Koda, the former CONTD. ON P AGE 3 Industralist Naveen Jindal Chargesheeted by CBI in Coal Scam NEW DELHI The Centre has taken a big anti-corruption move by pro- posing to treat graft as "heinous" crime and enhance the maximum punishment for bribe takers and bribe givers from the existing five to seven years and minimum from six CONTD. ON P AGE 3 Cabinet okays rise in jail term for graft NEW DELHI A Mumbai-bound Air India plane carrying 142 passengers landed 35 minutes before scheduled time as one of them, who was earlier rescued from quake-devastated Nepal, suf- fered a panic attack. The incident occurred on Air CONTD. ON P AGE 3 Plane Lands Before Schedule as Woman Suffers Panic Attack P6 P2 Weather Report DELHI Temperature: 34 0 C Precipitation:0% Humidity: 15% Wind: 21Km/hr KOLKA T A Temperature: 35 0 C Precipitation: 54% Humidity:43% Wind: 11Km/hr CHENNAI Temperature: 37 0 C Precipitation:0% Humidity:69% Wind: 19Km/hr ISLAMABAD Pakistan's "sincere" desire for good neigh- bourly ties with India have not been "recipro- cated", Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has said terming the continuing deadlock in bilateral talks arising out of a "frivolous" issue. Sharif told the Saudi Gazette in an interview during a recent visit that he took an "exceptional decision" to accept an invitation to attend Prime Minister Narendra Modi's oath- taking cere- mony but India did not respond to his peace overtures. "I took an exceptional decision to attend the inaugural ceremony of Prime Minister Modi. I sincerely wanted to take the process of friendship with India forward from where it was interrupted during my last tenure," CONTD. ON P AGE 3 Pak's desire for good ties with India not reciprocated: Sharif Parliamentary panel wants govt to fix remunerative price for crops NEW DELHI Government today finalised the guidelines for one-stop centres to be established across the country to provide integrated support and assistance to women affected by violence. In the first phase of the One Stop Centre (OSC) Scheme, being implemented using the Nirbhaya Fund, one such centre will be established in each State and Union Territory to facilitate access of women affect- ed by gender-based vio- lence to an integrated range of services including medical, legal, and psychologi- cal counselling. CONTD. ON P AGE 3 Vol. 1 Issue: 228 Price: Rs.3:00 Reg. No: DELENG/2014/58212 Delhi Edition Pages: 8 Website: www.saaddahaq.in Email: [email protected]NEW DELHI Reaching out to different sections of society, including farmers, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said the well-being of "annadaata" is a priority for the government and their interests are non-negotiable. In his five letters, post Budget, addressed to small businessmen, youth and senior citizens, the Prime Minister described the farmers as annadaata. The Finance Ministry posted the let- ters on its website yesterday. "Your (farmers') well-being is a pri- ority for my government and your interests are non-negotiable," he said. Observing that unseasonal rains have caused damage to crops in some states, PM Modi said the government is committed "to stand behind you in your hour of need, we are in touch with state governments to give you support". In the letter dated March 31, 2015, PM Modi said the government has set up a price stabilisation fund to provide support in the case of a sharp fall in prices of commodities. "We are also actively working with the states towards creating a National Agriculture Market, removing all mid- dlemen," he wrote. In his letter to small businessmen, the Prime Minister said MUDRA (Micro Units Development and Refinance Agency) Bank would ensure loans at affordable rates with minimal paper work. CONTD. ON P AGE 3 Well-Being of Farmers a Priority for Government: Narendra Modi NEW DELHI The next time you get an SMS or an email saying that you're the lucky winner of an online lottery, don't rejoice. Instead, wake up to the attempt of a scam and immediately report to the police. CONTD. ON P AGE 3 Beware of Online Lottery Wins That Rob You Off Your Money NEW DELHI In a move which may give a major boost to the country's efforts to increase its green cover under a law, the Union Cabinet on Wednesday gave its approval for intro- ducing a new legislation in current session of the Parliament. The proposed law - Compensatory Afforestation Fund Bill, 2015 - seeks to create an institutional mechanism to properly utilize a corpus of Rs 38,000 crore for afforestation and other related works like wildlife CONTD. ON P AGE 3 Forest fund gets Rs 38,000 crore boost Government Finalises Guidelines For One-Stop Centres to Support Women Affected by Violence NEWS IN BRIEF KATHMANDU Protests on Wednesday greeted Nepalese Prime Minister Sushil Koirala in relief camps as anger spilled over to the streets with people seiz- ing food and water sup- plies, four days after a devastating quake claimed over 6,000 lives. People vented their anger when the Prime Minister visited their camps to assess relief work and complained that they were not get- ting any aid. Koirala told them that he had come to see for himself the difficult situation Nepal is faced with and assured them that help would reach them at the earliest. Thousands of desper- ate Nepalese, who have been staying in the open with no houses to return to and fearing more dev- astation from after- shocks, clashed with police and seized water- bottles and other essen- tial supplies. Frayed tempers were also witnessed at the main bus station here where quake victims had gathered to get out of Kathmandu but the promised buses failed to arrive. Scuffles broke out between angry crowds and the riot police which arrived there to control the situ- ation. Over 6,000 bodies have so far been pulled out from under mounds of debris and rubble left by razed homes and buildings in Saturday's 7.9-magnitude temblor, CONTD. ON P AGE 3 Nepal earthquake: Death toll continues to rise; PM Sushil Koirala faces ire of victims Govt plans Bharat Mala, a 5,000km road network NEW DELHI The government is proposing to build about 5,000 km of road network all along the borders and coastal areas under a new scheme to be called "Bharat Mala". If former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's scheme of building Golden Quadrilateral gave a fillip to the high- way construction in the country, the new plan will connect all untouched areas in the hinterland to push devel- opment and economic activities. Construction of the huge network would need at least Rs 50,000 crore, road ministry sources said. Officials said the project would be part of 'work plan' the road transport ministry will submit to PM Narendra Modi on Thursday when he takes the first meeting on infrastructure sector in the current financial year. The road CONTD. ON P AGE 3 NEW DELHI: Concept of marital rape cannot be applied in India as marriage is treated as a sacrament or sacred as per mindset of the Indian society, gov- ernment said on Wednesday. "It is considered that the concept of marital rape, as understood internationally, cannot be suitably applied in the Indian context due to various factors, including level of edu- cation, illiteracy, pover- ty, myriad social cus- toms and values, reli- gious beliefs, mindset of the society to treat the marriage as a sacra- ment," minister of state for home, Haribhai Parathibhai Chaudhary said. He was replying to a written question of DMK MP Kanimozhi in Rajya Sabha. Kanimozhi had asked the home ministry whether government will bring a bill to amend the IPC to remove the exception of marital rape from the definition of rape; and whether it is a fact that UN committee on CONTD. ON P AGE 3 Marriage sacred, concept of marital rape cannot be applied in India, govt says NEW DELHI Rahul Gandhi made another jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi today in Parliament, this time on his visits abroad, when he said, "The PM is visiting India, let him also visit Punjab and see the situ- ation for himself." The Congress vice- president, just back from a tour of Punjab's grain markets where he met farmers distressed at the slow purchase of their produce, said in another swipe, "Does the farmer not make in India?" This was a reference to the PM's massive manufacturing push in the country, Make in India. The Congress leader alleges that the Modi government's policies are designed to benefit rich industrial- ists at the cost of poor farmers. "They are crying and your government did nothing when hail- storms destroyed their crop," Rahul Gandhi said. Amid ruckus in the CONTD. ON P AGE 3 Rahul Gandhi Attacks PM Modi, Suggests He Visit Punjab While 'Visiting India'
Transcript
NEW DELHIA parliamentary panel
has asked the governmentto take urgent steps for fix-ing remunerative price for24 crops and suggested a50 per cent profit marginover the cost of produc-tion.
"Since agriculture isbecoming unremunerative,particularly for small andmarginal farmers due to avariety of reasons, theCommittee feels that thegovernment should movetowards remunerative pric-ing mechanism for all 24crops," a committee onagriculture said in itsreport tabled today inParliament.
Currently, the govern-ment announces minimumsupport prices (MSPs) forthe 24 crops that act as thefloor price.
The panel did not sub-scribe to the view of theagriculture ministry that anincrease of 50 per cent oncost of production as rec-ommended by the NationalCommission on Farmersheaded by MSSwaminathan might distortthe market.
Reiterating its earlierrecommendation, the panelasked the government totake "urgent steps to fixremunerative pricing with50 per cent profit margin
Akshay Kumar lost out on Hera Pheri3 for demanding high remuneration? P8
AHMEDABADGujarat mango farmers are in
for a double jeopardy. On onehand they have suffered croploss due to inclement weather,while on the other hand they arelikely to miss out on exportopportunities too. This assumesimportance as European Union
CONTD. ON PAGE 3
Mango exports maydip by 30%
KOLKATAEven as airport congestion
due to quake relief operations iscausing flight delays to andfrom Nepal's capitalKathmandu, flight operationsbetween India and its
CONTD. ON PAGE 3
Flight schedules fromIndia to Nepal returningto normalcy
NEW DELHINo woman would allow her
husband to establish physicalrelations with another in herpresence, a Delhi court has saidwhile acquitting a man of thecharge of raping his widowedsister-in-law in front of his
CONTD. ON PAGE 3
Wife won't allow husbandto rape someone in herpresence: Delhi Court
NEW DELHIA red carpet was laid out - lit-
erally - at the home of ministerSmriti Irani on a swelteringDelhi evening as nearly 300women arrived in quick succes-sion. This is a sort of FirstWives Club: the members areeither MPs or ministers or mar-ried to the BJP's national law-
CONTD. ON PAGE 3
BJP's 'Kamal Sakhis', Wives of Lawmakers,Get Pep Talk From Amit Shah
NEW DELHISenior advocate and lawmak-
er Ram Jethmalani today toldthe Contrition Bench of theSupreme Court that the pres-ence of a politician in the panelto select judges would lead tocorruption in the judiciary. MrJethmalani's remarks were partof his arguments as the top court heard petitions against
CONTD. ON PAGE 3
Politicians in Body Appointing Judges WillLead to Corruption, Ram Jethmalani Tells Court
NEW DELHIIndustrialist and former
Congress lawmaker NaveenJindal conspired with top gov-ernment officials including for-mer Minister of State for CoalDasari Narayana Rao to acquirea coal field in Jharkhand in2008, the CBI said today.
In a chargesheet filed in aDelhi court, the CBI listed as accused 15 peopleincluding Mr Jindal and Madhu Koda, the former
CONTD. ON PAGE 3
Industralist Naveen JindalChargesheeted by CBI in Coal Scam
NEW DELHIThe Centre has taken a big
anti-corruption move by pro-posing to treat graft as"heinous" crime and enhancethe maximum punishment forbribe takers and bribe giversfrom the existing five to sevenyears and minimum from six
CONTD. ON PAGE 3
Cabinet okays rise injail term for graft
NEW DELHIA Mumbai-bound Air India
plane carrying 142 passengerslanded 35 minutes beforescheduled time as one of them,who was earlier rescued fromquake-devastated Nepal, suf-fered a panic attack.
The incident occurred on Air CONTD. ON PAGE 3
Plane Lands BeforeSchedule as Woman SuffersPanic Attack
desire for good neigh-bourly ties with Indiahave not been "recipro-cated", Prime MinisterNawaz Sharif has saidterming the continuingdeadlock in bilateraltalks arising out of a"frivolous" issue.
Sharif told the SaudiGazette in an interviewduring a recent visit thathe took an "exceptionaldecision" to accept aninvitation to attend PrimeMinister NarendraModi's oath- taking cere-mony but India did notrespond to his peaceovertures.
"I took an exceptionaldecision to attend theinaugural ceremony ofPrime Minister Modi. Isincerely wanted to take
the process of friendshipwith India forward fromwhere it was interruptedduring my last tenure,"
CONTD. ON PAGE 3
Pak's desire for good ties withIndia not reciprocated: Sharif
Parliamentary panel wants govt tofix remunerative price for crops
NEW DELHIGovernment today
finalised the guidelinesfor one-stop centres tobe established acrossthe country to provideintegrated support andassistance to womenaffected by violence.
In the first phase ofthe One Stop Centre(OSC) Scheme, beingimplemented using the
Nirbhaya Fund, onesuch centre will beestablished in eachState and UnionTerritory to facilitateaccess of women affect-ed by gender-based vio-lence to an integratedrange of servicesincluding medical,legal, and psychologi-cal counselling.
society, including farmers, PrimeMinister Narendra Modi has said thewell-being of "annadaata" is a priorityfor the government and their interestsare non-negotiable.
In his five letters, post Budget,addressed to small businessmen,youth and senior citizens, the PrimeMinister described the farmers asannadaata.
The Finance Ministry posted the let-ters on its website yesterday.
"Your (farmers') well-being is a pri-ority for my government and yourinterests are non-negotiable," he said.
Observing that unseasonal rainshave caused damage to crops in somestates, PM Modi said the governmentis committed "to stand behind you inyour hour of need, we are in touchwith state governments to give yousupport".
In the letter dated March 31, 2015,PM Modi said the government has setup a price stabilisation fund to providesupport in the case of a sharp fall in
prices of commodities."We are also actively working with
the states towards creating a NationalAgriculture Market, removing all mid-dlemen," he wrote.
In his letter to small businessmen,
the Prime Minister said MUDRA(Micro Units Development andRefinance Agency) Bank wouldensure loans at affordable rates withminimal paper work.
CONTD. ON PAGE 3
Well-Being of Farmers a Priorityfor Government: Narendra Modi
NEW DELHIThe next time you get an
SMS or an email saying thatyou're the lucky winner of anonline lottery, don't rejoice.Instead, wake up to the attemptof a scam and immediatelyreport to the police.
CONTD. ON PAGE 3
Beware of Online LotteryWins That Rob You OffYour Money
NEW DELHIIn a move which may
give a major boost to thecountry's efforts toincrease its green coverunder a law, the UnionCabinet on Wednesdaygave its approval for intro-ducing a new legislation incurrent session of theParliament.
The proposed law -C o m p e n s a t o r yAfforestation Fund Bill,2015 - seeks to create aninstitutional mechanism toproperly utilize a corpus of Rs 38,000 crore for
afforestation and otherrelated works like wildlife
CONTD. ON PAGE 3
Forest fund gets Rs 38,000 crore boostGovernment Finalises GuidelinesFor One-Stop Centres to SupportWomen Affected by Violence
NEWS IN BRIEF
KATHMANDUProtests on
Wednesday greetedNepalese PrimeMinister Sushil Koiralain relief camps as angerspilled over to thestreets with people seiz-ing food and water sup-plies, four days after adevastating quakeclaimed over 6,000lives.
People vented theiranger when the PrimeMinister visited theircamps to assess reliefwork and complainedthat they were not get-ting any aid. Koiralatold them that he hadcome to see for himself
the difficult situationNepal is faced with andassured them that helpwould reach them at theearliest.
Thousands of desper-ate Nepalese, who have
been staying in the openwith no houses to returnto and fearing more dev-astation from after-shocks, clashed withpolice and seized water-bottles and other essen-
tial supplies.Frayed tempers were
also witnessed at themain bus station herewhere quake victimshad gathered to get outof Kathmandu but thepromised buses failed toarrive. Scuffles brokeout between angrycrowds and the riotpolice which arrivedthere to control the situ-ation.
Over 6,000 bodieshave so far been pulledout from under moundsof debris and rubble leftby razed homes andbuildings in Saturday's7.9-magnitude temblor,
CONTD. ON PAGE 3
Nepal earthquake: Death toll continues torise; PM Sushil Koirala faces ire of victims
The government is proposing tobuild about 5,000 km of road networkall along the borders and coastal areasunder a new scheme to be called"Bharat Mala". If former PrimeMinister Atal Bihari Vajpayee'sscheme of building GoldenQuadrilateral gave a fillip to the high-way construction in the country, thenew plan will connect all untouchedareas in the hinterland to push devel-opment and economic activities.Construction of the huge networkwould need at least Rs 50,000 crore,road ministry sources said.
Officials said the project would bepart of 'work plan' the road transportministry will submit to PM NarendraModi on Thursday when he takes thefirst meeting on infrastructure sectorin the current financial year. The road
CONTD. ON PAGE 3
NEW DELHI: Concept of marital
rape cannot be appliedin India as marriage istreated as a sacrament orsacred as per mindset ofthe Indian society, gov-ernment said onWednesday.
"It is considered thatthe concept of maritalrape, as understoodinternationally, cannotbe suitably applied inthe Indian context dueto various factors,including level of edu-cation, illiteracy, pover-ty, myriad social cus-toms and values, reli-gious beliefs, mindset of
the society to treat themarriage as a sacra-ment," minister of statefor home, HaribhaiParathibhai Chaudharysaid.
He was replying to awritten question ofDMK MP Kanimozhi inRajya Sabha.
Kanimozhi had askedthe home ministrywhether governmentwill bring a bill toamend the IPC toremove the exception ofmarital rape from thedefinition of rape; andwhether it is a fact thatUN committee on
CONTD. ON PAGE 3
Marriage sacred, concept ofmarital rape cannot beapplied in India, govt says
NEW DELHIRahul Gandhi made
another jibe at PrimeMinister Narendra Moditoday in Parliament, thistime on his visitsabroad, when he said,"The PM is visitingIndia, let him also visitPunjab and see the situ-ation for himself."
The Congress vice-president, just backfrom a tour of Punjab'sgrain markets where hemet farmers distressedat the slow purchase oftheir produce, said inanother swipe, "Doesthe farmer not make inIndia?"
This was a reference
to the PM's massivemanufacturing push inthe country, Make inIndia. The Congressleader alleges that theModi government'spolicies are designed tobenefit rich industrial-ists at the cost of poor
farmers."They are crying and
your government didnothing when hail-storms destroyed theircrop," Rahul Gandhisaid.
Ministry on the suicide of GajendraSingh, the Delhi Police, Wednesday,blamed the Aam Aadmi Party and thecrowd present at its Jantar Mantarrally for the farmer's death.
As per the Delhi Police report, AAPleaders were making provocativespeeches, and the crowd present atthe rally venue instigated and pro-voked Gajendra to commit suicide.The report also alleged that AAP didnot heed to the police's request tochange the rally's venue to Ram LilaMaidan.
The Delhi Police also alleged thatthe SDM of the New Delhi district,who was mandated by the Kejriwalgovernment to conduct a probe, hadasked the police not to conduct apost-mortem on the body ofGajendra.
In its report, Delhi Police allegedthat the SDM of Chanakyapuri want-ed to delay autopsy of the farmer'sbody but as he could not produce anyofficial order for delaying the proce-dure, police went ahead with it.
The charges, however, were strong-ly refuted by District Magistrate (New Delhi) Sanjay Kumar who is carrying out a magisterial inquiry into the case.
"Why would we want to delay thepost-mortem? In fact when wereached the hospital, police refused torecognise our authority. They didn'teven reveal the name of the farmer tous. I don't know why they are sayingthis," Kumar told PTI.
The Delhi Police is also trying topiece together the last 24 hours offarmer Gajendra Singh's life byanalysing his mobile phone data andquestioning people to find out wherehe had visited and whom he had spo-ken to before his alleged suicide atJantar Mantar.
One of the relatives of the deceasedfarmer, whose mobile phone numberwas found on Singh's call log, hastold police that he was asked by himto switch on his TV as "somethingbig was going to happen".
"The relative, who lives in Singh'snative village in Dausa of Rajasthan,received a call from him at around 1pm (on April 22). Singh had told him,'TV kholo, dekho kuch bada honewala hai' (switch on your TV, some-thing big is going to happen)," said asenior police official associated withthe probe.
Police said they are trying to ascer-tain whether there was a hint in hiswords as to the events that were soonto unfold during an AAP rally inDelhi. Some others who came intocontact with Singh before he climbeda tree and tied a towel round his neckin the moments preceding the tragedyare also being questioned to deter-mine whether he had showed any sui-cidal tendency.
Two eyewitnesses who had seenhim climb the tree, and three AAPworkers who had scrambled up tobring Singh down, are also beingquestioned, added police.
Police are also analysing Singh'smovements after he left his Dausahome to reach Jantar Mantar. "Allthis will help us find out whether hehad reached there to commit suicideor if it was an accidental death," theyadded.
Singh, a 41-year-old farmer fromRajasthan, allegedly committed sui-cide by hanging himself from a treeduring an AAP rally against the landordinance. In a note scribbled by him,Singh said he was thrown out of hishome by his father after sufferingcrop loss.
Wednesday proposed to set up integratedfreight complexes in the peripheral areasof the city in order to reduce air pollutionand congestion in the city.
In a meeting with transporters, ChiefMinister Arvind Kejriwal directed thetransport department to examine and sub-mit its preliminary report by next week onthe proposal.
The transporters said they shared thegovernment's view regarding the deterio-rating air quality in Delhi and the neigh-bouring National Capital Region.
"We requested the government to set upintegrated freight complexes at Narela,Madanpur Khadar, Nazarfgarh andDwarka which is also proposed in MasterPlan 2021. If these complexes are open itwill help in making the city congestionfree and will also reduce air pollution,"Delhi Transporter's Association's generalsecretary Sandeep Jain said.
During the meeting, the department oftransport asked the transporters to makeoptimum use of existing facilities for themat Sanjay Gandhi Transport Nagar and inPunjabi Bagh.
The repercussions of the National GreenTribunal order banning diesel vehicleswhich are more than 10 years-old were
also discussed in the meeting.In their presentation, the transporters
stated that they are willing to contributetowards making the national capital freeof congestion, traffic jams and encroach-ment along with reduction in air pollution.
Transporters suggested that one of theoptions can be to move wholesale tradeand godowns and booking activities outfrom the inner areas of the city to itsperiphery to reduce heavy vehicular traf-fic from entering the city.
They cited the Delhi High Court verdictof May 2004, which had directed decon-gestion and suggested a number of solu-tions. They also suggested constructingby-pass roads for better connectivity.
"We are looking into the suggestionsmade by the transporters. We have to takeeffective steps in controlling air pollutionand congestion in the city," TransportMinister, Gopal Rai, said.
During the meeting, transportersrequested the government to install CCTVcameras in transport facilities for securityreasons.
"There have been cases when goodsloaded on the vehicles have been stolencausing heavy loss to the transporters sowe requested government to install CCTVcameras and take help of Delhi police,"Jain said.
Delhi transporters propose toset up freight complexes
ew Delhi: Delhi Police are try-ing to piece together the last 24hours of farmer Gajendra Singh'slife by analysing his mobile phonedata and questioning people tofind out where he had visited andwhom he had spoken to before hisalleged suicide at Jantar Mantarhere.
One of the relatives of thedeceased farmer, whose mobilephone number was found onSingh's call log, has told policethat he was asked by him to switchon his TV as "something big wasgoing to happen".
"The relative, who lives inSingh's native village in Dausa ofRajasthan, received a call fromhim at around 1 P.M. (on April22). Singh had told him, 'TVkholo, dekho kuch bada hone walahai' (switch on your TV, some-thing big is going to happen),"said a senior police official associ-ated with the probe.
Police said they are trying toascertain whether there was a hintin his words as to the events thatwere soon to unfold during anAAP rally in Delhi.
Some others who came intocontact with Singh before heclimbed a tree and tied a towelround his neck in the momentspreceding the tragedy are alsobeing questioned to determinewhether he had showed any suici-dal tendency.
Two eyewitnesses who hadseen him climb the tree and threeAAP workers who had scrambledup to bring Singh down are alsobeing questioned, added police.
Police are also analysingSingh's movements after he lefthis Dausa home to reach JantarMantar. "All this will help us findout whether he had reached thereto commit suicide or if it was anaccidental death," they added.
Meanwhile, Delhi PoliceCommissioner BS Bassi todayrubbished media stories that areport has been sent by his depart-ment to Delhi governmentterming the incident an accidentaldeath.
"As far as I know, Delhi Policehas not sent any report to Delhigovernment. There have beensome letters exchanged between
the New Delhi DCP and the area'sDistrict Magistrate. As I have toldyou earlier, there is a confidential-ity in this sort of communicationand it will not be appropriate toreveal it," Bassi told reportershere today.
He said that information wouldbe shared "whenever there is any-thing in the course of investiga-tion worth sharing".
Asked whether the organisersof the AAP rally or the DelhiCabinet members who were pres-ent on the stage when the farmerallegedly ended his life would bequestioned, Bassi said that thedecision lay with the investigatingofficer in the case.
New Delhi district DM SanjayKumar said they "will submit thereport of the investigation onFriday".
Singh, a 41-year-old farmerfrom Rajasthan, allegedly com-mitted suicide by hanging himselffrom a tree during an AAP rallyagainst the land ordinance. In anote scribbled by him, Singh saidhe was thrown out of his home byhis father after suffering crop loss.
Delhi Police seeks to reconstruct last24-hrs of farmer Gajendra's life
NEW DELHIPublic transport services
are likely to be hit in thecity on Thursday due to astrike called by trans-porters, in protest againstthe Centre's new bill onroad safety and transport.
Taxi and auto unionshave announced one-daystrike in protest against the'Road Transport and SafetyBill-2014'. Both auto andblack and yellow taxieswill be off the road.
Delhi AutorickshawSangh and Delhi PradeshTaxi Union, which are apart of Bharatiya MazdoorSangh, said that they are
against the bill.Number of bus unions,
including a section of DTCemployees, are alsoextending their support tothe strike.
"In the bill, hefty fineshave been proposed forminor traffic violation.Even for jumping a redlight, hefty fines would beimposed on motoristswhich is not fair," RajenderSoni, general secretary ofboth the unions, said.
Soni also said that asso-ciation will demand thestate government to pay Rs2,700 annual charge forGPS in vehicles.
Auto and taxi unions in Delhito go on strike Thursday
xNew Delhi: Delhi ChiefMinister Arvind Kejriwalon Wednesday directedremoval of an encroach-ment around a war ceme-tery in Model Town areaafter it was highlighted byBritish HighCommissioner to India SirJames David Bevan.
The British HighCommissioner met thechief minister today andhighlighted the issue ofencroachment and protec-tion of the war cemetery inModel Town area.
Kejriwal immediatelydirected the DivisionalCommissioner to inspect
the site and send a report tohis office about therequired measures for pro-tection.
The two also discussedthe situation of power and
water in the city. Kejriwalsaid that sewer system andsolid waste managementare areas of concern for theDelhi government.
He also inquired about
successful water manage-ment system being used inLondon for water recy-cling.
Outlining the challengesof the Delhi Government,Kejriwal said, "Full-state-hood is the only thing Iseem is a challenge, resteverything can be donewith the people of Delhi onour side."
The High Commissioneralso congratulatedKejriwal for the victory inassembly elections andasked the factor behind theparty's massive win.
In reply, Kejriwal said,"It was a mix of several
factors that led to the hugemandate. People wereexcited about our 49-daygovernance, they wantedus back as they saw cor-ruption was stopped,...They saw a change inpower and water scenario."
Kejriwal explained thatcorruption was on the topof the agenda of the gov-ernment apart from educa-tion, health, water andelectricity. He told theHigh Commissioner hisgovernment is confidentthat Delhi will be one ofthe top corruption freecities in the world in nextfive years.
Arvind Kejriwal directs removal ofencroachment around war cemetery
NEW DELHIAAP's Tilak Nagar
MLA, Jarnail Singh,allegedly beat up a SouthCorporation junior engi-neer on Tuesday. The vic-tim, Azhar Mustafa, saidhe had gone to KrishnaPark to demolish an illegalconstruction when Singhalong with other residentsobstructed the work andbashed him up.
"We had received com-plaints of illegal construc-tion being carried out inthe area and had gone therewith police. We had all the
papers which we showedSingh. He tore them up. Hethreatened to beat us up ifwe continued; when policeintervened, he started beat-ing us up," Mustafa said.
Singh, however, rub-bished the allegations andsaid Krishna Park is a reg-ularized colony. "There areover 50 buildings that areunder construction, butengineers pick and choosebuildings for demolition.No demolition notice wasserved to the owner of theproperty and they camewith their machinery. The
engineer also misbehavedwith women labourers. Wewill file a police complaintagainst the engineer," saidSingh. South Delhi mayorSubhash Arya has calledfor an inquiry in the matter."No person can take lawand order in his hands andstart beating up our offi-cials. If the official wasright in taking action thenpoliticians had no right tointervene. Even policewere present at the time ofthe incident and yet ourofficial was beaten up,"Arya said.
MLA thrashes South Corporation official in west Delhi
Petro Gate: Delhi courtto hear bail pleas of sixaccused on May 5NEW DELHI
A Delhi court on Wednesday fixedMay 5 for hearing arguments on bailpleas of six accused, including fourcorporate executives and a journal-ist, arrested for their alleged roles inthe Petroleum Ministry documentsleak case.
Additional Sessions Judge RajKapoor, who was scheduled to heararguments today, deferred the matterafter the advocates appearing for theaccused sought adjournment sayingthat lawyers' body is observing striketill May 2. District courts lawyers inDelhi are observing strike till May 2against the delay in tabling inParliament an amended bill regard-ing enhancement of pecuniary juris-diction of trial courts.
Bail pleas of Shailesh Saxena ofReliance Industries Ltd, VinayKumar of Essar, Rishi Anand ofReliance ADAG, Cairns India's KKNayak, journalist Shantanu Saikiaand Virender are pending before thesessions court. The court is sched-uled to pass order tomorrow on thebail plea of co-accused SubhashChandra, an official of JubilantEnergy who is lodged in jail.
NEW DELHIDays after the killer earthquake in
Nepal, the Delhi High Court onWednesday said unauthorised construc-tions and colonies in the city are "disasterswaiting to happen" in case of a similartemblor here and asked the municipalitywhether it has devised any action plan.
A bench of justices Badar Durrez Ahmedand Sanjeev Sachdeva observed that ifthere is an earthquake in Delhi like the onein Nepal, all the unauthorised buildings,constructed "on one brick" and withoutfollowing regulations, will go.
It also said each government has beenextending the date till which illegal con-
structions are protected from punitiveaction as it is "looking for votes".
"If people die, then who will vote," thecourt asked. "They are disasters waiting tohappen. Are you (municipal corporation)taking strict action? Are you coming outwith an action plan," the bench questionedwhile hearing a batch of petitions on unau-thorised constructions in the city.
Under the recent amendment to theNational Capital Territory of Delhi Laws(Special Provisions) unauthorised con-structions up to June 1, 2014 would be pro-tected from punitive action. Under the ear-lier law, unauthorised constructions up toFebruary 8, 2007 were protected.
Illegal buildings disasters waiting tohappen during quakes: Delhi HC
Delhi HC shiftsschool rape case toCrime BranchNEW DELHI
The Delhi High Courton Wednesday transferredto the Crime Branch thecase of a seven-year-oldgirl's rape in a municipalschool in February2013.
A division bench ofChief Justice G Rohiniand Justice RS Endlawtransferred the case to theCrime Branch.
On February 28, 2013, aClass Two girl was rapedinside the Magolpurischool of the MunicipalCorporation of Delhi.
The accused raped herduring lunch break.
Well-Being..."We are setting up SETU (Self
Employment and Talent Utilisation) mecha-nism to support all aspects of a start-up busi-ness, from credit to incubation," PM Modisaid.
AIM (Atal Innovation Mission) has alsobeen established to promote a network ofworld-class innovation hubs for those whowant to get into cutting-edge R&D.
Rahul Gandhi ...house after his short speech, BJP ally Akali
Dal's Harsimrat Kaur, who is a minister atCentre, shot back, "Where was Rahul Gandhiwhen there was hailstorm. After he cameback from holiday, has he visited his ownconstituency?"
Political rivals criticised Mr Gandhi, 44,for taking off on a two-month sabbaticalabroad even as the crucial Budget session ofParliament was beginning. Since his returnearlier this month, Rahul Gandhi has beenunusually aggressive and politically active,attacking the Modi government at everyopportunity, especially on the distress offarmers. This evening Mr Gandhi will go toVidarbha in Maharsahtra, where many farm-ers have committed suicide, and will trek 15km to highlight their plight.
The BJP rules both Punjab andMaharashtra, along with allies. It also rulesHaryana, where a minister shockingly saidyesterday, "Suicide is a crime. According toIndian law, suicide is a crime. A person whocommits suicide runs away from his respon-sibilities. Such people are cowards and thegovernment cannot stand by such cowards orcriminals."
Rahul Gandhi brought that up too in hisattacking speech, his third in Parliament inthe last two weeks. Before this he had madethree in 10 years.
Marriage sacred...elimination of discrimination against
women has recommended to India to crimi-nalise marital rape.
She had also said that according to UnitedNations Population Fund that 75 per cent ofthe married women in India were subjectedto marital rape and whether government hastaken cognizance of the fact.
Chaudhary said the ministry of externalaffairs and ministry of women and childdevelopment have reported that UN commit-tee on elimination of discrimination againstwomen has recommended to India to crimi-nalize marital rape.
"The Law Commission of India, whilemaking its 172nd Report on Review of RapeLaws did not recommend criminalization ofmarital rape by amending the exception toSection 375 of the Indian Penal Code andhence presently there is no proposal to bringany amendment to the IPC in this regard," theminister said.
Govt plans...network will pass through all bordering
states - Nepal, Bangladesh, China, Pakistanand Bhutan - besides covering the vast coast-line.
"Already we have good road network inthese stretches. We will build the missinglinks and also extend the network where noroad exists at present. These will provideconnectivity to the huge number of ports,which will be part of the 'Sagar Mala' project.Once completed, these will provide seamlessconnectivity along the borders, which is cru-cial for strategic reasons," said a ministryofficial.
Nepal earthquake...Deputy Prime Minister Bam Dev Gautam
said.Yesterday, Koirala had said the toll could
reach 10,000 because information from theaffected remote villages is yet to come.
More than 11,000 people have been injuredin the quake, the worst in over 80 years.
Rescuers are still struggling to reachremote mountainous areas in the Himalayannation, where relief efforts have been ham-pered by heavy rain and landslide even asglobal help poured in.
Officials warned that they faced problemsin getting aid into the country and then deliv-ering it to some of the remote communities indesperate need in Nepal.
"We've been left starving in the cold andthe best this government can give us is thisqueue. Why are they so slow?" said Rajana,who goes by only one name.
"I keep hearing on the news that all govern-ments and aid agencies are here, but whereare they? Our government is totally absent.Forget shelter, they couldn't even give uswater," she said as she queued up along withmany others for a bus to her native village.
A government spokesman said that heli-copters had been dropping tents, dry foodand medicine to remote villages but theywere yet to reach many isolated communi-ties.
When helicopters managed to land, theyare often mobbed by villagers pleading for
food and water, or to be evacuated.Nepal has declared three days of mourning
for the victims of Saturday's earthquake.The rescuers gave yet to reach some of the
worst-hit villages in Gorkha, Dhading,Sindhupalchok, Kavre and Nuwakot, amongother districts.
Nepalese riot police battled to containanger among survivors of an earthquake.
Meanwhile, India said it is focusing onKathmandu and the worst-affected Gorkhadistrict for its rescue and relief efforts in thequake-hit country.
"India has focused its assistance in twoparts of Nepal. The first one is the capital,Kathmandu, and the second one is Gorkhadistrict which was epicentre of the earth-quake," Indian Ambassador to Nepal RanjitRae said.
Pak's desire...Sharif was quoted as saying in Pakistani
media today. "However, our desire for good neighbourly
relations with India has not been reciprocat-ed. India unilaterally called-off our bilateraldialogue process on a frivolous pretext," hesaid in a reference to India's cancellation offoreign secretary-level talks last year as thePakistan High Commissioner in New Delhiheld consultations with Kashmiri separatists.
The two countries later appeared to beinching towards resumption of dialogue afterForeign Secretary S Jaishankar's visit toIslamabad last month, described by bothsides as "ice-breaking".
During their meeting on the sidelines ofModi's oath- taking ceremony in May, thetwo premiers had agreed to direct their for-eign secretaries to talk with each other forstarting negotiations to settle various out-standing disputes.
"However, there is no sign of India desiringresumption of dialogue with us. We are readyto engage with India in a constructive dia-logue for negotiated settlement of all issues,including the issue of Jammu and Kashmir,"he told the Saudi Gazette during his recentvisit to the Kingdom.
In response to a question how the maincause of escalating tensions between the twocountries, the Kashmir issue, be solved,Sharif said: "Jammu and Kashmir is the coreissue between Pakistan and India.
Parliamentary panel...over cost of production for all the 24 crops
without any further delay".There's a view in government circles that
the MSP as recommended by theCommission for Agricultural Costs & Prices(CACP) is based on objective criteria and avariety of relevant factors.
Government Finalises ...The OSC will be integrated with 181 and
other existing helplines. For the implementa-tion of the scheme, the Ministry of Womenand Child Development has formulatedguidelines for support agencies, as well asstate, district and grassroot level functionar-ies.
The guidelines will serve as a referencemanual for officials at the national, state andUTs levels for policy guidance and monitor-ing.
These centres will be established across thecountry to provide integrated support andassistance under one roof to women affectedby violence, both in private and public spacesin a phased manner.
The guidelines also highlight roles andresponsibilities of various line departments.It also provides monitoring and reporting for-mats to be used at different levels.
Forest fund...care and ecological services under central
and state monitoring authorities. Besides utilizing the unspent accumulated
amount (Rs 38,000 crore), the new authori-ties -- which are to be set up both at the cen-tral and state levels -- will also monitor use offresh accrual of an estimated Rs 6,000 croreper annum to newly created "non-lapsableinterest bearing" funds.
The bill is expected to be introduced inParliament next week. Once the bill ispassed, the fund will be distributed amongthe states and Union Territories (UTs) foraggressive afforestation under a central mon-itoring mechanism.
"The proposed legislation seeks to providean appropriate institutional mechanism, bothat the Centre and in each state and UnionTerritory, to ensure expeditious utilization inefficient and transparent manner of amountsrealized in lieu of forest land diverted fornon-forest purpose", said a statement of theenvironment and forests ministry.
Any user agency which diverts forest landfor non-forest purpose is, at present, requiredto deposit a prescribed amount to the govern-ment body. This amount is supposed to beutilized to mitigate impact of diversion ofsuch forest land.
However, the amount to the tune of Rs38,000 crore -- accumulated with an ad hocbody, Compensatory Afforestation FundManagement and Planning Authority(CAMPA), over the years -- remains unspent.
The purpose of the proposed legislation is,therefore, to provide safety, security andtransparency in utilization of these amounts,
which are currently kept in nationalizedbanks and are being managed by the ad hocbody. Under the proposed law, 90% of thedeposited money will be given to states forafforestation works.
"Apart from mitigating the impact of diver-sion of forest land, utilization of theseamounts will also result in creation of pro-ductive assets and generation of hugeemployment opportunities in rural areas,especially in backward tribal areas", said thestatement.
Out of the unspent money, Rs 2,700 crorewill be given to Andhra Pradesh, Rs 2,400crore to Uttarakhand and Rs 1,400 crore toArunachal Pradesh. The states' shares are cal-culated on the basis of diversion of forestland and the accrued money in the CAMPAfund.
The proposed bill also provides for settingup of the National CompensatoryAfforestation Fund (CAF) and the State CAFto credit amounts collected by state govern-ments and UT administrations.
Constitution of a 'national authority' tomanage and utilize amounts credited to thenational CAF and constitution of 'stateauthority' in each state and UT to manage andutilize the amounts credited to the state CAFare other key features of the proposed legis-lation.
BJP's 'Kamal Sakhis'...makers. On Tuesday night, they met for the
fourth time in three years - the agenda was todiscuss how they can contribute to the gov-ernment's big push for better sanitation andhygiene. The women are quick to warn thatthey are not eager to share the details of whatthey discuss - or how. Neelam Rudy, marriedto minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy, is the con-venor of the group which is called KamalSakhis (Women supporters of the Lotus).Mrs Rudy, wearing a beige and gold sari, saidthe deliberations are not meant to be sharedpublicly. But others said that the goal is tohelp implement key policies of the govern-ment. Addressing them at last night's eventwas party chief Amit Shah, who reportedlytold the women that they can often play a farmore important role than their husbands inhelping raise public awareness of campaignslike the effort to improve governmentschools.
Industralist Naveen...Chief Minister of Jharkhand.The Central Bureau of Investigation has, as
part of its inquiry, raided Mr Jindal's houseand offices of his Jindal Steel and PowerLimited.
Nearly 200 coal fields allocated by succes-sive governments since 1993 were cancelledby the Supreme Court last year, which saidthey had been illegally awarded without atransparent bidding system. Some of thosecoal blocks have since been auctioned.
In 2012, the national auditor said that near-ly Rs. 1.86 lakh crores had been lost becausemining licenses had been distributed to pri-vate firms in a process riddled with irregular-ities.
The CBI then started investigating suspect-ed collusion between state officials and pri-vate companies in under priced sales of coal-fields.
Politicians in...the validity of the National Judicial
Appointments Commission (NJAC), set uprecently for the appointment of judges. TheNJAC is meant to replace the two-decades-old judges-appointing-judges system. MrJethmalani argued that the presence of theUnion Law Minister as a member of NJACwould spoil the quality of the selectionprocess.
He reasoned that the Law Minister's pres-ence was unacceptable because the govern-ment is the biggest litigant in the court. "Thepresence of the Law Minister in theCommission diminishes the confidence ofthe public or the citizens claiming protectionagainst breach of Fundamental Rights orseeking relief against illegal unconstitutionalor mala fide action of the executive," he said.
The Supreme Court will continue to heararguments on petitions against the NJAC onThursday.
Mango exports...lifted the ban on Indian mangoes this year,
while Mauritius, too, opened up its market.According to industry sources, mango
exports are likely to dip by 30 per centbecause of less availability and poor qualityof mangoes.
The traders who were hopeful of cashing inon exports with the European Union liftingban on Indian mangoes in February this year,are now faced with delayed flowering andeven late arrival of fruit in the markets ofGujarat. Sources in the Agricultural andProcessed Food Products ExportDevelopment Authority (APEDA) said thatthere was a significant loss to mango cropacross India especially in Gujarat where thedamage was more. They expected the exportto go down by over 30 per cent this yearbecause of the quantity and quality of man-goes.
However, all efforts are being made by thegovernment to minimize the impact todecline in mango exports, sources said.
They ruled out effect on prices of themango as the alphonso and kesar varietieswere unique to the country and there was notglobal competition.
The export of mangoes through air cargofrom Ahmedabad airport has also taken abeating this year. Not a single consignmenthas yet taken off from air cargo complex.
In 2012 during April to June, 320.71 metrictonnes (MT) of mango was exported fromSardar Vallabhbhai Patel international air-port.
Flight schedules...Himalayan neighbour is heading towards
normalcy again, operators said onWednesday.
"The situation is slowly improving andreturning to normalcy. Flights are operatingas per schedule and at the moment, there isno need for emergency flights," an officialwith Air India told IANS.
A member of the Star Alliance, Air Indiaoperated two additional flights - one eachfrom Delhi and Kolkata - shortly after thedisaster hit Nepal on Saturday.
"Today there is no scheduled flights toKathmandu but for other days when we haveflights, it is on schedule," he said.
Private airlines companies Jet Airways andIndiGo said congestion in Kathmandu airportis resulting in flight delays and work was inprogress to take on the challenge.
"Due to relief efforts in Kathmandu, thereis a resultant congestion at Kathmandu air-port, especially with regard to parking bays,"an official with Jet Airways told IANS.
Official of IndiGo, which is operating spe-cial rescue flights in addition to the sched-uled departures, told IANS in a mail: "Fuelshortage and long delays due to congestion atKathmandu airport is hampering flight oper-ations."
While all carriers from India are operatingspecial flights to Kathmandu to help in res-cue operations, the companies reported serv-ices were heading towards normalcy.
IndiGo on Wednesday operated two flightsto Nepal, including a relief flight, while JetAirways flew two from Delhi and one fromMumbai.
"Operations are being normalized... OnMay 3, we will review the situation and takea call on continuing with the third reliefflight," an official in SpiceJet told IANS.
Besides, the aircraft operators are alsooffering waiver of cancellation charges andcharging the minimum possible fares in addi-tion to carrying relief cargo in the plane'sbelly.
"To extend all possible support, we alsoauthorized waiver of cancellation charges fora week on flights to and from Kathmanduand have also brought some customers with-out any charge," the SpiceJet official said.
Jet Airways said it would waive all cancel-lation and rescheduling charges on confirmedtickets for travel to and from Kathmandu aswell as "waive off freight charges for ship-ment of relief material on board its flights toKathmandu".
From the day the calamity struck Nepal,SpiceJet flew 1,100 people from Kathmandu.IndiGo flew out 1,200 people from the quakeaffected country while Jet Airways evacuatedanother 1,000.
Wife won't allow...wife."It is improbable that the wife of accused
would keep on gagging the mouth of thewoman at the time of the alleged rape ...Nowife in this world would like or allow herhusband to make physical relation withanother woman in her presence," AdditionalSessions Judge Sanjiv Jain said while absolv-ing the man of the offences of rape and crim-inal intimidation.
The court also refused to believe the com-plainant's claim that she was tied up by hermother-in-law while the accused raped her,saying it is "highly improbable that a lady ofabout 78 years could tie the hands and legs ofthe woman so as to make her son (accused)have physical relations with the woman".
The court noted that there was a propertydispute between the woman and her in-lawsand hence the possibility of false implicationof the accused "cannot be ruled out".
The judge rejected her testimony, saying itwas full of "contradictions" which made thecase "highly suspicious".
"I am conscious of legal proposition thatconviction in such like cases can be made onthe sole testimony of victim and her versionin rape commands great respect but if thereare some circumstances which cast doubts inthe mind of court then it is not safe to rely onuncorroborated version of the victim ofrape," the judge said.
According to the prosecution, the womanhad lodged a complaint in December 2012alleging that after her husband's death, her in-laws wanted to get the house, which was inher name, transferred to her mother-in-lawbecause of which they harassed her and onone occasion, her brother-in-law allegedlyraped her. She had claimed that her mother-in-law and sister-in-law assisted him in com-mitting the offence.
Cabinet okays...months to three years, besides fixing a two-
year timeframe for completing trial in cor-ruption cases.
Offering and accepting non-monetary grat-ification will be also treated as bribery, in amajor overhaul aimed at curbing a practicewhere corporates have used a diverse rangeof inducements - from paying for hospitalityand education of children overseas to sexualfavours - to influence decisions.
Private bribe givers are currently out of thepurview of the Prevention of Corruption Act(PC Act). The amendments seek to expandthe scope of the PC Act to propose punish-ment for commercial entities and theiremployees for bribing public servants.Intentional enriching of public servants willbe construed as criminal misconduct andpossession of disproportionate assets asproof of illicit enrichment. A detailed code ofconduct will be issued for babus soon fortheir interactions with companies.
Government said the changes, which seekto deter corporates from bribing officers toinfluence decision-making, are aimed atcurbing the supply side of corruption. Theyrepresent a mixed bag for bureaucrats. Whileretired bureaucrats are sought to be bufferedagainst prosecution without prior sanctionfor decisions they took during their workinglife, the changes propose to spell out the obli-gation of public servants in such a way as topunish violation of statutory duty, govern-ment policies, executive instructions and pro-cedures.
The changes, patterned after the UKBribery Act and meant to be incorporated inthe Prevention of Corruption (Amendment)Bill, 2013, proposes a cap of two years forcompletion of trial in corruption cases, anambitious step to shorten the process whichon average in recent times lingered for morethan eight years. Trial courts under specialjudge are to be vested with power to confis-cate the proceeds of corruption.
The bill was drafted against the backdropof public clamour against corruption in theaftermath of mega scams during UPA'stenure. The Modi government, however, feltthe changes were not adequate and did not gofar to curb bribery by the corporate sector indifferent forms. The bill was introduced inRajya Sabha on August 19, 2013.
The bill cleared by the Union Cabinet onWednesday approved that non-monetarygratification be covered within the definitionof "gratification". Favours taken by govern-ment officials, which were earlier hard toprove as 'illegal gratification', are nowincluded in the law. For example, if a corpo-rate house arranged medical facilities for asenior government official in lieu of somepecuniary gains, then it would be termed as"illegal gratification". Both sides - the bribegiver and taker - could face up to seven yearsin jail under the new bill.
It also gives a shield to government offi-cials who cease to hold office due to retire-ment, resignation or other reasons by makingprior prosecution sanction mandatory. "It isproposed to extend the protection of priorsanction for prosecution to public servantswho cease to hold office due to retirement,resignation etc. Further, prior sanction forinquiry and investigation shall be requiredfrom the Lokpal or Lokayukta, as the casemay be, for investigation of offences relat-able to recommendations made or decisiontaken by a public servant in discharge of offi-cial functions or duties," said an officialrelease.
Taking note of the delay in legal proceed-ings in PC Act cases, the proposed changesmake it mandatory for courts to conclude thetrial within two years. "The average trialperiod of cases under PC Act in the last fouryears has been above eight years. It is pro-posed to ensure speedy trial by providing atrial completion (period) within two years," itsaid.
Plane Lands ...India flight AI 602, which took off for
Mumbai from Delhi on Tuesday.When contacted, an Air India spokesperson
said there was a medical emergency onboardthe plane which was attended.
"As the flight AI-602 was on its way toMumbai there wasan announcement made bythe hostess, asking if there was any doctoronboard to attend a medical emergency," oneof the passengers said.
"The woman was suffering from anxiety(panic) attack and had returned from Nepal,and was apparently uneasy even before thetrip. Within minutes, she was attended by twodoctors," the passenger said.
A doctor and an ambulance were waiting assoon as the plane came to a halt.
Beware of Online...Two Nigerian nationals on Tuesday were
arrested in a case of online fraud whichduped a Chennai resident of Rs. 7,50,000.
The accused confessed to their crime andsaid they sent bulk SMSs to people in Indiastating that the recipients had won a lotteryand asked them to send their details forclaiming the amount; the practice also knownas the 'Nigerian Fraud'.
Taking the SMS to be genuine, ChinnaBayaanagari Sankar Reddy, a resident ofAndhra Pradesh fell prey to the fraud anddeposited the said amount in various bankaccounts as per instructed. He was duped offthe money on false pretexts of processingfee, income tax, custom duty etc., which hewas told was required in order to receive theprize money.
3 NEW DELHI | THURSDAY | APRIL 30, 2015Fight For Right
Three conclusions may be drawn from the SupremeCourt ruling that the Tamil Nadu government didnot have the jurisdiction to appoint a Special Public
Prosecutor to handle the appeals filed by former ChiefMinister Jayalalithaa. First, it reflects poorly on the Stategovernment, which displayed what the court called “anxi-ety” to ensure representation for the prosecution when herbail application came up for hearing immediately after herconviction in a Bengaluru Special Court in September lastyear. Secondly, the Tamil Nadu and Karnataka govern-ments demonstrated inexcusable ignorance of the legalposition that once a case was transferred from one State toanother, the transferring State loses jurisdiction to pursue itfurther. This position had been underscored by theSupreme Court only a few years ago. Thirdly, the SupremeCourt continues to lay emphasis on the purity of the crim-inal process in corruption cases and will not countenanceattempts to derail the process. Fears that the disposal of theappeals made in the Karnataka High Court by Ms.Jayalalithaa and her three associates against their four-yearjail term would be delayed have been allayed, as the three-judge Bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra has ruled outa de novo hearing. It has also clarified that Section 301 ofthe CrPC (which says a Special Prosecutor appointed for a‘case’ may appear without written authority in any court)does not mean that a person appointed as prosecutor in adistrict court could also appear before a high court in thesame case. The Karnataka government has now broughtback B.V. Acharya, who had earlier vigorously prosecutedthe case but was forced to resign, to represent it while fil-ing its submissions before the High Court. It will be seenas a legal setback to Ms. Jayalalithaa mainly because sheand her lawyers gave the impression that they wanted Mr.Bhavani Singh to be the prosecutor in the appellate stagetoo. They ought to have known that no court would allowthe accused to choose the counsel for the prosecution. As aresult, the court has asked the High Court to disregard Mr.Singh’s written submissions, if any. The Supreme Court’sreminder to the High Court that corruption has a “corrod-ing effect”, that it is the duty of an appellate judge to scru-tinise objectively the evidence on record in its entirety andthat his reasoning ought to be “resolutely expressed”, maycause some anxiety to the defence as to whether there isany implicit direction to the High Court to decide the mat-ter in a particular manner. However, a look at the contextwould show that the Supreme Court is doing no such thing.Rather, it is only reinforcing its view that want of properassistance from one side need not affect the outcome if theappellate judge is sufficiently objective and avoids weak-ness and vacillation.
BY ARVIND VIRMANI
The long anticipated decelera-tion in the rate of the growth ofChina’s economy is under way.
Even the normally conservativeWorld Bank and the InternationalMonetary Fund (IMF) are confirmingthat its growth is slowing down and islikely to fall below seven per cent.Even those analysts who had forecasta deceleration in its growth wereunsure about when exactly the slow-down would start.
In the 2000s, I had estimated thatChina’s growth would deceleratebelow eight per cent, around the mid-dle of the decade beginning 2010.The global financial crisis of 2008sharply raised the probability that theslowdown would occur within thefollowing decade despite risky effortsby China to prop up growth.
In contrast, India was forecast toachieve its potential growth rate ofabout eight per cent, given its export-import neutral growth model. Thesurprise in India’s case was the sharpslowdown from 2011-12, largelyattributed to complacency anddomestic policy mistakes. However,despite these mistakes, India’sgrowth rate from 2002-03 to 2013-14was among the 10 highest in theworld (using the old data series).Though the correction of these mis-takes may no longer be enough torestore growth to earlier levels, Indiacan and must restore growth to theaverage rates achieved earlier. Again,this has been recognised by both theWorld Bank and the IMF. These twodevelopments taken together, implythat India’s trend growth rate ispoised to exceed that of China’s inthe next few decades.
Closing the GDP gap
This will start the long, slowprocess of closing the GDP gap withChina, which was 1.4 times India'sreal GDP (in absolutes) in 2013.There is a common tendency to con-fuse relative levels of GDP withgrowth rates, so it is important to
understand that China’s real GDPmeasured at purchasing power parityin 2011 international dollars is now2.4 times that of India.
The two economies were almostequal at the end of the 1980s (Chinawas 1.1 times that of India in 1990).During this period, itsgrowth averaged9.9 per centp e r
a n n u m ,3.4 per centpoints faster thanIndia’s 6.5 per cent average.Even if the growth gap was inverted(i.e. became -3.4 per cent), it wouldtake double the time (i.e. 30 years) toclose the GDP gap as it took to openit.
Growth slowdown
The basic theory and empirics ofgrowth show that fast growingeconomies like Japan, South Korea,Singapore and Thailand, which grewfast when they were at low or middleincome levels of per capita GDP,maintained growth at high levels forone to two decades and then sloweddown as their per capita GDPapproached that of the (lower end)high income economies. In the caseof China, the surprise was that itmaintained an average growth of 10per cent for 30 years, despite reach-ing middle income levels of per capi-ta GDP about a decade ago. Manyanalysts who had been proved wrongin the 1990s, in their predictions of aChina growth slowdown, became
much more cautious. Those of uswho were willing to take a reputa-tional risk have been proved right, asChina’s economy slowed below eightper cent in 2012 and is now predictedto slow below seven per cent by themultilateral institutions.
The global financial crisis ensuredthat the growth of world trade wouldslow sharply below the very highgrowth seen in the previous decade,aided by a correction of the bubble-like growth seen prior to the crisis.This meant that China’s (net) export-investment model was no longer sus-tainable and would produce slowergrowth in the 2010s. To delay thisslowdown, China pumped largeamounts of debt into the economy,with the official debt-GDP ratio ris-ing from 55.2 per cent in 2008 to 88.1per cent in 2013, an average increaseof 6.6 per cent points of GDP perannum. Analysts have estimated thatthe debt in the shadow banking sys-tem may have increased by an equiv-alent amount, rising to dangerouslyrisky levels. Based on a historicalexperience of such debt bubbles,some analysts predict that this bubbleis likely to burst and reduce China’sgrowth rate to the three to four percent levels. Analysts, who havegreater confidence in the ability ofthe Chinese Communist party to
manage an economic crisis, neverthe-less, predict a deceleration of thetrend rate of growth to a range of fiveto seven per cent.
Comparing growth rates
Based on World Bank “WorldDevelopment Indicators” data
till 2013 (till which yearthe GDP base for
2004-05 wasf u l l y
ava i l -
able),we can
c o m p a r ethe growth rates
of China and India. Aplot of these rates shows that
the growth rate difference has beennarrowing since 1990, due to a grad-ual deceleration of China and astronger acceleration of India.Underlying this narrowing growthdifference are variables that are driv-ers of or correlated with GDP growthand productivity. These include for-eign direct investment (FDI) andexports, which are indicators of com-petitiveness, and imports, whichreflect openness. The differencebetween China and India’s FDI-GDPratio has been on a declining trend,from about 3.5 per cent of GDP in1990 to a little over two per cent ofGDP in 2013, suggesting slow butsteady progress in attracting technol-ogy and risk capital, with a milderdecline in China’s attractiveness. Thedifference between China’s andIndia’s export-GDP ratio, which waseight per cent in 1990, averaged 18per cent during 2005 to 2007 beforenarrowing rapidly to about one percent in 2013, indicating that India’sexports have held up to the globaldecline in world trade much more
effectively than China’s. The differ-ence between China’s and India’simport-GDP, which fluctuatedaround an average of 7.1 per centpoints between 1990 and 2007declined dramatically to -5.2 per centby 2011-13, indicating that the Indianeconomy is now significantly moreopen than China’s.
Forecasting Indian growth
Analysis and forecasting of Indiangrowth has been confounded by theappearance of a new GDP series(2011 base) which has made somefundamental changes in methodologyand data sources. As this new seriesprovides less than three years ofgrowth data, it is impossible to esti-mate the underlying trend growth rate(using this series). After the mid-year2014 Budget, I had said: “The meas-ures taken in the budget will be suffi-cient to increase growth by about 1per cent point over the last year’s4.7% to 5.7%. Actualization of someof the measures indicated in thebudget will however be necessary toraise growth to the 6.5 to 7% range in2015-16.” Given that the averagegrowth rate as per the new data isabout one per cent point above that,using the new data, a projectedgrowth rate of 7.5 per cent to eightper cent is quite conservative. Thisseems to be the reasoning underlyingthe World Bank’s and IMF’s projec-tions for India’s growth in 2015 and2016.
The Central StatisticalOrganisation (CSO) has projected agrowth rate of 7.4 per cent for 2014-15 and a growth acceleration to eightper cent in 2015-16. which would notbe wildly optimistic. However, asmany observers have pointed out,high frequency data such as the Indexof Industrial Production (IIP) formanufacturing, quarterly results forcompanies, and tax revenues fromexcise and corporate income tax donot appear consistent with these highgrowth levels. I had argued that theglobal financial crisis and the conse-
quent global demand recession andexcess capacity have affected notonly the export-led Chinese econo-my, but also the globally connectedand competitive corporate sector ofIndia (http://goo.gl/r2sdYi). Thus,post the global financial crisis, theGlobally Connected and Competitive(GCC) corporations will lag overallrecovery, instead of leading it, as theydid in 2002-03 to 2007-08. Thus, allindicators connected with these com-panies, such as IIP, corporate profits,corporate and excise tax revenuewould also lag the GDP recovery.
Based on the theory and empiricalevidence provided by high growtheconomies, some analysts had pre-dicted, since the 2000s, a slowingdown of the Chinese economy duringthe decade of the 2010s to a rate ofgrowth below that of India(http://goo.gl/3iHrdH). By makingthe export-investment-led strategy ofdevelopment unviable, the globalfinancial crises made this highly like-ly if not inevitable. It was alsoassumed in the forecasts that theIndian government would continue tocarry out the minimum reforms nec-essary to maintain India’s growth rateat an average of the previous decade.Because the Indian government wascomplacent and made policy mis-takes between 2010 and 2012, theIndian economy faltered seriously.Some of the momentum has beenrestored after the corrections intro-duced in the last two years. However,a sustained growth of 8 to 8.5 percent over the next few decadesrequires implementation of thereform agenda even though continu-ing sensitivity to shocks can derailgrowth given that the world environ-ment is far from conducive to sus-tained high growth. If this is done, weshould expect to see India growingfaster than China and beginning toclose the wide gap that has openedbetween the per capita GDP of thetwo countries.
(Arvind Virmani, a formerExecutive Director, IMF, is Mentor,Public Policy & Economics, to theFederation of Indian Chambers of
Commerce and Industry.)
BY COLIN GONSALVES
Abattle of epic proportions betweenthe hydroelectric power compa-nies and the people of
Uttarakhand has now culminated with thestruggle shifting to the office of the PrimeMinister of India. It began with theextraordinary and far-sighted 2014 deci-sion of the Supreme Court in theAlaknanda Hydro Power Company case,where the Court said it was concernedwith the mushrooming of hydroelectricprojects adversely affecting theAlaknanda and Bhagirathi river basins.
The cumulative impact of dams, tun-nels, blasting, the construction of powerhouses, garbage creation, mining anddeforestation on the eco system has notyet been studied. The June 2013 tragedythat affected the Char Dham area ofUttarakhand, where thousands of peoplewere killed and there was massive dam-age to property, forced a rethinking onprojects. It was now considered importantto make a cumulative assessment ofbumper-to-bumper projects, where therivers of the Himalayas are diverted fromtheir normal course and channelled intotunnels, released at a lower level, then re-channeled into another pipeline, whichultimately leaves the main course of theriver without water. The mistake made inthe earlier environmental assessments —treating each project as stand-alone with-out going into the cumulative effect of allof them — was questioned by theSupreme Court. The Court, therefore,ordered the Ministry of Environment andForests (MoEF) to constitute an ExpertCommittee to study the cumulativeeffects of such projects on the environ-ment, on the stability of the Himalayas,and their adverse effect on the Himalayanrivers.
Unreliable assessments
The Expert Committee’s report is possi-bly one of the best ever made on the frag-ile ecology of the Himalayas. It almostunanimously found that EnvironmentalImpact Assessment (EIA) clearances wereunreliable, wrongly prepared, made onthe basis of false information submittedby the Hydroelectric Projects (HEPs), andthat the clearances, in some cases, weremotivated. These clearances, therefore,could not be relied upon for the continua-
tion of these projects.
The Committee concluded that EIAreports should be done by an independentagency and not by the project proponent,and said that HEPs had an irreversiblenegative impact on the environment.
Five of the six projects now beingexamined afresh are in the para-glacialzone, rendering them extremely haz-ardous. As the glaciers recede due to con-struction activity, the land exposedbecomes unstable, and an unusual cloud-burst could again result in tragedy. Theadverse impact on rivers and water quali-
ty and on forests, biodiversity and wildlife are set out in detail.
The scathing report of the WildlifeInstitute of India that pointed to the dev-astation that would be caused to wildlifein the Himalayas was also relied upon.One chapter deals with the proximity ofHEPs to national parks and eco-sensitiveareas and the impact on these areas. Thereport responds to the classic defence ofproject proponents that they would docompensatory afforestation by concludingthat such afforestation was poorly done.The Committee concludes that the nega-tive impacts of HEPs cannot be mitigated.The blasting of rocks, creation of garbage,and the receding of glaciers are a con-comitant of all industrial activity in theHimalayas and, if the Himalayas and the
Ganga are to be saved, there is no wayforward but to scrap such projects.
Government support
To its credit, the Union of India initiallysupported the Expert Committee Report,pointing out that even prior to this reportthe B.K. Chaturvedi Inter-MinisterialGroup, the Planning Commission, theG.B. Mukherjee Task Force Report, theCAG report, the Neeri report, and theGeological Survey of India (GSI) reporthad all recommended that hydroelectricprojects be severely curtailed as they
destroyed the environment. The Union ofIndia pointed out that the Gangotri Valleyand the Valley of Flowers were in eco-sensitive zones. It agreed that the sevenmain Indian rivers ought to be kept pris-tine, that the Himalayas are weak, therivers drying up, and, in 2013, as againstthe state claim of 65 per cent forest cover,the actual cover was only 46 per cent.
The Union said that earlier environmen-tal clearances had to be reviewed and acumulative environmental impactapproach adopted, with sensitive areas inthe Himalayas avoided for developmentwork. Referring to the GSI report, theUnion of India said the entire Ganga basinwas in Seismic Zones IV and V, whichcarries the highest degree of catastrophepossibility. A reference was also made to
the Planning Commission recommenda-tion that the projects be decommissioned.
However, despite the Union of India’sstand, the Minister for Environment andForests, Prakash Javadekar, does notagree. He has made it his life mission toclear all projects, irrespective of theirenvironmental impact. It is this attitudethat has made India a country of toxicrivers, destroyed forests, declininggroundwater resources, and the highestdegrees of air pollution in the world. Afterthe Union of India took a public stand thatfully supported the findings and recom-mendations of the Expert Committee, Mr.Javadekar has set about clearing all proj-ects. In typical bureaucratic style, a four-member Committee of Experts wasappointed to make a report on a report.However, it did not play ball, pointing outthat though environmental clearanceswere granted, the six projects studiedwould adversely impact aquatic and ter-restrial biodiversity and the flow of theriver.
They would impact the protected areasof the Nanda Devi National Park andBiosphere Reserve, the Valley of FlowersNational Park (World Heritage Site), theKedarnath Wild Life Sanctuary, and theAlaknanda III, Bhyundar and DhauliGanga biodiversity-rich sub-basins,which are the habitat of the rare andendangered Himalayan Brown Bear. Thediversion of water through the construc-tion of underground tunnels poses a seri-ous risk to water life. The Committee ofExperts unanimously noted that environ-mental clearances have to be reviewedand the six projects must not be taken upas they have the potential to cause a sig-nificant impact on the environment.
The future of the Himalayas and itsrivers are at stake. Indeed, the future ofIndia is in the balance. Within the govern-ment, well-meaning officials and Ms.Uma Bharti are fighting to clean up theGanges, while Mr. Javedkar and hisfriends in industry battle to finish off whatlittle is left of the Himalayas, its riversand glaciers. The Prime Minister of Indiahas to decide on which side he stands.
(Colin Gonsalves is a senior advocatein the Supreme Court and founder of the
Human Rights Law Network.)
Lessons from a verdictKilling a country’s ecology
Tracking two growth stories
The basic theory andempirics of growth show that fast
growing economies like Japan, South Korea,Singapore and Thailand, which grew fast whenthey were at low or middle income levels of percapita GDP, maintained growth at high levels for
one to two decades and then slowed down astheir per capita GDP approached that of the
(lower end) high incomeeconomies.
Editorial4 NEW DELHI | THURSDAY | APRIL 30, 2015Fight For Right
The Expert Committee’s report is possiblyone of the best ever made on the fragile
ecology of the Himalayas. It almost unani-mously found that Environmental Impact
Assessment (EIA) clearances were unreliable,wrongly prepared, made on the basis of false
information submitted by the HydroelectricProjects (HEPs), and that the clearances, in
some cases, were motivated. These clearances,therefore, could not be relied upon for the
continuation of these projects.
Fight For Right
NEW DELHIThe Cabinet on
Wednesday approved Modigovernment's two flagshipschemes - 100 smart citiesand urban rejuvenationprogramme for 500 townsand cities. The idea is torecast the urban landscapeand to make such areasmore livable and inclusive,besides driving economicgrowth. The governmentcleared a total central out-lay of Rs 98,000 crore toexecute these schemes inthe next five years.
Work is to be undertakenfor smaller cities and towns
with one lakh or more pop-ulation under a newscheme named after formerPrime Minister Atal BihariVajpayee - Atal Mission forRejuvenation and UrbanT r a n s f o r m a t i o n(AMRUT). Centre willspend Rs 50,000 crore forthis scheme. This will bethe new scheme in place ofJNNURM named afterIndia's first PM JawaharlalNehru during UPA rule.
Under the smart citiesscheme each city selected
through a "city challenge"competition would get cen-tral assistance of Rs 100crore per year for fiveyears. To begin about 20cities would be selectedafter the state governmentscome forward with namesof cities they want nomi-nated.
A ministry spokespersonsaid that the criteria forcompetition would befinalized soon and thesewill be linked to financingwith the ability of the cities
to perform and achievemission objectives.According to an officialrelease, the smart citiesmission intends to promoteadoption of smart solutionsfor efficient use of avail-able assets, resources andinfrastructure with theobjective of enhancing thequality of urban life andproviding a clean and sus-tainable environment.
There will be specialfocus on adequate andclean water supply, sanita-
tion and solid waste man-agement, efficient trans-portation, affordable hous-ing for the poor, powersupply, robust IT connec-tivity, e-governance, safetyand security of citizens,health and education.
There will be specialemphasis on citizens' par-ticipation in prioritizingand planning urban inter-ventions. "It will be imple-mented through 'areabased' approach consistingof retrofitting, redevelop-
ment, pan-city initiativesand development of newcities. Under retrofitting,deficiencies in an identi-fied area will be addressedthrough necessary inter-ventions as in the case oflocal area plan for down-town Ahmedabad.Redevelopment enablesreconstruction of alreadybuilt-up area that is notamenable for any interven-tions, to make it smart, asin the case of Bhendi Bazarof Mumbai and West
Kidwai Nagar in Delhi,"the official statement said.
Pan-city componentscould be interventions likeintelligent transport solu-tions to benefit all citizensby reducing commutingtime.
"The two missions areinterlinked," a ministryofficial said.
AMRUT will focus onensuring basic infrastruc-ture services such as watersupply, sewerage, stormwater drains, transport and
development of greenspaces and parks with spe-cial provision for meetingthe needs of children.Implementation of thismission will be linked topromotion of urbanreforms such as e-gover-nance, setting up of profes-sional municipal cadre,devolving funds and func-tions to urban local bodies,review of building bye-laws, improvement inassessment and collectionof municipal taxes, creditrating of urban local bod-ies, energy and water auditand citizen-centric urbanplanning.
NATIONAL /INTERNATIONAL5 NEW DELHI | THURSDAY | APRIL 30, 2015Fight for right
days remaining beforeParliament adjourns on May8, a last minute scramble is onthe cards to pass several keybills. Given the time crunch,the government's flagshipland acquisition bill may notbe tabled this session - it findsno mention in the list of billsto be taken up next week inLok Sabha. The governmentneeds the permission of theRajya Sabha to withdraw thebill . A question mark alsohangs over the crucial GSTbill.
Here are the latest develop-ments:
1. The pending billsinclude the Juvenile justiceamendment bill, the RealEstate Regulation bill, BlackMoney bill and the Goods andServices Tax (Amendment)Bill.
2. The GST bill isexpected to be taken up onMay 5 after Lok SabhaSpeaker Sumitra Mahajan hadpostponed the discussion andvote on it. But governmentmanagers concede there
might not be enough time topass the bill this session.
3. The GST bill alsofaces the problem of numbers.As a ConsitutionalAmendment Bill it needs sup-port from two-thirds of bothhouses.
4. Union finance min-ister Arun Jaitley said a sec-tion of opposition parties haveagreed to support the GSTbill. But it may run into roughweather in Rajya Sabha, orthe upper house, where thegovernment is in minority.
5. Due to the numberscrunch, the government was
forced to defer the real estatebill in Rajya Sabha today. Theopposition demands that thebill be examined by a jointparliamentary committee.
6. The absence of theland acquisition bill in the listof business has provokedspeculation on whether itwould be tabled at all this ses-sion. The opposition, led bythe Congress, is determined tostall the bill.
7. Rural development
Chaudhury Birender Singhtold REPORTERS that till theland acquisition bill is with-drawn from the Rajya Sabha,it can't be tabled in LokSabha. But the bill, he said,was discussed in the lokSabha recently "and we don'tneed too much time".
8. The Lok Sabha isto be adjourned sine die May8 and Parliament will also beclosed over a long weekendfrom May 1 to 4.
9. After the land billwas stalled in the first part ofthe budget session, the gov-ernment was forced to re-issue an ordinance or emer-gency executive order toensure that the changes in lawdid not lapse.
10. The GST bill isbeing opposed by theCongress, the AIADMK andthe BJD. The bill, introducedby the UPA government in2011, had lapsed and theModi government had intro-duced a fresh version withcertain changes. TheCongress wants a parliamen-tary panel to examine thechanges.
Land Bill Not Listed For Discussion,Question Mark Hangs on GST Bill
KATHMANDUThe devastating earthquake that struck
the Nepalese capital has turned the 500-year-old Kasthamandap temple to rubble,killing several under the debris of the his-toric structure from which the city derivesits name.
Incidentally, on the fateful day, a privatecompany had organized a blood donationcamp and most of the donors including thenurses are dead.
"The day when earthquake had struck,many had gathered inside the temple todonate blood. It all happened in a secondand everything was under the rubble. "So,they did not get enough time to react.Some, who were donating blood, simplypulled their needles off and rushed out-side, but many could not escape. To addto the misery, people thought that sincethe temple has survived earthquakes
before, it can manage even this time. Sopeople from outside rushed inside," saidAjay Shakya, 21, a volunteer and studentwho stays near the temple.
"Fortunately, the camp was about to endwhen the earthquake struck, whichreduced the casualties. When the bodies ofthe nurses were recovered, their positionwas such that they had covered their headswith their hands," said Suniti Tamrakar,another volunteer at the site. The 16th-century temple is located near the famousDarbara Square, which has seen a lot ofcasualties and rescue operations are stillon.
The structure was a crucial part of theNepalese heritage in the city.
It is also believed that Kathmandu citygot its name from the temple and it wasconstructed from a single tree with beauti-ful sculpting done on them.
Nepal Earthquake: 500-year-oldKathmandu temple turned to rubble WASHINGTON
A new book claims that theClinton Foundation received up to$5 million in donation from anIndian politician as the US debateda nuclear deal with India in 2008,tabloid New York Post reports.
The family of Hillary Clinton,who is making a bid to be US pres-ident in 2016, runs the foundation.
Amar Singh, then GeneralSecretary of the Samajwadi Partyand lawmaker, contributedbetween $1 million and $5 millionto the Clinton Foundation in 2008,the Post cites the book "ClintonCash" as saying.
contribution, it reports, wasmade as the US Congress debatedgranting approval to the landmarkIndia-US civil nuclear deal whichHillary Clinton, then a senator,eventually supported. The US
Congress passed it with an over-whelming majority.
According to the book's author,Peter Schweizer, says the Post, thesize of the donation, relative to MrSingh's net worth, raised questionsabout whether he was the true
source of the cash. It says theauthor speculates whether MrSingh "was a conduit for otherpowerful interests in India pushingfor approval of the nuke deal."
"Singh's donation was treatedwith suspicion and amusement in
India," the paper says, noting thatMr Singh, had, in a financial dis-closure at the time reported histotal net worth as approximately$5 million.
"If true, that meant Singh hadgiven between 20 and 100 percentof his entire net worth to theClinton Foundation!" MrSchweitzer is quoted as saying.
Ms Clinton had met Amar Singhin Washington in September 2008,the Post says. It describes MrSingh as "a pal of Bill Clinton,"Ms Clinton's husband and formerUS president. Press Trust of Indiasaid calls in New Delhi to AmarSingh to seek his reaction wentunanswered. But both the ClintonFoundation and Ms Clinton's cam-paign have strongly refuted thesuggestion of any wrongdoing andhave maintained.
Politician Amar Singh's Donation to 'Pal' Bill Clinton's Foundation Questioned
RAMCHEMadhu Badu had been
on the road for the betterpart of three days, trying toget back to his native vil-lage, back to his wife andchildren, near the epicenterof Nepal's devastatingearthquake northwest ofKathmandu. His journeyhad begun on a bus, but theroads had become impass-able and now he was onfoot.
As he climbed a dirt pathstrewed with boulders andthe muddy debris of land-slides, hints of the devasta-tion that awaited him inRamche greeted him likeominous signposts: an eld-erly woman, groaning inpain, draped on the back ofa man who was carryingher down the mountain; ahamlet where residentswere burying the dead;piles of stone rubble wherefarmhouses once stood.
Desperate residentsappeared from the forests,
pleading for help fromBadu and a journalist. "Welost everything!" cried one,Baldev Bhatta, his eyesbloodshot. "You are thefirst outsiders to comehere. We have no grain. Wehave no money. We cannotrebuild on our own. Youneed to send this news tothe world."
At each stop on the wayup the mountain, farmersoffered to show Badu theruins of their houses. He
pressed forward instead.He knew his own familywas safe - he had tried call-ing his wife for four hoursSaturday before he finallygot through - but she saidthe village had been badlydamaged and he was anx-ious to help.
Across the countrysideoutside Kathmandu, tens ifnot hundreds of thousandsof people are making simi-lar desperate journeys,abandoning the jobs that
had drawn them fromhome in better times andtraveling through difficultterrain to get back to isolat-ed villages like Ramchethat have been all but cutoff from the world.
Three days after Nepal'sworst earthquake in 80years hit on Saturday, theofficial death toll climbedpast 5,000 and the primeminister, Sushil Koirala,said it could reach 10,000.But the extent of thedestruction and loss of lifein the countrysideremained largely unknown.
Here in the Gorkha dis-trict, the epicenter of themagnitude 7.8 quake,roads that are repaired orcleared during the day areoften blocked before thenext morning by land-slides, making it difficultto reach communitieswhere hundreds are feareddead. In a sign of progress,though, convoys of aidworkers, some bearing the
banners of Nepalese com-panies, could be seen driv-ing through the region onTuesday. Helicopters havealso been ferrying thewounded out of the area.
When the quake struck,Badu, 51, was inSolukhumbu, about 100miles northeast of here, at atrekking station at the baseof Mount Everest where heworks in construction.
He spent the next twodays on buses beforebeginning his trek at dawnon Tuesday by foot. Hecarried two plastic tarpau-lins, a down jacket and abag filled with apples andgrapes. It was part carepackage, part aiddelivery.
Before the earthquake,he said, life in the villagesin this impoverished regionhad improved. They hadelectricity and cellphonecoverage, and the dirtroads were more or lessacceptable.
Across Nepal, Desperate Journeys To Ruined Homes
NEW DELHIBollywood actor Salman
Khan delivered a movie-worthy moment in a courttoday when he was askedby the judge about hiscaste. "Hindu andMuslim," the 49-year-oldactor responded.
Mr Khan was present ina court in Jodhpur to plead'not guilty' to charges thathe used unlicensed guns toshoot an endangeredspecies of gazelle in 1998.
Chief Judicial MagistrateAnupama Bijlani askedhim his name, father'sname, profession and otherdetails required by for alegal form.
The actor's lawyer whoat the closed-door hearingsaid that Mr Khan first said"Indian" when asked about
his caste. When the judgeasked him the questionagain, he replied, "Hinduand Muslim" and then saidthat while his father,famous screen writerSalim Khan is a Muslim,his mother, SusheelaCharak, is a Hindu.
The arms case againstMr Khan is 16 years oldand a sort of spin off from
another case that accuseshim of poaching Chinkaraor Black Buck, an endan-gered species, while shoot-ing a film in Rajasthan.
A verdict in the armscase was expected inFebruary but was post-poned after the testimonyof new witnesses wasrequested by the prosecu-tion.
Salman answered questions about hisfathers name and profession but wasstumped when asked about his caste
Cabinet nod for 100 smart cities
KATHMANDUNepali villagers
blocked trucks carryingsupplies for earthquakevictims on Wednesday,demanding the govern-ment do more to helpafter last week's disasterleft more than 5,000people dead and tens ofthousands homeless andshort of food and water.
In the capitalKathmandu, about 200people protested outsideparliament, asking formore buses to go totheir homes in remoteparts of the Himalayannation and to hasten thedistribution of aid thathas flooded into thecountry but been slowto reach those in need.
In Sangachowk vil-lage in one of the worst-hit districts, about threehours by road from thecapital, scores of angryvillagers blocked theroad with tires.
stopped two trucksheaded for the districtcapital with rice, noo-dles and biscuits. Laterthey blocked a convoyof three army truckswith relief supplies,leading to a tense stand-off with armed soldiers.
"We have been given
no food by the govern-ment," said Udhav Giri,34. "Trucks carryingrice go past and don'tstop. The district head-quarters is getting allthe food."
The government wasstruggling to fullyassess the devastationwrought by Saturday's7.8 magnitude quake.
"This is a disaster onan unprecedented scale.There have been someweaknesses in manag-ing the relief operation,"Nepal's CommunicationMinister Minendra Rijalsaid late on Tuesday.
An official fromNepal's home ministrysaid the number of con-firmed deaths had risento 5,006. Almost 10,000were injured in Nepal,and more than 80 werealso killed in India andTibet.
Prime Minister SushilKoirala has told Reutersthe death toll couldreach 10,000, withinformation on casual-ties and damage fromfar-flung villages andtowns yet to come in.
That would surpassthe 8,500 who died in a1934 earthquake, thelast disaster on this
scale to hit theHimalayan nation of 28million people locatedbetween India andChina.
However, there weresigns on Wednesdaythat Kathmandu wasslowly returning to nor-mal. Some people pre-pared to head home tosleep after spending thelast four nights in theopen out of fear theirdamaged homes maynot be able to withstandaftershocks.
Some street vendorsstarted selling fruit inthe city, but others saidthey were too scared toopen shops becausebuildings had been sobadly damaged.
"I want to start sell-ing, I have children athome, but how can Iopen a shop where it isrisky for me to sitinside?" said Arjun Rai,a 54-year-old who runsa general store.
In some mountainousareas, however, the gov-ernment has struggledto deliver aid. Rescuehelicopters have hadproblems landing atsome sites.
Shambhu Khatri, atechnician on board one
of the helicopters, saidentire hillsides had col-lapsed in parts of theGorkha district, buryingsettlements, and accesswas almost impossible.
FEAR OF DISEASEIn Kathmandu and
other cities, hospitalsquickly overflowedwith injured soon afterthe quake, with manybeing treated out in theopen or not at all.
Guna Raj, who worksfor a Kathmandu-basedNGO specialising inproviding sanitation,said there have beenoutbreaks of diarrhoeain relief camps becauseof a shortage of toiletsand clean water.
"In the next few daysor weeks I am sure therewill be an outbreak ofepidemics," said Raj,who is involved in therelief effort.
Foreign SecretaryShanker Das Bairagiappealed for specialistdoctors from overseas,as well as for search-and-rescue teamsdespite earlier sugges-tions from officials thatNepal did not needmore such assistance.
Tired of Waiting for Aid, Angry Nepalis Block Roads
Wearable cameramaker GoProforecast current-
quarter profit and revenueabove analysts' expecta-tions, citing strong demandfor its flagship Hero4action cameras.
Shares of the company,which also reported better-than-expected first-quarterprofit and revenue, rose 8.6percent in extended tradingon Tuesday.
GoPro, whose camerasare used by surfers, sky-divers and other actionjunkies, said it wasfocussing on Japan, Koreaand China markets.
The company said itplanned to expand its offer-ings in China by the end of
the second quarter. GoProgets about half of its totalrevenue from markets out-side the United States.
"It appears that entry inChina which happened inJanuary is off to a goodstart and it feels like theygot fairly high expecta-tions for that to continue in(second quarter),"Dougherty & Co analystCharles Anderson toldReuters.
GoPro, which claims tomake the five top-sellingcamera or camcorders inthe United States, has saidexpansion outside the U.S.market is key to its effortsto boost revenue growth.
GoPro's success hasprompted companies such
as Garmin Ltd, PanasonicCorp and Polaroid tolaunch their own actioncameras.
The market has alsoattracted the attention ofApple Inc.
GoPro forecast earnings
of 24-26 cents per shareand revenue of $380 mil-lion-$400 million for thesecond quarter.
Analysts on averagewere expecting a profit of16 cents per share and rev-enue of $333.7 million,according to Thomson
Reuters I/B/E/S.
GoPro's net incomeattributable to shareholdersnearly doubled to $16.8million, or 11 cents pershare, in the first quarter.
Excluding items, thecompany earned 24 cents
per share.Revenue rose 54 percent
to $363.1 million.
Analysts on average hadexpected earnings of 18cents per share and revenueof $341 million.
GoPro said sales frommarkets outside the United
States, including Europeand Asia Pacific, jumped66 percent.
Separately, GoPro said itwould buy Kolor, a virtualreality software maker.
"It's very clear based onthis acquisition they
(GoPro) are probablygoing to develop a camerathat can record video 360degree, the sphericalvideo," Anderson said.
The San Mateo,California-based compa-ny's shares were trading at$51.10 after the bell.
1. Who developed the idea of Crop Rotation?A. Potato Peterson B. Turnip TownsendC. Cabbage Carlson D. Swede Svenson
2. CORN FLAKES - Who made them first?A. Nabisco B. KelloggC. Quaker D. Archers
3. William Frederick is credited with the invention ofthe modern frisbee in the mid 1950's. In 1957 theWham-O Company bought his idea and the rest ishistory. They named the toy after William Frisbiewho was a ________?A. Pie maker B. Owner of a pizza parlorC. Student at Yale D. Ceramic plate designer
4. Who came up with the idea for INSTANTMASHED POTATO?A. S. Tuberosum B. W. RaleighC. E. Asselbergs D. K. Edwards
QUIZ TIME
Answer: 1(B) 2(B), 3(A), 4(C)
TODAY’S STARARIES A new or long-term romantic relationship could be advanced to
the next level of commitment, Aries. The chemistry between youis strong and you're compatible on several levels. Today you willexperience passion like never before! Some intense but honestand very positive discussion about the relationship's future islikely to take place, followed by an intimate encounter.
TAURUS Today you should feel especially sensual, Taurus. You will want tobask in the pleasure of being in love. A passionate encounter couldoccur at your home, probably after a wonderful meal you've pre-pared. You could have a frank discussion about the future of therelationship. You might decide to try living together if you don'talready. Think carefully about it and do what feels right.
GEMINI A warm, interesting phone call from a current or potential lovepartner could have you longing for this person's company,Gemini. You should have a lot to say to each other and so spenda lot of time on the phone. A meeting could be arranged, proba-bly somewhere in your neighborhood. Your chemistry is intense,so don't be surprised by the direction of this involvement.
CANCER An unexpected but welcome financial windfall could lead to somelong-desired changes in your living situation, Cancer. You maydecide to move, or you could opt for a less drastic course of action,such as redecorating or remodeling. A household member couldmove out or someone new could move in. These are all very positivechanges that will make a big difference in your life.
LEO You're looking great today, Leo! A current or potential love part-ner who lives nearby is likely to be all too aware of this. Yourheightened sensuality should be very apparent! A long walk withyour friend could involve conversation that brings you closertogether. You might spend most of the evening together. Expecta lot of kissing and handholding - maybe more!
VIRGO Your aesthetic sense may increase, Virgo, leading to the dis-covery of an artistic talent you may not have known you had.You could decide to develop this talent, possibly by enrollingin a class. A current or potential love partner might decide tocome with you, creating a new venue for bringing you closertogether. This should prove very exciting.
LIBRA A social event, possibly involving a group you're affiliated with, couldput you in touch with a lot of friendly, intriguing people who shareyour interests, Libra. Among them could be a potential romanticpartner, or a current partner could accompany you to this event.Whichever it is, both of you are likely to feel good about the eventand will probably want to see your new friends again.
SCORPIO You could be introduced to a celebrity you admire, probably awoman, perhaps at a lecture or book signing, Scorpio. This couldmake a profound difference in your life, as this person mayinspire you. A romantic partner could meet her as well, and thetwo of you should have a lot to discuss over dinner. Relax andenjoy your evening. It could change your life in a very subtle way.
SAGITTARIUSA social event that involves the discussion of intellectual topics couldoccur today, Sagittarius. You could decide to go with a love partner.You're likely to enjoy the gathering so much that you may stay lateinto the night and then spend another hour or so discussing it withyour partner. Afterward, anything could happen! In the future you willremember tonight as magical. Make the most of it!
CAPRICORN Some intense communication could take place today between youand a love partner, possibly about your future together, Capricorn.It's likely to lead to some positive developments in your life, possi-bly including a move to the next level of commitment. If you aren'tinvolved now, a friend could introduce you to someone new, per-haps at a social gathering. Look your best throughout the day!
AQUARIUS Today you may feel especially sensual and passionate, Aquarius.This is the perfect evening to schedule quality time with a currentor potential love partner. You're probably looking and feelingattractive, and this fact isn't likely to be lost on your friend. Scattersome pillows, add some flowers, put out some cheese, fruit, andwhite wine, and be prepared for anything!
PISCES A social event or gathering that involves work could put youin touch with interesting people, Pisces, including a sexypotential love partner! Someone new on the scene could stiryour blood like it hasn't been stirred in a long time. Whetheror not you choose to pursue this attraction depends on yoursituation, but at least you will have some fun today.
Science & Tech6 NEW DELHI | THURSDAY | APRIL 30, 2015Fight for right
Lenovo'sA7000 budget 4G LTE-enabled smartphone will go on sale again on Wednesday.
The third flash sale will commence at 2pm IST for registered users on
Flipkart.
Lenovo India, at the time of writing, had not revealed thenumber of Lenovo A7000 units that will be going on sale inthe flash sale on Wednesday. The last sale saw 35,000 unitsgoing out of stock; though no time period was shared byLenovo India. The first flash sale of the A7000 saw 30,000units going out of stock in 4 seconds.
Lenovo at the India launch of the A7000 smartphonedetailed the flash sale method it would be employing, whichwill leave consumers a 4-hour window to complete theirtransaction once the product is added to their shopping cart.
The A7000 is the larger sibling of the company's popular4G LTE budget offering, the Lenovo A6000 (Review |Images), and features upgraded specifications as well as alarger display and Dolby Atmos technology - pegging it asa multimedia device.
For specifications, the Lenovo A7000 supports dual-SIM(Micro-SIM) while running Android 5.0 Lollipop with VibeUI running on top.
It features a 5.5-inch HD (720x1280 pixels) IPS displayand packs an octa-core 1.5GHz (MediaTek MT6572M)processor with 2GB of RAM. It features an 8-megapixelautofocus rear camera with LED flash and a 5-megapixelfront facing camera. Internal storage on the handset is 8GB,which is expandable via microSD card (up to 32GB).
Connectivity options on the smartphone include 4G/ LTE(FDD Band 1, 3, 7, 20; TDD Band 40), Wi-Fi, GPS/ A-
GPS, Bluetooth, and Micro-USB, just like its prede-cessor. The Lenovo A7000 is backed by a 2900mAhbattery, measures 152.6x76.2x7.99mm and weighs
140 grams.
Lenovo A7000 4G LTESmartphone to Go
on Sale Again
Nokia's N1 tablet, which was firstannounced back in November andthen launched first in China via
Foxconn in January, will finally be madeavailable in other countries soon.
To begin with, the tablet was launchedin Taiwan on Tuesday and is expected tobe made available soon in other Asiancountries as well. It has not been con-firmed as to when the tablet will reachIndia. The N1 tablet will cost TWD 8,190(roughly Rs. 17,000) in Taiwan when itstarts selling in May via Shunfa 3C,reported ePrice (via Phonearena)
The Nokia N1 is the company's firstmobile product after the Microsoft acqui-sition, which forces the Finnish companyto no longer use the Nokia brand on smart-phones till Q4 2016, and on featurephones for 10 years.
On the specifications front, the NokiaN1 features a 7.9-inch (2048x1536 pixel)
IPSLED-backlit display protected by GorillaGlass 3; a 64-bit 2.3GHz Intel AtomZ3580 processor (4 cores, 4 threads) cou-pled with a PowerVR G6430 GPU; 2GBof LPDDR3 (800MHz) RAM; 32GB ofinbuilt storage (non-expandable); an 8-megapixel rear autofocus camera; a 5-megapixel fixed focus camera; 5300mAhbattery, and the predictive Nokia ZLauncher interface on top of Android 5.0Lollipop. Connectivity options on NokiaN1 include Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/n/ac withMIMO, Bluetooth 4.0, Micro-USB withreversible Type-C connector, and a 3.5mmaudio jack.
There have been several reports in therecent past that Nokia will be making itreturn to the smartphone market by late-2016 following the end of its brand-userestriction. The company however deniedthe reports soon after.
LG G4 Specifications DetailedAhead of Tuesday's Launch
12:00AM MasterChefIndia : Extra Class01:00AM Ye HaiMohabbatein01:30AM Iss Pyaar Ko
Kya Naam Doon...Ek Baar Phir02:00AM Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai02:30AM Veera: Ek Veer Ki Ardaas03:00AM Tu Mera Hero03:30AM Suhani Si Ek Ladki04:00AM Saath Nibhaana Saathiya04:30AM Tere Shehar Mein05:00AM Diya Aur Baati Hum05:30AM Nisha Aur Uske Cousins06:00AM Iss Pyaar Ko Kya NaamDoon...Ek Baar Phir06:30AM Ye Hai Mohabbatein07:00AM Tu Mera Hero07:30AM Veera: Ek Veer Ki Ardaas08:00AM Suhani Si Ek Ladki08:30AM Tere Shehar Mein09:00AM Diya Aur Baati Hum09:30AM Ye Hai Mohabbatein10:00AM Saath Nibhaana Saathiya10:30AM Tu Mera Hero11:00AM Veera: Ek Veer Ki Ardaas11:30AM Iss Pyaar Ko Kya NaamDoon...Ek Baar Phir12:00PM Diya Aur Baati Hum12:30PM Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai01:00PM Ye Hai Mohabbatein01:30PM Tu Mera Hero02:00PM Diya Aur Baati Hum02:30PM MasterChef India03:00PM Tere Shehar Mein03:30PM Suhani Si Ek Ladki04:00PM Saath Nibhaana Saathiya04:30PM Nisha Aur Uske Cousins05:00PM Veera: Ek Veer Ki Ardaas05:30PM Iss Pyaar Ko Kya NaamDoon...Ek Baar Phir06:00PM MasterChef India06:30PM Suhani Si Ek Ladki07:00PM Saath Nibhaana Saathiya :Ab Tak Ka Safar07:30PM Ye Hai Mohabbatein08:00PM Tu Mera Hero08:30PM Nisha Aur Uske Cousins09:00PM Diya Aur Baati Hum09:30PM Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai10:00PM Tere Shehar Mein10:30PM MasterChef India11:00PM Ye Hai Mohabbatein11:30PM Tu Mera Hero __________________________
Bhagya03:00AM Jamai Raja03:30AM Doli Armaano Ki04:00AM Baba Ramdev Ka Yog05:00AM Narayan Seva Sansthan05:30AM Dera Saccha Sauda06:00AM Sant Nirankari Mandal06:30AM The Faith show
07:00AM Kumkum Bhagya07:30AM Service Wali Bahu08:00AM Satrangi Sasural08:30AM Jamai Raja09:00AM Kumkum Bhagya09:30AM Jodha Akbar10:00AM Service Wali Bahu10:30AM Hello Pratibha11:00AM Doli Armaano Ki11:30AM Satrangi Sasural12:00PM Jamai Raja12:30PM Kumkum Bhagya01:00PM Service Wali Bahu01:30PM Doli Armaano Ki02:00PM Satrangi Sasural02:30PM Jamai Raja03:00PM Kumkum Bhagya03:30PM Hello Pratibha04:00PM SaReGaMaPa L’il Champs04:30PM Bandhan....Sari UmarHume Sang Rehna Hai05:00PM Jodha Akbar05:30PM Qubool Hai06:00PM Kumkum Bhagya06:30PM Service Wali Bahu07:00PM Bandhan....Sari UmarHume Sang Rehna Hai07:30PM Hello Pratibha08:00PM Jodha Akbar08:30PM Jamai Raja09:00PM Kumkum Bhagya09:30PM Qubool Hai10:00PM Satrangi Sasural10:30PM Doli Armaano Ki11:00PM Service Wali Bahu11:30PM Jamai Raja _________________________
12:00AM Best ofSavdhaan India: IndiaFights Back : UP FightBack Now
01:00AM Supercops vsSupervillains... Shapath
02:00AM Best of Savdhaan India:India Fights Back : UP Fight BackNow
03:00AM Mahakumbh - Ek RahasayaEk Kahani ! : Kahani Rudra ki
04:00AM Supercops vsSupervillains... Shapath
05:00AM Best of Savdhaan India:India Fights Back : Punjab FightBack now
06:00AM Best of Savdhaan India:India Fights Back : UP Fight BackNow
07:00AM Best of Savdhaan India:India Fights Back : 11 @ CrimeAlert
07:30AM Mere Rang Mein RangneWali
08:00AM Mahakumbh - Ek RahasayaEk Kahani ! : Kahani Rudra ki
08:30AM Comedy Classes09:00AM Dream Girl Ek Ladki
Deewani Si09:30AM Mere Rang Mein Rangne
Wali
10:00AM Mahakumbh - Ek RahasayaEk Kahani !
10:30AM Comedy Classes11:00AM Dream Girl Ek Ladki
Deewani Si11:30AM Mahakumbh - Ek Rahasaya
Ek Kahani ! : Kahani Rudra ki12:00PM Best of Savdhaan India:
India Fights Back01:00PM Best Of Savdhaan India :
Mumbai Fights Back02:00PM Best of Savdhaan India:
India Fights Back : 11 @ CrimeAlert
02:30PM Dream Girl Ek LadkiDeewani Si
03:00PM Best of Savdhaan India:India Fights Back : UP Fight BackNow
04:00PM Best of Savdhaan India:India Fights Back
05:00PM Best of Savdhaan India:India Fights Back
06:00PM Best of Savdhaan India:India Fights Back
07:00PM Dream Girl Ek LadkiDeewani Si
07:30PM Mere Rang Mein RangneWali
08:00PM Mahakumbh - Ek RahasayaEk Kahani !
08:30PM Kalash09:00PM Laut Aao Trisha09:30PM Dream Girl Ek Ladki
Deewani Si10:00PM Comedy Classes10:30PM Savdhaan India: India
Fights Back11:30PM Mahakumbh - Ek Rahasaya
Ek Kahani ! __________________________
12:00AM SoundShuffle0 1 : 0 0 A MTeleshopping
06:30AM Morning Music Mocha07:00AM Morning Music Mocha08:00AM Jump Starter09:00AM Morning Music Mania10:30AM Tweet Your Beat11:00AM Bindass Juke Box12:00PM Yeh Hai Aashiqui01:00PM Halla Bol (2)02:00PM Love By Chance03:00PM Teleshopping03:45PM Bounce04:00PM Yeh Hai Aashiqui05:00PM Fb Jukebox06:00PM Yeh Hai Aashiqui07:00PM Halla Bol (2)08:00PM Love By Chance09:00PM Halla Bol (2)10:00PM Yeh Hai Aashiqui11:00PM Love By Chance __________________________
12:00AM Bade AchheLagte Hain12:30AM Teleshopping01:00AM Ring Wrong
Ring01:30AM FIR
02:00AM Sajan Re Jhoot Mat Bolo02:30AM Lapataganj03:00AM Parvarrish - Kuchh Khattee
Kuchh Meethi03:30AM Bade Achhe Lagte Hain04:00AM Saas Bina Sasural04:30AM Kuch Toh Log Kahenge05:00AM Entertainment Ke Liye
Kuch Bhi Karega06:00AM Teleshopping07:48AM Filler08:00AM Teleshopping08:24AM Teleshopping08:48AM Filler09:00AM Ring Wrong Ring09:30AM Bade Achhe Lagte Hain10:00AM Gutur Gu10:30AM Lapataganj11:00AM Entertainment Ke Liye Kuch
Bhi Karega12:00PM Sajan Re Jhoot Mat Bolo12:30PM FIR01:00PM Bade Achhe Lagte Hain01:30PM Saas Bina Sasural02:00PM Parvarrish - Kuchh Khattee
Kuchh Meethi02:30PM Kuch Toh Log Kahenge03:00PM Lapataganj03:30PM FIR04:00PM Sajan Re Jhoot Mat Bolo04:30PM Bade Achhe Lagte Hain05:00PM Parvarrish - Kuchh Khattee
Kuchh Meethi05:30PM Saas Bina Sasural06:00PM Gutur Gu06:30PM Ring Wrong Ring07:00PM Jeannie Aur Juju07:30PM FIR08:00PM Sajan Re Jhoot Mat Bolo08:30PM Lapataganj09:00PM Parvarrish - Kuchh Khattee
Kuchh Meethi09:30PM Saas Bina Sasural10:00PM Bade Achhe Lagte Hain10:30PM Kuch Toh Log Kahenge11:00PM Entertainment Ke Liye Kuch
Bhi Karega ___________________________
01:40AM PatiParmeshwar03:40AM Aaj KaRaavanraj
05:25AM Maa Ki Shakti07:50AM Naseeb10:45AM Golmaal: Fun Unlimited01:55PM Bandhan04:50PM Barsaat08:00PM Ready11:05PM Badal _________________________
12:53AM Filler0 4 : 3 7 A MGulaal
07:01AM Peepli Live09:28AM Pyaar To Hona Hi Tha12:47PM Men in Black02:57PM Commando - A One ManArmy05:34PM Lara Croft Tomb Raider:The Cradle of Life (Hindi)08:00PM TBA11:06PM 36 China Town
strokeplay after AB de Villiers'stylish half-century went in vainas Royal Challengers Bangalorewere forced to share points withRajasthan Royals in their IPLcricket encounter after heavydownpour led to match beingcalled off.
Batting first, RCB piled up ahealthy 200 for seven but justbefore the Rajasthan Royals wereabout to begin their chase, itstarted drizzling and then turnedit a steady downpour as thematch was eventually called offat 11:35 pm.
The teams split points asRoyals stayed at second positionwith 12 points from 9 gameswhile RCB were in third placewith seven points from 7 games.Courtesy De Villiers' 45-ball-57that consolidated the innings andIPL's youngest player Sarafaraz'ssmashing unbeaten 45 off 21balls, RCB went onto put up amore than a decent total. Thiswas despite losing their premierplayers Chris Gayle (10) andVirat Kohli (1) departed with lessthan 20 runs on board.
While De Villiers contributed57 off 45 balls with nine foursand a six, the man who stole theshow was stockily built 17-year-old Mumbai lad Sarafaraz. Heplayed some amazing strokes
including the upper cut off ShaneWatson, the lofted six offPraveen Tambe, a Dilscoop offDhawal Kulkarni as he hit asmany as six fours and a six.
There first over bowled by TimSouthee had a lot of drama in it
as he got the dangerous Gayle,who had hit him for a boundaryand a straight six. It was anoutswinger (inswinger for Gayle)from Southee which he flickedstraight at Deepak Hooda's throatat square leg.
Skipper Kohli fished at anaway going delivery to becaught by Sanju Samson as RCBwere in trouble at 19 for two.But then world's best batsmanAB de VIlliers joined forceswith young Mandeep Singh as
they launched a counter-attackthat yielded 74 runs in 8.5 overs.
In the fifth over, the flow ofruns began as De Villiers hitJames Faulkner for three succes-sive boundaries. The first was anon drive followed by one pastfine leg and then an off-drive.When Praveen Tambe came in,De Villiers was quick to sweephim and then punch him throughcovers for good measure.
Little Mandeep also played acheeky innings as they startedadding runs at a fair clip.Mandeep was finally out leg-before when he tried to play thescoop over short fine leg andwas hit on the backfoot off afullish delivery from StuartBinny.
De Villiers however pulledBinny in the same over for a bigsix to complete his half-century.But a misunderstanding withDinesh Karthik saw him headback to pavilion being run-out.De Villiers's 45-ball 57 had ninefours and a six.
Dinesh Karthik (27, 18 balls)paid for his ill-judged attemptfor a second run as his inningspromised a lot but did very littlein the end.
But it was young Sarafaraz,who stole the limelight withsome attractive shots as hometeam reached a respectabletotal.
IPL 2015: RCB vs RR - Sarfaraz Khan lightsup Chinnaswamy as rain plays spoilsport
New Delhi: There is moretrouble for defending championsKolkata Knight Riders as theBCCI Suspect Bowling ActionCommittee on Wednesdaybanned their maverick spinnerSunil Narine from bowling off-spinners.
After being reported for a sus-pect action earlier in the ongoingtournament, Narine visited theSri Ramachandra Arthroscopyand Sports Sciences Centre(SRASSC) in Chennai for a bio-mechanical analysis of his bowl-ing action.
The IPL issued a release whichsaid, "Following the provisionsof the IPL Suspected IllegalBowling Action Policy, the com-mittee has concluded that Mr.Narine’s bowling action for hisoff-spinner, contravenes Law24.2 (as read with Law 24.3) ofthe Laws of Cricket and there-fore the player is now bannedfrom bowling the off-spinner inmatches organised by the BCCI,including the IPL. He may how-ever continue to bowl his otherdeliveries (the knuckle ball andthe quicker straight ball). "
The release also added that incase Narine bowled any moreoff-spinners in the tournament,the umpires will have the right to
call it a 'no-ball'."If Mr. Narine were to again
bowl the off-spinner in this sea-
son’s IPL, the on-field umpireswould apply Law 24.2 and call“No ball” and, at the end of the
match, would issue a furtherReport. Pursuant to clause 3.4 ofthe IPL Suspected IllegalBowling Action Policy, the play-er would in such circumstancesautomatically be suspendedfrom bowling in BCCI-organ-ised matches," the statementsaid.
Narine, was on April 24 onceagain reported for suspect actionfollowing the game againstSunrisers Hyderabad on April 22in Visakhapatnam.
The tweaker had first beenreported for a suspect action forhis quicker deliveries during theChampions League Twenty20 inOctober 2014, following KnightRiders' group game againstDolphins.
Even though he was allowedto play KKR's next game againstHobart Hurricanes, he was onceagain reported, and subsequentlybanned from bowling in thefinal, against Chennai SuperKings.
Ever since he started bowlingwith an modified action in IPL2015, Narine has struggled tofind his rhythm and even thoughKKR have been in great formthis season, their spinner hasmanaged to pick just two wick-ets from five matches.
SYDNEYAustralia have a huge hunger
for an Ashes triumph in England,according to all rounder ShaneWatson, while batsman SteveSmith believes this year`s serieswill not even be close if thetourists play to their potential.
After the 5-0 sweep in the2013-14 series Down Under,Australia head to England in Julyand August in possession of thecoveted urn with a chance toclaim a first Ashes series winaway from home since 2001.
Watson has played in two of thefour series Australia has lost inEngland since then but believesthe current squad, with the coreof the team that won the 50-oversWorld Cup in March, shouldbreak the drought.
"We`ve got a very strong squadthat`s going over to England," the33-year-old told Cricinfo.
"We`ve got good depth and thebest part is everyone is in nearlycareer-best form right now whichis most important as well.
"There is a huge hunger within
the group because we know thatwe haven`t won in England forthe last three series. I`ve been
involved in two of those."There`s a big burning desire to
be involved in an Ashes winning
campaign in England as well.We`re as well prepared as we canbe within our group. I`m incredi-bly excited about what`s on thehorizon with the Ashes andeveryone else is as well."
Smith, captain-elect for whenMichael Clarke decides to calltime on his test career, also expe-rienced defeat in 2013 but thinksthe side, which has enjoyed testseries wins over England, SouthAfrica and India since thatreverse, will be too strong.
"I can`t wait to get over thereand play another Ashes againstEngland in their conditions afterbeating them so convincingly inAustralia," Smith said.
"It`s going to be nice to go intheir backyard. If we continue toplay the way we have been play-ing over the last 12-18 months, Idon`t think that they`ll comeclose to us to be honest."Australia play West Indies in atwo-test series in the Caribbeanin June before heading toEngland, where the Ashes seriesopens in Cardiff on July 8.
In-form Australia too good for England, says Steve Smith
IPL 2015: Huge blow for KKR - SunilNarine banned from bowling off-spinners
NEW DELHIInternal conflict in the
Indian OlympicAssociation reared its uglyhead once again with areported breakdown ofrelations between presi-dent N Ramachandran andsecretary-general RajeevMehta. According toreports, a Special GeneralBody Meeting is beingplanned to move a no-con-fidence motion againstRamachandran.
Reports of discontentamong members of theIOA has been doing therounds for a while now.But, it all came out in fullpublic view during therecent India visit ofInternational OlympicCommittee (IOC)President Thomas Bach. Itwas evident enough whenthe IOC boss said, "I amnot aware of this kind ofmovement. It would not benew for India. This is why,without knowing, I wassending this message andappealing for unity in theIOA. Our appeal to theIOA and NSFs (nationalsports federations) is tofocus on the athletes. Makeyour athletes successful.IOA needs to find unity."
According to somereports, Ramachandran,
like his brother NSrinivasan, believes inrunning the show all byhimself. And the TamilNadu strongman hasreportedly ignore to con-sult Mehta on importantissues regarding the run-ning of IOA. In oneinstance, Ramachandranmet Bach in Lausanne lastmonth without even dis-cussing it with his IOAcolleagues.
Reports also said that aperplexed Mehta did notaccompany Ramachandranat Bach's official pressconference in Delhi. TheIOA secretary-generalinstead opted stay indoorsin a five star hotel and leftbefore the media briefingconcluded. And leadingthe dissident camp isHockey India (HI) presi-dent Narinder Batra, whohas reportedly gainedenough signatures (two-thirds or 66 per cent of thetotal members) to call for aSpecial General Body andremove the incumbent.Batra, in fact, wrote toIOA members last week,asking them about theirviews on the style of func-tioning of Ramachandranand whether he was theright person to lead theorganisation.
Indian Olympic Association offi-cials not happy with president NRamachandran, plot his ouster
NEW DELHIIn its bid to push for more
results in Ranji matches, theBCCI technical committeehas proposed a few changes inthe points format and thenumber of overs bowled perday in the premier domestictournament.
The Anil Kumble-led com-mittee has suggested the num-ber of overs to be increasedfrom 90 to 95 per day in thefour and five-day games ofthe Ranji Trophy and also doaway with the single point forsalvaging a draw after con-ceding a lead.
The preliminary sugges-tions were discussed in theworking committee meetingon April 26. The BCCI's gov-erning body has asked for afinal proposal in its next meet-ing.
According to ESPNcricinfo,the technical panel is likely toprovide the final draft aftermeeting again next month.
Out of the 115 Ranji gameslast season, only 62 met witha definite result and the com-mittee believes that addingfive overs to a day's play willcertainly increase the chances
on a clear victory for a side.The suggestion is drawn
from Australian domesticcricket, where 96 overs arebowled in a day in a first-classgame. The working commit-tee was also made to under-stand that teams are content
with the first-innings result inmost cases since both teamsgain points, with three award-ed for gaining the lead.Hence, doing away with thesingle point award for a drawwill make the team's playaggressive cricket.
Anil Kumble-led technical committee pro-poses changes in Ranji points, overs
MUMBAIMumbai Cricket
Association has not receivedany letter from the BCCIover the reported inappropri-ate approach made to aMumbai-based player play-ing for Rajasthan Royals byanother Ranji Trophy team-mate, who is not part of theongoing IPL.
In the absence of any suchcommunication from theIndian cricket board, MCAhas decided not to conductany internal enquiry on thecontentious issue, a top MCAofficial told PTI today.
"We have not received anyletter on the issue fromBCCI. So the managing com-mittee has decided not to pur-sue the matter on our own,"the official said when queriedon the subject.
The "inappropriate"approach was first reportedin the media before bothBCCI and Rajasthan Royals,
through a statement on April10, confirmed the incident,without mentioning fromwhich unit the players hailedfrom.
"An inappropriateapproach was made to amember of the RajasthanRoyals Team that is currentlyparticipating in the Pepsi IPL2015," said BCCI secretaryAnurag Thakur.
"The player, who wasapproached, reported thematter to his TeamManagement immediately,who in turn have reported theincident to the Anti-Corruption Unit of the BCCI.The ACU of the BCCI is cur-rently investigating the mat-ter to ascertain the facts," hestated further in his mediastatement.
"Over a month ago, a play-er from Rajasthan Royalswas approached inappropri-ately by a player (who wasnot part of the IPL) in con-
nection with the IndianPremier League 2015 match-es," said Royals' CEO RaghuIyer in a media statement.
"Maintaining high stan-dards of integrity, the playerinformed the RajasthanRoyals management of thisinappropriate approach. Inkeeping with applicable IPLRegulations, RajasthanRoyals management immedi-ately reported the incident tothe Anti-Corruption &Security Unit (ACSU) of theBCCI," he added.
The first meeting of thenew IPL governing councilwas held on April 20 and thenames of Neeraj Kumar, for-mer Delhi Commissioner ofPolice, and MadhusudanSharma, IPS, were proposedas consultants to the Anti-Corruption Unit of BCCIwhich were ratified by theBoard's working committeethat met last Sunday inKolkata.
MCA yet to get note from BCCI over spot-fixing approach made to RR player
President PranabMukherjee will pres-ent the 62nd National
Film Awards at VigyanBhawan here on May 3.Finance Minister ArunJaitley and Minister ofState for Information andB r o a d c a s t i n gRajyavardhan Rathore willattend the award ceremony,the information and broad-casting ministry said onWednesday.
Since 2012, the presti-gious National FilmAwards ceremony is heldevery May 3 to commemo-rate the release date of thefirst Indian movie “RajaHarishchandra”, a silentproject by DadasahebPhalke.
The winners list this yearis balanced vis-a-vis theHindi and regional movieworlds, with Haider,Queen and Mary Komsweeping awards fromBollywood.
Other films to get awardsin Best Film category are
Othello (Assamese),Nirbashito (Bengali),Harivu (Kannada),Nachom – IA Kumpasar(Konkani), Ain(Malayalam), Killa
'khwahishen' - a film by Moonlightproduction. Adding a film to it's cred-it after grand success of skits and adfilms Delhi lad Param MLP, producerand director of film expressed 'weadded another feather in our cap withactress Samira Khan of Parwarishfame. Her other serials like 'Kabhisaas bhi kabhi bahu thi', 'Kahani GharGhar ki' of Balaji films were greathits. "My this film is a family drama.Our artists have put in their hundredpercent to showcase so called show-biz life of the society and I hope thatlike every hit drama, this film willattract people from all walks of life,he said. Actress Samira expressed thatit was a different experience to workwith Moonlight productions. I will tryto give my best in this film too likemy previous films and I am optimisticthat people will find my characterwith the pace of the film, she says.The film has been shot at variouslocations of Delhi and Jaipur. AryaSingh has been music director where-as Noor, Kailash and Amit has givenplayback. Promos of film are expect-ed soon.
We find out why'green exercising'or working out
amidst nature is better thanexercising in the gym
Get over the allure ofyour fancy gym - nowa-days, realising the need forfresh air and sunlight,many health clubs aredesigning outdoor work-outs in places like parksand beaches! Instead ofexercising in a climate-controlled environment,boost your mood, enhanceyour fitness levels andlower your stress withsome green exercises. Welist down its benefits:
Working out in openspaces provides environ-mental stimulation andhelps you connect withnature because you are sur-rounded by trees, birds,greenery, sunlight - all ofwhich will make you feelenergetic.
Exposing yourself to the
outside environment willensure that your resistancepower increases, thus help-ing you build your immu-nity against day-to-day ail-ments.
Since you will use yourbody weight to exercise,
instead of regular gymequipment, your workoutwill be more intense. Youwill also improve your bal-ancing power because ofexercising on unevenfloors like grass, soil orsand. These workouts willstrengthen your supportive
muscles and working mus-cles.
When you exercise in thegym, the chill of the ACmakes your body stiff,whereas, in a natural envi-ronment, your body opensup and is more flexible.
Open-air workouts give aholistic feeling of wellness.You can do freehand exer-cises, multiple movementsor coordination exerciseswith mind and body. Theoutdoors is especially ben-eficial for workout pro-grammes like yoga, pilatesand Tai Chi. When done inan open air environment, itwill improve the overallexperience of these work-outs.
WarningA gym is a controlled
workout is done right,whereas, in an open envi-ronment, an exerciserneeds to be aware or alertabout risk factors. Theseare vehicular traffic,weather conditions, the dif-ference in terrain, lightconditions, safety andsecurity.
(Inputs by fitness expertsVinod Channa and Rizwan
Sayed)
The wonders of open-air workouts
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Kangana Ranaut to receive herNational Award for Queen on May 3
Hera Pheri was one film thathelped resurrect AkshayKumar’s career at a time
when he was going through a stringof flops. Phir Hera Pheri happenedand by then, Akshay had alreadyzoomed into the list of A-listers inBollywood. But when the third instal-ment to the hit franchise was beingcast, Akshay decided to opt out.
While there have been numerousconjectures about his exit from thefilm, the actor has remained tightlipped about the same. Talking aboutthe film, Neeraj Vora revealed, “HeraPheri 3 will start exactly where PhirHera Pheri ended and it is a filmabout mistaken identity. There aremany Rajus in the film and HP 3 isabout finding the real Raju.”
If we remember, the prequel to HP3ended on a note, which called foranother film. For people who haven’twatched Phir Hera Pheri, let us tellyou how it ended. The film ends withAkshay Kumar hanging from abridge, trying to retrieve a vintagegun which is worth a few crores.Now that Hera Pheri 3 is being shot,we don’t understand how the makerswill maintain continuity between thetwo films.
An insider tells us that the makerswanted Akshay in the film but theactor took a back step. “Akshay wasdefinitely the first choice for thesequel too. But he demanded a high-er fee which shocked the makers.They were left with no other optionbut to let go of the film.”
When asked Akshay about thesame, our Khiladi Kumar shot back,“It is a personal thing and I don’twant to talk about it”. But will hemake a guest appearance in the filmat least? “No, I am not there in the
film at all,” signed off Akki.Akshay is busy promoting his
upcoming release- Gabbar is Backwhereas John Abraham, AbhishekBachchan and Paresh Rawal arealready camping for Hera Pheri 3.
Akshay Kumar lost out on Hera Pheri3 for demanding high remuneration?
Shahid Kapoor andMira Rajput will gethitched on June 10
this year and the destina-tion wedding will takeplace in the very beautifulGreece! That’s rightBollywoodLife had lastshared some EXCLUSIVEdope on the shift in wed-ding dates and venue. Andnow we again have somegarma-garam gupshupabout Sasha’s much await-ed shaadi with Mira. Wehad informed you that thefamilies of Shahid and
Mira had cancelled Baliplans and even decided toprepone the Decemberwedding to June.
A source close to thefamily told BL, “Shahid’swedding date is almostfinalised. I will be on June10 and between Istanbuland Greece, both the par-ties have zeroed in onGreece for now.”
Well, fans and media arekeeping a close eye on thedevelopments aroundKapoor’s wedding dateand details.
With everybody specu-lating and wonderingwhere the couple is headedfor their big day,BollywoodLife has man-aged to break in and findout what is being discussedin hush-hush voices in boththe families.
Mira’s family was irkedwith details of the weddingand information and pic-tures of their daughterbeing leaked out. In fact,Mira herself had deletedsome of her friends fromher social media accounts.
Shahid on the other handcame out in the open abouthis much-talked aboutwedding. While he con-firmed the reports, he did-n’t divulge too much aboutthe wedding or Mira.
The actor is currentlyworking on his projectsUdta Punjab andShaandaar and is hoping towrap in time to get readyfor his next real life avataras a groom. For moreupdates on Shahid, Miraand their secret weddingcome back right here!
Shahid Kapoor and Mira Rajput toget hitched on June 10 in Greece!
